Getting ready for the next show and a visitor peaks his head in. It seems he has quite the special ability, though~!

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Yellow Eyed Visitor
By: Aurem

Atticus looked at himself in the mirror and practiced the expressions that he would hold on stage. At first it had felt a little unnatural but now the expressions were coming second nature to him. They weren't things that he thought would have naturally been on his face but now felt comfortable and he noticed he was using them outside of costume as well. A sly look. Enticing without being overbearing. Inviting, even. A vast array of what could be said without words.

Stripped down to his undergarments, Atticus twisted and turned for some of the moves, seeing how his feathers lay with certain poses and making minor corrections. Although the clothes would help them lie flat on stage it was no guarantee. A shift of the fabric that curtained the entrance to what was only loosely a dressing room had his friend Vari entering, their outfits folded neatly over one arm.

"You look nice Atticus. Ready for the show?" Vari asked, laying out the fabric and revealing the bright colors and patterns of Gerudo outfits.

"Just making sure everything will look right." Atticus replied, approaching with hips swaying to the beat that the music would be taking in just an hour. "Looks like you've got everything else?"

"Of course, just making sure there are no wrinkles after they were packed away for the trip here. Seems so odd to be performing near the Desert. You think people here would be more used to the clothes and not as interested in the show, but it sounds like it's packed!" Vari's voice raised at the end while he ran his big wing hand over his puffed out feathers.

Atticus approached and wrapped his arms around the other male, giving him a comforting hug and nuzzling his beak into the primly laid chest feathers of the slightly taller rito. "Hey, hey. Calm down. We've done this plenty enough times. They're probably here to see us. Rito aren't super common here and you know even fewer have shown off the way we have on this trip." He pulled back and gave a lopsided smirk to the other causing Vari to huff out a small laugh and finally calm.

"Now, help me get these clothes on. The ties are far too small for me to tie with these fat fingers while I can't see them!" Atticus enthused as he twirled away, giving Vari a moment to flatten his feathers and regain the composure he demonstrated so often in the privacy of his home library.

"Only if you help me in return! I'm not some dainty hylian with those tiny fingers they have." Vari shot back, both sharing a chuckle. They knew just how much dexterity those smaller beings had.

Atticus and Vari pulled on as much clothing as they could by themselves and then helped each other with the ties on the bottom half before facing each other while beginning on the tops. A shift of fabric caught both's attention as the 'door' was disturbed for another time tonight. Atticus put on a stage smile and turned to greet the unannounced visitor, seeing Vari start to turn his head to do the same.

Atticus felt his muscles lock up. It was odd, as he looked at the door, but all he could focus on were two bright points. Vari had tensed up as well, he could feel it in the arms around him and in the shoulders. But it wasn't tense as in the muscles tightened, but rather become... unmoving. Those yellow points were much more important though. They called to him and all his attention. The stress seemed to pour away. And his feathers... they felt oddly firmer.

There was no cold but they felt like they were becoming frozen. Warm ice. So stiff, and heavy. Perhaps more like a sun warmed rock picked up from the desert sand? Atticus took a small breath, his chest not expanding, but lungs still moving with it. The weight was comforting, like a weighted blanket. The kind he had picked up for his son, Ruka, when he was younger. But the yellow dots seemed to be fading. Everything else, as well, but that wasn't as important.

Over the weighted blankets of his frozen but warm feathers he could still feel the dancing outfit. It was like a towel after going for a swim. So comforting and drying. Something to hold close. And there was Vari, still pressed against him. How strange, but it felt nice, heavy arms wrapped around him. Still, the yellow was almost gone, lost in a fog that was also covering everything else and darkening. Another breath, though it felt unneeded now. His body was warm and solid. Not moving and not needing to. This moment was all that mattered and it would last for as long as it needed to.

His sight finally faded but it was okay, he was warm, and solid, and nothing would change that. His mind drifted, but comfortably, like he was laying on a plains and watching the clouds go by on a sunny day. Vari was here too. Could feel him nearby. A comfortable silence in their conversation. A lull that didn't need to end. Stillness really was underappreciated. Then there was that new sensation. Scales, he was familiar with those! They ran over his form, tracing his frozen feathers.

They weren't warm, but more the same temperature as the air around. They seemed to warm after stroking his feathers, though, so that felt nice. His feathers didn't move like they normally did, but movement wasn't needed here. It was definitely a still moment that would last. Scales pressed to him in a hug. At least it felt that way, and probably an arm wrapped around Vari too. It felt good. Like coming home. That's how hugs were supposed to feel, right? Coming home from a trip, or even just from making the rounds on his watch rotation. Always a pair of arms waiting to welcome one home.

It was nice, being home like this.