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[ SO CUTE. He laughs as Connor’s paw bops the end of his nose. ]

If I didn’t know you were Connor, I’d swear you were an actual puppy.

[ He plays the part well, but he does wonder how much of that is acting and how much is the influence of the form he wears. The only other time he saw Connor turn into a dog, he did act very dog-like.

So, he might just… cradle puppy Connor in in his arms a bit. He can’t help it. ]

[…Oh, he’s being held properly now.

Stranger still the size difference. Being cradled like this, it should be embarrassing, but this is Connor and it’s Connor currently in dog form. There is no immediate issue he’s going to have with this, and for a moment Connor is just content to be held, inelegant forelegs kind of flopped over Arenvald’s arms.

His little LED is spinning blue, happily enough. And he can't help it -- he lifts his head up and licks Arenvald across the cheek.

(That, maybe, he might apologize for later. But right now? It only feels like the natural thing to do.)]

[ He has to blink down at his friend at that, but any surprise is quickly overtaken by amusement, and a grin spreads over his face. It seems Connor is very much a victim of the whims of this form, because Arenvald can’t imagine him doing that by choice. ]

Trying to analyze me, are you? Find anything interesting?

[ He’s teasing, obviously, especially since he knows that Connor can’t even do that here, never mind what he can and can’t do as a dog. ]

[When Arenvald puts it like that, it becomes glaringly obvious what he’s done, though there’s hardly anything reprimanding about it. Even so, Connor tilts his head, gives a tiny little whine, and wiggles more, trying to slip out of Arenvald’s arms and back onto the bed.

(Tail still wagging, though, so he obviously isn’t upset. Potentially only wanting space to change back, if he so chooses.)]

Sorry, I was only teasing.

[ Gently, since he interprets that whine to mean he’s hurt Connor’s feelings (that he totally doesn’t have) somehow. He lets him go when he attempts to wiggle free of his arms, and seems to find some measure of relief when he sees Connor’s tail is still wagging. Mayhap he didn’t hurt his feelings after all. ]

[Connor pads along on the mattress once he’s free, turning around and sitting. He barks up at Arenvald one last time, before a blight blue light envelops his small form again, heralding another change.

When that dissipates, Connor is… Connor again, sitting on the bed a little inelegantly, but amicable-looking all the same.]

No, I'm sorry. I feel as if it’s easy to get… carried away, sometimes, as a dog.

I noticed.

[ He smiles a bit as he says it, now that he knows his earlier worry was unfounded. ]

No harm done, though. I thought it was kind of endearing.

You only say that because I can get away with more as a canine than I can as something more human-shaped.

[But Connor shuffles a little, straightening.]

Keep in mind that I'm still very much myself even when I change.

I think that’s part of the fun of your particular power, though. There’s a certain degree of freedom that must come with being a dog. You can run around, enjoy the sunshine, do whatever you like, really. May as well enjoy it, right?

[ At least, that’s how he sees it. It certainly looks like fun, the couple of times he’s seen Connor do it. ]

Should I apologize for picking you up, then?

No. I didn't mind it.

[Is that strange? Connor dismisses the notion, because Arenvald doesn't seem to treat it as awkward at all.]

It's odd, though. You were so big; the perspective of a smaller animal is jarringly different.

Yeah?

[ He chuckles a bit. Standing next to someone like Alphinaud most certainly makes him feel tall, he can only imagine what he looked like to a puppy. ] Believe it or not, compared to other Ala Mhigan hyur, I’m kind of on the short side.

Really?

[That's surprising. Not that Connor is short, or anything -- they're the same height! -- but that he should consider Arenvald short in the context of his world is unexpected.

Just going to add this little tidbit in his database.]

Can you explain to me "hyur"?

Aye. Not by much, but I’m not like to get much taller than I am now.

[ Oh. This is another one of those name things, isn’t it? ]

Hyur are… well, a race of people. It’s what I am, and Minfilia as well. I’d say most the people in the Circle look to be hyur.

Alphinaud and Alisaie are elezen. They’ve the pointed ears and can get quite tall. There are a few other races that live in Eorzea. [ He ticks them off on his fingers as he names them. ] Miqo’te, roegadyn, and lalafell as well. And there’s the au ra, who came over the sea when the Empire invaded their homeland.

[Plenty of races that he can’t hope to recognize, names that would sound odd on his own tongue, he’s sure. But they’re committed to memory, as well, though he does have to clarify something once Arenvald is done.]

So if most in the Circle are similar to hyur, I would assume that humans are the closest adjacent in terms of comparison?

[ He tilts his head a little to mull that over. ]

For me, that term is rather broad, covering anyone who isn’t of the beast tribes, regardless of race. But if all you have in your world are hyur, then I suppose hyur would equate to human.

Humanity is the only sentient race on Earth, yes. My version of Earth, at least.

[He considers something else Arenvald had said.]

The elezen, whom you describe as tall with pointed ears… They exist in fantasy literature, however, under a different name.

[ Of all the things, he hadn’t expected elezen to exist in the stories of another world. Granted, he hadn’t expected anything of his own world to exist in the stories of another, so it may as well be something so seemingly random. ]

Do they? What are they called?

Elves.

[Phoentically close, which is interesting.]

Not too far off the mark, actually.

Huh. That is kind of close.

[ That's super weird actually, to think that his best friend is a fantasy story. ]

None of the others ring a bell, though?

Not at all. But maybe if you describe them to me, I may recognize a parallel?

[That's the interesting part about these other worlds and alternate universes -- the similarities shared between them were almost as baffling as the differences.]

[ Arenvald is no bard, but he tries his best to describe each of the races in turn, from the diminutive lalafell to the hulking roegadyn, and the ones in between, the feline-featured miqo’te and the au ra, with their horns and scales and lizard-like tails.

It’s so strange to have to explain things that, to him, are as normal as breathing, but more and more he has realized that every world varies, sometimes drastically. Hydaelyn seems to vary more than most. If Connor has a desire to learn about it, then he’ll indulge him as best he can. ]

So, anything else seem familiar?

[Fantastical sounding, all of it. Truly like something out of a movie or a novel, and while Connor doesn’t know of a species to label any of them specifically, it all still seems like it would slot nicely into the fantasy genre, alongside elves.

He shakes his head.]

No. Nothing specific. Though it still sounds as if they belong like something out of a tale or a myth, if you were to describe them to a normal human in my world.

I do like hearing about your world, though. It's good, I think, for me to be able to readjust my baseline for "normalcy" this way.

I don’t mind telling you about it, either. It helps me to remember to broaden my own horizons because not everything everywhere is the same.

[ He grins. It’s good that they both get something out of this, at least. ]

So, if you have any other questions, all you have to do is ask.

[He smiles a little in return, his own fainter but no less sincere. Connor has visibly relaxed compared to his state when he first entered Arenvald’s room (seeing his friend half-clothed notwithstanding); now, tension has trained from the line of his back, and his hands have lost their fidgeting stress. He supposes the more casual nature of where he’s sitting, still on Arenvald’s bed, probably drains a bit of the formality away, too.

Still, he pauses. There is a question bouncing around in his head, one that he’s shelved until he felt it was proper to ask it. But with Arenvald’s invite laid before him, now is as good of a time as any.]

I do have one question, if you think now is a good time for it. About your— [His eyes flick up to his friend’s forehead, just briefly, a hint of what he wishes to know before he even utters the words.] —scars. The story behind them.

Ah.

[ His own eyes flick upwards. Not that he can look at his own forehead, so it’s more of an acknowledgement of what Connor is looking at.

He was expecting this to come up, considering Connor walked in on him bare-faced (and bare everything else, for that matter), and there was no missing the way Connor’s gaze had landed on his forehead then, either. Still, he hesitates a little, if only because he needs a second to steel himself. ]

I don’t mind. Just know it’s not going to be a pleasant story.

[ He presses his lips together, drawing them into a thin line as he considers the best place to start. ] You recall my telling you about Ala Mhigo, yeah? How, after the fall of the Mad King, it was invaded and subjugated by the Garlean Empire?

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