#shyyren

Whatever the fae did in the forest must still have been effecting her, then. Maybe interacting strangely with the wolfsbane pills? They were pretty new, and Salem had told her they were technically experimental. Salem hadn't mentioned any potential side-effects with fae magic, but lycanthropy was a fucked-up virus/curse that could make someone spontaneously develop an allergy to a metal because of its association with a celestial body, so anything was possible.

It was just that... after a few months with the wolfsbane suppressing the worst of her beast, whatever they did made the beast really, really fucking loud, and her skin really, really fucking itchy.

She needed a drink. And a cigarette. And a nap.

Not that her life was ever that simple. Rounding a corner in the base got her face-to-face with Salem, because of course the first person she would run into while feeling this shitty was Salem, who looked mildly surprised to see her. "Felicity," she said, putting out a hand, a soft, casual kind of touch they only got when it was the two of them alone like this. "You're back."

"Kalo and I got back an hour ago," Felicity found herself mumbling, leaning into Salem's touch, even though... she'd meant to brush her off to go sulk. Her head hurt. Her teeth itched.

Salem's eyebrows narrowed in her "doctor" way, the kind of steel to her gaze that wasn't the violence of hunting but wasn't as hungry as when she had Felicity underneath her. The way that made Felicity want to stand still, wait until she was done being examined, just in case it was important. "You also look like shit," Salem remarked, half-grinning, breaking the tension just enough to let Felicity out, because she always --

"I'm fine." "I feel like shit," Felicity sighed, and then flinched. She. What? That wasn't.

What was wrong with her? Her beast was thrashing at her ribcage, squealing and whooping and whining. Even before the wolfsbane had thrown a blanket over it, it had never been this fucking loud. Felicity pressed a hand to her chest, trying to quiet it down, and all the mirth in Salem's expression faded to concern. Real concern, like with the silver burns, or the first few days on wolfsbane or when she'd gotten poisoned by a demon. Concern that would only tell her she was being an idiot once it was assured she wouldn't be gone in the next few hours. The kind of concern that made Felicity want to do all the stupid things she'd get yelled at for on a normal day if it meant Salem stopped looking at her like she was something that needed caring for, and not something that was supposed to be doing the caring.

"I'm fine." "Whatever they did hurts," she blurted, breathing quickening. No, no, no, no, fuck.

Salem pulled her face down, looking her over, watching how her eyes followed her every move, how Felicity kept drifting closer. "A spell," she said, matter-of-factually in the way that normally made Felicity's fur smooth out. Fur? Why did she have fur? "You were dealing with the fae, weren't you?"

"Yes." Simple. Short. True. True. True. True. The truth was that her teeth itched. The truth was that she wanted Salem to keep touching her. The truth was -- "Hold me."

There was fur coming out of her face. Her arms. Her body. The beast was here. The sun was not yet down. The moon rising tonight was half-full. The beast was crawling out of Felicity's skin to get at Salem, the woman it craved loved. Her teeth were sharp and they itched and she wanted to bite claim Salem. She needed it. The beast was awake. The beast was screaming.

"Felicity, did you not take your wolfsbane this morning?" Salem asked, even as she tried, even as she cradled her, put her face in her hands and pet the fur there.

"I didn't." "I did."

"Then what is happening? Kalo -- they were supposed to be small, were they not?"

"They cast a curse on me." "It was some kind of. Compulsion. I guess."

"Compulsion."

"To say." "To tell the. The truth."

It hurt. Was she crying? Her teeth were on fire. Felicity wrapped her arms around Salem and hugged her in a way she'd never allowed herself before, honest and vulnerable and soft. Her teeth itched. Her teeth itched. Her teeth itched. Was she crying? How long had it been since she cried?

Salem was sinking. Felicity panicked, fell, but Salem was there to catch her. That wasn't right. She was supposed to catch Salem. She was supposed to be the landing pad. This was wrong, wasn't it? The beast curled up in Salem's lap, burying her face in her stomach and trying to breathe. The wolfsbane was supposed to stop this. The wolfsbane was supposed to make her numb. Her blood was on fire.

"A truth -- Felicity." Salem was the only thing in the world. Salem was the only thing that mattered. Salem pet her ears and Felicity choked on a sob and her blood was on fire and decades of lies were burning in her throat. "Felicity, can you hear me?"

"I love you."

"... What?"

"Please. Please. I love you. I'm yours." It was babbling, the way a child babbles when they're dreaming, the way a teenager wakes up after a nightmare and tries to calm themself.

"Felicity." Salem stressed it, firm and sure, and Felicity couldn't look at her but she shuddered a breath and pressed her nose into Salem's stomach and nodded. Nodded. Nodded. It felt good to have Salem hold her.

"... You are under the sway of a fae's truth spell," Salem said, and she was never one to bullshit a reassurance that wasn't true, so there was only finality to her tone. "I'm not sure what on Earth it's having such a bad reaction to, but you need to breathe before you start hyperventilating."

Felicity knew. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she knew. She knew it was the wolfsbane. The wolfsbane was a thing of lies. The wolfsbane was a plant that whispered falsehoods. The wolfsbane was a prison warden for a cage that never should have been built. She gripped Salem's shirt and tried to bury herself deeper inside of her and she was crying. She needed her. She needed her matriarch to help her. She was sick and wounded and she needed her matriarch to lick her blood and bring her food. When she opened her mouth to say any of it all that came out was a pained, burning sob.

Salem's hand was on her face. Rubbing her ear. Petting her fur. Salem took a deep breath and Felicity tried to take a deep breath and her teeth itched.

"Claim," was a whisper so, so quiet, a wish more than a thought, that Salem almost didn't hear.

For Felicity's sake, she pretended not to.

Felicity didn't know, of course, that Salem was figuring it out. Felicity didn't see the purple tint to her tears. Felicity had not smelled ground up wolfsbane for hours.

Hiraeh: What, this thing?

Hiraeh: idk, this is the first time I’ve ever really had anyone else touch it, outside my lusus I guess!