Chapter 12: A Foxy Look for You, Two
Author's Note: Spoilers ahead!
A continuation of "A Foxy Look for You" (chapter 4). This is pretty much canon for SAR now, so I may flesh it out more or alter some for the main story. Maybe just reference parts of it, idk yet. I'd currently place it before the Winter Palace stuff on the timeline.
Word Count: ~2200
Rating: M-ish?
POV: Bevin
Characters: Bevin, Solas, Dorian, Nikki
Themes: Nudity
xXx
It had been over an hour and a half, and Bevin still hadn't had any luck in reverting back from this fennec form that Mythal had forced her into. It would help if she had any idea what was done to change her into this form, but the elvhen spirit wasn't spilling.
There was a knock at her bedroom door, causing her ears to perk. She ran over to the it and squeaked out a bark. At the hesitation, she scratched at the door. If she couldn't figure this out, she'd go find her two resident nerds for help. The only thing really stopping her from doing so earlier was her current tiny stature.
The door finally cracked open. Bevin forced her way through by her nose, running between the feet of the startled servant.
Not thinking, Bevin ran towards the stairs. It hit her as she was flying off the top most step that this was definitely a skill she took for granted as a human. Missing her target stair, she proceeded to bump and tumble her way down the rest of the flight.
She staggered to her feet, surprisingly unfazed. After a shake of her head, she took on the next flight at a much more subdued pace. That was until she heard the hurried steps coming down behind her. Looking back, the servant was hot on her heels in a panic. She picked up her pace, now trying to weave beyond the girl's grasp.
She yelped when the girl made a particularly forceful grab for her tail, but was quickly released once more.
Finally at the bottom of the stairs, Bevin was relieved to see that the door had been left ajar here. She flew through it and ran into the Grand Hall. Taking a moment to catch her breath and reorientate herself, she looked around. Now, more than the past hours, it felt as though everything was huge and far away. People stood scattered all around. The noise and smells assaulted her nose, making her queasy.
She snuck forward, trying to get to her destination without causing a stir. Dashing under a table, she watched as the servant staggered by, still looking for her. She probably assumed that she was some pet kept away in her bedroom. She certainly didn't look like the average wild fennec with her well kempt red and cream colored fluffy fur. Bevin would have been quite pleased with this form had she been able to change at will.
Sitting back on her haunches, Bevin surveyed the movement of the room. The heavy door to the rotunda was usually kept closed, so she'd have to sneak by with someone else again. Varric sat nearby, if she could get there, she could hide out under his claimed portion of the table. At least if he spotted her, he probably wouldn't immediately shove her back into her room or anything else.
During a lull in the room, she carefully eased her way to the other side of the room, slowly so as not to draw attention. Or tried to. She didn't quite make it to her destination.
One of the nobles she toed past wore a dress with dangling ribbons and bows with accents of gold and shiny gems. Wide-eyed she watched their movement, transfixed. She stopped herself only as she saw her paws raising up to bat at swaying ribbons. Horrified at herself, she shook her head to snap out of it and bolted to her original goal.
She didn't have a chance to catch her breath again as she watched the rotunda door open. Taking the chance, she ran over and wove her way into the room between what seemed like several pairs of feet.
Solas was found sitting at his desk, though all she could see were his legs and wrapped feet from this angle. She walked forward and around the table to where he sat. Still not getting his notice - he looked deep in thought reading something - she timidly patted a paw against his leg.
He glanced over, not seeing her at first, then sat back fully and looked down. His brows flew up in surprise before settling in a confused frown. He stared for several moments. "Bevin?" he breathed.
Her tail wagged.
She backed up as he moved to stand. Crouching in front of her he looked her over, reaching out to feel her fur and run his fingers over the ridge of her ear. "I, for one, would say that your transformation is quite remarkable. There are no faults that I can tell, apart from your rather...unique coloring. Though I have heard that many individuals able to shapeshift often retain telltale markings from their original state." His thumb passed over the darker smudges of red fur on her cheeks.
Her ears flattened to her head. Damnit. He thought she had come to him for some kind of approval. She let out a frustrated whine.
He had the gall to smirk. "You are stuck, aren't you?"
She looked away.
The next moment she was being lifted and plopped on top of the table.
"Well, let this be a further lesson to you that one must fully think through their spells with care," he admonished with no little amount of humor and 'I told you so' in his voice.
"You keeping a pet now, Solas? I hadn't thought you the type."
Her ears drooped, and she let out a sigh. Dorian peered down at them from the library above, grin on his face. She felt a grumble build up from her chest.
Solas chose to ignore the question and posed his own, "Dorian, have you ever explored transfiguration magic?"
He shook his head. "No, but some childhood friends did to rather...disastrous ends. One may still have a nug's tail." He shut his book and set it aside, his full attention gathered. "Why do you ask?"
Solas merely gestured towards her. She gave a greeting yip, and that was when Dorian pieced it together.
He quickly stood from the cushioned chair he'd been reading in and strode away towards the stairs. Moments later he was standing over her, looking at her the same way that Solas had been. "This is Bevin?" He corrected himself, directing the inquiry to her, "You're Bevin? Most fascinating!"
"Although her skills have progressed to the point of where she can attain and hold this form," he sat back down with a chuckle, "it appears as though she did not consider how she would revert."
Dorian let out a hearty laugh. "You don't know how to turn back?" Not bothering to hold back his continued giggling, he tweaked her tail.
She hissed and yanked her tail back. He responded by bopping her nose with a finger. The annoyed flick of her tail from the corner of her eye had her diving backwards to pounce on it, her eyes going wide when she realised what she had done.
The Magister looked as though he could barely contain himself. "You're not going to live that down."
Bevin was beginning to regret this. If all they were going to do was tease her, she was better off back in her room.
"If worst comes to worst and you are well and truly stuck, there is a spell to force someone back into their original state." Dorian stroked his fingers over his mustache in thought. Scowling he added, "However, by all accounts, it is rather painful."
Bevin flinched. She was an utter wimp about pain.
"Is the process not the same as transforming into that form?" Dorian posed a reasonable inquiry.
Well, maybe it was. But that was only helpful if she actually knew how to get into this form. She cursed the cackling god in her head.
What other options did she have? She really didn't want to attempt asking Vivienne...
"Within what literature did you find the spell? Perhaps there is something there." And, of course, Solas was more than keen about where she'd even find such a spell. Not that any such tome or papers existed here, to her knowledge. Of anywhere, though, it would probably be found down below in the archives that made up her office.
Though she couldn't get there without assistance, either.
"Mythal! C'mon, gimme something to work with here!" she begged again.
Perhaps she'd had her fill of watching her struggle, Mythal finally gave her an actual answer, "In order to attain the desired form of something else, one must be intimately familiar with all aspects of it and use that familiarity to shape the Veil around them. It is an advanced distortion of reality."
Okay, back to the basics. Utilizing magic was enforcing your Will upon the Veil. For this, then, that meant knowing a form so well that she could convince the Veil to change her form to reflect the desired one instead of reality.
Could she just "remind" the Veil that this wasn't her reality? Or did she have to fully mold and convince it to change her into her actual form?
Closing her eyes, she went to work on the latter. Mentally reaching for the Veil, she concentrated on picturing herself. Her arms and hands, shoulders, knees to toes. Her height and structure. How it felt to simply stand and breathe.
Bevin felt the tingle of magic on her skin. Another breath in and there was an odd sensation of stretching - not painful, but definitely unique and a touch uncomfortable. Like pouring into herself.
Opening her eyes, she immediately noticed that she was higher. And colder. Something still felt off, and she knew there definitely was from hearing Mythal try to stifle her giggles.
A cough brought her attention to Dorian, who had turned away from her.
Skin catching her eye, she looked down to find herself completely naked. She gave an annoyed hum, thinking that she probably should have expected this part. Her clothes were in a crumpled pile in her room, after all.
Bevin adjusted her posture, turning and crossing her legs over the side of the desk. More for comfort than any real sense of preserving modesty and someone's delicate sensibilities.
"Unless you would like to explain to Josie the inevitable rounds of gossip that would stem from this were I to march back to my room in my current state, could you kindly retrieve my clothing, Dorian?" And unless he was quick about it, that would happen no matter what. "Also don't need to give Varric any more material."
"Should he see you with those," he gestured with his brows, "I'm sure he'd have enough material for a whole new series."
"'Those' what?" she asked, raising her hands to her head. Then she felt them. She still had the ears.
"And…" he lead.
And the tail.
Huh.
Dorian ducked out while she was feeling up and messing with her new appendages. The ears had remained proportional from her fennec counterpart, so they probably looked oversized and ridiculous on her.
Nails slowly dragging through the base of her tail had her sucking in a breath as a bolt of pleasure shot up her spine. Shoulders rolling back, she became frozen. Fingers passed along the rest of the length of her tail with a flick, nearly drawing a whimper from her throat.
Motherfucker. He might have been letting her take the time to decide on their relationship, but hell was he not making it easy to actually think it all through. Stupid wolf.
Stupid wolf and his stupid pretending that he knew nothing of shapeshifting.
She glared at Solas with a pout and pulled her tail around her side. Dorian was taking too long.
Thankfully, Nikki striding through the door just then would put an end to any further ideas on his part.
She stopped halfway to them, confusion dawning on her face. "Why…?" 'are you naked,' was the rest of Nikki's question. The Inquisitor's eyes flicked up. "Why…?" 'do you have fox ears,' was the followup.
"Frankly, I just forgot about this part." Bevin gestured down herself. "Which is dumb considering how long it took me to climb out of the heap of clothing. Otherwise: magic."
"I- yeah." Nikki shook her head. "I came to talk to him." She pointed behind her towards Solas. "You know we have a meeting, right?"
She shrugged. "Just waiting on Dorian."
"They're gonna have a field day out there if they see you with cat ears," Nikki pointed out, not that she needed reminding.
Her eyes rose, just barely able to see the tips of her ears if she tried. "They're fox." Part of her was upset that they'd very likely get the animal wrong. "Not that they'd know." She felt them flatten against her head.
Dorian made his entrance again at last. Bevin was quick to pull the proffered robes over her head, though didn't bother with the leggings as there was no way they'd fit around her tail without discomfort. From somewhere, he had found a wide-brimmed hat. With her ears having a mind of their own, however, she couldn't get it to stay on her head without holding it in place.
With a grumble of frustration and a bid to see Nikki in a few, she strode out of the rotunda, making a beeline for the War Chamber - the hat just had to work until she was safe there!
As was the theme of today, though, she felt ridiculous the whole way.
