Rafael comes staggering back out the of bathroom that morning and pauses. The other two are gone, having headed outside for a run.
Nicholas and Stavros half-heartedly exercise occasionally, mainly relying on teenage boy metabolism and their usual antics to keep themselves fit for Loops. This morning, after Rafael locked himself in the bathroom after they jumped on his bed to wake him up, they decided to stretch themselves out for the moon that’s coming tonight.
Rafael looks at the closed door and then looks at Stavros' bed the other two slept in last night. He takes a few quick steps then flops into the smell, rolls around a few times and goes back to getting ready for the day, now with the scent on his clothes.
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Nicholas is panting as he walks back through the hallways to the InCore tower, sweaty hands on his equally sweaty naked waist, his stripped off shirt stuffed into the side of his shorts. His hair is dripping because he dunked his head into the lake after the last lap. He doesn't know what biome the island is in right now but why is it so hot this high up? Rude.
"Hi, Nicky," an InCore coos as she walks past.
"Hi, Nicky!" cheers one of her friends, a NatCom, a lot more innocently.
Stavros clears his throat pointedly, raising his eyebrows where he's also sweaty after the jog-turned-desperate-race.
"Take your shirt off then," the InCore scoffs.
Stavros is spluttering, looking back over his shoulder as they walk away. “I am not a piece of meat!”
Two minutes later, an equally shirtless Stavros ducks away with a RitCast girl because now he thinks it’s a challenge, and Nicholas takes the walk back to InCore alone with much eye rolling.
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Rito walks through the forest next to Luca, who has a hand resting lightly on Rito’s curved horn, running fingers over the ridges. Hearth is bounding around excitedly because he has the zoomies, and Rafael is pulling nice looking sticks or flowers off nearby flora to decorate Rito’s mane and Hearth’s tail with.
The forest is an epicentre of magic and that power rips through space, leaving multiple portals all over. It’s maybe two per kilometre radius but Thoth runs fast and doesn’t have the wherewithal to understand what to avoid.
And because of a werewolf who doesn’t understand what to avoid, a few years ago they mapped the portals -preteens and stupidly fearless like they couldn’t get thrown into a different dimension and literally just die- then they started working on closing the boring portals so Thoth gets more space. They’re basically experts at this point.
“This one,” Rafael tells Luca and they come to a stop in front of hazy air. “It’s a bit of a fall, maybe two metres, so brace for the landing.”
“Thanks.” Luca pets Rito, and then bends down to pet Hearth too before he moves towards the portal. “You guys have fun. I’ll bring back snacks.”
All three of them wave -hand, paw, hoof- as Luca steps through the portal to go meet Christos. It ripples around him and settles again. The three continue on another half an hour to another portal, one connecting to the much larger Congo rainforest because they’re all going to stretch their legs tonight.
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Nicholas is already casting numbing and muscle-relaxing medical spells as Thoth’s body cracks and jerks back into Rafael, muscles shifting strangely under his skin as the orb of light overhead brightens the pitch-black rainforest. They already fed Thoth a pain reliever potion and it’s better if he stays relaxed rather than fight the transformation and end up with bones remade wrong.
Rafael comes back panting and exhausted, still curled up limply on the giant dog bed they were all napping on but his eyes are sharp. Stavros conjures a massive fluffy blanket and throws on a cushioning charm to the bed so it's extra soft and pliable. The Congo is a dry heat so it won’t smother Rafael as long as they keep the cooling spell up.
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Nicholas searches through the side bag for more potions. He pops the top off one and shoves a straw in to make it easier to drink but when he holds it out, Rafael turns away.
Nicholas first thinks Rafael needs to catch his breath more but after a long pause, he pulls the vial back. “You don’t want it?”
The potions Rafael takes help dial things back down so he’s not overloaded by human senses but at wolf strength. However, it means he folds into himself much faster. Occasionally he doesn’t want to be human so fast.
Rafael hums, blinking blearily as he shakes off the spells on him with a shiver. Werewolves are slightly magic resistant and Nicholas doesn’t know if it’s normal, but Rafael seems to be doing it much faster now compared to a few years ago.
“Don’t sit up yet,” Stavros warns, putting a hand on the blanket over Rafael’s shoulder when he starts moving too much. “You don’t feel it now, jacked up on the good shit, but-“
“I’m fine,” Rafael rasps as he sits up, coming close to a growl because the moon might not be properly full anymore but it hangs heavy in the sky, peering down through the thick canopy high above.
Nicholas packs the potion away then crawls behind Rafael, unfolding into Rito. Rafael leans back, using the sheep as a soft backrest. Stavros flops beside him and Rafael half falls onto his shoulder, tucking his nose into blond curls.
After a moment, Rafael pulls back, and Stavros hands over the apprentice wand he was keeping safe. Rafael licks his lips, eyes darting around. They set up a ward to keep out the outside world while Thoth shifted back. He lifts his wand but just sticks it to his forearm. “Take it down.”
Stavros drops the ward and the sounds of the forest rush back in. “You want the light off?”
Rafael grunts and as the orb dissipates, his eyes start to glow. They sit in silence, listening to the loud cries of insects and birds, the rustles of leaves and the far-off rush of water.
“Do you want to keep moving?” Rafael asks, already pushing the blanket off him.
“I’m up for it,” Stavros shrugs.
Rito bleats.
They pack up, vanishing any signs they were here. Rafael gets bullied into some shorts but starts walking off before they can cram shoes onto him. Stavros swings the bag over Rito’s head for easy access and they set off into the darkness.
The forest on the island is cold with mostly magical vegetation and things that move in the shadows. The Congo is much more mundane in its wildlife and doesn’t have the dense air of magic pressing down on them.
After making sure Rafael’s stagger is clearing up, Stavros folds down into Hearth too and all three of them meander around, exploring. Rito keeps a close eye on Rafael for signs the pain reliever is wearing off.
Rafael doesn’t seem to notice if it does and instead lopes through the trees, growling in response to excited fox chirps and happy sheep bleats. He’s beautiful like this.
The thing Rito likes most about Rafael's appearance is the boy's eyes. They're a gorgeous golden colour and squint a bit when he's trying not to smile at a dumb joke. But the best part is when Rito looks into Rafael's eyes for too long, gets too deep, he sees the shadow of the wolf peering out.
And both of them look back at Rito with so much love.
The dark night lingers but Rafael slowly comes back to himself. He straightens up more, fusses over the leaves Rito’s mane has accumulated, and tries to call Hearth back when the fox disappears. Except Hearth wants to play now so it turns into a game of tracking him through the jungle.
The fox probably assumes it’ll be like Thoth getting down with his nose in the dirt and following hints of tiny paws but Rafael cheats with magic so all of Hearth’s usual tricks are useless. The fox’s little tracking arrow flicks back and forth as Hearth sneakily doubles over his tracks but Rafael follows at a lazy stroll with one hand smoothing over Rito’s closest horn.
Rito noses at Rafael’s hip, then down at the bag he’s carrying, still worried about lingering pains.
“I’m fine,” Rafael says simply. “Tonight is good.”
Hearth’s arrow splits into two, both going in opposite directions because the fox has realised they’re using magic but doesn’t want to stop playing.
“I’ll go left, you go right,” Rafael says.
Rito looks into the trees on the right but it’s denser and looks darker, even with fancy sheep night vision. He turns back to Rafael to complain because-
“I’m not going deeper into the forest,” Adam complains half-heartedly. “Why don’t you go right?”
Rito blinks and comes to a slow stop. He remembers it so clearly. His first instinct is to shake it off because he’s not afraid of the forest, not the one on the island and not this one, and he’s not going to let stupid sheep brain scare him.
But then, well, does it matter if Rito clings a little bit? He’s got nothing to prove, and he likes it when they walk together.
“Rito?” Rafael asks, also slowing to a stop a few steps ahead. He glances right and nods. “Yeah, that does look a bit much for a sheep. We can swap.”
Rito trots up and ducks his head, shoving a horn into Rafael’s hand.
“You want to come with me?” Rafael skips the horn and goes straight to petting Rito’s short coat. “Okay, left it is.”