arcane nest

Vytal walked into eir and Meridian’s shared apartment near the start of March to almost every single pillow in the house on the floor. All the couches had been pushed back to the sides of the room and stripped bare of their cushions as well. The pillows were not just thrown haphazardly, of course, but arranged in an intricate circle in the direct middle of their living room. Draped in seemingly specific places were all of the blankets, making lines between whatever 24 point star Meridian seemed to be concocting here. There are also seemingly random piles of candles, chalk, towels and random objects near each point of the star, like someone was trying to do some random arcane nonsense.

In the middle of this… ‘ritual’ circle was Meridian, fast asleep. He was tucked in on himself, curled into a tight ball and wrapped in several blankets. He didn’t look immediately pale or sickly, which was Vytal’s first thought. Eir second thought is that he obviously must have finally been overcome with madness. Sad, but truly inevitable. All that staring at fictional books as if they’re the answer to the world has to take a toll on the mind, ey think.

But then ey remember exactly what month it is. And what happens at this time of month.

Breeding season is often something that Vytal considers eirself above. Yes, instincts, of course. But ey think ey have a far better control over emself than some ‘biological need’ does. Ey recognize those sorts of things, and shut them down. Like a professional does.

Meridian clearly doesn’t though. The ‘arcane’ bun is looking comfortable in bun form, wrapped in his chains that he refuses to remove to make himself more comfortable. His eyepatch is pressing into a pillow that is supposed to be part of their communal living room, and he’s absolutely drooling a bit on the pillows that, again, are supposed to be shared between the two of them.

Vytal sighs and walks past Meridian back to eir room. Ey change out of eir work clothes and shift into bun form. If eir going to indulge in this behavior, it would be best to meet Meridian on his own level. This is all for eir roommates benefit, after all. Vytal would never give into those base nesting instincts, of course. It’s below em.

Ey carefully remove eir cloth mask, folding it and setting it on eir side table. It seems Meridian was kind enough to not take any bedding material from Vytal’s room, which was at least thoughtful of him. Doesn’t mean he still isn’t being incredibly disruptive to Vytal’s schedule. Truly, ey had better things to do than join Meridian in nesting. But ey simply had to. Because… Well, because ey had to look after eir foolish roommate. That clearly necessitates joining him in the… comfortable looking nest.

As ey navigate towards the center of this nest, Meridian seems to stir. His single eye creaks open, and he sits up with extreme force. Several pillows near go flying, and Vytal steps out of the way to avoid them.

“Vytal! Welcome! You’re just in time for the ritual to begin,” he says, as if he hadn’t been snoring seconds before. Vytal will never know how this bun wakes up fully recharged regardless of how long he’s been asleep. Ey will also never know how he’s entirely oblivious to how stupid he looks pretending that he was waiting for em when he was clearly passed the hell out. “It’s a good thing too,” Meridian continues. “I was worried you wouldn’t be able to benefit from the protection ritual.”

“This is a protection ritual?” ey humor him.

“Yes! See, I’ve inscribed each point of the ritual star here with energy and emotion. This means that we’ll be warded from each and every one of them while we rest here,” Meridian explains diligently. “It requires the arcana of a powerful caster to embue energy into inanimate objects, but the plushness of these objects in particular make them very receptive to holding emotion.”

“Right,” Vytal takes a seat in the center of the ne- ritual circle. “And tell me, why do we need this protection circle?”

“A very acute question, Vy. Absolutely befitting of a bun of your brains to ask the right question.”

Vytal preens a bit at the compliment, knowing that Meridian is nothing but genuine.

Meridian nods solemnly. “So, we need this protection circle because the era that will be besetting us for the next two fortnights is one of very hostile energy and emotion. The swings of the ground beneath our feet and the magic in the air will be in heavy flux because of the season.”

Vytal doesn’t roll eir eyes. Even if ey really want to. Ey’re well trained in that. “So we need a big plush protection circle to protect us….”

Meridian nods.

“From an onset of emotions because of the season?”

“Exactly!” Meridian exclaims.

Well, Vytal thinks, he’s not entirely wrong. You could absolutely describe a nest like that, if you wanted to be entirely delusional about the way the world works.

“This is a great idea, Meri. You can go get the pillows from my room to add to the… ritual… if you’d like.”

As Meridian scampers off to do so, Vytal gets comfortable amongst the mass amount of pillows. Regardless of whether it’s a ritual circle or a nest, it is oddly tempting to nap in.