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Astral, instead of getting up and dealing with Simon, sat where he was, letting his indignation come through the tie between them to wash over Simon. He really was enforcing a literal thought crime, then. Simon wasn't allowed to think about that, let alone pray about it.
Simon felt a burst of panic as Astral’s feeling washed over him. He..he hadn’t know that Astral could hear that. His thoughts began to race no matter how much he tried to quiet them. How much could he hear? How much did he already know? Was it everything? Or just some things? He squeezed Mia just a bit tighter, feeling a bit like a little kid who’d gotten scared by the dark. I…I didn’t know…. he thought to himself fearfully.
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Astral was listening to everything now, of course, not just the prayers. He found it… cute, how Simon was reacting.
Old habits die too hard for gods.
You would think someone would be smart enough to understand who prayers go to when in a god's palace, Astral said in turn.
Not even Simon's mind was a place he could keep Astral out of.
Mia opened her eyes when she felt Simon hold her tighter, looking down.
"What's wrong?" she asked softly. Something was off, she could tell.
Simon flinched at Astral’s words. It really had been stupid, no one ever listened before, why did he expect anyone besides Astral to be listening now. I-I’m sorry.. He didn’t respond to Mia, just clinging to her tightly.
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Just be careful what you pray for next time. With that, Astral stopped caring, dropping the connection. Simon had been warned, and he would know better the next time.
"Simon..?" Mia was worried. She hugged Simon closer, looking down at him with concern.
He finally looked up at her, starting to tremble a bit again. “I…” whatever he was going to say, it seemed he decided against saying, and closed his mouth, going back to silence.
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Mia moved to cup Simon's cheeks, holding him close.
"Simon, what happened?" She asked. She kept her voice soft, eyes filling with concern. Had he remembered something? That Astral did to him?
“H-he…” he stammered out, still honestly shocked by the experience. “H-he hears everything.” He said fearfully, pointing at his head to help get the whole point across.
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"I…" Mia trailed off. She'd known. She'd known he could look in, but she didn't know he could… let Simon know he was. The woman hugged Simon closer, rubbing his back.
"I'm so sorry…"
“I-I just want to be a-at peace. But I-“ he let out a long sigh. “I don’t want to make him any more angry than he already is…”
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"I know… We… we have to be… careful. He, he doesn't watch all the time! We just… can't catch his attention…" Mia tucked her head against Simon's head, humming softly to try to help him calm down.
Simon didn’t really seem to believe it. To be fair this was possibly the worst day he’d had in awhile. He just wanted to be left alone to think, but he wasn’t even allowed to do that anymore.
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"We can't pray," Mia continued. "He… it all goes right to him, and if we pray the wrong thing he gets… upset." The woman ran her fingers gently through Simon's hair, keeping him close.
“I don’t know why I even did it in the first place…it was stupid…” he grumbled. He hated that that’s how desperate he felt already. To turn to help from any god who’d listen. None of them had ever helped him before, so why would they now?
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Mia nodded slightly.
"I… we just have to be careful. I'm… I'm sorry for not warning you." She had thought Simon had figured it out, it was her mistake.
“It’s okay, Mia. Hopefully this won’t end up being that big of a deal. Don’t beat yourself up for this too much, okay?” He said, hugging his friend quickly.
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"Okay…" Mia hugged Simon back, tucking her head against his shoulder.
"It's… it's okay to wish, though. He can't hear those unless he chooses too." By then, of course, it wouldn't matter how the thoughts were framed.
He nodded. But he was almost afraid of doing that now, not wanting to give Astral the chance of knowing things important to him. He couldn’t help but wonder if Astral already knew about Evan. That would…he wouldn’t like that. Evan was a very private subject for him.
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Astral had known for some time, of course. Since Simon visited the grave. He'd keep that part secret, for now. He'd wait to bring Evan up until it would benefit him.
Mia knew at any moment he could be watching. The god could just be bored and decide to… fuck with them.
There was a scratching sound at a door. The leopard let out a sound, pushing his head against the door.
Simon smiled softly at hearing the leopard at the door. He pulled away from Mia’s arms, heading over to open it for him. Simon did still think of him as just a big friendly cat, and so far he hadn’t been proven wrong. He opened up the door, smiling down at him. “Hello there dear, did you want to come in?”
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Mia tensed as she looked at the leopard. She still didn't trust it.
The leopard, in turn, gently nudged his head against Simon's hand, licking him lightly. The leopard really was just a big friendly cat, and glad to be out of the zoo.
Simon giggled softly, the first time he’d truly seemed happy all day. Simon knelt down to pet him some more. “Thank you for coming to visit, it’s nice to see you.”
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The leopard leaned into Simon's hand, licking at him again.
Mia had herself relax, some. She wasn't going to worry Simon, not when he seemed to actually be happy.
Simon smiled softly, happy for the small distraction from everything that was going on. He sat down fully, leaning forward to plant a gentle kiss on the leopard’s head.
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The leopard gently bumped his head against Simon's lips in turn, moving to rest it on Simon's lap once he was settled down. The cat nuzzled close, tail flicking.
The smile on Simon’s face stayed, maybe even grew some as the leopard became comfortable. He decided it was best to keep the two of them here on the floor to avoid causing Mia any more stress. He continued to pet the big cat, just letting himself relax.
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The leopard rolled onto his side, tongue sticking out slightly as he made sure his head was still comfortably taking up Simon's lap space.
Astral, though, wasn't going to let everything be good. He never did, after all. He was watching the scene, thinking to himself. He didn't like just how close Simon was with the leopard, by now. What could he do..?
He smirked as an idea came to mind, hand coming up some.
The leopard blinked as a strange sensation came over his body, shaking his head some, letting out a breath from his nose. It didn't go away, though, and the big cat blinked some again. When he opened his eyes once more, though, something was… off. His body felt too strange, and cold.
"Hnn..?"
Simon scrambled backwards as soon as the transformation had started. He’d never seen someone change forms before so this was very weird to him. He went back to Mia’s side, very much nervous. “H-hello?” He called out once it seemed that everything was done.
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The 'leopard' looked up as Simon scrambled away, blinking hazing. This… this felt strange, still. He looked down at his body, letting out a surprised yelp and scrambling back himself. Why– why did he have hands?? This, this wasn't his body!!
Simon was very confused to say the least. He stayed back at a distance still, just not feeling exactly safe at the moment. “A-are you okay?” He stammered out.
