The Chained Watcher

(Chained Watcher POV pt 2)

A few minutes of walking later, the human's emotions shift from the lack of focus usually seen in one lost in their own thoughts, towards a sense of realization. It looked over, hesitating a moment before speaking.

"U-umm, I hate to ask this, b-but you know how I said me and my friends escaped from an arena?" Well, yes. It had brought that up, but what did that have to do with anything? "W-well, I'm a bit worried there might be some kind of... misunderstanding, when we find them, because, umm... well... The arena was kind-of run by... Watchers..." Ahh, that's what it means. 

The problem is, how to avoid causing a fuss? A disguise maybe? He examined the human for a moment, deciding to use it as a vague reference. 

Magic swelled, surging out to coat him in phantasmal flames. He used these flames to guide and mold himself a different form, condensing down to a height somewhat shorter than his reference. After all, short things were generally less scary, right? A couple of touch ups later, he let the flames disperse, marveling at the strange feeling of having only a single pair of wings on his back, before opening his eyes.

His new form had dulled the clear-as-day purple of his magic down to a light lilac, which was oddly disconcerting to look at but not unmanageable. One of the benefits of this disguise would be a much more normal speaking voice than any Watcher would have. He almost pushed the question to the human, but stopped once he remembered that they didn't do that. Opening his mouth, confusion took over as a harsh rasp of a noise came out.

Well that would not do in the slightest. A brief flare of magic later, and his new vocal cords were in much better working condition. This time, his voice came out sounding much closer to how a human should sound. "Will this do?"

The human seems to be surprised at his voice. Did it think that he would not think to disguise his voice as well? Either way, it seemed to be adequate as the human caught its thoughts wandering and got out a response. 

"Y-yes, that should work just fine. Some of the other gladiators are failed experiments, so you should fit right in!" He raised his eyebrow. After all this time, he himself really didn't care, but he knew that most Watchers would kill any who compared them to "lesser" beings. 

The human seemed to realize this too, and started leaking fear again as it stammered out a defense. "I-I didn't mean it that way! I-it's just that m-most of those who have d-distinct non-human features are W-Watcher experiments, a-and there's a l-lot of variety in how it's... expressed..." It trailed off as he lightly chuckled, surprising himself almost as much as the human. It was properly flabbergasted now, looking over its shoulder as if expecting something to be there. Looking back, its face grew red as it realized the source of amusement.

It's been... how long, since he laughed like this? His chuckles grew into laughter, as the human tried to protest against it. "I-it's not funny! The other gladiators genuinely do look quite strange!" He made eye contact, pushing the laughter towards the human, who tried its hardest to continue defending its pride despite the hilarity of it. 

"The amount of new hybrids who trip over their own limbs is quite a large percentage, I'll have you know." It continued, distracted in its efforts to avoid joining in on the laughter. "They don't even get the time to get used to tails or wings or different shaped legs before they-" 

It cuts itself off as it steps on a trailing shoelace, falling to the floor in what looked to be the least graceful way it could have possibly managed. Shaking with laughter, he looks up to see the human looking at him. It gives in and laughs, acknowledging the irony of tripping right while talking about others doing so.

After a good solid minute of laughing, it gets to its feet, the laughter settling into a general mirth that flavored the surroundings, making them seem more vibrant than before. Every once-in-a-while though, the human checks its shoelaces on the off chance they came undone again, prompting a giggle when it does.