EVERYTHING'S GOING TO THE BEAT / discovery

Beck certainly noticed when his newly-made friend disappeared within the obscuring walls of Aurum's home; a looming structure he wouldn't be caught double-dead even glancing at. His fear of the proxy pervaded every desire to investigate, ragged breath catching in his chest whenever he passed, as though the larger feline would burst from the doors and give chase.

Yet this time when paranoia quickened his step into a frantic trot across the outskirts of Aurum's front yard, he skidded to a halt, some movement catching his eye. A silhouette passed by the window, not as broad-shouldered as the angel nor as tall. Roy. Who else could it be? Swallowing thickly, the poltergeist concocted a plan to lure Roy back into the open, where no so-called father could scare the boy off. The skeletal tiger seemed to enjoy flowers, stopping to smell roses every chance he got. An admirable trait, and one he could bend to his advantage. Additionally, a bouquet could be considered an act of kindness. And kindness happened to be something he desperately sought to prove.

Grinning quietly to himself, Beck hurried to a sprouting garden, selected as the best display of blooms on the block. With a few terse nips, he collected his offering by their stems, delicately arranging the blossoms into a limp bouquet, heads bowing under their own weight. The scrawny feline pouted to himself, fussing with the flowers before sighing in defeated and allowing grimy paws to return to Aurum's-- Roy's home.

The bundle of fresh flowers meant to cheer up the home-confined Roy fell to the mud as his jaws opened in slight shock. That was not a tiger. Much less Roy. Blinking in confusion, Beck recoiled from the unfamiliar creature, lowering himself closer to the trodden ground reflexively. Hackles bristled with static, a crackling murmur of wariness as he studied the... thing. Pointed snout, ringed tail much like a raccoon, but thinner, almost like a ferret. The name teased the tip of his tongue, scrambling to remember the species before him once seen in a television documentary.

As he struggled to identify the stranger, dull eyes met with amber ones, appearing equally as confused as he. Heart-stamped pupils locked with Beck's pinpricks -- then it clicked. Straightening, he gawked for a moment, head tilting this way and that. A soft wheeze slipped from scabbed lips, "...Roy? Is that you?" Obviously, it was. Pupils shaped like hearts weren't exactly common. Neither was living with Aurum. "You, um... you look different. But in a good way!" he reassured, finding it awfully awkward to be nearly eye level with Roy after craning his neck to speak with a tiger. "B-but also that doesn't mean the old look was bad, 'cause both were really good-looking! Wait, not, like attractive, that would be weird--" The poltergeist abruptly cut off his rambling fiasco, tongue bitten between crooked teeth. Sucking in a sharp breath, he sheepishly mumbled, "Sorry." Blathering fool. He shouldn't have said anything at all.

☆ HUNG PICTURES OF PATRON SAINTS UP ON MY WALL TO REMIND ME THAT I AM A FOOL. TELL ME WHERE I CAME FROM, WHAT I WILL ALWAYS BE: JUST A SPOILED LITTLE KID WHO WENT TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL —

Aurum, as of late, had been trying his best to support Roy quietly, from a distance. He knew quite well that his son enjoyed his company, and hardly minded it when the two of them were just relaxing together casually within their home, but when it came to trying to get Roy to go out? The angel just didn't want to overwhelm the poor boy, having learned that Roy was hardly the same as him when it came to social interaction. Where Aurum flourished and bloomed when he was the center of attention, Roy withered and shrank away, usually only preferring to spend time with those he truly liked, or personalities he clicked with. Initially that had made Aurum anxious, thinking that perhaps he was failing as a father on some level since he had seen so many children ever so eager to go out and interact with every person they saw. However, he'd come to terms with the fact that Roy wasn't like most children. For one thing, he wasn't truly a child, really. The proxy didn't know his son's exact age, but Roy acted like a teen, and had certainly been growing like one as well, so it wasn't as if the tiger was a little kit taking his first steps into a big, unknown world. He was pretty close to it, considering he had once not truly known anything about the world outside of a lab, but he had been growing past that as well.

For another thing, Aurum knew that Roy had a past that he didn't always want to discuss with people, even him. Or sometimes, had a past that wasn't able to speak about, since memories were cloudy or shoved down deep. At first, this had been yet another thing that caused the angel to worry, but now he just knew the reality of it all. After all, he had plenty of trauma from his childhood he didn't want to talk about, so why would it be any different for Roy? Nowadays he just offered his comfort silently, laying with the boy when he was struggling and gently encouraging him whenever he expressed a desire to go and do something. Perhaps it was just the new cubs developing inside of him that were holding his attention for the moment, but Aurum no longer felt the need to be so overbearing when it came to Roy. He would more than likely always be a bit of a worrywart when it came to any of his children, but he also knew well that if Roy was having any problems, he knew that he could come and talk to his father about it – or at least, he desperately hoped that he knew that. There were still things hidden away that Aurum didn't know, like the voice inside of Roy's head, but that would be an issue to confront for another day.

The proxy had been far from his large home when Roy had begun to wonder about his apprehension surrounding the Great Gatsby, the tigon having been focused on catching himself some food for the day. His tastes had been fluctuating around wildly as of late thanks to his pregnancy, but he eventually managed to find himself a fat squirrel that, while small compared to himself, tasted absolutely divine in his jaws. He had been on the way home when the sound of Beck's soft wheezing voice caught his attention, his one blue eye flicking around before it landed on the spirit, standing right in front of his home. He stared at Beck for a moment in confusion, wondering what the other could possibly want with his home, before his gaze moved to the porch, freezing when he saw the unfamiliar figure standing there. At first his heart leaped in his chest, petrified that some stranger had gone into his home and potentially put Roy and Kaito in danger, but then he processed Beck's words, remembering what he had called the new figure. Roy? That was Roy? It seemed like an odd shift in forms for his son, but... well, it wasn't as if Aurum was a stranger to shifting forms, especially sometimes against your own will, so he was hardly ready to write it off completely.

Carefully putting down his squirrel – his meal forgotten for the time being – the angel made his way over to the front of the porch, making sure to keep a wide gap of space between he and Beck as he sat down to inspect the coati. He had to admit that it was a cute little form, probably more fitting of Roy's quiet nature at the moment than the skeletal tiger form that had always carried with it an unpleasant theme of death. Remembering what Beck had just been babbling on about, Aurum nodded his head a little before he spoke, "Beck's right. You look... very different. But not a bad different. Are you feeling alright...?" He could see the slightly disoriented look that lingered on his son's face, and he bit back his soft joking comment about just wanting a new look, at least for the moment. If Roy needed some kind of emotional or physical help, Aurum would be happy to provide, either by doing so himself or going to get one of the medics.

[div style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #722227; font-size: 24px;"][color=#c16f78]— AURUM

#psychosocial.