[The atmosphere's changed from anxious and tense to something else; Atem doesn't question it. There's an ebb and flow to life, an ebb and flow to the pace of a game, and now that he can see, and his snakes can see, and the top part of his shed is shrugged off and cast aside and the bottom part is peeling off slowly but steadily, rustling quietly a few feet away -- the end's in sight, and Atem is incredibly content to let Ryou press his face into new skin. It's so new it feels jumpy -- like all contact is dialed up in intensity, Atem's pretty sure he could feel a pin drop in the next room -- but Ryou's face and hair and breath are all soft, and it's a lot, but it's nice.
...
Really nice, actually. He might have to be careful, he thinks, as more old-scales peel away from new scales, and his arms slip around Ryou in something closer to a hug, and there is gentle little-snake investigation of Ryou's hair wherever they and their little tongues can reach. He sighs, contentedly, as some of his freed snake half gets pulled underneath him, across Ryou's knees. Atem wants to be holding Ryou right now, he's missed feeling up to it for the last, what, week? Terrible, to absolutely hate the idea of touch 95% of the time the whole first week you have a boyfriend, and a cleared, vibrant, exfoliated loop of snake tail curls around behind Ryou. I've got to be careful, he thinks, distantly, but does absolutely nothing to stop himself.
When the last of the tail-shed goes, pulling over the uneven, stumpy, bony protrusion at the end, there's a rattly little sound, not unlike a cup of dice, if dice were made of bone.
100% done that pfff
...
Really nice, actually. He might have to be careful, he thinks, as more old-scales peel away from new scales, and his arms slip around Ryou in something closer to a hug, and there is gentle little-snake investigation of Ryou's hair wherever they and their little tongues can reach. He sighs, contentedly, as some of his freed snake half gets pulled underneath him, across Ryou's knees. Atem wants to be holding Ryou right now, he's missed feeling up to it for the last, what, week? Terrible, to absolutely hate the idea of touch 95% of the time the whole first week you have a boyfriend, and a cleared, vibrant, exfoliated loop of snake tail curls around behind Ryou. I've got to be careful, he thinks, distantly, but does absolutely nothing to stop himself.
When the last of the tail-shed goes, pulling over the uneven, stumpy, bony protrusion at the end, there's a rattly little sound, not unlike a cup of dice, if dice were made of bone.
The rattle's back!]