April 20, 2008

Fil did not particularly like this part of the monthly ritual, especially for the past few years.  Things were especially tense with Sean and he did not appreciate being treated in that manner.  He didn’t do anything on purpose in his werewolf state and to take him away from one of the only true friends he had, well, it was crueler than a stay at Azkaban ever could be.  At least in there he wouldn’t have to see them every day and remember them while they had no memory of him.

Granted it was much better now that Fil was on his own and living his own life.  He wasn’t confronted with the problem directly and could do as much as he wanted to get rid of it.  After all, an owl to his father and his pocket was filled like it was no problem.  Sometimes, he really did appreciate the fact that his father didn’t really speak to him, there was a guilt attached to that which put Fil in the position to use that to his benefit.  That thought immediately made him think that he could really use a fire whiskey before this endeavor. 

Taking a peek around before crossing the threshold, Fil moved from Knockturn, his normal haunt into the busier streets of Diagon.  He liked getting lost in the crowd, it made him feel like he wasn’t anyone special – like there was nothing wrong with him.  The natural flow the mass made his walk a lot quicker than he probably would have liked, and he was able to break away with a little effort at the front of the clinic, an unwelcome, but familiar sight. 

Pushing the door open a little rougher than he should have, the young man shook himself a little as he walked to the front desk, curling his lip slightly at the girl behind the counter.  She was that kind of girl, the one who snapped her gum while she tapped her pen at you.  He hated those people, and when she glanced up from the pages of her Teen Witch magazine (more of an eye flick, really), she was only able to manage, “Name?” as though he was bothering her and it wasn’t her job or anything.
 
“O’Hare, Fillin,” he responded with equal annoyance.  If she wanted to play that game, well, he would.  And as she scribbled something down she flicked her eyes up at him again, “You can sit.  Someone will see to you soon,” was all she had to say in order to her job and she flipped the page of the magazine with a swishing sound, apparently she was a little more irritated than he thought.  Go figure.  He rolled his eyes, not bothering to dignify her with a response and turned around.

Choosing the first seat, he hunched over and glanced at the magazines on the side tables.  Pet magazines, how humiliating, he thought, to have to be treated in this situation.  It was just another salt rub in an unending stream of them.  Hopefully he would just be quick about it and let Fil go about his life and pictures: he really needed to try and find some work before he was laid up for the week. 

Kia's outfit

With a loud POP, Kia apparated into view at the back of her fathers clinic. The moment she appeared, she dashed towards the rickety stairs leading up to the second floor, taking them two at a time. She normally didn't rush like this, but for once in a long time, she was very late. Covi had needed some paperwork done that Kia promised to do earlier in the week, so she ended up staying after close to help out. Problem was, she had also promised her father to take care of his clients for that evening while he was out helping a local Abraxan breeder with a birth. It wouldn't be so bad if the first client wasn't scheduled a few minutes after she normally left the ministry and she wasn't ten minutes late.

Rushing in the back door, so the client didn't see her tardiness, Kia rang a small bell marked "3"  in the back to signal Coleen that she was there. The bell was connected, magically of course, to an identical one in Coleen's station. It signified which of the three rooms Kia would be waiting in. Just for extra measure, Kia hollered out at Coleen as she breezed by the receptionist room "Tell them I will see them in just a minute...". She then ducked into the restroom.

A couple minutes and much relief later, as apparation always seemed to make her need to use the restroom, Kia washed up and headed back to the hallway. On the way to room 3, she grabbed the patients chart. "Werewolf eh..." She murmured, reading the chart over. Her eyes dwelled a moment on the young mans name. Fillin O'Hare... it sounded very familiar, like she should have known him. Then it dawned on her, he was the werewolf boy that had attended Hogwarts with her! Of course... she just didn't remember him because he always seemed to ignore her existence. She didn't pay this much mind however, since she hadn't been the most friendly person in school either. Still wasn't.

Opening the door to Room 3 softly, Kia slipped into the room as quietly as a mouse so that she could get a good look at her patients back. Broad shoulders, shaggy hair, stooped posture and the ever popular werewolf wear of worn and torn clothing. He looked too dejected to be dangerous and Kia relaxed. Sliding her wand from her robes, Kia shut the door loudly enough to announce her presence. Striding forward, she didn't glance at his face at first. Instead, she went to wash her hands at the small sink in front of him. "Hello Fillin... My name is Kia... I am Mr. Ferris's daughter..." She turned, drying her hands, and gave him a small reassuring smile "... He had an emergency so I am taking his cases today..."

Fil hated waiting; he hated waiting a lot, actually.  And with nothing to read except magazines about pets and exotic creatures, well, he wasn’t exactly thrilled either.  He should have brought his recent rolls of film to look over, but he didn’t think it would take this long, and certainly didn’t anticipate waiting.  Sighing, he lifted his hand to the top of his head and ran it through his shaggy brown hair, another impatient sigh before a voice popped up from behind the counter.  “You can go to room three, you’ll be seen in a few minutes,” the disenchanted youth proclaimed in the most monotone voice he had ever heard.

He pushed himself up out of the chair with a soft grunt and smoothed down the clothes he was wearing, typical for a visit like this.  He had on his brown, leather jacket, a t-shirt, and some comfortable pants, nothing out of the way or showy – it was only Mr. Ferris, he’d seen him much worse shape before.  He had even taken the time to shower this morning – imagine that.  Walking past the counter, he spied the girl back at her magazine, “Don’t worry – I can find my own way back,” he informed her rather sarcastically – what bad help!  And then breezed past and into the room marked with a three.

There was, thankfully, a seat in the room, probably for the pet owner, but here he was – patient and pet, waiting for the doctor.  At least he didn’t need a flea soak or anything like that, though people joked about it all the time.  They were lucky he really wasn’t into violence or he probably would have quite the record against him.  The chair was, however, facing away from the door, something he did not necessarily like, but he dealt with, twiddling his thumbs as he hunched over, resting his elbows on his knees: a rather gawky position for someone as lumbering as he was.

When he heard the door, Fil turned his face, expecting Sean, but was greeted with another sight entirely.  He was lucky his jaw did not drop; however, he felt his mouth dry out instantly and he bit his lip.  Sean must have forgotten what day it was when he let his daughter fill in.  Fillin hadn’t seen her in quite some time, but she had the same presence about her that she always did (a little more confidant though), and she was beautiful.  It almost knocked the wind out of him.  “Ah… right… uh…” he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, before standing to offer his big hand to her.

“It’s uh… a pleasure to work with you… I guess,” he stammered, completely awkward and rather than the normally grumpy self he was, completely taken aback.  She probably still had absolutely no idea who he was, and that thought sent a pang of pain through his chest.  “I’m just here for the standard… you know, monthly ritual… nothing very exciting…”

“It’s uh… a pleasure to work with you… I guess, I’m just here for the standard… you know, monthly ritual… nothing very exciting…”

Kia tensed slightly when he bolted to his feet. Not because he was a werewolf, she dealt with worse ones at the Ministry, but because he was suddenly in her space and shoving a large mitt of a hand towards her. Sliding her soft and slender hand into his warm rough one, Kia grasped it in a firm but slightly awkward grip. Normally she focused on Dragons and other beasts, so when a patient stood and offered to shake her hand, Kia found it a bit disconcerting. As she shook his hand, she took a moment to get a good look at his face. He was cute, in the gruff, unshaven way that many werewolves were, with a honest face and an awkward expression. She surmised he probably didn't get out much.

"Well don't worry, I will take good care of you..." She said, offering him a rare smile. Kia normally didn't smile like that at people, only animals and family members. But somehow, despite his very human appearance, she sensed the wolf inside of him. Or was that the puppy dog? She didn't know. Whatever it was, she felt the need to be kind and gentle with him. Releasing his hand, Kia turned and opened his chart, looking it over for a moment before picking up a pair of old fashioned stethoscopes. Turning back to him, she snapped them onto her ears and nodded at him "Well... let's get started. Please take off your shirt.... Now, have you had any difficulties while transforming?"

She tensed.  Fil’s face dropped a little.  He hadn’t intended to be off-putting or scary at the moment.  In fact, that was the last thing he wanted.  It was not in his nature to just walk up to people and start creeping them out, particularly when it was someone he hadn’t been allowed to see in a long time.  It probably just proved what Sean had feared.  He didn’t think he was that bad of a guy, but everyone had their different ideas. 

He took some deep breaths, trying to calm himself down and stopped breathing for a moment, her smile was stunning.  Why did Kia Ferris have to be so beautiful?  When they were younger it was so much easier, she was gawky looking with the frizzy hair and braces, all of the things that made her practically invisible to boys.  Granted she had been his best friend, one of the only people who had known everything about him and that blinded him a little too, but at this point, after having not spoken for quite a few years, and her changed so much – well, it was a bit much for even Fil to handle. 

Her hand slipped from his own and Fil let his arm drop, watching her curiously.  He had completely forgotten this was more than just the administration of his wolfsbane; it was a check-up too.  His jaw set when she asked him to take off his shirt and, since she was the one in charge, he couldn’t rightly say no.  His face turned a bright shade of pink and he slipped his jacket off, tossing it onto the chair, and then grabbed the bottom of his t-shirt, pulling it over the top of his head, mussing his hair, before he threw it onto the chair as well.

Standing there shirtless, he felt very exposed and vulnerable.  He hated those feelings: looking down, he began to scratch at a scar on his arm – picking at it distracted him.  “No trouble,” he responded quietly, "The same as always."

When the flush of pink spread across his cheeks, Kia realized that staring at him was probably making him nervous. She wasn't used to caring for people as much as animals, so she hadn't realized how much her steady gaze must have unnerved him. Looking away as he went to pull the t--shirt off, Kia focused on the clipboard, trying not to blush herself.

“No trouble, The same as always."

"Mm..." She acknowledged his comment with a nod of her head and a scratch of her pen across the paper. "... Have you been having any medical issues lately... Colds, viruses--" She looked up at him finally and her breath caught in her throat the moment her eyes fell on his shirtless form. As a blush tinted her cheeks, she was suddenly overcome with a fit of coughing. Turning, she went to the sink and cupped some water into her hands, drinking deeply. She hadn't expected the muscles and the scars, two things that she found incredibly attractive. Most girls thought scars were gross, but Kia learned to love them as a child watching her father's coworkers wrangling dragons. The thought made her blush again and she tried to tame it before turning back to him.

"Sorry... Um as I was saying..." She tried not to stare at him too much as she spoke, "... Any illnesses to report?" Grasping the stethoscope, she bite her lip for a moment before approaching him. Bending over slightly, since the chair he was in was not meant for examination, she carefully placed it on his chest, her fingers brushing lightly against his warm skin. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, Kia tried not to get flustered, lest her own pounding heart distract her from any potential problems with his. "Breath in slowly" she instructed  softly.

Exposure was the last of Fil’s wants or needs at the moment, but he supposed that if it was going to get this over with faster, he was going to have to deal with it and take everything in stride.  These strides, at the moment, were inconsequential to the actual end he was striving towards and if she had to listen to his heart and all that stuff, well, he was going to let her so she could let him go. 

Of course, her continued questions didn’t seem very important to him – he would have said more about it, but he figured a simple, “No, none of that,” and he moved forward to sit on the edge of the seat.  He wasn’t going to take a seat on the animal table.  That was just demeaning and ridiculous, so they had to do with the chair for this.  He didn’t even notice her discomfort as he adjusted himself on the chair, trying to hide the fact that he was obviously at a loss as well.

The sooner he got out of here, the better, he thought.  Sean wouldn’t appreciate him being here – anywhere close to his daughter so close to the full moon.  It made Fil uncomfortable and his skin turned bumpy with goose pimples, worried he might come in at any second.  He was, of course, drawn up into his nerves when her fingers just barely grazed over his skin.  This was very different than the visits he normally had, and certainly more than a little uncomfortable.

He sucked in a breath hastily as his muscles drew up, only to exhale slowly, his eyes fixated on the floor.  He noticed her shoes – not that he knew anything about shoes, he just looked at them, next to his big feet and followed her direction, taking in a slow, somewhat steady breath (she was making it very hard), and prayed it would be done soon.

 “No, none of that,”

His answer was short and to the point, a fact Kia greatly appreciated. Partially because, as a person of few words herself, she appreciated that he didn't chat her up needlessly. But also because, as much as she was reluctant to admit it, the sound of his deep voice verberating through the stethoscope didn't help the blush threatening to take over her face. She didn't know how Kale did it when he had to examine an attractive girl, because this was exceedingly difficult every moment that she had to stare at his chest. This is why she worked with animals instead of people.

"Very good..." She said quickly, removing the stethoscope the moment she got a good heart beat. Turning away from him quickly, Kia scribbled his answers down before focusing on the next question. The moment her eyes scanned the words, she felt her face grow hot. Does he have any STDs? SERIOUSLY? She couldn't ask him that! Though... she kind of wanted to know as well, just because part of her was curious if he was seeing someone. That same part was the one that giggled when his shirt came off, caused her to squeeze out a little cleavage while she was taking his heart rate and wanted her to forget all of her training and professionalism so that she could ask him to remove his pants as well. This was a side she almost always blatantly ignored, but was finding difficult to avoid every moment he sat there in his shirtless glory.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Kia managed to cool her face down as she turned back to him "... Allright, um... a couple more questions... A..Are you.. um... sexually active...?" The last part came out faint and rushed. Flushing, she faltered here and, in an effort not to look at his face, her eyes fell on the scars across his chest. Licking her lips, she put the clipboard down and took a seat across from him "Before you answer that... Can I ask how... How it happened?" She motioned to the deep scars.

Usually Fil didn’t have to answer most of these questions, and more often than not, Sean was really quick about it.  It seemed like this was taking forever and he just wished to leave.   He also, at the moment, was struck with a distinct feeling of hunger.  He worried his stomach might gurgle right into her stethoscope, but before it had the chance, she pulled away and looked at the chart, allowing Fil to relax, stop basically holding his breath and look natural.  He had put on a few pounds this month, which was, he supposed, a good thing, and he looked a little more filled out.  Thankfully she wasn’t seeing him when he looked emaciated.

In a particularly bad month, Fil’s money found itself in the pockets of a barkeep than in the register of a grocery store.  He was just coasting at this point, not good or bad, just there and living.  He tried not to think about it too much, and since it was spring, he was able to take Carlyle out for extended periods of time without freezing, so he was in better spirits.  Glancing up at the awkward silence, he saw that her face was somewhat reddened and his dark eyebrows rose in curiosity. 

“... Allright, um... a couple more questions... A..Are you.. um... sexually active...?"

Fil almost pitched forward out of his chair.  “Oh Merlin, no!” he answered before he even had a chance to think about it.  As soon as he did, however, he felt a distinct blush blossoming over his features and he cleared his throat, glancing at the ground.  That was awkward.  It made him sound like some kind of prude or something – when in truth, he just… didn’t.  A werewolf’s shot was slimmer than the chances of being born a parseltongue at this point.  He just had a dog – and well… ew. 

"Before you answer that... Can I ask how... How it happened?"

Fil felt his body immediately tense when she sat down and he couldn’t look at her, not directly anyway.  Her face was on the peripheral, his eyes glancing behind her somewhere, at a poster on the wall or the medical supplies, sometimes (because they were hard not to notice), he glanced at her chest, but otherwise, he was steadfastly glancing at his ratty sneakers.  “My attack,” he informed her quietly, not really wanting to talk about it, but figuring she was the doctor now, and since she didn’t know anymore… Sean probably didn’t tell her.

“I was fourteen, in Scotland.  I was outside the house my dad rented for a while and lost track of time – and you know how it goes,” he shrugged his shoulders and shuffled his foot for a moment.  Feeling very restless all of a sudden, his eyes flashed with impatience at her.  “Is this almost over?”

“Oh Merlin, no!”

Kia almost giggled at his shock, partially because of the force of the response and partially out of relief. So he was single. Or at least not in a sexual relationship. Considering his age, she doubted the latter. Men his age generally didn't possess that much patience. Smiling inwardly, Kia went to write this information down in the file, glancing up at him out of her peripheral vision now and then. She caught him, once, staring at her chest. The idea both made her blush slightly and also bothered her at the same time. Thankfully, he looked away quickly seconds later and she maintained focus on her questions.

“My attack, I was fourteen, in Scotland.  I was outside the house my dad rented for a while and lost track of time – and you know how it goes,”

Something about his story, as brief and to the point as it was, struck a chord in the back of her mind. It felt almost as though she knew him and his history... but that was impossible, Kia didn't recall ever having any interaction with any werewolves, let alone him in particular, until she was working in the Ministry. But despite this, his story still tugged at her heartstrings and Kia found herself reaching towards him in a surprisingly uncharacteristic gesture of sympathy. However, before her hand reached his shoulder to pat it gently, his head snapped up and his eyes met hers, filled with what seemed like anger or something akin to it.

“Is this almost over?”

Taken aback, Kia's jaw tightened and her hand immediately fell to her side as her chin raised in defiance. She came here, pro bono, after an already long day at work, only to have someone she was trying to help snap at her like that? It hurt! This was yet another reason why she didn't work with people. Animals only snapped at you when you did something to cause it, and bite marks could easily be healed. The walls went up, in triplicate, and she quickly grew cold. "Yes. Sorry to take your time...." She said stiffly. Scribbling down the last question, Kia shoved the pen behind her ear and snapped the clipboard shut. ".... I will go get your potion and get the room ready. It is getting close to sun down..."

Fil’s impatience was not targeted at the girl specifically; it was more at himself and the whole situation that he found himself in.  It was killing him that she didn’t even know who he was, let alone their shared history and then he had to go and explain things to her that she should have already known and he just felt awkward and trapped.  Plus, it was getting close to the evening and it always made him anxious.  He always worried that he wouldn’t get into the room at the right time and then it would be a huge problem.

And at his sudden display of impatience, Kia returned with her typical icy behavior – the way she treated people she didn’t know.  The way she treated people she didn’t like.  His heart sunk in his chest, but he didn’t really feel like it was his fault.  She should have been more understanding.  It wasn’t like this was an easy day, and as he scratched at his arm, he felt the familiar tingles that signaled the night would soon be upon him and he would be locked up again.  He scratched his arm once more, a little more forcefully – stupid itch. 

The response she elicited was not surprising to him in the least, and Fillin was only glad to be done with all of this.  She was upset with him, and he in turn was upset with himself.  It’s not what he meant to do.  But, it was the way he operated, he pissed people off and they didn’t like him, he dealt with it.  “Yea… you should do that,” he itched his arms again, aggravated at the itchiness of everything.  “I’m starting to itch… so it must be close.”  He was trying to be a little nicer, since he had snapped at her, but he couldn't help the fact that he always came off a little cross.  This part of it was always the hardest, and he really hoped that he could just get the disgusting drink and into the padded cell - he felt like a criminal.  He might as well have been at this rate.  Another itch - ugh.

“Yea… you should do that, I’m starting to itch… so it must be close.”

His tone was softer this time, but she could still hear his impatience tugging at the edges. Her icy expression didn't change, despite his attempts to be less brutish, and she merely muttered "Just a moment" before leaving the room. She didn't have far to go, since the potions were kept in a small ice box in the receptionists office. As she shuffled through the contents, Coleen, who had put down her magazine when Kia entered in order to stare at her, finally spoke. "I bet you think he's cute don't you?" Kia glanced sharply up at her, her eyes narrowing to slits. Coleen didn't seem to notice "... You two would make a cute couple. I bet you have a lot in common--" She continued until Kia cut her off by slamming the door to the storage shut loudly.

There was something in Coleen's tone that bothered Kia greatly. It wasn't the sense of smugness it usually had, but the hint of secret knowledge, as though she knew something Kia didn't. Since Coleen had only been hired due to knowing Kale from school, Kia wondered if she knew something about those foggy school days that she couldn't accurately recall. She wasn't, however, planning on sticking around to find out. Her patient was probably tearing his well-toned, tan... er... his skin off right now. She gave Coleen an arctic stare before saying "That is none of your business Coleen. Don't you have work to do?" before turning on her heel and leaving the room with her nose in the air.

As she made her way back to the examination room, Kia begin to feel the tug of remorse at the back of her mind. She couldn't blame him for being snippy. After all, Kia herself would have reacted the same way had she been in his shoes. Hell, she probably would have been even nastier. Pausing at the doorway into the exam room, Kia took a deep breath and composed herself. She needed to be more professional and less sensitive about this. Managing a much softer expression, Kia opened the door. Fil hadn't moved, though his arm was red from scratching. Frowning, this time in concern, she walked up to him and placed a cool hand on the raw spot. "Don't... You are going to tear the skin open and it is going to make it worse... Here."

Setting down the potion, Kia opened the cabinet and found some unscented medicinal salve. Scooping a little out, she carefully rubbed it onto the itching spot. "It won't take away the effects of the transformation, but it will numb this spot a little for now... " She said softly, glancing up at him from under her lashes. Her natural nurturing personality was shining out from the icy shield around it, and she felt the wall melt a little more. Realizing her hand was on his arm longer then needed, she colored slightly and quickly changed gears. Grabbing the potion, she held it out to him "Here... Take this and then meet me downstairs, I need to go get the room ready..." Without waiting for a response, she nearly sprinted from the room. He just needed to get in the damn padded room and out of there before her cheeks were permanently painted red.

Being alone in the room, Fil was left to his devices, which, at the moment, was picking at the skin on his arm.  Not only did it relieve the itching to some degree, but it kept his attention elsewhere.  He didn’t want to think about Kia, she was too pretty and too successful to even think about him, and she wouldn’t know him anyway.  He didn’t exactly make the best first impressions and he certainly wasn’t going to just thrust all of that on her now, after all, he didn’t want to ruin her relationship with her father either.  That’s where all of this got so complicated.

If she had just gotten amnesia after the incident, it would have been different, but her father just got her memory erased, like Fil didn’t play any part in her life at all.  To tell her that, well, even if he and Sean had a tenuous relationship at best, he knew how much the man loved his daughter and he presumed she felt exactly the same way.  It wasn’t his prerogative to ruin that family, nor was it to upset the natural order of things.  She was, what he supposed to be happy, and to mess with that, well, it wasn’t fair. 

Looking up as she entered, he stopped picking at his skin for the moment.  Even if it burned with itch, he couldn’t move – especially when combined with her soft voice.  The touch of her hand on the burning skin made his cheeks redden and the young man looked down, avoiding her eyes.  Her hair still smelled like strawberries, he observed, sighing softly and glancing upward, viewing the potion in sight.  He grimaced, the mere thought of the taste made him sick. 

But, when she began to rub that salve on his arm, Fil sat up and cleared his throat a little.  The soothing feeling was an instant gratification and he seemed to mumble a bit.  “Thank you,” he said, “and I’m…. I’m sorry,” he looked down again, the splotch was still red but it didn’t quite itch as much anymore.  In the back of his head, he was tempted to start itching his neck… but, she seemed to be rushing now.  Fil took the potion out of her hand, and he sighed.

“I’ll be down in a mo,” he informed her – as she rushed out of the room.  Well, obviously, she didn’t take quite kindly to him at all after he snapped at her.  Go figure.  He shrugged his broad shoulders and with his left hand, pinched his nose shut, tilting his head back, pouring the thick potion down his throat.  He tried not to get any on his tongue, but it was too difficult.  The moment he finished the final drop, he unpinched his nose and gagged for several moments: someone really needed to do something about that.

If he were better equipped, he might have tried, but he didn’t want to waste the ingredients that could be considered quite rare.  So, the werewolf stood his stomach turning and another spot on his arm starting to itch before he walked out, past the front desk and that annoying girl and down the stairs.  “Coming down,” he practically bellowed, skipping two steps at a time, thankfully he had long legs. 

Kia didn't have to do much to get the room ready. Her reason for leaving was merely that, an escape. The room itself needed little repair, a tear here and there in the padded walls and floor, a door hinge needing tightened, that sort of thing. It took her only a couple minutes to do, but she dragged it out so as to appear busy when he came down. Meanwhile, as her hands lazily wanded over the various tears, her mind was busy thinking about the young werewolf.

He seemed so familiar, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember why. Was it his scars? His story? Those mournful brown eyes that seemed to make her knees transfigure into some sort of jelly? All of the above? She wasn't sure, but it was making her uncomfortable not knowing why she blushed every time he looked at her. He was attractive, that much was true, but she knew many attractive men who had little effect on her, or at least not as much as he was having. She had barely met the man and was already blushing and stuttering like she had a crush on him for years. It was baffling and a bit more then annoying.

At this point, her anger was nearly gone and when his voice boomed down at her, announcing his descent, she put on a soft smile. The smile was quickly overshadowed by a blush when she laid eyes on him and realized he was still shirtless. Turning quickly, so he couldn't see her face, she pretended to fix the door hinges. She didn't understand... a couple minutes ago he was all nervous about her seeing him without a shirt on and now he was prancing around like a chippendale dancer. (Now that put some ideas in her head that she quickly wiped away, her face growing darker)

When she finally managed to tame her flush, Kia turned to look at him, struggling to stare at his face as opposed to the well toned muscles of his chest. Suddenly, she understood why guys always talked to girls chests. Her eyes involuntarily twitched towards his shoulder, where the heaviest scarring occurred. You could make out the teeth marks and Kia instantly felt her heart throb for him. Poor guy, no wonder he was so determined not to remove his shirt. Not wanting to call attention to what already was a touchy subject with him, Kia's eyes returned to his face and she smiled lightly "... Well... It's all clean and ready for you... Any special requests to make it easier?"

It was kind of funny, how Fil could just traipse around at this point.  He was ashamed, yes, but he was more concerned with getting in the room.  Plus, he would have ruined the shirt if he wore it into the room.  He didn’t exactly have a ton of clothes and the transformation was only going to rip it.  In that way, he was rather glad he had forgotten to grab it.  He, of course, couldn’t throw his pants off until he was in the room, at least then, in the morning, he’d be able to put them on after he morphed back. 

All of this was so routine, and yet still foreign.  He never enjoyed the idea of having to save his clothes and all of these precautions he needed to make because he was so different.  It was like being a leper, only worse.  At least lepers had colonies where they weren’t considered a threat dangerous enough to want to run at them with pitchforks.  Sure, they were hated, but not in the same way.  Whatever the case, Fillin was just ready for this to be over.

If he could curl up and sleep, well, he would like that very much.  It would make the hours pass faster and he wouldn’t have to think about it too much, not that he thought very much in his transformed state anyway.  It was usually about food, actually.  Sometimes he wondered how much he really differed from his werewolf state.  He did feel just a little uncomfortable though, especially when she looked at him.  It was awkward.

Rubbing the top part of his arm, he could feel the red brushing over the bridge of his nose and his cheeks, which made him duck his head so the shaggy brown hair could cover his big, brown eyes.  He licked his lips and shook his head.  “Well, it’s not like there’s much else to do,” he shrugged his shoulders a bit and walked to the doorway, gazing in with a resigned sort of look.  It was like being a prisoner for the evening, and he hated that feeling – at least he could sleep, he thought.  Glancing at her, Fil set his shoulders and sighed. “There is one thing…” he murmured, recalling something that always made him feel a little better.

“You could, I don’t know – put on some music,” he murmured, “or maybe sing,” he added, remembering how pretty of a voice she had.  Of course, he couldn’t say that, he thought, as he put his foot on the molding of the doorway.  “I don’t know why I thought of that,” he rambled, gripping the doorway with his big hands, anxious.  “I mean, it’s just something I like, I guess… you don’t have to or anything.  I just thought I would say it… ignore me.”