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As usual when she wants to study quietly, Annie's claimed one of the benches in the Freehold Hollow, lying on it as she rereads one of her textbooks, pausing intermittently to make notes on her phone.
Lux isn't the sort to sit still, even while doing artwork--far too used to street art, where you're usually standing and moving your whole body to spray paint. Lux isn't quite doing there here, but they do have a paint brush in hand, using it to paint color, light, and shadow through the air as they walk, then drawing the marks down into the palm of their hand, where it condenses into a small little ring.
They pause as they come upon Annie's bench, stopping the painting to smile her way. "Hey. How are you?"
And then there's Teagan, sort of: there. Across the way, leaning against a rock. Like they'd been there the whole time. "'cha making, Lux?" the Mirrorskin queeries. Queries? Queeries. They've got Baby out, and a whetstone, and are sharpening her. Lazy strokes down the blade.
"Good, thanks," Annie replies, glancing up at Lux with a smile. "How have you been? We have not seen each other for a while now."
Lux jumps, startled, as Teagan appears, but calms quickly enough. The Brightone blinks, lights shining briefly through their cheeks at the question. "...Ummm..." They look down at the thing in their hand that is glowing with rainbow light, then back up at Teagan, smiling sheepishly. "Rings. How are you, Teagan? Been a while." They look to Annie, nodding. "Been alright. Mostly been focusing on my art collective lately, so haven't really been... around, much."
OH! ALSO! Lux is no longer an Oathbreaker! Teagan at least recognizes this. Don't think Annie ever saw them during the Oathbreaking period.
The soft padding of paws on grass sounds as Laura lopes along in a light jog through the Hollow, wearing a sports bra and shorts that reveals the arcane runes dotted across her skin. Nearing the gathering group the hyena slows, catching her breath before approaching Teagan to nuzzle the side of their mouth in greeting. "Hey." She offers happily to them before waving a paw at the rest.
"Rings," Teagan comments, one corner of their mouth curling up slightly. "Focusing on a lot of stuff, seems like." They don't react to Lux reacting to them appearing, and tuck their whetstone away, hooking Baby back on their waist. "I'm aight. It has been a while." Laura appears, and Teagan rolls up to their feet, returning the nuzzling. "Hey, Laurabear."
"Hey, Laura. Long time no see," Annie returns the hyena's wave, closing her textbook and moving to sit up. "What have you been up to?" She glances back at Lux. "Oh? Have you produced anything with them yet?"
Lux's lips quirk a bit at Teagan. "Heh. Yeah. Lots of stuff, I guess. Also fixed my brokeness, though I'm sure you can tell. Got that wyrdstink off of me, fuckin' finally." They shift their weight, making a few more swipes through the air with the paint brush, adding blue to the ring in their palm. As Laura pads up, Lux gives her an upnod. "Hey." Then to Annie, "The art collective? I've mostly be helping support other artists, getting them gigs, but I have been working on a couple murals around town, lately."
"Never thought about rings." Lauara admits. "Way I fight, they'd end up in a bad way pretty quick." She loops an arm around Teagan, nodding contently. "Been up to?" A soft growl of a hum. "Nothing terribly exciting. I should do some more occult digging sometime."
One of Teagan's eyebrows quirks vaguely, and they murmur something to Laura, tipping their chin up at Anneliese. "I mean, if we made them the way that Lux is making them, they'll hold up to an awful lot," Teagan answers Laura, leaning in to the arm that loops around her. "Where are the murals? I'd like to see your work, Lux."
... does someone hear something?
Are those... thunderous footfalls in the distance?
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Are they getting closer?
Well, the good news is, Rieko can be seen from about as far away as she can be heard - towering over one one of the nearby cottages. The, uhh, bad news is there's an unrecognizable (to everyone but Anneliese) twelve foot tall warrior woman coming in off the trod looking like a terrifying demon from legend. Sculpted physique, a magnificent blade, gleaming fangs, devilish eyes, a battered old cowboy hat, and bright red skin- wait a second, did you say COWBOY HAT???
Oh, to be gargantuan again.
"Perhaps more relevantly, what would you make them look like if you did?" Annie asks rhetorically. Teagan's question gets a nod, as she waits for Lux to answer their fellow Darkling. At least until the sound of thunder footsteps begins to be audible, and she starts to her feet, a worried expression on her face. Until she spots Rieko, anyway, at which point she relaxes slightly. But only slightly, because Rieko definitely wasn't that tall last time she saw her.
"Never thought about rings, huh?" Lux eyes the couple with a smirk. "Yeah, hopefully these will be pretty durable... Ah--I have one up at the Touati Gallery. It's a couple months old, but still proud of it. I got one up just down the street from the William Way Community Center too, just finished that one last week."
Lux pauses, looking over ant staring at the giant woman as she approaches, lips parting.
Laura glances back at Teagan, then pauses, eyes glinting a shade red as she nods, flexing claws briefly. An exhale of air before she speaks again, focusing on Lux. "And easy to clean? I use my claws a lot and anything on my hands.." She breaks off at the thunderous sound, then her lips part in a silent snarl and she parks herself between Teagan and the sound, poised for sudden movement as Rieko approaches.
"I mean, I did. We talked about a wedding in Miami, but that was before Laura was part of the motley, and -- we sort of put that on hold when we moved -- " And then the thudding footsteps pulls Teagan's attention, and then -- they're gone.
Someone who didn't know Teagan might think they were running away, but, of course, they haven't gone anywhere but Light Shy, moving between Lux and the sound.
Rieko - who hasn't seen the group of gathered Lost, yet - gently lays her massive blade atop the roof of a nearby cottage as if her were a bedside table, and streeeeeeeeetches real big. This, of course, causes her crop top to lift enough to show off her ridiculously sculpted abs. Accidentally, of course. There's a yawn - that ends in an adorable little squeak - before she grabs the sword, and continues on her way.
"Oh," she looks down at the group. "Sorry, I'm not usually this big - I just really hate the transition between 12'10" and 5'8", so I'm delaying it for as long as possi-" Rieko trails off, brow furrowing for a moment as her glowing red eyes reach Lux in the lineup. Only for a moment, though, and the expression is gone - though the pause was definitely noticeable. "Oof," which she definitely enunciates, "... and I only know one of you." The flashes a fanged grin - not one to let an awkward situation get in her way - and the dense humidity radiating off of the Summer becomes suddenly apparent. "I swear, I'm not here to blow any houses down."
Another new face wanders up, this one well under 5'8" and wrapped in black clothing. Glitch sees the giant ogre first, and stops dead in his tracks...then just stands there a while, staring, as she rests her sword on a cottage and introduces herself to the two there. He slowly approaches, half in caution and half in sheer surprise, creeping along just in case the oni isn't as friendly as she seems.
"It is okay, everyone. She is a friendly. I think." Annie stares up at Rieko. "It would be easier to talk to you if you are only 5'8", though. Less risk of straining our necks."
Lux stares up at Rieko, their mouth hanging open for a moment before it abruptly closes, expression muting as they regard her thoughtfully. Then they grin lopsidedly. "Heh, well, that's good to know. I'm Lux. Nice to meet you." They relax, glancing over to Laura--pausing as they realize Teagan is gone. "...Where ever you are, Teagan, you were really gonna get married? The whole motley to each other?" Even though they can't see Teagan, they're assuming the Mirrorskin is still around, somewhere. To Laura, "What would the rings look like?"
"I, hm. Wow.." Laura observes Reiko, head canting slowly as she studies the giantess. "That's, well, I'm Laura. Stay as you are if you like. Not minding." A fanged grin of her own as she relaxes, then crosses to Glitch to offer to tug the Sprite into a tight hug. "Sparks. Teagan's about, yups." She nods to underscore Lux's words before looking their way. "I've a tendency in fighting briarwolves to remove their hearts." She admits quietly. "So bloody, at the very least."
The Mirrorskin does not reappear straightaway. Startled squids ink. Startled Teagans employ a similar tactic, especially when their audience suddenly swells.
"Nice to meet you, Lux." There's a nod, and then Rieko forms a little finger gun with her right hand, aims it at Laura with a wink - making a little chk-chk noise with her tongue and teeth to mimic the sound of the firing mechanism. "Yeah, I guess that's true." She shrugs at Anneliese's statement - shifting weight onto her back foot, and crossing her arms over her chest. "... and I guess I can change back." Beat. "... but I'm not doing it in front of you or anything."
Lux snorts softly in amusement. "I guess I should have expected something like that," Lux says to Laura. "Would fit your motley's... aesthetic, I guess." They rock on their heels a moment, looking down at the ring in their palm--then tucks it and the paint brush away into a pocket. "Hey, Glitch. Hows it going?" Then they look back to the giant woman. "Don't gotta change back if you don't want to. Gotta admit, I'm enjoying the view. You new to Shackamaxon?"
Glitch lets out a little oof as Laura tugs him into a powerful hug. "Teagan's here?" he murmurs, turning to return the squeeze while staring up at their impressive new friend. "Goin' fine...."
"No, no. Stay as you are." Laura requests. She blinks slowly, humming. "Right there with you." She comments quietly towards Lux in response to enjoying the view. "And they're about Sparks, mm. Though, I'm musing over homeward bound at some point."
Annie shrugs one shoulder. "Nobody here will make you change back, no." She glances towards Glitch. "In Light-Shy currently, I think, but they were around not long ago." And then her attention turns back towards Rieko. "I take it you were familiarising yourself with our local Trods some more?"
"Right you are, Anneliese. I'll patrol the trod until I know them like the back of my hand." This time Rieko's left hand appears in the form of a finger gun, and she chk-chk's at Lux, too, before both hands retreat back into the pockets of her overall shorts. She shrugs, and the loose strap slips off her shoulder as it's won't to do. "Yep, less than a week. I spoke to the Summer Crown about three days ago."
There's an amiable nod, and leans backwards against a nearby cottage. 'Cause a gargantuan can do that, I guess.
"Good to know." They grin at Rieko. "Welcome to Shackamaxon, then. Hope you like it here. Hope to chat more, but--it's about time I head home. Getting late." They look to the others and upnod. "Good seeing you all again. Take care, yeah?" Then off they go, towards the gate.
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