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It's a nice morning, and it isn't hot yet, so now is a good time to go out to Maddy's if you are one (1) smol twink and one (1) Obrimos currently attempting to (in his own words) turn a dad bod into a rad bod. (Let the record show said mermx thinks there's no difference.)
Anyway.
Wearing a loose tank top that has a flexing arm laid over a rainbow Star of David and a banner across both of them that reads 100% Kosher Beef and a pair of cutoff jean shorts along with their usual chuck taylors and backpack, Ziv steps through the portal ahead of Aaron. They pause just inside the door, adding, "Oh, I forgot," and then dig in their backpack for a small metal lunchbox. Opening it, they hand over a little chocolate chip cookie. Aaron knows this drill by now. This is how the sore workout muscles go away. Little a homemade food, followed by little a Gift of Warm Breath. As a treat.
Aaron's wearing sweatpants and a sleeveless hoodie over a tank top, which is precisely as hairy and gay as it sounds. He's got a beard growing in, too. Either that, or he's forgotten to shave for the last several days and can't be bothered. The tiny cookie is sniffed, blessed, and then eaten with a couple of nibbles on his way to a table. No want to destroy his appetite with junk food. "Thanks, Ziv," Aaron mumbles as he slides into a booth with a profound dad groan. "As midlife crises go, mine is really painful. Should have opted for sports car and a boy half my age."
"As opposed to a twink secretly more than twice your age?" Ziv answers wryly, trailing after him. They slide into the booth next to him and lean to kiss his shoulder. The water-on-water-on-water scent swells, and warmth flows through the Obrimos gently. Rehydrated, rested, lactic acid all purged from his muscles: it's really just a shame that he can't tell that there are water lilies blooming all over him briefly. Ziv can, and that's with the corner of their mouth pulls up a little bit and they bite their lower lip.
Sorry, Aaron. You just had an illusory water lily blooming behind your ear. It was cute. "I really want coffee," they sigh.
"Two! Though I wouldn't say Lux is a twink. But, yeah. Basically. I tell you what, though. I sure can pick 'em." Aaron sighs in relief as his body is righted with little more than a touch and some time. He rolls out his neck and shoulders, flexes his arms a few times, and mumbles a rumble of relief and contentment. "Now I just want a nap. Wow. That's so wild how that works. I could probably figure out how to do something like that myself, but... all the autonomic processes and proteins and such? It'd take me a while to figure out how. That's so cool."
"I wasn't going to speak about Lux's age, I have no idea how old they are, they might really be half your age," points out the mermx and then orders coffee and tiramisu waffles when the server comes by. "We can have a nap after waffles," they assure, adding, "I could probably use one, too. I slept really weirdly last night. I had weird dreams."
They stretch their neck, and lean against him. "From what I can tell, you have more flexibility in what you can do, and we have more... compactness."
"I admit. I avoid studying you folx and what you can do. Primarily because I like being close to you folx, and I like being able to help you all out from time to time, and if I start learning too much, my kind will want to know what I know and I won't be safe to trust any longer. So. I like to keep it vague for all of our sakes. Mages can be really nosy when they get powerful." Aaron grabs the menu and begins looking it over as though he weren't just going to order waffles, two eggs, toast, and hash. "The nap does sound nice."
They turn their head, then, and kiss the round of his shoulder. "They can be really nosy, and so can some of us. Keeping it vague makes a certain amount of sense. If it ever gets to the point where you feel that you might be pressured in a way that you can't see your way around, we can always lock your words down, at least temporarily, such that you can say 'mm, can't tell you, I promised, it's magically enforced, stop being nosy.'" A vague shrug. "I only like that sort of thing when it protects the person doing the promising, really." The coffee's brought back shortly thereafter, and they pour themselves a cup, dumping plenty of sugar into it. "The nap's a date, then. Food first, then napdate."
Aaron sets the menu down, having decided to get waffles with two eggs, toast, and hash. A brave adventurer, Aaron. "We probably have a way to fuck with those, to. I know we have our own oaths that we swear. Especially in my order. Oaths all over the dang place. We're real big on our oaths, actually. Which is sort of funny to me. Magical promises, I mean. In general. Just keep your dang word like a decent person, you know?" Aaron doesn't go for the coffee, he just sips his water. Caffeine before a nap is like showering before mowing the lawn.
Whereas Ziv drinks coffee like a mermaid takes to water. It seems not to bother them. Springs are weird. "Well, I mean... " their voice trails off, and they look off into the near distance. "Yes, but... " They press their lips together. "Where we were, and what They could do to us, they could ... make you betray someone even if you didn't want to. Make you hurt people even if it was the last thing you wanted to do. So for some of us, trusting is very, very, very hard. It makes some of us feel much, much safer to have that sort of security."
"And then for others of us, having that sort of formalized Oath is ... " they pause. "It feels good? We formalize our families that way. Our societies. And it does actually help you. Oaths let you ... know when the other person is in danger, perhaps, or take on the burden of their injuries, or draw on their strengths. We take them very seriously. Yes, you're right, of course. But for us, it's more than that." Perhaps realizing that they've gone on for a bit, Ziv shifts their shoulders, and folds their hands around their mug.
"I'm not criticizing the way your society is set up, I'm say we've got silly oaths we swear that equally competent mages can remove or redefine. It's like me saying that I will only trust you if you carry these legos around in your pocket in the exact configuration I handed them to you in. Nothing is stopping you from putting them together differently when I'm out of sight. It's sillly. For us, I mean." Aaron takes another sip from his water and gives his nascent beard a scratch. "I'm sure there's a longwinded explanation that Yoshitsune could sum up in like six words as to why we bother, but."
They reach a hand up and scratch his scruff, too. Scritch scratch. "Well, hopefully I can meet him when Eko does." A beat. "It would probably be a good idea if I'm on call for that, or nearby, if not actually meeting him. Just in case she like -- " A little gesture with one hand, like a small explosion. "You never know." A beat. "That's fair, about the Oaths. But I mean, pulling one of our oaths apart, I think we'd know. We know when they get broken. And that would be a Diplomatic Incident, so. Hopefully whoever would want to avoid that."
"Like I said. We get powerful and we get really full of ourselves. The best of us find a calling and pour ourselves into that. The worst of us just start gathering power for power's sake. Secrets, magic items, allies, spirits, ghosts, demons, you name it. There's some truth to the old myth of the black robed mage secluded in a tower doing unspeakable experiments in the dead of night. There but for the grace of God, I think they say." Aaron glances down at Ziv after the beard scritching, "I don't know if you could or if you couldn't, and the fact that I almost suggested an experiment to find out suggests my point is pretty much on the nose. We feel entitled to the secrets of the universe, too often. Even when they aren't ours to unravel."
They suck in a breath through their teeth when he says he considered suggesting an experiment. "Don't do that. Oathbreakers literally smell bad. I mean I don't know if that's how everyone knows, but they smell like rotting fish and dead water to me." A shudder passes up their spine. "It makes sense, what you're saying. I'm just -- " A vague smile, and they lean to kiss his shoulder. Plates get brought out -- service is quick here -- and Ziv's eyes half-lid to whisper the appropriate bracha before digging in.
Speak of hubris and the thearch appears, it seems, as Jeremiah made his way through the portal that led from the city proper. While he initially made a beeline for the counter he slowed as he spotted Aaron, giving the pair a smile and a quick salute. "Morning."
Aaron perks up immediately when Jeremiah appears, nudging Ziv with his elbow gently. "He's cool." And then he pipes up, "Jay. Hey. I've got someone I'd like you to meet. This is Ziv. They/them. They're my partner. Ziv, this is Jay. He/him, unless something changed since last we spoke. He's a member of the cadre that helped get me out of trouble after the mall riot. That wasn't a riot until they started beating us. But. Anyway." He gestures between them both, "I've been meaning to catch you, Jay. I'd like to invoke Hospitality, per your offer."
They put their fork down after taking their first bite of tiramisu waffles and extend a slender hand out toward Jeremiah. Ziv is a noodly little slip of a thing with shaggy hair, bright hazel eyes, and an angular face, wearing a highly-ironic 100% Kosher Beef tank top. "Hi, Jay. I am, as mentioned, Ziv." Their smile is an easy, sympathetic thing, and only broadens when mention is made of assistance rendered to Aaron in the past, and future assistance offered. "A pleasure, I'm sure."
Jeremiah approached the table to take Ziv's offered hand and shook it firmly. "Good to meet you, Ziv."
"Great. Let me know when you're ready to come by and I can pick you up if you don't have a way over yourself." He moved to fish a slim card case from his pocket, removing a card for the cafe with a number written in on the back and offering it to the Obrimos. "My cell's on the back, quickest way to get a hold of me."
Aaron produces his own card from inside his sleeveless hoodie and trades it back to Jeremiah with a small chin up, "Thanks. I really owe you all one. I'm basically couch surfing right now, so. Tonight would be good. I'm probably going to end up having to ditch my apartment at this point and go incognito for a while. I'm tired of them bringing trouble to my neighbors." Aaron gestures at the empty bench across from them both, "Grab a seat. I'll spot you breakfast. Least I can do under the circumstances."
"I don't have a card," Ziv offers thoughtfully, absently kicking their backpack further under the table so that it doesn't slide out into the aisle. "Are we supposed to have cards?" They frown a little bit at the idea of Aaron having to ditch his apartment, but don't say anything else. Waffles go into face.
"No problem. It's part of what we do." Jeremiah said with a smile, taking the offered card and sliding it into the case before claiming a seat at the table. "Sorry to hear things are getting that rough, though. Anything we can do to help on that front?"
"I have them for work, mostly." He looked to Ziv at their question. "I run a cafe called the Green Room in Spring Gardens, along with mentoring local musicians."
"So far as I can tell, they're all just standard sleepers. Fashy, misled standard sleepers, but standard sleepers just the same. We've put eight of them in the hospital so far, and I think we made some of them back down as a result. I'm just trying to disengage from this fight before it expands in my neighborhood. The people around me don't need to be getting my splash damage."
"At some point, once I'm settled, I'll be planning a block party for my neighborhood. We'll want food trucks, musicians, DJs. Games. The works. I figure your ties in the entertainment industry might be able to help on that side of things. Some donations to help fund it would be great, though I imagine once I announce my intention that won't be a problem. And if you know how to reach through racialized programming to make people hear truth, tha--" Aaron groans and his hands catch his face, "Words of Truth."
"Two of them pulled guns on either the two of us or my other partners," explains Ziv, continuing to eat their waffles. They give Jeremiah a little nod when he explains why he's got cards. They press their lips together in a line. "And they were specifically trying to poison the well around the neighborhood, yeah. Shitty BHI flyers." Their hazel eyes roll, and they shove more waffles into their face. "... words of truth?" they echo after they swallow, somewhat confused.
"Lovely..." Jeremiah shook his head, perking up at the mention of the block party. "Oh, totally, both on the talent and donation front. Strengthening a community against those that would tear it down is kind of my thing."
"I do, actually. Just earned my Disciple mark there, handily enough." He nodded, then looked to Ziv. "It's an effect we can call on that fortifies the truth of a message, affirming in the minds of those that hear it that it is true. It can rattle those that have gotten twisted in lies either of their own making or what society has taught them, or bolster those that already know that truth."
"It was one of my first rotes!," Aaron groans upwards before flopping face forward onto the table. After carefully moving his plate aside, that is. "I am so stupid." He's going to be beating himself up about this for a while, clearly. He lifts his head up to bonk it down against the table. Thunk.
The reaction that the Changeling has to that information is one that's a little like Jeremiah just told them that they have an effect that's like sticking a whisk into the brainmeats of all Lost and whisking it about. They set down their fork and say, carefully, "... right. That sounds... like... a thing." A sympathetic look aside at Aaron, and they reach to pat his arm. "I'm going to go get a box for my food." They're not hungry anymore, that idea turned their stomach. "And I'm tired. Do you want a box for the rest of yours?"
Jeremiah paused at Ziv's reaction, frowning as he saw the nerve it hit. "It only affirms what's actually true, if that helps. You can't say 'the sky is green' or the like and make others believe it."
The headdesking earned a sympatheic look from the Warlock as well. "If it makes you feel any better, I've been at this for about seven years and I blank on things like that sometimes."
"Their sort aren't fond of having their brain eggs scrambled, no matter the manner of it," Aaron advises as his head lifts up with a sigh. "It's fine. I'll handle it. I'll be by this evening with what I need. I really, really appreciate you all sticking your neck out for me. If I can be of any help to you all while I'm in residence, let me know. I've got discipleship in Life, as well as my main Arcana. And just finished my induction into the Paragons. So. Might be able to help?" Aaron puts his grub into his box and scoots on out, "Sorry to eat and dash. I'll leave the table open, order what you like." But it's nap time.
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