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Once upon a midnight dreary,
With sky pitch black and cold stone weary
A man walked his way through Fairmount Park
Even though it isn’t safe after dark.
But this man wasn’t a man at all,
Not really
I was Guy Dagenham, looking at a cool bridge and lost in his thoughts.
And there, upstream from estuary, this night it was mid January
And each separate skel'tal tree did wrought its ghost upon the ground.
No eager wishes for the morrow;— time still left this eve to borrow
From our neighbors free of sorrow—sorrow for untrodden ground—
Search'd for rare and enslaved 'Divers whose own names remain unfound—
Until saved, forever bound.
"Penny for your thoughts?" There wasn't a Vorpal. And then there was.
Guy, for his part, doesn’t jump, he just sort of tenses for a moment, then blinks and looks at Vorpal. “Penny doesn’t go far these days...but then, I wasn’t thinking about anything serious, either. Just time, and the passing of things. How are you tonight?”
"Eh. Been better. Not used to having trouble finding a quarry. Sort of a new thing for me. Understandable, but new," She offers with a shrug. "You?"
“Ahhh, sorry to hear that. I can only imagine how frustrating that is,” he says with a little nod. “Ah, things are well enough for me. Been working on some things, they’ve been going pretty good. Self improvement kind of stuff. Also checking in on my people, and they’re doing well.”
"Mm. Maybe. I used to pride myself on my hunting skills. It's deeply aggravating," mutters the fairy. "Glad things are going well. I presume that includes your favorite mutual acquaintance of ours as well?" She nods at the mention of his people doing well, also. "Glad things are going well for some folx out there."
He tilts his head, then nods. “Ah, yes, Petra’s doing well. And it is good to hear they are, yeah...” He looks up at the sky, and sighs. “I get the deeply aggravating, I like to think I’m pretty good at finding people too...is the quarry...not human?”
"Nope. They're like me. Including the knack for going places I'm not supposed to. Instead of two realms, I'm searching, roughly, five, and hoping they aren't in a sixth I won't be searching," Vorpal explains.
“Ah, yes, that would be...a pain in the ass to deal with. How are things besides that? All...good, on your side of things?”
"Suppose so!" Jackie admits. "Everyone's doing more or less well. One of my darlings has a new darling that was a long time in coming, which is lovely! Umm... two of the others have started working with local firefighters, which is itself rather delightful. I'm quite proud."
“I’m happy to hear about the happiness of your partner,” he says with a nod and a little smile. “And firefighting is noble work, I’m a tad jealous. Be nice to be able to do something like that.”
"Right?" Jackie nodded. "I'm pretty much quit with day jobs. I couldn't handle trying to hold one down anymore. The effort to come off as normal is... increasingly difficult. And that's without accounting for the leaves and such." Which always did seem to follow her around, though through no apparent fault of her own.
“I’m...too strong not to shatter the Masquerade without intending, eventually.” He sighs softly. “I could bump into someone and send them to the hospital, you know?”
Vorpal nods sagely. "I could do the same in any manner of accidental fashions. Less collateral likely, but. Still nothing worth risking my safety or anyone else's. Is this a new development for you?"
He shrugs. “Before... it wasn’t as much of a problem. But recently I’ve been ‘working out’ and...I have to be so careful with everything.” He sighs softly.
“Had to buy a new phone a couple times, new remote...have to be careful drinking out of cups.”
"Thankfully problems I don't quite have. I don't stand much chance of leaving lasting evidence I'm... a few steps past evolution," Vorpal explained, her senses sharp as always for any signs of mundanes drifting nearer. "But I have to- manufacture mistakes. Pretend to miss details. Create reactions, and that last one is- damnably hard. I'm an awful liar."
He nods. “That must be really difficult. I can see how that’d be just as hard to fit in. On top of the strength thing, I have to deal with...being too tough.” He makes a little gesture. “People move, even at rest. They get tired, shift their weight, struggle with things. Notice the cold. If I stop paying attention I look like a statue, not to mention I don’t feel right to the touch. Struggles of growing stronger, I guess.”
"Aye. The same. I've got the same struggles, but with social situations. I got so determined to guard myself from- social engineering, from my own reactions... I may have gone a bit further than practical." She laughs, though. "Still, it makes being hyper-aware a breeze. I can't remember the last time something surprised me."
Guy smiles softly and nods, a hint of mischief shining in his eye for a moment. “I’m guessing that might depend on what kind of surprise you mean, but that’s fair.”
"Well. Fair. I MEANT "something snuck up on me", I suppose," Jackie allows, pondering the words a moment. "Was it worth it, do you think? The advantages versus the restrictions, the constant restraint?"
He thinks for a moment. “It...I’m constantly waiting for something to happen. It’s my duty, my purpose to defend and avenge certain people, and there are more that I want to protect. There are monsters in this world, and...the good people deserve to have a monster on their side to. But I have to live a life until those times come, and it’s tough.”
Jackie's eyes widen slowly at the answer, and she turns to look off the bridge quietly. "... I don't know if I've ever heard my own thoughts from someone else as succinctly as that before. The wait's... tough. But there's the constant pressure to stay sharp, or- you might not be ready."
A flicker of a smile. “One of the benefits of being undead, I guess, is...remaining. Don’t have to work out constantly to keep that edge, never get weary or drowsy, never have an off day because I skipped breakfast. And I guess...I stay vigilant, but I’ve accepted that I may not to be able to save everyone, no matter how I try. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to.”
"..." Jackie levels a distinctly envious glare at Guy for THAT little revelation. She huffs, though, and nods. "Fair. Virtue is not the achievement of perfection, but merely the diligent pursuit of it."
He nods. “I mean...I guess it depends on how you define diligent, but I can agree with that. You love the people you love, do your best by them, save everyone you can, avenge the rest. I certain don’t mind the peace I’ve had, I’m just...itching to let loose a little. Have a friend I’m going to get out of town with and just...run as fast as we can.”
"Nice. I fly when I feel that way. Oh- there's a place that might be decent to go and flex, but last I checked, they're open to unaffiliated mortals with powers, too, so. I don't know how Masquerade friendly it is."
He smiles and nods. “Flying is good. Not quite the same as moving by foot, but it is freeing. And I...sport fighting isn’t my best spot. I can hold my own, but I can’t stand up to people honed to the edge of human ability, unless I go all out, and that’s...only for keeps.”
"I can relate. I've run out of reasonable sparring partners a long while back. Which means that when I do fight, it's typically very, very brutal, and very, very fast. Satisfying, but in the same way corn chips and queso is satisfying." She tilts her head. "Does- that make sense even?"
The thing is, normally people know when a human-shaped Fox is coming. There's often the yell of someone's name and the sound of fast footprints, for example, as the tiny Thyrsus flings herself at someone. So, like, this is a totally new thing for Fox, slipping around like this. Normally, she's only stealthy when she's envulpenated,
So, like, all of a sudden, there's a tiny, grubby woman wearing a tank top and a pair of jeans, feet bare and shoulders too despite the cold. Her backpack remains ubiquitous, and she's sitting on the ground about a foot away from Jackie, blinking up at her.
"Hi."
The vulpine smile is big and sharp. Truly, these are shenanigans.
Guy nods at Vorpal. “Yes, it does. Long fights usually mean I’m getting beat up really slowly—“ Fox’s appearance manages to spook Guy slightly, which means his instinctual step back to make space carries him back a good twenty feet before he stops himself, and blinks. “Oh. Ah, hello.”
Jackie's reacting significantly before a mortal nervous system would allow, creating the illusion that she is, in fact, aware of Fox before she's present, but it is just that- an illusion. She's surprised, and starkly so, and in the time it takes to register Fox as Fox, the shadows from beneath the bridge have roiled out violently and frozen perhaps arm's length away from Fox, seemingly held at bay by Jackie's own shadow, risen up with palms out to both sides- Jackie's attempt to soften the reaction into something remotely humorous. The shadows on either side stay froze- her shadow turns around and pats Fox tangibly atop her head, like the goodest girl. And then all the shadows relax again.
"Fox- a pleasure." All that and her placid mask never breaks- only the briefest flash of surprise and violently realized paranoia playing behind her eyes before Fox herself was recognized. "That's a new trick. I have one similar but it's regrettably more gentle of an introduction. That was impressive." She waves Guy back over. "Have you met Fox before? She's a friend."
Orphans of Proteus love new experiences. This? This is a prized new experience. She's well aware how quickly Vorpal reacts to things, and so when that startled shadows reaction and Guy like -- fucking zooming away from her like someone accidentally hit rewind on the DVR while trying to unpause it? Fox closes her eyes and cups her chin with both hands before opening her eyes and fluttering her lashes up at Jackie. She literally makes face.
Truly, it's a good day in FoxWorld. Then she turns his attention from Jackie to Guy when he is introduced to them. "Hi! I am, in fact, called Fox. That was very fast! I can be that fast sometimes. And you're right, Jackie, it was a new-ish trick. As is this one."
And as she drops her hands to her knees, Jackie's phone buzzes.
It is a text message. It is from Fox. It says 'Hi!' and a bunch of fox emojis.(edited)
Guy steps one-two and hops the distance back to the Changeling and the Mage, like he’s clearing a good sized puddle or something. “Nice to meet you, Fox. I’m Guy Dagenham; Jackie and I have met before, we tend to end up in similar places, apparently.”
Vorpal- briefly- blushes.
That's too fucking cute and she's too off-balance to course correct.
And then her phone buzzes. "One se-" Squint. "Nopoo. You didn't." She checks her phone. "You -did.- That's -astonishing!- You've been a busy little vulpine, haven't you?!"
Congratulations, Fox, you impressed Jackie right through all that ennui!
"We do, yes. Mutual acquaintances and all that."
"Oh, that's the best jump!" Of course a fox would love a great leap. That's how they hunt in the snow, after all. One big pounce. "Oooh, your name is Guy?" She pronounces it in the French fashion, sort of reflexively. "That's such a cool name with such great history." She flashes a grin up at the vampire before rolling to her feet and flinging her arms around Jackie for a hug, because she's got her off-balance and that's delightful and a lovely new experience, too.
Laughter bubbles up out of her, then. "Part of the same skill set," she explains. "And actually why I learned it but... you know. All the other skills came with it so... trying it out! Loving it. So much. It's expensive for me but it's so fun but also I interrupted your conversation so hi! What did I interrupt? Anything fun?"
“We were, ah, talking about how difficult we have it trying to pass for normal human, and how we want to protect the people important to us.” He looks over Fox in a moment.
“I don’t want to be rude, but are you like Jackie, or a different kind of...spooky?” He looks like the kind of guy that couldn’t be cute if he tried, but he speaks softly, clearly, at odds with his seemingly violent demeanor.
Jackie responds with the same muscle memory she has from being with June, curling both arms under the tiny form flinging herself at the Elemental, supporting her and shifting against the wall of the bridge to let it do most of the work. "Ah! Yes! We were discussing the difficulties inherent in attempting to move through normal society while in possession of traits that exceed anything they have a framework to comprehend. We have different troubles, but it's been interesting to discuss. And we found a common ground in that feeling of being perpetually prepared for a storm that will eventually come- but no telling if it will be days or decades."
"And Fox is not like me," Jackie offers gently- then snorts. "And there's nobody who's like Fox." She seems comfortable holding Fox in place on the railing.
As she turns her face toward Guy, distant lights catch Fox's eyes and flash a brief, bright amber moment of eyeshine. Human eyes don't do that, but Fox's eyes do. She flashes her teeth -- maybe a smile, maybe a wince -- and then laughs softly. "Some of me and mine are very, very familiar with that." It's not regretful, really, but there's a little note of -- caring for someone else who might be more affected than she is by such things.
"Oh, I've done that sometimes. Not permanently, though. It's hard enough... " Shrug. Her voice trails off, and she squeezes Jackie around the waist, smooching her on the cheek and relaxing. It's apparently very ... very much Fox... to just be chill with physical contact. She doesn't seem cold, and in fact, by being close to her, Jackie gets to briefly experience Fox's Bubble Of Warm. She's really giving Forces a workout tonight. "Well. That's not exactly true. There are others who are like me, if not exactly. I come from a long line of shamans whose presence on this earth precedes the existence of most other magic entirely. We are the oldest, and our line is -- sadly -- dying out."
Guy looks closer at Fox for a moment. “I can’t speak to the oldest magics, but I am familiar with the feeling of...seeing things lost to time. I’m old enough that wood and flesh seem...insubstantial. So I can sympathize with that feeling of...fading, at least.” He speaks softly, even warmly, like there’s a peace in that melancholy.
“But I get the impression you’d much rather make the most of life than dwell on sorrow.”
"That shouldn't surprise me, but it's a night for surprises, it seems," Jackie admits, settling into the Bubble of warmth companionably. The smooch to the cheek is another surprise, but she welcomes it and leans down to return it in that most liquid of manners she has. "I was speaking more to your effable uniqueness than to a lack of similar folx. I suppose I didn't indicate that very well," allows the Elemental, shrugging faintly. It's of no consequence. "I don't know much about lines and such, but I do know what it's like being a rare breed. There's only one other like me I know of. There were two, but the other was a traitor and got what she deserved for attempting to murder the entire city's dreams."
She smiles faintly. Guy seems to have caught that about Fox, to the tee.
"Oh, I can," offers Fox with a vague shrug, sticking out her bottom lip for a moment in time with said shrug. It's nothing but a simple statement. "We were the ones burying the first corpses with flowers and grave goods. We were -- and are -- the singers of the songs of plants and animals, and we live to bring back experiences to our tribe. All other magic comes after us. Perhaps not from us, but after us." Her smile is briefly fragile, but then she beams a little brighter and shrugs.
"Well." Here she considers. "Sorrow is an experience. To shun it is to miss out on huge swaths of what makes a human human. Sometimes you even have to dwell. What I'd rather isn't always what I need to be doing." Another one of those loose shrugs.
But then Fox blinks twice. "Wait, what?" she asks Johnnie.
It’s Guy’s turn to shrug. “It’s something you have to get used to being dead, too, I promise. And I didn’t say shun, just...not dwelling too long.”
He looks at Johnnie and nods a little. “Can’t say I’ve ever been a rare sort. I guess now that I’m old, maybe.”
Johnnie catches the delicate, glassy glint to Fox's smile and squeezes her lightly- not sure what spurred it but supportive all the same- and rolls her shoulders to express her uncertainty of Guy's rarity. "Perhaps you are, now. Still, there's only so much to be said for scarcity when it comes to the sort of folx one hails from."
Fox's surprise draws her attention, and she nods. "Aye. She's been dealt with, but remember those ugly construction projects with all the wrought iron balconies? You'd see something interesting if you plotted them all on a map."
"I would prefer to be a little less rare," Fox agrees mildly. "I know maybe ... a half dozen of us, in all my travels. I mean, like know know. I know of some more, but... we're still... not a lot. I mean ... the gereral kind, much more so, but ... " Her teeth flash, indicatively, those little vulpine points catching the light. The hug is taken, and she bumps her head against Jackie's shoulder.
"Yeah! I helped Lux with some stuff to ruin them. I'm... good with things," explains Fox. "Wait."
Her teeth flash again, but this time less kindly. "The bitch who cut my best friend?"
“Sounds like she left quite the impression, and was a real pain in the ass.”
He hasn’t moved from the spot he was standing in, apparently quite comfortable where he is.
He might be getting a tad bored, though, not with the conversation but rather just standing there, so he walks to the side of the bridge and sits on the side, running fingers through his clipped short hair.
"Yes. Was. Very past-tense, from what I understand. Not an operation I was a part of, but one that resolved that issue, at the very least. She reaped what she sowed, as I understand it. I guarantee that while the cruelest cut was suffered by dear Lux, the deepest was hers."
"And thank you, by the by, for helping us dismantle that abomination. The dreams of the city were dying."
"She stabbed my best friend in their bed." Fox's words are vicious and bitter, angry all over again; she bites the end of each word off before grumping and hunching her shoulders hard.
"Why are people like that?" It's a rhetorical question, and she grunts. "ANYWAY what's fun for you, Guy?"
Guy blinks, unprepared for the ninety-degree turn bringing the conversation to bear squarely at him. “I, uh, like to run and fly and spend time with my girlfriend, and watch people and listen to them, and stargaze and talk to my friends.” He recites the list slowly but steadily, like he’s thinking it through as he works through the list to make sure he gets everything.
Vorpal curls a little more deliberately around the hunched little grump. She doesn't have an answer, or any comforts beside the cold one already delivered. So she tries to just noodle her way into helping Fox feel a little better with hugs. And a nuzzle atop her head, while Guy explains.
Fox leans contentedly into the noodly comfort, providing warmth in exchange for the snuggles. Her green-gold eyes fix on Guy curiously. "Oh, I like to run and fly, too! I love being a bird, it's one of my favorite things to be. There's so much variety to enjoy. Do you mind if I ask who your girlfriend is?" She blinks slowly, wide-eyed, genuinely curious. "Those sound like really amazing things to do, and great experiences."
She nudges Vorpal. "How 'bout you?"
“Being a bird is fun, it’s true, it’s probably my favorite of the animal forms I can take. And...yeah, I have a lot of experiences, that’s for sure.” He smiles, a genuine and warm little thing, Guy’s cold green eyes softening. “Her name is Petra, and she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. She’s a paramedic.”
"I like to do a whole lot of things that start with F. Fly. Fight. Find new things and places. And friends," She adds. Then she smirks. "And Foxes. Foxes are fun. For instance." Vorpal offers. "Though I think I fly a little differently. I've never had feathers. Only leaves. I suspect I'd be hard pressed to keep up, but there's no easier way to fly than being leaves. You don't even have to flap."
"And before someone asks, yes. That, too."
Fox goes a little soppy when Guy's eyes soften, and she brings her hands up to cup her chin and sighs. "I don't know Petra, but she seems keen! That's delightful. I'm so happy for you!"
She might have said something else, but then Vorpal says she turns into leaves, and Fox's eyes widen. "Oh, gosh, that's cool!" But then her brain loops back to the 'never have had feathers and Fox ... actually vibrates a little bit, her eyes widening, blinking big.
"Would you like to?" she asks, clapping her grubby hands together excitedly.
"... well I wasn't going to ask until you said that but now I have no idea what you were trying to say and now I need to know so you have to tell me and then LET'S BE BIRDS! I can make you an OWL, would you like to be a big OWL? Or uhh. I mean there are lots of nocturnal birds but I really like being owls best unless you want to be a frogmouth or a common nightingale or a nighthawk which are actually not hawks at all but they are cute."
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