|
Roger
Roger had been requested by the Freehold and Vorpal specifically to sit with Snowy. While the newly escaped Helldiver rested, he practiced his card tricks. In the hedge, it was another level of beautiful and allowed him to practice until new tricks became muscle memory.
Today he wore a simple tee and and jeans. He looked like a skunkape or sasquatch. Black fur/hair covered his entirevisible body except his face and his palms in this form.
Snowy
The owl in the cot meanwhile was a small shaggy beauty with white feathers turning gray from dust and trash and a bob of unkept messy hair that was groomed rather then combed. The owl thing looks around from the cot she had been placed on, barely wanting to move at all with the strange card magician in the room.
After a while she finally began to sit up and covers herself in her coat to avoid freezing.
Roger
"Hail, young one," though he didn't look much older, "I wish you the best of greetings." He held his hands up, empty except for the deck of cards in the left hand palm.
"I am Roger. I am like you. Those among the friends that saved you, asked me to sit with you and be here when you woke."
Snowy
The owl cocks her head sideways at him. "Roger huh..." She said. "You a street magician or something? Or a birthday partier?"
She strokes her chin. "And I'm not young... I'm quite older."
Roger
"Street and Stage," he replied, "SO yes, I do the sleight of hand magic. And while you are older, I am also older than I look, and I've reconnected more memories from the Thorns," a smile and a bend at the waist to imitate a nod of the head.
"There are ways that you are old, and ways that you are so very young. What is your name, and what do you remember?"
Snowy
She shuffles on her ass. "Name's Snowy... that's all you'll know about me." She states coldly. "All I can really remember is being sent to look for the Missing library by the posh fuck who put me in a cage."
Roger
"Sounds good," again he raised his hands, showing no harm intended, "I was like you. I was sent from realm to realm, trying to get all the pieces He needed. I had a cord that was shattered, as well..."
To help with the we're similar vibe, he began to fade into the helldiver's hedgeghost twilight equivalent
Snowy
"Oh?" She asks. "Did they stuff you inside a cage and brush your feathers too?" They inquire.
Roger
He returned to the normal form and then shook their head, "No. I was chained to a tree in a swamp except when needed. Forced to eat and drink others."
Snowy
"...Close enough." She said quietly. "What is this place anyway? Feels like that place but... different."
Roger
"This is a place between there and Ironside. The regular world. It's for people like us to feel more normal, away from human eyes, and protected from the Others. It is called a HOllow. It is carved in the Thorns but apart from them in some ways."
Snowy
"Sweet..." She says with a sigh, maybe she's finally gone crazy and started to hallucinate a free world. "So... where am I exactly?"
Roger
"This is the Freehold of Shackamaxon. Connects to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, in the year 2023."
Snowy
"Twenty... twenty three..." She looks up. "No... that can't be right..." She said. "I..."
Avery
At that moment, there's a quiet knock at the door, and Avery gracefully opens it. They hold a small bag with water and foods, and don't seem that surprised that Snowy is awake. Their black feathers contrast Snowy's white, and their beady black eyes stare over the pair. Avery is close to the Wyrd, and moves in a slightly unnatural way, and they address Roger to not force Snowy into confrontation.
"I was...asked to bring food and water for you both. Where should I put them?"
Roger
"I know. I lost thirty years, but barely aged a day. It is tough coming from there to here, let alone to the regular world..." and then winced at the more unnatural Avery's appearance. Roger had been doing their best not to show inhuman grace himself.
"The table there by the bed makes sense to me. Thakn you Avery, friend."
Snowy
"I... thought it was longer." If it was really that long then that woman she saw with her wife... she would have moved on faster then she could blink. When avery enters the owl brussles their feathers and stares at her with the yellow bulbous eyes.
"Anywhere... I'll eat it later."
Avery
Avery WAS toning it down, but couldn't help being strange. They nod to the pair and put down the bag on the table.
"The time gone is...strange. The memories gone are stranger." As they turn their back to Snowy, its revealed that there are white feathers growing through the black where their shoulder blades are. Similar to Snowy's own.
"Is there anything either of you need?"
Roger
"I am doing well, thank you Avery. There are certainly things that you'll be better discussing with Snowy here. As although we are all Beasts, you also share some Avian traits that I do not, without Contract use."
Snowy
"Hoot..." Snowy says. Sounding the word out. "Sorry, who's a beast?!"
Avery
Avery keeps their distance, watching the pair.
"If you ever wish to spread your wings, I will gladly teach you. To still have the freedom of the sky while carving our own path is....freeing, exciting...makes me feel like I am truely home."
They stay in the corner...and half seem to melt into the shadows there. They don't really, but if the pair didn't see them come in...they could have just stayed there unseen.
"You...and us both. Those that They turn into animals. I was a raven within His domain." There is a malice in the voice, and the smell of a campfire spreads within the area. "I don't wish to...overwhelm you. But will answer questions to help."
Roger
"And I was turned into an ape-like monster, known around the world as Bigfoot, Yowie, Skunkape, and others... with elements of a Panther and other creatures. Very sneakily like."
They stood to fetch some of the food and drink before returning to the chair.
Snowy
Snowy blinks at the weird bird then at Roger when he fetches his food. "You keep talking like we're both human or something... are you a human?"
Avery
Avery winces at the question, and lets Roger answer. Coward!
Roger
"Avery. Could you be a dear and go get a hand mirror or a full mirror from one of the other cottages?"
Roger's voice was calm and warming. At this point, he was shifting slightly into his stage persona to help, like when he used basic hypnotism or the like.
"So, Snowy. In the Before times, you were human, yes?" he tried to keep his persuasive voice going, "Do I look human? I look very much like an ape. Avery looks very much like a raven...though the white feathers are new..." and those big amber and black eyes look back towards Snowy, "So you were kept in a cage as an owl, yes? Were you owl shaped?"
Snowy
"Yeah..." She said with a blink. "But..." Snowy looks to the raven and back at the ape. "...You're... not like me... I know what I look like but I'm still mostly human."
Avery
Avery goes to walk...and then stumbles, eyes flicking. They shook slightly. "You...were kept in a cage?"
Avery has to look away, closing their eyes.
Snowy
"Yeah..." She says. "Don't imagine it's worse than the average LA flat, though... at least it was cleanish."
Roger
"Avery..." his concern pivots to the other Beast, feeling his own restraints from the past for a moment, "Please go get the mirror It'll be the best way you can help. Maybe get some fresh air."
Avery
Avery nods. "Yes, yes sorry." Avery exits the building to go get a mirror and a deep breath.
Roger
They pivoted again to look at Snowy, "we are mostly human as well. Just look different. We call ourselves the Lost, because of what they Took from us, and the way that we return being so... troublesome."
Snowy
"Gotcha..." Snowy nods. "So you came out like that too?"
Roger
A nod of his head, "You are correct. I looked taller, bigger, stronger, back then. More ferocious."
Snowy
"Huh..." She says. "Gotcha... Gotcha... and how do you keep me safe from THEM?"
Roger
"The Hollow is safer than most, and there are other security features as well. Plus we have those who Patrol and those who guard."
Snowy
"Oh? Despite it being close to the hedge and the physical world?"
Roger
"Yes. Others can fill you in on the differences between our organizations, which we call Courts that have made deals with the Seasons. I'm here because I'm also a Beast, or a Courser, or a Grimm... various names for theanimal creatures that escape. And that I'm also a Helldiver, those that were held by the silver cord and sent to retrieve items.
Snowy
"Right... Right..." She nods. "So... what are you? Season wise I mean..."
Roger
"I stand with Winter."
Snowy
"Winter? What's that about then."
Roger
"Mastering your own sorrow and alleviating others. Sorrow itself is a cage, we need to learn how to keep others from being trapped by it."
Avery
Avery steps back a moment later, a hand mirror being given to Roger. They look calmer, ish.
"I...need to go. I can talk more later. I...if you ever want to fly, I'll go with you." They look to the door. Asking silent permission to leave.
Snowy
"Yeah yeah..." She says to Avery.
"That sounds like a pretty good deal for winter."
Roger
"Thank you Avery. Go find your partners, or a Spring Joyeux..." he said with that warmth still.
Then he set up the Mirror, to see both himself in it, and to show Snowy what they look like after traveling the thorns without the cord.
Avery
Avery nods and leaves, going to find a partner preferably.
Roger
Snowy
She looks to the mirror and her eyes go wide. She grabs the handle and examines herself. "I... I thought I turned back into a human..."
Roger
"We are more like we were, but the touch of Them doesn't easily be removed. If you go ironside, you'll look like your human self, but it is a mask."
Snowy
"I... see..." She brushes her hair with her hand. "But... what if I don't want to go back to my old boring life? Do I even have that option?"
Roger
"Your life is your own now. I am not the name that I had before the Thorns. I am a person of my own making now. I've built it for my own needs, and I wish to use what They did to me, to better others."
Snowy
"Hmmph..." Snowy looks down at her knees. "Well thanks for that I guess... but I'm going to try and make something of what I was taught on the otherside and survive..."
Roger
"I understand. I recommend talking to the Emissaries of the Four Courts, and find your place. Those that wish to survive and hide though alre certainly welcome in Winter."
Snowy
"Yeah, I think I'll join up with them then. It's either that or get my ass dragged back..."
Roger
"You are welcome to take your time, however, if you wish, I could escort you from here to the Winter Cottages, so you may discuss things with the Queen, the Knights, and perhaps the Sage of the Onyx Mirror, Lux. They might all be good to speak to, to help find yourself and the way you may best help WInter and the Freehold. It is also Winter now, so you would need to present yourself to Queen Marjorie the Shrouded when you are settled a bit."
Snowy
"I shall do that then... but I think I can find my own way there. I gotta eat too... I miss hotdogs."
Roger
"As you wish," and he disappears from sight.
|