[catch-all] old friend, I think of you still sometimes

[afoolsgold]

Characters: The Fool, Kit + you fine people
Date: Throughout April--dates specified.
Location: Throughout Aifaran: a textile shop in Malimo; Tamfen Row; the Union Quarter
Situation: Monthly catch-all for Kit and the Fool as they navigate various twists and turns in the Seaglass City; starters to appear in the comments.
Warnings/Rating: None currently, will warn as needed.



Kit!


The Fool!

Comments

(Faith/Turtles 5) closed to Devin + Trahearne

[afoolsgold]

It had seemed a simple trinket when it caught the Fool’s eye outside the Ban Om temple: a charm ornamented with wood and stone beads polished to a sheen. “For luck,” the priest had said with a glitter in his eye. Lucky or not, it was pretty enough to tickle the Fool’s magpie tendencies, and so with an exchange of rhinn, it joined the other beaded bracelets dangling around his slender wrists.

Thus far, it appears to be working. The weather has been gloriously clear of rain and clouds, the air fresh and the sunshine radiant enough that the Fool’s spirits, which have been flagging since the loss of his flat and Die Rosa Tulpe. All manner of wonderful shops in Malimo seem happy to open their doors to him and cut him delightful discounts on beautiful fabrics and crafting supplies, and it is into one of these shops that he strolls into today--his beleaguered vampire paramour in tow, of course.

“What an exquisite shade of aquamarine,” he muses aloud, delighted, as he unfolds a bolt of silk fabric and holds it up against his arm.

The kedan shopkeeper also seems keen on the fabric… possibly too keen, as he admires the fabric against the Fool’s skin. “Indeed!” he agrees, sidling forward with clear interest in his eyes. “Just think what an elegant summer cloak I could design for you. Allow me to take your measurements, please.”

Light and airy, the Fool demurs with, “You are too kind, but that isn’t necessary,” and doesn’t bother to meet the attentive kedan’s gaze in the mirror. It’s as mild-mannered a brush-off as one can imagine, but perhaps he should have been firmer. The kedan still lingers by his side, evidently trying to regroup and make a more agreeable proposition.

[annihilist]

There is something peculiarly endearing about being dragged along shopping with the Fool. Devin can't say it's a pastime he personally takes much joy in, but that's not the point. The Fool is the point. Since Die Rosa Tulpe had been drowned, his partner's cheer has been somewhat dimmed, and today it's like the sun has come out again. And here and there Devin learns a little about fabric and other craft materials, which surely can't be a bad thing.

The kedan shopkeeper might just be trying to lure a long-term customer, but there is something about their demeanor that strikes Devin as-- less than innocent sales tactics. He notes, with a bit of chagrin, that the sudden dislike for the shopkeeper based on this one interaction alone is jealousy and he is not even going to question that instinct right now. What he is going to do is step closer, make himself more visible, and arrange his features to something more openly attentive than is his wont. It's by shades and degrees, to be sure, but the Fool would most certainly notice the difference - and that there is a sharpness in his eyes, watching the kedan ask to 'take measurements'.

"I can tell you what they are without you needing to pull out a measuring tape," Devin remarks coolly, coming up behind his partner, far closer than a simple shopping friend might, to examine the color of the aquamarine more closely. Even though he doesn't need to. Just because he can.

[necrocabbage]

From behind them, the bell above the door chimes to announce a new arrival. It's not often that Trahearne has need of fabric, considering he doesn't wear normal clothes, but it does happen on occasion. Today, he needs new curtains. Duibhe had torn up his current ones in the process of learning how to fly, and he had put off replacing them far longer than he should have.

Normally he'd be quite content to browse the selection while the shopkeep was busy, but Trahearne had barely taken a few steps into the store before stopping to stare at the other customers. The Fool was most times quite impossible to miss, considering his usual attire, but that other man was - Devin? He seemed quite intent on invading the Fool's personal space, too.

Trahearne doesn't say a word, not yet. He already felt entirely too awkward.

[afoolsgold]

The Fool does indeed notice Devin's increasing attentiveness, and he's hardly oblivious to the kedan's clumsy advances, either. Under other circumstances, he might delight in the opportunity to watch Devin bristle and posture like some sort of wild animal in need of marking its territory--to a point, of course. The Fool is vain, and a bit of possessive jealousy flatters that vanity, but he won't encourage it to excess.

At the moment, however, he has no interest in encouraging it at all, for he has caught sight of Trahearne entering the shop, and all of this suddenly bodes very ill.

"I know my own measurements and will make the garment myself at home," he says to both Devin and the kedan shopkeeper, suddenly tense and uncomfortable, and motions to the till. "Let me make my purchase and we'll be off; you have other customers."

Customer, singular. The Fool steals a glance back at Devin that is almost pleading; please, behave. (Don't pick a lethal battle with his only remaining friend in this city.)

[annihilist]

Devin's attention turns when the door opens, just enough to note who's there: it's Trahearne.

Well, this could be awkward. Devin and the sylvari have never gotten along, although he understands why and hasn't made a lot of effort to resolve it. The Fool's pointed words regarding his obvious jealousy nearly go past his attention (or would if he were not already very attentive to his partner at this moment), but he does not miss the silent plea in the Fool's expression.

Even if he were of a mind to get into a fight, he wouldn't do it inside of a shop. He gives the Fool the slightest of nods to acknowledge he's gotten the message, following the Fool not quite so closely to the till. And to Trahearne, he also nods, though the angle of it and the slant to his expression are somewhat wry. Really, he's covering the discomfort that Trahearne might disapprove of him as a partner, and wondering whether there is any way to change that opinion. (Probably not.)

"Good plan; I would only make you a fashion disaster if I tried my hand at it," the vampire says to his partner, tone lightly teasing.

[necrocabbage]

Hmph. Trahearne doesn't much like that look Devin's giving him, but then again, when does he ever?

"There's no need to hurry on my account. I can take the time to browse." The Fool is acting quite strange, he decides, and that adds to his suspicions enough for him to feel a sour curl of doubt in his stomach. Trahearne wasn't the type to start a fight in a shop either, verbal or otherwise, but he still doesn't look entirely pleased as he finally moves across the shop to take a look at a display of plainer bolts of fabric.

He does keep casting sideways glances over to where they stand at the till, not feeling nearly settled enough to leave them be entirely.

(Arts 4) Open!

[afoolsgold]

Tamfen Row’s eclectic blend of bizarre architecture and striking colours makes it the perfect location for street performers to do their thing--particularly when their thing constitutes some truly bizarre and cutting edge improvisation theatre. This is most definitely and without a doubt also the Fool’s thing.

It should come as a shock to exactly no one that as soon as he is plucked from the streets to be an impromptu background character, that he immediately steals each scene he features in. There is no witty line of banter that can stump him, no turn of phrase that can catch him off-guard or fluster him into falling out of character. A sword fight with wooden sticks? He performs with admirable flourish.

Tossing Nita with her own Arts Agenda tag on this, if that's all right. ^^

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita ends up among the crowds, not exactly the showman type herself.

So she's clapping right along at one of the shows, cheering on both those she does and doesn't recognize - and then she feels a tap on her shoulder.

All the angular stranger offers her is a flower, but Nita's nonetheless unsettled for the rest of the performance. Or maybe the smell's bothering her...

The Fool can catch the telltale signs of an allergy attack - at least until the unconventional signs kick in, but by that point Nita's definitely no longer looking at the performance.

that's fine!

[afoolsgold]

Seasonal hayfever is nothing to be that concerned about, and so at first the Fool does not register Nita's distress--at least, not until the belching begins. He turns a neat pirouette and stops at the edge of the lane and regards Nita with a bright grin.

"Truly?" he exclaims, as though she's just said something rather scandalous, and takes a few sly steps closer. "You saw the Sentry do what with a professor from the academy?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

If Nita hadn't been caught so unawares by the attack of gassiness, she'd probably have something very snarky to say.

As it is, though, Nita just points the flower she's still holding in his direction, aiming a glare to go with it when she can catch her breath.

(Crime 5) an alley in the Union Quarter; open!

[bestofthevein]

Dealing with the Sentry's incompetence and bullshit was much easier when Rutile was still around. Kit tries not to let that thought distract him too much; he's got a sour-faced looking igheeri standing in front of him, looking prepared to arrest him if he so much as sneezes.

"You can come in quietly," she tells him, hands on her hips, "or we can do this the hard way. Your choice, Gandir."

"So, what--my options are 'go with you' or 'go with you with a broken nose'?" He exhales smoke from his cigarette. "No thanks. You've got the wrong sodding guy. Again."

The rest happens very quickly: the Sentry advance, and then before Kit can contemplate either resisting arrest or turning tail, he's flanked on either side by two burly-looking strangers. Kit tenses, preparing for a fight, but the fight never comes. Instead, the Sentry back off, turning to disappear down the adjacent street with only a lingering backwards glance.

There's a moment of tense silence while Kit tries to decide whether he's just landed in deeper shit than where he was previously. Then one of the men turns to him with a critical look in his eye. "There," he says, and his smile is mostly teeth, and not friendly. "Now you owe us a favour."

One by one they turn to exit the alleyway. Kit waits until they're gone before he squeezes his eyes shut and slumps against the wall, reaching up to rub his fingers into his eyes. Fuck.

[zohvin]

It wasn't every day that you saw a Sentry being followed by a couple of thugs in the local colors. As luck would have it, Zohvin wasn't too far down the block when he saw the three of them leaving the alley one at a time, spaced out enough that Zohvin's fairly sure it's not the start of a fight, though the toughs were giving the retreating back of the Sentry some unkind looks.

Now the question was, just what was down that alley that was so important?

Zohvin makes his way into the alley once he's sure the thugs have taken off - and there's someone familiar there, which surprises him enough to make him stop in his tracks. "Kit? Are you alright?"

[bestofthevein]

"Kit? Are you alright?"

Ancestors, he's getting so tired of that question.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he says to whomever it is who's approaching him--he doesn't know Zohvin well enough to be able to put a face to that voice yet--and tucks his cigarette back into the corner of his mouth. He pushes himself up and away from the wall and turns to head back towards the mouth of the alleyway, and that's when he gets a good look at who the interloper is. Oh. The blue guy.

"Zohvin, right?" He puts on a friendlier-looking expression but can't quite get rid of the tension in his posture after that encounter.

[zohvin]

"I'm glad you remembered," Zohvin answers in such a mild tone it'd be hard to tell if he means it seriously or not. He steps forward, looking Kit over briefly before taking in the rest of the alley they stood in.

"I saw a very strange combination of people leaving this area and thought I'd take a look. I can't say I expected to find you here." But for all that Kit looked a bit haggard, he didn't look like he'd been hurt, and there was no blood or scattered trash here to indicate that anything had happened at all. This was already shaping up to be quite the little mystery.

[bestofthevein]

"I'm glad you remembered."

"Face like yours is pretty hard to forget." You know. Because he's--blue.

(Those cheekbones are pretty incredible, too, but he's not about to come out and say it.)

As for the scene that Zohvin happened upon, Kit grimaces and takes another pull from his cigarette, because it's something to do with his hands and keeps them occupied. "I've had some," pause, "issues with the Sentry, off and on since I first showed up here. Guess they hadn't forgotten some of the stuff I got up to with my friend when I was last here. I don't know who those guys were though," he adds, this time clearly referring to the thugs who turned up to 'rescue' him. "But I guess they're going to remind me, sooner or later, now that I owe them a 'favour.'"

[zohvin]

Zohvin just nods at his comment. Chiss have been accused of looking creepy before, mostly down to their glowing eyes, and he's noticed that such a thing isn't particularly common on this planet.

"That does sound like it could be a problem. They may be taking that phrase about 'the enemy of my enemy' far too literally." Inwardly, though, Zohvin's starting to wonder if spending time with Kit might help improve his street cred. He's been slowly making overtures to the criminal element in the city for a couple of months now, looking for a place he could burrow into quietly. Zohvin's sights were aimed a little higher than street gangs, but every little bit helped.

"I'd love to hear about what you did to annoy the Sentry so much, but we shouldn't do it here. You look like you're in need of caf, or something stiffer if you prefer."

Bayside; open!

[bestofthevein]

It took him a while to feel comfortable approaching the water again.

Wherever he was before the Dreaming spat him back out into Aifaran, it had been rank with the stink of dead fish and salt water. A hopeless and lifeless place, clear memories of it always skirt just out of reach when his mind's eye tries to look at them. But he'd loved the water, once upon a time, loved the beach and the sun, and if he can find no other place for himself in these inter-dimensional journeys that the Dreaming, or the Maker, or the sodding Fade, seem intent on propelling him into, then he is going to reclaim his love of the sea.

He wanders the neighbourhood as it extends out onto piers, ducking out of the way of the occasional merchant or fishmonger and keeping clear of the chattering tourists. It's nice down here, he decides. He could make this place home--spend his mornings hauling line for fishing boats, his afternoons grabbing a drink in one of the cafes, and then put in another few hours of labour before crashing for the night. It could be a good life; simple, and uncomplicated.

It could be, if he could just get these damned nightmare hellscape images out of his brain.

He wanders to the end of one of the piers and stares out across Shuyal Bay, trying to keep his hands from shaking.

Re: Bayside; open!

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita is there as well, studying the still-strange boats and their new arches.

The ships hadn't been very conversant, but Nita had felt better for trying. Now, if she could extend that to other areas...

"Hey," she greets softly, not turning from where she's leaning on a makeshift railing.

"How are you feeling?"

[bestofthevein]

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

He'd almost missed her where she was standing, and takes a moment to will his hands to stillness. Then Kit gives Nita a lopsided grin and shrugs a shoulder.

"Not too bad," he says, then nods towards the strange ships in the harbour, eager to change the subject. (Towards something that may still trouble him later. His judgment isn't always the best.) "How about you? Checking out the visitors?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Been doing that a lot lately... guess you could call it commiserating," Nita replies, sparking a smile.

"Since, I'm a sort of visitor too, right?"

Her glance flickers back up to Kit; he might not feel the exact same way.

[bestofthevein]

This would be easier if he gave himself something to do with his hands. Fishing out and lighting a cigarette do the trick, and once the end catches, he turns his head to the side to blow the smoke away from Nita.

"Some Dreamfolk get to stay here the whole of their lives, apparently. So I guess it's up to, you know." He gives his cigarette-wielding hand a broad gesture, then shakes his head like someone greatly disillusioned by what they're discussing, "the Dreaming." Or something. Whatever.

[redlightgreenlight]

Anani seemed no worse for wear, bothering the fisherman as usual. The white cat trotted down the pier, rubbing up against a fisherman until the Kedan gave him a piece of fish and stroked his head.

"You little beggar," Valdis scolded.

Anani ignored her and raced toward the short figure standing at the end. The figure was familiar and she soon realized why. By the time she reach the end, Anani was wrapping his tail around Kit's legs and purring madly.

Valdis paused, sensing the fear but not the direction. Kit was clearly the source.

"Welcome back," she said, keeping a short distance between them.

[bestofthevein]

Now there's a familiar face--Anani's that is. He's who Kit notices first, and he cracks a grin as he crouches down to affectionately stroke the cat from head to tailtip. "Hey there, salroka, how've you been?"

(It's easier to talk candidly to animals, he's discovering. The truth doesn't ever frighten them.)

Valdis's appearance is expected at that point, and he glances up at her with the same lopsided smile he's always worn. "Thanks," he says. "It's good to be back. Fewer faces than when I was last here, though." He tries not to think on Rutile or Padparadscha.

[redlightgreenlight]

Anani arched his back against Kit's hand, mewing and turning back and forth. Valdis watched the two, her soft gaze only for moments like this. Her cat seemed to put most people at ease. Even Devin pet the little creature.

"He managed the storm better than most," she replied.

Anani reared up to rub his chin against Kit's, bracing his paws against the bent knee, still purring.

"It's normal for people to come and go," she continued, "You get used to it."

Lie. But not the first one she had told and it wouldn't be the last.

"You seem...different."

[bestofthevein]

"You seem...different."

His hands slow but don't still as they stroke Anani's soft fur. He doesn't answer Valdis right away; he needs a moment to let the residual stink of rotting fish and dank sea water exit his nose, to let the sudden whirl of thoughts that can't possibly belong to him settle like disturbed silt. They'll come back when the next tide disturbs them, but for now--

Kit glances up at Valdis again and chuckles. "New haircut," he says, instead of the truth, and something in his expression pleads in silence for her to let it go, just for now.