[EVENT] Moon and Mirrors (Welcome Mingle Log)

[khuimods]

Characters: ALL
Date: January 15
Location: At the Dreaming Bridge and all over Aifaran!
Situation: A large influx of Dreamfolk arrive in time for one of the Lunar Festivals, and they're all invited!
Warnings/Rating: N/A


A surprising amount of Dreamfolk have arrived within a short time frame - a peculiarity remarked upon by a number of Aifaran's residents. It is unusual in that it coincides with a lunar festival, one which only happens every fifty or so years.

Newcomers will find the streets packed with all sorts of people, stalls of fried and sugared foods, carnivalesque games and rides, and all other manner of things to do. Merchants are very keen to get their wares out there, and the stipend given may just burn a hole in your pocket when you see what's for sale.

Comments

II. Festival

[iseeall]

The advantage of eyes like his was that Leo could easily spot someone who was brooding and skulking along in the shadows; especially if that someone had a distinctive aura like Devin. He almost had a small heart attack at first that somehow an Elder Blood Breed had made it here with him, until he saw the familiar softer edges and lack of a true name.

It WAS him, and with his memories of Keelai flooding back in, Leo squished his way through the random passerby, holding onto his bibirus until he got close enough to the vampire. He was sure Devin probably knew he was coming, but Leo wasn't going to stop until he was close enough that he couldn't ignore him.

"Hey. Mr. Devin! It kinda looks like we got dragged here to the turtle again but....I have to say I'm glad to see you again." Leo grinned, holding one bibiru in his hand while the other sat on his head.

[annihilist]

By virtue of Devin's attention on the crowd, he did spot Leo's approach with a heavy sigh. Luck wouldn't have favored Devin being the only person to return, much to his displeasure.

Leo's furry companions are-- Devin isn't even sure what to make of them. It probably shows on his face, which briefly goes confused and uncertain.

"Leo." A pause. Was Devin glad to see him again? He wasn't sure how to answer. Yes and no, for reasons he didn't want to go into. "New pets?"

[iseeall]

Well, at least he'd been expecting the rather awkward reunion, even if a little bit of him was disappointed that Devin was still acting the same towards him. Maybe he was angry about being dragged back here; Leo certainly wouldn't blame him.

He at least seemed confused and maybe intrigued by the bibirus, so he carefully lifted Michella up higher so Devin could get a better look at her. "Yeah. The people at the bibiru petting zoo felt sorry for me and gave me a couple rescues. They're...really cute. You can hold her if you want."

[annihilist]

He was angry and also more than a little lost.

The expression on Devin's face was bemused, gaze flicking from Leo to the bibiru and back again. She was... endearing, he could admit privately. "I'm not sure I should be trusted with small animals. I haven't really handled any," he hedged. A pause. "But... thank you for the offer."

Though if Leo shoved the creature at him, Devin certainly wouldn't drop her.

[iseeall]

Leo was absolutely shoving her at Devin's face, clearly expecting the vampire to hold out his hands so he could gently put it in them. "I may be shit at dealing with anything emotions related, but I've found hugging these guys absolutely helped."

Not like he was going to admit that he was crying to Devin again. "And I think you can deal with little animals perfectly fine."

[annihilist]

Devin sighed. He probably shouldn't let Leo accidentally drop the thing, and he's certainly dexterous enough himself to hold on. The vampire hooks a hand behind the bibiru's front legs and underneath the back legs to support her.

She is... soft. "Do you know how to take care of them?" His tone is notably absent any sharpness, and he's looking at the bibiru a little bit like a deer in the headlights.

[iseeall]

"Well, I told the people at the petting zoo I wouldn't mind if I had a couple of them as pets and they pretty much shoved everything I needed to get started on me. They're a lot like rabbits, to be honest." Leo never had a rabbit as a pet when he was younger, but Michella always thought they were cute.

The bibiru named after her was the one sitting in Devin's arms, sniffing curiously around the new fingers. She cheeped, ruffling her wings, and snuggled into Devin's arms. Chain, in the meantime, just stared at him from on top of Leo's head.

[annihilist]

Devin adjusted his grip slightly so that the bibiru wouldn't be able to fall easily. The musculature of where the wings attached was interesting; it was hard to tell if they had always been flightless and were simply heading for that eventually or not.

Analysis. Analysis was easier than emotion. "Well, if they breed like rabbits, no wonder they were eager to find them homes," he said wryly. He eyeballed the one atop Leo's head, unsure what to make of the precarious perch. "Did you name them yet?"

[iseeall]

"Yes! The one you're holding is named Michella, and this one is Chain." They were pretty oddly specific names, but Leo was basically naming them after his friends. "They're one of the good things about coming here...my pictures of them are already getting likes on Xa Xa."

Wait, was Devin even modern enough to know about social networking?

[annihilist]

The vampire was old, but he did pay attention to the world even if he chose not to engage with it. "That image network?" He also listened to the briefing when he arrived, and poked around the yimo channels. "That does seem your speed, given your relentless pursuit of photography."

Leo was bent on taking photos even when pneumonia threatened. The bibiru named Michella sniffed at his clothing, and Devin glanced down at her, still clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing. It wasn't bad just... odd. He may have found a way to scratch under her chin. "Why those names?"

[iseeall]

Devin was absolutely right; Leo was that type of person to risk his life for a shot, and he would probably absolutely do so in the future-but right now it was just of cute rabbit birds. Michella clearly liked the attention and flopped into his arms, the wings draping over him.

"Well yeah, what else am I supposed to do? I can't pass up cute little creatures like these. And I named them after...well, the one you're holding is named after my sister. This one is named after my fr-coworker, Chain," Leo said, pointing up to her.

[annihilist]

Devin did his level best not to look completely captivated with Michella, with moderate success. He wouldn't have expected pets to be comfortable with him, given what he was (although that was more of an excuse than anything else.)

"Ah, yes. You mentioned your sister before." That was when Devin's friends were there, in spectral form. Leo had said that his cowardice had cost her something. Then, a little haltingly, like he wasn't used to this kind of conversation: "You must miss her, being here. Chain, too, I imagine, or else you wouldn't name something after them. Is Michella older or younger?"

[iseeall]

Devin was actually trying to make conversation; he had to stop hismelf from looking too excited, though he was marginally less successful than Devin looking like he didn't want to hold the bibiru. "Yes. Michella's my younger sister, one year younger than me and she just recently got engaged. I actually met him when I went back. I miss her a lot, and honestly I wish she could meet all of you here; hell, there might even be a way to help her. But otherwise...well, Chain is...I do miss everyone back at Libra. Even Chain and Steven, though they kind of scare me a lot. She's a werewolf and likes to rip peoples hearts out of their chests, but uh, I couldn't resist naming one after her."

[annihilist]

The five months had home had forced Devin to become vaguely more conversational, even if he was still not skilled in these topics. The topic of engagement was even further outside his realm of expertise, and so he was grateful for another subject to latch onto.

"You did make it clear to me that you were surrounded by some rather intense individuals," Devin recalled. Leo hadn't quite shouted at him, but he'd been insistent that the vampire was no serious challenge to his existing friends as far as scariness went.

"Only you would name a bibiru after someone so violent," he remarked, and there was amusement in his tone. It was such a Leo thing to do. "Really, a werewolf? What don't you have in your world?"

[iseeall]

"Friendly vampires," Leo answered immediately, though it did beg the question of what Hellsalem's Lot didn't have. He'd pretty much stopped caring about how many unbelievable things he saw on his way to work. "I haven't seen her actually transform into a wolf, but I'm certainly not gonna ask her if she can."

He thought it would be both terrifying and awesome, because deleting your existance was already a powerful enough ability. "Oh! I have pictures of them I can finally show you-" Leo fumbled and brought out his camera, Chain sort of getting in his way as he pulled it out, just to press a few buttons and cycle to a rare group photo he got of all of the core members while he was in the hospital.

"Sorry it might be a bit blurry, but my hand was still healing from getting a finger chopped off. There's Chain and Michella next to her-" he pointed at the dark haired woman and the girl in the wheelchair-" and obviously there's Mr. Klaus. This tall guy here is Mr. Steven, who is probably scarier than both Blood Breeds and Chain combined. He sometimes says 'I'll take care of this' when talking about someone and they're never heard from again. That's Mr. Zed-" next was the fish guy-"Who is actually pretty quiet and polite, but he's really strong. That's Mr. Zapp who is trying to push him out of frame, and I believe I already told you how horrible of a person he is. Unfortunately he is very good at his job and is kind of fun to play video games with."

He pointed next at a tall blonde woman with an eyepatch. "That's Ms. K.K. She's married and has two kids but I'm pretty sure she's adopted me as a third. She's also a sniper and has shot up an entire convenience store one time because a gunfight broke out while we were in it. And I think you can see Mr. Gilbert in the background, who is Mr. Klaus' butler."

Devin could probably easily notice that even with some of the scary things he was saying, Leo was very happy to talk about his friends and family, both blood and found.