Femtite releases Conway’s left hand so she can caress his cheek with her right. Her warm, gentle touch guides the boy to look at her.
“Duke Zepar didn’t choose you. I did.”
She gives Conway’s other hand a gentle squeeze.
“If you have feelings for me, it’s best to be honest about it. A pixite body is a way for us to… you know, really be an Us.
“The outfits, the fan club, you being there when movie night got weird. You’re too wonderful to me, Conway. It’s why I could bring myself to point that bottle at you. I believed you had feelings for me, and if I was forced to…” She can’t bring herself to say ‘be straight.’ “…but of course you did the right thing for me.
“I’m hoping that having a Pixite form prepared is the right thing for you. But I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding. The Pixite form is so we can date, with the possibility of a beautiful future together.”
Femtite hopes Conway sees the value of being completely honest up-fro—“—as immortals. Did you already know pixites are immortal? Some humans prefer to say Unaging.”
Laying down wasn't that bad and the same would go for being stand up, but the motion of going from one to another was a series of stabs in his back and neck, which he tries to hide. "If you don't mind me moving as a piece of cardboard..." He jokes, taking her hand and sipping from his flask of rainwater, for it somewhat eased the pain.
Looking at the decorations, his eyes stop at the food. "Have you just yoinked the food from somewhere else, or did you conjured it with magic? Is it even safe? And good? In my state I don't want to imagine how a magic food infection might look like."
|
Indy raked his claws on the concrete as Sky pointed out the missing disco ball, "Right silly me." With a flick of the wrist and manipulation of way too dexterous claws one sprang from the ceiling and began turning.
"No I didn't just steal it Caio, it's conjured and completely edible, can't speak too much for flavor but hey condensed mana biscuits are filling if a little bland. Then again my sense of taste is significantly different now than it was when I was fully human. I think we've got plenty of stuff in the kitchen though if you wanna place an order with the chef."
A floating menu wandered by and presented itself to Caio, none of the options were impressive just things Indy knew how to cook himself.
Percy travels out to meet with Quincy or as much a meeting as you can with someone in his state.
He arrives at the hospital with some glamoured on clothing, a loose dark blue t-shirt which would not fit over his horns or wings without magic and some loose jogger pants.
He would take a deep breath and remind himself why he's hear before stepping into Quincy's room.
The soft beeping of monitoring equipment surrounds Quincy as he lay in his hospital bed. He reminds Percy of a victim of famine; his emaciated form is covered in tubes and wires as nutrients are fed into him and a respirator forces his chest to rise and fall.
For the moment, his eyes are closed and he makes no movement besides his labored breathing.
Percy steps closer to Quincy, "Hey Quincy... can you hear me?" He casts the same detection spell he did with Connie attempting to sus out if he also had any hidden tattoos or bindings.
A soft groan escapes Quincy's throat when he's asked if he can hear. Devastating weakness clearly pervades his entire self. With the spell, Percy finds similar tattoos across Quincy's body. With a comparison there's a few things Percy can tell about Quincy/Connie's bindings. Firstly, Connie has more of them, and they're a lot stronger. They both have a name binding (Quincy's just says Quintus Westcott Mathers), they both have the straight edge binding, filial piety bindings with an order of magnitude less juice going through it, and they both have the bloodline binding that runs up Connie's thigh... kind of. It seems that it's actually two bindings twined around each other, and one of them, which on Connie is represented as the red ribbon of a bloodline, is basically the same, but the other one that binds and restrains and protects is much weaker and less total on Quincy.
After a few moments, he swallows painfully. Eyes still closed, his mouth works to wet itself for speech. "Will? Did... it work?" he finally croaks out through parched lips. "Did you... help her?"
Percy frowned Did he seriously do this to all of his children. What a shitty way to try and keep them in line. He thinks for a moment that he could probably use his mistaken identity to try and gather some additional information about Connie's situation, but the risk to Quincy... he wouldn't survive a similar state.
"Sorry Quincy, it's not Will. But I'm trying to help everyone here. Including you, despite everything. I just needed to check and see if you were the same. You probably can't tell me anything she hasn't already tried, but we're working."
He got just a bit closer, "I need to tell you I'm sorry. For ruining your game twice now. But I need you to know, you can't keep overcharging your body or you'll die for real and... even with all the power at my disposal I can't fix that. I'm working on a way to get those damn things off of you and Connie. Once she's healed up we'll help your friend Kyana. I hope... I hope you can forgive me for not being able to do more immediately."
Quincy fights to open his eyes, and only his left gets anywhere close to open enough to see. It swims around briefly before finally focusing on Percy. He shakes his head feebly. "So done... with all this... bullshit. Rather... just game... but taken from... me."
He falls silent for another span of minutes as he gathers his strength. "Tell Connie... sorry for... being such a dick. Tryna be... something Dad wanted. He always... brought out... the worst."
"I'll let her know. Need you to get some rest so you can say it too." He nodded at Quincy, "I've checked what I needed on you, which just goes to further prove his depravity... with luck we'll all be done with it sooner rather than later."
He stepped away, "Sleep easy Quincy." Leaving as quickly as he came Percy heads out of the hospital and off to see if he could get into contact with Myra's player first.
Accessing Clocktower's database, Percy finds Myra's player -- real name Summer Neibert -- and her address in a tiny apartment near Old Town.
Setting off from his current point he swooped down to the street nearby in old town, unsure if he'd ever been in this part of Halcyon.
He moved up to the building on foot, taking in the surrounding area before searching down the buzzer list for Neibert or Summer on the name plates and pressing the corresponding button.
After a minute, the intercom buzzes. "Hello?"
"Um hello, I'm looking for Summer Neibert. It's Indarius, I've got something important to say regarding the recent um... fantasy event if thats... okay. It'll only take a minute of your time I promise."
"Um, okay." The voices sounds a little unsure, but Percy is buzzed in. She's on the first floor, the most handicapped-accessible floor in the building. He sees a motorized scooter parked just outside her door.
Summer opens the door to let him in, then quickly moves to a chair with casters and eases herself down. She looks at him with concerned eyes. "So, you're the one who busted Quincy's game that one time?"
Shuffling awkwardly into the room with an uneasy shuffle he clears his throat. "Um... yeah the time with the werewolf and vampire."
He fiddles his fingers together nervously, despite having thought of exactly what to say in the moment it was that much harder. "I...um"
He tries to swallow the lump in his throat, You cannot get cold feet right now seriously you thrive in the cold. Standing in an awkward silence for a full minute and a half he grits through it.
Percy leaned forward in a deep bow to Summer, "I'm so sorry for, everything that happened. I let my emotions get the better of me after the gate incident and that lead to a spiral of things including um killing Myr- well.. you as Myra, you and Myra. That lead to more magic being used to authenticate your new character which only served to further destabilize Quincy's world and it's all my fault."
He stared at the ground at Summer's feet. "If I had just... stayed calm and been more in control of myself then... then Myra'd still be alive and Quincy's world would have had more time for us to figure something out. I don't know if I can fix it or if you'll accept my apology. But i'm going to do what I can to try and fix things."
Summer frowns, taking off her glasses and wiping them on the tail of her shirt. "I... think we all got carried away in there. So, apology accepted."
She returns the glasses to her face and looks at him with sympathy. "I think Quincy tried too hard to make it real. Some of us were all for it. Fred most of all." She gestures at her knee, still in a brace. "It was certainly nice to have a body with knees that worked. So I understand." She chuckles.
She tilts her head when he says he's going to fix things. "Not sure if there's anything left to fix. Quincy's brother came by earlier. Said he's not doing well. Not well enough to use magic again, he thinks. Unless you're thinking of taking over as GM, I think the game's done for." She shrugs. "Quincy's magical world was fantastic, but he relied on tropes too much."
Percy stands upright again as she accepts his apology. "It was rather intense." His eyes flick to her legs for a moment Could maybe do something about that.
"If I knew a spell that would fix them... perhaps if I ever get a doctorate and have some time to study some healing spells. Or create them... considering Infinity's book never mentioned them except in theory." he frowns wishing he could help in a less intrusive way than polymorphic means.
He nods, "Yeah I, just came from visiting with Quincy. He wasn't doing great, he will probably recover, but it'll take a long time. He pushed himself nearly to full burnout and... well even the most capable human mages in the modern era. Well it's amazing he was able to hold off channeling that much aether as long as he did. Honestly lucky to be alive, I've got some ideas as to how his world might be able to be safer and still a thing, but I've got about six or seven magical theory researches going on right now and that one is pretty low on the list "
His ear fins perk a bit, "Was it... Will who came by or one of the other brothers?"
Summer rubs her leg when Percy looks at it and mentions healing magic, but she doesn't say anything about it.
"It was Will, yes," she answers.
Percy notices the leg rub and shrinks a bit. "Ah Quincy, he thought I was Will when I first visited him. Guess he may be making similar visits."
"I don't want to well bother you but. Is there anything I can do to help, I mean like if you need anything?"
"Yeah, I only met Quincy's brother once or twice. Will wasn't a gamer, but gave him some tips on building the world a while ago. He checked me out, you know, mystically." She waggles her fingers. "He said he wanted to make sure there wasn't any residual magic on me."
Summer shrugs when he asks if she needs anything. "Not really. I was lucky all my rent and social security checks were direct deposits and withdrawals. Still have my place."
"Oh. Hmm... would you like me to take a second look. My history of trusting the various Mathers is tenuous at best. In the meantime I could treat you to some tea for letting me visit and for listening to me. It's quite revitalizing."
He looks around her apartment a little not snooping, but also not wanting to focus only on her to make her uncomfortable. "If there is anything you need though." He draws up a rune in the air which quickly becomes a small solid patch emblazoned with the rune. "A sort of... one time call anything you need within my ability."
Summer's apartment is rather cluttery, with stacks of old board games, well-read paperbacks of fantasy and sci-fi, and other trappings of someone who spends much of their extra income on geeky properties.
"I'm fine. Thanks for the offer. And for the apology. I don't think Will found anything wrong with me. He did say he saw several of the others, though. Maybe there was something with them?"
Percy hums "Maybe I should check on everyone just to be sure. I'm hoping that maybe Will can help me help Quincy. I'm just a bit weary of... things. There's always something when it involves them. Hey Summer thanks for letting me come up and apologize, but seriously if you need anything I'm a hero of Halcyon or ya know doing my best so don't be afraid to call out if you see me flying about."
He points to the side of his head, "I've got like.. crazy good hearing not... Captain Stalwart levels, but.. yeah." He finishes awkwardly. "Anyway I should get going don't want to use up all your time today. Have a good one." turning for the door he pauses after he opens it up and points over to her collection of books. "Oh also really liked the Battle Galaxy series, always cool to see another fan. See ya."
"You're welcome," she smiles, then brightens even further at the mention of the Battle Galaxy series. "Yes! 'Infinity is just around the corner!'" she laughs.
As Percy squeezes out of the door avoiding crushing his tail or wings he offers a return laugh and does his best impersonation of one of the characters from the book which is to say what he think he'd sound like, "To the edge and ever beyond we fly!"
With that he closes the door and heads back out to the street feeling much better about himself, he checked in with Clocktower to see who was the next nearest member of the group planning to make similar visits to express his regrets. He made a mental note to make a stop at the Gates of Hell before opening time too.
Percy recalls the barbarian's real life name to have been Miguel. With that lead, Clocktower points him to Miguel Diaz, who lives nearest to Old Town, often called Little PR because of the number of people of Puerto Rican descent who have gravitated to that area.
Percy finds him in a local auto repair shop, just taking a break from doing some body work on a classic corvette. Miguel appears a jovial sort, with an easy smile as he chats with the others in the shop as he wipes the grime from his hands.
Percy alights himself near the shop so as to not stir up too much dust, but the act still kicks up plenty. Once he's landed he motions to Miguel and starts to walk over.
"Miguel Diaz?"
Despite trying to not stir up much dust, Percy's arrival stirs up a lot of attention. Miguel looks wary at the dragon calling his name, while others in the shop look ready to flee.
"Yes? Why are you looking for me?"
Being hyperaware of the oncoming scene he folds his wings tight against himself.
"Well, if you're free I wanted to talk about the recent fantasy world event. I'm Indarius and I came to apologize, as I did with some of the others."
Recognition crosses his face. He looks a bit cagey, then calls back to the other mechanics. "¡Ey! Está bien, pero creo que está confundido. Dame un segundo con él y me pondré al día."
Miguel walks closer to Percy and lowers his voice. "They don't know about the game, all right? It's fine. We were all in there together, you know? Sorry about the, you know, chains and all. But are you, like, a dragon in real life? Or did the game change you?"
Perking up he nods, "Ah my bad. And yeah it's... kind of whatever. Like I said in the game this is me regardless of what world i'm in. I mean not my... full form, but most people." He motions towards the shop, "Freak out a bit when they see this let alone that. If you've got time I've got some questions."
"Just a sec," he says, then goes into a small break room, returns with a lunch box and a bottle of soda. "If you're all right watching me eat, sure."
He walks outside and climbs into a pickup truck. He rolls the window down but cranks the engine and turns up the heat. "I'm guessing the cold doesn't bother you here either? Anyway, what's your question?"
Percy waits patiently while Miguel gets his lunch and shakes his head at the question. "Nah i'm actually probably bringing the temperature down just by standing here actually. Magic creature stuff ya know. As for the question, how.. you were you when you were in that world? How much do you remember?"
He scratches the back of his neck moving the webbing of his wing out of the way to do so. "I mean you seem to remember the chains and stuff so I guess. And I saw the look in your eyes and all the stuff you said before, you were really itching for a fight or kill. So... why, why didn't you do it? I guess is what I wanted to ask."
Miguel leans back in his seat and looks out the window. "You mean, why didn't I kill a helpless foe? You really gotta ask?"
He sighs, takes a swig of his soda, then turns to look at Indarius. "Quincy never got into that whole 'murderhobo' thing in the game. And... it's a big difference from playing on the table, with dice and a piece of paper and doing stupid shit when you're really living it. You feel me?"
He nods "I mean yeah, just you as the character were so... rearing for a fight. I'm not gonna lie in the moment a not insignificant part of me wanted you to do it. When my key was taken it... man I can't even describe how bad I felt in that moment."
Indarius taps on the side of the truck with his knuckles, "Still good to know what you were thinking I guess. What kind of things were going through your head, to help me work through my own head stuff right now. Just sort of still reeling from the whole expedition."
Miguel takes a bite of his sandwich and chews thoughtfully. "Well, from what my character knew, you were an evil badass. Like, only there to be destroyed."
He leans back again and puts his head against the headrest. "So weird, man. Being a totally different person, with different memories and all. I mean, yeah, I got to pick out my character and all..." He looks back at Percy. "I didn't know you were a person. Not until the angel guy brought me back. And even then, we had to worry about getting out before everything fell apart so I didn't think much about it until now."
Percy nodded, "Trust me i know the feeling pretty well so far. A lot of people are scared of me, because I'm the terrifying dragon of legend."
He shrugs "I'm not the only one and the one I do know is a total corporate shit bag. I'm trying to prove dragons can be more than the monster in the story. Heck on more than one occasion I have been the monster. But I hope little actions like this can start to change how folks feel. "
He glances back at the shop for a moment, "So I wanted to apologize to you and the others about my actions as Umboriax. I wasn't all of me, mostly just the bad parts. And if there's anything I can do to help please just let me know. I am one of Halcyon's heroes after all."
Miguel thinks a bit on the apology, then assures him, "We're good, man. Not sure how some of the others will feel. I can handle coming back to the real world. Some of them, well, they're not going to be happy.
"See what you can do for them. Fred especially. I'll be all right." He reaches out of the truck for a handshake, then turns it into a fist bump.
Percy nods, "Fred huh? Who was their character, makes it a bit easier to know what happened before." He reciprocates the fist bump, being very gentle.
He sucks through his teeth. "Fred's, um, Kyana. It might be... awkward. He's really into the game. Like, really into it."
Perking up with realization Percy's eyes widen, "Oh!.. Kyana yeah, well there's... Yeah a situation that's going to be handled, promises made need to be kept. But please... Kyana's player will need your support no matter how things unfold."
He steps away, "I'm off to visit the others, got alot on my plate today, so take care and be safe."
Unless Miguel has more to say Percy will move off to take off and head towards the next player in his list, that of the thief.
Finding Ty'leth's player involves a process of elimination, or going back to one of the other players and asking. Ty'leth had escaped Harrowguard while Umboriax was chasing down Kyana, and Percy never saw the player once he'd escaped.
He eventually learns that the drow thief was played by Neal Tremont, and is able to catch up to him at a hole in the wall used books and comics shop in Old Town. Percy finds him near the back, his large frame almost out of place in the cramped space. He looks up from the yellowed comic book he is reading when Percy approaches. "A dragon in my shop. Huh."
"Yeah a pretty familiar one actually. You might know me as Indarius, in both worlds. I knew you as Ty'leth, the thief who stole my key." He lets out a cooling huff, "But don't worry I'm not here for vengeance or anything like that. I just wanna talk a bit. Mainly ask why you did it, and if anything's been weird since we all got out."
Neal closes up his comic and slides it into a plastic bag. "Why I did it? It was the quest item. Yeah, it could have been trapped, but I had advantage against them so it was worth the risk. If you were Umboriax, I could ask you why you killed Myra."
"Advantage against me." He folds his arms noting that putting it back into the bag doesn't return value to it but he's not a comic book guy so it's whatever. "As Umboriax, I was buried under alot of emotions. Rage, Sorrow, an unyielding need for Vengence. It took ahold of me and like a current dragged most of my psyche along with it. I'm not going to hide behind that and say I wasn't at fault for it though, a part of me deep down wanted for Myra to suffer. But that part of me is back in line, and now I'm going forth to make amends. She was the first person I visited actually."
"No, I had advantage against traps. You had the helpless condition," Neal responds.
He leans back in his chair which creaks under his large frame. "Not sure what else you want to talk about. Hopefully Quince gets better so he can rebuild the game. It'll suck if that's the end of it."
Neal shrugs. "Or maybe whatever Quincy's brother's up to will bring it back."
Percy clears his throat, "Wait... what do you mean whatever he's up to? Last I knew he was just checking up on everyone."
His hackle-like hair spines rustle with worry at the thought of whatever machinations Will jr. Might have underway.
"He said he was 'collecting threads,' or something like that," Neal says, not sounding concerned. "There was something left over from the game on me, and he got rid of it. Or, so he said. I didn't feel anything before or after."
"Yeah, most people don't have a sense for the arcane. I'll have to keep checking with the others. If you feel anything that's... off."
He produces a small token, much like he offered before to Miguel. "Give this a squeeze and call on me. It's one time use though. I've gotta go catch up with William."
He turns to leave.
Neal remains just as sedentary as before, and doesn't bother to get up to accept the token or to see Percy out of the store.
Once outside, the Transformed sorcerer has to decide his next move.
Percy ticks down the list of people he's already visited as well as those that Will has seemingly already been to and gives @Conflux a call as he takes off.
"Hey know you're still feeling like shit, but I've been going around visiting the players and apparently so has Will Jr. at first I thought he may just be doing some magical check up, but Neal just said he's been collecting 'threads'. Any idea what that might mean? Also Quincy thought I was will and wanted to know if i'd helped 'her'... obviously not sure exactly who he's talking about but he did also say he was sorry for being such a dick and being something dad wanted. Trying to figure out if I should keep going down the list of players or head straight for Will and would like some insight if you've got any."
"F@%*. Well probably he's trying to figure out how to heist Quincy's world, or at least the metaphorical copper pipes."
"Feels like in that case I should go after William directly... f&+@sake. Let Fearless know, if you don't hear from me within the hour assume something went wrong."
"He's sneakier than you, Puff. Be careful."
"Yeah I know.. probably how he's gotten away with his hell pit for so long. I'll be extra careful Connie, rest up."
With that Percy makes to track down and if necessary intercept William jr.
Returning to the Gates of Hell nightclub probably brings back memories for Indarius, though his involvement with the demonic sisters of Max was tangential when the team had crashed the place last year. But he'd had his first conversation with Will Mathers back then, at the time erroneously thinking he was William senior.
Percy finds the place closed, it not being time for its doors to open. There is some delivery activity around back, where staff are overseeing the replenishment of top-shelf liquors for the various levels of bars. Other staff are busy changing CO2 tanks for the fog machines and handling other preparations for the night.
Indarius lands abruptly near the staff in the back, though far enough to not cause too much of a stir. "Hey, looking for Will. Need to talk to him about his brother's recent escapades. I'd rather go about this the nice way rather than sneak in here during business hours to get a word in."
The work crews startle at Indarius's arrival, some of them openly gawking. Those quicker to recover exchange glances and then shake their heads. "Boss ain't here," a heavily-tatted worker says.
"Yeah. Sorry. Don't know when he'll be back," another says.
"Guarantee you know how to get ahold of him. It's urgent, so help me help you out here."
One of the workers laughs. "Oh, yeah. Like we've got the owner on speed dial or something. Hang on. I'll go get the club manager. Maybe she'll help you out."
Indarius is forced to wait while the worker goes inside to get the manager. The other workers go back to their jobs, still keeping an eye on the dragon in their midst.
After several minutes pass, the worker comes out followed by a stunningly attractive woman probably in her mid-thirties, wearing a long fashionable coat against the weather. She lights up a cigarette and looks at Indarius like he was a beggar asking for scraps. "I'm Oisha Murabi. Can I help you with something?" she says, not sounding interested in helping.
Folding his wings up around his front side creating a wind break, though the breeze and any cold doesn't really bother him he waits.
"Good to meet you miss Murabi, I'm Indarius friend of Wills siblings. I need to get ahold of him in regards to the recent happenings. It's pretty urgent and I'd rather not have to ask someone higher up, or chase him around the city."
Parts of him wonder if this is one of his demons in disguise or not, but tries not to jump to conclusions.
Ms. Murabi takes a long and sensual drag on her cigarette and breathes the smoke out slowly. "Asking someone higher up? I'm curious who that would be. "
Indarius doesn't get the sense that the woman is a demon, but she does have the whiff of magic about her. She taps the ash off the end of her cigarette.
"I suppose I could pass along the message to him," she says as if doing so would be doing Indy a monumental favor. "What would you like me to say?"
Indy turned his head slightly catching some sort of magic on the 'wind'. "I would like to ask him to meet me soon, to talk about Connie, Quincy, and the game world. Details will obviously need to be talked over in person, but I'd like to help make sure everything is, stable."
She takes another drag and waves the cigarette around. "I'll assume Will knows what all that means," she says not sounding confident that he will.
She takes her time finishing her smoke before pulling out a sleek phone. She types out a text rapidly, hits send, then drops the phone into a pocket of her coat.
"There. Mr. Mathers is now informed of your request. Are you satisfied? My break is over, and I have much to before doors open."
"He should know enough by that yes, but I was more hoping for a location. Unless you suspect he'll show up here soon."
She tosses her hair with a shake of her head. "You did not ask for his location. You asked to meet with him. Does he not know where to meet you?" Her voice is laced with impatience.
"The whole point of coming here was to figure out where he was and set up a meeting. So I figured it was obvious when I said I'd rather not chase him around town. So no, we do not have a pre-approved meeting place. Since I can travel faster than him, I figure it'd be best for me to go to him rather than him come to me."
Upset as he is with the strict wording required, Indarius is mostly mad at himself. While this woman might not be a devil herself, she might as well have taken their tenacity towards exact wording. Something he'd have to keep an eye on.
"So if you can inform me of his location, or have him communicate one suitable to his liking. I'll be on my way to meet with him and out of your hair."
Indarius's own frustration does not appear to distress the woman in the slightest. "I am unaware of Mr. Mathers' current location. I've little doubt he will be able to find you, if indeed he wishes to meet. You are," she looks him up and down, "distinctive."
Business seemingly concluded, Ms. Murabi inclines her head with the barest of nods. "Good day to you."
Indarius waited till long after Ms. Murabi had taken her leave, to sigh and take off.
He shot Connie a text
Indy: Wills secretary is.... almost worse than dealing with fey.
He posts up on a rooftop and begins to reach out searching for the magical essence of William Mathers.
Indarius gets little insight when he stretches out his senses. Whatever Mathers Jr. was up to, it is well-obscured by the myriad backdrop of Halcyon City, even during this blustery early February day.
After waiting a while with no contact from Will, Indy is forced to choose between taking more drastic action to find him, or waiting possibly indefinitely until Will deigns to reach out to him.
Conway works a mouth suddenly gone dry. "You'd want me, like, to date and be--?" He clutches his head with both hands and stumbles away like his legs have gone rubbery.
"You don't know how much I've-- I couldn't let myself-- I mean, no matter how much I l-- I l-- How much I've grown to care for you I knew I'd be the guy in the chair. The guy in the friend zone." He takes a few rasping breaths while his eyes fill with water. "I'm... I mean if this is real... then yes. Yes, I'll be a Pixite for you. If it means getting to be your buh-- I mean your guh-- um... your date."
Femtite places both hands on Conway’s cheeks, and—she actually wishes she could kiss him without burning his face off, but she can’t. She throws herself at him, embracing him in the street!
Her aura is pink and her body is very warm.
If she could become Maeve right now, she wonders if she would. But Maeve is gone. Deleting her runes was the surest way to rid herself of Duke Zepar, a very real threat to an all-female race. (Or so the cocky infernal being thought before he was outwitted and thwarted by just one pixite!)
She holds him close. She’s tearing up herself, filled with joy, giggling lightly at Conway’s ‘buh’ and ‘guh.’
“When we meet your parents, I think you should say ‘boyfriend.’”
She pulls back from the embrace so Conway can see her reassuring smile (though of course he also sees the thin molten gold streaks on her cheeks).
“I don’t mean we have to meet them right now, but I’d love to meet them when you’re ready. Unless you’re already ready… umm…
“Do they know about me?”
"Thanks, Indy. This looks wonderful," Shin tells him as he walks slowly around. "...Ah. I got to call someone really quick - Indy! Dance with Valerie for me and don't leave her standing," He requests before picking up his comm, stepping to one side and calling Whippoorwill.
"It's done. And I've heard the Alliance is using that data well," Shin says to her. "I just want to say...thank you. Really, for everything you've taught me. All the support you've given me."
He pauses. And he has to ask.
"Do you think that...I'm making the right choice to retire? I know that's what I want now. I don't know if it's what I'll want in the future. And if Dusk is dying like I've heard, that means my future is really uncertain. It could be better. It could be worse than him. I really don't know."
He sighs. "I know what I'm planning to do. I don't think anything can change my mind. I just...value your opinion, sensei. Would you give it to me, one last time?"
Conway's stunned amazement drops several levels when Femtite brings up his parents. "Oh, um, parent. Single. Mom knows a little about my 'collections' and my projects. My dad's long gone. A couple uncles, one aunt, but, uh, that's about it. Mom's boyfriends are all the same. They see me and realize I'm not, um, 'cool' and they go back to ignoring me. Which is fine. I like running the Rouge Squadron messageboards anyway. They're my real family."
His eyes go wide. "I could still run them from Nanometeor, right? And the businesses?"
Valerie arches an eyebrow severely as Shin has Indy come and dance with her. "He breaks my jaw, I blame you," she calls after him.
She then turns to the dragon and awkwardly tries to dance. "So, Shin's walking away, I think Caio is doing the same so he can be with Skyler. Who'll be in witness protection like me and my family. Don't see the glowing chick here, either. Won't be much of a team after that. You and Connie. Any plans for what's next?"
"Horizon, --Shin-- any advice I can give about retirement... It's not going to come from personal experience. But..." She takes a deep breath, then pauses for a moment before her words come. "... It's the rare opportunity for someone to get to choose to retire in this business. So count yourself among the extremely lucky.
"But saying that... retirement will be challenging on its own. Every crisis you hear about will tempt you. You'll start wondering if you should help out, to suit up and throw yourself at whatever's threatening the city. And, well, I don't have the words to tell you how to deal with those feelings." She pauses again. "Except to say that, you've earned your right to a peaceful life. To a future that doesn't have Dusk in it.
"Remember, Halcyon City will always have threats. And the Alliance was formed to make sure there will always be heroes who rise to protect its people. So... you can rest easy. We've got this."
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"I'll blame you too by the way formerly fearless leader." He laughed a little then gazed at Valerie and tried to find a way to accomplish the request without harming her. It was awkward as heck to try and dance with Val considering both their history, and the fact that it was too painful to take on his mostly humanoid form at this time. So he was in his true form dancing with her, though he was able to shrink himself to not tower over or crush her. Both wrists over her shoulders and balancing on his hind legs and tail, which luckily were both not entirely not made for a limited version of this pseudo-bipedalism.
His face twisted a bit at the question first in deep thought then a bit of concern. "I.. hadn't actually thought that far ahead. I mean me and Connie could totally co-lead a new team I bet. With Horizon stepping away we could hopefully use the base still at least for a bit. The Alliance might even see our success with the Lovelace situation and try to use us as leaders for other heroes getting into the whole cape game."
He actively looks over Valerie at Connie, then back to Val, "I hope they don't break us up to lead our own squads, but it's not an impossibility."
Music plays on the floating instruments to general request from the team, some invisible chefs cook food in the kitchen, and there is hopefully a good vibe within the entire base even if with just them it may feel a tad empty.
Connie smiles weakly as the decorations and food appear. "Hmm, think my just-as-friends group date is gonna be hella pissed I stood them up?"
Watching the happy couples pair up doesn't really do a lot to improve her mood, but she sticks it out for as long as she can manage.
She hasn't smoked anything in 5 years and a relevant tattooing, but more than almost anything in the world she wants to breathe in Shin's shitty secondhand crap on a roof. She wants a closeness so tight it hurts someone, she wants the people she hurts worst to be the ones who deserve it, she wants to just take revenge instead of trying to find justice, she wants to actually want what's best and right instead of carefully plotting a course to it Every. Single. Time. She wants to feel safe; she wants to feel safe and be right. She doesn't want to watch her father walk away.
She wants staying here with them to be the right way to make any of that happen.
And shit, even without diving into the muck, not like I deserve him either...
But she doesn't want to just leave Percy as alone as he feared he might one day find himself.
When the music ebbs she pulls him aside. "Hey bud. I... I think I'm gonna go. For a while. I need to clear my head, and blaze a trail and do a walkabout, and I think I especially need to get the f*%# away from Halcyon for a minute. And I think.... Shit it's so weird knowing that you know I can't lie - makes it much harder to just play things off I think it umm... You remember what I promised you at Christmas, right? So you know that this isn't a goodbye goodbye. Even if I got hit by a bus outside, a spelleating bus that could get through my wards, obvi, I would still harass you for years. [smaller]Not as many as if I didn't die well before I expect to, but... Whatever, you get it? You get it."
She blinks hard and looks up past the crest of Percy's horns.
"So that's my big plan of how I'm gonna get out of here without saying goodbye to you. Got any ideas for the other two? 'Cause right now I'm thinking just ask for forgiveness."
Femtite puts a hand over her mouth. She hadn’t considered Conway had a family situation like that. On the upside, if he consider the fans his real family, xenophobia won’t be an issue.
“My mothers are amicably separated. I’m sorry about your situation.” She stops herself from joking that her own mother has a harem too… seeing how neither Mother nor her harem neglected her.
“The people judging you as ‘uncool’ are middle-aged males who either failed to start families in their prime or failed to maintain them. You have gathered together many likeminded peers, a vast majority of whom are female. Even when you have a body temperature that exceeds the melting point of a spoon, you will be the coolest guy ever under that roof.” She points to his house.
When Conway asks his question, he gets an immediate “Yes.”
And Femtite considers…
“Conway, would you like me to take you there now? Even if you’re human, you can see my world from the outside.”
Conway is awakened with a kiss. Just a peck on the lips. It doesn’t hurt, for why would it? She is fire.
Of course Queen Millie’s entourage gives a round of applause. And of course Queen Millie encourages them to consummate their rela—
“Mother, no!” Seeing the stern expression on Mother’s face, Femtite quickly adds in a considerably-softened tone, “Not on the first date, Mother. I was hoping to show Conway around…”
Their first date spans several locations, as the Pixite Princess teaches the newly-pixited Conway to fly! After she calls herself Rouge Leader, Femtite giggles, “You might not want to use that call sign when I introduce you to the real Rouge Leader!”
Not that that’s happening today. Rouge Leader and her wife, Sapphire 2, are preparing the Honey Hive for its cloaked flight to South Korea with the Nanometeor in tow.
“I did promise the animator I’d meet her in-person. But of course, we can’t speak of moving the planet to her country.”
Whippoorwill would be the only one to know. And all she would be told is that the Nanometeor would leave Halcyon City. Valence and Dr. Sang would eventually realize the Pixite Planet left town, but the Human Planet has a surface area of 197 million square miles. They’d never find their target.
“Sometimes, a Pixite just doesn’t want to be found,” Femtite says to Bug-Eye. The date was live-streamed so Conway’s ‘Real Family’ would know their fan club president was fully embracing The Pixite Way.
But Femtite’s hoping Conway will fully embrace The Pixite Princess. Bug-Eye telepathically takes the hint and takes off.
Femtite snuggles close to Conway as golden particles from Halcyon’s setting sun dance about the nanoscopic skyline, pinkening the tangy-striped wildflora that encircles Femtite’s Purpure Paradise home.
She turns to Conway, placing both hands on her cheeks. She leans in, ablaze with passion as she parts her lips and—
—Bug-Eye?! Seriously stop recordi—*
"Thank you, sensei." Shin smiles at her image in the comms. "...I hope that one day, you might consider following that same path. And we can have tea together."
He turns off the comm after farewells and goes to the group. Noticing Conflux standing a little awkwardly with Indarius and figuring out what's likely happening. He approaches them, his hand up to Connie.
"You have kept me sane over these past few months. Thank you. I hope that you won't be a stranger and keep in touch." He looks at her kindly. "But before that, let's enjoy our little party."
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As the music winds down and things rearrange so that the next song could begin, Indy cranes his neck to look at Shin who's still on the phone with someone. When Connie catches him she would see his face looks like he's in deep thought about something else concerning, it all washes away though and he hopes that she's asking him for a dance herself.
Then he returns back to a concerned look when she starts with-
"Hey bud. I... I think I'm gonna go."
Ok yeah I did just drop a party on everyone maybe it's not her-
"For a while."
Oh
He listens to her eyes flitting between her own and her lips as she the words tumble out.
"I need to clear my head, and blaze a trail and do a walkabout, and I think I especially need to get the f$~* away from Halcyon for a minute. And I think.... Shit it's so weird knowing that you know I can't lie - makes it much harder to just play things off"
You don't have to lie to me Connie, I just want you to be honest
"I think it umm... You remember what I promised you at Christmas, right?"
Of course I remember
"So you know that this isn't a goodbye goodbye. Even if I got hit by a bus outside, a spelleating bus that could get through my wards, obvi,"
Ok she's actually really worried about this whole thing... or
"I would still harass you for years. Not as many as if I didn't die well before I expect to, but... Whatever, you get it? You get it."
Sorry
Percy takes in a deep slow breath as he watches her eyes snap to above him so that she's not looking directly at him. Is she about to cry. His features soften even further like a big scaled cat getting ready to make a face to cheer up their human.
"Connie I-
"So that's my big plan of how I'm gonna get out of here without saying goodbye to you. Got any ideas for the other two? 'Cause right now I'm thinking just ask for forgiveness."
Cutting himself off to let her continue he exhales quickly from his nose while she does, ending his next breath when she's done.
"Co-
Shin stepped over and inserted himself with a raised hand towards Connie, "You have kept me sane over these past few months. Thank you. I hope that you won't be a stranger and keep in touch." He looked at her kindly. "But before that, let's enjoy our little party."
Percy's fins flatten and his own eyes flit between Shin and Connie, before Giving Shin a head tilt to try and coax him to give the two some privacy.
"Yeah, sorry. Seemed like you had finished. I'll go to Valerie. Connie, talk in a bit," Shin apologizes and leaves them for the moment.
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Percy sighs as Shin takes his leave, stooping a bit to be more level with Connie. "Look, I hope you don't need to feel like you're letting me down easy here. Of course I remember what you said at the Christmas party, dragon or not I don't think I could shake that out of my head. It's obviously not a goodbye, it's a see you later."
He looks around the room a bit, "I... can't say I'm happy to see you go it's going to be weird without everyone else here so I was hoping someone would still be around." Those blue eyes fell on her again and a clawed hand-paw came up to settle gently on her shoulder. "You'll come around when you've done what you need to do I'm sure. And if you ever need help don't think you can't call, or text, or send a familar... or magical message or whatever. I've got your back if you need the help and even when you don't."
Clearing his throat a little he gave a tilt of the head leading on, "I would like it if you stayed to see the finale though, we haven't really gotten to celebrate anything as a team much and. Well noone should see this alone, but i'm not going to hold you back from heading out. Just... trust me it'll be worth the view." Turning a good portion of his upper body to look over to Caio and Slyler he gave a ruffle of the wings, "Shin seems to have caught on already, and I think you should just be straight up with Caio about it."
Connie tries to fake a smile. "I can try to do a finale."
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Percy keeps his neutral face, his eyelids betraying the attempt to not frown for her fake smile. He slides both of his arms around her and embraces her in as good a hug as he can manage.
"Not gonna twist your arm, I'll see you around Connie."
I don't wanna hold her back either
Releasing her he nods towards the others, "Just keep safe, remember we love you, and maybe text once in a while." He steps back and begins to turn signalling he's said all he can at the moment, thus letting her have free reign on telling the others.
Connie's brows immediately knit in anger. "Don't f*#$ing coddle me, Perce. I want to try more than I want to go."
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---Later that night---
Percy gathers everyone together, "Okay okay it's finally time for the last little surprise I have for you all. I guess.. timing being what it is it's really kind of bittersweet. Anyway just one more portal to go through as a team. Well... and the return one but you get what I mean."
Looking through the portal Percy summons forth the team could see a tall grass meadow. "I found this place after my uh... leave once we got back from the fantasy realm game place. And uh I think tonight's the best night to show you all a view you can't possibly get in Halcyon. So uh.. comeon it'll be awesome."
With that he leaps through stepping a ways away from the portal before turning back and peering back through. His mouth moves again but sound doesn't pass through, he definitely knows that but whatever excitement he's got obviously makes that fact a moot point.
On the other side of the chilling portal the group finds themselves far away from Halcyon. They are in a field of tall swaying grass in the mildly balmy night a sure sign of the approaching change of seasons.
The air was damn refreshing compared to that mildly smoggy Halcyon air, and now that it came to mind there weren't any lights on the horizon either. Just how far away from civilization were they!?
Percy was busy forcing a large swath of the grass flat so that it would stay flat and give them all a good place to be, then he summoned an arcane copy of their own couch, with a few extra seats and curled up behind it. "Hurry hurry, we don't wanna miss it."
Sitting down and waiting in mostly silence, save for the bugs, chatter between them, and wind Percy pointed to the sky. "There!"
In the stars above he pointed out a massive meteor shower beginning to streak across the star dotted sky. Hundreds of tailed objects burning through the atmosphere, some burned strange colors, who knows if any would survive or if they'd carry other life. What if they granted actual wishes now that the veil was splitting open. Regardless Percy stared up at them for a long time.
"I... wish this moment could last forever you guys.. I know... saying it out loud's supposed to make it not come true. He looks at them all, "I already know it can't last forever in reality, but you'll all be people I won't forget, no matter what happens. So I hope that wherever you all go, whatever you all do, it works out and we can all come back together and hang out again. Cause... well I hate that life feels like it's dragging us all our separate ways, even if it's for the best right now."
His wings pull close to his body and he puts on a brave face. "I love you all and I'm glad we were able to be on the same team."
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"What are you talking about, Percy?" He asks, sit between Sky and Connie. "This isn't a good buy, just a see you later... it might take us a couple weeks to go through the loops of Witness Protection for Sky, but after that? I'll send you our address so you can port there for our game nights, and don't you dare not to show up." Looking at Connie, he adds. "This goes for you as well, the invite to join us still stands." And then to Shin and Valerie. "And you... if you are into games."
"Will it be easy or just like we're used to? Of course not, but it doesn't matter... make this effort is worth for friends and this is what we all are."
---
Once you get used to it, the climate in LA isn't that bad. It was still way hotter than his dream place to live, but Sky was happy, her mom was happy, and those were already a great start. Caio was pleasantly surprised when he discovered there was a financial aid program for former heroes at the Institute of Culinary Education in LA. Truth being told, he never imagined himself studying in such a fancy place. The program was great, even if a bit too "fancy".
Their apartment wasn't big for sure, but also not tiny. It was nice, considering everything they went through. He puts the groceries on the kitchen and checks on Karina. Sky wasn't home yet. "Hi Karina, it is me." He tells her and it was quite an achievement that she now had assimilated him in her mind. "I'm going to cook now, do you need something? Ah, and remember, our dragon friend Percy is visiting tonight, ok?" So there will be meat. Thanks God for meat.
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"Well. I might definitely miss the first few game nights. Especially since I don't have portals. There's a lot of grids I won't be on. I will check in though. WitPro only gets so creative in their problem solving."
Her gaze slides over to Shin. "You though. You I'm not gonna call if I can even slightly help it. One of my missions will not be the reason a retired centenarian has to strap on his teeth or whatever your morning routine looks like."
"So," she kisses Shin on the cheek, then Caio. "Until whenever later is."
She holds one of Percy's great scaly paws in both of her hands, gripping tight enough to leave squamous imprints on her palms.
Goodbye.
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Shin smiles at Connie. "I'll still be here. Just a call away. If you ever need someone to talk to and you don't have a roof." He glances at Caio and Percy. "You two as well. Don't be strangers. I'll still be here at the school. For now at least. Now...I have someone who has my dance card filled," He says, walking over to Valerie and settling in with her.
***
In the next few weeks, Shin passed over everything he could to Indarius, while settling in on focusing on his studies, his relationship with Valerie, and the potential future fighting a different fight for the people.
Maybe one day the past would come calling back. He'd heard through the grapevine that Dusk was comatose now, and it was unknown if he'd wake up. It was possible the Duskguard might come for him if they felt it would get their leader back. But that was something to pass on to others to keep an eye on.
He was looking at an early graduation, and filling out applications to local and distant schools for pre-law. It helped to have a bunch of heavy endorsements from the Alliance, the Taylor Group and others. He hoped to get an internship at the courthouse to help with that process.
And when he wasn't focused on his work, he spent long hours with Valerie, enjoying her company. And those were the moments where he didn't think or wonder about Kylie at all. He let himself be happy and didn't torment himself about unfinished business.
And when he did allow himself to think about her? When he thought about the costume and armor hidden in a box in his closet, thought about searching for answers again? He looked at the pictures of himself and Valerie and her sister Victoria on the day they all went to the amusement park together and reminded himself why he needed to stay here.
No more dwelling in the past. It was time to build his future.