me and lazarus, we shovel all the ashes out

[gramarye]

Who: Wolfgang & Ilde
What: Some things with teeth are less dangerous than others.
Where: Somewhere along the river. Raven's Gate?
When: A few days after Badblood? Sometime? I DON'T KNOW STOP JUDGING ME GOD
Notes: None
Warnings: None

Wolfgang supposes he ought to be grateful he got out of that mess with only minor injuries -- a sprained wrist, currently in a splint for the next four days, and some minor gnawing on his shoulder and not, thankfully, his throat -- but for the most part he's focusing on how stupid he is. Of course he's stupid, running off into danger instead of stopping to think. Which would be a novel idea, really. Thinking before leaping. He is aware, dimly, that this tendency in himself got him in a lot of trouble when he was small -- but he can't remember the specifics, just that he's spent the last twenty years being berated by both parents for being reckless. Oh, well, he didn't die, maybe this time he'll finally take this as the learning opportunity it should be.

But none of his injuries were bad enough to keep him from work, thankfully, because he'd go crazy having to stay at home and do nothing. He needs to do a lot of things -- shop for furniture and clothes, etc, not to mention start poking around for medicinal options -- but he's not getting his next paycheck for another week and a half, so all that's impossible right now. With no friends and nothing to do, he's a bit out of sorts as to what to do with himself, especially at night. A lot of places are still open, but he's still broke. He's taken to walking around the city instead, wandering around and trying to familiarize himself with it -- that's the quickest way he knows of learning a new city, getting lost. And he's had a lot of practice at it.

It's verging on ridiculously late and he's ditched the bike the city brought with him -- riding it being too complicated with his wrist -- and opted to go for a walk instead, hoping maybe he'd tire himself out faster and be able to sleep. So far, no dice. It's late when he comes across a bunch of water -- which, not new, there's a ton of water everywhere in this city -- and catches, out of the corner of his eye, a familiar face. Ilde -- he knows her; they spoke briefly, she seemed to recognise him (how, he's not sure), she seems nice, he was worried after the Incident when he'd seen her post, but hadn't had time to respond. "Ilde," he calls, then hesitates.

Comments

[rhinemaid]

Helpfully, she looks terribly pleased when he compliments aforementioned tail - like a light coming out from behind a cloud, and then returning as quickly. "If I get another tattoo, though, it won't be anywhere on my legs," she says, critically, flexing and then brushing her thumb over the oddly smudged black stripe high where her thigh would be. "It distorts when I change. That's meant to be a ribbon."

The aesthetic concerns of the modern naiad, a series.

(She can taste it, when she sees him in person- he's not any more normal than she is, but she has an odd sense of courtesy and she can certainly grasp why someone might keep something like that to themselves. She'll be even more curious when she realizes he genuinely doesn't know.)

[gramarye]

"Oh, well -- that must be annoying." Well, okay. So she's a real mermaid. Also vampires exist, among other things. He thought he saw some kind of winged... person, not to mention the horned man and someone with purplish skin. Okay. So maybe he'll just assume everything he sees now is real. It might make him less jumpy. "Are you considering another one?"

Talking about tattoos feels blessedly normal.

[rhinemaid]

"A friend of mine is a tattooist, here, so I thought..." A little shrug. She'd like more ink and she'd like to push business in Asbjoern's direction- it's a theoretical win-win situation, if only she can think of something else she wants. If her skin would even take it, now...probably. Maybe. She'll find out. "My godmother bought me the first one."

Family is normal, too, right? Normalcy is going on here. With the mage who doesn't know what he is and the faerie who doesn't know where she came from.

[gramarye]

"What's your first one? If you don't mind me asking --" Look, he needs some normalcy. So does everyone here, frankly. Although thinking about family makes him pretty sad -- it's probably better for everyone if he stays here, rather than, say, get caught by the police, deported back to Israel and tried. He still misses his family, considers making a comment along those lines, decides it's best to not bring it up. It'll just depress him.

[rhinemaid]

It's a strange subject for Ilde, but one she forces a distance from; she was taken from them by force, and in the wreckage of the world it's very likely that she'd never have seen them again, Baedal or no. She hopes her father got her letter, with Ceith's boon, but she doesn't let herself count on it.

(It took her a long time to decide to send it. She'd wondered if it mightn't be better if he just-- but he doesn't get to give up on her, she's not going to stand for that, not after everything.)

"It's a ribbon," she says, sliding her fingertips along the smudge where it should be. "A plain black ribbon, tied in a knot that hangs down the side of my thigh. Just a tic-"

The gauzy wrap around her body lengthens in the same moment that her tail becomes thighs, knees, calves, feet; she's a considerate girl. Sometimes.