cityofhex | [Open]

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[na] malin lindberg

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The evening after the market, starting just after sundown, a young woman is wandering around the city. She doesn't look like much - jeans, a hoodie against the cold, sneakers, slightly shaggy brown hair - and will try to stay away from the richer parts of town.

Sometimes she can be caught looking around in worry, studying the face of people that looked at her - Malin still can't quite believe that this collar is really working. That she really looks human again.

But she does. Looking down at her own hands, looking at her reflection, watching other people's reaction to her, she clearly does.

With time, she will grow bolder, even approach people - sometimes to just exchange a greeting with someone taking their dog out after work, sometimes to bother a promising looking person for a few dollars, sometimes to ask the way to a soup kitchen or a cheap club. Not that she wants to go to those places or really needs money, but she wants to try out this illusion and also... talk to people.

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You know who has absolutely no idea who she is? This guy! He is out and about, taking photographs of birds that are bickering over the remnants of a muffin dropped outside of a cafe. He glances over at her, dismisses her as just another human, and continues working. Someone somewhere will pay for pictures of birds pecking at crumbs. There is probably a metaphor in there somewhere.

Malin at first doesn't realize who he is either, too excited about her regained ability to just walk down a street ~~and bother people for change~~ to really pay the attention that she should to other people. ...Which, actually. This guy looks like a good target.

"Hey, sorry to bother you, but do you have a bit of change? My wallet and phone got stolen and I need to call my dad to pick me up."

"Hm?" Hajime turns to look at the human, and...the human needs help. Relatively inexpensive help. He doesn't know why he cares what happens to some human or another...just another one of those weird emotion things that's been popping up since he assumed this Cover. (What is compassion? Can you eat it?) Even if it's only a bit of change...

"Oh, yeah, sure." Hajime rummages around in his pocket and produces a few coins.

Okay that's.

Sure that bug guy whose human disguise still worked at the market.

Luckily he looks down to rummage through his pockets when surprise and a hint of panic slide across her features in short order, and she has her expression back under control when he looks up again and hands her the coins.

"Thanks, that'll help a lot." She flashes him a brief grin and backs away quickly, making sure to not quite turn her back on him and look natural at the same time.

...He can't have realized who she is, can he? He didn't recognize her in owl form, either, and didn't even notice her as a fox...

He just nods at the thanks, totally oblivious to the fact that she's recognized him as the bug guy. He's even turning back to his camera and what he was doing, assuming she's gotten what she wanted and is going to leave. He just doesn't realize how limited the scope of his human awareness is in this form without actively using an embed or exploit.

...Okay.

That was a thing. She rounds the next corner and for a long moment just stands there, staring at the money in her hand. She needs to be more careful. She can't let anyone but Corwin associate this form with what she looks like normally. It's much too useful if they stay separate.

She also feels like she needs to spend the money on something... hm. Perhaps... She has to think of the Malkavian whom she worked with a number of times. What would Bodil do?

Two days later, Hajime will come home to find two books, clearly from a clearance (they're marked down to one buck each), sitting on his bed - one is called "First steps with Make-Up", the other "Find your inner beauty through yoga". A little note sitting on them just reads: "Do your best!"

Malin honestly has no idea what Bodil would have done, probably something way more inventive, but the sale she walked by still inspired her.

Well. That is unexpected and a little alarming, and once he's established that the house's resident teenage boy isn't trying to pull some stupid prank, Hajime's not at all a happy demon. Having his Cover threatened like this? Oh, hell no.

...at least he's got a decent idea of who might be behind this, given recent conversations...

Casper's wandering down the street, hands in his pockets. He's... well. He's learned a lot in the past few days, and he still needs to process it. Bob rides along on his shoulder, the raven glaring at pretty much anyone who comes nearby.

But Casper smiles when he sees Malin come up to him and asks him for money. "Sure. ... Hey, why don't I buy you something to eat?" That's probably better than whatever a soup kitchen has, right?

... It's not like he has a lot of money, but he wants to help someone in need. That's the right thing to do, isn't it?

She would love to accept, because it would give her more of a chance to talk to someone in this ...not new-old body. But new-old appearance.

The problem is. He'd probably expect her to eat the food right there. And that's one of the couple of things that she just physically cannot do.

"I'm not hungry right now, if you could just give me some bucks to buy something later..." Or if that fails, maybe she can get him to get her take-out instead? On the one hand, this is about playing her role of a teen living on the streets, on the other it prolongs the conversation. There are only upsides.

"Oh... sure. Let me see what I have..." He opens up his wallet and pulls a few crumpled bills out. It's... about five dollars or so. "Thought I had more than that... I'm sorry." He frowns, thinking. He can survive on anything, but he's going to need money sooner or later. Still... this person probably can't, he's assuming. "Just... don't spend it on alcohol or cigarettes or drugs, okay? Get something good for yourself."

"I won't." She can definitely promise that much, and the sincerity might ring a bit... well, she wasn't being completely truthful until now, nothing about her is, really, so it might stand out a bit as very true.

Could always be mistaken for her being passionate about not consuming those things, though, right?

"Believe me." She could technically smoke, but she wasn't in the habit before being embraced (mostly for money reasons) and willingly putting fire, even a tiny one, that close to her face never looked very appealing after.

Hm. Well, at least she sounds more sincere, at least. "I believe you." He holds the money out to her, smiling. "Just... be careful, okay? There's lots of scary people out at night sometimes, so don't go into dangerous alleys or something if you can help it."

He'd lead her to a shelter, but he doesn't actually know where any are.

She'll just.

Deadeye him. Slipping back into who she once was, it's still easy, still a persona that she dons like it is her own skin. Because it was her own skin for ...technically a short time, but it feels like it was so much longer. Things just were more intense then. It still comes to her naturally, even though it has been a number of years since she was a human kid on the streets.

"I think I know more about being out there at night than you do, pal."

How little she really knew, back then. But she's never felt like she understood the city as well ever since.

Edited 2017-01-16 19:14 (UTC)

"... Okay. I just want you to be careful." Does she, though? He frowns, rocking a bit on his feet before he decides something, pushing energy through the runes on his fake leg. That necklace of hers practically lights up, and he raises an eyebrow.

And then it hits him - the tingle on his skin that's the magical feedback to let him know that this isn't... well, it's not normal human baseline. He's not sure if she's a Scion or not, just that she isn't human. She's powerful enough, though. And that's interesting.

"Do you want to walk? Maybe we can find you somewhere safe for the night, even if you know how to be out there at night. Or maybe we can just talk."

...That's strange, but if he lets her pick the course of their path, it shouldn't bear too much possible danger. Plus, she can defend herself well enough. And in a pinch she is at least good at running away. Being able to fly and melt into the ground is darn useful that way. There is a reason why Gangrel dare to roam the countryside.

"Sure." She gives him a suspicious look - it's in character, after all, to react to a request like that with suspicion - but moves along. "We can walk and talk."

"No problem." Maybe it looks suspicious, but it's not like he has any interest in girls anyway. Not that he's announced it, but he's aware enough of what a young girl might worry about with a strange guy. "I like your necklace, by the way." He gestures for her to lead on a bit. He's still getting used to the city.

That gets him another, more guarded glance.

"...Thanks.

I like it, too. And you can back right off if you're trying to hit on me or trying to buy services because I'm not interested and not in the trade, either."

Though that she is getting the strong impression that they're not having the conversation that they're having on the surface.

He raises his hands to show her that he doesn't have a weapon. ... That's not entirely true, but summoning his baseball bat isn't exactly what people normally think of when they're imagining someone armed. "Look, I gave you five dollars, I'm not expecting services from that."

Casper waits a moment, before very slowly adding, "Besides. I'm not... interested in girls." He flinches slightly - it's not something he admits to most people out loud. But his dad isn't around, so... it should be fine. Right? And if she attacks him for it he can probably fight back.

She sniggers, and then laughs. "Yeah, if I were in the trade, I wouldn't be that cheap.

...If you're looking for guys, I can point you to the right corner, though." It's a mean kind of tease, she's pretty sure that he's not. Not with how he flinches at the admission. It's also a very awkward way of stating that she doesn't see the issue with him not being into girls. It's a thing that's around more than most people would admit, and in her experience can be as ugly or beautiful as guys not being into guys. Just with a lack of beating other guys up for not sharing their taste.

He pales slightly, the bird on his shoulder nudging him gently to try to reassure him. "I - uh. Nah. I'm good." He tries to laugh, pushing away thoughts of that incident. It comes out a little awkward and nervous, and he does his best to smile.

"Anyway, I'm more looking for a way to get home than a cheap date. So thanks, but no thanks."

"Hey, calm down, nobody's gonna make you." And it's probably for the best that he isn't planning on going there. Prostitutes in general are a population that she doesn't touch with a ten-foot-pole. There are like five illnesses that can affect vampires or be transmitted by them, and one of them is most frequently sexually transmitted. So it's just risk management - the Copenhagen dominion had a fairly firm rule about it, made easy to enforce because one of the Primogen had all their fingers in that business.

...A way home? Hex isn't that big, everyone with average human mobility can walk everywhere, and he looks like he is quite able-bodied. Sure, one can lose their way, but unless he's spent his whole life in the farming district she sees no reason why he should be that lost in Downtown.

"Where do you need to go? I know my way around here pretty well." Even if she might attempt to lead him through a street that a fox passes through well but a human does not. It's like navigating an area with a lot of one-way streets with a car that you've only ever used on bicycle before.

"I don't know if you'd believe me if I told you." He smiles a little bit, and reaches up to scratch Bob's head. He's not sure if he should make a fuss, anyway... he wouldn't want to draw the wrong kind of attention, after all.

"Try me."

She has no idea if there are few or many people like her here, who know about a world outside of the walls. She hasn't been able to really ask anyone until very recently, and then she wouldn't know how or where to start looking.

"All right... well, I need to get back to America. The east coast, up near Maine." He's not sure that he should tell someone who's not a Scion exactly where it is, but... close enough.

"So you're not from Hex, either."

She wonders how much she should tell him about herself for a moment, but then... It's not like she can even be specific about where she was.

"I'm from Europe. Scandinavia."

He brightens up a little bit, grinning. "Really? It doesn't seem like a lot of people here are from places other than Hex."

"Most people don't even realize that a world outside of it exists, I think."

Going by what she has overheard on the nights when she had the time to just laze around in owl or fox form and eavesdrop on people, trying to at least have human contact by proxy.

"I've noticed that... and I don't like it. There's got to be something keeping them from knowing the rest o the world... as long as there is something else there..."

For all he knows, this could actually be a point on a gas giant planet and the sky is being projected.

... Alternatively, he's been watching too many sci fi movies.

"It's no better or worse here than anywhere else, as long as you aren't on the run."

Because then you'll have nowhere to go to.

Is she on the run? She doesn't know. Maybe, but if they really have no contact to the outside world here, she's a lot less in trouble than back home. And now that she has a human appearance again... She'll still watch out for vampires. Because diablerie can't be hidden, she's been told, at least not in the months or years after. It was all a bit vague, which she didn't worry about then but which makes this harder now. But it's a risk not worth taking.

And besides, she still can't figure out who even rules this city and where they are.

"Depends what you consider on the run." From the Titans, yes. From others, maybe not.

Still... if he's here, maybe he doesn't have to fight. He's never liked the idea of fighting... and while he still has the need to go back and fight...

No. Part of him burns with shame at the idea of running from a fight, and he takes a step back, face contorting in anger. "I have to go back. I have to... I can't let them win. If they win, we're all dead."

"Except for you, because you'll be here.

Who are "they"?"

Sorry, did you think she was particularly invested in feelings of duty?

No, but he's kind of a different case. "The Titans. They have to be defeated. I wouldn't be surprised if they can rip through worlds to find this place, too."

... Maybe he should have shut up.

She gives him a very disbelieving look. She might not know much about the world (well, more than the average human, but compared to other supernaturals) but that sounds seriously out there.

"And is there a realistic chance of defeating them if you go back?"

Not that she'd have any idea how going back should be possible. So far she's found nothing.

"They're strong. Better to try to do the right thing and die in battle then just sit around being scared." Not that he has much of a choice, really - but even if he didn't... he can't just be afraid for the rest of his life.

"Personally, I think surviving is a pretty good option, too. Better even than pointless heroics."

Because pointless heroics will see you dead. It's as easy as that.

"True, but if you're dead either way you might as well go with something that has a chance of fixing things. That's what I think, at least." He knows he's not got the greatest of wisdom, but it seems fair to him.

"Only if it's not a difference of "die now or die in two hundred years"." If you'll die soon either way and going along with world saving efforts might prevent certain death at about the same time as you'd die in any other way, she could consider joining up with such efforts. But seriously? World endings?

"We're not going to get that long if they get their hands on things. But... well. Not everyone can fight. I don't have a choice." There's a hint of bitterness to that last bit, but it's true. Would he still fight if he didn't have these abilities? He's not sure.

"As in, someone is forcing you to?"

She raises and eyebrow at him, though not for long because she is also keeping an eye on the way ahead of them and trying to at the same time keep an eye on their surroundings. Being wary never hurts.

"Something like that." He doesn't want to think about what would happen if he refused. He'd probably be killed and be in even worse trouble than he already is.

"Then it's not like you can help it." No actual heroism going on here. She can get being forced into a line of action, one way or the other.

"But yeah, I think you'll be forced to stay here. I doubt there's a way out."

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