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 Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 1:53 pm
Just one more jump, Faylen told himself. One more, and then back to the ground.
Technically, he shouldn't have even jumped once in the rain. The metal of the fire escapes quickly became slippery once the rain started. Faylen was nervous and not a good jumper when it was dry, let alone now. But he wanted to speed up his travels some and ever since he and Writ's expirience with the blockades, he decided he was going to stay far, far away from them and the Blacksuits for awhile.
Plus, it had been a good day and he'd been high on optimism. He'd finally got his a** to the library last night without getting lost or beaten up. He'd snuck in close to closing and evaded the the librarians until the place locked up and for once in the last week or so since he'd run, spent his night inside. It was far from a cozy bed but who cared? It was at least not a dirty alley. After a similar evasive manuever in the morning when the place opened again, he'd set to researching any goddesses that had anything to do with snakes. Some time and several books and internet searches later, he'd figured it out. He'd finally figured it out, all by himself! Ayida Weddo. The voodoo rainbow snake goddess. He couldn't wait to tell Quinn (who he thought would be most amused), Writ and Mercury that he knew who he served now! And he'd look less dumb in future encounters.
One more jump.
He looked down at his target escape and carefully leapt off. Of course, Murphy being Murphy, his last jump was the one that went awry. His foot connected with the metal of the escape and slid, his momentum sending him skidding over the edge. He grabbed wildly on his way down, his hands connecting with the escape ladder. Thank god. He panted a little heart jackhammering away in his chest. It was okay. If he could just climb back up or get a foothold...
A loud creaking groan shattered his thoughts, though, followed by a sudden jerk of movement. Fay realized in that moment that there was nothing quite as unsettling as looking up only to see your ladder had come unbolted on one side thanks to the added weight so violently applied to an already dilapidated structure. The escape ladder swayed lazily, giving Fay just enough time to think a very impolite phrase before the whole thing let go, spilling his to the ground. As he connected with the tar, a bright flash filled the alleyway. He hadn't realized he had actually produced the flash- he just thought it was a visual hallucination...seeing starts, or something.
Thankfully, the boy wasn't very high up when the ladder let go and all he incurred from the fall was a series of painful scrapes and a few new bruises to add to his collection. But considering the beatdown he got just days ago, it hurt like hell and so he did what any self-respecting child would do in a moment like this- burst into tears and curl into the fetal position.
How stupid! Monkeying around in the rain...why did he do something so dangerous? He could have been seriously hurt! He should have seent he rain and said 'gee, let's stick to the ground' but...but the drops had made him feel revitalized, fresh, energetic! He'd opened his mouth and drank his fill of the water, letting it soak him down and wash some of the dirt and sweat away. He could feel a brush of happiness coil around his brain- seems his goddess enjoyed the weather too. He got carried away with it all.
Stupid rain. Stupid optimism. Stupid me.
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 5:57 pm
Quinn needed to get out. Vale hadn't come to see him yet, and he was nervous about the meeting. Vale had never said he even would come, and that made things even worse. It was raining, but that didn't change anything. The rain was nice, as long as he was sure to dry his hair as soon as he got home or it would be far too frizzy.
It wasn't until he had already passed the small lump of child that he realized it was there. He turned back, and squinted at the lump.
"Faylen?" He furrowed his brow. "What are you doing on the ground, all wet?" he reached a hand down to help the boy. "Are you alright?" He eyed the boy up and down. The rain made him look cleaner, but he still looked sort of bedraggled. Had the boy been living on his own this whole time?
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 6:28 pm
Fay slowly uncurled at the sound of a familiar voice. He sniffled and pushed himself into a sitting position, wincing a bit. Yep, this was really gonna hurt come morning- heck it hurt bad enough now. He stumbled upright with Quinn's help and dusted himself off, trying not to look to pitiful in front of his friend. He dragged a sleeve across his face and forced a weak smile at Quinn.
"Oh, hallo Mr. Quinn! It is nice to see you again." he aid, trying to finger-comb his hair into order and smooth out his wrinkled, wet shirt. "How are doing? Zhe veather is not very nice today, ja? But it is not too bad. Just vet." he said, attempting proper conversation while trying desperately not to cry.
He looked considerably more bedraggled this time around. He'd looked scruffy at the party, but overall not much worse than any little boy. Now though...he looked a sight. The rain had washed off some of the grime- he had even taken his shirt off when the storm started and let the water rinse away some of the sweat and grossness that had built up over the last week. Of course, falling off a fire escape onto the dirty pavement had sort of rendered that pointless.
Dirt aside, there was a considerable bruise that flowered across the side of his face, all purple and yellow and generally unpleasant looking. It was considerably more striking than his messed up hair or rumpled clothing, a gift given to him by a group of bored Uppers kids. His nose and lip were a little puffy too, but the swelling had gone down in the past few days, at least.
"I vas just climbing around on zhe fire escapes and I slipped is all. I vill be okay, if not a little scraped." he said quickly, examining his knees and elbows and frowning at the scrapes on them. He'd torn the right knee of his jeans and it seemed there was dirt in the wound. That...wasn't good. He'd have to go wash it out before the night was over. He didn't fancy getting an infection and losing his leg.
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 8:50 pm
Quinn looked sternly at Faylen, with a very 'How could you go and worry me with those bruises' look, and rested both hands on the boy's shoulders to hold him still while he inspected them. "That looks kind of nasty, kiddo." He pulled the boy into a sudden, powerful hug.
"You okay?" He let the boy go, but maintained a firm grip on his shoulders. "You'll be fine from the fall, I bet, but these bruises look nasty." They reminded him all too much of bruises he used to have.
"Here. Let's take you to my house. We can clean you up. Also, your clothes look grungy, so you can borrow some." He eyed the boy. He looked small enough. In a quick movement, he slipped behind the boy and karate chopped the back of his knees to make them buckle, lifting him up in a cradle position and beginning the trek home.
"So, you like pink, eh?" Already figuring out what he would give the boy.
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 9:31 pm
Fay shifted from foot to foot, looking down as Quinn frowned at him. He squeaked as he was pulled into the hug, though, wriggling a bit before relaxing into the gesture. He took a long, deep breath, sniffling a bit. He could feel his lips quivering as he willed himself once more not to cry again. But even as he commanded himself not to cry, he could feel hot tears prickling at his eyes.
When he was let go, he rubbed his eyes quickly in case any tears had escaped and hoped that the rain would hide any others. "Zhey are nasty, but zhey do not hurt as much as zhey used to." he answered. Nasty bruises but there by nasty kids. "And danke, Mr. Quinn. You are so kind to me."
He yelped as Quinn caused his knees to buckle, grabbing onto the man desperately so as not to fall again. He'd had enough of violently meeting the ground for one day. He could probably walk iuf Quinn moved slow enough...his hip ached as usual (maybe it was the rain. Older people always said rain made their joints ache, after all), but not so bad that he couldn't keep up.
Still...he didn't mind being toted too bad. Even if it made him feel like a baby. It reminded him of his his sister used to carry him when it was time for bed.
At the mention of pink, he smiled a touch. "Um, ja, it is a nice color. Comfortable." he said, the last word recited carefully and enunciated a little more than was necessary. "Mother does not like it, zhough. She says it is a color for girls and qveers. I zhink it is nice, zhough." he sighed. He didn't see why boys couldn't wear pink. It looked nice. But Mother was so adamant! He couldn't help but feel that, once more, he was missing something.
"And...I can valk if your arms get tired. I am not hurting too badly and I do not vant to be any trouble." He may as well offer, he figured.
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 9:44 pm
Quinn laughed happily, and spun around while walking for good measure. His arms weren't weak, but it wasn't usual he could find someone light enough to carry. "Nah, it's not a big deal. It's fun. Everyone needs to be babied sometimes, right?" He grinned down at Fay's little scales and not-so-little bruise, humming lightly as he walked.
"Yeah. It is a nice color. Calm. It used to be the traditional 'male' color, actually. But that switched ages ago." Quinn knew his color history. "So, really, pink as a masculine color predates your mom ever existing."
Quinn didn't like Faylen's mother. Especially if she would let her son get this dirty and messed up. And feed him such nonsense. He sighed inwardly, but quickly resumed a happy smile for Faylen.
"I have a few things you might like. They're a bit big, but I'm sure you'll grow into them." He decided to keep his mouth shut about the growth spurts-- the boy would probably find out soon enough, anyway.
"My house isn't far from here. Just a few blocks down."
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:02 pm
Faylen giggled as he was spun. Maybe it was okay to be babied a little now and then. Quinn didn't seem to think it was a big deal, anyways. And after such a stressful few days...it felt good to laugh and relax a little bit.
He looked up at Quinn, fascinated. Pink was once a boy's color? Really? Well, it was just a light red...and red was definitely a boy color! So he supposed that it wasn't too weird that once upon a time, pink was a boy color. "Oh really? I did not know zhat. You are very smart, Mr. Quinn." he said, smiling at him.
Faylen liked Mr. Quinn. He was so nice and fun and smart.
"I suppose anyzhing is better zhen nozhing, right?" he intoned. He really should have thought to grab more than one set of clothes. Maybe...he should visit his house some time when Mother was at work and see if he couldn't sneak some clothes. Of course, that would entail a lot of work to get to all the way to Boarder East and dodge the Blacksuits and even more work to sneak in and out of his house with no one noticing...
Maybe he'd just worry about that later.
He nodded as Quinn mentioned how close his house was. He kind of wanted to get out of the rain anyways. He liked rain and all but...he was starting to get cold. Cold and a little hungry.
"Oh! I found out who my goddess is!" he said suddenly, smiling up at the blonde.
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:12 pm
"Well," Quinn glowed at the compliment, "I do know my way around a color palette." He reached the house, and set the boy down.
"Yep! And my stuff is better than anything! So, it's like two stages above nothing." He led the boy inside.
"You found out who your god is? Really? Do tell. Any powers show up yet?" He decided to make the boy some food, and rummaged through his shelves and cupboards. He found a can of beans, but they made a bad noise when he shook them. He set them back in. Those needed to be thrown away.
"Is it a cool god, or, like, a jerk like Vale's?" Quinn found a bag of assorted candies and threw the back at Faylen, looking around for some actual substantial food. He found a bag of chips, and wiggled it invitingly, setting it on the counter.
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:31 pm
He followed behind Quinn when he was put down, trying his best to wipe the mud and dirt off before tramping inside. Oh, it was a nice house, he thought. But anything with a roof and four walls was nice when you'd been camping out in alleyways. Hell, he'd thought sleeping under a table in the library had been nice. Faylen hadn't set his bar of 'nice' very high these last several days.
"Ja, I did! I vent to zhe library and did some research. I found out zhat she is from zhe voodoo religion." he started. That fact had creeped him out quite a bit until he had started to read about real voodoo. Apparently, the movies were way off. "Oh, and she is a rainbow snake. Her name is Ayida Veddo." He blushed at how his accent mangled the second part of his goddess' name and sighed. "Um, zhe last vord was supposed to start vith a 'w'. W-E-D-D-O. She is pretty nice, zhough." Even if she could be stubborn about making him find things out on his own.
'It's for your own good, child. I have told you this.'
On the topic of powers, he shook his head, flinging droplets of water here and there. He should probably go towel off soon. As it was, he was loathe to move on carpeted areas lest he drip all over them.
"I don't know of anyzhing yet." he said, still oblivious that he had stumbled upon an ability just moments ago. He was still convinced the flash of light had been a hallucination or perhaps lightening and thought little of it. "But...Mr. Vrit said zhat he did not get his powers for some time too so...I suppose I vill figure zhem out eventually." he said with a sigh. He supposed he should go back to the library tomorrow or something and try to learn more about his goddess.
He looked at the chips and reached out tentatively. He knew he had been offered them but it was still strange to so willingly eat someone else's food. That and he still felt like he should be doing something to earn it. He shook his head. He'd figure out a way to pay him back some day. It was okay to have a snack when he was offered. He reached out of the chips, trying not to drip all over everything in the process. He didn't even know what type of chips he was eating. All he knew is he was hungry and they were tasty.
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:03 pm
"Another rainbow serpent? Wow." He laughed at the boy's challenge with the name. "I see. I'm glad she's nice. I wonder if her and Mr. Q get along."
Ayida Weddo?
Think me, but female.
Wait. You're a man?
Very funny, Quinn. We're all laughing. Ha. Ha.
...
Wait. You didn't actually think I was--
No! No, of course not! No. No. I'm gonna talk to Faylen now.
"Well, I'm sure you'll find some soon. Mine were kind of obvious, when I started hearing animals talking about which trashcans were the best to raid." He smirked.
"They're kind of old tortilla chips, so they might be a little stale, but we're kinda short on cash and I don't usually go grocery shopping that often. I just eat what I find." He shrugged. "I really need to find a job. Bring in some more money. But, with my mom gone, I have more than I need. Plenty for two people." He glanced at the kid, and the way he wanted to devour the chips, regardless of what they were.
"So, if you ever need a place to stay, my house is always open."
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:23 pm
Faylen couldn't help but wonder if Ayida got along with Quinn's god himself. What was that god's name again? Quinn had told him when they'd first met. Quez...Quezt...
'Quetzalcoatl.'
Do you know him, then?
'I'm afraid voodoo and Aztec pantheons did not often intermingle.'
"Ja, rainbow serpent. Apparently, it vas not so easy to figure out vhich v'one she vas. Snakes are apparently not uncommon in old mythology." he said with a sigh, remembering how he'd stumbled over name after name before hitting the right one.
He nodded slowly. Between Writ, Mercury and Quinn, he was feel less and less self-conscious about not knowing his powers. It didn't mean he'd stop looking, though. He just would try not to worry so much about them.
"I hope so. I know I vill need zhem some day so zhe sooner I find zhem out, zhe sooner I can practice and zhe better chance I vill haf at not getting beaten up." he said. He still wasn't aware you could actually die. Oh, if he thought enough, it'd be very obvious that was an option but he tried not to think that way, lest he give himself panic attacks.
He kept eating the chips, even if they didn't taste too good. Hunger made you do strange things. He bobbed his head at Quinn's offer of a place to stay. He knew the man had said it before and back then, Fay hadn't thought much of it. He didn't want to be a burden. But after struggling along this last week or so...well, maybe he'd look at the offer more seriously this time around.
"Oh, vhat happened to your mother?" he asked off-handedly, trying to move his mind along before it began to brood on why he couldn't go home. "Did she move avay?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 6:01 pm
Quinn nodded. "Yeah. Quetz made it easy for me; he just told me who he was." He shrugged. "And you're right about your powers-- they get better, and easier, with practice." He saw Faylen scarfing down the chips, and smirked. He really, really needed to buy groceries.
"She," he paused. This wasn't an easy subject. "The blacksuits. They took her. She's gone, for good." He swallowed, and didn't look Faylen in the eye. His hand rubbed at his eyes, and he resumed his smile.
"Clothes! Yes, clothes. When you're done eating, I'll be in my room. Careful not to step on anything in there, it might be alive," He said, only kind of joking.
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 6:36 pm
He stopped chewing when the by mentioned the Blacksuits. Took her...for good. Did they... no... They...killed her? He swallowed his mouthful, letting his mouth gape afterward. He knew that the Blacksuits were bad guys. He knew they would capture a player if given the chance (and shoot at innocent troublemakers, apparently). But to kill the Players' family? He felt a sudden coldness fill his gut. What had he gotten into? Was greatness worth all this danger? He was trembling now, eyes wide with epiphany.
He licked his lips- which seemed dry, so dry all of a sudden!- and nodded numbly, brown eyes still wide. Oh god, that was an awful question to ask! Faylen set the chips aside and awkwardly leaned in to hug Quinn. It was all he could think of doing right now, though he knew it wasn't going to make things any better anytime soon.
"I...am very sorry Mr. Quinn. I did not know...I should not haf asked..." he murmured, hastily trying to come up with some form of apology.
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 6:58 pm
"It's okay, Faylen." He sighed, and ran a hand through his own hair. "You didn't know. It's not your fault." He returned the boy's hug powerfully. "You're sweet, Kiddo. You know that?" He laughed.
"So, you can stay in her room. It's cleaner than mine, and you're welcome to stay for as long as you want." He nodded, firmly.
"I'm sure I'll go grocery shopping one of these days, too." Then, he realized he should make good on his promise to be in his room, and started heading that way.
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 7:27 pm
He made a muffled squeak as Quinn tightened the hug, looking up after he pulled away. He...couldn't have know, no, but...he still felt bad.
"I still felt bad, zhough. I am very, very sorry you had to haf zhat happen. You are nice and did not deserve it. But....zhose Blacksuit men are bad." he said. "Zhey shot at me and Vrit, you know?" Well, they probably had only emptied a shot into the air to get through the crowd but still.
Oh, he was staying in her room? He'd be sure to keep it clean and tidy and in good shape! "Oh, vielan dank, Mr. Quinn! I vill take good care of it and keep it very clean." he affirmed, nodding in determination.
He trailed along, trying to will himself not to drip so much on the carpeting. He was done with eating for now (stale tortilla chips were only appeasing for so long, after all), so they may as well move on to clothing.
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