[PRP] Pills Here (Rabbit/Gloom/Georg)

[Smerdle]

While he had promised Temperance some sort of lessons that would bring her closer to her vision of nobility and had done a decent job of sounding like he knew what he was talking about, Rabbit really had no idea. He knew that whatever he came up with had to involve healing or a healing related activity, because she was a nurse and saving people was kind of her obsession, but he had only ever healed someone once in his life, and that had been an emergency. He didn't know where to find creatures that might require medical attention outside of a hospital, and he was pretty sure there weren't any of those in other Ashdown. And anyway, even if he could find a load of space worms or whatever in need of band-aids, how was he ever going to convince them that some random pair of humans were the ones to help?

It was late when he walked out of Darlene's and into the otherworld, and though he'd been drinking, Rabbit was far from drunk. He was tired, however, and he sighed at the thought of hanging around here for another couple of hours until the magic spat him back out and he could head home. He briefly considered going to court, but he didn't want to face Temp again until he had an answer. Instead, he magicked himself a bright green raincoat and shoved his notes into one of its pockets, then started off toward City Hall.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Rabbit, it turned out, had a follower.

One that had bright glowing eyes and a shadowy tail that flicked back and forth, pulling shadows in closer to him (and stealing them from the surroundings).

Mostly because the shadow marten had not particularly had this chance to interact with the noble but he knew one when he saw one.

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

He eventually stopped in front of his destination, taking out a cigarette and sticking it between his lips as he looked up. Rabbit visited here sometimes when he had nothing better to do. The place where he'd found the squeeps, at least where he'd come from.

He didn't light his cigarette or look behind him. Yet.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Are y'supposed to be smoking those?" Gloom called out, before Rabbit got too close to City Hall. It was not particularly a place he visited, just like he was not fond of the department (or any of the government buildings in town).

"Aren't they bad or something?" he asked, sure that he had seen something on a television about those light up sticks being bad but who knew.

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

He definitely turned around now, cigarette bobbing once as he swallowed. He expected a smallish person or a child, judging by the height of the voice, but when he saw who had really spoken, he realized he should have known better.

It was something else. Someone. It was... that guy from the ball. Rabbit might have been very, very distracted that night, but between mask fights and murder he'd had the sharpest urge to introduce himself to the weasel in the vest. He hadn't, but it seemed he was being given a second chance to do so now.

"Yeah, pretty bad," he replied, grinning like it was Christmas morning. "But once you start with them, it's hard to stop. You want one? Not to smoke, but I hear people use them as money in prison." Surprisingly he'd never been, though he had marathoned Oz a couple of years back when he'd been stuck inside with the flu.

azuredreamsisbestdreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Oh!" Gloom's face was visible as shadows seemed to recede and his body properly seen (even if it was mostly darkness) as his ears perked forward. "Might have seen something like that once! On the magic bo- television." As sometimes he got to watch television and he had figured out how to work a remote, thank you very much.

"... y'should keep them, though if it's money. Don't need money items." Then, as if realizing it, Gloom raised up on his hind legs and managed, as much as he could for a shadow marten ferret creature. "I am Gloom, Noble." Proper speech for talking to a Noble. "It is nice to formally meet you."

Sincerely meant at that.

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Rabbit had a hit or miss track record when it came to identifying and appropriately reacting to cuteness, especially cuteness born from other Ashdown, but this was...

He wanted to hug Gloom. A lot.

He refrained.

Maybe when they knew each other better he'd give it a shot, though there was something else that held him back too. A pretty blue scrap of paper he'd found in his pocket over breakfast with Temperance, one with the single word GLOOM printed on it in pale, shimmering ink. Not the strange, evil portent he had imagined, only a name scribbled into existence when he'd hit a dead end.

"I'm Rabbit Vaughn. You don't have to be all formal if you don't want to, but it's very nice to meet you too. Were you just... walking around?" The cigarette disappeared for now, shoved into a pocket as he debated offering his hand to shake.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"It's okay to call you Rabbit?" Gloom asked quietly, tail swishing slowly. "Y'don't mind if Glo- if I do?" He shuffled a little forward, closer to Rabbit and looking up at him as he answered.

"Gloom was exploring, making sure things are the same here." He sniffed a little bit at the air before he fell forward and back onto his paws. "They should be but Gloom wants to make sure. Also make sure that there's none hurt."

With as much magic that had been acting up, one had to make sure.

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"I wouldn't mind, no," Rabbit said, making sure his lips were closed around his smile this time so it wouldn't be mistaken for some rabid grimace. "I like being more informal unless, I don't know. Court things." He glanced back at City Hall, wondering if Alwise's death had been caused by something turning different. The building certainly seemed normal enough now.

"Do people get hurt a lot for no reason?" he asked, trying to appear less interested than he was. "I mean, for reasons no one expects, I guess. I met a siren once who was attacked, but I couldn't save him, mostly 'cause I didn't know what was going on."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Things are strange at the Court," Gloom murmured, "but Gloom is glad to to be informal. Sometimes it's not easy to talk that way. S'not as natural?" The shadow marten wasn't sure if that was the word but it was the word he used.

He shuffled on his legs. "Not people but others like Gloom can. Not for no reason, though, because there's always a reason people get hurt." Then, in a soft voice, the shadows darkening. "A siren was hurt? That's bad."

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"Yeah, it was." He had thought he'd just come across some normal othercrow at the time, but in hindsight the siren's death meant fewer guardians of this place when it needed them the most.

"He was caught... by darkness, I guess. Even if I'd been able to get him out, I wouldn't have known where to take him." Rabbit paused, certain he was being incredibly obvious, maybe even creepily so. But if he didn't ask, he'd never know. "Is there a place you go around here? Like a hospital? My friend is really good at healing, but she only knows how to do it to humans, so I was thinking if she had someone here to ask about it, maybe she could help you guys too."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Y'go to the hospital," Gloom told him, "that's where some go if they're hurt. The Healer is there. It will help y'if it can." His tail swished and with a shift of shadow he was winding himself around and through Rabbit's feet.

Then looking up at him expectantly. It was not unlike a look he might have received from one of the small sirens when they wanted to be carried. "It can't help everything though ..."

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"Oh," Rabbit said. "Just like us." He smiled down at the marten, reacting to Gloom's pleading gaze unconsciously and almost immediately. He bent to offer his arm to climb.

"You think the Healer would talk to me?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

A pleased purr escaped once Gloom was picked up. The shadowy creature circled in Rabbit's arms before he settled.

Being carried was the best.

"Maybe? Y'got to follow the smaller ones to get to them? Do y'want Gloom to show ya?"

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"Yes, please. If you wouldn't mind."

His politeness felt a little silly with Gloom in his arms, like he was just about to burst into a song and dance number or find a magical artifact. Still, he was almost used to the fantasy of this place, and he was pretty sure that if he started singing around here, something might come out of the shadows to eat him.

azuredreams