(no subject)

[devoutish]

[Alfie greets and makes nice with newcomers when he comes across them, but he doesn't go out of his way to seek them out. He's not interested in being part of any de facto welcome wagon, especially not now that more and more people are filtering their way in, either to use the Meadous as a waypoint or to settle down and stay; that can be a job for people like Meulin and Harley. He does, however, notice new houses as he passes them by, and today there's one on his regular walking route. He takes note of the name on the mailbox - Beauregard, good lord - and is all set to continue ambling onwards when a flash of movement catches his eye. Is that--

-- yes. That absolutely is his cat, leaping up onto the windowsill and slipping in through the open window.

With a sigh, he turns and heads towards the door instead, giving it a firm knock.]

Comments

[disreguarded]

[ Oh, hello kitty.

It has been... a day. It has been a whole day and she's only just barely handling this with any sort of grace. She's in the middle of bandaging her knuckles when the cat mwrowls in her direction and trots over to her, licking her arm, and her breath catches in her throat. It's just a cat. It's just a cat, and it's not Frumpkin.

The knock on the door gets her attention. She answers a few moments later, the cat winding through her legs.

She looks tired - in good shape otherwise, though. She's wearing casual clothes and a blue beanie. ]

... This your cat?

[devoutish]

This is my cat.

[He confirms. Lady, unrepentant, blinks up at Alfie, then rubs her cheek against Beau's knee.]

I've come to collect her, if she's bothering you. She'll try to play with those bandages of yours, if she's given half the chance.

[disreguarded]

[ She glances down at Lady. ]

Not like I haven't dealt with cats before. It's fine. She's not bothering me, but you can have her back.

You one of the locals?

[devoutish]

I wasn't born here.

[Just in case that was in doubt. New people have assumed stranger things.]

But I do live here, yes, just down the way. Royce, Gwen, and Mercy - they're mine.

[It's a fuller house than he's had in a while, and he's still getting used to it, but there's no part of it that's not a blessing. And quietly, he hopes for more someday, if only as visitors. Emily, Kesara, Fiona, Quark, Rhys and Angel, and several others are still in his thoughts.]

[disreguarded]

[ she leans against the door frame, looking him over. ]

Yeah, I figured that. No, this is just one more fucking stop before I get to finally go home. Figures.

Gwen is the lady that brought food by earlier. She your lady?

[devoutish]

She's her own lady.

[Not that he doesn't know what she means.]

She's Royce's wife. And I'm Alfie Solomons, and you are...?

[He's assuming she's not Beauregard; that's strictly a male name, in his experience.]

[disreguarded]

Right on.

[ her own lady. beau likes that. she got that impression when gwen visited - they hadn't talked much about her, though. ]

Beau. [ she says, not offering a hand. ] I got here this morning, which I'm sure you already know.

[devoutish]

Mm.

[He glances down at her bandaged hand.]

And did you bring the injuries with you, or were they a gift of welcome from somebody?

[disreguarded]

[ sniff. ]

Nah, nobody did those. I got pissed and punched a tree and some fucker in a hood snapped at me. Didn't hurt him, though. He got away.

[disreguarded]

[ she's here for longer than she really wants to be.

but zephyr tells her that the residuals left on her are strong. she has baggage, she thinks after the conversation. she has shit she hasn't dealt with, and that's why they picked her up. which yeah. makes sense. but she doesn't want to deal with it, because nobody will get it. she doesn't want to listen to people lecture, she doesn't want to talk about it to people who weren't there to experience what happened.

it doesn't matter. she'll fix it herself, like she always has to. until then, she'll help out here. because it's better than sitting in her house and getting drunk enough to sleep.

they're assigned a worldhop - she hesitates on going at first because she doesn't want to fuck things up with her residuals, but things are already going so poorly in this place that she figures more can't hurt. it's a big political thing, a world full of assassins and street gangs, and once the people of this world figure out that the meadous-goers are their own little sect, things get nasty.

she's following up on a clue she was given when she sees alfie down the way, turning a corner. a moment later, there's a flash of a shadow as something sneaks after him, dagger in hand.

beau doesn't even think. she moves, following. ]

[devoutish]

[Alfie checks up on Beau every so often, over the weeks and months. She gets invited to dinner sometimes (though only when Royce is in a good mood), and on the occasional walk other times. She's an interesting kid, with a quick wit and a good head on her shoulders. Of all the new people that have been showing up, she's one of his favorites.

This worldhop is one he waffles about going on. It's something he'd really like to experience with Royce, but as it turns out, Royce ends up in bed with the flu. It'll be less fun without him, Alfie thinks, and he'd also like to stay and watch over him; Royce, in turn, isn't wild about Alfie heading off into a crime-ridden world without his protection. Unsurprisingly, Gwen is the voice of reason. She throws up her hands and tells them that they're both being ridiculous; that they both survived illnesses and dangerous professions without each other for over forty years, and one worldhop isn't going to change that. She isn't wrong, and Alfie is curious about the place, and so he goes.

He's an observant guy, particularly when he's on streets like this one, but the assassins here are practically ninjas. Something sneaks after him, dagger in hand, and he doesn't notice a thing.]

[disreguarded]

[ alfie is one of the more tolerable people in the meadous - not that beau doesn't get along with most people, it's just that alfie's easy to shoot the shit with. he (and royce and gwen too) reminds her a lot of some of the people she knew in exandria. and the longer she stays here, the more she gravitates towards that - she misses the nein so fiercely that it hurts. she misses phoenix, she misses huaisang, she misses hunter and asch and anaido. she feels directionless, a lot. and it makes things worse.

she throws herself into these worldhops. she can make a difference here, she thinks. leave things better than how she found them.

like now. like now, she can stop something terrible from happening. she's not stealthy, but she's fast. and her ki kicks in as she makes her way across the street, a hundred and sixty feet in six seconds, to stop this assassin from stabbing alfie through the heart.

the dagger swings down - it might still hit, but it's not fatal, because beau rams into the assassin and knocks him to the ground, already calling up her ki again to ram her fist into the assassin's face. ]

[devoutish]

[Beau, however, is much less ninja-like, and he hears her coming. He barely has time to turn around, though, before she's right there, and she's-- on someone? Pounding them into the pavement. Huh.

He's sharp and experienced enough to guess at what might have happened here. Pulling out his gun, he levels it at the figure on the ground - not firing, but prepared to.]

[disreguarded]

[ it's fine, she's got this. probably.

she punches - and the assassin, quiet as ever, tries to stab her. without thinking, she dodges to the side, grabs the assassin's hand, and shoves it directly into the assassin's throat.

he gurgles - chokes and writhes, and beau freezes, staring. ]

[devoutish]

Fuck's sake--

[God, does this ever make him feel old. His reflexes have nothing on this guy. Reaching down, he grabs Beau by the shoulder, yanking her up.]

Are you all right?

[disreguarded]

[ there's a long pause, as she just... stares down at the assassin. ]

... What? [ she says, glancing at alfie. clumsily, she wipes her bloody hands on her clothes, almost absently. ] Fine. I'm fine.

[devoutish]

Did he try to stab you?

[He's only just now spotting the knife; it had been hidden by Beau's body before.]

[disreguarded]

[ this time, zephyr warns them that the world they're going to is really very easy influenced by the minds of those who enter. the fae are tricky things, and they like to play with memories and emotions like they're games. when the volunteers get there, they're informed that the king has been murdered, and an objective third party is needed to find out who did it. that doesn't seem terrible, and beau's not half bad at uncovering stuff like that, so she agrees to go.

she knows she's made a mistake when they usher the volunteers into a room and tell them to try and puzzle out what happened. when one of the investigators asks to go find evidence, beau gets up and leaves.

she can leave. that's the nice thing. she can leave and head out of the castle and just... walk, for a while. the path doesn't seem to be leading anywhere, though. just an endless walk through the woods.

she'd be more worried if she wasn't desperately trying to think of something that doesn't remind her of the manor, of camp. ]

[devoutish]

[Alfie had spent the morning strolling through the woods, arm in arm with Royce, but when Royce had gone off to explore the city with Gwen a bit, he'd begged off, opting instead to stay in the woods. He's not a big outdoorsman, but something about these woods seems particularly calm and peaceful - it's the magic, he supposes. He's found a bench, and he's sitting, staring up at the trees and listening to the birds sing.

And then there's a crunch of footsteps, and he looks up, and--]

Beau?

[She looks-- well, not terrible but not quite well, either. Rising from the bench, he ambles over, cane in hand.]

[disreguarded]

[ beau probably wouldn't have stopped if it hadn't been alfie who spoke up. since it is him, she pauses to let him catch up, absently tugging at the ever-present beanie on her head. ]

... Hey, Alfie. [ she says, quieter than she usually is. her hands flex and unflex absently at her sides. she's fidgety. ]

[devoutish]

Come to enjoy the sights?

[The knowing eyebrow raise that he gives her hints that he knows very well that's not the only reason she's out here.]

[disreguarded]

Something like that. [ she says wryly. hands... go in her pockets. ]

I saw you and Royce go off on your own straight away, so I guess you didn't talk to the - whatever, the faeries?

[devoutish]

We decided to treat this one as a vacation.

[He admits.]

Neither of us are very inclined to mess about with things that play with emotions and memories. Gwen's a bit less sensitive to that, so it was decided that she'd go help and catch up with us later on.

[disreguarded]

[ a small nod. ]

I should've done the same fucking thing. [ a sigh. she's going to keep walking. ] They needed help with a murder trial.

[ he's smart, she knows he'll pick up on this. ]

[devoutish]

[Oh, for fuck's sake.]

And you begged off?

[Tell him you didn't agree to help, Beau; come on.]