|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 6:51 pm
The new house Eve and Leila had rented was starting to look more like a house, finally, albeit with some moving boxes still shoved into the living room corners. It was a fortunate coincidence that Julian had suddenly needed a place to stay right around the time they were finalizing paperwork. That meant the couple had rooms to spare, even with a surprise fourth tenant being announced with seemingly no prior warning or planning. He hadn't brought much along with him save his clothes, some electronics and a trio of finches whose cage was nicely framed by one of the windows of his room. While unpacking the other day he'd also noticed a pet bed which was far too small for Clover. That was strange, as there wasn't another dog around, and Leila was fiercely allergic to cats, but he'd paid it little mind. It was quiet when he let himself in. That was expected for an early weekday afternoon -- his aunts would both be at work.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 7:10 pm
The problem with being in the Otherworld for almost a decade was that the world moved on without you. Like there were a lot of problems but when Lady had been taken there had been no seventh Harry Potter book and her brother had also been sixteen. Only now he was 26 and she had to deal with multiple Harry Potter books and movies and if she focused on all the s**t that was new and awful she would start screaming and never stop. So she focused instead on being a deer. She could still think of things but '******** you I'm a deer' was an effective comeback for any metaphysical trauma or philosophical concerns. Anyway, the room with the birds in it was a curiosity but not a big deal. Comparatively the house was a safe place to be a deer, and she had a comfy bed, and-- Holy s**t there was a guy in the house that she didn't know. Her ears and tail perked all the way up and she froze for a half second. The champagne-colored budding antlers glimmered in the light for a second, green eyes wide and panicked and human. Then the moment of stillness broke and Lady leapt away, skittering through the house in a set of bounding jumps.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 8:26 pm
Julian made a startled noise at the sight, which was unflattering in timbre and also probably didn't help things much. But that was a deer. In the house. It was confusing as all hell and made his heart rush something fierce, but he did not pursue. Instead he moved further into the living room, set down the snake plant he had bought for the bathroom on the coffee table, and took out his phone. Started entering a text. A ways into typing he shook his head crankily, and decided to make a call instead. "Eve," he started, stammeringly. "There is. A deer? In the house. What do you want me to do."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 10:44 pm
The stranger didn't pursue, which went a good long way into slowing Lady's racing heart. She still hid beneath the kitchen table for a good five minutes, getting her impulse to run under control. Then she eased out, still a dainty-hooved fawn, hesitantly nosing her way towards the living room. Her ears flicked forward at the sight of the man on the phone, but as a doe she had a difficult time understanding human speech. That was alright. She could understand names. If he was calling Eve, maybe he was a friend. She whuffed out a breath and described a large circle around the stranger and the couch, ending up on her tiny deer bed. I won't mess with you if you won't mess with me, she thought, attempting to beam this understanding into the stranger's head.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 3:04 pm
The phone conversation continued on for a few minutes, with Julian's gaze occasionally flickering back at the deer as she made herself comfortable. Processing the conversation took a bit longer. He'd been warned a little bit that Ashdown was weird and -- he remembered the dire insistence with which his aunts underlined this point -- magic was real and sometimes dangerous, and he'd best take that statement at face value now so some poor a*****e wouldn't have to sit him down and give him the whole Magic is Real lecture later. So, fine. Magic was real. Why in the ******** not. Eve had turned his phone bright cherry red as an example, just in case he needed more spelling out. However, a little trick like that was different from there being a deer in the house, and that deer actually being a human who could transform into a deer, and by the way you can call her Lady or Tate. "Tate," Julian tested, with a sideways glance given to the fawn.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 3:30 pm
Lady contemplated this. That sure was her name in the mouth of this guy. Or. One of them. She hadn't gotten a new name just yet. It wasn't like she could disprove the fact that Tate Spektora had, like, gone to college and <******** that I'm a deer. No amount of cannily referring to Ezra as her boyfriend was ever going to change that. Lady whined, dropping her head down low to the floor. If Eve gave this guy her name, he must be okay, right? She tested this theory: she got up and joined the stranger on the couch. Or, anyway, she tried to. Her ungainly little hops didn't get enough airtime to get her onto the couch properly, no matter how much of a running start she got. Eventually, tired out by her effort to express her acceptance of this guy in her space, Lady flopped next to the couch and partially on his feet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 3:38 pm
The fawn was quite warm, so having her neck and shoulder leaning on Julian's feet was not all bad so long as he pointedly ignored the part of him who desperately wanted to complain about how ******** weird this was, and also, could magical deer carry ticks and give him Lyme disease? Probably not. "My name is Julian," he continued, stilted as usual. "Eve's my aunt. Um..." you're talking to a deer and you probably look completely ridiculous"s**t. How can I tell you're understanding anything I'm saying?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 8:34 pm
Julian was pretty talky, Lady decided, and she sighed. It was a fawn sigh, so more of a whuff. She sat up, and smoothly blinked back into a girl. Lady was tall. Very tall. And her shirt declared 1-800-BE-QUIET four times in black font on a pink field. It was pretty cute (she'd gotten it because it was $4.90 and it felt weird for her twin to be buying her clothes anyway--). "I don't usually," she said. "Deer brains don't process like people brains. It's nice. Which is why I was being a deer." She held out a hand for him to shake. "I'm Lady. Tate, I mean. Tatiana."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 3:37 pm
And then it was like being in an episode of Bewitched -- again. Julian blinked and then there was a girl where there was just a deer, just like the other night when he'd blinked and his phone was suddenly red. It understandably left him a little slackjawed for a moment, only steeling his expression again upon accepting the handshake. "Julian, in case you didn't catch it. That does sound nice, though," he admitted. Being able to escape from thinking like a human whenever you want? 'Nice' was a horrendous understatement. "You should get back to it, if you want."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 3:53 am
Lady shook her head. "I could but it'd be kind of awkward, wouldn't it? You said something about Eve. I think she's wonderful, don't you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 11:54 am
"I'm Eve's nephew," Julian clarified. "We're quite close. But she's... good at that."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 11:58 am
"It's really nice of her to let me stay here," said Lady. "My brother--we were twins--he's only got the one bedroom and like, some weird... boyfriend thing going on with ******** and Thorne. I don't think Thorne's his boyfriend but ******** is. But there's something going on there, you know? They do the long intense staring contest thing. And I thought about staying with my cousin Iouri in Boston but he's not part of all this craziness and I don't want him to be. He's just, like, an astrophysicist museum curator, or something. I don't remember." Having shared her teenage thoughts on the world, Lady lapsed into silence and looked at Julian expectantly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 1:06 pm
...<******** class="quote"> shibrogane
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 1:10 pm
Figured that'd be all a boy would have noticed. Lady rolled her eyes. "Yeah! ********. You know. Finn Derouen? Ranger guy? He grew up okay. He's reasonably cute. I think he broke his nose like even more than before."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 1:56 pm
"I don't really know anyone in this town," Julian explained. "I just got here."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
