destinystrings | Slow Down, You Crazy Child

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Slow Down, You Crazy Child

Who: Maugris and Johnny for the first thread, then Maugris and OPEN
Where: A little restaurant in Virgo near the border with Libra, then wandering through the city back in the general direction of Pisces (so somewhere in Virgo, Leo, or Capricorn)
When: July 12th; just after nightfall, then during the 13th hour
Summary: Maugris finds someone he's got something in common with and has some dinner, then decides to see this whole 13th Hour business is about.
Warnings: Probably nothing in the thread with Johnny. 13th Hour threads will probably involve violence, possibly accompanied by foul language.

Maugris stepped off the tram, grateful that they ran as late as they did. He'd probably end up walking back... but considering his plans for the night after this, that might be just as well. He glanced around, and yes, there was the restaurant.

He really, really hoped this was the right move. But if this Johnny guy was Kindred, he might know if there were others in the city - and how things got managed around here. If he was really, really lucky, there might be some sort of system set up for getting ahold of blood without going after people at all. But he'd just have to see... hopefully they could talk privately enough to manage this.

Oh, well. Nothing for it but to find out. He took a deep breath, a habit he'd never quite shaken, and stepped into the restaurant.

---

Well, that had given him a lot to think about. Maugris whistled to himself as he headed back toward the apartment building. Slow down, you crazy child, you're so ambitious for a juvenile - but then if you're so smart, tell me why are you still so afraid?

He took his time, enough that he was certainly still out when the sky turned red and the buildings changed around him. His lips twisted a little - the changes were an unpleasant reminder of Metatropolis's fate - but he kept going, still whistling nonchalantly. When will you realize, Vienna waits for you? It was still a long walk back; time to see if he could entice something to come out so he could give this Persona thing a shot.

What turned up gave him a bit of a start - a little floating cape with a jack o'lantern for a head. "You're not one of the Pumpkin King's, are you?" he asked. "I don't even have his damn ring anymore." The Pyro Jack just laughed at him and twirled in a circle, and flames spouted from its lantern. Maugris dodged away, but not fast enough - the flames licked at his jacket, and he couldn't help but cry out as the flesh of his arm started to burn.

But the damage - though it was quite nasty - wasn't the worst of it. Vampires feared fire even beyond their ample reason to do so, and while Maugris usually managed to resist, this time the Beast's instincts were too strong for him. He broke and ran, running as fast as he could away from the source of the flame. But the Pyro Jack had found prey now, and it followed. So anyone else out and about would find a vampire deep in Rotschreck being pursued by a laughing Pyro Jack.

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"Mm... I understand. It's like when people are afraid of a bug even though they're pretty harmless." Lucas pauses to glance up at Maugris for a moment. "Do you think it would help if you just had more practice? If you'd like, I can try and help with something like that - it would all be fake, but it would just feel exactly the same. Nothing bad would really happen to you."

He laughs slightly as Maugris attempts to be reassuring. "I guess that's a good point, too. People say you can go home, but... no one really knows how it's supposed to be done. ...Maybe that's some kind of sign." A sign of incompetence or something, anyway.

"Probably not, honestly. It's... kind of deep-rooted." Maugris really doubts therapy is going to work on the Beast. It's instincts and something resembling magic at the same time. "Thanks for the offer, but... things are probably better off with me just dealing with it."

He shrugs. "A sign? Maybe. But signs can mean just about anything; it's all how you look at them. I just know I do plan to figure out what's going on here... and to help these people, if I can manage it."

Exposure therapy works on everything surely if he set Maugris on fire enough times he would get used to it. Lucas didn't even really mind PK Fire so much anymore; it was Thunder that had the nastier bite to it. Still, he acquiesces to Maugris's refusal with a slight nod.

"It must be hard, living like this - you can't ever really be sure of being safe... At least at home, they never came into Tazmily..."

He could see the apartment building standing tall in the distance as they begin to draw near.

"If the only help they can get is people from other worlds... it's hard to say no, isn't it?"

"Yeah... at least they only come out in a certain time, though. So it's not like you can't ever go outside for fear of getting jumped. And they've got the force fields or wards or whatever they are to keep them out of houses."

He won't bring up the disturbing things he's heard about people occasionally going crazy all at once. No need to scare the kid even if it sounds like he's seen a lot.

"But yeah. It's hard to say no. Then again, I never could say no to people who needed help anyway." Which gets him into trouble less often than he'd usually expect it to. Usually trouble found him regardless.

"No one should ever have to live with monsters outside their homes. Certain times or not." He sounds quite firm about this. "Homes are for families and... security. Being with the people you love."

Lucas's dominant personality trait is apparently being a huge sap.

"Have you done this kind of thing before back home, then, Mr. Maugris?"

"Mm... fair enough." Maugris doesn't elaborate on that response - he didn't keep in touch with his own family much even at home. It would probably put them in danger, and even if it didn't they'd probably notice he was a lot younger than he ought to be. He's not going to complain about Lucas being sentimental, though.

"A little bit. The city I used to live in attracted all sorts of weird things. Most of them didn't cause trouble for ordinary people much, but it was my job to keep it that way." Not strictly true, but he tended to make it his job anyway.

"'Weird things', huh?"

Lucas ponders on that for a bit.

"I wonder if every world has their own type of 'demons'. It doesn't seem like anyone's life is ever really easy." At some point in time, someone would see fit to inform him that all the monsters from his own world could show up here, but that panic attack could wait for another day.

"I guess I wouldn't be surprised. At least all the worlds that attract Butterfly Guy's attention - if he's looking for heroes to save this city, people who've already had to deal with problems in their own world probably look like a good place to start."

He sighs and glances around warily. They're almost to the apartment, now, and Maugris's sense of how life goes for 'heroes' has him worried their path is going to be blocked again.

As they near the doors, Lucas continues with his end of the conversation. "I'm not too sure that's exactly the kind of thing he's looking for..." Heroes were twenty year old cowboys who rode off into the sunset, not pre-pubertal little boys. "I guess it's probably true, though - there must be some sort of... criteria he wants us t -- ...Oh!"

Lucas steps dead in his tracks as the exclamation escapes him, his gaze directed at the obstruction Maugris had cleverly intuited would be in their way.

...If one squints, one can make out a small bug. Lucas reaches down with a finger and allows it to crawl on.

"There you are. I was wondering where you'd gotten to."

Hopefully, they pass through the doors now without any further interruption.

"'Hero' is just how it was described to me. Not like I really think of myself as one either." This isn't entirely true, but he at least tries to be modest.

Well. Maugris is pretty glad Lucas noticed the bug, because he hadn't paid a lot of mind to a little cricket. Leaving it stuck out here wouldn't have been great, if it's something Lucas was looking for. He does have to suppress the urge to make a Pinocchio joke, though. He just raises an eyebrow and asks, "Friend of yours?" Because there's enough weirdness running around that a kid having a pet bug isn't really worthy of too much notice.

"Uh-huh. I can introduce you."

The bug quickly scurries up Lucas's arm and buries itself unobtrusively in the boy's hair. It doesn't seem keen on being introduced.

"Mr. Maugris, this is my friend, the Stinkbug. Stinkbug, this is Mr. Maugris. You should say hi. ...Um. Not the usual way."

The thing reappears long enough to wave its antennae for a few seconds before it vanishes again. Lucas seems generally unperturbed by the fact that he's allowing a stinkbug to live inside of his hair as he makes his way inside the apartment building.

"Anyway... If you think about it that way, it's like being personally asked to do a favor, too. I don't think I would have said 'no' if he'd actually asked..."

"Uh, hello... Stinkbug?" Maugris is a little uncertain whether he should address the Stinkbug with a title. Then again, he's a little uncertain about addressing a stinkbug at all.

Maugris pushes the door open for Lucas. "Yeah... I probably wouldn't have, either. Though I might've asked to wait a little longer. Just a few minutes." It would have been nice to see whether he'd actually managed to save the city he fought so hard for, even if he'd been planning on getting out of dodge once the crisis was over.

Thankfully for Maugris's uncertainty, the Stinkbug doesn't seem interested in engaging in prolonged conversation or even prolonged eye contact. A faint chittering might be heard coming from Lucas's head region, but that's about it.

"Ah - thanks."

He steps inside and breathes a small sigh of relief. The wards didn't have the least effect on him, of course, but as he passes indoors, the almost palpable uneasiness created by the 13th Hour seems to lift.

"...Were you doing something important? I think I could've used a few more minutes, too."

Well, of course the wards did nothing much to them - though Maugris relaxed a little, too, once the barrier was between them and the demon-haunted streets.

"Yeah, something like that." How do you explain to a twelve-year-old kid that you wanted to see whether the city you spent two years trying desperately to save - sometimes against the best efforts of its inhabitants - was still there?

...Perhaps Lucas would understand better than Maugris thinks on that one. Still, he has the sense to recognize when people were being deliberately vague and doesn't press the issue.

"...Um. I think I'm going to go and look for the way back to my apartment. That's up closer to the top, right?"

"Yeah, it's up on the fourth floor. Next to the swimming pool, which always seemed kind of odd to me." Maugris may only have been here a month, but he does have to walk past it to get to or from his room.

He gestured toward the stairs as he headed toward them. "I can show you the way there; I walk past it all the time." Funny, he didn't even think about elevators that much. That was a habit from a peculiar affliction he'd since gotten rid of; his presence didn't make people feel cold anymore, but he still felt awkward in small spaces.

"Thanks."

Lucas follows along after the man; the layout of the apartments was nearly exactly the same, but he still felt like an intruder in this place. ...Heck, he felt like an intruder in his own apartment room sometimes. Everything was much too grand and modern for his tastes - which were admittedly much more suitable for styles fashionable a century or so back.

As they begin to head up the stairs, he speaks up again.

"...Thanks for talking to me tonight, Mr. Maugris. ...I feel a little better about all of this."

Maugris can't help smiling a little, and really it's a mercy he's not one of those poor Kindred whose fangs are always showing. "Don't mention it. It's probably better if you talk to someone who's been here longer, but I'm glad to be able to help." And he really is - it's sort of a way of repaying the people who helped him when he was stumbling around blind the night he got here. For someone who doesn't put a lot of stock in authority Maugris has an over-developed sense of responsibility.

He can smell the pool up ahead; it won't be long before they reach the portal. "Almost there. Make sure your friend doesn't get lost again." He doesn't want to actually say A lot of people don't look down, but the thought's there.

"Oh, he'll be alright. I never really worry too much about him - he wanders around by himself a lot, but he always finds a way back to me in the end. ...He's good at taking care of himself." The sudden quivering from Lucas's hair seems to suggest otherwise. Stinkbug, however, raises no vocal objections.

They pass by the pool now, and Lucas pauses momentarily to take a look through the glass. A body of water indoors. For the sole purpose of entertainment, apparently; like a bath, but to the nth power. There was a lot in this city that was strangely alien to him - the result of the onwards march of technology. He wasn't entirely sure yet whether or not he would come to appreciate all of it...

"It's nice that they want to make us feel comfortable here. My room is a lot bigger than the one I have back home." Even with its other occupant gone now. "...Is that it up ahead? The... teleporter?"

Maugris is a bit surprised to hear that the apartments were bigger than what Lucas is used to, but... well, it's hardly the kid's fault if he grew up with a tiny bedroom, is it?

"Yeah. The fact that they know we're coming is a little creepy, but at least they don't completely hate us. That would definitely make our job harder." He shrugs a little and nods toward the portal. "That's it. I haven't tried it myself - haven't really had much reason to go to the Libra apartments - but it should lead to about the same place over there, I think? I guess you'd know where the other end is."

And there across from it are the stairs that continue up. "I think this is both our stops. Thanks for the help tonight, Lucas. Let me know if you need anything."

"Ah..."

Lucas hasn't used it before, but if he had to be honest, a magical portal was something he was a bit more comfortable with than a metal box that moved up and down by itself. Hence why he had raised no objections about using the stairs earlier.

"Thanks again for all of your help, too, Mr. Maugris. The same to you - please let me know if I can do anything for you." A slight pause as his gaze drifts towards the man's arm. "You're really sure you don't want more healing?"

Maugris just avoids enclosed spaces he hasn't checked out first on principle. He's had problems with invisible ambushes before.

He shakes his head, raising his hand to his burnt arm self-consciously. "It's not much, really. It'll be fine in a couple days. I'm... unusual, is all. I heal fast, I'll be fine." He didn't really want to go into the whole vampire thing and scare Lucas after all that.

"If you're really sure..."

Lucas continues to sound doubtful, although he won't press the issue. Few people refused his help, generally speaking, but perhaps the man was suspicious or wary of the PSI.

"Alright. I'll be going then." The boy turns and pokes one finger into the supposed teleporter first before giving Maugris a wave. "Have a good night...!"

And with a few small steps, Lucas vanishes into the transporter.

Maugris just shrugs. He'll explain sometime what the refusal is about, but not tonight.

"Right. You, too - have a good night, Lucas." He nods as the boy disappears into the portal and turns to the stairs. It's going to be a while until dawn, and he's going to be spending it mostly trying to make sure he doesn't end up leaning on his arm when he falls asleep - mostly because he just doesn't want to wake up leaning on a burned arm.

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Slow Down, You Crazy Child

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