capeandcowllogs | Chance encounters

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Chance encounters

WHO: Geddoe and Blue-chan
WHERE: some alley near some bar, midtown
WHEN: Saturday latenight
WARNINGS: psh the violence won't even be that violent
SUMMARY: anti-Import sentiment, Blue to the rescue, and maybe some chatting
FORMAT: ELLE

Sometimes, Geddoe just wanted a quiet drink, and sometimes the best bars in which to do so had the idea to have drink specials, bands, and massive crowds on just the wrong night. The one he frequented most, where the owner was cool with his sword, was unexpectedly busy this particular weekend, so he gave it a miss and kept walking, looking for somewhere else more to his liking. The seedier neighborhoods were more likely to have seedy joints where no one looked up and wouldn't notice a big guy in leather armor, but those locations naturally featured an increased number of drunks wobbling around the sidewalk looking for fights. To those also harboring a burning anti-Import feeling, Geddoe was a walking target.

"Hey, you!" Geddoe heard the accusatory snarl behind him, and knew exactly who was being hailed. He didn't acknowledge it or turn around until someone shoved him in the back. "Yeah, you! Tough guy! Think you're hot shit and all. C'mon, let's see you use that sword! C'mon!"

The mercenary turned slightly, but did not draw Wild Geese. He didn't want to give these sorts the satisfaction. His glare darkened at the situation; there were four of them, all reeking of alcohol. One pointed at him. "Haha! Look, he's a pirate! C'mon, Captain Jack! ARR!"

Disgusted, Geddoe turned to continue on his way. But one of them went too far, grabbing his arm. He swung around so fast that the fist was in the guy's face before he even saw it coming. But alcohol fueled courage, so instead of fleeing, they swarmed on him. The flash of orange light in the midst of the melee was the reflection of the street lamp on the blade of a sword.

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The figurative closing of such doors was something Blue couldn't truly be offended by; it was a very human reaction. Natural. Saddening, perhaps, but not unexpected. And given the abuses of power many had displayed in the City...not something he could truly condemn, even if his own intentions were good.

"I do not actively pry," Blue assured, in motion once more. "That, too, is in my nature. You've no need to fear for your secrets. I promise."

Geddoe lowered his head a little. "The secrets are not mine, but others'," he said quietly. He would not have Jack betrayed by a mind-reader catching an errant worry.

"Nevertheless, you have my gratitude. I wasn't sure my spell could handle that car. If it exploded, we could all be dead."

"I'm grateful I sensed the danger in time."

Soldier Blue had let a fair few steps' distance space them out before he slowed and turned to regard him again. Physical distance was something, perhaps, that could alleviate the unease his powers caused others. He hoped so, in any case. Especially since he had interest to know just why there was even cause for any fight at all. His expression shaded with that layer of concern as it came forth aloud.

"...What reason did they have to attack you?"

Edited 2012-06-10 23:14 (UTC)

Geddoe sighed, a very heavy and put-upon sigh. "Given their taunts, I expect it's because I'm not from around here," he replied. "They saw my sword, and my eyepatch, and decided to make sport with me I suppose."

And boy did he hate those pirate jabs. The irritation roiled off him, there was no need to hide it.

Blue's frown drew heavy with the injury – not even his, but all the same. Such things weighed on him – bad omens, all of them. It did nothing but draw him back to those terrible little theories he had about the world – his and others. The one they inhabited, especially. Humans being so...

"I'm sorry," he said, earnest. "Though...my saying so matters very little, doesn't it? All the same. No one ought to endure such things."

"It doesn't bother me," Geddoe said bluntly. "They're like children, mocking what they don't understand, nothing more. If they must take out their frustrations on someone, better a man who can handle it than some less-skilled of our kind."

Annoyances aside, he really didn't want to see others assailed, trusting in his abilities and magic to put the offenders in their places. Some might not be so fortunate. Imports tended to be both the rescuers and the rescued alike.

He regarded Blue, and then added, "Sympathy is not necessary. I'm fine. I would be more concerned about those who'd be so stupid as to jump a man with a very real and very sharp blade."

"There are levels of...disillusionment at work," Blue said at length, having given Geddoe a moment of regard on his own behalf. "For all these people have been subjected to, the levels of danger and terror at times present..."

His somber thought trailed along with his gaze, flickering to something more absent, hearing something inaudible. When it drew back, though, there was something faintly lighter in his tone.

"But I'm of the belief the amount of substances muddling their minds was more the cause than that. That was what I smelled, wasn't it? Alcohol..."

Geddoe grunted in the affirmative. "They were rather drunk. A bit early if you ask me. Still, I've been in enough bar fights to know that alcohol tends to give one the courage to act on those thoughts they would otherwise keep hidden and nurse in private."

He looked up vaguely, at the street lamps and high rise buildings, the light and metal blocking out the sky and stars. "Their whims change like the wind. We save them, and they love us. A little property damage, and we become the devil. It's best just to shrug and continue on with one's business."

Blue's expression grew somber once more, his bangs grazing his cheeks as he shook his head slightly.

"It is much more than that. For us, as well as them...Slowly but surely, it's becoming much more."

If he had more to say on the matter, he silenced it, his head tilted once more in distraction. Looking back at Geddoe, he gestured with a tilt of his head.

"We should move further away from that spot. Many are gathering."

Nodding, Geddoe moved into place beside him, striding evenly. It wouldn't do to look like they were fleeing. He didn't mind keeping company with the somber Blue, he had no other real plans for the night and figured there was more to this youthful-looking fellow than met the eye. He may have appeared the same age as any of the kids he tended to pick up (unwillingly), but there was something about him...

"They will be looking for a man with a sword," he muttered under his breath. "You may escape notice, but I tend to stand out."

"While you are with me," Blue said, eyes still staring straight ahead with a focus on something unseen, "no one will even notice you carry a sword. Or regard you at all."

That much would be true the moment they left the alley behind for open streets; Blue did not even hesitate, turning to follow the trail of streetlights in a direction furthering them away from the scene. At the hour, there were few wandering the streets openly, but those that did didn't even bat an eyelash in their direction – no more than they would any stranger they'd no wish to communicate with. It was not hard for Blue to gently coax a passerby's mind to glance elsewhere, subtly assured there was no need to even give the two of them even the slightest concern.

It was how he managed to walk the streets unharmed, unnoticed despite his unusual appearance.

At first Geddoe thought it was an idle remark, but as they walked, he realized it was true. A state of fact, a warning. It was disconcerting, for someone used to brushing off the sidelong glances and outright stares. Even after two years, he still got surreptitious double-takes often enough. But no one looked at them, no one gave them a second thought. It was like being invisible.

"You must be quite powerful," he murmured so quietly that only Blue could have heard him.

"I couldn't tell you how I rank among the hundreds of forces at play here," Blue said, speaking in a less hushed volume to assure Geddoe of their security. "There are powers here that will never exist in the world I am from, doing things I could never dream of."

He did, however, silence himself when passing by too many people at once.

"I can only speak accurately of myself and what my power meant in the world I was born in."

"Nevertheless." The hush was more for his own sense of privacy than worrying others would hear them. "Stopping the car is one thing. Subtly willing every passerby to ignore us is another. The control required must be immense. I consider that a true test of someone's ability." He snorted a bit. "Anyone can throw a car around."

Well, he couldn't. But yes, there were many here who could.

The statement drew a small smile and a squint of scrutiny from Blue, who gave the other a curious glance. The demeanor he spoke with had...familiar facets, all wrapped up in someone very much different and of his own life and make. Still, Blue couldn't help but hear the tone of a different, gruff old man just under the surface of such things.

"It's taken a while to master," Blue said at last, turning his attention forward once more. "But being in a place so dense has been nothing but ample opportunity to. I doubt I would ever have this skill so refined had I never been here before. This, or some of the others."

Geddoe gave him the slightest glance out of the corner of his good eye. "You have more abilities," he noted. It wasn't a question, exactly, to leave it open-ended for Blue to share, or not. Geddoe was curious, but he wouldn't press.

It seemed proper to share, lest any previously unseen power surfacing in the future give Geddoe more reason to regard him suspiciously. At least, that's the way Blue felt about it; he never wanted to hide what he was, but...it was rather a matter of life-and-death in his world, and with the way the population's mood was being so steadily pushed toward malcontent...

"All Mu can sense the hearts and minds around them," he said. "Feel what is being felt. Some are more sensitive to it, much like some people are naturally more empathetic than others. But I'm..."

His step hesitated at a corner, uncertain of where to go. It seemed better to just stay on that side of the street, so he turned with it.

"They manifest but one distinct ability for the type of person they are. Protective shields, offensive bursts...It seems to depend on just what they're like, if anything. I have all of these abilities for some reason." His voice hollowed out, trying to empty out the value the last remark really had.

"There has not been enough...research. Into such things." Nor would there be, if he could help it. Not that kind of research.

The explanation was helpful. Geddoe did not lower his guard but did relax ever-so-subtly. Powers were no longer secrets, not with things they way they were in this world. "I see," he responded after a bit. "It is not due to this world? I've noticed that abilities are altered, being here. My consultations with other magic-users have told me as much. Our powers don't work quite the same as we're accustomed to."

His head turned, his gaze straying to his gloved right hand. Force of habit. At least the Rune was no longer wholly dormant, as it had been upon his arrival. It was not particularly active at the moment, but the dreams still came, once a week or so.

"I'm not sure I'd understand much of that," Blue admitted, looking back at Geddoe, following his gaze. "Magic is a foreign concept to me."

He frowned a little as he stared, finding it difficult just then to pry his gaze away. He did, eventually, as his attention was needed elsewhere, but...still. Something nagged.

"Yet there are those in my world who would consider what you do to be a form of magic," Geddoe said, rather casually. "The source matters little, if the effect is to perform feats beyond the norm."

He missed the moment of staring, as his own attention had been distracted at the same moment. His hand flexed naturally, as he began to allow himself to stand down from readiness and not be keen and eager to reach across and draw his sword in an instant.

Beyond the norm.

Such things they could do, be it magic or...otherwise. Wasn't normal. Wasn't going to be normal, was it? Though he and Jomy would strain and strive...

Blue's head shook quickly, as one would try and startle a buzzing away from one's ear. Those thoughts were for another time. Not now. Refocusing, he listened in the silence, until realization settled in.

"I apologize," he said, slowing to a stop, looking about the area as if for the first time. "I hadn't..." He looked at Geddoe. "Where is it you needed to go?"

Geddoe came to a stop beside him, towering over him. "Need? Nowhere, I suppose," he sighed. "Out of range of anyone investigating that scuffle is fine enough." He closed his good eye briefly. "I had been on my way out for a drink, but my interest in that has gone down. I may as well head back to the MAC building, now."

A soft sound escaped him, thoughtful and muted. It sounded to Blue as if Geddoe had resigned to a perfectly disappointing evening, and that was...well, disappointing. It only impressed upon the troublesome quality of their encounter – that fight, regardless of what little impact the motives of those drunk men had...

"May I accompany you, then?" Blue asked, glancing up at him. "If only to keep any other troublesome people at bay along your way."

Geddoe eyed him. "I hardly need a bodyguard." As long as no one else was going to drive a car straight at him. He huffed and looked away, then. "You're free to walk wherever you like, if our paths happen to be going the same way."

He didn't know Blue didn't live at the MAC. But he genuinely did not care one way or the other. If the willowy guy wanted to walk with him, so be it.

Blue's mouth quirked, quickly pressed into a thin line to suppress it. It really is like talking to Zel again... (But not that Zel. It's all coincidence or conspiracy, truly.)

He said nothing more to it, simply bowing his head and leaning into motion again – this time toward the MAC, as long a trek as it was. Not just once did he wonder suggesting to fly, assuming, somehow, he'd get the answer he knew he'd have gotten from his old friend...

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