You step onto a cracked but clean tile floor that was probably once red, but is now a faded salmon pink. A large, rectangular communal table seating about 10 takes up the middle of the floor, with mismatched smaller tables arranged near the large front windows. The long counter in front of the kitchen door sports plates of fragrant bread, cookies, and muffins and bowls of fresh wild fruits. A small, rattling fridge in the corner holds a selection of juices and cold spring water in reused bottles and jars. Atop the refrigerator is a can for cash donations; next to it is a box for barter payments. Scrawled on the box in black marker are the words "Pay what you can, when you can."
This brick-paved, north-south street is in significantly better repair than the roads leading into town. It's nearly impossible to tell what color the original bricks were, or in what pattern they were laid, but someone has made sure that no hole gaped too large without being plugged with something. The roadbed is a patchwork of multicolored bricks, chunks of cinderblock, and large, flat stones. The mere thought of riding a vehicle over the resulting uneven swells is almost physically painful.
Most of the buildings along the street have not fared even this well. In fact, it is clear that much of the brick in the road was scavenged from the more ramshackle structures. Yet there are signs of life: a cafe with a newly painted sign, a clean welcome mat on the library's decrepit porch, a windowbox full of vivid flowers clinging to a crumbling windowsill. The brick-paved road extends less than a quarter mile before disappearing again into grass and chunks of decaying asphalt.
Did someone call for 'tall, dark, and handsome'? Well, dark's fairly well covered, at least. Jet-black hair's pulled into a long, loose tail at the nape of his neck, a few stray strands about the face occasionally drifting into his almost equally dark eyes, the irises of which are a brown deep enough that one needs to look closely to find the pupil. Nut-brown skin that sets off the white of his teeth and eyes -- it could just barely be mistaken for a very deep tan, if one really tried. Tall is a miss; he's still several inches off six feet, and he probably won't ever get there. Handsome... well, not a classic beauty, to be sure, but well-proportioned, with a stunning, frequent grin and deeply expressive features. Slim, but in perfectly good shape.
He's clad in... well, black leather pants. Somewhat faded, well broken in, but nicely cut and really =quite= nicely fitted. A simple cream shirt hangs untucked above them, long sleeved and fastened with a row of small, black stone buttons. Over that, he wears a decidedly well-worn old black trenchcoat, almost too big for him -- the cuffs hang down half-over his hands, when he lets them, and the hem hangs perilously close to his heels. Scuffed black leather boots with worn soles adorn his feet; there's a seemingly random collection of bracelets, all on one wrist, and several piercings along the upper section of each ear -- little silver hoops.
Danny stands just under six feet tall and moves with an odd grace that's difficult to categorize. It's not quite the artful manner of a dancer nor the economic movements of a trained warrior, still there's certainly something different in how he carries himself. Fit musculature on a lean frame gives him the look of a runner, and his clean and smooth features suggest a northern European heritage. He has well-defined cheekbones that lend a youthful cast which may bely his true age, while a faint five-o'clock shadow makes his otherwise friendly smile a little disreputable. His eyes are expressive and match colors with his full, wavey, chin-length hair: a deep dark brown that's only just this side of black. His skin in naturally pale, but days working outside have given it the faintest suggestion of a tan.
His clothing is casual but work-oriented, with a light-weight, long-sleeved tunic in off white linen belted at his waist with a black, woven leather belt. A loose pair of dark brown linen pants are tucked into calf-high, black leather boots that look a bit newer than the rest of his apparel, their sides finely tooled with Celtic knots. A stamped silver coin bearing the triune horse symbol of Epona hangs around his neck on a silver snake chain, and there's a sky blue ribbon tied just behind his ear, trailing in and out of his dark hair in a former bow that has apparently come untied.
This young man stands barely 5'8" with a build that is slim but far from fragile. His musculature is compact and wiry, but it's there and well-toned: no wilting flower, this one. His features are on the masculine side of androgynous, enough that there's no doubt he's male, but calling him pretty -- while it might get one glared at -- wouldn't be far from the truth. His hollowed cheeks and squarish chin is offset by naturally pouty lips tinted with a dark rosy rouge, and a pair of aqua-green eyes framed by a fringe of long lashes that have been skillfully lined with black kohl. His hair is so dark a brown as to seem almost black in all but full sunlight, where red highlights render it a deep auburn. It's worn unbound in loose curls that fall just barely to his shoulders.
He's dressed in tight jeans, so tight they've split at the seams here and there to reveal glimpses of milky skin beneath, and a white ribbed tank top most decent folks would wear as an undershirt, not as the main attraction. Someone has painted onto the tank with fabric dye, "Blow Me" in oozing red letters. He also seems to be showcasing a rather impressive collection of jewelry. His ears glitter with hoops and studs of gold, silver, and glinting red gemstones. A titanium stud pierces his left eyebrow, and he casually clicks his tongue stud against his teeth. In addition to this are an array of rubber bracelets on each wrist in bright shades spanning the rainbow, as well as a beaded choker from which depends a ruby teardrop nestled in the hollow of his throat.
This slender young man draws the eye, first with his waterfall of perfectly white hair-- not blond, but white and fine as Queen Anne's lace-- carelessly confined with a simple tie at the nape of his neck. His features are delicate and symmetrical to a startling, almost inhuman degree. His skin is pale, nearly translucently so, which reinforces the fragility suggested by the fine lines of his jaw and collarbones; in contrast to this, his eyes are the deep, thoughtful blue of an evening sky.
He is currently wearing a pair of slate-grat pants and a pale green linen formal-looking dress shirt which is far too big for him and which falls in graceful folds about his wrists and throat. It is embroidered with small designs in white. Over this he wears a darker green vest, with leaf-patterns on it-- the vest is a little large for him as well.
He wears a simple silver band ring with a dark blue stone-- his only jewelry-- on the middle finger of his right hand.
He is a youth verging upon manhood, his muscular frame straining the confines of his clothing. A shining ebony mane trails in a long braided queue down the smooth line of his spine and a lock of it drops into one dark eye. His skin is as flawless as the bronze it resembles. Black leather trousers cling to the lines of his powerful thighs, while knee-high boots outline his calves. He wears a loose-fitting black silk shirt that appears to have a panel that should fasten across his chest, but it hangs open to the waist, bound in place by a wide burgundy silk sash. His sleeves are full and loose, but are fastened tightly at the wrists with wide bronze cuff-bracelets.
He is a youth verging upon manhood, his muscular frame gleaming bronze. A shining ebony mane trails in a loose ponytail down the smooth line of his spine and a lock of it drops into one dark eye. Leather leggings provide the base for ancient armor plates to protect his lower body: black plastic thigh and shinguards, and a black plastic and metal codpiece. His upper body is bare, except for the shining, golden-hilted sword slung over his shoulder.
This young man is dark-eyed and merry, plump like a Renaissance painter's dream of Bacchus. His untidy curls trail halfway down his back. He wears a plain linen shirt, plain khaki trousers, plain brown work shoes, a necklace of matte black and brown beads that manages to look simultaneously high-tech and plain, and a magnificent coat of scarlet wool, skirted like an eighteenth-century gentleman's. He watches the world with the hint of a smile, as though he had just seen a marvelous joke played and was waiting for the rest of the world to get it before he laughed.
A woman with light brown skin, coarse and curly hair in shades of black and gray, and a broad, determined face. She has the long-limbed, lean look of someone who is oft afoot and on the road, but only prophets and shapeshifters face the wild barefoot and wrapped in a woven poncho, thick about as a blanket, threads in every shade clouds can muster. Her shorts are worn and aged denim, old as dirt. Pale scars twist and twine around her arms and legs. There are crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, though she couldn't be more than thirty years old.
Weatherwax pages the room: Well, there are two things people should know before we start.
Weatherwax pages the room: 1) The Utopian Turtletop returned about an hour ago. It's parking, as usual, over the lake. It's standard procedure for the crew to batten everything down and do a shutdown check before letting down any of the skiffs, etc., so they've been in that sort of mode, for anyone interested. 2) Anyone walking into the Diner will immediately note a prominent, enormous chocolate-iced cake on the Diner counter that has, in blue icing, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKI" across the top, with a couple of what you might, in the right light, believe are yellow roses, but are possibly more charitably called daffodils.
Danny shoulders his way into the kitchen through the back door, carrying a large and cumbersome sack on his back that smells of various vegetables and staples. If his clothes are any indication, it's been a long day at the Farm for him, and this short detour before he heads home is the last in a long list of chores. He sets the bag down on one of the counters with a grunt and steadies it before running his hands through his hair.
Serendipity is sitting in the main room, at the table, his coat hanging over the back of his chair since he took his arms out of it, and a large sack of his own on the floor beside him. He doesn't seem to be paying much attention to the cake; at present, he's studying a pad of paper intently, tapping a pencil on the tabletop.
Miki opens the front door of the Diner with an energetic jerk which sets the bell jingling and practically leaps inside; the balmy air of a Spring evening follows him, which may explain his energy. He sidles around the edge of the room, a ridiculous enterprise after the noise of that bell, and peeks into the cot room. From the drooping of his shoulders, that room is empty-- at least, of the person he was hoping to see in there.
Shortly after Miki enters, Robin explodes into the Diner bursting with joy--radiant with joy, transfigured by joy, overspilling with so much joy that the little room seems to sparkle in his wake. "Kem is back!" he cries, doing a mad dance. "Kem is back, Kem is back, Kem is ba--" He stops, frozen, arms flung out. "--We have /cake/!"
Danny sets about putting things away with crisp efficiency: wheels of cheese, a bag of early tomatoes, a box of mushrooms, bags of flour, and a few cannisters of oats and granola. He almost fumbles a tightly-closed container of cream when he hears Robin's comotion in the front room, and after quickly setting it in the fridge he peers out into the Diner proper. "Cake?" he asks hopefully.
"Cake," Ren confirms, pointing at it absently without appearing to actually look up from his notebook. "...no one else's been in here a while, gorgeous," he adds, "...happy birthday, though. Got a thing for you, 'f you want it. Hi, Danny. Hi, cutie."
Out back, the kitchen door swings open and Ruth steps in, finds herself looking at Danny, looking into the Diner. Her hair's a wild, curly tangle, a crown of black and gray, she seems taller and lankier for wearing battered shorts and a shirt without sleeves. She rubs the back of her neck, bare toes grip salmon-hued tile. "Mph," she says. Then, as if to punctuate the greeting, she yawns a huge, horsey yawn.
Miki looks first at Robin at his enthusiastic pronouncement, then at the counter. "Cake?" he asks. "Who brought it?" Then he stops, blinks, and gives Ren a suspicious look. "How do you know that it is my birthday?" he asks, as though he is afraid that Ren has suddenly developed a talent for reading minds, or something with equal potential for mischief.
"We have /cake/!" Robin cries blissfully. "I'm not cute, Kem is back, and we have cake! And ice cream," he adds. "Cake must have ice cream, if it's birthday cake." Blink. "Miki! Happy birthday! How old are you?"
"Cake," Danny repeats, his eyes widening. It's a good thing he'd finished putting the food away in the kitchen, because there's no way it'd be getting done otherwise. Ruth's entrance momentarily distracts him, and he gives her a grin, explaining, "Cake," just before walking into the Diner proper. "Heya Ren, it's good to see you back." He tries to appear casual while he drifts towards the cake, but is stopped by the new revelation from Ren and Robin. "Miki, it's your birthday?" he demands. "Why didn't you tell us? We could be having a party!"
Serendipity finally looks up, for the main point of looking Robin up and down. "Hate t' break it to you, but you do in fact make one hell of a cute guy," he replies, and settles back in his chair, waving a hand to Ruth, and half-smiling in response to Danny before he tells Miki gravely, "Coyote's children have many an' varied powers of deduction an' investigation. ...also, I c'n read icing-script fluently."
Ruth shakes her head slowly and snorts, then walks out into the diner, after Danny. She whickers, low and quiet, an equine hello, then glances over at Miklos. "Hey," she murmurs, a bit rustier along the edges of her voice than usual. "Happy birthday."
"I did tell you," protests Miki. "I think. I said it was May Eve when you asked, but that was a long time ago. I am sure I told Justin any way." He smiles at Robin and adds, "I am nineteen now. Thank you," he says to Ruth, looking more and more confused, and then gives Ren a most thoroughly confused look before wandering over to look at the cake. "It has my name on it," he says in a small voice.
"And roses," Robin says, hanging over his shoulder affectionately to look. "Who made it? Who has been withholding their mighty powers of frosting-fu from us? (I may be a cute guy, but I am not /cute,/)" he says over his shoulder, then returns to the more absorbing topic at hand. "It's beautiful writing. It'll be a pity to mess it up with candles."
Ruth drags a chair out from a table near the cake and folds herself onto it, pulls her long legs up and curls her arms about them, loosely. That done, she yawns again and glances at the cake.
"It must've been Justin," Danny says, letting Miki get away with it this time. He eyes the cake. "Well, we could put the candles around it, and not in it?" he suggests. "You know what they say, can't have it sitting here looking beautiful *and* eat it too." The look on his face clearly indicates which of these actions he's more interested in.
The bell at the door rings gently as Rex opens the door and peers in. Seeing all the people, he steps inside and lets the door close itself. He smiles a little cautiously at everyone, fiddling idly with the bronze cuffs that hold his voluminous sleeves in place.
Rex
He is a youth verging upon manhood, his muscular frame straining the confines of his clothing. A shining ebony mane trails in a long braided queue down the smooth line of his spine and a lock of it drops into one dark eye. His skin is as flawless as the bronze it resembles. Black leather trousers cling to the lines of his powerful thighs, while knee-high boots outline his calves. He wears a loose-fitting black silk shirt that appears to have a panel that should fasten across his chest, but it hangs open to the waist, bound in place by a wide burgundy silk sash. His sleeves are full and loose, but are fastened tightly at the wrists with wide bronze cuff-bracelets.
Serendipity arches a brow at Danny. "Justin's been holdin' out his mad pasty skills on us? I was assumin' Rowan or maybe--" he breaks off as the bell chimes again, and grins broadly as the bastet kin enters. "...Rex. Nice timin', han'some. Nice outfit, too." He admires him a moment or three, and forgets to argue the matter of cuteness with Robin.
Miki turns around to look at the door as the bell rings and stares at Rex for a minute, leaning into Robin's light grip on his shoulder. "Rex," he says after a moment. "You, um, have new clothes."
Ruth reaches up to drag her hands through her curly hair, looks over at Rex as the bell rings and the door opens. "Hey," she murmurs.
Robin glances over his shoulder briefly, then does a double-take. "You said you didn't look good in clothes," he says accusingly.
"No, I don't think this is a cake Justin made, I think he's the one Miki told about his birthday." Danny leans over and sniffs at the cake experimentally, but keeps a polite distance lest anyone think he's trying to sneak in a taste. He smiles a hello to Rex, then arches his eyebrows at the Oroszlan Kin's clothing.
Rex's hesitantly cheerful greeting expression takes a beating. He smiles and inclines his head to Ren, then looks a little puzzled at Miki -- even opens his mouth to respond, when Robin's comment apparently leaves him floored. "I... did?" he says, eyebrows rising. "I... well, obviously, I was wrong." He smoothes down the shirt and sash with one hand, casually drawing attention to the glimpse of muscular abdomen available as the shirt-flap draws back a little more. "Thanks," he says more pointedly to Ren, favoring the Coyote-kin with something just short of a dark come-hither look.
Serendipity returns the look in kind, arching one brow just a little, and grins. "Obviously," he agrees, heedless of the remark not being directed toward him, and obligingly allows his attention to be drawn. "...Nice seein' you again." He reaches into the sack beside his chair and begins to pull out a few items of various sizes, all wrapped loosely in unfastened paper.
Miki opens his eyes wide and stares at Rex, a hurt expression flitting ever so briefly over his face. Then he defiantly turns back to the counter and snuggles up against Robin for comfort, looking at his unexpected birthday gift. At least there is cake, however it got here. "Why do you talk about candles? We should just eat it," he tells Danny decidedly.
Robin looks nonplussed as Miki snuggles against him, but rises to the challenge with a brotherly arm around Miki's waist. "Of /course/ there must be candles," he says. He tries to position himself so that he's not murmuring into Miki's hair, but it's no use. "It's not a birthday cake without candles. One for each year of your life, plus one for the coming year, and--Didn't anyone ever teach you how to have a proper birthday?"
Ruth curls her arms about her legs and settles back into her chair, turns dark eyes towards the cake once more. There are dark crescents under her fingernails, her feet are dirty as well and she has the scent of horses and earth and pine needles about her. "The candles are a tradition," she agrees, amiably.
Danny nods in agreement with Robin and Ruth. "We light candles, sing off-key to embarrass you, then you make a wish and blow them out." He straightens up a little, giving Rex a puzzled look, and sniffs at him now instead of the cake. "Did you make the cake for Miki, Rex?" he asks absently.
Rex's smile freezes very slightly as he glimpses Miki's reaction from the corner of his eye. He shifts the angle of his body so that he's not so centered on Ren, and sweeps his glance from face to face. Danny's question brings his gaze to the Perunka's face, then to the cake, then to Miki, and back to Danny. "Ah. Is it his birthday? I've forgotten his present -- stupid of me, really. Be right back." And with an admirably sinuous grace, he sidles out the door.
Ruth gives one of her hands a look and makes a face, snorts. She levers herself off of her chair and stands, walks into the kitchen. A moment later there's the splash of water running, the creak of a pump.
Serendipity tilts his head toward the door, looking somewhat thoughtful, and holds out one of the objects toward Miki. It's something several inches on a side, and cubic. "Lotsa places like t' celebrate with fire. I think it's a shininess thing."
Miki turns around slowly; he's just in time to see Rex's graceful exit and the closing door. "Why is Rex talking so strange?" he asks, and it is not a rhetorical question. Then he looks at Ren blankly. "That is... for me?" he asks, nonplussed. He takes a step or two away from Robin, and takes the object. "Thank you," he says softly.
"Maybe he got the vocab update when he uploaded the sex-god package," Robin muses quietly, then subsides to watch Miki open his present. He stands with his back to the cake, but his back is paying full attention.
Danny gives Robin and Miki, although mostly Robin, a sideways glance. His gaze wanders to the front window as he peers for some sight of Rex. "I was about to ask the same thing." Eventually he stops staring out the window and his attention returns to the cake, but he's wary of it now. "Who *did* make the cake, then? Rowan?"
With a clatter and bang, the kitchen door flies open and Rex bounds into the kitchen, narrowly avoiding a collision with Ruth in his high spirits. He murmurs an apology and shoves through the kitchen door hurriedly, protecting the bundle under his arm, against his bare chest. Upon his arrival in the main room, however, he stops, looking dismayed. "Oh! Ah, uh, damn! Y'got here before I could get back!" He neatly steps around Danny and up to Miki, extending the package shyly. A few flower petals dribble out of the brown paper. "Happy birthday! I hope the chocolate's good enough -- I know you're used t'the overseas chocolate -- an' I hope y'like the cake. I didn't have enough for the cake, y'see, so it's yellow."
"It woulda had to've been after," Ren remarks absently, putting a few things back into the sack, and watching Miki out of the corner of his eye. The paper is not particularly exciting, but it cloacks a rough wooden box. Inside the box, there's a lot of tissue paper, most of which appears to be roundish little parcels. If unwrapped, each one holds a small, firm, yellow-orange apricot, first of the season. There are about twelve. He looks up, startled, as the door opens again, and Rex enters... Rexily. Well. That's interesting.
In the kitchen, the water stops as the door flies open, there's a startled snort and then the rap and clatter of hooves on aged tile. Then, a very loud clop as a mare looks out and into the diner, turns a dark eye towards Rex.
Miki freezes, looking from the parcel in his hands to Rex. "You changed clothes again," he says in a dazed sort of voice, as he sets the apricot box down and accepts the one that Rex hands him. "Yellow chocolate is fine. Thank you for the apricots, Ren. You remembered that I like them." His voice has taken on the slightly misty quality of one who's been hit on the head repeatedly.
Robin folds his arms sternly. "/Rex,/" he says, "what /are/ you up to?"
Rex
He is a youth verging upon manhood, his muscular frame gleaming bronze. A shining ebony mane trails in a loose ponytail down the smooth line of his spine and a lock of it drops into one dark eye. Leather leggings provide the base for ancient armor plates to protect his lower body: black plastic thigh and shinguards, and a black plastic and metal codpiece. His upper body is bare, except for the shining, golden-hilted sword slung over his shoulder.
Danny stumbles back in surprise, his eyes wide and his nostrils flaring. "Gaia's Tits," he grunts, looking back over his shoulder at the Diner front door, then at Rex, who has managed a lightning fast change of clothes. "Rex what's going on."
Rex grins at Miki, but looks taken aback by Robin, and then Danny. "Um. Gettin' flowers for his birthday present?" he says faintly. Then, "/Robin/. You're a /boy/. I thought... I thought ever'one was pullin' my leg." He stares, then blinks, then stares some more at Robin. At some point, he manages a quick, slightly helpless smile at Ren, but is mostly staring in fascination at the transformed Robin, who he has /not/ yet had the chance to see in this shape.
The mare snorts, loud and sharp and draws her head back into the kitchen. Hooves clatter on tile, something bumps against a cabinet and sets a pot to rattling. After a moment Ruth walks out, rubbing her head with a towel, carries the scent of soap with her.
Serendipity gets up from the table, and walks over to Rex, examining him closely -- first by sight, up and down, circling around him, and then with fingers, curiously. "...=feels= like you. You gotta evil twin you didn't tell us 'bout, by any chance?" he inquires.
Miki peers into the box that Rex gave him, smiles faintly, and sets it aside on the table along with the box of apricots. "Rex, you were just here in a shirt," he says. "Why did you take it off when you went to get the box of flowers?" He pauses for a moment, considering. "Your pants were different, too. It was a... nice outfit."
"Yes, I'm a man," Robin says, "but more importantly, I'm annoyed. Why did you change your clothes? Why were you talking strangely? Why did you just now notice that we were here before you? Why--for gods' sake, /why/, Rex, was your flirting screwed up? Were you you then? Are you you now? Do we have to go hunt up some scythes and pitchforks and find the you that is not you?"
"He smells different too," Danny tells Robin, infected by her string of questions and becoming on-edge. "I doubt he showered and soaked up a kitchen's worth of smells in thirty seconds, and he was all sandalwood before." He gives the door a cautious look. "If this is Rex, then who was that?" he murmurs.
Ruth stops in the midst of drying her hair, cants her head to look at Robin, sidelong.
Rex stares, confused, at Ren for poking him, then emits even more confusion at Miki's questions, and ends up backing away from Robin to end tripping over his own feet and landing on his butt in front of the door. After a moment, he shakes his head vigorously, his ponytail flopping from side to side, and says, "What th'blazing /fuck/ are y'all talkin' about??"
"This is the real one," Ruth says, amiably. She reaches out with a free hand to the oroszlan, plants her feet firm against the floor. "However," she adds. "That would mean the other isn't."
Well, poking, et cetera... "I dunno," Ren remarks to Robin, "seemed like he was flirtin' okay to =me=." He steps over and offers a hand up to Rex at just about the same time Ruth does, which ought to handle things well enough. "You, or a real good facsimile pretendin' t' be you, were just in here, see. In a hot outfit."
Miki looks at Rex and nods, firmly. "Rex, just before you came in here, another Rex did. He wore a shirt and did not say much. He said he had forgotten something and left right before you came in." He tilts his head to one side thoughtfully, then says, "I will be right back." He dashes to the door, whisks it open, and is outside in a breath.
"We'll save it for you when we find him," Robin says. "It was really quite fetching. Silk. He was also giving Ren a 'hello, sailor' look and nearly ignoring Miki. I'm willing to believe that you're you, though, so please excuse me-" He dances around the fallen Rex and zips after Miki into the street.
Danny frowns fraintly at this Rex, then follows Robin and Miki, ducking out the front door.
Rex reaches up and takes Ruth's proffered hand, then also takes Ren's, and allows himself to be hauled to his feet. He then brushes off his rear end and stares out the door after Miki, Robin, and Danny. "Evil twin, huh? Ain't that, y'know, Justin an' Danny an' Bryce's thing?"
Ruth leans back to lever Rex up and nods. She glances towards the road outside, then drapes the towel over the back of a chair. "I had thought of that." And with that she quirks a corner of her mouth up and steps outside.
Serendipity helps Rex up as well, and glances over his shoulder at Robin. "Look, just 'cause someone shows an interest in me doesn't =necessarily= mean they're an evil twin, a'ight?" he remarks dryly. "'s not like =this= Rex never gave me that look b'fore." Speaking of whom. He turns his attention to the other kin. "Wanna go see if your doppelgänger's hangin' out in the street or somethin'?"
"Um. No," Rex says. "Go ahead, but, um, I don't think I wanna see this guy."
Serendipity nods. "...a'ight. I would, but hey. Don't go anywhere, yeah?" He pauses, then grins and adds, "Nice seein' you again. Again." before slipping out the front door after the others.
[Out on Main Street]
Miki looks up and down the street, then looks at The Wrong Rex carefully, albeit from a distance. Then he does a strange thing-- he spits on the first two fingers of each of his hands and draws the moisture across his eyelids. When he opens his eyes he looks again in that direction and a surprised expression appears on his face; then he strides in a determined way up to The Strange Rex. "Who are you?" he asks, demanding but curious. "You are not our Rex, but you are not illusion."
Robin marches up to the Other Rex and takes the fabric of his sleeve between finger and thumb. "Excuse me," he says, then leans in and sniffs.
Danny is hot on Miki and Robin's heels, angling towards the (apparently) not-Rex. "Is this some trick by one of the unicorns?" he wonders aloud to no-one in particular.
Ruth shakes her head twice, casts a few drops of water free of her sodden curls. She looks at the doppelgänger, more bemused than concerned, then at Miklos and Robin.
Rex opens his mouth to reply to questions and demands. At that moment, a figure strides around the corner from the dock, backed by the blaze of the sunset in the western sky: iron gray hair, pulled back severely from her tanned face; black, form-fitting bodysuit enclosing her from throat to boots; black gloves covering her hands; and long, black trenchcoat flapping in the breeze of her speed. Trailing and slightly flanking her are two young men, one dressed in a clinging black net shirt and leather pants with vents slit along both thighs, a pair of interesting goggles pulled down over his face; the other dressed in a remarkable and carefully patched coat, fingerless leather gloves, a dark blue silk shirt of similar cut to Rex's -- but fastened -- and a large-brimmed, Oscar-Wilde-type hat pulled low.
"Rex," Kem says, one corner of her mouth pulling up into a bit of a smile, "thank you for checking ahead." Her smile tugs up the rest of the way as she looks around at everyone who has pursued Rex. "My apologies for startling y'all. We've just found that investigation by one of the team is often the best move."
Serendipity blinks, taking in this whole scene, previously unmet young men decidedly included. "...Afternoon," he greets this new group, and, for once, stays otherwise quiet for the moment.
Miki gapes. After a good long stare at Kem, Kem's outfit, Kem's escort, and Kem's Rex, he remembers to shut his mouth. He swallows and manages to say, "Um, hello? Ah... if you are not the Kem and Rex and..." He gives the other two young men a brief, desperate glance-- "Bryce and Gerard that we know, then... how did you get here? Did you fall though a, a hole?" Suddenly remembering his manners, he stands up and bows a little. "Um. I am Majlath de Holtsapadtbolyh Miklos, but you probably know that..."
Robin turns his head away from Other Rex's sleeve just in time to sneeze. "Sandalwood," he moans. "My nose is filled with sandalwood. Rex, why did you have to bathe in--" His head jerks up at the new arrival. His face lights up, the joy filling his being again. "Kem!" he cries, Other Rex released and forgotten. "You're back! You're--" The light goes out. "You're not back, are you?" He slumps. "Does this mean I'm still out of a job?" Sigh. "Hello, New Kem. Hello, New Kem's--" A startled glance at Miki. "--Bryce and Gerard."
Ruth draws a breath in, scuffs a foot along a weatherworn paving stone a she sets herself in place, steady as if she's grown in that spot. She looks towards the severe, yet darkly tanned woman, squints at the sunset framing her, then looks over at Danny. There are more of them.
Danny stares blankly at Kem and the two accompanying her, then he double-takes when he realizes one of them is (well, looks like) Bryce. "What in the--who *are* you people?"
The two young men slightly behind and to either side of Kem glance at each other. The one pulls off his hat and executes a deep and graceful bow, giving the move a little flourish with his free hand. The other stays where he is, as he is, turning his head slowly to scan the group. Rex, released from Robin's inspection, steps away from the pole and falls into what is apparently his accustomed position behind Kem. Kem, for her part, continues to smile, spreading her hands in the nigh-universal open-handed gesture of peaceable intent. "We're wanderers, I'm afraid," she says. "Fell down a hole is about the right of it; outfitted the Turtletop with a new gizmo and off we went to parts unknown. We keep checking into new worlds, poking about, turning a little trade for supplies and repairs, and going onward. Can't go home, so we keep going elsewhere, y'see."
"So..." Ren starts, looking from one to another of the men he recognizes, behind the wman he doesn't but takes it the others do, "...you met a lot of yourselves so far?"
"That sounds interesting," Miki tells Kem in a colorless voice, moving to a spot behind Robin's shoulder. He gives Kem a curious look-- obviously wanting to ask a number of questions-- but restrains himself in the name of good manners. Perhaps he thinks that Robin will make a better impression as a spokesperson. In any case, he effaces himself, although he does so while standing a little too close to Robin to vanish completely; he looks as though he wants to lean on his friend.
Ruth loops her arms about her middle and settles back on her heels. She whickers, low and quiet. Already made peace with the idea of meeting myself. Has to happen, eventually. She takes a breath, then looks at the doppleganger Kem again. "I was going to ask the same thing."
Robin has been staring in astonishment at Gerard ever since Gerard took his hat off. Now, designated as spokesperson, he tears his attention from Gerard and says, "And what are you looking for?"
Slowly, as if he's not sure he can really believe he's saying it, Danny asks, "You're from an...alternate world?" Tense would be a mild word for how he looks; one of his hands is gripped so his knuckles are going white.
Ruth lets her arms slip free and glances at Danny. She doesn't cant an ear, but there's something about the way she turns her head that says it regardless of shape. A foot scuffs on the rough ground, she steps over to stand near the other Perunka. Let your hands go, take a breath.
The mage tucks one hand behind her back in a slightly pedantic pose, gesturing vigorously with her other hand as she speaks. "Yes, yes, exactly, from an alternate world. We /have/ actually met quite a few of ourselves over time, though, of course, not all in the same mix as we're accustomed to and not at /all/ the same personalities -- although of course there are certain similarities that carry over from world to world, essential pieces of that person that make it easy to identify them..." Kem seems to catch herself up, looks briefly uncomfortable, then makes an apologetic noise. "I do blather on. To answer you, friend Majlath, we don't actually know /you/; you're entirely and interestingly new to us. And we're... well, we're looking for a world where we /don't/ find ourselves on K'taadn, so we can settle in there. That's about it." She shrugs. "Not here, obviously."
Serendipity grins, looking them over again. "Interestin'. So is this alla you? Can you guys figure out who alla us are without us tellin' you, or have you only run into somea us so far? And d'you wanna some in an' have a cup of tea or somethin'?" He does not seem as bothered by this whole alternate world thing as some people here do.
"Why do you want to get away from the Mountain?" Miki asks in spite of himself, then bites his lip and bumps Robin's shoulder lightly with his own, half-apologetic.
"And have you found a world where I'm the Grand Vizier and Justin is the Mage-King?" Robin says. He reaches back to wind his arm around Miki again. "How do you get between worlds? Can other yous do it, too?"
Danny shudders and takes a step back. This was not, apparently, the answer he wanted to hear, for varying reasons. Ruth's words do get through to him, and he lets out a breath and slowly opens his hands, which now have red dents all along the palms. He flinches away at Robin's questions, and swallows.
"This is assuredly not all of us," Kem says with a small laugh and a glance back at Gerard, who smiles and shrugs. "We had to leave the Mountain rather quickly when, er, someone went a bit power-mad and we had little or no choice. I took as many folks as I could on the Turtletop, and, after trying to put distance between us and him, we had to just leave." She looks unhappy just telling the story. "We have not, to my knowledge, met a Justin who is a Mage-King." Her shoulders shudder, very slightly. "I'm glad of it, too. And we have a set of devices placed strategically around the Turtletop that warps space around us. Then, while timespace is stretched to the limit, there's a device that pushes it just a little further, essentially tearing things open and letting us through."
Ruth burrs a breath out, warm and companionable and another step finds her standing alongside Danny. She does talk as much as our wind-rider.
Serendipity heads back to the diner door, holding it open and making an inviting gesture. "'less y'all are planning to leave right away, we do have chairs inside. Also drinks an' food. More comfortable t' talk. Yeah?" He looks at all the assembled promptingly, and catches alt-Rex's eyes to grin at him.
Miki puts an arm around Robin's waist and lets out a long breath. He doesn't say anything, but continues to watch the newcomers with a shy and curious intensity, letting other people ask the questions now.
Robin nods at Kem's explanation. "Gerard," he says, all business, "do you have a flask of liquor on you? And would you be willing to give me some?"
"Power mad?" Danny asks faintly. He edges closer to Ruth, and looks like he's going to throw up, or at least wants to. "Who went power mad? Do the places you go through--are there openings left? For anyone else to go through?"
Gerard, ever the gentleman, even in alternate universes, it seems, produces a silver flask, steps forward, and offers it to Robin with a soft, "For you, m'sieur."
Kem inclines her head to Ren. "Thank you, Serendipity, I do appreciate the hospitality, but we've just come from a universe where... things did not go very well, and a number of my crew are injured. We should be getting back to the ship for a while, at least, to see to them and any damage to the ship, engines, et cetera. But, of course, we'd like to take you up on the offer as soon as we can." She turns her attention to Danny, quite seriously. "We don't leave openings behind us -- that would be foolish, and I've been called many things in my day, but never a fool. Things get sealed up behind us. As for who went power mad... well, one of our friends, y'see. Sad thing. He took over things when the local node guardian passed on, and the magic went to his head." She looks down at her hand, seems to notice it shaking, and balls it into a fist. "It was... shocking, and horrible, and I'd rather not talk about it, really."
Kalisto skulks, moving with the stealth of a teenager who knows he's exactly where he's not supposed to be. There's a crowd of people, a group in black. Leather is involved. Moth to a flame, baby. Kal gravitates toward the people, some of whom are familiar. The skulking becomes a casual stroll, his long synth-leather coat flapping a bit behind him as his gait takes on a light 'I meant to be here all along' stride.
Ruth nickers, low and quiet, tucks her hands in her baggy pockets and bumps Danny with a hip. "Hey," she says, quiet.
Miki glances aside, notes that Kal is approaching, and greets him with a 'someone has applied the two-by-four too many times to the back of my head' look. He is listening to Kem's tale, and for some reason the story seems to have made him go nearly tharn. He leans a little more of his weight on Robin.
Robin is a Man on a Mission, not to be impeded by any mere slip of a birthday boy. He extracts himself from Miki and steps forward to accept the flask from Gerard. Without even the barest nod for politeness, he uncaps the flask and takes a long, long drink. When he takes his lips from the flask, he doesn't swallow for several moments, contemplating the lowering blue of the twilit sky overhead. Finally, he swallows regretfully and screws the cap back on the flask. He returns it to Gerard with a deep bow and more than enough Versailles courtliness to make up for his earlier curtness. "Excellent vintage. My thanks, Monsieur Delacroix. If you should find yourself in the neighborhood of Roaring Brook, call on me." Robin steps back into the group of native Havenites and twines his arm around Miki again, smelling faintly of very good wine.
Serendipity inclines his head at Kem, and lets the door fall closed again. "Fair 'nough," he agrees cheerfully enough, looking somewhat interested by the reactions of the others, and then distracted by the appearance of Kalisto. This is just the night of suddenly appearing hot people with great outfits, apparently. "...Evening," he greets him, with a certain level of interest.
Danny can't stop himself from asking Kem, "But it wasn't Justin?" in low, intent voice. He darts a glance at Kal as the young man approaches, then is staring hard at Kem again, only to start when Ruth bumps into him. His hands, which had managed to clench into fists again, open once more.
Both Rex and Bryce notice Kalisto's approach, and they react similarly by falling into wary stances. Gerard repockets his flask and gives Robin a small bow before returning to his position. Kem opens her mouth but is arrested by a glimpse of the reaction of the Bastet to her left, and swings her gaze toward Kal. She goes very still at the sight of him, and she seems to look straight into him. After a long moment of looking past his outlandish appearance, she turns back to Danny. "Of course it was Justin," she says, simply, bleakly. "Why else would it have been so hard to take?" She flashes some sign with her left hand, and the boys start back toward the dock. "I look forward to speaking more with you all later, after things are in more of a semblance of order back on the ship." With a quick, shallow bow, she turns on her heel and follows her assistants, stride determined, head held high.
At Kem's confirmation, Miki gives a sort of half-gasp, as though the wind has just been knocked out of him. He stands perfectly still and watches her walk away, his face as expressionless as the sky overhead.
Ruth folds her arms, her eyes set on Danny. She lowers her chin, cants her head. There's something in the gesture that makes her starkly equine, the way it lengthens her face, the way she holds herself. The horse in her is easy to see beneath her human skin, she could change in the space of a breath.
Kalisto sidles up nearish to Danny, but not quite at his side. He flashes a smile Miki's way and gives him a wave that is little more than a wiggle of his fingertips. The smile fades though as he spies the flask. He tracks it carefully as it makes its way to Robin's lips and is then handed back. With a wistful sigh, he flips back his hair with a toss of his head and gives Ren a once-over before replying, "S'up." He starts to say something to Danny, but pauses as he spies Bryce with people he doesn't seem to recognize. "What?" is his response to their regard, and a slightly paranoid sidling away. "What about Justin?" Suddenly, his casual air because quite a bit more interested and alert.
Robin waves after the departing crew. "Don't tell Justin," he says in an undertone. "No one tell Justin. He'll go straight into Quiet."
Serendipity reaches into his coat and pulls out a slightly tarnished flask, which he absently passes over to Kallisto. "Nice shirt," he remarks as he does so, arching a brow and grinning briefly, then looking to Robin and Miki consideringly. "I got a feeling," he remarks, "I'm missin' some major piece of Haven lore, here."
"Justin should know," Miki replies, as calmly as though he were discussing something which happened in a song. "He has a right to know." He turns his head a little, not quite looking at Robin's face, instead examining the other man's hair, the curve of his shoulder, perhaps. "I... do not want to tell him, but he will know, and it is better... from us, right?"
Danny makes a small, strangled noise and staggers away from Kal and Ruth, trying to put as much room as possible between himself and anyone else. It's clear why soon enough, as he abruptly and awkwardly shifts into his equus form and squeals angrily, his back arching in a buck that's a savage denial of Kem's statement. He wheels around and bolts down the road at an impossible, breakneck speed, his hoofbeats oddly muffled as he goes.
"Justin should know," Miki replies, as calmly as though he were discussing something which happened in a song. "He has a right to--" Danny's reaction cuts him off, and he stops, watching Danny while the color drains from his face, leaving him looking like a daylight ghost. After Danny's hasty departure, he manages, "Well, I think that Justin will know, whether we will or no. He is too upset to keep this to himself. Poor Danny."
Robin watches Danny's flight with a long-suffering look in his eyes. "One down," he says. "Next Justin goes into Quiet and Bryce goes silent and angry. Hello, Kal. Do you know how to make diazepam? I need to stew up a big batch for the Frat House's water supply." He leans his head against Miki's, tired and angry. "Why do we have to have the nicest of them? We're going to spend our lives shoring up their psyches against the flood of ill news arriving from other dimensions."
Kalisto gravitates toward Ren, replying, "Nice flask." Which he reaches for. He pauses, watching Danny shift and bolt with a somewhat perturbed expression. Then, without so much as a curious sniff at the flask's contents, he uncaps it and takes a slug. Then another. Then he says, "Hey, chickdude. I could probably find out."
"I should go, too," says Miki, looking up the road towards Katahdin. "If Justin is home... I should go there. Perhaps I can help."
The contents seem to be a rather strong but palatable whiskey. Kal lucks out. "Last one had greek myths engraved on it," Ren remarks, "much classier lookin'." He seems distinctly distracted by Danny's sudden departure. "You guys gonna be a'ight?" he directs toward Robin and Miki, but probably means the Perunka as well.
"Could you?" Robin says to Kal. "That would be a great help. Thank you, Ren, I'll be fine. I don't know about Danny, but you see, none of us can catch him." He squeezes Miki's shoulders. "It's all right," he says softly. "Justin will come through. He already has a callus on his soul from the last shock. I'll help, if you want it." He glances at Ren. "May I?" he says, pointing at the flask.
Kalisto pauses upon another sip, eyeing Ren sideways. "You're the perve dude?" he asks. This doesn't, however, keep him from taking another nip off the flask before offering it back. Toward Robin, he says, "Sure, or, you know, other stuff." With a sigh, he glances off the direction Danny bolted. "So. Something's wrong. It involves something that is going to make Justin really upset, and the best thing I could do is stay the hell out of it. Right?"
Miki nods, tiredly, then glances over at Robin and offers him a slight and grateful smile, just a little movement at one corner of his mouth. "I think I should go, though. I do not know when Danny will want to go back to the house." He nods to everyone and starts up the street towards Katahdin Road, his shoulders squared determinedly under the borrowed clothes.
Serendipity passes the flask on over to Robin without hesitation, and produces another one from out of his coat, opening it and sniffing at the contents warily. Apparently it passes muster. "...I dunno, d'you want me to be?" he replies easily enough to Kal, "Define 'perve dude'."
Ruth reaches up to rub the back of her neck, quiet as Danny thrashes away from her, as he changes, as muffled hooves strike stone. Her mouth is set in a firm and even line now, there's a sharp edge to the way she snorts, the way she shakes her head. "He's going to break his heart, running like that. I'll look for him." With that she turns and her human shape falls from her, four hooves ring against the road as she tears off after the other horse.
Robin drinks deeply from the flask, then holds his breath for several seconds. He coughs a tiny cough into his sleeve. "...Thank you," he says hoarsely. "I don't approve of drunkenness, but hypocrisy under stress is another matter entirely." He takes another drink, then passes the flask back to Kal. "Justin, Bryce, and Danny fell into a dimension where Justin was an evil, all-powerful mage-king with plans to conquer the universe, and Danny and Bryce were his equally charming companions. All three--our three--came back... changed." He looks between Kal and Ren somberly. "Justin went into Quiet briefly. Danny and Bryce need protecting, but Justin needs it the most. Will you please say nothing about it until Miki and I have had a chance to talk to him?"
Kalisto takes the flask for another gulp. It renders his voice hoarse, and he coughs a little, but the kid slams hard liquor like a pro. He gives Ren a quirky half-smile, but what Robin says definitely catches his attention away from potential smart-assery. "Yeah, I won't say anything." He holds the flask toward Ren, honoring the time-honored tradition of 'pass to the left.' "I mean, he's supposed to come over for my lessons so it's not like I'm going over to his place anyway."
Serendipity takes the flask from Kal, and offers the other one toward Robin. "Gotcha, won't say a thing to 'em. Thanks for explainin' it. ...So, what's Quiet?" Sip. Hey, it's in his hand...
"When mages go mad," Robin says. "I don't know anything more than that." He takes a sip from the second flask, then a longer drink. The alcohol is starting to hit him, dusting his cheeks with pink. "Excellent brandy," he says as he passes the flask to Kal. "I think the paint on the post office's facade is peeling. I'm going to catch up with Miki and Ruth now. Calming Danny down should be a cinch. I'll just say, 'Danny, /cake/.' Thank you for the drink, Ren, I owe you. Oh--" He waves his hand to indicate Ren and Kal. "Ren, meet Kal, a city brat. Kal, meet Serendipity, a pervert." He waves as he walks away. "Don't cut into the cake without Miki!"
Kalisto takes the flask, frowning faintly before availing himself of a drink from it. Smaller sips, this time. He must be pacing himself. "Yeah hi," he tells Ren with a sardonic lack of enthusiasm. "Cute name." As Robin starts to go, he hears mention of a cake, and he asks, "Wait, is it his birthday or something?"
Serendipity sticks his tongue out at Robin, so dignified. "At least you oughta sleep with me =before= slanderin' my good name like that," he retorts, and grins, keeping the other flask out but not actually drinking it just now. "Luck with 'em..." He turns back toward the diner, then, and invites Kal in with him with a tilt of the head. "Hi," he replies, "an' thanks, it's the only one I got. Well, it's the only one I'm willin' t' use t' refer t' myself with in polite company, anyway. And apparently, yeah. It's Miki's birthday."
Kalisto eyes the diner, and he wrinkles his nose in distaste. Another swig is taken from the flask he holds, and he offers it back. "I guess he wanted to spend it with his friends," he muses, just a touch bitterly. Then, "Nah, maybe another time, dude. I just told the Warden I was going for a walk. She'll start wondering if I don't head back."
Serendipity accepts it, and closes them both, the pair disappearing into his coat again without so much as a bump in the leather to show for it. He shrugs a little, too. "I didn't know 'bout it either," he remarks, "...'spect he only showed up lookin' for Rowan, just ran into people here. Rex made him a cake. Almost makes a guy want a birthday of his own." He notes the look Kal gives the diner, and grins. "Yeah, welcome to bustlin' downtown Haven, I know," he remarks dryly, "but hey, alternate universe visitors an' little insane chick mages an' all sorts of exciting things. Plus, the apparent pollution of the water table with barrels of industrial grade Hot." He glances sidelong at Kal and adds, "...see you've been drinkin' from the tap." Quick grin, and he stretches, idly. "Catch you 'round, then, 'f you get time off for good behaviour."
Kalisto snorts, giving Ren a look that's more dourly amused than actually disapproving. "Yeah, I tried to have bottled 'Average' sent in from the city, but you know." He shrugs, then adds cheerfully, "This place really sucks, but since you gave me alcohol, you're on the 'tentative does not suck' list. Congratulations." He glances toward where the strangers were earlier. "So was that an alternate Bryce, or is he really gone and maybe I can have his computer?"
Serendipity grins at the 'bottled Average' comment, then mgives Kal an earnestly oh-so-innocent look. "Oh, no, I def'nitely suck," he assures him with mock-regret, "...but hey, thanks an' no problem. Always happy t' contribute t' the delinquency of whoever. And that was an alternate Bryce. Pretty sure the local one's never gonna be steppin' out in mesh." He considers the memory of alt-Bryce a moment. "Unfortunately."
Kalisto laughs and gives Ren a playful nudge on the arm. "Yeah, you're perve-dude, alright." He says it almost as a compliment. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing some of that. Maybe next time they'll come take me to their alternate dimension of people with good taste in clothes." He wiggles fingertips at Ren as he starts to head out. "Later, dude. I've got to go see an old woman about a cat."
Serendipity grins, and wriggles fingertips back. "Maybe we can get 'em to at least leave some behind. Later," he replies, and then slips his hands into his pockets, heading back into the Diner as previously planned.