I'm fairly local; I've been around (OPEN)

[viduation]

A. DAY:

[ creature of the night he may be, Derek's life is far from nocturnal. admittedly, this is partially because he sleeps less than he probably ought to, especially these days. however, it's also because even in London, there are places that aren't 24/7. yet. a bank. a decent mechanic. somewhere that sells smores flavoured pop tarts. combined with his own restlessness, and a sense that he still doesn't quite belong, Derek is unable to hang around at the den all day.

when he's out, he's watchful. even on the streets of the city centre, Derek has come to learn that he can't afford to overlook anything. perhaps it's an inhuman kind of scent that has his gaze catching, lingering, or perhaps a face he recognizes from the Redbright ball has him staring in heavy, curious scrutiny. maybe he simply has to squeeze past the same PETA collector on the street, muttering something about no goddamn escape. ]

B. NIGHT:

[ after the sun sets, Derek retreats to his own territory. generally speaking, he's not looking for a fight, and lurking around other areas of London at night is sometimes as much a provocation as is necessary. he keeps to the east end, hemming along every county line like a sentry, watching - waiting, maybe - for any suggestion that things are not as they should be on his turf. his. he'd never considered it in those terms when he'd been following Laura's lead, when there had been another alpha running things. aside from an inherent wolfish sense of territory, he'd felt little investment. now, his position has changed, but the disconnect here lingers. in the wake of his own hasty decision making, he still feels like he's standing in. that only makes him all the more tense.

and all the more eager to work. he covers a surprising amount of distance on foot, keeps his ear to the ground to keep track of what's going on. maybe it's quiet. maybe it's not. but he stays out late.

if, on his unofficial patrol, he comes across something or someone that seems like they shouldn't be here - well, Derek follows. ]

C. CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE!

( catch all! feel free to tag in with your own starter - just give me a heads up if you're looking for anything in particular - or let me know if you'd like a specific heading! 8] )

Comments

[detectiveofthewest]

Shit, dude. That was a pretty impressive jump. Heiji turned around, careful not to knock down someone's potted petunias.

"Oh. I was wonderin' when one of you guys would show up. I was just havin' a sniff around the flowers. No law against that, is there?"

Though he didn't make the extra effort to speak in the spooky fox voice this time, Heiji's voice in this form was noticeably different from his human one -- a bit deeper, in fact. But his diction was the same.

[viduation]

That is, Derek reflects, definitely not the manner of speech that one would expect to come from a creature so ethereal. In fact, Derek is left gawking at the fox for a little longer, and that's before the words themselves sink in. His eyes narrow, at best dubious.

"Don't you have a whole other realm to sniff flowers in?"

Derek didn't put that in air quotes, but his tone suggests as much.

[detectiveofthewest]

"In other words, 'your kind ain't welcome here'?" His tone was a bit ironic and he could talk however he wanted. Heiji settled on his haunches as he regarded Derek, clearly not planning on going anywhere.

[viduation]

Slowly, Derek exhales. Asked in such a straightforward manner, he's forced to think about it while the fox makes a point of getting comfortable. Fae.

"I didn't say that," he replies eventually, and he hadn't meant it either, even if he keeps that to himself. It'd be a stupid kind of lie to claim he wasn't cautious, though, if not suspicious. "Just not used to seeing 'your kind' around here."

[detectiveofthewest]

"I keep hearing that," said Heiji. He rubbed his cheek up against the drooping head of a Gerbera as he spoke, closing one blue-green eye as he did so. Even if Derek looked human, he felt wolfish.

"Seems like barely anyone's talked to one. But that makes sense. I guess in this town, they mostly just stick to Faery." Of course... that was probably why they had such a mysterious (possibly overblown?) reputation.

He flicked the tip of one tail. "I'm not here to cause trouble."

[viduation]

"You're surprised?" Much of this encounter is not what Derek would have expected. His dealings with fae have been few, and a part of him still relies on fairytale ideology, where the fae are only showing up if they want something. It's hard to doubt the fox's manner, but Derek puts up a valiant effort.

Reassurances, or not. His lips twitch. It doesn't last long enough to be considered a smile.

"I've got a feeling you'd say that either way."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Hmm... kinda. Where I'm from, we live a lot closer to this world." It was the 'Land of Eight Million Gods', after all.

"But we also don't have a lot of wolves. Either kind; the last Honshuu wolf died at the start of the 20th century."

[viduation]

"Neither does London," Derek points out, but he's thinking over what he's been told. Though still on edge, the fox's manner has left him slightly more at ease. His hands unclench, expression turning just a little less dour.

Instead of a warning, he finds himself asking, "why'd you come here?"

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji laughed a little. "So you mean An American Werewolf in London was all a lie?"

He sat back, seemingly thinking over Derek's question. He wasn't completely sure why he'd been sent here, honestly. "I've lived in one place most of my life," he said finally. "A lot of things have changed, even during my lifetime. I think they're going to keep changing... but I ain't so sure everyone understands that. It's easier to stick in one place and ignore what's goin' on everywhere else. But you can't hide away and still consider yourself a part of the world."

[viduation]

His smile is thin, but relatively genuine, as he huffs in amusement. So far, the fox - would kitsune be more accurate? Honshuu sounds Japanese, at least - does seem non-threatening, though Derek is still having trouble believing that he only wants to sniff flowers. He's surprised to find that his own interest, when the fox speaks, is not derived purely from suspicion.

"So what does that make you? A tourist?"

[detectiveofthewest]

"That's what I was thinking when I came here. Visit a couple tourist attractions, maybe see if I could climb Big Ben without anyone noticing. But... I dunno, I might stick around for a bit. Try and be respectable."

He settled a bit on his front paws. "What about you? You don't sound like a Londonite." Well, to be fair, Heiji didn't, either -- he spoke with an American accent.

[viduation]

Derek's torn. The fae sounds innocuous enough, but Derek feels he's probably purposefully trying to throw him off. All the same, there seems little enough harm in answering the question - Derek's hardly been secretive about his new position.

"No, but I'm not here to sightsee."

[detectiveofthewest]

"Hmm. So you're here for the forseeable future. In that case, maybe I can ask you: what's it like here, from your perspective? Do you think it's true what they said at the Redbright ball? That the Institute's aim is safety and inclusion?"

Heiji, of course, already knew what he thought. But he was interested in Derek's opinion.

[viduation]

Derek resumes frowning. The frankness of the question is unexpected, but then, so far the fox has been little if not straightforward - or putting up a damn good show of it. His hesitation before answering is brief; in regards to Redbright, at least, he sees himself as having little to hide.

“That’s their aim,” he says flatly, confident in that much. “But their idea of inclusion is pretty limited, so their safety is too.”

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji turned this over for a bit. "I can believe that," he said, nodding.

"But the world's full of people who think they're the good guys. And I think this is one of those cases where you can learn more from someone's actions than their words."

[viduation]

After a moment of mulling it over, Derek nods. On this much, they agree - but still, it doesn't quite make sense to him.

"Is that really important to you?"

[detectiveofthewest]

"Your opinion? Or Redbright's sincerity?" Please use nouns, Derek... Heiji was going to take a stab at answering the question anyway, though.

"For a very long time in my country, not much changed. We had some contact with the outside world, but mostly we rejected it. Then the Black Ships came. They forced our doors open with the barrel of a gun. And suddenly, everything changed." His tails waved slowly back and forth as he spoke.

"...But it's easier for me to get caught up in the present. I'm not as old as some of the others."

[viduation]

No Heiji, you're just meant to know what he's on about. Derek nods again, but it isn't a great means of answering when it doesn't actually specify anything. Still, although Derek had meant the latter, when asked he realizes it's more like both. The answer is somewhat disquieting - the brief account does not make Derek think of his own experience, but it evokes a similar kind of response, a tightening in his chest and tensing in his shoulders.

"That affected your world too?" Japan, he's sure, is what the fox is talking about, but it's still a surprise that such a cultural shift would matter to the fae. Reflecting on it, however, he supposes it really isn't surprising at all. "Why'd you come here?"

[detectiveofthewest]

Their worlds were, after all, connected. It was not such a stretch to imagine one would be affected by the other, no matter how much the denizens of either world might want to ignore it.

The tip of one of Heiji's tails twitched in amusement. "My old man told me to get lost."

Then, because he'd had a little time now to consider it further: "He probably had some purpose in sending me here, though."

[viduation]

Derek spares a moment to privately lament how weird things are here. Somehow, in his estimation of fairies, family politics hadn't filtered in to his expectations. Unsure of how to proceed, Derek's mouth clamps shut as he eyes the fox. The conversation almost smacks of an attempt to lull him into a false sense of security.

"Like what? Scoping out the competition?"

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji tried to stifle a snort of laughter and was mostly successful. "London fae, movin' in on Osaka? Where would they get their fish and chips? Besides, folks here don't know how to haggle. They'd be bankrupt in a week."

"Anyhow, it's not like him to give me reasons. Mostly he just does things and then I gotta guess." Not that Heiji really cared. Whatever whatever, he did what he wanted.

"But if I had to guess, it's probably to watch."

[viduation]

It almost feels like prying, like he's being privy to more information than he needs, and therefore wants. Derek holds enough guilt, however, that the prospect of offending some fae stranger is easily set aside.

Thinking of Peter is harder to ignore, but Derek's had to get pretty decent at deflecting - at least in this much. He gestures vaguely at the garden.

"And this is what he wants to see?"

[detectiveofthewest]

Heiji almost seemed to be smiling at Derek, though of course foxes didn't really smile the way humans did. "Never said I was great at following orders."

In fact, Heiji had already done a great deal beyond simply 'watching'. Though along that same line of thought, one might also consider the possibility that Heiji's father would have taken his son's personality into account when sending him off to another country.

"But why all the questions? My story's not all that unique, is it?"

[viduation]

Derek's mouth twitches, but the amusement doesn't go far. He ends up shrugging, resuming his wary study of the fox.

"Not exactly used to hearing a lot of them," he replies, and he's never really felt remiss about it until now. His knowledge of fae is mostly second-hand, and it had always seemed like enough. Speaking to the fox, he's not so sure. Still, he draws himself up, frowning. It's less like his usual surliness, however, and more like an attempt to look stern. "I think questions are the least you should expect, when you're out here."

[detectiveofthewest]

"You think someone's gonna take a swipe at me?" Now the smile was audible as well -- if that was even possible.

"I can take care of myself. But thanks for the concern." This entire encounter seemed to be Derek fighting with himself, though why he should feel so conflicted about a conversation was a bit of a mystery. Hmm. "So are you pretty typical for a werewolf?"