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The June Detective [Open]

A: Everyone's a critic

The only negative thing about his promotion was that Heiji really only had a select few people he could even tell about it -- mention you weren't really a human in casual conversation, see how long till you ended up under psychiatric evaluation. Still, Heiji could hardly conceal his good mood. Thus he had rewarded himself with the latest moderately detective-themed airplane novel by a decent writer that he could find, and was rapidly making his way through it on the train, in the park, wherever.

"I dunno. I can understand likin' a writer a lot. I don't see why anyone would commit murder because of it, though. Ain't that goin' a little too far?"

B: I've just had a little fae experience

Provided they slipped through just the right set of trees, someone might just find the rest of London fade away -- the noise of traffic, the noise of the crowd. Dense forest would press in from all sides, but a stone walkway would lead up below a long row of brightly-painted red wooden gates of some ceremonial significance.

At the top of the stone steps: a small shrine, with two guardian fox statues on either side. How curious...

C Other! Open to suggestions and such; Heiji will also just be outright barging into the personal space of whoever he's friendly with and starting up conversations during the month, so that's a thing, too.

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Fox tails are so bushy and fluffy. Unthinking, he begins to weave the flower stems into the thick strands of fur. As he does so, he’s struck by a sudden and inane regret for the squirrel he ran over a few months ago in his jeep. RIP little critter. You’re in a better place now. Maybe.

“Yeah, man!” But then he pauses, reconsidering. His enthusiasm had felt derived, somehow. “Actually…I used to be? I still am! It’s just…y’know, after watching your best bud transform into a bloodthirsty wolf, aliens kinda lose their charm. They’re still so cool, don’t get me wrong!”

Yes, like a giant squirrel farm in the sky. Full of white oaks and acorns, and definitely no barking dogs.

"I think I know whatcha mean. I mostly like readin' about it in case it might come in useful someday. Of course, it kinda loses a bit of mystery if you run into supernatural things all the time..."

Or if you are supernatural. Stiles, what are you doing to his tail... "Werewolves have that problem, huh? I never thought too much about it, 'cause there were never a bunch of them around. But they do have that specialty jewelry, yeah? Helps them control it."

Once the human is through with him, Heiji is undoubtedly going to be the prettiest fox in both the Other Realm and real world combined. The braids are clumsily done, since the fur is rather short and Stiles can only vaguely remember how to do this—the last time he braided anything, it was Heather’s hair when they were children. But it keeps his hands busy while they chat.

Nodding in agreement to the first observation, Stiles tilts his head in interest to the following detail. Jewelry?

“I’ve been told there’s a potion to help with the shifts.” At least, that’s what Derek informed him at the party. “The jewelry thing is news to me, though. Sounds kind of tacky…werewolf bling.”

I mean that was like saying Heiji wasn't already the prettiest fox, though. He did his best to stay still while Stiles braided, though the temptation to shake himself like a dog was fairly strong.

"Yeah, It's called Moonlight Jewelry. 'Course, I only know about it through rumor. But supposedly it lets a werewolf access their powers whenever they want." He curled a couple of his tails thoughtfully. "I wonder if I could help with that..."

Good point. Heiji is definitely already the prettiest fox.

"Moonlight Jewelry." Snorting, he rolls his eyes skyward. "Wow, creative much? What bozo named that? Next you'll tell me there's Daylight Jewelry for vamps."

But because that's silly, he doesn't even wait for an answer before moving along.

"How could you help?"

Hahaha, yeah, about that...

Heiji settled back on his haunches, crossing one front paw over the other. "I'm pretty good at illusion magic -- most foxes are. Actually, some of us are so good at it, you can hardly tell from the real thing. And things like trees or the moon, they're some of the first subjects we practice! So I wonder..."

Gaze narrowing, Stiles squints at Heiji before turning in a wide circle. Illusions…right, he does remember seeing something like that in his online research. But that begs the question…

“Are you doing anything illusiony now? Is the way you look on the other side fake?”

Probably not the most sensitive wording, but it’s Stiles; when he’s fascinated, he hardly thinks about what he’s saying.

"Fake? You hopin' I'm a hot chick or somethin'?" Heiji had to think the question over for a moment, because people rarely asked him how shapeshifting worked and he did it instinctively.

"When I change shape, I turn into whatever it is."

Was that. Helpful?

A pause, Stiles' face shifting as if he's about to say, "Well..." in response to the question. Great. Now he's imagining Heiji as a hot chick. Or, rather, trying to; the other boy isn't exactly effeminate. Distracted by his imagination, he doesn't quite understand what Heiji means initially.

"So...the shapeshifting is real then. But if you wanted to, you could make an illusion to look like a hot chick? Or, just shift into one?"

"I guess so, yeah. But I don't usually do it. It's kinda like... you could put on a dress and makeup, right? Dress up like a girl? But that wouldn't really be you, and you'd probably be more comfortable after you put your normal clothes back on."

He paused. "...Wait, are you imagining me as a hot chick?"

This conversation is giving Stiles way too much food for thought. Expression blank, he stares out at the lake and pictures himself in a dress with makeup. Yeah, that definitely wouldn’t really be him. He totally doesn’t have the figure for it.

“Um.”

Technically, he’s imagining himself as a hot chick at the moment, but a few seconds ago…

“May…be? Can you blame me?!”

You never know, Stiles. With the right makeup and a good cincher...

Heiji crossed one paw over the other, suddenly interested in this topic of conversation. "Oh, oh! Can I be Beyonce? I wanna be Beyonce!"

Well I mean... if he was going to be a girl.

"Dude, you are too narrow and flat to be Beyonce. Dream on!"

Sorry, Heiji... It is an unobtainable dream...

"What?" Now he just sounded affronted, like how dare you Stiles. How dare you question his Beyoncetude. "I am not! You take that back!"

Heiji shifted then into human form -- but not his usual appearance. Instead, he was a girl who did indeed look like Beyonce. But not entirely. Maybe a Beyonce impersonator? He looked at his reflection in the water and frowned a little. His hair still had the flowers in it.

"Okay, I need a little practice. But I could get it!"

Talking to yourself on a train isn't healthy Heiji. The other humans give an occasional glance or outright ignore him, but the air is tinged slightly fae with far too much silver to be healthy, and the one sitting across with their face hidden in a newspaper is the only one that answers.

"It's a type of mirroring. The culprit obsesses over the writer, then replicates the writer's story in an attempt to show similarity to said writer. Most likely in some delirious attempt to gain the writer's attention, praise, or friendship. The motive is less a desire to kill, but more of a desire to send a message to the relevant person. Additionally, stop trying to judge a third-rate novel to higher standards."

The entire statement is delivered in a neigh-monotone to the obituaries section, automated and bluntly honest, but hey. Valid points. Mystery nerd located.

"No, no, that's the first guy. The -- " Oh.

Oh, it was that dude from the party. The one that he'd run into and (he was pretty sure) Stiles had described to him.

"You're that guy who shoved Stiles into the closet." Nailed it.

Wait, what? That is the exact amount of weird to get him to look up from his paper and - oh God it's a fae. He didn't ask for this aren't they supposed to avoid outcasts anyway wait no he started the conversation this time shit-

While the panic reigns internally, the expressions and response are a literal monotone, "Don't remember shoving Stiles into a closet."

This is not, in fact, a denial. Hashtag inability to lie.

Hmm. Did Willard not know Stiles's name? Had he been sauced at the time? Or did he shove so many billions of dudes into closets that he just didn't remember Stiles's case in particular?

Whatever the case, there was only one guy at the Redbright party that matched Stiles's description. Heiji moved seats so that he was across from Willard. "Well, he sure remembers you. Said you seemed pretty chill at first, but then ya flipped out."

But he doesn't flip out. Unless there's heresy involved which means the problem is solved by murder and Stiles being shoved in a closet would actually be a method of self-restraint, but this is entirely hypothetical of course because everything past meeting Stiles is a haze of nothing.

It's just another black spot in memory and nothing is concerning about it at all, people need to stop prying about it.

"I still don't remember that." An odd choice of words. Wouldn't someone say they don't know, but the option is cut off with. "Can we not talk about this. I thought it was a scandal to talk to me."

"So it's true." Willard was an outcast. Which meant that Heiji really shouldn't be talking to him. Still, he was curious. Why did he keep saying he didn't remember? Where was he going? Why did he read mystery novels? How had he gotten himself thrown out? Why had he shoved Stiles into a closet?

Okay, maybe the last one wasn't such a big mystery. But clearly, a billion other questions.

Then: "I never actually met anyone like you. But I guess it's too late to ignore ya now." After all, he'd already talked to Willard. Oops.

There's a short 'nn' sound, entirely dismissing, but confirming the assumption was right. There. Warning gave. Now he'll bug off like every other fae in existence and he can finish his paper and wait he's still talking?

This never happens. Maybe he isn't concerned? Which is stupid, so very foolish, and the pointed eye contact is far too intense with that weird gold shade. "The Court doesn't know yet. That means you're late. So back off."

Now can be the exact moment Heiji realizes why he's an asshole. No need to get someone thrown out just for talking to him. Even better when it can't be pinNed as their fault. Being an outcast sucks.

No one else deserves that.

Heiji cocked his head slightly to the side as he listened to Willard; for once, his usual easy social camouflage slipped a bit and something about the way he watched the man across from him more closely resembled the stare of some nocturnal animal than it did someone who'd happened to run into a minor acquaintance.

Then he shrugged, and everything was normal again. "Whatever. You need a girlfriend or something, dude." He stood as the train pulled into the next station, waiting with the other passengers to disembark. Just as he did so, however, he said something -- probably just a parting jab. "I'd check the personals. Plenty of lonely weirdos in there."

The doors closed behind him. Warning received. However, should Willard choose to look, there would be an unusual personals ad in the paper he'd been reading for the next few days. Seemingly your usual cryptic account of a missed encounter, it was actually a carefully constructed code based on the book Heiji had been reading on the train, which translated to a single cell phone number.

Well. If Willard had the skills to decode it.

“Yes,” Stiles says faintly, eyes huge and nearly popping out of his skull, “yes, you could get it.”

If you’re under the impression that he isn’t talking about mastery over the illusion, you are correct. Damn! Lady Heiji can totally get it. Stiles is a little confused over whether or not it’s weird to not-so-objectively think your guy friend makes a hot girl. Ultimately, he decides it’s not weird. It’s just a testament to how good Heiji is! Clearly.

“Okay dude, shift back, this is bizarre.”

And back to fox form, clearly proud of himself because it was a compliment if you made a hot girl, right? Right...?

"Yeah, so I don't do that too often. Oh, check it out!" As the sun disappeared over the horizon, small glowing lights emerged from the grasses, flitting above the surface of the lake.

"Pixies," Heiji said quietly.

Startled from his thoughts by the observation, Stiles turns his attention to those tiny, luminescent lights. He’s about to ask if they’re fireflies when Heiji supplies him with the correct word.

“Pixies?” he echoes, just as quietly, in case the pixies were sensitive to disruptions or something. “I’m guessing not like the straw candy you suck…”

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The June Detective [Open]

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A; Hey lookit how late I am do I get a medal

the shiniest medal

wears it proudly forever

Re: wears it proudly forever

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