(no subject)

[ghoulaid]

1. KUNSTKAMMER (closed : for lan)
He'd originally planned on waiting until after the moon had passed before bothering with Lan's vial, but it's been sitting in the hiding place he'd found for it, silently taunting him. February is a plenty busy month so he should have more than enough to keep his mind occupied, yet he still finds himself distracted, his thoughts often drawn back towards the possibilities that Lan's project holds. The curiosity is slowly killing him.

A couple days after the Imbolc festival, he finally breaks. He's got himself a quiet evening and a golden opportunity to find out what happens when he drinks that weird shit, and so he does just that.

He makes it a few more days before slinking in to Lan's shop again, looking pretty ragged when he drags himself through the door. As far as he knows, it's not because of what she'd given him. It's the day before the full moon, is all- he probably shouldn't even be here when he's like this, but the feeling of restlessness has become unbearable. If he's going to suffer all day, he might as well suffer and accomplish something.

Ghoul slowly shuffles his way around shelves, sounding almost as rough as he looks when he quietly asks, "Lan...?"



2. I DARE YOU TO PET HIM (wolf shenanigans/OPEN)
There's a full moon out, and that can only mean one thing: wolves.

Strangely enough, there's one running about alone in one of the larger parks rather than East End's usual territory. Maybe it's a rogue. Maybe it escaped from wherever it locked itself up. Whatever the case, it doesn't seem to be up to too much trouble at the moment. Sprinting through trees, digging holes, chewing on things. The usual kinds of energetic canine business. But, wolves can be pretty unpredictable. Who knows how it'll react when faced with company.



[ don't be afraid to hmu at blastcorps for #2! i won't let him hurt anyone without permission, but if you're open to that possibility (or if you'd rather hurt him?) let me know! ]

Comments

[nightflowering]

"Yes, yes, come in, come in." As soon as she spots Ghoul lingering in the doorway, she waves at him to enter and then returns to her usual post at the back of the store. The same two chairs, little table, and pot of gently steaming tea are set out and waiting.

"Tsk, a rough day? A tough night? Do you need anything?"

[ghoulaid]

There she is. Ghoul snakes his way through the shop, finding his way back to the table-and-chairs setup he remembers. It's just familiar enough for him to feel a bit more comfortable than last time, and he slides in to a seat easily as he murmurs, "Rough everything, kind of." Stupid moon shit. "It's fine. I mean, it's normal. I'm not having weird side effects or anything. Y'know." Shrug. He finds his affliction awkward to explain still, so most of the time, he doesn't.

"How're you?"

[nightflowering]

"Close enough to well enough that it makes little difference either way." ...what. Probably the answer is 'fae, who knows?' or 'fae love to hear themselves talk'. Either way, Lan doesn't seem too inclined to speak about it.

"Shall I offer you some tea? I have a rather nice manuka honey."

[ghoulaid]

Ghoul takes the answer in stride, nodding slowly.

Makes sense enough for him to accept it. What throws him is the offer of tea- because that's what he should be worried about. He looks puzzled all of a sudden. "What's manuka?" From the sound of it, he assumes it's something fae-made. Bless his dumb sheltered heart.

[nightflowering]

"It's a sort of flower. The honey has a stronger flavour, more mineral, I suppose." Lan takes the little jar of honey and opens it so that Ghoul can see. It's a dark, reddish brown colour with a strong, almost earthy scent. "It comes from New Zealand."

"If you'd rather, I have little deli bal left, but I think it's probably for the best that you abstain from that for the time being."

[ghoulaid]

Oh. He doesn't recall hearing anything about New Zealand being run by fae. Good to know it's something normal and not all... weirdly enchanted or whatever, though. After leaning forward to have a peek inside the jar, he comments, "I like how it smells." And as he sits back again, he gives her a mild smile. He has no idea what the second thing is either, but... "I'm good with whatever you think's best. You wouldn't steer me wrong, would you?"

Hahahah.

[nightflowering]

Bless. Fortunately for her, Lan is a traditionalist and utterly unsentimental about Ghoul's ignorance. The only thing about it that troubles her is that it speaks to a generally poor state of education for the youth of today.

With a gentle smile, she puts aside the honey and takes his hand in hers, "My dear, I would never lead you astray." It sounds so sincere when she says it, because she wholly believes it is true. And for a given value, it is. How can be be harmful for someone to learn about the Truth? To experience and maybe become art? It's a calling and privileged.

Another gentle pat on his hand as she adds honey to two cups and pours them each some tea. "Now, tell me, what did you learn this week?"

[ghoulaid]

See, she's fine. This is fine.

He watches her busy herself with the tea, nose wrinkling at her question. "I learned that stuff doesn't really agree with me, I think. Saw a bunch of weird shit I didn't understand, then I thought I was dead for like, a week, but I guess it was only really a few hours." That had been the worst part. Believing he's intangible and invisible while his sense of time is completely warped isn't an experience he's excited to have again. "Not supposed to happen like that, is it?"

[nightflowering]

Lan shrugs off his concerns and sips her tea. "What happens is less important than what you've learned from it. At this early stage, it's more important to try out a variety of methods, often to stumble in the dark, until we find what is vital to you."

"Some people find it an enlightening experience. There is something to be said in favour of being untroubled by the physical form, don't you think? Or do you believe the opposite? Do you love the sticky, strange, physical reality we're in?"

[ghoulaid]

He's quiet while he thinks, tapping his fingers against the side of his own tea cup. "I guess I do. What's the point in being part of something you can't interact with? Or being around people that don't know you exist? Kind of fuckin' depressing, isn't it?"

He wouldn't have thought he'd given a shit before this, but now he realizes that, yes, he does prefer the physical world and all the boundaries and hardships that entails. So he did learn something after all. Something weird, but still something. Score one for Lan.

[nightflowering]

Interesting, but not entirely surprising. Perhaps she should spring Sartre on him next, just for the contrast and for the gentle flavour of a little existential dread.

"It is and it's a fundamental human fear, or so I've been lead to believe. Tell me, did you ever watch 'The Twilight Zone' as a child?" Kafka might be a bit much, but Rod Sterling could suit. Lan is fairly sure she has a few copies of the more relevant episodes somewhere.

[ghoulaid]

"The weird black and white show?" He makes a disgruntled face. "I've seen a few episodes, yeah. Used to watch 'em with my dad when I was little. But then I saw one that really pissed me off and from then on I didn't want anything to do with it."

He takes a quick sip of tea to hide his grimace. All these years later, and he's still angry over that particular ending.

[nightflowering]

"Ah, which one?" Lan had been planning to suggest an episode or two to him and now she wonders if one of those she'd selected had bothered him.

"I remember watching them when they were airing. I'd found a patron with a television at that point, and it was wondrously novel."

[ghoulaid]

Ghoul's stunned, just for a second- he often forgets how long fae can live. He recovers quickly enough, making a contemplative sound. He doesn't know the name of it or anything, but... "The one with that guy who was like, the last survivor or something and all he wanted to do was read, then he broke his glasses."

The child-sized rage had been so real. It was awful.

[nightflowering]

"Ah!" Lan's expression lights up from within and there's a riotous burst of colours over her throat. "That episode is so finely made. So beautifully crafted. It resonates. It hurts."

"Do you still feel it? The way it ached?" Quiet, curious Lan who sits in her shop surrounded by books that she can read or sell. There's a very good reason she's asking this.

[ghoulaid]

Even the mesmerizing burst of colors can't soothe him enough to keep him from frowning. "It's terrible, that's what it is," he says moodily.

"If you count still feeling mad on some fictional guy's behalf, then yeah." He sounds like he hates the story, but that's only a testament to how well-made it was after all. He may not remember all the little details of it, but he remembers the gist of it and he's still just as offended over it now as he originally was some fifteen years ago. Pretty powerful stuff.

[nightflowering]

The colours aren't meant to soothe him.

"Now, let me ask you something: can you name a single work of art, a single, lasting thing done by one of the fae? Not a living fae, but one of us that's gone on." There's a point to this, and she's going to get there, provided he's willing to answer.

[ghoulaid]

"I don't think so?" He tries, though. He really tries to dig something up out of his memory, but there's a problem...

"I guess not? No offense or anything. I just don't know whether any artists I know about were fae. Definitely don't know of any dead ones." He's a bit surprised to hear there are ones that even are dead. They seem sort of indestructible. "Why?"

[nightflowering]

"One more question and then I'll answer, but it is a dangerous question, so weigh your words accordingly. Are you willing to learn a great and terrible secret about the fae? An embarrassment?"

Lan leans in, already lowering her voice, "If I tell you this, you will know it, it will sit in your gut and your heart, and you will know this about all the fae you meet, but you must never say it to them. Can you do that?"

[ghoulaid]

Oh, secrets. He's good at sponging those up.

He's also good at keeping them, so it's easy for him to nod and lean in as well, interest clearly written all over him. What in the world could possibly be so bad? "Not a peep."

[nightflowering]

"The fae are unchanging. We live and live, and do not really grow." In Lan's experience, the fae do not have the potential to grow and change like humans do. Their experience of emotions is a different beast than that of mortals.

"Do you think, perhaps, there is a connection between your short lives and your ability to create? In order to achieve anything of note, all humans must build on the backs of giants. We do not do that."

[ghoulaid]

Ghoul looks puzzled. Or troubled. It's hard to tell, sometimes it's a fine line. "That doesn't sound right."

Not that he's calling her a liar. She'd know better than he would, being a fae herself and all, but that can't really be a thing, can it? "If you live pretty much forever and are smart enough to think for yourself, how can you not grow? You've got to learn things and have memories... and you guys have probably seen stuff we could never dream up- that's gotta inspire something, yeah?"

[nightflowering]

"We are not human. Some of us may ape your form, your habits, but we are not like you and it would be a grave mistake to believe otherwise." Lan isn't sure how else to explain it. Most fae are elemental in the sense that they are focused on one specific thing and bound by arcane rules.

"A fae can change its nature, but it comes at a great cost. Long ago, and far away, I knew the Gallowglass, a great warrior of the north. He was bloodthirsty, beautiful in war, and cruel without compassion. He was battle madness and to change would've made him another fae entirely. He would no longer have been the Gallowglass."

[ghoulaid]

"Oh, it's kind of like... like, bees? Or ants or something? You're born as one thing and that's how it is?" It's the first thing that comes to mind. A drone can't be a queen, and a soldier can't be a worker. They all have a specific purpose and a specific job. Maybe fae are like that.

Ghoul has always been one to defy the rules, though, so of course the next question out of his mouth is, "Did you ever watch one try to change?"

[nightflowering]

"I've seen it. It can be awesome, but only if done well and ruthlessly. To stumble forward, half one thing, half another is ...hmm, repellent." With a flutter of colour over her skin, she makes a little moue of disgust. "I am bound by the rules of my kind and by my own nature. I cannot create art, or music, or poetry. I can seek it out. I can encourage it."

"Do you see why I have always admired that episode now?" Lan lives for art and beauty, but can only experience it as an outsider looking in. The closest to art that she can perform is to act as a muse.