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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! ]

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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.

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.

"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?"

"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?"

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."

"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."

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?"

"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."

"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?"

"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.

It makes more sense now. He nods once, even if he seems a bit distracted as he does. He's still half lost in his own head, thinking that sort of life is kind of sad. He may not be great at expressing himself through words or pictures, but he can at least do it. He figures it must be frustrating to be unable to do so, but then he also figures that he's probably projecting too much humanity on to the fae and they don't care that they can't create.

They're so weird...

"If you had a chance to be human and make all that yourself, would you do it?" Weird question for a weird fae. Fair trade.

"No, never." Lan rears back as if she's just smelled something utterly foul. She suspects that some fae would like to be more human, or at least more in line with the mores of the time, but she finds the whole thing repulsive. "I am as I am and to do anything different, anything more or less would be a betrayal."

"Would you trade your lot to become one of us?"

"Nah." He answers quickly and with a lopsided grin, like maybe this is a subject he's considered before. Extra years to live might be pretty cool, but fae take it way too far. Plus... "I'm not very good at what I am now, bet I'd be an even worse fae."

"Humans go through their little mayfly lives with such rush and bother, half-done things spread out in their wake, and that is not a bad thing, not for humans. It's anathema to us. Do the thing well, whole, and complete, or not at all." It certainly sounds as if Lan is fond of her mortal pets, and perhaps she is. In her own way.

"With that in mind, I have your lesson for the week, if you'd care to watch it?"

Well, she ain't wrong. That's pretty much a picture of Ghoul's life- a mess of half-done ideas and goals plus a whole lot of collateral damage. It's pretty cozy.

"Yeah, sure." He gives her a tiny smile. It's nice to have something to focus on besides city politics every once in a while. "What's it gonna be?"

"Nothing much. Just a bit of television." From somewhere nearby, Lan plucks a small flashdrive and hands it over to Ghoul. "I know you don't like the Twilight Zone, but this really is one of the classics."

Loaded on the drive is the episode 'Eye of the Beholder'. "At first glance, it's not the most subtle of parables, but I think it might grow on you."

"Hah, I'll survive." He lightly taps the drive against the table once it's in his hand. "It'll probably be a couple days before I can watch it, I'm gonna be uh. Busy. Soon." Moon, and all. He doesn't want to talk about that, though, so he eases in to another topic that has been on his mind.

"By the way, I dunno how much you've been watchin' what's goin' on out there," he says with a nod back towards the door, "But if anybody starts givin' you trouble, you can lemme know. If you want." He shrugs, like the offer isn't a big deal. Ghoul has decided he likes her well enough to run off any witches or their allies that try to meddle in her business, isn't that cute.

"Oh, you sweet, young thing." Lan smiles and the colours at the base of her throat ripple with delight. "I do appreciate it, I truly do, and if anything happens, I'll be sure to let you know, but I suspect I'll be fine."

Leaning into his space, she points to a slender, leatherbound book on the shelf and stage-whispers, "Many years ago, a foolish young witch tried to trap me. I thought it rather apt that when I was done with her, I had her and her spells bound together into that rather fine volume you can see just over there."

Ghoul takes a long look at the book, eyes wide. That book is a person.

That book is a fucking person.

Or it used to be. Perhaps saying it was made from a fucking person would be more accurate, but either way, Ghoul is amazed. It's the most gruesome thing he's heard in a while and he makes a mental note to be very, very careful about touching anything on the shelves around here. Otherwise, he laughs in a slightly uneasy way. "Maybe I oughta be comin' to you for protection instead." He could have a whole library full of enemies. How cool. And creepy. And nasty. But cool...ish.

"You all really do have to worry about bein' trapped pretty often, don't you? That's shit."

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ffff, this got lost in the mail. sorry!

np np ive had that happen before

Re: np np ive had that happen before

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