undergrounds | [OPEN] [May 8th-10th] Busy Bees and First Impressions

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[OPEN] [May 8th-10th] Busy Bees and First Impressions

a. FISHING
Gipsy on the road again felt good, like she always did, with that purr and the hum of the open road. It had been five years of the road in her blood, wild and free with a mission under her belt. Mako might have been at the top of her class five years ago but the road had sharpened her to the finest of points. But for now, she was leaving that behind and relaxing a little - or trying to, at least. Fishing was one of those things that gave her a little breathing room, not to mention a good snack. She had a nice fire pit lit and crackling behind her, the warmth at her back, a rod in hand and an empty bucket for her catches.

A sound, the rustle of bushes, that preternatural prickling at the back of her neck, told her she wan't alone as she pulled a decent sized fish from the water.

" If you are looking for lunch," she said quietly as she put the fish into a bucket, "let me catch another fish and we'll see about that. Meanwhile, you may enjoy the fire."

b. COFFEE
It is difficult, sometimes, to get a cup of coffee that is truly good. Mako stood in line at Cafe Poirot debating her choices. It was like picking some sort of jewel out of a line up of the finest in the world. The cappuccino was good, the machination was fantastic, the lattes were among her favourite and-- She turned to the person behind her at a loss.

"Which do you like from the menu? I am debating on the latte but everything looks so good today."

c. GARAGE
Far more than fishing, working with mechanics of any type makes Mako feel complete. Anything with a motor, anything with gears, she knows how to put it together. It's been like this her whole life. Machines are an intrinsic part of her life, personal and professional. Setting up her garage, her workspace, makes her stay official.

She's very much the newest member of Hillingdon House, now.

Mako even has a little sign that says: Gipsy Danger's Quick Fix. Okay, so it's a borrowed garage and a borrowed workspace but it's off the road and she's had a shower - a long one. It's real enough that she hopes it'll stick. At the moment, Mako was working on restoring an old engine, which has been neatly disassembled and placed on a sheet as she went through each, cleaning them. A noise makes her look up from her work and she stops what she's doing.

"Did you have something that needs to be fixed?"

d. WANDERING HILLINGDON HOUSE
New places are often difficult to navigate and getting the lay of the land is something that Mako had learned to do before truly settling anywhere. She had been wary of it but in rather dire need as well. She moved carefully, looking for the kitchen and hopefully some tea. But mostly, she was just looking. She turned the corner and nearly bumped into someone.

"I am so sorry!" she said quietly, backing up a little. "I am Mako Mori and I am also very new to this place. Is there somewhere that I may make tea?"

e. Wildcard; pick a situation and we'll roll with it.

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"Oh. Oh my-" she, too had lost her family in a car crash, though she'd been miles away at the time. Her sisters and her father- and her unborn niece, worst of all, had all been gone in the blink of an eye.

"I'm very glad you had your godfather to look out for you." Odd that she referred to him as The Marshal, but it's not that uncommon in military families. This Mako confirms by mentioning the traveling, the academy. Yes, she certainly was an army brat.

"We're in the same boat, it seems. I've only been here a few months. I'm truly enjoying my time here, however."

"I would not be who I am today if not for him. He is as much my father as the one I lost." Mako smiled and nodded, folding her hands neatly in front of her as the line grew shorter. It was always worth the wait, always.

Her laugh was very soft.

"It is a small boat on a large ocean," Mako said. "I am here in London for him and I have not been here all that long. He is terminally ill and has, perhaps, months left. He wishes me to continue the investigation of my family's roots so that I may make him and my ancestors proud. Knowing him, he will not leave until he is ready."

Mako was silent for a long while and then made a soft sound and she looked down, her blue-streaked hair falling to frame her face as she apologised. It was the truth, though. She was losing her second father and it was as if the world was splitting again into a yawning breach, taking him somewhere she could not follow.

"Life brings us many things," she said a moment later, glancing back up at the woman almost shyly, "even in coffee lines where people share tiny boats with familiar baggage. I am pleased to meet you. The city is not quite as large as it was a moment ago."

"I guess you're right. I just can't imagine not being able to turn into a rat. But then, the majority of the human race gets on just fine without it, so I guess it's not too terrible if it's what they're used to."

He was surprised when she laughed about it, but Roddy supposed it might be easier to do so when it wasn't a loss so much as something she may gain in the future. And at least, being able to talk to cats and see ghosts was something, he supposed.

"But still, it would be nice if you could get that charm dispelled. I don't know what it would take to get them to agree to it, though. All I know about fae from my experiences with them is that I don't understand them and they're kind of scary."

He did wonder why they wouldn't take the charm off. He couldn't imagine it was that difficult to do if her parents could so easily get it put on in the first place.

"Did any of the ones you approached say why they wouldn't take it off?"

Edited 2017-05-16 02:55 (UTC)

"Mostly disinterest," Mako said, "or they were willing to give me little hints to 'help' me on my way. I have met some very grumpy fae, that is for sure, and one that kept me around for an entire year just for a single manuscript. Many that I have spoken to enjoy the challenge of speaking around the information I wish. They are very good at it and such meetings frequently end in frustration and disappointment. Several I never even got in to see."

She touched her healing shoulder absently.

"London seems to be a dangerous place to speak about fae," she murmured. "But it is no matter. I have to break this charm."

"I guess when you live as long as they do, spending that much time on each step doesn't seem like as much of a big deal."

Oh, he was sure they knew it was frustrating, but he doubted they could grasp the full extent of what shorter lived races were giving up by being stuck playing their games year after year.

"Yeah, but the fae are here. I've seen a couple of them, although I wouldn't even begin to know the proper way to approach them."

"I suppose it can be complicated," Mako acknowledged with a slight frown. "But sometimes you just have to ask, especially if it is something that means a great deal to you and it is not something you can achieve without their help. If they are here, I shall find them and do what I must. I can only hope it is sooner rather than later."

In the time it takes Mako to reply, Mogget has devoured his entire fish. He takes a moment to clean his whiskers, smacks his lips in satisfaction, and then regards the girl again. Bound from shifting, is she?

"That must be a terrible curse," he observes. Meaning for her, of course. A shapeshifter that can't shift is, well, useless. Her own nature is denied to her. "What happened?"

He's curious.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Laura says in the silence, reaching a hand out to gently touch the girl's shoulder. "I lost my mother to cancer when I was young. It's incredibly hard, and you're brave to try it in a new place." Her smile is sympathetic.

There's a sparkle in Laura's eyes. "It does. I'm pleased to meet you as well. I'm Laura Roslin." She extends a hand. Now they can be friends.

"I have never known how to shift," Mako says, leaning forward to hug her knees, "so perhaps it is less of a curse and more of a predicament." She finishes her own fish, thinking on how to word her story. It is important how things are worded after all, including all the things that might be included and all the things that must be omitted for brevity's sake.

"My parents lived in a place where few shifters did, so when I was born, they asked a fae to charm me so that I could not shift. Later, when they could do so, they would move to a proper community where I would have the charm broken so that I could learn properly. It was not something I would come to know for many years. Mother did not speak of it at all, no shifter talk at all but my father, he would tell me stories. Koi fish turning into dragons, ninja who could turn into cats, and so I would learn my clan history at the side of my father as he made his swords at his forge. I loved his stories like I loved his beautiful swords."

She leans her chin against her knees, her hair swinging forward, the bright blue slices of her hair catching the light of the fire, shining as she smiles in recollection. Her father's face is not as clear but his presence is strong.

"I was ten when we were on our way to Tokyo for a vacation," Mako continues and though her voice is clear, if still heavily accented in Japanese," and we hit or were hit by something very large. As a child, I remembered little more than I had somehow fallen out of the vehicle and one of my shoes was missing, as I went for it and picked it up, my parents were no longer there, nor was the car. My godfather who, upon the death of my parents became my father, found me wandering around with my shoe in my hands, calling for my parents. And so I remained charmed but my life was strange anyway."

She lifted her head and laughed softly her fingers lifting almost elegantly as she gestured.

"I saw ghosts everywhere, some did nothing but retrace the steps they made when they were living, some talked to me, some screamed. But the one thing I loved most was the fact that I could talk to and understand cats. It made the ghosts bearable and I know the cats enjoyed my company," Mako said with a soft, happy sort of sigh. "When I was older, after I had finished my military academy training and gained a degree in robotics and mechanical engineering, I asked my father for leave so that I could research my family and find out why I was so odd. In time, I learned the truth piece by piece. Fae would give me little scraps of knowledge or deny me access but I know where I come from and what holds me back."

"Everywhere is new," Mako says wryly, "when you are in it without your parents." She understands though and it is never an easy thing to live with loss be it family or friend. The relationships that one has when they are young, these things, they shape who a child will become.

She is a survivor, a brave warrior, and never, ever, a victim of anything.

"I am Mako Mori," she say with a soft smile, taking the woman's hand in a grip that was neither too loose nor too tight. If her hand stays there for a moment more than it ought to have, Mako's expression makes it clear that she is a bit struck by, well, the entire conversation and their similarities. She does let go, though, just in time for her to order.

She winds up ordering the chai latte and waits for Laura, looking smaller than she is as she leans up against the wall.

Edited (tense ;_;) 2017-05-17 20:21 (UTC)

Rorschach listens to her talk. There's something soothing about her voice. It reminds him just a touch of Doctor Manhattan, that otherwordly fae that was a part of the Watchmen he had known so long ago. He wonders where he is now. The rest of them are all old or dead by this point, but fae were eternal. When Mako sets the tea down, he goes through the selection carefully. "This one." He picks the black, peppery smelling one.

Usually, he's content with listening, but he feels the need to share a little of himself, a rarity. "Used to drink a lot of coffee and tea on patrol. Went days at a time without sleep sometimes when I was hunting werewolves." His specialty had been the wolves and they of course tended to operate at night. He'd always said he'd sleep when he was dead. Well, now he was dead, and found he didn't need to sleep any longer at all. A bit ironic that.

Mogget listens to the whole story before he makes his assessment, and it's a succinct one:

"So your parents denied you your birthright before you even had any thoughts of your own, and left no contingency in place following their deaths. Both cruel and careless. Their legacy is your misfortune." His eyes are luminous in the firelight, even brighter than Mako's hair. "When did you come to London?"

It seems likely that she knows of the city's reputation for magic and that she has come here seeking a solution to her curse. There are certainly enough fae here to go around.

Wandering through the woods is definitely one of Party's favorite outdoor activities. Even when he's not a wolf, he loves wandering through nature and just letting it surround him. Much as he appreciates the city and its culture, nature calls to him and it sounds like freedom.

Sometimes he comes upon a camper or hiker or even a strolling couple and it's a great opportunity to practice his stealth. This time, he's less than successful, but lunch is hardly a bad consolation prize.

"Okay." He mumbles with a laugh in his voice as he steps out of the shrubbery and settles on the ground to dig through his pockets. "Hi. I'm Party. I might have a flask in my jacket if you want a drink."

Without your parents, or without her magic, Laura couldn't help but to make the comparison. Magic had been a friend, part of her entire life. She'd gone so long as one thing. And now, here she was. Something else entirely.

"It's lovely to meet you, Mako," Laura says. When it's her turn to order, she opts for the same chai latte. She doesn't expect Mako to wait, but she finds herself pleasantly surprised when the younger woman remains nearby.

"Shall we get a table?" She asks, pointing to one in the sunlight.

"Please," Mako says. "That is a good one, the sun is always so nice in a spot like that. I enjoy it very much and in London, such sunny days seem far rarer than they should be."

Mako takes her seat and pulls herself up close to the edge of the table until her chin is over her drink. Her hands warm against the sides of the cup and there is still a glimpse of the content little girl she once had been.

"Yeah," he agreed. "And sooner or later I'm sure you'll find one that will help you."

And London was as good a place as any to look. Who knew, maybe the crazy situation they were in could even work in their favor, if Hillingdon sided with the fae in all this...stuff.

She's absolutely adorable, and Laura knows she shouldn't think that about a grown woman, but there's something so innocent to her contentment in the moment. Laura takes the moment herself to let the warm smell of chai waft over her.

"They are. I like to savor the sun while I can."

Daryl was generally okay with most anyone from Hillingdon offering help, but Mako was new. He didn't know her just yet. Not that well.

"She ain't gotta go 'til September," he said, both not agreeing and not disagreeing to her request. "Not gonna worry 'bout it too much just yet. Just somethin' I gotta keep an eye on dates for. So's I know how long I got to get her used to people."

Mako nodded and pulled her cup in a little closer. It had the effect of making her seem smaller as she hunched a little. Perhaps, at a later date, then.

"I suppose the same could be said about myself. I have not been in a place like this before. I, too, must get used to people once more. I find it strange after being on the road for so long."

"Well, if you cain't get used to being around people in London, ain't many places to do it," Daryl offered in an attempt to make her feel a little more at ease. "Should check out the tourist spots. Give 'em a look while you still feel 'new'. Lotsa people around there, too."

"That is a long time for no sleep, especially when hunting something that can be so dangerous," Mako murmurs as she gathers the rest of the tea and puts it away. She will make them both the peppery one and indeed, she would have picked it for herself even if he hadn't. There was something right about it.

"I like this tea, too," she says with a soft smile. "It reminds me of winter and snow. It is just the sort of tea that warms you up after you have shaken the outside from your shoes and placed them to dry."

She neatly, with no movement wasted, began to heat the water and measure the tea for two into a pot before finding a proper tea strainer. Then she found a small pitcher for the milk and some sugar cubes. All of these, the set on the table on a nice tray as the water bubbled away.

"I am Mako and thank you for the offer but I have some tea for drinking," she says just as she hooks another fish. Cleaning them is easy enough and she is very good with her little knife, deboning with a skill that says she's done this often. She has a small frying pan, a touch of oil, a little salt, and some pepper, and before not too long the scent of frying fish is in the air. Mako offers him the first finished fry on a plate and begins her own.

"Party," she says with a tilt of her chin, "is an unusual name but one could say Mako is as well."

"That is one way to do it," Mako said with a slight nod. "I think, for the moment, it is Hillingdon I must get used to first. I never stopped long nor at too many communities like this on my travels. It seemed as if, at least in the Americas, fae did not appreciate such places. I have been mostly in remote places that not many seem to go. There is," she frowned a little, thinking, "so much noise."

"Sometimes, I wonder if they send messages to each other and warn that I am coming. I do not know if such things are true, perhaps it is the fae who placed the charm?" Mako made a face. "Perhaps they were not paid their price fairly? If it is so, you might think that fae would come visiting to me. Then again, I have seen that fae enjoy games, so I should not be so surprised."

He nodded, completely understanding the sentiment. Even when he wasn't relying on his feline senses, the place could be pretty overwhelming. Was especially so when he first moved out.

"Yeah. Gonna be worse once you start shiftin'. Won't be just noise, neither. Sight. Smell... taste. All'a'that's gonna be messin' you up for the first few weeks. You talked to any of the fae 'round here 'bout that yet?"

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[OPEN] [May 8th-10th] Busy Bees and First Impressions

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