⇨ The Tourist Trap: PROLOGUE

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone, anywhere in Portland.
When: Any time before the start of the event.
Where: Portland area, in the new reality.
What: Once you've submitted your AU summary, you can use this post to do some CLOSED THREADING to play out some character interactions that happened before the event start. This means that memory regains will not be in play yet. Open top levels are not allowed - these threads are intended to sort out closed interactions between planned backstory connections, during the week leading up to the actual event start.
Warnings: Could be anything.

PORTLAND, AS YOU KNEW IT↴ The shift went unseen and unfelt. One moment you were one person, and the next, another. This before all that, though, in the new life that you remember living here in Portland. No memories of your true self have arisen yet, and at the time this was the only life you knew. Did these events truly happen at all? Or do they only exist in memory?

Comments

[atouts]

"You could see through it but didn't know that?"

Childermass would be skeptical if he hadn't been observing Lambert for some two weeks now. The man studies fairy tales and reads Latin, sure, but he's clearly not someone who uses magic. Still, he tilts his head, the same kind of curious gesture he would often make as a crow.

"It was... something like a spell, I guess," is he answer he gives. It's not really a spell like a mage spell, in any case. "So yeah, sure."

[whattaprick]

Lambert's going to straight up grimace at that. He's seen Peridot do magic, maybe, and helped her research what he could -- plus there are straight up some goddamn magical things in the library that he's gingerly skimmed from time to time to see if they had anything about weres. An illusion of some kind is his best guess, from what he's read. It's making the scenario that it's some wayward werebeast more and more unlikely.

"It's a recent development," is all he'll say for now, at least in relation to seeing through it. "So those are real? That's what you really look like?"

[atouts]

"Doesn't sound like a fun one," Childermass comments off-handedly. Being blissfully unaware of so many things really is nicer. "They are, though. Real. This is me."

From crow to a crow man, black feathers, pale skin, and all.

[whattaprick]

No, it really isn't. Lambert doesn't need to say that out loud, though, because he reckons that much is pretty obvious. So he's just going to keep staring at Childermass for a moment, digesting that.

"Okay," he says, with a calm he doesn't feel. "Why were you being attacked?"

[atouts]

"My sisters and I have a little disagreement, that's all," he answers just as calmly, though his calm is very matter-of-fact. This is just a thing, it happens to him a lot. "I see myself alive, while they see me preferably as roadkill."

[whattaprick]

"Wow. Family dinners must be fun." Lambert uncrosses his arms, rests his hands against the edge of the desk. "And now they know where I live. Great. Always wanted to grow up to be collateral damage."

[atouts]

"Seeing how their choice of appetizer happens to be eyes, I tend to miss those as much as possible," Childermass goes on, settling into a nice and familiar deadpan. Is he serious? Is he pulling Lambert's leg? Only he knows. Though more seriously, he adds, "Have they bothered you at all since the first morning?"

[whattaprick]

Whether he's kidding or not, it's going to get a snort out of Lambert anyway. In response to the question, he'll shrug, shaking his head.

"Haven't been attacked again, if that's what you mean. Sometimes feels like something's following me, but that's all. If they were going to break in here and finish the job, I figured they'd have done it by now. So what's holding them back?" It is an ordinary human home, more or less.

[atouts]

"They only get a chance every now and then to have a go at me, try their luck, but they'll end up in trouble if they're caught," Childermass answers, shrugging. "It's a long story and more of a headache than you'll ever want, but attacking a regular human household would out them too quickly for them to get away with it. Crows attack other crows, but an apartment?"

That isn't normal, not in the least.

[whattaprick]

That, in turn, is going to get the crow (and it's not as weird as it should be to think of him that way -- though they're mapped onto the body of a man, some of the gestures remain the same) a frown and a hard look.

"Caught by what?" Is there some kind of magic creature-catching police he wasn't aware of, something that people online just don't talk about? "Out them to who?"

[atouts]

"Others like them, that's all," he answers vaguely, oh so vaguely. "In any case, if they worry you, just carry some iron, provided you can find any."

[whattaprick]

If they're his sisters, doesn't that make him like them too? For once, Lambert doesn't let the first thought that comes to mind spill out of his mouth, but it certainly crosses his face for a before he wipes the expression away with a scowl.

"I'll keep that in mind." With that, he'll stand and head over to the closet, rummaging around until he finds what he's looking for and speaking over his shoulder. "I've got a sling you can use. But after that, I want you to take your dog and go."

[atouts]

Well, the free ride had to end at some point anyway. Too bad Lambert isn't actually getting rid of him that easily, seeing how one doesn't just casually save a life and move on, at least not where faerie anything is involved. He won't protest, though.

"Fair enough," is what he answers with. "We'll go."

For now.