September/October Catch-All

[wapples]

Who: Fat Billie (wapples)
What: Open and Closed prompts (Closed only for now)
When: September, and October
Where: Throughout Trench

Content Warnings: None yet! Will tag in the comments as necessary

Comments

For John (and Shiro)

[wapples]

[Vyng has been blind for nearly two months. Two months of seeing through the eyes of animals, and Billie can recognize the problems with it. What if at some point, there isn't an animal around for Vyng to see through? Trench is potentially a dangerous place, and not being able to see through your own eyes could become a problem. It's especially easy to see how it could become problematic after they were attacked by that mob.

Two months is two months too long as far as he's concerned, especially since it's not even Vyng's fault. Mariana is not even a little justified in her choice of targets. It's not like he was the one who attacked her.

May we become better than we are, Pyrrha had said when she sprouted her flower from the ground in the shade of the cherry blossom tree on the farm. He's been reflecting on that a lot lately. There doesn't seem to be any shortage of people in Trench these days trying to do better.

Maybe he can even help move one of them along on that path a little himself.

It's not hard to track down the man who called himself God, among a bunch of other titles on the network that he didn't really pay that much attention to, and the house is spooky enough from the outside with its skeletal batcats that it's easily recognizable as a necromancer's residence.

The tiny child who argued with John on the network bangs on the door, and when it's answered, he reaches up to grab onto the man's hand without a word, and turns to try to march him out into the street.]

Come on! You're coming with me.

[necrolord]

[ God blinks down at the kid, eyebrows rising in slow astonishment. The boy is familiar, yeah, but their contact had been wholly on the network. He is realizing, nearly impressed and not a little despairing: holy shit, he's that little?

And, behind that, with pure fascination: what the fuck is he?

By the time he's done finding something to say about it, Billie has marched him into the street. God accepts his fate; he lets the skeletons close the doors behind him, and lets the only-maybe-a-kid pull him along on this march down the cobblestone streets of Gaze. ]

Easy, easy. [ He doesn't pull away. ] You've got me, I'm captured. Where are we headed?

[wapples]

[It doesn't even really occur to Billie that this guy could just stop letting himself be led along by the hand if he chose to and there wouldn't be a whole lot he could do about it except for maybe try to convince him he needs to fulfill the offer he had made on the network and help Vyng.]

You said you'd fix my dad's eyes, remember?

[It's said as though he had been expected to turn up at some point to do so, even though Billie had turned him down, and never mentioned where they lived. In reality, it's a last resort because after a couple months of Vyng not being able to see, the boy has had enough and this is the only solution he can come up with.]

I'm tired of him having to use animals and stuff to be able to see to get around. It's weird.

[necrolord]

[ He does remember. He doesn't remember any attempt to follow up on that, so he thinks he's in the clear, here, but God's getting kidnapped by a six-year-old with the soul that doesn't match even slightly. He just gives up and lets it happen. ]

Like seeing-eye dogs? Seeing-eye deer? Give me an idea, here, I want to know what kind of menagerie I'm going up against.

[wapples]

[This is going way easier than Billie ever expected to, which is probably good, since he made a magical pinky swear to Pyrrha that he wouldn't threaten the necromancer. This isn't a threat, though, this is just being particularly insistent. He really didn't have a plan if God chose to resist.]

Like... anything. We've got a farm, so there's chickens, and horses, and stuff, but he can see through any animal as long as they let him do it. But it's not the same as having your own eyes.

[necrolord]

Cows? [ This John murmurs sotto voice, like a private joke. ] We'll hope for no cows.

[ Still: he lets the kid lead him by the hand through the city, for all that Billie has to reach up and John has to reach down to make it work. ]

[shiro2hero]

[Listen, Shiro's having a perfectly normal day. Go volunteer with the kids, work on transcribing some more Deerington Lore. Pack up and head home to a perfectly normal Trench evening. As normal as Trench really gets, but you understand.]

[He doesn't expect to round a corner and see a tiny child towing along someone he hasn't seen in ages. He has to stop. Really, who wouldn't stop?]

Hey, Billie. [In the tone of someone who just saw someone walk into the room with an ostrich in one hand and a smoothie in the other.] Running errands?

[wapples]

[He's about to ask what the problem with cows is exactly when they're interrupted by Shiro.

The cows probably don't matter. Everyone is afraid of something.

Billie gives Shiro a wave as though leading God through the streets of Trench towards the farm is the most normal thing he's done with his entire day.]

We're going to fix Vyng's eyes.

[It's said with fierce determination. Definitely just a normal day.]

[necrolord]

[ Well, this can in no way go wrong. When in doubt, commit to the bit: John raises a hand in a matching wave. He still has to crane over so that Billie can tow him along. ]

Pretty standard for necromantic errands.

Trenchwood Farm (Closed to Vyng, and John)

[wapples]

[Billie is cautious as he leads the way onto the grounds of the farm. He's already let his captive get punched in the face, the least he can do is try to protect him from the cow they're temporarily housing. A cow seems like a weird fear to have, unless you're made of grass or wheat; Rosie doesn't seem to have much interest in anything beyond food, really, but he supposes everyone is afraid of something.

He guides the way up the path to the house, past the greenhouse near the Guardian tree where Pyrrha's flower grows, and past the chicken coop where the hens free range wearing their little knitted hats to protect them from the cool autumn weather.

No sign of the cow, at least.

He pushes the front door to the house open and heads inside, where they are both promptly accosted by the young sable colored sheltie Billie had stolen from the beach a year ago. She isn't a puppy, but still young and untrained enough that she jumps all over them both, barking to draw attention to the fact that someone has just come in the door.

Billie just laughs and tries to push her away from him as he calls out.]

Vyng! Vyng, we're home!

[necrolord]

[ He is honestly disappointed that the cow isn't in sight: he could have done a whole bit, for an audience of precisely no one who understood it. This is standard.

But then everything else ceases to matter, because there is a dog. ]

Hello there. [ John Gaius, the Necrolord Prime, the King Undying, murderer of ten billion and destroyer of worlds, drops delightedly to a crouch so that he can pet the sheltie. He will let her wriggle into his lap; he will be hard-pressed not to let her knock him down. ] Oh, are you a good girl? You're a good girl. Yeah, right— go on and shed on all the black— I'm honored. Good girl.

[ This is, apparently, the fearsome company Billie has brought over. ]

[spiritwalks]

[Billie's call is met with a few barks from the back porch. The sheltie, in turn, looks torn between pets (!!) and noise (??). In the end, she spins around in circles, oh-so-excited by all the new scents her boy has brought home!

"Ohhh my god." Vyng can be heard groaning from the back porch. "This was a terrible idea..."

Guess whose eyes he's seeing through today.]

[wapples]

[Billie totally misses what Vyng's actually referring to. Getting dizzy can be fun sometimes after all. Why else would kids and dogs sometimes spin in circles like that? He assumes it's being said in reference to their somewhat inadvisable company.

He makes his way towards the back porch, beckoning for John to follow.]

Are you kidding? It's a great idea. This guy's the one who made a mess of everything to begin with! It makes sense he should be the one to fix it. We just got to keep Rosie out of the way - he's scared of cows, I guess.

[necrolord]

[ John rises, with a reluctant parting pat for the sheltie, and falls into step behind Billie. He looms behind him in the doorway like an awkward shadow. ]

I mean, I do see the logic. [ And, without missing a beat: ] Who wouldn't be? They're smarter than you think, cows. Real social animals.

[ This has the air of an obscure in-joke. Great way to start. ]

[spiritwalks]

[Vyng is sitting cross-legged, with palms pressed in front of himself. He lets out a long, slow breath...though he doesn't bother opening his eyes. With a totally straight face, he responds:]

Sounds like udder bull to me.

[But he doesn't really belabor the point.]

If you're looking for places to start cleaning, we've got some lightbulbs that need changing.

[wapples]

[Billie crosses his arms. He fully expects Vyng to try to refuse the offer of help, and he's not willing to take no for an answer.]

Yeah, maybe he can do that after he fixes your eyes.

[necrolord]

You would be amazed how many necromancers it can take to change a lightbulb.

[ He likes this guy. Still, his smile and his tone pull a little more wry, a little more serious. ]

Billie tells me that one was, ultimately, my bad. It's within my power if you'd like the help.

[ Unless Mariana decided to make this price untouchable to him specifically, which sounds petty enough to be a possibility, but he chooses not to share it. ]

Lost in the Woods - OPEN

[wapples]

[Billie probably looks like an animal, at first. He's curled up between the roots at the base of a tree, with the raccoon skin cloak pulled closely around him, sound asleep. It's not until he hears the rustle of footsteps in the leaves that he rolls over, and reveals it's Trench's smallest nine year old instead of a forest creature.

He yawns and stretches as though this is exactly where he meant to be sleeping, and rubs at his eyes with the back of his hands.]

Hey. You woke me up.

[miyagimagic]

[ Today has sure been a day.

Waking up in the middle of the woods hasn't been a great experience for Daniel - because it obviously means something is wrong. He doesn't go on drunken benders the way a certain other guy he knows does. Daniel never just.. wakes up in some random place. He only ever wakes up in his own bed.

So him being out here means something is majorly wrong. At least he does figure it's some Trench nonsense when he finds a glowing chunk of.. well, something. And with little else to go on, Daniel just decides to follow where it points him.

Even if it's over to something that seems like a small sleeping forest animal. The man approaches slowly, not wanting to startle it and let it run off in case this glowing thing is indicating he'll need the animal for something, but then it turns out.. that sure is no animal.

That's a child. A small child. Out here alone in the woods?

If waking up in the woods was already startling, this is even worse. Daniel's jaw drops as he stares down at the small child. ]

You were--

[ He's baffled. He can hardly even force the words out of his throat. ]

You were sleeping here? [ KID SOMEONE KIDNAP AN INNOCENT CHILD OUT TO THE WOODS. ]

[wapples]

[Billie looks just as confused by this sudden turn of events as Daniel is. Of course he slept out here. He was pretty cozy too, all wrapped up in his cloak, then this guy comes along and just kind of freaks out about it? What gives?]

Well... Yeah. I was tired. I was taking a nap under a tree on our farm, and I woke up here. So I walked for a long time.

[Ten minutes. He means he walked for ten minutes.]

Then I started feeling tired again, and kind of sore, so I went to sleep. Don't you sleep when you get tired?

[Doesn't everyone sleep when they get tired?]

[miyagimagic]

...

[ Dear god. ]

Yes, but.. [ He can't even really scold the other. It's just kid logic, after all. Of course a kid would wake up here and maybe think nothing of it. Think it's just some adventure, where it's totally okay to just lie down and go to sleep. As if the forest in Trench isn't the place where most of the monsters live.

Daniel feels a serious stress headache starting to come on already. ]

I don't think this is a good place to sleep.

[ The understatement of the year. But Daniel is willing to say pretty much anything here, if it means he can get this poor kid back home.

Or at least to a place that's a little safer than out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. ]

How about I help you find a better place, huh? [ P-Please, Billie.

Please. ]

[wapples]

[Look, he sleeps outside ALL the time and he hasn't been eaten yet. Clearly this is fine, Daniel.

On the other hand...]

Yeah. The ground's kind of hard out here. Plus, my dads will probably get worried if I don't go home soon.

[Never mind the creepy feeling that he's being watched that he's not really sure is entirely thanks to this guy who just came of the woods and declared this a bad place to sleep.]

Do you know the way out of here?

[miyagimagic]

Yeah.

[ He absolutely does not know the way out.

And while usually Daniel would think a little harder about lying so easily, he's kind of desperate here. The last thing he needs is saying 'no' and for this kid to start wandering off on his own without a care. What if there's something out there, waiting to grab him?

It kind of feels like there is, though Daniel can't tell if that's just paranoia or healthy suspicion. (He'd like to claim the latter, though.) ]

So you don't have to worry about anything, alright? I'll make sure to bring you back to your dads, safe and sound. I'm sure you'd miss them if you were out here by yourself for too long.

[wapples]

I'm not worried. I always find my way home again.

[Billie shrugs a little. It's not like this is the first time he's ever been in the woods. It's definitely not the first time he's ever taken off on his own without Tuck and Vyng. It's fine, and Daniel is clearly projecting. Maybe he's scared of being out here. It's understandable, there's not really a shortage of threats in Trench.]

If anything comes to get us, I'll fight it! It'll be okay.

[The declaration comes loudly, as an announcement to whatever might be out there, watching them as they walk through the forest.]

[miyagimagic]

[ ...

Is this a nightmare?

Daniel kind of feels like he's having a nightmare. He's not sure what he ate last night to produce this sort of weird, weird nightmare, but it's got to be one. Everything about this situation seems just a little bit too calculated to play on his exact fears otherwise. A child this young, even younger than the ones he's used to dealing with - hell, this kid has to be even younger than Anthony, and Anthony already feels so terribly young to Daniel - and being so fearless in the worst possible way.

Not that Daniel isn't the type to encourage bravery, but.. like.. this may be a little bit too much of that. ]

You'll fight it. [ He repeats, trying his darnest to not sound like he's disbelieving that.

Even though he's doing exactly that right now. ]

How are you going to fight it?

[ Does he want to know. ]