Busking at the Fountain

[ginger_firebird]

Visitors to the fountain might see a somewhat unusual sight this day. Mantis is having a glorious sit next to the mist coming off of the water and has a leash wrapped around his wrist. On the other end of the leash is a catwing in a harness. It’s a happy little calico flapping his wings and batting at the water as Mantis watches. There’s a basket with long straps sitting by Mantis’ feet and from it he pulls out a bottle of water to drink from. The weather has been simply too hot for his liking, but Yaga needs his exercise.

Mantis sighs and wipes at the sweat pooling at the back of his neck. He’s dressed in the lightest cotton tank he could find and the most breathable linen pants, and still he’s overheating marvelously. The swimming heat does give him an idea, though, and he looks around him briefly before nodding. There were people in the Nexus who knew when their minds were being read. Surface thoughts that were easy enough to get through, but he’s also met those who have a profound level of influence and control.

So why not see where they are? One psychic to another. Mantis begins to hum quietly to himself, but sensitive ears and minds might be able to hear his hymn. It’s a mournful little melody born out of the remnants of childhood memories and he’s used it to amplify his powers for years. It was always meant to sink deep into a part of the brain that was easier to read, easier to control, but he’s not looking to make a puppet or even mess around all that much.

A question echoes and repeats along the notes of the music as it cycles back and forth along the vicinity around the fountain and perhaps even further: “Can you hear me? Do you know where I am? How alone are we in a place like this?”

Comments

[chiaro_oscuro]

"It's a balance. I want to keep myself alive here, and I want to avoid endangering other people if I can help it. If I get myself killed in the Nexus Rey will kill me again." Ben gives a wry smile. They had both been joking, but he has no intention of getting himself killed. "But the Nexus is my home now, and I want to make sure my home is protected. If someone's an immediate threat, that's a different judgement call than someone who may be a threat in the future."

It's a distinction he draws. If someone's on good behavior or under control, there's no need to get involved until the situation changes. If there's someone who's causing a problem and won't stop, there may be a need to step in.

"I'm not very close to too many people, but if anybody leaves a scratch on them here they're dealing with me in the future. Well, almost anybody. The angels are powerful enough that I'd be hard-pressed to leave as much as a scratch on one. Thankfully, most of them are friendly. I'm on good terms with several of them."

[ginger_firebird]

"Having a reason to live helps too. I don't think I had one for a long time, but you have one for personal reasons and for the sake of someone else." His hands wring together a little to even briefly think of Nexus as a home. "I can live here, but... It's not a home. There are things I can't leave behind where I'm from."

Mantis has learned the hard way that you only get better at that the less you're determined to be a bastard yourself.

"That's about the best you can do for others. Support them, if you want, but never stretch yourself thin. You shouldn't mess with angels in general. They're like fairies, but divine instead of primordial."

[chiaro_oscuro]

"Neither did I. But I think I want to live now. The Nexus isn't my real home - that would be my galaxy - but I don't think I'll ever go back there. Even if I could, it wouldn't be a good idea. Rey wants me to live and build myself a future here, and that's what I'm going to do. Maybe some of your friends will find their way here someday. There's nobody from my old organization I'd want to see again."

Ben wonders if he can find ways to use his experiences to help people. He figures there's a way - people who made mistakes in their world and need someone who will listen and won't judge.

"I've never met a fairy." Ben seems curious for a moment. "But I'm guessing they're best avoided. Most of the angels here seem pleasant enough, Aziraphale and the ones Lucifer leads. There's at least one exception, but he keeps to himself. Sometimes it's useful to know someone more powerful than you are."

[ginger_firebird]

"I'll figure out if I want to live. I still haven't found a way back home. It feels like living out existence as the undead. Everything tastes better, feels better, smells better, but it's just because I was used to experiencing nothing."

If anything, he wants to leave the door to his world open and never let it close. There are many on the other side with Sorrow he's sure would appreciate another chance to breathe and eat.

"We have angels and aliens. It makes sense that the nature entities would exist too. Not everyone like them is part of the Fair Folk, but they all act the same."

[chiaro_oscuro]

"I'll say this - coming from the dead teaches you to enjoy a pleasant walk out in the Wilds and a good meal. You don't take as much for granted the second time around. I wasn't really one for personal pleasure. To this day, I don't care much for decadence, especially a particular kind - the kind of people who use others to do their dirty work and can't be bothered to bloody their own hands."

Ben's grown used to a more relaxed lifestyle, but he's still sharp and wary, never exactly at ease.


"There are nature spirits here. It's coming closer to winter, so Reynard or whichever spirit oversees fall might be out and about soon. You can't exactly trust a seasonal spirit. Their season comes first, and I don't think our lives seem as important when you're as old as the world itself. I am only thirty, but I've met people here who are thousands of years old. Some even older." He smiles. "The Spring spirit thought I was undead."

[ginger_firebird]

"The first thing I did once I processed I was alive in this place was eat. The combination of smells and tastes is so strong, I didn't think I'd actually miss it as much as I did. That's part of why you get fed every time you come see me. I want an excuse to cook something."

Hell, there's a whole bedroom full of hobbies he hasn't shown to anyone yet. It won't stay in his room for long, but he can't hide his talents forever.

"Well, I'm thirty-one, and I definitely understand why a nature spirit wouldn't be too impressed with the likes of me. Depending on who you ask, they only gained faces and names when people were smart enough to realize they existed. Their forms are more of a benefit to us than to them."

[chiaro_oscuro]

"I'm grateful for it. You're a good cook, better than me, and that's one of the reasons I visit your place so often. I like the company and I like the food, and you provide both." Ben's still figuring out cooking. It's a process, and he's figured how to make a few dishes.

He has a few hobbies of his own. Ben has picked up calligraphy again and occasionally works on sketches.

"I don't know the way the spirits work, here, but you might know one if you see one. Reynard and Dyane were polite, and I'm not afraid of them, exactly, but they asked very probing questions. I don't know if there are spirits in charge of fall or summer, but since fall's here we might get to see them."

[ginger_firebird]

"I learned to cook from a young age. My friend and I, the one who became my commanding officer, ended up travelling a lot as children and when we were adults. You learn quickly to rely on yourself over anyone else." And if he's honest, Ben is pulling his own weight well with the basics of cooking.

"Reynard? That's a...a French word, I think, where I come from. It means 'fox'. I wouldn't doubt that one is the spirit of fall. What kinds of questions did they ask of you? You say they were probing, but I have a very specific idea of what probing is for a question."

[chiaro_oscuro]

"He's the spirit of winter, actually, not fall." Ben raises an eyebrow. So, it's an Earth term. Reynard the Fox. "If there's a fall spirit, I haven't met them yet, but the closer we get to winter there's more chance he'll appear. Reynard wanted to know about my relationship with the past, and how I was controlling my emotions. Dyane wanted to know about my relationship with Rey. Neither one really seemed to notice that they were making me uncomfortable, but Reynard said he wanted me to succeed."

He chuckles a little. "Multiple people have seen a wolf in me. I've met the Fenris-wolf once - a legendary wolf of mythological size and strength. In legend, he was deceived and bound because the gods feared his power, and at the end of time he'd break free and help destroy the world. The stories were exaggerated, apparently...but not by too much."

[ginger_firebird]

"That still works. Foxes stand out more in the snow, and there are some who even blend in with it. And that other name, Dyane... That's from an old god back home. Some kind of hunter, I think. Maybe that's meant to be an easy way to tell them apart from others. The otherworldly types have a way of announcing themselves."

Mantis tilts his head one way, then another. "More of a bird, I think. I worked with a wolf, and you don't carry the same energy she did when going into battle. You're flighty and prefer to attack your enemies at a bit of a distance."

[chiaro_oscuro]

"I've been told they're dangerous - not necessarily because they're malicious, but because they're so old mortal lives don't mean much to them, and their way of seeing the world is very different. It's important to treat them with respect, but you can't necessarily trust them to help you. Their seasons come first."

That's easy for Ben. He doesn't really trust anyone.

"You should have seen me fight draugrs alongside Atreus." Ben considers that one of his better moments since he came here. "It depends. With weaker opponents, I like to go at them head-on. With stronger ones, I hang back.

[ginger_firebird]

"The people who told you that are right. If the rules from my childhood stories hold true here, you should never trust those types to hold anyone's interests to heart but their own."

He shakes his head. "You do things differently depending on the opponent, but something still tells me you're distinctly a bird. You look like a raven, but you're really more of a raptor than a hunter and gatherer."

[chiaro_oscuro]

"Their duty's to their season - and that might not be the same as what's good for people. I figure that's especially the case with Reynard, given the nature of his season, but I have the sense that none of them are safe. If you meet one, be careful."

Ben smiles slightly. "There are worse animals to be compared to. I like the birds of prey. But a raven isn't bad. Ravens are opportunists."

[ginger_firebird]

"Winter and summer are the ones to be cautious of. A bad winter or summer can ruin crops for the next year and cause people to starve or make the world so unbearable that you can't even leave your home."

Spoken from the perspective of Russian winters, at that. Mantis has a fear and respect of the cold. "They're smart and tricksters. I worked with one who was close to seven feet tall. He had a gun he used that was absolutely massive, even compared to him."