[PRP] Beanie Baby (Preacher & Mercer)

[The Semblance of Unity]

She had shrieked when she felt them on top of her head. And Preacher had shrieked again, even louder, when she realized they were replacing her own ears. A staffer for the gym had burst in, and she'd had to hastily explain (with a towel on her head) that she had slipped on the... soap, yeah, the soap. It was just the icing on the cake of awful that her own shrieks had set off another headache.

They were, objectively, cute. Small and round and a deep brown black. She'd tugged on them, feeling the sensations like they were hers. ...She guess they were hers. ********. Popping on a beanie, she has hustled on into work, hoping to catch Mercer at a good time. It was easiest to bother him there, after all. "Mercer?" she called through the crack of his office door, her voice unusually soft and hesitant. Maybe she was dying; maybe not-rainy still-s**t-land was trying to kill her slowly.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah had a habit of coming into work early sometimes, especially when people had been flipping out about the water changing to another darker shade.

It gave him a headache really.

Couldn't they just-

Well, no, telling them this reality was possibly a fake one would probably not go over well.

He was already on his second cup of tea by the time he heard Preacher and he glanced up towards her.

"Come on in, Preacher," he said to her, head inclined in greeting.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Opening the door, she walked in and closed the door to the exact percentage it had been cracked open - more or less. "Hey, bossman, burning the candle early?" A rhetorical question: Jeremiah was always burning the candle either early or late. He was the chief now, and took his job seriously. Still, Preacher appreciated that he usually had time for her, whether it was here or when she ran into him in rainy bullshitland.

"I was wonderin' if... for today - is it alright if I keep m'beanie on in the building?" She tugged one side of it lower. Hats in a building were normally a faux pas, she thought, moreso at work, unless it was an officer's hat. She wasn't an officer. Her ears twitched slight under the hat. Hopefully, it wouldn't last more than one day. Hopefully. If not, she was going to have to pull some girly kinda hair tease s**t.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"You know me," Jeremiah replied, giving her a wry smile. It was a given that he would be there early or late at some point, possibly multiple times during the week. The only thing that was likely odd was that he did not seem to flounder underneath the pressure.

He actually looked better for it and far more relaxed.

He looked up sharply at the question, blue-green eyes studying her. It was an odd request, especially given that Preacher abided by rules and regulations as if she were an officer herself.

His pen was set down and he leaned back in his seat to really look her over. "I assume this is due to more than a bad hair day?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

There was no getting out of it. Since she'd asked him the question, she owed him the explanation. Cause and effect. Her hands curled into fists befeore she sighed.

"Little bit more than that." Preacher supposed seeing was believing. With one hand, she tugged off her beanie. It was amazing how the knit material was like a clown car. Damp hair seemed to explode out of it (she hadn't blow-dried it, because what if someone saw the ears - what if she burned them?), and the small ears flicked towards Jeremiah. They were relatively unobtrusive, but she felt like she was wearing a flashing siren on her head.

She shrugged, trying to look casual. "I... musta caught something on the other side, maybe...?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah blinked, blue-green eyes flickering and glowing for a moment before it subsided.

A hand then smoothed across his face. "... that's one way to put turning into a moonwalker." As he was going to assume that was what the case was.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"But I wasn't bit at all!" She knew a couple of the moonwhatsits - weres. But she'd been bit by nothing, not even in her sleep. Preacher had been experiencing the hearing problems, but she honestly thought it was jsut some kind of infection.

"You sure it isn't tha other Ashdown flu?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"You don't have to be bitten, Preacher, some of the others developed spontaneously. In fact, so far as I'm aware, it is only those who are Noble of the Court that cannot spontaneously develop."

He gave her a look them because other ashdown flu. Really.

"I assume you've been experiencing other symptoms?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I thought you had to get bit," she muttered. It being spontaneously developing was kind of like the flu. In fact - she said as much. "If it's spontaneous, it might as well be an Ashdown flu. Because afterwards, I'll be contagious, too." Preacher did not sound happy about that.

She looked up at Jeremiah. "You remember when I bummed some earplugs off you? My hearing's been gettin' all super-sensitive for no reason sometimes. I can hear like... really, really good. Too good, sometimes it makes me sick." She almost said 'hork' but figured that was not a workplace-appropriate word.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"... the other ashdown flu usually results in memory loss," Jeremiah deadpanned, "but, yes, you'll be contagious if you bite someone and break the skin. I don't think you'll be able to affect someone who isn't already involve or someone who is a warg or ..."

He shook his head as she explained the symptoms, giving her ears a look and then sighing. "I would imagine that you're going to be dealing with these symptoms off and on until the first full moon." Then he paused. "... which you will need to be in other ashdown for. Do you have someone who's going to take you?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Well, I promise not to bite ya, then." Defensive humor because honestly this was all freaking her out a bit.

Preacher frowned heavily. "I'l have ta be in there? I.. didn't know that n' no, I dunno anyone who can easily pop over. Like Lily said they all carpool and s**t. Whenever I've been it's just cuz the place gets a wild hair up its a** and sucks me over." This all seemed hardly fair.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"You could try but I'm likely immune, for one, and for another there's very little that can actually damage me." There was a reason Jeremiah was a bit rough and tumble when it came to training but Preacher did not know that.

"Yes, you do. You remember the ones at Blackfriars, don't you? What happened with them happened because they were on this side of the veil when the moon rose." His shoulders rolled before he steepled his fingers a moment. "If you go with the rest, you should be alright and find a way over. I would recommend going with another moonwalker for the first time but if you, for some reason, decide you don't want to I can help you cross over. I can find entrances without problem." The same way he had lead her to an exit when they had been there.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Yeah, I keep forgetting you're like made of titanium now or somethin'." If Mercer was immune to fire, it wouldn't surprise her if he was indestructible. Like some kind of spookyshit superman.

"Blackfriars I was in the basement. I never saw a one a the crazed weres, just a weird cat boy." Still, it was highly disconcerting to think about. Even more disconcerting was the idea that she'd have to rely on someone else to get her to shitland on the full moon. Big alarm bells went off in her head. "How d'you find entrances?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Think more dragonhide," he replied with a wry smile, "than titanium." Which was about as much as he was willing to explain.

"There's a breakfast muffin next to the teapot if you'd like it, Preacher." Since he did not think she had breakfast yet and he needed to offer before he forgot.

"You were lucky in that regard." Jeremiah remembered her talking about it as it was, in all honesty, one of their first conversations about the true nature of Ashdown. A hand raised and tapped against his temple; a gesture towards his eyes. "I can see them, among other things. Specifically it's the places where the veil is thin but it's how I find my way in and out."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Next thing she knew he'd sprout wings and fly the ******** away. Or kidnap princesses in a tower. She glanced at the muffin. While Preacher had not yet eaten, she'd also been too caught up in new developments to even think to eat. As a result, her appetite had died entirely.

"Nah, but thank you, I'm alrigh'." As he tapped his temple, she understood a bit better. Must have to do with the reflection thing he had going on. "Maybe it'll be kind to me one day and tell me where openin's are, too." Preacher highly doubted it.

"I'll ask Lily 'bout a ride, I guess." It was clear she was highly uncomfortable with the idea. "But 'til these clear up, can I wear the beanie? Or some other hat..."

azuredreams