[PRP] Daffodils in Bloom (Zac & Horace)

[endejester]

“I’m really not sure that I’m –that- good at information, but I’ll do my best!” He assured. “So um, yeah! go ahead and ask away, I’ll answer anything I can, and maybe I can tell you whom else you can talk to if I don’t know the answers.” He nodded to confirm this.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Are you kidding - you're like a walking encyclopedia, I bet." Horace patted the bench next to him, inviting Zac to take a seat.

"I guess," he said, suddenly at a loss about what to ask. "Can you tell me why you've stars in your eyes, but most don't? Like why some people have animalistic traits and some don't?"

endejester

 

[endejester]

He sat, gaze drifting from one side to another as he tried to dodge the compliment, and perhaps the question as well, it was hard to say.

“I…” He started and then stopped, the words locking against each other, perfectly formed it seemed to lock up in a verbal intersection, a traffic accident of answers.
“Well, a giant centipede thing, sort of gave me them.” He admitted after a moment. “It had no end, it had a beginning but there was no end to it, it just kept on going like, space I suppose.”

“As for, well, as for animal traits, I’m guessing for the most part it’s… well it’s different stories.” He said cautiously. He wasn’t sure the ‘Were’ secret was his to tell.

“Werewolves.” He said after a moment flashing a grin.

“Well, one of them anyhow. I think they said bites are indeed contagious. But, I mean, I guess in this reality, in this world even…. we’re all magic users, and that’s not a good thing.” He shook his head, before glancing back.

“… my eyes used to be blue.” He offers a smile without humor, and less warmth than sadness.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"That... makes sense," he said slowly. It did not make sense. Some kind of weird ouroboros of a worm?

"So there's werewolves and magic and then... people like us, I guess." His grin matched Zac's. "You'd look good with blue eyes, but there's something about having stars in your eyes - the poetry writes itself." He tapped his fingers along the top of his coffee cup.

"I'd like to think it's not so bad being magic. I always wanted to feel special." He shrugged.

Endejester

 

[endejester]

His cheeks warmed, and he cleared his throat. "Thankyou." He murmured the words running into each other.

"I mean, it is, special to do magic, but when you get down to it all, it's kind of dangerous. There are -things- this side of magic that you have to be really careful dealing with. You can get killed, or worse." He shook his head from side to side.

"So please, please be careful. I nearly stopped being human not too long ago. Sounds strange I know but, you can't loose sight of who you are."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I'm just two hundred and six bones in a skin bag, Zac. There's not much to lose sight of." He laughed mirthlessly. "What did you almost become instead of human?" Horace knew there were some, those non-magical and prejudiced, who would say neither of them were human any longer. Still, he was curious about Zac's version of not-human.

"If you die over here, what happens to the body?" Did they have other-worldly funeral homes here?

endejester

 

[endejester]

"There are um, things here called the Nameless, and they kinda either look like mannequins or... like glowing things, glowing people. They aren't, individuals anymore, they are like, a collective." He flinched a sort of grin.


"I was sort of turning plastic in parts."

"Um, as for bodies, wellll... um, I... it seems to depend. Some people seem to just vanish, others, well um, there was this thing with a foot."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

He looked at Zac, wondering if there were still any plastic parts. If so, they weren't visible. "Mannequins? Wait, were they plasticizing you into one of them or something - why?" Horace frowned. Honestly, that didn't sound fun at all.

"A... foot," he said slowly. "A foot of what?" Bubble gum?

endejester

 

[endejester]

"Long, story, it... I was in a bad head space and in other ashdown, and um, apparently I was in the right place for them to try and make me an offer."

He shook his head though at the foot of gum, and then pointed to his own foot. "Foot." He said. "Long story, you wouldn't have known her I don't think though."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Well, if that phrasing didn't set off little alarm bells in Horace's head. "Do you... well, are you feeling any better? I mean, I'm glad you're not plastic, Zac." He interlaced his fingers around the coffee cup.

"Considering most of the people I know have both their feet, no, I don't think so." He shrugged. "Was the foot like... extra special magic or something?"

endejester

 

[endejester]

“Oh, d-don’t worry” He said raising a placating hand. “I, don’t mean to attract them again. “ He shook his head and absently rubbed at his collarbone where the stars now marked him. Not that it was his only strange marking when he was here in Other Ashdown, the child sized handprint on his wrist, that was strange too because he hadn’t any idea why it was there.

“And um, no, the foot belonged to a very sweet person. She’s… gone now I think.” He said softly. “I’m not sure anyone in this world knows her or…of her. Her name was Heliodora. I wanted to help her get home but, I didn’t.”

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"No, no, I don't know of anyone by that name." And he'd remember. "Sorry." Horace wondered if he should ask further, but what if it was a painful story? He'd already asked about the plastic people and that seemed distressing enough.

The handprint, though. "Is that-" he gestured to Zac's wrist. "From the nameless, too?"

endejester

 

[endejester]

"Um, oddly, no? I have NO idea where creepy unwashed child handprint is from." He admitted.

"It just sorta, was there one time when I stepped into Other Ashdown." He admitted, which was about the least helpful thing you could know about a think, or very close to it.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Does it... does it come off? I don't remember seeing it before."

endejester

 

[endejester]

"If it counts, I only ever see it when I step into Other Ashdown, I have no idea if it comes off otherwise. It's just... a hand print, you know?"

The Semblance of Unity