Open | Obligatory Pretty Woman Montage Reference Here

[effiomsfavorite]

Who: Huvrye effiomsfavorite and whoever would like to join in
What: Huvrye has never experienced civilian life, and now he's in a new world with an unlimited credit card. This is the venn diagram overlap of Fish Out Of Water and Shopping Montage.
When: Late November/Early December - within the first few days after his arrival
Where: Central City
Content Warnings: None so far, will be labeled if they come up

1. The Pretty Woman shopping montage

[Huvrye has never been shopping in his life. It's been all military uniforms for day one, and they only got as personalized as patches with his identification number and, when he received one after surviving basic, his name. So getting clothes to replace his - because his shirt is still stained despite his best attempts to wash it - needs to happen.]

[You might see him in a department store, looking very lost in the men's section. He's not spoiled for choice so much as he is paralyzed by it. How is he supposed to choose?]

[Or you may see him in that same department store, having discovered the Hawaiian shirts. He's holding one that's bright blue and patterned with pink flowers and looking absolutely delighted. Someone please keep him from buying nothing but Hawaiian shirts, because he absolutely will.]

[Or you may find him later, on a street lined by boutiques, being firmly escorted from one of the fancier ones. He doesn't resist - it doesn't look like he's been causing trouble - but he definitely glares at the door as it shuts behind him. He's been treated like a person for a few days now, and it turns out going back to being treated like a lesser being stings after that.]

[(It's possible the boutique doesn't like metas; it's also entirely possible they threw him out for bad taste, because he's definitely wearing a brightly patterned sweater. It's not quite Ugly Christmas Sweater territory, but it's very close.)]

2. Lunchtime

[It's been a while since Huvrye has eaten - he'd been given a hot drink when he was helping with the snowstorm a few days back, and before that he can't really remember. But he's got the time now, and the money, and he can still hear Gozol's warning about aura poisoning rattling around in his head, so he might as well get a meal. He'd found something near the Diadem hotel called a Food Court, and upon arrival...well, it's the same issue as the department store: too many choices, zero context. He's at least found a map of the place, and is looking it over (and trying his hardest not to miss Yin, because even if Yin didn't have context for this world in particular, he might at least know more). He sees you passing, and waves you over.]

Hey, is this-

[He points at a completely random listing without even looking at it.]

-any good?

3. Lobby

[Huvrye has seen places this fancy before, sure, but they were for top brass and rich civs. He still hasn't quite wrapped his mind around the fact that he's staying in the Diadem Hotel himself, if only temporarily, but he's still taking advantage of it. For now, he's sitting in the lobby, in one of the plush chairs, wings splayed out over the sides and draping onto the floor, people watching. He's still not used to the fact that he's the only homunculus here, the only fairy - it's weird to be in a fancy civ place not to see the bright colors of salon-modified wings everywhere he looks. Still, his sweater is cozy, and the coffee he'd picked up on the way here has salted caramel in it (which is a new and fantastic experience for him) - he can be comfortable here for a while. Join him, observe him, judge him for getting his coffee from Starbucks - either way, he's not going anywhere for a bit.]

4. Wildcard

[Got another idea? Write your own prompt or hit me up at kiaxet or Kiaxet#7085!]

Comments

1

[doctopoda]

[Out on the sidewalk, Otto pauses to watch this whole thing. On one hand, he can imagine several reasons for another obvious meta to get hustled out of a fancy boutique! On the other...]

They wouldn't have had anything to fit you, anyway.

[The guy's got enormous wings! Otto feels a certain kinship there; he's got some unusual back-limbs going on himself.]

You know, they've got specialty stores in this world for people with different limb configurations. I can show you the one I like, it's not too far from here.

[effiomsfavorite]

[Huvrye isn't expecting to be addressed, and he turns around to see-]

[Mechanical arms? Legs? Limbs. That's new.]

[He blinks and catches up on the conversation. Of course they would've fit - his wings aren't an issue-]

[But nobody else here is a fairy, so how would they know that? All they see are wings.]

Oh. Um-

[He turns again - not completely, but enough for the stranger to see his back - and tugs at the neck of his sweater. The sweater moves up, passing through his wings with no resistance, and there are no holes in the sweater to accommodate them. It's the upside of his wings being made of aura instead of flesh and blood.]

[But that's a conversation ender, and he doesn't particularly want to end this - not when this stranger has offered him a kindness. That's still pretty new to him, and he doesn't want to let it go. He turns back around.]

But yeah, I'd like to see a different store.

[doctopoda]

Oh! Well, now I'm jealous.

[That's handy! A whole lot easier to work with than what Otto's sporting!]

I only shop at the specialty stores, for obvious reasons - [one of the tentacles is looking at Huvrye, like it's just doing that] - but I do recognize some of the brands here from home. I can show you around a little. What're you looking for?

[effiomsfavorite]

Yeah, it's pretty convenient.

[He hadn't given it a single thought until people here had started making a big deal about it. This place continues to be extremely weird.]

[Speaking of which: that appendage is definitely staring at him. He stares back as the man keeps talking, only looking up in surprise when the question hits.]

Uh-

[He's never had to look for civ clothes before. He can figure out the basics well enough, but he's lost once he gets to anything resembling the specifics (which is probably why the people in that boutique lost patience with him, come to think of it).]

I...don't know. I've only ever worn uniforms.

[Government-assigned clothing for the government property. The only unique bits were the name patch on his chest and the rank on his shoulders. He pulls at the sweater again - just a little, to draw attention to it.]

This is pretty comfy, though.

[doctopoda]

[Otto catches the guy watching the tentacle - how could he not? But honestly? Not even gonna explain it right now.]

Only ever? [That's. Hm.] Well. Let's try a department store. Lots of different kinds of clothes there, you should be able to find something.

[He's not exactly the most sartorial guy out there, but it seems like this is gonna be real basic anyhow!]

[effiomsfavorite]

[The tentacle is staring at him! What else is he supposed to do?]

[Sounds like this guy didn't miss the implications of what Huvrye told him, but Huvrye isn't about to elaborate. He likes being treated like people, and he's not about to upend that for himself.]

Sounds good. Lead the way.

[He thinks he was in one of those earlier, but if this guy knows a better one, he'll definitely take the recommendation.]

[doctopoda]

[He certainly hasn't gotten the full implications, at least not the way Huvrye is thinking, but all the possibilities he's turning over in his head certainly involve something unpleasantly oppressive! But far be it from Otto to venture any of those; he just turns to lead the way, one of the other tentacles taking over Looking At Huvrye duty as he moves.]

So you arrived in that blizzard, hm? I was out there too, with the recovery teams, but we must have ended up at different stations. [He offers a hand.] Otto Octavius.

[effiomsfavorite]

[Unpleasantly Oppressive is about right, in much the same way the sun is Slightly Warm. But let's not talk about that.]

[Huvrye falls into step, though he's still watching the observation tentacle. Not many things have struck him as creepy here, but being scrutinized by a machine like this sure is.]

Yeah, though they sent me here when the recovery teams showed up. I wasn't exactly dressed for the weather. [He takes the proffered hand in a firm handshake.] Huvrye Tirvio.

[...nope, he needs to ask.] Why is your arm...thing...staring at me?

[doctopoda]

Good to meet you.

[At the question, he raises his eyebrows and glances at the arm.]

Ah - I'm sorry. [The claw closes a little and lowers, though it doesn't completely stop looking at Huvrye.] My vision was...damaged, about a year ago. They help me, especially out in the sun like this.

[His sunglasses do look sort of unusual compared to everyone else's, though of course it's always a toss-up between "medical aid" and "weird superhero fashion statement".]

[effiomsfavorite]

Good to meet you too.

[And it is - it's still a novelty to be treated like a person, especially by a stranger-]

[Which is why he feels like a complete jerk when the staring tentacle is explained. He'd thought it was a weird machine thing, not actual vision assistance.]

Oh.

[A beat.]

Uh- sorry about that.

[Meet new people, immediately ask them invasive questions. Great job.]

[doctopoda]

It's fine.

[People have said worse things about the arms, in all honesty. People including Otto himself!]

They weren't originally developed as any kind of medical device. A little unwieldy, for that sort of thing. But it's worked out. [And that's all we really need to say about it!] The medical technology here far exceeds what we had, back where I'm from. But you're probably from some sort of magical world, hm?

[effiomsfavorite]

[In the interests of not accidentally winding up in invasive question territory again, Huvrye does not pursue. The weird mechanical tentacles help him see now. End of story.]

Nah, we have tech and alchemy - I hadn't really heard of magic being real until I got here.

[He's pretty sure it's because people associate fairies with magic for the same weird reason they think fairies should be six inches tall, but he hasn't exactly bothered to investigate it.]

We definitely don't have anything like yours, though.

[The tentacles are weird, but he can appreciate how useful they'd be.]

[doctopoda]

They're one-of-a-kind. For my world, anyway - I've heard of others out there.

[Mostly in the hands of other Octaviuses. Octavii? Point being, it's weird and he doesn't much want to get into it.]

I'm working in neuroprosthetics here, now. In addition to all the Guild stuff. [He shoots Huvrye a sidelong look, like with his actual eyes.] I can answer any questions you have about them. Easier to do that in person.

1

[badbutsadboy]

[As Huvrye compares shirts Hunter notices the delight first and it strikes a chord. The man is holding up colorful clothes like it's the first time he's ever gotten to really choose.]

[It's how he felt when he first got here. The first time he had a choice in his clothing, after the Rebellion had given him better than his mismatched, stolen clothes, it's not like they had whole stockpiles of clothes in his size. They found clothes that were practical, correctly sized, and functional and he still had his boots.]

[And it hadn't been that different because the clothes he wore when he wasn't in his Golden Guard uniform at the palace were... practical and functional and he wore the same boots.]

[No, it's only since he first came here that he's had time to really think about what he wants to wear. What colors to try (he still likes yellow). What cuts of fabric (loose and soft, but not too loose). He's found like he likes bright clothes, and comfortable ones, and he likes things with Earth animals or cute designs like little fruits or brightly-colored clashing patterns. He even found a t-shirt with a cool Earth creature he's learned is called a wolf and he wants to google more about them the next time he remembers to. He especially likes his pair of crocs even if it's too cold to wear them now. Very comfy.]

[Earth's clothes are especially nice because they have an infinite numbers of styles. It's a large world with many peoples and more than one culture, so there's more of a variety to it all.]

[(Shame he has to give a lot of it up and focus on wearing what's practical again, what with his plans to run away).]

[So the gestures and expression catch his eye first, ringing as familiar but his expression fades from amused familiarity (a "yes, aha, mood") to confused only a half-second later. He walks around a free-standing rack full of jeans to make sure it's not the lighting, squinting.]

[Then his jaw drops.]

[Pointy ears. Reddish-tinted eyes (though Hunter's are a touch pinker). Even light hair like his, though that possibly isn't exclusive to Grimwalkers. Not that he's entirely sure. Caleb could've been blonde or maybe that was a Grimwalker thing, too. There's so little he actually knows, even after the books he found.]

[It's all still enough to leave him in shock. He's too shocked to make the first move. To say anything. His mind races. Is it just coincidence? Is it another Grimwalker somehow? Pulled here too?]

[...is it one of the others? Was there one that'd come right before him, an older Golden Guard, that had quickly escaped before being introduced to anyone? Had he somehow escaped alive? One between Darius' mentor (this guy looks too young to have mentored Darius) and himself? The pointier nose isn't a deal-breaker - Belos did say he looked the most like Caleb, which means others hadn't looked as much like him.]

[So Huvrye is treated to the sight of a gaping teenage boy, with similar eyes, similar hair, and similar eyes, looking at him like he's never seen another like himself before.]

[A bird climbs out of the hood of his hoodie, where he'd been using it as a little hammock where it lay against Hunter's back, and hops to his shoulder. Somehow the bird also looks surprised, which is a weird thing for a bird to look like. It tweets out a few cuckoo-like noises and while they don't sound anything at all like the cadence of human words there is somehow a tone to it that, when matched to its expression, sounds like the surprised bird equivalent of "what the fuck?!" followed by some kind of question.]

[Hunter hisses. (To the bird, it should be noted.)]

How am I supposed to know?!

Spider-Man Point dot jpeg

[effiomsfavorite]

[Huvrye misses the motion and the staring. There are plenty of other people in the store, and he's been stared at quite a bit over the past few days. As long as people aren't running or screaming in fear, he generally tries not to return the look. Plus, his attention is entirely on the clothing rack in front of him - he is spoiled for choice here, and has only just started to come around to the idea that unlimited credit means he can just buy them all. It's a heady notion.]

[The chirping gets his attention - why is there a bird inside? - and he looks over to lock eyes with another homunculus-]

[Surprise shuts down his filter entirely, and he speaks before he can catch himself.]

Wait, you're a homunculus-

[Reality clicks in the next moment, shutting down the wide-eyed shock. The kid may have all the hallmarks of a homunculus - the hair, the skin, the eyes - but he's still a kid. That's the dealbreaker. And, Huvrye's brain adds in the moment after, he doesn't have wings. There's no fairy alive who doesn't have wings.]

[(There are, however, plenty of dead ones. Maybe don't think about that right now.)]

[He shakes his head, muttering.]

No, that's stupid. They wouldn't make a kid.

[The kid sure seems surprised by it, though - he'd already been staring when Huvrye had caught sight of him. Something is up.]

Are you okay?

[badbutsadboy]

[ His eyes go even wider at "homunculus" and "wouldn't make a kid." It's not something that is a formal concept back home, not a specific thing, but "homunculus" is a technical term he'd read in the books about Grimwalkers, sometimes used to describe artificially constructed entities. So, when books were referencing Grimwalkers and free-standing abominations as a group when talking about man-made beings, he'd seen it come up.]

[Does he only know what they are by that word because it's a more general concept? Is there a chance he's a Grimwalker but only has a basic idea of what he is and not the specifics?]

[He hisses at him.] Shh! Don't say that so loud! Nobody knows what I am!

[He looks around frantically trying to desperately make sure no one overheard, especially not someone he knows or that might know someone he knows.]

[He looks around and sees a hallway that leads to doors that possibly are some management area. The hallway doesn't seem heavily trafficked. It's a quieter place they can without anyone overhearing but still opens to the store proper so he's not dragging some strange man off to somewhere where they're alone. It's just a little more out of the way but still visible so he can scream over-dramatically like a terrified child if he wants strangers to get spooked and call the authorities.]

[(Because if he's some secret Grimwalker, what if he works for his unc - for Belos still? Best to play it safe and go slightly more private but not entirely private where the stranger might try to kill him for the glory of the Emperor.)]

Also why do you have wings?! Is that a power you got when you showed up here?

[He grabs the man by the wrist with both hands and tugs. There are plenty of adults he'd be able to bowl right over, but while Hunter's not necessarily small at 5'8," the stranger is comparatively huge. (Still doesn't mean he isn't a Grimwalker because Belos is an extremely tall man so his brother possibly was).]

[...There's also the fact that not everyone likes to be grabbed, but Hunter's a bit too panicked right now to worry about that consideration. He's more worried about not being overheard.]

[Oh, they will just laugh about this miscommunication later. Laugh and laugh... (Not).]

[effiomsfavorite]

[...so the kid's not okay.]

[And evidently Huvrye hit on something, because nobody knows what I am sounds like he is a homunculus, and that doesn't make any sense. There's no reason for a child homunculus - espionage isn't a concern anymore, a kid isn't going to be able to handle a gun like an adult can, and the kid doesn't have wings. He's more likely to be a construct than a homunculus-]

[And he's cutting that train of thought off there. That's not going to help anyone, and the kid is trying to drag him somewhere now, and he can't afford to be in his thoughts when whatever this is is happening.]

Wh- I've always had wings. We all do. Why don't you?

[He lets himself be pulled - towards a hallway, looks like. Privacy without actually disappearing from view. Smart kid. Once they get there, he stops short - sorry, kid, no more pulling - and flares a wing open. It's not enough to hide the kid from view entirely, but it's enough for a little more privacy. His voice is low when he speaks, and he tries to put some calm into it, because one of them needs to be calm and it's not going to be the kid who's panicking at the sight of him.]

[(He hasn't missed the panic, or being feared. This is what he gets for talking without thinking, isn't it. Stupid.)]

Look, I'm not gonna hurt you. I don't even know who you are. You just- you look like a homunculus, that's all.

[badbutsadboy]

[Confusion. And his words are quiet, rapid-fire, and a little panicked.]

We all d-

Was that not in the books I read? Is that something we had before we went mostly extinct?! Am I supposed to have wings?

Do you know? [The head turn makes it clear the question is directed at the bird who...shrugs. It actually shrugs albeit in a very birdy way. And twits out a short reply that seems possibly a negative.]

[This situation is extra confusing by virtue of the fact Hunter is the last Grimwalker left as far as he knows. The secret to making them had been gathered by Belos and locked away. And they'd likely long since been gone by the time he even found it, provided Belos hadn't discovered one of them as some sad, last remnant. But if there was a living Grimwalker, it had to be gone now, just like the only remaining basilisks are the ones Belos made.]

[He doesn't know what's normal and that means he doesn't know what's not normal. He doesn't know what shape Grimwalkers took when so much has been relegated to legend and what's presently here is so...artificially shaped. Him-shaped. Caleb-shaped. An imitation.]

Also, why are you using the word 'homunculus'? That was always a very technical term in the books I read, but everyone else usually used "Grimwalker" since homunculus could also reference other artificially created beings or constructs -

[Oh. Oh no. Something just occurred to him.]

- you are a Grimwalker, right? From the Boiling Isles?

[How many coincidences could there be if it was some otherdimensional stranger not even from the same world?]

[effiomsfavorite]

[So the weirdest part of all of this is definitely that bird. It looks like the bird can actually understand the kid and communicate with him, and as far as Huvrye knows, birds aren't supposed to do that.]

[(Yin would love this, wouldn't he. It's like something out of his books.)]

[He lets the kid talk himself out - namely because he's pretty sure he can't get a word in edgewise - until the kid finally leaves him room to talk, at the end of a question that at least one of them should've asked way sooner than this.]

No. I'm a homunculus from Lasardhi. A fairy.

[Distinct from most of the population of this world, and not just because of his wings. And also, because they're here:]

My name is Huvrye.

[badbutsadboy]

Hunter.

[No last name.]

[Hunter looks even more confused.]

Fairies are like this big. [He holds his fingers just a few inches apart.] Small. Small enough people can bake them into -

[Oh he has made multiple mistakes, he now thinks, and he's gonna head that one off at the pass. Besides, there are some people that think fairy pies are inhumane, even if fairies do like to eat people's skin. This is clearly not the same kind of fairy, judging from multiple features.]

[His expression changes and though neither of them would get the reference, he looks a bit like a Muppet making a horrifying realization.]

Ignore that! My mistake! We appear to be from entirely different worlds with a frankly disconcerting number of things that are only vaguely in common.

[His voice gets more and more shrill as he talks, even if he's still keeping it mostly quiet. It's going up in pitch but not volume.]

If you ever see me again we can just pretend we never met because Iiii will absolutely pretend you're just really confused! Especially if you say anything to anyone about anything I just said!

Grimwalker? What's that? I definitely don't know! Humunculus? Never heard of it!

[He walks, moving to leave the hall, but Huvrye's wing is in his way. He points to it, making a little "please move it" gesture with a hand. It is a little bossy and imperious to not even ask politely, but to be fair, he's bossed around adults ever since he became Golden Guard.]

[effiomsfavorite]

[Nobody here can get over this weird "fairies are tiny" notion, can they. He lets it go - it's not the first time someone has said something like that to him, and it won't be the last.]

[(He's definitely not pursuing what fairies in Hunter's world get baked into. It's not worth it.)]

Not where I'm from.

[The kid backpedals extremely hard, still panicking, tries to leave, and- nah. Nope. Not happening. Not after the conversation they've just had. And especially not after that gesture - that's pretty imperious coming from a kid.]

[Not that Hunter couldn't just waltz out if he tried - the wing is edged in a red glow and made of aura, not flesh and bone. It looks solid enough, but would feel like a particularly unpleasant mist curtain if Hunter decided to just walk right through it. Hunter doesn't need to know that right now - not when Huvrye is trying to keep him here. He folds his arms.]

Yeah, that's not how this works. Unless there's someone else I don't know about, you and I are the only homunculi here - we might as well stick together.

...and I'm not planning on telling anyone. They don't need to know.

[If nobody here can clock a homunculus at fifty feet, then they don't need that information. He's not about to volunteer to be treated like property again - not if he can avoid it.]

[badbutsadboy]

[He doesn't know what the wing will feel like is the problem. It could electrocute him or something and he can't risk it when Flapjack is so much smaller than him. And the other hallway has doors...to what? Offices? Do they even have windows?]

[His voice gets awfully bossy.]

Listen, we're not the same thing, we don't have to tell each other anything about ourselves, and we don't have to talk ever again. So you should just let me go and -

[But he doesn't even get much time for that to work because the bird flutters up to grab his forelock and give it a good solid yank.]

Ow! Stop that!

[The bird lets go and chitters at him in obvious chastisement. And apparently he loves the little bird too much to fight him on anything. He caves instantly.]

Okay, fine! I'll just talk to a total stranger about my deep dark secret. Because there's no way that'll blow up in my face!

[The bird cheeps again and lands on his shoulder once more, looking at him expectantly.]

[He doesn't look at Flapjack or Huvrye, arms crossed, casting his gaze at the floor.]

What does it mean? When you say you're a homunculus? What does that mean in your world?

[effiomsfavorite]

[Not that it would've worked to begin with. Huvrye has been ordered around by much scarier people than the literal child in front of him, and he's not about to take it from Hunter.]

[But he doesn't have to try to argue - the bird does it for him, and it looks like Hunter's not going to argue with it. He gives the bird a sidelong glance and the barest hint of a smile.]

I dunno, I think your bird likes me.

[Stranger or not, having the bird on his side is probably a good thing. Plus, he likes the bird plenty himself. It's been a while since he's seen one that wasn't corrupted, and it's a nice change of pace.]

[The good humor drops when Hunter keeps the conversation going like the bird told him to. What does it mean, to be a homunculus in Lasardhi?]

[Nothing good.]

We all look like this. [A quick gesture, up-down, to indicate himself.] Well, not exactly, but - light hair, red eyes, gold skin, natural wings. Someone wanted to make sure we couldn't ever be mistaken for civilians. The rest of it-

[The war. The murders. Government property-]

It's not the kind of thing you talk about in front of civs. They don't want to know.

[He sighs and folds his wing back in.]

I have a room at the fancy hotel across the street.

[It's an invitation. Continue the conversation there, where they don't have to worry about someone overhearing them. He may know a thing or two about keeping private conversations private.]

[badbutsadboy]

Fine. [It's not a bad idea.] What room number? I'll come in through the window.

[He explains.]

Until I know more I don't really want people seeing us together after this. They might ask questions and I - I don't even know what fake answers to give yet.

[If they both went "wait, what? Is that...?" over it...]

[effiomsfavorite]

And you getting up to the window won't draw even more attention?

[Hunter has no wings and it's a tall hotel. He's missing something here.]

We could just tell people you're my kid.

[...yes, he's serious. Huvrye no]

[But he doesn't pursue it and shrugs instead, giving his room number. He doesn't know how long Hunter has been here, but odds are it's longer than Huvrye's current tenure; he might know something about all of this that Huvrye doesn't.]