2.15 Skyline

"Well," Mab daintily seats herself on the couch next to her son, not entirely surprised to wake up one morning and find her children have returned as mysteriously as they disappeared, "you have some explaining to do."

Junpei smiles tiredly. "Could I try to dim your anger by making you breakfast first?"

"Not a chance," his mother replies.

"Are you sure? Because..."

It's kind of a long story.

And Junpei does his best to make it sound all-around less... harrowing.

 But in the end all the details spill out. There's no reason to hide them anymore.

It's all in the past now; no one can stop Junpei from taking risks he's already taken.

"I would have been heartbroken if something had happened to you," Mab tells him, "and, I suppose, if you were never born, this vampire's visions would have eventually led her to someone else. But since you are here... I'm glad you chose to help her."

"You're the first one to understand," Junpei says distantly.

"Did I ever tell you about the grid glitch in '89?"

"No."

"I was barely grown up. People still mistook me for a teenager. And I had such an attitude, everyone I met thought I was a lost cause. This actually worked in my favor when a cop arrested me for vagrancy." Mab can't remember exactly how many times such a scenario played out, but this time was different. "He brought me to the station to check my I.D. against suspected smugglers. Of course, my poor little I.D. cards were fake, so we were tied up there all day."

"They tried to find out who you really were, but Barnacle Bay was five sectors away, so they didn't have any files on you," Junpei reasons.

"So I was sitting there, rolling my eyes, swearing up and down and sideways about how I was who the cards said I was, and how I lost my job in another town and I was there looking for work and not trouble. The cop is getting frustrated, and starts telling me about all the charges he can conjure up against a person with no identity, and that's when..."

Young Mab felt something very strange.

A queasy-scrambled-cold sort of strange.

It was the day the skyline melted.

The jaded inner-city cop's hardass facade crashed down. Mab rose from the uncomfortable steel chair and walked slowly to the window.

"That city had a breakdown. Their energy consumption needs had outstripped the system's recycling ability. So what happened was, the... erm... ground... began to absorb the city, starting at the edges and working its way inward. Buildings, people, plants, everything... they were broken down in minutes, for fuel, to keep the machine running." Mab frowns. "It was a failsafe. A shutdown would have caused much more damage. Lucky for me, it re-stabilized just a block away from the police station. Only a few miles of the city were left untouched. A perfect little circle of it."

Junpei is quiet while Mab tells the story. In the time between leaving her home in Barnacle Bay as a teenager, and settling in Hidden Springs as a young adult, her life was difficult and traumatic, and many incidents have been reduced to memories she had to suppress just to function like a normal person.

He does wonder about the purpose of telling this story now.

"That's when I decided I would never go into one of the mega-cities again," Mab continues. "I wanted there to be at least grass and dirt under my feet. Some people say they can't understand the difference, since the grid is still there, underneath it and above it.... but there's a world of difference. Our population isn't at those levels. Our town doesn't depend entirely on the grid." 

Still, without it, they'd all die.

"Do you think Loki was right to want to dismantle it or something?"

"No, that guy was definitely crazy."

Finley left for work in the pre-dawn hours before her mother woke up. Insultingly enough, her employers didn't notice she'd been missing for several days. When her boss saw her, he told her: "a fight broke out at the book shop and someone was thrown through a window, one of you go do a story on it."

At which point Finley glanced at Reisa, and Reisa shot her a look over her oversized coffee mug. A look that read I'm not doing any work today.

And so! Finley set off to do some reporting.

Arethusa Woodard gives her eye-witness account of the fight. Turns out nobody was actually thrown through a window. A major disappointment.

Inspired, Finley visits Accalia after putting in her required time at the office.

The Woodard/Shawkti household is not short on mundane drama to catch up on.

Accalia is expecting her second child. Achilles recently moved out to live with his girlfriend Nicola Song and their newborn daughter, Akantha. All of this settling down and having children has made their sister, Arethusa, self-conscious about her unlucky love life.

"So tell me why you were away," Accalia requests. "Your mother was freaking out."

Finley winces. "Oh, alright..."

"...So then we had to take the train."

Accalia stares, unamused. "That is the craziest story I've ever heard in my life."

"So you actually ran into a dryad who tried to kill you. I suppose this the moment where I feel guilty for ever considering not helping your brother. Your butts would have both been dead."

"But you don't feel guilty, so why lie about it?"

"I'm a reporter, but I have to keep so many secrets. It's a part of the job I never considered." Even this conversation Finley is having with another magic user, and one she should trust, is full of lies of omission. Junpei's mysterious healing powers are not something she wants accidentally slipped to the dryad colony. "But maybe someday public opinion will be more favorable towards us. And I'm one tiny part of the media machine, so maybe I can help with that in some small way."

"Until then I am fine with people not believing in dryads," Accalia says, one eyebrow raised. "You're not thinking of covering the war more, surely? You went through a lot of shit for even vaguely humanizing vampires in your articles."

"I don't care what scared old ladies think about me. The social backlash doesn't bother me, and I've had more support than trash-talkers. My career is going strong."

"What about your son? What if you get killed?"

Finley is quiet for a moment. Finally she replies, "I didn't say I was going anywhere. I said I don't care about social backlash."

"You do care," Accalia points out. "You are trying to change their minds."

"Fine. That's true. I care, but I can handle it. I'm not going to let it kill my spirit."

"Sometimes I think it was cruel for me to have children with Vance," Accalia says. "They're growing up in this human city. Because of it, they'll probably never reach their full potential."

"I won't let anything happen to any of us," Finley promises Reve.

When she and Junpei made it home last night, Mab was already asleep, and the nursery was Finley's first stop. Part of her expected not to find a nursery at all. Part of her expected her child to be just part of a strange dream about unreality.

After watching Finley soothe the infant to sleep and lower him into his crib, Mab speaks to get her attention. "Not even a 'hello' for me?"

Finley's voice trembles. "I'm sorry, Momma. I just thought you'd be mad at me."

Mab accepts the hug offered.

Here is a picture of Reisa snoozing next to her rich person pool.

Being rich is great.

Junpei spends several days hiding indoors, reading and stuff.

If he's learned anything, it's the world outside the house wants to kill him.

And then he gets over it.

Because he loves the outdoors.

"Hello, random chunk of silver that shouldn't be laying in the grass!"

Reve becomes a toddler. He has his paternal grandmother's brown eyes, and Finley's nose.

Junpei has success sealing the Infractus Mens into one of the cut gems he's collected.

"At least it's a single shape now," Finley comments. "But if you could make it stop levitating..."

Finley tries to transmute a rock into another rock. Not because she likes rocks (because that's Junpei's thing, and Junpei is totally weird), but because this is a cool spell.

Paulette Lho, the lady who dumped Timmothy because he joined the military, is hosting what turns out to be a very awkward party when Tommy Abbot (previously Tommy Ornales), now a married man and a father, makes some lewd comments towards Finley.

Finley tells him off in front of everyone.

Trying to save face, Tommy whines about how he was 'just trying to joke around'.

Mab buys a telescope. She hasn't had one of these since before her children were born, when a meteor destroyed her last one and nearly took her life with it.

Speaking of toys for adults, this machine...

...CONTINUES TO BE AWESOME.

Already showing promise as a mind-reader, Reve picks up on the nuances of language quickly. He's putting together little sentences before he can walk.

Practical sentences. Stuff like 'I want my lunch now'. Or 'Put me down, please'. Finley is very proud of how she taught him to say please.

Once Reve even told her to 'Hold up the lid', so he could better paw around in his toybox.

"I'm worried about him," Finley confesses. "He's only a toddler, and he's trying to read my mind. We weren't like this with our mother. At least, not this strong. It took us until we were teens to admit we really could hear each other's thoughts."

"We were probably self-suppressing throughout our childhood," Junpei hypothesizes.

"I don't know. I think he's going to be more talented than we are. Like we're more talented than our mother. It's... odd, though. Are we suddenly winning some genetic lottery every generation?"

"Our father's bloodline may have played a role in cementing our paranormal-ness."

Junpei takes a turn snuggling and tickling his nephew. 

Another day, another dollar, and after work Reisa drags Finley to The Garden Gnome, some little pub that's been in town for approximately ever. 

"I can't believe you've never been to this place," Reisa says. "Most of us from the office head over here after work, like... I don't know. Frequently."

"Gnomes creep me out," Finley answers.

"Tommy didn't mean anything," Reisa tells her friend. "He just wanted to make you feel better because your boyfriend isn't around to."

I'm a psychic, Finley thinks. I know exactly what he meant. "I don't need to feel better. I feel fine. Why are you bringing this up?"

"Because Tommy feels bad and asked me to tell you he apologizes."

"Excuuuse me? I'm your best friend. You take my side. Not his."

"Oh, I know. I am completely on your side. That's why I thought we should... uhhh... girltalk, about this Timmothy thing."

"You want me to share all the naughty details... so you brought me to a public place?"

"Hell no. I brought you here to look at other guys! You and Timmothy have nothing in common. He's so beneath you."

"Unbelievable," Finley says, after a long silence

"You're surrounded by well-off professional men just getting off of their shifts at work," Reisa enthuses. She goes on to explain how Carlen Nali, the dark-haired man behind them, works in the business offices. And the blonde one, Brice Ornales, Tommy Abbot's younger half-brother, used his Vanderburg adoptive father's connections to become successful in his chosen field. These guys are ambitious and well-educated, have lots of money, and most importantly are right here, right now.

Both men talk about what's on TV, oblivious to Reisa Chesterfield's assessment of their potential as dates for Finley.

"Carlen is married," Finley mutters. "But that isn't even close to the point I want to make. I told Timmothy I'd wait for him."

Reisa frowns, not sure how to say Finley might be wasting what Reisa considers a woman's best years just waiting for a guy who might not ever be coming back. Or worse, a guy who isn't going to magically become husband-and-father material if he does come back. "Yeah... well... it's been a while. Your kid is talking now."

"I liked Timmothy. He made me feel special. He's Reve's father. Until I know what happened to him, I'm not going to... just..."

Reisa continues to press the issue, so Finley feels justified in getting pissed off and stalking away to a less crowded area of the pub.

"Hello," Arethusa greets her half-heartedly.

"Are you... okay?" Finley asks, doubtfully.

"I just don't know what to do," Arethusa sighs. "I can't get a date to save my life. My siblings are married with children. I'm the odd one out, now. This was supposed to be Accalia's fate."

"There's no shame in being single or childless," Finley says.

"But I want a man," Arethusa pouts. Finley's words may be true, but Arethusa wants a partner to share her life with, and that is valid also. "Is there any chance you could psychic someone into falling in love with me?"

"Very funny. Why do you think you can't find a date on your own?"

"It's probably my green skin. It didn't bother me when I was a teenager, but lately..." She shakes her head. "It's a drain on my self-confidence."

"I was reading about a spell that could help with that. A cupid's arrow sort of thing?" Finley chuckles.

"Do you think your father used that on your mother?"

"Eww. No. I do not. The spell's effects are temporary. It could get you socializing, but that's all..."

Arethusa sits up. "Well I have nothing to lose! Try this spell on me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Arethusa replies, without hesitation. "I'm bored."

Let it never be said that Junpei is the one with the worst ideas.

"Will it hurt?" Arethusa has second thoughts.

"Nope!"

"I don't feel anything. When does it kick in?"

Finley shrugs. She thought the effects would be immediate.

And then...

...Arethusa is using the first pick-up line that comes to mind on poor Carlen.

Reisa orders nachos.

Finley stands back and thinks about what she's done.

Whatever Arethusa said falls flat, so she gives up on words and leans in to plant a kiss on Carlen's lips.

Carlen is less than appreciative, and makes it clear he's a married man, with zero interest in other women.

"Kids these days!" Eunice Pertridge grouses.

Later on in the night, Arethusa is having better luck dancing with Brice, and isn't acting as out of it, and once Arethusa has regained most of her lost wits Finley decides it's safe to leave. As she gets up to do so, Reisa walks up to her and apologizes.

Finley smiles sweetly and promises forgiveness.

If she held grudges, she tells herself, she'd be really messed up by now. The only person she's ever really really hated was Chet. There is a special place in Finley-hell for Chet.

While Finley does the career thing, Junpei continues to happily have no schedule to keep and no boss to report to. He and Mab are conveniently around to make sure Reve never has to stay with a sitter.

Junpei shares his love out of the outdoors with his nephew by bringing the toddler to parks. This is where Reve learns to take his first steps.

Junpei is content with his quiet life. He knows society expects him to not be happy without romances and dramas of his own, but he can't help it; he's fine with how things are.

"Meow-meow," Reve says.

"That's actually a squirrel." Junpei doesn't need to glance over his shoulder to see what the toddler is talking about. Being psychic makes it very easy to understand toddlers.

"Aksh'lly a squirrel," Reve repeats.












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Etc: ACKCHYUALLY

'89. Mab means 3389. 

You can download The Garden Gnome here.