Once upon a time there was a golem. It's a good story, you like it already. This golem had a new charge, and the obligation to bring this new charge to the Wayhouse, though she herself is not a Waykeeper, just a loyal member of the Freehold. And so, Gisa called a Lyft -- a new and awesome skill that Sid showed her how to do -- and carted Glitch to the Wayhouse, though she herself would likely have walked if left to her own devices. But she's being nice to the new guy.
Anyway, so the Dawn pushes the door open to the Wayhouse, explaining, "You are also welcome to stay here, and if you are looking to meet someone from the Freehold and talk about joining, this is one of the easiest ways to do it. Sometimes November makes cupcakes here, also. They're not rugelach but I do like them, she buts a lot of sprinkles on. Too sweet for my usual tastes... but sprinkles," as she holds the door open for Glitch.
Glitch trudges in next to the Golem, dressed in a rather humbling outfit of gray sweatpants and a sky blue shirt that says "I LOVE YOU A LATKE". His pixellated features slowly scrunch up into a look of distaste at talk of cupcakes and sprinkles at the safehouse. "Great," he beeps out, eyes sweeping around as usual, adjusting the big pack he hauls with him.
And then a dragon showed up. This story is getting better by the second, isn't it? This particular dragon is several inches taller than the last time the golem saw him. His scales are also a darker red, his eyes have lost all their green and are a molten looking orange, and he has a pair of draconic horns growing around the sides of his heads. Obviously, he had a bit of a Wyrd slip. He enters from a different part of the Wayhouse, wearing a normal bright red tee and a pair of jeans, feet in sneakers at the moment. It's all slightly tight on him, but not enough to need to throw the clothes out. Glitch is only likely to recognize him if he was a fan of professional boxing in the past. He spots Gisa and raises a hand her way. "Hey. How's it going?" He considers the person with her. "Hi. Don't think we've met. Damion King."
"Damion." Gisa raises a hand and waves to the dragon. "This is Glitch. He is my guest. But now he is our guest," the golem explains, stepping back and allowing the dragon to inspect the computer glitch and vice versa. Her hands prop on her hips, Superman-pose style. "It is going very well, all things considered." She squints a bit, her eyepits narrowing, and informs the dragon, "Something is different about you." In case he had not noticed.
Glitch slowly sizes up that imposing draconic figure, rather diminutive by comparison and hunched to boot. Hands shove down into his sweatshirt pockets as he stands next to Gisa, the sounds of her tinkly mantle conspicuously absent. One hand comes out to raise and wave at Damion, but it doesn't go out in any sort of handshake. It does put the flickering little pixels of his mien on display however. "Hey."
Damion nods to Gisa, "I see." He considers the smaller male, and finally stretches out an oversized hand in offering to the glitchy guy. "It's nice to meet you, Glitch." He offers a smile, which shows his sharp black teeth. "I'm with the Summer Court." Which is easy to tell from the aura of heat around him shimmering, and the smell of baked stone. "Also with the Harvestmen." He glances at the Golem, and his lips twitch. "Yeah. I'm doing something different with my hair." He's sure she'll figure it out eventually.
While Gisa's Dawn Mantle has grown a lot stronger since Damion met her, since she settled down in Tamarack Falls, it is, while she stands next to Glitch, quite muted indeed. She hangs back a bit while the two greet one another, apparently (as much as anyone can tell what her emotions are) quite pleased with introducing them to each other. "No, I do not think that is it." He ought to know she would take that seriously. "Though your hair is styled attractively I do not think it is different." The corners of her mouth tug down. She'll get there when she does. "Harvestmen. Yes. Actually, that is a someone that you should speak to, Glitch, about the thing you told me." She's so subtle.
Glitch eyes the outstretched hand, and eventually steps forward, swooping his own towards it. Damion can undoubtedly feel the air return to tepid normality around him, scents and shimmers winking out as the pixellated boy's hand hits his own. He grips firm, not quite squeezing but not a limp fish, and his skin has a faint tingle to it. "You take care of threats?" he asks bluntly, looking up at Damion.
Damion chuckles at Gisa, "I still don't have any hair." He raises a hand and runs it over his smooth, scaled scalp. "The Wyrd took another bite out of me. That's all." Not strictly true, but what he's telling folks. He looks back down at the boy as he takes his hand, one brow raising slightly at the question from him. "The Harvestmen can help you deal with threats, yes. Though it depends on what the threat is." He's not going to just guarantee they can help him without hearing what it is, of course.
For a moment, the golem looks genuinely crestfallen. "My humor is the worst humor," she sighs, a sound like a forge's bellows working overtime. "I can see that you have no hair. That was the humorous point." Gisa and Glitch stand nearish to the door, with Damion having approached from further in the Wayhouse. Gisa's standing next to, and kinda protectiveishly near Glitch, hands propped on her hips in what's commonly known as the Superman Pose. One hand comes out and gently pats Glitch's shoulder, sort of reassuringly. "I sent a letter to Paige and to Byron and also Buggo," she explains to Damion, rerouting her confusion into something productive.
Glitch looks up to Damion with a slight frown. "They," he says, making sure to into a big-T They, "Are after me. Been running from them for weeks. Months. Too long. It let up right as I was getting in too deep to keep it up, but...for all I know they could follow me to you guys." He steps back, letting the hand go after the shake, running a hand through his dark hair. "For all I know, you all could be a trap too."
Damion is now taller than he was the last time, or rather, only time Leo saw him. His scales are darker red, his eyes are a molten orange, and he has dragon horns curving along either side of his head. He smiles at Gisa, "Sorry. I'm a little tired." He looks back down at Glitch, and his brows raise again. "So you mean....damn. That's a big threat. We can try to help. But if the Gentry show up looking for you, there's only so much we'll be able to do."
Leo shows up, because that's what people do at the Wayhouse. His constellation is sparkling with a lemony yellow white as he shoves the door open and shouts, "Heeeeere's Johnny! Except I mean Leo!" calling it out in a bright, exciteable tone. He moves into the room and looks around, blinking at what he considers to be an entire room of unfamiliar faces. Damion looked different enough last time that Leo doesn't seem to recognize him at first. "Uh." he says, his constellation fading suddenly to orange, hovering toward red in the lower stars as it whirls slowly above his head, at the sudden group of unexpected people.
"It is okay. I am not that humorous when I attempt to be. I know." All of that comes in a near-monotone, albeit one inflected by a heavy Israeli accent. Gisa would fit in great on the set of Wonder Woman, muscles and all. "Hello," Gisa greets Leo, rather than belaboring the obvious when it comes to Glitch's converstion with Damion. "I am Gisa Cohen of Dawn. This is Glitch, and that is Damion. This is the Wayhouse. Are you well? Do you require assistance?"
Glitch shifts awkwardly and glances up at Damion. "The big G aren't showing up, not the real bosses. Just the trash mobs. Over and over, wave after wave. I've been handling it. I..." He glances down at a slightly trembling hand and takes a few steps away from Gisa and Damion. "I need a break," he murmurs. There's a curious glance at Leo, a pixellated eyebrow raising.
Damion turns towards the door when the starry swordsman enters. He raises a hand towards him, "Hey Leo." His voice is the same. So that's something. "How's it going?" Then he turns back towards the other two. He frowns at Glitch. "Hmm. In that case, we can help you." He steps closer to the boy, resting a hand on his shoulder. "If you join the Freehold, the Harvestmen as a whole can help. If not....well. I'll do what I can on my own. Alright." He smiles down at him encouragingly.
Leo blinks a few times, the blink of a man who has desperately misread a room. "Uh. Hey. No, I'm good, I'm uh.. I was just coming by to say hey if Logan or Max were here. Or whatever." he says, finally. "I'm Leo." and, if anyone likes astronomy, the constellation above his head is -also- Leo. Sort of. At least pretty close. It's also tinking, some of the orange lights flickering to blue and purple as he speaks, with yellow making an appearance now and then. "So what are.. we talking about? Am I interrupting?" he asks slowly. A pause, "Oh shit, uh. Hey Damion." he says after a second, his eyes suddenly making a high pitched whine. If anyone looks, the sclera actually spins around the iris, causing the pupil to flood the iris with empty blackness. Like an old fashioned camera zooming in." He looks between Damion and Glitch for a second, then finally over to Gisa. "Uh. I'm also in the Freehold. Harvestman too. Or whatever." He says, backing up Damion in the lamest way possible.
"As your head is also Leo." When you grow up in the middle of the desert, you know the stars. They're big and bright in Israel as well as deep in the heart of Texas. "That is pretty." Her manner of speech is montonous but also unornamented -- very straightforward. "I am not a Harvestman, which is why I brought Glitch here. Neither a Harvestperson or a Wayperson. A Custodian only." Gisa's shoulders rise and fall like a mountain range lifting up and resettling over millenia. "It is good to meet you, Leo. Glitch is new. But he will be staying, I hope." Glitch backs up, and Gisa's hand rises to gently rest on his shoulder, or, well, just above his shoulder for a moment. Close enough for the warmth of the Fireheart's hand to be felt, but without making actual contact. Changelings are skittish, after all.
Glitch glances back as both Damion and Gisa rest hands on his shoulders in concern. He slowly breathes in, then out, and nods, eyes closing for a moment. "The Harvestmen are...guards?" he asks, looking around to find a place to sit, trying to get more comfy. "It might be time to join a Freehold again. I'm open to it." There's something else going unsaid so far, but beyond his idle fidgets he doesn't hint at it.
Damion looks over at Leo again. "Glitch here is being hounded by minions of the Gentry. He's hoping we can help him out with that. I'd like to." He looks back down at the digital human. "They're the Freeholds protectors, yes. They guard, they hunt down dangers to the Lost, anything in general that requires fighting." He looks at the others. "I'd like to help more right now...but I need to be going." He looks at all of them, including Glitch. "Just remember, if you ever need me, you can find me at my gym. The Iron Church." Yeah, an odd name. "For now....take care, all." He raises a hand again, then turns towards the door.
Leo's stars fade toward yellow a bit as things are explained, his constellation wavering slightly as Gisa compliments it. "Uh. Thanks. And yeah, not many people get that. Props. Or whatever." he says with a mild grin at the monotone woman. Then it's over to Damion and Glitch's conversation.. and then Damion's admission of the Gentry's potential involvement here. As its explained, his stars flicker off and flare back on, all tiny dark, smoldering red things hovering above his head in that almost-but-not-quite Leo constellation. "Ah. How close behind? Not very if Damion is leaving, I figure." he says, his body language suddenly shifting from 'lazy stoner' up to a prepped, ready for action stance. Though its unclear if its to run or fight at the moment, his eyes zooming in further as he examines Glitch.
Gisa's phone goes off with some sort of obnoxious ringtone, and she answers it: "Sidney, what is it?" Her tone is one of maternal concern as she steps over to the side of the room and starts speaking in a low voice.
Glitch takes a seat and looks up at Leo. He's dressed somewhat comically in heather gray sweats and a goofy Jewish bookstore tshirt at the moment, courtesy of Gisa, but the pixellated display of his mien is certainly a complex sight to examine. The pixels are small and fine enough to not truly obscure his young haunted features and his sunken eyes, except where they flicker and scramble every so often. "I haven't seen them in days. It's let up. Either they gave up for a bit or...found something else to distract them," he says, murmuring with a frown. "I had to leave my old Freehold and...everyone else."
Leo's eyes whirr suddenly once more as his eyes revert to a normal zoom, Leo's attention focused on Glitch intently now. "Good, then we likely have a bit of time. You can get some rest. Or whatever." he says, the dull red glow of his stars a constant now. He examines Glitch's face, his own face mostly a human shaped empty blackness, with random cables and metal bits jutting out of it around his eyes. His hands are massively scarred as well, the scar tissue presenting as layers and layers of blue, red, and yellow wiring that emerges from then returns back into his void-like flesh. "Where are you coming from? Do you want food or anything?" He asks, moving to stand a bit away from the new man, turning to be able to look out the window.
|
