It's afternoon, long before any bar needs to open, when Poppy drags Duncan down to the Wayhouse to meet Teagan. It doesn't take long before she's busy making tea for herself in the kitchen, with enough extra water left over should anybody else want some. She's back to wearing her stiletto boots, this time in a dark red, over a pair of black jeans; she's wearing layered t-shirts, short sleeve over long; the top one loose and dark grey, reading 'FUCK' in black lettering. Unsurprisingly, she's humming to herself as she fixes the tea, a rather eerie-sounding, haunting melody.
Duncan is yet again under-dressed for the weather, if not meeting new people. A black 'Alchemy' t-shirt and some camo military surplus pants, plus hiking boots. He's a bit more relaxed than usual at the moment. Having grabbed a chair at the kitchen table and slumped down, and the Elemental is sitting with arms folded across his chest, listening to the Siren's song.
UGH SUNSHINE. It's a mark in their favor that the Darkling is out today, but here they are. They grumpily tromp in, shoving the door shut behind them, hood up over their head, grump grump grump. "Pops!" they yell, heading for the kitchen, and once they're there? "Hey." And to the fridge, for a beer. There's beer, right? "Fucking sun." Darklings do not like. "Hey," and once they've got a beer in their hand, the other is extended to Duncan. "I've heard of you, and seen you in passing, but. Teagan."
Poppy grins as she hears the yelling, then gives Teagan a bright smile as they tromp into the kitchen. "Hey," she replies cheerfully. As they grab a beer, she smirks. "Going to guess you also don't want any fucking tea." Her opalescent eyes twinkle with humor at that, even as she takes a sip from her mug, glancing to Duncan for his response.
Duncan cocks an ear at the sound of Teagan's entrance, deciding if he needs to get up or not. But once the Darkling arrives he gives a grunt and hoists himself from the chair. He offers an amiable grin and sticks out his hand toward the newcomer. "Yeah, new in town. New-ish. Duncan Morrow." He tips his head toward Poppy. "You can blame her for that."
"Nah, fuck tea, man, thanks, though. I came out during the day, fuck the sun, blah blah, I need a beer." Their hand has a broad scar across the palm -- both of them do -- and is rough and calloused, but warm. It lands in Duncan's briefly for the shake. "Blame her for what? YOu being here? Your name?"
"You can't fucking prove anything," Poppy smirks at Duncan, even as she takes another sip from her mug, heels clicking as she makes her way over to the table; hooking a foot around a chairleg, she pulls it out before sliding down into it. A somewhat apologetic look is directed at the Darkling. "Sorry about that; thanks, though."
"Everything," Duncan answers with a laugh. Poppy's response is taken as proof of his point. "See?" His handshake if firm but there's something oddly yielding about the Elemental's flesh, as if he's not made of mortal flesh and bone. "You can blame her for me being here," he clarifies on a more serious note. "At least for the winter." Not enjoying the daylight goes without comment from Duncan, as he steps back to survey the Darkling with a curious look. "You were at the Hunt, right?"
"Ayeh," agrees Teagan to the question that they were at the hunt. "I was the one who cut the leader in half. From nothing to in half in under six seconds, the Squire promise for fuckheads." They wave off Poppy's apology easily, slinging themselves into a chair. A swallow of beer follows. "It's fine. Daytime is... you know."
"Bullshit," the siren replies at the Elemental's comment about everything, stretching her legs out and crossing them at the ankle. At his clarification of his presence for the winter, she shrugs, then grins before admitting, "Maybe that." A sip of her tea, then Poppy nods. "Not your favorite fucking time of day."
Seeing everyone else take a seat, Duncan sinks back into his and folds his arms again. There's a nod of acknowledgement for Teagan's handling of the hunter at the Ashen Hunt, and then he chuckles at Poppy's comeback. "Nice having someone else to blame. I could get used to that." Then he looks back to the Darkling. "You're Broken Bough?"
"No, daytime sucks when you're a shadow. It really, really sucks." One hand pats the weapon at their left side, underneath their coat, and they nod at Duncan the once. "Yeah. Been for like three decades, still somehow alive. I don't even really know." They shrug absently. "Listen, that girl? She's up at Aspire now. The box isn't keeping her alive, either. I thought it was, but, it's not. Dunno what its purpose is."
"I still know where you fucking sleep," Poppy informs Duncan, then sips from her tea again. Looking back at Teagan, she makes a face at their comment about shadow, then tilts her head, expression inquisitive at the mention of the girl. "Keeping her the fuck asleep? Who figured out it isn't keeping her alive?" the siren asks curiously.
An appreciative nod is offered for the Darkling's longevity as a Squire, and then Duncan looks between Poppy and Teagan with a confused air. "Girl in a box?" His gaze comes to rest on the Siren. There's a smirk for Poppy's comment, and then a quizzical look for the new topic. "Do I even want to know?"
It takes a moment, because Poppy doesn't know where Teagan sleeps, does she? Teagan does a confused doubletake. "Uh, yeah. Did you not tell him, Pops? About the girl?" They take another swallow of the beer, adding, "I ... saw it. In the patterns of her breath on the glass. I can't really explain it."
"Probably," Poppy says to Duncan, then shakes her head at Teagan's question. "Hadn't really had a fucking chance, actually." Looking back to the Elemental, she says, "Hedge shit. Up by a meeting tree, blood everywhere; two Lost had been jumped and one got away. We followed the trail of the one that got away, but the poor asshole was dead in front of a Hollow. Inside there was a glass casket with a girl in it, like some fucking Snow White shit." A thoughtful look greets the Darkling's comment about breath on the glass. "So not keeping her alive, but not exactly clear what the fuck it's doing? Could be keeping her outside time or some shit like that. Or could be just keeping her asleep. But if it doesn't keep her from getting older, she's going to run out of space in that fucking box eventually." A wry look. "Anybody just try opening it?"
Breath on glass? Patterns? Duncan gives Teagan an odd look. "I don't think she did." He then shifts his attention to Poppy to hear the story behind all this. The Elemental's expression darkens as he listens. "Oh? Great..." Or the opposite of great. "So two locals were keeping someone stashed in their hollow and nobody knows about it?" His solution is even more direct than the Siren's. "Or just break the glass."
"It's a thing. I see answers in patterns. Don't think about it too hard. It's fucking magic. What I know is that the bear guy died to protect her, that he knew her personally, and that the coffin... isn't keeping her alive. Maybe keeping her asleep. We're gonna have to look into it more." Teagan's shoulders roll easily, then. "She's over at Aspire, like I said. And there's a bar the bear guy went to, Alonso wants to look into."
Poppy gives a rather musical snort at Duncan's suggestion of breaking the casket, rolling her eyes, then grins at Teagan's response to the elemental about magic. "It's clearly doing some kind of shit, I agree. I can see what the fuck I can dig up on that kind of Token or whatever the hell it is." A wry look. "Or I guess we could just open it and see what the hell happens, if it isn't locked. On the other hand, I'm pretty fucking sure none of us want to end up with a dead girl."
"I... think... that just opening it would hurt her. I don't ... I mean, I can go watch the patterns again, but... " Teagan's voice trails off. "I think they would have just taken her out, if they could have."
"Right," Duncan accepts Teagan's explanation, and indeed does not seem to be thinking about it too hard. Then there's a shrug for Poppy's snort. "It's my thing." He breaks shit. "Sounds like it's air tight?" Duncan muses over the glass coffin, giving the problem some real thought. "If it's not I might be able to find out something."
Poppy nods thoughtfully at Teagan's comment. "Point," she says. "Of course, we're assuming that they made it up to that area and the bear guy didn't just get there and keel the fuck over from the injuries he already had. Or did someone who's way better at that sort of shit already determine that the people found him outside? I'm shit all at tracking," says the woman who typically wears stilettos before she adds, "I was able to get a pretty decent look into the reflections in the casket, at least. I don't think they made it in there, from what I could see."
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