Moments in Time
Nov. 27th, 2012 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feredarStory: Moments in Time
Year: Equivalent of 924 FY, 963 FY, 968 FY, 971 FY, 973 FY, 974 FY, 975 FY, 978 FY, 979 FY, 980 FY, 984 FY, 986 FY, 987 FY, 988 FY, 989 FY, 990 FY, 995 FY, 1000 FY, 1008 FY,
Characters: Amassa, Udora, Odaki, Nellid, Keta, Mellir, Ineku, Nida, Deva, Ulore, Kit, Dallu, Riluke, Sorell, Kesshare, Sola, Tana, Deshell, Det. Renee Jones, Mel, Taz, Kirana, Andrell, Nolani, Lonura, Isshiri, Telri
Warnings: Murder, vampirism, kidnapping by magical creatures, attempts at underage drinking, implied interspecies sex, brief sexism, brief classism, some internalized ableism.
Notes: These are in roughly chronological order. If anyone is more familiar with djinn lore than I am and notices something I mis-characterized or got totally wrong, please don't hesitate to let me know.
10. Parentalia--Amassa (eq. 924 FY)
It was one thing to know that his father hadn't been human--his mother had never lied to him or Messhuni about that--and another entirely to actually meet Udora.
He looked...well, he looked human. Taller than average, more muscled, with a thick beard, but...human. Amassa knew it had to be an illusion, but it was still a little disconcerting.
Udora smiled slightly, showing pointed teeth. "Surprised to see me, abni*?"
Amassa shivered. "You're not what I expected."
The djinn's eyes flicked over him. "Nor are you what I did. Did your sister come?"
He shook his head. "No. Mother wants her to wait a couple years."
"Pity." Udora rose, in one fluid motion. "Come."
"Where are you taking me?"
"To meet the rest of my clan, of course." Udora smiled that pointed smile again. "I will return you to your mother, never fear."
Amassa took a deep breath. "How long?"
"Three days. Perhaps more."
He hesitated, then nodded. "Lead the way."
*my son
20. apple bobbing--Odaki (eq. 963 FY)
Odaki met Nerasshi when he was running the company's charity fall festival. Ghost stories and apple bobbing and popcorn and a rackety wooden roller coaster. They'd spent a week together, holed up in a hotel room ordering room service and having sex themselves whenever the mood struck them. They never talked about the future, or about what-ifs should the condoms tear.
And now here she was, eight months pregnant and swearing the kid was his. "Look, I know this is...I just got...there are things happening, moving forward, in my life. I can't do them and look after an infant. She's better off with you. You can get a paternity test if you want, but I'm offering you full custody."
"This is...a lot to take in," he finally said, when his mouth and brain were functioning again. "I mean...I believe you. The kid's mine. And...yeah, I want to be a part of his or--"
"Her. She's a girl, I had an ultrasound."
"--a part of her life." He bit his lip. "I need to check into a few things."
"You can afford to raise a kid," Nerasshi pointed out dryly.
"That's not what I--" He sighed. "Give me a couple days to think it over and talk to my dad, okay?"
She looked disappointed. "I was going to raise her, but..."
"It's okay," he said. "I just need to make sure I can set up my house and rearrange my schedule for a baby." He smiled a little. "You should've called me sooner."
"I know. I'm sorry."
Odaki ran a hand through his hair. "I'll call you. By the end of the week. I promise."
"Thank you."
3. trick-or-treat--Nellid (eq. 968 FY)
The beeper woke him up.
He blinked at it, not quite comprehending for the first few seconds, then it lit up again and he jerked all the way awake.
Six months. Six months of waiting, since his doctor said the surgery they did when he was born wasn't good enough and he'd need a transplant. He thought they'd forgotten him. They hadn't, it was happening, it was really happening, he'd get to go to school like his siblings, Mom wouldn't insist on homeschooling him anymore, he'd be able to be normal.
He slowly, carefully scooped up the beeper and tiptoed down the hall to his parents' room, afraid if he made any sudden movements it would stop.
"Mom? Dad?"
Mom woke up, and blinked at him. "Nellid? What are you doing--"
He held up the beeper to show her. "We gotta go."
5. All Saints’ Day--Keta (eq. 968 FY)
The wedding had gone so beautifully. Keta could hardly believe nothing had gone wrong. Even Mera and Andrell--her niece and her youngest brother, five and three, and Mother had said they were too young to be flower girl and ring bearer--had behaved themselves. Mera had adored the attention, and while Andrell had seemed a little confused, he hadn't gotten bored or balked or thrown a tantrum.
No one had gotten overly drunk at the reception, and even if Mother had gotten into an argument with Aunt Rema, as she always did, it hadn't been bad enough or loud enough or long enough to really disrupt things. It had been sunny, her dress had fit and been undamaged, her sisters were all lovely as her attendants, Nellid had been released from the hospital after his transplant two days ago and was able to attend, and, most importantly, she was finally married, to the man she'd chosen.
It had been an absolutely perfect day.
15. goblin--Mellir (eq. 971 FY)
Mellir smiled as disarmingly as he could at the bouncer and flashed his ID. Kellom had just turned 21, and as long as the bouncer believed he had just bleached his hair and didn't look too close...
Unfortunately, this was one who actually paid attention.
"This doesn't look like you."
He rolled his eyes. "I bleached my hair, okay? It's me."
"Sorry, kid. Face shape isn't the same, either." The bouncer stuck the ID in his pocket. "Run along, or I'll call the cops on you."
"Yeah, right. Give that back."
"Not gonna happen. Sorry."
"Come on, you can't steal that from me!"
The bouncer glared down at him, and Mellir cowered a bit. The guy was big. "I absolutely can take your fake ID. Or, if it's real, get it back to the owner. Now, unless you want me to call the cops, I want you out of my sight by the time I get to ten. One..."
Mellir hesitated until the bouncer got to five, then bolted.
Stupid bouncer. Stupid Kellom. Stupid being nineteen.
11. souling--Ineku (eq. 973 FY)
"So, let's see her," Nida said, setting her iced tea aside.
Ineku grinned. It had been all he could do to wait until she asked--though that was more or less the specific ulterior motive behind this lunch, the two of them met up frequently, with and without their respective spouses. They were good friends, and she sometimes asked him to make sure her son's doctors weren't lying to them.
He had several photos already, naturally, just like he had for Nolani and Isshiri. "We named her Kirana," he said, selecting the best, difficult as it was, and passing it over.
"Oh, she's lovely," Nida said, and looked up and smiled at him. "Almost as lovely as mine were."
He laughed.
"Well, congratulations," she said, more seriously, and raised her glass. "To your youngest, may she have a long and happy life."
6. Day of the Dead--Deva (eq. 974 FY)
"Has the jury reached a verdict?"
"We have, Your Honor."
"Will the defendant please rise?"
Deva closed her eyes and prayed. This was her first even approaching high-profile case, and it hadn't been an easy one. They still hadn't found the body, though they had the murder weapon--a meat cleaver, with the victim's blood and brain matter on it--and Blake Henries sure as hell had motive for killing her husband. The number of mistresses the police had uncovered during the investigation made her head spin.
Blake was pretty, sympathetic, had an asshole of a husband, and there was no actual corpse--though no one could realistically survive the kind of head blows Luke Henries had received.
If Deva won this case, maybe the whispers she'd gotten through law school and gotten her job through her parents' influence would finally stop. If she lost...
Why the hell hasn't she asked yet?
"On the sole count of the indictment, murder in the second degree, how do you find?" Judge Peterson asked the jury.
"We find the defendant guilty."
Deva let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. It was over. She'd won.
7. bonfires--Ulore (eq 975 FY)
"So you're really my cousin?"
"Yes," the pretty lady with the pointed teeth breathed. "Didn't your father tell you about us?"
Ulore shook his head. "Just that his dad was a djinn."
She tossed her head and laughed. "Oh, Udora. He wasn't half of what we could be." She tilted her head. "But you know, I think you could be."
He blinked. "I'm only a quarter djinn, how could I...?"
"There's something about you that makes you...special." She caressed the word. "You should come stay with the clan for a while. We'll show you how the world really works."
He grinned. No one was invited to stay with the clan their grandfather had come from--most djinn married within their own kind. His grandfather had been one of the rare ones who took a human spouse. Even that bitch Kesshare never got this opportunity. The perfect, golden child, the one everyone thought Dad was going to leave the controlling interest in the company to when he retired...oh, it would be perfect to show her up.
"After you."
13. mask--Kit (eq. 978 FY)
"Morning, sir!"
Kit turned from the freezer he was examining and smiled a little at the overly-cheery saleswoman. "Mornin'. You're awful happy."
She laughed a little. "Can I help you find something?"
Maybe she could. Since he'd started taking souvenirs, he'd need someplace to store them. That was the whole reason why he'd come out, after all. "Maybe you can. I'm lookin' for a cold storage locker, no bigger than three feet by three feet by three feet. I like to buy meat in bulk and freeze it." An easy, plausible lie.
She smiled, if possible, even brighter. "I think we have exactly what you're looking for. If you'll follow me?"
He followed her as she snaked around between all the display refrigeration units, and came to a trunk freezer, exactly the kind he was looking for.
"Kenmore, a recent design that just came out this year," she explained. "Temperature can be set from outside, using this dial. It can be hooked up to a generator, if you have one, in case the power goes out. It's $999.99, not including more than the basic manufacturer's warranty."
He ran a hand along it, already planning where to put latches and padlocks, and smiled. "It's perfect."
2. jack o’ lantern--Dallu (eq. 979 FY)
Dallu had books, shelves and shelves of books, calculations, research. He almost envied part-humans--descended from fae or other creatures that could mix with humans. Magic came to them much easier than to wizards like him. Even if there was an inborn spark, it just manifested as a desire to learn for all he knew. They didn't have to study their craft the way he did.
On the other hand...
On the other hand, what a faekin could do with magic was vastly limited compared to what a wizard could do. They were like strands of silk, flexible, and natural, but limited in what they could do. He was more like an expertly (he hoped) made knife. Made only with effort and skill in and of itself, but able to build and create and tear down and any number of other things.
So, he didn't exactly envy beings with inborn magic.
Except when he was stuck in his office, unable to sleep because he couldn't finish the damn calculations on that illusion spell he'd been hired to set up.
4. black cat--Riluke (eq. 980 FY)
For her eighteenth birthday, Riluke asked for two things. She already had college taken care of--not that she'd decided on her major yet anyway--and Grandpa had set up trusts for all the kids, so that wasn't something to worry about. She didn't need a car in the city.
So she asked for a house, and sponsorship to take the Caretaker exam.
Obviously, any family member could serve as a Caretaker with only a few emergency classes, but taking the exam would mean she could take in an orphan werewolf. Besides, the youngest person to ever pass had been twenty. Riluke was legally old enough, and she knew all the symbols and rituals, and she could handle the physical stamina tests.
The best part of the test was one she hadn't known she would need to prepare for--she had to design a containment room for her hypothetical charge.
She designed a basement room, reinforced concrete, with a bulletproof door. The lock--she didn't own one, but she knew someone who was good with computers--would only open with a pre-programmed human fingerprint. All the appropriate sigils were on the walls, there were no windows, and there were places for meat and water to be placed.
Riluke was not at all surprised when, six weeks later, she found out she was now the youngest licensed Caretaker in the country.
12. witch--Sorell (eq. 984 FY)
"Morning, Mrs. Heidari."
She smiled slightly and folded her newspaper. "You're late."
"Sorry, I got held up in traffic." He tossed his jacket into the booth and slid in across from her. He might not particularly care for Kesshare Heidari, but Sorell had learned to put that aside for these weekly breakfast meetings. Her company and his had a lot of information to trade, and it was often easier to cut through the bureaucracy.
It wasn't even so much to do with her being only part-human. There was a cold, calculating quality to her that made him more than a little wary. Like this whole thing--her company's rivalry with his, these breakfast meetings, her entire life--was some game whose rules he could only begin to understand.
"Anything new for me?" she asked. She'd already ordered his coffee, and pushed it across the table at him.
He shook his head. "The werewolf killer is back," he said. "At least my son wasn't interviewed this time."
She nodded, then handed him a file. "This came to me, but it's more your firm's problem than mine."
He scanned it. Transylvanian nosferatu. "Thank you, I'll handle it. How are your children?"
"Well," she said. "Yours?"
"Doing well. Sola's got a new show."
"I heard." Before she could say anything else, her phone buzzed. "Ah. My daughter. I'm afraid I'll have to cut this short. You can keep the paper."
She finished her coffee and left cash on the table.
"Until next week, then," he said.
She smiled.
9. Pomona--Sola (eq. 986 FY)
God, I hate these talk shows, Sola thought, keeping her smile bright and fixed after the clip.
"Well, that was certainly exciting."
She laughed. "It was a lot of fun, yes."
"So, tell me. What exactly was going through the Captain's head when she shot Lieutenant Dayle."
Sola smiled coyly. "Now, you know I can't tell you that. No one would watch the premiere!"
The audience laughed, on cue.
"True, true. Now, this has been an unusual role for you, hasn't it?"
Sola nodded. "The first time I've ever played a military woman," she said. It was true--tiny and blonde, she was never cast as someone 'tough.' Particularly not on a morally abiguous show like Passage. "But it's been a lot of fun to stretch my boundaries, and explore the grey areas of humanity." Canned answers, of course, but true, at least at the core of it. Captain Byers wasn't a villain, exactly, any more than anyone else on the show was, but still.
"Of course, of course." The host smiled at the audience. "Well, thank you for joining us, and everyone be sure to watch the second season premiere of Passage, tomorrow night at ten!"
18. occult--Tana (eq. 987 FY)
Tana was a Hunter.
She loved Hunting, loved the sweet sensation of bringing down a thing that should never be. And yet...
Her fangs slid out, and she felt the moonlight on her face with every pore. Everything seemed so much brighter, so much more alive, now that she'd been turned. It would make her a better Hunter. Faster, stronger, smarter, more perceptive. And no one who mattered would have to know. There were anonymous banks for vampires to feed--cadaver blood, mostly. Some nuisance animals like squirrels.
And, of course, those stupid humans who thought vampires romantic and offered themselves.
Those feedings, even carefully controlled and observed by the doctors who ran the banks, were almost as much fun as Hunting.
14. ghoul--Deshell (eq. 988 FY)
"The gap doesn't make any sense, though," Renee said. "I mean, come on, D, it's been more than ten years. Serial killers don't just stop."
He tossed a ball at the wall and caught it a few times. She was right, of course. Once a guy like this started killing, he didn't stop until he was killed himself or caught. So why don't we have any more bodies?
She caught the ball out of the air for him. "Are you even paying attention?"
"Yeah," he said. "You're right. So, three possibilities. We've got a copycat--"
"Copycats don't usually escalate for their heroes."
He nodded. "We're looking at someone who was locked up for something unrelated, or this isn't his only hunting ground."
She frowned. "Second makes more sense. Why come back here, if he'd gone somewhere else?"
Deshell shrugged. "Nostalgia? Celebrate his anniversary?" He frowned. "Let's check, just to see."
Renee nodded. "Okay, what do we search?"
"Start with werewolf homicides. Over the last fifteen years. I doubt our guy started with the ones we found."
She nodded again. "One thousand, four hundred, and sixty-two open homicides."
He swore under his breath. "Okay, take out anyone under twelve."
She arched an eyebrow. "He doesn't seem to care about ages."
"He hasn't killed a kid yet."
"All right." She clicked a few times. "Seven hundred and ninety-eight."
"Okay. Limit it to ones where only a knife was used."
"Four hundred and twelve."
Still too high a number, and he couldn't think of any other ways to narrow it down. He sighed. "So much for finding where he started. Run our data through VICAP, see if he's been hunting anywhere else in the last ten years. Let me know what comes up." He was going to go sit on the ME. Any new details could help, before this bastard butchered anyone else.
1. Samhain--Mel (eq. 989 FY)
Mel took a deep breath and stepped out of the biting autumn wind, into the little shop he'd bought. The turning of the seasons, turning over a new leaf, and a new life for himself. Riluke and her family had been no small part of helping--Ri let him live rent-free, as his caretaker, and her family had helped pass laws allowing werewolves to own property, and now he had it. His very own used and rare book store.
He had some inventory he'd collected, both buying--with what little he didn't keep for necessities and saving for the building itself--and as gifts over the years. Mostly, again, from Ri and her family.
But it was his now, and, apart from that one night of the month, he was completely independent. He'd still stay with Ri, because they were both happier that way, at least until he met a guy he liked and might want to move in with, or she decided she didn't want a roommate anymore.
A new life. He was finally totally free of Kit and everything he'd ever been and done before. He had Ri, he had his shop...even going into winter, life had never looked brighter.
17. harvest--Taz (eq. 990 FY)
Taz couldn't go up on land to make her arrangements. But she'd spent the years since she'd swum north from her birthplace, she'd built up a fortune in salvage, and an even more valuable one in contacts, spread throughout the city. True, a lot of them were homeless people she'd bought the friendship of with charms for warmth, but she wasn't deprived of agency. And they could sell her salvage, and she could work through another intermediary.
The house on the beach was perfect. It would be dangerous, a little, in bad storms, but Taz could protect her husband--and he would be her husband as soon as they could "finagle," as he put it, the paperwork behind a human marrying a mermaid--from the worst of it. And he would be close, and their children--their children would be amphibious.
She lay on her back in the water, waiting for her contacts to come back with money so she could buy her family's home.
19. scary movies--Kirana (eq. 995 FY)
Seventeen columns, for varying level of threat, for the date they'd occured, for any impression of when they'd come true, for names or descriptions of any people she'd seen...
Hundreds of rows. It made Kirana feel small, a little bit, looking at the enormity of everythng she'd seen over the years, since she started keeping track, in neat little white boxes on Microsoft Excel. Her handwritten journals hadn't been so intimidating.
But this was better, especially if something needed to be referenced quickly. She saved the database, and emailed it to her mother's private address, then closed it as fast as she could. As awful as some of her visions were, seeing them laid out, so stark, so impersonal, made them a hundred times worse.
16. candles--Andrell (eq. 1000 FY)
Andrell had always liked Nolani--they'd gone to college together, and of course their parents were all...if not friends, at least friendly. He'd heard she'd actually gotten married, which was a surprise, but he'd met her wife, and Lonura was a sweet woman. Probably a good, stabilizing influence on his old friend.
Nolani hugged him and kissed both cheeks, and Lonura smiled shyly at him from the piano she was fooling around on. Nothing deliberate--she was a siren, but she was always careful. And now that she had Nolani, she didn't need to lure anyone else.
They'd set up a really nice dinner--tablecloth, candles, the works. Knowing Nolani's habits, Andrell was pretty sure at that point that they had an ulterior motive, but it wasn't until after dessert that they revealed it.
"So," Nolani said. "Lonura and I want children. We decided I'd be the birth mother, and after talking over all the options, we wanted to ask you if you'd be willing to be our donor."
Andrell blinked. He was...well, more than flattered, and surprised. "I...yeah, sure." He didn't have any prospects for a family of his own on the horizon, and at least this way he'd have a kid, even if he or she wouldn't be, strictly speaking, his. "As long as I can be part of their life, you know? Another uncle or something."
Lonura relaxed--she must have been afraid he'd ask for more. "Of course."
Nolani grinned. "We'd want you for our kid's uncle even if you weren't the biodad," she said. "You're my friend, Andy, don't forget."
He grinned back. "Okay. Just let me know when and where you need me to show up."
8. All Hallows’ Eve--Isshiri (eq. 1008 FY)
A tall, pale, dark-haired woman in a white dress, dancing in the woods barefoot on Halloween.
That probably should have raised red flags all over, but mostly Isshiri was a little embarassed for watching, until she turned to him and smiled. "Hello."
He flushed, and stood up. "Hi."
"What is your name?"
"Isshiri." Smarter people would have run away, but at least, he thought, he had the presence of mind to withhold his full name.
"Isshiri," she repeated, as if tasting it. "Would you like to dance with me, Isshiri?"
His heart beat faster, and he was by her side before he realized it, and they were dancing--he could walk, he could run, but he'd never been able to dance, not since he was seven, not like this.
When they stopped, they were in a strange, misty place, and he almost didn't care. Telri had let him dance. He felt light and free and whole.
Year: Equivalent of 924 FY, 963 FY, 968 FY, 971 FY, 973 FY, 974 FY, 975 FY, 978 FY, 979 FY, 980 FY, 984 FY, 986 FY, 987 FY, 988 FY, 989 FY, 990 FY, 995 FY, 1000 FY, 1008 FY,
Characters: Amassa, Udora, Odaki, Nellid, Keta, Mellir, Ineku, Nida, Deva, Ulore, Kit, Dallu, Riluke, Sorell, Kesshare, Sola, Tana, Deshell, Det. Renee Jones, Mel, Taz, Kirana, Andrell, Nolani, Lonura, Isshiri, Telri
Warnings: Murder, vampirism, kidnapping by magical creatures, attempts at underage drinking, implied interspecies sex, brief sexism, brief classism, some internalized ableism.
Notes: These are in roughly chronological order. If anyone is more familiar with djinn lore than I am and notices something I mis-characterized or got totally wrong, please don't hesitate to let me know.
10. Parentalia--Amassa (eq. 924 FY)
It was one thing to know that his father hadn't been human--his mother had never lied to him or Messhuni about that--and another entirely to actually meet Udora.
He looked...well, he looked human. Taller than average, more muscled, with a thick beard, but...human. Amassa knew it had to be an illusion, but it was still a little disconcerting.
Udora smiled slightly, showing pointed teeth. "Surprised to see me, abni*?"
Amassa shivered. "You're not what I expected."
The djinn's eyes flicked over him. "Nor are you what I did. Did your sister come?"
He shook his head. "No. Mother wants her to wait a couple years."
"Pity." Udora rose, in one fluid motion. "Come."
"Where are you taking me?"
"To meet the rest of my clan, of course." Udora smiled that pointed smile again. "I will return you to your mother, never fear."
Amassa took a deep breath. "How long?"
"Three days. Perhaps more."
He hesitated, then nodded. "Lead the way."
*my son
20. apple bobbing--Odaki (eq. 963 FY)
Odaki met Nerasshi when he was running the company's charity fall festival. Ghost stories and apple bobbing and popcorn and a rackety wooden roller coaster. They'd spent a week together, holed up in a hotel room ordering room service and having sex themselves whenever the mood struck them. They never talked about the future, or about what-ifs should the condoms tear.
And now here she was, eight months pregnant and swearing the kid was his. "Look, I know this is...I just got...there are things happening, moving forward, in my life. I can't do them and look after an infant. She's better off with you. You can get a paternity test if you want, but I'm offering you full custody."
"This is...a lot to take in," he finally said, when his mouth and brain were functioning again. "I mean...I believe you. The kid's mine. And...yeah, I want to be a part of his or--"
"Her. She's a girl, I had an ultrasound."
"--a part of her life." He bit his lip. "I need to check into a few things."
"You can afford to raise a kid," Nerasshi pointed out dryly.
"That's not what I--" He sighed. "Give me a couple days to think it over and talk to my dad, okay?"
She looked disappointed. "I was going to raise her, but..."
"It's okay," he said. "I just need to make sure I can set up my house and rearrange my schedule for a baby." He smiled a little. "You should've called me sooner."
"I know. I'm sorry."
Odaki ran a hand through his hair. "I'll call you. By the end of the week. I promise."
"Thank you."
3. trick-or-treat--Nellid (eq. 968 FY)
The beeper woke him up.
He blinked at it, not quite comprehending for the first few seconds, then it lit up again and he jerked all the way awake.
Six months. Six months of waiting, since his doctor said the surgery they did when he was born wasn't good enough and he'd need a transplant. He thought they'd forgotten him. They hadn't, it was happening, it was really happening, he'd get to go to school like his siblings, Mom wouldn't insist on homeschooling him anymore, he'd be able to be normal.
He slowly, carefully scooped up the beeper and tiptoed down the hall to his parents' room, afraid if he made any sudden movements it would stop.
"Mom? Dad?"
Mom woke up, and blinked at him. "Nellid? What are you doing--"
He held up the beeper to show her. "We gotta go."
5. All Saints’ Day--Keta (eq. 968 FY)
The wedding had gone so beautifully. Keta could hardly believe nothing had gone wrong. Even Mera and Andrell--her niece and her youngest brother, five and three, and Mother had said they were too young to be flower girl and ring bearer--had behaved themselves. Mera had adored the attention, and while Andrell had seemed a little confused, he hadn't gotten bored or balked or thrown a tantrum.
No one had gotten overly drunk at the reception, and even if Mother had gotten into an argument with Aunt Rema, as she always did, it hadn't been bad enough or loud enough or long enough to really disrupt things. It had been sunny, her dress had fit and been undamaged, her sisters were all lovely as her attendants, Nellid had been released from the hospital after his transplant two days ago and was able to attend, and, most importantly, she was finally married, to the man she'd chosen.
It had been an absolutely perfect day.
15. goblin--Mellir (eq. 971 FY)
Mellir smiled as disarmingly as he could at the bouncer and flashed his ID. Kellom had just turned 21, and as long as the bouncer believed he had just bleached his hair and didn't look too close...
Unfortunately, this was one who actually paid attention.
"This doesn't look like you."
He rolled his eyes. "I bleached my hair, okay? It's me."
"Sorry, kid. Face shape isn't the same, either." The bouncer stuck the ID in his pocket. "Run along, or I'll call the cops on you."
"Yeah, right. Give that back."
"Not gonna happen. Sorry."
"Come on, you can't steal that from me!"
The bouncer glared down at him, and Mellir cowered a bit. The guy was big. "I absolutely can take your fake ID. Or, if it's real, get it back to the owner. Now, unless you want me to call the cops, I want you out of my sight by the time I get to ten. One..."
Mellir hesitated until the bouncer got to five, then bolted.
Stupid bouncer. Stupid Kellom. Stupid being nineteen.
11. souling--Ineku (eq. 973 FY)
"So, let's see her," Nida said, setting her iced tea aside.
Ineku grinned. It had been all he could do to wait until she asked--though that was more or less the specific ulterior motive behind this lunch, the two of them met up frequently, with and without their respective spouses. They were good friends, and she sometimes asked him to make sure her son's doctors weren't lying to them.
He had several photos already, naturally, just like he had for Nolani and Isshiri. "We named her Kirana," he said, selecting the best, difficult as it was, and passing it over.
"Oh, she's lovely," Nida said, and looked up and smiled at him. "Almost as lovely as mine were."
He laughed.
"Well, congratulations," she said, more seriously, and raised her glass. "To your youngest, may she have a long and happy life."
6. Day of the Dead--Deva (eq. 974 FY)
"Has the jury reached a verdict?"
"We have, Your Honor."
"Will the defendant please rise?"
Deva closed her eyes and prayed. This was her first even approaching high-profile case, and it hadn't been an easy one. They still hadn't found the body, though they had the murder weapon--a meat cleaver, with the victim's blood and brain matter on it--and Blake Henries sure as hell had motive for killing her husband. The number of mistresses the police had uncovered during the investigation made her head spin.
Blake was pretty, sympathetic, had an asshole of a husband, and there was no actual corpse--though no one could realistically survive the kind of head blows Luke Henries had received.
If Deva won this case, maybe the whispers she'd gotten through law school and gotten her job through her parents' influence would finally stop. If she lost...
Why the hell hasn't she asked yet?
"On the sole count of the indictment, murder in the second degree, how do you find?" Judge Peterson asked the jury.
"We find the defendant guilty."
Deva let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. It was over. She'd won.
7. bonfires--Ulore (eq 975 FY)
"So you're really my cousin?"
"Yes," the pretty lady with the pointed teeth breathed. "Didn't your father tell you about us?"
Ulore shook his head. "Just that his dad was a djinn."
She tossed her head and laughed. "Oh, Udora. He wasn't half of what we could be." She tilted her head. "But you know, I think you could be."
He blinked. "I'm only a quarter djinn, how could I...?"
"There's something about you that makes you...special." She caressed the word. "You should come stay with the clan for a while. We'll show you how the world really works."
He grinned. No one was invited to stay with the clan their grandfather had come from--most djinn married within their own kind. His grandfather had been one of the rare ones who took a human spouse. Even that bitch Kesshare never got this opportunity. The perfect, golden child, the one everyone thought Dad was going to leave the controlling interest in the company to when he retired...oh, it would be perfect to show her up.
"After you."
13. mask--Kit (eq. 978 FY)
"Morning, sir!"
Kit turned from the freezer he was examining and smiled a little at the overly-cheery saleswoman. "Mornin'. You're awful happy."
She laughed a little. "Can I help you find something?"
Maybe she could. Since he'd started taking souvenirs, he'd need someplace to store them. That was the whole reason why he'd come out, after all. "Maybe you can. I'm lookin' for a cold storage locker, no bigger than three feet by three feet by three feet. I like to buy meat in bulk and freeze it." An easy, plausible lie.
She smiled, if possible, even brighter. "I think we have exactly what you're looking for. If you'll follow me?"
He followed her as she snaked around between all the display refrigeration units, and came to a trunk freezer, exactly the kind he was looking for.
"Kenmore, a recent design that just came out this year," she explained. "Temperature can be set from outside, using this dial. It can be hooked up to a generator, if you have one, in case the power goes out. It's $999.99, not including more than the basic manufacturer's warranty."
He ran a hand along it, already planning where to put latches and padlocks, and smiled. "It's perfect."
2. jack o’ lantern--Dallu (eq. 979 FY)
Dallu had books, shelves and shelves of books, calculations, research. He almost envied part-humans--descended from fae or other creatures that could mix with humans. Magic came to them much easier than to wizards like him. Even if there was an inborn spark, it just manifested as a desire to learn for all he knew. They didn't have to study their craft the way he did.
On the other hand...
On the other hand, what a faekin could do with magic was vastly limited compared to what a wizard could do. They were like strands of silk, flexible, and natural, but limited in what they could do. He was more like an expertly (he hoped) made knife. Made only with effort and skill in and of itself, but able to build and create and tear down and any number of other things.
So, he didn't exactly envy beings with inborn magic.
Except when he was stuck in his office, unable to sleep because he couldn't finish the damn calculations on that illusion spell he'd been hired to set up.
4. black cat--Riluke (eq. 980 FY)
For her eighteenth birthday, Riluke asked for two things. She already had college taken care of--not that she'd decided on her major yet anyway--and Grandpa had set up trusts for all the kids, so that wasn't something to worry about. She didn't need a car in the city.
So she asked for a house, and sponsorship to take the Caretaker exam.
Obviously, any family member could serve as a Caretaker with only a few emergency classes, but taking the exam would mean she could take in an orphan werewolf. Besides, the youngest person to ever pass had been twenty. Riluke was legally old enough, and she knew all the symbols and rituals, and she could handle the physical stamina tests.
The best part of the test was one she hadn't known she would need to prepare for--she had to design a containment room for her hypothetical charge.
She designed a basement room, reinforced concrete, with a bulletproof door. The lock--she didn't own one, but she knew someone who was good with computers--would only open with a pre-programmed human fingerprint. All the appropriate sigils were on the walls, there were no windows, and there were places for meat and water to be placed.
Riluke was not at all surprised when, six weeks later, she found out she was now the youngest licensed Caretaker in the country.
12. witch--Sorell (eq. 984 FY)
"Morning, Mrs. Heidari."
She smiled slightly and folded her newspaper. "You're late."
"Sorry, I got held up in traffic." He tossed his jacket into the booth and slid in across from her. He might not particularly care for Kesshare Heidari, but Sorell had learned to put that aside for these weekly breakfast meetings. Her company and his had a lot of information to trade, and it was often easier to cut through the bureaucracy.
It wasn't even so much to do with her being only part-human. There was a cold, calculating quality to her that made him more than a little wary. Like this whole thing--her company's rivalry with his, these breakfast meetings, her entire life--was some game whose rules he could only begin to understand.
"Anything new for me?" she asked. She'd already ordered his coffee, and pushed it across the table at him.
He shook his head. "The werewolf killer is back," he said. "At least my son wasn't interviewed this time."
She nodded, then handed him a file. "This came to me, but it's more your firm's problem than mine."
He scanned it. Transylvanian nosferatu. "Thank you, I'll handle it. How are your children?"
"Well," she said. "Yours?"
"Doing well. Sola's got a new show."
"I heard." Before she could say anything else, her phone buzzed. "Ah. My daughter. I'm afraid I'll have to cut this short. You can keep the paper."
She finished her coffee and left cash on the table.
"Until next week, then," he said.
She smiled.
9. Pomona--Sola (eq. 986 FY)
God, I hate these talk shows, Sola thought, keeping her smile bright and fixed after the clip.
"Well, that was certainly exciting."
She laughed. "It was a lot of fun, yes."
"So, tell me. What exactly was going through the Captain's head when she shot Lieutenant Dayle."
Sola smiled coyly. "Now, you know I can't tell you that. No one would watch the premiere!"
The audience laughed, on cue.
"True, true. Now, this has been an unusual role for you, hasn't it?"
Sola nodded. "The first time I've ever played a military woman," she said. It was true--tiny and blonde, she was never cast as someone 'tough.' Particularly not on a morally abiguous show like Passage. "But it's been a lot of fun to stretch my boundaries, and explore the grey areas of humanity." Canned answers, of course, but true, at least at the core of it. Captain Byers wasn't a villain, exactly, any more than anyone else on the show was, but still.
"Of course, of course." The host smiled at the audience. "Well, thank you for joining us, and everyone be sure to watch the second season premiere of Passage, tomorrow night at ten!"
18. occult--Tana (eq. 987 FY)
Tana was a Hunter.
She loved Hunting, loved the sweet sensation of bringing down a thing that should never be. And yet...
Her fangs slid out, and she felt the moonlight on her face with every pore. Everything seemed so much brighter, so much more alive, now that she'd been turned. It would make her a better Hunter. Faster, stronger, smarter, more perceptive. And no one who mattered would have to know. There were anonymous banks for vampires to feed--cadaver blood, mostly. Some nuisance animals like squirrels.
And, of course, those stupid humans who thought vampires romantic and offered themselves.
Those feedings, even carefully controlled and observed by the doctors who ran the banks, were almost as much fun as Hunting.
14. ghoul--Deshell (eq. 988 FY)
"The gap doesn't make any sense, though," Renee said. "I mean, come on, D, it's been more than ten years. Serial killers don't just stop."
He tossed a ball at the wall and caught it a few times. She was right, of course. Once a guy like this started killing, he didn't stop until he was killed himself or caught. So why don't we have any more bodies?
She caught the ball out of the air for him. "Are you even paying attention?"
"Yeah," he said. "You're right. So, three possibilities. We've got a copycat--"
"Copycats don't usually escalate for their heroes."
He nodded. "We're looking at someone who was locked up for something unrelated, or this isn't his only hunting ground."
She frowned. "Second makes more sense. Why come back here, if he'd gone somewhere else?"
Deshell shrugged. "Nostalgia? Celebrate his anniversary?" He frowned. "Let's check, just to see."
Renee nodded. "Okay, what do we search?"
"Start with werewolf homicides. Over the last fifteen years. I doubt our guy started with the ones we found."
She nodded again. "One thousand, four hundred, and sixty-two open homicides."
He swore under his breath. "Okay, take out anyone under twelve."
She arched an eyebrow. "He doesn't seem to care about ages."
"He hasn't killed a kid yet."
"All right." She clicked a few times. "Seven hundred and ninety-eight."
"Okay. Limit it to ones where only a knife was used."
"Four hundred and twelve."
Still too high a number, and he couldn't think of any other ways to narrow it down. He sighed. "So much for finding where he started. Run our data through VICAP, see if he's been hunting anywhere else in the last ten years. Let me know what comes up." He was going to go sit on the ME. Any new details could help, before this bastard butchered anyone else.
1. Samhain--Mel (eq. 989 FY)
Mel took a deep breath and stepped out of the biting autumn wind, into the little shop he'd bought. The turning of the seasons, turning over a new leaf, and a new life for himself. Riluke and her family had been no small part of helping--Ri let him live rent-free, as his caretaker, and her family had helped pass laws allowing werewolves to own property, and now he had it. His very own used and rare book store.
He had some inventory he'd collected, both buying--with what little he didn't keep for necessities and saving for the building itself--and as gifts over the years. Mostly, again, from Ri and her family.
But it was his now, and, apart from that one night of the month, he was completely independent. He'd still stay with Ri, because they were both happier that way, at least until he met a guy he liked and might want to move in with, or she decided she didn't want a roommate anymore.
A new life. He was finally totally free of Kit and everything he'd ever been and done before. He had Ri, he had his shop...even going into winter, life had never looked brighter.
17. harvest--Taz (eq. 990 FY)
Taz couldn't go up on land to make her arrangements. But she'd spent the years since she'd swum north from her birthplace, she'd built up a fortune in salvage, and an even more valuable one in contacts, spread throughout the city. True, a lot of them were homeless people she'd bought the friendship of with charms for warmth, but she wasn't deprived of agency. And they could sell her salvage, and she could work through another intermediary.
The house on the beach was perfect. It would be dangerous, a little, in bad storms, but Taz could protect her husband--and he would be her husband as soon as they could "finagle," as he put it, the paperwork behind a human marrying a mermaid--from the worst of it. And he would be close, and their children--their children would be amphibious.
She lay on her back in the water, waiting for her contacts to come back with money so she could buy her family's home.
19. scary movies--Kirana (eq. 995 FY)
Seventeen columns, for varying level of threat, for the date they'd occured, for any impression of when they'd come true, for names or descriptions of any people she'd seen...
Hundreds of rows. It made Kirana feel small, a little bit, looking at the enormity of everythng she'd seen over the years, since she started keeping track, in neat little white boxes on Microsoft Excel. Her handwritten journals hadn't been so intimidating.
But this was better, especially if something needed to be referenced quickly. She saved the database, and emailed it to her mother's private address, then closed it as fast as she could. As awful as some of her visions were, seeing them laid out, so stark, so impersonal, made them a hundred times worse.
16. candles--Andrell (eq. 1000 FY)
Andrell had always liked Nolani--they'd gone to college together, and of course their parents were all...if not friends, at least friendly. He'd heard she'd actually gotten married, which was a surprise, but he'd met her wife, and Lonura was a sweet woman. Probably a good, stabilizing influence on his old friend.
Nolani hugged him and kissed both cheeks, and Lonura smiled shyly at him from the piano she was fooling around on. Nothing deliberate--she was a siren, but she was always careful. And now that she had Nolani, she didn't need to lure anyone else.
They'd set up a really nice dinner--tablecloth, candles, the works. Knowing Nolani's habits, Andrell was pretty sure at that point that they had an ulterior motive, but it wasn't until after dessert that they revealed it.
"So," Nolani said. "Lonura and I want children. We decided I'd be the birth mother, and after talking over all the options, we wanted to ask you if you'd be willing to be our donor."
Andrell blinked. He was...well, more than flattered, and surprised. "I...yeah, sure." He didn't have any prospects for a family of his own on the horizon, and at least this way he'd have a kid, even if he or she wouldn't be, strictly speaking, his. "As long as I can be part of their life, you know? Another uncle or something."
Lonura relaxed--she must have been afraid he'd ask for more. "Of course."
Nolani grinned. "We'd want you for our kid's uncle even if you weren't the biodad," she said. "You're my friend, Andy, don't forget."
He grinned back. "Okay. Just let me know when and where you need me to show up."
8. All Hallows’ Eve--Isshiri (eq. 1008 FY)
A tall, pale, dark-haired woman in a white dress, dancing in the woods barefoot on Halloween.
That probably should have raised red flags all over, but mostly Isshiri was a little embarassed for watching, until she turned to him and smiled. "Hello."
He flushed, and stood up. "Hi."
"What is your name?"
"Isshiri." Smarter people would have run away, but at least, he thought, he had the presence of mind to withhold his full name.
"Isshiri," she repeated, as if tasting it. "Would you like to dance with me, Isshiri?"
His heart beat faster, and he was by her side before he realized it, and they were dancing--he could walk, he could run, but he'd never been able to dance, not since he was seven, not like this.
When they stopped, they were in a strange, misty place, and he almost didn't care. Telri had let him dance. He felt light and free and whole.