Juno yawned and stretched as her last customer of the day departed the studio. It was an intricate bit of work, and while the pay per session was good, her back felt otherwise. The others in the studio were at work or their own clients were waiting in the lobby, so she decided to get up and walk around.
After answering a question here or straightening some tattoo magazines there, the Draconic decided to engage in some relaxation time...to wit....preening. How very feline.
Sitting in a battered lawn chair just past the studio door, it would look, to unacclimated eyes, like a strong featured woman with elaborate sleeve tattoos was picking and flicking lint from a pants leg.
To other Lost -- that wasn't a strong featured woman and she wasn't picking lint from her pants leg. Instead, Juno appeared as a dark haired young man (complete with goatee) fully engaged in the smoothing and picking of lint from the tuft end of a leonine tail. Preening was important. It was a nerve-soothing exercise for her, and she understood why cats seemed to indulge in it so much.
Besides, a carefully kept appearance added to the image of Wonderful she wanted to impart to the masses (but that was her Fairest sensibilities talking).
On occaision she would glance up from her work, her incredible blue eyes scanning the area. Preening was relaxing, but it shouldn't be too....relaxing. She was known to get sleepy after a long session.
A quick tug here, a bit of loosened quill husk removed and she felt.....better. Tidier.
Again she looked around before picking up the chair and moving it to the foyer, wondering if she would see some business from the other side of the world, so to speak.
Humans were interesting enough, but they could be terribly vanilla in their tastes. Lost however....and she did love working with them....with their different perceptions and tastes born of their respective alterations allowed for the true challenges she craved.
Down the street from her lawn chair posted outside the studio Juno hears a loud POP!, as though a large tire just blew, followed by an agitated whinny and the screech of breaks. Looking down the street she can see a big white pick up has pulled over to the side of the road and it seems to have been towing a horse trailer. The side of the white pickup reads "Epona Farms: Lessons - Boarding - Special Events - Sales" with two golden horse stickers plastered on either side of the green lettering.
Autumnfire jumps down out of the trucks high cab with a curse - Juno can't make out many of her features but she can tell that Autumnfire is no common mortal as her hair is a tangle of gray branches and autumn leaves glowing with fire along their dry edges. To mortal eyes she's a tall, pale skinned woman with a red tank top and hair the color of fire held in a neatly gather pony-tail with tight, mud covered, jeans and riding boots. She told Abagail over and over that she couldn't drive this ridiculous truck and now she blew the damn thing's tire, poor Dixie nearly fell on her nose!
Juno sees the changeling down the street go to the back of the trailer and in the distance she can hear her fellow Lost's soft cooing to the animal held within and soon the clopping of hooves as she leads a fat little pony out of the trailer.
Soon Autumnfire and Dixie the little black pony are heading in the direction of Juno both wearing long faces as the California heat beats down on the black pavement beneath their hooves and roots.
Juno's nose is filled with a smell that reminds her very much of when the forests in California caught fire and the most the state was covered in light clouds of smoke as the strange changeling and her pudgy animal approach. Autumnfire's solemn expression changes to surprise when her eyes come to rest on the person she was approaching for help, another changeling? Lady Fate works mysterious ways, couldn't she at least have spared the boss's truck? Autumnfire stands before Juno wearing that dumbfounded look of surprise unable to ask the question that she had been working up in her head on the walk over. Luckily, Dixie breaks the ice by raising her head straight up and letting out a long whinny that twists her upper lip to expose her funny flat teeth below.
"Uhh, hi." Autumnfire finally stammers. "I was wondering if you had a place I could water my horse until I can get a tow truck here... My um, my truck lost a tire." She turns her thin, tree like form toward the truck down the street and points, her bark covered skin creaks like dry branches in the wind as she turns. When she turns back Juno notices that Autumnfire's bark-lined eyes are completely hollow and a fire glows within. It flickers like a timid candle on the verge of burning out, she seems very uneasy - the truck experience having rattled her.
The goateed young....man, to Lost eyes, blinks for a second, then, "Sure. We have a utility room and some clean pails that haven't had bleach or other chemicals in them yet. We just bought them for the studio the other day."
With a casual swaying of her tail, Juno walked indoors and returned a moment or two later, carefully carrying a pail of water.
"My name's Juno. You look like you're new to town, or perhaps you're Lost?"
Of course she is. Maybe a kith I've not seen before, but someone to be welcomed all the same, to figure out....and curiosities satisfied.
The young man's leonine tail curled to one side in a feline manner, reflecting its owner's curiosity as it formed a sort of horizontal question mark. As the breeze shifts, a faint scent of dew-moistened grass seems to emanate from the tattooed Changeling.
Autumnfire gladly takes the pail of water and ties the pony's lead to a telephone pole on the sidewalk and sets the pail down near it. Dixie's nose immediately goes for the water, lips flapping at its surface, more playing than drinking. Autumnfire turns back to Juno and in response to his questioning says, "Not any more thankfully..." She smiles hoping that he understands that since her escape she's been feeling less and less lost. "They call me Rosyn but our kind says Autumnfire, which ever you prefer." She emphasizes THEY and Juno gets the impression she means mortals. "Thank you for the water.. I'd ask for a phone to but I don't think I'm quite ready to call my boss, she going to be angry..." Her temper gets her fired from every job she's tried since the Hedge and before that she was only good for death. The fire within her flares up slightly then goes back to its timid flickering. "Besides, what are the chances that two of us meet in this way? Do you mind if I stay awhile, relax a bit before I call?" Her twig-like fingers gently scratch the pony's scruffy forelock as she speaks and a chilly autumn wind rustles her leaves while whatever foliage there is around the street stands still, an effect of her strong autumn mantle. "The tow truck's on the way. The boss has some machine in there that notifies help when you need it, so Dixie here will have a ride to the stables in a few minutes. I'm not to good with those things myself.. The machines I mean." Juno supposes that the reason it took Autumnfire a minute to get out of the truck after loosing the tire was because she was struggling with the work truck's OnStar. Its difficult to discern her emotions from her hollow eyes and hardened wood face but some how she seems to regard him expectantly.
"I'm glad to meet you, Autumnfire. I don't have any more appointments today, would you like a soda?" That much said, Juno shifted from one foot to the other. She wanted to pet the animal, but wasn't sure what sort of reaction she would get. Her quasi-leonine nature was a bit hard to keep subtle.
Juno was trying hard not to stare, but the....Elemental, she supposed....other woman's Mein was simply fascinating to her.
Autumnfire smiles, pleased that the other Lost truly did seem glad to meet her. She accepts a drink and when the can touches the woman's smooth bark lips and pours the liquid into the hollow knot-hole that was her mouth Juno can hear an odd sizzling sound like water being tossed at a fire that would not die. "Thanks for everything," she says softly after a sip from the beverage the fire in her hollow trunk still burning with that timid flicker, undisturbed by the fluids. "Don't think you got a chance to meet Dixie here, she's really good with people so we have her teach kids how to ride." She pats the scruffy pony's side and Juno may wonder if the animal thinks its getting tickled with a twig or patted by its master. Whatever the pony thinks it seems to like it because it stamps its back hoof on the concrete and gives a satisfied snort. It's apparent that neither the changeling nor the animal would mind anyone paying the little horse some attention. While Juno decides whether or not to meet Autumnfire's furry friend she changes the subject to the art shop, "what kind of work do you do here?" She asks wondering if Juno was an artist himself or if she was the hired help of the owner.
Juno reached out with a hand and gave the pony a light touch on her shoulder.
"I'm a tattoo artist; I work here, for now, but one day I hope to open my own studio. That's going to come with more money and an established client base, I think."
Her brow furrowed slightly at the sensation of her fingers moving over a coarse pelt -- she was a very tactile being -- as she continued talking.
"I don't know many other Lost, but it's been something to work on. Especially since I had a chance to see what's going on in this town and what I may be missing out on. I prefer to be with others rather than on my own."
It seems, at first, that the touch may have been too light for the pony's shoulder muscle twitches as though a fly had landed on her and her tail flicks showering Juno's hand in her long dark black hair but she settles down quickly and enjoys the attention.
Autumnfire regards Juno with her strange hollow eyes, "I don't usually stray from my court myself." She tells him, privately feeling similarly alienated from the changelings - most of her time being spent at Epona Farms earning pointless mortal treasures.
It hadn't even crossed her mind that the Fairest could have been a tattoo artist, with skin like a tree its easy to forget how mailable flesh could be. Her situation annoyed her, threatening to bring on that anger again, it was reflected by a sudden flare in the fire within her. Now it burns much brighter, devouring the darkness in those hollow holes. She smiles as the fire flares, the thought of it being frightening to the stranger almost pleasing. "I bet you're a valuable asset in dangerous situations," the words seem to burn like her inner fire, 'a valuable asset' was a frivolous thing to call another living being.. And 'dangerous situations', what did that entail?
Just as Juno is piecing Autumnfire's odd choice of language together a rather stocky man in a greasy, blue jumpsuit with "Sacramento Towing - Edward" embroidered on it in red lettering interrupts, "Hey, lady! Load that over sized rat up so I can get home some time this week," he looks and sounds more than a little aggravated and when they look down the street at the truck and trailer they see Ed's, significantly skinnier, partner working his svelte, little, butt off by hitching the Epona Farms truck to a tow truck adorned with red lettering that is similar to the one's on Ed's triple 'X' sized work shirt.
"It isn't unusual to drift along, but you know....? Isolation gets boring. We all have to play and socialize; and believe me being a wallflower isn't fun. That's why I'm a Spring leaner."
Dangerous?
Juno supposed she could be, what with her pointed teeth and tail quills she rocked as part of her Mein. Especially the quills. In fact, she puffed out the hairs on the tip of her tail so that the sharp quill heads were more visible.
"I....like to think that I can take care of myself."
The slight flaring of the Elemental's internal fire made her blink a bit and she was curious as to why. The approach of the other man made her pause, however. Some things were best kept from strangers, especially loud boorish ones.
Autumnfire unties the pony's lead from the post she had originally tied it to and holds it out to Juno, practically ignoring the loud tow truck driver all accept for apparently responding to him asking for the horse. She was pleased with his answer, pleased he didn't get offended but rather agreed that he was indeed a powerful creature. It bothered her when other changelings denied the gifts the Fae bestowed, even though those gifts were a fearsome curse. "Its never too late to learn how to handle a mount." She says, coming off with an air of something strange once again. A mount? That choice of wording wouldn't have seemed odd from anyone else but it seemed old-timey coming from this wooden changeling, almost like she felt Juno's lively hood depended on the strong back of a beast.
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