Summer Studies!

[Rlyeh]

Kane Harlow 's map will lead him near the High Striker, and passed the barrier between the mortal and the hedge and into the Summer Hollow.

Like the Drowned Fox told him, it wasn't anything grand, nothing like the Spring's newly debuted Tavern, but it's the beginnings of something that could be. A cleared stretch of the hedge, the beginnings of a medieval encampment, but with obvious room to grow.


R'lyeh, with obvious excitement, ears perked and twitching at every noise, as her tails swish behind her and her boot clad feet do lil tippy taps as she waits by the fire. Her hair still does it's drip-drip-drops, so she's leaning back away, she doesn't know what will happen if it drips into the fire, and she doesn't want to know. Or. Yes she wants to know but she doesn't want to know now, without prior safety measures in place. Just in case.

Wearing shorts and her stained cupcake shirt, she waits tippy tapping away.

Xander

[Kane Harlow]

Kane makes his way as promised! A chance to teach self defense and get to know a fellow summer while making one of his first excursions to the summer hollow? All yeses from this guy.

The Manikin was dressed as simply as ever. A plain white T shirt and blue jeans with his black boots. It wasn't anything special, but you wouldn't wear a tux to sparring match anyways. Besides, he was curious if he was the only one still struggling with reestablishing a mortal presence and, by extension, an income.

Following the sound of tippy tapping, he smiled once he saw Rlyeh.

"Hey! How are you?" He looks down at the fire, smile growing ever slightly as he looks back up at Rlyeh. "A lady after my own heart."

[Rlyeh]

And than!

Waiting. Over! Yes!

With a grin, she spins on her heel and waves at Kane-knight.

"Hi-hello-yes-hi!" she rambles over herself, "I am okay-good-yes." she nods, drip-drip-drop "Are you good-well-not-bad?" she asked in return, that was polite ya? She was sure it was. Yes.

Then she blinks, was he trying to flirt with her? Or was it a standard greeting? She was confused. So she asks, "What does that mean?"

[Kane Harlow]

"Doing good. Finally not homeless again which is always a plus."

The smile turns to a smirk as he looks at the fire and back to Rlyeh.

"Lady after my own heart?" Wasn't that a common colloquialism? He was only gone for a year or two, there's no way people stopped saying that right? Fuck, right? "I also like setting shit on fire. It's a thing we have in common, though my elemental preference is a bit more ubiquitous then a fire."

He shrugs, still smirk-smiling at Rlyeh.

"Either way, not my first choice of contract. More a new interest due to my seeming's affinity."

[Rlyeh]

"Ya!" she grins, all wide and happy. "It is a very good thing! Yes! House-home or hedge-home?" she asks, because there was a difference between an apartment or rental and a hollow. Both were good. Sometimes-most times, both were best.

"Ahhhhhh...." she draws out, "I thought you meant something different. It's hard to tell sometimes-most times now-After. I just asked to check. So I wouldn't ass-u-me." a nod, drip-drip-drop "...I also do not have any Clause for fire. The opposite to fire. Or maybe adjacent?" her head tilts, as she considers. Then nods drip-drip-dropping along, "Understandable. Yes. They are easier to learn, so I learned, yes. But sometimes not easier to learn is good. Yes."

A beat, the fire crackles,

"So. Learning?" all bright eyed and bushy tailed.

[Kane Harlow]

"Hedge-home. I... might need to get out a bit more."

Prolonged contact with the Hedge? Not great for clarity purposes. House-home might one day be in order as well. As Rlyeh continues the smirk fades away, replaced by a look in his eyes that hinted at a degree of understanding about what the fox was saying.

"I've been struggling with people as well. After my little tour of duty in Arcadia it just seems like people have gone crazy lately?"

They just weren't in his programming anymore. Or rather they were, but not in a way that moved towards empathy. His attention was on Arcadia and the boundaries within the Hedge. Mortals needed his protection, not his understanding. As much as he wanted the latter.

"Anyway, yes. Learning. What kind of combat experience have you had before? Or have you had any at all?"

[Rlyeh]

She nods, drip-drip-drop, "I am the same." a blink. "Um. In the needing to get out more. Not having a hedge-hollow. Decided to help Circe-queen with this -" she motions to the small encampment they're currently in, "First. Also. I didn't-know-didn't-assume I would be in Sacramento long. Many people in other places are very mean because I am - " gross-bad-wrong " - Drippy."

See this, this is why she likes him, he gets it. She's all nods, hair dripping, tails swishing ears perked even as she squirrels away that phrase, tour of duty in Arcadia, was that the truth of his Durance? Or had he been solidering long before and it just felt right to continue on? "Exactly! Yes. Before-Before. I was popular-important-social-butterfly-and-not- pariah. Used to go to the Met Gala every year - " she she's surprised with how easily that slips out this time. She remembers shaking-tears-panic. Now. Growth. Summer Strength. "Used to laugh-smile-talk. It was fun-good. Now it's. Awkward-weird. Like missed connection-buffering. Like There's a-a - " she slaps her hands together, "Between me-and-them. Y'know?"

She's blinking off into nothing, mind think-think-thinking when Kane-knight Asks his Question.

"Nothing formal." she Answers promptly, "I'm light on my feet, I know that elbows are good, don't tuck your thumb in when you make a fist, and use your knuckles, and I like to use my little knife....cutting them helps. If...I need to spew...kith um. blessing stuff at them." did that sound better than projectile vomit? Probably.

[Kane Harlow]

As Rlyeh spoke, Kane's eyebrows arched up in concern. Mean? Pariah? Who's been saying these things to her? Or was she being hard on herself? This is the type of conversation that needed a delicate touch, but Rlyeh was going to have to settle for Kane unfortunately.

"Who called you a pariah?" Because someone was getting an ass kicking if this was actually said.

"Our seeming definitely makes it harder to connect. For me, people just feel so distant. And the news, holy shit. I'm glad I don't have a smart phone or internet, because the mystery of people gets dark. I just don't get what people have been thinking lately? Or how they can think it? Or how everyone else can just move along like it's just another day? It's like they're so far away I can't see a way to get from how I'm thinking to what they're thinking. I don't see how they got where they are so I just can't seem to follow them there."

And that's the appeal of the hedge-home. Technology doesn't work and he's forced to unplug. The doom scrolling doesn't have to end if it never started. Plus if a mortal found him to talk about politics it's a clear red flag to run for the hills.

"So now I'm curious about the met gala Rlyeh if you'll indulge me? I can still do some of the social stuff I did before the durance, even picked up contracts to help with that in the hedge, but the elemental curse interferes with some of that. It sounds like you lost a lot to the thorns? Like even the root understanding from before the durance was taken? I don't mean to pry, but this is probably the most honest conversation about life as one of us I've ever had. I'm curious about why I lost some things and kept other things while other changelings lost other things and kept some things. We're both elementals, and yet it sounds like you lost more of who you were then I did?"

Like how Kane had medical training as part of his time in the air force but couldn't remember how to clean a wound with a gun to his head now. Still, he was fairly charismatic for an elemental. Something he did not seem to share with the met gala fox. You'd think someone who went to lavish social events with overdressed celebrities would know more about presentation and body language, and yet it was Kane that clearly turned the heads in this court. He should probably be more focused on the Rlyeh's feelings, but Kane wasn't great at emotional support. He was hearing a problem to be solved, because his fellow summer being this hard on herself wasn't going to fly. Rlyeh was awesome and she needed to know it, and finding that understanding he sucked at finding was going to be how he did that. The only problem? He sucked at this.

"So the basics?" Maybe he should stick to what he remembers, and the reason Rlyeh asked him here. "In the military we train to close the distance and take advantage of different techniques across multiple disciplines. We can get started whenever, though I'm admittedly more curious about whether you're okay? It sounds like you've been carrying a lot on your own and maybe how to choke out your fetch is the second most important thing to talk about right now."

She wouldn't bee a pariah if she had someone to talk to after all.

[Rlyeh]

"Not-here or...not-to-my-face." she blurts, still confused as to why. Going cross country it had been the same variation on a gross-bad-wrong-theme. Fringe-friendless. "It is more-worse. Yes." she admits, "Not only - I. Before I was a shallow pond. It didn't matter. I remember money and fawning. I was Important. I don't remember-remember, but I remember-remembering. This had a formulae, route. I did this and that happened. Always. So I didn't have much to keep. For truth. Just...scum on the pound.

After. Being not-liked hasn't helped. Me relearning. How and why and. yes." she starts, looking at Kane-knight, hallo-bright-plate-and-chrome. Same-different-familiar-stranger. Truth-words Secrets-kept. Should she? Should she not? No one's asked. She's not in the habit, but. Maybe....

"The Durance was...not good. Torn apart, hunted-devoured-righted. Hunting-devouring-to-be-devoured. I don't know what I lost then. But. I know-beyond-marrow-deep that I did.....after loosing-no-choice. To survive-escape I had to choose what to trade-what to keep. Pride-fashion-sense and what furrowed-brow-upturned-lips mean seems fair enough trade away when you need Out-Away....but. I." Twisting her fingers together. "Made bad-deals. Thought I was clever-skilled. Was tricked. Lost more then I thought...but." her mouth opens, only to close, admitting this for the first time to anyone wasn't easy. But Same-Court-Familiar-Stranger. She was trying "But. Away-away-thorns-hedge tore much-and-more. I..I'm a patchwork-not-quite tabula rasa."

"What I knew and what I thought I knew....I think was design. I needed to be empty so I can Learn to be filled. Him my Keeper. He. Devoured Deep. Tore and ate Secrets from my gut. Glutting Himself again-and-again-and-again-and-I think. That I didn't Escape. Not for truth. I Think I was cut loose. To learn-change-grow. So He catch me and eat me again." never mind no one liking-caring-wanting her. This was the reason she had been running since New York.

"Funderland-Sacramento is nice. Good. I don't want to. Not I." she stumbles, smiling slightly as Kane-knight finishes, "So. yes. Learning. Fighting. Gotta stop running." which is why, in the heart of everything is why she chose Summer.

[Kane Harlow]

So Rlyeh was spoiled? Or maybe ensorcelled. He was trying to make sense of her 'route', having had to work and earn everything with less then certain outcomes while he did so. Then came the story of her durance, and wow. Deja vu.

"I wasn't devoured. I don't think? It's only been a little while ,and the actual durance and my abduction are still hazy and mixed with my nightmares. But I was blown up. And shot. And stabbed. And every time a piece of me was replaced with a piece of something else. Like a living ship of Theseus? But the nails are probably shrapnel they ground into studs all over my body."

Not going to touch the injury that caused the flaying. If that was an injury. Not that Kane didn't trust Rlyeh? But some things are still confusing and words don't work on them yet. Elemental social skills and all.

"Then it just stopped and my keeper let me go. No idea why. I just ran away and no one stopped me. So I'm back in one piece but all the pieces are different and parts of me just aren't in the new programing? My medical training is gone but my people skills are okay but awkward now? And I'm trying to make sense of the big questions like why I spent my whole life studying and working for a career in the Air Force for my fetch to fuck off and live it for me."

Assuming he was still in the Air Force. Kane had no idea how to even check on that thing yet.

"So I've been hopping from freehold to freehold looking for a place that makes sense to put the pieces back together. And I find this very kind and interesting Elemental who keeps taking time to listen to me rant and fumble my way through being supportive in an effort to get trained on hand to hand combat. So I'm thinking I should probably stick around and give her something for listening and sharing these very personal moments with me."

Summer might like vengeance and wrath, but it's also about fraternity. Where Rlyeh stayed to learn to fight, Kane only saw brotherhood. Or in this case sisterhood. Rlyeh could definitely find it somewhere else and find it better, but Kane appreciated that she found it with him.

Four days left. Want to wind down here?