Things are not the Same

[Keira Kelly]

Lucy Pierson had waited until the dark settled upon the world before venturing out of the freehold, the place that she and other of the Lost resided until and unless they found means of getting places on their own. She had vowed to someday do so as well but everything was still too new, different. It wasn't so vastly different that it frightened her, but it was different enough that she was still coming to grips learning it all. It had nothing short of a shock to have discovered that it was no longer 1939 nor even 1949; she had a vague feeling that roughly a decade had passed since that night she had been snatched away but she would have never guessed that the ten years in Faerie would had ended up being seventy-four years back home. And so much had changed in those three-quarters of a decade. Everything was mechanized, run by these machines, dictated by them. Such an odd place she had returned to.

She shook off the thoughts as she moved quickly down the sidewalk, keeping to the shadows and trying to avoid the pools of light from the streetlights. She stopped briefly in a deep well of darkness, urging her heart to slow to a more reasonable pace. Being out by herself scared her something awful. She always felt like eyes were watching and who knew, maybe they were. She had to be always ready, always watching lest her master return and find her. She glanced up at the building she skulked beside; it wasn't high enough to jump off, she thought with sorrow. If THEY were watching, she wanted a way to escape.. if that were even possible; it probably wasn't but didn't mean she wasn't going to try. Until it came to that though, she'd be content trying her very best to stay off of any radar. She turned, thinking she heard footsteps but seeing no one on the street.

She began to move again, slowly at first, creeping from cover to cover but soon becoming more confident. She glanced at the cheap watch she'd been given, the light grey a contrast to the deep, almost cobalt-grey that her skin was now. Though it was dark, she could see a bit more easily in the dark than she could in the bright light. It was getting later than she'd wanted; Dante would be waiting for her. She'd told him she would meet him at his workplace after he had finished and she was late. Lucy started to move more quickly now, breaking into a jog, hooding her wing tips around the front of her shoulders to give more stability at the faster speed. She cut across a dark park, knowing at least that it was a shortcut to her destination. It would shave off at least a few minutes. Running through the darkness was freeing, and she had to resist climbing the dark, towering trees.

As she got near the far edge of the park, she froze, seeing a figure standing in the light. It was a man, tying his shoes. He had placed down a bag on the park bench. Lucy lifted her face towards it as a scent wafted over; food. It smelled good though salty and greasy. She glanced down, seeing a rock near her clawed foot. She grabbed it, chucking it into the darkness the opposite direction from herself, hard enough that it made a sound. The man looked up, curiously peering into the dark. He took a few steps forward to try to see what had caused the sound and in that instance Lucy ran towards the temporarily forgotten back of McDonalds. She snatched it up on her way past and continued to run as if her life depended on it. She seemed to recall that food had been scarce in the other place; the only way to survive was to take what you could get your hands on and kept only by fighting for it. She heard the man yell out behind her as she ran, then the hard footsteps as he took up pursuit behind her.

She ran a block, two blocks. Her lungs felt ready to burst as she turned a corner but slid out on some debris that had been left on the sidewalk. She sat up after her spill, wincing at the scrapes on her toughened skin. The bag... it had slid further and she could hear the man just around the corner. She opened her mouth in fear, baring the sharpened teeth that she now sported. She didn't have time.... She looked up the wall of the building and then jumped at it, climbing as a spider would up its vertical surface with ease, up into the dark upper reaches where the lights of the town did not illuminate. She looked down at the scene as the victim of her thievery reached the spot, looking around in confusion, as she was nowhere to be seen. He would never have imagined that a person could scale a flat brick wall as she had; it was humanly impossible... but then, she wasn't really human anymore, was she?

She spread her wings slightly as she watched another figure approach the man. It was a big figure though a familiar one to Lucy. His yellow eyes glanced up in her direction briefly. He's seen her. At the very least, he could see her own glowing orange-yellow eyes too which the man was not able to. She paused motionless up on the wall, waiting to see what he would do, what the man would do... She was ready to launch her self off, gliding either in attack of this stranger or perhaps, more sound of an idea, to make an escape.

[Veli Alvar]

Dante and his boss, Phil had just finished closing up shop. They worked in an appliance store where they offered repair services as well as new appliances for sale. You name it, they had it. Dante had only been back from escaping that nightmarish realm for 3 weeks. The world he had come back to was different; not in traditions held or norms ruling out. Rather, his vision was more vivid.. the colours were brighter, his overall sensory function had almost doubled. It was as scary as it was fascinating. Though the mental and emotional pain was taxing at first - having just escaped from enduring a slave life for two years - the Freehold that was nearby offered refuge to like-minded individuals whom had suffered similar dilemmas during their time in that place. Knowing that there was a whole community of those like him eased his paranoia and pain.

Dante finished pulling down the rolling steel door to close the shop up. His size allowed him to do so easily, all he needed was good pull down and his foot would do the rest. Phil threw him the lock so he can put it in the right side. He held it with a good grip as it snapped into place. Phil then made his way to his auto, his keys jingling just as they do all day. "And don't you come late ya hear me or that's your job." he said as he closed the door to his car. "Yeah, yeah, yeah old man." Dante yelled back. Due to his newly acquired form and abilities, he would speak in a normal tone but it came out loud. He had become an Airtouched, meaning part of him was literally air, the element. With skin as grey as the clouds, height at just over 6'9" with yellow eyes looking like a circuit board, he was no longer human.

Human was something that had become history to him. He put his hands into the pockets of his yellow windbreaker as he made his way down the block. The breeze was cold but it felt so good. He could feel the emotion of the breeze and understand why it blew the way it did. Call it clairvoyance if you must but it something much more. Something that was without explanation. How else would he be able to describe it to somebody who wasn't part air such as him? He would sound like a lunatic for merely speaking the truth. It was dark out but it was not hard to see. The many lights on the streets neutralized the darkness. He reached two blocks down as he spotted a figure hurriedly turn the corner and fall. Wings and orange glowing eyes with that rough skin. It was no doubt that that was either Lucy or somebody who closely resembled her.

She seemed to drop a bag that a man who just finished turning the corner had picked up. He looked around but it was of no use; Lucy had climbed atop of the building right next to him. As Dante reached the man he ran up to Dante. "Did you see a lady run by?! I've got to catch her and call the constables!" he told Dante, obviously in a rush. Dante pointed his finger in the direction behind him and the man took off running immediately. In seconds he was nowhere to be seen. Dante looked up at the Lurkglider posed atop of the building.

"Hey, get down from there. You don't have to take food when I can give you some, ya know." he said loudly.

[Keira Kelly]

Lucy watched as her pursuer ran off, following Dante's directions from the shadow heights. As the man disappeared around another corner far off, she looked down at the one who'd been her companion at least since their escape; she had a vague feeling that they'd escaped together but no real details about it had stuck with her. He was looking up at her again and then called out. She felt safe.. or at least safer up on top of the building but she would have to come down sometime, she thought as her stomach growled in hunger. She let out a noisy breath as she glanced this way and that down the street, making sure there was no one else about and that the man wasn't coming back. When she was satisfied, she jumped, spreading out her wings to slow her descent and she landed lightly on the sidewalk beside Dante in a crouching pose.
[1 Glamour]

She rose to her feet slowly, looking up at the much taller Airtouched. "I was hungry.. and the food was right there.." she explained with a frown, her voice much quieter than Dante's and with a slightly raspy quality due to her serrated teeth. She knew deep down that stealing was wrong.. or at least that she had known that before; but now, it was different. Taking what you needed, especially food was the only way to survive, to be strong, and right or wrong had nothing to do with anything. No, she thought, that wasn't really true in this world, in this life she wanted to have here, she reminded herself. It was confusing to feel so conflicting about such a simple thing as getting food. She reached back, running a hand along one of the long pair of horns she had now; to any normal person, it would appear she ran a hand through her hair but that was merely an illusion.

She glanced around again, keeping tabs on all the places around where someone could approach them from, pushing back a shudder of apprehension. She slowly hooked her wings back around her shoulders again. She didn't like to slow a means of escape but if she had to, she'd have to go up a building first anyways. "Are you getting food now?" she asked. She didn't like having to rely on someone else like this but the food at the freehold was sometimes on the sparse side, like tonight, and she didn't yet have the means to get money to buy her own.

[Veli Alvar]

Dante understood the Lurkglider. The freehold often maintained more changelings than resources would allow to be viable so a lot of them would get the short end of the stick. She didn't have to worry about that for much longer anyway or as long as she was around Dante. Because the mundane world had only advanced 2 years since his departure he came back to a world that was familiar; different of course but familiar. Lucy still had to get in touch with the times. Dante himself struggled with understanding humans since his time back from Arcadia. He had trouble understanding why they did certain things as well as forgetting things that were socially acceptable/unacceptable. His new nature brought upon an incredibly different mindset than from before his transformation.

The evidence was heavily in favour of him not being human anymore. He knows and can describe how it feels to be a literal breeze of air; what no human can ever even begin to comprehend. Still, at times, he wishes he wouldn't have been abducted. On one hand he now has incredible new powers... in exchange for his lost humanity, forever. "There's a fast food joint right around this corner, let's go get some burgers." he told her as they began to walk. They passed the corner and made it half-way down the block where there was a McDonalds to the left of them. He pushed open the glass door and held it for Lucy as they walked over to the counter. "Go get me two cheeseburger meals and make it snappy." he said before the cashier could form words out her mouth and he gestured his hands in a "shoo" manner.

[Keira Kelly]

Lucy smiled slightly, dipping her head in thanks. "Ta." she said in appreciation as they began to walk. She kept to the inside, between Dante and the buildings that lined the street, repeatedly glancing over her shoulders, watching for anything out of the ordinary.. well anything aside from themselves, of course. An almost seven foot tall, grey skinned man and what would have been akin to a winged demon or gargoyle with glowing eyes and a tail was definitely out of the ordinary. It was probably for the best that normal people couldn't see through the cover of magic that hid what they had become. In any case though, she felt safer being near the looming walls of the buildings that they passed.

The restaurant was thankfully close by and soon they had arrived. Dante opened the door and Lucy slipped into the brightly lit place, wincing slighting at the lighting as she followed her friend over to the counter, standing just slightly behind him, almost nervously. They were in an enclosed place now without knowing all the exits. Suddenly she was pushed hard from behind and even worse, a foot trod on her tail. She hissed in pain, turning around quickly while drawing her tail back out of danger. Behind her were two boys, perhaps eight and ten who had been roughhousing and had rammed into her. She glared down angrily at them with eyes she'd been told were the most unusual colour of amber to humans. They both backed off quickly, the younger one running for a lady at a table nearby who was too intent on her.. electronic device of some sort, to have even noticed that her children were misbehaving.

"Mummy! Mummy!" the younger one called as he reached her.

"What is it?" she asked distractedly. The child pointed at Lucy, pulling on his mother's shirt sleeve to get her attention. Eventually she looked up, following the pointing finger and seeing Lucy glaring over.

Before the woman could say anything, Lucy spoke first. "A little discipline is not something too difficult to mete out, is it?" she said in annoyance. While Lucy was just a touch paranoid often, ready to run if need be, she was also a fighter. She knew how to judge her opponents and one human woman was not really much worry to her. With a derisive sound, she turned her back on them once again. She muttered under her breath about the lack of discipline in this day and age. Her stomach grumbled in hunger again. The smells of this place were enticing even if the food was not very fancy and, according to Dante, not at all good for you.

[Veli Alvar]

The teenage cashier raised her eyebrow at Dante whom had a rude disposition. He wasn't trying to be rude, it's just become hard for him to communicate with humans. She rolled her eyes as she went back into the kitchen to heat up the burgers and the fries. During which Dante heard a bit of commotion behind him with Lucy. He turned around to see she had mentioned discipline to the lady who let her children run loose. When she turned around and made a sound of ridicule it annoyed Dante. "You should put those monkeys in a cage lady." he said, loudly as usual. With that she grabbed both her children and mumbled off something as she left the establishment. Dantes voice could get really unsettling at that tone.

The cashier returned with a big bag of food as well as two drinks separately. He grabbed both drinks with his fairly large hands and just put them right in the bag. To him there was no need to carry things in two hands that you can in one. The girl at the front just looked on confused. "That will be 14.86, SIR." she said, holding out her hand and drawing out the last word in her sentence. Dante reached inside his pocket where he had two loose bills, a 10 and a 5. He threw it on the counter as he grabbed the bag and walked back outside, the girl in the front rolling her eyes once more. "I don't live far from here, just a couple more blocks down this way." he said, turning left after leaving McDonalds. "So how have you been getting accustomed to the times?" he asked Lucy.

[Keira Kelly]

It was almost a relief to leave the brightly lit, unfamiliar restaurant. The darkness just always seemed to call to her. It was comforting and protecting in the darkness. She shook her head as she walked. "Why doesn't that mother punish the children for acting so disobediently?" she asked. "It reflects badly on her as well. How is that acceptable? All it would take is some strict words let alone a proper spanking to teach them that this behaviour is wrong. I would never have let my little Carrie.." she winced at saying that without thinking. It had been three weeks since she'd been back and yet, even with the advent of these computers, she was still trying to track down the fate of her daughter. Though Carolyn had merely been an infant when Lucy had been taken, she would have been well into her eighties by now, if she was even still alive. The thought broke Lucy's heart. She had just begun to get to know her daughter's emerging personality when she'd been ripped from her grasp, ripped from this world. All for the sin of trying to protect her child. For that, she'd been sentenced to a decade of protecting her master's lair. Her need to protect had been one of the things they hadn't been able to take from her and it was this that saw her through her captivity and was just as strong now as it had been then if not more so. "I would never have let her be so disruptive." she concluded softly.

Ah, a change in subject. Perfect time, Dante, she thought. She shook her head. "It is.. rather confusing at times." she admitted. "In some ways there is very little difference but this mass of technology.. I'd never have imagined half of it possible. Then again, I suppose even what I saw come into being during my youth should have at least hinted at the power of human ingenuity... But it is still wonderfully amazing." she added, a small smile coming to her face. "I only wish that there was something that.. could detect.. Them." she said, very quietly, glancing around quickly and furiously as if scared that that utterance would draw their attention. She glanced around, noticing the residences now in the area. "Are one of these yours?" she asked.

[Veli Alvar]

Dante shared similar sentiments with Lucy as she mentioned the undisciplined children. Was it not embarrassing to have your kids display such behaviour in public, even if they were only kids? In a place of dining no less; it lacked fanciness sure but it is a place of eatery. People want to enjoy their meals without being pestered. Humans were ever more strange to Dante as the days passed. He hadn't even attempted to contact his mother yet; there was no way he wanted her to know that he had returned. He was sick of living in that place.

A loud chuckle came from Dante when Lucy detailed her disbelief at the current era as he pulled out his keys on his right side. She came from a vastly different time with different definitions for what was socially acceptable, as well as the technological surge. At the utterance of 'Them' Dante quickly turned his head to see behind him. Nobody was there and in relief he turned his back. "Yeah, um-" he cleared his throat. "The technology available now is just insane. I may have to give you a rundown on the common household stuff." he said before nodding at her questioning if he lived in one these residential buildings. He stopped in front of his door and unlocked it with the key he already had in his hand; opening the door as well as holding it open for Lucy.

He made his way upstairs to unlock the second door. He opened it but that one didn't close itself so there was no need to keep it held open. Inside his small abode was a big chair next to the futon on the right placed in front of the flat television about 32" big. Just ahead a door leading to the bathroom and to the left was the kitchen area. It was small but it was very livable. In addition, Dante had a ceiling fan, two medium sized fans facing the opposite sides of the futon, one in the window and a small fan on the counter in the kitchen area; all turned on. He walked over to the counter and placed the bag of food on it, digging into it to take out his part of the meal. After which he walked over to and sat on the futon placing his food on his lap with the drink on the floor, looking at the television that was already on. "This here is a full colour television, capable of holding over 9000 channels as well as crispy clear high definition ones." he said as he unwrapped his burger.

[Keira Kelly]

Lucy was looking all around, taking in everything in Dante's small home, primarily looking for means of escape should it prove necessary. It was always good to know one's escape routes. When she was content that there were multiple means of egress, she settled down. At Dante's gesture, she took the rest of the remaining food, grabbing up the whole bag with her portion, holding the bag tight to herself defensively. It was really only then that she noticed the constant air flow through the rooms, and after glancing over at the multitude of fans and a shudder, held up one wing to block the worst of it from herself. The shudder hadn't been from cold in the slightest but it was merely because the feel of constant strong breezes and winds brought back vague memories of being chained high up top of dark and windy castle towers.

She listened to Dante's explanation about the television. She'd seen televisions of course, though the ones she'd known had been purely black & white tv's and nowhere near the quality of this one that Dante owned. She stopped to look at it, going up close, amazed at the colours. She was stunned though about the number of channels. "Dear god! 9000? We had one channel..." she said. "And that had been suspended in the months before I.. was taken, because of the war." she explained. "They certainly do look far more life-like nowadays... It must cost a fortune to own one of these. When I was married, we went out and bought a tele but we had family money. We were more fortunate.. in that at least, than most." She realized that maybe they'd paid for their luck in society. It certainly felt like that at least. She shook her head sadly.

Lucy finally remembered her meal and looked around, spotting a chair. She'd have preferred something a bit higher off the ground but that would do. She hopped up on it, crouching on the seat as she curled her tail around her feet. She continued to use her wings as a wind-break which also helped with her comfort a bit as chairs really weren't designed for beings with large wings not to mention tails. As she crouched, she balanced the back on one leg, finally opening it up again and withdrawing her own food. She placed the drink on one of the chair arms, taking care not to knock it and took her burger first. She unwrapped it cautiously, sniffing at it. It did smell good. She held it tightly and close to herself, almost curling up defensively around the food. She glanced around furtively, as if worried that something or someone might steal it from her. She looked over suspiciously at Dante but he already had food and seemed to have no interest in hers. For now at least. He was bigger than her though and if he decided that he wanted her food, she'd have to fight for it. She decided the best course of action was to eat it as quickly as possible.

She bit into the burger, her sharp, pointed teeth easily slicing through the meat and bun. She took a bit bite of it, quickly chewing and swallowing it, eating as quickly as possible. All too soon, it felt like, all her food was finished. There was still the drink though and she needed it; the food was really salty. She grabbed up the cup beside her, holding it in both hands as a child might. She sniffed at that too, judging it to be worthy fare by its scent. It had been so long since she'd had fizzy drinks. She ripped off the lid with straw, discarding them and began to drink straight from the cup, though it was hard to do because of her teeth. She ended up puncturing the paper side though she was careful not to spill. She drank quickly as well, having to pause though to cough at the bubbles. The drink though was finished almost as quickly as the food had been. She glanced over at Dante who was still eating, looking at what remained of his food with envy, trying to judge if she had any chance to take a bit more but trying, unsuccessfully, not to be obvious about it.

[Veli Alvar]

Dante took a big bite out of his unwrapped burger, taking more than half of it already in one go. "Expensive? I got this for like £70 from one of the mum and pops shops." he said with his mouth full. The colours on the television were vivid moreso for the being he had become. Arcadia has shaped his view of the world with vivid imagery that he had to sometimes keep under warps for the possibility of being called a lunatic. He looked on as he finished the rest of the burger he had left in one more bite. Being at home was so relaxing for him. The constant breeze kept him in a relaxed state. Though his conditions were harsh in Arcadia, the wind was all he knew. The only thing that kept him company.

Dante threw a big handful of fries in his mouth, leaving only a few being left in the bottom of the fry holder. He looked over to Lucy only to catch her eyeing his food. This was the same fae that had robbed a man earlier; it was clear she was really hungry. He pointed to the fridge that was in the kitchen area. "If you're still hungry you can help yourself to whatever is in the fridge. I got some chicken wings, pork rinds, macaroni and some other stuff." he said, mouth full and his fingers counting out the things he was trying to remember. "Catch is, you gotta heat it up in the microwave oven." he said, pointing to the microwave on the counter. Lucy was not aware this was invented as well as it was around the 1950s. "It's a small oven. You put the food in, push the numbers to set it for how long and bingo. No more than 5 minutes should be good if you plan to stuff it." he said with a chuckle. Dante then threw his head back and held the fry holder to his mouth, just dropping in the fries, finishing them.