"My books ready!" Nursery Rhyme cheered from across the room. She was seated at his desk, art supplies scattered around it. Her tiny hands were covered in ink and paint. Shirou's small companion turned toward him. "This one's gonna knock your socks off."
Shirou looked up from the simple French history book he'd been reading. His legs crossed as he sat on the oversized bed. Once again, he found himself wishing he had a futon rather than a western bed. It was too big for him and just took up so much space. "Let's read it then."
The boy closed his book and got off his bed. The wooden floor creaked as he walked over to the girl. He placed the history textbook down on the desk before picking up Alice. She held the picture book tightly in her hands. Its cover was in French, 'The Kitten's Doubts.'
"Yep, I see you noticed!" Nursery Rhyme shifted the book back, making the cover easier to read. "I wrote it in French since it'll help you learn!"
"I think I've gotten better at it," Shirou answered, feeling a bit satisfied with himself. He'd managed this entire conversation in French without a lick of trouble. Alice didn't need to help him understand anything in a few days, either. Soon, he'd be good enough to go outside and help Gyd with her stuff.
Alice hummed in agreement as they approached the bed. Shirou sat down on the bed before placing the small girl down next to him. The green bedsheets were neatly tucked into the bed without leaving a single wrinkle. "This is my first time handmaking a pop-up book."
"Did you use to conjure them up or something?" Shirou asked the girl, thinking back to the married mice.
"Sometimes… I used to be able to make entire plays and stories into reality with a thought, but Alice liked a simple pop-up book once in a while. It really helped to shake things up when Alice and Alice had no one to play with," Nursery Rhyme explained. She started repeatedly pulling up and lowering the corner of her small book. "If Alice were here now… I'd have a lot of trouble entertaining here, hehe."
Shirou frowned at Alice's sad giggle. "I'm sure you'd be able to do it."
"Perhaps," She responded, opening the book to the first page. A small black kitten and two larger kittens next to it walking down a road, buildings lining the road. Text filled the bottom half of the text, written in a thick rainbow ink. "Anyway, my story… I had to change it a few times to better suit you. I drifted from the original message…"
"Does that mean it'll have a happy ending?" Shirou questioned, leaning back slightly.
"Believe in your dreams," Alice told him as she looked back down at the book, clearing her throat for her dramatic reading. "This is the story of a cute little kitten. It's mommy was an artist, and its father a builder."
The cat family seemed to walk across the pages, happily moving in synch without a single worry or concern. The buildings on either side of the road sparkled.
"They taught her everything they knew," Alice flipped the page to reveal the next pop-up. The kitten had a funny yellow construction hat on and a paintbrush in its mouth. On one side was a painting with the mother cat next to it and the father cat by a lego building. "The tiny kitten absorbed all that they taught! Practicing day and night to try and be like her parents!"
Alice flipped through a few more pages, one showing the little kitten painting and another showing her trying to find a tall house. The pages smelled of fresh concrete, still wet and ready to be poured.
"As it grew older, she found herself unable to keep up with both paths. The advanced lessons for older kittens are way harder and more complicated than baby kitten classes," Nursery Rhyme looked at the little confused kitten. Flipping through a page that showed her building falling and another with a torn-apart art piece. "Thus, she needed to find a way to combine them into one path! For if she didn't have time for two classes, she had time for one!"
The pages flip to reveal the kitten painting on a rockside, the paintbrush in its mouth seeming to brush up and down against the rock. Droplets of paint flowed onto the paper below as an image of a road and tunnel was painted upon the mountainside.
"She decided to build with her paint! Construction projects thought impossible were brought into existence by her art!" Alice flipped the page, a car driving through the kitten's artful tunnel. "With her brush and belief in herself, she was able to draw anything to reality! She became famous and beloved as she grew into a big cat."
"The way you combine human materials with… fae effects is cool," Shirou complimented her after taking in the next pop-up of the cat surrounded by flashing cameras. "No wonder it took so long to make."
"It took a lot, but I think I got it just right," Alice brought the two halves of the book forward and back, making it look like the cat was walking. "Glitter did a lot of heavy lifting. I filled it with my creativity! It was the best I could do!"
A question popped into Shirou's head, one he asked out of instinct. "Is there anything I could do to help you get better? At least enough for you to be able to do more…"
"Hmm… not really. Alice without Alice is half of Alice that can't be fixed till we find her… And the physical body I inhabit needs fixing, but you can't do that… nor could you fix the damage to my soul," Nursery Rhyme answered, rubbing her left hand over some of her breaks.
The fairy nodded, understanding, before noticing something. "That tower was really old, and you must've been there for a while. But your body looks more recent…"
"Alice brought Alice's body with her when she entered our world from her world," Alice looked down, hiding her expression. "I entered it and became her friend! Alice may not have been one of us, but her magic matched us! Time doesn't have much meaning in the Dreaming, so we worked together to hop over to the earlier pages!"
Was she claiming time travel? Neat.
Shirou accepted the explanation. The time they spent in the Dreaming felt like an eternity, but only eight months had passed. He'd been surprised to find out he'd missed the turning of the millennium. It was a little disappointing since it meant he missed the festivities around it. Staying in Gyd's house meant he also had to sit out of everything going on in 2000. Beyond his increasing desire to leave this house, the worst part was that he hadn't grown in all that time! Not a single inch, why?
…
sigh
He'd look into helping Alice heal later and why he wasn't aging.
"Back to our kitten's story!" Alice told him, flipping the page. "She gained renown all around the world. All the fatcats wanted her to paint their dream projects in reality! Sadly, it wasn't meant to be… for a mean and cynical cat insulted her. He said she didn't make no sense, rallying people against her. 'You can't make a tunnel with paint! She's scamming you!'"
The book showed the cat protagonist being chased away by an army of other animals. Echoes of their jeers fill the air.
"She tried to prove her art was real, pointing out people used them every day… only to find they no longer could. When they tried to use the tunnels to cut through the mountains, they ended up smashing into them! It was a catastrophe!"
Shirou shook his head at the pun, slightly amused. He ignored the memory of one he'd left beyond who would've died laughing.
"Do you know what happens next?"
"Our kitten-now-cat believes in herself and walks through the tunnel, proving it was real," Shirou gave his hopeful idea. She said to believe in his dreams, after all.
"You should never let your hopeful side die!" Alice giggled to herself. "But wrong! Our purtagonist sees this and starts to doubt herself. Every time someone failed to go through the tunnel, her confidence wavered more and more. Until she tried to go through it, only to fail."
Shirou crossed his arms, curling his toes. The new pop-up image was of the cat running into the painted mountainside while the cats around it laughed.
"Her faith in herself broken. Our little kitten gave up both art and construction, never to pick up a brush or hammer again," Nursery Rhyme spoke slowly while looking down at the final popup. The cat was lying on the floor, all the things she loved in ruins around her.
"I see… so the lesson is to trust in yourself rather than listen to doubters," Shirou confidently nodded. He agreed with this message, even if the ending was a bit dower.
The kitten only failed because she doubted herself and thus lost everything she'd worked towards. The very dreams and aspirations she'd inherited from her parents. If she'd only believed in herself, then that'd never happen.
"Or it could be not to spread yourself too thin. Or something else – you do ignore that other cats couldn't use the tunnel because of their disbelief – but it doesn't matter," Alice said before looking down at the back of her book. "I changed it to be something you'd like without lying."
"You did good," Shirou complimented her while rubbing the back of his head. "It's important you stay true to yourself."
"There's only so long that's possible." Nursery Rhyme muttered to herself. "If only dreams lasted forever, never to be betrayed…"
Shirou glanced down at his companion, feeling more than a bit awful. He knew that Alice's Alice meant a lot to her. Enough so that she sometimes used her master's name for herself. Their bond must have been close enough that the two had almost no separation. Yet, they were now divided in the worst way possible.
It wasn't the first time they'd spoken of this, but it still brought out sympathy from an ancient part of his heart. He could only reassure her again and again, patting her on the back. "We'll find her."
He believed he could do it and thus wouldn't fail like the kitten.
Alice gave him a small smile without saying a word.
Shirou walked up to Gyd, ready to ask her an important question. The older woman wasn't in the middle of anything important, only going through some of the books he'd stacked on the living room table in front of the couch. The TV played silently from beyond the wooden surface, this one bigger than the one in the kitchen. He'd cleaned both of them recently but couldn't get the smell of fish out of them – yet. He hadn't given up hope.
"I've cleaned nearly every inch of this house – even without you changing your habits," Shirou muttered the last part with a bit of annoyance. He had to clean some of the areas multiple times because of her. A home getting dirty was a part of life, but it was like she didn't care how dirty it got. Gyd was somehow worse than… someone else when it came to this! "I've managed to learn French well enough to not need help, mostly, and understand how to blend in. Can I leave the house yet? At least to help others – and you? Staying here any longer might drive me crazy…"
Gyd looked up from the stacks of dirty books. Her ever-stoic expression fell upon him. Eventually, her shoulders loosened slightly, and she gave him a nod. "Yes, Friday night you can come with me. However, it is only to gather glamour, not to meet the other changelings."
Shirou straightened up out of excitement. Joy and relief mixed together in his heart. He couldn't wait to see more of France and help people. If he was forced to stay here longer, banality might start claiming him. "Got it."
"Good, but there are some things to discuss before then," Gyd motioned for him to take a seat next to her on the couch. He sat down faster than he normally would, causing his teacher to shake her head. "Let's start with the topic of Dreamers and gathering glamour in France."
"Is something about them different here?" Shirou asked. He didn't know what Dreamers were and may have been staying in France for the foreseeable future, but he wanted to know if things differed from place to place. It wouldn't be good to be stuck in another country and not be able to gather glamour due to the methods not working there.
"Only the latter. The taint of banality in France is stronger than in other lands. It perverts even the creative and eats away at the glamour produced by epiphany. In short, it is harder to muse a mortal, and the results are often worse than if you'd done the same thing in another place."
"I see. Learning to do it in a more difficult place is good. If I can do it here, then I can do it anywhere… and it makes helping people here all the more important," Shirou chose to look on the bright side. The whispering of his Unseelie side that this place would soon inherit Fuyuki's sheer cold only straightened his resolve. He wouldn't let that happen.
"Yes, it is the best we can do to stem the tide of banality until we can institute my plan," Gyd agreed after a few moments. Her tone was slightly lighter than before. "Dreamers are the mortals you patronize. There are the extremely rare True Dreamers, artistic humans nearly unburdened by banality, and the more common humans suffering its chilly bite. The former is far easier to muse and generates more glamour, but musing the latter helps to create more Dreamers as well as weaken banality's grip on this world. Albit slightly as freeing a person from banality is a long and difficult project not solved by a single musing."
Shirou nodded, understanding. It made sense. Helping a creative and joy-filled person find inspiration in life was much easier than helping someone with depression. He'd prefer the harder path that'd help those in need. Heroes help those in need, not those already fine.
"There are some humans you mustn't try to muse or linger around for more than absolutely necessary," Gyd stressed the need to get away from these humans. "These are known as the Autumn People. They are agents of banality. There are two main types of Autumn People. The first is the much less dangerous but far more common kind, passive humans with very high banality. These men and women don't actively seek to destroy hope or wonder, lacking the will to do so. They are the type of people who reject any kind of change or strenuous activity out of laziness and have had their spirits swallowed by the convenience of everyday life. An example might be someone who refuses to do anything but mindlessly watch TV while life passes by. In truth, they are not the ones you must avoid. At most, they tend to raise banality in the area around them or become a threat over long-term exposure."
These passive humans would be like… one refusing to stop playing a video game despite their brother being around and asking them to…
"The other type of Autumn People are the threat you must flee from if at all possible," Gyd spoke gravely, moving slightly closer to him. "They are the aggressive, banal humans who actively seek to crush hopes and dreams. Their thoughts and rejection of all that defines us turn them into bleak voids that actively drain us of our dreams. They are the people who place conformity above all else, crushing the individual – not even for the sake of some 'greater good' but simply because they hate those different from themselves.
They view dreams as useless false hopes. Deviation from norms, an illness. Imagination, for children."
"I see," Shirou said again as he thought back to the past. His eyes focused on the brightly-covered carpet. His chest felt empty, yet each beat of his heart was full of pain. "Like a therapist that wants to cure you of your delusions… or an older sister that laughs at their younger brother's dreams."
The changeling didn't lift his eyes from the floor as he waited for a response. The overwhelming silence grew more unbearable with each passing second. Until he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.
"Is there anything you wish to talk about?" Gyd offered, her voice kinder than he'd heard before. Her grip tightened slightly on his shoulder. "… It would be helpful to know if you have experience with such people.
Helpful?
Shirou looked up at Gyd. He couldn't burden someone else with his issues. He needed to move on from them without stopping. No matter the pain… if it'll help Gyd, though…
Her stoic expression shifted more than ever before. Her lips turned downward. Those eyes were filled with genuine worry and concern…
"Yes... My sister laughed at my dream when I told her right after the old man had died. It hurt… Then she sent me to a psychiatrist to be 'fixed,'" Shirou paused as he brought his hand over his eye, remembering the reactions to their color. His wings covered his shoulders, draping him like a blanket. "They thought something was wrong with me, made me feel... awful and… I can't describe it… I was told my dream was wrong and he'd get rid of it… They wanted to medicate me… but I left before they could."
"I understand," Gyd spoke after giving him a few moments of silence. "What is your dream? What do you want to be or do?"
"I want to be a hero of justice… like a superhero that saves everyone. I'll travel all over the world and help everyone in need!" Shirou admitted to his fellow changeling, his pointed ears drooped. The seconds he prepared himself for her response were anxious-inducing. It was the worst; he shouldn't care what other people think, but he couldn't help but be haunted by that laugh.
"Very well, I don't see anything humorous about it," Gyd spoke simply and slowly. She closed her eyes and let out a breath. "It is a good dream; never stop chasing it."
Shirou looked up at her with his big pupilless eyes.
"Humans may insult it or not understand it, but we're not humans. We're fairies; our dreams don't have to be understood by them. We have an obligation to do the impossible, to bring fantasy to their dull world. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise," Gyd took her hand off his shoulder. "Do you understand?"
The younger fairy absorbed the older one's words. Each syllable lifted a bit more weight from his heart. "Yes."
If only his sister had said that… if only she was a fairy and could see the world through his eyes.
"Good," Gyd spoke, leaning slightly away from him now. "I know not if this will be a comfort or a curse, but you are not alone. Childlings having problems with their families is as common as rain. The term for them – you – is The Lost Boys, or sometimes 'Tinks' for girls and majority girl groups. These Lost Boys are those whose kithain nature and mortal family can't be reconciled and thus flee from the latter. In the best cases, they get help from older changelings, who give them a place to stay and hide from mortal authorities seeking to return them to their mortal kin. In the worst, childlings form their own groups and descend together into a feral bedlam."
Shirou wondered how many of them were killed or exploited by beings like Rene. How many lives had been snuffed out because their mortal families rejected who they were?
It was rage-inducing.
"Mortal families and their changeling children break apart is a tale as old as our kind. Especially changelings whose fae side slips out onto their human side or have inhuman traits from their kiths. It only takes one glance into the myths to see it again and again. Changelings weren't seen as their parents' children but replacements left behind after they'd been stolen by Fae.
Sometimes, they would accuse us of being elderly fae replacing their children to be cared for. They'd 'prove' this by tricking their child into saying something no normal child would know or say. Yet, that was still their child. I doubt they'd accept them even if they learned the babe they abandoned was the one they bore. That the knowledge they had was from the blessing of having a fae soul…
Those would be the lucky ones. Many parents in begone ages would get rid of changelings by exposing their children to the elements or beating their fae halves into a painful submission. One can only wonder how many innocent infants and children their paranoia and hate claimed. How awful were their deaths? How often were their cries to their parents ignored?"
Shirou's mind wandered, imagining the scenes unfolding. It hurt his heart. What else could such imagery do?
A mother looking at their three-year-old child and not seeing their baby, but a monster. The child's joyful laughs turned to screams of terror as they were beaten by a hot metal rod. Forced to give up their dream or die at the hands of their parent.
"It hasn't changed much in the modern day. Only now, they claim there's something wrong with their child rather than saying they've been replaced by the fae. Their cruel actions are now done through scientific justification and explanations.
The most well-known threat, feared by many of our kind, is Dr. Anton Stark. He is a prominent psychiatrist who has managed to identify changelings but is convinced it is a mental disorder. He named it Quixote Syndrome and published a book titled Chimera: Living Within Our Dreams. His treatment is to separate children from their families and put them through electro-shock therapy and countless drugs to forcibly turn a changeling into a Dauntain. I have also heard those captured because of Quixote Syndrome are often beaten."
"Awful," Shirou muttered, sympathizing with the victims. He'd need to look out for his fellow changelings. There was a word he didn't understand. "What's a Dauntain?"
"A dauntain, they are the changeling equivalent of an Autumn Person. They are fairies driven into banality. Often, these are changelings unable to cope during their dream dance, rejecting their true selves for the comfort of the familiar. They forsake their fae heritage to become champions of our enemy. Dauntain may be one of the gravest threats to our kind, wielding banality itself to extinguish our light. I hear stories that they can be saved from banality, but I don't know if that is true. But it is obvious how this may be among the worst fate a changeling can suffer. Only made worse in cases like the victims of Stark and his disciples, who were forced into such a state by their own families."
"Then the fortunate ones must the childlings with kithain relatives?" Shirou wondered aloud.
"Yes, assuming their relative hasn't been undone by the time the childling goes through the dream dance, it can make the transitionary process much easier. This isn't rare, but it isn't the majority of cases."
"Does blood have something to do with who is and isn't a changeling?" The changeling asked his mentor. It made sense if changelings regularly had kithain relatives.
"During one of my trips to England, I saw the results of a study done on this. They conducted it over several generations, tracking kithain mortal bloodlines. If one parent was a changeling, there was a 15 to 20% chance for each child to be one of us. This increased to between 40 and 50% if both parents were changing. The rest tended to be Kinain – our more human kin who lack a fae soul but still carry their own marks as lesser children of the Dreaming. They have access to a limited amount of glamour and arts, with some possessing the ability to see our world without aid.
However, not all children of Kithain are Kinain or one of us. Active fae blood was found to often skip generations or only grace one sibling.
I wouldn't be surprised if most, if not all, humans have at least one fae ancestor. That is to say, if being born a changeling tied solely to blood, anyone can be Kithain…
If I had to, I would say most changelings tend to be born to non-changeling parents."
Shirou considered the information he'd been given, adding the term 'Kinain' to the long list of terms he had to remember.
The paternal chances of being a changeling were interesting. Most parents might be undone by the time their children go through the dream dance, but not necessarily. It must be nice to learn with your father or mother. Sharing a dream you can all work toward together.
On the other hand, it must be lonely having only human children. An entire world of wonder fades before your eyes as you're undone, and you cannot share it with your family… No wonder changelings have a strong sense of community.
"We should get back to what we needed to talk about," She paused, giving him a chance to interject before they did. Her eyes glanced back at the books and back to him before continuing. "You will need to muse your own mortals. Find those you connect with, but I can help you meet people."
It would be a lie if Shirou claimed he wasn't a little nervous about this part.
"Who you are is just as important," Gyd explained.
"Like how I present myself?" Shirou tilted his head.
"Yes, how someone will interact with you is different from how they will react to me. I don't think it needs to be said, but don't expect to be treated seriously by most adults," Gyd looked down at him.
Shirou pouted in indignation. She was right, but it was still annoying. "I guess I'll have to hang out with teenagers..."
Gyd shook her head in plain denial. "No, preteens and younger. I know you want to hang out with the older kids, but they wouldn't easily accept someone so much younger than them."
"Young? I'm a teenager, too," Shirou frowned, shifting toward Gyd.
"Shirou… you look like you're eleven or twelve years old. You might not realize it, but you're far closer to them than older teenagers. For example, they don't have to declare they're a teenager," Gyd told him, making him flinch before crossing his arms. He felt she was making fun of him.
"… I don't get why I'm not aging," Shirou complained. Standing up from the couch, he began pacing around the table.
"I have a theory."
"A good or bad one?"
"Good and bad depend on one's point of view," Gyd responded, annoying Shirou. His wings swished in synch with his steps. "You are one of the extremely rare changelings to possess an echo of our lost immortality. Blessed to never age from the moment of their chrysalis. I don't know much about it beyond rumors of rumors, and it is only a guess, however…"
Shirou stopped pacing and turned directly toward Gyd. His wings were drawn back together, and his arms folded over his chest. "I hope you're wrong… not that it matters. Big or small, it wouldn't change what I'm going to do."
He did his best to assure himself as he walked back to the couch and sat down. It was just a theory… He could be a late bloomer. But there were benefits to not aging, so it wouldn't be all bad if the theory was right.
"Another issue you will need to deal with is your appearance – even disregarding being Asian in France. Your eyes and ears set you as other from them. They'll likely be unsettled by you at first, which you'll have to overcome."
"I know how humans react to my eyes," Shirou nodded, blinking several times. "Is there any way I can cover my ears?"
"Ear muffs might help. I will prepare an outfit for you they'll work with," Gyd considered with a sigh. " And don't expect to muse someone in one night, especially not your first time. Aim for trying to make a connection with someone."
"I get it," Shirou said. He stood up, feeling excited for Friday night. "Thanks, Gyd."
"You're welcome."
Shirou stood on a small step stool. He could barely feel the heat coming off of the overly tall stove. He watched the bubbles in the pancake batter before flipping it over. The upside was a perfect brown. The pancake puffed up nicely. He preferred to make English or American-style pancakes over the thin French crêpes.
There was a plate next to him with a small stack of pancakes. A knife and butter next to it. The syrupy was on the dining room table. The TV was unplugged and hidden away in one corner of the room.
"They look yummy as ever," Alice said from her high seat at the table. "Too bad I can't eat them…"
"There isn't much I can do about that," Shirou rubbed the back of his neck. If Alice tried to eat this Autumn food, it would be like smushing pancakes into a doll's mouth.
"I know – oh, it looks like Gyd's coming," Nursery Rhyme waved.
Shirou looked back in time to see Gyd enter the kitchen. The woman looked at the both of them, yawned, and then sat down at the dining room table.
"Good morning, Gyd," Shirou gestured at the plate. "Breakfast is ready."
"Umhuh," Gyd groggily hummed. She stood up from the table and wandered off to the place, barely missing the table as she did so. She grabbed the whole plate and walked back to the table. Shirou was used to this, so he had another plate ready for the pancake he was working on.
"You know, grow-ups should be the first ones up," Nursery Rhyme told Gyd, both her hands over her mouth. "Exact for holidays, of course!"
Gyd didn't seem to hear her. Her gaze focused on her breakfast as she tore into the pancakes without even bothering to cut them up. She just went at it with her hands.
"She should at least use a fork," Shirou muttered as he finished cooking his breakfast. By the time he was done, Gyd had vacuumed up his cooking and woken up.
"Having you handle meals makes mornings far easier," Gyd spoke, looking down at her plate. "It frees up a lot of time."
"To sleep in?" Shirou asked as he sat down at the table. Most mornings, Gyd was half asleep until she'd eaten, waiting until he was done cooking to get up. Her intuition toward his cooking had reached the point he didn't have to tell her he was close to being done. She just knew.
"To wake up. There's a difference." She yawned again. "You'll understand when you're older."
Shirou frowned for more than one reason but didn't say anything.
"I was reading the newspaper," Alice pointed at the paper. "Apparently, they're trying to ban cults."
"Whose they?"
"The French!" Alice shouted her answer, her finger pointed at Gyd. Her eyes sharpened as they bore into the elder fae. Mr. Mouse was on her head, uninterested in the proceedings.
"I see," the younger changeling nodded. He needed to know if it hurt good cults before he made his decision. The supernatural was real, despite how hard common sense tried to hide it from the masses. Cults could, but not always, be connected to mighty beings. As long as they did good, he didn't care.
Shirou didn't feel like he had much of a place to judge good cults. As a powerful fairy, he lost the right to judge normal humans for seeking higher powers. But he could still judge them for their actions. The judgment wouldn't change his desire to help them – However, it was important to acknowledge evil so it could be overcome.
"Don't point at me like I'm behind it," Gyd said, yawning. "I haven't read the article, but I wouldn't ban cults. Once we undo some of the damage to this land, having cults form around us would be mutually beneficial for all parties involved."
She may have been talking about mutually beneficial relationships, but Shirou was still put off by the idea. Changelings shouldn't rule over humans. Nobody should rule man but one of their own. They support them, not lord over them as divine.
"I don't think it's possible to have an equally beneficial cult…" Shirou rejected her pro-cult stance.
"Not if the leader is selfish, that is true," Gyd spoke, leaning up in her chair. "Or if the cult's faith was false… However, would mortals not benefit from us teaching them how to avoid banality? Showing them how to follow their dreams and creative passions? Conversely, would this not grant us much-needed glamour and make the area around us far more… liveable for our kind by making humans less banal?"
"Out of those making cults, how many are selfless," Shirou pointed out what he felt was the biggest hole in her argument. She thought about some sort of utopian ideal of a kind, altruistic leader. Yet, no person like that would ever become the leader of a cult. That requires one to be proud and willing to hoard power – to place themselves above others rather than stand with them. To create an organization that seeks to convert people to their teachings rather than simply letting them speak for themselves.
"I don't know," Gyd admitted. She looked down at Alice, who'd started reading the article again. "I know next to nothing about cults and didn't get the chance to read the newspaper yesterday. Al… Alice, what else does it say."
"Hmm… it talks about two really mean-sounding cults… 'The Amalgamation Church of the Rev Star Gnuym Terra' and the 'Church of Rat… Ration… Rationology!' The law targets them and several hundred others! Wowie, who knew there were so many cults! It looks like those two cults are trying to stop the law from getting passed… Apparently, they almost succeeded after revealing a few scandals in the National Assembly and Senate! But then a bunch of their members died… it doesn't say why… Now the government is taking its chance to get rid of them!"
Shirou blinked, not understanding a lot of what Alice said. He didn't have the proper background or information to put it all into context. At least there weren't any sarin attacks or anything.
"I have heard awful rumors about both those groups, but the small groups are likely superior."
"Oh! It continues onto the next page… there's a small paragraph about a tiny cult cropping up a year ago. They claimed to worship a demon and committed mass suicide. The newspaper doesn't give much detail beyond talks of an action movie based on it. They even want to use the site of the mass suicide to film it – as long as the blood isn't cleaned up."
"That doesn't sound 'superior.'" Shirou sounded a little bit angry as he said that. The idea of a movie filmed using the site of a tragedy got to him. It reminded him of several movies that used the torched part of Fuyuki for scenes. One of them even won an award for most realistic props thanks to the skeletons they found in the wreckage.
It was disgusting and disrespectful.
"You don't hear about the ones running well," Gyd said, standing up to get a cup of water. "Anyway, I must prepare myself for work. It would be irresponsible of me to open the shop late again this month. I will come back to pick you up around 6:00 to 6:30. 7 at the latest."
"What about the outfit we made for him?!" Alice interjected, excited. "We can't forget them after all the work Alice put into it."
"I'll give it to him on the way out," Gyd spoke as she left the room.
Shirou glanced between the two of them.
Thanks to Gyd's thrift store, they were able to get him clothing that fit. Nursery Rhyme was good enough at crafts and sowing to adjust them to handle his wings. He assumed that was the effort she put in, but he was interested in this mysterious outfit.
He wouldn't have to wait long to find out. It took Gyd less than thirty minutes to get dressed for work and come back with a big brown bag in her hand. "Here. Tell me what you think."
"Thank you," Shirou said as he took the bag and placed it on the table.
"Open it! Open it!"
"Give me a second," Shirou murmured back to Nursery Rhyme.
Reaching into the bag, he found a shirt on top. It was a white long-sleeved shirt. The material was thick, and there was some black on the sleeves. Looking at the back, it'd be modified into a button top for his wings.
He was slightly surprised to find a blue hoodie under it. There were no patterns on it. It was simply a solid bright blue.
"Alice had to be extra careful with tailoring that!" Alice leaned forward as she explained. "I had to make sure you could wear the hoodie and shirt at the same time! I decided to give it slits rather than a button so it'd draw less attention! It'll help you blend in!"
"Thank you," the changeling nodded, glancing over at his companion as he did so. He placed the jacket on the table.
"It is also blue, the most beautiful of colors," Gyd told him, to the surprise of nobody. Blue was obviously her favorite color.
Shirou pulled out a pair of pants that matched the top. They were nice and suited one of the two pairs of shoes Gyd had given him.
There were two other things in the bag. The first was a pair of large golden earmuffs that he immediately tried on.
"They're hidden," Gyd informed him as he moved his head around to help her look from different angles. The sound of her voice was slightly muffled by the thick and fluff winterwear he had over them.
"They look a little uncomfortable," Alice voiced her opinion.
"I'll get used to it," Shirou told her, taking off the earmuffs. His longer and more outward-facing fairy ears were discomforted, but he could handle it.
"Alright… now pull out the final surprise!" Nursery Rhyme cheered with a giggle.
Shirou pulled out the last object – a pair of glasses. They had very dark lenses, and the white frame was covered in distracting glitter. He couldn't help but turn to Nursery Rhyme in confusion.
"It was my idea! If people are creeped out by your eyes, then glasses will help! They can't see through the lens, and the glitter will distract them if they try to sneak a peek from the side!"
"… I see. You put a lot of… thought into them," Shirou turned them over in his hand. He was unsure if he'd even be able to see at night…
"Thanks! You're welcome!" Alice smiled.
Shirou suppressed a sigh.
It looks like he'd have to wear them, at least a few times, to make Alice happy.
"You will do well tonight," Gyd said as she took a step back from the table.
"I'll wish you luck from here!" Nursery Rhyme added on.
He nodded, trusting what they said. It helped him to ignore the Unseelie part of himself that expected this all to go horribly wrong. That he'd be rejected outright. Or fail and hurt somebody. Or any number of other things.
If he listened to it, he'd certainly fail.
By the time Gyd made it back, the sun had already set. The cold embrace of the cloudy night sky took its place. The moon wasn't full, but it was very big. Shirou got to sit in the front passenger side seat next to Gyd as they drove to their destination.
"Did your store go well today?" the younger changeling asked as they started to drive away from the home. He couldn't tell if he was more excited or relieved to be getting away from there. Too bad Nursery Rhyme couldn't come with.
"Yes, I managed to make a decent number of sales," Gyd shifted in her seat, pulling at her seat belt. "It was a long day. At least a few slightly interesting people came in to keep it from being boring. I have a few more boxes of donations for you to shift through. If tonight goes well, I might let you start coming with me to the shop."
"I got it," Shirou nodded. He could probably bring Alice with him to the shop, right? It'd feel wrong to leave her there alone day after day. "Can you tell me more about where we're going?"
"I will be going to check on a friend of mind I'm musing at a nightclub. You wouldn't be able to enter because you're under 18. There's a nearby skatepark where kids run off to. It's pretty small and unkempt, but that only seems to attract kids all the more," Gyd explained, keeping her eyes on the road. "No one skates there either, meaning you not having a board wouldn't be questioned."
Shirou nodded, fiddling with the glasses in his hand. "I guess I'll meet you at the car when we're done?"
"Yes, if I'm not there when you get back, wait at the park," She told him. "Normally, the easiest place for you would be Régis Escoffier's art store. He's the Sidhe noble and comes from a very wealthy and affluent family. His store runs events to get people into the arts, often focusing an evening on attracting a certain demographic. Meeting people there would be far easier, but I don't want the other changelings to know about you for as long as possible.
"Should I be worried about running into one of them?"
"No, none of them hang out around here," Gyd said as another car passed them by, going thirty over the speed limit. "It will just be you and me. Remember to use your kenning on the kids and consider your actions."
"UmmHmm…" Shirou hummed quickly. He also remembered her number in case something happened.
"Have you had any human friends since you've gone through the chrysalis?" Gyd questioned him randomly.
"No."
"I never had many human friends and still don't. It is important to pick the few you do have wisely," She reached down and turned the car's heater to the lowest setting. "Also, be careful and try not to wander into places too unsavory."
"I'll try, not that it really matters. People will throw you off a major bridge – in plain sight – without a second thought," Shirou grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
The older changeling turned to him with a little interest leaking onto her expression. "Are you speaking from experience?"
"… … yes," Shirou managed to say as he thought back to that awful memory. His shoulders slumped.
"For what it's worth, it could've been much worse. If they were willing to do that in a public area, they probably would've been far crueler in a secluded location."
He sighed, not feeling much better.
The rest of the ride was mostly silent, with them only talking to each other occasionally. Eventually, they pulled into a mostly empty street and parked on the curb.
"There's nobody around…"
"I don't want to park around the club. The park is a few streets that way," She pointed in one direction before gesturing toward its opposite. "The club is down that way."
"I see," Shirou unbuckled his seatbelt. "Have fun."
"You too. I'll leave the car unlocked in case you get back first."
They both left the car for their respective destinations.
Shirou looked around, taking in the city for the first time. Many of the buildings on the street were two-floored and wall-to-wall with the neighboring buildings. There was graffiti on some of the walls. Most of them were symbols or random words. It felt like a few of them were leaning forward toward the road, making the path feel tighter. Several cars were parted sporadically along the curbs, most dinged up and dirty.
The few streetlamps did very little to light the way, dim as they were. Yet, he could sense more than a human might, even through the unlit darkness.
The powerlines sang an electric hymn to convenience. A flock of birds flew far overhead, the color of starlight were they. The cracks in the street changed their shape every time he looked. The sounds of his steps were drowned out by the swishing of his illuminant wings.
He stopped as he passed an intersection, noticing a few people up ahead. A weak wind blew past the changeling as he looked down at his glasses. Thankful, it was too dark for most people to notice the glitter, but he doubted he'd be able to walk down the street with them on. The lenses were way too dark for nighttime.
He'd come up with an excuse for Alice later. He preferred being able to see over freaking people out.
Approaching them, he found a group of three older teens smoking something in the middle of the street. It didn't smell like cigarette smoke but was something else. He could see the eyes of one of them; they were gazed over. The three wore old, ratty clothing with nearly faded logs on the front of their torn t-shirts.
One with blonde hair turned around to look at Shirou. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped when he looked Shirou in the eyes. The boy took a step back as he recoiled. The other boy's reactions weren't as bad, but they couldn't keep eye contact with him either. Their reactions made Shirou sigh.
"Whose this? I haven't seen you around," the blond one spoke for the group. "What'cha want?"
"You're the one who started talking to me," Shirou said, placing his hands in his jacket pockets leaving the glasses in them.
"Ya, after you walking past us with yo eyes on us," another spoke. "Clearly, yo want something."
"Is it drugs!" The third exclaimed with yellowed teeth. One of his pupils was enlarged, while the other was shrunken. He pulled open his coat to reveal it was lined with various… drugs, duck taped to its interior lining. Some of them were powers in bags, others synergies, and others in various other forms. "I got 'em all and more! I don't even know what a lot of these are! Start now and get the next few weeks free!"
"Absolutely not," the changeling rejected the sixteen or seventeen-year-old's offer. His expression and tone were flat. The guy sounded like he was trying to get Shirou to buy a gym membership or something, and his pitch was awful. The Yakuza would've fired him for it. Imagine trying to sell something that people put in their bodies without knowing what you're giving them. "You know using and selling drugs is bad for you, right?!"
"What are you, my mom?
"Nope, I'm just trying to help," Shirou told the three teens. He'd feel bad if he didn't try to help these three. Drugs were bad for you!
"Sure, brat. You can help, but going away," the first teen gestured down the road. He didn't give Shirou's word an ounce of thought. "Keep walken."
"Unless ya wants to help me find out what some of these are," the teen carrying the drugs said as he pulled out a random purple powder. "I'd feel bad for senden somone to da wrong world."
"No, if you'd feel bad, maybe you should do it."
"Hahaha… then we'd be trapped in this one."
"Quiet," one of the teens grabbed their friend and threw them back onto the curb. He then addressed Shirou. "If you ain't getting, get going."
Shirou's eyes focused on the thrown one. He got the feeling a fight would break out if he stayed any longer. One that wouldn't help anyone. It'd just be him getting beat up because he didn't want to hurt these three. His mind flatly rejected the idea of it, assuming he could even take them. All he could do was walk away and try again later.
"Yeah, better walk," one of them said as Shirou walked away. A few more jeers following it. Shirou pouted at having 'lost' the confrontation. He'd save them eventually.
The fairy continued to walk down the road. His wings were clasped behind his back. His mind imagined a bunch of different ways to help those teens.
Shirou stopped at a corner. The park was before him. There were a few streetlights around it. One of them was either off or broken, while another flickered randomly. There was one in the middle of the park, in a really inconvenient place, that seemed to beg for people to hit it.
There were teens milling around the place, some a little younger than him. The older ones were broken into small cliques, while the ones closer to his age were more awkward. The few there were mostly lingered to the side, alone.
The park's architecture was falling apart. It was obvious enough for even Shirou's untrained eyes to tell.
The whole thing was sad. A place meant for people to have fun and create memories was now falling apart at the seams. Its purpose was now impossible to fulfill. No… not completely, at least. Despite the cracks and holes, it still managed to attract people. Giving people a chance to connect.
Shirou walked closer to the park, doing his best to stay inconspicuous as he surveyed the other children. There were six of them. Two of them were talking or arguing. The other four are scattered, two of them looking over at the older teens.
The last looked the most uncomfortable out of all of them. One was a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy in black. He was sitting on the edge of a ramp. The other was a girl sitting on a bench looking down at the ground.
The changeling felt drawn to those two over the others. On a whim, he decided to go talk to the girl first.
"Hi," he greeted the girl as he stopped in front of her. A breeze blew past him, sturring his hair. "I'm Shirou."
The girl was startled, jumping back a bit as her sight left the ground. It found its way to Shirou's eyes. Like all other humans, she recoiled, moving back a bit from him. "… He… Hello."
"What're you doing here?" Shirou decided to start their conversation with motives. It was one of the best ways to get to know someone.
"Is it a problem?" the girl asked back rather than answer the question.
"Nope," Shirou crossed his arms. "I'm out here too. I can't judge."
The girl considered him for a moment before looking away again. "I thought this place would be more…"
"What were you expecting?"
"For it to be a lot scarier. My sister said this place was haunted," the girl looked around.
"By a ghost?"
"What else? A group of children are buried under here, their ghosts trapped to haunt this place until the end of time."
The changeling looked around but didn't get the feeling of anything unseen being around. He wouldn't be surprised if he just couldn't sense them, though.
He looked back at the girl and found her staring warily at him. "You aren't a ghost, are you?"
"What makes you ask that?" Shirou leaned forward, his wings gently flapping behind him.
"Your eyes… their creepy…"
"IF I was a ghost, would you really want to call me creepy to my face?" Shirou frowned in annoyance. Should he be happy she was upfront about it? "And I'm not a ghost."
"I guess not," she murmured. The girl suddenly reached out and touched his shoulder. "I couldn't touch a ghost."
"I can't fault you for being cautious," Shirou sighed as he kicked a small rock on the ground. "What's your name?"
"Axelle," the girl told him after a few moments of consideration. "Where do you go to school?"
"I'm homeschooled," Shirou answered the question as best he could. He'd learned French and was studying some textbooks Gyd had given him, but he wasn't enrolled in any school. He wasn't sure if being 'homeschooled' required one to be registered for it, but his answer wasn't a lie as far as he could tell.
"Lucky," Axelle muttered. "You get to sit around all day without anyone telling you what to do."
"Is your school that bad?"
"Every day, they give us four hours of homework! My math teacher alone gave me an assignment with 200 problems to solve in a single night! It's unfair," Axelle complained, anger in her voice.
"That's a lot," Shirou flinched at the sheer amount of work. Those teachers must be evil or something. "Don't you have some classes that are fun, though? Like arts or PE?"
"NO! Not really… I don't get it, but some principal school board person is messing with the art budget or something. Now they can't afford the class, even if it used to be my favorite… PE keeps getting replaced with typing classes, too… I guess art isn't important…"
Chills ran down Shirou's body. A gust of cold came from Axelle. He could feel it flowing around her before dissipating into the environment. Its frigid grip tightened around her soul.
He needed to do something to help her before banality claimed her.
"You like art?"
"Does it matter…" Axelle chilled all the more, her eyes returning to the cracked ground.
"I think it does," Shirou moved a little closer to the girl. "What kinda art do you like?"
"Do you really care?" Axelle crossed her arms over her chest.
"Really, really. Now, come on and tell me," Shirou's wings swished back and forth repeatedly.
"I liked dreamy art... you know, the ones that are really 'dream-like' and abstract."
"Yeah," the changeling imagined the art she talked about. He took it to mean surrealism and all that entails. "I get it. You have to be really creative to make that kinda stuff."
"Too bad I'm not good enough to draw it."
"I'm sure you can! You just need to practice!" Shirou said but could immediately tell that it didn't help. The girl's reaction told him that she didn't believe him. Now is the moment to use his kenning to gain insight into what inspires her.
Shirou blinked, his gaze sharpening on Axelle. Eyes glowing. His fae senses were drawn into her soul, gazing upon its wonder. The ties that bind it to Dreaming. What inspired her whispering its name to him.
A love of the arts. Animals. Wilderness. Bandes dessinées. Fleeing from the world, yet being chained to it. A door opened through recreations of what could've been only in dreams. Ridiculed for it. Supplies stolen and destroyed. Interest withering into dust by the jaws of the enemy.
The fairy blinked again, having a better, if imperfect, understanding of what inspires Axelle. The girl clad in brown leaned away from him. Looking uncomfortable for some reason. Shirou couldn't imagine why.
"What's your favorite animal? I like cats."
"Bunnies," Axelle answered once she managed to dismiss whatever was bothering her. "They're really cute."
"More like really scary," the ancient fae murmured as inhuman eyes widened in primal terror. A beast without equal. Death in the most gruesome of ways…
"How could you think a bunny is scary?! Don't you see how fluffy they are?!" Axelle sounded shocked and a bit angry.
"Little fangs, Axelle! Little fangs!"
"Rabbits are herbivores. They don't have fangs."
"That's what they want you to think. You let your guard down. You ended up needing to get healed again and again," Shirou spoke quickly, unable to fully remember why he knew this, but he was sure he was right.
Axelle looked at him like he was a raving lunatic.
Shirou stuffed his hands into his jacket pocket. His gaze turned toward the boy in black. "Come on! I'll prove I'm right."
The changeling reached out and grabbed her hand. He dragged her behind him as he went over to the other boy.
Normally, he'd be more well-behaved, but the threat of murder rabbits was too high. He needed to help Axelle realize that.
The boy was startled by the pair stopping in front of him. The clothing he wore was slightly too big for him, yet matched his dark brown eyes.
"Hello, I'm Shirou," the fairy introduced himself to the boy. His ears twitched under his ear muffs. He could hear the sound of a black bracelet on the boy's wrist clinging against the ground. The clang was rough. It helped to distract Shirou from the boy's reaction to his eyes. "Do you think bunnies are a deadly threat?"
"Wha-"
"Let me go," Axelle pulled her hand away from Shirou. She took a step back. "Don't pull people around."
"Oh, sorry," Shirou glanced away, rubbing the back of his head. Kiritsugu would be ashamed of him…
"Just don't do it again."
Shirou nodded, chastising himself. He needed to calm himself. Taking a breath, he looked back at the boy. "Sorry, too. What's your name?"
"Arnaud," the boy in black answered with a deeper voice than the other two. He looked completely perplexed. "Why'd you ask me about rabbits?"
"Right. Do rabbits have little fangs?"
"They have those pointy teeth, right? Aren't those fangs?" Arnaud – thankfully – understood.
"No! No, they aren't," Axelle denied the obvious from her seat of disbelief.
"They are! They can cut a man in twain!"
"That is going a little too far," Arnaud lightly stabbed Shirou in the back. "I don't think their teeth are sharp enough to do that."
"You would think…" Shirou shook his head. Those buckteeth were sharp as knives. And they had their lightning-fast jump. It gave the force to chew through steel. Tanuki were the only creatures as dangerous as them.
"They're bunnies! They eat carrots, not people," Axelle brought her hands to her face.
"Anything can eat anything – when it's hungry enough," Arnaud added his two cents.
"Herbivores. They don't eat meat."
Shirou took a step back from the conversation. Axelle and Arnaud were arguing enough without him. The two slowly grew more creative in their arguments. That was the one good thing coming from Axelle's refusal to see reason.
The fae blinked, turning his gaze to Arnaud's soul.
The scent of wet fur… no skin covered in salt and other chemicals. Preservation. Life, shining for eternity. Loneliness, unaccepted. Lack of materials, compassion. A warm heart beating, dripping blood to the floor. Gaping wounds worsened by barbed wire.
His sight didn't work as well as Axelle's, but the fairy understood him better. Both the good and the ill of the boy before him.
A gnawing hunger grew in the back of the changeling's mind. A need to heal that heart. To gaze into their soul and see pure light without darkness. It was stimulating.
Shirou bit his lip, the pain overcoming the hunger. His mind hyper-focusing on Arnaud.
The boy before him was into some things that people considered weird. He'd never do anything wrong chasing his desire, yet he was treated as if he did. Arnaud was lonely. The default state of man, for all of humanity ultimately ends up alone. Only through action can they briefly gain someone to stand by their side... or through a helpful fae.
"Arnaud, you know a lot about animals," Shirou interjected himself back into the conversation during a lull.
"A little," Arnaud fittled with his wristband. "I like going to the zoo when I stay with my mom."
"I see."
"I've never gotten to go to the zoo. The aquarium is the bomb," Axelle crossed her arms over her chest. "The building looks slightly run down, but they have over three thousand fish."
"Three thousand?" Arnaud questioned. "How could you take care of so many fish."
"Carefully and methodically," Shirou thought out loud. "You wouldn't want them to die."
"That was the neat part. They have a show every weekend where they feed dead fish to their piranhas. There's a lot of blood!"
"I don't think that's a good thing," Shirou said beneath his breath.
"Yeah," the other boy whispered. "They could have been preserved."
Shirou continued to get to know the other two. Forming a bond with them as best he could. He did his best to bring up topics that interested the other two and refine his understanding of them. Most of the time, they were just hanging out. It was weird spending time with people around his age after so long. Especially humans. They had their bursts of cold, but they still had warm cores. Their emotions were infectious. Filling the air like a candle's aroma.
They talked for about an hour before Shirou felt like he should go. He didn't want to leave Gyd waiting. Before he left, he convinced the other two to come back next Friday to hang out. Arnaud was really eager to meet again.
The walk back to the car was uneventful. A small fleet of balloons floated through the sky, each a different color of the rainbow. They flew up, down, left, and right. Their path was impossible to guess as they slowly popped one by one. Banality crushing them into nonexistence. By the time Shirou reached the car, they were all extinguished.
The trio of teens had disappeared, too. They left trash in their wake, wrappers floating through the air as the wind from the terrifying blue dragged it out of reach. Shirou didn't dare try to fly in the air to catch the trash for cleanup. He didn't want to go through his wings being twisted apart again… yet he felt a little colder for it. A small submission to banality.
Gyd was getting in the car right as he arrived.
"You seem happy. Everything went well?" Gyd asked, closing the door behind her. Shirou speed-walked to the other side and got in. He carefully made sure his wings didn't get caught in the door. That'd hurt a lot.
"I think so. Will you take me back here next Friday? I made two… friends?" Shirou looked up at the roof of the car. The engine roared as it ignited to life with the turn of a key. "I said I'd meet them."
"I can, but you'll have to stay longer," Gyd's face twisted into a small frown. She pulled out and started down the road. "I have to go pay a certain Sidhe taxes. Fortunately, they don't know about you."
Shirou rubbed the back of his head. Did this count as tax fraud if they didn't know he should be taxed? "How about you? Did everything go well?"
She felt warmer than before.
"Very much so. Not having to go into the sewers is always a boon."
"Sewers?"
"Sometimes helping your dreamers will require someone to go missing," Gyd looked around, taking in their surroundings as they drove through an intersection. "I am a master of the Aphrodisia art, allowing me to control the desires of humans. It is child's play to trap an obstacle down there. But it means I get dirty, too."
Shirou cringed. How disgusting must it be down there? It was certainly a good way to deal with problems without hurting anyone… But, yuck.
"I'm sure your friends appreciated it," Shirou said while taking off his earmuffs. Their prisoners unsticking themselves from the side of his head.
"Maybe if they knew," Gyd stopped at a red light. A couple of people had a small fire going on the sidewalk, burning random things. The older changeling looked to the left. "There's a delicious bakery nearby."
"Really?"
"I always loved the cakes there," Gyd smiled as the light turned green. Her smile was the biggest he'd seen from her, fueled by nostalgic joy. A hint of sorrow bleeding into her expression via her eyes. "It's been a long time since I received one."
"If you want one, you should go get one," Shirou messed with his seatbelt as he spoke. There was nothing wrong with buying yourself a cake every once in a while. It's a nice treat.
"I'm an adult. Adults don't buy birthday cakes for themselves," Gyd denied with some bizarre logic. Shirou could feel cold reality trying to bleed into her words. The hints of giving into shame smelt like stale bottled water to the younger fairy's nose.
"That's stupid, Gyd. Adults can get birthday cakes for themselves. You could probably buy several if you wanted to. It's not like there are fun police waiting to arrest you."
"You will… you might understand one day, but I refused to buy a cake for myself," Gyd's expression was back to being nearly unreadable. Her reasoning was completely inscrutable.
Shirou frowned, almost calling her an idiot but stopping himself after coming up with a better idea. "What's your favorite type of cake?"
"Red velvet cake."
The blue-eyed changeling nodded. He'd need to gather up some money and get her one for her birthday. That'd be sure to make her happy. It'd take some planning, but he was sure he could do it without Gyd finding out. The surprise would make it even better.
Shirou glanced out the car window, ears twitching happily despite not showing it on his face.
Hello! Welcome to another chapter!
Just to remind people, as a fanfic set in the World Of Darkness, things wouldn't be one-to-one with the real world. It's darker and edger than our world. For instance, I based the cult section on a news article from 2001 about the French government taking action against cults, and World-of-Darkness-ified it by adding the other stuff. Also, I do my best to look up major landmarks in the real-world area around Calais, France, but for small details, I will add things like the skate park. In real life, there is a skatepark on the beach, and I found a Facebook page for an indoor park, but neither worked, so I made one up. Meanwhile, the aquarium park was inspired by my finding a page for them in Calais that mentioned them having piranhas that were far older than their life expectancy.
Anyway, have a great day!