GoldenCat/FactsFriendshipandFarewells

• - Back to Fifth Movement
• - Back to A Dance of Angels

Facts, Friendships and Farewells

The Pack: It had taken them long enough.

Everyone gone again, just Song around for an idle chat. Sun was already red on the window. Sunset was dark grey, there. On the Boil. Sunset was always dark gray there. You could see how much dirt there was even in the air. It was about the time you could see it the most, that the Pack came.

A little too early, pehaps.
It was not yet time to howl to the moon.

Less than it should be. Just a few. But their entrance was the merry one you would expect of the Pack. Grabbing the servants, singing, cheering, tossing booze at Moon, Kinny patting on his back, Hanna rushing to hold him.

"Tttthhheere you are! Dude, it took us forever to get here and find ya!"
"People saying you died all around! Even Blue here saying he had seen you die!" Kinny says, patting the boy, who seems very embarassed, "I saw, I saw! I saw the thing go through him, Ki... errr, sorry, sorry, boss." He says, looking at Moon. "Shoulda known.."

Seventh Moon: Song was telling him about how things were going among the Heaven House girls. How Vivian was struggling to find a new place for them all. Moon was nodding from time to time, mostly thinking about the dusky skinned womans legs than what she was saying. Those and the sky.

Stretched out in a chair in front of the window, legs crossed at the ankles and head tilted back to watch the clouds of smoke and storm shift across the sky. Darker sky than it had been when the prince and Sweet Hemlock finally left. Smeared in scarlet and black and muddy browns. Looked more like a picture a street artist had scrawled across the street than a real sky.

Or maybe the blood was just going to his head.

Moon heard the Pack coming long before they reached his door, ears twitching at the faint sound of familiar voices and general rowdiness. The Lunar lifted his head a moment, glancing at the door, then turned to Song and traded smiles. Took the ingrates long enough to pay him a visit.

Playing it casual, Moon resumed his upside down sky gazing and didn’t move even as the whole lot came spilling and hollering through the door. Only when Kinny lobbed a bottle in his direction did he decide to show some sign of life. His hand snapped up and caught the half full flask before it could collide with his chest. Stretching out with a shiver, he flopped himself forward, arms falling languidly over his knees as he straightened to look them all over with hot-rimmed blue eyes.

"Fuck man..." he grinned at Kinny and at Blue. "Ya really think it would take somethin' that small ta take my ass down? Sheeyit. Ought'a know by now I'm just like the rest'a ya."

Tearing the cork out of the bottle with his teeth, Moon slung back a deep chung and let out a satisfied breath as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Too damn stupid ta die."

The Pack: They laughed. For awhile, all mirth and jokes.

Then, Kinny seemed more serious. He looked at the others.. and they understood.

"Some o' us decided ta be smart, tho. On the wrong time."

Hanna, a hand on his chest as he drank, begun to look mourfully away from him, "Flint, Chris, Oak, Seira.."

Seventh Moon: And probably more. More than that from their own numbers. As he looked across the gang again, there were faces he should have been seeing that weren't there. Voices his ears were still expecting to hear, but only echoed in memory. Far more if you took in every gang that howled with them that night. Followed their lead. His lead.

And I was just gonna fuckin' run off on 'um.... not say a fuckin' thing and tear out ta find the red haired bitch...

Moon's own mirth faded with theirs and after a moment, he slumped forwards a little more, eyes falling to the ground.

"That many, huh?" he asked quietly, putting a hand over Hannahs. "All up on Highlane?"

The Pack: "All." Kinny says, bringing a hand to run his own hair back... his arm fully bandaged. Must be a pain to move it the way it was, but he did it even so. "Did not go down badly, tho. Chris saved Hanna there. Oak and Flint, saw 'um over the corpse of one of those Apes, with a face like a total dumb fucker. Seira saved my ass. They did what ya told them to, dude. They fucked 'um up good."

Hanna tried to brighten it, holding Moon's hand... "Not just 'um. Kinny there saved the Lover. Dumb fucker hit whatever was holding her, got half of his chest burned." She giggled. Kinny threw a cigarrete at her. "Blue kicked the crap of Black Cloaks, Moon. And we thinkin' the boy would piss his pants." She liked it. calling someone boy. Meant she wasn't the youngest there anymore. People laughed, held Blue, ruffled his hair, poured booze down his throat.

Seventh Moon: Flint had been a big boy with eyes as hard as his name. Biggest kid in the Pack. Always had been. Big, but bright and always quick to say something if you looked like you had something heavy weighing.

Christ was lean, pale, and blond. Whipcord of a kid, barely older than Hannah, quite as hell. Had always been sweet on Sarah, but refused to say anything about it, even when Moon told him to.

Oak had wanted to be a healer. Never made much sense him being in the gang. Could throw a punch with the best of them, but was always happier cleaning up the mess, not making it. Talked a lot about apprenticing to someone, but never wanted to leave the gang long enough to do it.

Seira liked to dress like a man. Every other girl showed off her assets, but Seira’d been roughed up too many times for that. So she dressed like a man, then fought like one and never got roughed up again.

They were people Moon never gave a second thought to. Always there in his life, background to his own attentions. Following his lead, even when it got them killed. But they hadn’t died for nothing.

They better not have died for nothing, or the prince would have hell to pay for it.

"Yeah?" he looked up, shaking back the hair from his face, and grinned. "Least they went down good, y'know?"

Then he cast Blue a speculative glance, sizing the boy up. "Did huh? Shit man…" His gaze flickered to his blond haired second a moment, an evil little glint for Kinny. "Maybe I ought’a give ya Kinny’s job. Whatcha think?"

The Pack: "Heeeeey!" Kinny said in an overdone, almost mock surprise and drama, even as Blue basked in the praise. "YEAH! I will show you, Boss! Show you just what I did to them!"

Seventh Moon: "Yeah?" Moon tipped his head to the side. "What’s that? Talk 'um ta death? Shit man, you like ta awful big for someone who only saved a goddess. I ate a damn dragon man. Fuck all if the rest of these sorry bastards didn’t do just as bad."

Shaking his head sorrowfully at Kinny, he looked at Hannah and tossed his head towards the other punk. "Ya listen ta the shit I gotta deal with every day darlin'? Fuckin' pray when you take over this I drag his bitchy ass with me instead."

The Pack: They laughed. Merrily.

Then, Kinny and Hanna turned, and spoke. "Hey, I need to talk to ya, though!"

They froze. Looked at each other. Sparks flew on those looks.

"Me first!"

Seventh Moon: "Ho, ho, HO! " Moon shouted over the sudden rumble, holding his hands up higher with each call for silence.

The Pack: They stopped.

Hanna was the first to speak. "Hey, hey, I said it first! Was me, was me!"

"Kid, I got seniority on your pretty ass!" Kinny retorted, "Important that I talk to de boss!"

Seventh Moon: "A'ite, hold up!" Moon put a hand over Hannah's mouth and glared the rest of them into silence before settling his gaze on Kinny. "The fuck is all this about?"

The Pack: "... stuff."

Both said, again at once. It just made they look at each other more angrily.

Seventh Moon: Kinda amazin' how quick ya can use ta talkin' ta people with manners and shit...

Moon pushed a finger against the bridge of nose a moment, then growled softly. "A'ite... Kinny, talk first. He's got seniority or whatever the fuck ya wanna call it. So everyone just shut up."

Kinny: He walks closer to the couch, and looks on Moon's eyes.

"Alone, dude. Alone." He turns to everyone else. "Sorry 'bout that."

Seventh Moon: Alone?

Was a first. At least, first time Kinny had ever done something "official" feeling like this. Moon looked around at the rest a moment, then shrugged a nodded for them to leave. But he held onto Hannah’s hand for little longer as she rose to join them.

"You next, a'ite?" he smiled at her.

Seventh Moon: Alone?

Was a first. At least, first time Kinny had ever done something "official" feeling like this. Moon looked around at the rest a moment, then shrugged a nodded for them to leave. But he held onto Hannah’s hand for little longer as she rose to join them. Mostly to stop her from leaving. Partly because it had just been damn long enough since he’d had a women touch him not to prod him with something sharp.

"You next, a'ite?" he smiled at her with eyes that simmered faintly. Probably not what Hannah had in mind by “talk,” though she’d knocked on his door a few times in the past with that line. Talk could be talk and not romping around. Sometime it could be both. Moon gave the hand in his own a quick squeeze before letting her go.

Kinny: She smiled at Moon before she left. Her eyes trembled for a moment. There was more there...

And then they left, and Kinny was alone with him. He sat down on one of the many chais there. Took a moment to know how to even begin.

"So, you know I got the Lover, right?"

Seventh Moon: "What I heard, man." Moon nodded. There was something about this talk, about the look Hannah had given him before she left... something that called for a drink.

Moon kicked back another swallow from the bottle Kinny had tossed him, then held it out to the other punk. "She grateful enough ta give ya freebie or somethin’?"

Kinny: "She... did."

He laughed, but it was a false laugh. It ended soon. Then he rubbed his temples, and tried to think of the words... "Wish I coulda be all braggin 'n shit now." He took the bottle, drinking of it like it was water. "But... dude. 't was... like... all sacred. Felt like... was like we weren't even screwin', you know? Like... magic."

"She told me she Chose me. She told me stuff..."

Seventh Moon: Chose... Chosen.

Moon's brow darkened at that word. It had already come to mean a lot in his mind. Same as 'Exalt.' Good things. Plenty of bad things. He looked immediately at Kinny's brow for the tell-tale symbol the other punk was like him. Or like Selina. Or Alex. But there was nothing there beyond a red blotch where Kinny had rubbed. That meant shit though. From what Moon had seen, he was the only one with one of those little circles there all the time.

"So... what then man?" he held the bottle out more insistently. Wasn't about to drink alone. "You fucked the best fuck of ya life and... what? You like Hannah and me now? Didn't think the Lover could pull that kinda shit."

Kinny: "She can't. I saw what it was like with you. Not the same. No power. No shiny lights. No exploding shit. Nothing like that. I just... just could keep up with her. And stuff feels... different. Like the burns. They are gettin' better than I thought. Faster. Feels like I have something inside me... well, nah. Like I feel something that is everywhere, but inside a' me too. Ya know?"

"She told me she saw stuff in me. That she wants to take me... there, that she wants ta... do stuff with me."

Seventh Moon: At a different time, in a different place, they'd have been having this conversation with rowdy grins and laughter. They'd both be drunk off their asses. And the rest of the Pack would have been all around them, sharing the laugh, the booze, the story...

But none of those things happening right now. Kinny sounded more troubled than excited. Moon couldn't seem to manage a smile. And no one was laughing. "Take ya were? Do what kinda stuff?"

But Moon already had some idea about that. He remembered Kanti, telling him all about heaven… and how fucked up it sounded. He remembered Kanti, just being Kanti, and how screwed up that life had left her.

Kinny: "Heaven. She... she wants to take me to Heaven." He trembled as he said that. Of course people joked of fucks 'taking you up to heaven'. And even though it was exactly what had happened... he could not laugh. Kinny was a Boil boy. He would feel weird about going to Port Almas and seeing the big river. Out of his element. Weird. Strange people strange customs, clear air, fish, plants... never mind if it was Whiteshield. Whiteshield and the nobles would twist his mind and make him feel naked in the middle of another gang's territory. And now, he had an invitation to be in a place with... Gods.

"And she leavin' after the party, Moon." The way he said Moon. Not dude, not boss. The way he said it, like a friend, looking for help. "After the party, she wants me to go with her."

To leave his friends behind. To leave them when they needed him. But to stay.. and count the corpses? And be a burden? If he went, he would live the life. Come back o help, if his comeback could be of any help. Two voices, one in each shoulder, echoing a cacophony of confusion in his mind...

Seventh Moon: "Heaven." Moon echoed, the world rolling off his tongue like a curse. Heaven was where they twisted little girls into pets. Heaven was where no one was normal or sane. Where a bunch of bored gods sat around eating and fucking until their brains turned to mash.

But it was also some place clean. Safe. When Kanti had spoken of it... however fucked up what words she said sounded, the tone in her voice had been different than anything he'd ever heard from her.

Moon met Kinny's eyes but said nothing for a long time. What the fuck could he tell him?

We need ya here...
Here to do what? Shovel shit and bury bodies? Extra pair of hands won't mean nothing in all that.

Place is a fuckin' mad house...
And the Boil wasn't? Old crazy fuckers living under the streets. Dead folk wandering around on top of them. Monsters that looked like people saving the place from people who should have been dead. Boil wasn't the place it use to be. At least in Heaven, Kinny wouldn’t starve.

Moon didn’t want to lose his friend. Not to the Lover. Not to Heaven… but Kinny had followed him into shit that went above and beyond. He was lucky to even be alive anymore, after so many of them were already dead. Moon didn't have the right to ask him to give up what he'd been offered.

"... if it's whatcha Kinny, go for it." He put as much encouragement, as much cheerfulness as he could into the words. Hard doing, when he hadn’t the heart for either. But he managed to sound sincere and make his grin the same. "Sheeyit man… I mean, how often ya get asked ta spend the rest of ya life mounted by a fuckin’ goddess? And you even gotta ask me about that? What the fuck is wrong with you man? Your ass shouldn’t even be here still."

Kinny: "Heh, I guess! And dude, Lover! It will be great!"

But I am scared. Tell me I won't be wasting a lifetime chance if I dun go.
Tell me it won't change stuff.
Tell me it won't let you guys down.

"It's the Lover, tho. I'll be back, man." He walked up to Moon, and held his han, in a friendly fashion. "She's the Red. I'll be in the Red with her. After I learn... whatever she's for real. Whatever I'm for real now. I'm not lettin' you guys down. Just... need ta know that stuff."

Seventh Moon: "Fuck naw man..." Moon's palm slapped into Kinny's, their fingers locking together. And he held on tight. Tight as he could without making it hurt too bad. "We'd beat your ass if ya stuck around here just ta get pissed with us and roll the kinda cheap ladies you normally go for when ya had a goddess waitin' for ya."

"We’ll be a’ite." Just a little empty. "You’ll be a’ite too." Just a little crazy.

Moon realized for all the bullshit he and Kinny were passing between each other, they might not ever see one another again. Kinny might never come back from Heaven. Moon might not live long enough to see him if he did. He looked in Kinny’s eyes and wondered if the other punk knew it too. Probably. Streets raised them rough, but not stupid.

And they raised you to know how to say goodbye, without really ever saying it.

Moon squeezed Kinny’s hand again, then let it go. Moon leaned back in his chair and took a swallow from the bottle, not even really tasting it anymore. "A’ite man, get lost. Tell Hannah ta come in your way out, a’ite?"

Kinny: "I'll come back. I'll come back, man. And we'll look over the Red. Try not ta be too drunk when I come back to show heaven ladies around." Squeezing Moon's hand until it was white. That was it. They would still see each other, he'd still see the Pack... until tomorrow, that is. But that was it. "Gonna to call 'er, of course. Damn, dude, it is not me all fucked up on the bed, I may be stupid, but not that much."

And then, he was gone.

Hanna: She walked in. Her skin like marble, now. Her breasts never greater. Her face beautiful as it was. White hair falling over her shoulders. So long, too. Still in black, mostly. The face was usual Hanna. She walked up to Moon, laying on the couch. Looking at him. He could feel the difference. She was more... solid. There.

"So... how are ya?" Took more than few hammers ta keep ya down, before... nothing coulda keep ya down before... that thing... "Hard ta believe ya even grappled that thing. It was bigger than the Houses... we were worried. And ah should kill Blue for saying ya dead."

Bastard made me cry..

Seventh Moon: The change in her wasn't lost on him. She wasn't lost on him and Moon's eyes admired every curve as she came in as a matter of course. But the stirring he felt wasn't what it should have been. Thoughts kept interposing themselves where other emotions should have flowed.

The thought that Kinny was gone, sooner or later for good. And Hanna might be here to walk out on him too.

What is it for you, darlin'? He wondered as she came towards him, hips swaying with a natural ease. Rusty wanna knocks boots with ya? Empress pop outta ya underwear and invite ya ta come rule the Realm with her?

"Eh, I'm a'ite." He shrugged, keeping those thoughts and others to himself. Moon lifted up the shirt he was wearing to show Hanna the neatly wrapped layers of bandage over his chest. "Stings a bit, but the kid's been in ta help it heal. How ‘bout you darlin’? Holdin’ up?"

Hanna: "Alright my ass." Her hand sfell on his chest, listening to his heartbeat... "Seen ya take stuff to your face and not flinch. And I know it hurt."

Eyes closed, white bangs over her eyes. "I'm alright. I'm tough now, you know." She took the hand. A hand hit another. The sound was that of rock. "I'ma marble now. Diamond. Hard stuff."

"Thinkin' what ta do about it, tho. Not strong like you, strong like Kanti. Wanna get like that..."

Seventh Moon: The muscles in his chest tensed under her touch, his body moving reflexively to keep her fingers away from the wound. "Course it hurt. Don’t mean I ain’t a’ite." He gave her a wicked grin, his fingers gliding across her thigh. "Good enough for some shit."

The grin faded fast though. She was hard as a lump of stone. Nearly as cold too, to touch. Still smelled like Hannah, but felt more like Opal.

And then there was what she said.

Moon stared at her for a long few seconds with a glare that was thoughtful and upset at the same time. The gut reaction had been to say no. To forbid her from so much as touching that power again. But things had changed, that night on the hill. Things had changed since meeting Alex too.

"It’s dangerous." He warned her, no humor in his dire tone. "It’s real fuckin’ dangerous darlin’. Alotta people like us, they’re fuckin’ monsters. Some even worse, y’know? Showin’ off that ya are one tends ta draw ‘um to ya."

And then there was “the other you.” Moon wasn’t certain Hannah had one of those, however. Selina didn’t think Kanti did and the kid was the same as Hannah.

Hanna: She giggled as his fingers came, grining back at him... and then, he got serious, and it stopped, and she sighed in disappointment. She looked at Moon, her eyes hardening as well. "Always. You forgot what's it like, didn't ya? When I Exalted...was in front of the black dude... I knew he'd cut me up good, Moon. Knew. Jus'.. you'd live, if he lost enough going through me. That's what people who ain't like you are..."

"I guess I jus' prefer this new danger. I can do something against it now."

"Think I'll end up like the Angel? Eating people and shit?"

Seventh Moon: "Heh, naw doubt that darlin'." He grinned again, taking the edge off the conversation. "Not less ya gotta a funny way'a usin' the word."

Moon was looking at her differently though, head tilted to the side in a curious fashion. She'd Exalted trying to protect him? First time he'd heard that.

"It ain’t easy Hannah. Just wanna make sure ya know that. Bein’ what we are… it’s for shit, sometimes." His hand closed over hers, guiding it along his chest until it rested over the bandaged wound. Over his heart. "Just cause we don’t die easy don’t mean we can’t be hurt. They think’a some real bad ways ta hurt ya, too. Ya don’t stop livin’ in fear, just cause ya can fuck shit up good. Sometimes, only makes it worse."

Like Selina… Like Kanti…

Moon stared into her eyes. "You really sure ya want it, darlin’?"

Hanna: She looked into his eyes.
She let warmth pass through her hand, listening to his heart.
She let the beat of his heart wash through her, taking in every word he said.

And then, she had her answer. "Yes."

"I'll help ya, next time, too. And I know ya won't let me be hurt like that."

"Did it when the black fucker was sneaking up on ya... can do it again. Will do it again..."

Seventh Moon: "A'ite then." Moon nodded once with finality. "We'll find ya someone ta teach ya how this shit goes."

Not Kanti though. He wanted her to keep her distance from Hannah. Selina too. All of them, really. Didn't trust them not to give her bad ideas about what she was supposed to be like.

He smirked at Hannah though, shaking back the hair from his face. That was something to worry about later. Had to be more Dragon-Blooded in the north. Just had to find one who wasn’t as messed up as the kid.

"Think so, huh? Shadow at my back?" He lowed his eyes to the small hand on his chest, his own hand still holding it in place. Rubbing his thumb against the edge of her palm, he pressed down a little more, letting the pressure against the wound sting until it hurt in the edges of his eyes. "Think ya really up ta keepin’ pace with me darlin’?"

Hanna: She felt as if he was on the palm of her hand...
So strong, now so vulnerable.

She gave him a grin, the one only a street punk can give. The sort of confidence they could keep in front of everyone, in front of everything. It was all about confidence, after all. On knowing you were tough, or least seeming to, as much as showing it. "Oh hell yah. Can even get better than ya. Will show ya."

She comes closer to him, her silverly hair falling to the sides of his face...

"Will show ya.." she whispers.

Seventh Moon: Moon's head tipped back at her claim, a side long glance that doubted and dared at once. "Think your mouth might have run lil reckless there darlin."

As she came forward though, he moved with her. Meeting her half way between, his lips brushed hers and then held on. They were soft, despite how hard she looked. Warm, despite how cold she looked. He slipped his broad arms around her waist, hoisting her like a child into his lap.

"Tell ya what darlin'," he murmured as their lips met and parted, his hands already working at the draw string of her shirt. "Lets have a contest and find out."

"Whoever begs ta stop first."

---

• - Back to Fifth Movement
• - Back to A Dance of Angels