tunicaintima | Supernatural AU for Roland

...No way. You don't have a name?

[Firo twists around to try to stare up into... not the thing's face, but where a face could be. Those spots of blue.]

Why don't you just make one? Anyway, I don't know how to get outta this sun, so it doesn't matter. Don't you know?

Of course I do. But I-

[But he won't. For thoroughness' sake, he takes a moment to figure out why.]

I can do it. But I can't stand to. It'll have to be you. What I don't know is how to make names. You can't make a name. You simply have one, if you need it. Isn't that how it works for your people? For werewolves?

The hell're you babbling about? Me? You want me to name you? What's to stop me from coming up with something dumb?

[He shakes his head and plods on doggedly.]

We had names before we turned, I guess. From our parents.

If you call me something stupid, you're the one who's going to have to say it. 

If you take us somewhere other than this, I'll answer to whatever you like.

Somewhere else? But we still don't know what's goin' on with all this.

[He waves his hand at the light around him.]

It's definitely not from my head. Did you make this up?

[He speeds up to try to skip ahead, wanting to see how the light will react when he moves away from the strange shadow man. He whirls around and stares up at the sky.]

Make it up?

[The clear derision in his 'voice' doesn't go anywhere. He's stopped, watching, and it doesn't get a chance to. The area of effect isn't large; it won't be long before the boy's out in the sunbeams again. The shade watches and before he realizes it there are boys in the far distance, too, two or three, laughing.]

We have some idea of what was going on with the others, don't we? And none of those were made up.

So this isn't made up? This is just a normal part of your everyday life?

[He snorts and looks up at the light all around him. His face softens when he does, now curious instead of skeptical.

His face whips around when the laughter burbles in earshot.]

You hear that? I'm gonna go check it out. Hurry up!

[This guy's no help in sorting things out, so Firo'll have to do it himself. He races off in the direction of the noise.]

[The shadow's footsteps drag. Nonetheless, he stays just close enough behind to reply.]

Truly? You think I spend my days like this? My nights?

[He watches the boys ahead. They'll come close enough that their outlines, running around each other, become almost clear. After that they'll be no closer, no matter how quickly they're approached. It doesn't occur to the shadow to tell the other man so; he just knows it.]

Haven't you ever heard of sarcasm?

[Firo doesn't realize that he's not making any progress for a few yards. Then he slows.]

Who are they?

[There's silence for a few seconds. Then a few more. Or there would be - every so often the silence is broken by the boys laughing.]

I don't know. 

I know that sarcasm means you don't believe me. Some could make up a scene like this. I'm not one of them. I never was. A man like that could conjure those boys in such detail you could see the hairs in their nostrils, regardless of the fact that he knows not one of their faces. You'd be able to walk up to them. Have I given you reason to believe that I lie?

Edited 2017-01-08 00:55 (UTC)

So... this isn't a memory? But what we saw before this was from my head. This isn't mine, so it has to be yours.

[Firo shakes his head. His voice is contemplative, not angry or accusatory when he continues.]

You haven't given me any reason to believe you'd tell the truth. Anybody'll lie. So if you want me to think you're truthful, prove it.

[The reasonable way all that's laid out, its reasonable tones, calms the shadow a little; his 'voice' loses its heat.]

How? You know as much about me as anyone living, I think. Tell me what you'll accept as truth and I'll give it; otherwise all I can tell you is that I don't know. Look at me. You can see I don't belong to this place. Isn't that enough reason to move this along, move me out from it? Even if I can't prove it to you, I've no reason to lie.

[When the shade finishes speaking, Firo turns away and flexes his fingers.]

...I'm only gonna do this so we can get outta here. These guys're giving me the creeps.

Where do you wanna go?

Memories close to you are the easiest, so show me what I was asking after. Show me your family. Think on them, any memory that comes easiest. Any members of it you're closer to?

Closer?

[Even when he's not trying, Firo's mind doesn't need much more than that for the scene around them to fade away. They're now far from the town, in a stony clearing across the woods. Few hunters come here--no game--so it's a relatively peaceful place. Firo and a taller man with glasses stand beside each other.

It's simple, Firo. Recall how you feel at the full moon--you can harness that now. Watch.

The man steps away, smiling gently. He's still smiling when his whole body tenses and he drops to his knees, when his skeleton quivers with the effort of remolding itself. Brown fur sprouts all over his reformed body.

The wolf turns back to the still-human Firo: Now you try. Go ahead.]

[They are in the darkness again and the shadow takes a loud, relieved breath, for the moment forgetting that to him breathing is a useless gesture. Then he focuses on the scene.]

Your teacher?

[Firo doesn't know why he bothers--instinct from hanging around with people whose faces he can see, probably--but that sigh prompts him to look up where a face should be.]

Yeah. They've all taught me things, but Maiza's the one who showed me how to do this.

[Back in the memory playing out, Firo sucks in his breath and steels himself to try. One hand bristles into a paw, and Firo springs back in surprise. He and Maiza share a look, then fall against each other laughing.]

Is this the kinda thing you wanted to see? Why?

Mhm.

[Before he can think on the question the scene changes. Maiza shifts smoothly into a bald, scarred man with a distinctly bowlegged stance. It's night, in a forest, and he leans against a tree, watching a figure approach. The figure's obviously a child, black hair, skin the color of leather. When he steps out into the moonlight his face and clothes are indistinct, as if being viewed from far away. The bowlegged man looks at the sky, gives an approving grunt, and settles his hand for a couple seconds on the child's shoulder.]

[The faceless child manages somehow to look surprised, but it doesn't last long. The man jerks his head toward a path, speaks a few gruff and indistinct words, and the child moves away.]

[The shadow watches for a second as the bowlegged man stares off into the woods.]

It's not that I wanted to see that, specifically. I wanted you to think of something. Whatever would come to your mind first. And you did. Thank you. They took it in turns, then? Every one teaching something different?

[Of the memories that aren't his, this one seems to make the most sense. Firo can, at least, see why it's important. Though he's always happy to talk about his family, he has to tear his eyes away from the scene to answer the Shade.]

Uh... you're welcome, I guess. I don't get why that matters to you, though.

They did. Yaguruma and Ronny and even Molsa taught me more about how to hunt. But Maiza's the one who taught me everything I needed to even get to that point.

Now you tell me--who's that?

That-

He-

[Unlike the werewolf, it's easy for the shadow to look away at his feet. Shame makes it easy.]

He's teaching his students to keep time with only their own heads. Only- the moon shouldn't be here.

[He turns the blue lights of his eyes upward and the moon disappears, the squat, scarred face of the waiting man falling into darkness.]

That was the challenge of it. No moon to keep time by. It was the first time most of those boys had been left in the dark on their own, at least in this way. Not the last. They'll have to wait alone each night until they get it right.

Very different from your Maiza, isn't he? But just as effective, I think. You change at will quite well, as I've seen.

Edited 2017-01-11 16:05 (UTC)

I don't really get it, but...

[A smile plays on his lips.]

He sounds more like Yaguruma. Different things work for different teachers.

[He actively tries not to fall into memory there; he's curious about what may be the first glimpse he has into the shadow's life. The first glimpse that he can understand, at least.]

...So that's you? What else did he teach you?

Me? That boy? There couldn't be two more different creatures than me and that boy. You only have to look at us to know that. Didn't you see him?

Yeah, I saw him. But this isn't one of my memories, so it's gotta be one of yours, right? And you were talkin' about the teacher like he's somebody else, so...

[Firo shrugs. He notices too that the shadow doesn't outright sat no.]

Can you tell me I'm wrong? For sure?

[It's obvious, even for a face with only one possible expression, that the shadow is avoiding his gaze.]

In a little while, another boy will come along this way. He'll be late. He'll have to do it over.

I don't remember that. I don't remember any of this. I just know it. Isn't that enough? Is there any reason to go pulling all this into the light?

[Firo sighs and plants a hand on his hip.]

How can you know if you don't remember?! You had to learn it from something.

What's with you, anyway? You were just fine bringing stuff about my family "into the light." Have you got something to hide?

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