Finishing off his muffin, Nubes tapped his chin with a claw. "If you can shapeshift to give yourself clothing," he said, "Can I ask if those are those strictly clothes? Assuming that you feel comfortable answering that question, of course."
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
"Uh..." Leon asked, faltering and looking towards both Magic and Kane. The former was watching the conversation - the latter was investigating his wings with interest. He had doubted Kane would know the answer, anyways, but it still felt weird when Kane accidentally brushed up against said wings.
"Those are clothes," Magic said. "It's not a well known fact, and not one that Leon would know, but he's basically been changing the same set of clothes when he switches forms. That's why faeries can't shift naked - another thing that Leon definitely doesn't know."
Nubes nodded at Magic, taking another sip of his milkshake. "So, how is that possible?" he said, setting the milkshake down and focusing on Leon's strange (but beautiful) wings. "The clothes don't make the man, so to speak - they aren't a part of him. If they can change, what else can change? Anything he comes into contact with?"
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
Leon gave another helpless look in Magic's direction.
"He can just do clothing," Magic confirmed. "I've learned that there's just some ways that the multiverse works that you're not supposed to question too much, and this is one of them - you have to rely on suspension of disbelief."
"Well, questioning things was rather useful for my old line of work, but I can respect that," Nubes said. He took another sip of his milkshake, only stopping when it sounded much louder than he'd intended it to. Staring down the straw, he realized the cup was empty. Whoop - he was a little hungrier than he'd thought. It didn't help that he'd also thought up a much smaller drink than the one he'd seen (since he hadn't known if he would like it).
"If you'll excuse me changing the subject, are there any other stalls that you might recommend?" Nubes said, setting the milkshake down and staring around at the food court.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
Leon, Kane and Magic all surveyed the room. They had hit up all of the big food places - McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts were the only two fast food places that Leon liked, and Magic had already gone to Subway. Looking around, their gazes finally settled on a place at the very edge of the food court.
A pizza place.
"That one's a good one," Magic said, raising a finger to point in the direction of the stall.
Leon and Kane were already making a beeline for it. They would have likely gotten there sooner, but Leon kept hitting his newly made wings on the nearby tables and chairs. It wasn't long before he caved in and returned to his original form.
Fallon: A teenager with short-cropped red hair and brown eyes. They wear a sealskin coat, a blue turtleneck, and black pants. Their eyesight is pretty horrible, so they wear a pair of tortoiseshell glasses. Fallon has a messenger bag with them. They don’t seem particularly out of the ordinary, save for the snow leopard that is perpetually at their side.
Valonia: Fallon’s daemon, who takes the form of a snow leopard. She has the ability to talk, but will rarely speak with anyone other than Fallon. An imposing and fiercely loyal creature, she sticks close to Fallon’s side. She's based on daemons in The Golden Compass / His Dark Materials series. (Can you tell I'm hype for the HBO series?)
Fallon was not having a good day. One minute they were asleep in an airship, on the way home, and the next they were lying on the floor of some sort of indoor marketplace. It was a stark change, and certainly not a welcome one.
Fallon groaned. Their back ached from lying on the floor. But this was hardly a pressing matter. They could sense Valonia at their side, bristling with concern. Fallon figured that they must've been out for some time. They sat up and brushed a hand down their daemon's back, a reassuring gesture for the both of them. "Where are we?" They asked, slowly getting to their feet. "Are you alright?"
"I'm alright," Valonia said, softly butting her head against Fallon, who breathed a sigh of relief. "We're alright," Valonia reassured them. "But we're out in the open. We should go.
"Alright," Fallon said. They didn't know who could be nearby, and although the shops within this place seemed closed off, they various things around them offered some shelter. "Lead the way."
They began to walk, incidentally, towards the food court.
Following behind the others, Nubes found entertainment in Leon's wings smacking into the tables and chairs. He was disappointed when Leon changed forms, if only because Nubes had a little more time to think about the food that Emily was now eating.
"What is this?" the leopard said, poking at the edge of what appeared to be a circular piece of bread with assorted meats, vegetables, and cheeses on it. "It seems rather messy." He put a paw over his nose. "It also smells strange."
It took him a couple seconds to realize that it wasn't the food; the smell appeared to be coming from another direction. And, despite the familiar hints of another cat in the air, that scent was mixed in with several others to the point that Nubes wasn't sure what it was. "I believe someone's coming," he said, turning back and staring at the entrances to the food court.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
Emily followed his line of sight, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. At least, not right away.
“Are you sure?” she asked quietly. Her instincts were telling her to climb. Get up high. Out of range.
That was the purpose of her power, she thought. To keep out of the fight.
She chastised herself with that thought. She had to stop assuming there was always going to be a fight. She’d been proven wrong plenty of times before. Assume peace first.
Nubes frowned. "My sense of smell is much better than my eyesight," he said, sniffing the air. "And, though neither you nor I see it, I can say there is certainly something out of place, though I cannot tell whether it is a person or not. Magic, would you know?"
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
Magic, who had been about to eat an especially cheesy slice of pizza, froze at the question.
"...I can't," they finally said. "The magic I can use is very limited right now. I'd do more, but I..."
They faltered, putting the slice down on a paper plate on the counter of the stall.
Kane and Leon exchanged a look at Magic's tone.
"We should see what it is," Kane said. "If it's a person, we should talk to them - maybe they know why we're here."
Leon crossed his arms. "It could be dangerous," he pointed out. "We don't know if they're good guys or bad guys."
He glanced at Kane and Magic.
"They could be part of...you know," he quietly added.
Now it was Kane and Magic who exchanged a look. Even without saying the name of who he was thinking of, Leon had made his comment very easy for them to understand.
"You could do what you did earlier," Kane suggested. "You can hide yourself in the shadows and see what Nubes noticed."
Leon nodded, form already changing to a shadowy version of itself. Not even his eyes remained constant; it was like someone had made a mold of him and filled it solely with darkness.
"I'll go check it out," Leon said, his voice not quite human. He maneuvered through the food court's chairs and tables - pausing to give a wave when he reached the hallway leading away from the court.
Now staying solely in the shadows, Leon started to head towards where the source of the smell had to be.
As they neared the food court, Valonia began to take note of their surroundings. She was a snow leopard, and her sense of smell was rather strong. She could smell something up ahead, and she wasn't sure what it was. Parts of it smelled human, but other parts of it smelled like something completely foreign to her.
Not good. Valonia stopped in her tracks, effectively blocking Fallon's footpath. She didn't need to speak to get her message across. Something was coming, and it was getting closer.
Valonia let out a growl and stepped closer to Fallon, who calmly withdrew a sharp letter-opener from their bag. Not very effective, but it'd have to do.
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