[PRP] Everywhere There's Tithes (Temperance/Rabbit)

[Smerdle]

He had been warned, but he still wasn't prepared. Rabbit awoke that morning and shuffled off to the bathroom to find himself significantly changed. His eyes were lighter, like a couple of weird globs of pearlescent jade shampoo, but they were far from the first things he noticed. His hair had gone stark white in random patches overnight, and he stared at it for at least five minutes, twisting and turning and prodding, before he tried to continue with his morning routine. Another five minutes passed during which he used the toilet and shakily washed his face, and then he was back in his room, shoving the squeeps into his hoodie and leaving the apartment before his sister could ask where he was going. She was more worried for him than usual, with the rain and the earthquake, but she believed him now when he said he was okay. Although he didn't know why, he appreciated the sentiment nonetheless.

He was thoroughly damp by the time he reached the store, but he'd been in here so long now that he was mostly dry again. The squeeps had fallen asleep, as they tended to when he kept up a rhythmic enough walk, and he was staring at the neatly restocked shelves of flavored rice, mind wandering. There were far too many of these things for him to choose, though the fact that that was what he had come back to was a good sign, he supposed. Without a mirror in front of him, he felt fine. So maybe this was a power? If it was, it was a pretty shitty one.

The Semblance of Unity

numbah one

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance lived on the concept of take-out and one pot meals. So pre-flavored rice could go in a pot with chicken and squash and wham, bam, done. She could fix it, forget it, eat it later. So she was stocking up and in a rush. Temperance hovered a bit in front of the rice before clearing her throat.

"The yellow rice is good and easy." She pointed to a box and then grabbed a couple of the boxes before looking at the guy she'd brushed against.

"B-Bennett? Is that you?"

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

He took a breath, unable to stop the urge to correct anyone who uttered that name, even after months of regular use. But when he turned and saw who had spoken, his vague irritation fled in favor of a bubbling giddiness that escaped through his crooked smile.

"Hey, uhh, Temperance!" Yes, that was her name. He'd heard Juniper say it once. Funny, the things he remembered. "You're here!" He had so many questions—how she had made it out, what she had seen, if she was okay—but they took a backseat when he abruptly recalled how he currently looked. There were only a few clumps of dark hair left at the back of his head under the hood, and his eyes were nearly white as well. His grin faltered.

"It's definitely me. I just woke up like this and I couldn't go to work, you know? I'm fine though? Just..."

He had no handbook for whatever the hell this was.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"As long as you're fine," she said dubiously. "I was worried about you at the... uh, end of things. I didn't see you." Despite her hands having been quite full, Temperance thought she would have noticed Rabbit entering. But she hadn't, so she'd worried, in her normal, kind of fleeting way. She supposed she could have found his address and checked up on him, but she didn't really do that for anyone.

She peered at him. "Is this like... what caused it?"

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"I didn't ever get back to the hall. I did climb out the window after a little while and stayed near the gazebo. My fetch showed up..." He waved a hand in dismissal. "Not important."

Rabbit turned away from her completely and looked down the aisle to make sure no one was spying.

"This is something else. I don't know. Pax said there would be powers, but this isn't... like, it's the power to look like a really old, blind person, which doesn't seem all that vital to the future of the city or whatever." He inhaled, then sighed. "You're okay though? The place was kind of falling to s**t when I left, and I haven't had time to go around and see who made it out. I don't know very many people anyway."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Wholly important." She gave him a hard look. "How do I know you're you, even?" Though perhaps she could take his knowledge of them meeting up in the room with other tithes as a sign. She sighed.

"Never mind. I've heard there are... powers, too. It makes you strong or something. I've been talking to, um, people." She shrugged and then exhaustion snaked across her face at his next question. Temperance struggled to banish it.

"I'm... fine. Really. Nothing happened to.. me. I can, um tell you what happened overall - but maybe not here?"

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

His mouth, opened, closed, opened again. He stared blankly at the rice, realization dawning. "No, no, you're right. I guess you can't know? Like, this is how it's gonna be now, isn't it? Everyone wondering if they're talking to real people or fetches." He grabbed several boxes off of the shelf—yellow, as she'd suggested—and stacked them against his stomach, prompting a high-pitched, indignant chirp from his hoodie's front pocket.

"Yeah, not here. We should go." He didn't know where, considering it was raining and he had walked here, but they needed a place to talk that wasn't the boxed food aisle.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Did your... was that your stomach?" Temperance frowned. That wasn't a normal noise, but maybe he kept squeaky toys in his hoodie. Who knew.

"We can go-" Her apartment was nearby but it was a pigsty currently. "There's a cafe nearby, or, across the street, there's this gazebo thing. I doubt anyone is using it in this rain."

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"That was..." He couldn't exactly yank a squeep out to show her at the moment. "Something else we can talk about outside." He shook his head, unable to keep a small, close-lipped smile off of his face at her reaction. "The gazebo sounds all right. Maybe the cafe to dry off a little after we talk about the big stuff." He couldn't unleash the squeeps in there either.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Alright, go on and check out. I'll meet you out there." Her grocery shopping could come later. She was pretty sure her body was at least eighty-five percent processed food by now.

On her way out to the gazebo, she grabbed a cheap piece of banana bread. Temperance was starving. She sat on the bench in the gazebo, hoping he'd show up. If not, maybe she'd go bother him later, maybe now.

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Rabbit arrived a few minutes later, three boxes of rice in a thin plastic bag dangling at his side. The hand that wasn't holding the bag was in his pocket, and as he took a seat near Temp, he fished out one of the birds and held it within sight.

"I think she thought I really was blind," he said, still smirking. "I tried handing her a dollar instead of a five, but she didn't fall for it."

The squeep rested comfortably on its back in his palm, and since it was the calm one, it didn't wiggle. It blinked up at Temperance for a couple of breaths, then reached out a tiny hand, flexing its fingers at her.

"This is a squeep. I don't know what they are, I don't know what they do. They're mine though, and I've got to keep them safe."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance reached out her hand tentatively to the squeep. It was utterly, horribly cute. "W-where did you get him? Her?" She paused for a moment and looked back up at him. "Congratulations on your fatherhood, this is adorable. But... is this some part of the noble thing?"

With her free hand, she pulled the piece of banana bread out of her purse. "Can they eat this?" She had wanted to ask more about his coloration, but he had placed cuteness in front of her. It was super effective.

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"They like soggy cereal and fruit in cans, so that'll probably do." He moved the bird closer to Temperance. "You can hold it if you like. I don't know if they're boys or girls or what. They're just... loud." He shook his head, distantly and fondly exasperated.

"I had their eggs before I was taken, so I think they're just a fun little present from Ashdown. But thank you, I guess." He had been called a father only once before, and he had been too preoccupied to appreciate just how strange it made him feel. Rabbit produced the second squeep, settling it on his knee despite its waving arms. "He likes to flap." That was all that was said on the matter.

"Basically, I ended up on the other side and a talking bird asked me to help it. I found the eggs. I took them 'cause I thought I could bring them somewhere safer than where they were. But there was no place like that. I didn't know what was safe over there, and sitting on my bed with my cat seemed like as good a nest as any." It sounded stupid now, like he should have tried harder, but it was too late for that.

The Semblance of Sassface

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She took the tiny, bird-like creature gingerly, stroking a finger down it's feathers. Then she broke off a tiny piece of bread and offered it. "Well, you couldn't very well leave them alone - they might have died without a caretaker. The bird didn't say where to take them? Look at you, you're so cute, aren't you? Want a bit of this?" She cooed at the little bird. Cute things were just cute, okay? And little baby animal things were top of the list next to girls in adorable clothing.

"Aside from your birds - how are you holding up? Many don't find their... changes favorable." She grimaced. Hux had been downright hostile.

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"Hm. Yeah, I couldn't." That visit to the other side had been particularly frantic, and he really only recalled one thing Sleepyhead had said when it came to the eggs. "All it told me to do was hurry up." He smiled as the memory wafted past.

At first, the squeep simply watched Temperance, focus darting from her eyes to her mouth and back again as its chest rapidly rose and fell. Eventually it tried for the banana bread as well, reaching out its hand to make a tentative grab, then another, both missing their mark. When it finally stopped splitting its attention between face and food it had greater success, closing its hand around her offering until the cakey bread smooshed out between its fingers. It stuck its fist in its mouth and chewed contentedly on both. The one on Rabbit's knee continued to flap, seemingly disinterested in the treatment its sibling was receiving.

"I'm... I dunno. Tired. Confused. Kind of just like I was at the manor only with less to do." It had been uncomfortable at first, coming home to a place without structure and purpose, but the reality of the situation was that three months was an incredibly short stretch of time in the grand scheme of things, and Mynn had been... a kind fetch, all things considered, or at least a wildly selfish one. Rabbit didn't mention his restlessness or his drinking or his restless drinking, mostly because those had been issues prior to his kidnapping. He also didn't consider them problematic, no matter what his sister said.

"I'm not sure how I feel about the fetch or... this," he continued, gesturing at his face, "but I'm not mad or anything. Apprehensive." He snorted. "Concerned." All polite ways of being scared, but he didn't say that either.

The Semblance of Unity