lt_safe_house | (no subject)

Current Location: Park of the Manor

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(no subject)

Date: May 6th, night to 7th
Place: Outside
Status: Public
Summary: Dustfinger comes back.

Dustfinger started to wonder if the money he had taken from Arty had been cursed. Oh but he should have been more careful when talk had started of magic. Instead he stupidly took the large amount and went away...

...and for the third time now he was walking this way again.

He shook the head. What did money help him if he could not get away from here when he had it? He hoped if he returned it to Arty he would lift the spell. Otherwise he would never get home. Never.

Now it was too late to ring the bell and he still did not think they would likely let him inside very gladly. He did not need to go inside either. Like Gwin he could just sleep outside when it wasn't raining.

The sun would wake him up surely. Then he could ask for Arty and give back the money. For now, he laid down near to the building were he would stay dryer even if it started to rain at night, rolled up and tried to sleep.

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"I can't. - " Dustfinger started. Then he wasn't sure how to do on. He didn't need a soft bed to sleep in, and nothing would change that he was dirty and smelly and so where his clothes. Even if he got a bath there was no way he could wash his things and dry them quickly enough. That was never even thinking of the fact that he had no place to wash them. In this world you couldn't even strip to wash the only set of clothes you had in a river.

"What's the problem?" Gabriel asked, gently.

"My clothes... and I ... and Gwin - Everything needs a wash", Dustfinger admitted unhappily.

"I have a bathroom you can use, then," Gabriel offered.

"I... it's okay." Dunstfinger said. "I'll just wait here. I don't think I'd be able to get my things clean anymore anyway. Just,please - if you have some leftovers for Gwin, maybe?"

Gabriel nodded. "I don't mind if you dirty the sheets, though. And I would feel bad for simply leaving you here. What does Gwin eat?"

"Meat," Dustfinger answered. "Raw or any other.

He stood against the wall and made no motion to go anywhere.

Gabriel sighed at his apparent wish to stay there. "Alright, then. Wait here."

He made his way to the restaurant; it was closed for business, of course, but unlocked. Padding silently into the kitchen, he washed his hands and peeked into the fridge. Excellent, uncooked meat. He placed it on a little plate, warming it with a thought, and took a couple of bread rolls as well just in case, leaving some money on the counter on his way out.

He returned to the man in the lobby. "Is this alright for both of you?"

"Thank you", Dustfinger said. He put the plate where Gwin could reach it and started eating the rolls. As he ate he kept a careful eye on the other man.

Gabriel wondered how badly the man had been mistreated, to make him so wary. It saddened him, the way humans could treat one another.

"Where will you sleep, then?"

I'll wait for Arty and give back the money. Then I go and try to earn money to get back to the continent. I still need to find a Silverton-"

He bit off the word. What did he do there that he started to trust this stranger? He was trapped inside. If the man decided he was insane he had no way of knowing what would happen.

"Silverton? Is that a name?"

As the Angel of Birth, Gabriel knew everyone's birth name; he was used to knowing it on sight. Yet he did not know this man's name, and it was frustrating. How could he not know someone's name? The man had to have been born in the usual way, after all.*

"Might I know your name?"

* Yes, that included babies born via C-section and test-tube babies.

"My name is Dustfinger", Dustfinger muttered. He wondered if he should add he was a busker so that the other man would assume it was a name he had taken for the performance. But he could still add that later if he had to. Many people eemed to assume people of his job were always thieves as well.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow slightly. "Interesting name. Is there a story behind it?"

"The -", Dustfinger caught himself and did not say his mentor's name. It would seem no littler strange than his own. "The man who raised me gave it to me."

Gabriel nodded. "So it's not your birth name, then." Perhaps he was one of those children who had never been given a name at birth; though that was a little rarer now. "I'm Gabriel."

Dustfinger shrugged. "I wouldn't know", he said. "I don't know my mother."

And sometimes it helped if he could get people to feel sorry for him. Then they were less likely to chase him away.

Gabriel nodded. "I'm sorry."

That was why he didn't know the man's name, then. Still, Dustfinger was an odd name to have.

Dustfinger forced a smile on his face. "You didn't do it", he said. Playing on sympathy too much was just as bad as not getting any at all.

And then he thought of something else. What if he was not because of a curse drawn here? He hadn't experienced this before but they all were able to know a Silvertongue when they saw him. And he had not met one yet that was good at it and experienced. So maybe one like that would cause such a pull?

After all he had heard there was one on this island and not all that far from here.

"Is there someone here who spends a lot of time with books?" he asked Gabriel.

Of course he could also avoid books, but they were all drawn to books. Even those who did not read aloud to keep things from coming out or going in. It was not likely that any Silvertongue avoided books completely.

Gabriel shrugged. "Myself? I'm the librarian, so I spend most of my time surrounded by them. Aziraphael is very fond of books too, and some of our other guests do enjoy reading. Why? Did you find a book lying around?"

It was certainly an odd question from someone in Dustfinger's state.

Could it be? It was certainly too much too hope. But he could try. If the other new nothing about Silvertongues he would believe it to be a wild tale he had made up to go with his busker persona.

"Once there was a man who live happily with his wife and daughters", he said. "He was of the colorfull folk. Not a thief but a performer. He was happy until one day he blinked and found himself in a different world. A world with machines and cars and fire that is angry to the touch and bites. And he learned that he had come out of a book that held his story and his world and everything he loved. He was torn from it by a Silvertongue. A man with the skill of stealing things from books and bringing them into his world. For the past nine long years he has been looking for a way to return home. The man who brought him out of his book refuses to put him back in, so now he is a travelling busker looking for another person with the skill in this inhospitable world."

He waited.

That was... an interesting story. Something about the way he said it, though, told Gabriel it wasn't mere fiction.

But if it was true... Gabriel had never heard of Silvertongues, but this might pose problems. Bringing people and things out of books? No human should have the power to do that. On the other hand, the man might be raving, though he looked calm enough.

"That's a sad story," he said carefully. "I hope the man finds a Silvertongue, and would help him if I could; sadly, I have never met one."

Edited 2010-07-21 00:33 (UTC)

Dustfinger shrugged. "So do I", he said. "So do I."

He watched Gwin eat the rest of his meal and wondered what to do next.

"I really can't just leave you in the lobby," Gabriel repeated. "It will be cold and uncomfortable. Please allow me to get you a room. They come with bathrooms, if cleanliness is what you're worried about."

Dustfinger sighed. The hopelessness of his quest washed over him in a wave of despair. "I just want to go home", he muttered. "I can't pay for a room because I have to give my money back and I don't even know how I could find the person I'm looking for. I spent the last years chasing hints that never brought any good. I... I just want home."