bigapplesauce | The pretty Rain from those sweet Eaves / Her unintending Eyes [closed]

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The pretty Rain from those sweet Eaves / Her unintending Eyes [closed]

Well, rain isn't the worst thing that could have happened. This was meant to be the day Daine helped her set up the new hive, and it wouldn't be impossible in the rain, but it doesn't feel very welcoming, and it wouldn't allow Bee to spend all her time up on the roof like she would wish. And no one would want to come up to join her! That wouldn't do at all.

She'd sat in her apartment for a while, picking at the book Spike gave her, alternately pouting at the rainbeaten window and staring glumly at the ceiling - wondering if she should try to foist her company on one of her new friends - before she finally decided to snap herself out of it on her own. Which is how she found herself in the park, in the downpour.

Shoeless and armed with an umbrella she just bought from a convenient little sidewalk kiosk, Bee marches through the puddles, enjoying the smell and sound of rainfall, willing herself to feel better. This is certainly preferable to sitting inside. And if the weather clears up tomorrow, then she can set up her hive, and all will be well.

There aren't as many walkers out as usual, given the conditions, but it's not too long before she gets a glimpse of the telltale Rift-patterns - another rifty nearby. She focuses her gaze, seeing a young woman walking a dog - oh, how sweet, wearing a matching raincoat and little boots! Bee's delighted by the sight, so she comes a little closer, focusing on the dog, and - no, no, not a dog at all. It came through the Rift as well - and it isn't of this world. She stops and frowns intently. What on earth?

She comes a little closer, deeply curious, discerning scales and teeth beneath the raincoat, and...

A name flashes through her head: Quarkbeast!

Suddenly she remembers her dream - so real and so eventful, so many people she'd met! And the little man, Aglet, who told her about his friend and her Quarkbeast, who eats metal - what was her name? Jennifer? Yes, Jennifer.

No amount of practiced social grace and keep Bee from hurrying up in excitement and exclaiming, "Are you Jennifer?" to the unsuspecting fellow rifty.

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Jennifer doesn't normally get Wednesdays off, but she volunteered to work on the 4th (it's not as if the holiday means anything to her, anyway), so Romac has given her today off, instead. She'd hoped to visit a museum or something, but the weather has had other plans.

It's a terrible day for walkies, but keeping the Beast cooped up inside all day isn't an option, so Jennifer has decked both of them out in raincoats and wellies, and they've splashed their way to the park. The upshot of the nasty weather is that it both allows her to more thoroughly disguise the Quarkbeast and cuts down on the number of pedestrians who might be in a position to look at him in the first place. So, while it isn't exactly a pleasant walk (in part because she needs both hands for the leash and can't carry an umbrella), it's also not a very stressful one. She'll just have to make herself a giant mug of cocoa and change into something dry when she gets back to her flat.

She's certainly not expecting to be approached, and when a pair of bare feet enter her sightline and are followed shortly by an unfamiliar voice saying her name, Jennifer jerks her head up in surprise. The Beast pulls up short as well, lifts its head to look up at the newcomer, and then snorts as rainwater drips onto its nose.

Well. "Er… sorry, have we met?" Jennifer asks, peering at the woman from beneath her hood. She doesn't recognize her, but a lot of people pass through Romac on a daily basis, so it's possible they've met in passing and she's forgot. It's still embarrassing not to know the woman's name, though.

"No!" says Bee, grinning absurdly, too excited to adjust her tone. What are the odds? "I've heard about you, though, and your Quarkbeast. Is that the Quarkbeast? May I - well, is petting him something one does? Look at him, in that little raincoat! Sorry, sorry. I know this is all out of nowhere. My name is Bee!" She shifts the umbrella to her other hand, sticking out the dominant one for a shake. "I met Aglet in a dream last night, and he told me about you. I'm a rifty too!"

Jennifer can only blink at the enthusiastic little spiel. The Quarkbeast, for its part, indulges in a series of scale-rattling sneezes to get the rainwater out of its nose. The extended hand triggers an automatic response, though, and Jennifer shifts the leash to one hand so she can shake Bee's hand with the other, firm and professional.

"It's nice to meet you, Bee." That part's easy. And the explanation helps put her at ease; if Aglet actually spoke to her, she must be an unusually tolerable sort of human. The request to pet the Beast throws her, though - no one ever asks to do that upon meeting the creature for the first time. But the Beast understands the request and wags its tail, letting out a hopeful, "Quark?"

"You can pet him if you like," she says, thinking, and if you can find an exposed patch of scales. The little slicker and boots have most of him covered, and she'd be surprised if Bee or anyone dared to go for the Beast's chin. Granted, his chin-scales are rather soft as scales go, but they're also so disconcertingly close to his mouth that even Jennifer rarely messes about in that area unless she's grooming him (that is, giving him a thorough rubdown with steel wool and brillo pads - and then she has to be careful that he doesn't eat the steel wool before she's finished).

Bee can barely contain a little squeal of delight when the Beast sneezes, clapping a hand over her mouth. At the invitation, she immediately kneels down to get a closer look. He does look rather menacing - she can imagine why Aglet might be nervous about the creature. But she can see he won't hurt her, certainly not intentionally. She pokes a hand under his little raincoat hood and strokes her fingers curiously over the rough scales on top of his head. What a strange feeling! But not altogether unpleasant. She smiles down at the little creature.

"Does he have a name?" she asks.

A bemused smile tugs at the corners of Jennifer's mouth as she watched Bee pet the Beast. The creature's tail wags harder at the contact, spraying water droplets everywhere (though the rain's bucketing down hard enough that the extra spray makes no real difference to Jennifer's overall dampness).

"I just call him the Beast, mostly," she says. Often as not, she refers to it as who's-a-good-boy or various other ridiculous pet names. But 'the Beast' is what she's used to, and in this universe, it's especially apt. It's not as if there are any other Quarkbeasts wandering about who might also claim the title.

Then, because she can't quite help herself, she asks, "So, Aglet actually spoke to you? On purpose?" Belatedly realizing how rude that could be construed, she hastily adds, "It's just - he's incredibly shy around humans."

"I see," says Bee, addressing her response to the Beast, affecting the tone one always adopts when speaking to an adorable animal. "Well, aren't you a friendly little Beast, then?"

He makes another of his little quark sounds and she giggles with delight before straightening up to answer Jennifer's question.

"Well, I don't think he would have chosen to," she admits. "There were extenuating circumstances. He was caught in a wall and I think there were some nasty bugs trying to get him, so I helped him out. And then we got to know each other. I'd almost forgotten about it until I saw you." She grins. "I gave him my phone number, but I don't know if he'll remember it, or... well, I understand he might have a bit of trouble with the phone. But I'd very much like to see him again. I promised to take him out for an adventure."

Now that the petting session has ended, the Beast occupies itself by toddling off the path to snuffle through the grass (still sneezing occasionally). Meanwhile, Jennifer's smile widens at the thought of Aglet going on adventures - or going willingly, at any rate.

"I can't imagine he liked that idea," she says dryly. "I haven't had much luck coaxing him out of the flat, myself. I have a nice pocket for him on my bag and everything." Said bag is currently at the flat; she didn't want it to get soaked, and she doesn't strictly need anything on these walks except for her keys and some plastic bags to collect the Beast's leavings.

"Well, no," says Bee, chuckling softly. "But I think I got him to warm up to the idea a little, at least. I have been known to be persuasive."

She watches the Beast shuffle around for a bit before saying, "Could I - well, I don't want to impose, and I hope this isn't too impertinent, but I wonder if I could go back with you and see him. If it's not too much trouble." She brushes a little mud off her dress, a bit self-consciously - Jennifer can't know that by the time they're inside, Bee will have become miraculously clean again. She doesn't exactly look fit to be inviting herself places.

Jennifer isn't sure if she should feel impressed or just dubious; Aglet can be a stubborn little guy, and she's known him to ostensibly agree to something just to get her to stop talking about it. But she wouldn't mind having company - especially someone Aglet already knows. At least it'll prevent today from feeling like a total wash.

"Sure," Jennifer agrees. "I don't have anything else planned," she adds with a rain-encompassing gesture to indicate: obviously, "and it'll be good for Aglet to talk to someone in real life besides me." She angles her head back toward the flats, then turns the rest of herself in that direction and starts off at an easy pace, mindful of Bee's bare feet. She'll have to keep an eye on where she steps; at least she and the Beast have protective footwear.

"Thanks!" Bee grins and falls into step alongside her. "I'm happy to meet more people as well. I feel like a lot of rifties keep to themselves most of the time." She watches the Beast trundling along for a moment - for the most part she hasn't examined its patterns too closely, or Jennifer's - she's getting better at holding off with new people that she meets. It's very tempting, everyone with such profoundly different backgrounds, but it can cause such problems.

"What sort of place do you come from?" she asks.

Jennifer nods; she's not exactly a homebody - her job ensures that she meets plenty of new people - but she doesn't do a lot of mingling on her own time, and Aglet is about as insular as any rifty with a flatmate can be. It's a side effect, she supposes, of everyone hoping they'll be able to get home sooner or later (preferably sooner); people are too busy chomping at the bit to leave to bother with making friends.

Well, she's been here for months with no sign of rift mastery on the horizon. Might as well start making more friends, right?

"It's… fairly different," she says. "We have magic - some, anyway; there used to be more. I was acting manager of Kazam Mystical Arts Management back home, which is one of the two big wizidrical institutions left in the Ununited Kingdoms." She shrugs. Being a Romac paper-pusher is a bit of a step down, but what can you do? "Glorified babysitting, really. Wizards can do some amazing things, but they're a bit useless at all the normal in-betweeny stuff, like driving and paperwork and paying the bills."

"Wow," says Bee, thoroughly impressed, and she giggles slightly at the idea of needing to help an old wise wizard pay his bills. "That's much more interesting than where I come from. Well. At least it sounds more interesting to me. I suppose for you it's just life." She shrugs. "My home was a lot like this place, I think."

She tilts her head at Jennifer curiously. "Did you say Un-United Kingdom? Or... Kingdoms?"

Most of the wizards Jennifer works with aren't particularly old (or particularly wise, for that matter). But she's happy for Bee, coming from a universe not too different from this one. From what she's seen, that tends to make for a more comfortable transition. If nothing else, it reduces the amount of studying people have to do just to get along in the city (studying that denial-ridden newcomers often don't want to bother with).

"Ununited," she confirms with a wry smile. "I'm from the Kingdom of Hereford, ruled by King Snodd." If she doesn't sound particularly impressed by King Snodd, that's because she definitely isn't. "I was surprised to learn they're united here, but it seems to be working out for them." Part of her is resentful she couldn't get dropped off by a rift in this universe's UK, but a magic-less version of her old stomping grounds might have been more difficult to cope with than Manhattan.

"Huh!" Bee purses her lips for a moment, thinking this over. "How funny. So it's similar but quite different." She hesitates. She can see Jennifer started out lonely, and doesn't want to delve too deep in cause that's a difficult subject. Instead she says, "What do you do now?"

"Paperwork, still." Jennifer can appreciate the irony. Then again, she's very good at navigating needlessly complex bureaucratic nonsense. Compared to what she's used to, Romac's system is a walk in the park (and on a nice day, too). "I help process new arrivals, mostly on the back end."

She glances curiously at Bee, then asks, "What about you? How long have you been here?"

"Oh," says Bee politely, and not without a little caution. So Jennifer actually works for Romac. That makes this a little trickier. Bee doesn't get the sense that Jennifer means any harm - she's probably only doing the work, not really part of the system. But she can't know how they'll react to learning her affiliation.

"Not very long," she says. "A little over a week now." Maybe she can avoid naming the faction?

Fortunately for all parties, Jennifer isn't inclined to pry - especially after learning how new Bee is to the city. She doesn't recall seeing the woman's paperwork, but it might have been processed by someone else. And if she wasn't found by Romac, well… the thought of inviting a rebel over is a little unnerving, but one week is a bit quick to have been brought into the fold. Meeting Aglet in a dream and wanting to visit him is a more plausible scenario than 'shiny new rebel spy.'

Rather than ask about factions, Jennifer says, "I didn't realize you were so new." Her inclination is to apologize - that's standard for new arrivals - but if she's been here a week, she's probably tired of hearing it. "How are you getting on?"

"Quite well, as a matter of fact!" says Bee with pleasure and mild relief at not being asked her allegiance. "I kinda like it here. I've made lots of new friends, and I'll be able to set up some beehives soon. That's what I used to do back home."

Hm - better not mention where the beehives are being set up. And who any of her friends are! This is tricky. And it'll be worse if they find out later and think she was lying to them. She makes up her mind to tell them who she is, but only after they've gotten into the apartment. Once they're all settled and acquainted, she'll find a way to admit it. It's only right.

"I know most people want to go home," she says, "but... I'm enjoying myself so far. It's a new adventure."

Well, that answers the question of what Bee does for a living. Before she'd realized how new Bee was, Jennifer had wondered what had her out and about at such an hour on a weekday - especially with the weather so miserable.

"I didn't know you could keep bees in the city." Not that it's a subject she's given much thought - or any thought, really. "How many hoops do you have to jump through to get something like that set up?"

She smiles at Bee's refreshingly optimistic take on being dimensionally relocated as they leave the park, then shifts a bit more focus to the sidewalk they're traversing. The pounding rain makes it a little difficult to tell if there's broken glass or anything else unpleasant ahead of them, but she doesn't want Bee stepping on anything easily avoided.

"Not as many as you might think," says Bee, keeping a careful eye on the sidewalk as well, not so much out of caution but simply out of habit. "It was fairly easy, really. You have to get permission from the Department of Health or something like that, and make sure there's a water source."

She notices Jennifer watching the ground and says, "Oh, don't worry about me. I almost never wear shoes. My feet are tough - and I know what to watch for." She smiles encouragingly.

That sounds almost unbelievably straightforward… but perhaps it isn't that surprising. Bees are a lot less complicated than new arrivals from other dimensions, and barring allergies, there isn't much about bees anyone could find objectionable.

Jennifer glances over, a little sheepish at being caught out despite the fact that she wasn't doing anything embarrassing. "Got it," she says, before adding, "I'm used to watching out for the Beast, too; he picks up all sorts of things if left to his own devices." Said tendency is demonstrated a moment later as the Quarkbeast spies a crumpled Sprite can in the gutter and angles over to crunch it up with noisy enthusiasm. "Cans are all right," Jennifer hastens to clarify, "so long as he doesn't eat too many in one go."

Bee laughs delightedly as the Beast crunches up a can with no difficulty. "And he's cleaning up the litter," she remarks. "What a good boy." Looking back up at Jennifer she says, "How lucky he came through with you."

Jennifer's smile is a little bit pained. Grateful as she is to have the Beast, she still misses her Quarkbeast - the first one. "There's a legend in my universe that they show up to be companions during times of... difficulty. This one appeared right before the rift got us both." She hesitates a beat, then adds, "I had another Quarkbeast before, but I lost him."

"I see," murmurs Bee. That makes sense - she hadn't noticed a lot of concurrence with these two prior to their Rift origin. "I'm sorry." On a whim, she reaches out and gives Jennifer's raincoat-clad arm a little pat. "Are we close?" she asks gently, taking the cue to change subjects.

The Beast glances back at Jennifer and gives its tail a broad wag, and she resolutely tamps down on her sorrow. This Beast is as much hers as the last one was, after all. She manages a more genuine smile for Bee, then nods at a building up ahead. "Yes - this is it."

It's a relief to get in out of the rain, and Jennifer pushes her hood back as soon as they're inside. The Beast gives itself a little shake, wellies squeaking against the tile floor, then leads the way to the elevators. At this hour - and this weather - no one else is around, which is just as well; it means not having to wait for an empty lift so the Beast won't alarm other tenants.

"Well, this will be a nice surprise for Aglet," she says as the lift rises. She hasn't bothered to text him; she didn't want to pull her phone out in the rain, and now they're so close that there hardly seems any point to it.

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