Greater Easthaven Owls in the Moss

[Billy Broder]

Billy at the fair

So. Yeah. Ren fair.

It was different, and had nothing to do with magic. It could, oh it certainly could have something to do with magic- Rowling was very insistent on that fact- Billy chose to ignore all that in favor of showing up to enjoy a weird hobby turned into an event by a bunch of weird and probably very nice people. Billy had ordered an outfit that didn't arrive on time, well the pants did but those didn't fit because the sizes in china are totally different from the sizes in america it turns out, long story short Billy didn't have a fun outfit for the fair. He had jeans, a black t-shirt, and a button up worn like a coat.

He also had this big leg of turkey.

Rowling started telling him some facts about fair meat and Billy shut that down hard. Told the bird to go find some ingredients in the woods or something so the wizard could enjoy the fair in peace. So the owl flew off in a huff, actually it probably didn't care that much but Billy pretended it was in a huff because it made him feel better, and now he could enjoy a potentially bacteria coated leg of meat... yeah....

Billy tossed the leg away and frowned as he glanced around for something else to do. Or to eat...

[Max Kuryakin]

Strike (Preternatural senses) Complete success

Another day at the fair, another morning shift finished. Max was still in what passed for his uniform for this job. A shirt making it clear he was EMS with his usual uniform trousers, and solid boots, although the suspenders hanging around his hips made him look very much 'at ease' rather than rushing to an emergency. The spice bag he'd picked up from one of the booths by the medic station completed the off-duty look, Max picking his way through the spicy fries, bell peppers, and onion. Irish street food, apparently, as anachronistic as he was in this whole medieval scene, but damn was it tasty.

He was back to wandering, trekking his way from where he'd gotten the spice bag, going deeper into the temporary village that'd erupted out of the middle of the woods. He'd not been around in this area before, preferring Northrop's wilder woods, so he wondered if this was a natural clearing or if it'd been prepared for the fair. The look of the trees at the edges made him think it was a mix of both, a spot regularly cleared of new growth when it crept closer.

The werewolf was popping a particularly spicy fry into his mouth when he caught a familiar scent. Billy, standing near one of the trash receptacles–cleverly hidden in a barrel, so it didn't look too out of place–tossed a turkey leg that he hadn't even finished. Max would've called it a waste, but he'd been told the turkey legs were tough and not all that flavourful, so maybe Billy'd been disappointed by it. It'd been a while since Max had dropped by and met the guy, but he looked... better. And he was outside of the apartment, and that said something even if he wasn't okay.

Altering his course, Max came up next to the kid, nudging him with an elbow and laughing. “Billy! Why'd you buy it if you aren't gonna eat it, man?” His spice bag was fragrant and delicious, the food handled far better than whatever came out of the turkey leg booths. Max popped another fry in his mouth, quirking a smirk at Billy for his unfortunate culinary choices.

Max gave the man a once over, too, seeing he was dressed normally, rather than wearing a tunic or a sword, or whatever. Up close he was less pathetic looking than last time, too, so maybe he'd kept eating the stew Max dropped with Junie from his ma.

[Billy Broder]

Billy felt a bit better with the bacteria festival out of hand and instead started to wonder what else he could check out, when someone came up next to him and bumped him with their elbow. He jostled a bit then reoriented to see it was Max looking, well as in his element as always. Billy envied the way Max just seemed to fit in wherever he was and doing whatever he was doing. Giving the man a smile he nodded a simple hello before glancing back at the trash barrel. “Ah yeah. Uh, Rowling just recited some facts to me- killed my appetite a bit.” Billy said, gesturing vaguely at his own head to indicate the link he had to his familiar. “Nothing needed the help of ye ole EMS worker though. You just get off work?” he asked noting Max's attire that was clearly work adjacent.

Ah damn, that spice stuff smelled good though. He wished Rowling had just let him enjoy the killer turkey leg in peace. Too late now though, since if it hadn't been safe before it was well past that in a trash can.

[Max Kuryakin]

Max's eyebrow quirked as Billy explained his weird owl demon had sabotaged his meal. The werewolf could guess what about, but he just shook his head with a laugh. What the fuck, alright. He popped another fry in his mouth as Billy asked him about his ended shift, a huffed laugh at the 'ye olde' crack. Wasn't anything Renaissance about his outfit.

“Yeah, just came from the medic station,” Max confirmed after swallowing his mouthful, vaguely gesturing with his free hand the way he'd come. “Been here long?”

[Billy Broder]

Billy ran his hand against his pant leg to lose the last of that food feel from his fingers as he grinned at Max. He moved to walk next to Max even though they didn't really have anywhere to walk to, it was just a ritual of being in motion when you spoke with someone in a busy area. It was an odd but very human trait, to want to not stay still in a place that moved. Maybe it was the social construct to not block pathways, or maybe it had to do with that animal part of the brain that said if the herd or pack was in motion you needed to be too.

“Not really, got here a bit ago and have just been looking around. Never been to a real Ren Fair before, its like Medieval Times plus a thousand.” Billy joked a bit. “How has work been lately?” Billy asked. He knew Max had a stressful job. Literally saving lives from burning buildings and medical mishaps. Did Max come to stuff like this to unwind?

[Max Kuryakin]

Billy seemed to automatically start moving away from the barrel trashcan, towards... where, Max couldn't tell, but he was content to fall in step as the kid walked. He kept picking at his spice bag as they went, intent on polishing off the last of it. It was pretty good, solid street food, but he'd never seen it outside of this place. He'd probably never find it again, which was a werewolf's solemn thought when he did like eating good food. He'd been spoiled.

Billy's question drew Max's attention from picking at the fries and vegetables, his eyes going to the man as he made conversation. The customary niceties that people did when they met up after a while. “Hectic,” Max shared with a grin, popping another fry in his mouth. “This assignment is pretty relaxing though, just stopping people from fainting of dehydration and dealing with sword cuts, if you'll believe it.” He let out a chuckle, shaking his head a little.

[Billy Broder]

Billy tilted himself as he passed someone with a costume that was probably a bit too elaborate for a regular ren fair, then again he hadn't been around in medieval times so maybe people really did have leather dragon wings connected to their homemade fantasy armor. He wanted to point it out but- well someone putting that much time and passion into something was cool too and he couldn't knock that. He nodded at what Max said, he imagined any big event was stressful really. Then he glanced toward the fireman with a puzzled look.

“From the events and stuff or are people actually smuggling in their own swords?” it was hard to tell from his voice if it was skepticism or hopefulness.

Swords were cool. Sue him.

[Max Kuryakin]

Max let his eyes follow some of the more colourfully dressed characters passing them by as they walked, but he was more occupied with his food so his look was more neutrally curious than anything else. It really was weird, the number of people he'd seen wearing goofy leather armour, but he was at a ren fair. Billy's question had the werewolf swinging his head to look at the guy again.

“Wouldn't know about that, but the blacksmith booths have had a few accidents with people playing with the goods. And the events, blunted swords can still break skin if you get hit hard enough,” Max offered, a little more detail on what was going on. He left out the almost fire, it'd probably just get Billy worried. He changed the subject, steering them away from work to whatever obsessive little thing Billy had been working on last. “How's that pet project of yours going?”

The question was casual, but bringing up their last conversation was probably a little loaded. Billy talking about nowhere feeling safe, needing to make things safe, something about his dad's death... There were too many gaps for Max to understand it, but at least that snitch of a feathered menace wasn't talking in his head.

[Billy Broder]

Billy hadn't really seen the blacksmith stuff yet, he thought it would be pretty interesting though. He remembered Mac had done some blacksmith stuff and while that wasn't really Billy's thing it was certainly interesting and he could see a lot of potential for doing his work with it. But that was Mac's path and not really his, and he wasn't at the fair to look at magic anyway. He was here to just enjoy a cool quirky fair. “I wouldn't really know, I think flag football was the roughest sport I ever did and those flags were kept on with velcro. Not the most high contact of games.” It wasn't really true, he'd done more contact stuff and even been in a fight or two. Hell he had nearly died on the beach to some vampire torso once. But it was funnier to point out velcro flag football and keep the conversation light hearted.

At the mention of his project he seemed surprised for a moment before remembering he had talked to Max a bit about it before when he was still he a worse place. He nodded once and thought about where he had been at that point versus now. “Its um, going. I got a location more or less sorted but it still needs a lot of work. Mundane work, wiring redone and walls thrown up. Its up to contractors right now.” he said, waving it off. There was a bit of a cash flow issue, in that it was taking a lot more money than he expected, but that was something he was solving bit by bit. A little magic and some casino money made it easy enough. He tried online gambling but that didn't play well with what he was trying, and the closest casino to Easthaven had anti-magic stuff in place weirdly enough. But all in all he was making the ends meet. It was tight but doable.

At least until he picked up the mail and saw what the nex-

Billy's world tilted sideways.

He missed a step on flat ground and stumbled, a hand flying out to grab a passing table. But when he tried to straighten up everything was just spinning and he ended up half-flopping onto the ground. His mind felt like it was stretching and contracting wildly, almost like it was a pulled rubberband someone had flicked. With unfocused eyes he glanced up and tried to look around to figure out what was wrong. Something was wrong and he couldn't place what it was. Was this some kind of attack? Everyone else looked fine?

He had gone white as a sheet as he looked around confused.

“Rowl did you fe-” he was thinking to nothing. Like talking to an empty room it was just a hallow connection.

Where was his familiar?

[Max Kuryakin]

Max continued eating through his spice bag, absently listening to Billy as the guy kept talking. The anecdote had him bobbing his head absently, only half listening–he didn't think Billy wanted a comment, as the conversation moved on to Max's other question. He let out a thoughtful hum as Billy admitted that things had stalled while he waited for contractors to finish the stuff he couldn't do himself. It was all a bit beyond Max, he'd never started a project that big.

With his mouth full, finishing the last of his fried food, Max didn't have any immediate questions to add to the conversation. He'd popped in the last fry when Billy stumbled, hands momentarily too full to lend a hand. Billy caught himself, so Max stopped and crumbled the wax paper up and threw it in a nearby trash barrel, freeing his hands.

“You good, Broder?” Max checked in, looking up as Billy did, and glancing around without seeing anything–or smelling anything–too worrisome. But he was picking up enough from Billy to know the guy was maybe... panicking a bit, so Max put a hand on his shoulder, leaning over to get a good look at his face. “What's going on?”