[OPEN] A Dog's Life

[lahire]

Who: Jack La Hire and You
When: After being hired by Magne
Warning(s): May reference fantasy captivity, might slide into PTSD territory

1. Chases dreams, so it seems [Winter Market]
George had offered advice on finding preferences for himself--how to figure out what Jack himself liked, in the aftermath of what he's been through. While visiting the library had been a wholly overwhelming experience, he's still trying to explore the world and its bounty.

Today, that's brought him to the Winter Market, before it dries up and blows away. He's sniffing scented candles and examining patterned pocket squares, trying to figure out what it is that draws him to certain things. It's a process. He might solicit help picking out decor for his new room or updates to his wardrobe.

One thing he's certain he likes, though, is the stall handing out warm mulled cider. If you're not encountering him during shopping, you might see him holding a cup in both hands and looking the closest he's been to content.


2. He shines in his master's light [Velvet Ambrosia and Silk]
Jack has a job now! It's not dealing cards! Everything should be great now, right?

Well, tending bar isn't the simplest work in the world, it turns out. While he's glad to be doing something, there's a learning curve going on here. Perhaps you're a patron who's just gotten the wrong drink. Perhaps you're a fellow staffer wondering where Magne got this doofus. Perhaps you're just watching him in horror as he goes to shake a Moscow mule.

He really is trying his best.


3. Looking good, so he should [Minor Fae Bullshit]
Here's the thing. Jack isn't a changeling in the same sense that George is a changeling, but he has very much been altered by his time serving The Golden Wheel. Less so by the Black Stag, that was a very brief captivity. But what this means is that there is something vaguely fae about him.

Unfortunately for him, he's still figuring out what this means in practice.

Catch him outside somewhere when he thinks he's alone, animating a small pile of sticks and leaves into a little poppet with glowing eyes. Or catch him literally scuttling against a wall in the manner of a spider rather than walking on an icy patch of sidewalk, as if that's less treacherous territory. Or perhaps you see him alone, shuffling his deck somewhere, before he flicks his wrist and the cards assemble themselves into a fucking sword for a moment, before collapsing back into their usual form.


4. For the choice is very narrow [Wildcard]
This is your chance to wildcard me. PM or catch me on Discord to plot, or just throw yourself at me.

Comments

Chases dreams, so it seems

[misbegottendreamer]

“A marvelous blend, is it not, muthsera? I admit, I cannot bemoan this weather too much when there are comforts like this on offer.”

The womer seems to have just recently come from the stand herself, a cup of warm cider clutched in clawed, spidery hands.

“Have you had this drink before? Apples were an import in my homeland, and this sort of thing was not customary.”

[lahire]

"Nothing so fancy as this. When I was young, there was powdered apple cider in packets. You would add hot water and stir and it would be...a very pale imitation of this."

Jack stares at Drelasa's hands for a long moment. Oh, his aren't much better, fingers far too long and spindly, made to handle decks of cards. So...it might ought to be reassuring, seeing her hands. Maybe.

[misbegottendreamer]

“In packets… like how they sell alchemy reagents? I’m having trouble imagining it, muthsera.”

[lahire]

"They'd sell six packets in a cardboard box at a time. It wasn't nearly as good as the cider here. We'd microwave the water and stir the powder in." He doesn't actively remember who else was 'we'. A sibling or a friend, perhaps?

[misbegottendreamer]

“A… microwave? You would bombard it with electromagnetic radiation?” Ooh, someone’s been hanging onto the astrophysicist’s lessons and is now very confused as a result.

[lahire]

"It was the quickest way to heat water. We were not allowed to use the stove by ourselves at that age." Beat. "I cannot explain how it works, though."

[misbegottendreamer]

“It sounds so complicated,” she replies, slightly mystified.

[lahire]

"It was probably complicated for the scientists who discovered it, but it is much simpler for in-home use now."

Really, it's like scrolls. Some mage made a spell and they were smart and it was hard, but today anyone can grab a scroll and get its effect.

[misbegottendreamer]

She nods.

“Like cars. They sound rather unfathomable to me, but I hear that in some worlds, they are commonplace.”

in his master's light

[stonecoldtop]

They'd had the briefest of conversations when Jack first started at VAS, but George has since noticed something off. It's not that he's being watched, it's just that, well, he's being watched.

It's a good week into Jack's employment while he's between clients and the bar is mostly empty that George decides to approach Jack about it.

"Jack," he says with a warm smile, sitting down at the bar and clearly not intending to shift for some time, "How have you been?"

[lahire]

"George. Would you care for a drink?"

Jack leans forward on the bar, trying to look confident like he knows what he's doing.

[stonecoldtop]

"Just a ginger beer, please. I still have a few more clients today."

And you know, George has seen a few of the more impressive mishaps. So there's that.

[lahire]

"Of course." He can at least remove a bottle cap without incident, passing the bottle across the bar, and a glass with ice as an afterthought. "You seem fairly popular. I have noticed some of the locals visiting for you."

He's noticed a lot, George. A LOT.

[stonecoldtop]

"Popular enough. Less than I was back home, but I've enough stable regulars to keep me going through the quieter months. It's nice to have a bit more time to myself."

George pours his drink over the ice, mostly so he's not staring Jack down as he asks, "Have you been paying so much attention to the rest of the staff?"

Perhaps he's just being paranoid, after all, he knows as well as anyone just how much service staff can be aware of without even meaning to.

[lahire]

Jack purses his lips slightly. It's not an unfair question, but damn. What does he even say.

"It is important for me to learn the rhythms of the house, to better serve it and the madam. But. No, not quite like I've been paying attention to you. I thought watching you, I might be able to understand."

[stonecoldtop]

George nods as Jack answers, because it's true, that is important. The rest he's not expecting, not in those words anyway. At least he wasn't being paranoid

"What are you trying to understand? You could ask, instead of watching."

[lahire]

Jack hesitates. He looks down at the bartop, and clears his hands--a clap and then showing George the palms and back of his hands, as if demonstrating they're empty and he isn't taking anything. It's standard among casino dealers, any time they come to the table, leave the table or touch anything that isn't the deck.

Jack seems to do it almost compulsively, any time he feels anxious or guilty. George has surely seen it before.

"I am trying to understand how to live a good life, as I was instructed to do. And how it is, to act like one is free. So I can act like that."

3.

[abhorrently]

"That's a charming little thing, Jack."

If her voice seems to come out of nowhere, she was intentionally being quiet, not wanting to risk disturbing the spell so soon. But the scene was catnip to her curiosity, and so, once again, Fever intrudes upon his solitude.

[lahire]

He looks up at Fever, startled. The little poppet he's created looks up at her as well, or at least it seems to. It doesn't really have a face, but a broad dry leaf is above its 'shoulders', the edges curled back to almost-sorta-kinda resemble a mask.

"I think so, too. It is not so smart on its own. But perhaps it could be useful somehow?"

There's a moment when he realizes that describes himself too, and he lets out a halfhearted laugh.

[abhorrently]

"Does it need to be useful?"

She crouches to be more on their level, head tilting just a tiny bit to admire the construction of the being.

"Can't it just exist?"

[lahire]

The look Jack gives Fever at that question is sharply confused, as if she'd switched what language she was speaking.

"Does one even truly exist, if they are not of use?" Someone completely failed to take the lesson from spending a month as a laggard.

[abhorrently]

"Define 'of use' for me. I get the feeling I don't have the same definition of the term as you do."

Her hand outstretches towards his construct, but doesn't touch it - it's an offered hand, for it to touch if it wants. No, Fever, that's for pets.

[lahire]

The little construct touches her finger with an outstretched twig. Curiously? Perhaps. Is it capable of curiosity?

Jack, meanwhile, seems to be struggling to put the words to the answer to the question Fever has asked.

[abhorrently]

She'll give him time, engaging instead with the construct. Sitting down properly on the ground, she beckons it closer. It's okay, she's not going to hurt it - the thought that flashes across her mind to snap its little limbs lacks some of its punch, and is ignored in much the same way as one ignores an obnoxious person sitting behind you. There is no real danger here, unless Jack thinks himself into a logic error.

[lahire]

The servitor's about as smart as a dog and as eager to have attention, wriggling its way up onto her lap. Jack's gaze follows it; he almost looks vaguely jealous.