011 ♠ VISUAL ♠ Old Skill

[ironfright]

[ The backdrop of sakura trees and manicured shrubbery indicate that Puck's found his way to one of the themed parks that dot the city. It seems for a moment like he might be sleeping, but then his eyes open and they're a little more luminescent than normal. He touches the base of the tree and from that spot, a sudden sprout of flowering vines

Comments

[visual]

[rereremembered]

"Oh, but then we'd be deprived of you, ah, talents." Fitz is being very, very British. Also posh and formal and pip pip cheerio and all that rot.

"I must say that is a dashed impressive display. How is it you've conjured this trick?"

[visual]

[ironfright]

"Then you'd better prepare yourself for disappointment," Puck answers. He studies Fitz on the screen, unsure what to make of the audible and visual discrepancy.

"What are you doing?"

[visual]

[rereremembered]

Fitz was in his delightful new tea shop, giving the tablet a bit of a frown.

"I'm observing the habits of my fellow captives, Mr. Wynn," he replied easily. "Which I must confess is a dashed awful bit of...spying, I'm afraid."

He is more than a bit uncomfortable with the truth of that.

Re: [visual]

[ironfright]

"If it's spying, then just call it spying," Puck says dismissively. "And as far as habits, don't think you'll be seeing this again."

He flicks the skeletal remains of the vine angrily. "It's all just bullshit anyway."

[poisonousparty]

At least some things remain the same. Party Poison leans forward from where he is in the cafe, hazel eyes intrigued, a hint of a smile on his pleasant face.

"Gee, that sure is neat. Can you teach people that?" And, for clarification, Party's all pleasant smiles as he takes a sip of his sugar free caramel macchiato with skim non-fat milk and whipped cream. "I mean you're not human, but you're really cool. Wynn, right?"

[ironfright]

Puck jabs a finger at the tablet's screen as though it had the same effect as doing it in person. "Whatever that 'sheriff' did, you and your brother sure got fucked over by it."

[poisonousparty]

Party frowns, looking at the other in confusion. "Sheriff didn't do anything. Mikey and I escaped just fine," He shrugs, slightly elaborate, and lifts the foamy drink to his mouth. "Why?"

[ironfright]

"Your bodies may have escaped, but your minds didn't come with you. Though given that stunt you pulled, I'm not feeling much sympathetic for you."

His dark eyes narrow. "So let me tell you clearly: if you ever, ever try something like that again, I will make sure the rest of your time in this place will be your dismembered limbs fertilizing the plants."

[a_pretty_fire]

The flowers dwindled away until they were nothing but hollow shells. The ghost of what they'd been and what they could have grown up to be hovered in the air. Even from a distance, it was intoxicating.

She'd never been able to make them grow either. Not for long. Only her Spike had remained young and fresh and perfect forever and he was an entire world away.

(Her daughter, when she was finally born, would be perfect as well. More beautiful than any vampire before and more beautiful than any vampire that would come again.)

"It'll find you again. It finds all of us."

[ironfright]

Puck viciously grabs the wilting vine and crushes them into the dirt. "Then I will have to be more creative."

[a_pretty_fire]

He'd forgotten, of course, that the dirt remembered. It provided the seeds with a solid foundation and, sometimes, whispered up to them as they grew. Too soft for most people to hear, but loud enough to rot them deep inside.

"Will you run? There's nowhere to go."

[ironfright]

Puck drew in a long breath and then let it out slowly. He knew that he could not escape the city any more than the rest of them could. "I will outlast it."