fox hunt.

Rafael

Out they go again. Away from that nice-but-boring hotel; down the arcing freeways of this little city. Maybe they go back to the house. Maybe they go lakeside. Maybe they go somewhere wholly new.

On the way there, wolf naps. Reclines in the seat and pillows his head on the seatbelt. Dozes for a little while, waking when the car slows to a stop.

Julie

Kenneth ties the questing stone to the rearview, as before. And starts driving where it leads. On the way, Rafael naps. He wakes to voices, finding that they are in a drive-through, Kenneth is ordering burritos, and then there are burritos to eat while they drive.

The stone doesn't take them back out to the picturesque gingerbread house, though. It does take them back out that direction, but closer to the city. They end up at an outlet mall, of all things. They drive through multiple large parking lots before Kenneth stops. He turns off the car, looking around, then:

"There," he says, pointing through the window. The redhead, fully clothed and walking perkily along the sidewalk, sunglasses on and Starbucks straw between her lips, shopping bags hanging from her hand.

Rafael

A fucking outlet mall, of all places. Wolf would be hard-pressed to come up with a place he disliked more.

Or, for that matter, a place less conducive to the sort of thing they were planning. Kenneth points, and he automatically reaches out and pushes the kid's hand down.

"Quit it," he mutters. "Bad enough we're going to look like creeps harassing some girl in a parking lot. Here, drive up closer to her."

And when Kenneth does, wolf rolls down his window. Feeling more like a creep than he ever has in his whole goddamn life, he calls: "Hey. Hey! Red, I'm talking to you."

Julie

He doesn't know it, but Rafael nearly starts a slap-fight. Well: the bro equivalent of a slap fight. But something about him tells Kenneth that Rafael didn't grow up with brothers, or lots of cousins, or any other similarly-aged kids to tussle with good-naturedly. So he doesn't smack Rafael's hand back. He just huffs, a doglike sound from a very human-seeming kid. He finishes his third hand-held burrito, crumpling the foil and tossing into the bag with the rest of the foil crumples. It occurs to him that he should probably give Rafael an air freshener after all this, so his car doesn't smell like takeout. He doesn't know that it isn't even Rafael's car, which is for the best: he'd feel even worse if he knew it was that poor floating girl's car that now smells like cheap Mexican food.

Kenneth side-eyes Rafael's suggestion but does as he's told. And they are noticed, and not just by the redhead: two guys slowing down in a car along a curb to harass a pretty girl doesn't look much better than accosting her on the sidewalk.

She freezes, mid-sip from her venti iced whatever. Her eyes widen so much that they can see her eyebrows hop up above the rims of her big sunglasses, which of course have little crystals at the tips to catch the light and look ridiculous.

"Umm.... sorry! No hablo... you!" she says, and starts quick-footing it towards the Levi's store.

"Fuck's sake," mutters Kenneth. He puts the car in park, leaves the keys in the ignition, and gets out. Moving far faster than one would expect he could, he gets in front of the girl, holding up his hands. "In the name of the Great Stag and on the honor of all of my tribe who have been friends to your kind, I swear to you that if you keep peace with us, we will keep peace with you."

This very fancy oath does not sound that fancy coming from him. Give him a break: he's a Cliath. But he says it, and it does seem to make her pause and reconsider. She glances from Kenneth to Rafael, slightly more suspicious of the dark-haired, glowering Ahroun. Her eyebrows lift questioningly.

Rafael

"Jesus, no -- "

Too late. Kid's out of the car. Wolf slouches down in the passenger's seat as though this might make him look less like a fucking creep. Then kid's blocking foxgirl's way and wolf wants to fucking die, is glancing around nervously for mall rent-a-cops or perhaps real cops who might look askance upon this very, very sketchy scene, but --

but then kid rolls out this oath. And wolf grimaces, and peeks over the lower edge of the window because that's how far he's slid down in the seat. Foxgirl doesn't seem to be bolting any more. Wolf gingerly sits up. Glances around. Rises uneasily out of the car, shutting the door behind him.

Holds his hands up too to show that he's not going to hurt her. Or be a creep.

"Just want to talk. Just got some questions. You got someplace we can go?"

Julie

Redhead flicks her eyes --

but realizes they can't see it. She stops, lifting her sunglasses to perch atop her head. Then:

She flicks her eyes back and forth between one wolf and the other, just long enough to hit the point of absurdity, then settles on Rafael. She points at him with one freshly manicured nail. There are tropical flowers painted on that nail, which is far too long for anything practical.

"I'm holding you to that oath, too, buster," she warns him, then waggles that finger in a circle.

She nods to her right. "I saw a park that way."

--

It is not a park. It is an out of the way corner in the outlet mall, where there's a couple of stone-encircled trees and some cement picnic tables. No one is there except some squirrels, feasting on the remains of yesterday's froyo or fast food. The redhead, after leading them there, puts her shopping bags on one of the tables. She then perches beside them, not on a bench, crossing her legs and sipping her Starbucks.

When they've settled as well, however they choose to, she clears her throat, raises her right hand, crosses her first two fingers, and says: "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, unless it will make you rip my throat out, so help me god."

Rafael

They have to park the car first, of course. So wolf does that, assigning Kenneth to the task of keeping an eye on foxgirl while he does so. Mall's full of teenagers and suburban moms and he ends up parking about five miles away, hoofing it back at a trot. They follow foxgirl to this supposed park, which isn't so much a park as a depressing little corner where employees eat lunch and teenagers sneak cigarettes.

Squirrels scatter as they arrive. Foxgirl sits up on a cement table. Wolf, after scowling around, sits on the edge of an adjoining one. Leans on it, really, crossing his arms across his chest. Crossing his ankles too.

"Wait, what? That was a completely worthless oath."

Julie

Kenneth huffs a laugh. Rafael grumps.

The girl shrugs, palms to the sky. "It's what I got. What's your question?"

Rafael

Wolf shoots a black glance at Kenneth, then fixes it on foxgirl.

"Who's the Queen of Thistles, and where do I find her?"

Julie

"She's exactly what she sounds like, and... you don't!"

This, the foxgirl says cheerfully, like she's giving them great news.

"Now my turn," she says: "Would either of you willingly betray the whereabouts of your people to potential threats without knowing why?"

She taps her fingernail to her lip. "Something tells me you might consider that... bad form."

Rafael

"I'm not a potential threat," wolf growls, sounding exactly like a potential threat. "If I were a potential threat you'd know it."

Julie

The girl sitting on the table doesn't say anything to that. She just looks at him, head tilted, batting those pretty eyelashes. For a moment, and a strange moment at that, something about her is reminiscent of Conrad himself. Not his poise or his madness or his beauty, not even simply his strangeness. Just the sense of being more than one appears to be. The sense of being older than one looks.

She does not answer him, nor argue with him. She just sits there, staring at him, like she's waiting.

Rafael

Wolf's growling words turn into just plain growling, frustrated. He presses knuckles against his forehead, like he's trying to knock a headache out of his skull. Drops his hand, tucks his arms tighter over his chest.

"I'm not a threat," he says again. "Made a promise not to kill any of you lunatics and I'm going to keep it. Just want to talk to this Queen of Thistles. Just like we're talking right now. Okay?"

Julie

There is a reason why fae like her have, over the generations, learned to hide behind larger, stronger fae. Or to change shape and run away. Or lie. And lie. And lie. Perhaps the greatest lie right now is how well she pulls off looking like she isn't frightened to be in a corner out of sight, being interrogated by two werewolves. And if it is, then she's an excellent liar indeed.

He says what he says. Calls them lunatics and she sips her coffee, slurping a bit through the straw as she does so as if to drown to him out.

"I don't believe you," she eventually says, when he finishes. "You say you're not a potential threat, and you made a promise, but we know what you are. We know what your kind's promises are worth, especially when it comes to mindless slaughter. So: until I know what you really want -- and 'to talk' isn't good enough -- I'm afraid I just can't help you."

A sweet smile. An innocent shrug.

Perhaps that's the lie this time: she says can't. She means won't.

Rafael

"You doubt my promises?" Wolf's voice rises a few decibels. "After making yours with fingers crossed? After helping that sick fuck kidnap my girlfriend and suck her dry of ... of whatever it is you get from her?"

Negotiations are breaking down.

Julie

Kenneth steps in at that point. "Can you give us a sec, um --"

"Julie," says the redhead, which is probably a lie, but she says it so effortlessly it could also be true. She slides off the table and takes a brief stroll. At second glance, it looks like she is talking to some of the squirrels. They cling to the bark of the tree, chittering at her.

Kenneth goes to Rafael.

"Hey, don't tear my head off, but... what's your plan, here?"

Rafael

No heads are torn off. Wolf's still visibly irritated. "Same as it always was. Find the Queen of Thistles. Talk to the Queen of Thistles. Get this bullshit shut down."

While he speaks he watches the foxgirl. Red. Julie. Is she talking to the squirrels? Were some squirrels secret faeries too? He'll never look at the little critters the same way again.

Julie

"Yeah, I got that, but..." Kenneth glances over at her, then at him. "Look, she's got no reason to even talk to us, much less help us. But she's here and she hasn't left yet, which is... frankly more than I'd do, in her position. I think all she wanted to know, at least to start, was why we want to talk to her Queen."

He pauses a moment. "I know we've got no reason to trust her, and good reason not to. But it's the same for her, too. With us. Our approach can't be 'you give us everything, we give you nothing'. You know?"

Rafael

"Whose side are you on?" he demands. "She's friends with that douchebag that had my girlfriend -- your kin! -- strung up like a pinata, or have you forgotten?"

Julie

"Yours," Kenneth says, firmly, when the word 'on' is still leaving Rafael's mouth. There's a flicker in his brow and eyes, a brief wound, at being asked.

He lets him finish the rest before he adds: "...which is why I'm trying to help you get what you need from this girl. And we won't get there with anger. If our only card to play is 'we can kill you if we want' and you've already promised you won't do that... we got nothin'. You don't have to like her or respect her or trust her. But we do have to give her a reason to tell us anything."

Rafael

Wolf blows out a frustrated breath, turning away. Stews for a moment. Turns back.

"Fine. All right. Fine! You're right. I'll try." He turns, shouts over his shoulder: "Julie! Let's talk."

And while the fox-girl is (hopefully) coming back, he turns to Kenneth. Hesitates a beat.

"Sorry." This is muttered. "Know you're on my side."

Julie

Kenneth doesn't know Rafael. He knows Ahrouns. He's not sure Rafael won't attack him for disloyalty. He isn't sure that Rafael won't storm off. He isn't sure that Rafael won't attack Julie the redhead. However:

he wants to believe Rafael has more control, less arrogance, more care for his mate, more honor, than some Ahrouns he's met even so far. Everything else he's seen has shown him, in glimmers, who Rafael really is. The fact that he wanted Ursula taken out of the house, to safety, even though she's not their kin. The fact that he didn't grab the redhead by the throat the first time he saw her and throw her against a wall. The fact that when they found Devon, Rafael's first act was not to attack in a rage but to wrap his arms around her, give her to the Theurge, and make sure she was safe, too. The fact that he's here not to murder every last faerie he finds, but to try and make sure that they don't rip apart the psyches of innocent mortals. Strangers. People he doesn't know and never will.

Kenneth thinks Rafael is one of the good ones.

He exhales, though, when Rafael turns around, snapping fine, all right, fine. He grins. He turns back to the table, but pauses when Rafael turns to him like that. In another form, his ears would perk. Rafael says what he does. Kenneth's grin is a bit smaller now, and lopsided. More pleased. "Yeah, man," he says back, just between them. "I know you know." Bumps Rafael's bicep with his elbow and heads to the table.

This time he sits on the bench. He glances at Rafael, a loaded side-eye that suggests Rafael should sit beside him. Another glance, as Julie approaches, hoping she takes the hint and doesn't sit on the table this time. She hesitates at the bench, then -- if Rafael sits -- she does, too, across the table from the two of them. She folds her long-nailed hands primly in front of her and looks between the two of them. She lands on Rafael.

Takes a breath.

"I am sorry I told you to go into the attic and not the basement in a way that was obviously a lie in order to try and trick you into going into the basement and not the attic, because Conrad is my friend and benefactor and I swore an oath to him and it was a real oath and I will never betray him and I owe him my life and no I'm not going to tell you that story because it's pri. vate. but it's a good one, hooboy, you wish I would tell you."

She pauses. Not for breath. One imagines she could talk quite a bit longer.

"But I understand wanting to protect someone you care for very much and I tried to stop you from getting to her and even though I had very good reasons of my own for doing that, it was super sketchy and I know you're probably pissed off about it and so I'm sorry or whatever."

This time she stops, and presses her lips together tightly. There is a slight rash on her hand that wasn't there ten seconds ago.

Rafael

He takes the hint. He sits on the bench, somewhat disgruntled by this slight change of venue. Kenneth's little plan seems to work, though. It gets Julie to sit, too. Now they're sharing a table. Almost like a picnic, only without food.

And Julie, returning, surprises him too. She apologizes. It's a very, very longwinded apology. It meanders every which way and by the end he's only got the barest gist of it.

Knows it's his turn, though. Prospect of apologizing makes him uncomfortable, so he settles for the next best thing: an explanation. The one she'd wanted all along, actually.

"Just want to talk to your Queen of Thistles. Ask her to rein your friend Conrad in because he can't do it for himself. Admitted as much when we were up in the attic. As long as she's reasonable and keeps the peace, no one's going to get hurt. It'll just be a discussion. I don't want to fight any more than you do. If I did, don't you think I'd be fighting already?"

Julie

Well, the Theurge sitting beside him is pleased: Julie comes back and gives some ground. And instead of walking all over it, Rafael gives a bit, too. This is progress. He helped!

Julie listens to him. Her fingers -- with those claw-like nails -- waggle slightly when he says Conrad can't control himself.

When Rafael starts with 'If I did', Kenneth looks askance at him, gives him the subtlest shake of his head, but that's the only nudge he gives.

The redhead tips her head to one side. "Well. Queens by their very nature don't have to be reasonable, do they? Especially ones known for being --" and here she brings up her hands, nails curled in like an animal: "prickly."

Her hands come down again, rest on the stone table. "She sent him away many years ago on the very important crusade of 'being banished'. If you want her to do something about him, she has to un-banish him, and that's going to make her look like she was wrong to banish him, and, well..." Julie laughs brightly, saying with great amusement: "Obviously that will make her want to sic redcaps on you to murder or enslave you for all eternity, sooo...any thoughts on how to convince a Queen older than your entire country to do that?"

A beat.

"The un-banishing. Not the murder." Julie smiles serenely. "She's really quite a good Queen. But she does. not. like. to lose face. You understand."

Rafael

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," he mutters under his breath. Puts his face in his hands for a moment, scrubs.

There's a second where it's quite clear he's a breath away from standing up and walking away, fuck it all, he'll grab his girl and maybe his girl's new BFF and just fuck off back to Denver, leave the crazy faeries and their crazy games to themselves.

Then he lowers his hands. Sets them -- gently, with an effort -- down on the concrete tabletop.

"Fine. I'll play along. What was he banished for?"

Julie

Julie struggles for a moment, visibly.

Kenneth interjects: "I think... Julie, we don't know your world, or how it works. If we try to figure out how to convince your Queen to un-banish Conrad, we'll be starting from square one. But... if you want to help him get un-banished, and you have any ideas... we could just try that. And leave your name out of it."

He raises his eyebrows.

Julie looks at him. She glances at Rafael. She glances at a cloud overhead. "I don't care at all if he ever gets un-banished and we get to go back to Court and not be completely on our own and cut off from all the Freeholds and get to talk to our friends again. I mean, why would that even matter to me at all. Those losers suck. Ha ha ha."

She actually says ha ha ha. Because there are tears in her eyes.

Julie looks back to Rafael. "If...if I go back to Conrad's, and he asks me the right questions, I have to tell him the truth. And if he tells me I can't help you, which he probably would because he's super prideful, then I won't be able to help you. So...I need some time to think of ideas. Could... is there... "

The rash on her hand has grown. It looks itchy and red, clearly painful. She's fighting not to scratch at it.

Her head lowers. "I ask you shelter for this night, in honorable exchange for my aid in your quest," she says, very quietly.

Rafael

So he should probably do something about that request. Stand up and say something noble-like, which would probably come easily to that goddamn half-brother of his, somewhere out there. Or at least just say something along the lines of yeah sure of course, even.

Instead, he frowns at her hand. And points at it.

"What the hell is that?"

Julie

This time, Kenneth actually just kicks Rafael's shoe under the table. "Dude," he mutters, in case the kick doesn't get his opinion across.

Julie looks at her rash. She then hides her hands under the table. "Well," she says, "I'll play a game with you. I'll tell you two truths and one lie.

"It's either: none of your business, an allergic reaction to that squirrel I was talking to, or a peculiarity of my kith when we force ourselves to tell the truth despite a geas against it that goes back hundreds of thousands of years."

Her hands fly up in a big, dramatic shrug: "Or D! All of the above! Who knows."

Rafael

"Oh."

Wolf looks faintly chagrined now. He frowns. He laces his fingers together, pops his knuckles. Sighs.

"Come on. I guess you can come back to the hotel with us. Don't try anything." He rises, swinging one leg after the other over the stone bench. "We'll get you some hydrocortisone cream on the way back. And maybe you should stick with this two truths and a lie business, unless it's really important."

Julie

Kenneth is, briefly, mortified by Rafael's manners, but by now it's not like he was expecting the guy to act courtly.

But a minute later, he is looking aside at the Silver Fang as he agrees to take Julie in, says they'll get her cream, and... did he mishear, or did Rafael just...

Kenneth wisely does not comment on this. He is grinning at Rafael next time the Ahroun looks that way.

Julie, for her part, gives Rafael a genuine smile. Even if everyone has silently agreed to not mention that Rafael is being kind, that doesn't mean he's gotten away with it. And there is something there: that part of Julie that is much older than she looks, and far more cunning than most would think, sees the empathy and honors it. So she smiles. And it's real.

"All right," Kenneth says, clapping his hands together. "We'll stop at a corner store on the way back for some cream or whatever and maybe an air freshener for the car an then back to the hotel. Here," he says, and picks up Julie's bags, smiling at her.

He does not have a crush on her.

"This went swimmingly!" he announces, and he heads towards the car, desperately relieved that there's been no bloodshed so far.