OTA

[prince_of_nymphs]

 The hardest part was keeping the lies straight.

"I thought you were only having one of your eyes done?"

"I did, the other I had done abroad- It was a spur of the moment choice..."

"Your so pale now..."

"The medication, it doesn't sit well with me."

"You're so thin!"

"No appetite. It'll get better though, I'm sure."

He'd anticipated that though. He'd known he'd need to lie and fib left and right, until people just accepted he could see again- And that perhaps he was still a touch unwell. What he hadn't anticipated, however, was the resentment that many of his old friends seemed to  suddenly feel towards him. It was one thing when Fin was a rising star- But pitiable because of his disability. Now, however... Now he was already receiving television and film offers left and right, and that... That apparently upset a few people.

He'd been leaving one of his favourite coffee shops when he nearly walked right into Phil. A man he'd worked with many times in small productions. A good actor, but older- Perhaps past his prime in the eyes of many.

"Oh! Phil, how brilliant to see you," Fin had smiled, offering his hand, and looking puzzled when it wasn't taken.

"Brilliant is it?" Phil replied, raising a brow and ignoring the offered hand. "So posh sounding these days, Fin. I don't remember you being posh- Not when you were sleeping on the streets, begging for parts. ...Wouldn't know you were dragged up in Manchester with that posh voice you put on."

Fin's smile faded slightly, and he forced an uncomfortable laugh. "Bad habit, I suppose," he said awkwardly.

"Not a habit," Phil assured him. "Just as fake as the rest of you, that's all."

Fin's smile faded completely then, aware that people were staring now. "Right," he said awkwardly. "Well, I should... I should be off."

Phil smiled then, a vicious smile. "I suppose so. That casting couch wont get warmed without you. ...Catch something, have you?" he added, looking Fin over with a sneer. "Should be a bit more cautious, Fin. ...Or is it Finlay now?"

Fin didn't answer that, he simply turned away trying to hide the embarrassment he felt as he started walking and brushed off a young woman who tried to stop him for a selfie.

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[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin didn't strike though, he smiled, touched by Hex's words and moving to embrace him.

Thin arms wrapped around the other man's shoulders, and he pulled Hex close for a moment before letting go.

"I hope you're right."

[just_hex]

"Of course I am," Hex replied, feeling quite cocky after earning a hug. His hand remained on Fin's shoulder, then he slid it down his arm and let go.

"You're working again, yeah? Not that you quit. I heard some of your radio plays. God stuff. Who was that I saw leave when I came up on you? He looked like an actor."

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin's smile soured slightly, and he nodded.

"Phil- He's done theatre work mostly. My stand in when I was doing Reap, actually. ...I think he's- Not to sound full of myself- I think he's jealous that I've landed a lead in a mini series," he admitted. "He had less than pleasant words for me."

[just_hex]

"Less that pleasant? That your nice way of saying he was being an arse?" Hex asked. "I wondered because you didn't look very happy."

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin hummed, then shrugged, attempting to act as if it hadn't bothered him.

"He said my new accent is, and I quote, 'as fake as the rest of me', then implied I'd shagged my way onto telly."

[just_hex]

"That's bullshit, mate. You know he's just being a prick. None of that's true," he replied, angry on Fin's behalf. "You're brilliant. You're madly talented and beautiful to look at- of course you're a star."

[prince_of_nymphs]

"Except he's not all wrong, is he?" Fin countered, pulling out his cigarettes to light one, then stopping himself when he realized Hex might not want him smoking here. "He's right, I didn't sound like this when I came to London. I didn't even sound like this until last year. I changed the way I spoke, changed the way I presented myself- Because I knew that's what people wanted from me."

[just_hex]

"I don't see anything wrong with that." Hex sighed softly. "I left Liverpool behind me, and all that went with it. You're entitled to leave your past behind you and become who you're meant to be, Fin."

[prince_of_nymphs]

"But what if there's nothing left of me?" Fin asked, toying with the cigarette he'd pulled out from its pack as he spoke. "I came to London with an empty wallet and a heart condition. Now I'm a corpse with money I don't know how to spend."

[just_hex]

"You can't be serious, Fin. You're..."

Hex sighed and shook his head, then took Fin's cigarette away only to put it into his mouth.

"You know who you are. Even when strange things happen, you see the unbelievable, you do mad things and it changes you, part of you is always the same old person. Trust me on this, yeah? The Doctor changed me but I know who I am. You're not lost. You're confused."

[prince_of_nymphs]

"I feel lost though," Fin sighed, sitting down again, this time right beside Hex. "Everything feels a bit terrifying right now. I should be excited, I've got a brilliant role to play, and I can see again... Everything I ever wanted."

[just_hex]

"And now you don't know what to strive for, is it? You've got it all? Life, money, sight, talent, people love you, Willy loves you? Charmed life, yeah? Hard to be a tortured artist."

Hex slipped his arm around Fin and pulled him close to hold him.

"Except it's not. Plenty of famous people, really creative people, live with demons. You...you've got troubles, Fin, same as the rest of us, they're just...different. Everything can't be roses."

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin leaned lightly into the embrace, then sighed.

"I know- I know, I just... It's just hard, and the fact that it's so hard to just smile and enjoy it makes me feel guilty," Fin admitted, shrugging a bit, then reaching to take his cigarette back.

"May I? he asked, moving to put it between his lips. "I'll go outside if you like, I don't mind."

[just_hex]

"Yeah, let's go out back to the garden," he said, nodding the way through the posh house to the back door out the back utility room. THe garden had a covered patio that was furnished, Spencer had done an A+ job making an outside living space that would stay dry in London. And beyond that was a bench by some dying lavender.

"Here, I've got a pot of sand for you."

And it was just for Fin. He was just about the only smoker Hex knew who'd come to his house.

[prince_of_nymphs]

"Oh, cheers," Fin smiled, sitting down and lighting up once they were outside.

It was chilly, and Fin shivered a little as he took his first drag.

"I can't get used to the cold," he admitted. "I never seem to stay warm, not unless I've got a heater right next to me, or a bit of Willy's magic."

[just_hex]

"Do you want me to fetch you a jacket? It's just inside," he offered, bt he knew that wasn't the point of it. A jacket couldn't make Fin warm. Life was warmth and the man was...dead. Undead. Here and awake and aware but his body had stopped. Hex had never seen the like.

[prince_of_nymphs]

Waving off the offer, Fin shook his head.

"No, I'll be alright," he assured him. "I've got to get used to it. I can't be demanding blankets and space heaters when I'm working. ...I mean, I could, but I don't want to be the twat no one wants to work with."

He took another long drag, then leaned back.

"I play the villain in the show I'm filming at the moment. Never thought I'd get the chance to play a baddy- It's brilliant."

[just_hex]

"You? The villain?" hex replied with a smile and a shake of his head. "You're too nice. I won't know if I'll buy it. You'll have to act your arse off."

[prince_of_nymphs]

"That's the whole point though, that's what got me the role. I look harmless," Fin replied.

"It's based on a German fairy tale, The Robber Bridegroom," he explained. "It's the story of a miller's daughter, who's to be married off to a man who appears very respectable. Rich, charming, you know the sort. However, when she comes to visit the man she finds his home is empty- Nothing more than the appearance of wealth on the outside. He does, however, have a bird, and that bird keeps telling her she needs to leave."

Fin grinned then, his enthusiasm for the part leaking into the way he told the story- His smile, usually soft and sweet, took on a slightly vicious twist, and his voice grew slightly deeper, his speech slower, colder as he slipped into character. "That's when it all gets terribly gruesome. Before she can leave, she hears the man returning with his friends, and so she tucks herself away out of sight. She watches them though, watches as they drag another young woman into the room, crying and begging as they force her to drink three strange wines. Wines that cause the crying girl's heart to be 'torn apart from the inside'. They kill her, strip her bare, and then begin to salt and dismember her body- With the intention of cooking and eating her. Except as they take her apart, one finger rolls away to where the miller's daughter is hiding. On that finger is a golden ring, and the daughter hides it in her pocket while she watches the men feast.

The next day, at her wedding, she accuses the young man of murder, describing to the crowd that's gathered what he's done. The man denies it, of course. Tells her it's a dream- But the girl has proof. The finger," he grinned, holding up a single digit in show.

"The young man and his friends are sentenced to hang. ...The girl lives, of course. But she lives as the girl who nearly married a mad man. Not exactly a happily ever after sort of affair."

[just_hex]

At first Hex was listening but as Fin fell into character Hex was gripped tight. Fin had his entire attention and he listened with rapt fascination. Transfixed. Until that last moment when he exhaled.

"Cor..." he said softly. "That sounds really good, Fin."

[prince_of_nymphs]

"It's been fantastic to film so far- Really challenging," Fin grinned, his smile bright and genuine now. "I don't know when it will air. Soon, I hope."

[just_hex]

"Maybe they should save that for Christmas. That's the sort of ghost story I would have heard as a lad. Nan was big into ghost stories." Hex said. It was one rare moment when he had a happy thought of his nan.

[prince_of_nymphs]

"Really?" Fin asked. "You don't talk about her much," he noted, finishing his cigarette and resisting the urge to light another.

[just_hex]

"Not much to talk about," Hex said evasively, no good at lying even though he'd built up enough of a story that it almost wasn't even lying.

"Me mum left me with her when I was one. She brought me up. I went to the service, she died. That's about it."

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin nodded, sensing Hex wasn't keen to talk about it, then smiled.

"Should we go back in? Our tea will be cold by now," he laughed softly, pushing his hair back with one hand.