OTA

[pippa_flynn]

And so she had become the Forgotten Queen of the Trooping Fae. Her grandfather's passing had come at a price and now she was some sort of royalty she didn't quite understand and Fin had gone blind again. It was nearly too much to take but Pippa was carrying on. What else could she do? The facts were the facts and no amount of fuss would change it. And she'd tried. She had power coursing through her now, all the time she felt it, and she'd tried to restore Fin's sight. It didn't work. Of course not. Why would it?

And then the dumb twit had gone back to stay with his stupid boyfriend. Pippa was outraged about that and she'd told Fin so. And that didn't work, either. Of course not. And so on that front she bit her tongue. Fin knew how she felt. It had little to do with keeping him close and everything to do with keeping him out of the treacherous prince's arms.

Pippa sighed softly and looked at her mobile that had just chirped. He newest client wanting a progress report. She needed something more concrete and so she sat down at the cafe on one of the dwindling nice days of the London summer, and she texted her client back.

It was striking, just how much she looked like Fin. And, of course, she'd been all over the papers thanks to the paps hounding Fin about his drug use and his blindness. The gentleman at the next table actually had a copy of the daily rag and she smiled at the photo on the cover.

If only life could be as dramatic as the paper made it seem. If only being queen meant something...

Comments

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin hadn't been looking for her- He didn't look for anyone these days, but Keats had needed an especially long walk today, and as soon as Fin's magic had sensed her's, his 'vision' had sparked, going from just colours and people-esc shapes to something a bit clearer.

Honestly, he wasn't sure he'd ever work out the rules as to how his magic vision worked. In fact, he was starting to suspect there were no rules. That it simply did as it pleased. Annoying, but he could respect the rebellious nature of it at least.

Pippa was crystal clear in sea of quick brushstrokes, and he smiled as he let Keats lead him over. He didn't bother with hellos, they didn't need hellos. Instead he simply began speaking as though they'd been chatting all morning.

"My new manager thinks he's found me a reoccurring role on some American show," he said. "I told him I'm not moving to LA, not even for part of the year."

[pippa_flynn]

"I've been to LA. You don't want to go there. Nothing but cars," she replied, not even looking up from her phone until she was finished reading her newest text. She didn't bother to answer it.

"Aww, Keats, come here, boy," she said, reaching out for the dog. "Chair's right there, Fin. Sit down."

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin ran his hand over the back of the chair, then slowly sat down.

Keats wagged his tail, always pleased to see Pippa.

"I turned it down," he assured her.

[pippa_flynn]

"Good. You should be writing, anyway," she replied. She wasn't shy in the least about voicing her opinion. Fin was talented on many fronts, but she knew that being blind again was a hard adjustment for him. Viewfinder had been a lucky break but she was sure what he needed now was creativity of a different kind.

[prince_of_nymphs]

"Don't get bossy," Fin tutted, smiling faintly. "I know it's unrealistic to want to keep acting, but it's hard to just give it up."

[whispersoflove]

Anael hadn't meant to stare, but the young woman who wasn't human looked a lot like Fin. She was her own brand of special, confusing his senses as to what she might be. In any case, she looked lovely, and when she must've felt the weight of a gaze on her and dark eyes looked up to meet his, Anael's smile held a touch of the sheepish at being caught staring.

"I'm sorry," he told her, stepping a little closer to her table outside the café. "You look quite a bit like a friend of mine."

[pippa_flynn]

"Oh yeah? Who's that, then?" she asked pleasantly. Pippa reached out and patted the table in a silent invitation for him to sit. She'd never been shy around strangers. She couldn't be in her line of work. Discreet, yes, but never shy.

[whispersoflove]

Other people might have been surprised at how quickly that invitation came, but Anael only smiled and eagerly accepted it, taking the chair across from her. "He's called Fin, Finlay Flynn," he told her, then remembered to add, "He's an actor." He kept forgetting that Fin was famous.

[pippa_flynn]

Pippa laughed outright at that. Since she had her phone out and on, she hit the gallery button and pulled up a selfie of the two of them making a silly face, close together on the sofa.

"He's my brother," she said through her laughter. "I'm Pippa."

[whispersoflove]

Anael looked surprised and delighted, and chuckled at the picture, before looking up at her. "It's lovely to meet you, Pippa. I'm Anael," he told her, going for his preferred name rather than the one he mostly used with humans. She was Fin's sister, after all. He sent a quiet prayer of thanks to God for the random encounter.

[akatawitch]

Even having met Pippa, Sunny couldn't help but be just a touch shy of the older woman and she knew exactly the reason why. It was the sort of reaction kids had around people they were convinced were cooler than they were. She very nearly just kept going, but somewhere between not wanting to be a chicken and wanting some news of Fin maybe, she approached. "Pippa?" Just her name, but the tone was one of 'I can go away if you're busy.'

[pippa_flynn]

She looked up and it took no time for her to recognize Sunny and smile.

"Sunny! Hello! Don't you look nice today? Would you like to join me for a coffee?" she asked warmly, patting the table to get the girl to sit opposite her.

[akatawitch]

Sunny didn't think she looked particularly nice today, really, other than bothering with the rare Afro just for the sake of it but she shrugged and awkwardly smiled her passive acceptance of the compliment all the same and came to claim the empty seat. "I'm not interrupting anything?"

[pippa_flynn]

"No. Nothing," Pippa replied, closing her phone case and slipping it into her purse. Talking to the client could wait for a bit. She wasn't at his beck and call.

"How are you today, Sunny? What are you doing?" she asked, focusing all her attention onto Sunny.

[akatawitch]

Sunny shrugged. "I'm all right. Y'know, avoiding the looming start of the semester around the corner beyond what my conscience won't let me ignore. Every day of August has the jumpy quality of a Sunday night."

Her final year of university. She really didn't want to think about it. She still really didn't know what she planned to do when she finished; she'd never really thought she'd have so much life here to leave.

[drfeelbad]

Even though one of the ways House maintained his connection America was mostly patronizing Starbucks, he went into the cafe today to get a coffee after work because it was closest to the hospital and he was kind of desperate for caffeine. It had been a long fucking day, thanks to his team calling him to come in at 5am because they'd started killing the patient again. Fuck what he wouldn't give to have Cameron and Foreman back. Even Chase.

He'd just picked up a paper cup (the largest they had) of coffee when he spotted the woman sitting alone at a table.

He hesitated. He wasn't sure what to say. Hi again, I told you I wasn't fucking your brother and then I did. Or maybe I hear he went blind again, must be a hell of a thing being a fairy or whatever, how's your health?

In the end, he waited too long and she looked up and obviously saw him. So he walked over to her.

"Hi," was all he offered.

[pippa_flynn]

She'd wondered whn she was going to get around t noticing her, Greg was unmistakable with his cane and that sour look on his face. Pippa's reaction was to kill him with kindness.

"Hello, Greg," she said warmly. "I know that's to take away but why don't you sit down with me an enjoy it?"

[drfeelbad]

House seemed to consider this for a moment. But the truth was, he really wanted to know how Fin was doing. The brief text exchange when House had heard on the news what happened to him had been Fin assuring him not to worry, but nothing else. And he certainly wasn't going to imply that he was concerned beyond the simple inquiry, which had taken him a while to decide to make anyway.

So he sat at the chair across from her with his enormous coffee, but didn't say anything straight away.

[pippa_flynn]

Silence wasn't about to dampen her mood. She politely gathered her papers and photos of shadowy figures in grainy night time exposures and slipped it all into a folder and put it in her bag.

"How's things?" she asked. "Day off?"

[drfeelbad]

"Heading home from," he said. "It's been a long day."

He hated small talk. So he sighed and asked, "How's Fin?"

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique recognized her immediately, from that day not too long ago at Harrod's, shopping with Fin. She wondered if Fin had given her the Alexander McQueen clutch they'd chosen that day. Then she recalled what had happened directly after meeting Pippa, and smiled secretly to herself. Probably she shouldn't be thinking about shagging a lady's brother when introducing herself, but Angelique sometimes was nervous around bold, confident women. Holding that thought in the back of her mind gave her a bit of mischievous confidence of her own.

"Pippa, isn't it?" she asked brightly, balancing an iced coffee in one hand and a bowl piled high with salad in the other. Lunch today had come a bit late, around her other appointments.

[pippa_flynn]

It took almost no time for her to recognize her and smile.

"Angelique!" she said cheerfully then patter the table to invite her to sit. "It's been ages."

More than two days qualified as ages for her. Things were just moving so quickly now it was hard to keep up.

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique chuckled softly, half in relief. She set her plate and glass down on the table before pulling out the other chair beside it. Today she was dressed more casually than on their first meeting, in soft wide-legged trousers and a billowy blouse reminiscent of of the 1970s, her hair loose around her shoulders.

"Positively, I'm sure," she said with a smile, resting herself in the chair. "Have you settled in to life in London again? Fin didn't mention where you'd been abroad."

[pippa_flynn]

"Oh, here and there," she said vaguely. She never spoke of what she did for the home office and not just because of the confidentiality orders.

"But I'm settling in nicely and work is taking off. I've been reunited with Fin and, everything considered, everything's going well."

[utterly_mysterious]

"Lovely," Angelique said with a smile, relieved that Pippa treated her entirely normally. If she had any inkling Angelique was not as she presented, she gave no sign. That was an immense relief.

"That day we met... I must say, you put my mind so wonderfully at ease. I don't see very much of Fin, but whenever I do, I'm always fretting about what's going on around Twitter or something. So many people have nothing better to do with their lives than speculate about who total strangers are spending the afternoon with," she said, piercing bits of salad with her fork.