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

[utterly_mysterious]

"No, gracious, I'm nobody. I don't see enough of Fin to be considered a person of interest, thank heavens. That's the last thing he needs." Angelique just lived in fear, whenever she did see him, that someone would recognize her as a prostitute and set off a whole new round of troubles for Fin.

[pippa_flynn]

"Why's that?" she asked, narrowing her eyes a bit. She had very good intuition and something was a bit off about Angelique. Not in any threatening way, mind. Since Grandfather had passed Pippa had become quite a bit more sensitive to threats. This was just a mystery and Pippa loved chasing down a good mystery.

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique hesitated over her salad. Pippa had been nothing but kind, but she had to wonder if the other woman had worked out Angelique's not-so-secret secret. "I'm not the most conventional friend," she finally decided to say, brows raised to see how Pippa would interpret that.

[pippa_flynn]

She laughed lightly.

"From what I've seen, Angelique, Fin doesn't have any 'conventional' friends," she replied. "Are you an artist?"

That was, of course, her first assumption. All of Fin's artist friends were a bit weird for her taste. She could handle vampires and fae and the many creatures her investigations found, but artists were just...strange.

[utterly_mysterious]

If that was the least conventional thing about her...

Angelique smiled crookedly. "I suppose, in a way. I make costumes and I do makeup in a number of amateur theaters, wherever I can get the work. I haven't," she was quick to add, "asked Finlay for any help in my career. That isn't why we're friends."

[pippa_flynn]

Pippa nodded in understanding. Whether or not Angelique asked for help was of no matter. That they had the theater in common spoke volumes.

"How interesting," she said. "I can dress myself but I'm not all that talented with design or anything. I can sing, and I can lie which is sort of like acting, but I certainly don't have the talent Fin has."

[utterly_mysterious]

"I think all women have to be able to lie, to a degree," Angelique noted, just to see how Pippa would react to her lumping herself in to the same category. "If only because men can be such fragile creatures."

[pippa_flynn]

"That's the truth," she agreed. She simply took it at face value they were both women. It didn't occur to her there might be more to it.

[utterly_mysterious]

That settled some of Angelique's concerns. There was something very warm about being regarded as "in the club" by a female person. "So, the arts aren't your world. What is? I'm always fascinated by other people's passions."

[pippa_flynn]

"My passions?" she laughed lightly. "I'll tell you, Angelique, what I love more than anything is a good mystery. To read it. To solve one. I love puzzles and I live to find out the truth."

[utterly_mysterious]

"How thrilling," Angelique said, dark eyes widening in a flash of delight. "You must be quite the sleuth. I suppose you can't tell me if you're chewing on anything really juicy. More interesting than a Sudoku or a crossword, I mean."

[pippa_flynn]

She smiled and mischief lit her eyes. She reached to open her file and passed Angelique a photo. It was dark and grainy but there was a figure in it, little more than shadow.

"I'm trying to find him," she said. Then she lowered her voice. "He's a vampire."

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique clutched a little tighter at her fork, and her expression of prurient interest took on a cast of concern. She looked closely at the photo in the mid-day sunlight, searching for any hint of Kersen in the shadowy lines. "The sort with teeth, or the sort that make everything around them dreary and unbearable?"

[pippa_flynn]

"The kind that bites," Pippa replied, matter of fact. "He's someone who, I have been reliably informed, knows the whereabouts of an old lover of mine and I'm dying to see him now," she continued, tilting her head to show off the scar of the long ago bite.

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique had thought all of this was such an incredible secret, but Pippa clearly didn't see it that way. She didn't seem to care if Angelique believed her, or if she didn't already know. It was... something of a refreshing approach.

That bite scar was upsetting for multiple reasons, however. "You were... oh, sweetie." She looked concerned, and lowered her voice. "You didn't know what he was?"

[pippa_flynn]

"Oh...I knew exactly what he was," she smirked, brow arched. "He didn't know what I am, though."

[utterly_mysterious]

"A terribly clever woman with remarkable skills?" Angelique suggested, quickly warming to the intrigue of the story.

[pippa_flynn]

"Exactly that," she said. There was more to it than that, but she'd save some secrets for another day.

Oh, but hadn't he been surprised when she didn't turn...

[utterly_mysterious]

Now Angelique was utterly enthralled, only munching on her salad in between fascinated questions. "But what happened? You knew, but he still hurt you?"

[pippa_flynn]

Pippa smiled devilishly and leaned in closer to her co-conspirator.

"He tried to turn me, but...I had a notion it wouldn't work. I knew then I wasn't, hmm, we'll, not entirely human."

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique had no idea what to say to that. Fun hadn't said anything about his sister being... addled. Quite the contrary in fact. "I... I'm afraid I don't know what you mean,@ she said delicately. "You aren't a vampire, clearly."

[pippa_flynn]

"Clearly," Pippa nodded, then picked up her cup to take a sip. The pause gave her time to decide whether or not she ought to spill her secrets. She wanted to, and terribly. Of course she had Fin, but she wanted someone...normal. As normal as she had in her life, anyway.

"How close are you and Fin?" she asked, realizing it wasn't her secret alone. And while she might be willing to out herself, she'd not do that to Fin.

[utterly_mysterious]

No matter how open Pippa seemed to be, Angelique doubted she would want to know everything. "We're friends, when we can get the time to see each other. I've met his roommate, Winter, but not his lover, let's put it that way. Though after what I've heard lately, I don't think I want to meet him," she added, decidedly cool on the subject of Will.

"But I've always maintained that he never owes me anything. Nothing private or personal, unless he wants to share. Everyone seems to want a piece of him. I was determined not to be that sort of friend."

[pippa_flynn]

That spoke volumes and Pippa decided then to protect Fin's secret, even though she truly wanted to confess her own. It wasn't right and it wasn't fair and so she simply nodded.

"I appreciate that," she said, gently shifting the topic away from revealing herself. "Everyone wants something from him, and too often he gives it. Or it gets taken. He could do with more genuine friends."

[utterly_mysterious]

"That is what I'd like to be," Angelique agreed, a small but genuine smile curving up the corners of her lips. "I confess, I was a fan at first. A bit star-struck. But he was very kind, very normal, and we get on very well."

She paused a moment, considering, then went on, "And you haven't shocked me at all today, Pippa, so don't worry. I have a... a very good friend who is a vampire. It's not a world I know much about, but I trust my friend."