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[prince_of_nymphs]

He wasn't terribly musical, if he was honest. He could sing, and he'd written lyrics for Will in the past, but when it came to instruments, he knew little. His piano was poor, his attempts at drumming when he was younger had been a failure, but he could play a bit on the guitar. It was a skill he was attempting to improve as he sat beneath a tree in the park, a cigarette dangling from his lips as he strummed to himself.

Dark sunglasses hid his eyes, and Keats lay nearby, keeping watch as much as he was keeping Fin company. A few stray chords settled into a familiar song, and Fin hummed a bit before removing the cigarette from his lips and starting to sing.

"The door slammed loud and rose up a cloud of dust on us. Footsteps follow, down through the hollow sound, torn up... And you will go to Mykonos, with a vision of a gentle coast, and a sun to maybe dissipate. Shadows of the mess you made..."

He fumbled a bit, swearing under his breath as he strummed a bit more, jumping ahead in the song.

"I remember how they took you down, as the winter turned the meadow brown. You go, wherever you go today..."

He made it through the rest of the verse before fumbling again and starting over, pausing to stub out his cigarette and give it a proper try this time.

Comments

[wispofathing]

She felt the music more than heard it, calling out to her blood and the magic that flowed in it. Curnen had met a few fae in London already, but it didn't take long for her to realize that this one was new to her, and in more ways that one. She'd never felt something like him before.

So of course she had to come over and see. If she kept her distance at first, it was mostly to indicate to the dog that she didn't mean any harm.

She watched quietly, looking at his fingering and feeling the trepidation all through him. Beginner.

"Ain't gonna do your voice no favors, smokin' those," she said rather than a more normal introduction when he stopped to start over.

[prince_of_nymphs]

The world was little more than shimmers of colour right then, and Fin looked towards the sound of her voice without seeing more than a human-esc shape. In that moment, she was blue like the sky.

"Probably not," he agreed, pushing his sunglasses up to let them rest on his head. Not that it helped much, it generally took a certain amount of proximity or touch to see anything clearly.

Milky eyes looked towards her, but not at her, and Keats rose and wandered over to give her a curious sniff.

[wispofathing]

"Oh," she said when she saw his eyes.

Curnen could very well have turned the dog away with a hand gesture and a tiny bit of her power, but she elected not to do that as it seemed rude. Or at least she knew that Tiffany would have smacked her for doing it to one of the Gwinns' animals, but Tiffany smacked people for a lot of reasons.

"Hello there, pretty puppy," she smiled and reached out to pet him. She was pretty sure she'd heard somewhere you weren't supposed to pet service animals--and this had to be a service animal she was sure, with the guy's eyes like that--but he'd come up to her. And she liked dogs, especially big ones like this guy. The families in Cloud County who had dogs had big animals, the ones who could actually do work.

Never mind that this one might be big enough compared to her to just knock her right now.

[prince_of_nymphs]

"You can pet him," Fin assured her. "When his harness is off, he's off the clock."

Keats nuzzled at her hand, though he seemed less like he was after pets, and more like he was looking for treats. Meanwhile, Fin started to strum again, picking at a few chords and starting the song from the start again. This time he didn't sing though, he just attempted to play the music.

"People worry about petting him when they notice me. I never know if it's because of who I am, or if it's because of what I am. ...People get kind of nervous around the blind, I've found."

...And they got kind of stupid around the famous.

[wispofathing]

"Sorry, boy, don't have anything for you," Curnen murmured as she rubbed the dog's ears. Well. She had some jerky in her backpack, but she wasn't sure she wanted to share just yet.

Curnen looked up again, a little puzzled. "Well, I can clear things up a little in my case at least, am I supposed to know who you are?" The question wasn't skeptical or anything, she just had no idea who he was supposed to be. "I mean, I think I saw you at a party I went to couple of weeks ago, but."

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin ignored the question, if only because the mention of a party was much more interesting. He hadn't really been in a partying spirit lately, which narrowed down the places she might have seen him considerably.

"You know Winter?" he asked, the music stopping.

[wispofathing]

"Yeah-huh," Curnen confirmed, nodding because it was a natural response of her body than because she expected him to see it. "He's one of the first people I met here. Him and Phouka both."

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin nodded, strumming again, but playing something else now.

"I imagine they're not the welcoming committee most would hope for."

[wispofathing]

"They were real sweet," Curnen answered, mildly puzzled by that assessment. "Though, yeah, it was pretty clear pretty quick that they're not sure how to act like they been to town before."

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin hummed a little in agreement, but wasn't nearly as open as Winter or Phouka might be about what he was.

His magic could sense something though, and it reached out curiously to her.

[phouka]

The Phouka was out enjoying the day, the last gasp of summer, and he heard the music. He recognized Fin's voice the moment he began to sing and he nearly began to run to see the man. He was panting a bit when he got there but he waited patiently for Fin to finish before he applauded.

"Very lovely, my friend," he said warmly. Keats was on his feet and sniffing the Phouka and licking his hands. "It is so good to see you, Finlay."

[prince_of_nymphs]

Had it been anyone else, Fin would have scoffed. However, the Phouka was so genuine and sweet. He didn't want to offend him by refusing his praise.

"Thanks, Phouka. It's nice to hear your voice."

[phouka]

When Keats had exhausted his attention for the moment the Phouka moved to sit down right beside Fin. He leaned in, his shoulder bumping the other man's.

"I have been missing you so much. You should come to our new home," he said eagerly. "You are welcome. The door is always open to you."

[wispofathing]

Curnen felt it and smiled and made her magic easier to pick out, singing the first thing that popped into her head, which was apparently "I'm Nine Hundred Miles from Home." There were as many versions of that song as there were people who sang it, but she went with Fiddlin' John Carson's from 1924.

"You can count the days I'm gone
On the train that I left on
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles
If that train runs right
I'll be home tomorrow night
Lord, I'm nine hundred miles from my home."

Not a common song in the Tufa repertoire as most didn't leave the valley, but one that was apt to her situation. And to anybody else who happened to turn their attention that way, she just looked like a girl messing with somebody's dog.

[akatawitch]

Sunny hadn't meant to stop. Fin looked like he was busy, and she'd been so angry the last time they'd spoken. It left her feeling... it wasn't ashamed exactly. Guilty, maybe. She'd had no way of knowing. Now she did.

And then he stumbled and started over, and the word just fell out of her mouth. "Hey."

[prince_of_nymphs]

"I know," Fin assured him, strumming again. "You're welcome to come visit me as well. I've moved into your old flat," he added, turning his head slightly towards Phouka.

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin's hand stilled, and he was silent for a moment before nodding a little. Her magic was different. Different than his own or Pippa's, even Will's. It was as though they all spoke the same language, but with starkly different accents.

"Maybe they were the perfect welcome committee then," he said after a beat.

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin's hand stilled a beat, and he found a faint smile, wanting to look happier than he felt for Sunny's sake.

"Hello Sunny," he said, starting to strum again.

[phouka]

"I thought you were living with your sister," he replied then a smile warmed his voice. "Have you come home to stay? Has the prince set things right?"

[akatawitch]

The smile just made her wince and she hesitated for a long moment.

And finally Sunny just went for it. "Why didn't you tell me?"

[wispofathing]

It wouldn't be the same, true, though of them it would be closest to Willy's. She smiled, even though he wouldn't be able to see it. It'd come through in her voice. "I'm Curnen," she offered.

[prince_of_nymphs]

"No. ...I don't know," Fin replied awkwardly. "Right now we're just sharing space, Phouka."

He didn't know how to explain it all to the other creature. Phouka was so innocent and sweet, he didn't need to know that a lot of his and Will's relationship currently boiled down to survival.

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin looked puzzled, unaware that Sunny had spoken to Pippa about his situation. The world was swirls of colours and shapes at the moment, and Sunny was a mix of vibrant oranges and white, currently.

"Tell you what? That I'm dreadful with a guitar?" he quipped, strumming again.

[prince_of_nymphs]

"Finlay," he replied, nodding politely. "Finlay Flynn, actually, but most people just call me Fin. It's nice to meet you, Curnen. Any friend of Phouka and Winter's is a friend of mine."

[phouka]

"If you are happy then I am happy," he replied. "How are you feeling otherwise? Well?"