londoncallingrpg

Newt sat on a bench in the park across from the building that housed the small flat that the Ministry had provided for him. He held his suitcase on his lap, still wary about having it out of his sight for even a moment. This was a step for him, being out in the world at all. Since he had arrived here a few weeks ago from 1927, everything was simply too much. Too much noise, too much crowd, too much that was unrecognizable, unexplainable...

Sometimes he'd felt as if the world was not all that welcoming to him at the best of times, and now he felt like even more of an outsider. He was an alien here. And not only this, but the shock of going to the Ministry for help and discovering that everyone knew who he was. There was a portrait of him there. A first edition of his book under glass.

He watched a squirrel scurry up a tree. Once safely on a branch, it paused and looked over at him. He offered a little wave.

The latch on his suitcase popped open.

"Quiet down, Dougal," he said gently as he closed the clasp again. "I am not letting you out, not here. If you thought New York was a different world, you've no idea what you might encounter in this place."

The latch popped open again, almost violently this time, and Newt practically flattened himself against the case to make sure it stayed closed, then glanced up and around him frantically, as if afraid he might be caught doing something bad.

[OOC: for the deets on brand new newt, here!">

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Felix picked up the phone quickly. "Hello, darling," he purred, warm and silky. "Did you miss me already?"

Shannon smiled. "I was sure you'd be missing me," he said. "In fact, I have a present for you. A sort of mystery for you to solve."

Felix sounded intrigued immediately. "You give me the best presents. What sort of mystery? Is it under your trousers, by any chance?" Clearly, even if Felix was at work, he wasn't near anyone else.

"Felix!" Shannon scolded. He wouldn't talk like that in a public park, but he smiled thinking of other surprises he could grant his lover later when they were home alone. "I'm calling to invite you to lunch," he said. "Your mystery is a new acquaintance I've acquired. From the looks of him, he's the bookish type, so I'm sure you'll get along famously, but he says the most unusual things! Have you ever heard of a muggle? And he seems to have the power to erase people's memories. Isn't that interesting?"

Perhaps the flirty chipper was a bit over the top, but Shannon figured Newt didn't know him well enough to notice. Felix on the other hand would recognize the warning. He was used to Shannon's daggers wrapped in charm. This was the same thing with different wrapping paper.

Felix understood perfectly, and he went silent for a few long moments. When he spoke, it was swift and clipped, delivering information first. "He's one of the Ministry wizards, like Remus and Sirius. That's their word for 'annemer.' Shannon..."

There was an audible catch and hardening to Felix's voice; he was no longer teasing. "Do you feel like you're in danger around this person? I'm leaving work now. I'll track your phone with mine, all right? But tell me, however you can, if you feel like you aren't safe."

Well at least they hadn't been so rude as to call him a muggle to his face. What a horrid sounding word.

"Why do you think I'm inviting you to lunch?" Shannon said, still flirty. "We'll meet you at Cafe Rouge." It was a public place. Surely Newt wouldn't be crazy enough to cause a scene with so many people around.

Shannon glanced at the wizard to make sure he wasn't listening too closely to their conversation. He needn't have worried. Newt had stepped away from the park bench and appeared to be having a conversation with the local wildlife. "Scratch that," Shannon said, his voice completely normal. "We'll meet you at the nearby Pret-A-Manger." There was public, and then there was public. Shannon didn't need anyone seeing him with someone who talked with squirrels.

If Shannon was using that tone of voice, Felix knew he was neither frightened nor hysterical. That eased his concern a little. Still, Felix was not about to allow any wizard to alter Shannon's mind. "I'll have a car bring me there immediately. Stay public and visible. The Ministry wizards are just as secretive as we are. He won't do anything in view of annemer. I--"

Felix paused, then finished, "I won't let anything happen to you."

"I know." Shannon had complete confidence in Felix. "Felix, I-" He hesitated, the words catching in his throat as they always did. "I'll see you soon," he said instead.

"You will," Felix promised. As he ended the call, he was already giving instruction to a driver in the background.

Shannon pressed 'end' on his own phone and turned to Newt. "Are you ready to go?"

It took Newt a moment to respond, because the squirrel was giving him a sense of the local environment. Finally, he rose from his crouching position and turned to Shannon.

"Is that a phone?" he asked.

Shannon glanced down at his cell. "Yes..." Didn't everyone have one?

OTA

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