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come_sailaway2023-09-11 04:34 pm
My better self was always born tomorrow (open)
When: Early - mid September
Where: Various
Warnings: The usual changeling warnings + depression
As nights became obsessed with introspection (redbud, purple hyacinth) [Bobby B's]
What had meant to be a quiet evening to himself with a good book for company has quickly become something far more melancholy. He's ensconced himself in a back corner of Bobby B's, book long since forgotten as he stares out into space. Pen in one hand as if he might write in his notebook at any moment, though he hasn't found any words to write beyond the first line, put to by rote more than by thought. His other hand rests on the side of his neck, holding something hidden beneath his collar.
Should anyone approach, he hurriedly returns the notebook to his pocket. But a brief glimpse of the words 'My dearest Dot, might well be spotted before he does so.
The days a contravention of reflection (protea, ivy) [Library]
Mr Ainsel, the little black and white cat that haunts the library, is a little more insistent than usual. Meowing loudly at anyone that crosses its path, and slamming full-bodied into anyone it has more than a passing familiarity with. Demanding pats. And snuggles. And treats. And anything else it could possibly get.
Within the id a stranger I did form [Around]
He doesn't know where he is, well, having explored the place rather thoroughly he knows he's a ship. But he still doesn't know its destination, or how he got here. There's two logical explanations, either Oswald decided on a last minute trip to America or the like, or he let Dot talk him into something inadvisable again.
His money's on the latter.
Now if he could just find either of them, or anyone else he knows, everything might start to feel a little less... uncanny.
To any onlookers, it's almost as if there's a new passenger aboard. One that may look passingly familiar if not quite right. Like Giles, if he were entirely human, if he had dark brown eyes rather than piercing green, and if he were more than a foot shorter.
During the day, he moves between standing out on the deck, watching the ocean and trying not to think too hard about what exactly is going on, and searching the library for a single non-fiction book.
In the evening, he gravitates towards Stan the Man. Where he sits with a fancy cocktail he isn't really drinking, and pretends that he's perfectly fine. He'd much rather retire early, but he doesn't know what his sleeping arrangements are any more than how he got here, and if, as he suspects, he's not here for work, then it's where he'll be expected to be.
A lily on the waters of a storm (Wildcard)
Come find me in the discord if you want to plot something else out!
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Now that he has an idea that this is probably flower-based, he relaxes into the idea of accidentally spilling some gossip. Something that might tip Giles off that there's something hinky going on, without totally freaking him out... hmmmmmmmm.
"So, like, any of this making you feel a weird sense of deja vu yet?" Yeah, that's subtle (as a brick). "None of this feels like you've been here before??"
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It's dry, but the humour is there, buried somewhere deep.
He drinks his whiskey, finally.
"Should it?"
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"IDK, maybe? 'Cos, here's the deal, cards on the table -- I know a Giles, and I'm like, suuuuper sure it's you, but I'm also pretty sure that I'm not supposed to force you to remember things that you forgot. So I'm just tryin' to poke at your brain a lil' bit until somethin' jogs loose. Y'know?"
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A descendant, direct or otherwise, might make sense, given there must be some family resemblance. But unless he or Dot find themselves in an awful lot of trouble without anyone to help them, there won't be another generation of his family to bear the surname Giles.
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"Yeeeeah, the, uhh, the height thing is a toughie." Mostly because he sorta knows where that change came from, and he doesn't want to dunk them both in the cold water of "Magic Faerie Trauma." But the other part would be easier to explain if Giles was at a point where he did believe in magic.
"But the time thing? Way easier. 'Cos, like, time doesn't mean anything on this ship. The only doctor we got left is from the 1800s, and there are a couple of dudes from space." His expression very nearly goes flat for a split-second; one of those future dudes he's thinking of is Clarke, and he hasn't seen her around lately. But it quickly levels out back into a grin. "I could try quizzing you on stuff to prove it. Liiike, what your dad did for a living, how many sisters you have, the kind of guys you're into..."
This is him trying to be subtle, for the record.
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"Alright. But since you seem rather sure of yourself, why don't you tell me."
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"Totes, dude. Otherwise, I could just nod and act like I already knew whatever you said, right?" He lifts a hand, raising each finger as he lists things off. "So, if your dad worked with horses, if you were a valet who's, like, super good at folding clothes I guess? And if you had... man, I know there's at least one sister, maybe three?? Ugh, we like, never talk about your family so I always mix that one up... Honestly, it's like, super hard to get any personal info out of you that doesn't revolve around all the magic stuff. Sometimes I think you're trying to avoid it because, like, bad memories and stuff, but other times I'm pretty sure you just don't think it's relevant. Which, true, I get that with my own stuff, but I still wanna know."
Wait, he was framing this like a "You Might be a Redneck" bit. "Uhhh, so if like, any of that rings a bell, you miiiight be Giles-Giles, not Other-Giles."
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"Three sisters," he says after a pause, "But Aggie and Grace were both grown and married by the time I was twelve, and I haven't seen either of them since I was sixteen. Whereas Dot is only two years younger than me, and we've been nigh on inseperable since we were children. She's the one that matters, though it seems a little cold to say it so bluntly."
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"Hey, everyone's got family faves. I couldn't give less of a shit what happened to my cousin Hurk's dad, but I would lose it if anything happened to my Auntie A. And Hurk, obvi, but that guy's fuckin' in-de-structible."
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Sharky may have just realised he shouldn't be outing Giles, but it's too late to put the cat back into the bag, and Giles is beginning to trust Sharky enough that curiosity gets the better of him.
"You didn't quite finish your list, you know."
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"I didn't?" He furrows his brow before having a visible ooooh yeah reaction move across his face. It's chased by a grin, and he props his chin on his hand. "Ooooh, yeah, well... I got it on pretty good authority that you might like the, uhhh, humble... salt of the Earth kinda vibe. Oh, and the posh-ass playboy with a heart of gold type." Wait. "Play... people?" He's trying to make it more plausibly deniable for Giles's sake, and also because sometimes Ossie does turn into a woman so maybe he should be using gender-neutral pronouns anyway? Oh no, has he been misgendering Ossie this whole time?!!!
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He taps lightly on the table once or twice — making a decision or working himself up to one — then meets Sharky's eye with a sly smile "You'd be the 'salt of the earth kinda vibe', I suppose?"