[closed] share your bread with friends you don't know / hold the truth and never let go

[lowficharm]

Who: Martin and Rue
When: Sometime vaguely in the top half of December
Where: ADI Housing
Summary: Martin figures out he has a new neighbor! And then turns out that neighbor is a massive owl. Sometimes it be like that.
Warnings: Probably nothing outside of setting-typical scariness, but it'll mostly be Martin explaining what tea and biscuts are.

[Martin would probably be the first person to say he is most certainly not nosy. He doesn't snoop on people, exactly, or keep up on lots of gossip. He just... finds things out. He likes to know what's going on! That's not nosy, that's observant. Sure.

Point being, he is nosy, and he's very aware that someone new has moved in next door. He knows it's not his job to be the welcoming committee, but he figures it's nice- after all, these people have been brought here from goodness-knows-where and he certainly was happy to see a friendly face on arrival. Why not make nice with the people next door?

So one day he's pretty sure he hears movement over there, he steps out of his flat and walks to the next door over, giving it a polite knock. He's already got the kettle running back on his stove, because this is who he is as a person, and is already trying out a smile for whoever answers.

He's... he's going to be surprised. But it'll be fine. They'll work it out.]

Comments

[lowficharm]

[They're so cute. Martin didn't even know an owlbear was a real thing fifteen minutes ago but now he can't live without the knowledge of this one in particular. So he smiles and gestures for her to follow.]

Well, uhm-- unless you want to grab anything, you can come with me! Not that it's a long walk, mind, but-- you know.

[ruevealing]

[Rue's mossy-green feathers puff up slightly in their delight. Now that they aren't standing out in amongst the flames, he's quite the funny little man.]

No, there's nothing else I require. Please, I'd be most pleased to join you in your home.

[lowficharm]

Alright! Well then, uhm...

[He remembers how they very much did Not want to touch them before, but holds out his arm all the same.]

If-- If you want. I know you weren't, uhm, s-super keen on all the touching before. Otherwise, uh, just, j-just follow me!

[Whether they take it or not, he'll lead them towards his apartment just down the hall.]

[ruevealing]

Ah, allow me to explain. My only reason for being so hesitant in accepting your touch was the false form I was wearing. It is - ah, habit I suppose, to keep from being touched while glamoured. A silly one now, when I can go freely while within property lines, but old habits are just difficult to break.

[And to prove their point, Rue takes the offered arm with ease this time, their claws gentle where they connect, always just a touch too aware of how frightening their talons may look to others.

And alright, maybe it's silly when his apartment is literally right there, but Rue is happy to be led over to Martin's home, ducking beneath the doorway while they walk inside.]

[lowficharm]

Oh! Oh, that makes sense, with-- all this.

[He doesn't even flinch at the claws. This boy has seen So God Damn Much. And yes, it is a little bit silly, but he's trying to be nice about it... or something.

Regardless, the layout of the apartment looks to be a mirror of the one Rue now resides in- a kitchen, a living room, the hallway snaking around towards the bedrooms and bathrooms. But it looks... much more lived-in than a standard spot. There's blankets over the couch, a few potted plants out on the balcony, a tea kettle just beginning to whistle on the stovetop. The counter is cluttered with different food boxes, of cookies and crackers and something holding some fruit, and once they're inside Martin lets her go.]

Here, uhm-- you can sit if you'd like, I'll be right back.

[Immediately, he bustles into the kitchen to retrieve some mugs, tea bags, and silence the kettle. It's a set of very practiced motions that looks incredibly natural to him, mostly because it's possibly the thing he's done most in his life.]

No one else is here right now, so, uhm, you don't have to worry about noise or anything.

[ruevealing]

[More lived in indeed and absolutely less accessible to a creature of Rue's immense size and wingspan. But that seems to be the running theme with most human-made buildings and furniture. Rue does not mind delicately stepping around an artfully positioned couch or a friendly coffee table to get to somewhere solid where they can sit without fear of anything breaking.

Perhaps one day they shall find a house truly built for their unique size, but these apartments just aren't cutting it.

While Martin bustles away to the kitchen, Rue tests the couch just to be sure it won't be crushed under their weight, before settling daintily at a corner, one leg crossed over the other, both paws settled at their lap.]

Oh, your home is most lovely, dearest Martin. Such a beautiful space you've created. Is this all your own work?

[lowficharm]

[Honestly, Martin gets it on a smaller scale. He's not a small guy as far as humans go, and he's spent a lot of his life trying to make himself smaller and fit in spaces that aren't his size. Obviously, they have it worse than he does, but he does give a sympathetic sort of look their way as he comes back with two mugs on a tray, plus a little bowl of shortbread biscuits to set down on the coffee table.]

My-- my work? I mean, it-- the furniture was already here, I, I didn't make it or anything.

[That's probably not what they meant, but like, Martin doesn't know much about their world at all so it might.]

But I mean, we've uhm, we've tried to make it homey, you know? I mean, we've been here for, uhm-- I mean, over a year now, going on two, so. I guess it's more of a home than we've had nearly anywhere else.

[ruevealing]

[Martin, they had furniture back home. They aren't a complete animal, good sir.]

Well, you've certainly crafted a very lovely, homey space. It feels quite welcoming.

[The timeframe, however, gives Rue a slight pause. Two years is a blink of an eye to the fey, but isn't that a much greater amount of time for the average human? Don't they only live for such a small set of years?]

I must confess, it has only been a fraction of that time for myself, but I very much hope to one day feel the same way. My Hob and I - we do not live together currently - but soon, I hope. Though perhaps in a slightly bigger space.

[Not that Rue much minds being on top of their fiancé constantly because of the too small apartment space but -]

[lowficharm]

[LOOK, HE DOESN'T KNOW, OKAY]

Well, I hope you've got a lot more time ahead of you, then. This is, uhm--

[He chuckles to himself just a bit as he offers them a mug.]

This is longer than I thought we'd get to be together, actually. What with the, uhm, apocalypse thing and all. These places are quite small though, aren't they? I can't believe they fit all these bedrooms in here.

[Like, he lived in a small flat, but at least it was only him.]

[ruevealing]

[Rue takes the mug with a careful pinch of their talons, their eyes smiling over to the man in gentle thanks.]

Truly! With total strangers! And absolutely no regard for gender preference in roommates! I am currently housed with two men whom I am quite fond of, certainly, but such a thing would be most scandalous back home!

[They settle back into the cushions, draping their wings delicately out of the way as much as they possibly can.]

Though I suppose it has been an exciting exercise in defying the social norms I've lived with my whole life. I daresay, that if Hob were agreeable, I wouldn't be at all opposed to moving in together long before our wedding date. That simply seems to be what people do here.

[lowficharm]

[They can have the whole couch, tbh. It's not the biggest, but Martin will pull over a chair and sit across the coffee table so they can have as much space as they need- or at least as much as he can give them.]

It wasn't always like that. I mean, people used to be a lot more, uhm-- you know, specific about marriage and stuff. But now it's sort of like, you want to get to know the person before you jump right into marrying them, you know? How you live, a-and how they are, all that.

[He pauses to take a sip of his tea.]

It's a little bit funny that your boyfriend is the one, uhm, m-more against it, really.

[ruevealing]

[It's considerate in a way that most fey really aren't. Rue appreciates the quiet gesture, smiling softly across the way at Martin.]

It does seem to be the standard! Not that I mind. It's different, certainly, but there's a freedom here that I find myself most grateful of. It's much harder to feel lonely here, I'll tell you that.

[Not with all of the people constantly coming and going, the unannounced house visits, the unchaperoned after hours. Rue enjoys it immensely.]

Funny? [Their head tips to the side, curiously.] Why is that?

[lowficharm]

Oh, well, it's-- it's the trope that the, uhm, the man is more forward in a relationship usually. Or the, uh, t-the masculine one, while the feminine is more subdued? It happens a lot in old stories about like, royalty and fancy people.

[Fancy in a way Martin has never been and never will be. He just doesn't have the luxury of that. Plus, he does sort of associate all that with Elias, so now the entire Victorian era is simply ruined.]

Not that you have to be like that, o-or anything, it just-- you and your boyfriend sounds like one of those stories. Like, princesses getting betrothed and all that.

[ruevealing]

Ah, I see what you mean! I think you will find my Hob is much more bound by the rules of fey propriety than I am.

[Trust them, Martin. Rue has been trying to get the man to simply sleep over at their apartment for the last few months, but even then, he still politely insists on taking the couch. Hob is a gentleman through and through, even when Rue would love for him to let loose.

But there's no offense in their expression at being likened to a princess, their former life was rather lavish.]

You're too kind, dear Martin. Our engagement was quite the scandal back home. So we are rather enjoying how congratulatory everyone has been in this land.

[lowficharm]

[Oh my god Hob calm down, feel an owl boob, get with it]

Ah, jeez, I-- I kind of know that feeling, I guess. Nobody expected Jon and I to end up together either. And not-- everyone here has been really, really nice about it, which is great, because I didn't know how they were going to take the whole gay thing? I mean, not that we got a lot of trouble back home. But, y-you know, there was a few.

[One who subsequently, uh, died about it, but that's not a story for polite conversation.]

[ruevealing]

[touch an owl boob, hob. fucking do it coward]

Well, I am grateful that the people here as been so accepting for the both of us. It is exactly as you and I deserve.

[Rue has not been in this realm as long as Martin, certainly, but so far, the acceptance come so easily from all corners, it has been such a relief.]