#kc_necropolis

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He waits on the bike; it is warmed up. He insists on the helmet, but doesn't seem concerned otherwise; he's gotten effortless at riding*

"You've gotten taller." Zara comments as she catches up to him. She places on her helmet, turning on the bluetooth before settling in behind the sluagh.

"Sure you just haven't gotten shorter?" He retorts, with a grin, as he turns the bike around. He stops at the edge of the gravel* "Where you wanna go, Ghost? Cemetary? Lake? Broken down asylum? Got a place I want to take you at night, little late for your birthday, but better late than never."

He has switched out the Axe for something a little more sophisticated; it has a darker, sweeter scent*

"Oh! That, yes. Surprise me." Her arms snake around his waist, and she finds it easier to duck behind his frame to cut down on wind.

"Hang on." A grin, and he swerves the bike out onto the street, revving it to speed along the street towards the highway. By now, he's memorized most of the speed traps*

Her grip tightens briefly when he accelerates, like a friendly python!

Oddly, he finds he likes this....Zara nervous. He has no problems with pushing the speed once they are outside of the city proper; he has likely outrun the cops on more than one occasion now; his license plate has been switched; he keeps the spare in a bike pack.*

*...And he will head for one cemetery in particular. One where a midnight dance once occurred....although it looks very different now, in the summer; trees are lush and green, the weather warm, and the grass has come to life again over and around the graves. The nights are long, seemingly lasting forever; it can be well into night before dusk takes the sky and paints it with bruised purples, pinks and yellows...

Zara smiles when she sees the place, something wistful and sad in the expression, mixed with happiness, complicating it.

"Summer makes everything so different." Pale fingertips trail across a leafy branch. "In lots of ways, nu?"

*He parked under a tree, and dismounted, setting his helmet on the seat to wait for her. He'll follow her, shrugging off his jacket to drape over the helmet. He has on a white tee shirt underneath over dark-wash bluejeans, his boots even more worn than before, but holding steady. He has had his hair cut, it falls easily into place; still lank, but at least now it appears deliberate. He appears not to notice*

"Yeah. Everything." His dark eyes on the green branch* "But eventually everything cycles back, nu? Leaves wither and fall, flowers die."

"Starting three days ago."

"Yes. Night's growing. And I'll change again. But... can it go backwards? That, I don't know."

"I'm not who I was a year ago. A lot has changed."

"Everything changes. Change is good, nu?" He finds the concrete slab over which a mourning angel statue, her features worn away by the weather and acid rain, seems to embrace the ones seated beneath her. He seems oblivious, drawing up a boot and resting his arm over his knee. His eyes still locked on her* "I've watched. You've changed. We both have. How does it feel inside, though?"

His whisper is still raspy, but he's gotten the cursing under control, at last*

"Change is good." Agreeing, easily. "Inside... I... I spent the last few years... since my togail, at least, fighting with who I am. Too this, not enough that, never what anybody wanted me to be..."

"But now... I don't know if I have changed so much, that I have become a new thing, or if... if I have found peace with what is there. Contradictions and all."

He rolls a shrug* "Maybe that's the next step. Always said you cared too damn much, Ghost." *Well, it's under control; that one was deliberate*

"I still care about some things. But... but it's better, I think. I'm not just a book-reading mouse. I have accomplishments, real ones."

*His eyes narrow, listening. Concentration, although it is an expression that those who don't know him well might mistake for hostility "Go on."

"Well - disapproval, or.. dismissal... that won't take them away, nu? I passed my tests. With the teacher, yes? I am going to learn, and be able to do that for us, for our kith. I went to the Deep Dreaming, Ice - went there and back, even though the memories are... spotty."

"You mentioned that, I think. What did you say you remember?" Eyes intent on her, still*

"Lives, aye. Past selves. Rivers, and magic... and you, too. The first time I saw you, upon returning, I knew for certain. We were siblings."

"Though I think you were seelie." An impish grin.

"Yeah, tell me another one." His eyes narrow* "Guess anything's possible. What makes you think that, Ghost? Was I whiny?"

"SO whiny, Isikins."

Her eyes sparkle, amused now.

*But then he grins, almost rakishly, keeping his intense black eyes on her* "Siblings. Does that mean I can't Court you? Said I'd wait a year."

His eyes narrow at the nickname, but once more, it's thought, not hostility* "That sounds familiar, Ghost."

"I don't know. I don't think it was a matter of souls, but of that life."

*He shrugs, a rolling boneless gesture* "Then should be fine, nu?" Again, the grin. She didn't object, he noticed*

"Mayhaps, aye." She considers. "I have been happy. With rose-petal words and kisses and a cascade of gestures... "

"Yeah? Can you stay happy with that just that, Ghost?"

"Can anything last? I don't know. But it is a heady feeling, to be... adored, aye? He makes me feel as if I am beautiful."

"Told you you were, before. You need him to make you believe it, Ghost?"

He is studying her, narrowly, like he might a moth pinned to a board*

"I know what I look like, Ice."

"Yeah. So do I."

Still watching her steadily*

"You did not.... when I... " A little frown, and she rakes back her bangs again. "I thought you wished not... that.. that you didn't seek... you encouraged me to go to Earl, you turned from my hand."

"Yeah. Question is, you plan to stay there?"

"I.... I plan to find my way. I don't know yet where it leads. I am sixteen. I don't.. I don't want to say that what I am, right now, is who I shall always be - Change is good. Once - and you know this - once I was sick with love for one who never saw me as anything but a friend. I wept, when the fantasy I built was crushed by reality. I mourned the dream. And, again, I sought - but da'an, perhaps, had hearts misaligned."

"And now... for now, heart in hand in hand, all is well. And I am glad of it. But... good or bad, change is inevitable. And when change comes, will all the pieces still fit? I don't know."

"Poetic answer that can be boiled down to three words. You don't know." A hard grin, eyes on her* "You know, I'm seeing Tanner?"

"Can tell you some things I learned, Ghost. Don't know if it helps you."

"You are? That... that is unexpected." A pause. "I like Tanner, though. Are you happy?"

"...And what have you learned?"

*He shrugs, eyes narrowed* "We get along. Liam sidhe, surprising, nu? She trusts me. For now." They narrow further, and there is a glitter in his eyes, another quick hard grin* "You remember what I said, Ghost, how people....shrink back....when we touch them? They wrinkle their noses, they won't look us in the eye?"