orion

For a star to be born, there is one thing that must happen:  a gaseous nebula must collapse.  So collapse.  Crumble.  This is not your destruction.

While the rest of his friends were either on stage or cheering for whoever was singing "Lucky" by Jason Mraz, Ian returned to the bar. He'd had a few already, so he was feeling more confident as he approached the very tired-looking man with designer bags under his eyes. This wasn't the first time that Ian had seen him here when he was out with his friends, so he figured now was a good time as any to try and strike up a conversation.

"Hey man," Ian saddled up next to the other as he played himself off as casually as possible. "Can I buy you a beer?"

Getting soft pussy cats out of a tree was all in a day's work. As the feral little creature writhed about in his arms, Ian was grateful that he was wearing his gear so his arms didn't get scratched to shit. Apparently, in Rome, there were more cats stuck in trees than there were actual house fires, but someone had called in about this little guy, and since Ian was in a constant state of being hazed, he'd been sent out to fetch him.

"This one yours?" Ian asked as he held the squirming cat to the first person he saw. There was something to him, a kind of quality that Ian couldn't really place. It was like seeing a red brick house in a lineup of a cookie-cutter subdivision. There was nothing wildly wrong with the man or even off-putting; he just seemed different than the average Joe walking down the street.

The days were long, especially when his shifts ranged from two to three days, and he was constantly waiting for an alarm. Last night had been ruthless, but at least for the next couple of days, it was over, and he could look forward to going home and resting. Physically, he was still tired from the last time he'd hung out with Magnus, listless and sort of depressed ever since he'd camped out with that guy Alder in the woods. Ian kept putting one foot in front of the other; he'd landed in Rome because he was trying to find himself outside of the home where he'd been raised; there was this restless, daydreamer quality to the man he'd always possessed. Helping people and doing right by them satisfied him for a while, but Ian couldn't help but think something was missing.

He'd spent the last decade looking for something that was inherently intangible. It wasn't like Ian had had a hard life; it was more or less atypical to the sort of lives that people led where he was from. Ian's grief wasn't the most exciting thing about him, and neither was his regret.

Ian craned his neck towards the sun; even with a head full of seeds, he kept looking towards the light. Tired as he was Ian could feel the restless parts of him going a bit quiet, they'd wake up and rally when his strength had fully returned. For now, he was content to drift. A sigh passed from his lips before he looked ahead and saw a woman standing there who had the most faraway look in her eye that he had ever seen. There was something just... Radiant about her, like she'd been exposed to nuclear radiation and might just end up killing everyone.

"Ma'am are you lost?"

Navigating the forest hadn't come easily; truthfully, it had utterly transformed from the woods Ian had known for several years. In Rome, the trees were familiar; he'd walked these paths a hundred times before, but in the last year, it had completely transformed. There were mountains where there had been none before, rivers and lakes, and trees that weren't native to Italy but had sprouted anyway. Ian had never seen beasts this strange, and through it all, this ethereal mist had Ian turned around more times than he could count.

Today, the mist led him to a wall. It was a wooden structure that looked like it belonged to a medieval fortification. On the other side of the wall, he heard the sounds of an entire civilization, people shouting and cheering. There was someone he recognized - an old friend from the past. "Damian?" Ian asked the man above, "What are you doing here? And what is this place?"

It was a typical winter weekend, and "The Last Bean" was bustling with activity. People had gathered inside to escape the cold weather, and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and hot chocolate filled the air. Ian was a regular customer and spent most of his lazy Sunday mornings sitting by the window sipping whatever popular seasonal beverage. However, the place was more crowded this time, and he had to wait over twenty minutes just to get his order.

Ian was determined to find a cozy spot to sit and enjoy his coffee despite the lack of space. So, he started scanning the room and spotted a table with only one person. He gathered his courage, walked up to the stranger, and asked, "Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

The history of this place was fascinating. Once, there had been chambers that connected most of Rome, but now it was a ruin. It was rumored to be haunted, but only kids and superstitious people believed in ghosts. Ian had a flashlight and wore full gear as he walked through the tunnels. That Ian did all this because an old lady's cat ran down here was laughable. The rest of the squad was above ground and probably annoyed that they had been called in for yet another cat rescue mission. However, Ian would do anything to help, even if it meant wandering through a haunted tunnel to find an old lady's cat. "Here Mittens," Ian called out, "heeeere Mittens." He kind of felt like an idiot, but here he was.

Ian found himself sitting at the bar of a high-end establishment, which was well beyond his usual haunts. Despite the overpriced drinks and the fancy ambiance of Fates', Ian had received a text from an old friend asking to meet up. The lighting in the bar was low, and the bartenders were more focused on their showmanship than on actually pouring drinks, but it was nice to break out of his usual mold. Despite the fact that Ian's martini would likely dent his budget, he enjoyed the atmosphere. As Ian sipped his drink, he saw a familiar figure approaching him. Even though Ian couldn't quite remember how he had met Grayson, he felt an inexplicable attachment to him. "Hey, man, it's good to see you," Ian said, waving his hand in greeting, "how long has it been anyways?"

Ian had a childhood filled with hunting. While most kids were learning to ride a bike, Ian's father showed him how to track and trap. One winter day, snow started piling up through the forest, the streets of Rome, and throughout the region. The unseasonable cold billowed through the trees, and any tracks left behind were buried beneath the snow. Ian decided to make camp for the night. However, an unknown fog started to sweep across the area. The forest was filled with strange things, such as this mist that crept up amid winter's cold and animals that were there in one moment and gone in the next. This was why Ian enjoyed the forests of Rome; they were a challenge.

Ian was sitting by the fire he had built to keep himself warm on the cold winter night. The orange light from the fire radiated around him, creating a cozy atmosphere. Suddenly, he heard the soft crunch of snow, indicating that someone was approaching. Looking up, he saw a stranger standing in the woods nearby. Concerned, Ian asked, "Hey man, are you okay?". Wondering why the man was out in the freezing cold weather, Ian awaited a response.

It was kind of routine now, he'd work his seventy-two hour shift and when he was leaving the fire house he'd make a pit stop on his way home. Ian had a friend, this friend had a very unusual diet that the man couldn't help but by sympathetic towards. His appetite put him at a lot of risk and there wasn't much that Ian could do about it besides help Magnus by bringing him dinner every few days. For some reason he could always tell when it was that Magnus was hungry and when he needed him, naturally protective, and naturally caring, it was second nature for Ian to want to help the man. How and when they'd met was kind of fuzzy, but it had been about a year since the two had first crossed paths... That whole night had been kind of a blur, something had happened on Halloween that brought the two together though.

He'd give Magnus a key and told him to come by anytime, so it wasn't really much of a surprise to walk in and see the man parked on his couch. "Hey man, thought you might be here." Another thing Ian seemed to have an awareness of, Magnus' location when he was in his immediate vicinity, another thing he wasn't really questioning. Ian headed to the kitchen first though, "Beer?"