𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖉 𝖔𝖋 𝖜𝖆𝖗

"Stay."

It isn't an order, or a question, just an offer of welcome if he needed one. Looking around to the customers who remained and were content in their spots- she turns back to him and gestures casually to the spot across from him. A careful question in the movement of, may I?

"I have a few minutes, why don't you tell me about it? The drive, or the last time you visited. How long have you been on the road for?"

Only once she has his permission, does she settle across from him. Her eyes missing nothing as she rests her chin her scarred hands. Letting her shoulders relax as she waits to hear whatever story he would give her.

"A little excitement is good. Things rarely change much here, I have found that the people might, but the feeling? That seems to always stay in a way that people rarely do. I promise, your being here isn't any stranger than anyone else I have met. Especially over the last year or so. Although, I am curious as to why so many of my customers seem to recognize you."

The wording is intentional, over the last year she had suddenly come to not just be aware or believe in beings besides humans, but now she could see them. The change had been subtle, but the first time she had seen the full flash of fangs not hidden by The Veil she had been just as shocked as Nicolette. Moving to brush her short waving hair on her shoulder to briefly reveal the small spirit sitting in the curve where her neck reaches her shoulder, her eyes are warm and knowing.

at first, his muscles remain coiled as they tend to when he's braced for a hit. only, this would be verbal and not physical. gallowglass relaxes only marginally when she mentions staying. his eyes flick around the immediate area, trying to find the academic looking one again. that face didn't look familiar but several others did. he thought, anyway. he'd done so many things for the de clermonts over the centuries that he honestly had a hard time keeping track of who he talked to, what he'd done, and why.

tentatively, he sits back in the seat and has the mind to look a little sheepish when the chair groans it's protest. had it done so the first time? he wasn't paying attention.

fingers reach out, brushing against the side of his motorcycle helmet as if either grounding or deciding whether to grab it and run.

" i started in LA, so not long at all. just a few hours. " gallowglass decides to say instead of answering when he last driven through. at the moment, he couldn't remember, but the answer would likely raise a flag. " i have business up in san francisco and i love the coast, so, figured i'd take the highway up. i grew up on the coast. " and died on the coast, he wants to add but doesn't. " helps put my mind right when the world's all... " both hands raise and motion around his head as if to convey a bunch of difficult thoughts.

the mention of excitement has his eyes going back out and around to the surrounding tables. seems some of the patrons have settled, others less so. whatever answer he comes up with is lost because, then, she's brushing her hair to reveal a tiny little thing sitting on her shoulder. gallowglass physically jerks back in surprise, tilting his head to the side. whatever apprehension he'd been feeling about staying is completely forgotten and replaced with wonder.

" by the völva, " he leans forward. " i don't think i've seen one of you since i was human. " without meaning to, he reaches up to grab the mjolnir hanging from a leather cord around his neck. even way back when, he hadn't been sensitive. " even then it was only right before... " mentioning no one else being human in the building had him guessing she already knew he wasn't human and his words only confirmed as such.

" i'm gallowglass de clermont. " he inclines his head to both her and the small spirit. " my family is, ah, nosy. " i am the size that i am with the strength that i have. with no maker to put a foot down that family, " he purses his lips and shrugs. " sends me on errands. " it's possible they've heard stories or seen me in my travels. but, i'm not here for any of them. i'm not even here for anything beyond the road and the sea. "

no one needed to know the anger at certain members of that family had finally reached a threshold or that he was trying to figure out himself beyond the definitions of those confines. they just needed to know he wasn't a threat.

For the most part, the day had passed with the routine she was generally accustomed to. Peace had finally been restored with the end of the Spring Break season. The leaving of tourists and partying 20 year olds had brought the return of her usual regulars who had all made themselves scarce for precisely ten days. Locals, professors, hardworking students and ephemeral free-spirits. It felt to her at least, like she could finally catch her breath after a long sprint and her regulars seemed just as relieved.

Even the shyest of them seemed glad to return to their spots in the corner booths and tables.

What had surprised her, however, was that those same customers who were almost always professors and doctors who bristled at most socializing, and were generally indifferent to other customers- they all seemed to recognize a new customer. It hadn't be an overt recognition, but even while busy with something or the other, she had noticed the way they noticed him. Kept aware of him. Not in a way that told her he was dangerous, and needed to ask him to leave , but in a way that told her there was history.

As the day went on, and the new customer remained along with a few others, she had felt him watching her with something like curiosity as well occasionally.

She had been reading through a book at the counter and making her own way through a pot of tea when one of her regulars approached her. Careful, quiet and meaningfully, Nicolette, who teaches geography, holds her gaze once she puts down her book to take the dishes from the other woman.

"Do you remember, Sakura, when I told you about the fault lines?"

The question is said in the familiar, steady tone she was long associated with the professor. Giving a nod only once she does recall that rare conversation they had three years ago when the woman suggested she have a contractor come in to take a look at the buildings foundation and roof. The dark, wise eyes of the professor shine with something like approval when she sees the moment that she knows the reminder is about far more than just architecture, the environment and geography.

"Craftsmen buildings are beautiful, but they are fragile. Mind the old faults."

With the warning given, it is not long after Nicolette leaves with an elegant turn, lingering only a second to pointedly meet the eyes of tall man with long waving hair and bright eyes when the professor passes by him, does she approach him to refill his mug. A couple questions come to mind, but none seem quite right and all seem overly nosey. So, instead, she gives him a polite smile, and a knowing shake of her head. Her voice light, and conversational. Each word unfolding like small ripples.

"It is a small town, I hope you don't take the attention personally. Locals tend to be suspicious of outsiders, even more so after all the Spring Breakers. I'm Sakura, the owner."

Letting her eyes catch on the motorcycle helmet besides him on the booth, her warm eyes find his again.

gallowglass was lost for the first time in as far back as he could remember. not physically. he could read the road and the sea better than anyone alive, simply because he'd been doing it longer. it was the compass of his soul that had no direction. the last order his grandfather gave him was finally complete. the knights of lazarus had no current orders. it was quiet on the de clermont front.

so, he was doing what he tended to do when he was lost.

he picked a direction and started going. because gallow always loved the sea, his original intent was to make it up the coastline until...well, he wasn't quite sure where the stopping point was. there's a house in puget sound he hadn't seen in a while. he also had investments in san fransisco he could check in on. or, maybe it was time to finally go home. not france home. not sept-tours home. but the land on which he'd taken his last mortal breath.

he'd been lost in all these thoughts for a while, at the little cafe that had caught his attention. he barely remembered stopping in until there was a gentle voice pulling his attention away from the small leather notebook on the table. something about a small town. suspicion.

that part, in particular, made the former viking look around. now that reality was slowly shifting back into his senses, he remembered why he stopped to begin with. magic. vampires. witches. all sorts of other gathered in one place that either meant community or trouble. he hadn't been expecting the later but longed for the former. as much as gallowglass convinced himself with the solitude his family business often forced on him, he'd been hoping for...

well, that didn't really matter now.

" aye, " he says in an accent that sounds a little more british than french. he shuts the notebook, suddenly remembering how intimidating his size could be. or maybe it's something else. either way, he's used to being the scariest thing in the room. even when he didn't want to be.

how can you justify this deception?

let me guess, presumed dead?

tonight, i just made it official.

i can neither confirm nor deny details of any operation.

there is no secret he cannot extract, no security he cannot breach, no person he cannot become.

you have your seatbelt on?

you're asking me that now?

desperate times, desperate measures.

are you okay to drive?

a minute ago you were dead!

what are you talking about?

this is not gonna end well.

how did you get in the plane?

open the door!

that's the wrong door!

i thought you said you could find them.

i said i could locate them. you have to find them.

don't blame me! you chose the car!

you just had to have it!

look at how slow you're going! speed it up!

come away with me. right now.

i can't protect you. that's why i need you to leave.

that's not your decision to make.

i am a field agent! i know the risks!

i am your friend!

you called me because you needed my help! and you still do! so i am staying! and that is all we are gonna say about that!

pursue us, you'll be caught. resist us, you'll be killed.

we're about to close.

are you looking for anything in particular?

you're in luck.

we've never met before, right?

i have a job for you, [name], and for the sake of your friend you will do it.

i'm listening.

i accept.

you just have to hold your breath for two minutes.

the more you exert yourself, the faster you consume oxygen.

don't worry about him, all right?

kind of you to accept our invitation.

do you know who i am?

i'm very grateful.

you need to understand something. [name] is my friend.

you're free now. where will you go?

you'd better hurry now.

you know how to find me.

you sent me to do a job. i did it.

glad to know you're still with us.

precious few people know about your true identity.

i won't stop until i do.

things got a little out of hand.

please tell me you made a copy of that disk.

i have a way out. interested?

you have everything you need to find me.

what the fuck? she tried to shoot me!

face to face. just as you wished.

uh... i can't talk right now.

this isn't going very well.

you kill innocent people.

it really is you. i've heard stories. they can't all be true.

they don't care if you live or die.

the show's about to start.

nice tux, by the way.

he knows about morocco.

did he say anything?

i can't open it.

what do you mean you can't open it?