Deliverance [Open]

[Adam Wolfe]

This was Adam's first run in a month, maybe more. He'd been keeping a young Plus and were couple safe, and had even managed to keep the were calm during the full moon with the Plus' help (then again, when one was a werehare, the name of the game really was keeping them calm and contained more than trying not to get your arm bitten off). Now that they were en route to Louisiana, he could breathe a little easier.

He had a distinct nagging feeling that his work wasn't done yet, though. That someone still needed help. He hoped they'd ask more formally, but it seemed rare that people would think, "Please, city spirit, come help me to get away from whatever is putting me in danger!" It had happened once or twice, and he'd taken it as a summoning, but it could in no way be referred to as commonplace.

Then, he had a feeling of being followed. Well, maybe not followed, but that someone was in his general vicinity that he hadn't previously been aware of. Rather than trying to run off, Adam chose instead to shift his form into an ethereal ball of fire hanging out about six feet off the ground. Anyone who knew him would know it was him, one who was looking for a sign of safety would probably interpret it as such, and those who shouldn't have been on his tail would likely turn their own and run away. It was a shame that he didn't have a different voice in this form. Having a deep, bellowing voice as a tiny ball of intangible fire would be really neat.

"Who goes there?" Adam said in his best menacing voice. "I am the soul of this city. Its rivers are my veins and its streets are my skin." Its streets are my skin? God, that'd make the buildings into weird abnormal growths. You know what, just go with it. Hopefully they don't think you're a complete idiot. "If you mean to do harm to anyone, turn away now."

Adam mentally resolved to just stay quiet the next time he was intangible.

word count [[ 358 ]]
notes [[ none ]]
tagged [[ open! ]]
mood [[ a bit embarrassed, but curious ]]
credits [[ castaway by chasen ]]

[Ty Fisher]

Chicago...

It had been quite awhile since Ty had been here; last time he'd made out with the wrong Plus's girlfriend. Granted, it would have been nice of her to have warned the shifter that she was dating a seven-foot tall powerhouse. But it seemed that was Ty's luck. Every city he passed through had a similar story as to why he had to suddenly leave. If it wasn't that, it was some crazy chick in New York pointing a gun at him and forcing him to kidnap a high-rank vampire's thrall. Part of him wondered why he didn't pick cities friendly to his species, but then he remembered this was him. He wasn't exactly normal. Maybe he had a few screws loose. Or maybe, when the powers that be made him, they had a bucket of parts left over, one of them being labeled "common sense."

This, and many other embarrassing stories passed through Ty's mind as he walked the streets of the Windy City--in human form. He hadn't had a chance to plant his emergency clothes anywhere, and the last thing he needed were stories on the internet about some shifter running the streets naked.

He heard it before he saw it. His blue eyes darted to the source of the voice and spotted the floating ball of flame as it got to the 'spirit of the city' bit. "Well...crap..." he murmured, taking a breath. He stood still, embracing the flight or fight instinct that came with situations like this. Sometimes, his adrenaline high was all he had to look forward to, but something told him that whatever this thing was, he didn't want to piss it off.

"Hell, I'm trying to stay out of trouble. But as luck would have it...trouble seems to follow me." He let out a sigh. "Right now...I'm just looking for somewhere quiet...."

Adam Wolfe

[Adam Wolfe]

Adam listened, curious to see what his visitor would do. He seemed exhausted and a bit resigned. Maybe this was who he'd been feeling, then, that needed help.

"Well," he started, his "intimidation" voice disappearing as he shifted back into a humanoid form, "I don't mean to brag or anything, but I am sort of... really good at that. It's what I do best. I am the spirit of Chicago, after all, and I like to keep people in my boundaries safe. Well, at least as safe as possible." Wincing, he shook his head. "Unfortunately, ending violence is not exactly a one-man... or... one-spirit, I suppose... job."

As he shrugged, he took a step forward, extending his hand. "My name is Adam, though most people who know me tend to call me Wendy--you know, because Windy City, you probably understood, never mind. I enjoy strawberries, animals, art, biology, tea, and pleasant conversation. It's a pleasure to meet you. And, um, if you'd like protection from danger as well as the elements while you're in town, I can offer you a place to stay at my house. Free of charge. Promise I don't bite." He smiled, breathing a slight sigh of relief. He'd been worried that this would be an encounter that he'd find unpleasant, but things seemed to be going swimmingly so far.

"I can tell you're not from around here, though. The natives have a very specific feel to them. Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking, and what brings you here? If you do mind, feel free to pretend I haven't said anything. Quite a lot of people do that, actually." For a few seconds, he paused, thinking over what he'd just said. "Oh, that was rather dark, wasn't it. I'm not very good at telling. I'm sorry."

word count [[ 303 ]]
notes [[ sorry for shortness  ]]
tagged [[ Ty Fisher  ]]
mood [[ generous  ]]
credits [[ castaway by chasen ]]

[Ty Fisher]

Ty leaned back against an alley wall, taking the whole strange situation in. First this floating ball of fire was threatening him, and now it looked human and was offering him a place to stay. Granted, it still wasn't on the list of weirdest things he'd seen but it was close.

Huh...the Spirit of Chicago? "Cities have spirits?" he asked, realizing it was probably a dumb question. After all, they apparently did, seeing as how he was talking to one right now. "True, it doesn't sound like an easy job...But me? Hell, keeping me safe would be a full time job in itself." He gave a small shrug.

"Yeah, I'm from Louisiana, originally...But for the past several years I've been bouncing from city to city. Never really settled down anywhere; tried to, but something always happens. I'm just passing through Chicago, actually. Don't know where I'm going, but...well, let's just say here is one of those places I'd tried to settle in and something happened." He let out a long sigh; it was obvious he'd been traveling for days. He'd managed to stay in hotel rooms for the most part, but there was a night where he just shifted and slept somewhere. But the tiredness and lack of direction showed very obviously on his worn facial expression and slight stubble.

"Eh...Maybe I could use a place to crash for a couple of days, anyway...Maybe see if I can land a job before I land somewhere..." He stuffed his hands in his pockets, thinking on this before extending his right hand to shake. "Ty Fisher," he replied. "Thanks for not killing me, I guess." Well, that made it awkward, but Ty didn't really understand what was so dark about what the spirit had said. To him, it made perfect sense.

Adam Wolfe

[Adam Wolfe]

Adam listened carefully to Ty as he spoke, nodding when appropriate, then smiled and shook Ty's hand. "Sounds awfully rough, living like that. I hope I can help you out a little bit. I'll admit, when I help people get out of here, Louisiana's usually my go-to, so I'd like it if you could figure out where you're going on your own, but I'll do my best to help give you a solid, reliable place to live while you work on finding somewhere to go." With a shrug, he added, "It's no problem. I mean, I don't like killing people much anyway, so I try to avoid it. Anyway. The whole spirit thing."

Levitating slightly off the ground to prove his point, Adam grinned. "Cities definitely have spirits. I'm the spirit of the land, and the protector of its people. These people are my people, and I want to keep them safe as much as I can. I'm pretty big, which means I'm pretty powerful, but it also means that trying to help people is a little too high-maintenance for me. I try, though, and with how many humans have decided to start being intolerant in this place? I can't let that come to pass." He shook his head. "But, yeah. I call myself a landvaettir, people sometimes give me food and stuff which is cool, but mostly I hang out and protect people." Adam landed, putting his hands in his pockets and twitching his head in the direction of the street. "So. Let's get you cleaned up and settled in. If you've got any stuff hanging out in the area, we can go get that first, but if you don't, I'd rather just get going on the way back to my place. We can talk while we walk. I can talk about me, you can talk about you, whatever you want. It's all cool."

word count [[ 315 ]]
notes [[ none ]]
tagged [[ Ty Fisher ]]
mood [[ pretty chipper ]]
credits [[ castaway by chasen ]]