“If I were more the believin’ type, I might have been inclined to call it fate, but I think it’s more that our kind is a lot smaller in numbers than the general population is, so we tend to band together regardless.”
“Some of the people attached to this pack might be able to convince you to be the believing type,” she answered. She hadn’t been raised in a family that practiced any religion, so it had been a touch of a shock to her to learn that some things actually did exist.
He tensed very slightly at the contact but quickly relaxed, he was okay, he just needed to remember that. “Good. I guess it’s probably not good for business though.” He absently started playing with Grayson’s hair. “Just needs some water around somewhere, but baths work too.” He huffed a small laugh.
“Cord don’ really charge for drinks or no’in’. I’s a sancsuary,” he explained, eyes closing almost as soon as he felt fingers in his hair. “Ain’ hard ta find bo’ies o’ wa’er close ta here. I’m sure Nia an’ Dex know some places. I could ask nex’ time they s’op in.”
It was a lot to take in, but a guarantee that he could be home soon without having to weather the storm took higher priority than trying to adjust to accepting that mythical creatures existed.
“How disorienting? Like just motion sickness, or is it dangerous for someone like me?”
“Motion sickness. At least, that is what my grandmother has told me. She still is not fond of traveling in that manner. If it were dangerous, I would not make the offer,” he assured, ignoring the fact that Tal was starting to whimper.
“To be honest, I believe I know the area you come from. We patrol a perimeter outside of it to keep your kind safe. Humanity survived for a reason.”
Lux made a huffing sound, eyes rolling. “I don’t think he wants the fate speech, Xan. I think he just wants to go home.”
“Not much. A couple of stories I heard when I was a kid, before everything got bombed to shit. Never had much call to believe in anything like that.” He sniffed, giving a small shrug.
When Xander offered him a safe way to get back, he almost jumped at the chance, but hesitated for some reason that he couldn’t explain, but he tried to excuse it with the reasoning that it would all be locked down and he’d be stuck outside anyway.
“Unless you know how to break into the place without getting shot, not much point.”
“The stories are, for the most part, wrong. But, the beings they told of actually do still exist. My parents’ are of those bloodlines. As is Lux and…” he paused, not really wanting to deprive Tal of her new found friend.
He smiled softly and nodded. “My kind can travel through shadows. It is disorienting, but it is fast and safe.”
“No, no, thank you but…” That was something he did not want to get into, and he guessed Grayson probably wouldn’t want to either so he just shook his head. “I’ve just been travelling, crowds, people, not things I like you know, bit on edge. I’ll, I’ll settle soon.” He hoped as he rubbed the back of his neck,
He nodded before putting his stash away and half laying across the other. “No’ much in crowds here. No’ a whole lo’ o’ folks come through here. Leas’ no’ people tha’ are strangers ta this place.”
“Okay.”
As freaked out by the prospect as Jayne might be, it wouldn’t do him any favours to flip right now, especially since he was hardly in a position where it was safe for him to bolt for the door and run.
It wasn’t something he’d ever put any thought into, much less believed, despite some of the older ones at the settlement liking to spook the kids with tales of radioactive mutants, but Xander mentioning that his non-human bloodline clearly preceded the war told Jayne that it wasn’t mutants he was dealing with.
“What do you know of mythologies?” he asked, crouching down to be more at Jayne’s level. He doubted Lux had even bothered to try explaining herself outside of scaring him.
“If you would like, I could take you back to where you came from. The storms do not impede my ability to travel safely.”
The way Xander said “humans” instead of people was a little jarring to Jayne, reminding him of what he’d saw and ensuring he couldn’t just shrug it off as having panicked and imagined the whole thing. Still, now he was wondering if Xander had wings too, although he still hadn’t figured out the mutt in his lap wasn’t exactly all she seemed either.
“So you’re not human?” he inquired, half as some sort of confirmation to himself that he wasn’t going crazy, though the mere thought that there were things other than humans walking what was left of the streets gave him a slight headache and made him uneasy in a way he didn’t like.
“No, not much anyway. My grandmother is half human, though you would not be able to tell looking at her.” He was less than a quarter, but it might be enough to make him feel completely alienated. “Most of us are better at blending than Lux is. Her own twin got all of the people skills,” he teased, flashing a smile at Lux over his shoulder and getting rewarded with her sticking her tongue out.
“Tal’s got better people skills and I’ve been saying it since we got here,” she grumbled, settling herself back on the floor.
He stilled, taking a few breaths. “I know, I’ll try to remember.” He watched Grayson retrieve the bag, his foot started tapping and he scooched away a bit. "Don’t know if that would help, knowing my luck it’d spark some paranoia, makes things worse ya know?”
With a shrug and a hum, he pulled out a collection of pill bottles, the original labels torn off. “Go’ xanax an’ a’ivan if ya wan’ some’in’ jus’ for the anxious,” he offered, not at all bothered if Gilley didn’t want to take any of the various drugs he had stashed around the room.
“Jayne.”
He’d taken on the look of a scared animal again, a cautious appraisal of the newcomer that was a little more civil than the one he’d given Lux, but that was mostly because he’d been given more of the kind of introduction humans are generally used to.
Xander noted the body language the way Tal had, essentially, claimed the boy and sighed. Either he was skiddish in general or Lux had done something stupid.
“Please, do forgive her for what ever she may have done. She was never all that great with being around humans and it does seem that nothing can change that. I also apologize for Talyse there, she has no concept of boundaries.”
Lux made a face at the blonde before crossing her arms and sulking a little. “I offered food, so at least I did something right.”
Well. I thought we would be off by like 1:30. But it’s now 3am and I am finally home because we had SO MUCH to get caught up. I’m honestly glad Kirshon told me I could call Joey in because otherwise, we would still be there. They were short handed for opening/lunch/dinner, so it was impossible to get much of anything done. Not the fault of any managers, people just like to not show up. But anyway, I am here for the next like 4 hours.
ofviolentdeath 