1x1 Crooked Supernova

[Yun Lee]

Sheesh. Why did Maki make such a big deal out of not wanting any food if she was so hungry? Or was this just a girl thing? Kaito didn't really know, but it was clear Maki didn't want him saying anything, so he actually managed to keep silent.

Didn't stop him from sliding his fries closer to her in case she wanted more, though.

Glenn seemed to watch the pair with slight amusement, but it was clear he still wasn't sure what to make of these two. Were they really the best the Coalition had to offer? Jesus Christ. "Well then, you two finish your, uh....meal, then meet me outside. Mine's the black pickup truck." And with that, he excused himself outside.

Kaito took the opportunity to start eating again, but not before saying:

"Sure you don't want some chicken nuggets or something?"

@Ver​

 

[Ver]

"No," Maki curtly said with a forceful tone that contrasted against her more openly abashed expression now that Glenn had gone, as though more comfortable with showing off how she was feeling when it was just with Kaito. After all, it just was because that was one less person to be around. She wasn't proud of this position, but whatever.

Popping another fry into her mouth, she sighed once she'd finished with it, beginning to speak with a softer tone to her voice now, as though keeping cautious of what she said here even if Glenn was out of earshot. "Are you sure this is going to work, Kaito? He doesn't seem to trust us very much, and if we're not careful, things could end badly for both of us. I won't be able to protect you for very long if you screw up, you know."

@Yun Lee​

 

[Yun Lee]

"Heh, screw up? Are you kidding?" Kaito took another bite of his sandwich, fortunately taking the time to not talk with his mouth full. "Kaito Momota NEVER screws up. Wanna know why?"

"Because I don't LET anything turn into a screwup, that's why! You don't go through life worrying over the little things, the tiny details here and there. So what if you say the wrong thing at some point, or walk on the grass where there's a 'keep off the grass' sign, huh? You make it work! If things don't go according to plan, we'll make 'em work! And we'll make Glenn like us, too! That's a promise!"

His big heroic speech of the hour done, Kaito resumed eating. "Besides! You're a childcare giver, right? If anything, I'LL be saving YOU!" He wasn't offended or anything...it actually sounded like he was making pleasant conversation, as if it was a fact

@Ver​

 

[Ver]

"..."

Of course he'd say something like that. She didn't know why she even bothered if that was the sort of response she'd get. Confidently headstrong and reckless, thinking he could just power through each of his problems with sheer force of will, no matter what the hurdle might have been. That was definitely a trait that made Kaito who he was, even if it was a thing that was jarring for Maki, especially when it was just the two of them together.

"You really are an idiot, you know that?" Maki said, albeit with a lighter tone than she might have realized in the moment. Clearing her throat from there, she began to stand up, dabbing her chin softly with a napkin beforehand. "But... I suppose I should have expected as much from you."

"In any case, we shouldn't keep Glenn waiting. Come on."

@Yun Lee​

 

[Yun Lee]

As the two headed outside, they would find Glenn leaning against a pickup truck. In the time it took Kaito to give his rousing speech, Glenn had become a completely different person, all with just a change of clothes. The khakis and polo that were part of his uniform had been switched out for jeans and a leather jacket. As they approached, he looked over.

"You two ready? Hop on in the truck."

Kaito walked over and opened the door. "Hey, what gives? There are only two seats in here!"

"The fuck are you gonna do kid? Sue me? One of you can sit in the middle. Though if you don't shut up, you can sit in the back."

Kaito glared at Glenn, then turned to Maki. "Well, you're smaller than me, so you should sit in the middle!"

@Ver​

 

[Ver]

"Do you want to die?"

Without missing a beat, Maki uttered her signature catchphrase toward Kaito at the prospect of finding herself squished between Kaito and Glenn, and a little more than that, displeased that her so-called comrade was making the decision for her. Letting out a soft sigh, she went on speaking with that, crossing her arms in a lightly defensive manner.

"If you want to sit in the front, then by all means. I can take the back; it would probably be easier for everyone that way."

... Though, then again, if Kaito insisted, he would likely continue to persist and just end up wasting time for all of them. So, Maki sighed, putting one hand on her hip while using the other to shrug lightly. "But fine. If you feel better with me in the middle..." She grunted, before stepping forward and awkwardly fixating herself in the middle of the truck.​

 

[Yun Lee]

Kaito seemed more surprised by Maki's death threat than actually intimidated by it, and Glenn just laughed. "Did I mention that I like you, kid? Cuz I really fuckin' do. C'mon, Astroboy, let's get a move on."

The truck wasn't all that cramped, fortunately for Maki, and there was both a small seatbelt to go across the waist in the middle and a little bit of elbow room. Or there would be, if Kaito was a bit smaller. The worst was brushing shoulders...and legs, too. Kaito was the textbook definition of manspreading.

Once everyone was packed in, Glenn started the car and they were off. "We'll need to stop right in front of Fabletown so I can give you both one last thing for this job. Something we have to keep hidden from the Mundies."

"Mundies?"

"The Mundane. As in, mortals. Like you two. Us Fables need to blend in with 'em to keep our world a secret."

"Oh, I get it! So in Fabletown, we're gonna be seeing all kinds of monsters, right?"

Glenn shook his head. "Fuck no! Are you kidding?! Fabletown is still a district in Manhattan. That's why we keep everything under wraps! If we had giants and dragons everywhere, we'd be fucked." He looked at the two. "Though, I don't know...is that shit normal where you come from? Never talked to folks from another world before."

@Ver​

 

[Ver]

To call the ride "suffocating" would be quite an understatement. Maki very quickly began to lament the notion of not taking up Glenn's suggestion to sit in the back instead while she still had the chance, but alas, here she was. Even so, she couldn't feel inclined to ask Kaito to keep his legs to himself; she felt as though she could only imagine he'd make a bigger deal out of it than she would if she'd bring it up, so she kept quiet, for better or for worse.

As the two men to each side of her talked, Maki lightly elbowed Kaito's side, before deciding to speak up from there.

"No, not exactly anything like that," Maki answered Glenn's initial question, clearing her throat, "Worlds like that might exist somewhere out there, but they're not relevant to anything as far as we're aware, so it's not something we think about. You'll have to excuse my... associate. He can be a bit dim."

"In any case, what is this something you intend on giving us?"

@Yun Lee​

 

[Yun Lee]

"Hey!" Kaito glared at Maki when she questioned his intelligence. "I'm plenty smart! How else do you think I got through all this training, huh?!"

"Jesus H. Christ. No way are you two getting into it here. I'm shutting this shit down right now." Glenn suddenly slammed the brakes down, sending Kaito lurching forward.

"What the Hell, man?! You trying to break our necks?!"

"I'm trying to keep some kids from bickering where I'm stuck having to hear it! Besides, we're here." He motioned towards the glove compartment. "Make yourself useful and get the two cylinders from in there, would ya?"

Kaito did as asked, and held two small wooden vials now, the size of test tubes.

View attachment 3495

"That's a Glamour. You can use them to change your look. In this case, you two will just get some street clothes or some shit so you blend into Fabletown more. These ones they said are good for around 24 hours, so no fucking around."

Kaito handed one of the vials to Maki. "How are these things supposed to do that? They're so tiny!"

Glenn merely grinned. "Open your up to find out, kid."

@Ver​

 

[Ver]

"..."

Maki said nothing as Kaito and Glenn bantered back and forth, not caring enough about being called a bickering kid to respond to that statement, throwaway as it might have been, seeing as how he moved on quickly to present them with strange new objects.

Glamours, so they were called. Interesting. Maki took the vial handed to her from Kaito, inspecting it with an intrigued gaze. The lightly sharp edge at the bottom brought to Maki's mind a wooden stake, looking to her almost like a weapon used to kill a vampire, and perhaps such a thought wasn't so strange considering they would be in the midst of such fantastical beings, but then... Perhaps it was precisely just like Maki to think of it to look like a weapon before anything else.

In any case, indeed, though she didn't dare admit it aloud, Maki agreed with Kaito's sentiment on how exactly they were supposed to use it. Was there a liquid inside to drink of? Were they supposed to jab themselves with it? Maki's head could only entertain the thoughts briefly and leave the scenarios with abrupt ends as she decided to find out for herself, opening her vial up as instructed by Glenn and hoping to make use of the spell.

@Yun Lee​

 

[Yun Lee]

Kaito did the same, opening his vial without much hesitation...or even bothering to look it over in detail like Maki did. Seems he was more interested in seeing what it did than anything else. Neither Coalition member would need to wait long to see what happened. The second the vial opened up, some sort of green smoke filled the area around them, as if their bodies personally attracted the stuff itself. Oddly enough, there wouldn't be anything felt so much, as the transformation seemed to only really affect their clothing. There was something faint, however, that did seem to change more than that, but it was incredibly minute. Once it was done, both Kaito and Maki would find themselves in American clothing. Clothing that, upon a second glance, was rather ill-fitting and dirty looking.

"Woah!" Kaito looked himself over. "The Hell just happened? You better not have gotten rid of my jacket!"

"Jeez, calm down, kid! Your jacket's fine. The Glamour is hiding everything you guys are actually wearing under a layer of magic or some shit, I dunno. Either way, you have a disguise until midnight. Once the clock strikes twelve, you go back to normal. Christ, could they be any more cliche?"

Kaito seemed to accept this, but he paused, seeming slightly uncomfortable even bringing it up. "Hey, uh...what was that other thing? Like if it was just for clothes, why did I feel...weird?"

"Oh, yeah." Glenn seemed less concerned. "That's just to disguise your scent. Certain Fables are able to sniff out Mundies like you guys, so this also keeps you from getting sniffed out. Bigby had that power being a wolf, and Crooked Man may have a dude that can, too. But again, that wears off at midnight. We got a good..." He looked at the time on the truck's clock: 1:30. "...ten hours to get this done." With that being said, Glenn started up the car and drove on into Fabletown.

---

It was just as Glenn had said. Fabletown looked like any other neighborhood in New York. Full of people walking around, with shops and restaurants lining the sidewalks. Truly, it looked like a happy community, one where you'd never think something evil was brewing under the surface.

Their stop was a rather large building complex, with the sign out front reading, "Business Offices." Glenn parked his truck in the parking lot, then looked at Maki, as if deciding that Kaito would not be useful in this situation. "How good are you at improv, kid?"

@Ver​

 

[Ver]

"?!"

Though any sort of physical change should have been expected, Maki couldn't help but find herself just a bit surprised when her clothes began changing, at least from her perspective, warping into a tattered disguise. She wasn't quite as attached to her own clothing as Kaito was, but she had to admit it was still a minor shock, even if she managed to accustom to it faster. Fast enough to silently agree with Glenn's sentiment on the cliche nature of the disguise wearing off at midnight, but at least it was consistent, and thus, easy to remember.

"We have no time to waste then. Let's go," Maki responded to Glenn, hoping to cut through any more of Kaito's would-be complaints with the hopes of getting on with the mission then. Even if it was ten hours, a time limit meant that they had to be swift.

...

As they reached their destination and Glenn addressed Maki, the girl simply gave a one-armed shrug. "Good enough," she curtly said. Had Maki been a different person, she could have tried her hand at playing cute or funny and gave an example of her improv capabilities, but she wasn't in much mood for that. Catching on to the deliberate notion that Glenn addressed her and not Kaito, Maki realized the implication of that and lightly tapped Kaito with her elbow to get his attention.

"Be sure to stay behind me, alright?"

@Yun Lee​

 

[Yun Lee]

Kaito blinked in a slight confusion, but rather than take offense to being told to follow Maki, he merely gave a grin and a thumbs-up.

"Good thinking, sidekick! With my height and physique, I'd probably block your line of vision if I was in front!"

Glenn gave Maki a look that could almost be interpreted as sympathy as he opened their door. "Okay. Just be warned one of Crooked Man's scabs may be here, so get ready if he starts asking questions." Nothing more to say, he led the pair into the office building. It was a relatively small lobby, with one guard asleep at the front desk, a few simple yet tasteful chairs and tables for those waiting for someone, and an elevator to get to the higher floors. Glenn looked around. "Okay, coast is clear. Let's get into the elevator and get a move on."

Shuffling to the elevator and making sure everyone was in, the front door opened, and a man with long blonde hair walked in. "Shit!" Glenn started jamming the door closing button. Click, click, click, click-

The man saw them. "Yo!"

Clickclickclickclickclickclickclick-

It was no use. He made it in.

"Whew! Almost didn't make it in. Hey Gren, how's it going?"

He didn't even look at him. "Jack."

Jack kept smiling as the door closed. "Man, noticed you were really going to town on that button there. You're gonna break it one of these days!"

Silence.

Jack tugged on his shirt collar. "Eesh. Tough crowd." It was then Jack noticed the two others in the elevator. "Uh...huh. Don't remember seeing you guys before. You new in town?"

@Ver​

 

[Ver]

"..."

Maki silently followed Glenn into the office building, remaining as silent as the night. In a way, she felt at home with the prospect of treating this like an infiltration mission, just like any other... though what wasn't familiar to her was the idea of carrying around excess weight that she had to look after to make sure she wasn't jeopardized because of something out of her control. Read: Kaito. To that end, she looked back in his direction every so often, just to make sure that he didn't accidentally (or deliberately, now that she thought about it) do something... troubling for them all.

Her face was stone cold during the short waltz, betraying and revealing nothing. Even when the unexpected visitor made his appearance, an unfamiliar blonde man whom Glenn seemed to not factor the presence of, she kept her cool, resisting the urge to bite her lip out of instinct as things had already went off plan. As he helped himself into the elevator, crowding it that much more now, Maki continued to remain silent, as if to go incognito. After all, "improv" was to be a last-ditch plan, and she would hopefully be only driven to it if something was done to draw attention to herself.

But such hopes were made to be squashed.

To the man's question, Maki shook her head lightly. "Not exactly, I suppose you could say we've... been around the neighborhood," she said. Her voice was took on an interesting shift here compared to how she usually spoke, especially to Kaito. Here, Maki's voice was noticeably lighter -- not louder by any means, still holding a degree of subdued reservedness -- if not more "friendly," but at the same time, just less than enough to imply any wish for further conversation.

A deliberate in-between.

@Yun Lee​

 

[Yun Lee]

Listening to the way Maki spoke, Kaito betrayed his surprise before quickly masking it with a grin. Woah...that was the nicest he'd ever heard Maki be! Maybe that was how she talked to kids in her classes and stuff? Kids probably didn't like scary people, and if Maki was truly good at providing childcare, then that had to be it! Nice job, Kaito. His detective skills could totally give Shuuichi a run for his money!

...now to see if his acting skills could do the same.

"Yep! This guy here was showing us around. The name's Momotaro, Luminary of..." Shit, what was Momotaro good at? Aha!

"Luminary of the Peaches!"

Nailed it.

Glenn stared at Kaito with what could could only be described as a mixture of horror and fury, while Jack seemed to be amused. "Peaches, huh? That's weird..."

"It is NOT weird!" Kaito retorted, now defensive of his new title. "Momo means peach! It's in my name, dude!"

"They're from Eastern fables, Jack," Glenn quickly explained before Kaito could run his mouth any more. "They were, uh, living in the Bronx until we heard about 'em. I'm taking them up to see Snow about housing and shit."

"Pfft, good luck with that..." Jack muttered under his breath, before clearing his throat and smiling at Maki. "So, I met Peaches already...who are you?"

@Ver​

 

[Ver]

"Kiyohime. Quiet Princess. It's as Glenn says; we're... not quite like the other fables," Maki said a little curtly. She averted her gaze and kept a (more than usual) reserved tone, her voice just a tad higher than it usually was, almost shy or bashful to an extent.

Though she didn't imagine Kaito would notice her acting very differently than she usually did, at least with him, Maki did make an effort to "get in the act," so to speak. Maybe it was ultimately a good thing that Korekiyo decided to give her a role that sounded like she was fit to play it to begin with, but she'd have to wait and see how this mission would end first.

@Yun Lee​

 

[Yun Lee]

"Cool. Well, if you guys need anything, be sure to give me a heads up. I can hook you up-"

"With what, Jack?" Glen spoke up, turning a dangerous glare to Jack. "Do be so kind as to enlighten me on what you can hook these kids up with."

Jack seemed to realize something, and chuckled nervously. "Oh, heh, y'know..."

"I don't, actually. Kinda weird for the office custodian to have hookups-"

"Woah hey look at that my stop is here!" Luckily for Jack, he was right; the door opened, and he quickly excused himself. "Nice meeting you two! And uh...bye, Gren."

Glenn pushed the door close button. "That's Sheriff to you, fucker." The elevator doors closed, and he sighed. "The two of you stay away from him, okay? I doubt he's gonna get to do much today, but...Jack's willing to do anything for a quick buck."

"Like work for the Crooked Man?"

Glenn smirked. "Congrats, Spaceboy. That's the smartest thing you've said all day." The doors opened again. "Oh, good. Our stop."

Stepping out revealed the hallway was empty. "Good. You two wait out here, I gotta talk to Snow first." And, without waiting for them to follow, he walked to the other end, leaving Kaito and Maki alone for a bit.

"..." Kaito was silent for a moment, unsure of what really to say. Until finally...

"So, is it Glenn or Gren? Because I heard both."

@Ver​

 

[Ver]

"Looks like he doesn't even need a quick buck to tick you off though," Maki remarked to Glenn as he described Jack in a less than flattering manner, a faint hint of a lightly amused smile on her face, of all things to find any sort of amusement from, though she just as quickly wiped it from her face.

As the three made their stop and the man left them alone for a small while to do his part, Maki remained silent, nodding obediently as everything seemed so far so good for the mission. From here, they just needed to keep a low profile and make sure no undue attention was drawn to each other, so she stayed silent all the while, not making any attempt to break through the silence that Kaito probably thought was awkward, enough to try to break it by himself, eliciting a soft sigh from the red-eyed girl.

"I think it's Glenn... or maybe it could be both. Don't tell me that's been bothering you this whole time, Kaito..."

@Yun Lee​

 

[Yun Lee]

"Well, yeah! It's dishonest!" Kaito crossed his arms, turning his gaze towards the office the apparent sheriff had entered. "I mean, I know we're supposed to be helping these guys, but c'mon! You can't tell us your name? You can't even tell us you're the damn sheriff of this entire town we're supposed to be helping you with?! For crying out loud, just man up and be honest with people already!"

He sighed in frustration, looking down at the ground now as if sulking. "And stop treating me like an idiot, you asshole. Do you even know who I am?" From the rather distant way he said it, it was clear he wasn't directing that towards Maki, but rather thinking out loud.

@Ver​

 

[Ver]

"I... don't think "dishonest" is the right word," Maki only responded to Kaito's small rant, saying little more than that. She continued to remain as reticent as she usually was from there, until Kaito randomly started talking again; Maki caught on quickly that it wasn't aimed at her, since certainly, he wouldn't dare talk to her like that. That would just be foolish, even for him. Even so, she decided to play along, crossing her arms as she leaned back.

"You're Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars," the girl said in a dry manner, pretending that he were talking to her in an almost playful manner (not that Maki was a person that someone could exactly describe as playful), before cutting to the chase quickly, "Talking to yourself again?"

@Yun Lee​