In Which Lock Finds the Green Proxy

Lock hears a crunch from just off the pass. Vi pauses, but intends to keep going before vi hears a groan, as well. A groan that almost definitely came from an Iron person of some sort.

Vi sighs, and steps off the path. Theres someone there, in faintly glowing blue armor. Hm. Lock gets closer, crouches about two yards from the top of the person's head, and snaps. The sound rings through the forest, and the person jolts as if awakening. Vi raises vir hands in a placating gesture as the person rises, and coughs. They look at vim in confusion tinged with fear. Ah shit, have they never seen a Plainsdragon before? Is this a Greensperson? Vi's never dealt with Greenspeople before. Theres a procedure, probably, but it happens so rarely that vi doesn't know it. Allison doesn’t know either.

"Hi," vi says instead. "Do you know where you are?"

"Chruuda," grumbles the person.

Before Lock can say no, you’re in Whiteview or some other dumb thing like that, a God shimmers into view behind the person, laughing.

A. God. Alright. Lock just stares. There’s definitely a procedure vi should be doing for this.

“Chruuda,” the person groans, “where the fuck did you throw me.”

The God- Chruuda, presumably- laughs. “Why don’t you ask this person who so kindly stopped to check on you?” They then disappear, shimmering right back out of view.

“Asshole,” mutters the person. They then turn to Lock, still wary but a little less confused. “Uh, Hi. What was your question? And where are we?”

Lock shrugs. “My question was if you knew where you were. I didn’t want to just assume you were Green. We’re in Whiteview, about a mile from my house.”

“Whiteview.“ It was clear this person didn’t know where that was. “What do you mean, green?”

“Mm. A Greensperson is someone who’s from... how do I put this. Someone who’s from a different world. It’s a good thing your language seems to be pretty similar to Walkers’ Common,” Lock says, grinning, “A lot of the time there’s no language in common between Greenspeople and whoever picks them up.” The downside means more paperwork all at once.

The person looks pained. Unbelieving, but also resigned. They tip their head back with a groan. “This is a normal thing that happens?”

“Not really, it’s pretty rare. Common enough that people know it happens, not common enough for me to know what the fuck I’m going to do next.”

“You could introduce yourself.”

“Oh!” Lock snaps vir fingers. “Right, sorry. I’m Allison. No, shit. I’m Lock, you’ll meet Allison later.”

“...Right,” says the person, “No need to apologize. I’m Dart.”

“No shit?” Lock grins. “I know a Dart! You look nothing like her, though. Anyway, would you like to come to mine? We can figure out where to go from there.”

“Sure.”

A woman sees them walking up the trail to the house and perks up. “Lock!”

“Laurel!” Lock says, mirroring her positivity. “I’ve brought a guest!”

“I can see that! Who’re you, stranger?”

“I’m Dart,” he says, “A Greensperson, apparently, and the Free Hand of Chruuda.”

Lock cocks vir head at him. “You’re a Proxy?”

“Please explain your terminology,” Dart says tiredly, at the same time Laurel admonishes vim.

“Lock, you need to go slow with these things! It’s lovely to meet you, Dart. We have a spare room you can use for now, we’ll figure something out.”

Lock nods, rubbing the back of vir head. “We should probably contact Qari, if he’s a Proxy.”

“Allison’s out, so he’s probably already invited em back here,” Laurel says.

“Point.”

Dart can’t take this at face value. “Who’s Allison?”

“My husband,” Laurel says simply.

Lock opens vir mouth as if to say something, then says instead, “Damn, again. Sorry, Laurs.”

Laurel baps vim on the forehead. “Don’t apologize. You’re my husband too,” she says, then to Dart, “Lock and Allison got into an accident... 2 years ago, now? Their minds melted together for a bit. They have trouble seeing each other as seperate people, sometimes, and their thoughts can drift between the two on occasion.”

That is significantly weirder than what Dart was assuming. “Huh.”

“Yeah.”

There’s a call from down the hill. Lock perks up, and Laurel smiles.

Lock gives a call of vir own. “Ninah! Bloodred!”

The person - Ninah? - smiles slightly when she arrives. “Hello. Who’s this?” She has extra eyes, but after the dragon (Dart still hasn’t gotten over that) it’s less surprising.

“Lock’s picked up vir first stray,” Laurel says haughtily. Ninah laughs, and Lock sputters at them both. Laurel waves vim off. “It was bound to happen eventually, Lock. I mean, you’re meshed with Allison.”

“Point. Anyway, this is Dart. He’s Green. Dart, this is Ninah and Bloodred.”

“A pleasure, I’m sure,” Dart says, a little warily. Bloodred?

“Pleasure’s all ours,” Ninah says easily, and a... a little goo hand, or something, splits off her shoulder and gives him a wave.

Before Dart could ask, Ninah - or maybe Bloodred, since the voice was noticeably different and her lips didn’t move- says, “Consensual demonic possession. Fairly common here. More common on the Upper Continent.”

Dart just nods like he understood that.

Laurel frowns. “Food or bed? We’ve got a lot to talk about and I can tell you’re drained.”

“Bed, please,” Dart says. Thank gods Laurel noticed.

Just not Chruuda. Dart was still mad at him.

“So Lock,” Ninah says. Oh no. Vi did not want to have this conversation.

Because Allison is soft for Ninah and so Lock is soft for Ninah, and also because Ninah is terrifying, Lock replies, “Yes, Ninah?”

i don't actually know where this one is going, really...