Ghost And The Writer

The person waving at August from the fountain was the last thing Mandy would have imagined from the brother of 'princess' August.

Hal was tall, massive, ripped and the only thing he shared with August was eye shape and color, everything else was that of a --Viking. That is - if one would transport one to modern times and dress him in ripped jeans and a t-shirt that stretched over his muscles. Dark blonde hair fell over his shoulders in messy curls, yet accessories and other little details told that this look was deliberate rather than due to lack of care.

So this was-- perfect in August's impression... Mandy didn't know what to think on that. Hm. Hmmmm. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Yes, this was not a man one would ever confuse for a girl or call 'gaylord' even as a joke, he oozed manliness. He and Ceruleum were of the same height, but Ceruluem looked like a twig next to Hal - or, in fantasy terms, like an elven prince next to a heroic warrior.

"Sup?" He asked August, before he moved his eyes over Mandybird and the rest of them, taking notice of the bracelets, then turning back to August. Like with Tia, it was easy to tell that there were question marks in his eyes. In fact, he seemed to share a lot of small little mannerisms with Tia.

"Hal, can you take these three shopping for clothes and stuff? My deadlines are killing me." August did not beat around the bush.

"Uh... sure?" Hal replied.

Riveria pouted. "Not fair, why does Mandy get to stay with you?"

"Because she doesn't need clothes," August replied.

Hal's eyes turned to look at the bird, a trace of realization passing over them. Mandy had a feeling Hal had heard something about her, maybe?

"But I have these," Riveria said, proudly puffing out her c.h.e.s.t.

August sighed. "If you want to live with me, then you need more."

Riveria's eyes sparkled over at the 'live with me' part and she gave up on arguing.

Hal crossed his arms. "I think I know who this one is," he said looking at Riveria.

"Veri," Riveria inserted her name.

"Yes." August nodded. "I used to date her. The other two are same class beings - Leum and Albus."

Hal's eyes widened. "Are you finally class changing?"

August pursed his lips. "Finally?" He didn't look amused at the assumption.

The guess had been off, but Mandy was really curious what Hal meant with that. She didn't feel it was a good idea to barge in with a question, but that didn't change the curious glint in her eyes.

Hal smiled a bit. "Nevermind. So - I guess they need everything?"

"Yes, I'd rather they blend in," August said.

Hal nodded, looking the three over. "Okay. Best of luck with your deadlines," he said with a smile, then waved at the three to follow him.

A bit reluctantly the three did and Mandy and August were left alone. August let out a sigh, looking tired after they left, then turned to head home.

Mandy was silent for a while, both because they were around other people and also - because she had forgotten the question about class change and returned to feeling conflicted about the idea of Leum stealing August away. August too, hadn't asked a thing more when Leum confessed - neither about his future nor what kind of things Leum had seen? So even when they stepped on a reasonably deserted street, Mandy had a hard time to figure out what to ask.

"How do you feel towards Ceruleum?" In the end, that might be what bothered her the most.

August sighed. "How would you feel if someone, practically a stranger, dropped something like that on you?"

Mandy fell silent for a while. "Flattered?" She guessed. "Like I was a romance book heroine and my fated prince had come?" She doubted she would fall in love from that alone, but it could serve as a start for something.

"Make him into a female in that assumption," August said.

Hmm. Did that change anything? "Fated lesbian princess...?" Mandy said uncertainly.

August sighed. "Nothing less expected from the party ani-- Ouch."

Mandy had pecked August. "Can you quit that?" She asked.

August smiled. "But it's funny," he said.

Mandybird squinted. "What is?" nothing about it all was funny-- especially not the looks she got when the video had made some rounds.

"Firstly, that you thought I didn't know your name," August replied, smiling still. "There's no way any exorcist would step into a haunted domain without having researched as much as they could about the astral residing there."

Oh, so it was funny in that sense. Not about what she did, but about the assumptions she made about August knowing or not knowing...So he had known from the very beginning? Then the cause of her death too... ah, well, true, it made sense he would know. Mandy didn't like that one bit, but it did actually make sense. She was talking to a, well, right now, the highest class pro in the field.

"Secondly, that you were trying to hide it," August said. "I didn't realize." The last part seemed to be said with a trace of amazement. That emotion hinted that August was somewhat aware of his ability to observe others and guess at things. His amus.e.m.e.nt was in huge part towards himself for not realizing.

But perhaps, that awareness of being able to guess at others feelings too caused some odd situations like-- the one with Leum. He seemed aware of the type of feelings, unaware of their shape or depth.

"So, how do you feel about Leum?" Mandy repeated her question.

August's smile faded and he let out a breath. "I don't know," he replied. "Why do you ask?"

Mandy's claws clutched on August's just a little bit tighter, her body tensing. It felt like the answer he would give would change depending on what she says. But it wasn't easy to admit what she felt, even if this time she was aware that she was afraid of losing him? And it felt like asking might be kind of rude too - it sort of implied that she considered August to be someone one could tease as being 'gaylord' with basis.

August waited for her reply as he walked through an empty alley.

"Because." Mandy finally resolved herself to ask. "What if he is your fated person?" If Leum could see the future, if he had waited for August to appear for millennia already, then didn't it almost feel like things would work out like that?

"Ah," August made a wry smile. "Birds are not the most expressive of creatures, but if I get it right from your voice, you are worried about me ending up with Leum and dumping you?"

Mandy felt conflicted about the accurate rundown, but they wouldn't get anywhere unless she was honest about it. "...Yes." At least, it felt like August wasn't offended by the question.

August let out a breath. "To be honest, you are the most..." Tips of his ears started turning red. "Perfect person I've ever met when it comes to being a-- well, wife material?" August said, seeming fl.u.s.tered. Those words weren't coming easily.

Mandy was blushing internally. Phrasing it like 'wife' not 'girlfriend' told a lot. He liked her far more than she assumed and she could feel that his words were sincere. They hadn't spent a long time together and she had barely realized her own feelings, but he probably knew for a lot longer than she did. Likely, back then in the taxi, after it was clear that she had switched to haunting him not the apartment, he had already figured it out.

Mandy didn't know one bit what about her was 'perfect', but-- he was good at observing, wasn't he? Better than she was, at least. And he was odd, who knows what counted as perfect for him? But those words alone filled her c.h.e.s.t with warmth and erased most of her doubts and worries.

"So the part about dumping you is ridiculous," he added almost in a whisper, his cheeks too burning up.

Mandybird nodded, choosing to believe in those words and it wasn't hard to, her being in contact like this, sharing his senses. His heart was beating wildly, his c.h.e.s.t was tight and his throat felt dry. She knew what feelings passed one's mind when the body responded like this and she knew that she would be the same if she had a living body herself.

He let out a breath, trying to calm his heart. "But the part about me ending up with him, or Veri, or Albus - that is something that has already happened. They are tied to me for life. Regardless of what I feel or don't feel for them - they will be with me."

Mandy had already figured that much out. Familiars shared their master's fate and it felt like the bond couldn't be broken all that easily. That was not something she wanted to happen either. Some things had shifted, but one thing had not - August still needed strength and these three all had something valuable to offer. Although the shape of 'ending up' he spoke about felt different to a romantic one, so Mandy wasn't sure where this was going.

A despairing smile passed August's lips then. "I can't imagine it happening, but statistically speaking, almost all familiars end up in a..." August sighed. "Well, you would be hard pressed to find a witch that does not have a familiar as a parent or a grandparent."

...Oh. So that's where it went. August couldn't imagine it and he seemed to have no intentions of that sort, but he honestly admitted that statistics spoke otherwise.

Mandybird nodded a few times. "You know..."

August glanced over at her, his despairing smile still present.

"I'm okay with it as long as I get to join in," she said. Mhm. Yep. All of August's familiars were hot. Mandy had nothing to complain about.

And August gained the eyes of a dead fish. This time he did not say 'as expected from the party animal of the humanitarian department', so Mandy said it herself.

"As expected, knowing my past, right?"

And August broke into a laugh. It took him a while to regain his ability to speak.

Mandy ruffled her feathers in contentment. It was nice to hear him laugh and perhaps it wasn't so bad that he knew if she could joke around with it.

"Mandy, in that video - you were high on ambrosia," he said.

Eh? Mandybird's back straightened out. What? Him admitting that he had seen the video was something she had expected, but ambrosia? So she had been drugged by that? Holy-- there was no wonder one could contract a mythical or whatever beast if August could make a drug that induced those feelings...

"I was just teasing you for the most part," he honestly admitted, referring to that party animal thing. "I guess you don't even have any memory of that time."

She hadn't. That dream reminded her, but it was true that she had forgotten all of it back then.

"The impression I formed of you in researching didn't really take that part into consideration and most folks on the seeing side would conclude as much if they researched you as well," he said. "Humans stumbling on dryad parties is more common than one might think and they all end up like that."

Mandybird blinked a few times. "I stumbled on a dryad's party?" How could that be?

"I doubt," August said. "It either needs to be a special time and place or you need to have seeing eyes to stumble on those."

It didn't seem like August knew how she got to ambrosia and she didn't know either. But this bit did reveal that she could be 70% less embarrassed about sharing her name. Even if someone looked her up, they would only find her embarrassing cause of death, which was bad enough by itself, but not 'I want to disappear' level bad, how the party animal thing was.

Ambrosia, huh? Mhm, good to know. August could make it... hmmm... hmmmmmmmmmm.... "Does ambrosia work on you?"

August squinted. "Unless I want the dustbuns in me to get drunk and go out for a walk, leaving me without some organs, I wouldn't risk having any."

"But if you got healed?" Mandy asked, knowing that Albus might be the answer there.

"I don't see a reason for it not to work," he said, but his expression didn't hint at any eagerness to have any.

Well, that was interesting to know as Mandy had a few bad ideas of-- no, better not think on it and use this opportunity to ask something else, as - Mandy had a feeling that she wouldn't be able to ask August anything once they got back to the apartment.

"Why didn't you ask anything about your future?" She asked. If Ceruleum had been seeing it, then it was a mysterious thing to not ask about it.

"Future..." August frowned a little, then his expression eased. "If you mean Leum's dreams then that's something I shouldn't ask about. If I do and he replies, then the future might change and history tells that almost all cases of forcing Oracles into disclosing details has led to disasters."

That was not a history Mandy was aware of, but she noted this detail down. She would be reading up on the history of the seeing side how Violet recommended, so she would probably learn that then. But that said, even if it wasn't about August's future, Leum had advised against asking about details on the destroyed town.

"When oracles do incomprehensible things, they mostly commit suicide right after to prevent any knowledge from leaking," August said. "Not that Leum would, but I'd rather avoid messing with that."

That seemed like a pretty awful predicament for most bunny people, in case they did need to do something bad, but truth be told Mandy had too little information about how it all worked for her to make a proper judgment. All she could figure was that it was best not to ask.

"Right," August noted, then stopped to look around.

Mandybird tilted her head. August found a secluded space between two trash cans and took out his notebook, having it transform into a suitcase. He moved away from the spot and found a cleaner place to open it, though.

Mandy was clueless for a while, then she recalled what Kenneth had asked. "Spectral reading?"

"Yes," August replied and took out a folded up map and a small bottle of white powdery sand. He closed the suitcase to place the map on top of it, unfolding it, then poured the sand on it. He said a few words in fae language and drew a circle in the sand as he did. His words were filled with greedy curiosity, if Mandy had to translate on feeling alone, she would say it was 'reveal your deepest secrets', although she doubted it was actually that vague.

The sand swirled up a bit like a tornado and various different shades of color appeared in it, then they all dispersed settling at various spots on the map. The colored spots were moving a little - some faster some slower, except one - there was a big silver and red blotch just two blocks down from them - shaped like a huge spider. That one wasn't moving.

As Mandy looked closer, there were some transparent colored grains of sand moving around, at their spot there was a small pile of black sand. Mandy guessed it was them and the transparent ones were probably humans.

August was frowning as he was looking at the spider-shaped thing

"What is that?" Mandy asked.

"I don't know," August replied. "The color is strange. The shape reminds of a medium grade Ureal god, fire aligned, but it's my first time seeing a metallic colored alignment."

August sighed and said one more word in fae language. This one felt like 'stay still' and the spots on the map ceased their movement. August folded up the map and put it in his suitcase, sand neatly staying in its place, then picked the suitcase up, heading back towards his house without transforming it back into a book shape.

"We'll do nothing about it?" Mandy asked.

"Let's hear what Ian tells us tomorrow first," August said. "It's probably related to that thing anyway."

"It's not dangerous to leave it like that?" Mandy asked, finding the shape ominous.

"Who knows," August said. "But since it is Kenneth asking, I suspect it's not a rapidly evolving danger, rather - something tricky that might be consistently causing some hard to narrow down oddities."

"Like an elf cursing humans?" Mandy asked, recalling that case.

"Perhaps," August replied and since they entered a busier street, Mandy couldn't ask more.

There were people around up till the time when they entered the apartment, a suspicious looking neighbor lady was keeping an eye on August all the while he was unlocking the door.

Mandy had a feeling that she might be the one who called the police. No, rather than having a feeling it was a certain thing. She didn't realize at first, but after a proper look, it was the same lady who called police on her once when she was celebrating her birthday back when she had been alive. The lady had lost a lot of weight and her hair was now grey, but other than that nothing had changed.

August didn't appear to care and his senses Mandy could feel also implied the same thing, so Mandy didn't feel like saying anything about the lady either.

August let out a long breath and without bothering to take off his shoes, he walked in, passing the illusion barrier. The nature sounds, scents, and sights all met them in their vivid beauty. August's clothes pushed out the Mandybird as her body materialized, reminding her to head back to the door to take on a human shape. A tit's body without the ability to speak or share August's senses wasn't all that convenient.

August didn't waste any time and set up his newly acquired PC, doing the same in parallel with the new pad.

"Right, why can I speak normally when I'm an astral tit, but not here?" Mandy asked in a pause when things were updating.

"Isn't it more curious why ghosts can speak without vocal cords?" August asked.

Dang. Right! "Why can they?"

"Beats me. Mysteries of the world," August replied.

Mandy squinted but gave up soon. It wasn't actually all that important. The map thing was more interesting in either case. "Can I look at the map you made with spectral reading?"

August reached out to open his suitcase and passed it to Mandy, then resumed entering things and cl.i.c.k.i.n.g/tapping on the PC and pad.

"What do the other colors mean?" Mandy asked, seeing how colorful the map was. The colorful sand was spaced out in distances, but looking at it like this made it seem like there were a lot of astrals all over the place.

"White is light alignment, Black is dark, transparent is no-alignment," August said, tapped a bit on the screen, then continued: "Blue is water, Green is air, brown is earth, red is fire, crimson are terrean descents, yellow are solean descents."

Huh? "Descents?" Mandy asked. Weren't there barriers in place to prevent them from entering?

"In simple terms, when a ureal lets either soleans, or angels, or terreans, or demons, use their own body as a medium, similar to a remotely controlled robot or something," August said as he passed Mandy the pad that was set up exactly the same way how the previous one was.

"Thanks," Mandy said. She wanted to ask more, but it didn't feel like a good time. but-- wow, that sounded just like the right plot for crazy church paladins to come in-- Mandy resolved to ask about this to either Tia or Hal (if he happens to be as easy to talk to as Tia).

August merely nodded, then moved on to typing. Mandy didn't look at his screen, but she could tell it was important stuff since August had a troubled expression on his face.

Mandy put the pad down next to her, placed the map down on top of august's suitcase, and thought a bit on what she could or should do. Library was an option, but then she might not be home when the other familiars come back and what if they do something interesting, and what if Hal is with them - then she would be missing out on a lot.

Hum, if anything, this house now had no means of making coffee or food and now there were four of them. Rather than worrying about that, she might as well do some grocery shopping. There were plenty of delicious things one could prepare with simple methods. After deciding so, Mandy set out to do exactly that, leaning her back against August's. Sitting like this reminded her both that she was a shrimp height wise and that August was not exactly a princess.

By the time there was a ring at the door, August had long since switched to typing, mumbling to himself from time to time, to phrase things better, and Mandy had both finished her grocery shopping and become an expert at food delivery services and places nearby, even going as far as typing up a list of healthy and speedy choices with good reviews. She felt lucky to find out that nowadays wok and pizza were far from being the only delivery options.

Mandy went to pick the door since those were most likely his familiars, although... how did they know where their home was? She didn't spot August picking up his phone at any point. Well, maybe Tia had told Hal and the rest of their family? If anything, she could also just peek her head out of the door to check.