Dragontown, Bordertown Saturday Night

[anarchist_queen]

Apparently just because there was a war on back home, Leda was not free from certain duties as Queen. And while the Ambassador's to the various human nations were able to handle most diplomatic functions, the situation in Bordertown was getting tense.

Rumors of things in the Never Never coupled with dispatches from the war were starting to make people worried about a new gang war erupting between the TrueBloods and the Pack. As a B-Town native it was hoped that Leda would be able to talk the various Leaders down.

The visit had gone better than she'd feared, if not as well as she'd hoped. To help relieve her own tension, she had invited some of her friends from Fandom to come join her for a day of tea, tourism and martial arts antics in Dragontown.

Master Yin, one of the more prominent teachers in town had invited them to dine at his home. Naturally no visit to Bordertown would be complete without something exciting happening.

A young Chinese woman of about 15 or 16 burst into the spacious apartment/dojo without knocking. She was slightly short of breath, but from the urgency of her mission, not from any physical exertion.

Master Yin was surprised at the interruption. "Mei? What is wrong?"

"My apologies Master." she said. "But Laura has returned from the Never Never, and we need your assistance downstairs."

Master Yin frowned, and rose. "Of course, I will be right down." He turned to his guests. "If you will excuse me..."

"Fuck that noise." Leda muttered, getting to her feet as well. "I'm coming too."

James slid his knife back into his boottop and relaxed, slightly, back in his chair. Old habits died hard, and the reflexive reach for a weapon would probably stay with him for life.

"Shame to miss the excitement," he said, standing.

Momoko had reacted with concern more than alarm to the interruption, and set down her tea quickly. "She's back? Is she okay?"

Well, Jon wasn't going to let the others have all the fun, and quickly joined the group. "Anything you guys need help with?"

The girl, Mei, glanced at Yin's guests. She had known he was entertaining some folks but didn't know quite who they were. But her curiosity could wait.

She led them down to the alley outside. "Larua found a white fox in her saddlebag and it turned into a halfie kid." she explained. "He's hurt."

"What?" Leda asked.

"How bad?" James got right to the heart of the matter.

"Dunno." Mei told him. "But there's blood."

"Wait," Momoko frowned as she fell into step with Leda. "I thought it wasn't good when things came from the Never-Never? And if this is a kitsune..." Her frown deepened. A wounded fox-spirit was not something to take lightly.

"An actual kitsune?" Hey, Jon'd done his research while on the island. Or rather, late nights up reading. "And I totally agree with things from the Never-Never."

"Kitsune are Japanese tricksters right?" Mei asked. "I've heard of those, but don't they usually only mess with bad guys?"

"They don't care who they play with," Momoko waved her hand. "They're famous for being shapeshifting tricksters, yes, but they're also totally protective, if they like you. They're spirits, though, so they can be dangerous, even if they're on your side. But, in my world at least... they're not easy to hurt."

“So if something can hurt one, then..." James looked from face to face, as if to ask what they could be up against.

Momoko nodded. "That's in my world, though. It may not be the same, here."

"Rules are more like guidelines around here. And loose ones at that." Leda said.

In the alley outside, Laura was cradling an unconscious young man, and pressing a bandana against his forehead. He was very pale, and his white-blond hair was stained with blood near the hairline. He was dressed in a white t-shirt and blue jeans.

In retrospect she probably could have carried him up to the apartment, but she'd been taken so much by surprise that she'd almost collapsed under the sudden change in weight.

Momoko approached quickly, reaching into her pockets to see what she had with her. "I've had some first aid; can I see him? Are you okay? What happened?"

"Looks kinda Nordic for a Kitsune." Leda observed, getting out of the way of them what knew what they were doing.

Master Yin moved forward with Momoko. "If he needs more than the basics I can help him. You'd be surprised at how many stitches one needs to give around here." Or maybe she wouldn't.

Laura carefully removed the bandana so they could see. There was a nasty looking gash on the boy's forehead, running from just below his hairline to just under his right eyebrow, bisecting it.

"I'm fine." she said. "I had to leave the wood I was cutting for bows though. Someone decided tonight would be a good night for a hunt in the woods. I heard dogs barking and got out as quick as I could. When I got back I found this kid had stowed away in my saddlebag. 'Cept he was a fox then. Freaked out it looked like. When I got him out, he passed out and turned into this."

"Wow. So they hunt shifters here?" Jon was sort of sick at the thought of that. The kid didn't look like he could fight a cheerleader, let alone a pack of dogs.

"No." Leda shook her head vehemently. "But for a few years there's been stories about someone re-starting the Wild Hunt out in the Never Never."

"Wild Hunt... What does that mean? And how do we stop it." Momoko used her handkerchief to wipe as much of the blood from the wound as she dared. "Head wounds bleed a lot but he looks like he at least needs at least a strong bandage and a wrap to keep the wound closed... Master Yin, does it look to you like stitches? And do you have a sleeping tea?"

Master Yin examined the wound. "A few but it doesn't look too serious. Help me get him upstairs. And I have many kinds of tea."

Leda was doing her Elven deadpan thing, but those who knew her well would possibly be able to tell that she was fighting both outrage, and shame.

"I'd hoped they were just stories." she murmured. "The Wild Hunt is something the Unseelie used to do back before Earth and Faerie became separate. They would hunt anyone, and anything for sport. Animals, other Fae, even Humans."

Now it seemed that someone, or something had started the tradition up again in the wild lands beyond Bordertown.

Momoko's expression grew very similar to Leda's. "Then we are definitely going to stop it." Or at least Momoko was.

... "Wait, the Unseelie? Aren't they, like, the bad guys, here?" Momoko was trying to remember all that Leda had told her about the Fae.

Laura would have liked to say that Bordertown didn't have those kinds of Elves. But she knew from first hand experience that that simply wasn't true. "Dunno about Faery, but we don't generally talk about Seelie vs. Unseelie here. Mostly it's more of a grey area with everyone trying to live their lives." She sighed. "But there are exceptions."

"Well, I've totally met some bad faeries, no matter which they were," Momoko muttered as she assisted Master Yin with the medical kit. "In Bordertown and not. Why has no one done anything about this hunt thing?"

James made a grimace. "Because they have not dealt with Fandom before," he stated.

Laura knew only that even by Bordertown standards, this Fandom place was special.

"We did. We stay out of the Never Never at night." Said the girl who had risked staying out there after sunset.

Momoko was totally beginning to wonder about Leda's world.

"But that's not taking care of the problem! Ignoring the Hunt is almost the same as saying it's okay to do it! It's not really legal, right? It should be stopped."

Laura opened her mouth to respond, but Master Yin beat her to it.

"The unpredictable nature of magic and technology in Bordertown is doubled in the Wild Lands." he said. "The populace of the city prefers to stay out of trouble if they can for the simple fact that they cannot be sure anything they try will work. I believe it was Wolfboy who once said of the Never Never that one can never find a place if you look for it. The majority of those in this city have no interest in going to the Never Never at all. To put a stop to this hunt as you suggest would require a tremendous amount of manpower, as only numbers would be effective against those that now prowl the forests."

Momoko remembered how her yo-yo had seemed to fail on her at times in her last visit to Bordertown, but that didn't stop her from responding to Master Yin with frustration. "Then a tremendous amount of people should have tried to stop it. If they're hunting everyone, then no one is safe!"

"Should we call for help?" James offered. "Or there may be a way by using what we have instead of sheer numbers. I admit I do not know how we can handle this with what we know now."

Everything seems simple from the outside.

"Very few people living in Bordertown are warriors. And most of those who are feel that protecting the city in general, and their neighborhoods in particular are their concern. Not anything that happens outside of it. There have been attempts to do as you suggest, gather up enough numbers to put a stop to this hunt. They have not yet been successful because thus far, the city itself is safe." Master Yin went on.

"I am confident that if these hunters begin encroaching upon Bordertown lands, they will find far more than they bargained for."

When they had gotten the boy upstairs, Master Yin sent Laura to get his medical kit. "Mei please start the tea brewing."

"Right cause I know how to make a sleeping potion." Mei muttered. "And he's already asleep."

Momoko rolled her own eyes at the girl. "He needs to stay asleep? I totally don't want to have to hold him down while Master is sewing up his face. Especially since we don't know what he can do besides shape-shift."

Sorry, Mei got distracted by Momoko's eyes. Not that unusually colored eyes were actually...unusual in Bordertown, but typically it was Elves and Halfies that had them.

But she took the older girl's point. Hell, chances were the shifter kid didn't know what he could do. "Do you know how to make it?"

... "Not a potion, no," Momoko admitted reluctantly. "But I can totally follow a recipe, if there is one? And if I don't need to actually have magic?" She cast a hopeful glance over to Master Yin.

Master Yin began cleaning the boy's wound, and called out to Mei where to find the more soothing of his tea collection.

"It is not a potion Mei, just tea with a bit of sedative in it."

Laura brought him the kit and told Mei precisely what to put in the tea. Meanwhile, Yin sanitized the needle, and Leda began to pace.

As soon as they had the instructions, Momoko grabbed Mei's hand and tugged her into the kitchen. It took a bit longer to make the tea than Momoko expected, since she was both totally unfamiliar with the kitchen and trying to keep Mei from burning herself.


But finally they had the tea ready and headed back into the other room. "The one with the spoon has the sedative in it," Momoko remarked as they carried out a rather large tray of cups. "But the rest are fine, if anyone wants some."

"Are you sure?" Jon asked with a grin as he took a cup.

Momoko smiled back. "Totally sure! I can make tea! If you want coffee, though, you totally need to go out for some; the last batch I made was green."

"Green?" James asked, taking a cup. "How did you make it green?"

“Do we want to know what she did to make it green?" Jon asked, still smiling. "I can handle tea."

Master Yin was almost done with the stitches when the boy awoke suddenly, with a gasp.

"Don't move." Master Yin cautioned. "I'm fixing you up. Maybe not as pretty as before, but not too bad."

The boy did as he was bid, but he looked around with his eyes none the less. He looked afraid, but at the same time, hopeful.

"Don't worry, kid, you're doing fine." Jon had been in his shoes a few times, getting stitched up by strangers.

The boy looked around, his eyes a bright golden color.

"So," Mei said, "Who are you kid?"

"Eli."

"Eli what?"

The boy looked confused.

"Are you a kitsune?"

He looked more confused.

[Preplayed with Momoko, James of KROOOOOONDOOOOOOOR!!, and Jon.]