The Bear and Barnacle

He leans against the wall, arms crossed and eyes watchful. A sleek black gun is holstered at his hip. A wayward woman with a briefcase turns the corner and comes to a full stop, eyes going wide as she takes in Zel and his weapon. She mumbles an apology and quickly turns around, scurrying out of sight.

Zel is doing his job.

It's certainly not the first time where a good portion of his job is to simply be imposing. But that's what he was hired for, this time to keep anyone from noticing or recognizing the politician and the actress secreted away in the hotel suite up the private lift behind him. Both careers would be in ruin and the woman would risk far worse from those of her homeland.

He rarely takes 24 hour positions, not wanting to be away from Jack and Val. Val can do a lot of damage in 24 hours and he didn't have any desire to return home to Jack duct taped to a chair while Val does whatever the hell he wants. Not that he doesn't risk that with shorter jobs, but he figures Val would need longer to actually manage to carry out such a plan that would compensate for his size enough to overpower Jack. But this job came with enough need and funding to make him accept it for three days.

It's the same sort of thing he'd take before he came to Margate with the same agreements: a flat fee based on time, plus a generous per diem for food with coffee separately billed. He rarely even touched the funds for food and those who hired him always laughed off the coffee provision, until they got their bill for Zel's caffeine consumption.

With a brief call upstairs, Zel ensures that the couple is occupied enough to not be leaving and he takes a dinner break. He collects his messages from the girl at the front desk who is brave or blind enough to be flirtatious then avails himself of the hotel's phone to first accept one morning job (he leaves the hotel to deal those he doesn't want) then to invite Jack- who is thankfully not taped to a chair or anything else- to meet him for dinner.

It jolts him upright when he hears it- the quiet tinkling of a metal windchime. Yet another damn windchime. And he knows just where it's coming from too. The neighbors to the south of them, an elderly couple named Fitzwilliam, have some damn fetish for the things. Perhaps it's their age that has prevented them from taking the hint that the only acceptable windchime is a wooden one, all hollow clunks. That one still hangs in their back garden in the arbor over their breakfast table. The others have all disappeared. Not that Zel has any idea how, of course.

But there it is again and Zel's back goes ramrod-straight. It's just too damn close to the sound of Rezo's walking staff, metal rings clinking to tell others that a blind man was approaching, metal rings that had rung far too often against the side of Zel's head or across his back. If he was lucky that would be the only thing the sound of the staff heralded, but if not....

Zel still heard that staff in his nightmares, his body tensing with every remembered or imagined ring. He'd be damned if he had to listen to it (or anything even remotely close to it) when he was awake too. Growling under his breath, he waited until the couple went out in their shuffling steps on their evening walk then he levitated over the fence between the two properties and took the cheery bronze sun and its dangling accompaniment of clouds and vindictively melted it in his hand. The twisted but finally silent mass of metal was then tossed with a quiet word of offering into the ocean. Deep-Sea Dolphin should at least appreciate the way it sparkles.

Zel has managed fairly well to keep himself in practice but he knows that after years of fighting humans, trolls, berserkers, mazoku (including Val and his nearly successful bringing about of the Apocalypse) that he needs more. Jack's too inexperienced and too worried about hurting him to be more than casual practice. And he grows bored defending himself against his own spelled fireballs, rocks, etc. He knows Iago is skilled with a sword- probably not nearly as great as Dora would claim- but the Venetian is too much of an asshole for Zelgadis not to wish to actually injure him and he really doesn't want to have to deal with the fall out of that one. He's seen a few things Xellos is capable of.

So he finally figures "what the hell" and pins a note to the noticeboard in the pub:

Experienced swordsman seeks equal or better for rigorous sparring.
Contact Zelgadis Grayweir
23 Northdown Way

Zel's memories weigh heavily on him, but he generally pretends that it's the weight of his stone body which presses down on him, a freakish body that he's imprisoned in thanks to Rezo. The occasional gaps in his memory are Rezo's doing too. So Zel does his best to focus on finding a cure rather than on just how much his existence is the fault of Rezo and his damned inability to fight off the possession of Dark Lord Ruby-Eye. His focus is just not that successful.

He wishes Rezo would just send letters like normal damn people rather than appearing as a vision before him, more often as a disembodied eye or floating head than a whole man, to tell the boy to expect him in the next few days. The irony of the forms Rezo chose was never lost on Zelgadis.

Warning: Memory contains underaged dubcon/noncon.

( A letter telling him not to expect Rezo for a few months would have been ideal. )

Zel waits until the night winds down before he even takes his guitar out of its case. He's been impressed, actually, with what all has been done by the patrons of the pub. Despite his inclination to the contrary, he begrudgingly admits Iago's skill with song and gives a smile to the little girl who reminds him too much of Amelia not to expect her to sing about Justice. He will deny contemplating how incredible Iago's choice of song would be on a guitar. However, he will need to speak to the vampire.

But as the silence draws out in the darkness, it becomes clear that no one else will be taking the stage. So he stands up and takes the guitar Jack gave him for his birthday up with him. He doesn't introduce himself, figuring most will know who he is since he stands out more than anyone else here. Zel perches on a stool and puts the guitar in his lap then quietly begins playing one of his own songs, his eyes closed and fingers skillfully strumming the mournful song.

Zel's been arranging the day of Jack's birthday for over a month now, ever since Jack determined that they should celebrate Zelgadis' birthday on 01 Jan. Zel's kept track of his birthdays by the seasons for as long as he could remember. He knows that most people know their actual day of birth, but it was yet one more thing that Rezo kept from him when the bastard killed his parents and took him for his own use when he was only five. So much for trying to hide in the North and live a quiet life.

But, today is Jack's birthday- His 32nd- and Zel had not trouble thinking of what to do for him- the trouble was making it happen. But enough discussion, convincing, and money seems to make anything possible around here. Except for his and Val's leaving. They tested that on Saturday, with Professor McGonagall's help. But no matter, Jack can do this on his own.

So he wakes Jack early in the morning with a hot cup of coffee and a languid blowjob followed by another cup of coffee. He tells Jack he's called him a car to take him somewhere and to dress warm. He expected the resistance to going alone, but the promise of dinner together with Val and use of the coffee syrup Jack made, and Jack blushingly agrees to get into the taxi without him.

He hands the driver the address and more than enough money to get him there and he watches as the car pulls away, a rueful smile barely touching his lips at missing this.

( The car makes its way along the roads, steadily North along the coastline, then finally comes to a stop in front of this... )

It's not something Zel ever thought he'd be doing. But he had the money- gems and gold hidden magically away: payment for playing bodyguard to lords, helping defeat trolls and demons, agreeing to be Amelia's protector and her father/king by proxy. The market for gemstones here was good, not given to the added benefit of protection spells put onto the larger jewels but enough that he was able to acquire sufficient funds for this.

Jack had said it was important- proof, apparently in his culture, that Jack had grown successfully into adulthood, accepted and stable. This added to the potential of Jack worrying less about L hearing them at private moments and therefore being less restrained, Val not being able to consume large amounts of sugar that was stashed everywhere, and having a place that was more home than Zel ever had, maybe one that would help Val to find comfort and security in this worlds as well...

And here Zelgadis was... buying a house.

It was hard to find the right one, one that stood on its own, private, with the large back garden (also private)- what with all the attached houses, terraced houses, converted houses, flats, etc in Margate. Not to mention that they were constrained to the limits of the city and many houses he found had taller neighboring buildings that could see right into the available property. They were an odd enough trio without having to worry about dealing with nosy neighbors, curious lookers-on, easily shocked old women who would only stare at two men kissing in their own garden. Let alone Zel's preference of bathing under the stars, Val's preference of running around with as few clothes on as possible (something he'd done before his rebirth as well), Zel's tendency to levitate small animals around the garden for Val to chase and catch in hopes of strengthening his wings. And if Zel and Jack decided to have sex outside of their bedroom? Privacy was imperative.

But finally he found it. Showed it to Jack and Val. Earned their whole-hearted approval (Jack immediately started planning shelves in the workshop and Val bounded to the large curtained off window in 'his' room and everyone wrinkled their nose at the spare room's decor). So Zelgadis paid the very startled looking owner and his equally startled looking property manager in cash.

And now they had a house. With a large back garden, a separate place for Jack to work on his assorted projects with less of a risk losing parts to the 4 year old former-mazoku-returned-to-dragon's hunger for causing havoc. Provided Jack remembered to lock the doors.

( Pictures )

Just in time too, considering the angry look of the clouds rolling in over the city.

Coffee. Definitely coffee. Which requires going to the kitchen- He still hasn't quite given in to the urge to have a coffee pot in the bedroom.

Zelgadis rolls over in bed, carefully extracting himself from the sleeping form previously half on top of him. He sits up and looks around for the soft ivory trousers he wears and, finding them folded on the dresser, pulls them carefully on over the irregular grey pebbles marring his blue stone skin. Then he pulls on a grey shirt laying next to it. He's long since lost the habit of running a hand over his hair after dressing- nothing's going to move the wires.

( Morning brew-ha-ha. )