Cleo Locke (glassmamba) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2011-01-13 17:04:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2009-08-07, cleo, faith |
Who: Faith and Cleo
When: Late morning
Where: La Universidad!
What: A potential re-enactment of Rikki Tikki Tavi.
Cleo was so glad the rain had broken finally; she'd been getting tired of being cooped up in her apartment or downstairs in the workshop; while she was glad she had a little more room in which to maneuver and something to fill the time that wasn't watching endless reruns of Say Yes to the Dress or some other mindless American reality show, even the expanded room available to her had begun to wear on her nerves. She'd churned out some nice pieces in the downtime, during which she'd kept the shop closed. Rain made things slippery, things like floors, and people falling in her shop was usually a cause for disaster. As she had no wish to recreate some of the pieces she had on sale, that meant she just closed up shop. Besides, she doubted she was really going to lose much business while nature was apparently trying to restart the 40 day flood.
So on the first day where it was really, actually sunny - was that a rainbow even? - Cleo was out the door the second she was able to get up and dressed. She stopped at her favorite diner for a big breakfast, basking in the warm sunlight that shone through the window onto her booth, then hopped in her truck and headed out to Ann Arbor. She didn't have any real need to head out to the university, but she wanted to check on the condition of the glass kilns as the summer classes drew to a close, and see if there were any supplies she needed to order in now before it turned into a rush deal. Plus, it was always nice just to walk around campus and enjoy the scenery.
She parked on the outskirts of campus - parking was a beast the closer you got to populated buildings, and the art building was always hopping. Anyway, it was gorgeous out, if humid as all hell, and Cleo was going to take advantage of the heat while she still had it. Locking the truck behind her, she pocketed the keys and headed towards the studios.
Faith should have been sleeping. The day after the full moon was always just a little more exhausting than it had any right to be. And long. It was a lot longer than anyone claimed. Sure she had managed to get some sleep at last, curled up on her pillow, but she had not enjoyed herself. It was the first full moon in who knew how long that she had been alone. Sonic was a good companion, yes, but he was just a hedgehog and she had grown used to having Frankie around. That was what she was going to blame her lack of a good night’s sleep on - Frankie not being there. I should give her a piece of my mind for that, Faith thought as she stepped out of the small office she had been given and stretched. The new pack of cigarettes that she had bought that morning on the way in came out along with one of those cheap plastic lighters she hated. But buying a real lighter would have been a waste because when Frankie showed up she would just have to stop using it. Right then though she could take out that extra build up of stress by having a cigarette or two before she went back in to tackle organization and the syllabus and a meeting with whatever his name was and - what?
Straightening a little, Faith sniffed at the air. And there it was again, carried on the light breeze that had stirred up further along campus. It reeked of snake. Taking a long drag off of her cigarette she pocketed the lighter, flipped her sunglasses down over her eyes and started in that direction. Maybe she should have given a little thought to not doing what she was, but Faith had spent a lot of time over the past years just doing what her instincts claimed instead of what her brain insisted was right. Right would have been staying there before going back into the building. Now what she did was walk along the sidewalk until she spotted a dark-haired woman walking towards what she thought might be the studios of the campus. That was where the scent was coming from. A student? A teacher? I don’t want to be expected to work with that creature. Even by the vaguest terms. Faith took a moment longer before she decided to catch up with her. Maybe it would be one of the dullards who did not know the scent of a predator when it was next to them.
“Are those the art studios?” Faith asked when she drew level with her. “Sorry, new girl on campus, trying to figure everything out.”
Cleo had been really enjoying herself, the warmth of the sun on her bare shoulders, clad as she was in a slightly bohemian tank top and calf-length peasant skirt ensemble, sandals slapping rhythmically against the concrete pathway. She'd been about a heartbeat away from considering ditching the shoes in the big hobo bag that was slung over her shoulder and going barefoot in the grass next to the sidewalk, but a few hours of sunshine wasn't going to be enough to dry the ground by a long shot. She might not normally mind wet grass and mud on her feet, but not when she'd be going into a university building in short order.
Then the wind shifted just enough to bring the scent of were to her tongue; the scent was teasingly familiar. No one unfamiliar with lamiae would note the way her mouth hung open just a bit, tongue pressed to the roof of her mouth as she studied it, compared it to memory. Though not identical to the species that was local to her part of South Africa, it was similar enough to identify - mongoose. And in the next second, the owner of the scent was beside her, a sweet-looking blonde that also reeked of cigarette smoke. Usually polite, Cleo stifled the urge to wrinkle her nose at the strong scent even as she offered the woman a cautious smile. Just because she smelled of mongoose, after all, didn't mean she would attack any snake on sight. Cleo was confident enough that she could pass herself off as a weresnake; she'd done it before in her infrequent run-ins with wereanimals. There was no reason they couldn't all be civil.
"That's the one," she confirmed, nodding. "Art studios and general-purpose classrooms. New student or new employee?" She looked a little older than the average student, but that didn't necessarily mean anything in this age. "I'm Cleo, by the way." Deciding to be the first to put herself out there, Cleo held out her hand for a shake.
If Faith had not already known just from the scent of her - it differed from the few were-snakes that she had found herself tangled with - that this was a lamiae then that little motion would have given her away. Lamiae could be so clumsy in the areas where they had never needed to worry about someone taking care of them. Clearly this area had been allowed to run a little too free for awhile. Hence why they made the national news with all that trouble of the two babies who had been found mostly-devoured in their cribs. It could have been this one and she wants me to shake her hand? I’ll need to scrub a whole layer of skin right off and then get rid of the new layer when it grows in! Or I’d just never ever be able to feel clean again. But if she refused the hand then that was like putting up a red flag that showed her intentions through and through. Then she might as well just shift on the spot and go for her throat. Brilliant plan if she wanted to get fired and put in jail before she had even gotten started.
“Employee.” Faith accepted the handshake and then shifted her cigarette to that hand, wanting to get rid of that snake-smell before it started to so much as linger. “I’m Faith. Teaching a course on herpetology this and next semester.” She arched an eyebrow up, blowing smoke up even though part of her wanted to just blow it in the woman’s face and let her know her general opinion on her. “If you’re a student then you should stop by and see what there is to learn. If you’re a professor then you should stop by anyway.” Please don’t be a professor, I don’t want to put myself in the same tier as you. “I know all there is to know about reptiles... and my personal speciality is snakes.”
A were mongoose who specialized in snakes. That said a lot for the woman's personal feelings, in Cleo's opinion... as did the way she didn't seem too pleased to shake hands. For her part, Cleo didn't have a problem touching the were. Or at least, not much of one, and the bit she did have seemed to come with the feeling that the mongoose didn't much like her. Maybe it was just instinct? Or maybe it was something else. She wasn't the type to jump to conclusions, but she'd been raised to be cautious and it hadn't been too long ago that she'd been attacked by the vampire. So while she wouldn't say no to being friends - as unlikely as that was beginning to seem - she wasn't in a hurry to invite the woman over for tea. She could always apologize later if it was all in her head.
"Herpetology," she echoed. "How very interesting. Whatever drew you to the subject?" As if each of them didn't know what the other was. Well, she probably knew Cleo was a reptile, but everyone assumed weresnake. No one ever knew what a lamia was. Or rather, that they were real. "I'm a professor as well," Cleo admitted. "Art, specialty is glassmaking. Fall and spring, maybe more if they ask me to stay, but I don't know yet." Even if she wasn't teaching, however, she'd probably still be in town. She had the shop, after all. She wasn't going to just give it up after a year. "You're welcome to drop by for a lesson anytime, as well.”
It had been a fair bit of time since Faith had needed to be pleasant towards the creatures that she viewed as belonging nowhere on the planet. It was not in her nature to pretend and she was struggling with it, as she had no doubts was evident. But so long as she kept up a basic front she figured that maybe she could pass off as not wanting her and her kind gone. Dropping the cigarette onto the pavement she crushed it with the heel of her shoe before bending down to pick it up. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up at being in any sort of semi-vulnerable position this near to a lamiae but she was not going to litter just because of that. Whoever knew that the snakes could be artistic. Though she supposed that maybe glassmaking made sense for one of them. There was a lot of heat involved after all and they sort of needed that.
“Oh, I have no idea,” Faith replied with a shrug of her shoulders. “Just this innate draw to snakes and knowing what makes them tick I guess. Sort of runs in the family, you could say.” Her mother being the exception. “And while that’s a nice offer, art isn’t really my thing.” Being in a room full of hot objects with her natural enemy was also most definitely not her thing. The opposite of her thing. Something that she would go and do if someone had a gun held to her head maybe. But there was something intriguing about Cleo other than that whole lamiae thing. “You’re from South Africa, aren’t you?” Like Frankie. Ohhhhhh she would just love knowing that there were lamiae from her home country. Which could not really be a huge surprise since the place was perfect for them.
"Does it," Cleo said. Her tone was one of polite interest, but it wasn't really a question. The more she heard, the less she liked the sound of even the innocent-sounding comments. "I'd imagine all snakes are different," she said. "Hard to say what really makes them tick." That wasn't exactly the most subtle she'd ever been, but it was vaguely annoying to have the feeling she was intensely disliked by someone she'd just met.
"Good ear," she complimented. "Most people around here guess Australia or New Zealand." She supposed they were similar, if you didn't know how to listen for the differences. "Born and raised just outside Cape Town, as a matter of fact. Have you ever been?"
Faith tilted her head a little to one side. “I suppose that maybe you’d know all about that. How snakes tick. Why they prefer that sort of rock to the other... why they eat what they do.” Different diets for different breeds. The particular diet for the sort of snake that Cleo was though, Faith was pretty sure she could nail down what she ate several times a year with no problem. Baby. Humanoid baby. Now if she had gone around eating baby mice or deer or something else like that then it would not have been such a big deal and Faith could have just done what she did for the pure fun of it. “Although,” Faith admitted, shifting a little. “I do have a fair idea of what makes a lot of them go. Been studying them everywhere I go.”
The Australian accent was very different. Faith could pull a flawless one off after having spent over six years there and the South African was different enough. Though really she blamed her knowledge of the accent completely on having Frankie around. “Just once when I was spending time in Africa. My partner’s from there though so you know. I’m sure that she’d love to meet you. Tickle her pink to learn someone from her country is here.” When really Frankie would probably be more interest in the same aspect of Cleo that Faith was; the snake part.
"I might know a thing or two, yes," Cleo admitted, since they were more or less not beating around the bush anymore. It was true that she ate humanoid babies a few times a year, as the need arose. But she didn't steal them from families that would miss them, and she didn't break into houses in the middle of the night, murder both children - both, what an absolute waste. The news of that still made her angry, even if she still had no idea who might have perpetrated the crime.
"Well, you are the expert," she allowed, "but popular conception doesn't always equate to actuality. It would be poor form to generalize and lump all of them in together, now wouldn't it?" She didn't think she was going to change the woman's mind, and she wasn't necessarily interested in trying that hard as long as she was left alone, but it never hurt to plant a seed or two while she could.
"It's not often you meet someone from back home over here," Cleo agreed, though she didn't exactly jump to invite Faith's partner over for tea and a visit. "I'm sure we're bound to run into each other eventually, if she's going to be spending any time here on campus."
Faith widened her eyes and crossed one arm over her stomach, propping her other up to tap lightly against her lips. Almost as though she were thinking about what was said. She was not. Lamiae were lamiae. They were not like actual snakes. They had humanoid form and humanoid minds and therefore they had the ability to register that what they did was wrong and could be stopped. Plus, they just smelled bad. Worse than snakes because there was just... something that made Faith’s nose tickle and her skin crawl. “Now why would you generalize? Each species has its own little category and they tend to fit into those very well. Which-” She pointed one finger in a thoughtful manner. “-I’ve figured out for myself. Experience trumps book knowledge.” Oh god, had she really just said that? She loved book knowledge! It was just as much her thing as going out there and learning. Or it was supposed to be. It will be again.
“When she hears that you’re here I’m sure she’ll be happy to spend more time on campus than she normally would.” Faith even managed a smile to go along with the statement. It was not like she was lying or anything. The reason for her wanting to be there would just have very little to do with the similar country. “I’m sure that I’ll be seeing quite a bit of you. You know, snakes. My thing.”
"Well," Cleo said, "I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree on that subject." There was nothing she was going to do in one meeting to change this woman's mind, and she didn't think she was interested in a second to continue the discussion. She was getting some seriously creepy vibes, and that was saying a lot considering what she did four times a year. She wasn't too concerned; she was reasonably confident that she could take care of herself, but a lot of self defense involved not putting oneself in a dangerous situation. She'd just gotten in a fight with a vampire; she didn't want to get into another with a were. Or with anyone, for that matter.
"You're both welcome in the studio anytime." Cleo managed to stay friendly. "I've got to run, but it was a pleasure meeting you. Do be careful if you plan to do any fieldwork." Well, mostly friendly. "I'm sure in your line of work, you're constantly in danger of being bitten. I'd hate for that to be the case here." She smiled, nodded. "Enjoy the rest of your day, Faith."
Except we’re not agreeing. It was quite possibly impossible for Faith to agree with a lamiae. Unless they named themselves a menace or a killer, then she would hop right on board. But otherwise she would want to disagree even if they claimed that the sky was blue and water was wet. Ridiculous, but true. “Well thank you, the offer is very kind of you.” And easily avoided. At the remark about fieldwork Faith flashed a much larger smile, this one big enough to show her teeth. “Oh I’ve been bitten so many times that I lost track back when I was in my mid-twenties. Advantage of who I am, poison doesn’t really work.” Animals seems to get so confused and thrown off when their first line of defense and offense did not do what it was supposed to. Faith just chose to leave out the large number of hospital visits she had needed to make as well. “But you should watch your back, that’s a distinct scent you’re carrying around. Tickles the nose.” Faith started walking backwards towards where she had come from. “See you around, Cleo.”