Landon Kirby (mopheadedhobbit) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2019-05-04 18:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !log, kenny mccormick (mysterion), ~2019 may, ~25 points, ~~landon kirby (mopheadedhobbit) |
WHO: Kenny McCormick and Landon Kirby
WHAT: Landon’s arrival
WHEN: This evening
WHERE: By the river
WARNINGS: Talk of death
STATUS: Closed/Completed Gdoc
It was near evening when near the river there was a loud thud as something large and light grey landed heavily on the riverbank. Vaguely human shaped, it was the color of ash and in it seemed carved the features and shapes of a person.
It remained motionless for a few moments before it started rocking slightly, as if something inside was trying to get out. A moment later a hand punched through the thick ash, followed by the complete body of a young man in his late teens.
Landon blew the ash out of his eyes and brushed it off his body as he stood, looking around him, and trying to figure out what the hell was going on. It wasn’t the ash, or the rising from it that surprised him - he already knew that he was a phoenix. But he couldn’t for the life of him remember who had killed him last time, or what he was doing on the bank of a river he was pretty sure that he’d never seen before.
Stepping away from the pile of ash, he looked around him, noticing a guy on the other side of the street. Raising a hand, he waved at him, darting across the street as he did.
“Hey,” he said, his black curls still coated with ash, “Where am I?”
***
Not feeling like heading into work just yet, Kenny had decided to wander around town, ending up near the river. He was a bit bored and was looking for something interesting to do. Right when he wondered what there was, he heard a sudden thump nearby and when he turned, he saw a pile of... ashes? Is that what that was?
He wasn't sure, but that's what it looked like. So a pile of ashes fell from the sky. Odd, but Kenny was used to weird shit. He just shrugged and started to walk away when he heard something stirring and he turned and saw a guy emerging from said ashes. Well, that was new and different.
He stopped, not surprised that the guy wanted to know where he was. "Madison Valley," he replied. "Guess you just arrived, huh? They should be here soon... yep, there they are," he turned and nodded towards the welcome committee, who did their thing while Kenny stepped back until they were done.
***
After the welcoming committee left, Landon looked even more confused than before. He ran a hand nervously through his hair and looked back at Kenny with a very clear ‘what-the-hell’ look before giving a small, nervous smile.
“So...let me see if I’ve got this straight,” he said. “I’ve been kidnapped by a sentient...town? And there’s no way back where I came from?”
He had learned a lot about the supernatural in the last few weeks and months but nothing he had learned had prepared him for this.
“I...don’t even know what to say to that.”
***
Kenny just stood back while the welcoming committee did their thing. Since he didn't really care enough to stick around, he was about to leave but then the new guy spoke up again and he turned back to him. "Yep, pretty much," he replied with a shrug. He never found it strange or odd that the Dome was sentient and kept them trapped, but most other people did.
"There's nothing to say. Just accept it and move on." Which was pretty easy to do if you asked him, but apparently it wasn't for some people. "And anyways, lots of people arrive like you did. But I think you're the first who came here in a pile of ashes."
***
Since finding out his best friend and de facto brother was a werewolf not long ago, Landon’s entire life had pretty much been ‘accept it and move on.’ He could do that. Sure.
“I guess there’s no choice, is there?” He said with a smile and a shrug, then sighed and his face fell a bit when Kenny mentioned the ashes.
“Yeah, I’m still trying to figure that out. The weird thing is that I can’t remember who killed me last time. Or why. Or really, what happened at all.”
***
"Nope," Kenny shook his head. He always felt it was best. Trying to find a way back or escape never worked. Not on purpose, anyway because the Dome did send people back home. But it was always amusing when a new refugee would try and escape.
So he was glad the guy took his advice, but a little disappointed he wasn't going to try and leave. But he wasn't thinking about that and was instead thinking about what he just said. "'Killed you'? Were you actually killed just before coming here?"
***
“Yeah, absolutely,” he said, nodding his head. He was sure about that part, but completely unsure about what had come before. He’d died, and it had been in Triad’s complex, but who had done it? No matter how much he tried to remember, there was just nothing there.
“That’s what the ash was,” he said, running a hand through his curls and causing a mini ash-shower when he did. “I’m a Phoenix.”
That wasn’t something he’d just tell people back home, but this place was weird enough that he figured it wouldn’t be a big deal.
***
"Huh," Kenny said before making a face at the ashes flying around. That's got to be annoying, always being covered in ashes after dying. Kenny himself was usually covered in blood, so he kind of knew how that felt. Bloodstains were a bitch to get rid of.
"I die all the time too and come back," he told Landon. "I'm immortal, though, not a phoenix. There's no being reborn through the ashes or whatever for me."
***
“I guess I’m immortal, too,” he said. This was all very new for Landon, he had only known about the supernatural for a few months, and his own identity for even less time. “I mean, every time I die, I burn up, and then am reborn out of the ashes with all my memories and everything from before. I mean, dying sucks and hurts a lot, but if I keep coming back, I guess that means I’m immortal too.”
Honestly, he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He didn’t want to die, or anything like that, but was living forever actually a good thing? He could see a lot of arguments for it, but a lot of arguments against it, too. People weren’t supposed to live together, and there were reasons for that.
“So are you...older than you look, then?”
***
"Guess so," Kenny shrugged. "And yeah, the dying and shit sucks, but I don't know about you, but I'm pretty used to it." If it weren't for the pain, maybe the whole immortality thing wouldn't be so bad. But as such, Kenny felt every single death that he'd ever gone through in his life. Which was... actually, he wasn't sure how many times he died. He never really kept track.
"Depends. How old do you think I am?" he joked. "Nah, that's a different kind of immortality. But I know some people who are a lot older than they look."
***
“A little older than me, I guess? But not much.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down at his feet a little awkwardly. “This was only my second death. So I don’t really know that I am used to it yet? Maybe give me a dozen more and this will be old hat,” he joked, but it was clear that hadn’t really come to terms with himself or what he was.
“First time I had my throat torn out by a vampire. Second time…” And there it was again. “I don’t know. I can’t remember a thing. It’s like my memory’s been erased. There’s something I should know, and I just can’t remember it.”
The other guy probably didn’t care at all about his problems, though, and he was probably wishing he’d just get on his way.
“So, um, which way is it to the apartments, anyway?”
***
"Probably," Kenny shrugged. The guy did seem around his age, maybe a couple years younger or so. He didn't really care. "I think I got used to it after my third death, but I was a kid. I didn't know anything about death at the time. I didn't know you weren't supposed to come back." Guess he was kind of lucky in that regard, that he didn't really know what was going on. It was still really fucked up, though.
"Dude, you got killed by a vampire. Vampires are so lame." He will never understand why people like vampires so much or even why they were considered scary and terrifying. "We do have vamps here, but they're alright." At least, Carm and Adrian were. He wasn't sure about the others, but he did know they didn't go around ripping people's throats out.
And he was right, Kenny couldn't say he cared too much. The guy did keep his interest for this long, though, which was something. "They're over that way," he pointed to his right.
***
“He was a vampire who was supposed to be my friend, too, so that kind of sucked.” He didn’t really blame MG, though, and he’d made up for it more or less. He didn’t know if their friendship could ever be the same after that, but at least they’d managed to come up with a truce. “I mean, I don’t think vampires are awesome or anything like that. They’re just...something that exists, you know? They’re no more shitty than humans, really.”
Well, maybe some of them could be. Some of them who had waaay too much time on their hands and waaaay too much practice at being evil. But MG wasn’t one of those vampires.
Landon looked through his paperwork, and suddenly his face went pale.
“Wait...they’re putting me with foster parents?”
He’d spent his whole life in foster care, and he was damned sure that he didn’t want to go back.
***
"Friends suck sometimes. It happens. Me and my friends ditch each other all the time and shit," Kenny shrugged. He never realized it until he was older, but he, Stan, Kyle, and Cartman had a bit of an odd relationship with each other. Not only did they ditch each other, they also hated Cartman, especially Kyle. Yet they still hung out. They also came up with crazy ass plans in the moment and never really cared about what happened to other people.
"But yeah, everyone's pretty much the same." Which is, everyone was boring and shitty, except for a few. He thought so anyway. It was probably his cynicism talking. As friendly as he can be, Kenny never really did like being around people. He could pretend he was fine with it, but he always felt detached for the most part.
He glanced over at Landon. "Guess so. They usually do that if you're underage," he told him. "Been there, done that. Does it say who your guardian is?" He never had to have a guardian when he arrived, so he didn't know how that worked. Sometimes he'd see people asking for a guardian or they already knew and were asking for the right person.
***
Landon looked at the paper again, frowning when he found the name. “It says Bob Henderson. A Madison Valley resident.” He shuddered. “Someone who’s always been here, I guess?” He crumpled up the paper suddenly, starting to freak out a bit. He’d spent so much time bouncing from one foster home to another, taking the beatings, neglect, abuse, and anything else they wanted to throw at him. Back home, he was finally out of all that, and he really, really, really, didn’t want to get thrown right back into it. But he didn’t know anyone here, so what was he supposed to do?
“What would they do if I just...don’t go?” He asked, his tone a little desperate. “I mean, my friend Raf and I hung out in the woods for a little while. Maybe I could do that here.”
It couldn’t be worse than another foster home, just when he’d found a place he belonged back home.
***
"Guess so. I don't recognize the name." Not that he knew every single refugee here, but Kenny did know this Bob Henderson dude didn't sound like one of them. But he knew the townies weren't too friendly to those who arrived, but some were alright. Maybe this Bob guy wouldn't be so bad but it didn't matter to him. He wasn't the one who was going to live with him.
Or not, if Landon was already planning not to. "No idea," he replied. "They might not care or maybe they'll make you live with him. You can always hide in the woods and find out."
***
This place was sucking more by the minute. Landon shifted his weight from one foot to the other, trying not to outright panic. “What kind of things are in the woods here?” He’d already told him vampires, but if he was going to get eaten by ghouls or something, he’d have to find a new way to avoid his assigned foster family.
“I mean, vampires, werewolves, that’s okay. I know how to deal with those. Even hybrids I can handle.” Although they were scary as hell, he could deal with them. It was the things he didn’t know about that terrified him. Like the dragon that had almost smoked him on the bus, for instance.
***
Kenny had noticed the slight shifting and he wondered if the guy was becoming slightly panicked. Not that he cared, but he could be quite perceptive. Came with being the quiet one of the group, he supposed. He just noticed shit others didn't.
"Uh... vampires, werewolves, witches, demons, angels, superheroes. Even gods and the Endless and the Devil himself is here. All kinds of people, really." It made this place a little more interesting, for Kenny at least. He'd seen some crazy shit back home, but there were beings here he'd never met before.
***
Wow. That was...quite a lot more than they had back home. And he knew very well he couldn’t defend himself from any of that. Sure, he was a supernatural, immortal creature, but when it came to fighting, he sucked really hard. Pretty much anything could kill him, and it sounded like most of those things would. And while dying wasn’t permanent, it definitely hurt. A lot. And it wasn’t something that he wanted to do just for the fun of it.
“Um, okay, maybe the woods is a bad idea. Is there any sort of...I don’t know. Group home? Boy’s Club? Anything that might take me in while I try to find a place to stay? I mean, if I can stay there like, seven months then I can turn eighteen and be on my own, right?”
***
"You sure? I mean, I doubt any of them would hurt you, let alone kill you. They're all pretty friendly." Which was kind of dull and boring that none of them scared people, but whatever. Maybe they just wanted to live peaceful lives and not get into any trouble, which he guessed he could kind of understand that.
"I'm not sure if there's a group home. I think there might be. You can always ask on the network or something," he shrugged. Part of him felt like there was a sort of group home here, but it was awhile since the last time it was talked about. And sometimes his memory wasn't great to begin with, so he wasn't too sure.
***
“Right, right,” he said, seeming to make himself smaller. He really didn’t like the idea of being put in a foster home again - his experience in them before had been anything but inspiring. But it wasn’t Kenny’s problem and he didn’t want to bother him any more than he already had. After all, he hadn’t had to talk to him for this long.
“I’ll check on the network. Like you said. Hey, thanks for everything.”
He’d have to figure out this place his own way, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t done that before.
***
Kenny couldn't really blame him. Foster homes sucked, though he himself didn't have too much problems with them. Honestly, his own home was worse than some of them, what with his parents being alcoholics and neglectful and all. Despite that, he and his siblings always seemed to prefer being with them than being on any foster home. He wasn't sure why, he never questioned it.
"Cool, and yeah, no problem. See you around," he gave the guy a quick wave before heading off.
***