Midnight Manor Boarding House, Room 1A, Friday Morning

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Duke's 'gift' had been in her mailbox when she'd gone down to check this morning: a pendant of polished hematite strung on a slender gold chain. Arden recognized it immediately: a callstone. Hematite connected and ground energy from the ethereal planes in this reality, callstones were enchanted to enhance those abilities. Basically, he'd sent her an interplanar cell phone. Hematite was also fragile; a stone of this size could only reliably carry a single enchantment without fracturing. If it really was a callstone, it couldn't do anything else, couldn't be anything else.

If this really were a callstone, then it was probably safe.

If.

She picked the pendent up, cupping it in the palm of her hand--and then remembered the squirrels. "Excuse me, Midnight?" she called softly, getting up and closing the door to her balcony. "Could you make sure no squirrels come in and watch like a creeper?" She waited a minute or so and then looked down at the stone in her hand, now warmed to her body temperature, and concentrated. "Duke?"

The stone flared from hematite grey to red and then Duke's voice, warm and amused, issued forth from it. "Hello, Arden," he said. "See? I told you. A simple gift, no harm to anyone."

"I thought you said it could maybe harm you and Grimm or something?" she said.

"It's a callstone, Arden," Duke pointed out. "Keyed to you and the two of us. If someone got their hands on it, the odds are low they could use it to find our names, but I'm hardly going to call it impossible." Just vanishingly unlikely.

"Why?" Arden asked.

"Well, magical theory says that--"

"No, Duke," Arden glowered. "Why send me a callstone? You have my cellphone number."

"Ah yes, and which carrier reaches the Ethereal Plane, again?" he queried. "Verizon or T-Mobile. I always forget."

Right. He had a point. Arden blushed, glad that callstones didn't transmit visuals. "...So now I can reach you on whatever plane you and Grimm are on," she said, putting things together.

"Correct," Duke said. "Which isn't to say we're always going to answer, mind. We do have our own lives."

"Okay, but why?" Arden asked again. "I never had a callstone before."

"And you were never multiple states away from your only protection, either," Duke agreed. "Consider this a bit of insurance. If you're ever in danger, you're much more likely to get my attention or Grimm's with a callstone than a mundane cell."

"True..." Arden said, mulling that over. She was still wary, but she wasn't exactly seeing any downsides. "You had it made awfully quickly."

"Well, you weren't going to live under your foster mother's roof forever, were you?" he asked. "I've had it for some time now." Which, for a djinni, meant he could have made it mere days after he'd delivered her to Callista's or finished it the day before he'd mailed it. "So, Arden, do we have a deal? The callstone for a year's rent?"

A long pause. Her suspicion and good sense warred with her desire to be settled. But, as he'd mentioned before, he'd never harmed her. If anything, he and Grimm were the closest thing she had to friends amongst the Othersiders.

Or in general.

"It's a deal," she said, unfastening the necklace chain to loop it around her neck, careful to keep holding it or the 'call' would disconnect.

"Pleased to hear it," Duke said. "Now then, I'm off to go dangle knowledge in front of an academic studying the fall of Ur and see what he'll bargain for it. Bye, Arden."

The stone turned back to its dull gray as his consciousness faded and Arden let it drop against her chest. It hung lower than her father's onyx pendant and felt weird to boot-- though that wasn't the callstone's fault. She had worn her father's pendant every day since she was an infant; this was the first time she'd had another weight pressing against her skin.

"Thanks, Midnight," she said, hopping up to open her balcony doors again. "If you're doing anything to keep the squirrels out, you can relax it. Looks like I'm gonna be staying, at least the rest of this year." She gave the doorframe a companionable pat. "I should let Marc know he's good for the transfer, huh?"

[Open! Up early because I was given BG3. Everything not under the cut is okay for broadcast!]

Comments

[hasaknightjob]

"Looking to become a detective?" Marc asked. "There's a place in town that does that."

Of course the woman in charge of the place didn't talk much but in general Marc liked that about a person.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Thinking about it," Arden said. "It's what I alwa--huh."

She stopped, looking surprised and thoughtful.

[hasaknightjob]

Sure, Marc would bite. "What?"

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"You ever do anything because you always figured you would and then partway through, you realized you didn't have to?"

[hasaknightjob]

Well, not long before coming to Fandom he'd been pretty sure he was going to kill a guy and then had ended up choosing not to do that. But he figured Arden didn't need specifics. "Yeah, I've been there."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

In a way, wasn't choosing a future career like choosing not to murder a guy? You know. Metaphorically.

"I guess I'm just poking through all the things I took for granted before, trying to figure out which ones are valid and which ones are bullshit."

[hasaknightjob]

"18's a good time for that," Marc said, like the ancient, ancient being he was at 38. "I'm definitely not where I thought I'd be at that age."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Things were different in the 1900s," Arden agreed.

Like an asshole.

[hasaknightjob]

Their phones didn't even have screens

"Wise asses weren't born yet so it was quieter," Marc replied in kind.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Then you came along and broke the seal?" Arden suggested.

[hasaknightjob]

"Oh yeah," Marc said, face as expressive as ever. "I'm known for being chatty."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden nodded solemnly. "I appreciate you letting me get a word in edgewise," she told him.

[hasaknightjob]

"I'm also known for being generous," he replied.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Must be why Steven had included that bit about you being nice on the sign the other day," Arden agreed with a sunny smile.

Yeah, it had been a very easy guess having spoken to either of them for more than say, a minute. Total.

[hasaknightjob]

As much as a minute?

Marc for his part rolled his eyes. "Steven likes to think he's funny."

Steven thought he was hilarious, actually.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Combined. Between the two of them. And, considering it was Marc, that equated out to about maybe ten seconds total on his end.

"I dunno, it seemed pretty great to me," she told him.

Coincidentally, Arden also thought she was funny. Marc may have noticed.

[hasaknightjob]

Oh Marc had.

"You know the door to my office works both ways," he told her, but without any real rancor. Especially since laying claim to it as his office was really just another victory by Steven's way of counting these things.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"You can use it to come out and visit the residents, too?" Arden asked, wide-eyed and grinning.

[hasaknightjob]

"See now I don't want you spending time with Steven," Marc said. "You'll encourage each other."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Isn't it an elder's duty to encourage the young?" Arden asked, though she does hop up out of her seat to head to the door.

Just in case it hadn't been a purely joking suggestion.

[hasaknightjob]

"Keep walking," Marc told her.

She was fine. But he wasn't going to turn down not having to talk about himself anymore either.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Yessir," Arden said with a salute. "Wouldn't wanna get in the way of naptime." With another chuckle she let herself out, whistling down the hall.