Guidance Counselling (open)

[Ϛ Fey DuChance]

You can't live off that paycheck forever.

"Yeah? Maybe I'll get a job then, smarty-pants."

Not sitting here doing nothing, you won't.

"I'm not doing nothing, I'm stretching. You're such a downer."

I'm only being realistic.

"If that's what you call it."

Fey put a leg against a tree nearly straight up and down and continued to argue with her pendant, not bothering to keep her volume in check. She'd had Odji around long enough that she was no longer phased when people looked at her funny or questioned her when she 'talked to herself'. It was one of the downsides of everyone else not being able to hear the trapped spirit. She enjoyed his constant company, though; it was nice to have something that solid in her hectic life.

All right, so you're stretching. How exactly will that get you a job?

"It won't, silly. It just helps me think."

So thinking is going to get you a job?

"If I could smack you right now, I would. Don't be a jerk!"

But Fey was smiling as she said this, and she could swear she heard a small chuckle from Odji as well.

[casey]

It felt like Casey was always leaving or returning to the Academy. Probably because he generally was: go out on a mission, complete the mission, come back for a new mission, go out on a mission. Rinse and repeat. It would be dull, were it not that the missions generally involved hair-raising escapades, or touching reunion scenes.

Casey's latest mission had involved finding a young girl who'd recently been pegged as a lost Gifted. Someone who had a Gift, but had no idea what was going on. These happened rarely, what with registration and all. But clearly they happened enough to have a special agent go and look for them.

Now Casey escorted the girl back to the Academy, and she nearly burst with questions and excitement. Casey fended off most of them as well as he could, chuckling an old man laugh as he did so.

Because he looked like someone's grandfather, of course. You had to take on a visage that would be most appealing for whomever you were rescuing.

As Casey came closer to the Academy he saw someone that, well, looked familiar. He couldn't immediately place her, and that troubled him for a few moments. This wasn't exactly lifted when he heard her talking to herself.

"Oh great," he murmured, glancing down at the kid.

She beamed at him. "Is that your daughter?"

"Err... I'm not sure, I can't see her very well from--"

"Hey!" the little girl waved at the stretching woman, "you! Are you his daughter!?"

Casey suddenly wanted to disappear, or at least transform back into his usual self, said self not being near old enough to have a daughter Fey's age...

[Ϛ Fey DuChance]

At first, Fey didn't answer the little girl. In fact, she hadn't really even noticed that it was her the question was directed toward; it had just entered her brain as a tidbit of an overheard conversation, an item of little importance. However, it did eventually click, and after looking to make sure it was her the child was inquiring about, she did her best to formulate an answer.

"...what?"

Not the best answer, maybe, but an answer nonetheless.

It's a simple question, really. I would answer it for you, since you're apparently not in your right mind, but I don't have the ability.

"Shuttup," she muttered, volume way too low for anyone but Odji to pick up. Of course, anyone with a decent pair of eyes could tell her lips had moved, were they so inclined to watch her closely, but actually reading her lips would be hard, since she was just mumbling.

"I mean, no. Why do you ask? Do I look like your daughter?" The answer was directed toward the younger, and the questions toward the elder.

What they were asking wasn't sort of question someone was asked every day, and the only reason she could thinking of for someone to ask it was if, as she had asked, she bore a resemblance to the man's daughter. Well, that or the man was senile and the girl was just guessing. Maybe helping him find his lost caretaker or something.

[casey]

"He recognized you!" insisted the girl, pointing at Casey.

Casey simply shuffled forward, blinking at Fey and hoping she didn't recognize him. From this distance, he certainly recognized her. He had the advantage here though: she didn't change faces. Apparently she still had her "issues," judging by the self-conversations.

Or else she'd snapped.

"Your face just looked like someone I know," offered Casey, smiling. "I travel a lot, to all sorts of unusual places. Egypt, Cambodia, Venezuela, you name it."

At least two of those places had been locations where Casey's and Fey's paths had intersected.

"So, young lady," Casey said, "what are you doing here today? Could I help you with something?"

"He's really nice! He offered to take me to this school for other kids like me!" offered the girl, beaming up at Fey. "He's cool, even for an old guy!"

[Ϛ Fey DuChance]

"Well, I lived in Egypt when I was a kid. Maybe you knew my parents? What do you do?"

That's more like it. You might as well use those vocal chords; you're the only one of us that has them.

She ignored Odji's ranting for the time being. It was irrelevant, unimportant, and aside from that, rude. She had other things to concentrate on, namely whether or not she should be remembering this guy. If she had met him as a child, then it was probably pretty excusable that she had no clue who he was, but if she'd met him at, say, one of her parents functions? Then she might be in trouble.

"I'm not here for anything in particular, really."

You should be here to get a job.

"Well, I'm not here to get a job," she said distractedly, still trying to place the man. She didn't even notice she'd said this loud and clear. Odji did, but he didn't bother saying anything. Sure, he cared about the girl, but seeing her make a fool of herself was always entertaining, and he rarely passed it up.

I'm pretty sure we've never met... then again, there is something familiar about him.

[casey]

"I go around and find people," offered Casey, nodding to the girl. She smiled and squeezed his hand, clearly quite happy with the situation.

"Sometimes I have to find interesting artifacts or lost treasures," he offered, shrugging. That would be all he could really give Fey without directly stating or dropping his name. And he honestly wasn't sure she'd remember his name. After all, he'd only met one Fey, chances were she'd met a half a dozen Caseys.

He found a good reason to continue on when she started talking about jobs. It sounded as though she were addressing that little amulet she carried or whatever it was. Details weren't that important: she was talking to the possessed spirit.

"I'm willing to bet that we can find you a job here," he offered. He waved toward the main building, smiling again. "There's all kinds of work available, they can probably get you something to do. In fact, there might even be something exciting. If you want, I can show you around after I'm done with Thea here."

He turned the smile on the girl now, who nodded.

[Ϛ Fey DuChance]

'I go around and find people'? Certainly a very specific line of work.

But Fey was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to acknowledge Odji's sarcasm. Something about the way this man talked about his job was tantalizingly familiar, but she still couldn't place his face. Or his voice, for that matter. But when he mentioned artifacts, she realized this guy was dropping hints, and then she knew something was up.

"Blythe," she practically breathed, and then a sly smile came to her face.

This freed up her train of thought just in time for her to hear Casey offer to help find her a job at the Academy, and now that she could think clearly, she was puzzled as to how he even knew she was looking for a job. As she paused to think over the previous few minutes of their conversation, she realized she'd been 'talking to herself' again, and a hint of red crept onto her cheeks.

"That would be wonderful. And I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun here, Thea," she said amicably, crouching until she was at Thea's level. She offered Thea a hand to shake. "My name is Fey DuChance. It's very nice to have met the both of you."


_{this post feels horribly off, but you'll just have to deal because i don't know why <<}

[casey]

Now Casey couldn't be certain, but he thought he heard Fey breath his name. It could have been something sounding similar to it. After all, there were several words that rang close to his last name. But he liked to think positively, and it was a logical guess after all.

Thea took the hand, beaming, "Nice to meet you too, Fey. I'm sure we'll get along great. Now," she turned to look up at Casey, "you were going to lead us around the Academy, right Mister Rennigan?"

Casey looked over Thea's head at Fey, winking once. Yes, a fake name, but Fey should understand the necessity of such things. Particularly in Casey's line of work. The apparently older man took Thea's hand, and squeezed it gently.

"Right, we should probably get going then," he looked back up at Fey, locking eyes, "Fey, if you would be so kind as to join us?"

With that, Casey and Thea headed for the Academy entrance, hopefully with Fey close behind.

OoC: if you want to make a continuation thread, that's fine by me; we could also keep going here if you'd rather. Either or.

[Ϛ Fey DuChance]

Casey Blythe? Again?

He shows up everywhere, that bugger. And for all I know, he might show up more often that I think, what with that face-changing nonsense.

Fey smiled back at Thea. She wasn't exactly an expert on children, but she hoped to have some of her own one day, so it was nice to know that at least one of them seemed to like her. Even if she hadn't really done much to earn that like, in her eyes. She highly doubted standing there looking pretty would work with all children. Then again, her mother had been quite beautiful as well, and Fey thought she'd turned out pretty well thanks to them.

Fey offered a slight roll of her eyes in response to 'Mister Rennigan's' wink. It was still odd to think of this weathered man as being the Casey she knew, and even competed with on a far-too-often basis. Not that she didn't enjoy a bit of friendly competition, it just made avoiding traps and the like a lot more difficult when she had to worry about someone else getting to her goal before her.

"Yes of course, I'd love to join you."

"And they all lived happily after." Ugh, the sweetness is going to kill me.

_{whatever you like, good sir.}

[casey]

Apparently Thea's Gift was liking people and getting them to like her. At least, that's what Casey was starting to believe. The magnetic little girl certainly had a way with Fey.

Oh wait, the Pheromone Production thing. Casey had almost forgotten. This is what it looked like in underaged persons. You just wanted to like them and they just wanted to like you. Poor Thea would have quite the time once puberty set in.

Thea laced one hand in Fey's, another in Casey's, and proceeded to lead the two adults to the Academy as though this were perfectly acceptable behavior.

"I'm sure you'll both love it here," offered Casey. He felt as if he should at least try to get a hold of the situation. Besides, he did feel a bit of a need to show off in front of Fey. If only to prove that he was, in fact, still potential rival material and not just an old dottering man.

"Though not everyone is as nice as me," Casey continued. "In fact, some people here can just be downright mean. But there's more of us nice people than not."

Casey quickly input the entry code, watching as the door slid open silently. He nodded once to Fey, then smiled at Thea, before heading in.

No one immediately greeted them, though soon enough a buxom, middle-aged blonde appeared, all grins: Trixie, Academy healer and friend of Casey's.

"Hello!" she chirped, clapping her hands. She held her arms out for a hug, gratefully taking one from Thea. The little girl was scooped up, and Trixie beamed at everyone. "Welcome to the Academy. I'm Trixie. And you must be Cynthea."

She touched Thea's nose, and the girl giggled. Trixie then turned to Fey, arching her brows. Her eyes flicked to Casey, and she looked thoroughly amused at the idea that her friend had apparently brought an attractive woman home.

[Ϛ Fey DuChance]

"I'm sure we will, especially with people like you around!" Fey said, and although her words and her tone were sweet and innocent enough, the impish look on her face spoke volumes about the possible other meanings behind this statement. Meanings perhaps including, "People like you who shape themselves deliberately to appear likable to the people they interact with." Or perhaps not.

Fey stood in the proverbial shadows while Thea and 'Trixie' got acquainted, a pleasant smile frozen onto her face. For some reason she jumped quickly to the conclusion that her and Trixie wouldn't get along too well, though this was likely related to, if not caused by, her dislike of the insinuations behind Trixie's glances and eyebrow gestures, and could very easily have turned out to be a false instinct.

Well, the gods sure favoured that one.

Fey groaned inwardly. If Odji had eyes, it was pretty clear which bits of Trixie's anatomy they'd be taking in. One more reason not to let the perv out of his amuletical prison.

"I'm Fey," she politely offered the other woman, sparing Casey the chore of introducing her. She wished there was some way she could smash whatever assumptions the other woman was making now, before they developed any further, but couldn't think of a way to do it subtly. And she didn't particularly want to draw attention to the subject.

[casey]

Fey's insinuation didn't go past Casey, and he rolled his eyes in response. Yes, he'd taken on a visage specifically to make himself more likable to the target. You had to do that, sometimes. Besides, it also meant that he wouldn't have to hide himself from Thea if he should take to walking the halls sometime. Sometimes he had to keep some secrets.

At least Trixie was attacking and dealing with Thea, sparing Casey that particular chore. Though it didn't look like she and Fey were going to get on well at all. Possibly because Trixie looked to be jumping to conclusions.

"Fey's an old friend, Trixie," offered Casey. He waved to Fey, then nodded at his Agent coworker. "Fey, Trixie McGraw. Trixie, Fey DuChance. Trixie's one of the Academy's main healers, Fey. And now."

He grabbed onto one of Fey's arms, smiling. "We'd better get going, need to show you around and all that. Thea, you'll be okay with Trixie, right?"

The little girl nodded, burrowing herself into the plush woman.

Trixie grinned, still drawing strange conclusions about Fey and Casey.

"C'mon," muttered Casey, starting away from both Thea and Trixie. He tried to guide Fey by the arm, not really wanting to drag his old rival along.

Once they'd rounded a corner, Casey's features rearranged themselves into his normal visage, and he smiled at Fey. "Sorry about that. Sometimes I have to put on a different face when picking up people. All kinds of difficulties."

He rolled his eyes. "So, anyway, how's things with you?"

[Ϛ Fey DuChance]

"Old friend? I may look familiar, but we've only just met, Mr. Rennigan!" Fey said with a tinkling laugh and a smile that suggested the old man was growing senile and she had to be extra-friendly so he didn't feel bad about going daft. Rolling her eyes, she looked back to Trixie. "It's very nice to meet you, Trixie. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around."

If there were any beginnings of animosity still lingering, they were very well hidden.

Waving goodbye to Thea and Trixie with her free arm, she allowed herself to be guided away, still with a good-natured smile on her face. Around the corner, the smile remained, although at this point it somehow came across more as teasing than anything as she listened to Casey explain himself.

What are you grinning about?

"Oh, it's no problem. I understand. I'm no good with faces anyway," she said happily. She was acting almost as if she knew something extremely funny about the whole situation but was having too much fun keeping it a secret to let Casey know what exactly it was.

"Things have been great. Just got back from a job in Thebes. The pay was good and it was fun, but the money won't last forever. How about you?" And still with the inexplicable smile.

[casey]

Was Fey teasing Casey? Most likely getting revenge for exposure to Trixie. Like Casey could really control her.

"Thebes? That had to be an interesting find. Nothing the Academy was interested in though, or I would have heard something," admitted Casey. Not entirely true. Casey wasn't aware of everything that went on in the Academy, after all. But he did try and keep up with the basics, especially things as exotic as Thebes.

"I was on the West Coast, picking up Thea," he jerked his head in the direction of their late companion. "Nice kid. Has the pheromone production Gift, which sucks at her age. Gonna be fun when she gets older."

He shoved his hands in his pockets, grinning widely. Fey had always been entertaining to be around, especially when she argued with her jewelry.

"Same pay as always," offered Casey, shrugging. "So, uh, you actually interested in getting a job here? I'm sure they'd hire you as an Agent. They're not picky, and you've got more skills than most new recruits."

[Ϛ Fey DuChance]

"Or, I just got the tip and found the target before your Academy even heard a whisper about it," she suggested airily, as if such a feat was nothing special, a daily occurrence. In reality, it was notoriously difficult to be that many steps ahead of the Academy, as they had far more resources than her, but occasionally she bested them and didn't end up neck and neck with someone like Casey. One of the main reasons this happened was that she had connections, especially in Egypt, where she had grown up.

"West Coast? Like, Hollywood?"

Fey, explorer that she was, knew a good deal of geography, but the United States simply wasn't a treasure trove of valuable ancient artifacts, and so her knowledge of the place was pretty rudimentary. Her American knowledge in general was pretty much limited to South America, and a little bit of Central.

See? He thinks you should get a job here, too. Smart man.

"Actually..." She had originally been against the idea of getting a job here, if only because Odji had suggested it and she made a point of ignoring his suggestions as often as possible, but the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. Casey worked there, and he did the same thing she did a lot of the time, except he got a steady paycheck. And if she worked for the Academy, she wouldn't have to compete with their Agents, but she'd still get paid. She had no obligation to any of her other clients; for the most part, it was one-time jobs.

"I really might be interested. What kind of missions would they send me on, other than what I already do in my line of work? I'm not nearly the," she gestured at Casey, though specifically referring to his powers, "'people person' you are; I don't think I'd be very good with stealing children from their homes."

Oooh, ouch.

It was clear she was teasing, but she was pretty sure there was at least some shred of truth to what she said. After all, Thea was no longer at home.