Logs:Don't Know the Messenger

Don't Know the Messenger
Dramatis Personae Jane, Rick	August 18, 2008 Rick delivers his last package.
Location Atworth Acres, Central Oahu	Plot(s) Plot:Pixie Season
It's mid-afternoon, and quite a hot August day. Not that there are many August days in Hawaii that aren't hot, but today is just this side of unpleasant. Or maybe on the other side for some people. In any case, Rick has come to meet with the final receiver of gifts -- last but definitely not least. He is carrying a backpack, and currently heading up the road toward the farmhouse. It doesn't take him too long to get there, and when he does he finds a spot to wait, though notably -- or not, who knows -- he does not try to avoid the sun, but in fact closes his eyes and tips his face up toward it for a moment, letting it hit him full force. There is a woman in sight, and one who is avoiding direct sunlight - although with skin that dark it's possible that she just doesn't want to be able to fry an egg on her shoulder. With a nod to someone she sets out Rick-wards, offering him a broad smile that warms her blue eyes. From a distance she calls a cheerful, "Aloha! Are you Rick?" When he hears the voice, Rick's eyes open, and he turns toward the sound. He sees Jane, and when he does, he smiles, too. "That's me," he calls back, and he starts toward her, with the idea to meet in the middle, clearly. Once he's close enough, he looks around, lowering his voice a little bit and asking, "What's the password?" He manages to keep a straight -- ish -- face for a few moments, before the smile returns and he shakes his head. "Just kidding," he adds, and he holds out a hand for a shake instead. Jane grins. "Password," she replies, without missing a beat, and then her white teeth reappear in a broad grin. She reaches out to take Rick's offered hand in her own, giving it a brisk and businesslike shake. "Jane," she says, releasing the hand again. Closer up she's as tall as Rick is, and wearing boots and a man's shirt over a wife-beater and board shorts. "So, what can I do for you?" When she says this, Rick lets out an easy, genuine laugh. "Good one," he says, before he brings his hand back to shrug the backpack off his shoulders. He starts to unzip it as he speaks, and while he doesn't look //too// seriously, he does actually lower his voice for real, this time. Not so low that she can't hear, but low enough. "I got a present for you," he says. "I know that sounds kinda weird 'cause you don't know me, but it's from the lady you guys helped. The Summer one, you know?" He reaches into the bag and pulls out a box, one that looks like it's been made from stems of flowers that have been woven together, then fossilized. "She said they, like, promised not to tell the cold guy who did it, too. So you're good." Jane blinks, then nods. "Okay," she says, sounding perhaps a little dubious, and then she reaches out almost reflexively to take the box. She blinks at it, puzzlement putting a line between her brows. "See, Mom always told me to beware of Fae bearing gifts. Although I guess you aren't Fae, right? Or... hmmm. Might'a been Greeks." She starts looking at the box, turning it round in her hands, probablytrying to work out how to get into the box or maybe how the box was designed to be gotten into. "Nah, I'm not fae," Rick confirms with a grin. "Just a guy." Once she takes it, he reaches forward to get the latch for her, carefully. "I get it, though. It's weird." Indeed it is quite weird, weird enough to say it twice. And when the box is opened, what is inside is probably weirder still. It looks like a sort of crystalline egg, and it's very light pink. It seems to shine with its own internal light source, and there's a little bit of pulsing that's happening within it, too, as though its heart is beating. "Do you know what that is? I didn't but everyone else did so I guess I'm the dumb one, huh?" He laughs, though, to indicate that he's joking. One assumes. Jane holds the box while Rick gets the latch, and when it opens she stares at what lies within. "Whoah," she says, sheer reverence in both voice and expression. "Yeah, I know /exactly/ what this is. It's absolutely goddamn /gorgeous/, is what it is." Rick grins at the reaction, and nods. "Right?" he says. "They're real nice. Glad you like it." He reaches up to rub his head, "I mean, you know, not that I got it for you. I'm just the messenger." His eyes move to the egg, too, looking at it with obvious appreciation, before he looks back up to her. "So yeah. You can use it or not, I guess. Up to you. But it's yours. And then you're square with the pixies. No debts owed." Jane grins, closing the box and tucking it under one arm. "Well then, thanks for messenging," she says to Rick, "And if you see them again, tell 'em 'Thank you' from me? Meantime I'll stand you a beer if I see you in town, 'cause messenging's kinda thirsty work, right?" "I sure will," Rick agrees, and he nods once, sealing the deal. "Done. Nice to meet you. And thanks from me, too, 'cause you guys didn't have to go in there and do that, but you did." His words are obviously heartfelt -- and he doesn't even know what went on in there! Nor does he ask. Let us never think on it again, right? "Hope I see you around." "Same," says Jane, returning the nod with one of her own. "You look after yourself, y'hear? And mahalo." She takes a step back with another nod. "Take care out there." "You, too." Rick tips his head to her one more time, lifting a hand in a wave, before he turns and heads back out down the road again, his task completed. Until he turns back around, and starts toward her more quickly with a flagging-down sort of wave. "Jane! Hold up! I need the box!"