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A short walk-in in Castro leads to an exchange that might drag the involved deeper into the labytinthine plots surrounding Angelus and Angel.
2018-09-08, Afternoon
San Francisco - Castro
September came around, and the preparations for Halloween are running in Castro for weeks already. The first gardens are alaready prepared to the teeth and in some streets the last gardens left in summer dress are starting to get changed for the fall and scary season. The Umbrellas get taken away and pumpkins placed on the lawns. And there are the occasional kids wearing costumes already, testing them in the afternon light of the weekend.
Of course, in the Castro, most of it's distinctly gay-themed and gay-friendly. And with as many venues that call this place home, it's perhaps not surprising that they started early to set the mood for the upcoming season and holidays. Halloween is one of those times where people can cut loose and have a little guilt-free fun, and it's the last major holiday before they have to endure family time and all of the things that comes with.
Then again, family time can be all the time, and that's something Prue Halliwell knows all too well. She's made a good livelhood of it with her photography, but not being at Buckland anymore means that she has time either photographing things and people, or being home and working on her photographs.
She walks down the sidewalk, camera bag on one shoulder, purse on the other. Her mind is more on home, a bit on family, and all the things that have been happening in the past few weeks. Thank goodness Piper's all right. But now...what?
The world preparing for fall is always a time for Tamamo to waltz the streets, thinking about the spent summer. It's a time to gain a winter coat, a time to change ikebana for poetry. Wandering the roads of Castro, the japaneese girl ponders about the color of leaves. "Green... orange... and red..." form her lips as she tries to work out a little verse.
Lost in her thoughts, the hands in the pockets of her Sweater combined with jeans, she doesn't entirely watch for the people around, only stopping right in time before running into Prue, pulling her hands from the pockets to disperse the momentum. "Oh sorry!"
Prue looks up, having not noticed until it was too late herself, giving a kind of tight-lipped brief smile to the young woman and shaking her head. "It's okay."
Taking a few more steps, she moves to check her camera bag casually, tuning out much of the rest. It must be nice, she thinks to herself, whatever Tamamo has on her mind. It can't be worse than what Prue does. It seems like there's always a new impending apocalypse.
Tamamo blinks a moment as she pots the camera in Prue's hands, then the face of the woman and the bag again. "Excuse me, but are you a professional or hobbyist?" she asks after a short consideration, offering back a smile, one of the perfect white type.
It takes her a moment, then she realizes the odd feeling of power that had come close to her for what it is. A powerful one, someone wielding magic. Magic of the kind that she was warned about from old tales and this realisation sends down a shiver along her back. A shiver that messes a little with her own powers, causing a tiny ripple to run over her shadow. Not that it changes much, but it has the telltale pointy ears of a fox, if one woule look at it.
"Professional." Prue smiles a little bit, giving Tamamo a curious look, but not an unkind one. She still wears that tentative smile, one more of courtesy to a stranger than of warmth to a friend, but willing to take the chance. Maybe she's not experienced enough to pick out the specifics, but she certainly gets an impression that this person is...special, somehow. "Are you a photographer too? Or an artist of some kind?"
"I sing, but not professionally, and I did act in a small layman thetre in the summer." Tamamo explains, lowering her hands before pressing them together in front of her chest, bowing slightly. "Warawa Abe no Tamamo desu. Dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu. I am Tamamo, nice to meet you." The english translation is more an approximation, as the second sentence is better translated to be 'please be nice to me'.
In return, Prue inclines her head. Her smile widens, and she seems receptive to what she's being presented with. It's not exactly anything strange to her, though; living in San Francisco, Japanese culture and language are everywhere. "I'm Prue. Prue Halliwell. It's nice to meet you too! I'm just...you know...making ends meet." She chuckles and lifts her camera bag, snapping the fastener secure again.
Tamamo nods with a little smile, offering a hand after the short introduction. "Halliwall, Halliwalll... P Halliwell like on last year's garden flowers calender? The one with the dark red, almost black roses between pumpkins for october?" she asks, smiling a little.
"Probably!" Prue laughs a little, almost in spite of herself. "It was...a really crazy year. I don't even remember some of the more prominent jobs. I think...I *think*," she waves a hand, "that was probably me. My sister helped me set it up. I sent it off and forgot about it."
"I guess calendars are made with photos falling off from other projects a lot of times anyway." Tamamo considers, still offering the hand for a shake. "Your sister? You must be lucky to have such a helpful relative. I am not gifted with having a sibling."
And Prue had missed the hand, figuring that the introductory bow was all that was going to be offered. Catching herself, she takes the hand and squeezes it gently once. "I have two sisters. I'm the oldest. Believe me, sometimes it's a gift and sometimes...sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be an only child." Not so much with Piper. She's the peacemaker. But Phoebe, sometimes...
Tamamo chuckles as her grip of the hand is somewhat defying her slender frame a little. "The same is said about mothers and brothers I heard. So, what drives you here?" she asks, casting a glance up and down the lane, checkng if people were watching them or not.
"Just doing a basic thing with a client. I'll probably have a few in the Castro, this year. This was really where it all started." Prue waves a hand around them. "I did some shots here, and word traveled, and well...here I am! It's nice. Nice to have that feeling of community. Like people will support you."
"A client? Call me nosy but I didn't knew people here would call in a photographer. It is one of the more nice areas of the town, but to some degree the people do want their privacy here a little more when it comes to outside noses. Might be because they hit flack from these hate groups at times, but luckily that is here much less an issiue than in other parts of the US." A few moments Tamamo is silent, then she nods towards the direction Prue had went into "Mind if I tag along a little? I mean, one doesn't meet a Halliwell every day." She does put the stress on the name in a different way, trying to put the emphasis on the other side of reality, the side mere mortals don't often see.
Well, that strikes Prue as curious. In fact, both of the things are strange to her. "They want photography here as much as anyone else. Maybe more," she replies, after a moment of thought. "Especially when the rest of the world might not understand you, it becomes more important than ever to make a sort of chronicle of remembrance. Even if nobody else knows you, the photographs will remember, and maybe one day they can be appreciated by people who can understand, finally."
But she smiles and waves a hand. "Feel free. I could use some company." And some time to figure out exactly who and what Tamamo is. She's not sure yet. But she's sure that if one of the senior witches of the Council were here, they'd be certain in an instant. "You seem to be putting a lot of importance on me for that calendar photo! Are you sure you're not thinking of Piper? She's a great cook."
Joining by the side of Prue, Tamamo just smiles for a few moments, lifting a hand to do a simple gesture, just turning the writst to get the palm up and then down again while the fingers form a little 8. "Oh, it's not like that. But I think I have heard the name uttered with fear and respect in some circles." she muses, her gesture sending out a tiny ripple through the world, creating an illusion to turn the discussion into gibberish for everybody but the two women.
"On the other hand, I believe the mortals do deserve their protection from these circles, especially if they are in turmoil."
Prue turns with some concern to Tamamo as they walk, and she comes to a halt before picking up on what's going on around them. It's not that she's that worried about being overheard, since it rarely happens and no one's as interested in personal affairs as everyone seems to think they are. So she just nods, slowly, and starts walking again.
"We're not supposed to be overt," Prue cautions. "The Unseelie Accords. Though at the moment, I don't know if those are going to be in danger of being thrown under the train. Are you...new here, or are you just presenting yourself now?"
The girl chuckles, giving Prue the moment to adjust before giving her a slightly amused look at the last notice. "Are you asking for age here or just in general? The accords are untouched if people just plainly ignore what it talked about under their noses. What the pope doesn't know, doesn't concearn him." A few moments she continiues her chuckle before flattening her face as she moves forward at Prues side. "Well, one could say that a certain Lancer did try to drive me from my hiding spot by spewing forth ominous talk about nobody being safe and trying to turn me into a massenger that would ruin the little credebility they have by spreading this without having any backup."
The fox's face goes a little worried as she speaks, her left hand making a gesture of vagueness. "Well, when I confronted him and his boytoy smelling of dogs a couple days later, he did not give any more information but did put the stress on that nobody would be safe. Yet to spill any more about this thing he was so afraid of he demanded me to join his side for good or ill. But whatever you say about my anchestors, an easy girl, that I am not. Neither am I ooku, nor am I ronin and look to impress someone for a place in their court or army."
"That's not what I said." Prue purses her lips, shaking her head as they continue along. "And he was right. You can't expect him to just tell you whatever and get you involved if you're not in any particular camp. That's as bad for you as it is for them. Maybe worse." Even with the illusion, she still keeps her voice hushed. "Right now isn't a good time. There's a...demon named Angelus. Maybe you should...yeah."
Stopping in her tracks, Prue goes for her camera bag first, then stops herself immediately and picks up her purse, opening it and fishing in it. After a few seconds, she comes up with a business card, which she holds out to Tamamo. On it is the title "Angel Investigations", with the address of the Hyperion Hotel and a phone, email, the standard. "You should talk to Angel. Or Cordelia. Someone there. They'll know how to help you."
Tamamo turns to eye Prue as she stops suddenly, then looks at the card suspiciously. "Angelus... that sounds ominously. Because, isn't that just the word for angel? Talking to Angel about Angel..." a moment she chuckles, reaching out to take the card with both hands, giving a good look to it. "But indeed, maybe I should talk to them, testing the waters in different spots before some pack of savages tries to claim me for their side without considerations what I might wish."
"They're not the same person. And please don't call people savages before you know them." Prue lightly chides, but she doesn't really know Tamamo, so she won't give her the full Big Sister treatment. "I may not be altogether the most comfortable person in the world about working with demons, but I'd be arrogant and foolish if I assumed I'd experienced all there was to know about them, or that there might not be words that mean different things or people. I mean...there's so many kinds of vampires. Why not demons?"
"Or for that matter," Prue finishes, "witches." She angles her head slightly forward and looks to Tamamo with a potent directness to her. "Anyway, be careful and please, if you look for anyone, look for Angel. He's not Angelus. But he can help you learn what's going on right now better than anyone I know."
"Because judging by name, he might have the little tidbit of inside knowlege needed to solve the case." Tamamo replies, tapping onto the card, the finger just below the word investigations. "I wasn't refering to the cursed or the wielders of magic that might run in packs, but from what the lover of the lancer said, there might be wolves involved. I am just wary that aome wolves don't care for the fine difference between their ways and the ways of the spirits."
"The pack aren't like that." Prue offers a soft smile, before waving a hand and turning to go. "You'll figure it out, sooner or later. Angel can help you. I'll see you around. We help Angel out, so...if you go see him, we'll run into each other again. Take care."
And then she's off into the streets of the Castro, to find her client and get started with the inevitable first wave of what promises to be a torrent of holiday activity for her photography business.