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[keeperofkeys]

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for shawn spencer

[keeperofkeys]

[Fran sits in a chair in the waiting area of the police station. There's a magazine next to her, and she flips through it idly, not really seeing the words. All she can think of is the possibility of meeting this psychic detective, and the potential of finding her parents' killer once and for all.

She kicks her feet idly while she waits. Wishing she could have brought Mister Midnight with her]

[bi_psychual]

Aha, you must be Fran.

[A somewhat scruffy guy with hair that sticks straight up bounces over and flops into the chair next to her.]

Shawn Spencer, psychic detective. And this is my associate, Goober Mc—

[He glances around and seems to suddenly realize nobody followed him.]

Never mind, my associate got lured away by sourdough bread. Whatever, I'll fill him in later.

[keeperofkeys]

Oh, I can understand. Sourdough bread is incredibly tempting. [She offers her hand with a smile.]

It's nice to finally meet you, Detective Spencer. I've read a lot about you, and I think you're just the person to help me with my case. If you don't mind cold cases, of course.

[bi_psychual]

[Oh right handshake. He shakes hands! It's a nice normal handshake, no creepy lingering or over-gripping.]

Why don't you walk me through it?

[keeperofkeys]

I was eleven when it happened. So nearly ten years ago now. My parents had gone out for dinner that night, and my Aunt Grace was watching me. She spent the night with us.

[She frets at her fingers while she talks, tugging at them.] It the middle of the night, I heard something from their room. So I went to see what the matter was and my parents were on the floor, in pieces. There was a knife next to them, and I didn't know any better so I picked it up. I saw something -- a horrible, twisted creature -- climb out the window and run into the night.

The police said I did it, since they found me over the bodies. But do you really think that a child could do that to her parents?

[bi_psychual]

I don't think a kid who did would show up at a police station about it a decade after the fact. Why would you be bringing it back up, if you did it?

[He notes her tugging at her fingers—he's fairly sure it's not from nervousness due to lying.]

I believe you, okay?

[keeperofkeys]

Thank you. [She sounds choked up, but she smiles through it, anyway. She's been brave about this before, she can be brave now.]

Few people have. But my Aunt Grace is gone now, too. Natural causes, nothing untoward. But she never liked the idea of me pursuing it.

[bi_psychual]

So you didn't up until now. Gotcha.

... hey, can I get you something? Water? Coffee?

[keeperofkeys]

A water would be very nice I think, thank you. [It's not that she hadn't thought about this for a while, it weighed on her mind every day. It's just so new, to talk about it and have someone say yes, I believe you.]

For Der Tod

[keeperofkeys]

It's been some time since she's been to visit Itward, in his realm. She misses her skeletal friend when he's not around. Most think her very strange, she has few friends in her own realm. So she visits Ithersta, and Senersedee in order to see her friends there.

There's another friend that she hasn't seen in years, here in Senersedee. She thinks of them from time to time. How comforting they were when she had lost her parents. Before she had been sent away.

She wonders if they're here, too.

[derletztetanz]

The thing about Death, once you have crossed their path once, is that they are always there. Beyond space and time, beyond everything, they wait, they watch, and their patience is - usually - endless.

Still, it's nice to be sought out by those who met them as children, long before they fully grasp the fear of ending that age brings. They always appear as a friend to young, frightened souls like those...and their reunions, however bittersweet, are just a little warmer than the average rendezvous.

So when Fran chooses to look for them, there they are - sitting back at the base of a tree, smile inviting as an open grave.

"Guten tag, Fran. It has been a while."

[keeperofkeys]

"There you are. Almost seven years now." She moves from the tree where she was resting to sit next to them, taking their hand and squeezing it in greeting. She doesn't fear their touch. For her, would it be so different than traveling between realms? She may not be able to visit Ithersta again, but Itward would be.

And so would Der Tod. Two friends for her, here.

"I've missed seeing you so often." She would see them carrying off some of the poor children at the asylum, telling her not to be afraid, they were going somewhere to be free of it all. It always made her feel better.

[derletztetanz]

"Has it been? Well. How time passes."

Gladly, they take the hand - even through their glove, their grasp is cold as a morgue, all the warmth coming from their fond, angular grin. She never did fear them. The little ones who have been through the most never seem to.

Not her time just yet, though, and they are content to just converse for now.

"I never left you," they purr, voice lightly accented. "Only waited until you wanted to come find me again. You have grown, mein Mädchen."

[keeperofkeys]

"I imagine it felt like mere moments to you. What is seven years, when one is eternal?" She toys with their fingers, not minding their cool touch. No worse than Itward's boney grasp.

"I've been thinking of you, recently. Not because I'm ready to go with you, but just in general. How I haven't visited the fourth realm in so long, and that I ought to look for you, while I'm here."

[derletztetanz]

"Nothing at all, and something, all at once."

Patiently, they let her play with their fingers, tug at their gloves, inspect their rings. When she was little, she liked their rings, they recall. The hairwork designs trapped under the glass, memento mori laid into little flowers and twists.

"I am glad of the visit. And glad to have been thought of fondly. You've been through quite a lot in these years, haven't you?"

[keeperofkeys]

"Quite a lot," she says quietly, sounding a little sad. So much has happened on her adventures. A lot of good, yes, but a lot of frightening things, too. But Der Tod had always been there for her, since she was a child. And for that she is grateful.

"Your work takes you all over, I'm sure. But you were always there when I called."

[derletztetanz]

"More than your share. But that always seems to be with the people who think of me as a friend."

Shifting their legs under them, they extend their arm out and to the side, inviting Fran to scoot closer, to lean in. Death's embrace, quite literally.

"Of course. You needed me."

[keeperofkeys]

And Fran leans against them, wrapping her arms around their waist and resting her head against their chest. It makes the rough bark of the tree scrape against her arm, but she doesn't mind. She's comfortable here.

She can remember that night so clearly. A dark figure escaping out the window, and another taking its place beside her.

And who are you, now?

I'm a friend.

They'd been so reassuring, staying with her until the police came.

"Perhaps I need you again now, in a way. I'm very lonely, you see. All my friends are here, or in Ithersta. Save Mister Midnight, of course."

for margo hanson

[keeperofkeys]

It's her first day at Breakbills, and Fran is quietly in awe. She's been to other dimensions, certainly, but an entire place dedicated to just magic? To encouraging her talents instead of trying to quash them? That she isn't quite used to. Not yet, at least.

So she wanders, taking in the sights of the campus. Unsure of who to talk to or how exactly to introduce herself.

[ibiza]

No introductions are needed; Margo knows who she is. She glides up to Fran’s side with an easy smile on her face.

“Hi. It’s Fran, right? You’re new.” She looks her over, examining her and taking in every detail as she does with most every new student she meets. “I’m Margo. You’re lucky you met me.” Margo says it in such a lilting voice that it might be easy to believe. Students who know her, after all, know all of the inside information.

[keeperofkeys]

"Oh -- yes, hello. Am I?" Fran takes a half step back in surprise, trying to take in everything that is Margo. "I suppose I must be, if you say I am. I would introduce myself but you seem to know me already. Is that part of what you can do? Know people?"

[ibiza]

Margo cants her head to the side. "I never thought of it like that. Eliot does call it gossipkinesis. You'll meet him eventually. Mostly I'm just up in everyone's business." She smiles in a perfectly charming way in spite of owning up to being an utter busybody.

"So, do you want the grand campus tour?"

[keeperofkeys]

"I mostly just travel dimensions. Though I do think I can also understand my cat. Or perhaps it's that I've been lonely," she says, as though it isn't odd at all.

"A formal tour would be very nice, thank you. I've just been wandering."

[ibiza]

Her face lights up with a look of pleasant surprise. There are so many different abilities at Brakebills that she would never consider Fran bonkers for saying such a thing. Not yet, at least. "Pretty amazing, Fran. Animal communication is supposed to be rare. C'mon, this way." She nods her head and begins walking down a path.

[keeperofkeys]

"Well he's been very special to me. He was with me on the night my parents were killed. We've always had a strong connection."

She follows Margo down the path, watching all the other students wander by. "I wouldn't have thought there were this many magic users. I always thought I was just... strange."