Under the Paris Skies

“You doing okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Both angel and god turned as a voice piped up beside them. Jenn recognized this girl as the one who had walked in with the Unicorn who knew Cerby. She hadn't stuck around long enough to catch her name though. She refrained from snorting at her choice of words, she had seen much more than ghosts and spirits, such things would not unnerve her in the slightest.
Jenn let out a shaky laugh, nodding her head,
"Ah, Yeah I'm fine... I've never seen a building like this before, so I guess it's just a bit... overwhelming?"
Brown eyes swept over the stained glass windows that lined the walls, casting their kaleidoscope of colours on the tiled floor, before turning back to Taylor.

"I'm Jenn by the way. I saw you back at the Court but never got a chance to say hi." 
She then waved a hand at Hades, who was standing behind her. Said god's attention was split between his angel and this new girl, and the cathedral, the whole place was making him uncomfortable, though for different reasons than Jenn. A pegan god in a Christian cathedral was like putting a cat in a tub full of water.
"This is-"
"Hades, god of the dead, hi how ya doin'?" He introduced, leaning over Jenn's shoulder to hold out his hand, his normal smirk back on his face as though nothing were wrong.
Jenn rolled her eyes at the way those words seemed almost scripted at this point, the hint of a smile tugging at her lips. 

Taylor’s eyes grew as wide as dinner plates. Okay, so she had already known Hades wasn’t human…that was blatantly obvious. But he was the Hades?

God of the Underworld?

Taylor mentally forced herself to recompose before talking again, lest she let out a squeal of delight. All these characters she’d read about in books when she was younger…day by day they were showing themselves to be one hundred percent real, and not some fairy tale or legend.

“Yeah…it’s a little bit overwhelming in here. I meant to say hi to you too earlier, but I was little distracted. It didn’t look like there was too many of us females around.” Taylor said, with a wink towards Hades.

“No offense.”

The young woman crossed her arms over her chest, and shifted her weight onto one leg as she looked over the angel and the god. She then remembered that Jenn had appeared with Cerberus, and that the monstrous canine had been at her beck and call, despite their huge size difference.

“So…I never realized wars were of any interest to gods. I mean, I’m sure that if you really wanted to, all you would have to do is snap your fingers and boom, you’d kill someone, right?” Taylor asked, resting her gaze on Hades.

“But maybe...something else brought you here to mingle with us mortals?”

“Talk about déjà vu, am I right?”

Time travel was never really Puck’s style. He wasn’t one for retrospection, and modern memories and visions of the future clung to him like cellophane. (Which, he thought bitterly to himself, wouldn’t be invented for about another three or four centuries, along with all the other modern comforts he’d grown accustomed to.) Loathe as he was to admit it, he’d become rather spoiled by the conveniences afforded him in the latter half of the 20th century. Spending all his time as Owen hadn’t helped much in preparing himself for such a blast from the past either. He knew he’d enjoyed this place once before, many centuries ago, but that had been before he’d seen just what human kind was capable of. And now he longed for a world that had the common sense to invent air conditioning, toilet paper, and clothing with a thread count in the triple digits.

“Can you believe that’s where the Louvre is going to be?” Puck asked incredulously, glancing down at the man chained into the stocks he was leaning against, who only managed to shrug.

“Oh of course you can, you’re a seer. Not that any of these fools would know. I saw a man trying to sell a blind woman a goat and tell her it was a calf at the very spot where the Mona Lisa is going to be hung,” he scoffed, rolling his eyes in the poor man’s direction. Whether or not he could understand the fae was irrelevant, as no one was likely to believe the heretic tied up in the stocks when he started raving about a fairy talking to him. Besides, with a view as good as the center of town offered, where else was he supposed to stand? He was looking for people – and begging to be looked at.

It hadn’t taken long to figure out just what sort of conflict was afoot in this new – or rather, old – era. Humans with more power than they knew what to do with were making life a living hell for everyone involved. Normally such matters wouldn’t concern him, being immortal, but this had too much potential to turn into something beyond even Oberon’s control. And as it didn’t seem like he was going to find his way home anytime soon, he might as well pick the side most likely to win. He was hoping that would be the Rogues.

Finding the perfect disguise for such an endeavor had been difficult. Owen was always a fine choice, but the idea of having an ace up your sleeve was to keep it there. But neither did he want to reveal himself entirely. Puck was, if he did say so himself, a worthwhile asset to anyone looking for a magical energy source. And as he didn’t particularly relish the idea of being held hostage or used as a rechargeable battery, he decided to go with something a little unusual, even for himself. Simply an outfit change and a few physical modifications were sure to help him blend in without completely losing himself. Recognizable to only a few, but merely eccentric to most.

But where could they be?

Truth be told he wasn’t sure who or what to look for. A couple of rough and tumble sorts no doubt, likely led by someone strange enough to make him look normal. He’d only heard passing names and descriptions of who he should be searching for. At this rate he was more likely to find a way back home than he was to find –

“If you all will follow me, we can go inside and continue our tour, mes amis.”

Surely it couldn’t be this easy.



After a pat on the back and a whispered shielding spell to the unlucky man in the stocks, if only to keep him safe from tossed produce, Puck found his way into the cathedral, trailing a few paces behind the tour group inside. They made a strange looking group, but he couldn’t say it wasn’t something he’d expected. He slipped behind pillars and eaves until he’d managed to find a decent hiding place, listening in for clues to what exactly might be his next course of action.

After all, no sense in revealing the dessert before the meal.

It was amazing what little regard humans gave to their surroundings. A whisper of a breath, an out-of-place shadow; the signs of life were always there, just begging to be noticed. But did the humans ever read them?

No.

It was above the heads of the group that Sabor found herself. Behind a banister she had hidden herself, the shadows and angles serving as good a job as leafy fronds to keep her form shapeless from the unobservant. A few pawlengths back from the edge she'd placed herself, a position that allowed only the top of her head and emerald gaze to be visible through the tiny pillars. It was as good a place as any to keep watch. Better still that the strange scents of the burnt offerings could conceal her feline musk... At least to those unfamiliar. Sabor was too wary a predator to discount the possibility of being spotted by her quarry. As she was not actively hunting them and had found herself a lofty position from which to escape if need be the feline was less than concerned. She was here to join these Rouges once she'd found them -- and found them she evidently had.

As the group passed through the doors and into the cathedral main Sabor slunk herself back a bit to give herself enough room to rise yet remain unobtrusive. She'd mirror their movements from above for a while she figured, pacing low to the ground while keeping an ear cocked for any wandering human at her hind. Perhaps then she could figure out when would be best for an introduction.

“Or maybe it has something to do with the religion here…last I heard, they weren’t too tolerant of other gods besides their own.”
Both immortals tensed slightly and frowned at her words. Hades cast a glance at Jenn, then rolled his eyes. Whatever 'religion' it was this chick was talking about, he already wasn't a fan.
Jenn only shrugged, muttering a small "Yeah, that'd probably do it."

They followed Taylor as she suggested they catch up with the rest of the group, Jenn noticing as Taylor fell into step beside her, and Hades walking behind the two.
"I might be going crazy after all my misadventures, but for some reason, I'm getting the feeling that you're not exactly...human."
The angel looked over at her at her hushed words, a small smirk crossing her face. This girl caught on quickly.
As they caught up with the rest of the group, the three had passed under the light of one of the stained glass windows, casting it's kaleidoscope of colours onto the floor below.
Jenn paused, staring up at the morning rays of light peeking through the coloured glass, her shadow cutting through the stain glass reflected on the floor, including the shadow of her wings.
"You could say that..." she muttered in response to Taylor's inquiry.