Fine Zinc Teeth

[ninefox]

There was a time Jedao would have said that half a century was barely any time; less than a mortal life, not more than two generations. But the world has changed so much since he first put the Americans' uniform on. Even the uniform has changed - they don't call dance halls dance halls any more, for another thing. But the smell of the place - sweat, desire, alcohol - that much is the same.

He slinks in under a stranger's face, although he doesn't disguise his own scent when he smiles, glittering, at the bouncer: a flashed lure that Fives might not even notice or recognize, let alone pursue. It took a few months to get someone to handle all the things which apparently needed handling for his "retirement", and a few more to track down one particular squad of decommissioned weretroops, out of thousands, mostly paperless, in the busiest city this side of the Pacific. But Jedao did find them.

He dances without keeping track of the time, lets his face slowly slide back to its default arrangement, lets his spine relearn how to hold him up without being army rigid. He has several drinks - people buy them for him, which is nice; one or two of them he even dances with until they can't keep up with him any more. Fives rotates from the receiving line onto the floor as the night wears on and patrons get drunker, and he maneuvers himself into Fives' line of view, always moving, twisting, flashing glances that catch on Fives' eyes as the beat hits. Slowly, as if by the whim of the music, he draws closer.

Comments

[callmefives]

His breath catches as he meets the General's eyes, and his words are like warm fingers down his spine, reassuring and comforting. Heartening. It reminds Fives, in a way, of how good he'd always been at rallying the troops going into an operation; how easy he is to trust, and believe, and want to follow.

"Yes sir," he answers, low and throaty, just as intense in his way.

[ninefox]

"Good lad," Jedao softly, still low, easing off the intensity as he leans back in the couch.

[callmefives]

Fives shivers, feeling almost like he's been released from something. Which doesn't do a damn thing to change the way he wants to follow the General as he leans back, straddle his lap and push him back into the couch with his weight and rub himself all over him. In ever way possible. There's a reason Rex has always told him his infatuation is a problem.

He licks his lips and makes himself sit back, pillow still positioned strategically. "We can leave soon, if you want," he makes himself offer. "I know Tup will be especially excited to see you." Dogma might too, though it's hard to predict with him... and Fives doesn't really care to try. He knows he shouldn't still be bitter, but that doesn't change the fact he is, and Dogma's almost obsequious fawning over him makes it worse, not better.

[ninefox]

"How late do you think we can be before Rex tips over from grateful that he's got one more extra minute to double-check things are perfect into panicked that we might not show up before something gets cold?" Jedao asks thoughtfully.

[callmefives]

Fives laughs, bright and startled, and grins at the General. "That's cruel," he accuses cheerfully. "And I'd say at least thirty to forty-five minutes. Knowing Rex, he'll have allowed enough time for everyone to mob you with questions and greetings and then to do a little catching up before the food goes on the table."

[ninefox]

"I think it's very considerate of me," Jedao says primly. "Although I do want to catch up with everyone. Let's aim for ten minutes late. But we could take an indirect route."

A long stroll; Fives could get a head start on showing off the neighborhood.

[callmefives]

"Fine," he agrees, drawing the word out and smirking at the General's primness. "I suppose it wouldn't be fair to anyone else to give the old man a heart attack right before dinner." And for all his teasing, he wouldn't want to either: the only one of his brothers he loves more than Rex is Echo... and maybe Hevy when he's not being an asshole.

"I can show you the park... and the bodega," he offers, trying to think of places that might be of interest to someone who actually knows the world, and isn't constantly amazed by even the smallest and mundane things. "And you can get on our roof from the fire escape and the view is actually pretty amazing."

[ninefox]

"I'd like that very much," Jedao assures him, standing up and stretching briefly.

[callmefives]

Fives watches, utterly enthralled for the few seconds that the General takes to stretch, and then swallows hard and considers the wisdom of getting to his own feet. He bites back a resigned sigh, adjusts himself under cover of the pillow, and then stands himself, with considerably less grace and ease under the circumstances.

"We're only about half a mile from home, here." He figures if he just keeps talking like this is normal, everything's normal, showing around the fucking Fox General is an every day activity, then maybe he can do it without spending every moment of it tenting his pants. Maybe. "We'll take the long way, though." He grins and waves jauntily to Echo as he heads for the door, and receives a disapproving look, a mouthed order not to embarrass himself, and a wave in return.

[ninefox]

"Lovely."

Jedao waves to Echo too, although if he notices any messages, he seems oblivious; then somehow he manages to be at the door before Fives, opening it with a silly flourish of a bow.

[callmefives]

Fives' eyes go wide, he's startled and more than a little charmed by the teasing courtesy, and he absolutely can't resist the urge to turn a triumphant look back Echo's way before slipping out the door, grinning.

"Careful or I'm going to start thinking this is a date," he teases, tucking his hands into his jeans pockets and giving the General a sidelong look as he turns towards the park--and away from the apartment.

[ninefox]

"I have never been careful in my life," he lies cheerfully. It's only a little bit a lie.

[callmefives]

Fives actually snorts at that. "You can maybe make someone who didn't serve under you or know anyone who did believe that." The Fox General had had the reputation of being the most careful about wasting his men's lives of any of their commanding officers. Not of being timid or over careful, but being wily and cunning and not losing men needlessly when they could take their objective without massive casualties.

[ninefox]

"That's just not being stupid," he argues. "Completely different."

[callmefives]

"Mhmm, if you say so." He's clearly not buying it, but look at him being a good trooper and not arguing. Yep. Totally not arguing.

[ninefox]

"I do say so. Quite," he says primly.

[callmefives]

Okay, maybe arguing just a little bit- "Is it comfortable, living in a land of delusion?" he asks, turning to walk backward a few steps ahead and grin at the General. Rex would be boxing his ears--or trying to--for lack of respect for his betters.

[ninefox]

"Indubitably. For one thing, the weather is always perfect," he reports.

[callmefives]

Fives laughs, quick and bright, and turns to walk next to him again as they turn the corner. "I'm glad the perks are worth it. Sir."

He points across the street, to a tidy little shopfront with fresh produce in displays on the sidewalk under an awning. "That's our bodega." He sounds proud of it, which might not make any real sense, but he likes having something that normal--a little local shop where he's known, where he has credit now because they trust him. It makes him feel real in a way he hadn't for a long time when they'd gotten out.

"Their cat, Felix, always hides when any of us come in." That, he sounds a little disappointed at, and the big black and white tuxedo cat is clearly visible right now, lounging under one of the displays. "Are domestic animals afraid of you too?"

[ninefox]

"It varies by animal. Not usually - wild foxes wouldn't bother cats unless they were starving, we don't give off apex hunter like you do. But they're not, hm, affectionate. The polite thing for us is to mutually and emphatically ignore each other. Purebred foxhounds can get very weird at me, though," he adds, with a bit of a face.

[callmefives]

"I wish cats weren't frightened of us," he admits wistfully, wrinkling his nose. "They look... soft, and on videos on the computer they make this really nice rumbling noise." But what can you do, when you smell like something that could snap them up in one bite and just might want to. He shrugs.

"Are foxhounds part fox? What do they do that's weird?" He doesn't know much about these things, clearly.

[ninefox]

"Bred to hunt us," Jedao says, with a shake of his head, his expression more of distaste than anything. "They know better than to mess with me as a wild spirit but twenty generations as working dogs says go get him. It's all kinds of reactions, they get very confused. Sometimes they'll attack someone else, sometimes they just follow me nervously."

[callmefives]

"Why would anyone breed something to hunt you?" He sounds positively scandalized by the idea. "You wouldn't even taste good." Which is the only reason he can think of for hunting.

[ninefox]

Jedao laughs at that, then rolls one shoulder in a shrug. "Pest control at the beginning, I think. My cousins kept getting into other people's chickens. Later, it was for sport. But we're too fast for men on foot and too small for men on horseback to follow properly, so - stubborn little dogs."

CW: killing and eating animals, blood

[callmefives]

"Well that's just reasonable, chickens are delicious." He remembers when they were pups, sometimes being thrown live chickens to run down and tear apart, remembers the squawks and the taste of blood and the simple joy of it.

"Men don't seem to be very good hunters." He sounds more than a little disdainful of it. "But I guess they're very good at getting others to do their hunting for them."