Some friends tipped me off that someone with heart cheeks was in New York recently."
A/N: If you don't know who Noel is, all you really need to know is that he's from that Canada series of omake's I've been writing.
Edit: the ending of
this should have the necessary context.
FRIENDS IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME.
"So, this is the place?"
Noel looked up at the tall clock tower, the moon hanging in the sky illuminating it like a spotlight, the face shining and dazzling anyone who looked at it.
… Alright maybe he was exaggerating a bit, but it still looked nice.
"That's what all the rumors said anyway." Eir dumped the empty container of poutine he had bought earlier (out of Noel's pocket, the cheapskate) into a nearby trash can. "And ever since that news conference, they've exploded in popularity, even if any new sightings have been rather scarce."
The white haired man tugged unconsciously at his jacket, thoughts still focused on
oh god that tower is high. "Did it have to be in a clock tower this high?"
His friend rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't be a baby about it. If Soleil were here, you'd probably be fine with it."
Huh? The statement pulled his gaze away from the tower to just stare at the guy next to him.
Something must have shown on his face because Eir just sighed. "Never mind." Before he could ask what Soleil had to do with this, he was interrupted by a frozen platform forming under his feet, rocketing them up to the clock tower in the space of a second, and causing him to stumble from the jolt.
"Couldn't you have waited until after we made sure no one was around?", he hissed, shuffling just a bit farther away from the edge.
"I did. You were too busy catastrophizing to notice." The blue haired man waved his hand and the platform went away.
His completely mature and justified comeback was interrupted by the sound of voices, causing them to stop their conversation in favour of doing their jobs.
"-… I see. Is this from a trustworthy source, young one?"
" …As much as I hope he was lying, he was
desperate. And that's something he normally isn't."
"Magical prophecies are rather serious in nature." The two crept around a corner to finally see the speakers. One was a humanoid figure, vaguely looking like a female human if one ignored the blue tint of her skin and the wings on her back. The other, and the one currently speaking, was a significantly older figure, standing with a hunch to his posture, white hair forming a beard under his face. Like the other one, wings also spread from his back, green ones this time. "Thank you for letting me know about this. I will let my clan know. Is there anything else?" The creature's gaze turned and looked directly at- "and maybe you two would like to join in our conversation."
Well, no use trying to hide it. They stepped out into the middle of the room. Eir took the lead for both of them, "Our apologies, we didn't mean to interrupt." Noel, not knowing what else to do simply bowed his head.
Thankfully, he didn't a complete faux pau, since all they got was a simple chuckle. "I figured. You're not like the others who came bursting in here, with their fancy picture makers and all that, judging by how you've been asking your questions over the past few days."
Eir just simply nodded in return. "Of course. We just want to talk, but we can wait until this is done."
The gargoyle (that was what they had to be, the similarities between the ones on that interview were obvious) nodded his own head in a polite dismissal as he turned back to his conversation partner, who was clearly nervous about something.
"My mother has
something planned for gargoyles. "Something great" she said when we fought her back in New York."
The gargoyle raised his eyebrow (seriously, how did a decent chunk of magical creatures have so many similarities to humans?). "We?"
"Yeah, me and Star-" Her eyes widened, mouth shut as if she had said too much.
Wait, wasn't Star…
"Was she a blond girl, hearts on her cheeks, on the run from something?"
Her frozen expression as she tried to form an answer was all the proof he needed.
"That is her!" His words were followed by Eir stomping on his foot. Hard.
"Please ignore his bluntness. My friend here tends to put his foot in his mouth more times than we'd like. He's asking because one of her friends was looking for her, and was quite worried." Eir gave a smooth smile as he dug his heel deeper. "We won't spread the news."
It didn't quite reassure her, but after a look or two, she seemed at least satisfied with what she found, before turning back to the elder gargoyle who had… Noel couldn't really tell what it was, although it might be because of the lingering ache in his foot. In a tone of a person clearly trying to move the conversation along, she said, "It's part of the reason that we revealed ourselves to the world. Whatever her plan is, "and at that she scowled, "it will definitely not end well for all of us. Human or Gargoyle"
Well, that wasn't reassuring. And they were going to have to keep better tabs on New York, weren't they? Argh….
The green one was frowning now. "I see. Again thank you for letting me know." The first speaker nodded before running to the edge of the clock tower and flying away into the night. And they didn't get her name. He could just hear the comments now.
"Now that I am free," The frown turned into something of a wry smile, "you said you came here to talk, did you not. Well, I am rather interested in what individuals such as you two are doing around here."
At that, the three settled in for a long conversation.
The next morning…
"So they're still waiting on how they're going to reveal themselves personally." Lily scribbled a note onto one of the sticky pads she kept on her desk. "I'll see if I can get someone to help them out with that."
Noel nodded on the other end of the screen, packed bags in the hotel room behind him stacked in preparation for their departure. "I'd think they'd appreciate that." He paused for a moment. "What do you think about the New York thing?"
The brunette leaned back in her chair. "Well, there's not much we can do about it for right now. We are based in Canada after all." Her friend was giving her a "no, duh" look on the other end of the line. "But looks like your vacation is going to be all expenses paid." She couldn't help but laugh at the look of dawning comprehension on his face. "Don't worry, I'll tell Soleil for you. I'm sure she'll be happy with it." And with that she hung up the call on a picture-perfect frame of Noel looking absolutely stunned.
Despite her renewed outbreak of laughter at the sight, she knew they did have to look into that, especially with things like magical prophecies being involved.
But she could make plans for that later. For now, there was one thing she could do.
Dialing another number on her phone, she waited patiently for the receiver to pick up.
"Hello?"
"Ah, hi! You know our mutual friend, the one you asked me to look for? … I just got a tip that she was in New York City recently … It was no problem, don't worry about it. … You're welcome, Cazador."
