The Empty World | The Empty World Sequence [complete | rewriting]

Six (Draft 3) "The Only Faerie Boy in New York"

"It's gonna be worse."

Morpheus shook his head.

"If she and I are friends for a decade, then it turns out she isn't OK with being a Vampyre? So much worse."

"We don't know that. I couldn't see it. When I confirmed her location, I couldn't tell. There are too many variables. I had thought—" Morpheus wasn't sure he wanted to bring it up.

"Murph."

"I guess I assumed: if she had a bottle of Vampyre blood in the fridge, and I know a Vampyre from the same area who recognized her name, it must be him. But I didn't see it. From what Splendor and Absidus said, there's a whole—what do they call them? Covens? Broods?"

"Clutch. Clan. I don't know." Mother smiled tightly. "Will you be all right?"

Without her? Or with the temptation of Julien nearby? Morpheus was to watch Joy from afar in whatever disguise brought the least attention, during those times Mother couldn't be near, leaving him time in which to entertain himself.

"I'll be fine." It wasn't as if he'd never completed assignments on his own. Morpheus didn't have earthly needs, except maybe for affection, and people could survive for long periods without that. "Plus, I have River."

He did. Morpheus also had an excellent fictional guidebook to the city, a guitar, and two loyal Djinn.

Morpheus took care of his assigned duties first. He got to know the routes Joy took between home, work and gigs. She had a flat near Thompkin's Square Park, which was closed for construction when Morpheus first scouted the area. Joy regularly walked across town to work, often along St. Mark's and 8th Street, passing The Cube at Astor Place, then cutting south towards Washington Square Park to reach the record store its other side on West 3rd Street.

When Joy was occupied at work, selling vinyl or arguing about musical influences, Morpheus left to explore the city. He took in movies, visited famous pizzerias, and practiced new forms and fashions.

He found shapeshifting aided ability to lift money from the pockets of people about to do foolish things with it, yet if he simply sat along a sidewalk to rest people might toss cash to him. River and his guidebook agreed it likely wasn't legal to ask for money, but sitting outside with a cup implied a need that New Yorkers often met.

There were not a few Humans in need in the city, but sometimes, when Morpheus sat nearby or bent to drop coins in a cup, he met another's eyes and saw they were like him. He found Archon Raziel on Avenue A one day.

Before the summer was ended, Morpheus found his way to enough cash to buy a second-hand acoustic guitar. It had been made by a small overseas manufacturer and must have originally been of fair quality, though it now showed wear. But the finish matched his hair, so it suited Morpheus.

He was able to start busking while Joy was at work. River advised that some cities required permits to perform in public, and the guidebook indicated that NYC required permits to play in some locations or with amplification, but Morpheus didn't see the point. He could cast sleep, or even waking dream into a Human mind; it even seemed righteous to do it to make an escape from fine or imprisonment. Not that police officers could have contained him.

It was just as easy to get lost in a crowd.

Thompkins Square Park was reopened in time to host Wigstock as summer waned. Morpheus had not seen its like since the seasonal festivals of the Achaemenid Empire during his travels with Absinthe, Laudanum, and the Djinn. Loren and Hepburn enjoyed the music, costumes, and attention. To Morpheus, it was an opportunity to not disguise his form.