Something was different. There was no coating of crust and dust over his eyelids and he was barely stiff at all. Then he remembered; his hibernation was over. It was the next day, not years later. Loch felt the weight of the world even heavier than before. Yesterday he had made it through figuring out the basics of the new computers, bought himself a laptop, and read a three-hundred-page overview on the past thirty years. On top of it all, he'd had to remember to eat so that eventually he would appear less skeletal.
Loch opened his eyes and rolled off the couch. With a quick look out the window and a mental scan, he decided it was safe enough to move through his own methods. He fell backward with his eyes closed and opened them to find himself sitting in the car once again. Another thing on his enormous to-do list; fix the car's heater and anything else that may not have been made for the current climate. The rest of it showed no sign of rust and was unharmed due to a little protection provided by himself for the times between awakeness.
The car rumbled to life with an enthusiastic purr, happy to be driven twice in a row for the first time in many long years. Its cheer did not rub off on him. Loch sped through city and skidded to a stop several minutes later in front of the same shop as before. After some exploration the day before, he had discovered that the Other population in the rest of the city was not nearly as large as that of the café, so it was definitely a gathering spot. While he would much rather remain undiscovered, he needed to catch up on Other affairs as well as those of the humans in order to understand all that was going on.
Loch sat in the same place he had sat in the day before - it provided a very good vantage point for observing the café and the street - and waited for a waiter to come. It was the same naiad as the day before. His haircut was curious, though it could be the latest style. Loch's own hair stopped growing every time he went into hibernation, so it stayed at her preferred length. The boy grinned at Loch, showing off sharp teeth he probably thought his customer could not see. "Would you like the same order as yesterday?"
How surprising. He remembered both Loch and his order. "Yes."
"You seemed like the type." The boy smiled to himself and sprang away with a skip in his step. It was fascinating watching a six-foot-something naiad skip around with so much cheer. It could be his personality, or it could reflect the current state of the infuriating Other politics.
He seemed the type. What did that mean? Loch decided not to dwell on it. He pulled the touch screen phone he had been convinced to buy during the process of buying a computer out of his coat pocket and powered it up, looking at the directions at the same time. The internet contained much more information than it had when he had last gone into hibernation, and he planned on taking advantage of this fact. Yesterday he had found that there were stores online, so he had bought new furniture to replace the threadbare, collapsing furniture he had now. Only the car was ever protected during his periods of hibernation. Anything more would require too much focus and he would never sleep.
He eventually grew bored of searching for answers to his questions and closed his eyes to listen. The city was an incessantly loud place, and he had very good ears. Inside the kitchen of the little café, he separated the clattering of pots and pans from the chattering of voices.
"What did she say about this month?" This voice was a dryad, he knew. A girl by the sound of it.
Her question was answered by a sigh, then a much deeper voice. The new voice had a slight growl to it; another lycanthrope. A male. "She said the usual. They're looking at the killings and trying to find the killers, but still to no success. I think she's hiding something because she doesn't want us to get scared. I am not a coward." Lycanthropes always had to assert their brawn and bravery.
"Here's your breakfast. Are you new to the city or just vacationing here for the winter? I know almost everyone in these parts and I'd never seen you until yesterday." Naiads always had very flowing voices, no matter what accent they spoke in. Loch took a sip from his milkshake and then the hot chocolate, the two temperatures clashing in his mouth.
"I live in the outskirts. Scurry back to your kitchen. You have a job to do." He looked out the window to indicate an end in conversation.
The boy was undeterred by his rudeness. What an annoying little prat. "Actually, we aren't very busy this morning so I can sit and chat if I'd like. My name's Skye Laramo, by the way. You can call me Skelly." He sat in the chair across from Loch and held out a hand for him to shake.
Loch stared at the thing with slightly webbed fingers in distaste. He had placed just enough shadows around himself for the boy not to know what he was, so he did not see why this Skye would want to talk to him. Perhaps the water creature was just overly friendly. Gingerly, he shook the webbed hand with his own gloved one. He began eating without offering his name.
'Skelly' was unfortunately not at all put off by his behavior. "So you live in the outskirts. You're very thin. How do you manage to be so thin and eat so much? I have to swim to stay fit." Of course he swam. He was a naiad for Ra's sake.
He swallowed, then looked up and squinted at the creature. He appeared completely sincere in his questioning, just curious. What an odd person. "I've been ill."
"Oh. But that means you're better now! That's nice. What's your name? You'd match my nickname pretty well with your skeleton thin hands. Get it? Skelly the skeleton? Never mind. I don't mean to insult you or anything. The skeletal-ness doesn't look strange at all, I promise." Though to the humans the shadows would have made him turn red with embarrassment, Loch could see his cheeks fill with a vibrant blue color. It was hilarious watching naiads blush.
He finished chewing before replying. "Loch Pholos."
"Interesting name. Where are you from? You sound like you're from Spain, but I'm not all that great at accents. Most of the time it's just good ol' 'Muricans in here. I was born and raised in the city."
"Egypt. Hence the last name Pholos. I lived in Spain for a while. What do you want?"
The cheerful, though embarrassed expression refused to leave Skelly's face. Perhaps he would need extra-strength cleaner for that. "I've never met you. So naturally, you're interesting. You're an Egyptian who lived in Spain then moved to the outskirts of the city. That's an exciting life. Are you actually Egyptian or just born there?"
"Egyptian. I'm albino, not white."
"Wow. An albino. I've never met one. Looks good on you." His cheeks turned blue again. "What's your job? The whole café thing is a family business, so I'm stuck as a waiter until I become manager. I can cook, but I'm not the best cook in the family so I'm not the chef." This boy was not going to give up on his conversation. He was also lying, since he could not possibly be related to the lycanthrope in the kitchen.
Loch finished off the meal and pushed the drinks aside. He cocked his head and squinted at the waiter. This was a conversation he very dearly did not want to have, but he could utilize it to figure out what was going on in the Other world within the city. The naiad was probably a warrior or warrior in training as a job in that society. "I inherited quite a bit." Parents; the one thing none of his own species had, and yet he always used them as an explanation for his reclusive behavior or lack of a job.
The creature seemed suspicious of this response. Then Loch remembered how threadbare his clothes were. That would be another thing to get today. He gave a condescending smile. "How about the bill for my meal, waiter."
A smile popped onto Skelly's face. "Would you like a receipt? It's the same as yesterday, so $21.05 is the price." He had a good memory. Loch had about five hundred dollars in his pocket from that morning's ATM thievery, so he peeled two twenties he had made from splitting a hundred off of the stack and handed them to the boy. Sadly, he hadn't gotten around to asking him any Other-related questions, but he wasn't sure that he could survive another ten seconds talking to the boy without exploding.
The webbed thing stared after him as he left, so he made sure not to look back. What an oddly clingy creature. Loch switched his thoughts to listening in on the hundreds of conversations around him.
"Groceries - " No.
"Vladimir Putin - " Who was that? If it was an Other it could be useful information. " - is still not letting Americans adopt Russian children! Can you believe that?" No. It was a human issue.
"What kind of nail polish - " No.
"Ohmygosh have you - " Whether it was Other-related or not, he could not put up with listening in on a conversation where one of the speakers had a valley girl accent.
"Foolish wolf thinks he makes a good ruler. I'm going to vote for Trinity again. She may have Scottish sass, but she knows what she's doing and makes rational decisions. Rurik would only build up the armies and claim mass will protect us. We need smarts, not mass." Depending on their definition of the word wolf, this conversation could be very useful. The Scottish woman on the phone with the lycanthrope-cop could be the Trinity they were speaking of.
The response to the original speaker confirmed his suspicions. "She's one of the cleverest pixies I've met."
"You've met her?"
"Yup. It was amazing. Everything she says makes you feel like a complete idiot. I suppose a lot of people would feel intimidated by that, but the fact that she can do that just shows her intelligence even more. I heard she has ten warlocks, too." Has? As in ownership? Loch felt a sense of pity for the creatures and anger at the same time. How could they let themselves be taken over like that? What had happened to his species since he ha last been part of the Other society? It had been at least three hundred years since then. Probably more around four hundred; anything could have happened. By the sounds of it, though, it was still a democracy. That was fortunate so long as it wasn't rigged.
"Has she said anything about the killings besides confirming that it was related to another branch of Others?"
"No... I'm not sure why. Do you think she's hiding something from us?"
"If she is, it's for our own good."
That was one perspective on what had been going on in the Other society. It was good enough for now. Loch quit listening in and ducked into a clothing shop. It was time to fix himself up so that he looked less like a bum.