Breakfast at the Love Shack (Attn Joshua Freemantle)

Joshua wakes up in a very big, very tactile bed. The crisp white sheets are silk and must have an absurdly high thread count for them to feel so nice. There are a bunch of pillows in a number of different sizes and shapes, and most of them don't look like they are for sleeping on. The room the bed is in is cluttered, with various bits of clothing strewn around with the casual disregard of someone that pays somebody else to do the cleaning. The closet doors have been removed, and a number of sets of clothing hang next to fancy looking but mundane dresser with several drawers half-open, displaying more clothing.

There are two doors outside the room, both open. One leads into a blue-tiled bathroom who's foggy mirrors and shower doors indicate that it's been used very recently, and the other leads off into a hallway with a white carpet and blue and green striped wallpaper. Smokey food-like smells are coming from the hallway.

GOD, his head hurt. He knew he was at a karaoke bar and that he drank something, but from there on his memories were fuzzy at best. Joshua hat some really urging questions right now, like for starters where he was or how he got here. Granted, he obviously had a host with a good taste in furniture.

Okay, trying to get up. The room spinned around. Lying down again.
He sighed: his head felt like it was going to explode the next second and his stomach felt funny. No, not ha-ha funny. Hopefully he hadn't vommited on some valuable clothes or something. Carefully he turned his head to the left, then to the right. Okay, no mess visible yet.

Second try. Better this time. He sat upright and looked around again: nothing. Well, that is something. As he tried to get on his feet he noticed how thirsty he was - like he had no water left inside his body. That's nothing one couldn't cure, he just had to find the bathroom. He made sure that he wore something and staggered out; then, after a short (or actually not-so-short) moment of navigation he stumbled into the bathroom. Absent-mindedly he opened the water tap and cleared the mirror. What he saw made him stop in his tracks of pooling some water in his hands: a man made of clouds was looking at him, wide-eyed. After what felt like several minutes (but actually were only a couple of seconds) he remembered - he probably has to get used to this sight. He sighed and splashed his face with the first handfull of water, filled them again and drank. His mouth felt dry nearly instantly again as he thought about his new life (or current lack thereof). 'Time to meet my host' he thought wearily and got out of the bathroom and into the kitchen's direction. "Hello? Uh... Kyle?!" Sure, he didn't expect to wake up at Derry's home, but that took him a bit by surprise.

Kyle was humming something while poking at a something in a frying pan. It sounded like bacon and eggs. "Morning Joshua! You up for some food or is it just fluids for you this morning?" Suddenly there the sound of something burping in the pan, and smoke appears. Kyle swears, and turns the fire off and switches the vent fan on to catch most of the burnt food smoke. Then he looks into the pan, mutters darkly and starts scraping the charred remains into the trash. There is a medium-sized pile of charred remains already there, waiting for more reinforcements.

Obviously, of all Kyle's talents, cooking was not one of them.

"Okay. Screw this. I have cereal if you want that. If you want something fancier we can go to to the House of Pancakes or something."

"Uh.. I think a coffee would be just fine.." Joshua got to a chair without stumbling and sat down clumsily. He looked at Kyle, who seemed to have problems with the breakfast but seemed in a good mood otherwise. "Did something important - I mean, did I insult someone yesterday?"

Kyle gives a little shrug. "If you insulted anyone, I didn't notice it." He gets a mug of coffee put together for Joshua and then he gets a bowl of Lucky Charms together for himself. There's a pot of sugar and a ting of cream for his coffee on the table if he wants to add anything.

Kyle waits until Joshua has his coffee put together to his liking. "Something important did happen though. You got back home. Now I'm going to ask you something that you probably haven't had time to think about yet," Kyle says between mouthfuls of delicious cereal. "Now that you are here, what do you want to do with yourself?"

Joshua tasted the black coffee and shuddered - nope, something's definitely missing. Tentatively he added milk and sugar and tasted again and again, until the coffee tasted good to drink. 4 spoons of sugar - has he always liked it this way? He took another sip, this time bigger, and waited to see how his stomach will react to it (seemed as if it'd keep the coffee for now). Kyle's question made his hands stop halfway back their way to the table; he had probably thought about this himself but never for too long as his tired mind always pushed away the question.
"I uh.. frankly, I don't know." Ugh, speaking hurt; his head felt like a basketball court - bumb-bumb-bumb-bumb - but he forced himself to keep on talking (albeit a little slower and less loudly). "I don't think I had any form of meaningful life before .. you know." He frowned a second, then continued. "I an away from home, haven't seen my parents for years. Sure, I've had a few buddies, but the memory of them is faded and incomplete.." Then he shrugged. He wanted to just lie down somewhere and sleep, to just wait for something to make the decisions for him. The thought that he had had this during his time in Arcadia didn't occur to him; but everything seemed so big and complicated right now, how could he possibly be able to fix it all himself?
"Do you have any idea?" Another sip of coffee, this time he successfully put the mug back on the table, so that his hands were free to massage his temples.

munch-munch- munch.

Kyle's enjoying his cereal more than an adult really should.

"Well, when I got out I ran through a series of minimum wage jobs before I hooked up with spring. In my opinion, the best thing for someone fresh out would be to get some stability before making any big decisions. Now not everyone is going to join a court, but it's something you should give some thought to, they are a great support system. Only reason I ask now is that I tend to let major decisions slip if nobody is poking me. Anybody give you the lowdown on the Courts yet?"

Stability sounded like just the thing Joshua desperately needed. Well, stability and a gun to blow his hurting head of. "Well, no.", he answered. "I mean, a court is something like 'rehab meets asylum', right?" Even with a head full of tiny men bumping against his skull Joshua could add 2 and 2 together (or so he thought, at least).
"You think I should turn to one of these.. courts?"

Kyle shakes his head no.

"No, I think you should make your own decisions. Otherwise you're not growing up, instead you are locking yourself in your past. I don't know about your durance, but mine wasn't one I'd like to keep repeating."

He finishes his breakfast and sticks the bowl in the sink.

"Okay, I'm not the best one to go around explaining the courts, I'm a little biased towards spring. I'll give it a shot though. Summer, they are all 'grrr, you're gonna have to drag us back kicking and screaming and biting' they're all very martial. Autumn is all about taking what they can from their time off in faerie, so if you're really into the magic part of yourself they are the best ones to talk to. Winter is..." Kyle stops for a bit and makes a thinking face.

"I'm not really sure what Winter's about honestly. They seem to want to just get back to as much of their lives as possible from before this all happened, which is all well and good, but not something I really get. Now Spring, we're all about getting as much enjoyment as possible out of our lives now that we're free. I personally think everyone would be better off in Spring, but not everyone's suited for it." Kyle shrugs. "I can give you contact numbers for some people who can explain them better than I can."

"Now, I'm willing to put you up for a couple of months, give you some advice, act as a sounding board, be your wingman next time we go out for drinks, that kind of thing. At least until you get your feet under you, I know it would have helped me when I came out to have someone offer that to me. Now, traditionally, that's something sworn on a Fostering Oath, but I'm not one to force something like that on someone." Kyle waits for Joshua's response to this before continuing.

Joshua nodded slowly after Kyles explanation. The possibilities went through his head and he knew that he couldn't do the summer or spring 'thing'. Seeing Derry and Kyle act made it perfectly clear that he couldn't be that unstable as they seemingly were, even though he enjoyed making others happy.
He took another sip of coffee. He didn't have to deal with magic either yet, so that probably left 'Winter' as only choice left to get some help; yeah, it was a lazy man's way of deciding on such a big thing, but maybe he'll enjoy the Winter Court's ways anyway.
"I don't know.. could you give me some contact address for someone of the Winter Court? So I can.. I don't know, check it out myself.." Yeah, himself. He didn't want to drag Kyle with him if it wasn't totally needed, seeing that he has already taken so much of Kyle's time.
The fact that he didn't want to cause inconveniences for anyone (including Kyle) was also the reason why he thought for a few moments longer about the oath. On the one hand, Kyle offered this, so he probably didn't mind the 'extra work'. But on the other hand this voice kept telling Joshua that it was just a formality, not to be taken seriously and that he should look for help otherwhere (and didn't Kyle just looked irritated right now?). For probably about half a minute Joshua's complex was fighting with his need for someone to lead him and in the end his insecurity about the whole situation won. "Uhm thank you, that'd be nice; I mean, only if it wouldn't bother you that much.. the whole helping me and stuff.."

He rolls his eyes. "Please, If I didn't want to do something, I wouldn't have offered." Kyle rolls his neck, popping the vertebrae. "Ahhh. Okay, If I'm going to do this I might as well pretend to be formal. Gah, I hate talking like this. Feel free to ask any questions if you don't understand."

Kyle clears his throat and looks Joshua in the eye. It it a strangely intimate experience, like he's lowering certain barriers that he keeps up all the time, something that you think Kyle does not do for just anybody. "Newly torn by the Thorns, you are vulnerable. I offer you my protection. Newly come to the freehold, you are confused. I offer you my experience. Until the season changes, give to me your attention, your effort, your energy, and your promise to hold safe the things I show you, and I vow, on my good name, to do my utmost to aid you in learning what you will need to survive and prosper. Should you betray my efforts, however, may you find the same offer from no man. Choose carefully."

Something like a cold breeze crawled down Joshua's back as those words have been spoken. He instinctively knew that this wasn't a usual promise, it was more. On a certain level his now changed nature understood this, but only subconsciously. His head didn't hurt as badly for a moment, as if to enable him clear thoughts to decide.
He was not sure how exactly he had to agree to this oath, so he just talked what he had in mind right now and hoped that it was the correct thing to say. "I will give you my attention, my effort, my energy and my promise, for you aided me and decided to aid me further."
BAM. The headache was back with a vengeance and he felt something in him react to what he had just done. Unaccustomed to this experience he was still shaking a little bit as he took his mug for another gulp of coffee.

Kyle activates the Pledge with a bit of his Will.

"Alright, now let's see about finding you..." Kyle pulls out his rolodex. After a bit of digging, he gives Joshua a phone number for the fair folk dojo and dance studio, with a suggestion to talk with Nightfall about Winter, a copy of Kyle's apartment key, a monthly bus pass and a city bus map with the apartment marked out so he can get home. Kyle needs to go to work, but he's willing to drop Joshua off somewhere, after he takes a shower. Kyle's also perfectly willing to let him borrow some new clothes until he could get some more of his own.

"Wow.. that is - I mean.. wow!" Kyle took this Oath serious; in fact, Joshua had a hard time really accepting everything he had been given (but he did; although hesitantly), so all he was capable of was a stammered "Thank you". He was really glad that he had met Kyle and even though he didn't have to fight back his tears, he was touched by this willingnes to help a complete stranger.
"Hey.. uhm maybe I could make a quick call there right now and if someone's available you could take me there before going to work." The implicitness in his voice almost startled him and he had to bite his tounge to keep the "if it's no big detour for you" he almost automatically added to himself; he should get used to this, they made a deal.

"You misunderstand. You," Kyle pokes Joshua in a cloud where his shoulder should be, "Need to take a shower, because I already have and you smell like a man that drank himself into a stupor last night and just woke up. While you do that, I will find you something that fits from my closet. After that you get to make arrangements. Now, I keep odd hours so alot of times I won't be here at night. There's microwave dinners in the freezer, and if anybody asks about you just tell them you're my cousin."

"Oh.. of course" Joshua had no idea how it looked when he blushed, but it definately felt the same as before. Again he nodded and made his way into the bathroom as soon as he was sure that Kyle didn't want to add anything.
He closed and locked the door and got out of his clothes, to watch himself again in the not-so-foggy-anymore mirror. It was pretty strange: He looked like the lovechild of the Michelin mascot and the Marshmallowguy from Ghostbusters. Joshua shook his head and entered the shower, where he looked for soap and shampoo before he made sure that the rest of the bathroom will stay relatively dry and started to clean himself. It was interesting (to say the least) to see how his 'new' body reacted with the world -the water, for example, rolled off his 'skin' mostly, but a little bit seeped in and the clouds where this happened blackened, as if heavy with rain. Apart from that the shower had a unexcitingly usual effect on him: he felt better (not much better, mind you), both the headache and the tired feeling fell off of him to a certain degree.
He finished pretty quickly and while drying up he noticed that the blackness vanished as he got dry (well, at least he didn't have to wring himself out) and even though he pretty much expected something like that it still amazed him. He wondered how long this amazement will last until it all becomes routine.
With the towel wrapped around his waist he opened the door a bit and called out whether Kyle had found something for him to wear and where he should put the old clothes.

Kyle's voice comes from the bedroom, and he's making regular little grunting noises. "There's some some, uff, things on the bed. Just, uff, find something you like."

Perhaps there is some hope that this will not be an awkward moment.

When Joshua looks out he finds out that he's not that lucky. Kyle is bereft of pants and lying down on the bed, legs in the air. On a second look however, he is not molesting himself in a manner inappropriate when non-participating company is in. He's just getting his work pants on over his boxers (silk, black with amazingly red hearts). Once he manages getting the black slacks on, he gets up and looks through his closet for a shirt to wear, standing in front of a mirror and holding up some shirts of different colors to himself to see which he likes the best that day. He doesn't seem to be paying much attention to Joshua.

On the end of the bed are some older clothes, more rugged than the suits he's wearing nowadays. There's some jeans, some t-shirts, some jackets as well as a couple of tube socks and pair of less flashy boxers than the ones Kyle is currently wearing. Not a lot of choices, but it looks like it should all fit fairly well, and it's all broken in already.

Still looking at himself and two shirts (pale green and pale blue) in the mirror "Don't be shy, I'm sure you don't have anything I haven't seen before."

Huh, guess I have to get used to that ,too. Joshua decided that it was probably better to forget the last two minutes of struggle and headed to the clothes lying out on the bed. He picked a pair of jeans and a white tshirt, some socks and a boxershort and checked Kyle again, before he dropped the towel. He dressed as quickly as possible (well, boxers and tshirt at least; the rest he put on a little less hasty) and turned to Kyle. Looking in the mirror Joshua decided that he like what he saw: Kyle's clothes fit him almost perfectly and looked pretty good, which put a smile on his face.
"I'd go with the blue one." He smiled even broader as he noticed just how gay the situation as a whole was.

Sometimes, Kyle thought to himself while he looks in the strategically placed mirror, Self imposed limitations as so difficult.

Kyle's Mien starts glowing, a soft fuzzy kind of glow. He appears to not notice it while he keeps looking at the shirts.

Joshua shrugged; Kyle didn't seem to hear his advice (in fact he seemed to be daydreaming or something. The glow was.. interesting, but not interesting enough to keep Joshua standing there doing nothing but staring at Kyle), so he left to room and went to the kitchen to see if there was some more coffee.
After he had fixed himself another mug he sat down again and rested his head on his arms, a pose he only broke to take a gulp of coffee.

Kyle comes out of the room a short time later, wearing the blue shirt. The glowing has settled down into shimmery patterns that seem to float over his skin and hair like he's standing under a black light and someone's scribbled all over him with a highlighter in neon greens, blues and reds. He's looking his hands over with an almost detached interest. "Well, I guess I don't need those glow in the dark condoms anymore. Ready to go?"

He scribbles a note to his housekeeper to let her know that his cousin had moved in for a bit and that if someone showed up that she didn't need to call the police. Then he picks his keys out of the bowl by the door. "Ready to go?"

Joshua noded and downed the - now bearable cold - coffee. "You'll drop me at the studio, right?" While Kyle answered he put on his shoes and gives Kyle an upped thumb: 'Ready to go'.