<sup>It was a fairly warm day, but not the uncomfortable, sticky kind of warm that made just a little sweat form at the hinges or make you wish you were anywhere but Santa Cruz. Moderately warm; pleasant.

Which meant that there would, of course, be plenty of people with decent amounts of money in their pockets, all milling about the boardwalk around noon on a Saturday. This was a certainty that made half of, well, probably more than one, but for today, one young woman in particular's pocket money.

Haruko was dressed flamboyantly today, a jingling green and yellow jester hat atop her head of short black hair, a fitted black top with dark green, skintight long sleeves that tucked into thin black gloves on her slim torso. Her typical shorts, also green, did not match the blue-and-orange pinstripe tights she wore tucked into her bright orange sneakers. It wasn't meant to match, to look coordinated; it was for shock value. To get people's attention, and Haruko always got people's attention when she wanted it.

Of course, the long knives she was juggling with ease helped. Each one flipped over once before coming handle-down into the hand it was aimed for. To add another quirk of difficulty to wow the crowd, she did this while making eye contact with anyone who looked her way and smiling a wide, glittering grin, allowing her reflexes and peripheral vision do the work. This went on fairly well for a minute or so, but not quite catching one of the curved knives right forced her to throw incorrectly to keep the rhythm, and the knife in question almost sliced open her sleeve (and maybe even would have done in her forearm)...but it didn't. Intead, it performed a strange little flick in the air, seemingly of its own accord, and fell back to her hand with the blade where it was supposed to be.

Not sure or very concerned if anyone had seen, Haruko bounced on the balls of her feet, then kicked her left leg high into the air, into the medley of flying knives, and chucked one hard under her leg to join the other two. With a little "help," as Haruko called it, the pattern was kept and all went well. That'd be something to inspire a little extra generosity. The Fool hadn't wanted to put her hat on the ground (it practically made the freakin' outfit, jeez) so she'd left her knife case open in front of her. She couldn't see how her funds were turning out, but she'd seen more than a few people bend over the case with bills that she couldn't make out in their hands, and more had tossed in a quarter as they passed.

Haruko had been here for an hour and had forgotten to eat breakfast, so when she started smelling even more the scent of hot dogs, funnel cakes, popcorn, taffy, and all other junky foods people ate here, her small stomach rumbled. Trusting that she'd earned enough to buy herself lunch by now (for she hadn't brought any other money with her today) Haruko caught all her knives in one hand, (enough to earn an "oooh, ahhhh" from any who'd stuck around as opposed to just passing by) and somersaulted to her case.

Not bad at all she thought to herself, a devious grin on her face. Ah, tourists, it might be appropriate to just actually rob you blind! Thanks! Nyuk nyuk nyuk... Scraping the change into a pocket and jamming the bills into her wallet after counting swiftly, Haruko then slipped her knives inside and shoved the case into her drawstring black backpack, joining the milling crowd, grinning at anyone who looked at her funny.</sup>

Street performiances were an art form. Mack was an old hand at it, and could see this girl knew what she was doing. What had attracted him, however, was that scent. That peppery, spicy tandoori smell. It was the same as what he'd smelled on the winged fellow he'd met earlier. This girl was an Awakened, or something similar anyway.

There was the question of whether or not to talk to her. She didn't seem to have noticed him in the crowd of spectators. So, it was his initiative.

Having a kind of allergy to caution, Makaha decided to get her attention. After all, he'd helped kill a demon and he doubted she was as dangerous as one of those, long knives or no. Casually falling into step beside the girl, he began speaking as though the were all ready in the middle of a conversation, "Must be convenient to work alone. When I want to do that, I need to get six or seven buddies together for a good show."

<sup>As a former gymnast and a performer, Haruko was very aware of where all the odds and ends of her body were. She was also quite aware of where other people were with relation to herself. So when a man she'd never met before slipped very purposefully into step with her (abnormal due to the fact that he had longer legs than she did), of course she noticed. This was not abnormal, considering the fact that they were in a crowd, which Haruko happened to stand out a bit in. Half the people she talked to on the weekends she met through the large and varied social network called an audience.

"Must be convenient to work alone. When I want to do that, I need to get six or seven buddies together for a good show."

As Haruko's head turned, the bells on her hat jingled. Pursing her lips and quirking the edges of her mouth up, The Fool gave a zany smile before replying.

"Yep," she said, over the loud creaking in the wooden boards beneath her orange sneakers. "Less people to split it with too. Whaddo you do? Juggling? Fire? Capoeira?--" she kept going on, bouncing her head skyward with each guess. "Acrobatics? Ribbons? Rope? Hoop?" Now she was just being ridiculous. You couldn't really do rope on the street unless you had something to hang a rope from, let alone hoop. "Band? Oooooh, do you make ringy sounds on bottles?" As she guessed what it was this man might do, increasingly outageously, she dodged in and out of the crowd while walking, not taking her eyes off the man's face as she spoke animatedly. Several times she had to turn sideways at the last second to avoid provoking the anger of the masses. "Huh, huh, huh?"</sup>

Mack was holding his sides. This girl wasn't so much good with what she said as how she said it. Her presentation was excellent. She trod on the line of being incredibly annoying without ever quite crossing it. She'd run full force at it, and then stop at the last possible instant, just a few metaphorical inches from the very edge.

Makaha was often perceived as funny, but that was usually when he was deliberately trying to be or his friends had had too much to drink. This girl made it look natural. He wished he had those instincts.

Of course, he couldn't let her keep on taking potshots at him without expecting him to take part. Choking back his laughter, he schooled his features into his best deadpan. Coming up with a suitable response, he decided not to use it and instead say the most random thing that came to mind, "Nope, I'm the ringmaster for California's first travelling leprechaun circus. The name's Phineas T O'Barnumsmithkellybrianson."

<sup>In the time it took for a person to pass between herself and...Phineas... Haruko blinked, but then once eye contact was established between them once more, she replied, seemingly without missing a beat. Improv skills!

"Nice to meetcha, Phinnie," she said, deciding that as long as the man was going to use a fake name (because that was a fake name, no doubt about it,) then she was going to use a very annoying nickname for him. Then, she grinned widely, and said, "My name's Alejandro Corazon de Cordoba. They call me Pedro."

Haruko lifted her hat off her head, then shoved her other arm straight out in a diagonal in front of her into the air, one knee bent to her chest in a strange leaning salute, then fell back into step. With a jingle, her hat returned to her head, pulled on firmly by the street performer's lithe fingers.

"Like it here?"</sup>

California was a nice enough place. The weather was excellent, the people were cheerful. Mack supposed he liked it.

"Yes I do," he replied, "and my uncle chooses to live here when he's been all over the world, so there must be something to it."

His uncle got around. Palo was like a hot potato, staying in a place for just long enough to get a feel for it and then casting himself off on his merry way. Mack pondered if the reason why Palo had stayed around this long was because of him and his college habits.

Or perhaps the man was getting old, maybe wanted to settle down and make Makaha some cousins. Frankly, it was hard to say which was the worse option.

"And my real name's Mack," he informed, "I'm actually every nationality except Irish. Or Japanese, Greek, and a few hundred other things."

<sup>"Yes I do, and my uncle chooses to live here when he's been all over the world, so there must be something to it."

Haruko nodded. Yes, Santa Cruz was pretty cool, as far as she was concerned. There were plenty of different people around, mostly folks who didn't stay long, and that was nice. She still pined for her sweet Bay Area, but what could you do? The Fool was moving back the second she turned eightteen, and that was that.

"And my real name's Mack. I'm actually every nationality except Irish. Or Japanese, Greek, and a few hundred other things."

Ha. HA! She'd gotten him to crack first. Or maybe he was just being more mature than her. In any case, a gloating smile formed on Haruko's features briefly, then melted away serenely. She considered making Mack call her Pedro for a while, then decided against it out of respect for the guy who'd made himself the leader of a leprechaun circus. Gotta hand it to him--it'd been pretty good.

"The name's Haruko Jester," she said, flicking a bell on her hat. "Yep, California's pretty chill. I bet you'd like the Bay Area better than Santa Cruz, though. I do. Nobody beats Berkeley," she said, repeating a line that appeared on many Berkeley-issued car license plates. "Anyway. So, what do you do for cash?" Haruko stopped, having found the churro stand she'd been waiting to see. It was one of few sources of food that didn't have a line to inspire stroke. After buying two, she looked back at Mack.</sup>

Mack considered the question. "Sometimes I put together a roda with my friends. Your third guess was dead on. It's fun but it's tricky. You need guys who are good on the instruments, you need guys who know some floreio, it's tricky.

"I also work as a janitor down at the hospital. It's not very glamorous but it's steady pay. Problem is, with that Scrubs show everyone's making jokes about me taxidermy-ing up squirrels and stuff."

That had to stop. Mack was odd. Pointing that out was like calling a giraffe tall. Everyone knew. But he wasn't evil. Well, if you were a Creationist he was pretty evil.

"So, do you do anything on the side?" he asked.

<sup>"Problem is, with that Scrubs show everyone's making jokes about me taxidermy-ing up squirrels and stuff."

Haruko had to laugh at that--she hadn't seen Scrubs, having neither cable nor desire to stay in the house more than she had to--and was still chuckling when they reached the head of the line and asked for two churros, paying with crumpled bills scrounged out of her pockets. She took a large bite out of one and offered the other to Mack (she would be more than able to eat it if he declined, but it was nice to offer.)

Making a big swallow that seemed disproportionate to such a small person, the Fool licked sugar off her lips and said, "I work at an ice cream place part time. Don't have piles'a time during the school year, but I pick up a shift here and there in the summer 'n such. Works out okay." She took another huge bite of churro, chewing for about a second before swallowing again, wiping sugar off her mouth with a finger, then sucking the sugar off her finger.

"I guess that's one good thing about Santa Cruz. People're more easily impressed 'cause there ain't as many awesome-ass weirdos running around."</sup>

Politely declining the churro (dear gods, the cholesterol!) Makaha nodded along. People often had a slightly skewed viewpoint as to the greatness of where they lived, but every now and then someone happened to be right. Perhaps Berkely was worth checking out. Nomadic and impulsive by nature, he almost felt his feet get itchy.

Upon hearing about weirdos, well, Mack wouldn't be Mack if he didn't put in his seven and a half cents. "Well, I'm not sure about that. Not too long ago a met a dude with wings. We killed a demon together. Well, he did most of the stabbing but I was strangling the bounder pretty good."

<sup>Haruko noted the freeness of the second churro in her hands and thus allowed her heart a little happy-dance of churro joy (come on; they're CHURROS).

"Not too long ago a met a dude with wings. We killed a demon together. Well, he did most of the stabbing but I was strangling the bounder pretty good."

Here the Fool was almost torn between reactions. Sure, she'd heard all the terminology before. Demons and the like; they were usually pretty sexy in fantasy novels. Generally had pretty hot names and snarky personalities too. Unless you were talking biblical, in which case they suddenly became unintelligent little deviants who just went around fucking shit up. In that regard, whatever. That side of her could've easily just gone along with Mack; who cared if it was ridiculous? Another part of her sort of felt like choking on churro from slight surprise. Here Mack had been just a second ago talking like the next human being. Well, you didn't see capoeira folks all the time, but still. Normal enough. Next thing you know he's talking about wings and killing demons. Get off the juice, man, get off the juice! Then, a little flicker of a nightmare came floating vividly across her mind out of the hum that was the usual flow of them: there was barely any substance, just a strange blackness in which wide, narrowed eyes watched her. Then, memories of things seen out of the corner of one eye, or things heard as if from through a wall or ceiling or floor.

Haruko took another bite of churro.

Met a guy with wings, killed a demon together. Wow. Fair enough, Haruko thought, chewing thoroughly before swallowing. It seemed rather strange that she'd gone through a whole mental process about accepting what the guy said before she even established whether or not Mack was serious. Bit stupid, really. Mentally shrugging her shoulders, Haruko tilted her head quizzically. "Tell me about it," she said calmly, without any judgement, waiting.</sup>

"Tell me about it,"

Mack thought back to the day. She would probably think he was a nut for telling this story. Or perhaps that he liked telling ridiculous stories. But her reaction was the best one he'd had so far.

"It began with a roda," he started, "it was winding up and I asked this guy in the audience what he thought. He told me, I politely disagreed and then he got offended and went off. Or so I thought.

"He's just out of sight when I catch this crazy kind of smell. Not the kind you smell with your nose, but more like a feeling. So I get this and I decide to check it out. And I ran into that guy again. Only now he had wings and a sword and was fighting something I couldn't see. Turned out the smell was him.

"So I get another whiff, but this one stinks. Like bad meat, or a restaurant dumpster. Then I see the thing he was fighting. Nasty kind of monster, not very strong but wickedly fast. It attacks me and I ran away. Then it slashes at me, it had some crazy claws, and I tried to kick it. I missed but got behind it and jumped on it's back for throttle. Then the guy from before caught up and stabbed it to death."

The wonderful thing about this story was how ridiculous and contrived it was. An angel and a demon, yeah sure. Mack had the scars from that day though. And a couple of other souvenirs.

<sup>"It began with a roda..."

Didn't it always? Haruko allowed one corner of her mouth to tip upward before taking another bite of churro to hide it. When she instinctively rubbed a barely-noticeable amount of sweat off her upper lip, the Fool realized she was too hot. Lifting her long-sleeved shirt over her head casually so that her simple black undershirt remained, Haruko stuffed her shirt into her backpack while she listened to Mack tell his tale.

"He's just out of sight when I catch this crazy kind of smell. Not the kind you smell with your nose, but more like a feeling."

Her tights weren't exactly helping the too-hot situation, but at least they breathed, which was good. Haruko watched Mack with interest, wondering what such a smell might be like. Maybe like plain ramune--that sweet flavor that you don't really know but recognize anyway. Hmm.

"Only now he had wings and a sword and was fighting something I couldn't see."

Haruko opened her mouth to ask a question, but Mack kept going before she could do so and he ended up answering her question anyway.

"Then it slashes at me, it had some crazy claws, and I tried to kick it. I missed but got behind it and jumped on it's back for throttle. Then the guy from before caught up and stabbed it to death."

Wow. As far as funky stories went, that was one of the more ridiculous but thought-out ones Haruko had heard lately. Then again, like she'd said, not too many random crazy people running around Santa Cruz. And the crazy folks' ravings were usually irrational rants about normal things, not calm tales of crazy things.

"Wow. Weird. So do you just like seeing who can seem weirder longer, or what?" What did the guy take her for, a little kid? Fine, Haruko could think of no reason for him to lie to her, but then, people didn't need a reason to be idiots. She took another bite of churro for emphasis.</sup>

Mack took a bite of nothing for emphasis. "Truthfully, I usually do like to do that. In this one case I would not believe that it happened myself if I didn't still have the scars. Whether or not you believe me is up to you. But if I had made up the story it would have been better."

At this he considered mentioning the parts later on. Truthfully, there was no reason to keep everything he knew a secret aside from fear of looking like a madman. Which he was not far from to begin with.

After a moment of consideration, he decided to give Haruko a story of her own. Waiting for himself to be allowed a path through the crowd, he amped up his spirit energy and began to move at a breackneck dash through the crowd. Weaving his way through at a borderline superhuman speed, he would have seemed to have vanished to a normal person. Perhaps Haruko would be able to track him, though. Jugglers have quick eyes.

"But if I had made up the story it would have been better."

Well that, if nothing else, was comforting. Made sense too. However, Haruko wasn't given much time to contemplate this other than to feel rather less like she'd wasted her time talking to this guy, because without warning, he'd turned and bolted. Not normal bolted, either. More like holy-shit-he's-gone bolted. For a split second it seemed as though he'd disappeared entirely, and then Haruko's deft vision plucked him out halfway down the long mini-street, still at top speed.

Without a second thought Haruko dashed after him. There was no hope of her keeping up, but every so often she would catch a glimpse of Mack, and that was enough to keep her in hot pursuit. However, once she followed her last sighting out of the boardwalk, she came to a stop, dismayed, because she had lost him entirely. Out of breath, the street performer leaned against a brick building and slid down it, ignoring the tug of a hair or two being pulled from her head by the clingy mortar, her knees folding up to her chest as she reached the ground, still panting.

"Crazy shit," she muttered under her breath, then realized with another muttered obscenity that she'd dropped her churro back at the boardwalk in her mindless pursuit. Ah well. She wasn't hungry anymore, and her interrupted digestive process wasn't thanking her for the sprint. Contemplating how to spend the rest of her day, the Fool caught her breath and stood, walking without any clearly defined concept of where she was going.

A rustling sound from an alley made Haruko stop as she passed, looking for the source of the noise. Out of the corner of her eye she had seen something flit out of sight, but couldn't tell what it had been. That'd been the fourth time in a week she'd seen something like that. Shaking her head to clear it, despite the ideas beginning to connect within, Haruko kept walking, this time intensely aware of her surroundings.

She had followed him very well. Was she an Awakened, perhaps? He'd hoped to have just vanished, but she'd clearly ruined that for him. Oh well, it was rude for him to have done that in the first place. Especially since he'd started the conversation. While he could make most people think that he could vanish magically, or that he was very good at hiding, she'd clearly seen him. What to do now?

After a few seconds of pondering, he dashed off to buy a churro. Returning with it, he came upon Haruko. Then he got a whiff. Was that a demon? His senses weren't quite developed enough for him to say. It might just be Haruko. No, he was pretty sure smelled something else, too. Well, wasn't this a fine day. It's not every day you lead a young girl to be eaten by a creature of Makai. If she was eaten, he could never forgive himself for leading her over.

But she musn't know anything was wrong. That could startle her into asking questions. No, no, best to kindly lead her back to somewhere more populated. If she asked questions, he'd tell her what was necessary to keep her calm. At worst, he'd just try to drag her back. This he hoped not to do. He had yet to manhandle a woman and was hoping to keep it that way.

Well, he told himself, just act like nothing's wrong. With any luck, that will be true. Turning a corner, he waved with his non-churro-holding hand. "Didn't anyone ever tell you," he asked, "not to follow strange men to secluded places. Then again, I'm impressed that you could follow me at all. Most people fall for the vanishing trick."

As Haruko walked, she felt a sort of strange melancholy start to come over her. One way or another she'd managed to bug Miss Mary Mack enough that he'd dash off like that, and now she had nothing to do for the rest of the day. Frankly it was almost depressing that she could seem to keep people around long enough to finish a churro. The Fool shoved her hands into her pockets, allowing her head to sink lower and focus in on the sidewalk as opposed to her direct surroundings.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you not to follow strange men to secluded places?"

And...he was back? Outta no where? Cool. Vanishing man reappears (that is the best part of the magic trick.) Haruko's head shot up. At his words, though, she simply stuck her tongue out and blew a loud raspberry at Mack. "Whatever, I can take ya," she bragged, shrugging her shoulders and adopting a stance more appropriate for someone around two feet taller. "Even if I can't outrun ya. 'Sides, honor among street performers. Like shakin' Sinatra's hand or somethin'."

That said, Haruko didn't close the distance between herself and Mack. She took a few steps, but merely hopped up on a lamp post and swung around it with her feet at its base and one hand wrapped around its length. At Mack's impressed affirmation that most people couldn't find him at all after he pulled a stunt like the one he'd done at the boardwalk, Haruko smirked on her Mack-side rotation around the pole.

"I'm magical, didn't I tell you? Can't lose me that easy."