Flight Pattern
(My response to @flashfictionfridayofficial‘s FFF40 prompt: Mysterious Masquerade, exactly 1000 words long, not counting footnotes)
Robin ran after the flickering figure in the cape.
Her mask wasn’t exactly the most discreet and the face-changing wasn’t exactly the best way to hide her face if one knew what to look for. The shining lines along her mask when she performed were very obvious hints to her identity, especially the face-changing.
This would be a lot easier if Robin had been a younger person. As it was, they would just have to run fast and hope that they caught her in time before she did something silly that got her caught by the authorities.
Robin adjusted their own mask and thought about how the Witch would move in this circumstance. If she was smart, and they hoped she was because what else was being raised by faerie good for if she wasn’t good at assessing a situation, she would know to use the roofs and hide in the trees.
“Robin?” Robin paused for breath and flipped open their mirror just to see their partner with the backdrop of branches of trees. “Did she manage it?”
Robin nodded and checked on the Witch’s progress from where they were hiding.
Girl was really lucky that no one in the magic industry wanted to rat her out to the authorities and supported her. She could try to be a little less obvious.
There was a loud clang of very familiar music and Robin started running again, checking how the Witch was moving. Okay, so judging by the reverb of it, the Witch had made it to the tree line already which was good.
Robin laughed a little at the reminder that she was styling herself as the Witch but using very obvious magician techniques. It did obscure her other heritage, indeed, and it did keep her safe, which was the main point, but he really wished she had chosen a safer way of doing it.
Then again, he supposed that she wouldn’t be who she was if she ever chose a safe way of doing things.
The music started up again and there was a flurry of sparks as the Witch stood on a rooftop and appeared to change her face again and then disappear into thin air.
Robin checked that no one had figured out where she had actually gone and disappeared to and made some remarks in order to ensure that the relevant Hunters were all going in the wrong direction, and then disappeared into the forest themself.
Time to go home and have a good talk about having better and less obvious magic tricks and escape routes.
Like dear god, they felt their entire heart stop when she had nearly been trapped by her own trick and nearly gotten caught. They had immediately run interference, of course, and made sure the Witch got out safely, while safely obscuring their own identity in a way that was less obvious.
“Of course, I’m the Witch.” They nearly felt their heart stop again and now they really needed to have a good and long talk about not revealing any details where you weren’t safe. Then, they heard the response and let out another breath.
“Yes, so what’s your plan?” Rowan responded, very patiently, darting among the trees next to the witch. Robin very much envied their partner’s ability to still be nimble among trees because they were faerie and Robin, very much, was not.
The Witch didn’t respond and would probably have kept running. Good luck to her, Rowan was just as concerned as they were, and probably more because it was the faerie community that the Witch was supposed to be defending.
(They had thanked Cinder profusely after finding out that he had run interference during the last close call the Witch had. Robin doesn’t know why the Witch thinks that luck magic and stage magic is all she needs.)
“Yes, but your plan needs to be thought through. Are you working alone?” Robin nearly snorted at the patience in Rowan’s voice.
The Witch tried to escape by taking a detour.
Rowan blocked her.
“Yes. I am.” The Witch responded curtly, but with a flicker of fear that anyone else might have missed.
“Well, maybe you should ask for help.”
“I’m not going to endanger anyone else.”
They were nearing their house. The Witch still hadn’t noticed Robin, which didn’t say much for her ability to detect human presences. Another thing for the long, long talk they needed to have.
“Ah, but you’re okay with endangering yourself?” Rowan said sweetly and Robin stumbled and stepped on a crack, trying to hide their laughter.
“Yes.” And oh my god Aster, is that actually your response to pretending not to know your own parent?
Both Rowan and the Witch land on the roof of their house. Robin entered by the front door, owing to the fact that they are in fact forty, and lack the stamina to chase after their teenage daughter at this time of the night. Robin paused to breathe and then climbed the stairs to the rooftop.
It’s a starry night and the moon is shining bright, glinting off the mask the Witch was wearing.
“Dear Witch, can you please get in the house so we can have this talk?” Robin said, still panting.
“Ah, I cannot impose. I must be off-“ The Witch began, only to be cut off by Rowan when they just grab her arm and pull her into the house.
“Now. We can speak freely.” Rowan said, quite satisfied.
“I really must be off.”
“You got somewhere to be at-“ Robin checked their watch. “2:37a.m. in the morning, Aster?”
“我不是[1]- I mean, I’m not-“
“I see, Robin, there’s another person who somehow happens to know 变脸[2] and who speaks with a Sichuan accent, who also happens to be very passionate about faerie and who-“
“Okay, okay, yes. I’m the Witch.” Aster said, pulling off her mask and tucking it in her cloak.
“Good. We know.”
[1] Translated: ‘I’m not-“
[2] 变脸: directly translated ‘change face’. A dramatic technique used in Chinese, specifically Sichuan, opera where the performer changes masks rapidly over the course of the performance. Historically done by male performers but female performers started entering the scene recently. Has occasionally been seen as part of stage magic performances.