Chapter Text
Iris was not in the best of moods, to be honest.
One of the caretakers had stopped by, grumbling about being attacked and beaten up.
In Iris' opinion, it was his own stupid fault for being incompetent, but he threatened to quit if she didn't go investigate. She really could not afford to lose another employee, as people had started to refusing to work for her. Like it was her fault the idiots employees kept dying. They should learn to actually fight, and then she wouldn't be heading off to the middle of the forest to go look for a most likely non-existent person.
Being in charge really was not all it had cracked up to be. Oh, well. Better than chaos and the world being destroyed.
Iris headed deeper into the forest, grumbling quietly to herself.
"Damned idiot barely even gave me a location. "Near the giant mushroom", my ass. There is an entire colony of giant mushrooms in this stupid forest, this supposed attacker could be anywhere. If they even exist. If this is just another false alarm, someone is getting their wages cut."
At that point, Iris stopped at the edge of a clearing where, lo and behold, there was (a) one of the giant mushrooms, and (b) a... Something. Not a human, that was for sure. He (Iris thought it was a he, although you never could tell these days) was a lot taller than a human should be, for one thing. Also, he had jet-black skin, short, spiky hair of the same shade, and long, pointed ears. Maybe a shapeshifter? They did sometimes take on forms of no particular species...
It was at this point Iris realized she had been just staring at the strange person for about five minutes while thinking this over. Probably time to stop staring and actually see if this was the one who had attacked the caretaker.
At least he wasn't looking at her. That would have been a bit awkward.
Anyway.
She stepped out of the bushes, clearing her throat. "Hello."
The other turned around, looking startled.
Iris blinked.
Purple eyes? Pretty. Wait what-
She quickly shoved that errant thought to the back of her mind, trying to figure out how to ask "were you fighting someone earlier?" without it sounding strange, before deciding, fuck strange, she was back to being annoyed and honestly hoping this was the right person because killing someone sounded like a good way to relieve her irritation.
"Were you fighting one of my employees?"
He looked understandably confused. "...Not that I know of? I mean I did fight someone earlier but it was for a valid reason."
"And that reason was?"
"He tried to arrest me."
"Why?"
"...Because I stole something from him."
Iris sighed. "Hardly a valid reason to fight someone if you were clearly in the wrong."
"Well why are you even concerned about this? I didn't steal from you."
"I am concerned about it because that idiot threw a fit and threatened to quit working for me if I did not at least check out the apparent threat. Also known as you. And I can not have another employee quit, so." She shrugged. "Who are you, anyway? I do not think I've seen you here before."
"I'm no one. Just passing through."
Iris frowned a little. "You cannot "just pass through" this place. Once you enter the jar, you stay here forever. End of story."
"I think I can get out of here pretty easily."
"No, you can not," she snapped. "You stay. Because if you try to escape, I kill you."
"You what now-"
"Kill you. That is my job. Making sure everyone stays in here, where they belong, and the jar stays safe."
"I don't think you could really stop me leaving."
"Watch me." Okay, maybe Iris was being a bit snappish, but she was still annoyed and this stranger was claiming he could escape, which was a perfectly valid reason to attack him, right? Plots of escape needed to be stopped too.
So she did the logical thing and pulled her knife from its sheath on her belt.
The stranger backed up a bit at that. "Okay you weren't kidding about the killing, I guess. You probably won't be able to kill me though."
That was it. Iris threw the knife at him, right at his head—
And he popped out of existence just before it stabbed him, causing the knife to fall harmlessly to the ground.
Iris let out a growl and retrieved her knife, looking wildly around the clearing and trying to figure out where that annoyance had gone.
Said annoyance reappeared on the opposite side of the clearing from her, now looking a little wary. His ears were flattened back against his head, and his tail (which Iris, being Iris, had not noticed at all until now) was flicking like an annoyed cat's.
"You didn't need to do that. I haven't even done anything to you," he grumbled.
"Saying you can leave counts as plotting escape, and plotting escape means you need to die," Iris said, now very much annoyed. "So just stay still, no disappearing, and let me kill you."
"...Just out of curiosity, has a single person ever listened when you've said that?"
Iris crossed her arms, looking away.
"Yeah I thought so. I think I'm going to go now-"
Iris, having had enough of this, just tackled him, hissing furiously.
Of course, he disappeared again, and she fell to the ground with a thump, instantly sitting up and looking around to see where he'd gone this time.
He was now even farther away than before, if that was possible.
This proceeded to repeat for the next ten minutes, with Iris getting gradually more and more infuriated as time passed, until she finally gave up and sat down on the ground, cursing under her breath.
The stranger reappeared again, a little closer. "Are you going to stop trying to stab me?"
"Only if you stop disappearing."
"Alright. Truce?"
Iris gave a long-suffering sigh. "I suppose."
"Good." He also sat, a safe distance away from her.
She stared at him for a long moment, before asking "how do you disappear like that?"
"It's not disappearing. It's teleporting. And I don't know how I can do it." He shrugged. "All of my kind can."
Iris thought this over. "Teleporting? That would mean..." He can get out of the jar without breaking it, and my main goal is to keep people from escaping the jar by breaking it, because that would end the world, but if he is able to teleport, then no breaking would be necessary, which means...
I just wasted ten minutes of my life for absolutely no reason. Good Lord.
"That I can leave here very easily?" he finished. "Yes."
"I am less worried about people leaving and more worried about the jar breaking, honestly," Iris said. "If you can simply teleport, that should not be a problem."
"So that entire not-really-fight was pointless then."
"...Yes. I- apologize for attacking you somewhat unjustly. I have a stressful job, and things have been going quite wrong today."
"I can see that."
Iris let out a soft sigh, tugging absently at her hair. "Why are you not leaving now?"
"Because I'm honestly interested in the reasons behind all of this."
"The reasons behind all of this are a long traumatic story that involves my death, so I would rather not share."
"Your... Death? But you're right here."
"Not alive." She bared her teeth, revealing a pair of sharp little fangs. "Here in a different form."
"Ah. Vampire?"
"Indeed I am."
"Okay," he said thoughtfully. "You're right that does sound traumatic. Won't ask for the story yet, then."
"Yet?" Iris tilted her head.
"I think I'm going to stick around here for a little while. This place has a lot of weird backstory I want to learn about."
"Oh." Iris smiled, a very small, almost unnoticeable smile. "I would be happy to tell you any of it, if you wish."
"That would be nice of you."
Iris nodded, staying quiet for a while after that, before "I never did get your name."
The other laughed a bit. "Right. Sorry about that, got to be suspicious of strangers and all that. I'm Flicker."
He scooted a little closer, offering his hand.
Iris took it, smile returning.
"I am Iris, at your service."