Calcifer & Jackal — Oh BROTHER…

“Dude, are you for real right now?”
“Leader Jackal, I am never not ‘for real right now’!”

The voices of an odd pair of buns resounded from the halls of a certain establishment located in a sprawling offshoot from northern Burrowgatory. The Hoarde was quite a unique place — a lowered entryway leads into the unassuming building’s front… but the scenery hidden behind the meager “library checkout” counters was as vast and complex as Burrowgatory’s natural cave systems. Shelves filled to the brim with every conceivable means of kept media—tapes, files, CDs, cassettes, harddrives, you name it… even modern means of storage here and there—creaked and moaned under the weight of their contents, threatening to lean down and topple if not for how the shelves were set up to lean against each other like seven big houses of cards all interlocked with each other in some sort of beautiful, chaotic harmony. To call this place claustrophobic was putting it nicely… and Jackal had to weave her way through this FUCKING MAZE OF A BUSINESS just to get to Calcifer’s personal office so she could respond to the ‘calling card’ he sent her in the mail!

“You can’t just send a card with a date and time and ‘Cometh thee!’ like anyone’d get a CLUE as to what to do with it!!! I had to fucking ask HOPS to give me a hint, and she was stumped for the greater part of an hour! Be grateful that I decided to walk through your backwater-ass maze of a building and NOT kick something over!” With a huff—half exasperation, half anger—Jackal threw the letter she’d received onto Calcifer’s desk… at least, the only empty spot on it she found. Did this bun know how to fucking Organize His Shit? Apparently not, there’s books and stuff EVERYWHERE… though it is all dust-free.
“Ahh but you are here, no? It means in some capacity you do share the same interest as I… the same want for knowledge, the curiosity to seek out the ever strange world of—” Calcifer had crawled out from behind his desk and had begun to strike a pose to accentuate his energy… but instead, Jackal strided straight up to the archivist and held him quite solidly against a wall… it wasn’t hard, the two of them were relatively the same height.

“Daniel. You’re gonna get talking, and you’re gonna tell me why the fuck you asked me to come see you or you’re gonna be seeing a whole ‘lotta paper up close and personal in about five seconds…” She shook him by the drapes of his cape, and ‘Daniel’ couldn’t help but squeak, immediately dipping out of his usual facade.
“I-I-I was, um — well, I was… I was just…”
“DANIEL.” Jackal gave another shake, and Daniel’s mouth started moving on its own accord.
“I-I’m sorry, I-I was just wondering how you were doing fitting in with all the folks around Burrowgatory and i-if things were going well for integrating other envy-horns in a-and if you were doing alright and well maybe if you needed some extra help or something I-I thought it’d be fun to hang out every now and then a-and maybe it doesn’t just have to be with me e-erm aha maybe it can be with Hops too and well I—”
“Okay, okay, okay… calm down—hell’s bells, you turn into a chittering chirop when I rustle you a little. A little slower, please?” With a sigh she released the poor archivist, and he took a solid moment to straighten himself properly before re-addressing Jackal… with his pomp re-added to the mix.

“A-ahem. To reorganize my drabbling… it has been quite some time since our last proper gathering, and I thought it would be… quite worthwhile to offer you the service of my expertise if thou doth need it in any field you may desire…” Calcifer fiddled with his fingers and swayed in place as he looked to Jackal… who simply crossed her arms and looked at Cal with a plainly unimpressed visage.
“Sooooo… you wanna hang out and do what I wanna do ‘coz it’s been a while?”
“Er. Putting it in the most simple of terms… yes?”
“Hmm…” Jackal scratched her chin, moving herself to get a better look at Calcifer. There wasn’t much space to move around in general, so she simply leaned to the left and right, examining him with pointed interest.
“Um… your answer…”
“Hold your horses, Cal. Mmm… yeah, we can work with this. C’mon.”

Jackal casually wrapped an arm around Calcifer’s shoulders and began to unceremoniously drag the reclusive bun out towards the exit… knocking over several piles of physical media and dutifully ignoring all Calcifer’s meager little protests.

…

“I… um… this is…”
“It’s fucking perfect, that’s what it is! You wanna hang with me and do the things I wanna do… you gotta look the part, Cal. Your style was already pretty good, so these extra little tweaks are just icing on the cake… or however you say it.”

The destination that Jackal set out for was… surprisingly, the stores where she bought her usual apparel. One mini-shopping spree later, and Calcifer emerged from the dressing room a slightly-changed man. His outfit was familiar yet different: his sleek pants were swapped for a pair of ripped jeans, an extra studded belt was added to his waist, a ripped sleeveless band shirt was thrown on top of his original one, and his cape was swapped for a studded leather jacket thrown over his shoulders. Cal blushed, scratching the back of his head; he sputtered a bit when Jackal walked forward with something in hand… but calmed down as he realized it was just a couple studded bracelets. With a proud smirk she attached the both of them to his left wrist.

“There… perfect. We could do a lot more—you have the best dreary aura for this sort of fit—but I decided it’s best to ease ya into this. Don’t want you running away too fast now…” Her chuckle was laced with a menacing tinge, and Calcifer—regaining his confidence briefly—stuck his chest out with a huff.
“O-Of course, Leader Jackal! Who am I to not understand the mechanisms of fabric and society in such a way? Now, let us—”
“Yeah yeah bud. C’mon, I know a couple great places we can hit up.”

Jackal gave Calcifer a hearty slap on the back as the two made their way down the streets of Burrowgatory… surely, to partake in completely legal activities that will not raise Cal’s blood pressure or cause any sort of riot in the slightest.