Mercedes had always been told to stay away from Shadowhunters. They may not have been so dangerous anymore, but without demons to fight their glory had gone and now most of them were either beat cops or crazy. You didn't want crazy. And you didn't always know which the crazy ones were.
Mercedes was pretty sure that Pluto Lochlyn Westhouse wasn't crazy. In fact, she found them beautiful and fascinating, with their dyed pink hair and their glasses and their penchant for flashy earrings. She knew Pluto wrote a little, drew a little, wasn't half bad when it came to mending. She knew they had a preference for men, she knew also that it was far from exclusive—she'd seen them around before with a tawny blonde who wore bright shades of lipstick and laughed like running water. She also knew that they had someone named Dash, someone who seemed to be something like a sibling, and Dash was always there. Mercedes was pretty sure Dash was one of the crazy ones (it wouldn't have shocked her if they'd been a bushwhacker) and it just made Pluto so unapproachable.
And then Pluto showed up in the Moorefield shadow market, alone, and at Mama's stall no less, seeking a recipe for war water.
"War water?" Mercedes had asked, confused, even as she passed over the slip of paper Mama wrote out and took Pluto's coins. "Why would you need war water? You're a Shadowhunter."
"I've...never been much of a fighter," Pluto said, with a sad little smile. "But I...had an idea I want to try."
"Well," said Mercedes, "tell me if it works."
Pluto nodded, smiled, offered a casual salute. "Will do."
< & >
As it turned out, whatever Pluto was testing, it didn't work. Mercedes didn't get all of it, something about eggshells, something about holy water, but it bought her dinner with Pluto, and that got her a little more, in time. Mercedes dreamed and complained to her brother about the price of Chinese takeout and allowed herself to think that maybe they'd have some future, even though she knew what they had would end. She just never expected it to end with Pluto vanishing off the face of the earth, lost in a Portal accident, not to be found for a long, long time.
_____________
author's notes:
yeah, this is a short one. but it's also an important little piece, and I'm having fun doing "days to come" segments as opposed to "days past" ones
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a struck link // christopher lightwood {3}
FanfictionIt's December, James and Cordelia's wedding is approaching, Christopher hasn't seen Pluto face-to-face in nearly a month: they've been separated long-distance since he returned from their shared travels and Pluto had to stay behind. Just as he's set...
