#i'm sad to scrap this because it was such a good character bit with isaac being less surly and vivienne from an outside pov

[skittidyne]

who wants a deleted scene from ylg2

i’ll also send this out later via email to those who are part of the cool kid club, but also posting it here!

this is a scene that sadly will get scrapped, though it’s a pretty cute scene when isaac and vivienne aren’t sniping at each other. (it’s also written for a way-earlier draft of the first book where sam wasn’t tengu friend, so that’s why there’s confusing distance with mirai!) also, parandrus! those are fun.

“Oh boy,” Vivienne groans, which is the only warning Isaac gets before they’re accosted by a bouncy tengu in the middle of the goblin market. 

One that he recognizes, no less: the magpie tengu from Halloween. 

“Hello, Mirai,” Vivienne says with a rictus smile. “How have you been?” 

“I told these two to deliver a message to you with all haste! That was weeks ago!” the tengu, Mirai, snaps and flutters into the air when they angrily swoop their wings. Their mask may hide their expression, but their glare can be felt. “Little witch, didn’t you give her my message?!” 

“Of course he did,” Vivienne blatantly lies. 

Isaac rarely feels gratitude, but he supposes he just dodged a bullet. There had been a lot going on during Halloween, so how was he supposed to care that a tengu told them to ask Vivienne to hurry up with whatever egg drama she’s embroiled in? Isaac never thought he’d see the youkai again, anyway. It’s always been a different group manning their stall on the main thoroughfare, and even today, it was supposed to be a quick trip. 

“I’m very sorry, Mirai, but there have been a lot of difficult things going on in the human realm that needed my and Mark’s attention,” Vivienne adds with an amount of respect he never would have suspected she were capable of. “I will do my best to convince Mark that we need to hasten our actions to return the First egg to you.” 

“Vivienne really was quite busy,” Sam advises with a stage-whisper, complete with hand cupped around his mouth, like the woman standing next to him wouldn’t hear. “I think she almost died—it was dangerous. So she definitely wasn’t lying to you about us telling her your message or being too busy to fetch that egg for you!” 

Sam is having too much fun being able to lie to someone else (since the two people he cannot lie to are flanking him). Isaac rolls his eyes. 

“Ah, I did smell more death on you than I had before…” Mirai trails off, clawed hand over their mask’s long, beak-like nose. 

“I’ve been told it’s very rude to tell women that they smell bad,” Sam adds. 

“But then how will they fix it?” 

“Okay, you two!” Vivienne breaks back in. “Whatever I smell like to spirits is not the issue here. Sam, please don’t trouble Mirai any further—” 

“Oh, he’s no trouble! He’s very easy to speak with!” Mirai chirps. 

Why does my demon have a way with tengu, Isaac wonders, exasperated. Aren’t youkai supposed to be infamously hard to deal with? Vivienne’s walking on eggshells around this one. And yet Sam had managed not to get his head ripped off by the barn owl tengu, too, the last time they’d come here. 

To Isaac’s annoyance and Vivienne’s visible discomfort, Mirai falls into step beside them when Vivienne tries to beg out of the conversation to continue shopping. 

So much for a quick trip. 

Sam blatantly leans around Vivienne to continue speaking with Mirai. “So you know the barn owl tengu that normally runs the stall here? I was under the impression that it was their egg that was missing, and they were really upset about it.” 

“It is theirs, but it’s my duty to retrieve it!” Mirai replies with their chest puffed up. 

“Hatsu doesn’t seem to think so,” Vivienne mutters. 

“I need to give it back to them—and I want to! Then Hatsu will see how responsible and decisive and brave I am, not to mention how well I keep my vows to them, and then maybe they’ll finally agree to be courted…” Mirai ends with a dreamy sigh. 

Isaac personally cannot believe that tengu, one of the strongest higher spirits around, known for being fierce and violent and exacting, walking vessels of untold magic potential, are also walking examples of romantic period drama tropes. No wonder Vivienne is letting her exasperation show. Has she been dealing with this the entire time? 

“Good luck,” Sam earnestly tells them. 

Mirai continues mooning beneath their mask, complete with clasped hands and fluttering feathers, even as Vivienne’s expression turns flatter. 

Isaac supposes it’s too much to hope that a tengu would be grossed out by having to drag a carcass through the market. He’s not entirely sure what a parandrus is, but apparently they’re big enough that it’ll be an effort to drag a whole one around. Hence the stronger-than-any-human demon Natalie had declared would be perfect for the job. (Vivienne’s there to do the business, Isaac is there as to not stress the contract. Nevermind the fact that he has the sneaking suspicion that he and Sam could be this far apart, and that Vivienne’s presence beside him would likely soothe any discomfort; there are too many loopholes in that damned contract for Isaac to ever understand.) 

Graham Yu’s stall is as much of a zoo as Isaac remembers, complete with that blindfolded basilisk he saw last time. It raises its head and flicks out a large tongue, directly at Mirai. 

Graham wipes off his gloves on a blood-soaked rag and gives them all a beam. He doesn’t bat an eye at the tengu accompanying them. “Vivienne! You’re here for Natalie’s order, right? It was a pain to maintain the stasis spells, so good luck with that—they’ll probably need refreshing once you get back through the door.” 

“Thanks for the warning,” Vivienne replies, offhand but sincere, and ducks behind Graham’s stall with no further invitation. “Strength,” she murmurs and writes down her leg with her finger. She then reaches into that impossible messenger bag of hers to pull out big work gloves to match Graham’s. 

Together, they haul a huge, furry body onto the table. It shakes beneath the sudden weight. Isaac can’t see much of the beast, outside of registering long fur and what looks like a horn or antler near the lolling head. 

“Is that your dinner? How will you cook it?” Mirai asks brightly. 

Graham snorts a laugh. “Charming notion, but no, tengu-san. We’re selling the whole beast for potion bits, but most are best when harvested fresh.” 

“The things humans go through for their magic,” Mirai says, head cocked steeply. “Weird!” 

“Sam, your turn,” Vivienne wheezes, rolling the parandrus over to the edge of the table. Thick legs and hooves flop over onto that side. 

Without so much as a grunt, Sam picks up the parandrus and hauls it over his shoulders. He looks absurd, a skinny white boy beneath an ox-sized creature, but there’s no tremble to his arms as he struggles to balance it. “What is this thing, exactly?” he asks curiously. 

“A heraldic beast, isn’t it?” Mirai says, standing on the tips of their talons to peer into its face. Long, rabbit-like ears hang down from its head and antlers knock against Sam’s back. The parandrus’ long fur shimmers as Sam shifts it around. Without meaning to, Isaac reaches out to touch. 

Vivienne slaps his hand away. Isaac jolts, surprised, both at himself and her audacity. “Its fur can change color, yeah, it’s not your eyes playing tricks on you. But we need that, and the oils in human skin can damage it—so no touching,” she orders as she strips her gloves off and stuffs them back into her messenger bag. 

Sam’s hands fly down away from where he’d been holding it, his face the picture of guilt. 

“You’re fine,” Vivienne says with a wildly forced laugh, glancing back at Graham, “because of that spell we did on you earlier! Right, Isaac? Sam, you’re fine to touch it, because you’re our pack mule today!” 

“Oh,” Sam says, though if he really catches on, Isaac can’t tell. He gingerly grabs the parandrus again, fingers knotting in long fur, which subtly changes to match his light skin tone. 

Isaac watches Mirai’s expressionless mask, but it’s still pointed toward the parandrus’ trailing ears. Considering how obvious their body language is, he thinks it safe to say that they don’t harbor any more suspicion than Graham’s eye roll. 

“Tell Natalie that I’m only so generous with keeping whole carcasses for her since she was kind enough to loan you to me with those unicorns!” Graham cheerily informs them, waving goodbye with his large leather gloves. “Oh, but before I forget—how’s that jackalope doing?” 

“That was you?!” Vivienne, who had been ready to beat a hasty retreat with Sam in tow, rounds on Graham with eyes narrowed and finger jabbed at his face. 

Graham offers her a smug smile. “Doesn’t take a genius to figure out the one you’re keen on is the one who fleeced us at cards at Alice’s Halloween party. Gossip travels fast, you know? So how’s the little critter doing?” 

Isaac’s head snaps around, now more interested in this conversation. 

“Dana didn’t know it was a jackalope. I got an emergency call the next morning about a rabbit with antlers!” 

“She was sloshed after she had the guts to try Ægir ale without any filters. And alright, maybe I was drunk too, since Giselle was nice enough to share her other bottle, but I tried explaining how to take care of the little guy. Or, I can recommend someone who can turn him into a nice pair of gloves. They’re just as soft as rabbits.” 

“She named him Pyewacket, and she’s completely enamored,” Vivienne mutters, pinching the furrow in her brow. “Just… don’t go betting cryptids to people who don’t know any better, alright? You could actually get in trouble for that.” 

“I’m properly licensed to handle anything and everything in any realm,” Graham retorts, “and how was I supposed to know about your little drama? We were playing cards with a faun and a siren. At Alice Henderson’s party. I didn’t think that was a place for the uninitiated, Vivienne.” 

She moved her Halloween stream for a party? Isaac sourly realizes. 

“Dana almost got chomped by your unicorns, too,” Vivienne says, maintaining her own sour expression. “Don’t let this become a habit, Yu. I know where you live.” 

“No you don’t, and those were Deirdre’s unicorns. She’d already paid for them and their delivery by that point,” Graham corrects. 

Vivienne shakes her finger at him one last time, then spins back on her heel and escorts Sam with as much dignity as she can muster. Her cheeks turn red when Mirai giggles. 

“Humans are so entertaining with their inconsequential bickering,” Mirai titters, clawed hand to their mask’s mouth. They flick the parandrus’ long ear with their other. “But what an interesting creature! I’ve only heard of them before.” 

“There’s a pair at the city zoo, if you wanted to see one still alive,” Vivienne deadpans. 

“What are you using the pelt for?” Mirai asks. Sharply. 

“…It’s for Natalie, that other psychic friend of mine. This isn’t going anywhere near Mark,” Vivienne replies, looking nervous all of a sudden. Isaac is well aware that there is A Lot of bullshit he’s missing out on—happily—regarding this egg business and Mark Ito. But he doesn’t understand how an animal skin could factor into it in a way that would make Vivienne so jittery. 

“Oh, okay!” Mirai chirps, tone bright once more. 

“I’ll be sure to text Mark as soon as we get back through the market door, and we’ll figure out our plan of very swift action regarding that First egg,” Vivienne adds. 

Mirai cocks their head. Isaac wonders if they’re about to ask what texting is. “I’d hate to have to keep pestering you about this job, so it’s best that you hurry! I’d really appreciate it—and so would Hatsu!” they exclaim instead. 

“Of course,” Vivienne replies, sweating. She all but shoves Sam along with a hand on his back. 

“We’ll get it sorted out for you, rest assured,” Sam advises like he actually has some part to play in all of this. (Like hell he will, and if Vivienne tries enlisting Sam’s help for further tengu business, Isaac will bite her.) 

He turns, walking backward, though still at Vivienne’s pace. Sam waves goodbye to Mirai—then almost gets shoved face-first to the ground when he blindly attempts to go through the goblin market door with a creature the size of an ox on his shoulders. 

Vivienne’s smiling, albeit tightly, when she helps him back around, hands hovering over the parandrus’ fur. “You’re a friendly little bean, aren’t you,” she murmurs. 

“I’m not a bean,” Sam replies, affronted. 

“We’re working on it,” Isaac answers instead. He knows what Vivienne had meant; friendliness has its drawbacks in the realm of the supernatural. “You and Graham seem to know each other well.” 

“The magical community is pretty small. Which even you have to know, Isy,” Vivienne replies. “Here, Sam, crouch down and go kinda sideways—yeah, like this. Anyway, yeah, we all know each other, and apparently half the magic community knows about my thing with Dana.” 

“Your thing,” Isaac repeats, disgusted, because he does not need to know anything more about Vivienne’s personal life. It’s bad enough he’s sharing part of a demonic contract with her. 

“My epic romance with someone else I’ve dragged into the world of magic,” Vivienne says with a hand to her forehead, pretending to swoon. (Sam puts out a hand to help her anyway.) 

“What’s a jackalope?” Sam asks. 

“Like a rabbit, but with antlers,” Vivienne says, putting her hands up over her head to mimic them. With a flat expression, Isaac points to the very obvious, very real example of the parandrus’ antlers. “Well, yeah, those too. Cute little thing, I can show you pictures once we’re out of sight with this thing. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to meet him, though.” 

“Why not? You bring your cat to the shop all the time,” Sam says with a pout. 

Vivienne looks up at him, balking, surprised. Isaac doesn’t feel any sympathy for her, though he understands her; she hadn’t expected she’d have to explain why they’re not introducing a demon to everyone ever. Sam’s guileless personality makes it easy to forget he’s a demon, but they shouldn’t forget he’s a demon. 

“Maybe later,” Vivienne hedges, which is weird, because Isaac would’ve straight-out told Sam that he can’t meet new people who haven’t been vetted. “Dana’s still new to a lot of things, and I think she’s already getting overwhelmed. Anyway, I’m a little too busy with Mark’s eggy bullshit right now to be arranging pet playdates. Ugh, we have the fucking egg, we need to just figure out a time and what to ask for…” 

“You already have it?” Sam asks, astonished, and stops like he may very well run back to the goblin market to tell Mirai right now. 

Both Isaac and Vivienne seize him by the arms to keep him walking. 

“We have it, but it’s not as easy as giving it back to Mirai in a tupperware tub. It’ll be a pain to transport it, and moreover, we have to arrange payment and a time and I have to talk that idiot psychic into actually doing it!” Vivienne exclaims. “But that’s my ballgame, not yours. You two have the job of laying low and out of coven sight right now, remember? And whatever Nat asks you to do to help her out.” 

“You seem very busy,” Sam remarks with a narrow-eyed look down at her. 

“Tell me about it,” Vivienne groans.