Shion has been in Darrow for ten months, and these days, that doesn't seem all that bad.

Everything is different now, the world fresher and brighter because Sophie is in it, alive and well, poised to thrive, because it all seems newer to him since it's new for her. He's behaving himself, taking care of her ahead of anything else. His trips to the other Darrow have stopped, his search for a way home on hold. He doesn't know what happens if they leave this place, if it's safe to take her out of here. There's research to be done before he can make any other moves. It would be a lot easier if Jakah were here, since he's more of a researcher than Shion is; Shion's skills lend themselves more to barging into places and telling people to give him the information he needs, which doesn't actually work all that well here. It's not like the people at City Hall know any more than he does about these things (he's tried, they know absolutely nothing). And until he's sure, he's not taking chances.

He doesn't go out on the town at night, unwilling to leave her home alone. He watches the phases of the moon as intently now as he'd started to do at home in those last weeks before he came here. Solon never opened up to him about the changes or what he was — for almost two centuries, he kept that to himself, and Shion has wondered and worried ever since he discovered the truth, though he'd never admit it, about what that entails. What he needs to do to make it easier. Why he was never trusted enough to be let in, to be allowed to help. If Solon just thought he was too brash or clumsy or loud to be worth telling, if he'd do more harm than good.

He won't. For Sophie, he'll be the best at everything. When her time comes, they can stay at the mansion and he can keep an eye on her when she hunts. She's better at it than he is. She has more of an instinct when it comes to animals. It would be a wonder to watch if he weren't also terrified that she won't change back.

As happy as he is, though, and as content as he is to lead this new life, he's also restless. It's not normal for Shion to go so long living peacefully, quietly. It's how the others wanted things, Heli ready to retreat to the woods, Jakah annoyed to be stuck among humans. Shion has always liked a quiet life in theory, has always yearned for normal — to stay put, to make friends, to be allowed to be something like a real person. It's hard when he can never live in one place for more than a decade before people start whispering questions to each other, if he even gets that long. Normal, though, has never really meant he wanted boring. He needs to work out his energy one way or another. Even Sophie can't keep him from going stir crazy.

Thank god for Drembleydrop.

Honestly, he's really considering starting classes at Barton in the fall just to join the school's team. For now, though, pickup games in Petros Park are enough of a rush to keep him happy.

There are no rules! There are so many rules! The rules are the rules are only rules sometimes! Everyone's rushing around and shouting and things change from one minute to the next, and he feels insufferably clever when he can stay on top of all the sudden shifts and score again and again. Plus all the padding means he doesn't have to worry too much about using more of his strength than normal, because he's less likely to seriously hurt someone. In a lot of ways, it reminds him of Nightball. Those days at Decelis were some of his happiest. It is, he thinks, kinda hilarious that, at 200-plus years old, he finally peaked in high school.

At some points, the ball goes flying off the court, and sometimes that takes them down a point and sometimes it doesn't, but Shion retrieves it readily and dives back in. With a final slam of his racket, Shion knocks the scoring ball into a basket, and his ragtag team cheers for their victory. He really might have to sign up at Barton; people in the park are definitely going to stop letting him play soon. Happily tired, he trots off the side of the court and sits on a bench, leaning back against the picnic table, mindless of who else is there. "What a game."

[ Catch a game of Drembleydrop! Join in the athletic endeavor, have Shion crash your pup's picnic by accident, spot him playing with Sophie after, nearly get hit by a ball — endless possibilities. Open to friends old and unmet. Open to tags until this says otherwise. ]