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 Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 4:12 pm
She had awoken from her fever dream, and life had moved on. Nothing changed. Ashdown was not some weird, abandoned town... just a small, ordinary one. In a way, Autumn was almost disappointed. The dream had been an interesting change of pace, and the people had been exciting. She'd finally found other individuals, people she wanted to talk to. And now they were gone. Autumn was going to have to content herself with the ordinary world around her, and blogging. It was the way things were meant to be, right?
Only... she was morose. It'd kind of been fun, meeting deer demons and magic being real. Pax was just something she'd thought up in a fever dream. Her face did NOT fall in disappointment, not at all. Really. If she seemed morose as she walked through the little grocery store, it was just a trick of the light. Her makeup was too on point to be disappointed.
Let's see, let's see. She could get home, do a few swatches for a blog entry tomorrow... figure out what outfit she was going to wear for the video. Then maybe watch some tv? She'd figure out what to do. Oh, another job would be helpful. Autumn sighed to herself as she made a mental note to hunt down job openings, figure out another source of income besides the tea store.
Idly, she inspected the eggs she was holding, making sure that they had no cracks. Another perfectly ordinary day in the life of Autumn Smith in Ashdown.
Boring.
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 4:25 pm
Chris hadn't known what the ******** to do after whatever had happened in Other Ashdown (as he was calling it, since Otherworld was way too much). The quizzes in his bag had been a pulp, his shoes had been a mess, and basically his life had gotten out of control. So, appropriately, he had managed to contract a bit of a headcold that was enough to keep him miserable and out of school and his job, but not enough to keep him from doing just about anything else. In fact, he was starting to think that the other place had been a dream, if it wasn't for the fact he was still missing 3 classes worth of quizzes.
Miserably, he putted around the supermarket, poking at the items in his basket. He was intent on making some Juk when he got home, having pilfered the recipe, along with many others, from his Mother before she had moved back to Korea. He had the basics for the start of it, the other ingredients back at home, and was now shuffling his way into finding some Nyquil, tissues, and maybe some Vic's so he could breathe tonight. Hopefully he'd feel better in the morning, enough to get him out of his house anyways.
Sighing, Chris glanced up blearily from his basket, deciding that he'd get medicine next. His eyes wandered as he looked for the aisle he needed next and wait- was that Autumn? He blinked, eyes flicking back to the person checking eggs and yeah, that was in fact Autumn. Mind immediately forgetting the medicine, he strode forward, hand clasping down on her shoulder. "Autumn!" He rasped, and then flinched a little. Wow, he sounded like hell.
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 4:26 pm
The eggs all seemed to be in a row, perfect for scrambled eggs for the next week. Maybe a bit of baking, as well. She had some nicely ripened bananas, and-
Autumn turned around at the oh so familiar voice, and shrieked. No way. No ******** way. Here, in the flesh, was Chris. Chris from her crazy Inception fever dream. Sweet baby Jesus, he was in the grocery store. Setting her eggs down, Autumn shakily raised her hands and felt of his arm to make sure he was real, and--- and ********. ********. Life was repeating itself. This was exactly how they had met the first time, and-
"Oh my god." Maybe. Maybe this was just a crazy dream, too? Still shaking wildly, Autumn pulled out her phone, and immediately went to her pictures. She hadn't been on it since the fever dream, instead taking time to chill the ******** out, and-
Bam. There it was. Her selfie with Pax. Inhaling sharply, Autumn fell to the floor, sitting on the tile and trying to force herself to breathe. Deep breaths. Deep ******** breaths.
"It was- it was all real?" She squeaked, looking up to Chris with the life drained from her face.
"Oh my ******** god. Oh my god. It was real."
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 4:28 pm
Chris flinched at her shriek, head starting to ache in retaliation for daring to do anything lay in bed. He certainly hadn't expected that as a reply, but it was well enough. Everything had been really crazy and if he had been doubting it, there was no doubt someone else had been too.
Crouching down, he offered his hand to her to help her back up off her feet. "As far as I can tell, yeah. I mean, I don't think I would've displaced three classes worth of quizzes and ruined my shoes any other way," He joked, giving his best smile. His voice sounded a little better now that he was using it, although he did sniffle a little. Damn this cold.
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 4:31 pm
Without thinking twice, Autumn took the proffered hand, pulling herself up after a minute of breathing. It was a force of habit, after... all of that otherworld business. She was still freaking out, because holy s**t, she could've DIED. They all could've died. She'd been pulled inside of a deer monster, and met a girl with an ice arm, and oh my god it was all real. Autumn forced another sharp intake of air to steady her nerves, and laughed weakly about the ruined shoes.
"They seemed nice. Your shoes, I mean. I'm uh. Sorry for ignoring you for Pax," she offered weakly, glancing back down to the damning picture on her phone.
"I'm gonna be real here, if I hadn't... thought it was a dream, I probably wouldn't have pulled three quarters of the crap I did. Like, standing up to a monster? What the actual hell? I'm still kind of..." doubtful? In shock? There weren't really the words to describe it. Silence hung after her words, and Autumn looked back up to Chris.
"So what about that drink you owe me? I guess I can actually hold you to that, now that I know you're an actual human being."
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 7:18 pm
Chris gave a bit of a laugh and a shrug in reply. "It's fine, both about the shoes and Pax. It's not every day you have a picture of a," He paused, what even was Pax besides really really old? "...Whatever Pax is."
He gave a bit of a thoughtful hum, shifting his basket from arm to arm. "Well, you do know you have it in you which is a pretty neat skill. Honestly, I would've thought it was a dream myself if I didn't see how much mud I tracked in on my carpet. That took a bit of scrubbing to get out," He gave her a smile. "I still think you're pretty cool anyways."
"I hope you hold me to it, I don't think I would've survived without you. Minority Horror Movie club and everything." It was pretty true, since his coping mechanism had just been to find Autumn and hold onto her. Thankfully no one had commented on that while he was there, since it was a little embarrassing to think about it later.
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 10:28 pm
"I mean. I guess we have proof that neither of us is batshit crazy now, huh?" She laughed, shaking her head. Freakout aside, it was nice to know she hadn't imagined it all. Dreams weren't that vivid- you didn't get names and faces like that. She didn't, anyway. At best, Autumn dreamt of not wearing pants or eating nothing but bread for weeks. Nothing half so tangible, even if the magic had seemed far fetched.
"I'm still gonna be mad at Pax, though. I should probably go and ask if phasing through demon deer has any extra side effects on your skin and hair," Autumn mused aloud, only half joking. Nonetheless, she found herself smiling sheepishly at Chris.
"You're pretty cool yourself. You know, for a dorky-a** teacher." Picking up her basket of groceries herself, Autumn tapped her foot.
"Though speaking of the Horror Movie Minority Club and those drinks... I actually live pretty close by here. We could grab a bottle of wine and go chill at my place." She paused, then gave a snort of laughter.
"ACTUAL chill. Not the new code for sex."
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 9:59 pm
"That is definitely reassuring, I honestly wouldn't know what to think otherwise," He gave a bit of a laugh with her, wincing a bit at the scratch in his throat. Honestly though, if that was him going crazy, it certainly was a nice way. Autumn was nice, even with all the magic and whatever that had happened.
"Does it? Your's looks nice though, so I think it might have some benefits to it," He mused, wondering how exactly she did look that good. Then again, everyone looked good compared to Chris right now. He was not exactly at his best.
Chris sputtered, basket jostling with his action. "A dorky a** teacher?! I thought I was cooler than that," He sulked, acting like he was hurt. Truthfully, he'd been called meaner things by other people, so this wasn't that bad in comparison.
"I would love to but.. I have an awful headcold going on right now. Honestly, I'm impressed I managed to crawl out of bed. I've been banned from the school practically," He snorted, thinking of the way he had been told very firmly to go home.
"Raincheck? It's basically the second one, but I really don't want to infect you. Unless you're fine with me sniffling my way through drinks, although I will judge you a little for it."
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 5:07 pm
Autumn rolled her eyes with a smile at the comment to her hair looking good, and waved a hand dismissively. It was something most men would never understand. She did so much work to keep her hair looking good, it wasn't even funny. Honestly, she probably took better care of her hair than she did herself sometimes. Her hair didn't protest to a week of ramen at the end of a paycheck, thank god.
"Yeah, you're too enthusiastic about teaching to be cool. You're like, the dorky teacher in those movies where low class kids in a s**t cool get motivated to turn their lives around, all inspirational and s**t. All we need is the cheesy music and jump pose, and we'll be set.
Looking him over, Autumn nodded sympathetically. How she wasn't cold and miserable, she'd never understand. (That was a lie. She'd immediately gone home and freshened up, had some tea, and touched up her makeup before heading out to the store. She'd never admit it, though.
"Yeah. No offense, you look like s**t. A good night's sleep might be just what the doctor ordered. Also, I don't wanna be sick. I'll kill you if you get me sick."
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 12:03 pm
"I'm a movie teacher? That's honestly the best compliment I've ever gotten, and I've had some of my professors say vaguely nice things to me occasionally," He laughed, keeping that for later. Maybe he could photoshop it? It'd be amusing enough and would keep him awake for long enough when he needed it. Sleep was for the weak and sick.
"Honestly if you killed me you'd be putting me out of my misery," He smiled, but rummaged around for his phone in his pocket. "Here, let's trade numbers now that I know you're real? I'm awake at.. all hours really so you can text me whenever."
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 1:40 pm
"They could get someone inspirational as hell to play you. It'd be fitting," She laughed along, glad to have a semi-sane compatriot in all of this magical madness. Still...
Before he could argue, Autumn took his phone and put her number into it, then handed it back to him with a smile.
"No offense, but if your a** is sick, I do NOT wanna be around you," she teased, taking a step back and away from him. No way was she missing work from some nasty-a** bug when she was just getting used to her routines and her work friends. Instead, Autumn offered him a friendly wave.
"So I'm gonna go check out, make myself some food, and we'll get together later, alright?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 11:10 pm
"I would hope," he sniffed, "It would be offensive otherwise, to portray me as anything less." He tried to keep up the pretense of being snobby for a minute before finally giving into a softer laugh.
Chris grinned down at his phone, tucking it away into his pocket. He'd text her when he wasn't juggling a slightly overweight basket of things.
"It's a deal," He smiled, "Now go before I do actually infect you."
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