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 Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 11:56 am
He was making his way towards the house was, so far uneventful. The papers that were scattered around that had a rather…eerie message that echoed all too well with what he’d just experienced. Seeing them made him lift his gaze from its normal focus on his own steps and out at the world trying to look, casual, and comfortable. Mocking at being totally normal and not like he’d been missing for some time. He was half distracted by the smell of some of the restaurants that had all too good locations facing sidewalk, and that was how, and why he nearly bumped into someone else that he’d been, honestly amazed by what he assumed was a short time ago, though time DID seem to be odd. He was so distracted in fact that he missed Mogget’s tail slipping free of the hem of his hoodie, that it was currently switching back and forth and curling up into a contented spiral ad being back in a more hospitable territory without terrifying deer monsters. Irony is that he was blinking In surprise at Autumn, whom had taken a selfie with the thing. “Oh…S-sorry I didn’t mean to.” He stammered. Normally he was more comfortable with adults, but right at the moment he was having rather mixed feelings about them.
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 12:11 pm
On her way home with the groceries after her little rendezvous, Autumn had her head in the clouds, not really focussing on anything in the now. In fact, most of her thoughts were in the past- mulling from how she'd moved from big city and a boring life to the middle of nowhere, and fallen into this magical bullshit. Even with her clicking heels, and the fluttering of paper, she didn't register anything. Man, why hadn't she believed the chief that it was real? Autumn could've learned so much more. Figured out so much more.
She was jarred violently from her thoughts by someone bumping into her, nearly spilling her groceries everywhere. An apology was on her lips but quickly died in her throat- this guy. This guy looked... really familiar. Dyed hair, weird hoodie, all he was missing was...
The cat! There was the cat! Smiling brightly, Autumn pulled the stranger in for a hug.
"Zac! You're here, too! Oh, I'm so glad you made it out of there okay!" Pulling back, Autumn re-adjusted her groceries. So that was two people from Other Ashdown she'd located by sheer happenstance. Hopefully, that meant she could locate everyone else she'd come in contact with. For now...
"OH! This actually works out really well," she mused aloud, pulling the umbrella out from its tucked position in her bag. Still bright and cheery, Autumn offered the umbrella back to Zac.
"I wound up nabbing this back from Chris. It's yours, right?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 12:31 pm
He ducked his head slightly, shifting his arms around his precious hidden cargo, whom of course started purring at ‘pleasant person proximity’ which made it sound rather like he had a little engine tucked into his shirt. “Yeah… yeah I found myself, um, right in the mouth of the library.” He admitted. “Oh! Thank you! It’s…its actually my um, It’s Alg’s, the guy who runs the bookstore you know?” He assumed it was known, I mean who didn’t love a bookstore, right? “Thank you!” He took it gratefully, it would be good to return it. “PUrrruuuUP!” Mogget said, squirming and sitting up, still damp but determined to stuff his head out to investigate, which meant that he appeared tucked right under Zac’s chin, a wide eyed face and a paw trying to push down on the zipper for more room. ‘Gack! I um…yeah you remember um, my cat, Mogget.” He said with a nervous laugh. “I was kinda trying to get, back somewhere I could just, get some food and not be asked where I’ve…been.” He gave a little nervous smile. “You did um, you were really great with uh, Pax, I don’t think most of us would have ever considered, I mean, especially not with everyone freaking out about the knife and…” He trailed off not really having a solid train of thought right now. “But I’m glad you’re back safe, I really think you made a -huge- difference.
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 1:12 pm
"One of your dads, right? I think it's cool how supportive you are of them" Autumn added cheerily, thinking back to her own childhood. She hadn't known anyone gay, growing up. Or, if she did, her parents did a damn good job of keeping her away from it. She hadn't really been exposed to gay people until she jumped into the blogosphere, and lord. There were a lot of gay people in the world. And yet, they were really cool? Like. No issue. People had too much concern with who other people were ******** or not.
When the cat popped out from Zac's hoodie, Autumn squealed in delight, thrilled by the cuteness of the kitty. It shouldn't have come as a shock to anyone that Autumn absolutely loved animals. Reaching out, she gently scratched under Mogget's chin, delighted.
"There's a pretty good Chinese place near here, if you're up to it." Honestly, she could go for some food right now. And god bless Chinese, it was always cheap. At the compliments, Autumn flushed and laughed nervously.
"You know, I thought it was all a dream. I just... in a dream, you can be as cool as you like without fear of getting stabbed." But now? s**t, Autumn had NO idea if she could do that again.
"I'm glad everyone is okay, though. That's what matters."
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 1:29 pm
“That… that sounds amazing honestly as long as they don’t try and eat Mogget.” He grinned lightly. He looked a little more relaxed at the idea of food, and…well, company that wasn’t anyone he was going to –have- to talk to at some point. “Yeah… my ‘Dad’s’ he said quietly. “It’s not, official or anything but, they might as well be.” He gave a small smile that was a touch sadder, so many reasons, so many feelings that he was having a hard time processing. Mogget –craned- into the scratches under his chin, jutting his jaw forward and squeezing his eyes almost shut and purring enthusiastically. “Well, dream or not, you were amazing.” He said softly. I … think it just means you have a lot of good in you. You know… stuff.” He rolled his shoulders, the general discomfort of expressing admiration. “I’m glad you’re ok… I wish I could say I’m glad it’s done but… “ he took a breath and let it out, anxiety on his face. “So um…yeah, chinese sounds, amazing.”
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 2:22 pm
"Wh- not official? Seriously?" Autumn blinked, clearly in shock. The way they were all worried and concerned... s**t, how could they not be together? She'd seen some thirsty-a** dudes before, but there were levels of emotional thirst with those two that even the best tea couldn't quench. But.. whatever. Wasn't really her issue, even though the obvious solution was to get together and not bottle s**t up. She pat Zac's shoulder in sympathy at the sad smile- there was clearly s**t going on with this mess that was beyond her. Poor kid.
"Aw, sheesh! You're just too sweet," She replied, waving a hand dismissively. Online compliments she could handle. In-person ones were a whole different animal.
"It's not done, is it?" Autumn finished, expression growing a little more serious. She'd have to let Chris know, were that the case. It seemed like the book group were the ones mostly involved, but... if they'd been brought to Other Ashdown, it was probably for a reason. And from what little she'd met of Chris, he was going to want to know where the other kids had gone, too.
And there was still the issue of that voice...
"Follow me, then. We can talk once we get some grub," she offered, then turned to lead the way. When they arrived, Autumn grabbed a table, flipping her menu open and scanning over it.
"So uh. Start from the beginning, I guess. How'd YOU wind up in all this s**t?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 2:56 pm
“Yeah um… Jer is my legal guardian now but…I mean, My mother still lives in town, she works in one of the banks in some back office. She’s really good at her –job- she’s just… She needed a little help with the Mom thing after Dad bailed. So I got lucky.’ He nodded and offered a small smile, biting back the very bitter comment he –wanted- to make about “IF’ hearts didn’t get removed. He did though, follow her with a polite meekness to the restaurant, the smell of which made it hit home that while time had really been different in Ashdown, he was –hungry-, he wasn’t sure how much time he’d say had passed for him ‘inside’ but, he was definitely lacking on the food. His stomach gave a low growl that reminded the world, and his cat that he was a young man whom might still have a little growing to do. ‘Sorry!” He said looking mortified. “Um… as for ending up in this, ah… Detect…. Jerimiah, well he was looking into the missing kids, and I thought I’d ask some questions of my own. He used to let me look at some of the closed cases so I could try and figure things out. Not like…bloody ones mind you but. It was cool…you know?” He rubbed at the back of his neck, brought his hand back to rub over the Cat concealed in his shirt. “…So I ran into sunny, started pestering her for questions. Went back a few times cause she’d give out like. Clues, nothing solid, just enough to –hook- you.” He crinkled his nose at the memory. “Went back one last time and she decided to ‘just show me’. Next thing I know I’m on the beach, but…not THE beach if you catch my drift. I …stand there like an idiot in the rain for a while and then I decide I’m kinda –stuck- so…I looked for shelter, and people…not that it did a lot of good, not till the rest of you got sucked in.”
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 7:20 pm
"That's lucky, yeah. I'm glad you've got a family group to fall back on," and she was, truly. Despite not getting along with her own parents, Autumn believed in family. Parents looking out for kids, siblings having each other's backs... she didn't have it, per se, but she certainly respected it. And good on these two guys- the Chief and... Algie? Right?- Yeah. Good on them to look out for a kid who needed it.
Autumn listened into the story, leaning against her hand and reading idly over the menu. It was kind of a splurge to get some duck, but man. She was REALLY feeling barbecue duck. And what a crazy story she'd gotten, just having dinner with Zac. Getting involved with this whole dreaming business was changing the course of her life. She nodded along as he elaborated, and whistled in disbelief.
"Wow. I've gotta say... I'm kind of glad I'm not messing with that Sunny check. No offense to you, but that's a hot mess of s**t." Autumn sighed.
"I still wanna find out, though, why the rest of us were there. Me, Chris... all the others. You guys, I understand, but I still don't get my place in it. I might've talked to a deer, but s**t, I'm nothing special. Why am I on this crazy train?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 7:30 pm
“If I had any –clue- what drives this I’d have so much less of a headache right now, let me tell you.” He said and sighed, resting his chin on his hands and shaking his head slowly side to side.
He ordered some dumplings with chicken in them, cheaper than some things but they sounded perfect.
“I’m just… My … Detective Dad,” he shared the nickname after a moment. “Well he made some creepy deal with her, and I really… I really don’t trust it at all, especially not her whole like about ‘Spirit’ of the deal, just…being all squirmy like she got caught.” He grumbled. That bitterness was likely to stay for a while.
He exhaled softly.
“… if I find solid answers, if I can confirm anything that sort of gives us a hint why part of the town ended up …. In ‘Other Ashdown’.”
He leaned back in his chair, a half folded slump of discouragement.
“I’d just… like to not have to go for sunny for any answers. So…I guess my best bets are hit up the library and…see what we have for historical town documents.
“As for special well…. I don’t know what you saw but, with that knife being waved around I thought we were all going to be …like, Slender-man-the-deer DINNER, and then you were just like…chill and calm and…and selfies!”
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 12:01 pm
"Yeah, I'm sure you're losing your s**t, baby," Autumn sighed, reaching over and patting Zac's hand reassuringly. She thought she had it bad, but s**t. This kid was balls deep in everything. Considering she'd vaguely heard something about deals and heart-eating, it was no wonder he was mad as hell at that Sunny girl. And the Chief. Seriously, how stupid did you have to be to volunteer your heart?! She was talking to crazy-a** deer, but even Autumn knew you had to keep your heart and s**t safe.
"Hey. We're this deep in it, so I can say you've got a ******** up world buddy in me," Autumn offered, smiling over at Zac. "If you need like... I dunno, someone to dig on the internet, or just keep you company while you search the library, let me know."
She pulled her phone out, and pushed it over to Zac. "Put your number in there, and I'll shoot you a text for my contact info." At the very least, she could be a not-masculine brain for some new ideas.
"What's funny is I still have the picture. So it's... kinda just there. Reminding me. I hope Pax is okay."
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 12:33 pm
He hesitated for a moment, and then put in his contact information. “I appreciate it.” He said softly. Part of me wants to think that…she, Sunny, It, and whatever you want to call….’Her’… wouldn’t do that. But I really don’t think she….” He sighed softly. He had no basis for his opinions at this time, other than what he’d seen from her, and what she was offering to do.
The books…well hell, they painted her in perhaps a MORE human light than he wanted to believe she was at all.
“…I’d love a copy of the picture.” He added. “Just… it still feels crazy, even though I can’t, I can’t get that library out of my head. It was, it was like nothing else I’ve ever seen and the books, and well you say how they act there.” He sighed.
“I, I saw some in the library. Some books I mean, and they were, well I –think- they were like sunny. All the books in that OTHER place seem to be like Memories, and the ones in that Library, they seem like Sunny’s. Or at least… they are someone’s memories that maybe Sunny chooses to look like. Hell maybe she’s just…pulling a MIB 2 and wearing a people suit.”
He gave a soft, but slightly humorless chuckle. “Maybe we should add ‘Egger” to her nicknames, cause you know…. Ticking off Magical people with the apparently morality of a Kindly One, is on my current ‘to do’ list.”
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 1:04 pm
"Is she human at all, though? Eating hearts is especially, like. Fairy tail witch. And that's not exactly the kinda person I wanna deal with." All those Rumplestiltzken and Hansel and Gretel type stories had definitely turned Autumn off of dealing with witches. All magical s**t aside, there was a big difference in happy deer and signing your life away for s**t.
She listened intently about the library, making a mental note to perhaps check that s**t out if she ever went back to the Otherworld. If there were memories of herself there, Autumn didn't want just anyone poking around in there. She had private s**t people did NOT need to be seeing if they did't know her. I mean- damn, could those books show people getting it on!?
"Man, I hope that's not a people suit. I'll probably puke if that happens," Autumn admitted, shuddering a bit. Seriously. That was a bit too Close Encounters for her taste. But then, Zac elaborated about pissing Pax off, and Autumn shook her head.
"Hey, you're not to blame. You're worried about your pops, you're gonna ask the important s**t. If I was worried about someone I loved, I probably would've flipped s**t, too."
When the food arrived, Autumn BEAMED in delight.
"Hell yeah! You want some of my duck? You're welcome to as much as you like, honey. I think we both deserve it."
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 1:28 pm
He looked uncertainly at the Duck and then made a decision. “How about… You eat your fill and I’ll try a bite if there is some left?” He offered.
“I’m not really sure she IS human, but I really want to see what I can dig up. Honestly with as old as those books are in the Library in…Other Ashdown, I wonder if we don’t have anything that might mention her in passing here too. I mean you took a photo, maybe she appears in a few older ones in the Library in Ashdown Proper.” He mused.
His stomach –did- gurgle again at the sight and smell of the food, Mogget, mooch that he was popped his head out at the ‘D’ word, duck laden catfood was one of his favorits for the ‘squishy kind’.
“Prrrrp?” He said, pink nose twitching as he sucked in as much of the tasty smells as he could, whiskers curling forward.
“…Don’t listen to him, He’s just a meat mooch…unless its chicken, he hates chicken.”
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 2:27 pm
"That would make sense," Autumn agreed, nodding along at the train of thought on Sunny. "I mean, she has a house here, right? Someone has to know who owned it first. Bought it first. And I bet if you poked around with some of the people in the tax and land departments, they might know some s**t." The IRS always knew s**t. You didn't ******** with those guys. Man, they thought magic was some ******** up s**t? They hadn't seen tax evasion.
Autumn glanced down at her duck, then back up to Zac with a pointed look.
"Honey, I just offered you my food. I need you to understand how rare it is for me to give enough shits about someone to let them eat my food. I'll kill a man for messing with my food." She was smiling nonetheless, so HOPEFULLY it was clear that it was a joke.
"Awww, sweetie!" She cooed at Mogget, utterly smitten with the cat. "Remind me to make him fresh treats sometime. He's just precious."
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 2:36 pm
“Does she?” That was actually news to him, exciting news. “… I think… man there has to be a history, I think she might have predated property codes and everything but, but there has to be a start and that’s closer than I thought I –could- get.” He said looking more animated as he talked.
All of which stuttered for a moment, and stopped as she gave her particular dialog on the food. Eyes wide he blinked at her for a moment, shifting his train of thought from the potential of discovery to the ‘threat’ of imminent violence
Then he realized she was smiling, his head dipped slightly and he let out a laugh, real honest to goodness laugh.
“I’ll try a piece and share it with the Adorable Mooch? He –did- have a pretty lame day with that downpour.” He said with a grin, scratching at the curve of Mogget’s ear.
“I mean, how many pets follow you to strange ‘other worlds’ and, well I can’t say defend you against strange deer creatures so much as ‘hid in various shirts but… he didn’t leave!”
“Mmmmrru? Mrrrp!” Mogget mewed and wiggled out from Zac’s shirt, despite an attempt to catch him, and shifted to jump up onto Autumns lap, where he circled once, then ‘fell’ over, draped over her lap like he was melting and purring.
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