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 Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 5:33 pm
Honestly, had it not been for Jamie's incessent wiggling, he might have kept charging. As it was, he was having a time of it holding onto the friend-turned-rabbit, and then Mr. Watts was yelling at him, so he finally screeched to a halt.
"Well YOU find a goddamn way out then!" he huffed out at Chris, now clutching the animals to his chest more than he was simply holding them. The turtle, at least, was complacent. Unlike some individuals.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 5:53 pm
Through some small form of grace, Shiloh stopped and Chris was able to catch up, giving him a slight glare the whole time.
"I will!" He snapped, then took a breath and composed himself, running his hand through his hair. "I'm not as good as finding exits as Jer or Autumn though. So it'll take me a second to think of a way out, which is why I don't want you to run off."
He sighed for a final time, then looked back at Shiloh. "Help me find a door? I just need like, a physical door. I think I can use magic to make something up from there, I'm not like that lady or Sunny and can just make a tear out of nowhere."
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 6:14 pm
It was a scary game of who would stop first. If Jamie wiggled too much he might've ended up squirming right out of Shiloh's arm and falling from this distance down to the hard sidewalk probably would've hurt. On the other hand, his commitment to continued fighting eventually got his friend to stop and for that Jamie was eternally grateful. There wasn't a whole lot he could do, but this helped, didn't it?
Now they could take a breather to think and- Well, now he was clutched to Shiloh's chest in what felt like desperate arms.
'It'll be okay,' he thought, and tried to convey it through a gentle touch of his nose to Shiloh's chest. They just had to... find a door apparently. If that's what Mr. Watts needed to get them out of here, that's what they should do. Jamie papped his nose against Shiloh again as if telling him to try.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 6:29 pm
"Find a door...?" the snap back from Chris thankfully rolled off his shoulders, because Shiloh was too frazzled to think of a good retort. He was going to ignore the names that were rattled off for a moment.
Actually, no he wasn't. Who the ******** did he think he was?
"Like, Jeremiah? Gramps guy? Autumn?" he thought to that girl riding around on Thorne's shoulders like she owned the place, "Sunny? Who... How long has..."
He stopped himself short. "N-Nevermind..."
For all the rage and frenzy Shiloh felt earlier, now everything was starting to calm and muddle down. He shivered. He shivered from the rain, because he was only just now starting to notice he was drenched, and he shivered from the dull pain in his shoulder. He shivered and Jamie could probably feel it, close as he was.
"Door. Find a door..." back on track. Despite the dangers that Chris warned him about, Shiloh still found himself wondering just what was lurking around these corners. "Door..." find the door, keep focused on the door... he found himself drifting closer to Chris again. saedusk an emotional rollercoaster
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 7:05 pm
"Just a door," He said softly, taking another glance around where they were. "We'd probably have luck if we move in closer to the main part of the city, where there's more buildings. Or a suburbs." Having a sidewalk was enough that they could find something soon, Chris hoped.
Giving a glance at Shiloh as they walked, he nudged the boy gently to get his attention. "I can explain some of this, if you want," He said, offering him a chance to get info. "All those people you listed, they've been here for as long as I have. We've kind of learned together, you could say." He gave a bit of a snicker at Jeremiah being called gramps - he was never letting that die as long as he could manage it.
He frowned, pausing. "Except Sunny. She's an exception, I think she's older than time or something. I don't know."
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 7:22 pm
"Just a do—o-older than time?!" welp, there were the hysterics again.
Well not necessarily. Shiloh was holding it together a little better now, but people outliving time and people transforming into animals were sort of too much. Couple that with the rain and this weird, spooky otherworld... Shiloh was pretty done. Shiloh was pretty damn done. It was cold and dreary and dark and they were looking for a door and... and Jamie was a rabbit, and Chris was so calm about this whole thing that it felt infuriating.
Or as calm as he could be, anyway. The confirmation that he'd experienced this thing with the others previously mentioned still irked Shiloh in a way he couldn't describe. Why had he been thrown into all of this? Actually, why had Jamie been thrown into all of this? Shiloh sort of jumped in willingly, but Jamie... well, he was a <******** rabbit.
"I-I...." Shiloh was sort of at a loss here, wanting to ask questions and simultaneously wanting not to know. It settled in his stomach like a rock, making him feel sick and uneasy.
"I don't know..." he echoed the end of Chris' thought, shivering again. His eyes were watching the sidewalk in front of them, adrenaline washing away with exhaustion glittering in its wake. Shiloh hated his house, but for once he just wanted to go home.
At least there was a bed there.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 7:43 pm
To be fair, Jamie knew about as much as Shiloh did beyond what he'd learned from Lady and Lucas. Hearing all of this from Chris hit a cord in him, too, one that rang about things not making any shred of sense at all and how frustrating that honestly was. If he wasn't a sopping wet hare in Shiloh's arms, Jamie wouldn't have believed the passing comment about some woman named Sunny who was older than time, but at this point, anything felt possible.
Feeling Shiloh shiver, Jamie pressed closer, setting his chin against his chest. It was such a helpless feeling, and the shakes passed through to Jamie, who shut his eyes and tried to think positive even though his first instinct was always to assume the worst.
'It'll be okay,' he thought again, because the others couldn't hear him and he was really only trying to convince himself. As much as he wanted the information, as much as he wanted to try and understand, he also just wanted to get out of here. He wanted to be dry and out of the rain. When they were safe they could talk about this, but Jamie had no way of making his feelings known. Instead, all he could do was huddle closer and let himself be held.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 8:43 pm
Chris frowned and shrugged. "I think she is? I don't know. All I know is she's friendly at least." He hadn't meant to freak Shiloh out but it was there.
He continued walking though, keeping an eye out for a door. It was started to get a little more industrialized, some places coming up that he could possibly use, and Chris was feeling hopeful. They could get out and he could get home, could dry off and go to sleep and absolutely not think about anything else. Leave it for tomorrow.
It wasn't the best coping technique but damn it, it was his and he could think of something else later. For now he would deal with it like this.
"That's okay," He said softly, biting his lip but letting it be. "It's.. a lot. I'll answer anything you want to know at any time though. As well as I can."
He really was kind of an obnoxious teacher.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 3:32 pm
Shiloh took pause to Chris' promise, glancing up at his teacher with the bundle of animals in his arms. He had stopped walking midstep, wobbling slightly under the drizzle and fatigue of his muscles, "Um..." he looked to Jamie in his arms, along with the turtle, "Maybe... when we get out."
They were all hurt, after all. In the calm of Shiloh's nerves, he could at least manage his priorities a little bit.
Thankfully, something was listening to their prayers. Trawling along the sidewalk eventually lead into town, and further into a vaguely familiar street corner. Was this where he first met Jamie? How poetic.
"Literally... any door?" he asked again, searching Chris' face for that sense of confirmation. There were plenty around, now.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 5:08 pm
When they got out... Jamie liked the sound of that. It was already obvious that Mr. Watts knew more than them, a lot more, but how vast his knowledge of Other Ashdown was seemed to be growing by the minute. They'd probably have a lot of questions, but for now-
Lifting his head from Shiloh's chest and peeking around the turtle, Jamie also picked up on how familiar this area was. It was where they'd met, even if it was bleak and rainy and strange. That meant the 7/11 was around here, right? Would that kind of door, large and open, make it easier for Chris to work his magic? Jamie had no idea, but he couldn't help thinking maybe.
Perking further up in Shiloh's arms, ears swiveled forward, Jamie seemed to be trying to point his whole body in the direction of the store.
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 3:45 pm
"Any door," Chris agreed, still trying to place where they were. It was always harder to find where he was in other Ashdown rather than normal Ashdown. It was mostly the rain and the mist and the general though that things were probably going to try and kill him.
Jamie seemed to have an idea and he followed his gaze (and body language? it was hard to tell with a rabbit) to something that was around the corner. A few quick steps revealed it to be what looked like a 7/11, if the sign was anything to go by. It was dark inside though, looking a little dusty and a little unused. Like an old gas station that hadn't been used in awhile. A tug on the door though, revealed it would open pretty easily.
"Ok, this works," He mumbled, letting the door drop and stepping back, making sure Shiloh and Jamie weren't too close before he flexed his hands and thought back to what Jeremiah had said. A thought, a feeling, and Chris just thought about his home, about his slightly messy but warm apartment. He took a deep breath, holding that image to him for a second, then very quietly whispered "Jibega" to the doors, touching the handles.
There was a minute, then the doors shimmered slightly, a bit like the way a mirage did on a hot day. Chris sighed, feeling a sort of bone weary tired that he had come to associate with using magic here. Always a cost.
"That should work, although I don't know where it will lead. Go on through, I'll follow you," He said, gesturing wearily to the doors.
melancholies hello u might end up in chris' house
saedusk who knows its up 2 u guys but his house is a good place to pick
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 4:36 pm
Jibega.
Jibega????
Jibega.
"J-Jibega?" Shiloh stuttered aloud, completely bewildered by what was going on in front of him. His teacher was speaking gibberish. He was talking in demon tongues, probably, or doing some kind of weird pagan ritual. Either way, it was weird as ********, and Shiloh was totally unnerved. Shining doors probably had that effect on most people.
"You... you don't know?!" here he'd been trusting Chris, just to have him pull some weird voodoo s**t without knowing what he was actually trying to accomplish. God ******** damn it all. Jamie was wriggling in his arms and even the turtle was growing restless and Shiloh himself was shivering and shaking with exhaustion and fear and a whole slew of other things. "What if we walk into Antarctica?! Or a Volcano?!?" his eyes went wide "Or the bottom of the ocean."
Jamie would probably like that, but Shiloh?
"We'd be crushed. Doomed. You're going to get us killed." he wasn't shouting, but his quiet mumbling was definitely bordering on hysterics again. "KILLED CHRIS." wait.
"Is this what you want?! Okay, okay fine. THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED, RIGHT?" Shiloh didn't have the free arms left, but his foot shot out to kick the door open, "I'LL WALK INTO HELL BACKWARDS FACING GOD—"
Except he definitely went face forward, and hell was definitely not where they ended up.
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 5:22 pm
This wild ride through Other Ashdown had been a roller coaster in every sense of the word. All of Jamie's emotions were crammed right into the front seat of a malfunctioning car next to Shiloh's while Chris tried to put on the breaks, even though they also tended to fail at least fifty percent of the time. It was a ********, to put things bluntly, but what else could anyone expect? Things like this weren't supposed to be real, and that was a thought Jamie kept falling back on, that other worlds and fairytales weren't a thing except now they were and he was caught in the middle of it.
He was so very, very tired.
Setting his head back against Shiloh's chest and closing his eyes, little Bunmie let the imaginary coaster rattle along the tracks again, this time wholly undisturbed. Shiloh would come down from this high just like he had all the others. At least now there was a chance they were finally going home. A chance. Jamie tried not to think about what other chances there were.
The sensation that burned through his entire body was familiar and Jamie knew when he opened his eyes on the other side he'd have hands again instead of paws. It didn't even occur to him in that moment that he was still in Shiloh's arms and when they made it to their destination things would probably get a little lopsided and awkward and, well, as long as the poor, defenseless turtle sharing these arms with him didn't get hurt, that would probably be okay.
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 5:37 pm
There was going to be an explanation after Chris walked through the portal. Most of it would involve the fact he was half-korean, knew another language, and was going to use it in his magic since he wasn't inclined to say "go home" in normal conversation here anytime soon, at least not while focusing on making magic. The rest would be that OAD was inclined to make random portals or just generally ******** with people.
But for now, he just sighed, and walked though the door after the two, into wherever he had opened the door to. Wherever it was, it would be better than OAD, that was for sure.
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