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 Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 6:37 pm
He could at least remember how he’d gotten out of Ashdown this time. Unfortunately, that made one more troubling point about the trips to that strange rain soaked other world. He did though; absolutely need to go speak to her. He had to share with…someone. That said, he was more than a little afraid of what she might have to say to him… or well… throw at him. Which might be why there was someone hitching a ride in his bag, hoping that no one would check it.
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Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 6:46 pm
Autumn was asleep, finally. The incessant beep had blended into background noise, and she had managed to tune it out. It was a light, barely restful sleep, but sleep nonetheless. Full of dreams of burning and fire. This time, the pain did not stop, and she was dying, drowning in the pain, and-
Autumn shot awake at the opening of her door, breathing heavily. There, at the entrance, was Zac. She stared at him, worn and exhausted, silent. Then, with a shaking hand, she reached for her whiteboard, and wrote.
I didn't think you were coming.
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Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 6:56 pm
His gaze went from her down to the floor, shamefaced. “So…sorry.” He said “Sorry… I didn’t want to…” he stammered. “I didn’t mean to wake you either.” He added and glanced into the hallway before stepping inside and quietly closing the door. It wasn’t like the nurses or doctors would let it stop them should they be inclined to answer. “I… I w…went back, to, to see if I could get answers, or a way to help.” The look on his face said if he’d found something, it had been -anything- but helpful. "I um... brought someone who might like to see you."
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Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2016 8:16 pm
'I wasn't asleep. Not really. : )' She wrote, and held the sign up to Zac. Along with the written smile, she offered one to him as brightly as she could. Autumn was tired, certainly. Broken? Definitely. Miserable? Oh, beyond compare. But the one thing she was not was angry.
It hadn't been Zac's fault. He couldn't have predicted what would've happened. Even if he'd taken the deal, he probably would've died. Or she would've. If they'd run, even worse. It had been a no-win scenario from the get go, and they'd just been dealt a bad hand. That was all.
Rosalinde stuck her head up from the ABSOLUTELY FILTHY bag, and gave a small chirp. Autumn couldn't help but gasp as the cat delicately removed herself from the bag and hopped on the bed, making certain to avoid her lady.
'You idiot! You absolute IDIOT!' Rosalinde yowled, butting her head affectionately against Autumn's arm. 'I thought you had DIED! Do you know how worried SICK I've been?! I had to fetch that Jeremiah fellow and get the word out, and they wouldn't even let me in here to see you!'
Autumn laughed breathlessly, petting the cat with affection. It'd barely been a week, and honestly, she missed the little s**t. Rosalinde had become such a staple in her life, Autumn couldn't imagine dealing with all of this without her. Petting her with her non-dominant hand, Autumn erased the white board and wrote again.
'Are you okay? I've been worried about you. You didn't show up and I thought something had happened...'
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Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2016 8:42 pm
Zac gave a wan sort of smile that suggested he was…not entirely ok but putting on as brave a face as he could because her situation, was clearly the worse between them. “I haven’t traded away my heart if that’s what you mean.” He said with a flicker of a smile. He shifted to undo his hoodie just a bit, it had a NASA logo on it, and more than that, it had a second friend. “Hello hello?” Golden eyes blinked and Mogget’s perpetual surprised expression greeted her. “Oooh… you!” Said the little moon-brow cat. “No wonder Rosalinde was upset!! No wonder no wonder.” Paws rested on the zipper and chin rested on paws “Huh… He really likes you to be so chatty.” Zac blinked.
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 12:35 pm
'Glad to hear I didn't go down to see you lose your heart. The chief would've kicked my a**.' She was still petting Rosalinde, immensely overwhelmed to have her cat back by her side. It was such a simple thing, and yet she had missed her so badly.
Autumn's attention turned to Mogget, and it did facilitate a genuine smile. She watched as he nested on the bag, and turned back to look at Zac. Quickly she erased her last message, and wrote in a new one.
'I told you I can talk to animals, right?'
'OF COURSE I WAS WORRIED ABOUT HER, YOU OAF!' Rosalinde yowled, fur bristling. 'Aside from myself and my beautiful children, she's the most tolerably beautiful living thing on this planet! For a hideous hairless monkey, she knows how to take care of herself! Unlike YOUR pet, which.... BURNS its bangs!!!'
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 1:25 pm
“The chief wouldn’t blame you for my bad decisions.” He said wth a shake of his head, though to be fair , these last few days he wasn’t -as- sure of that. And Jeremiah was a little more like an actual father than just a guardian, right up to the point where he still suspected things were being held from him. Zac blinked at the message on the white board, processing, and then shook his head. No…no she hadn’t mentioned that that he could recall. “That…um, that has to be interesting. He said and winced as Mogget used him, and his body as a shield from Rosalinde before climbing his arm and shoulder to peer over it and yowl back. “My Human is BRAVE, brave brave brave! He brought you here, its not a cat place! Silly humans think we’re DIRTY and it brought us here.” Zac heard mostly small chittering sounds from Mogget but it didn’t make him less worried. “Can you ask them to uh… fight later?” He said with a worried expression. “… I … I think people don’t notice me.” He said after a moment. “I mean… when I don’t want to be…they just, things happen and they never really look.” He rubbed his arm. He should tell her about his return visit. He should tell her about…the darkness, and what it said.
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:50 pm
'I don't want him to think I got you, or us, in trouble.' She replied, scribbling quickly to reply to Zac. Autumn still felt bad about not... getting them out of there. Not reacting quick enough, not doing more. She'd been the one to get hurt, sure, but the man of coal probably had it in for both of them now. And what could they do? Her gaze drifted to the two arguing cats, finding it easier to focus on than the topic at hand.
'That's not brave! He simply wanted to take care of MY human pet! It was kindness, not bravery! Bravery is dealing with Otherbeings and not freaking out! And anyway, what would you know, yo--'
Autumn cleared her throat, and winced. Rosalinde, seemingly sensing the pain, bristled angrily at Mogget (and admittedly in embarrassment at herself), and laid down quietly next to her human. She still shot Mogget a furious look, but for now was quiet.
Autumn once more erased the board, and replied.
'Like, magic? I can see that. I sing to birds, and talk to them. Birds and animals. I'm kind of Snow Black?'
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:57 pm
Mogget gave a snorting -hufff- sound, ears back which was a first for him for what Zac had seen. Whatever had passed between the two cats there was something that seemed unsettled. He gave a small laugh and shook his head. "That...that was awful." He told her. "Also at least you're not, tossing yourself at strangers in the wood at a young age and marrying strangers? At least, not that I'm aware of?" He rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled softly. "...with Jer having offered up his heart, maybe he's snow white here, Sunny the Huntsman. Or something." He worried at the edge of his thumb, then winced for having done so too often. "I um... I went back. I went back to see if I could... figure out what it did, or even just... get the answers we were looking for." He looked at her anxiously. Perhaps worried that she'd start hissing like the cat, or at least be as angry.
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:16 pm
'I think it's the Huntsman that loses his heart', she wrote, offering Zac a teasing smile. But then, her smile faded that he went back. Alone. The color drained from her face, and she erased her board, staring at the white emptiness. Autumn pursed her lips angrily.
'why.'
It was all she could think to say. Or write, rather.
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:45 pm
He tensed slightly and then replied honestly, which might have surprised him too, he could have made excuses, but perhaps the truth was excuse enough. “Because… Because ‘On your head be it”… Because I didn’t want to risk anyone else being hurt because of choices -I- made.” He said clenching his fists into knots at his side. “I’m/// sorry.” He added after a long moment. “I just… I can’t stand that you got hurt and it’s - my- fault. If it was going to hurt anyone it should have hurt ME. I turned it down. I t refused it. He huffed in frustration and then frowned shaking his head. “I thought… I thought the burning man was awful but… there was something else I ran into. I couldn’t even….see it. It was just… dark, Like, time stopped, rain stopped, EVERYTHING stopped but it’s voice, which was like…other people’s voices… and me.” Hesitation again, other people’s faces, he should tell her about that…that Owl, the one he kept calling Noh-face in his head. “… it said something though, something that put me to…remembering what you said about past lives.” He bit at his thumb again, it was well abused, perhaps too well. “God…there is just so much, so much….” He said shaking his head. He ran a hand through his hair and moved to grab a chair, pulling it close so he could sit and gather his thoughts. “It…said, it said it’s starting again.” He said shaking his head.
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 2:30 pm
She listened. All she could do was listen. Autumn watched as her friend fell apart, miserable. She wished she could comfort him, she did. But they were weak, the both of them, in their own ways. Zac was being destroyed emotionally, burdened by his guilt. And she was burnt, burnt for something she hadn't really done. But perhaps she'd been burned for jumping in too quickly? Being too eager, too ready? She stared at Zac in silence, face impassive. She wrote something again on the whiteboard, just a bit hesitant, before turning away.
'It's the cycle. We died before... if it's starting again, that may be where we're headed.
But we're not gonna let that happen.'
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 6:44 pm
He sagged into himself, deflated almost and looked troubled. “So…the ice, that might, that might really have been mine? My memory?” He blinked at her and then shook his head. Worrying at his lip. “It was in the book store, I mean, I don’t know.. I was focused on the ice at the time but, I keep associating it with…THIS Ashdown, if we ******** up…again. “ He exhaled, a sigh through clenched teeth and a face buried in his palms. “This is so….F—ned up.” he swore. “…I really don’t want to, I don’t want to drag you -down. I don’t want you hurt again but…” “But I trust you, and I kinda need that right now. I’m so sorry. I’m so damned sorry I got you hurt, and I ran away…I don’t… I don’t remember how I got you back OUT of ash down and that’s bothering me. Jeremiah, he -jumped- on that and I don’t even know why. Like… why would you assume missing memories? I thought maybe it was stress about if you were even alive but, now I’m not sure.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 6:52 pm
'You're not dragging me down. We're going down in this together.' Autumn wrote, managing a smile to her friend. Regardless of Zac's presence, she was in this for the long haul. She'd been on the first trip there, she was going down regardless of what Zac did. Pax said as much, anyway. It was a slow but sure descent into the acceptance of her own demise. If it came on her own or with her friend... well, she was seriously hoping it was with a friend.
'Didn't he lose memories? May be why he jumped on that," Autumn wrote again, and then shrugged.
'Don't blame yourself, though. Seriously.'
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 6:54 pm
Zink looked up, his expression blank and maybe a touch confused. “What?” He blinked. Apparently. Zac had not know, that anything had been missing. “When?” He demanded frowning.
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