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He'd had tea at Autumn's but it was either not enough or too much or -- or he just needed more tea. It was that or a tranquilizer shot and he wasn't sure those were as easy to get his hands on.

Lucas tapped his foot behind the other as he waited to order, feeling the jar of it through the hidden prosthetic, that damnable ache having returned after the extremely tense situation and making his back feel like a tight wire. The absence of logic in the past twenty-four hours was near more than he could stand, and so -- he didn't. He put it all away, tucked it into a dark box in his mind and left it the ******** alone.

"Chamomile," he said to the barista when his order was asked, "with anything you've got that can amp those soothing properties." He smiled in a half-hearted manner, the expression far from reaching his eyes. The tea was paid for and he was ready to take his seat in a dark corner and wait, but no. No. Fate - or whatever cruel sense of humor the universe was sharing - would not allow him to just sit in peace. He turned from the cashier and there, with a teenage individual, was a white cat.

A white. Cat.

Not all white cats are like Rosalinde, he tried to tell himself, but he was in that bad place in one's mind where even the most rational of explanations were met with a YOU DON'T HAVE PROOF OTHERWISE reaction. And so he -- decided to prove it to himself, at the cost of this poor owner thinking him utterly insane (and maybe he was).

Approaching the teen with hair swathed in colors of the night (he actually couldn't tell, immediately, if they were gendered), he smiled in the same half-hearted manner he had before, lightly tapping on the table. "Hey, uh, excuse me -- this is going to sound insane but I have to ask -- does your cat talk to you? In a way you can understand? Or like, grow flowers?"

Yeah. That didn't sound nuts at all. He felt like his IQ dropped just by asking it, and in a way, it reassured him. He'd get his 'no' answer and feel dumb but satisfied and go on his merry damn way.

The teen mentioned Autumn, and -- and knowing what an Other Cat was. Other Ashdown. Like it was normal. By the time the other had stopped talking, Lucas had already slouched into a seat at the table, looking like he'd been told his best friend had just died.

His eyes were tired, worn from all he'd experienced in the past hour, and now...now this teen, this near kid, was taking it all in stride a hell of a lot better than he was, and it was making his head spin. Putting his prosthetic hand against his temple, he shook his head slightly, smiling tight. That was the second time someone had asked if he was alright, and the second time he had to give the same answer.

"No, I'm -- I kind of feel like I'm losing my sanity right now." He laughed, a hollow sound. "Holy s**t. This is -- this is normal here?" His eyes spoke of seeing too much in too short of a time to make sense of anything. "What the hell is Other Ashdown? I -- "

He leaned onto his knees, scrubbing both hands over his face. "I was -- I was just at Autumn's, and she talked about it, and there was this -- this Packs thing there that was ********' terrifying and you're..." Lucas folded his hands together in fists, pressed against his mouth, looking at the other like he was drowning and the teen was the only safe haven for miles. "...you're okay with it. How?"

Pale eyes struggled to remain fixed on the teen's earnest one, looking more baffled with each passing word, his jaw slack but not gaping. Shaking his head abruptly, he squinted, trying to gather all the pieces and keep them together in a way that wasn't entirely ******** crazy. "So it's some version of Hell?" he asked, trying to compartmentalize the whole thing into an easily digestible tidbit. ...as possible as that may be for a Silent Hill clone.

"And there are demons that make deals and..." He trailed off, horrified, forgetting to breathe for a moment and sucking in a sharp breath. How was it just so 'easy' to accept for this teen and Autumn?

Flinching a little, Lucas extended his good hand. "I'm sorry, my manners are in the toilet. I'm Lucas, and...yeah, Packs, Pa-x, giant antlered thing with crazy drawn on eyes. Probably one of the more terrifying things someone could conjure in a nightmare."

It seemed the teen was every bit as lost to it as he was, which was some strange small comfort while simultaneously being tremendously worrisome. If the other was experiencing the place Autumn was talking about, and still didn't know...damn. How deep in was Autumn?

"Yeah, she -- she said Pax was her mentor, teaching her magic. And it was huge, like, eight feet! Walked on two hooves and had hair and clothes, it was weird. And the eyes -- " The rest of his words were swallowed with that sorrowful look, blinking owlishly. Jinxed him?

"Hey -- no, no no no, hey, it's okay!" he tried to sound more upbeat, as he usually was. Not the despondent, lost puppy he'd become. Maybe this place WAS bad for him... "No, look, if anything happens, it's my own fault for not leaving when Autumn warned me. I ran into her like, a month ago, and...and she really tried to do me a solid and I kind of just...blew it off. What else can you do with knowledge of talking cats and Silent Hill-esque places?" Lucas tried to smile, tried not to look like such a sad sack. Apparently he was good at that.

Lucas arched a brow, a touch confused until the teen described it as a power. That somehow clicked and made a lot more sense in his head; maybe it was Autumn that was more special than Rosalinde. Maybe he was onto something when he'd reacted so badly to the news Autumn was now delving into Silen--Other Ashdown.

He glanced over to the cat while the other recounted knowledge, and unable to resist the feline's seemingly comfortable pose, he extended his good hand and very gently rubbed his thumb against the pad of the cat's extended paw. Even he could not resist the allure of toe beans.

"But it's another place," Lucas offered softly, "something separate from here, and with good reason. Autumn mentioned...magic, and bad things, determining what was good from the bad, but I'm...I'm worried." He lowered his hand, returning his eyes to the one across from him. "You just said...normal. And Autumn mentioned someone bad was trying to make things normal. What does that mean?"

His attention wavered between the halting explanations and the kitten that had apparently claimed his hand as their own, his expression wavering between the concerned knit of brows and a smile that he could not contain because there was a cat cleaning him like a dog. He tucked his index finger beneath the feline's chin to gently rub it, not in the least trying to extract his hand. The purring cat felt more real to him than the entirety of the day.

Lucas just shook his head slowly, trying to digest all the information. "So you -- you can get lost in this place. And all you know is something is locked there? How -- how do you know that the entities you've met are...are good?" There was real worry in his eyes, not just for Autumn, but for the teen, the entire damn town if it all came true. What type of place sucked in a kid that probably wasn't even old enough to drink and claimed them a savior? He didn't trust it, not at all.

"I agree, that's -- that's really great insight," Lucas conceded, "and -- I wish everyone saw it that way. Especially Autumn." He exhaled slowly through his nose, their exchange still burning in his mind.

That's when it clicked.

"Are you -- are you Zac?" he asked abruptly, brows lofted high. "She mentioned you," in so many words he would not repeat, "and I -- I'd seen your cat, and your hair, probably put two and two together but didn't say it. Sorry about that, I uh, I'm really...really scattered."

His expression fell a little, but just a bit, and was elevated again as he glanced to the eager Mogget. "This -- this all makes sense to you and you have it in a nice, logical order, but I don't get it. I'm not -- I'm not there, I've only heard about it, and that's frustrating as hell. It's something I can't reach -- something involving a dear friend, or...or ex-friend, I-I don't know at this point...and there's nothing I can do. It's maddening."

s**t. This was a bunch to dump on him -- what did Autumn say? He was eighteen? "I'm sorry. You probably just came here to enjoy some tea and this weirdo comes and sits down and cries on you about how awful he has it." Lucas laughed then, humorlessly. "Can I like -- buy you a tea or something? An apology, and a thanks?" He paused, looking at the cat. "If this fella will let me, anyway."

The blush that blossomed on Zac's cheeks made Lucas smile in his more usual lop-sided manner. Yeah, he probably would have reacted that way if he was told Autumn was talking about him too. "She is. She's a good and honest person and she'd move the world for you."

Lucas really had to digest the next part. She'd stopped 'them' (a group, more than just her and Zac?) from fighting Pax, which meant Pax was possibly ready to fight them. God, it just didn't get any easier, did it? "She is, undoubtedly," he agreed with a solemn smile, "she is a Princess -- my Princess. Stubborn as sin and sharp as a knife." His heart hurt, guilt starting to creep up the back of his neck. Had he gone too far, what he'd said to her...?

His smile took on a slightly rueful twinge, nodding. "No, it's not crude -- Zac, I'm terrified for her. There's literally nothing I can do, no...no research or magic, I'm just -- " I'm her useless two legged steed " -- I'm just a peon to the Princess." And that was it. That was all of it.

Exhaling slowly with the entirety of his body, his shoulders slumping, he laughed softly. "Mogget, the little muffin that doesn't like chicken, but likes cinnamon? Are you sure he's not a -- what did you call it, Other Cat?" Lucas tried to keep up his smile, talking about simpler things, good things. He could see why Autumn was so vehement about protecting this one. "And -- and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disregard your offer from your Guardian, it's just -- you've helped me a lot, Zac. A lot. And I'm really grateful to you -- and Mogget." He gently rubbed his thumb over the white cat's cheek.