America the Brave - America/Zac - Finished

[endejester]

He hadn’t seen her in a while, not since, well not since they had been in that Library at the same time, moonwalkers gone mad tearing people apart.
Before that he remembered the…wild enthusiasm that she had shown towards the idea of the unusual, the strange, the potentially wonderful but more often dangerous.

Small surprise then that after the time had passed he would choose to stop into the Bar where he so often checked to see if Lina was working - except this time he wasn’t there for a brunette, he was looking for a red head.

“Hey um, is A-America here?” He asked when he entered. Which was of course a query made about half a second before he saw her.
“Oh..ah.. Hi!” He waved at her and made his way towards her, his shoulder bag slipping as he raised his arm to wave because he had it only over one shoulder rather than cross body. He caught it awkwardly and then waved again, securing it with the other arm so he could try and ensure that she saw him.

“Hey um… sorry! I was just checking in, and I thought maybe if you had time later, we could plan to talk?” He explained hastily, maybe too hastily because he was talking fast enough that some of the words tripped over each other.
“I mean, HI, are you ok after the um… I mean, you know…” He waved his hands and let his shoulders sag in frustration at himself.

“HI!” He said finally, starting from ground zero and trying to pretend that he’d done this all in a more polite manner.

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

America laughed, bright and friendly, as Zac's words and thoughts condensed down into a simple greeting. "Heya Zac," she answered easily. "I'm off in about twenty, so if you've got the time, take a seat and we can catch up."

It didn't take long for her to finish up her tables and switch with the next shift. Soon enough she was settling next to Zac, still smiling and pleased to see him. Without much in the way of preamble, she answered his earlier almost question. "Only got a bit banged up, hun. Was up an about a few days after. I should be asking how you are, all things considered."

endejester

 

[endejester]

Zac ducked his head, face heating with her considerate inquiry.
“I’m alright, I mean, all better you know? I just wish I could have been of more…use?” He shrugged looking apologetic. “Autumn helped a lot, she uh…she patched me up so it was a lot less time in the Hospital than it might have been otherwise.


“I was gonna ask um, if anything had happened to you since, I know it did for a few people, and I’m sort of doing like, interviews. I’m trying to write things down so that maybe we can figure things out about how this all works. I mean its a super slim chance but it’s better than nothing right?”

He looked embarrassed at himself and then added. “Im babbling, I really am. Sorry, did you have questions too?”

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

"I'd like to know all sorts of things," she grinned widely, the corners of her eyes crinkling. "Probably the sorts of things you wanna know 'bout as well, so we're in the same ship, hun."

A basket of wings and a rootbeer arrived at the table, and America's expression grew even happier as she thanked the other server. "One of the best parts of working here, gotta say."

Taking a sip of her drink, the girl went on, "I've been getting all..." she wiggled her fingers at Zac, "magical. I started being able to float stuff and then I met a fellow named Gloom. Have you met him?"

endejester

 

[endejester]

That gave him a moments pause. “… n…No I haven’t met anyone or anything calling themselves ‘Gloom’ yet. What are they like?” He said interestedly. He fished for his notebook and had it on the table in short order looking at her with wide interested eyes.

“Um… in fair exchange I can um, I can kinda - pinch people now without touching them. But, but I promise I won’t pinch you unless its like, to warn you of something and I can’t use words because otherwise that’s really creepy and weird and probably the most useless power I can think of where as yours actually sounds cool.”
It was a rush, you could almost hear the bare grasp on punctuation

he wasn’t hungry but he did smile at the root beer and wings. It would be a definite bonus if you could get good food like that so easily.
“Sorry… I thought i should warn you, cause its sorta a weird power and if I ever had to use it…” He shrugged.

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

The pinching power summoned up a little giggle from the girl. "That's a fun one." She imagine being able to pinch people's butts from across a room and giggled again.

"He's a bit like...he's shadows and glowing eyes also a bit like a marten. He taught me a piece of magic." She sits a bit straighter at this, proud that she'd learned a thing. "Seeing through Mr. Bitterberry and floating stuff, those just sorta...happened to me. This, though, I learned and made the choice of it."

The difference to her, was immense. it was Important.

"And I'm starting to tell how to get There and back, not just relying on chance any more."

endejester

 

[endejester]

“M-Mister Bitterberry?” He blinked.”Is…that your… “ He waved a vague hand, He’d only really talked to one person about ‘Warg’ and there hadn’t been a lot of detail involved, certainly not names.

he did make a note to try and find ‘Gloom’ the shadow-martin. That could end up, well, interesting if nothing else.

He did understand though, the importance between choice, and finding something strange and new ‘thrust’ at you, that was huge. There wasn’t even a lot of chance one way or another for it, he’d never actively ‘chosen’ one way or another.

“… I get this feeling that everyone is better at magic than me. It’s kinda funny.” He said with a watery grin. “That’s really awesome that you can see um, through mister Bitterberry, and the floaty stuff. If you need to go there, I can help you find a way in too, I’d love to say it’s safer in numbers but I honestly can’t say that for sure.

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

America looked a bit startled before realizing Zac probably had no idea about the jay. There'd been a lot going on last time they'd seen each other after all. "He's my bird friend, I'm able to borrow his eyes. If you see a blue jay 'round town that's not a bit afraid of humans, it's probably Mr. Bitterberry."

Her smile turns a bit wry at the better at magic comment. "I don't know if it's something a person can be better at than others or not. I just wanna learn as much as I'm able. I was lucky to find someone who could and would teach me a bit. The thing he taught me was ah..."

She took out a stone pendant and placed between them. "He taught me to place a symbol, a glyph, into here. Now it has my magic in it, and I can use it to hide. He mentioned it works better on the Other side," the girl nodded, "but I guess that's a Thing. I can borrow Mr. Bitterberry's eyes more easily over there too."

Her eyes widened a bit and she asked, "Do you want to visit there now? Well, once I finish up..." she gestured to the bit of wings and soda left. "But magic n'stuff. It belongs there."

endejester

 

[endejester]

“Trust me, I think some people are legitimately better at this magic stuff than others.” He said with a wry smile.

“Or at the very least some of us are just really lucky with the… magical aptitude lottery or something.” He shrugged.
‘That, is really cool though.” He stared at the pendant fascinated. “Could you, I mean, I’d love to visit when you’re done if you could show me how to do that too. I mean, I can sorta hide, sort of..” he waved his hands. “I mean, I think we confirmed it because apparently I show up as a magical blip but if I don’t -want- to be noticed I guess people don’t.”

He looked thoughtful for a moment.
“If it worked on the creepy critters, which I don’t think it does, I’d say it was pretty useful.”

She did have a good point though, it absolutely beloved in ‘Other Ashdown’ but it was…leaking here. “I know that… Mister Mercer can do more in Other Ashdown.” He mused. “I’ve not really tried anything like it though. I guess its probably my fault I don’t know more or do…more useful things since I guess its still kinda creepy.”

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

As he spoke, she finished off what was left of her dinner and began the process of cleaning off her hands and the corners of her mouth with a little wet nap. "Well that could be hella useful, yeah." Musing over it, the girl added thoughtfully, "Creepy critters or not, there's lots of times it's better to go unnoticed, right? Guess it's a matter of figuring out the ahh...applications, n'such."

Downing the last of her drink, America left a tip and began gathering her bag and denim jacket. "I think I might have to talk to Mister Jer about this sometime, but for now let's go an see what's waiting for us. No better time to start figuring out more than the present. How do you get over there?"

endejester

 

[endejester]

“Umm… I just kinda aim to find it, I think the more you go the easier it gets.” He said leading the way to the door. He opened it for her, not because it was the gentlemanly thing to do, he just got there first.

He stepped out the door and… into the rain, and fog.

“So… that’s how you get to Other Ashdown!” He said trying to make light of it., before fumbling in his bag and fishing out the umbrella he’d started carrying.

He opened it and then raised it to try and cover them both.

“Sorry…if you have one too we don’t have to um, I mean if you don’t have an umbrella you can use this one.”

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

The smell of rain filled her nose as soon as Zac's touched the door. Startled, whatever answer she was going to give ended up turning into a chagrined, but pleased, bit of laughter. "Naw, I hadn't brought mine today. Don't mind the rain too much, either, gotta say." Still, she stayed underneath his umbrella.

"I can tell when a door's gonna open into another world. Both ways, far as I've been able to tell. They just kinda...stand out different. Like they belong to the place they're leading. That one," she nodded toward Darlene's, now grimply empty, "that one was normal but then all of a sudden turned different when you started to open it."

Her expression was a bit quizzical at that. She'd only gone through a few of the ones she'd noticed in the past week, but they'd never shifted like that right as they were being opened.

endejester

 

[endejester]

“Huh…” He said sounding impressed by what she said.
“Has that ever kept you from going through a door? I mean, I can see that going badly if you take college, like “Sorry I can’t go to class today, if I step through I’ll be in the…reverse classroom thing.” He waved his hand trying to encompass the slightly silly but slightly serious story.

“I do wish I could… see things like the magic, I wonder if someone could teach me.” He mused, almost distracted.
He wanted honestly to see, well, he wanted to see what Aleksey saw, but at the same time, he wondered if he could handle it any better. Would -anyone- if everyone who got exposed looked, less than human.

Still, it was hard not to imagine that he wasn’t seeing people looking like, Maxx Shrek from Nosferatu.

“Is, um, is there anywhere you’d like to head while we’re here?” He asked waving towards the foggy, rain slicked streets.

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

Humming thoughtfully, she shook her head. "Naw, I've only had a few days. Hasn't happened to any door I was intending to go through before. But I guess I'd better figure out some alternative routes, just in case I gotta be somewhere." She didn't seem to mind the idea of it.

"Maybe someone can," she nodded. "Or there's a book or something, since you seem good at that sorta thing, right? Maybe if you think on it hard enough and often enough...well, I mean it's magic, right? Something may come up if you want it badly." It seemed magic might bring a new sort of weight to where there's a will there's a way.

"To be honest, I don't know enough about the places around here to have a preference. Anything you think I should see?"

endejester

 

[endejester]

“Well. I can tell you right now I don’t think books here will help, have you tried any yet? They don’t behave the same at -all” he shook his head like that emphasized the point.

“They are more like, well, they are like memories. The first time I got stuck here, when Sunny sent me, I ended up in the Library.” He waved that direction. “Which is creepy in its own right, because you hear like, whispers, and screams…. and chanting.” He sounded distant, recalling the time he’d spent there. “…and its not like our library on the inside, it’s…like, islands, floating islands.”

“And the books, like any books you find here you don’t really read them, but instead you live through a moment. I think Jer and I saw some of Sunny’s memories, it was, it was strange. I’d love to go back and explore but Jer thinks that it wouldn’t be so helpful, because we at least both agree that memories are perspective.”

He was rambling again, he knew it but he hadn’t really talked about this in a while, and not to her at all.

Still….

Maybe, maybe he should look into the Library again, and the paintings, god he was not going to give up on the paintings. He needed to revisit mister ‘What’s wrong with my voice’.

“I think, I think people can’t always enter the library, Alg couldn’t that first time, but I think I can show you if we go to Bibliophile. Small warning that you might end up with um… anyones memories, including mine apparently which is an odd thought but, if you’d like to try it?”

lizbot