#touchofpotw

Veronica couldn’t remember the last time that she had been to the high school. The truth was she had been fourteen at the time and her parents had been considering taking her out of private tuition and placing her in public school. However they had quickly decided that it wasn’t for her. Being here on the common, for an event surrounding said high school and the other schools in Ashkent Creek was certainly odd. To be perfectly honest, education that wasn’t supernaturally related was hardly Veronica’s biggest concern. But Reed had invited her and she had reluctantly agreed. Bridget was always reminding her how she needed to get out more, and she was sure that she hadn’t meant her nightly patrols. Parking her car by the side of the common, she did her best to leave most of her weapons in the car. She kept her daggers tucked comfortably into their sheaths at the base of her back, but everything else she left. After all, surely nothing would happen in broad daylight? Stepping out of her car, she sent Reed a quick text. “Where are you?” Hopefully he’d respond soon, there was already a woman with a stall full of cakes that was practically waving her over and Veronica wasn’t about to allow saturated fats and sugars back into her life.

With all of the surplus in activity, work was spiking more than it should for the early start of November and Reed’s head felt like it was floating from being pulled this way and that by colleagues and people in town. Based on everything he read online and heard about, there wasn’t as much vocal pushback towards the school-related fundraiser compared to the neighbourhood watch; he had a few guesses as to why. Still, he wanted to check it out, maybe see this Helen person and he had shown up not too early because he didn’t want to appear too eager (or, odd). A single text from Veronica made him stop his search for the apparently very elusive Helen and hasten towards the other end of the common. Mid-rush, he shot a quick text back: Coming. Will find you. Red hair, that’s what he kept a look out for, that and a certain air of presence that she carried with her. Thinking that he spotted her, Reed called out a, “Hey! Right here!” And waved both of his arms, careful of the people around him as he continued towards her. “I am so glad to see you!” He blurted when he was close enough, “It feels like so many people are backing out on me these days, so— uh— thank you. Means a lot.” He grinned brightly at her then gestured around and looked back towards the row of stalls, saw the woman waving them down. “Anyways...” He looked back at her, gleaming still, “You ready to get this party for two started?”

The ‘blood drive’ and the bloodmobile practically had the vampires in the town chomping at the bit and Veronica’s kill count had risen by more than she could have anticipated. Obviously it wasn’t anything that she couldn’t take into her stride, especially now that she had stopped holding back. But this was a part of her job that she felt was necessary, after her ball she had become all too aware of how vulnerable public events like this were. Checking her phone once more, she saw his text and decided that it would be best to stand still and wait for him. Finally, she found him. She’d managed to avoid the gaze of several mothers who were obviously far too keen about their roles in this fundraiser. “Reed,” she purred as she glided over to his side and placed kisses on either side of his face in the traditional french style of greeting, “it is a pleasure to see you, I’m sorry that it has been so long but the summer was a very pressing time for us all and I’ve been busy with the vampire problem that this town has.” She noticed the strange look that someone gave her, but she didn’t particularly care. Discretion had come and gone in this town without anyone batting an eyelash, it was obviously too late for this lady to receive the memo. “You don’t have to worry about me backing out of anything, I am as good as my word,” she promised with a smile, before looking down at the chocolate covered everything that was offered at the first stall. “I am ready, well, as ready as I’ll ever be, is there somewhere specific that you want to start?”

“Oh— Wow— Okay.” Reed’s body froze entirely briefly, surprised by her chosen greeting then tried to make up for his reaction by offering his hand to shake before quickly changing his mind and raised his arms for a hug. Moving on from that, he found that he was still taken aback — she definitely spoke with the same air that she walked with. Formal and proper. She was always so nice too, he liked that. Nodding in understanding and appreciation, “No need to apologize, I’ve been pretty busy myself and this town can be one hell of a handful at times. Or,” A sigh, “All the time.” Then a pause to look around once more at everyone nearby before he said, “Never a dull day in Ashkent Creek.” And there was a chance this one would be no different (and for what it was worth, he hoped it would go smoothly). People, mostly of the mom variety, were definitely keen on eavesdropping and throwing twisted looks at any mention of foul language and questionable phrases — the latter of which was more likely for them both than anything else. Reed turned his body as if inviting her to join him on a stroll through the area and presented his arm to her, and hummed, “Everything looks really good up front but I’m more interested at what’s going on towards the back.” He began walking, “I think I saw some tart cookies over there—” He pointed high over the heads of hyperactive teenagers and children rushing passed, “All the boring and too-healthy looking stuff looked really good to me.” He glanced over at her, wondering what interested her, “You?”

Raising an eyebrow gently at Reed’s reaction, Veronica did her best to indulge him by hugging him, she even patted him on the back gently. Honestly, she didn’t understand how people could go through their lives without learning the proper etiquette, however she wasn’t about to question him on it. She knew that she wasn’t exactly the easiest person to talk to, not to mention she was sure that there were a number of people that felt intimidated by her status as a slayer. Regardless, she took Reed’s arm and allowed him to show her around the stalls that were scattered about the common. “I think you were right with your second attempt,” she commented with a smile, “there hasn’t been a dull moment in this town in the last thirty years, at least that is what I hear. Perhaps that is what is driving these people to suddenly become proactive about their safety.” She smiled gently at a mother who was giving them an odd look, she wondered what it was that concerned the onlooking parent. As a gaggle of minors zoomed past them, Veronica found herself being taken through the common towards the stalls at the back, “There was a stall that sold home made honey and barley cakes that I thought looked intriguing, otherwise the fruit punch takes my interest…” she shrugged, “even though I don’t work as a personal trainer anymore, it is difficult to give up the habits of checking the nutritional facts in everything, which makes me wonder how much sugar is in each one of these reasonably priced treats. Not to mention the condition of hygiene in their kitchens…” she bit her lip, doing her best not to be a judgemental bitch, “what about you? Do you have a preferred poison… so to speak.”

Reed nodded, flicking his eyes towards one direction and another as he waved and tipped his head at anyone that made eye contact with him, “I think it’ll be good,” He mused with an optimistic tone, “They— We need it.” Everyone here appeared as they were to him, what they knew, what their skills were, what they thought about the new changes — there was an underlying vulnerability, a certain level of unknown. “I was told some odd months back that if I wanted to survive and live a life here, I’d have to be armed with at least the basics,” Reed admitted, lowering his voice whenever shoulders got too close as strangers brushed by. Telling Veronica that felt like some kind of political move across the chessboard for him but she had always been easy to talk to, so he didn’t mind despite it being a free for all for anyone else that was listening. “I think that could benefit everyone else too.” Slowing his pace down even more, Reed looked around and all over heads and hats for the booth, “Wanna go there first?” He asked her with a gentle nudge to her side as if telling her to take the lead and added, with a teasing smile, “Consider this a cheat day and you can blame all the bloating on me afterwards. As for me, my only goal is to stay away from cakes and cookies, the last time I went all out at a festival like this, I...” He stopped, thinking of how to say it given his profession, “Got high... And gave a lot of the same thing to my colleagues too, so... The lemonbars looked good.” Then with a firm nod, “Healthy and safe.”

“If I knew that everyone was seeking knowledge to survive, like you are, then I’d agree with you, but I don’t trust the neighbourhood watch movement for one second, not after the liberation and everything that followed that…” Veronica trailed off as she considered the point that he was trying to make. “Have you ever considered moving?” she suggested, “I’ve got a reason to stay, my family and the fact that this is my home, but you could just as easily set up your life anywhere else. Not that I’d want you to move of course, but you’d certainly be safer.” She did her best to avoid everyone’s gaze. After all, she didn’t want to cause a scene and there were people who wouldn’t take kindly to a Babineaux being here. There were still fools who thought that vampires weren’t dangerous. “Besides, not everyone is ready to be made aware of everything that you’d need to be aware of to survive, many of them outright reject the fact that they’ve been attacked by a vampire and that is after I’ve saved them and put a bandaid on their neck where a vampire’s fangs had previously been…” she trailed off as she felt her slaydar go off, but it was still far away, implying it was someone in a house looking onto the common. That wasn’t enough for her to get involved, at least not just yet. “I’ll follow your lead,” she said with a smile, “although I’ll abstain anyway, I have something much more interesting in mind for my cheat day, something that will taste better than these home made attempts at desserts.” She looked up at a mother who had heard her say that. “No offense,” she said with a shrug before continuing browsing. “Somehow, it doesn’t surprise me that you got high, although I suppose a lemonbar can’t do too much harm…”

Reed listened, his only knowledge of the liberation was limited to what people told him and whatever he managed to find through newsletter and police archives. He understood the concern and was wary as well but still hoped this could had good intentions and wouldn’t turn out like anything they experienced in the past. Sometimes, he had to remind himself frequently as involved as he was in the supernatural community, some things that happened were just normal too. He chewed on his bottom lip in thought, decided to save that portion of their conversation for a later time, and said, “I did for a while after...” An uncomfortable chill ran down his spine as he revisited that point in his life, hesitated for a little bit to explain before nodding, “My mom wanted me to too after— but...” He shrugged then, “I can’t bring myself to leave and I don’t think I’d want to, I care about everyone in this town, I love my job and I don’t want to abandon ship just because I have a higher chance of dying here.” He noticed the wide-eyed look from a mom passing out gumdrop sugar cookies, another one froze momentarily too and all that did, along with what else Veronica said, was reminded of the brief conversation he had online with someone and being left with the impression that his suggestions were more or less brushed off. He was sure he had incidents similar to Veronica’s as well but talking about his starter kits was the most recent. His easygoing smile fell down into a frown, “A lot of them may not be,” He agreed albeit feeling more like a disappointed father when he did, “But my strategy here is to market it differently so it appeals to them.” Nearing the lemonbar stall, wondering what the more interesting thing would be for her cheat day and if it was anything like the deserts Adrien mentioned before, Reed waved his hand at her, “No offense taken.” Then made a beeline for the stall, Reed pulled out his wallet and made small but polite conversation with the vendor as he picked out three center-piece lemonbars (one was for his mom). “Oh— No— You don’t have to do that, keep the change, please.” He murmured to the gentleman as soon as Reed saw him open the cash box to make change for a twenty dollar bill, being here was in the spirit of supporting the school district and raising money. After thanking the vendor, Reed turned his attention back to Veronica, offered the extra lemonbar he bought despite her pass before before grinning, “The most harm it’ll probably do is be a touch too tangy.” Taking a corner bite and chewing, he remarked after swallowing and being pleasantly surprised, “Not bad, has a pretty good amount of lemon flavouring too. I like it.” Had a smidge weird taste to it but it wasn’t so offensive to make him toss the treat (and if it did, he’d wait until he got home to discard of it anyway). Looping his arm with Veronica’s again, he motioned with his elbow towards the crowd of people, “I’m ready for stop two whenever you are.”

“Well, I wouldn’t ever presume to judge you Reed, but I sometimes wonder whether you’re giving this town a bit more credit than its worth. Besides, no one would judge you for trying to save your own life.” Veronica wondered whether he realised how easily this town could chew him up and spit him back out. Sighing gently, she tried to keep her reservations to herself. Reed didn’t need anyone else being down about what he could or couldn’t do, after all, it was hardly her place either. “Well, market it all you want, as long as it keeps people safe then who am I to complain…” she just hoped that people kept it for defense and didn’t start going out with more nefarious schemes in mind. As Reed offered her a lemonbar, Veronica could feel the eyes of the mothers still on them. How many of them were witches or werewolves who understood exactly what they were discussing? As Reed held her snack, Veronica decided that it would have been rude not to take the snack. Holding it delicately, she broke a small chunk off and chewed on it, brushing the crumbs from her lips. As the zesty taste spread through her mouth and settled on her pallette, Veronica had to admit that she was pleasantly surprised. “Well, that is surprisingly pleasant,” she smiled at the man behind the stall who seemed somewhat offended by her honesty, although he did seem a bit confused about whether she’d meant it as a compliment or not. Her vision almost seemed to swim before her eyes as she chewed, and despite the fact that she blinked several times, she couldn’t help but stumble backwards slightly. “Yeah,” she said, regaining her footing, “stop two, do they have a bar? I could use a drink.”

“Maybe I am but I have to have hope,” Reed shrugged. It can’t all be bad, that’s what he kept telling himself even on the days when he was least convinced of its truth, even now with so much resistance about the neighbourhood watch. Nigel told him a couple of years ago that this town would kill off that bright light in his eyes; and he realized he probably ran out of fingers and toes to count how many times he has had this kind of conversation. The old-age question being why would anyone move and willingly stay here? Reed didn’t have that answer but sometimes it definitely felt like there was a draw pulling him deeper, like curiosity was the thing that was what was really making him stay. Perhaps it was that way for everyone else that wasn’t born and raised here too. Without saying it, he understood the risks of living here, knew that the statistics were higher than even cities like Detroit and Chicago, knew there would be a tray variety of loss too, and Reed knew he also sounded less grounded in reality with his mention of hope. Fair chance. Helen could be good or bad or somewhere in-between, but which one that was has yet to be seen. “Thanks. As long as we look out for each other and keep each other safe, we can weather everything Ashkent throws at us.” A glimpse at Veronica turned into him trying to, somehow, brace himself to catch Veronica in case one wrong step back sent her falling when she stumbled. “Hey—” are you okay?, “Yeah, you said there was—” He began looking around for the stall she mentioned earlier again as he spoke, “—some fruit punch somewhere.” His eyebrows crinkled downwards just as the effects claimed ahold of him too. It felt like his mind was twisting around itself and his vision was getting caught up in that as well, it was disorientating. Everyone looked askew and duplicated. “Um—” Reed was paused for a really long time, like he were looking for the words and what to say but it escaped him so he began tracing their steps back towards the other stall. “I hope there are chairs.”

“Hope isn’t going to keep you alive, pragmatism is. Don’t let stupidity kill you. Especially when you’re so obviously not stupid.”  Veronica bit her lip thoughtfully. Reed was too much of a good guy for this town. She used to be idealistic like him, she used to kill vampires when she could prove they’d done something wrong. Now she didn’t take the chance, it wasn’t worth it, especially when it could potentially kill you not to take every precaution. “You’re welcome, and yes, I like the optimism, I am sure that we’ll be able to survive if we can stick together.” She smiled gently as she regained her footing, placing a hand on Reed’s shoulder she tried her best to reassure him. “Don’t worry, I shouldn’t have worn heels for walking through grass, I think it was just my heel sinking into the dirt…” she never finished her sentence, because just as she thought that she had gotten over the shock of the hallucinogenic effect that these lemon bars apparently seemed to have, it hit her several times harder. The world seemed to fold in on itself in a bright swirl of colours, at least for a moment, and then suddenly everything was swirling in front of her eyes and she was struggling to keep herself upright. “Chairs seem like a good idea,” she admitted, looking around her for somewhere that they could sit, “if we could make it to my car we could sit there, or maybe there is a bench or something…” glancing around her she finally spotted it. Smiling gently at her own great work she pointed. “There,” she said, the colours of the grass all but leaping out at her, “that should work….”

Squeezing her shoulder when she did the same to him, Reed nodded once with half of a grin, “I know how to read a situation.” He knew better than to let hope totally blind him. Reed swallowed and blinked several times, trying to keep focused by looking into Veronica’s eyes, uncomfortably aware of his attention drifting away from the moment. “I won’t give anyone the chance to kill me. Not again.” And speaking of nixies, a pale blonde head in his peripheral caught his attention and made him snap his head in that direction. His heart began pummeling hard against his chest while he stared wide-eyed and in a trance at the woman. Azul. When she whipped around, cones with fluff on top in hand, Reed jerked reflexively back. “Fuck,” He blurted and felt his face flush with heat as he saw a countless amount of pairs of eyes glaring intensely at him, “Crap— I mean crap. It’s a no brainer.” Their faces look distorted, almost melting or slipping off, and less convinced that he meant that so he stammered out, “I- I’m PG.” It felt like an infinity of time passed by the time he thought he got his bearings together and he forgot what he said just seconds ago. Then his gaze dropped to where Veronica was pointing and brought his hand up to shield his eyes, “Christ, that’s bright.” Facing Veronica, he cupped both sides of his face with his hands and asked after sucking in air through his teeth, “...Are they still staring?” He stopped talking after someone walked passed with a cup of pomegranate-looking something. Fruit punch, some tiny part of him that was sober realized. “Hey!” He pointed, struck with a repeat idea, “Let’s go get something to drink.”

Veronica’s mind went into overdrive. The lemon bars must have been spiked and anger overtook her at that moment. Biting down on her lip to try and focus through the blur of colour and swirling lights. Normally she didn’t rely on emotions, they were a weakness that caused her to focus to shift and people had capitalised on that before, Heath, her father, too many people had taken advantage of her emotions. But for once they actually helped her gain a little bit of clarity. As she leaned against one of the stalls, she wrapped her slender fingers around a wooden beam that held up a tent, it was only when she heard the cracking noise from it that she realised that the wood was splintering beneath her fingers. “Make sure that you don’t, I would hate to have to go after someone because they hurt you, I’d much rather just avoid that altogether. If that is okay with you of course.” Stumbling towards the stall of fruit punch, Veronica pulled a splinter from her palm and watched as it spun away, growing in size before her eyes before it was a stake plunging through a vampire's heart. Blinking several times she found herself staring at the ground before stumbling towards the fruit punch. “I’m not convinced this is going to fix whatever is going on.”

Nodding determinedly, Reed rushed as best as he could towards the stall while simultaneously completing a warped obstacle court from his days in police academy. “It’ll help us,” He said automatically still bobbing his head up and down, eyes focused on the gallon of fruit punch, its colour a bright fuchsia though the closer he got, the darker and redder it appeared and the more hairs across his forearms and nape stood on end. Barely a couple of feet away, Reed watched another clear cup be filled halfway with the fruit punch, its viscosity looked closer to blood than fruit punch to him now. To the vendor, he asked, “Actually— Do you have water?” A shake of the head was followed up with a sorry and suggestion on where to find bottled water, and Reed watched in horror as their face twisted into a flesh-coloured spiral. Defeated, he turned around, “Well, I’m not going to drink whatever that is.”

As they stumbled over to the vendor who was selling a punch that had something bobbing in it, though Veronica had to admit that she wasn’t sure whether the things bobbing in said punch were cherries or eyeballs, it was almost as if every time she blinked something changed. The thick punch swirled in front of her and she was immediately put off by it. “Y’know,” Veronica said, reaching for her phone and tapping the uber app, which she was pretty sure grew teeth and snapped at her, “I think that maybe we should just go home, there was obviously something in those lemonbars and they are really fucking with me…” she rubbed her eyes exhaustedly, the colours of everything merging and jumping out at her. Whatever the hell was in those lemonbars was killing her. “I’m getting a cab home, you can crash on my sofa or in one of the spare rooms if you want, at least until this wears off, I don’t think we should be on our own.”

Reed just stood there, believing he got the best results by keeping his weight and balance even on both feet. Everything was still shifting around for him, taking on different forms while certain colours grabbed his attention. Hues of red and silver burst out and all he could do was connect it back to his work and Azul. It upset him, really. He wasn’t high but he was definitely experiencing some kind of trip. Turning slowly back around towards the vendor, Reed wondered if the fruit punch was really fruit punch or whatever it was he was seeing. He wondered if everything here was just like the lemonbars. Did Helen know about and approve that or was someone trying to give her a bad name? “You can go,” Reed said, “I should probably go have a talk with that other guy who sold me the lemonbars...”  It was a challenge trying to see passed the demonic things going on in front of him and trying to think clearly. Weren’t trips supposed to be...not mortifying? Or did that just mean he had a lot of skeletons in his closet? “He shouldn’t be selling that here.” It explained the weirds they got before.

Veronica paused for a moment, before rolling her eyes. Reed had to take such pleasure in doing the right thing, couldn’t he just be a real person for once and do something that was selfish, something like going home and riding out this trip. Her finger hovered over the confirm request, before she sighed and tucked her phone back into her pocket. “Well, I can’t let you do that on your own, if they’re not above spiking cakes that could end up with children then they’re almost certainly not going to just give it up because you asked them to do so politely.” She sighed and cracked her neck and her knuckles. “Come on, lets get this over with,” she turned and took a moment to compose herself before making her way back towards Mr Lemonbar, which was easier said than done considering she was pretty certain that the ground was melting away beneath her feet, not to mention the fact that her legs were jelly. Not a helpful combination when you’re trying to get somewhere, especially in heeled boots.

Reed looked back at Veronica, halfway shocked that she was truly committed to sticking by his side while halfway wishing she would take that cab home, though his actual facial expression must’ve looked exaggeratedly different from how he felt. His mouth quirked up into a small and forgiving smile. “I’ll confiscate them,” He assured her as he tried yet struggled to walk with brisk purpose, “He’s not taking those bars home or anywhere else for that matter.” Each step sent a vibration up into his body that made his vertigo chime like the church bell. Though it was only movement, it felt so loud and the effort it took to focus was incredibly crowded in his head. “After that’s done, we’ll get you home and off your feet.” And Veronica looked to be struggling a lot more than he was which resulted in Reed wrapping his arm across her shoulders and offering her his free hand up to her as a form of stabilizing support. They weren’t in the best mind to deal with this and Reed wasn’t volunteering on behalf of the station. Biting the inside of his cheek for a moment, Reed reconsidered what his mission was here against how well their bodies and minds were reacting to whatever was corrupting them. “On second thought, I’ll get security to confiscate it and we’ll get that cab.”

The ringing of the church bell in the distance was enough for Veronica to lose focus again, she felt a slight surge of panic as the bell tolled loudly, the sound seemed to engulf her in an echo chamber and suddenly she was almost certain that she could see the waves of sound cascading down towards her in a cacophony of noise, as Reed wrapped an arm around her she acted on instinct, her leg swiping out from underneath her. It was basic self defence. Knock your opponent off your feet. But as she made contact with Reed and watched him begin to tumble backwards, her mind suddenly cleared and she reached out and grabbed his hand. Normally she would’ve felt embarrassed or at least amused, but she couldn’t say that she felt anything other than annoyance at the fact that they’d been spiked. She was sure that this didn’t happen anywhere else. “Sorry,” she confessed though she didn’t feel particularly sorry but etiquette was important to her, “that was habit normally when people do that it’s not because they’re trying to help, but I am starting to agree with you.” In this state she could easily act on instinct and get someone hurt, not that it would bother her but she didn’t need the hassle. “Let security handle it, I’m going home.” She called an Uber, which headed for the wrong side of the common much to her displeasure. “You can tell security on the way,” she said as she began to make her way across the common.

Cece pulled up to the curb of Shelley’s house and was slightly disturbed by how eerily quiet the place was. Her last memory of the place was particularly unpleasant and incredibly loud. Cece still felt like her ears were ringing from the gunshots and screaming of the officers and Juarez and Cece and Reed trying to yell over them. “This your place?” the voice cut through the quiet and immediately pissed Cece off, but for the moment she still needed to keep him following her blindly, so she tried flirting. “Well I wouldn’t bring you to a stranger’s house now would I?” She laughed softly and pressed the palm of her hand against his cheek, ignoring the nausea rising in her throat. She had picked this guy specifically. He was one of the regulars at one of the bars she frequented. Always drunk off of his ass and always hitting on any girl that walks through the doors. She didn’t find out until a couple of months ago that he had been acquitted of two separate sexual harassment charges. Perfect fit. “Well let’s get inside then” he laughed. His breath stunk of whiskey, the same kind she had been drinking before working up the nerve to actually drive over here. “Let me just grab my bag.” She was playing drunk too and hopped out of the car, stumbling to her trunk and pulling the heavy bag out of it. “Want me to take that for you sweetheart? Looks heavy.” He could barely walk in a straight line, yet still deemed himself more suited to carrying a bag. “No thanks.” Cece answered flatly, losing some of that drunk, flirtatious charm she had been faking. She led him up to the house and through the front door, once again walking in on the portal and… Reed? “Reed?” She called out to him, not exactly surprised that he was here but still unhappy about it. The drunk guy behind her had been staring between the portal and Reed before finally resting his eyes on Cece, “Woah. I don’t know how I feel about a threesome. With a guy anyways.” Cece actually groaned this time. “Seriously? A giant portal in the house and that’s what you’re worried about? Ew.” She grabbed the man by the wrist and led him into the living room towards one of the chairs. “Sit down,” she shoved him down into one of the chairs before reaching into one of the pockets of her bag and fisting a pile of dust she had prepared earlier in the night, “and shut up.” She blew the dust across his face and his body language immediately began failing him. His eyes fluttered shut and his body began sagging before he eventually lost the battle entirely and passed out. Now she just had to deal with Reed. “Hey there” She smiled widely at him. 

Since talking to Blanche and a few others about closing the portals going only by the solutions given to them in a Strange Times article, Reed believed there was some sliver of a chance he could close the one in Shelley Song’s home. More importantly, without death — without sacrifices and bloodlettings and property destruction. He hadn’t stopped feeling appalled since reading the article after he got home from the hospital Monday evening; a majority of Ashkent’s population would laugh it off and believed it to be some kind of hoax, those not in the majority would take those words by some faceless Scribe representative as encouragement. It disgusted Reed as much as it alarmed and ticked him off. So he returned to Shelley Song’s house, stepped over charred snake monsters and ducked under sagging caution tape to get inside. The house was completely quiet and still. The plus side, as far as he could tell so far, was that there were no snakes around; as if their presence was only activated by a warm-body brushing against the iridescent wormhole. Officer Juárez had gotten too close and it cost him his entire left leg; a harsh shudder ran down Reed’s back at the memory. That all only happened less than two days ago. He stepped up close to the portal in the kitchen and stopped short of its vacuum pull, gaze transfixed on its opal surface. It was bright like a white light and it shimmered still like glitter swirling around in water, but whatever was on the other side of it had to be more terrifying than mesmerizing. Standing there, he didn’t know what he could give up to close it. He didn’t know how to transfer power or memories, didn’t think tricking it would work, didn’t really have anything of sentimental value. His first car succumbed to the ravenous appetite of a wendigo and his two dogs were somewhere in Ashford River hopefully still alive, and... All that was really left was the pride he put into his work at the station and his friendships. With a look down at the tan bandage wrapped around the length of his forearm bite and sucking marks the snake devils left all over, Reed sighed helplessly, wishing he could do and give more. He thought about arresting James and wondered if that was even possible or if he would end up in a situation like he was in now. Stuck. Unable to help. But all of that went away, soon replaced by the redirection of his attention to the front door opening behind him and two muffled voices. One suspiciously familiar. He turned around just as Cece said his name and his entire body froze at the sight of someone behind her. Threesome? What? He watched Cece go out sight with the stranger for a moment before coming up to him with a smile that looked more pressed on than real. “You’re not happy to see me, are you?” Reed asked, dumbfounded. “Look—” He heaved out a breath, “If this is about me not inviting you out to the hashtag—” Start finger quotes, “Portal Is Over Party—” End finger quotes, “I’m sorry— I really have no excuse.” 

Cece really didn’t want Reed to be here. If this were any other normal spell than Cece wouldn’t have minded so much. In most cases having extra bodies, even if they were regular humans, could help empower spells and make them stronger. But in most cases Cece also knew what she was doing for a spell long before arriving on scene. Or at least had a general idea. She had no idea what was going to work with this portal and her last case scenario was currently asleep on the couch in the other room and she really didn’t want Reed here if it came to that. The last thing she wanted was for anyone in Ashkent Creek to see her do anything like she used to do for the coven. Reed maybe most of all, he would probably have a funeral for a fly if he swatted at it too hard. “Damn straight you have no excuse.” She swung her bag off her shoulder and set it on the ground, unzipping it and starting to pull objects out of it. A set of those small candles, a mason jar filled to the brim with blood, a knife. She began setting up candles in a large circle surrounding the portal. She made sure she kept her distance, just as Marley had warned. She had seen what had happened to Juárez when he hadn’t. “I know you’re not going to listen to me, but you should really go home and let me handle this by myself.” Obviously Reed wasn’t going to leave, he was too stubborn to. But it was at least worth a try. “But since you’re going to refuse you might as well help me.”

“Why—” Reed’s question was clipped, immediately honing in on the glass jar filled with... Was that blood? It was too dark to be ketchup and honestly, he learned to assume the worst in Ashkent. It didn’t take much for things to escalate to really extreme points. Flippantly, he commented, “I hope that’s spicy ketchup.” He was tempted to grab the mason jar and test its weight out in his hand but something told him Cece wouldn’t let him get as far as brushing his fingertips against it. Then his gaze flicked back up to Cece momentarily, his eyes going back and forth while he followed her movements. “Well, you’re not wasting any time at all,” Reed said out loud, a little impressed by how quickly she was placing things albeit concerned, left with open-ended ideas on what exactly she planned on doing with everything she pulled out of her bag. She told him to leave and before Reed could reject the notion and insist otherwise, Cece was already miles ahead of him. Reed’s mouth screwed up and he crossed his arms over his chest. She was right though. Reed’s eyebrows pressed down, confusion, really having no solid ideas on what she planned on doing and why she had all of those things with her and why that stranger was even here. She was going to close the portal, he could surmise that much. But the method of which lended itself to being a riddle. “The article mentioned something about healing magic,” He said with no clear direction of the point he was making, “You healed one of my wounds before. Are you gonna do that?” That prospect made him feel hopeful, reminded of when an undead entered her laboratory and tried to attack them both. He watched her heal the opening on his hand in a way that looked so effortless to him. It was amazing what she could do with magic, beautiful even — like the portal mere feet from them.

Once everything was set up and ready Cece turned back towards Reed, “Sure. Whatever you need to tell yourself to feel better.” The coven had a common practice of bloodletting and storing each other’s blood for use in spells. Blood was a powerful ingredient in spells, but supernatural blood of any kind was an automatic enhancer. Cece made sure that she had stored plenty of blood from the other witch’s in the coven before she left, just in case of a rainy day. She had never assumed that hell portals would be the thing that caused her to break the jars out, but she wasn’t surprised either. How the portal would know that the blood was of her enemies Cece couldn’t be sure, but assuming that the coven had worked out exactly who had thrown them under the bus and gotten them all arrested she figured that she could count on them to hold a grudge. She mixed a small amount of blood from each jar she had at home to fill this one up which currently held a mixture of about thirteen different blood samples. Magic was all about the numbers, and thirteen was about as unlucky and supernatural as a number could get. “I’m going to try a healing spell, but healing magic isn’t my specialty. I don’t know any spells that I think are going to be powerful enough.” If Cece had known that someday magic would actually come in handy for something like this maybe she would have been a little more motivated to learn. But obviously it was too little too late for that. Cece stepped into the circle of unlit candles and waved Reed into the circle also, “Let’s get started. Ignium” Cece waved her hand in a wide arch and the candles all around the circle immediately lit. “Sit down and I’ll start the spell.” The strongest spell that Cece knew was healing semi-serious wounds. She figured that an appropriate spell for this portal would be some sort of spiritual cleansing spell, but that was way more advanced than Cece knew. Regardless, she closed her eyes and started chanting, holding the palms of her hand out like a wall up to the portal.

Reed sat down, mindful of the candles as the wicks burst into flame, and looked back and forth from Cece to the wormhole as she began the spell. He didn’t know what to expect really, he felt clueless. And redundant, like a rag doll just hanging around without any specific purpose. While he waited in silence as she performed the spell, speaking in tongues and using her hands, Reed wondered if getting blood from the hospital would be a viable option (explanations for why he needed thirteen packets aside). Would it count if thirteen people willingly donated the blood? Or could the portal somehow distinguish between all of that? Sitting on the ground, Reed only wished he tried that method. He’d have to try that next time — if, god forbid, there ever was a next time for these portals. Shifting his eyes back onto the wormhole, Reed waited, expecting something to happen but not sure what it was he was meant to look out for or hear. It didn’t seem to budge, not a lot anyway. The edges wavered like a ripple but nothing else happened beyond that. “I don’t...think it’s working,” Reed guessed with a grimace. Not entirely. He looked to Cece again, waiting to see her next course of action, before he turned around and pointed towards the direction of the living room where the stranger was. “Who— Why is he here? Was this a pitstop for you guys or something?”

Cece heard Reed but was hoping that it was just a delayed reaction and by the time she actually opened her eyes the thing would have closed. Finally, she peeked one eye open and saw the giant glowing death trap still there just feet from her. “Well, shit.” She sighed and pushed herself off of the ground and stepped out of the circle to reach for her next attempt, the blood. “Oh him? He’s my date for the night.” She joked, hoping that she could distract both of them with humor and roll right into her second attempt without ever getting into a deeper discussion. If things worked as planned Cece would be dropping him off in a gutter somewhere on her way to the hospital. Next was the stone that she had picked up from Bridget. Unknowing what she should actually be doing with it, Cece just grabbed it from the floor and chucked it into the portal. Nothing. “No luck with that either apparently.” Cece picked up the jar of blood, and headed towards the portal, unsure of the safest way to pour it in. “Reed, you have longer arms than me want to help a girl out?” She handed the mason jar of blood out to him, “Just pour it directly into the portal.” He did as he was told, but as the last drop hit the portal and it hissed and the blood steamed Cece thought they were actually getting somewhere, but nothing more happened. “You didn’t happen to bring in magical swords of legend with you, right?”

Reed made a facial expression caught between ew and oh as he reached for and grabbed ahold of the mason jar. As curious as he was, he didn’t ask. Later. If there was one. Pouring the blood into the portal was nerve-racking for Reed, half-tempted to just throw the entire container into oblivion rather than feed it blood like he were flying a spoon with mushed peas and carrots into a baby’s mouth. His heart hammered against his chest, the whole of his body feeling the pull become stronger the nearer he was. “Please don’t send any snakes out,” He muttered repeatedly under his breath as he tipped the jar forward, feeling offset by what he was doing. The blood didn’t work either. His shoulders fell forward before he turned on his heel and quickly created as much distance between him and the portal as possible. “I didn’t really have enough time to rob a museum on my way over...” Reed quipped before stepping to the edge of the kitchen, at the halfway point between them and where the man in the living room was passed out. “So... All that’s left is thine.”

Cece sighed. Because the blood was sort of her last ditch effort. She figured if anything was going to work it was going to be the blood of thirteen witches who probably wanted nothing more than to see Cece dead or shoved into one of these portals. If those weren’t enemies, Cece didn’t know who was. And if that was the case, than Cece knew exactly what had to come next. She had fiddled with the idea of sacrificing her own power or whatever the Scribes had insinuated in their choppy newspaper article. Cece had no idea where to even begin learning how to sacrifice one’s own power or nature or whatever bullshit. She also hadn’t looked very far into it. In part because she was trying to look at the bigger picture. Her magic had done good in this town, she couldn’t risk losing it when whatever else went wrong inevitably went wrong. But the more selfish part of her also knew that she was more willing to kill that man in the other room than give up her own magic. It was all she had at this point. “Reed.” Cece began, her entire tone of voice changing. No longer was the playful Cece here, the kind that tried to get him to leave but knew he wouldn’t. “You need to leave. Right now.” She hoped that he would be able to tell from her demeanor that he needed to go. That she wouldn’t have to force him to leave or put him to sleep as she did to the other guy. No matter what, she couldn’t have Reed watch this. She didn’t want him to see her like this.

This was it. The turning point. Somehow, Reed felt that he expected this more at the beginning than now. It made sense to hear her say those words again and insist that he leave with a firmer tone. It became obvious to him that she was up to something more than what they just did, like before was merely child’s play, or futile attempts to avoid what now appeared to be the inevitable. The only option left was thine — and god knows what that exactly was to a portal. To Reed, in the moment, it seemed like another way of sacrifice yourself. Give up a part of oneself or everything. Reed had nothing to give of himself, nothing to throw in or come back out with. And looking at Cece, well, he assumed she was in the same predicament as him. Which left the guy in the other room. Reed didn’t want to jump to conclusions but the tunnel at the end was narrowing and so were the possibilities. That’s where all of this was leading to: a sacrifice of some kind. Had she originally planned on doing that when she got here? Would she have done that already if Reed wasn’t here? He wondered, remembered how easy it had been to set the risen on fire when they were cornered in an alleyway, remembered what she told him about her time with the coven. He reached towards her, intending on passing some reassurance onto her that everything would be alright. “We’ll find another way to close it,” Reed told her like it was a promise he could find some way of fulfilling. There was plenty of subtext beneath what he said. I’m not leaving, I won’t let you do anything rash, were just some of what went unspoken. He still believed death and sacrifice was avoidable. And perhaps that was a naive, unrealistic mindset to have.

God damn it. Why did Reed always have to be so optimistic? Like this portal was just going to get tired and go to sleep eventually, or that they had enough time to leave the place and come back in a few days after they found some magic sword or whatever. No. Their time had run out. Cece didn’t know much about portals, but she knew when dangerous things had a clock that was quickly running out. Neither of them knew when those snakes were going to start slithering from the portal again, and god knows what else might come out of it if given the chance. This right here was the only option, whether she wanted to or not. And god she hoped that Reed knew that this is the last thing she wanted to do. She felt the tears running down her cheeks and used her arms to wipe at them. “Reed. Please don’t make me force you out of her. Because I really don’t want to do that.” Maybe if she lied to him then the two could move on from this. Or even if Reed hated or and didn’t forgive her, at least he would be alive and safe from this portal. “I cannot do this power and nature stuff with you around. I need you to get out.” She eyed her bag. The sleeping dust was still in it. Worst case scenario she would have to use that on him. “Please.”

He stared at her, trapped in a daze again for several seconds before he scoffed. Don’t make me force you out of here. There was a lot going through Reed’s head — thinking he could get her to leave too, knowing she had magic on her side and could probably get away if she wanted, knowing it would be no use even if he tried. Their friendship had a purgatory standing more and more these days, rocky and hesitant yet still chipper and going on with life like there weren’t several elephants in the room with them. There was a lot about Cece he still didn’t know and he was sure that he didn’t need to know any of it, the here and now is what mattered to him, but there was always something to be said about the past wasn’t there? The past spoke of someone’s character, where they had been and what they could go back to. The past didn’t necessarily always make mention of how someone changed though. And, from what she told him about herself, Cece changed. She was capable of terrifying acts — his own experiences with her was a testament of that — but she had good intentions, he believed that. So did James. Yet, something was different. James was wrong to Reed. Bad, evil, nefarious. No matter how James meant for things to be before — no matter how good his intentions were. Reed was caught in-between, not sure if this was a last option for Cece or if it was a first. He felt that he should know but he didn’t. Did that make him a bad friend? “If you kill him...” Reed was afraid to speak those words aloud, afraid to acknowledge how incredibly grey living in Ashkent made him, afraid to acknowledge his own confusion and conflict with these kind of situations when confronted by them. Before, his feelings of disgust were just that — feelings, in his head, based on his beliefs and morals. Now... This was reality, not ideals, not a narrative that went his preferred way. It made him a hypocrite. I don’t know. “There are other ways, Cece.” Reed tried, weaker yet still stubbornly set in his own conviction. Then he spun around, facing the man. He thought about it some more, stalling for time really. Was it necessary? Could it be justified to take away one life to save the many? Could he excuse this and live with it, simply just turn his cheek the other way and pretend he never saw it happen? Was that what that man’s life was worth at the end, was that all he really amounted to? Having death forced upon him. It was so cruel thinking about people’s lives like that, like the collected thoughts of a judge, jury and the executioner. It was selfish — to not want to die only to then offer up someone else. Reed’s legs were stiff, unwilling to move. His only option was to leave, of his own will or of Cece’s. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to. “I’m not going,” Reed was adamant when he looked back at Cece before he closed his eyes. The portal’s light burned through the skin of his eyelids. It wouldn’t be fair — judging her for this. “I’m not going to let you do this alone,” He said flatly with a heavy heart, eyes still closed, before he started towards the unconscious man in the living room. Standing beside him, Reed elaborated, “You can force me out or you can let me help you and we can do this together.” Strangely, he felt better with that as being their compromise. In a way, he supposed this was the sacrifice he was making. His own thine.

Cece was not going to cry right now. Those stray tears were a fluke, just to serve as a reminder that things were not the way they used to be. Cece always knew that what she was doing was wrong, but she had never shed tears over her actions. To her, she was surviving. First and foremost Cece had always thought of herself and what she was willing to do to survive after getting kicked out, while in the coven, and after getting to Ashkent Creek. But now she was thinking about others. Herself too, but she was still thinking of others. This portal needed to be eradicated and the world could live without another lowlife taking advantage of any girl unable to fight off his advances. Ten years ago Cece wouldn’t have batted an eye for this, she might have even enjoyed being able to rid the world of some scumbag like the man currently passed out on the couch behind them. “Fine. Fine. Don’t go. But I need to set up then.” Cece couldn’t do this. Not with Reed here with her. It wasn’t fair to him. “You’re a good friend Reed, the best anyone could ask for.” She started ruffling around in her bag, pulling out a book that was in actuality useless to her, but it made her feel better to be focused on something other than Reed at the moment. “I wish I could be the same for you.” She reached into her other pocket and grabbed out the dust, standing up and gesturing for Reed’s hand. “You’ll need this.” She poured the dust into his hand and smiled the gentlest smile she could force onto her face. “I’m really sorry.” Then she blew. He would be out in seconds. “You’re the kindest person I’ve ever met in my life. You don’t deserve to have this weight forced on you. I can’t let that happen.” Then she grabbed onto his body, towering over her and tried as much as she could to guide him gently down to the floor. She had work to do.

Reed stood there beside some unknown man, willing to help carry this burden and share moral judgement, confused. He had made his peace with this in a very short time knowing the only other alternatives were to leave or just watch, and neither of those options made him any better of a person than her. In this situation, they had to be the same. He couldn't judge her for this, it wasn't fair, it wasn't right. But she refused his help all while looking like she was close to tears herself. Reed was as frustrated as she was that this wasn't easy, even though he wished it was. But then fine particles were blown into his face and his eyes squeezed closed. He was stunned, not sure what was going on or why she did that before he felt his entire body give away beneath him, going limp within seconds. The last sensation was her hands catching his body, melting into him, but Reed wasn't really sure that even happened. He was passed out, laid gently onto the ground by Cece.

Sliding the last twenty he had in his wallet over to the attendant Noah tried to hold back a sigh. It had seemed like a good idea this morning, you know going to the zoo and walking around by himself. But now that he was here he couldn’t help but feel a little, well broke for one thing, and maybe well. He didn’t really know the other feeling but he guessed he’d figure it out later once he had an ice cream and looked at a few cute sea lions or something. Nodding a polite thanks Noah walked through the turnstile a girl in full hockey uniform catching his eye. That was interesting zoo outfit, but considering how adamantly she was talking to the man in the zoo uniform he guessed she may not be an average tourist.

Lea had chosen to stop by the Aquarium & Zoo briefly after her practice field hockey scrimmage. It always did her good to spend time here, and though the hours she worked would have to decrease once she went back to school and had more work and practices, it didn't mean that she didn't want to spend a ton of time here, even right after practice when her hair was done up in two french braids with strands of hair coming loose. She'd run into a man who had worked there ever since she was born - or if not quite that long, quite a decently long time. He'd pulled her into a hug (like he always did, even though she'd just seen him three days ago) and gave her a big smile. "Nice to see you too, Simon." Lea grinned. "We're gonna miss you, Lea. It's been a great time actually having you around, even though maybe I will have to bug your father into letting you actually come into the zoo part more than just the aquarium." She grinned again in response to him. "Well, if there's anybody who could convince him, you might be the one." She glanced over her shoulder, watching a few visitors come in - the height of the summer rush had mostly died down by this point, but she was glad to see that there were quite a few people still making their way in.

Glancing over toward the girl again as he put his wallet back in his pocket Noah stood toward the side pretending to look at his park map. She kind of looked familiar, like in the sense that he knew he hadn’t met her before but he might know someone related. Taking a few tentative steps with his map Noah kept his ears pricked wondering what the hell she could be here for. Hockey with the chimps? And while he knew he shouldn’t be eavesdropping a part of him couldn’t help it. He was a dog with a bone now, sitting in front of a juicy mystery. "We're gonna miss you, Lea.” the older man said and Noah raised an eyebrow well at himself. Lea, that name sounded familiar though he couldn’t remember if he knew any young Leas. But his thoughts were cut short by a weird sound coming from the path up ahead.

Simon pulled her in for another hug before Lea heard an odd (and quite loud) sound and whipped her head around, braids hitting her back. "Sorry..." Her voice trailed off. "It's just - there was something." She glanced back over to Simon, chewing on her lip. "You heard that too, right?" She fiddled briefly with the ends of her braids. "I'm going to go and make sure - well, let's just hope that it's no new random animals again, huh?" Simon nodded, noting that he'd go and check in in the information booth. Lea darted up to a nearby man - one who looked vaguely familiar - and gave him a tap on his arm (after all, he was almost a foot taller than she was). "You heard that noise, right? Wasn't just me?"

Lowering his Map Noah listened intently to the new sound cursing the mutant werewolf gods that he didn’t get the supernatural hearing part of the job too. Not that that would have been helpful in this case, as the noise just, well, it didn’t sound like any noise he’d ever heard in his entire life so it was hard to wrap his head around. Feeling a tap on his arm though Noah tried not to jump clear to of his skin mind returning to the present. “Uh yea, I heard it” Noah replied with a nod to the girl he had totally not be eavesdropping on. No not at all. Opening his mouth to say something more Noah instantly shut it as the sound of a high pitched scream ripped through the air.

Her whole body felt weird. Almost tingly, though not in a way that she could quite place. Lea glanced back up at the man. "Okay, good. So I'm not, like, hearing stuff or anything. That's good." How many times could one say 'good' before it stopped even sounding like a real world. Lea dropped her field hockey stick, letting it clatter to the ground as she covered her ears at the sound of a high pitched scream, only letting go of them once it subsided. "I - " She began, the uncomfortable feeling moving throughout her body, "I need to go and see what's going on." She quipped, trying her best to not allow any tremor of doubt to interfere with her statement. "I do work here, though I know I've got no proof of that right now. I just -" She took a few steps forward. "I need to make sure people are okay, that whatever that was," and whatever this feeling is "isn't anything too much."

Clutching his map tightly in his fist Noah just endured the scream, body tightening as it went on. This was not good, not good at all, and he could feel it in his bones. Looking over at the girl and the dropped hockey stick Noah nodded at her. It was probably a dangerous plan going to the noise but, something in him knew he needed to stay with her, he needed to go and join, if anything to just put this extra werewolf strength to good use. So steeling himself Noah shoved the map into his pocket.  “I’m coming with you” he said picking up the stick she had dropped, heart already pumping adrenaline in his veins. Realizing though he hadn’t given much information to go along with that though Noah turned toward the girl “I have first aid knowledge and am good in a fight.” He quipped trying to clarify that he was doing this more because he wanted to help the people in trouble and like not because he didn’t believe in her own abilities to handle a situation. “You know this zoo better than I, where did the scream come from?” He asked taking a few steps forward with the girl.

"My mum's a nurse." She replied to his remark. "...and fine." Lea resisted rolling her eyes. She didn't need someone coming to help her, it was just a reconnaissance mission. But she sucked in her lower lip and gave a sharp nod, braids hitting against her chest. She brushed a stray piece of hair from her face and found herself wishing that she had at least changed into leggings and a shirt before coming here. But she couldn't change that right now. "It's by the pygmy goats. I think." She glanced back at the man, wondering if she was supposed to ask for her hockey stick back. If someone else would make it dirtier than the field already had. But she gave a small huff and took off, darting around the few visitors to the Zoo.

Noah took in the remark but didn’t say anything, because yea typical teenager being just teenagery in a time of crisis. Glancing down at the stick he’d instinctively picked up though the older boy blanched a little. “Do you want this back?” He asked her gently wondering if that’s what the whole issue was about. But that when he heard the sound again, louder this time and fell back into his rescue mission vibre. Pygmy goats. Ok he could work with that. “Alright lead the way” He said as she took off his long legs following her to the enclosure easily. But once they got there he was taken aback by what he found.

"I don't care. Just," Lea tapped her fingers against her thigh, "please try to not dirty it up too much." She'd have to wash it anyhow, as it had fallen onto the ground. But right now she had other things to focus on. She made it to the enclosure for the goats without too much trouble, but skidded to a halt once she arrived. There was a large, shimmery, glowing space where the newly-acquired zebras had stood previously. "Shit." Lea said, backing up a few paces. "There's - what is that?" She turned to the man. "It looks like somebody smooshed up a galaxy and brought it here real close. Or... not even quite that. I don't know."

Jogging alongside her to the enclosure Noah eyes blew wide, the image of the giant sucking swirling hole in the goat cage causing him to stop still, the stick clanging to the ground next ot him. “Holy fuck” He whispered to himself ears picking up on the rest of the patrons nearby. Babies were screaming, moms were fleeing, and both he and this girl had just run straight into the weirdest shit he’d ever seen. And he’d lived in Ashkent all his life. “Don’t know.” He shook his head. Because he didn’t really know, what it was or what he needed to do now and just. It was all a little much. But the one thing he could focus on was mitigating the damage. Yup. Take the problem and make it less of a problem Noah you could do that. Looking around Noah Identified the first of their long list of problems “The goats.” he breathed out looking at the girl.

Lea turned her head over her shoulder to look at the man. "Well, that's not good." Lea sighed, turning back to the goats at his remark. There were only two of them, a few others had disappeared right around when Aria had shown up, but her father and the other higher-ups in the Zoo had decided to keep the two in the enclosure. "They're not doing anything." She said, chewing on her lip. Though perhaps she ought to not have said such a thing, because just as she did, the shimmery hole seemed to almost make a noise and some stones from the outside of the goat enclosure fell into it. "Um." Lea practically squeaked, and before thinking anything through, she jumped into the enclosure and picked up and goat, rubbing between its ears to stop the excessive bleating. "You're okay. It's fine." She raised an eyebrow at the man. "Um, do you wanna grab Cherry?"

Jumping into the cage after the girl Noah headed towards the other goat, this one a few feet closer to the shimmering rainbow window thing. “Hey baby girl,” Noah whispered crouching down next to the other goat. It was clear Cherry was scared yes, but she had yet to start panic bleating which Noah found endearing. She kinda reminded him of the Captain, the UMAC barn goat. Though The captain probably would have noped the fuck out of there way before this point. “Ok got her” Noah informed the other girl as he gently picked her up. But that was when he heard it, the large screeching scraping noise. Turning back to look at the giant swirling portal thing Noah’s eyes widened a claw like hand reaching out through the hole. Something inside of the portal was trying to get out. And that’s when Noah started running full speed at the fence enclosure goat in tow. “Get out of the enclosure NOW” He yelled at the girl, knowing they both would have a better chance of survival from whatever the fuck that was if they weren’t boxed in.

Lea looked at the man, who was now holding onto the goat. "Good." A strong sense of tingles and pins-and-needles shot through her body again and Lea scrunched up, taking care not to drop Gumdrop. "I know!" She called back and darted over to the edge of the enclosure, quickly climbing up and over it. Once she'd made it over, she glanced back at the shimmery and glowing mess of a blob. "Can you watch her?" Lea placed Gumdrop on the ground. "But don't touch her, she's skittish as hell." She ran over to one of the zookeepers. "You've gotta get everyone out!" She called, just as a few plants and a (thankfully empty) pretzel stand found themselves sucked into the galaxy-like blob. "Page Tyler, tell him to make an announcement saying that - I don't know, that we need to have everyone leave asap and -" She sucked in a deep breath as he nodded. Lea darted back over to the man. "I should've introduced myself before. Hi, I'm Lea and my dad's an exhibits coordinator here. That's how I know a lot of people around."

Ignoring most of the remarks Noah scaled the wall with his goat easily, placing her down on the ground one he landed. “That’s a good girl” He crooned softly rubbing her forehead as she bleated a bit. Looking around though Noah was a bit confused as the girl left him with the other goat instructions on not to touch her.  “Alright” He said to no one in particular as the other goat started frantically bleating “Its ok Gumdrop” Noah tried soothing the goat with just his voice but to no avail. And if he was being honest Noah was starting to feel a little bit like old gumdrop here, especially as he watched the demonic hand reach out again, stopped lightly only by the pretzel stand and a few plants. Watching as the girl dashed back over Noah took his eyes off the portal “Cool. I’m uh Noah.” He said noting the way the name sounded familiar, but he didn’t have time for that really right now “And Um. I don’t want to alarm you but there’s some sort of shit coming out of that thing over there so um-” Noah stopped the portal making the worst noise it had made so far. Looking back the older boy couldn help it was his eyes widened again, the portal opening and now instead of just the clawed black hand a large black leg was stepping out a body not far after it.

Lea made her way back to... Noah, his name was. Didn't she know a Noah? Lea shook her head, not focusing on that right now - but moreso on the goats. She bent down to scratch Gumdrop between the ears again when Noah made a remark and she stood up quickly, whipping her head around, eyes growing wide at the sight of the creature emerging from the shimmery-almost-galaxy looking space. "What's..." she began, eyes growing wide, "what's that?" She took a few steps back, almost tripping over her hockey stick that had fallen to the side. "What the hell is that?" She took in a sharp breath, her voice shaking.

“No fucking clue” Noah breathed out, all manner of politeness out the window, as his heart started to race. Nope, This was not good, and here he was in the middle of it. The middle of the zoo with a large black creature coming our of god knows where, his mouth (or at least what Noah thought was his mouth) dripping with blackened saliva. Hearing a the clutter of a hockey stick though Noah was brought back to the present, and the fact that he had a very young girl practically shaking beside him. He couldn’t let himself feel right now, for her safety and his. Putting on his game face Noa tried not to think anything of the large blackened mass practically sniffing the air before them and instead tried to think of a few ways “Stay behind me.” He said quietly maneuvering so Lea’s body was not in the creatures line of sight  “I’m thinking if we just walk quietly away maybe it won’t catch on that we’re here” But of course it was then Gumdrop decided to bleat again, and the Monster’s head turned straight toward them body tensing as if it was going to pounce.

Lea felt her whole body tense up, and all she could think was that she hoped her father was somewhere else, that he hadn't decided to run to where the chaos was. Or perhaps he was on a late lunch break. Simon also had to be okay. Simon who smelled vaguely of spearmint and who Lea had climbed all over as a little girl when she visited her father. "Um." She coughed out, glancing around. "Okay." Agreeing, for once. Not protesting, for once. Dustin wouldn't believe her. Dustin - she thought, panicked. She hoped that he was okay, she was glad that he'd not come to the Zoo, for once. "Shhh!" Lea bent down, grabbing the bleating goat and hugging it against her chest, trying her best to take deep breaths. "What are you gonna do?!" She tugged on Noah's shirt.

While Noah commended Lea for her swift thinking in trying to shut up the goat, the damage was already done, the lumbering giant coming straight for them. Doing the only thing he could do Noah rushed forward hoping to take the monster thing off guard. “I’m going to FIGHT” He replied as he punched the black demon thing right across the big gaping jaw. And it was good that he’d had some werewolf strength left in him, because it knocked the creature back further than he’d expected, the claws of one of its weird claw like foot things only coming across to across to rip a small patch at the skin of his shoulder. Fuck. Yea that was going to sting a little when he got home, but it definitely could have been much worse without the werewolf god smiling down on him. Backing away though Noah didn’t really know what to do next, none of his training with this uncle had ever had him up against well, an actual monster. He’d only been trained to take down people for pete’s sake. Hearing it shriek a mighty ear piercing shriek Noah tried not to cringe knowing he was probably in way over his head, werewolf juju or not. But that’s when he remembered.  “Lea Stick!” He called out to her hoping she wasn’t in so much shock that she couldn’t slide or throw him her field hockey stick.

Lea wanted to tell Noah that yelling 'fight' was probably not the best of ideas, and that fighting whatever this creature - it had to be a hallucination, right? - was, was a very poorly constructed idea. But she kept her mouth shut. "I -" She began again, "fine." Still keeping a steady hold on Gumdrop, she bent over and grabbed the hockey stick, her hands shaking. She'd have to buy a new one. It was okay, if it helped at all. "Here you go." She handed it over to him. She was supposed to be able to do something, not just stand here looking helpless and weak. She was far from a damsel in distress, even though that appeared to be the exact role she was playing right now. "Don't get hurt." She managed, giving Noah's shirt another small tug.

Catching the stick with relative ease Noah was glad that he could be useful in this way. Because fighting and defending was his forte, and while the girl was far from being a damsel in distress it sure felt good to use some of his natural talent. Centering the stick in his palm though Noah grinned. He had always been told he had a great baseball swing, and as soon as he had the stick in his hand he knew knew it was game time. Planting his feet Noah swept the stick in an arc with as much strength as he could muster sending the monster actually flying backwards this time. Yea hows them apples demon shit. Looking at the girl though as she told him not to get hurt Noah felt a little twinge of like, well a feeling he hadn’t felt in over 8 years. “I’ll try not to” He replied gently to her before running into the cage where the monster was now laying. He needed to hit it where it counted and now, while it was down. Bringing the hockey stick up Noah rammed it into the side of the thing the toe getting caught in a rib or something and breaking off. Oops. Hearing it shriek Noah readied himself for the next attack his jagged stick at the ready. But it never came the big lumbering demon deciding to ‘fuck this shit’ to put it lightly and climb back into the shimmering portal hole thing. “”Well that was easier than I thought it was going to be” Noah murmured to himself hand coming up to the gash on his shoulder, it wasn’t bleeding too bad but it still stunk like a mother. Hopping back over the fence towards the girl Noah held out her stick before realizing “Oh shit, your stick.”

Lea watched him carefully. Part of her wondered if she should race after him, but given that she weighed only just over a hundred pounds and was not trained very extensively in any form of self-defense (something she might need to rectify, she mused) standing with the goats and comforting them was probably best. While Noah was fully distracted she bent down to pet them, only looking back up when Noah returned. Lea bit down on her lip when he showed her the stick. She'd need it for practice - but that was okay. The creature was gone, possibly. If it had even been real. "It's - it's fine. You fixed it, right?" She glanced over to the shimmering hole. So not totally fixed, but the creature was gone.

Glancing back at the swirling hole Noah bit his lip slightly “I’m not sure how to really fix it” He commented with a shrug, wincing slightly as the move jostled his cut up shoulder. Holding the stick between his legs, Noah took off his shirt, wrapping the fabric the best he could around his wound, a small deja vu flashback of that kid in the woods coming back to him. “At least that thing isn’t coming for us any more, though.” He said looking around in case there was another one hiding in the shadows. But it was just him and the girl and the goats now. And that weird swirling shimmering hole thing. “But um yea thank you for letting me use this.” He said gesturing with the sick “I promise I’ll pay you back, or like get you another one.”

"It's okay. Better the stick than you or the goats or anybody else." Lea gave a small shrug. Her gaze shot to the injury on his shoulder but no, she'd done enough damage for one day, and healing a straight-up injury would lead to too many questions. "I mean, I won't say no to people buying me stuff." She took in another shaky breath. "But right now, I'd advise getting out of here asap. I'm going to head home I think, and I'd say that you should too, though you're a grown-up grown-up I think, so I can't really tell you what to do." Lea grabbed Gumdrop. "I'm going to drop her off near the info booth, though - can you get Cherry or should I just try and get her to follow me?"

“Well there is that” Noah replied with a small smile, chuckling slightly as she pulled the typical teenage move and admitted she was ok with him buying her a new stick. It was the least he could do though so he figured he make good on his promise. Looking around at the goats though he nodded when she said it might be time for them to go. “Sounds good to me. And yea I’m a full fledged grown up and everything, but fortunately for you I don’t like leaving a mess in someone else’s house” He teased leaning down to rub a pattern on Cherry’s fur. Walking with the goat in tow though Noah realized he had no way of really contacting this girl about her new stick. “Here though,” He said grabbing his phone from his pocket and handing it to her “Put your number in. Or like add me on tumblr or something, so I can text you about the stick.”

Lea couldn't help but smile back at him, despite everything else that was going on. "Messes don't do anybody any good, ever." She shook her head. "Trust me." At his comment, she paused in her walking and nodded. "Oh, yeah. Right." She grabbed his phone with one hand while holding onto Gumdrop with the other and plugged in her number and tumblr username, just for the heck of it. Then she shot herself a quick text with a string of ocean animal emojis. "There we go, all set." For now, at least. The zoo would have to close until whatever was going on could be solved.

Taking his phone back Noah looked at the ocean animals she’d sent with a bemused smile. Well that was one way to go about that. “Cool.” he said slipping the phone back in his pocket, and setting the goat down at the entrance. There were a lot of employees around the turnstiles trying to direct panicked people and make sure no one got hurt and Noah took that as his queue that he should probably follow. Glancing over toward her though Noah gave in to that small little nagging feeling in his brain and said words he’d didn’t really say much any more“So if if you’re ever in a dangerous situation feel free to text me ok. I’ll be there no questions asked alright” He said with a nod Because he would be, he really would. But she didn’t really need to know the gravity of it all. Giving Cherry one last pat though Noah stood up straightening his makeshift bandage a little “Well um I guess I’ll see you later then” He said with a small wave before walking towards the Zoo entrance. Saying today was a wild day would be an understatement and It would probably be a good long while before he came back to the Zoo.

It was shortly before his curfew that Dustin found himself in the convenience store closest to home, browsing the milk section. After a long day of work, Laura Parrish had insisted that she had to cook her children a warm dinner, and so she had started the process of preparing a meal without checking all her ingredients. Which led to Dustin being forced out of his pyjamas and into his jeans and a white shirt to make his way to the store to get emergency milk. He’d tried telling Laura that it was already late and wasn’t she always insisting that it was dangerous outside late in the day? But Laura had just rolled her eyes at him. “Can I remind you of your words the next time you’re trying to convince me you want to stay out late? It’s only half past eight, go!” He was then swatted out of the house with the help of a slightly damp dish towel.

So here he was, at half past eight, reading the labels of the milk cartons, trying to figure out which one would be the best quality for the least amount of money. He wasn’t in any hurry – this was the only time that he could be outside late without having to worry about curfew. If he missed it, then clearly that would be the store’s fault. Or his mother’s fault for making him go grocery shopping so late. He took one of the cartons of milk before moving over to the candy aisle. If he was made to go grocery shopping when he could be doing something else, anything else, well, he damn well deserved some tasty treats. He scanned the selection for a while before settling on something. Taking the packet of skittles, his eyes met another set of eyes through the now empty space on the shelf. They were hazel, and soft, and his gleaming gaze bore right through him, as if he was trying to find his skeleton inside. Dustin could feel the container of milk slipping from his grasp, the skittles soon following. He knew these eyes, although his own had never laid eyes on them.

The boy’s lips curved upwards into a grin. Without saying a word, he walked around the corner of the shelf that had been separating them. He was tall, taller than Dustin. He had to lean his neck upwards just the tiniest amount to look into his eyes as he walked closer. Dustin’s breath caught in his chest. He couldn’t look away. This wasn’t real, was it? Maybe this was another memory. They did feel real, after all. But not this real. What the hell was happening?

Jordan was looming over him now, and being so close, he seemed even taller. This was not real. The other boy didn’t belong in this world. Physics was failing, and so was Dustin’s mind to comprehend this all.

Fingers were grazing along his cheek, along his jaw, and then two hands were holding his face as Jordan pressed his lips against Dustin’s mouth. What. What what what what what.

Part of his brain told him to run. But the other part, the bigger part, made him close his eyes and practically melt against the pair of lips belonging to this stranger – although technically, he wasn’t.

A thumb traced downwards along the line of his jaw. The touch was careful, deliberate yet sensual, just like the lips pressing against his own, between his own. Dustin could feel goosebumps appearing on his arm. The smell of Jordan was familiar in that way that you suddenly caught a whiff of an unknown smell but you were suddenly reminded of something from your childhood, something that had happened years ago. Dustin opened his mouth. Was Jordan always kissing Dustin in the middle of a store like this? It was hard to believe they never got into trouble for this.

Trouble. Yes. This was very much trouble.

Putting his hands up against Jordan’s (firm) chest, he pushed at him, and Jordan got the hint. He pulled away from the kiss, slowly. His eyes were questioning as he glanced down at him. “You’re not Dustin.” It wasn’t a question. His voice sounded so familiar.

“How did you-“

“You don’t kiss like him.”

Dustin wasn’t quite sure how to take this. Was his alternative self’s boyfriend insinuating that he was a bad kisser? “Jordan…” It didn’t matter if Jordan thought he was a bad kisser. This shouldn’t have happened at all. Because he was dating Quinn and if he would have witnessed this… fuck. How the hell had he gone from happily dating his boyfriend to cheating on him with a boy from a parallel universe?

Jordan’s eyes widened. “Wait a second.” He looked even more surprised now. “I didn’t tell you my name just now and I have never met you before. Not you-you anyway. And you didn’t completely freak out you were just kissed by a stranger, so that means that you know other-me.” A smile appeared on his face, radiant and bright like the flash of a camera. “Wait. You’re dating him, aren’t you? I can’t believe it.”

Dustin was lost for words. Jordan looked so happy. As if the thought of other-Dustin and other-Jordan dating was the best thing to happen to him in all of 2017. He didn’t want to burst his bubble, but he had to. “Jordan, we can’t talk here.”

The older boy nodded. “Let’s go outside then.”

When he grabbed his hand, Dustin forgot all about the milk that he was supposed to buy, and he simply followed Jordan outside, the store bells chiming as they exited. Fuck the milk. This was more important. Somehow, Jordan Greene had turned up in his store, but it wasn’t the Jordan Greene from this universe, the one who apparently had gone to AC High a couple of years ago but did not live in town any longer. No, this was the Jordan Greene that was familiar, whose voice he’d heard about a hundred times in the memories. He knew what he sounded like when he whispered, when he was elated, when he was serious, when he was annoyed. The boy who had pushed him down into the backseat of his car and had kissed his neck, the boy who took Dustin’s virginity. He looked so much different standing right in front of him, and even different outside in the dim light of the approaching sunset than in the store with the overhead industrial-strength lighting.

“How do you know that there are multiple Dustins? You know about the parallel universes?” Dustin questioned him, trying to get out of this state of chaotic confusion.

“First of all, there’s the mirrors… which caused lots of talk about this among us warlocks and witches.”

Dustin flinched at the casual mention. He wasn’t used to anyone talking about magic in such a nonchalant way.

“And then, a few days ago, I travelled here for the first time,” Jordan continued. “I quickly figured out what was going on. But I never thought about finding another version of my boyfriend… and I never thought about the possibility that he would know me and-”

“I have a boyfriend,” Dustin interruped him. “And his name isn’t Jordan.”

First, Jordan looked taken aback. And then, Dustin could see the hurt and disappointment flash across his face. He didn’t even bother hiding it from him. “Oh. Wow. Maybe I should just travel back now… I mean, before your boyfriend comes and punches me in the face.”

Dustin rolled his eyes. “He isn’t the punching type.”

“What type do you think he is?” Jordan asked.

“The understanding type.”

Jordan smiled. “I’m glad. And I’m sorry I kissed you – I thought you were him. That leaves another question though: if you’ve never met me and you’re also not with this universe’s Jordan, how did you know my name and why weren’t you totally freaked out by a stranger planting a kiss on your lips?”

Dustin let out a sigh. This was going to be a pain in the ass to explain. “Let’s sit down somewhere.”

 A couple of minutes later, Dustin had more or less successfully recapped everything that had been happening – the smoke monster and the weird memories and then Adrien telling him that he had talked to the other Dustin in the mirror. When he wasn’t throwing in questions, Jordan had listened intently. They were sitting on an old bench close to the convenience store parking lot, close, but not touching.

“I can’t believe that you could see all of that,” Jordan said quietly. “Get a direct view into our lives.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Dustin practically whispered. It had been hard to try to explain this in a way that did not make him sound like a creepy stalker, and all things considered, he wasn’t sure he had succeeded.

“It’s okay, though.” Jordan tilted his head to look at him. “I love you, so it’s okay.”

“You don’t even know me,” Dustin protested, shivering at the words. No one but his family had ever said that, and despite all the memories, it felt wrong to hear the words from Jordan. Like they weren’t meant for him.

“You’re Dustin Parrish, and I love every possible version of him.” Why did Jordan have to sound so damn sincere?! “You’re the boy I ran into in the library when he was only thirteen.”

Dustin frowned. He didn’t know anything about a library. “I’m not, though. We never met here. I – I searched for you online, you don’t even live in this town anymore, I don’t think. That day when I was thirteen – that never happened to me.”

“Do you wish it had, though?” The look Jordan gave him was too damn intent.

Dustin could feel his hands began to sweat. All he wanted to do was move closer, maybe. Because there was something about Jordan that just drew him in, made him want to wrap his arms around him. Because in a way, looking at him felt like home. He swallowed. “I know that you’re like family to Dustin,” he started. “That you pretty much are his family. But that doesn’t mean – if I could save my mother and my sister from that fate, I would give up anything. No matter how good things are for me there otherwise, nothing could make up for them.”

“Why not?” Jordan lifted his eyebrows. They looked soft, elegant.

“Because I have a boyfriend.”

“Do you think he would get mad at you if you tried to find me?”

“No, but it wouldn’t exactly be fair to him. Or to the other Jordan. He’s never even seen me before, he’s not caught up in all this shit.”

“Give me your phone,” Jordan told him, and almost out of instinct, Dustin reached into the pocket of his jeans and handed it over.

“What are you doing?” Dustin wondered out loud, frowning.

“Address and full names of my parents. I know you didn’t succeed in finding me, but maybe this will help. They still live in the same place in this town, I checked. They’re not the most caring people, but they act friendly most of the times so they should help you.” Jordan looked down at his hands.

Dustin wanted to say that he knew about his parents, and that he was sorry they were such dicks lots of time. But he didn’t. “I just said, I don’t think I should-“

“But you should be able to if you ever choose to. If you ever get into trouble. If you need help and there is no one else you can ask. Then you should go to him for help. Of course, I don’t really know him, but he is me, essentially, and I’d like to believe that I’m a good person in every universe.”

Dustin didn’t have the heart to tell him that he had proof that this wasn’t always the case. Judging by the memories, Quinn was completely different. There wasn’t one mean or violent bone in his boyfriend, but still, his alternate self was a serial killer. He could never tell Jordan. Even if he despised what the other Quinn did, he couldn’t be responsible for whatever it was that Jordan might choose to do to him. “Do you really think he would help me?”

“Definitely.” Jordan gave him a nod. “And if not out of human decency, then because he’s going to feel the pull. To you. Call me crazy, but it’s in our genes. It’s gonna be the same feeling that made me talk to you that day in the library, that needed me to befriend you and care about you.”

Dustin looked at him sceptically. There was nothing in someone’s genes that made them fall in love with one specific person; it made absolutely no sense. But then he remembered that Jordan was a Psychology student, and he took back his phone without further protest.

“Anyway,” Jordan continued, as if he had sensed that they wouldn’t find common ground. “I might not be here for much longer. The last time this happened to me, I was thrown back home completely out of the blue while walking down the street. Must have really freaked out a couple of people.”

Dustin regarded him quietly, swallowing. There was so much more he wanted to ask him, but the thought of Jordan disappearing in the middle of a question was daunting. “Do you know how long you’ve got?”

Jordan shook his head. “No idea. Not too long, by my guess, but it’s just a guess.” He let out a small sigh, looking down at his hands.

Dustin wondered if maybe he should hug him. He kind of wanted to hug him. But he also didn’t want to make things more awkward.

It was Jordan who broke the silence. “I’m going to tell Dustin about you, by the way. My Dustin. He needs to know.”

Dustin could feel himself shiver slightly at the words ‘my Dustin’. “Yeah. Okay. I’m probably going to tell Quinn, too. My boyfriend,” he clarified as Jordan shot him a quizzical look. He was not looking forward to that conversation. Because there was no way that he would not include the kiss. Quinn needed to know about- about this. About what he’d done. Or rather, what he’d let happen.

“Is there anything you want to say to Dustin?” Jordan asked, and the way he made the words come out made it sound as if this was a significant question.

Dustin bit his lip. What the hell. How was he supposed to come up with a message to this other Dustin right on the spot? Especially after Dustin had relayed such a weird message to him via this guy called Adrien a while ago.  “I don’t know,” he finally said truthfully. Despite getting a full view into what it was like to be Dustin Parrish, resident of Ashford River, Dustin really didn’t know the guy. It certainly felt like he knew Jordan much better than the other Dustin. He just knew that he grew up with his dad because his mum had died, but they didn’t get along so well. It wasn’t that they fought much, no. They were just distant. Like they didn’t know how to talk or what to even talk about. So the other Dustin grew up without Laura or Lea Parrish, and honestly, Dustin hated those memories that were somehow connected to that loss. One night, he’d even woken up with tears in his eyes and a strange feeling of missing someone who was actually sleeping in the same house. Instead, Dustin’s family was mostly Jordan. He was all he had. “Just tell him,” Dustin started, sincerely hoping that this was the right thing to say. “Just tell him that mum really, really loves him.”

He startled when Jordan leaned forward. Half-expecting another kiss, Dustin let out a small sigh of relief when Jordan wrapped his arm around him instead. He knew that this time, he wouldn’t have kissed back.

“I’ll tell him,” Jordan whispered, arms tightening around Dustin’s back. It had gotten cold, but the other boy was warm. “Fuck, I love you.”

Dustin shivered, but didn’t say it back. He didn’t love Jordan. At least, not in the way that the other Dustin loved him. He loved him for taking care of Dustin, he loved him for protecting and loving him, but despite all those memories, he knew he didn’t have feelings for him himself. Hugging him didn’t feel like hugging Quinn – although Jordan smelled nice, too.

It wasn’t like hugging a stranger though. Because this wasn’t. This was the boy he had been seeing in a lot of his dreams during the last half year. This was the boy he’d kissed goodnight and practised spells with. This was the boy who undressed him in the backseat of a car and made him feel things so good and strange and scary.

“I know you think you’re all different from Dustin,” Jordan continued quietly. The leather material of his jacket felt soft against Dustin’s palms. “But you’re not. In a way, you are the same. And it’s not just the way you look. Trust me.” He pulled away.

“Okay,” Dustin just said, because he was not sure what else to say in this moment. He knew people weren’t the same in all those universes, but he also did not know Dustin the way Jordan knew Dustin. Then again, Jordan had only met him this evening for the first time. Somehow, he wished he could travel to Ashford River for a while to meet Dustin. He couldn’t help but feel curious about what it would be like to look at himself – and not in the mirror.

It was getting late, and as a breeze of evening air travelled across the parking lot, Dustin’s whole upper body started shivering.

“Here,” Jordan said, taking off his leather jacket and draping it across Dustin’s shoulders.

He gave him a look. “You’re already dating me in your universe. You don’t have to act all gentleman with me.”

Jordan smiled, then shook his head. “Actually, no. That’s not what I meant. I want you to keep it, you know? It suits you. Really gives you an edge.”

Dustin frowned. “Really?”

“Yes, really. Say yes before I change my mind. Dustin loves that jacket, he’s gonna be so pissed at me.”

“Yes. Okay.” Dustin pulled the fabric closer around his shoulders. It smelled a little like Jordan. He could already tell that Quinn wasn’t going to like it – if he didn’t break up with him for the kiss. Which was a possibility. One that he’d have to face, because if there was one thing he would never want to do to Quinn was to lie to him about something like this.

“I’m sorry if I kissed you when you might not have wanted that,” Jordan said quietly. “I had travelled to this town before recently, but when I saw your face I just thought it was him. I didn’t think.”

Dustin shook his head. “You don’t have to be sorry. I know you didn’t mean to cause any trouble for Quinn and I. I’ll just have to tell him somehow…” He was not looking forward to it.

“Tell him that your parallel-universe boyfriend said that he’d be a fool for being mad at you.”

Dustin snorted. “I imagine that’s going to go over really well.”

There was a small smile playing around Jordan’s face. Despite being a few years older, he did look young in this moment. “Well, then-“  

"Good, I'm glad you're awake! I was concerned about the dosage given your mass and I've never tested this on an unconscious person before." James replied, clasping his hands together earnestly, if a little anxiously. His test subjects so far were invariably hesitant and uncomfortable, and often rude. He watched Roger Hawthorne's eyes narrow, looking around, calculating.

“And what, precisely, are you testing?" His voice silk smooth, Roger had a slight southern drawl to it. Unthreatening. For once, someone with genuine curiosity.

"My Can Opener. My second one, anyway, I'm returning you to Ashford! I am conceiving a more creative name for when I publish, but for a common name it's quite-"

"Your second?" Roger interupted raptly. "Did you build one to come here?"

"Yes! It's rather brilliant, isn't it. There was some collateral damage, something I believe was more from this end than mine, but it achieved what it was meant to, and I'm rectifying some of it by sending a few of you back before I go, starting with you." James adjusted his glasses and started adjusting the flux anomalies parameters to his destination.

"Have you factored in my mass to your experiment? You and I are quite different," Roger commented casually.

"Yes, yes, of course. I sent over a wide variety of individuals here, as long as you stay within the alotted space then there will be no issues." "And the restraints to keep people in that space, smart." "Indeed! When I tested on livestock without restraints it was like they were sliced cleaning in two. Most disturbing" Sensibly, subject 201 leant into his restraints, rather than resisting them. "How many other subjects have you found?" James' brow creased. "Because I am attempting to send people back, rather than just accross, I have struggled to find others-" "I know of three thousand." James looked over pensively as Roger spoke, adjusting the spectroflickometer carefully. It was a tempting offer, but... "I also know several people who wouldn't bat an eyelash at this kinda work," Roger continued convincingly, "You're a one man operation, and given you bein' a bit further along than I am, getting people to wherever we are must be hard work."

James considered it. His back ached just from carrying this subject in, and days of manual work had left him aching in places he hoped never to ache again, to have a reliable source of test subjects and help with all this. But his eyes fell on Jenna's sleeping form, and he knew this wasn't fair on her. Sleeping in this dank room, in fear of her life. He needed to get this moving sooner rather than later, and getting another subject to this point would take another week, regardless off assistance.

"It's a gracious offer, but I simply don't have the time," he said, flicking off the safety switches.

"I'm not some goddamn guinea pig," Roger hissed, his face changing from curiosity to disgust in a second, accent dropped and his face angry. One moment he was a pleasant companion, the next he looked like he'd murder James in his sleep. James swallowed.

"Surely you wish to return to your old life? That's all this is. All my previous subjects here were fine." James said reassuringly, double checking the wires for the last time. He'd had to adjust the straps a little but everything was secure and in place. Practically looked identical to his old one, he thought with a smile.

"Don't you dare, don't you bloody fucking well dare! I'll fucking gu-"

James threw the switch. The floor rumbled with a deathly crack, the air hissed like paper burning, and several bangs echoed around the warehouse like firecrackers going off. The Can Opener burned white and James shielded his mouth as a spray of goop  covered him from head to toe.

There was a knock at the door and Evelyn pushed herself off of the couch, breezing over, her loose sweater draped around her body. She opened the door and before she could turn and see who it was, the figure had moved into the house and turned around to face Evelyn. Involuntarily, Evelyn felt her eyes grow wide and she let out a small cough, almost as though she were choking on something, though she hadn’t been having anything except for tea this whole afternoon.

“Jeez, Evie, I know we can see ghosts but you don’t need to look like you’ve seen one just now. I should be offended!” Melanie, huffed with a smile -

(the way she somehow perfectly managed)

- bright-eyed and in her purple lace dress. Right in front of her. Evelyn reached out her hand, ran her fingers across Melanie’s shoulder. She was very much real - which was impossible. Evelyn had seen her body, dead and destroyed, a mere few feet away from where she stood right now. She smelled of cherry blossoms and Evelyn took a few steps back.

The last time she’d seen that dress, it had been stained blue.

She sucked in her bottom lip.

Not scared - never scared.

But her stomach clenched and she squeezed her eyes shut for a few moments before opening them again. Melanie - or whoever she was - was inches away from Evelyn’s face, and she brushed her fingers through Evelyn’s hair. “You’ve redecorated in the few hours I’ve been out, holy shit, Evie, how’d you manage that? Special order all the way from England?”

“Do not do that!” Evelyn exclaimed, moving away from her friend and back to the couch. Her friend - whoever or whatever exactly she was - followed. Evelyn turned her head over her shoulder and flashed whoever this was a glare.

However, as if it were Melanie, she did not seemed fazed by Evelyn’s mixture of moods. Unbothered, taking things in stride. Which made it all the worse. Her Melanie was gone. Dead, murdered, ripped straight out of her life.

How dare this - whoever it was. A hunter - slayer - warden - someone who’d figured out what Melanie looked like and decided to replicate that in the cruelest of ways?

But she smelled exactly like her.

“Do what?” Melanie skipped past Evelyn and sat herself on the chair to the left of Evelyn’s couch - plush and exactly where she’d sat many years ago -

it was nearing on two years that she’d been gone, now -

two years since Evelyn had seen her there.

“You can’t sit there.” Evelyn found herself saying, her red-colored lips drawn into a straight line. That’s my Melanie’s seat. You’re not her. Disregarded the fact that Saskia had sat just there not too long past. Saskia was something different. Important, surely, but not on the level of Melanie. Not even Wren came close to being what Melanie had been.

“Fine, Ev, whatever your pretty little heart desires.” Melanie stood up and moved to the couch, mere centimeters away from Evelyn, who found herself visible tense up. This wasn’t happening. Moreover, this couldn’t be happening.

“So, what’s with the new carpet by the door? I liked the cream-colored one. This one’s so grey.” Melanie wrinkled her nose. “But whatever, it’s your house, I’m just glad I can live here off and on.”

“No.” Evelyn replied, tears forming at the edges of her eyes. She stiffened, pulling her knees towards her chest. Looked up at Melanie, at the way her lips had fallen from a smile - looked almost concerned, now. Genuine concern. Evelyn bristled at the thought of it - Melanie was dead. Dead, gone, killed.

Dead, gone, killed. A nightmare she’d wanted no part of. 

Except that she was sitting right next to her, exactly as she had been, two years and one week ago.

“I’ll be back - soon.” Evelyn stood up, tears falling down her cheeks as she turned away from Melanie. Opened the door, shut it, and made her way out to her car, driving straight to the causeway without breathing.