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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 9:48 am
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He had been warned, but he still wasn't prepared. Rabbit awoke that morning and shuffled off to the bathroom to find himself significantly changed. His eyes were lighter, like a couple of weird globs of pearlescent jade shampoo, but they were far from the first things he noticed. His hair had gone stark white in random patches overnight, and he stared at it for at least five minutes, twisting and turning and prodding, before he tried to continue with his morning routine. Another five minutes passed during which he used the toilet and shakily washed his face, and then he was back in his room, shoving the squeeps into his hoodie and leaving the apartment before his sister could ask where he was going. She was more worried for him than usual, with the rain and the earthquake, but she believed him now when he said he was okay. Although he didn't know why, he appreciated the sentiment nonetheless.
He was thoroughly damp by the time he reached the store, but he'd been in here so long now that he was mostly dry again. The squeeps had fallen asleep, as they tended to when he kept up a rhythmic enough walk, and he was staring at the neatly restocked shelves of flavored rice, mind wandering. There were far too many of these things for him to choose, though the fact that that was what he had come back to was a good sign, he supposed. Without a mirror in front of him, he felt fine. So maybe this was a power? If it was, it was a pretty shitty one.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 4:01 pm
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He took a breath, unable to stop the urge to correct anyone who uttered that name, even after months of regular use. But when he turned and saw who had spoken, his vague irritation fled in favor of a bubbling giddiness that escaped through his crooked smile.
"Hey, uhh, Temperance!" Yes, that was her name. He'd heard Juniper say it once. Funny, the things he remembered. "You're here!" He had so many questions—how she had made it out, what she had seen, if she was okay—but they took a backseat when he abruptly recalled how he currently looked. There were only a few clumps of dark hair left at the back of his head under the hood, and his eyes were nearly white as well. His grin faltered.
"It's definitely me. I just woke up like this and I couldn't go to work, you know? I'm fine though? Just..."
He had no handbook for whatever the hell this was.
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Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2016 8:46 am
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His mouth, opened, closed, opened again. He stared blankly at the rice, realization dawning. "No, no, you're right. I guess you can't know? Like, this is how it's gonna be now, isn't it? Everyone wondering if they're talking to real people or fetches." He grabbed several boxes off of the shelf—yellow, as she'd suggested—and stacked them against his stomach, prompting a high-pitched, indignant chirp from his hoodie's front pocket.
"Yeah, not here. We should go." He didn't know where, considering it was raining and he had walked here, but they needed a place to talk that wasn't the boxed food aisle.
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 5:57 pm
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Rabbit arrived a few minutes later, three boxes of rice in a thin plastic bag dangling at his side. The hand that wasn't holding the bag was in his pocket, and as he took a seat near Temp, he fished out one of the birds and held it within sight.
"I think she thought I really was blind," he said, still smirking. "I tried handing her a dollar instead of a five, but she didn't fall for it."
The squeep rested comfortably on its back in his palm, and since it was the calm one, it didn't wiggle. It blinked up at Temperance for a couple of breaths, then reached out a tiny hand, flexing its fingers at her.
"This is a squeep. I don't know what they are, I don't know what they do. They're mine though, and I've got to keep them safe."
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 11:34 am
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"They like soggy cereal and fruit in cans, so that'll probably do." He moved the bird closer to Temperance. "You can hold it if you like. I don't know if they're boys or girls or what. They're just... loud." He shook his head, distantly and fondly exasperated.
"I had their eggs before I was taken, so I think they're just a fun little present from Ashdown. But thank you, I guess." He had been called a father only once before, and he had been too preoccupied to appreciate just how strange it made him feel. Rabbit produced the second squeep, settling it on his knee despite its waving arms. "He likes to flap." That was all that was said on the matter.
"Basically, I ended up on the other side and a talking bird asked me to help it. I found the eggs. I took them 'cause I thought I could bring them somewhere safer than where they were. But there was no place like that. I didn't know what was safe over there, and sitting on my bed with my cat seemed like as good a nest as any." It sounded stupid now, like he should have tried harder, but it was too late for that.
The Semblance of Sassface
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2016 8:23 am
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"Hm. Yeah, I couldn't." That visit to the other side had been particularly frantic, and he really only recalled one thing Sleepyhead had said when it came to the eggs. "All it told me to do was hurry up." He smiled as the memory wafted past.
At first, the squeep simply watched Temperance, focus darting from her eyes to her mouth and back again as its chest rapidly rose and fell. Eventually it tried for the banana bread as well, reaching out its hand to make a tentative grab, then another, both missing their mark. When it finally stopped splitting its attention between face and food it had greater success, closing its hand around her offering until the cakey bread smooshed out between its fingers. It stuck its fist in its mouth and chewed contentedly on both. The one on Rabbit's knee continued to flap, seemingly disinterested in the treatment its sibling was receiving.
"I'm... I dunno. Tired. Confused. Kind of just like I was at the manor only with less to do." It had been uncomfortable at first, coming home to a place without structure and purpose, but the reality of the situation was that three months was an incredibly short stretch of time in the grand scheme of things, and Mynn had been... a kind fetch, all things considered, or at least a wildly selfish one. Rabbit didn't mention his restlessness or his drinking or his restless drinking, mostly because those had been issues prior to his kidnapping. He also didn't consider them problematic, no matter what his sister said.
"I'm not sure how I feel about the fetch or... this," he continued, gesturing at his face, "but I'm not mad or anything. Apprehensive." He snorted. "Concerned." All polite ways of being scared, but he didn't say that either.
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