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 Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 1:16 pm
It was breakfast time in the Delacroix household. Or, well, brunch, because it was nearly noon, but Jamie had been craving eggs and he knew Shiloh liked bacon, so why not? Over easy was his favorite next to cheesy scrambled, and it had been a tough back and forth between the two, but eventually he settled. Over easy with toast to dip sounded perfect.
It was just the two of them, his parents had left for work earlier that morning as they always did, gone by the time they had bothered to make it out of bed.
Humming lightly under his breath, Jamie only went briefly quiet when he remembered," Oh-! Um, Shiloh, could you start the toast? The eggs are almost ready to flip, so they'll be done really soon." Turning around for the shortest of moments, he smiled, then went back to tending his skillet.
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 6:21 pm
Breakfast time was great because Shiloh Beaumont absolutely ******** loved bacon. It just sucked because Shiloh Beaumont absolutely ******** hated waking up any time before noon. Melany had him on a schedule for a while, sure, but it sure didn't take long for him to fall back into the patterns of his old sleeping routine. Everything else was still in need of a little bit of work. Passing out just wasn't one of them. Then again, Jamie had been insisting a lot of weird a** (probably drugged) teas on him, so maybe that was part of it.
But regardless, he was here, dazed and half awake and pressing down the button on the toaster. He was a great help, that Shiloh Beaumont, king of the toaster. "Got it." he said mid-yawn, rubbing his eyes where he stood, shorts and short-sleeved sleep shirt and all. For as much as he hated waking up, spending comfortable mornings with Jamie and the smell of bacon was really nice. Really nice.
"Mooooove," Shiloh said dramatically as he shoved past Jamie, despite the very accommodating amount of space behind him. Immediately, he dug into the cabinets, pulling out some plates and silverware. "Moooooooooooove!" he announced as he pushed back the other way, making absolute sure to actually shove into him as he passed.
With a dumb smile, he went to setting up the table, pausing only to check on the toast again (they should have been done?) and after careful inspection, he realized that it wasn't even warm. "The ********? Did the toaster break?" he checked the plug, but it was plugged in...
word count: 268
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 6:42 pm
Weird, yes, but drugged, no. The teas were absolutely not drugged. They were all natural, of course, wonderful for sleeplessness and anxiety. He was learning a lot about herbs from Chris, after all.
"Wow, Shiloh, oh my gosh," Jamie grumped humorously as he scooted the eggs around in the pan, testing whether they were ready to flip. Despite his best attempts at sounding serious, it just wasn't happening. "You do know there's more kitchen behind me, rig-?" Before he could even manage the rest of the question, Shiloh was shoving past again. The push almost made him break a yolk. Jamie's eyes got huge.
"Mister, if you make me break one of these, you're getting that one!" he huffed, finally managing to get the eggs flipped for their short cook time on the final side. "Oh, huh?" In the middle of turning to cross his arms threateningly, he dropped them instead. "It was.. working a couple days ago, I think. Lemme just-"
Flipping the eggs onto the plates, he set the spatula down and went over to help inspect. "Well, it's plugged in, that was my only suggestion..."
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 7:59 pm
"I used it the other day." he agreed, furiously tapping down on the button to make the toast start. It never did. He chewed on his chapped up lip. "I don't get it." He stood back with a sigh, "Well... sorry Jame." arms folding, Shiloh tried hard to keep his frustration from rising.
It wasn't until he glanced out the window that he realized what was actually wrong, and even then it took him a second because there was no rain. There was sun and more sun and nothing about the outside really screamed wrong, except there were no people and no birds and none of the cars were moving... it seemed empty, like a still-life that someone had painted, only slightly off. Now his lips merely pursed.
"I don't... like this." he quickly made his way over towards the window, opening it hastily, poking his head outside. Everything pointed to Otherworld, but where was the rain? There was no rain.
word count: 429
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Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 6:55 am
It was like he followed suit, his own arms folding the way Shiloh's did. Jamie supposed dippy eggs could still be the king of brunch without something to actually dip as long as they ate before it got cold. There wasn't really anything they could do about it. Old toasters were bound to break eventually.
"That's okay, Shiloh. Actually... we could probably just dip bread and it would be pretty good, too."
Except Shiloh had already starting moving away. Hurriedly, Jamie joined him at the window. The world was never so quiet around noon. Something was wrong and they both knew it, but it felt more like limbo, like purgatory. There was no rain, so what did that mean? "Wait-" he started, peeking out where there was room. "-are we in Other Ashdown? What's going on?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 3:23 pm
"I... I dunno" Shiloh furrowed his brow, "It's hard to tell." Were they? Because it wasn't raining and the sky was clear, but the sheer uncanny valley-esque feeling left Shiloh with his hair standing on end. Did Beel do this? "a*****e? You around?"
Silence. Well that was one possibility crossed off the long list of many. He chewed absentmindedly at one of his nails before slapping his own hand away. It was a habit Melany had ingrained, the sound loud, sharp, like hitting water so fast that it felt like concrete. He turned to look at the stove.
The irons were already starting to cool. The dials were still on. He grappled for his cell phone on the counter, but it wouldn't turn on. "I... I think we are."
Deep breathes Beaumont. Otherworld didn't mean something was going to come out and attack you, besides the fact that he was nobility now. He couldn't assume that every creature would respect him, but he could at least find comfort in that status. Despite that he went back to pacing, the otherwise peaceful morning turned definitely stressful. It wasn't so much Other Ashdown that bothered him, it was when it sprung out at him like this unexpectedly, like when ********> he was flipping out. Be cool. Be cool.
word count: 646
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Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 5:51 pm
The room was empty, no Beel, but Jamie's attention was undeniably at peak when Shiloh asked the question. There was something conflictingly good and bad about the silence that followed. Were it Beel, he could simply ferry them back home with little issue. On the other hand, Jamie was happy he wasn't there. He still hadn't come to accept the fetch.
Then the silence was gone, broken with the sharp smack of skin on skin. It made Jamie jump, it made him turn, and honestly he'd gotten even better at noticing the small changes in atmosphere that tattled on Shiloh's worries.
"It'll be okay..." he started, but before he could say much else and before his hand could even reach Shiloh's shoulder in comfort, there was a loud fluttering of feathers and a clashing of claws as something landed on the sill of the open window. It was an owl, the first sign of life aside from the two of them, and besides being large and round and white, it had one other unusual trait.
"Is that... owl wearing a graduation cap...?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2016 3:00 pm
"Liiiiiiiiike oh my god!," an unfamiliar voice chimed in, "It so totally is! Check out Mr. Owl yoo hoo hellooooooo there!"
Behind the two of them (and on the opposite side of the room as the owl) was a rather large bird, parrot like in stature but with the long graceful legs of a flamingo. Its voice was something akin to a preppy cheerleader fresh out of The Breakfast Club universe, and it gave the duo (or perhaps it was meant for the owl) a very gracious wink. Then it yawned, beak shiny.
"What the ********> Shiloh screamed again, obviously perturbed by the presence of the two birds, but the awkward flamingo just laughed.
"Oh my gosh! You're totally a noble! That's like, so cool!" it began to squawk wildly, wings flapping uselessly, "Like, two of my favorite things all in one! And the little guy over there too, I guess. Helloooooo."
word count: 798
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2016 6:06 pm
This was definitely not the way Jamie had wanted his nice, cozy brunch with Shiloh to go. Flipping seamlessly into the Otherworld was bad enough, but now there were not one, but two strange otherbirds taking up sudden and uninvited residence in his house. It was off-putting enough that he nearly joined Shiloh in his over the top what the ********> but instead he muttered, "Me too, you guess...?" He sounded a touch offended.
Mr. Owl, on the other hand, turned his head to the flamingo without moving his body. Behind the two unfortunate visitors, the sound of tinny metal popping would alert them to something that really shouldn't have been happening. Though he didn't open his beak to speak, the owl had many things to say to his dear friend Flamingo. "Was that..." Jamie turned around, "the toaster?"
It was.
Retrieving the bread—except it wasn't bread anymore, it was a crisp, golden brown, perfectly toasted—Jamie's brow harshly furrowed. "Hello, Flamingo, my dear. I missed you at the party the other day. Huh- Oh, there's an arrow." Flipping the toast, he continued reading. "I do hope you'll join me for dinner tonight."
Pursing his lips, he looked at Shiloh and said with a voice laced in confused exasperation, "That's... what the toast says..."
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2016 6:14 pm
"Excuse the ******** out of me." Shiloh said, face turned in outright disgust. The flamingo was none the wiser, and in fact seemed absolutely overjoyed by this overwhelmingly romantic confession.
"Oh. My. Gooooooooooodddddd. Can you BELIEVE this? Like, can you?" It was leaning over Jamie's shoulder, exuberantly reading the toasted scripture like it was the gospel. "He, like, wants to eat dinner with me! Like, oh my gosh!" the possibilities were endless. Would he cater to its love of shrimp and fruits, or would he play it on the safe side and take it to an omnivores dine in, where he could feast upon voles and shrews till his predatory heart was content?
"No, no, okay. ******** this." Shiloh was starting to get frazzled and uppity here. "Go eat your ******** dinner together then! Get out! Jesus!"
"Who the hell is Jesus?" The flamingo seemed perplexed, "And you're like, so totally the rudest noble I've ever met! Gosh!" it was flapping its wings again, "You stupid little p***k! I'll show you Jesus!"
Suddenly it was in a frenzy, attacking the table with reckless abandon. Not one, not two, not even three—okay, well, three chairs toppled over to the ground, and the flamingo saw it fit to perch on the fourth one. It was very happy about this, and also completely calm now.
"Darling sweet like, Owl! I totally accept your proclamation of like, ultimate love." It struck a pose. It was magnificent.
Shiloh wanted to cry.
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2016 6:33 pm
In the chaos, Jamie dropped the toast. With no jelly side to magnet toward the floor, it poomfed inoffensively, like a leaf in a summer breeze. The calm before, er, during the storm. "H-Hey!" he tried, rather ineffectually, "T-Those are my parents' chairs, stop that! You might b-break them!" Now he looked flustered, less confused and more concerned, borderline distraught. Worse and worse, things kept getting worse and worse.
"J-Just... just leave!" now he was echoing Shiloh, even if his effort moments ago had gotten them no where.
From his own perch, Mr. Owl observed, eerily calm. For all the ruckus, he looked wholly unbothered and it wasn't until Flamingo had accepted his very straightforward proclamation that he even moved at all. As soon as he ruffled his feathers, the toast lurched from the floor and into Jamie's hands. The message had changed. Even if he didn't want to, Jamie was too flustered to ignore the obvious invitation to read.
"Don't let these... uncouth heathens ruffle you, my dearest. Now that you've fulfilled me, let us be away." This time, there was no side two. And just like that, Mr. Owl was gone from the window sill.
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2016 6:36 pm
They blinked. The Flamingo too was gone. Faint echos of like, like! were heard in the distance, but otherwise it was as if nothing had happened at all.
"I'm sad." Shiloh said despondently from the floor, the way a broken man does when he's lost everything. His eyes were fixated on blessedly intact plates that laid clattered on the floor. In an instant, the lighting changed—this time for the better—because the wind was blowing outside and the trees were moving and Shiloh's eyes were glossy with petulance.
"I just wanted eggies." he wailed.
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2016 6:44 pm
The birds were gone and it was as if they'd dragged the Otherworld with them, leaving only the knocked over dining chairs and fallen breakfast in their wake. "I'm... sad, too," Jamie told Shiloh, not even attempting to mask his feelings for the other's sake. They both needed this chance to just... be upset.
A moment later he was at Shiloh's side on the floor, leaning against him, setting his head on his shoulder. After a few minutes of silence, he promised, "Don't worry, Shiloh... I'll make you more eggies."Final Word Count: 1158
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2016 6:47 pm
Shiloh looked at Jamie the way an artist looks at their masterpiece, or perhaps the way a general looks at his war ravaged fields after a loss. It was hard to say if he experienced a overwhelming amount of emotion or none at all. What he felt was completely inexplicable, but there was a small bundle of warmth in the pit of his chest. Without thinking, he let his head rest against Jamie's sharing in their utter despondency.
"You're... you're the best." was all he could manage. Jamie always came through for him. Jamie would provide more eggs. He shuddered a sigh. "But we should... clean up first, probably."
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