Out Here Alone [OTA]

[forleaving]

Who: Adam Parrish and you!
What: Daily life
When: Dec 9th/10th
Where: Various places around Wechester
Warnings: Dated views on being gay

a. I'm sending a raven

Working was a good way to distract himself from things. In this case, he had a lot on his plate, even if it'd been over a week. There was always something to be done at the hardware store, and he was busy stocking shelves right now, moving merchandise from boxes to shelves. It was almost enough to make him forget about what had happened the previous month all together. Almost.

Pushing his emotions down and putting on his best customer service smile when he heard footsteps approaching, he offered a friendly, "Hello, can I help you find anything?" before actually looking over to see who was there.

b. Black bird in the sky

He'd just gotten off shift at work at the hardware store and was going to run some miscellaneous errands when he caught sight of one of the new posters. It had to be new because he didn't remember seeing one before and he was pretty sure Wechester didn't have a ski resort. Stopping to study the poster, he squinted at the poster, reading it carefully, and did a double-take when he reached the blurred out portion of it. Something wasn't right about it, and the longer he looked the worse he felt about everything, but he still couldn't read the blurred part. The blur even seemed to shift and move, like it was alive, which was a lot more unsettling than a simple poster with a hard to read section.

His head started to twinge and ache, and he looked away abruptly, blinking rapidly. That didn't make the headache go away, and he felt distinctly like he'd just walked through the security system at the original Barns. Wrapping his arms around himself, he tried to suppress a shiver. His mood, already low, had plummeted, and he couldn't explain why beyond the poster he'd been looking at.

Still, that didn't stop him from glancing back at the poster and then looking around. "Excuse me," he said to someone, anyone, "But does that poster look weird to you?"

c. Sending a signal that I'm here

There were few things that felt more natural and normal than working on cars. It was soothing in a way, and better at distracting himself from things that stocking shelves was. He was dressed for the job, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, grease smeared across one cheek, hands dirty. He had a rag nearby for when his hands got too grimy, but he was currently working under a hood, happy as a pig in mud.

Except when he heard someone approaching and looked up too fast, slamming his head into the underside of the hood. "Dammit." He dropped his tools, taking a slightly off balance step back and reaching up to feel the top of his head. The skin hadn't broken, but it sure was tender.

d. Some sign of life [for Tobias]

After packing a small lunch for two, a pair of sandwiches, apples, and bottles of water, into a backpack, Adam set out on his motorcycle to Tobias's meadow. Or rather, his tree, specifically. He parked by the road, hanging his helmet off the handlebars, and headed up to the tree, looking around.

"Tobias?"

Comments

Some sign of life

[bluetailedhawk]

Tobias had heard Adam coming and taken to the sky to check out the 'intruder'. He'd recognized Adam easily, so he circled back around, landing lightly on his favorite branch in his tree. <What's up?> Tobias replied, fluttering his wings as he settled them just so against his sides. <Everything okay?> He had his phone on the ground at the foot of the tree, but he wasn't always around to hear or see it ringing.

[forleaving]

"Oh good, you're here." Adam shrugged out of the straps of the backpack, setting it down next to him. He hadn't known if he should have expected Tobias at this tree or somewhere else; he didn't know what bird-boys did with their spare time, and he imagined Tobias had a lot of that.

"Everything's fine," he added. Even if he'd almost been a completely different person the last time he'd spoken to Tobias. He hoped he wouldn't be a letdown now. "Why wouldn't it be?"

[bluetailedhawk]

<according to the internet, there's been some weird stuff happening,> he replied, settling himself on his branch. <Sounded like the kind of thing that would've freaked me out.>

[forleaving]

"Oh. That stuff." Yeah, he knew exactly what Tobias was talking about, which brought everything bubbling back to the surface again. Only instead of a clear spring, it was muddy and dark. Which only served to make him miss Cabeswater something fierce.

"I have to apologize," he continued. "I was different when we met. There was something strange going on. Also, are you hungry? I brought lunch."

[bluetailedhawk]

<Why?> Tobias asked, without missing a beat. <It's not like you were mean to me.> Even making him buy shoes hadn't been mean.

<I can always eat,> he replied. <You wanna go somewhere warmer?> since it was bordering on snowing, and even if Adam had brought a jacket, that would only keep him warm for so long.

[forleaving]

"No, but..." He didn't finish, shrugging his shoulders. He'd been happier, more confident. Assured of himself.

"Where would we go? I don't live far from here, but-" he glanced in the direction of the Barns. "We could go there, so long as no one else is home."

[bluetailedhawk]

Don't make him shit on your parade, Adam.

<There's a place with a bunch of empty barns near here. It's even on this same road,> he nodded towards Adam's bike. <I can fly overhead and show you where to go, I use one of them when it gets too windy out. You'd be surprised how warm they can stay.>

A

[learningtolove]

Despite being eight feet tall, Beast had a way of hunching down when he was out and about to try (unsuccessfully) make himself seem smaller. He still wasn't used to actually being in public where people could see him in all his monstrous glory.

But he couldn't hide himself all day the way he'd been warranted to do in his castle. He had a job, for one, and his house was also in need of a lot of repair work. So here he was, wrapped up in his usual cloak ensemble, tail lashing back and forth behind him as he paced the aisles, staring at the tools on the racks there.

When someone spoke to him, he stood up straighter, not having realized anyone else was in the aisle with him. He had an intimidating presence around him but his eyes were definitely human enough to make it clear he was not an evil creature. This was further cemented when he spoke, his voice deep, rumbling, and a little hesitant. "Oh! I was-- that is-- looking for something to repair some cabinets with."

[forleaving]

Surprisingly, Beast was not the scariest thing Adam had ever seen. He did startle for a moment at first though, but after a second his smile became more genuine. This wasn't nearly as bad as being spooked by Ronan's albino night terror.

"Of course. Are you looking for new hinges? Something to sand the cabinets with? New handles?" he suggested. "Wood glue?" Or maybe something else. He couldn't tell exactly without knowing what way the cabinets needed to be repaired.

[learningtolove]

Some of the tension left Beast when Adam didn't seem to mind his looks. He was still getting used to that.

He looked a little clueless at the question. Up to this point, he'd just let the castle generally go to ruin, only bothering to repair things when it was absolutely necessary, considering he was the only person there who actually had hands to do that with anymore. Being on his own here meant it was now all on him to make his home liveable.

"Uh, I'm not sure. When I try to close them, they just open right back up again."

[forleaving]

Adam was patient; not everyone knew exactly what they were looking for when they came into a hardware store, just an idea of what they wanted to accomplish.

"That sounds like it could be a problem with the hinges. Either that or you're haunted," he said. He hoped that still counted as professional. But also honestly? In this place he wouldn't be surprised if somewhere was haunted. "Hinges are right over here," he added, taking a few steps down the aisle and gesturing to the racks near the end.

[learningtolove]

"Haunted?" Beast seems to give this serious thought for moment before he dismisses with a brisk shake that sends all his fur into a state of fluff for a moment before all the hairs relax back down. "I don't think so. Sultan wouldn't be as comfortable if there was a ghost living with us." After all, dogs were supposed to be able to sense supernatural creatures, or so that's what all the stories went.

Beast follows Adam to where he's pointing. He walks on the front part of his feet, toes first followed by the heel, the way some predatory animals did. He picks up one of the hinges on display there, which looks tiny in his massive paw. "So how do you use them to repair the cabinets?"

[forleaving]

"Animals do seem to have a sixth sense about some things," Adam agreed. He'd heard stories about cats knowing when an earthquake was about to happen, not to mention all the strange things he'd seen personally.

"Well, sir, assuming the hinges are the same size, you just use a screwdriver to remove the old hinges and put the new ones on," he explained.

B

[legacyofarose]

Rosabella paused mid-step, turning towards the unfamiliar voice. Then with a puzzled frown, she looked from him to the indicated poster, taking a step closer to inspect it better.

"...Oh," she said after a moment. "Now that you mention it, there is something...strange about it."

As she looked at the poster, the information that was blurred seemed to...almost ripple somehow. It made her think a bit of magic, somehow.

[forleaving]

He was glad it wasn't just him. Sometimes, he wasn't so sure, and right now, feeling like something had been ripped out of him, he didn't have the confidence he usually did when spotting something strange.

"It's like an optical illusion, but I think it's more than that," he said. He was thinking the same thing, that it was like the posters were enchanted. "But who would go through the effort of putting magic into posters?"

[legacyofarose]

"The same kind of people who would go through the trouble of bringing people from different worlds here? Assuming that's even the work of people at all."

She continued to look at the poster a moment, watching the blurred out information seemed to pulsate and shimmer on the page. It definitely reminded her of magic, and she found herself starting to feel anxious.

With a short intake of breath, she winced and looked away, suddenly aware of the throbbing in her head. She had to remove her glasses, pinching the bridge of her nose to try and alleviate some of the pressure that was building.

[forleaving]

He made a thoughtful noise. "But why? Why not omit the information all together or white it out normally?" Why use magic on a piece of paper? It didn't serve any purpose that he could think of, beyond presenting itself as an enigma.

"I'm sorry," he added, realizing she must be suffering the same effects he was, "I should have said something about the strange effect it has." But he hadn't been entirely sure it wasn't just him.

[legacyofarose]

"Hmm...well, if it's anything like the magic back home, maybe whatever information is being omitted will be revealed at a certain time."

Squeezing her eyes shut for a moment longer, she then let her glasses fall back to place and gave him a small smile. "Oh no, that's okay. There was probably no way of telling that things would affect multiple people."

[forleaving]

"Maybe." But it still seemed like a lot of effort to go through. Unless their captors thought themselves clever and cool.

"I wasn't sure it wasn't just me," he admitted. But now that he knew- "It's almost like they don't want people to notice the blurred out parts, with these effects. Unless it's unintentional." Some kind of unexpected side effect.

sending a signal that I'm here

[un_wir_greywaren]

Ronan winced as if he'd been the reason Adam had hit his head so hard. Just adding injury to insult he thought, watching Adam and waiting for the moment when he realized who was there and half expecting to be told to leave.

They hadn't actually spoken since Adam's confession and flower. And now things were even more complicated. They were themselves again and Ronan remembered that this Adam was from a future world where he was dating Ronan Lynch. His hair was gone again. He also remembered very clearly how he'd broken Adam's heart. Again.

First when Adam had first arrived here and then again when Adam had given him a flower.

"You should put some ice on that."

[forleaving]

He froze for a moment when he saw Ronan, rubbing his head for a moment longer before stooping to pick up the tools he'd dropped. "I'll be fine," he said. He'd ice it later, if he had to. Right now he was busy in more than one way.

He knew he hadn't taken the most mature approach in avoiding Ronan after everything that had happened, but it'd given him time to think about things, to try and fit his emotions back into their neat little boxes. Except nothing was neat and nothing fit, everything was overflowing, threatening to bubble up.

Honestly, the first heartbreak he'd been able to deal with a lot better. It hadn't been anybody's fault, it'd been this place. He hadn't blamed Ronan at all. Now...he still didn't blame Ronan. He blamed himself. And maybe Gansey, a little, even though he knew it wasn't his fault, either, from a logical standpoint. Keeping things logical was the hard part, though.

"What are you doing here?" He didn't sound accusatory at least, as he put his tools down and wiped his hands off on the rag from his pocket.

[un_wir_greywaren]

Ronan rubbed his shaved head, remembering the last time they'd talked to each other. He'd had hair and his dad. Some small part of him wanted to go back to that life. He rolled his shoulders, throwing off the memories and focusing on what he had right in front of him.

"I haven't seen you since we all came back from NeverNeverland." He still had the flower sitting on his desk. "We need to talk."

[forleaving]

"Sorry." In a different world, in different circumstances, Adam would never have dreamed of avoiding Ronan. Being apart from him was like missing part of himself, but here... He was genuinely sorry he'd been avoiding Ronan, at least.

He took a deep breath. "We do. Do you still love him?" He wanted to be clear on that. Had it been part of whatever had been happening at the time, or was it really true?

[un_wir_greywaren]

"Yes." It was a straight forward question that required a straight forward answer. "But it's not that simple, Adam. You don't know everything that's happened. That's why we need to talk."

More than anything he needs Adam to understand why. Because Adam is just as important to him as Gansey.

"Please."

[forleaving]

Nothing was ever that simple. He was neither surprised that Ronan was still in love with Gansey (he'd prepared himself for it over the last few days, no matter how much it had seemed like a weird, terrible dream) nor that things were more complicated than they seemed. It was like Blue telling him he wasn't the one all over again.

"Okay." He was listening and willing to talk, maybe only because it was Ronan asking him. He wasn't sure he even wanted know everything that'd happened, but he would give Ronan a chance.