The Beach, Wednesday after Sunset (NFB)

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler was dismayed that his karate class was canceled and the gym was busy with cheerleader activities all afternoon; he wanted to work out some stress and wasn't sure how. Off-balance, he spent most of the day roaming around the island, thinking about his conversations with Alec and Peter.

And other stuff.

He felt very alone -- and sticky with figgy pudding -- as he landed on some rocks at the shore that evening. Head balanced on his hands, Tyler sat and watched the waves roll in.

[OOC: Locked to those who knew who they are for now.]

Comments

[fh_extras]

Something wee - no more than three feet tall - scurried along near Tyler.

The something might have been cute, if it hadn't been kind of big on the whole 'decayed' look.

For now, though, it was trying to stay hidden until it reunited with the others. But it was wee, so who knows if that endeavor was all that effective.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Always on guard, Tyler noticed the scurrying, though he didn't see what was causing it. He jumped off his rock and began pacing towards the source of the noise.

"Hello?"

[fh_extras]

The wee thing stopped scampering, and turned to peek out at Tyler from behind a rock.

It cautiously moved out from behind the rock, and scurried a little closer, making strange, slightly shrieky noises.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler looked at the wee thing with some distaste. "I have no idea what you're trying to say," he informed it. "Are you a student? Nod or shake your head."

[fh_extras]

The wee thing gesticulated. Perhaps it was trying to communicate. Or perhaps it was dancing. The world may never know, but the important thing was that is was getting closer to Tyler in the process.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler was not without compassion. He knelt and reached out a hand to the little ... thing. "Did somebody hurt you? Somebody blonde?"

[fh_extras]

The little...thing was not all that good with English. Or, you know, normal speech. It made more shrieking noises.

It's very likely that it was trying to say, "I am wee and would like to go run around in circles for I am wee and that's what entertains me and do you have candy yay and also I didn't get this way by taking a bath kthnx!"

But it was a wee, incoherent thing. So it probably just kind of sounded like shrieking with a healthy dose of flail.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler was smiling a little as he took another step to the creature. "People say you're ugly, right? They don't trust me either. Morons. Let me pick you up and take you to the clinic. Maybe they'll know what to do."

Trustingly, he reached to pick up the baby .... thing. "C'mon now."

[fh_extras]

The wee thing didn't like that plan. It skittered back a little, frowning at Tyler.

Of course, given that its face was all attractively decayed, it's not like frowning looked a whole lot different from smiling. But still.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler sighed. Clearly it didn't want to be picked up.

He realized its face looked kind of rotten. Almost antique.

Ah well.

He leaned closer, pasting on a big smile so the mummy would know he wasn't a threat. "Are your mommy and daddy somewhere?"

[fh_extras]

The wee thing stumbled back a little, recognizing that its new friend was baring his teeth and that was scary!

So the wee thing adopted a defensive posture, and made a few more shrieky noises - slightly more ferocious and less inquisitve, this time.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler was now out of patience, and moved quickly to greab and hold the ... thing. "How the hell are you making those noises?" he demanded. "I want to help you."

[fh_extras]

The tiny thing flailed upsettedly at him, and made what passed for a roar for something its size.

With a few more ferocious movements, it scurried away as fast as it could go in the direction from which it had come.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Hey, don't -- don't go," Tyler called after the fleeing ... thing, then gave up.

He blinked into the clear-with-occasional-pudding day. Had he fallen asleep? Had he graduated from imaginary friends his own age to imaginary baby creatures?

He glanced down in his hand, noting a tiny piece of tea-colored gauze that must have come away when he touched the being.

So it was real, then.

Laughing manically, he began walking back towards town.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

A small, fuzzy, seemingly rocket-powered puppy with a dangling leash came flying along, pausing to yip at Tyler.

"Vladdie!" Rory was heard before she was seen, which was rather fortunate considering that when she did come into view, she was covered in pudding and coffee (http://community.livejournal.com/fandomtownies/890186.html?thread=35042378#t35042378). "Vladdie, stop - Tyler?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler was still laughing. "It was real," he said. "It was real and it was little and it shrieked and this came off of it." He looked dazed, showing Rory what looked like an old, used scrap of gauze. "Did you see an ittybitty baby monster, Rory?"

He glanced at Vladdie. "Your dog can fly," he said conversationally. That's cool."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"He's a vampire," Rory replied, grabbing Vladdie's leash as soon as she was close enough to do so. "Monster? What?" She peered at the bandage. "That's...really gross. Have you been drinking?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"A vampire. Of course. A flying vampire puppy." Tyler knew he was babbling, but he couldn't stop. "And not drinking. Not in -" he thought. "A couple weeks."

He gesticulated broadly with the cloth. "It was about this tall," he said, waving a hand about three feet above the sand, " and kind of dead-looking, and it skittered around, and it made noises like --" Tyler did his best imitation of the babymummy shrieks. "And then it ran away." He pouted. "I thought it might be a kid, like Bridge or Pip, so I was trying to take it to the clinic, but it didn't want to go."

He looked at Rory sadly.

"So you didn't see it?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"...I didn't, and Bridge and Pip aren't children," Rory supplied. "But that doesn't mean it wasn't here. It's Fandom. So, it made those noises and was dead-looking? That's so weird. And that...icky cloth thing came off of it?"

She frowned. "I hope the teal deer are okay."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler just stared at her for a moment before grinning. "It's an expression. They might both be older than me," he shrugged, flopping down onto a rock.

He looked at her anxiously. "So teal deer are real too? Maybe this was a gremlin."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Gremlins are smaller," she replied, plucking Vladdie out of the air and ignoring as he licked still more coffee off her cheek. "And yeah, teal deer are real. They're very cute. But this dead thing...how was it dead-looking?"

She held up her dog. "Vladdie's technically the undead, but he doesn't look it. You said the thingy was dead-looking."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler kicked at the sand as he thought. "It was grey," he said, finally. "And its face, it was wrong. It looked like it might fall apart."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Ew," she contributed helpfully. "But was it threatening you or anything?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"No," Tyler said softly. "I mean, it made a lot of noise, but it was so little-" His voice broke. "I think it was scared."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Poor thing," Rory said, frowning. "I have no idea what that was, though. I've never heard of anything like it around here."

She glanced again at the bandage in Tyler's hand and almost laughed at what she immediately thought of. Unless the early peoples of the island had taken up ancient Egyptian burial practices...and besides, he'd said it was non-threatening.

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler shuddered. "Maybe it was a one-time thing," he said, not really believing it. He pulled himself together and rising to his feet.

"Are you going back to campus?" he asked Rory.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

She nodded. "I fell into the pond. I just needed to retrieve my caffeinated puppy," she told him. "Are you?"

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. I need to shower the figs out of my hair anyhow," Tyler said. "Think jumping in the pond would help?"

He moved closer to Rory, not really wanting to be alone, or leave her alone. "Want to walk together?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

She offered a shy smile. "Okay. And there are figs in the pond of coffee anyway. It's really gross. And just in case you were curious, never give a duck or a Papillon puppy caffeine. Just FYI."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," Tyler said. "I can honestly say that was not part of my plans for -- well, ever."

He rubbed his forehead, trying to make the whole thing make sense. "So do things like this happen a lot around here? People seeing things no one has seen before?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "Have you heard about the zombies of last year, or the snowmonsters? And then there was the wallaby that made my hair grow like seven feet, and the fairies...."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"Not fairies like gay guys," Tyler asked carefully. "Because I know we have those."

He rubbed his nose. "Aren't wallabies Australian?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Uh huh," she replied. "I fell asleep in the common room and a wallaby bounced on my head and made my hair grow. And no, by fairies I mean fairies who possessed a whole bunch of people in a play I was directing. Parker was the queen."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

Tyler gave her a look. "Okay, I'm trying to just be calm and breathe and accept? But you know this sounds like you're pulling my leg."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"I'm dead serious," Rory said, a wry half-smile tugging at her lips. "But most of Fandom's weird stuff like that is harmless. In the space of two months, I killed a zombie, got a flying puppy, and nearly died of a vampire bite. The fact that this stuff is kind of all around us? Helps with making it a lot more real, really quickly."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"So what you're saying is that the new kids this summer have had things easy?," Tyler asked.

A gob of pudding dripped onto his nose just then. "Except that."

He focused his eyes on Rory. "Seriously, are you okay from the, um, vampire bite?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, it was last November. Not a big deal so much anymore," she shrugged. She smudged some pudding off her neck and pointed. "There's the scar, if you don't believe me. But all the big baddies left town, so really, we're just dealing with tiny dead-looking things and teal deer, now. Plus, you know, pudding falling from the sky."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"I believe you," Tyler said. "I have a few scars of my own." One thumb caressed the lip print on the back of his opposite hand, almost unconsciously.

"I'm sure I'll get used to this place sometime."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"It takes some adjustment, but the good stuff? Totally outweighs the bad," Rory said. "Even the weird stuff is sometimes awesome."

[tyler-gone.livejournal.com]

"I guess you have to believe that to stay here," Tyler said.

Head hunched against the pudding, he walked silently the rest of the way to the dorms.