fandomtownies | The Park, Friday Morning

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jesse faden

The Park, Friday Morning

Nobody had come to pick up Jesse all day yesterday. She'd stayed put in the strange apartment she'd woken up in, expecting the doctors to come by, to poke at her again. She didn't know why they'd moved her. She didn't really want to know.

Maybe they'd just call me crazy for asking.

But nobody had come into the apartment yesterday.

So this morning, she had slipped out. And started walking. This didn't look like Michigan, or even the original facility in Vermont. It wasn't as cold as it had been two days ago.

She finally sat down when she found a bench in the park, opposite a little pond with lots of birds in it. They're pretty.

She watched them for a while, her focus turning increasingly inward. Lost in thought. Are you still there? Or have I really been making you up? Polaris...? Polaris?

Jesse pulled her legs up onto the bench too, and wrapped her arms around them.

[[ open, tw for mention of bad experiences with mental health professionals ]]

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Lucille was not a teenager, for which she was happy, she had no wish to be reminded of that, but she was aware of what was going on.

She was taking a walk in the park when she noticed the girl on the bench. Intrigued by how that make her curious enough to stop, Lucille paused for a moment, then said:

"I something the matter?"

Jesse looked up, startled.

Answering that question honestly never ends well.

"No," she said quickly. Too quickly. "I'm okay."

Lucille hadn't expected a honest answer, especially since she herself wouldn't have given one.

"Are you from here? I don't think I have seen you before."

"I was just in Michigan," Jesse said, looking away from that woman and back at the birds. "I think they moved me."

"Oh, that happens here," Lucille replied. Then: "They?"

Don't mention the doctors.

"My guardians," Jesse said. "They do that sometimes. I was in Vermont before Michigan."

Doctors or guardians, what was the difference?

"There are worse places," Lucille said. "Although I suppose that depends on where you come from. Did they remember to make sure you have food?"

One of the two was more open about wanting to 'fix' Jesse.

"There was some food in the apartment," she said. "But no people."

"Do they usually leave you alone?" Lucille asked.

"No," Jesse said. "I usually have a pretty tight schedule." A pause. "Why do you care?"

"Oh, I used to have people watching over me for various reasons," Lucille said, smiling. "Arriving here was quite a relief."

Perhaps it was because it sounded like the girl's guardians needed thwarting, unless that was just a projection of her own experiences.

"My name is Lucille Sharpe by the way."

They most definitely did need thwarting.

"I'm Jesse," Jesse said, looking at her curiously. "What kind of people?"

"My parents. Doctors."

Judges too, but she preferred to leave them out.

"I got rid of all of them when I arrived here, as well as all kinds of restricting rules regarding how a woman should behave."

If Jesse needed to get rid of hers, Lucille could invite them for tea.

"What kind of doctors?"

Let's not trust random strangers, Jesse thought, fiddling with her fingernails.

"The kind who thinks you need to be kept an eye on," Lucille said. "And who don't let you leave. Never mind, I don't think your guardians will bother you here, if you have not seen them yet."

"Do you know where they might have gone?"

Because Jesse wasn't going to argue with freedom, but she also didn't know what the consequences might be.

"They are likely still in your universe," Lucille replied. "This is a safer one."

She was unaware that she might come across as weird and a bit creepy.

Something in Jesse took visible notice. Sat up a little.

"Are you saying I crossed into another universe?" she said. "Again?"

"Has it happened before?" Lucille asked, surprise not showing much.

Jesse looked up at her face and tried to read it.

Are you just trying to get me to say something?

"Yes," she said. "Though that time there was a slide projector."

"I don't think I know what a slide projector is," Lucille said. "Here there are usually portals."

On the other hand, those who turned into teenagers probably hadn't experienced one.

"Or sometimes people just wake up here."

"What makes the portals?" Jesse asked.

"I have never bothered to find out," Lucille said. "Or find someone who knows. Are you interested in that sort of thing? I think my brother would have been."

"But you think it's normal?" Jesse asked. "The portals?"

Do I sound needy?

"I didn't think so at first," Lucille said. "But you get used to things here. What have you done so far?"

"I woke up in a house, and this morning I left the house," Jesse said vaguely. "So you're telling me people here deal with portals all the time?"

She was focused, you had to give her that.

"It depends on whether you want to leave or not," Lucille replied. "But while you are here you should try to do something enjoyable. I can recommend tea and cake at The Perk."

"Thanks," Jesse said. This conversation was starting to get frustrating. "I'll think about it."

The apartment she'd woken up in had a fridge full of food. She didn't need much more.

"But I should let you get on with enjoying this place," Lucille continued. "Don't waste the time."

She smiled, then turned to leave.

Jesse watched her go for a little while, but she quickly grew bored of it.

If people here know about portals, maybe they know something about the rest of it.

She stared at the birds.

Maybe they know about Dylan.

Far be it from Shunsui to let something like a woman being older dissuade him from taking a shot.

Especially since he was actually pretty sure that, since she was human, he was still older, although he definitely didn't look it.

"I have to say!" he declared, grinning shamelessly over at her. "The scenery on this island has got to be the best part about it so far!"

He was absolutely not looking at the scenery.

"It is," Lucille said. "Do you like the flamingos?"

This could only be one person.

Shunsui's smile blossomed at a question like that.

"Oh," he said, in a voice that he was very convinced was suave and dashing, "there are birds?"

He very clearly hadn't noticed and birds. And he was way too proud of that one, too.

Lucille did her best not to look too amused.

"There are," she said. "Or perhaps you were thinking about other parts of the scenery?"

"Parts of the scenery," Shunsui informed her, with a confident lift of his chin, "that are far more beautiful and compelling than any mere bird could ever hope to be ♥!"

"Well," Lucille said. "The park is a very pleasant place."

Ahhh, this place? Was great. No training, no instructors, no one bothering Shunsui at all! A little sparse on the girls, if you asked him; you didn't need to go very far around the Academy to find them in clusters and droves, but it definitely wasn't lacking in them, either! And the island was kind of nice, if quiet, and he had the time to actually go and take a nice stroll around through the park, enjoying the ducks and the flamingoes and the brisk weather, and thinking about maybe writing some poetry about it later, and he could get used to something like this, especially the no training parts, the no Yamamoto-sensei riding his ass about all his untapped potential, and how so much power could be completely wasted on such a lazy, boorish, entitled, selfish brat...

Give him a break. Shunsui rolled his eyes just thinking about it, watched the ducks for a little longer, envying them a little for how little they had to care about in the world, and then continued his stroll.

And, of course, he'd be terribly remiss if he didn't stroll by that bench to see a pretty girl there, smile lighting up his face for a distraction even better than ducks.

"Hello, there ♥! You look like you could use some company!"

And for the second time that day, Jesse had to look up, startled. "Do I?" she asked.

I really doubt that.

"Oh, yes," Shunsui assured her, smile beaming even brighter now, even if he did feel a little bad for apparently having startled her. He did that to a lot of the girls at the Academy, sure, but it was usually from bursting in on them to see who would give him a kiss, which was usually intended to startle them and make them screech and scatter and sometimes laugh, instead of him just saying hello. "That bench is much too large for just one person!"

"It's large enough for one person," Jesse said slowly, "A second person is totally optional."

"That sounds," Shunsui said cheerfully, "like the kind of option that would improve the experience significantly. May I?" He even threw in a very dignified sort of bow with his question, one that even his brother wouldn't have disparaged. "That way, you can see what I mean."

And yet Jesse didn't look impressed.

Maybe a little weirded out, and concerned.

"It's a free country," she said.

Was it? Shunsui still didn't really know exactly where he was, but his experiences so far certainly did seem to support that claim. And he was planning to continue to take advantage of it as he laughed and wasted no more time before plopping down on the bench, spreading himself out comfortably, lazily, with a contented sort of sigh to go along with it once he apparently managed to get a good sprawl going.

"It's a good bench," he decided, tilting his head a little to grin at her. "Good bench. Pretty girl! Adorable ducks. No training! This place is great! You come here often?"

Did he really just 'you come here often' me?

She didn't say it, but that thought was definitely in her gaze. "I just got here," Jesse said. "Why?"

If Shunsui had picked up anything extra that might be lingering in those eyes on him, he showed no sign of it. He was, in fact, just as oblivious to it as he appeared.

"So did I," he said. "I was hoping there'd be someone who could show me around the place a little, point out all the good, interesting....fun spots."

Like the girl who was huddled and moping on a park bench would be the one for that...

"Then you sat down on the wrong bench," Jesse said flatly, "Because the only spot I know is this bench."

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The Park, Friday Morning

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