And Off We Go

"Says her name's Eve," Doc said.

"Her!" Riesy fisted both hands on hips, head shaking and helpless grin taking over. "Honestly, though. I'll tell ya, wonders and Troubles, man." S/he looked over at Tanner expectantly. When the response didn't come, s/he finished awkwardly, "they never...cease..."

S/he turned to look back up where Isabelle was watching them all, unimpressed.

"Alright, y'all. Tinkerbell, Eve-not-Hex, keep up. Got a job to do. Y'alright, man?" s/he asked Tanner directly.

Holding himself still, Tanner started to nod permission at Riesy, before Doc casually announced that the cat wasn’t a cat. Tanner’s eyes went huge, and he flushed slightly- he wouldn’t have just grabbed it if he’d known it was a person, that- that was probably really rude.

But he hadn’t known, and he had been trying to help, so maybe she- Eve, her name was Eve- would forgive him.

“...Sorry about grabbing you?” he offered, still a little wide-eyed, and he took another step back, almost grateful to be able to turn his attention back to Lilybeth. He managed a weak, wobbly smile, and shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s- better than the alternative. I- it doesn’t seem to be... doing anything, now.”

When Riesy addressed him, he forced the smile to be a little steadier, nodded with something approaching confidence. “Yeah. I- thanks. I’m okay. It’s- just sitting here. You can- try and touch it? If you want?” He didn’t know if it would stick to her, but at least it didn’t seem dangerous.

Riesy had to lean on shiz tiptoes to get shiz face right up next to the light bulb, balancing with one hand on Tanner's bicep. Then s/he waved the other hand right on through it. It did not move or ripple or register shiz presence at all. S/he pulled shiz fingers back, examining them on both sides. Then s/he turned confused hazel eyes right up at Tanner's face. "Huh!" s/he offered, intelligently.

Tanner went very, very still when Riesy stepped into his personal space, feeling heat creep over his cheeks and silently cursing his complexion, which would definitely not hide the blush.  At least she was paying attention to the light, and not him- her hand moved through it as easily as his had, and the light did nothing, glowing steadily at his side.  It also didn’t make any move to follow, staying firmly at Tanner’s shoulder, even when Riesy pulled her hand back.

“Huh,” he agreed, voice hoarse, and he wondered what the rapid thunder of drums and the soft whistle of a flute smelled like, was glad no one else had yet picked up on the too-telling soundtrack he couldn’t mute.  He swallowed hard, eyes fixed on Riesy’s because he didn’t know where else to look, and hoped like hell he wasn’t being half as obvious as it felt like he was being, because this was- so not the time or place.

Riesy dropped back onto shiz heels, rubbing shiz fingers together and looking at them, bewildered. S/he looked back up at him, eyebrows drawn together. "It felt like it was supposed to," s/he left him with, before walking off to meet Isabelle, still focused on the offending digits.

Isabelle put her face up to the sun and sighed a heavy breath. It was a good thing she hadn't stayed at the school. Left to their own devices this group would clearly get itself killed. When she opened her eyes she clapped her hands to get their attention and glared at the group.

"Yes, lights are warm. And sometimes cats are people. Can we move on now? We're losing daylight here people!" she announced.

Whether the light was fascinating or not didn't matter right now, and they certainly had no way of turning Eve back into a human but maybe the book might be able to help. If they ever got it...

"Yes, mom," Riesy said, looking up from shiz fingers with a smile that left shiz tongue between shiz crooked teeth. "Alright y'all. Nothing stranger than usual to see here. Let's keep movin'." S/he looked down at the cat. "You gonna keep up or do you want a ride?"

Lilybeth shifted her small pack on her shoulders, then looked down at the cat. "It's nice to meet you, Eve." she said.

Wow, she thought. She was from Haven and Troubled herself--it wasn't like she didn't know the world was a very weird place. But cats who were really people seemed like another level.

Eve meowed politely at Lilybeth in greeting, and then flicked an ear at Riesy and took the offer for a ride, leaping to shiz shoulder without using her claws. Ready to go forth and probably get themselves all killed!

“...Sure,” Tanner replied, voice still a little hoarse, color still in his cheeks, and it was a relief when Riesy stepped back, attention once more elsewhere. He glanced sidelong at the light, still at a fixed distance from his shoulder- despite Riesy having been the last one to touch it, it didn’t seem interested in following her. He wondered if he should be alarmed that it had apparently attached itself to him, because it had to be some kind of Trouble and Troubles were dangerous-

-though his didn’t seem to be a threat, just annoying, and talking to animals seemed, well, cool, and obviously Lilybeth and Riesy didn’t seem particularly bothered by their afflictions, either.

So maybe the light was just- a light. Why it had latched on to him and not Eve, who’d touched it first, or Riesy, who’d also been close, he didn’t know, but maybe- maybe it would be nice. To not have to worry about getting caught in the dark.

Their leader clapped sharply, drawing attention, and chided them about moving along- and burning daylight, and that was not actually something they wanted to do. He didn’t know exactly how far they were supposed to be going, but even short trips could become unexpectedly longer with the way things were, and no one wanted to get caught out after dark, flashlights, lights, or otherwise.

It wasn’t just the darkness itself that was a threat, once the sun went down.

So he shuffled his feet and took another glance at the light, which kept even with him as he moved back into line, and resolved to keep his curiosity to a minimum from now on.