There wasn't any wind, or the slightest noise. Megan kept quiet, eyes darting left and right in an attempt to comprehend this.
"Come on," she said, walking over to a nearby couple who had been having a picnic. They were still, the woman with her expression frozen in a joyful laugh, and the man with ketchup running down his sleeve, looking sheepish.
"What is this?" Megan asked. "It's like someone stopped time or something." Angel got close and snapped her fingers in front of the couple's faces but they didn't move. Not even a flinch. She turned to Moka with a devious grin.
"Hey~ Picnic couple. If you don't want to share your food with us then say something right now."
And predictably, they said nothing.
Snickering, she took the whole picnic basket and started rifling through it. She filched some sandwiches wrapped in plastic wrap, a couple apples, a few Debbie cakes, some chips, and two sodas. Once she was done, she put the basket back. Mistress stuffed the new items into her messenger bag, grinning at Moka, and then casually walked away.
"This is actually really cool. Let's go take more stuff!" Angel said with a laugh.
Megan looked at the couple anxiously, expecting them to react any minute. They didn't.
Slowly, a grin filled with malice painted itself on her mouth, and she followed after her new friend. The remote lay forgotten on the ground as they left. It was incredibly fun to take stuff, Megan discovered. She knew it was wrong, but she was really hungry, and her chocolate almonds weren't that filling.
They went to a convenience store and Megan took a big backpack belonging to a frozen girl, she emptied it of its contents and started filling it up with whatever struck her fancy at the store. Everything still looked anime-ish, but she had learnt to ignore that, as well as how her own body looked now.
Angel practically danced around, taking whatever she wanted. The woman filled her messenger bag with goodies and non-carbonated drinks. She stole a pair of new headphones and threw the plastic wrapping away. She retrieved her mp3 player and hooked them in. Seeing a girl wearing a very pretty necklace with an nice symbol on it, she stopped. Unable to resist, she went over and unhooked the clasp.
"Oh, I have to say, dearie," she said to the immobile girl she took it from. "This looks much better on me I'm afraid. I think I'm keeping it."
"That's a bit mean," said Megan, feeling a surge of pity. "But it does look better on you," she conceded, giving Mistress a thumbs up. "The fashion police would agree."
The store didn't really have that many books, which was what Megan would have wanted to take. And electronics wouldn't serve her, since she didn't have an mp3 like her friend. Instead she raided what they had in makeup, taking the concealer that always cost her so much in Switzerland with a vengeance. She also stole a lot of nail polish, and eye-liners. Some blush came along into her bag as well, but she didn't filch much mascara - she always smudged her lids when she applied it on her lashes. She sucked at that.
There were some clothes, but not much. Megan didn't want to spend her time trying on trousers to know which she should steal. She also didn't want Mistress to get impatient and decide to leave her alone. So, she just took a bright yellow sundress size Medium, with flowers stitched down on the left side, and some flip flops.
She put on the shoes, happy to not be forced to walk around barefooted anymore, but kept the sundress in her arms, not wanting to strip in the store, even if Mistress was the only one really 'aware' of it. A packet of chocolate brownies went into the backpack, but then it was too full - she could barely close it.
"Hey Mistress? I don't have any more space. How about we leave this place in case they wake up, and go eat the food somewhere else?"
"Oh sure~ But I have a little bit more room in my bag if you wanna put some of your stuff in there." The two women walked from the store with a spring to their steps, a testament of how fun this had been for them. Angel opened her bag for something to snack on, but noticed another object in there, that shouldn't be there. She gasped inaudibly, surprised. She picked up a very familiar remote.
"Didn't we throw this away?" Megan blinked, and smirked. "I knew you'd see the light. Now we can throw it away where it should be!" Okay, so not a priority, but who cared? Megan was just proud Mistress had decided to keep it anyway, to recycle it.
"What are you talking-...ya know what? Sure. And hey! Maybe we can sit across the street from an electronics store and mess with the tvs! This is a universal remote after all~"
Angel laughed and started pressing buttons. When her finger came to the 'play' button and pushed it down, there was a burst of sound that nearly sent them jumping. Everything that had been unmoving seconds before had returned to normal. People, noises, smells, even the wind was back. However, Megan couldn't understand what had triggered time to run its course again. Suspicious, she turned to the remote.
"Mistress, press on the number one, please." Angel looked at her oddly, but complied. Nothing happened.
She shrugged. "What about the power button?"
Megan, who had believed something would happen, said, "Yeah, try it if you want."
Megan didn't really care either way. She had thought the remote had somehow paused everything, and that pressing play was what had returned everything to how it was supposed to be, but apparently she was incorrect. If Mistress wanted to experiment, then Megan wouldn't stop her.
Angel carelessly pressed the power button. This time, something happened.
The colours, the sounds of cars passing by and people talking, everything seemingly bled out of existence, leaving them in a dark void, incapable of feeling anything, their senses dead to them. Thankfully, she could still see Megan and herself, because if that hadn't been the case, she might have reacted quite violently.
"What the hell's going on here?"
Megan was completely frozen. Everything was pitch black around her, and it was neither cold nor warm. She couldn't smell anything and there wasn't the slightest wind. In some strange way, it made sense. Before everything had stopped moving. Perhaps she had pressed something on the remote and now...
"I think it's the remote. Mistress, press power again, NOW."
What if they were stuck like this? Megan could already feel claustrophobia creeping in. It was a fear she had never really had, but in this environment she felt suffocated, trapped. What if they couldn't leave this place?! Her breathing was becoming shallower by the second, and she could see things moving around in the darkness. Her hands were fruitlessly trying to grasp at something, and her eyes were tearing up in fear.
Angel fumbled with the remote, trying her best not to drop it. Who knew what would happen if it fell into this darkness. It could disappear forever. She did as told and almost wept out of relief when everything materialised around them again, as if it had never left. Nothing out of the ordinary was going on, save for the whole cartoon thing, and how she could see everything with dark outlines. She smiled, figuring that if that button worked... why not others? She pressed pause and the surroundings froze again.
"Oh cool! My remote can pause people." She pressed play and everything went normal speed again. She frowned when she pressed fast forward and rewind. Nothing happened for either. "Well, that's a bit of a rip off."
"Can I try, please?" Her tone was pleading, and she gave her best puppy-dog look.
The woman thought it over and said, rather reluctantly, "I...guess so. But don't break it. That's the only one we've got."
She handed it over to Megan. The shorter girl cradled the remote, careful not to move it about too much. She tested a few buttons, but most didn't work, and the ones that did were pause and play. Megan didn't try power again - she was too afraid. She pressed on pause, and instead of pressing play, she pressed on the fast forward button. Now that last button didn't work on its own, but this time, everything advanced, but in slow-forward instead.
"Woah! That's actually pretty cool. I wonder if people can see us moving really, really fast? Maybe we both look like the Flash to them. That'd be pretty cool~ Ya gotta admit." Angel took the remote back and pressed play. She watched the people move passed them normally, happily.
Megan frowned. "I was holding my little brother before I came here. Do you think he came with us? Or maybe he stayed at home - I hope my dad finds him fast, because I wouldn't want anything happening to him." She bit her lip, contemplating the problem. They hadn't seen him by the park - was he okay? Maybe he really was still in Geneva.
Angel, slightly worried, thought about it. She knew no baby or small child could stay quiet while in an unfamiliar place, much less outside for so long in the elements.
"I didn't see a kid with you after I woke up. Could he have gotten up and walked away? How old is he?"
"He was born last December," Megan said. "He can sort of crawl, but after a few centimètres he'll start crying for attention. That's proof this isn't a crazy dream - he would've woken me up if it was."
She brushed a hand through her short brown hair, ridding herself of the few tangles there. The sky was darkening, and there were less and less people there.
"I think we should find somewhere to sleep. I'm not that tired, but I don't want to be outside in the dark. D'you know where we could go?"
Angel looked around the area, and saw that the bustling parts of the city were starting to light up colourfully. She readjusted her bag.
"Well considering I've only been in this city around a few hours I have to say no. But I don't think it will be too hard for us to find a place to crash, ya know?"
Megan had to agree with that. "How about we separate? You go in that direction," she pointed towards an area full of shopping centres. "And I can go there," she indicated towards a more industrial area. "One of us has the remote. We leave it on pause, and when a bit of time has passed the person unpauses. That'll mean we have to come back here and share what we found." It sounded like a good plan to her.
Of course, like all good plans, this one went wrong.
-x-x-x-
"I just don't know where to put our bags - I don't want to carry them around."
Angel nodded and looked down at her bag. It wasn't really bothering her. She was so used to carrying heavy things around. From kids, to groceries, to general labor. It was all the same to her.
"I can keep on carrying mine, it's no problem. And if you don't feel like carrying yours then I can carry it if you want. We don't want to risk someone picking it up and taking it." She thought splitting up would help them cover more ground and said so. "And... I like your plan, we'll find somewhere to sleep faster. I'll go try and find somewhere to stay while in the city area. How long until we meet back up? And you don't have a watch to tell time, do you? I've got my phone for that."
Megan winced as a thought hit her.
"The problem is, when in pause everything stops, even a phone. It wouldn't do me much good. How about, when you find something you unpause the remote. If you don't find anything and too much time passes by, you unpause it anyway." She looked at her surroundings, and, seeing a really tall distinctive white building a bit further away, pointed at it. "That's our meeting point. You see that building? It should be visible from nearly anywhere nearby."
Angel looked up at the building Megan was pointing out, committing it to memory. "Dang, you're right. So we'll meet at that building after a while. And be careful, just because things are paused doesn't mean you're safe. You could accidentally hurt yourself and nobody would be able to help you because they're… well, paused. Now do you want me to carry your stuff or..." The dark haired woman pointed at the bag Megan was carrying and then pointed to her back.
Megan looked down at her bag. "Wait a sec, please." And out came a pen and a notebook. She handed them to Mistress with a flourish. "Write down where you go, left turn, right turn, all that stuff. Then if you get lost, it'll be easier to come back. I'll do the same." She let her bag hand back down, and caught sight of the stolen flip flops on her feet. They were in American size, which probably meant that Mistress was still on her home continent, and Megan was the one that had moved from one end of the world to another.
She tried not to think of the implications of waking up on another continent with no idea how. And then she thought of how everything looked like something out of an anime, and that was enough to remind her of a very specific brand of fanfiction. Luckily, she wasn't called Mary, or Sue, or both.
"I'll just carry my own bag - you've already a lot in your hands. I'm not a wimp." She smiled. "I'll deal."
Angel chuckled and replied in a friendly tone, "Yeah~ Okay, didn't mean to offend ya. And I'll keep track of where I go and all." But then Angel's expression became serious. "Be careful. If you get hurt while time is stopped then you're screwed."
"Relax. I get it, we're in some kind of effed up anime-style town, anything could happen!" There was a certain amount of sarcasm to Megan's tone that was difficult to dismiss.
She waved at Mistress as she began walking in the direction where she would look for a temporary place to stay for them. "Press pause, and I'll go now! Unpause in two hours or so - estimate how the time passes. If you find something before, unpause then and I'll come back."
Angel waved.
"Okay, see you when I see you~" Then she turned and started walking towards the more busy areas. She looked here and there before rummaging in her messenger bag, retrieving the remote and pressing pause. Afterwards, it went back to its rightful place.
She wrote down carefully where she was going, as well as street names, and prominent land marks. She dodged unmoving people left and right and even picked up a new bag (backpack this time) because she saw so many cute and awesome things she wanted to 'pick up'.
As she was looking at a cute octopus keychain she happened to glance up and saw a giant jumbotron tv on a building. Its screen was frozen on an ad for...Bacon-Flavored Gum? She stared at the chibi pig holding the stick of gum before bursting into peals of laughter.
"Hahahahahahaha~! Oh god! That's hilarious! And it's called Bacgum? Oh god, I have to find some and try it."
She laughed and pocketed the octopus keychain. Accidently, Angel bumped into a person and knocked them over. She gasped, imagining how much that must've hurt. With effort, she managed to get him in a sitting position and with a grunt, propped him up to his feet.
"T-there we go mister. Good as new. I just hope your face doesn't hurt."
-x-x-x-
Meanwhile, Megan was walking towards the industrial area she had chosen look at for shelter. It was full of warehouses, parkings, with a few restaurants and similar stuff. She saw a few places that seemed good for the night, but none of them would be adequate in case it began to rain. She shivered. This place seemed so real and so like the stuff you saw on DisneyXD or Cartoon Network, just before a villain popped out. She didn't think that would happen, of course, but she still sped up to walk closer to a group of girls holding various shopping bags, afraid of anything that could potentially happen.
She pulled out a chocolate bar and began munching on it, looking left and right for a place to sleep.
Without much to do, she simply noted down where she had gone, writing 'left (big trash can full of food) - right (building with smiling face on) right (chattering girls that broke my nose)'. Satisfied, she continued walking until she ended up near the docks of this city (or was it a town?).
There was a big bridge in the distance. Maybe that meant she was in San Francisco or something? Was that even how the name was written?
Megan frowned. "Fransisco - Francisco..." Huh. Without google or a dictionary, she would have to try and guess it herself.
Whistling merrily to herself, she continued onward, towards an area that looked more lived-in.
-x-x-x-
Megan was raiding the cupboards of a nice house when time regained its original course. Oh no. Mistress has unpaused everything, and time was moving forward again!
She felt a cold sweat down her back, realizing with a sinking feeling in her stomach that that meant someone could catch her robbing their kitchen. Quickly, she stuffed everything in her bag and went back to the open window she had used to come in, trying to be discreet so that the occupants of the house wouldn't hear her.
"Who are you?"
Great, she thought, turning around. She had been discovered.
"Uh, nobody?"
It happened too quickly for her to react. She tried to scream, but she couldn't. She was clawing at the thick hands of the one who was now choking her to death, desperate for air.
It was an insect. A bizarre, humanish insect THING was attacking her! Big, with eyes completely black, no way to discern iris from cornea, there were two antennae, a face full of something resembling fur...
"F*ckin' leave..." she struggled out. "ME. ALONE!" She pushed him off her and ran, leaving her bag full of stolen food and stuff from her earlier shopping spree with Mistress.
The front door was locked, and she could hear the giant bipedal insect thundering after her. Desperate, she took the stairs upwards, to the first level.
"DAAAAAAADDYYYYYY!" came a hysterical scream from upstairs.
Megan stopped her ascension midway to block her ears, gritting her teeth at the headache-inducing volume. Unfortunately, the giant insect was used to such sounds and was thus unfazed. So he managed to catch up with Megan and his fingers reclaimed what they surely thought was their rightful place; curled around her neck.
Once again, she found herself gasping for breath as the monster shouted, "What?!"
The thing walked up the rest of the stairs and turned down into a corridor, opening a door to the left, all the while carrying the weight of the intruder that was Megan. Immediately, our protagonist's eyes were assaulted with a wave of pink, and in the middle of it, on a queen-sized bed, wearing only her underwear, a blonde girl was looking on in despair at the clothes strewn everywhere.
"Nothing looks good, daddy! I have a date first thing tomorrow and none. Of. My. Clothes. Look. NICE!"
Megan just whimpered.
"But, sweetie, you have tons of clothes! Look at this one - it's a very pretty dress, see?" the monster said, holding up said garment.
The blonde girl turned around, her expression somewhere between a sneer and something expressing utter disdain. "I bought that one three months ago! It isn't fashionable anymore! Daddy, I need-" she stopped talking when she saw Megan, and her sneer became a gigantic smile.
"Oh! Em! Gee! I was about to say I wanted to go shopping, but you've already thought about the problem! You brought another girl to give me advice!"
The thing holding Megan tilted its head to the side. "I did?"
Not very bright, that one, thought Megan.
The light haired girl strode forward with purpose and snatched the very blue Megan out of the monster's claws with a strength that had nothing to do with her deceptive diminutive form. "Thanks daddy!"
And then she slammed the door shut in his face.
It was incredibly relieving for Megan, however, just a few minutes later, she was already regretting being left with the girl.
"... and he was like, "We should go out sometime. I know this great place with a fantastic view." And I told him, "How about next Saturday?" And he said yes! But I don't have anything remotely good for this, and I have to look my best for Fang," Kitten cooed, her gaze faraway.
Megan was sitting very straight on the girl's bed, afraid to move a muscle. Her legs were clamped together and her arms were crossed in a very defensive gesture. "Hey... Kitten, was it?"
The girl turned. "Yeah...?"
Swallowing, Megan asked, "Your dad, what's his name?"
Kitten frowned cutely and smoothed out her pink skirt. "Why d'you wanna know? It's boring anyway. His name is Drury, Drury Walker. But since he looks like that he's been calling himself 'Killer Moth'," she said, even doing the air quotes with her fingers.
There was an almost imperceptible tremble in the brown-haired girl's body as she said, in a unusually subdued manner for herself. "Ah. I thought so."