*Chapter 8: Getting Reacquainted*
The weekend passed by uneventfully with Rem using part of the negatives from her film role in her camera to develop the pictures that Alice needed for her article. A rainstorm came and pelted the city that by the time Monday rolled around, the streets and sidewalks were slick with thin layers of ice. Rem silently cursed the frigid air as she rose from bed that morning. Alice was sure to turn up the heater in their dorm before hearing the chorus of chattering teeth.
On their way to their class homeroom, Alice marveled over the photographs that Rem had managed to finish developing.
"Wow Rem, these are great." the blonde girl said. "They'll look neat in the school paper."
"You're welcome, Alice." Rem mumbled.
The girls took their respective seats in the homeroom a few minutes later. Rem began doodling in her notebook as soon as roll call began. No sooner than it ended, the name sake and head nun of the school abruptly, but politely, entered the room to make an announcement.
"Good morning dears..." she greeted. "I am thrilled to announce the arrivals of three new transfer students!"
At first, a largely uninterested Rem kept to her doodling...until Alice made a comment.
"...Hey, it's that boy from the other night." she whispered.
"Huh?!" Rem sputtered, jerking her head up and nearly breaking her pencil.
"Please allow me to introduce Misters Yakko and Wakko Warner and Miss Dot Warner." Sister Margaret cheerfully declared as the three dark looking children beside her, all clad in the school uniform, gave big, wide, toothy grins.
Rem stared in total disbelief while all the color in her face drained away.
"...what the fuck?!" she squeaked, earning a slight, angry punch in the arm for being rude by Alice. "Ow..."
"Be sure to make them feel welcome at our school and lend them any assistance they might need to adjust." Sister Margaret continued.
Meanwhile, Rem sat in her seat feeling absolutely appalled to see Yakko and - she assumed - his two siblings actually here and in their school uniform. She especially didn't like it when Dot took a seat in the desk in front of her while the brothers took the desks diagonally behind her. It was almost like being in a rowboat out in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by sharks.
...well this sure is a shitastic start to the week.
The Warner Siblings on the other hand, continued to sit cheerfully in their desk, behaving like model students.
XXXXXX
Rem's hopes of everything remaining normal were dashed less than twenty minutes later when she found at least one of all the Warner Siblings were in every one of her classes she was taking.
...Over five hundred students in this entire god damned school and somehow, they managed to get the same schedule as mine?!
The teen certainly didn't like the way they were watching her. Almost like Secret Service to the President of the United States, or MI6 to the Queen of England. And she didn't even give two rats asses about politics. The way they also acted somewhat familiar towards her really irritated her, especially when tiny red flags started popping up in her head every time she saw them. Her subconscious kept nagging at her that she somehow knew them from somewhere and that she should make a formal introduction as soon as possible. Rem bluntly ignored it. For heaven sakes, there was no way she could've met them before in her life.
Throughout the week, Rem had been doing her upmost to try and avoid them, at least when Alice wasn't around. Her blonde dorm mate took the wishes of Sister Margaret as gospel and did everything she could to make certain they were followed. Rem, much to her chagrin, found it easier to get away when there were small crowds of other students around because being curious, they would ask the siblings questions about their native homeland, and the like. So in effect, she was kind of forced to mingle in with crowds, something that she loathed. Alice on the other hand, thought she was being melodramatic.
"Don't you think you're being just a bit silly about this?" she said. "I mean it's not a crime to get to know other people."
"I'm sociably awkward." Rem snorted. "Sue me."
"Well, that much is obvious. But I don't see what the big deal is; you didn't have a problem with me."
"...you're different. And you're not a guy."
"Dot Warner's not a guy either, what's your point?"
Rem suppressed a growl. Of course Alice was right, but she didn't want to admit to that. Especially after noticing another odd aspect to the Warners.
That Monday during lunch period, they were nowhere to be seen in the cafeteria. They couldn't possibly be picnicking out in the courtyard like some of the other students because it had rained that afternoon. The following days after that, they suddenly turned up there at lunch, but their table was largely empty and devoid of food. Although Rem could argue that the cafeteria cuisine wasn't quite the best in the world, it wasn't bad enough to skip lunch altogether.
Finally, on a Friday afternoon, Rem found solace in the library as she looked up research material for a History paper. The subject matter she had chosen would be regarding Japan during the Waring States era of Japan. The teen went through various encyclopedias and world history books, mentally complaining about the fact that she wasn't allowed to use Tikipedia on the internet. So what if everyone on the planet could edit the content? It was certainly more reliable than ten-year-old material.
"So, you into samurai's?"
Rem let out a sharp, startled gasp when a familiar voice suddenly broke the silence. Jerking her head to her left, she saw Yakko simply standing beside her with that same smart aleck grin on his face.
"...wha...what the hell do you think you're doing here?!" Rem sputtered.
"You know, you shouldn't use naughty language like that in Bible School." Yakko quipped.
"For your information, we only have short bible lessons twice a week. I wouldn't fully equate that with an actual Bible School."
"All the same..."
Rem could feel her anger already rising. More directed towards herself for not being to catch onto his presence in the library before he got to her.
"By the way, I'm curious..." Yakko continued pleasantly. "Would your name happen to be short for Renezmae?"
Rem froze solid on the spot and tensed up. Yakko could easily hear her heartbeat accelerate.
Now Rem could easily just deny everything and say that she had no idea what the hell he was talking about. But her name was rather...unique and not very common. It certainly wasn't something you'd pull out of a hat.
"...okay, how did you find out about that?!" Rem murmured in a very demanding voice.
"Well, call this a long shot, but...eeeeeehhhhhhh, I'm guessing that's what 'Rem' is short for." Yakko quirked.
"...or you're a freaking stalker."
Although he was just pushing her buttons this whole time and seeing how she'd react to his suggestions, Yakko felt rather insulted to be accused of such a thing. Even though he had actually done it plenty of times before when hunting, this was different. Probably because it was regarding someone he cared about.
"...You really think I'm the kind of person who pulls those kinds of stunts, Roth?" he replied a bit admonishingly.
Now it was Rem's turn to feel she was being falsely accused of a crime she did not commit. Not only that, but the somewhat stern expression on Yakko's face rang a few little bells in her head. She had seen that face before...somewhere, but couldn't place it. Nevertheless, she got really angry at him.
"...maybe, since you have a knack for popping up out complete freaking nowhere." the teen hissed in a low voice.
Rem slammed the book she had in her hands right back onto the shelf and took off. To her relief, Yakko didn't follow, although he sincerely wanted to.
'Patience, Yakko...' Dot mentally tutted from afar, after hearing his frustration. 'Remember what Scratchy said...'
Yakko could only emit an aggravated moan.
XXXXXX
Rem spent the rest of the afternoon in her bedroom, silently raging. She had started to feel like a bit of a jerk after talking to the 'new kid' like that. Trying to justify her behavior as being defensive against someone who may or may not be harassing her, didn't really help much. Rem could already see Alice lambasting her for not setting a good example for the new students walking intrepidly into the hallowed halls of Saint Margret, Mary, Anne, June and July's Boarding School for Youngsters.
Actually, Alice was keeping her distance from Rem, sensing her bad mood. For her, it was better to let Rem vent it out before feeling ready to share her problems with the blonde teen. That was always the way it happened, after all. Rem went to bed without any supper, not having much of an appetite.
XXXXXX
Rem woke rather early the next morning to the sound of pattering rain against the window. Cracking an eye open, she saw a dull blue grey light pouring in from the openings of the curtains. A complete over cast cupped the sky, and allowed celestial water to shower down onto the city below. Rem felt a chill go up her spine just imagining how cold it must be out there. Then she glanced at her digital clock which read six-thirty AM. Another glance at the wall calendar told the increasingly grouchy teen it was Saturday.
...the hell am I doing up early on a Saturday?! I'm supposed to be sleeping in, dammit!
Rem tried drifting back into slumber but wasn't any use. Once she was awake, even slightly, her brain was kicked into high gear. Groaning and rubbing her eyes, she got out of the warmth of her bed and walked towards the drenched window. Not only was it raining, but a thick fog had rolled in from the Pacific Ocean. Without touching the glass, Rem could already feel the frigid temperatures from outside. Although she was used to this sort of climate, Rem still hated it. While trying to not wake her dorm mate, she set out for the common room to make herself a nice warm bowl of oatmeal with an equally hot cup of Joe...only to be hit with an unpleasant surprise.
Not only were they out of oatmeal, but there weren't enough grounds of coffee to even fill a liter in the pot.
Rem proceeded to ransack their cupboards in search of an alternative breakfast food and a spare can of coffee. In addition to turning up empty handed, she discovered that they were also out of other essentials like cereal, soup, and more importantly, ramen.
...okay, when the hell was the last time any of us went to the store?!
The teen growled at the fact that not only she ended up waking early on a Saturday morning, but now she would have to go shopping for provisions in order to be able to function for the rest of the day. And that would require facing the brunt of the cold Autumn weather.
...life hates me.
xxxxxx
About an hour later, when the rain slightly let up and the daylight became brighter, Rem set out for the local supermarket. Usually, she would have Alice tag along, but the blonde teen was still sound asleep, and Rem didn't want to wake her. Upon going past the churchyard, she was spied upon by a fellow sitting inconspicuously in a limo parked across the street. When he saw her pass by, he started scrambling for the car phone and fumbling with it to dial a number.
"Yo boss!" Fowlmouth's voice sputtered. "Lady Amnesia is on the move!" Then a few seconds later, the waddle under his beak fell off. "Oh, crap."
The fog that rolled in earlier that morning remained quite heavy where it was rather difficult to see four or five feet ahead. Rem was guided by the streetlamps and the traffic lights to find her way around. But she was so focused on trying to get indoors again, that she didn't quite watch for oncoming traffic. Upon crossing the street, a large shipping truck barreled through the road, giving Rem virtually no time to even attempt to get out of the way. Suddenly, before the three-ton vehicle could touch her, Rem felt something as strong as steel coil around her and lift her off her feet. The next thing she knew, she was on the other side of the street...with a familiar looking face.
"You know, it really wouldn't kill ya to look both ways before crossing."
Rem was too busy trying to catch her breath to even hear a word of Yakko's stern rant.
"...wha...where the hell did you come from?!" the teen cried. "There was no one else around except me and that dude on the bike."
"Well that sure is a fancy way of sayin' 'thank you'." Yakko replied as he placed his hands on his hips.
Rem was about to snap back in full force but stopped herself when she realized that she could've easily ended up as street pizza.
"...thanks." she grumbled.
"You're welcome." Yakko said passively.
Rem scowled and continued on her way, trying to ignore the toon boy that trailed behind her.
"So, where ya rushin' off to this morning?" Yakko inquired pleasantly.
"...I don't recall ever giving you permission to follow." Rem growled in a low voice.
"Just a simple question."
Although he quite thoroughly aggravated her, Rem couldn't quite come up with a legitimate reason for being rude to him. Clinging to the stalking gig was a bit childish now. Despite of the many odd and out of place aspects attributed to him, he didn't seem to be the type that gave her a bad vibe.
"...grocery store." she muttered. "My dorm mate and I are out of essentials. Like coffee."
Rem didn't see it, but her response left her companion with a very dismayed expression.
"I don't know about you, but...eeeehhhhhh, you probably shouldn't drink that stuff. Might stunt your growth." he quipped.
"I don't care, I freaking need it." Rem ranted. "That and-MPH!"
Before she could finish, Yakko had slapped a strip of tape onto her maw that had the word 'CENSORED' stamped across it.
"I think we can also do without the potty mouth." he scolded, placing his hands at his hips.
Rem glared at him and peeled the tape off.
"...GAH! Why do you care so much?!" she exclaimed angrily.
Yakko nearly answered back but hesitated when he remembered that Rem had a real bad case of amnesia.
"Just because..." he answered simply, shrugging his shoulders.
Rem emitted a growl of frustration and continued on her way without him.
...freaking asshole.
All too soon she rejoined by the elder Warner which didn't take much for him to catch up.
"Are you still here?" Rem sighed.
"Well, you seem like a magnet for bodily harm so...eeeehhhhhh, I think I'll tag along to make sure you don't wind up as road kill."
"Oh, please. I don't need a-you know what, I've a few questions for you, Mr. Probes-A-Lot."
Yakko grinned in amusement.
"Okay, shoot." he said.
"First off, how did you know that Renezmae was my full first name?" the teen began, a bit accusingly. "Second, how is it that you're still walking around?!"
Her second question actually stumped him.
"Uhhh, I don't follow..." he said.
"Your body temperature is below freezing, neither you or your brother or sister have touched any food; why are you not stuck in a freaking morgue at this point?" Rem yammered at him almost in one breath.
If the elder Warner still had a beating heart, his pulse would be going up a notch. For someone who appeared to be thoroughly mortal, Rem was quite observant. Most people, even the ones who did make a double take, would wave such things off or their minds playing tricks on them. Even though Yakko was absolutely certain that this girl was their long, lost sister-member it was just a rule that vampires don't candidly share their secrets with mortals. The only exceptions were if the person was completely trustworthy or a familiar working for their behalf as well as having an iron clad agreement to be changed at some point. Of course, Yakko would consider Rem to be trustworthy...if she didn't have that amnesia problem.
"No need to worry your lil' head about that, Miss Roth." Yakko quirked, patting the teen's head.
Rem gave him a scowl, realizing that she wasn't going to get a straight answer from him on that subject. She continued on her way with Yakko closely following beside her.
"So, I assume your 'folks' sent you off to boarding school, huh?" the elder Warner said, sort of in a sympathizing tone.
"More like the state of California sent me here." Rem muttered.
"Say what?"
"I don't have any folks. I've been an orphan since I was eight. The only 'family' I've really got is Alice...and the head nun."
Yakko arched his brow. This was just getting more interesting by the minute. Were all those lectures of fate and destiny that the Brain nearly bored him and his siblings to double death with actually a thing? Or was this all sheer coincidence? Either way being a ward of the state sure did make things a bit easier. It wouldn't take much for the Brain to alter public records. But they would cross that bridge when they got to it.
A few moments later, they reached the local grocery store. The smell of the freshly baked bagels and friend donuts coming from the small bakery a few feet away made Rem's stomach audibly growl.
"Hungry, are we?" Yakko teased.
"...gonna buy the whole dang store by the time I'm done." Rem muttered again.
While he was joking, this all but confirmed to Yakko that Rem was very much mortal as the guy running the register at the front.
"Can I just ask you one more question?" Rem suddenly and hesitantly asked. "Even though it's gonna sound weird..."
"Try me." Yakko replied with a grin, humoring her.
"...Do I know you from somewhere? I feel like I've seen you and your brother and sister before...not counting the stupid snooze fest from last week."
Yakko stared at her intently, hoping against hope that her past memories were starting to actually surface.
"You tell me..." he asked pointedly before making a goofy pose. "Do I look familiar to you?"
Rem squinted in frustration. Something about him was ringing a bell in her head. Now there were two, but she still couldn't place him. It was starting to give her a headache, and Rem felt rather ridiculous about even making such an inquiry.
"You know what? Never mind, forget I said anything..." Rem murmured, feeling incredibly stupid.
Now Yakko was feeling equally frustrated. But at least there wasn't any more doubt that this was indeed his coven's missing sister-member.
Suddenly, the two-along with everyone else in the store-were interrupted by a rather loud banging on the store's windows. It was Mr. Director, clad in an unfastened straight jacket and his hair unkempt.
"Oh mister master boy, I'm baaack!" he cheerfully and dutifully called out. "FROY LEVAN!"
While Rem silently stared, wondering what the hell she was even looking at and the other shoppers were murmuring to each other about the strange man at the window, Yakko was not at all pleased. What made it worse was police sirens were heard just seconds later.
"Oh no, the angry men in blue are after me again..." Mr. Director whimpered.
"Eeeeeeehhhhh, hold that thought." Yakko told Rem.
Then he abruptly conducted a huge whirlwind, prompting the teen to cover her face with her arm. The next thing she knew, Yakko and the odd-looking man were gone. Rem blinked a few time's on total bemusement.
...okay what the hell just happened?
xxxxxx
Yakko and Mr. Director next appeared in an alleyway with the police units still hot on the latter's heels.
"Now I ain't askin' for much...but do you think that maybe you could, oh I don't know...BE A LITTLE MORE INCONSPICUOUS?!" Yakko roared.
Mr. Director cowered underneath Yakko furious countenance.
"Sorry if I angered you mister master boy." Mr. Director apologetically whimpered.
The elder Warner casually lifted the man up by the collar of his straight jacket.
"You just park your carcass back in the funny farm, and we'll get back to ya." he ordered, tossing him backwards.
Mr. Director landed back onto the concrete with a tumble having a ring of stars encircle his head shortly thereafter.
"Okay...I will be patient mister master boy!" he sputtered as he crawled back towards the street. Then he straightened himself out and started to sing again. "When you want to scream, put away that frown, and never be scared of a-URK!"
Mere seconds later, Mr. Director was pummeled by eight policemen and his straight jacket restrapped. As the unfortunate man was being placed in the back of a padded police van, Yakko turned to see his brother and sister standing right behind him.
"Having difficulties, are we?" Dot inquired matter-of-factly.
"Not really; I've got some good news and bad news." Yakko replied.
"Oh?"
"The good news is, that it's definitely her, one hundred percent. The whole memory thing just needs work. Bad news is that the Brain was right; she's about as mortal as one can get."
This made the uncomfortable suggestion that they would eventually have to turn her at some point all the more a reality.
"Well...I don't suppose she could be the coven's Marilyn Munster." Dot suggested.
"If we can get those memories back." Wakko added.
"I'm gettin' somewhere." Yakko said. "We just need to do a bit more probin'."
The elder Warner tapped his chin in thought until a grin appeared on his face.
"And I think I know where to start..." he quirked.