To the anon review: Oh wow! Thank you so much! You said such wonderful things (esp about Evie, who's obviously a preshus bae OC to me, hahaha~ I hope you like this new chapter and don't mind the wait until the next! Thank you again for reviewing, EpicAnon (you should know why I use epic! XDD)!
Butter and salt sat heavy in the air. The pop and crackle of bags preceded snacks of all kinds filling the few bowls Evie owned, and Luke was huffing at the dining table, arms crossed, while the girls around him ignored him. Phoebe was crouched behind a tiny, rabbit-eared TV Evie had finally caved and bought; she told herself it was for the weather forecasts, but she knew it was for movie nights like tonight. At least, she hoped there would be more in the future. She had another crop about ready to harvest, and another right after that, so hopefully the splurge wouldn't put her too far behind. She reached out with her crutch from where she was sprawled out on her bed to poke at Luke's thigh. He turned to her with a pout on his face and an unseen-by-him sprite on his head.
"Feeling useless, bro?" Evie quipped with a gesture towards her cast. Luke rolled his eyes, but the sulk ended with a grin.
"I hauled it, I don't see why I got booted off setting it up!" Luke whined, easily moving from the table to the bed- well, to Evie. Evie yelped as Luke half-Nelsoned her and rubbed at her hair fiercely enough to generate static electricity.
"Ugh! No, stop! Geroff! Noooo!" Evie shrieked, hands flapped uselessly through the air as Luke crowed his triumph.
Renee tutted from the counter where she poured yet another bag of M'n'M's into a bowl. "Don't tease the invalid, Luke." Her lips pulled up into an equally teasing smile.
"I am not an invalid!"
Phoebe got up and dusted off her knees before turning to Luke to address his earlier whining. "You didn't set up the television set because it would've taken you twice as long," she replied with a sardonic little smirk in Luke's direction. "Now that it's done, and since this is Evie's house, she gets first choice of film."
Phoebe's brisk, no-nonsense commandeering had Luke finally releasing Evie and flopping back with a loud, groaning sigh. It quickly morphed into a guttural grunt when Evie elbowed his stomach. The spectacled woman raised her eyebrow at Evie, but she refused to be cowed, and just grinned shamelessly up at Phoebe.
"I vote for the original Star Trek. It's cheesy good fun. Doctor Who is an acquired taste," she said loftily, looking down her nose at Luke especially.
"If it doesn't have teleporters and space blasters," Luke paused to finger-gun and 'pew pew' in emphasis, "it's not a space show. Also, there's too much talking!"
Phoebe and Evie levelled identical judgmental looks at him.
"I d-don't know if I like these k-kinds of shows," Candace admitted, as if it were wrenched out of her.
"It's okay, Candy, I like the prequels for Star Wars and Evie-" the loud horrified gasp had Renee snickering, "does that every time. How about we do a guaranteed crowd-pleaser?" she suggested. Phoebe and Evie shared a glance, disappointment in their friends' tastes all over their faces.
"How about a scary movie!?" Luke suggested, swinging himself up into a sitting position, eyes wide and excited. Evie and Candace both paled drastically.
"The only scary movie I'll watch is Cabin in the Woods, or the Slenderman videos on youtube," Evie retorted firmly. Candace just swiftly shook her head without a word.
"There's always a Disney movie or… Evie, is this Princess Bride?" Phoebe asked, holding up one of the few DVDs Evie had actually brought. The rancher nodded eagerly.
"Of course! I have the book, too. Everyone likes Princess Bride! Right?!" Evie exclaimed. Phoebe and Renee were smiling in agreement, but Luke and Candace were just staring blankly at her. Renee caught sight of their indifference with shock.
"You… you haven't seen Princess Bride?" Renee gasped, looking between the two of them.
"Inconceivable!" Phoebe and Evie quoted at once, then grinned at each other.
"N-No, and it doesn't s-sound like s-something Luke would like," Candace protested gently. Luke screwed up his nose and mouth to the side.
"I dunno, I like Disney movies all right. But if it's just a movie about getting married, it sounds kinda boring," Luke said slowly.
"It is not about getting married," Phoebe told him, one hand on her hip.
"It's about the power of twue wuv!" Evie exclaimed, throwing her fist in the air.
"And miracles and pirates and My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!" Renee added, the other two women chiming in and shouting the last line in very poor Spanish accents before cackling and exchanging fist-bumps. Luke and Candace stared at them blankly. When all three grinned sheepishly, Luke burst into laughter.
"Let's do it! I gotta know what that all meant!" he agreed.
A loud bubbling noise interrupted them and they blinked in perplexed silence. They all exchanged baffled looks as the bubbling continued. Phoebe's eyes suddenly widened in recognition and she fumbled at her pocket for her phone.
"Evie! It's the compooter!" Finn shouted in exasperation from near the bowls of potato chips.
"OH! Oh, my skype!" Evie yelped. Phoebe discreetly shoved her phone away and cast around for the laptop instead. "I left my computer up, I wasn't- wait, can someone-?" Evie yelped, flailing and wriggling, trying to get to the edge of her bed. Renee hurried to the laptop that had been set to the side of the dining table. "Sorry, guys, finish setting up while I take this, okay?"
"It's no problem. We can go outside to give you some privacy?" Phoebe offered with a look to the others. Renee had already picked the laptop up and was carrying it to a gratefully smiling Evie.
"Huh, what? Why? What's Evie got to keep secret? She's just Evie," Luke exclaimed. Evie slapped a hand over his face and shoved him off the bed with a scoff. He yelped and fell in a tumble of limbs to the ground.
"Oh goodness!" Candace breathed, rushing to help him up since he was too busy laughing and groaning to do it alone. She knelt next to him and her hands sort of… fluttered uselessly in the air as he wheezed against the bottom of the bed.
The skype started up again and Evie's face lit up in excitement the moment she saw an all too familiar face on her screen. "It's okay, you all can stay. It's Cris and I've been meaning for a mutual meeting for a while." She clicked a button and waved at the screen. "Hey, Cris!"
"What'd I say about calling me that." Cristina retorted, sounding a little fuzzy and skippy and exasperated. Only the first two were because of the poor connection.
Luke popped up- making Candace gasp in shock and scramble back- and leaned into the view of the camera. "She does that to me, too! She's always calling me Lu. Do I look like a Lu?" he demanded.
Cristina stared at him, nonplussed, then slowly drawled, "Actually, you look like a complete stranger."
Not a few giggles erupted at that. Luke grinned widely. "I'm Luke!"
"Of course you are. He's exactly how you described. In that email you sent two weeks ago."
Evie flinched at Cristina's stern voice. "I told you I was getting busy. That mining was no joke."
"Especially after she went and-"
"SHUT UP, LUKE!" Evie screeched, barely managing to snag her pillow and smack it over his face. He 'mrrph'ed loudly. The laptop tottered dangerously on her lap before she snatched it again. "So how about these other peeps, yeah? Everyone say hi! Cristina, say hello to Candace, Renee, and Phoebe!"
The three woman physically in the room looked at Evie with various expressions of unimpressed. Phoebe was even peering over her glasses at the rancher like a disappointed schoolmarm which had Evie blushing and wilting. If she couldn't even fool her new friends...
"Evelyn Nimue Tallesin, what did you do?" Cristina demanded shortly.
Evie grumbled, "You're better at that voice than my mother."
"Cristina, yes? I'm Renee," the rancher's daughter interrupted, turning the computer around enough for the camera to find her. She waved and smiled cheerfully.
"Uh… hey? I know a lot about you, too, but Evie-" Cristina replied in utter confusion.
"Evie's not going to wanna tell you, but I don't mind tellin' you at all," Renee explained sweetly.
Evie grimaced. "That's playing dirty."
"She broke her leg last week while mining on a twisted ankle."
"She did- YOU DID WHAT!? I TOLD YOU IT WAS STUPID! Mining! Three months ago you were correcting my essays for fun and translating gibberish! And you're mining and breaking your legs now? If you skype me dead next time, I won't be surprised, fea!"
"Oi! That's just rude. I'm not your dog, Cris!" Evie whined. "And it was only one leg!"
"For now," Phoebe muttered, adjusting her glasses. Evie clasped a hand over her heart and gaped at Phoebe in betrayal. The jade-haired woman just smirked. "I'm Phoebe Kettles, by the way."
Cristina paused just long enough in her tirade to stare at Phoebe in confusion. "Oh, you're new. I haven't even heard about you yet."
"I'm the one that found her in the mine with the broken leg," Phoebe narrated succinctly. Cristina tch'ed loudly through the speakers just before her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Wait. What do you mean found?" she asked threateningly.
Evie gulped, but shook her head desperately at her friends. Her so called friends, since no one stopped Luke from leaning back in front of the camera and saying oh so helpfully,
"She went down there all alone. On a twisted ankle, too! My Pops calls me mule-headed, but I think Evie's worse."
"EVELYN!"
Evie glared at her ex-friends all smirking down at her as Cristina unleashed a torrent of Spanish-laced scolding. Until the scolding changed track and had Renee and Luke particularly looking uneasy.
"-you obviously need to come back to the city, since you can't take care of yourself. I'm going to buy you a ticket right now," Cristina finished off, buttons clacking loudly as she obviously began following up on her threat.
"W-We c-care about h-her!" Candace interjected, voice a little too soft. The clacking paused and everyone turned to stare at her. With a loud, nervous swallow, the bluenette continued, "She's not alone. And she p-promised never t-to do it again. I t-trust her and… and I d-don't want her to go. I think… I think none of us w-want her t-to go." She stammered to a stop and ducked her head, bangs falling over her pink face, her fingers fidgeting at the cuffs of her cardigan. Evie couldn't help the touched and ridiculously pleased smile stretching her lips into a wide smile.
"She did promise. As much as Evie needed to hear you tell her off, I don't want her to leave. Not when we're all starting to become such good friends," Renee agreed, with a tremulously hopeful smile at Evie.
"I'll lock her up in her house and then you can't take her!" Luke declared stoutly.
Cristina stayed silent, and Evie wished she could see the screen. All four of her friends- including even Phoebe, surprisingly- were looking at the monitor, expressions resolute and intense. Finally, a low sigh whooshed through the speakers. "Didn't I tell you, Evie? You make friends wherever you go. I'm really glad she has you guys. Just… I want more emails! No more waiting two weeks just to hide BROKEN BONES from me. Comprende?"
Evie gladly turned her computer back around and grinned at Cristina's serious, but resigned face. "Yeah, of course. I'm really sorry I forgot for so long."
"Good. Now, where's the other one you were telling me about? The foxy one?" the sly, teasing tone had Evie's face flushing tomato-red.
"Hey, look at the time! It's time for movies! I'll call you when I don't have guests over! I'm being a bad host! Love you! Miss you! Bye!" Evie shouted it all in one long rush of breath, ignoring several of Cristina's loud objections, and quickly snapped the laptop shut. "So, Princess Bride, right?"
Renee turned quickly to the bookcase to find the DVD, while Luke and Phoebe snickered at Evie's harried expression. Candace hurried to bring the rest of the snacks and drinks to the table. She peeked over at Renee, who was smiling happily with everyone and handing over the DVD, and bit her bottom lip anxiously.
...
The day before the Circus came to town, Evie and Candace made their way to Harmonica. Candace had admitted, after Evie's unrelenting questioning, that she had run out of yarn and she did, indeed, miss her grandmother. It wasn't too long before she'd gotten Candace to agree to the walk without Renee or Luke or even Toby to provide extra help for Evie. The fact that Evie's leg had miraculously seemed so much better went a long way to helping Evie's mission. She had visited the Goddess Spring every day since her first dip and every time she made her way out of the water, her leg felt stronger. Most of the time, she would forget her crutch in random places. Then, she and whoever was... babysitting at the time would have to hunt it down. The real problem- and object of her mission: find a way to get a free evening alone- was that she hadn't been able to hunt down that last moonstone rather than the stupid (a.k.a. really useful) crutch. The door to Sonata swung open to the boisterous greeting of,
"Howdy, girls!" They looked up to see Kathy sitting at the counter, a glass full of raspberry juice in hand and perched on Shelley's stool. She jumped to her feet and bounced around the counter, teeth flashing.
"Kathy! Hey!" Evie exclaimed, loping her way over to the blonde and giving her a bear-hug.
"It's been forever and a day it seems. That leg looks like it's doing pretty good, though," Kathy laughed, returning the embrace just as fiercely.
Evie replied effusively, "It is! I have an appointment with Irene next week for an X-ray. She wanted to wait two whole more weeks after that, but me 'n Candy convinced her to see me a bit earlier. As soon as I get this cast off, we need to do that karaoke night to celebrate!"
"Sounds good t'me. I miss my female influences," Kathy approved with a coy wink. "I've jus' got a bunch of old coots 'n Owen showin' up in my bar these days."
"Then, maybe we should have a girls' night at my place sometime," Evie suggested.
Candace spoke up quietly, almost wistfully. "That sounds nice."
"Damn right it does," Kathy encouraged with a smile at Candace. "I been missin' you, too, hon. I haven' seen you in a hot minute, either."
"I've been staying with Evie," Candace explained, wringing her hands.
"Hey, it's a'right. I know. It's jus' been a mite lonely comin' over here 'n not chattin' you up. I've missed my best audience," Kathy teased with a gentle squeeze to Candace's shoulder.
"I-If it's all right with Gra'mama, you should s-stay for lunch with us," Candace offered, with a quick, beseeching look sent Evie's way.
Evie didn't even have to think about it. "That sounds pretty great to me, too."
Lunch was an hour or two of entertaining small talk, made less "small" and more "larger than life" thanks to Kathy's additions. They scanned over year-old catalogs for accessories Candace and Shelley dreamed about ordering while Shelley brewed tea and mended Evie's rucksack despite the younger woman's protests (it was sort of falling apart at the seams already). After Kathy left, Evie eventually convinced Candace to stay with her grandmother that night. Renee already planned to come over that night so they could go to the Circus together; it wasn't too hard to persuade Candace to stay home and have a good night's sleep in her own bed rather than sharing Evie's with both her and Renee. It was just barely big enough for all of them, but it wasn't exactly comfortable.
Of course, Evie didn't plan on going straight home. She, instead, headed up to the Church. She had been unconscious by the time Luke and Renee had made it to the mine cart, and of course for the trip itself, but she knew the other side was near the Church. There was a path off to the left side of the Church that she'd seen at the Flower Festival, so she went straight that way. The black cat and Perry's behemoth of a Pyrenees came up to her for affection, but she unfortunately couldn't linger very long. When she reached the path, however, she stopped and slapped her forehead. Because it wasn't a path, oh no, it was a long flight of friggin' stairs.
"This is my life, these are my choices," Evie muttered darkly.
Her right leg had been the one broken, so of course the side of the stairs abutted with the mountain side was on her right. On the left was empty air and zero support. Gritting her teeth, she stuck the crutch under her left arm, leaned heavily against the cliff side, and carefully made her way down. She slipped a little about halfway down, but gripped the mountain with clawed fingers until she had balance again. The loud echoing cacophony made by her crutch clattering the rest of the way down by its lonesome had her grimacing in annoyance. She took a deep, steadying breath and gradually, carefully, slid down the rough wall of the cliff to her butt. Grunting and dragging her leg awkwardly to the side, she bumped and scooched down the rest of the stairs while cursing under her breath the whole way. Finally at the bottom, she found her crutch relatively unharmed, but a small orange dog was trying to drag it away with his sharp little fangs digging into the wooden armrest.
"Hey, hey! Drop it! Drop. It." Evie ordered firmly. The dog growled a little, but dropped the stick. "Thank you. Here, look, I'm nice, see?" Evie cajoled in a much softer voice as she crawled in very slowly towards the dog and the crutch. She made sure to keep her hands in sight and deliberately lift one in the air. The little mutt sniffed at her outstretched fingers, then- thankfully- wagged its tail cautiously. Evie grinned and patted its head while sneakily pulling the crutch away. "There we go, good boy… or girl. Whatever you are." It yapped excitedly and then raced away into the darkness.
With a groan, Evie struggled upright. In front of her across the short grassy clearing sat the mine cart, gleaming in the early evening light. Whooping in weary relief, Evie limped over, struggled to throw herself in without banging anything unduly, and froze in confusion the moment she got settled.
"How does it go? Okay, I really need to stop talking to myself. Finn isn't here to excuse it," Evelyn told herself with an aggravated eyeroll. After searching around a minute, she found the lever that worked as both the accelerator and the brake. Gripping it firmly, she hauled it back. There was an answering screeching groan that had Evie wincing in apprehension. Before she could release the lever, however, the mine cart all but leapt forward to rattle up the twisting rails. She screamed quietly through her clenched tight teeth with eyes narrowed against the whipping wind and spray from the waterfall as the mine cart whizzed past and under it.
"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" Evie cried in mounting fear as the end of the rails, and the face of the mountain, loomed up... too quickly. "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!" she chant-screamed as she shoved against the lever. Sparks flew all the tracks, but the cart shook and clattered its way to a stop that jerked her forward roughly as it smacked too hard against the guardrail.
Gasping and wheezing, Evie tumbled out of the cart in an unrestrained flurry of limbs and crutch. She leaned back against the side of the cart, ignoring the dew that now coated her back and hair, and clutched at her heart. Wide eyes stared blankly ahead until they slowly blinked and she began to laugh wildly. "I need to do that again. Holy cannoli, that was awesome. I think I have a death wish." She only laughed harder and harder, breath scarce and lungs squeezing painfully as she panted.
When she managed to pull herself back together, she glanced up to the sky to see the lingering blush of sunset along the peaks of the Garmon mountains. There was maybe an hour or two left to look for the last moonstone. Perfect. With positivity surging, she got back to her feet and began her search. Her hypothesis that the stone might be in the area by the cart was quickly proven wrong, and she knew the road and the path to the Spring were out. She stood by the shipping box, one fist propped on her hip, and looked around for another way to go. Surely, it wasn't on, like, the top of the mountain? Evie glanced up, surging spirits beginning to flag. It looked ridiculously high, and she wasn't familiar with the upper mines… As she gnawed on her bottom lip, her eyes caught on a staircase next to the blacksmith's right across the road from where she stood. Stairs that led… up? Her eyes followed the staircase to see an empty, dark-windowed home built next to the brick silo-looking building. She ran-staggered towards the stairs and then up, grunting and whining under her breath, until she crested the wooden walkway to the vacant house.
And found the moonstone just inches in front of her feet.
Her jaw dropped and she leaned heavily on her crutch. She actually rubbed at her eyes with her fist to gawk once more before she could believe she'd done it.
"The second Bell… we'll be able to Ring it, like, tomorrow. If my lettuces are done, anyway. Oh wow," Evie whispered in amazement.
Her rucksack dropped to the ground with a clunk, next her bum hit the ground- well… hit the man-like face on the moonstone, really, but she didn't wanna think about how weird that was. The Yellow Bell effectively fished out in seconds, she waited patiently for the last of the sunset to fade away and the moon to rise while comfortably sitting and rubbing at her cramping right leg. She almost nodded off, hands lying uselessly on her knee, when a quivering built just under her skin. Jerking awake, Evie stared down at the stone beneath her, now glowing bright yellow. It limned her whole body in its tawny glow, as if she'd been dipped in liquid sunshine. On her lap, the Yellow Bell shined like a small star with a heart of gold. Though the moonstone faded moments later, and the buzzing in her bones ebbed slowly away, the Bell continued to gleam.
"You must be ready at last," Evie whispered, stroking the surface gently. "Soon we'll wake you up, I promise, Collin." She packed it away, grunted and groaned as she got to her feet, and turned to face the music— a.k.a. Renee's scoldings for wandering around in the dark alone rather than coming straight home as planned. First, she'd have to stop by the Spring, though.
She wasn't procrastinating, really.
...
Evie grumbled as she set the lettuces- all of them perfectly grown and ready to sell- in her toolbox. She had to make sure to keep them separate from everything else and wrapped in old seed bags to keep them unmarred. Renee giggled from the doorway.
"You'd think I was dragging you to jail, not to a day of fun and excitement!" Renee ribbed, obviously vastly entertained by Evie's grumpiness.
"I finally have all the lettuces I need! I had a deal with Ms. Ruth!" Evie whined petulantly.
"And she won't be home. Or if she is, she'll pretend she's not," Renee replied with a smile. "Everyone's going to be waiting on us if you don't stop dawdling."
"The main show doesn't start until tonight, they can wait."
"With how slow you walk, it'll be evening by the time you get there," Luke drawled from where he lounged in a chair, the back two legs rocking precariously and boots up on the table.
"Ha ha, Carpenter, broken leg, therefore excused," Evie retorted with a gesture towards the cast.
"Ha ha, your fault, excuse unexcused," Luke mocked back.
Renee cheerfully interrupted, "If you're not helping, you're hindering, Luke." The still-teenager pouted exaggeratedly.
"Aw, but it's so much fun."
"Look, all done. Let's get going 'fore I punch him," Evie suggested with a groan and slammed the toolbox shut. Luke just grinned wide and dropped the chair to all fours.
"All right! If we show up early, we can see them set up all the animals. I think we can feed some of 'em," Luke proclaimed eagerly.
Renee opened the door for Luke and Evie to pass. "I think I remember you could ride the giraffe. At least, when I was a little girl, I could. Maybe it's only for children."
"A giraffe? Really? I've heard of camel rides, but… a giraffe?" Evie repeated, dumbstruck.
"Hey, yeah, I remember that, too! My Ma wouldn't let me, 'cause she was scared I'd jump off-"
"Yeah, I can see that," Evie nodded as Renee giggled. Luke shoved at her arm, knocking her off balance into Renee. "Hey!" They both yelped. Luke took off running backwards and laughing. "Watch out, Luke!" Evie added quickly, pointing over his shoulder.
"Huh, what?" He craned his next around, stumbling and almost falling headfirst into Toby. The older man quickly grasped Luke's shoulders to keep him on his feet.
"I only meant to catch you figuratively, not literally," Toby drawled sardonically.
"Dude, hey! Sorry! I never seem to look behind me," Luke laughed apologetically.
"Or ahead of you, since he's been walking up the road the whole time we've been walking down," Evie pointed out dryly. She limped her way to Toby's side and smiled up at him. For a moment, when his half-lidded gaze met hers, she couldn't help but remember their talk in the Clinic. A blush travelled over her cheeks, but she couldn't drop her eyes away. "G'morning, Tobes," she murmured, too quietly, too intimately, for the middle of the road and with two friends looking on.
"Good morning, Evelyn," Toby greeted in kind. His slow, warm smile had her heart constricting painfully. "I heard from Julius that you finally met him at the shop the other day. He's been singing your praises… very literally singing them," Toby told her with a small amused grimace. Evie burst into laughter.
"I don't know why, I'm pretty sure I was really rude," she mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck. "You're right about him, too. I can't describe him very well. I can't tell if I like him or not, either. Is he lazy, or thoughtful? Shallow, or kind? Who knows!"
"I believe he's a bit of everythin'. He takes the idea enigmatic to heart," Toby proposed with a smirk.
"As much as I admire him for returning for his aunt, I just can't forgive him. Luna won't be happy to see him back, either," Renee huffed, breaking into their conversation.
"Dude weirds me out. I can't ever tell if he's making fun of me or not," Luke butted in as he rubbed his nose. "He also dresses so nice and smells so good all the time, but I don' get why. When I tried to ask, he used some big fancy words and made me feel kinda stupid…"
"Maybe he thought you were making fun of him?" Evie suggested pensively. She turned to Renee, still thoughtfully frowning. "Who's Luna? Why don't either of you like him?"
Renee startled. Her eyes widened as she clasped her hands behind her back and swayed, guilt written all over her face. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have mentioned it. It's not really about me. It's okay if you're friends with him, really!"
"O… kay?" Evie glanced at Toby and Luke; neither of them looked surprised or confused. Must be something the town-natives knew about then. "Are we sure Phoebe isn't changing her mind?" she asked instead, trying to… subtly change the subject. (As subtly as a semi-truck changing lanes.)
"Circuses aren't really Phoebe's thing. She also wanted to go to the next town over to see a professor or some other students she met in University for her birthday," Toby assured her easily. "She called the Fishery so I'd know to tell you."
"That was thoughtful of her!" Evie said with a small smile, if a little disappointed inwardly. "I wish she'd told me she had a birthday so soon."
Renee patted Evie's back. "She probably already had those plans set up. She goes to visit her Uni friends a lot." Evie nodded, mostly reassured. It did make sense, seeing as they were still very new friends.
"I didn't know you and Pheebs were so close, man! When do you ever get up to Garmon and why don't you ever see me?" Luke demanded incredulously. Toby smirked and shook his head.
"I see Phoebe often because she tutors Paolo. They spend a lot of time together, actually, working on some physics or engineering project. She mentioned she would've told Evie herself, but a certain rancher still doesn't own a phone."
"It's the bottom of my extensive list," Evie sniffed haughtily.
With the conversation turning quickly to small talk, Evie wheedled everyone into walking along the beach so she could find more shells and the like. It was pretty hard to do so alone with a crutch, not that she'd ever admit it out loud. By the time they made it to town, they were covered in sand and laughing as boisterously as ever. Luke had given up on Evie's embarrassing floundering on the sand and had dared her into a piggyback ride. They two of them raced ahead, whooping war-cries and cowboy-esque shouts.
In front of Sonata Tailoring, Candace stood waiting with Kathy at her side. At their riotous and raucous approach, her eyes widened in gut-wrench of shock before she fell into giggles alongside Kathy's much less restrained guffaws.
"I do like me a good horse, but I ain't never seen one like that. Where'd you find 'im, Evie?" Kathy called out, hands cupped around her mouth to carry over their yells.
"He's one of kind, Brass. He might let you ride him, but you gotta break a leg first," Evie joked. She screeched and threw her arms around his neck when Luke spun abruptly, almost knocking her clear off.
"This horse can hear you!" Luke protested with a grin, teetering a little with self-inflicted dizziness. "Don't think I won't throw you down."
"Pffftt, as if. You're too sweet for that, Lu," Evie replied with a raspberry to his cheek.
"Eugh! Ew! You're gross! No, not the ear, what are you doing!" Luke wailed, jostling and dancing in place trying to escape her blowing raspberries wherever she could reach. He never did try to drop her, though, which proved her point and had everyone laughing. "That's it, this pony ride is over. Get her off me," Luke begged desperately.
"How rude!" Evie gasped, barely reining in her snickers. She eeped in shocked as arms wrapped around her waist and plucked her off Luke's back. Whoever it was wasn't quite as strong as Luke, which meant she fell back a little harder into their chest and tottered dangerously before catching her mostly-one-legged balance. The lack of boobs made it pretty obvious, but she looked back to check just in case. Her face flamed red seeing Toby's face so close to hers. "Th-thanks."
"I did it for the pony," Toby deadpanned. Thankfully, everyone was too busy laughing at his reply to notice how his arms lingered a second too long, or how slowly he pulled away.
Or maybe it was all in her suddenly woozy head?
She took the crutch from Renee's outstretched hand with another mumbled thanks, and they all made their way up to the Church. Evie lagged a little behind- not only on account of her limping gait- but most of them were too busy chatting animatedly about the past few days to notice her silence. A hand brushed hers, and Evie jerked her head up to see Candace at her side smiling softly. On Evie's other side, Toby walked just as quietly, an equally serene smile on his face. The young, would-be hero rancher couldn't help but sigh in exasperated fondness. She never really did get left behind with friends like these.
However… it was… nice. To never be forgotten, even for a moment. She did honestly miss her bits of solitude, but… So many times with her pack of friends in the city, if she wasn't leading the pack, she would be somewhere in the back, alone, watching as the rest moved too quickly to notice she had fallen behind. She had always known it was never malicious, and her friends had loved her, but too often she was the one who took a step back so the others could walk abreast. And no one would notice... or fall back with her. Evie rubbed at her strangely stinging nose and grinned over at Candace.
"You have a nice night with Kathy?"
"Oh, yes. It was lovely. After she went back to the Bar, my grandmother and I watched I Love Lucy reruns and drank tea. I do love staying with you, but it was nice to sleep alone in my own bed again," Candace confessed with a guilty fidget of her hands.
"Dude, don't I know it! I can't wait till my leg heals so I can kick you guys the frickle freckle out," Evie joshed while knocking Candace with her elbow lightly. The blunette giggled.
"Don't lie, Evelyn. You'll miss them both when they're gone. You're not a lone wolf," Toby called her out with a sly glint to his eye. Evie pursed her lips even as her cheeks heated.
"Arooo," she muttered sulkily. Both of them merely shook their heads and chuckled.
"Oh, my! Evie, Candy, Toby, look! They're here already!" Renee exclaimed. The three quickened their pace to enter the Grounds. Their jaws dropped in unison.
Sure enough, the Grounds had been entirely transformed, taken up mostly by a large red-and-yellow Big Top. Just to the left of the tent were train carriages with bars instead of walls. A huge golden lion lounged in one, taking that exact moment to stretch his jaws wide into a reverberating yawn, and baring his sharp gleaming teeth and red lolling tongue. Candace squeaked and ducked close to Evie. The next cage was filled with fearless chattering lemurs, climbing and swinging all over the fake tree inside and the metal bars. A small stall had been built to house a sleepy-looking zebra and a handful of large, white ducks. To the right of the Big Top, however, stood three empty areas. Each had a placard and the last one also had a green staircase leading… to nothing…?
As they approach, the front flap of the tent open and out waddled… Hamilton? In a ringmaster get up?! He was short and dumpy just like Hamilton, even many of his features were similar. But he seemed a bit younger, had dark hair and a ridiculously glorious handlebar mustache, and, to top it all off, a top hat. When he saw them all, he jumped back in surprise and then hurried forward.
"How exciting! You're all here so early! Just couldn't wait for the circus, could you? Welcome, welcome, I'm Theodore, the Ringmaster here!" the man introduced himself, shaking each of their hands in with dramatic eagerness.
"You look… so familiar…" Renee said cautiously.
"Why beat 'round the bush, hon? You look just like our Mayor," Kathy told him bluntly with her hands on her hips.
"Why, is that so?" His pudgy hands settled on the paunch of his stomach and he chuckled.
"Yeah, you do! Whoa, I didn't even notice!" Luke yelped in shock. Everyone else turned to stare at Luke with various expressions of derision and humor.
"Really, Luke? Really?" Evie muttered, smacking the back of his calf with the crutch.
"The m-mustache is… qu-quite d-distracting," Candace attempted to defend him helpfully. He grinned down at her and rubbed his nose, chuckling at himself. Candace flinched and blushed, ducking her head.
Theodore smoothed his fingers along it, all the way to the curl where he gave it an extra twist. "Oho, it is, indeed. Now, kids-" Toby huffed in annoyance. "-the show doesn't start until 6 o'clock tonight."
"We have to wait that long?" Luke whined.
"We c-could have… a p-picnic?" Candace offered quietly. A few heads turned towards her and she seemed to almost tremble.
"A picnic? That sounds fun," Kathy agreed with her chin caught between her thumb and forefinger.
"Oh, a picnic on the beach sounds lovely," Renee gushed happily. "We can catch some fresh fish and grill it!"
"And have blueberry juice!"
Toby also suggested, "I'm sure my uncle could donate some fresh corn to roast, too."
"This sounds like a party to me!" Evie cheered, fistpumping.
"Let's go!" Luke crowed, racing back the way they came.
"Oh, c-careful!" Candace exclaimed as she rushed after him with Kathy cackling and loping next to her, horse-like herself. Renee giggled and hurried in their wake.
"You can lean on me, if you'd like. Downhill is harder on a crutch." Toby offered his arm with a small, lazy smile.
"I've done it before," Evie replied, tossing her hair back. But she placed her hand on his elbow anyway. She missed the surprised amusement that arched his eyebrows high as he looked down at her gloved hand on his arm thanks to Theodore's sudden yodel of,
"Excuse me, yoohoo, young lady!"
Evie and Toby both glanced back with eyebrows high. "Um, yes?" Evie replied slowly.
"I believe you're Miss Evelyn Tallesin?" Evie's eyes widened even further. "Oh, don't look so scared, please! A man named Dale told me about you. I have a bit of a… conundrum and he suggested I ask you for help," Theodore chuckled.
"If you haven't noticed, she has a broken leg," Toby retorted, looking bewildered.
"It's okay, Toby, really. If I can't do it, I'll tell him. I wanna hear what's wrong," Evie cut him off, flapping a hand at him. Toby frowned, looking unconvinced. Evie sighed and rolled her eyes. "I promise. I don't plan on doing anything stupid and making my leg worse, scout's honor."
"Were you ever a scout?" Toby asked, his frown smoothing into a dry smirk.
"Psshhtt, I'm a riddle wrapped in an enigma. So who knows? I'll be right back."
"I'll be here, Evvy," Toby said with that strange little sardonic smile on his face. For some reason, Evie was blushing as she hobbled her way over to Theodore.
"You have good friends, Miss Tallesin."
"Evelyn, please. And they are pretty great," Evie agreed fondly. "What can I do for you?" At her words, Theodore suddenly looked weary, worried, and embarrassed all at once. It made for quite a sight. She wished Finn was around to see it.
"You must keep this secret, though, I suppose it'll be found out soon enough."
"What will?" Evie prompted when he hesitated too long.
"You've noticed those three empty places over there, haven't you?" Theodore began again haltingly. Evie nodded slowly. "They're empty because, well, my poor darlings have gone missing."
"What?!" Evie yelped in shock. His waved his pudgy little hands around, shushing her.
"They're not dangerous, truly. I'm sure they're scared stiff, the poor things. One is my dear Eunice, the giraffe. The other is Trunks, the elephant, and the last is Humphrey, the hippopotamus."
"Aren't hippopotamuses actually kinda dangerous?" Evie queried incredulously.
"Not my Humphrey. He's a big softie. They got loose and got lost and now they're probably hiding somewhere. They'll be hungry soon, too. If you find them, I know just the snack that will endear them to you and they'll come running home all on their own," Theodore explained. "I would stay, but I have commitments. If I don't make them, I won't make enough money to keep all my darlings fed. I'll lose my Circus!"
Evie frowned, biting down on her lip to keep from saying something rude. Something like 'maybe losing your animals means you should lose the Circus. Or have more people to help keep track of them!' "How could I possibly help?"
"Well, I can give you a good idea of where they might be hiding, and their favorite snacks to give them a bit of a boost, but well, you were recommended by Dale because you have the whistle. Don't you?"
"The whistle? Oh! You mean this one?" Evie dug into her pack and pulled the large orange whistle free.
"Oh, yes! That's it! Fantastic! I knew of it, and knew that Mr. Carpenter had it, but he said he'd given it you. I'm so glad you have it. My darlings will come forward when they hear it. Toss them their snack, and that's it."
"That's it?"
"Yes! Easy-peasy!"
"… do I have a time limit?"
"Oh, no, of course not. As soon as you possibly can would be nice, but I understand you have other duties and… certain hindrances," he eyed her cast. "They should be able to scrounge up enough food, the snack is more to calm them down. To get them to trust you."
Evie sighed roughly as he gazed earnestly up at her. "All right, I'll do it. Tell me about their hiding places and the snacks." Theodore cheered and tossed his arms up.
Just a short time later, with a piece of paper shoved in her pocket, Evie limped over to Toby, who was kneeling and patting an adorably chubby pink pig. It sprouted flowers from its nose as she approached before waddling away.
"I don't know if that means he likes or hates me," Evie snorted amusedly. Toby got his feet and held out his arm.
"Who could possibly hate you?" Toby teased, though his eyes were serious when they met hers. Her gaze dropped to her feet, but her arm linked through his. "What did he want?"
"I promised to keep it secret for now. It's a bit… of a mess. It's probably best I keep it quiet. I can take my time, though, so no worries I'll push myself," Evie explained pointedly. Toby actually seem to blush a bit as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"I shouldn't have done that. I know you can take care of yourself, and I know you promised m-all of us you'd be more careful. I should trust you, Evelyn."
"Evvy."
"What?" Toby glanced over at her. Did his blush get brighter?
"You called me Evvy. You've done it before, but I didn't really notice. You don't ever call me Evie, just Evelyn or… Evvy," Evie said curiously. Toby looked away.
"I didn't mean to- that must be strange- I won't do that, I mean, if you don't like it," he actually stammered over his words, sounding tongue-tied and embarrassed.
"I do. Like it, I mean. It's cute. No one's called me that before," Evie muttered, bumping his hip with hers. Which of course mean she overbalanced and he had to catch her and himself or they would've toppled over. They were both red-faced and laughing by the time they managed to get secure on their feet.
"Be careful… Evvy," Toby chuckled, almost shyly.
Evie glanced up at him, all too aware of his warm, bracing hand on her waist, and his other arm tense and reassuringly solid under her too tightly gripping hand. They were close enough she could feel the puff of his breath along her cheek and the heat of his body through his clothes. Were they… getting closer? Her heartbeat stuttered in her chest when his nose brushed hers; and the focus of his leaf-green eyes was making her head spin dizzily.
"Hey! Evie? Toby!? What's taking you guys so long?" Luke's voice bellowed from some ways away. They both jerked away just as he appeared at the bottom of the hill, and the two began walking down the road towards him, mute and flustered. "There you are!"
Barely pulling herself together, Evie called down, "Sorry, the Ringmaster wanted to ask me something. We're coming!"
"Well, hurry up, slowpokes. We're waiting on slowbro here to ask about that corn," Luke reminded them, jerking his chin at Toby as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Yes, of course. I forgot," Toby admitted apologetically.
The road evened out into where Luke waited impatiently. He led them towards the Fishery, recounting where everyone else was, and how they'd been waiting forever, while the two of them darted glances at each other and remained mostly quiet. Meeting up with the others pulled Evie out of her quiet state and she threw herself into the thick of things with a vengeance. Limping and hopping to and fro, joking and teasing, poking people (Luke) with her crutch, and generally being her outgoing self. But there were a few moments, when the group were all sitting around the fire chatting and eating without hurry, when her gaze would catch on Toby's; and what should have been an instant would draw out between them, time thick and slow as honey while that almost moment of earlier hung in the air between them.
Evening snuck up on them, and they all made their way back up to the Circus for the show. They gathered Maya, Owen, and an unimpressed Chase along for the ride. The show wasn't anything grand (which Evelyn knew to be on account of half his cast currently friggin' missing), but Candace loved the ducks, and Maya enjoyed the zebra and lemur (the latter girl outright gushed over how adorable the lemur was), while Luke, Owen, and Evie all roared their approval for the lion's act when it finished. Toby had lent Candace his straw hat to hide her eyes for the roaring, though she had peeked out during the act and whispered to Renee and Kathy that it was actually 'kinda cute' when its mouth was closed. Chase spent most the time clicking away on his phone, and Maya spent a lot of hers trying to cajole and wheedle Chase into paying attention and asking for his opinions on the animals and acts. A few other groups of people were in the stands with them, including Chloe with Ramsey and Paolo with Ozzie, but most of the audience was their group. It looked rather… empty around them. They all left together, loud and rambunctious, though Evie did look back at Theodore to see him wink conspiratorially.
"Man, that was awesome!" Luke exclaimed, slinging his arm around Evie and Candace's necks. "It wasn't so bad, right, Candy?"
"N-No," she whispered in agreement.
"It wasn't awesome, they didn't even have an elephant. And an act with ducks? It was just a time-filler. No wonder it hasn't been around here in years," Chase snorted, still gazing down at his phone. Candace looked stricken and humiliated just before dropping her head.
"Chase, don't be so mean. That zebra and lemur act was so cute!" Maya pouted.
"Yeah, Chase, don't be such a downer and look at the bright side of things. Life isn't made of woe, bro," Evie added sardonically. He glanced at her, brows rising.
"It was a lot shorter than I thought it'd be. I wonder why there wasn't a giraffe. I was sure there was one when I was a girl," Renee conceded with a sad frown. Evie tried to keep from wincing from a weird sort of guilt.
"We were kids, Renee. Maybe it… got old? Went to the safari in the sky?" Owen suggested. Renee, Luke, Maya, and Candace all turned to stare at him with pathetically heartbroken eyes. "Or maybe not!"
"How 'bout we don't talk 'bout poor dead giraffes 'n continue the fun part of the party?" Kathy interrupted with an eyeroll.
"There was a fun part?" Chase muttered. Toby clapped a hand on Chase's shoulder, startling the carrot-top.
"Being all together like this is the fun part," Toby said with a pleasant smile on his face, though his tone was stiff with warning. Chase rolled his eyes, but he did put his phone away. "What did you have in mind, Kathy?"
"Well, I hear Evie's been wantin' another karaoke night…" Kathy trailed off suggestively. More than half of the group whooped and cheered in agreement. "To the Bar!"
"To the Bar!" Luke, Evie, and Owen chorused.
"I d-don't kn-know…" Candace stammered under the shouts. Luke and Evie glanced down at her.
"You don't wanna hang with us anymore?" Luke asked piteously. Her face flamed red as she wildly shook her head.
"Candace, it's okay to come and not sing. No one will make you. I'll punch anyone who does," Evie vowed, fist in the air and bicep flexing. She was momentarily distracted when she noticed actual muscle flexing in her arm, and was surprised to hear Chase add in his own two cents.
"I don't really like singing or drinking either, but as stupid and loud as these guys all are, it's not so bad to be in the thick of it. You can sit with me and be as quiet as you want," he told Candace with a strangely gentle quality to his usually uninterested voice.
"Th-thank y-you."
"Awwwww, I just knew you had a soft spot," Maya enthused, jumping on his back to give him a violently affectionate hug.
"Not for you. Get off, you maniac!" Chase squawked breathlessly.
The laughter carried them all the way into the Bar.
A/N: Okay, so, after a bit of discussion with my beta, there's going to be an adjustment to the update days. I actually am the BUSIEST on the weekends, especially Friday/Saturday nights, with early work mornings Saturday/Sunday. (It's currently 1 am and i'm mad at myself because I meant to update before this late and TOTALLY FORGOT until, like, midnight. ;3; )
Updates with be on WEDNESDAYS. Every second Wednesday to be more exact. Because my Beta and I both had a very busy week coming up, we're going to need the extra time and probably will not get it done before the 1st of March. Hesitantly, the update will be
03/08 Wednesday (IF we get it done (since it's a lot shorter), then I'll post on the 1st. If we don't make it, I will wait until the 8th so I can get a routine going.)
I hope this long chapter tides of the handful of you enjoying the ride so far! 3 (and don't kill me for the fake out! ahahah~)
