Notes: Since this is written by two authors, I dare you to guess which pov is mine each multi-pov chapter.
Chapter 3
[Anita pov]
Hearing the doors to the school close, Anita relaxes against the school sign at her back. They found it! This is their school! The courtyard looked right, that might have been the math teacher (or was she just the drama teacher?), and that was definitely the Coach!
Anita can't believe it! She just met (in a way) an animated character, that's real! He has to be an animated character too, only in tv shows and movies is the Gym teacher that massive.
This is amazing.
In response to Hanna's query, Anita turns to her, a large grin plastered to her face as she does… But then she sees Hannah's downcast expression. There's also a waver in the other's voice and Anita's smile quickly slips away.
Isn't this amazing?... Well it is terrifying too but…
"Well, this means it's real, right?," she starts, sounding uncertain but also less shy from their discovery together, "That we really got kidnapped and sent to a cartoon universe, with real trolls and magic…"
As she continued her eyes slipped away from Hannah, fully realizing the ….scary bits of what's happened.
"Honestly?" Hannah says beside her, voice soft as they both contemplate what they had seen so far, "I can't tell if this is all one big dream or not."
Looking to the other girl (and kidnap victim), despite her own fears and worry, Anita feels a sudden strong need to comfort her.
Scooching across the grass a little, still hidden by the sign behind them, Anita puts a hesitant hand on Hannah's shoulder. Hannah seems startled by this and looks up. Anita can see the worry there and smiles gently, "I really don't think this is a dream, but it's ok, we will figure this out, yeah?"
Taking her hand back, letting it fall once again to her lap, she awkwardly looks away and starts to ramble a little. Anita doesn't move away though. "I mean, you can only dream of people you have seen before anyway, you can't make them up.."
Hannah still appears to be skeptical, yet does look a little touched. For Anita, that's good enough at the moment. She's coming to find herself very grateful that she wasn't sent here alone.
For a while they stay behind the arcadia oaks school sign, figuring out what to do next in their little misadventure...
And then they spot the bike racks.
One thing they both know about this show, and Jim and Toby, is that they ride to school.
It's quickly decided on that they will wait here, as the two main characters will have to leave school at some point and that will be their chance to….to what?
Having been waiting on the grass for a while now, Anita wonders what their plan actually is. After figuring out how to spot them they hadn't really spoken further….
What would they do? Go up to them? Tell them what happened? They're just teen boys! What if it's too early and he's not even the trollhunter yet? (Then again, meeting Kanjigar could be very cool…) Maybe they would follow them? Aaanndd….. do what?
Thinking about it has Anita holding her head against her knees with a small groan. She hates not knowing what to do, not having a proper plan.
Sitting in the grass, knees up to her chest and resting her head on them, Anita takes stock of the day so far. She almost died via a car; proceeded to wander 'round an animated town with a stranger (she sort of just went with them not knowing what else to do); and now that they have proof (kinda) they wait.
Sighing to herself, she rubs her head on her knees in defeat, trying to ignore the grumbling coming from her middle, and hopping its quiet enough Hannah doesn't hear. They're gonna die here, starve to death, or freeze during the night, or get attacked by a troll. Why did that ghost King think they were any good for this? She doesn't think she is.
Lost in her depressing thoughts Anita is startled when a van drives past the school, getting far to close in her opinion considering that morning's scare.
Looking round she can see Hannah had been distracted by the van as well. Anita is about to turn back to their current target when Hannah says, "That's a food truck."
Her stomach gives a loud opinion on the nearby food.
Embarrassed Anita looks to Hannah, knowing it isn't her place to ask for anything. They're here together but she can't exactly contribute to the bill. She shouldn't have worried though. Hannah starts to stand and nods over to the van, digging out her meager money, "Think we could get food now, we're both pretty hungry. Come on."
Anita doesn't hesitate, leaving her post at the sign she follows Hannah to the food truck eagerly. She's been starving for a while and is excited by the prospect of food.
The truck isn't much to look at, but it smells amazing as they go over. Anita hovers behind Hannah as she orders from them. Anita is very, very thankful that they had a little money between them, and that Hannah was willing to share.
"Isn't that name familiar?" Hannah questions quietly, looking at the menu while waiting for her order, "Diablo Maximus?"
"I…I don't know… I'm not good at names." Anita replies. She feels rather useless when it comes to their research. It seemed like Hannah knew a lot more about Trollhunters than she did, and her bad memory for names is just putting her further behind. "Couldn't that be a name in lots of places though? Maxiumus seems kinda generic?"
As they discussed the taco's name and wait for their food together, a bell goes off behind them. Unfortunately, Anita is too engrossed in her thoughts and watching the food be made in the small truck, and Hannah didn't seem to notice the familiar sound of a school bell either.
They don't even notice as a short boy comes over and orders something for himself.
Anita is getting frustrated by their search. Everything could be a coincidence, at least as far as Hannah is convinced... But it can't all be coincidence. There is too much that seems familiar for one town, and they had seen the coach! It just had to be true.
Looking back at the School in thought, it takes Anita a moment to notice the stream of kids leaving the school. They missed the bell!
Turning around quickly to Hannah, an explanation on her lips, Anita almost gives herself whiplash as she screeches to a halt and watches the short boy in the red sweater vest leave the truck.
She knew that terrible hair cut anywhere!
Watching silently, Anita pats Hannah's shoulder, her eyes transfixed on the teen boy walking over to his taller black haired friend.
"I-I-It's-" Anita stutters watching the kids as they get on there bikes.
As Hannah looks round, Anita can just point, squeaking out in awe, "It's Toby and Jim…"
[Hannah's pov]
There are only so many details one could ignore before denial is no longer an option. The two boys, that have already mounted their bikes and are heading off in the opposite direction, manage to break through Hannah's skepticism.
Even with the extreme differences between reality and a cartoon's 3D animation, the pair are unmistakable. From their relative proportions to their clothes and to their hair styles, every detail screams the hard truth Hannah had been trying to suppress. There is no place in her dreams for such a drastic and yet perfect change.
She finds herself taking a few rushed steps forwards before the boys are riding away and out of sight. Her momentary impulse to chase is subdued by just how tired she is…. How infuriating.
"They were right there… and we missed them." Hannah sighs, turning back to face Anita.
Damn does she feel foolish for telling Anita that she thought all of this could possibly be a dream. She had basically told the only person who could understand her situation that they didn't exist. Then both women had paid no attention to the school, allowing Jim and Toby to slip on by (not that they really had a plan on what to do once they found them, but still).
The other woman shyly brushes a stray hair from in front of her glasses with a sigh of her own, a worried frown on her face. Anita looks to be just as worn out from this stressful morning, and Hannah is glad that her downcast gaze is directed off to where the boys vanished instead of on herself.
Before Hannah can apologize for paying more attention to the name of a taco/burrito sauce than to the school, a cheery voice calls out, "Your food, miss!" and offers up a single wrapped taco (the largest one she could afford because it was on sale).
Anita sticks close to her side when she goes to accept their order in exchange for what little Hannah had in her pocket, but not too close as to be intrusive. It's enough to hint that the dark brunette is hungry and yet kind enough not to demand that she share.
"Let's find a place to sit down and eat" Hannah puts on an encouraging smile and continues, "I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted." Not to mention that she also wanted to have a decent conversation with her new companion. They hardly know each other and it would be nice to plan out what they were going to do from here on out. Were they to do as the specter said, or simply try to survive and find a way back home.
"Sounds good. Where would you like to…" Anita glances around, seeming to realize their surroundings "….sit?" she asks.
Neither of the two want to stay by the school, especially since there is a chance that coach Lawrence might spot them again… But where to go? Hannah doesn't want to walk far and kinda wants to be someplace secluded so they could talk freely without a passerby listening in on their conversation and thinking them crazy- "How about under the bridge?" she suggests.
The other girl looks amused at the suggestion but only shrugs in agreement, She doesn't seem to want weigh too heavily on where they go.
"And we…." Think Hannah, think! Need something to make it look like a good option, "We could wait there to see if Jim and Toby show up to go to Trollmarket."
This seems to be motivating enough for the other girl, and the two of them begin to walk in the bridge's general direction. Anita's expression becomes something less unsure and more quizzical.
"You don't think we've shown up when Blinky is leading them do you?" she questions after a few minutes of thought.
"No." Hannah immediately replies, "I know I only saw them for a moment, but they looked calm. Happy even. I just don't think they would be so relaxed after everything that's happened in season 2." Her reasoning seems to be taken well enough. Anita nods a little then asks, "So, this could be the beginning of the show? I didn't see Kanjigar's body in the canal."
"I noticed that too. Maybe he isn't dead yet. Anyways, if we wait under the canal, we might get a better idea of when in the show we are. If we see Jim and Toby go to Trollmarket, it means that Kanjigar is already dead and Jim is the Trollhunter."
Finally. A decent conversation.
By the time they reach the bridge, Hannah's paranoia of being overheard is long gone and they are beginning to warm up to one another. They told each other about their brief experience with the ghost and learn little bits and pieces about one another. It isn't until they settle down under the bridge that their voices quiet and Hannah does her best to tare the lone taco evenly down the middle.
She offers half to Anita with an apologetic smile. "I got their Diablo Maximus taco because it was on sale. If this is as strong as the stuff in the tv show suggests, it's probably really spicy."
That does momentarily derail the other girl from eating right away, having her look at the shared taco with suspicion. However, hunger gets the best of both of them and they're soon eating their meager meal.
Oh. OH HOLY.
Anita must be REALLY hungry cause she just keeps nibbling away though she's obviously struggling with it, her face screwed up as she munches away quickly in a failed attempt to eat it before the creeping burn of the taco sauce gets to be too much. Hannah, on the other hand, is sorely unprepared for just how her generally high tolerance for heat is being squashed by this sauce, but at least she's able to hide her reactions somewhat.
Together they struggle to down their halves and fall into a relative silence once their food is gone. Once again it becomes awkward between the two, as neither know just what to say to the other. Hannah has no more motivation to spark up a conversation and begins fiddling with her cellphone. It's nearly at full battery which is a relief (as she doesn't happen to have a charger on hand).
Anita finally breaks the silence with a soft "Thank you for sharing" looking once again intrigued by the properly working phone. Hmmm… Maybe it is weird that her phone has internet service in a tv show's town-
"Do my champions actually plan on remaining complacent?" a deep voice echoes from above them, startling the pair (Hannah has to fumble to keep a grip on her phone). "I gave you the key to Heartstone Trollmarket for a reason."
The underside of the bridge is then washed over in a warm golden glow emanating from a misty floating orb.
"You two should not take your responsibilities so lightly."
Notes: Twist! (Sorry if it isn't obvious) These women were sent before they got the chance to watch season 3.
