A/N: My aunt is coming home from Spain and I just had to twist my foot somehow. I probably kicked something in my sleep because I couldn't get off my bed this morning. Oh well, woes of real life and what not. My sis had gone through something similar two months ago. Anyways, I think I should concentrate on the latest chapter, in which...
Edit: We got ourselves a second kitten. We called it Argentina. Turned out it was a male kitten. I think my brain is traumatized because it's too cute to be a male kitten. Oh well, kitty is probably forever and ever gender confused. On a second note, a Hunting for Pink Elephants Trailer is in the process of being made. I'd be happy if someone has any ideas as how to present Bunny and Tooth with sims 3, since you can't make half-birds and anthropoid rabbits in Sims 3.
Chapter Four
In which, for the sake of humanity, MJ still forbids Fia from offering babysitting !
If Fia had one saving grace and nothing else, it would be her eagerness to go to the store and buy groceries or whatever they needed. She was the person who cooked and she knew how to pick the best vegetables and meat for the best possible meal. She was also the person who tended to get side-tracked a lot for all the wrong reasons, including that one embarrassing time in which MJ had to do her best to dissuade her friend from stalking this random guy, who simply wore a blue hoodie and some sort of jeans. And no, that hadn't been Jack Frost.
MJ supposed Fia could be trusted with doing the groceries most of the time but there was always something that happened, a local gossip she had heard, a little trick she had played on someone. In all honesty, the British woman was certain that even if they don't find a single Guardian or whatever, they'd still have something interesting happening to them every single day.
It was the middle of February and the cold was reigning supreme during this time of the year. The bar she worked at still, somehow, had more work than usual, and she was certain it was because of Valentine's day. She had even gotten a few Valentine's cards, but she had politely declined any dates. She was stuck in another universe with the potentially most dangerous and crazy person on the planet and she was really in no mood to go on a date with a cute guy only to be called by the police department or something equally mortifying that her best friend had somehow turned Burgess into rubble via a new experimental Pancake mix. She could just see how everything would sooner or later go out with a glorious bang, and she couldn't do anything but hold on for the ride. And possibly keep Fiona from killing herself in an obnoxious way. Yes, indeed, that was her current daily life and, for her, each day in which Burgess was still standing, was a day in which she had done her primary job – keeping Fiona from doing anything overly stupid.
Her secondary job, of course, was keeping herself from killing Fiona whenever she came up with one scheme or another to make money fast or to capture the Guardians or any other spirit they may come across. Really, she should be concentrating on finding a way back and not further fanning the flames of whatever madness had taken over her since they ended up here. Sure, she agreed that the coincidences were quite a lot, but magic? It sounded so ridiculously improbable it wasn't even funny. There was a saying that to primitive people some of the greatest scientific inventions would look like magic to them. Perhaps something of the sort had happened to them and now they were in some sort of paralel world.
There were days in which she found herself almost believing in the enthusiasm of her blond friend. Those were good days that brought a smile on her face when she'd see the sparkling vivid azure eyes that burned with promises, hope and belief in a brighter future. No matter what had happened, Fia was happy here, and, to an extent, so was she.
888
Tonight was a busier night than usual. There were three days or so till Valentine's day and apparently everybody was in the mood for some loving. Americans, she huffed under her breath with a roll of her eyes. They just had to go over board with everything. In her humble opinion, Valentine's day was a day to be spent with the ones you love, a quiet day for appreciation of your precious people. A horny couple passed her on their way to one of the bathroom stalls. Her upper lip raised slightly at one side, in a disgusted semi-snarl. There were hotels and beds for those reasons, she thought, shuddering at the various bacterial flora that was undoubtedly inhabiting the majority of the toilet stalls.
A man sat down heavily at a bar stool right infront of her.
"Evening, boss." she greeted casually, as she expertly put away yet another pristinely disinfected glass.
"It's bad news, girly." the man grumbled and MJ immediately poured him a shot of the finer spirits she had in her disposal.
MJ's boss was probably one of the most serious people she'd met thus far in this little hell hole of a town. He was a middle aged man with two little boys, a girl and a nephew under his care. Apparently,several years ago, he, his family, and his brother's family had gone camping and on the way back home, he had lost his wife and his brother and his wife. Now he was a single father of three boys and a girl, but he was holding up well. She had yet to meet his kids, but if their dad was just as good a father as he was an employer, then they were probably a decent bunch of brats.
MJ's employer's name was Bill, William, really, but he preferred Bill. He was tall and a hulk of a man, and he was not afraid to help his employers by doing some heavy lifting along side them. He had tanned skin and a short, neatly cut mouse brown hair, a seriously massive lower jaw and greenish-yellowy hazel eyes.
"Micky's cut his losses and hasn't been answering his phone all weekend, the little turd. Expo's in ten days and I need someone who knows their stuff to do the pickings this year."
MJ listened carefully to her boss' rantings, like a good barwoman. That's how she got the job, to be honest, she had a pretty face, a serious attitude and she was also an amazing listener. She had to be, after spending so many years in the presence of one Fiona Johnson. But as she listened to Bill, a plan started to form in her mind. It was a bit of an underhanded plan, but really! It was a win-win situation for everyone. Bill needed someone who understood a thing or two about electronics, MJ and Fia could do with the extra money.
She didn't feel suprised by her own willingness to swindle the man for the extra cash. It wasn't really swindling, either, since she'll simply milk Fia about everything she knew about cabling (and she knew a lot about cabling, and that was quite the something). It was a brilliant plan and it was a dirty plan and MJ expertly smothered her sense of right in order to make their living a little bit more comfortable.
888
"Are you with me so far?"
There was hope in those bright blue eyes. It was hopeless though.
"From one ear through the other." MJ said honestly and sighed.
"Ok, ok. So you've told boss-man that you have good sense of cabling. Commendable manipulation skills. Technical mumbo-jumbo understanding, not so much commendable,but we can work with what we have."
"Fia..."
"Don't worry it's perfectly legal. I think."
"Fia."
"All you have to do is listen to what I say and repeat it dutifully."
MJ groaned. Somehow she managed to get the blonde on a spy-themed tangent.
"But what if you have to look at various products!? You have no idea what you're handling! And-and the paneling for the new wing of the bar? Shit!"
"Fia."
"I need to see what you are looking at!I need to buy some glasses, a small camera...perhaps use mats from an old second-hand phone? I can borrow some tools from that Pete guy from across the street, the old geezer is a hobbyist mechanic. I think I know a few Nokia models that have a sufficiently small cameras-"
"Fiona!"
"-and then I'd need to fuse the wiring within the frame and-"
"FIONA!"
"What? Why are you shouting like that? You know I have delicate processes going on in my head? What if I forget something-"
"Fia,just shut up. I will agree to your plan, because we really need the money and I don't want Bill to know that I live with a raving mad scientist of a lunatic."
"I do not rave." Fia sniffed indignantly.
MJ just stared at her with a deadpan expression. Only Fia would be perfectly fine with being called a mad scientist and a lunatic.
"That was totally the point of what I just said. Ugh, don't look at me like that, it's disgusting and degrading and I already said that I will agree to your plan, so...just stop. Stop. Now."
888
"Hey Pete!"
The old, hunched-over man looked up from his gardening and waved at the blonde woman.
"I need to make a pair of spywear glasses and some other stuff and I was wondering if I can borrow your toolset for a couple of days? I know you're not using it right now, I heard from Mrs. Beagles that your wife told you to fix the garden since Mrs. Warrington from next door had prettier bushes and some prize winning petunias, so I know they'd be free at least for a week."
"Do you spend your entire day gathering gossip, young lady?" Pete finally asked as he took off one dirty glove to shake hands with Fia.
"Not really, but there is little else to do until I find a job and all. It kinda sucks that nobody would trust a gal with a pair of wrenches." Fia sighed dramatically and Pete chuckled.
"You're quite the something that you don't see everyday, Fiona. You remind me of my grandson. He's a good kid, visits often, I should introduce you some time."
"I'd probably scare him off, like I did the mail man." Fia stated honestly as she shrugged." He's still delivering our bills and stuff to the Jacobs next door. Mrs. Beagles says he's been considering therapy."
"What did you do to scare the poor man, anyways?"
"Honestly, I have no idea, but MJ says I have a natural talent with placing the fear in weaker men's hearts."
"Wife says you nearly cut his head off with a butcher's knife."
"Pfft! I merely threw it at MJ to keep cutting up those chops." Fia waved a hand dismissively while the old man laughed heartily. "I swear, you Americans are so squeamish and I am French, so comming from me..."
"I'm not squeamish, I've been to Vietnam." Pete stated seriously.
"You don't count because there is always bound to be at least one kick ass grandpa. But my generation? You see a guy who can click a mouse and push a few keyboard buttons and wham, he's all that but he isn't. I'm starting to think I'll die a spinster, Pete, it's getting that serious."
"Don't be like that, there are bound to be a few good boys around here, sweetheart. What of Beagles' kid? He spends a lot of time at the gym and he helps his father at his workshop. He had good grades in school and he's saving money to go to a nice university. He's an honest, hard-working lad."
"Ugh, James? I've seen him. He has problems with testosterone secretion, he is also suppressing criminally sociopathic behavior, especially when it comes to outright aggression and his family has a history of criminal behavior on the mother's side of the family. His uncle has been three times to jail for fighting some people on the streets and also there's a case of abuse hanging on his head."
"Do you do background checks on all your neighbours?" Pete asked mildly.
"Sometimes, when I get bored." the girl shrugged non-chalantly. "And I get bored a lot."
"What about Bobby, he's a few years older, but he's a nice guy as well. He works for an IT company."
"Robert Dray, from three streets down? His mother is a harpy, no offense, I wouldn't be able to stand the witch for five seconds without retaliating. And he is too mellow to oppose Mummy, so it'd be a no-no all over."
"Kyle Smith, Leslie's little brother."
"He's Epileptic."
Pete sighed.
"You'll die a spinster if you're so picky."
"I'm not that picky, I'm just thinking about the future generations of little Fionas that will have to deal with whatever genetic waste I thoughtlessly throw at them. That and, like I told you, I scare all the good guys away."
Pete chuckled.
"How long do you plan to stay here in Burgess, anyways?"
"Oh, I don't know. It's a bit complicated, but isn't it so with all quests of Life? I think we'd settle here for a few years, work a bit on some science stuff, see what works and what doesn't. Make something of my life on my own...I don't know, to be honest. I just want to get it right you know? I kinda dragged MJ in this mess, but yeah, like I said, It's complicated... So, about that toolset?"
Pete had noticed the girl had a peculiar way of expressing herself. Just by looking at her, he knew that there was something more going on around her and her friend, but he didn't think it was wise to interfere. They had just popped up one day, bringing with themselves that vibrant aura of rebellious youth, and then there was this blonde girl that just happened to know how to fix their washing machine while he was out of town. During their first week, they had quickly settled themselves as the talk of the small town, what with them being foreigners, young and all on their own.
In the end, while he firmly believed Fiona was some sort of ridiculously smart freak of nature, he also found himself rooting for her and her friend, hoping they'd succeed fixing whatever mess they were in. He was certain that there was a mess to fix, what with all those little bits of information the blonde tended to slip whenever she started rambling for long periods of time.
888
Yetis were rummaging through every single filed list with both nice and naughty children. A few near calls here and there, but otherwise nothing. And to think he had almost missed that house if it hadn't been for those glorious cookies. Something was so terribly amiss here that North had no choice but to look into it. Even if they were adults now, they must have been children and recently so, seeing as they were both young women. If he didn't have them on his list, then he had made a mistake and if he had made a mistake with them, then that would surely mean there were other mistakes, other children missing from his lists. That would not do. He needed to get at the bottom of this and quick. Once the Yetis were done with the checking all the lists, maybe he'd call up Toothiana and see if she didn't have anything on the two women, in the case (which was possibly the likeliest scenario) he doesn't find anything about them.
888
It was around 7am that MJ finally arrived home, only to find the lights in the living room to still be lit. She blinked twice, dispelling some of the sleepiness. She took a deep breath and exhaled quickly, trying to dispell the quickly built up irritation. Currently she was the one paying the bills and they could not allow themselves to simply forget to switch off the lights. She paced into the room only to find herself stopping again.
"Oh, you're here."
"Hmm? Oh, good morning, MJ. How was your shift?" Fia didn't even look up from what she was doing.
MJ noticed a black band around her head, holding up what seemed to be some sort of complex contraption made of magnifying glasses. There was also the distinct smell of welding gas, which was kind of disturbing, since those could be dangerous if inhaled in greater concentrations. The black-haired girl quickly started opening up the windows of the living room, despite the ungodly cold chill that was spread throughout Burgess at this hour.
"Did you even get some sleep last night?"
"Mhm, sleep is for the weak, and I had this brilliant idea at how to tackle these glasses and-"
"Fia, you have an entire week for this, you don't need to do this all at once. Just go to sleep."
The blonde looked up, one eye ridiculously large due to the magnifying lens, and MJ had to supress a snicker. She was squinting slightly and her cheeks were rather flushed. MJ was unimpressed.
"Go to bed. Now."
Thankfully, Fia did not argue and she carefully settled her miniature workshop area, yawned like a boss and stretched herself, popping almost every single joint in her body with great satisfaction.
"Change your clothes before you go to sleep. If you get any spots on the sheets I will murder you immediately."
"Mhm, MJ, breakfast is in the fridge. Night." the blonde yawned again and dragged herself upstairs to sleep.
After eating breakfast, she took a quick shower and prepared herself to go to bed as well, after her long and tedious night shift. She woke up late in the afternoon, to find food on the table and Fia sifting through a newspaper for a job. There was a pair of inconspicious looking glasses with clear lens on the table. They were neatly black and stylish, and MJ wasn't able to immediately spot the little in-built cameras. She narrowed her eyes. Fia probably waited out for her to go to sleep so that she could get back to work on them.
It was a pretty nifty job, but still.
"I told you to get some rest." MJ scolded and she got that particular feeling that Fia was suppressing a satisfied, smug grin. She could tell by the glint in those expressive eyes of hers.
The blonde casually flipped a page and then, without turning to look at her, replied.
"I'll rest when I'm dead. I can't just leave something unfinished when I'm so close to making it work. Besides, I've tested them, and they work like a charm. You only need to charge them up via this little stand over here, then you can hook up this little wire here into the tip just like this and then, if there is a connection to a computer, you can upload the data that has been recorded. And this here sets up wireless connection, again to this little stand, which, when connected to a computer, permits live video feed."
"And this is supposed to work over long distances how exactly?" MJ was almost certain she would not like the answer, but she had to ask.
"Meh, you worry too much over silly things that have been solved." Fia dismissed the problem entirely, thus confirming MJ's suspicions that it was probably something illegal. She sighed.
"Sometimes you really worry me." she mumbled as she took a sip from the freshly prepared English tea. It was good tea, just the way she liked it. She would not bother Fia too much about it, for the sake of this good tea.
"Old man Pete sends his regards by the way. He came by to give us the mail."
"Mailman still avoiding our place?"
"Well, yeah. It's kinda stupid, you know."
"He's a pussy, even if he is a cute pussy." MJ deduced, fondly remembering how the man ran away screaming as she had caught the butcher's knife without looking (she had been staring at it's reflection in front of her, but she was too bad ass to clarify or admit that, ever).
"He probably thinks were some sort of ninja assassins."
"The entire neighbourhood is certain that we are some sort of ninja assassins."
"Nah, that's just the mailman. Mrs. Beagles said that Mrs. Beverly thinks that we're from some sort of witness protection program, and that Mrs. Warrington thinks we're from some sort of Ex-Spec. Ops. Mr. Martinez from down the street, according to Mrs. Beagles, says that I'm some sort of Latino-American Drug Dealer Princess, and that you're my super-awesome specially trained bodyguard to keep me safe from enemy Drug Dealer Bosses. Oh, and there's also that one about us being lesbians that eloped, but it wasn't as interesting as the rest of the gossip, so I didn't really pay attention to it."
"Anything relevant from the gossip vine?"MJ asked in a dull, deadpan voice, clearly unimpressed.
"Mrs. Beagles said that Lily, you know- the woman from the barber's, has heard from a friend of hers, whose cousin found out from her maid that accidentally over-heard-"
"The relevant part, please."
"Oh, fine, ruin my fun, will you? Long story short, this woman named Bella saw Mrs. Bennet flirt with the new grocery store guy at that shop near that little cafe where-"
"I got it. Mrs. Bennet was getting fresh with the grocery store clerk." MJ said irritably." Wait. Mrs. Bennet."
"Yep, that Bennet."
"Why do you even bother with gossip?"
"It's not like I have anything else to do, except when I go to job interviews."
"Ugh, whatever. You should cut the quality time with Mrs. Beagles. That woman creeps me out. I swear she is a bloody vampire. And one of these days you will prove it by some sort of freak accident."
Fia shrugged non-commitally. Having involved herself in the web of intrigue that was weaved in Burgess, she had a pretty good starting position on things she wanted to achieve. You see, on one hand, gossiping gave her a good excuse to keep an eye on the Bennets, just in case the movie storyline decided to start a little earlier or a little later than expected. On the other hand, keeping an eye on most of her neighbours, hell, on the entire population of Burgess, gave her a pretty good idea how to handle people. Aside from MJ, she felt pretty paranoid and twitchy when talking with other people. Hell, the only reason she was friendly with people she supposedly just met was due to hefty background checks and psychological profiling. She was pretty certain how people would react to certain behavior and that gave her the confidence to face the world with all of its horrible and dirty, backstabing secrets.
Those bastards wouldn't know what hit them.
The Bennets were an interesting bunch. Maria Bennet was a single mother and she had two children, James and Sophia Bennet. She worked at two places and that was pretty much the important stuff that the neighbourhood knew about them. What Fia managed to scrape, however, was that yes, they were actual descendants of Jack Frost, or, as he was known premortum, Jackson Overland. The Overlands had been one of the first families to settle here in Burgess all the way back when it was barely a conglomerate of shabby wooden houses in the middle of a thick forest. There wasn't much written about the Overlands, save for a few documents from that certain pioneering period of time where she had found a few mentions of an Obadiah Overland who worked as a lumberjack. There were several death certificates bearing the Overland name and then the family was lost for a while until she found these old archives containing notes about the various marriages in the area. Overlands had become Gales, the Gales married with the Millfords and then the rest of the Gales died down.
Again, the link was lost for a while, but she managed to find some information on the Millfords having had moved to another state. From there the family seemed to move all over the place, again changing surnames several times. Finally, after some 300 years worth of tracking, Fia managed to find her way back to the Bennets, who, by some fluke of destiny, had returned some three generations ago to Burgess, Pennsylvania. The blonde felt ridiculously proud by the fruits of her detective work. She had even mapped out the family tree all the way back to anything she had managed to scrape as information.
Interestingly enough, there had been something of a birth certificate of a Jackson Overland but not a death certificate or the equivalent of one. A theory was bubbling in her head. There had been death certificates of a Virginia Overland and one Obadiah Overland. Perhaps they hadn't made one because no one had found his body? Perhaps his bones were nestled still somewhere deep within the murky depths of that lake he fell in.
An idea was certainly grinding gears in her head. After all, now she had a perfectly good incentive to make an actual submarine, even if it is a shabby one. Possibly something like the one that took shots of the Titanic. There was also the issue of having 300 years worth of sediments on top of the body and also the possibility nothing to have possibly remained of the body. There was also the issue with the amount of little glacier lakes that were scattered in the area, but she was pretty sure she could orientate herself as to where to look for that one particular lake.
So many details, so many things to do and so little time. And MJ just kept nagging about sleep. How could she sleep when she was so busy? And there was also the issue of her still not being able to get a job. If she had to be honest with herself, the thought of doing the menial tasks that the little people did made her cringe. She was made for grander things than cleaning houses, gardening, working as a waitress or babysitting, even though the last one was strategically the best option, seeing as they needed to keep an eye on the children of Burgess.
Babysitting, however, was a part-time job at best and the money were meager. She needed an actual job, something that she could do and have fun while doing it. Possibly work as a mechanic? Sadly enough, there weren't any job offers of the like. That didn't discourage her. Oh no.
After all, when life gives you lemons, make grape juice and let the world wonder.
All she had to do was to nudge destiny a bit in the right direction. If there wasn't a job offer for a mechanic, then she had to make one. And she knew just the place where to start. It was the ideal job, one that presented her with an actual workshop with all sorts of tools in it that would really make most of her plans times easier.
888
There was nothing, absolutely nothing and North felt just as flabberghasted as when he first discovered the issue. It was as if these two women popped out of nowhere. There was, however, one very close match, which had lead him to believe that it had been a mistake on his part, for a little while at least.
One Michelle Jessica Keats. There was the name and the physical resemblance to be taken into consideration. They were both British. They'd even be of the same age, had the little girl not died tragically only at 7 years of age.
The other woman, however... There was nothing. Zilch. Nada. He had to call Toothiana. He had to gather the Guardians. Something strange was a foot and they needed to know.
888
"Did you find anything?"
"Mhm, there's a babysitting job at- "
"No."
"Why not?"
"Fia, we've had this conversation so many times now. You know why. It is not healthy for a child's development to have you influencing them with your wicked mad scientist ways."
"I'll have you know that I've been reading child development articles and I know how to handle children! Hell, I've babysat Tifa's kid, and you know it went marvelously well."
"The only reason Tifa and Ben agreed to have you take care of their little angel is because nobody wanted to suffer the consequences of failing the babysitting in someway. Tifa's a trigger happy gun maniac. And they're both military, you know that."
"You're just afraid that I'll get minions!"
"Wow, you are so perceptive. That's exactly it. For the last time, don't do it, Fia. You'll traumatize the children."
"Fine, MJ. You win. I won't do it." Fia had the fingers of one hand crossed behind her back.
What MJ doesn't know wouldn't hurt her.
Several hours later found the blonde staring at a mirror, scrutinizing her appearance. She wore a knee lenght long black skirt and a simple white cotton oval neck top. She didn't have any jewels or anything and there was just the barest hint of make up on her face. Her hair had been meticulously styled into a smooth and perfect low bun and she had cut and cleaned her nails for at least two hours, trying to get the last of those mechanical grease spots from underneath. There was just one last detail that she needed to take care of, before heading out to meet her would-be employer.
She took a few calming breaths and then she gazed into her own eyes via the mirror. She tilted her head slightly to one side and thought of something happy and exciting. The bright smile bloomed on her face like a rising sun of happiness upon a vast ocean of joy.
And the award for leading female role goes to...
It was perfect. Not too forward, nor too overly excited-looking. It was charming and endearing, bright and full of hope, that fit that lovely prep look she had prepared for herself. She was French and she wanted to look the part and fit that American-based stereotype of what people thought French girls were like.
The man on the phone had sounded serious and gruff so she had almost immediately scratched out the flirting bit, even though that had been quite the plausible possibility in order to score the job. Single dads were usually an easy target, especially one who had lots of kids to take care of. She would've used just a bit of that Johnson charm and then she would've played stupid in case said single dad had more in mind. Thankfully, things hadn't gone down that scenario, so right now she just had to call a cab and get to the home of one William Middleton.
The ride was shorter than expected, and she paid the cab driver his due with a charming smile on her face. She rung the bell and stood straight as a board, with only the slightest hint of a twist in her hips that she knew looked pleasing to the eye, made her look rather cute and not to mention dissuaded any sort of thoughts that tied words like crazy, sinister, danger, warning and what not to herself. It was perfect guise for the perfect job.
The door opened revealing a rather tall and buff man with tan skin and mouse brown hair, with greenish-yellow hazel eyes. The man looked rather intimidating and he scrutinized her just as she was discreetly scrutinizing him. It was now or never.
Say something cutesy and normal.
"Good Evening, sir. " the well-practiced smile bloomed on her face as she tilted her head slightly, all the while never taking her eyes off the man's face.
Nailed it!
"I'm Fiona, we talked over the phone about that babysitting job."
The man's almost unreadable expression that seemed slightly hostile in Fia's opinion (also a rather astute observation on her part) changed into one of recognition and he invited her inside. Perhaps he had thought she was some sort of travelling saleswoman or something? Hey, it was a possibility. Men weren't the only ones who took up weird jobs. There was an economical crisis going on and people were scrambling for whatever jobs they could get.
"You said you were French." the man gruffed. "You don't sound French."
"I was born in New York. My parents moved to Paris when I was five and I lived there ever since. As for the lack of the so called French accent, I'd find myself blaming my rather impeccable linguistic skills."
Fia almost preened as she spoke but then she remembered she was supposed to be nice to the man and not brag left and right. She mentally kicked herself in the head.
Be nice and cutesy dammit!
The man, William, did not look too convinced but he did not comment. He seemed to be distrustful of the whole babysitting situation but he also seemed like he had little to no choice.
"Hm. Penelope, get your brothers and cousin and get down here!"
Many whelps! Handle it!
Fia braced herself, as she met for the first time the man's brats.