I'm on a role with chapters, jeez 0.0 Hopefully I can keep this up. ...Hopefully. Did I just jinx myself? I hope not.
Anyway! CHAPTER TIME!
"So, what you are trying to say is that you snuck into Michelle's room in the middle of the night to steal her Camera as payback for her stealing your newspapers. She awoke however and panicked, fighting you off before you could explain and you both ran into the bookshelf. This caused Michelle to receive a fractured wrist, in which Jake and Arinna ran in to figure out what was happening." Agatha concludes
"Yes." the accused souls of the 4th flour nod.
Agatha pinched the bridge of her nose, "And you brought a broom?" she pointed to Jake.
"To hit a burglar if there was one." he explains quietly.
Agatha sighs, her eyes narrowing in on Nicole's shoulder. She motioned to the bruising and almost dislocated looking injury. "And what of this?" she demanded, stepping forward to examine her.
"…Friendly…. Reimbursement for Michelle's broken wrist?" Nicole said, her voice high-pitched, struggling to hold a smile through the pain.
"You must be joking." Agatha looks as though she couldn't believe her own ears.
"…She tried to steal my paper." Nicole said slowly, "I had to put an end to it."
"She leaped into the air as if she were a wild banshee, I swear." Michelle pointed to Nicole. "I never saw it coming."
"She was a traitor and a scoundrel, I had to take immediate action." Nicole pointed back at Michelle.
"…" Agatha was quiet, her glare moving across the room to Arinna and Jake. "And you two?"
"I tried to stop the fighting." Arinna says honestly, which she totally did.
"As I said before, I heard the noise and came over to see what was happening. It was wild." Jake says stiffly, hands still shaking.
"… I had a nightmare!" Elizabeth lifted her hand. Nicole patted her head.
"How did you injure Nicole in this, as you say, friendly reimbursement?" Agatha asks Michelle.
"Hit her with her own wrench." she points to where it laid on the floor. Its work had been done.
"I felt bad for breaking her wrist, so I let her get in a hit." Nicole offers softly. She couldn't help but think back to when she was a child and would hit her brother. When he started to cry and threaten to tell Mom, she was quick to tell him that he could hit her back for it to be fair, and hopefully stop him from telling their parents.
Lifting a hand to rub them over her eyes, Agatha stepped back, "This is the 3rd disturbance this month, ladies. Jake, I count this as your first since you just got here." she tells them. Michelle and Nicole lower their heads, nodding. "If living on the same floor is such a hassle, I would be happy to move you both to different floors. Or even just one of you."
"No!" they both scream, but cut themselves off and glance at each other. "We mean-"
"I- we know we have been causing trouble Agatha." Nicole says honestly, "We don't mean to. Trust me, if I could avoid this, I would in a heart beat. I just get carried away. Michelle is awesome. A real bud. I love the girl."
"The same is for me." Michelle insists, "Nicole and Arinna have both been lovely, and have really made me feel at home. Nicole is like a sister to me, and sometimes I find myself fighting with her like she really was and I am back in my childhood." The two are nodding rapidly to each other and then to Agatha.
The older woman glances back and forth between the two, slowly folding her arms. With a sigh, she turns her head, "I understand that, but you are not the only ones who live in this building. You are disturbing the others."
"We'll change." Nicole promises. "I promise." she holds up her hand in a scout's honor. Arinna snorts because she knows very well that Nicole was never in girl scouts.
Raising an eyebrow, Agatha glanced at Michelle when she did the same motion, "You promise?" she asks.
"Yes." they nod, "Or.. we will try our very best."
Agatha's gaze softens, "Honestly you two." she grumbles, "Very well, I will let it go this one time. I am expecting you to make a full apology to the residents below. As well as some chores for me since I had to come all the way up here."
"Of course. Of course!" they grin, "We'll do it first thing tomorrow morning."
"Good." Agatha moves towards the door, giving the room one last look over, "Now you all better head to bed, it is late."
"Good night, Agatha." they wave to her. Watching her close the door, Michelle waited a few seconds before approaching it and locking it. "Okay." she lets out a sigh, "We are clear."
"Jeez." Nicole falls to her knees, "I thought my heart was going to burst."
"I was sure she was on to us." Michelle laughed nervously, "It is hard to believe we managed to pull that off."
"I know!" Nicole cackled. Stumbling to her feet she slides to the dark room and throws it open, Michelle whining at the sight, not wanting her pictures to be ruined.
"Come on out." Nicole says, and the mutant guests step out.
"Is she gone?" Tessa scanned the room wearily.
"For now." Arinna takes Picasso into her arms. The poor guy is already passed out, exhausted from the days events and way past his bedtime. "We shouldn't make any more noise though, unless we want her to kick down the door."
"She would not be against that." Nicole agreed.
"Then perhaps we should take our leave." K.R said, glancing at Tessa.
"Whoa whoa-" Nicole held her hand up, "You two aren't going anywhere until we get some answers."
The two suddenly look on edge, "What exactly do you want to know?" they question.
Nicole folded her arms, "For starters, I'd like to know how did you figure out where Michelle lived?"
Tessa blinked once, reaching a hand into her pocket to rummage around. Pulling out a leather bound wallet, she held it out to Michelle, "You dropped this. We just followed the address written on it."
"My wallet." Michelle snatches it up, and examining the insides, "I knew I dropped you."
"And we can assume you came in through the window." Jake glanced at the only open window in the apartment. "I guess you… climbed up here?"
"I am a very good climber." Tessa nods, down casting her eyes. "We just-" she licked her lips, "We just wanted the picture. We never meant to hurt anyone." tears look as though they are pricking her eyes, "I never meant to fracture your wrist either. Or put any of you through this. I am sorry I hurt you." Tessa sniffed. "I never meant to-"
"I know." Michelle cut her off, startling the younger girl, "I saw it in your eyes, and it is not that bad. Just a few bruises is all."
"Fractured wrist means fractured wrist, Michelle." Nicole tells her.
"All water under the bridge at this point." she insists, "Now, how about we make our peace and have some tea?"
Nicole scowled at her, "You mean… you want us to apologize? To them? They started this!"
"Nicole." Arinna steps in, "Michelle has the right idea. We all did our own sense of damage tonight, so we should let bygones be bygones and start over."
"You have got to be kidding me."
"I shall start." Leatherhead holds up his hands, which caused Nicole to gawk at him in disbelief.
"I apologize for tossing you around." he says to Tessa.
"I am sorry for taking your picture. It started this whole mess and I should have never done it." Michelle bows her head.
"I'm sorry I kicked you!" Elizabeth held up her hand, waving it frantically.
Nicole was struggling to watch this, almost slapping her forehead when Jake spoke up next, "Sorry I threatened you with a broom. Though in retrospect it probably would have done… nothing."
"It might have hurt." Elizabeth tells him.
"Would it? I've never gotten hit with a broom, so I don't know." he looks tempted to try it and see, but Arinna takes it away from him before he can.
"Back to the point, we are all terribly sorry for this evening." Arinna says. She glances at Nicole and nudges her.
Looking very unhappy with this, she glanced at the room of awaiting ears, "Oh for crying out loud, fine!" she throws her hands up. "I'm sorry, okay? Sorry I threw wrenches at you, and smacked you with them, tackled you, kicked you, and cursed at you in Polish."
"Is that what that was?" K.R inquires.
'Yes."
The two mutants glance at each other, and then lower their head. "Then, since we were the ones to break into your home, we apologize as well." K.R says.
"Yeah." Tessa nods vigorously.
At some point, the conversation moved to the couch, everyone too exhausted to stay on their feet anymore. Leatherhead had found himself on the floor at Nicole's feet, his chin resting on her foot, his eyes closed. Nicole reached down to pet the top of his skull.
Arinna found the sight astonishing considering the fact that 4 months ago, Nicole wouldn't have been able to stand looking at Leather head, let alone touching him.
"Okay cosplayer and cat." Nicole folds her arms, "I have some questions."
"How about for starters, you don't refer to us like that. I don't even know what a cosplayer is, but I'm definitely not that." Tessa grumbles, "I have a name. It is Tessa." she pauses, "Who are you people anyway?"
00000000-K.R's POV-0000000
"I have a name. It is Tessa." she pauses, "Who are you people anyway?"
It was a question that had been on my mind since the moment the alligator had rampaged into the room. Only ever recalling seeing an alligator when I was young, I definitely recall them not being able to speak or walk on their back legs.
Though, given my current situation and form, I have no room to question how nature works.
"My name's Nicole." the red head said with an icy tone, very unlike the others. Freckles dotted her face, and her blue eyes were as dark as the sky. She wore an off gray jumpsuit, almost as if she worked in a garage of some sort, with heavy goggles resting on top of her head. Her hair was horrendously long, reaching down past her waist and pulled back in a messy ponytail.
She seemed to be the most rational, if not the most violent one of this strange group. Unlike the others, her guard hadn't been lowered for a second, which felt almost relaxing to myself, if that made sense.
The others seemed so calm and accepting of this, and that didn't sit well with me knowing nothing about them. So having one being suspicious and confused made me feel happy to know that I wasn't the only one still unsure about all of this.
"She is my neighbor." Michelle adds in. "Oh, I'm Michelle- but you probably already knew that since you are here."
We did actually. Michelle Lily Woodhard, a 20-year-old photographer with ocean blue eyes and shoulder length black hair. She was still wearing the same clothes we first saw her in, not that I expected her to have made this full transformation in our next encounter. And her voice, it was thick with a British accent, which I hadn't noticed the first time. A very melodious sound to it, if you asked me.
"Elizabeth! I'm Elizabeth Cater!" the youngest, and honestly the most terrifying of them all, spoke up. She was no more than five years old, with bright hazel eyes and light brown hair that barely curled past her ears. Wearing a frilly dress and bright smile, I still couldn't believe my eyes to know that she had completely taken out Tessa on an hour before. I could sense Tessa was a little on edge at the sight of her, feeling the same as myself.
"Whoa whoa- wait a minute." Nicole held up a hand, "Elizabeth what?"
"Cater." the child grinned from ear to ear.
The others seemed to find the interaction adorable, but I couldn't tell why until Nicole said, "Since when did you have my last name?" So Nicole was Nicole Cater.
Elizabeth twiddled her thumbs, "Well, I live with you, and you get me clothes and tuck me when I go to bed, and you tell everyone I'm your little brother's daughter and that I'm your niece so that I can stay here so shouldn't I have your last name?" she asks with pleading eyes.
Nicole opened and closed her mouth, smacking at the other girls when they start to giggle and coo. "I mean- yeah but-" she snorts, "You know what, sure kiddo." she pats Elizabeth's head. "You can use that last name if you want."
"YAY!" Elizabeth cheers, but is quick to cut herself off, remembering that they had to be quiet.
("These people are… strange.") A voice speaks into my head, and I glance at Tessa, recognizing it as hers. We've always been able to telepathically connect our minds like this, ever since we were younger. I can't explain how we do it, but we can.
("They are indeed.") I find myself agreeing.
The third woman of the party giggles, "Well, I am Arinna, it is nice to meet you both." her smile is kind, almost infectious. Her eyes were a soft green, matching well with the wavy curl of her hair. I had noticed within the last five minutes, she had to keep moving her bangs out of her face with how long they were. I always noticed little things like that. She was dressed in her pajamas and must have been asleep before we arrived. On her lap, the infant turtle from before was fast asleep, curled into her stomach and gripping the bottom of her shirt tightly.
Noticing my gaze, Arinna says, "This is Picasso." She glanced at the only human male in the room, motioning for him to speak. Being 26, this guy looked to be only a bit younger, and was nervous to speak up.
"I-I'm Jake." he waves to us. His hair was a shaggy brown, barely reaching to his ears yet completely wild in the front, almost covering his eyes. His eyes…. They were a striking red. Not sure if it was just the lighting or not, I was startled nonetheless.
Giving me a struggling smile, he returns to the zipper he was messing with before, his hands often moving and messing with the objects surrounding him. At one point he even reached over to Arinna, spreading his hands out around her head to pull her hair back.
She doesn't even blink when he starts to braid her hair, as if she is used to the behavior at this point.
"This is Leatherhead." Nicole moves her foot a bit, lifting and lowering the sleeping Alligator's head. "I realize the name isn't too original."
"It's fine." Tessa glances at me, "This is my brother, K.R."
"Greetings to you all." I say. Nicole is raising an eyebrow at me, and I know what she is going to say before she asks, "Adopted siblings. We are not blood related."
"Ah." she nods.
"So then, how did you both end up in New York?" Arinna asks them, "Were you born here? Or did you come from somewhere else."
Tessa looked uncomfortable being asked questions and sunk into her seat. I don't really even know how to reply and just sit there in silence. Arinna blinks at us, lowering her hand and glancing away.
"Um… I-I was born here." she starts to say, "I've lived in New York all my life. I've never even left the city for vacation or anything. I lived with my parents until I was 13, and then some crazy stuff happened and I ended up under the custody of my older brother."
I was puzzled to why she was telling us this, but listened quietly.
"He was great." she smiles, "Best guy around. But uh-" she pauses looking a little pained, "More things happened and he isn't around anymore. So I lived on my own on the streets for a while until I moved in with Nicole. We were neighbors since I was 3. I met Michelle once I moved in with Nicole and I found Jake collapsed on the ground when he ate a bad egg and got food poisoning." Jake flattens a bit at that, shrugging a nod. "And then I found Leatherhead behind a dumpster, and Picasso was in a box, and Nicole found Elizabeth. She was being chased by pajama men named footsies or something." I blinked at her story, dumbstruck by how blatant she was.
"The Foot." Elizabeth correct quietly.
"The Foot." Arinna nods, "Now I work at Winter's Corp as a secretary for Max Winters. He is weird, and there is this security guard that this is nice, but he has one crazy name that I can't pronounce so I just call him Haru."
"That is the worst biography I've ever heard." Nicole says. Arinna looks insulted, hitting Nicole on the arm, which only caused her to flinch and clutch her shoulder.
Arinna shrieked, "Oh gosh I am so sorry! I forgot!" she wailed. In rebuttal, Nicole hit Arinna back with a bit more force. Michelle chuckled at the sight.
It is only then, as I watch Arinna and Nicole pathetically slap each other, that I realized what Arinna was trying to do. She was talking about herself in an attempt to perhaps gain a bit of trust and understanding, so that we didn't feel nervous about talking to them. It was a touching sentiment, and I'm not sure if it worked, but it was oddly nice to see someone put an effort in for us. "And then-" Arinna yawned, half way making it a miserable groan, "I am so tired."
Nicole yawned after her, "You are making me yawn, stop it."
"I can't help it. The adrenaline is fading and now I'm tired."
"I believe we all are." Michelle nodded. "Perhaps, we should get some rest and continue where we left off tomorrow."
"Yeah, good idea." Nicole nudges Leatherhead awake with her foot, and Arinna starts to lead him out the door.
I'm surprised when all of them just agree to this and stand up, leaving and going to their own apartments. "W-Wait, what?" Tessa stammered, scrambling to her feet. "That is it? No other questions? Interrogations to figure out who were are?" she trails off, "Nothing?"
Nicole gives her a dull look, "Girl, your brother is talking cat, and you look like a cosplayer from Tokyo Mew Mew. I've got all the information I need for one day." she opens the door, lifting Elizabeth into her arms. The younger girl snuggles into her instantly, closing her eyes a second later. "And seriously- I need some sleep. But uh- mess with Michelle any more tonight and I get out my shot gun." she gave us an odd thumbs up and stumbled into the hall. "Night Michelle~"
"Good night." she waves, handing Jake his jacket and patting his shoulder. "Sleep well."
"You too." he waves groggily. It was if exhaustion hit them all in one large heap, and none of them could focus enough anymore to really care about us or where we came from.
It was… odd.
"Uh you-" I stammered to Michelle, "Are you retiring too?" I ask her.
She nods, but snaps her fingers, "But first-" Michelle was messing with her couch, yanking off the cushions to reveal a fold out bed. "Here." she tells us, pulling it out. "You two can sleep here tonight."
"Here?" Tessa's eyes are wide.
"It is late." Michelle nods, as she grabs a few spare blankets and pillows from the closet. She chucks them onto the bad, dusting off her fingers, "There we go. All ready to go."
"We couldn't possibly-" I start to say, but she cuts me off.
"I insist. You may not trust us, but we've gone 5 months without anyone knowing about Leatherhead, Picasso, or Elizabeth. And Leatherhead is twice your size." she motions to Tessa. "You two are safe here."
The words are foreign and feel as though they should mean a lie, but I could sense no dishonestly in Michelle's tone. Even her eyes rang with a truthful assurance.
She yawned suddenly, stretching her arms back over her head, "Well I am beat. Good night." she waves.
"You're just trusting us." Tessa stepped forward to stop her, "Just like that?"
Michelle glanced to the door, "Well- yes." she nods, "I suppose I am."
"Why?" Tessa demanded, confused and unable to figure out why this was happening- why Michelle suddenly trusted us.
The older woman shrugged, "Just a feeling." she admits, "I have encountered a lot of new people in the last few months. When we first met there was a misunderstanding between us, but that is over now. If you still wanted to hurt me-" she smiles, "I am positive you would have already done so." she gives Tessa a water bottle, "Good night." she repeats, trudging over to her room and stepping in, giving us on last wave before she went to bed.
We stood there in a shocked silence for a long time. At one point, Tessa turned to the bed, eyeing is cautiously. Giving me a look I couldn't describe, she tiptoed around the edge the mattress, poking at the material questionably.
Then she slowly inched her way onto the bed, laying down inch by inch, as if she expected it to suddenly spring into some kind of trap. When it didn't, she turned to her side. I was adjusting myself, sprawling out next to her.
"Who are these people…?" she mumbles softly. "They are so-" she couldn't bring herself to describe it, or maybe she didn't know how.
"Different?" I ask
"Yeah." she nods. "I thought they would be different than this."
Perhaps this was still all some kind of trick though. Let us fall asleep and then they spring into action. I could hear Michelle's breathing from here. She was sleep already.
Looking at each other, we made a silent agreement to stay for now, but leave an hour before sunrise. We couldn't afford to be caught again. Not again.
Exhaustion was winning over my senses, and I yawned. Tessa reached up a hand to pat my head and snuggled closer to me, lifting the blanket over us. When was the last time we had slept in a bed like this? I couldn't remember.
It was nice.
0000- Sunrise-0000
"That is racist. That is cat racists." I woke to the sound of something whispering. Squinting open my eyes, I stretch out my paws, going still when I heard another voice.
"No it isn't. Cats like fish, so I am adding Tuna."
"You don't know if he likes fish. That is totally considered cat racism for just assuming you know what he likes cause he is a cat."
Two people are talking behind us, within the kitchen. Tensing, a feel the rising sun on my fur, I freeze. We slept in.
We were so tired I hadn't even realized.
"Then what do you want to add, huh? Eggs? We don't know if he likes eggs either. Is that racism too?" Was that… Nicole? I peek over my shoulder as slowly as possible to see Michelle, Arinna and Nicole in the kitchen.
Nicole is standing over the stove, making omelets from what I can tell, with Arinna hovering over her shoulder, trying to tell her what to add into the egg. Michelle is making toast on the other side of the counter, rubbing the sand out of her eyes.
"Does it really matter what we add into it?" she asks them.
"Yes." Arinna insists. "If you make someone breakfast you have to make sure they like the breakfast."
"He will probably like it either way." Nicole rolls her eyes.
"You don't know that." Arinna points to her. "And what is this? Why are you adding anchovies to Tessa's?" she demands.
"Cat girl. Cat's like fish. So I added anchovies." Nicole says simple.
"There. There! You did it again! What if Tessa doesn't like anchovies?"
"Maybe she does!" Nicole argues
"Anchovies are gross." I didn't even notice Jake setting the table.
"Jake understands." Arinna motions to him.
"No, Jake just doesn't like anchovies. You don't know if Tessa and K.R don't." Nicole corrects her.
"And you don't know either." Arinna tries to take away the pan, but Nicole refuses, waving it around. She almost hits Michelle, but the older woman ducks just in time.
"Watch it." she huffs, putting some toast on the table.
"At least add something normal. Like cheese, bacon, spinach even." Arinna sighs.
"I'm not giving them my good bacon. I'm saving that for my omelets." Nicole snorts. "They can have spinach though." she sprinkles a bit on, folding it over.
Slowly sitting up, watching the four carefully, I nudge Tessa with my foot, ("Tessa.") I say to her mentally, ("Wake up.")
She stirs, squinting at me, "Wha-" I slap my paw over her mouth before she can speak. She makes a face at the fur grazing her tongue, spitting a bit. ("That was gross.") She said mentally.
I flick my tail at her, than at the others. She follows my gaze, freezing. Realizing the same thing I did earlier about over sleeping, she flinches. ("What are they doing?")
("I believe they are making us breakfast.") I explain. She looks confused, and is startled when Jake turns towards us, our gazes catching the others.
"Oh." he perks up. "Morning!"
The rest of the room turns to look at us. Arinna smiles and waves, while Nicole just sniffs and goes back to cooking.
"Did we wake you?" Michelle inquires, "We just thought you might like some breakfast."
I scanned the room wildly, "Where are the others?" I couldn't see the Alligator anyway, and that concerned me.
"My place." Nicole answers, "We don't want them walking around too much out of the apartments in case they are spotted." she pauses, "Plus, Elizabeth sleeps in really late. You probably won't see her for another hour or two."
"We made you omelets." Arinna adds in, "Nicole added some weird things though, so I really hope you like them. If you don't, that is okay. I won't judge."
"Get them while they're hot." Nicole tosses the plates on the table, going back to finish her own before joining everyone at the table. Glancing at each other, unsure of what to do, Tessa frown at me.
("S-Should we run?")
I wasn't sure. They're intentions felt pure, but I had only know them for a few hours, I couldn't be certain. They hadn't done anything to us yet though, and we were still asleep when they came in so maybe- our stomachs growled in unison.
Tessa reached her hands up to grasp her belly, blushing faintly in embarrassment. "Um…" she glanced at the food.
Years of fear felt imbedded into our systems. Every fiber of me was screaming to get out of there and never return. But..
There it was, there was a but to my logic. Something was keeping me here.
I don't know if it was the fact that Michelle forgave us for breaking into her home, that Arinna shared a chunk of her past with us, or if is was because they had mutant companions who trusted and adored them, but something convinced me to get off the bed and join these strange people at the table.
Tessa sat at the end of the table, and I jumped up to join her, staring curiously at my plate. Jake had drawn a smiley face on the omelets with ketchup. I hesitantly reached down and took my first bite. Tuna and egg. Nothing else.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
But it tasted extraordinary. When was the last time I had a meal like this? Years, I think.
Tessa, despite pausing at the strange taste of anchovies, was scarfing down the omelets so fast that I'm not sure if she fully tasted everything she was consuming.
Arinna looked relieved that we enjoyed it.
Nicole had just sat down with her own and blinked at us, watching in almost awe as we reached wildly for the roast, waffles and other things on the table.
"Jeez." she muttered, "Getting enough food there?" she said sarcastically.
She got up to go back to the oven, surprising me by returning with 4 more omelets. "Bottomless pits." she comments dryly. Arinna hits her playfully on the shoulder.
"So-" Michelle drawls out, "Do you two like New York?" she attempts to start small talk.
"It's fine." Tessa says quickly.
There is an odd silence, only filled in by the sound of our eating… and Nicole's. Unlike the others, she doesn't seem overly interested in our back-story and is content with just sitting there in silence. Or at least, she is cautious about it like the others.
So I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised when she blatantly asks, "So is this a birth defect thing or did something happen to make you two like this?" she doesn't even look at us.
"Nicole." Arinna scolds at her bluntness.
"Arinna." she copies her tone, "We got two cat things at our table. Might as well just get the obvious question out there. Which is; are you two mutants and changed to look like this, or were you born like this?"
The others look ready to yell at her, but cut themselves off, knowing she was correct. They all wanted to know the same thing. Was there really harm in telling them? We planned on leaving soon anyway…
And even if they were the people who did this to us, what would it matter if we told them something they already knew?
I glanced at Tessa, who was staring at her plate. She quietly reached up to touch her ears, causing them to flatten down on her head. "I wasn't born with these." I couldn't believe my ears when she spoke.
"Mutant." Nicole snaps her fingers, "Gotcha."
After a long mental debate, I add, "We weren't always a mutants."
"Eh?" Michelle titled her head. "How is that possible? What happened to you two?"
Tessa straightens, "I use to be human." she says, "K.R was just a regular person too, but that all changed when…" she shivers.
"When what?" Michelle asked. I feel as though she regretted asking her question when I frowned and looked towards the ground. "I'm sorry." She said quickly. "You do not have to answer that. I was just curious-"
"It is alright." I insisted, feeling strange having to talk about this. I never had to since Tessa already knew everything, "I would be curious too if I were you."
"We were changed to look like this." Tessa says coldly, "Then we got out and have been on the run."
"Cool." Nicole takes a sip of her throat. Tessa gives her a wild look.
"Cool?" she demands. "What is cool about it?"
"You got away." Nicole shrugs, "Good job- Jake don't eat all the waffles." She slaps his hand away.
He makes a noise, his mouth too stuffed to fully understand what he is saying. He makes wild motions.
"Than go make your own.' Nicole snatches away the last waffle. "These don't grow on trees, you know." They both pause, sharing a smile, nodding at how cool it would be if they did grow on trees.
"Would it be scientifically possible though to make a Waffle tree?" Jake asks.
"We could look into it." Nicole offers. They both grin and high five each other, a new goal discovered.
Tessa opened and closed her mouth, dumbstruck. We both were expecting a much bigger reaction than this and we weren't getting that. Just a nod?
Who in the world were these people?! Who would meet someone like us and just accept an, "It just happened", as an answer and just go on with their lives with no other questions. Didn't they want to know the name of the people? Or how we ended up there? How long we were there, or even the details of our escape?
"You two must have been to a lot of places since, huh?" Arinna mused, "Maybe I should travel one of these days?"
"You could go to England." Michelle says.
"Ooh, go see where you grew up?' Arinna chuckles. Michelle winked at her, nodding.
"Wha-" Tessa slammed her hand into the table, and it shook, "What is wrong with you people?!" she demanded. The table froze, eyes wide. "How are you all so calm about this?! How can you just accept what we say? This can't be normal for you! Do you think this is some kind of joke?!" her voice cracks.
I reach a paw towards her hand in hopes to comfort her, but I don't know what to say.
"Of course not." Jake says. Tessa looks at him, breathing hard. "Of course this isn't a joke." He stands, "I don't know what is happening. I don't understand why you two are like this." He glances away, "But I feel like I understand… kind of."
"Wha…What?" Tessa shakes her head, not sure what he was talking about. "What do you mean? What do you understand?"
"The past is painful and you don't always wanna talk about it because it scares you." He motions to the others, "They feel that way too. That is why it is okay. You've told us enough. We don't need to know anymore right now. You can tell us when you are ready and when you want to." He smiles.
Completely awestruck, Tessa slowly slides back into her seat, "…Who are you people?" she breathes.
"A secretary who is raising a turtle." Arinna raises her hand.
"A photographer who is teaching an Alligator to read." Michelle chuckles.
"A baker going to medical school while simultaneously housing a ninja child." Nicole twirls her fork.
"An apartment worker who got dragged into all of this." Jake grins.
So in conclusion, they were normal people who just so happened to find something extraordinary.
Closing her mouth, Tessa glanced back at her plate. She sniffed, "Could I…" Tessa holds up her plate nervously, "Get another Omelet?"
Blinking once, Nicole smiles, "Yeah sure," she takes the plate back to the kitchen, "I need to get rid of these canned anchovies anyway."
"Oh my gosh-" Arinna got to her feet, "You are not putting more anchovies in her omelets." she follows her into the kitchen.
"Don't be a control freak, Arinna." Nicole points at her.
"I am not a control freak." Arinna argued.
Nicole gave her a dull look. "… Knock knock."
"…" Arinna furrowed her brows. "I'm not going to say it."
"Knock knock." Nicole said again.
"No."
"Knock! Knock!"
"…" Arinna shook her head, refusing.
Nicole sighed, "This is when you say, 'Who's there?" Then I say, Control freak." She said. "Then you say, 'Control freak who?' Arinna. Then do you know what I say?"
"…"
"Control freak you!"
"Nicole!" Arinna started to pathetically slap her.
Michelle sighed, "Well- that aside." she turned back to us, "If you two need a place to stay for a while, you can stay here."
"What?" we ask in surprise.
"I have plenty of room." she motions around, "I am not here the whole day too because I have work so you can have some privacy if you want it. And- and you would not have to worry about the neighbors because they already know you are here. You can talk with Leatherhead and Elizabeth- I am sure they would like you once you got to know them."
We don't know what to say. What was the right choice here?
Never in a million years did I think that this would have happened, but it is…
"What about…" I lick my lips, "That woman from before?"
"Agatha?" Michelle inquires, and then waves it off, "Do not worry. Even if she does discover you are here, I am sure she will understand. Plus, we have gone this long without her figuring it out. We will be fine… probably." She glances away, wondering if she just jinxed herself. "…What do you say?"
We don't know what to do. So we just sit there for a while, but something clicked and we just nodded.
("…So we are staying?") Tessa asks.
("Only for a little while.") I tell her, ("We have to be certain these people aren't tricking us. So we'll play it by ear and watch each other's backs, okay?")
("Okay.")
YAY! THIS CHAPTER WAS FUN!
Nothing to exciting of course, but a lot of information hopefully.
I realized in this chapter I never really described anyone in detail to much; especially Jake 0.0 So here we go!
Yes, Jake has red eyes. Cool and mysterious, right? I should mention that later in another chapter….
ANYWAY! Yay for this chapter!
WARNING: In about two chapters I'm going to make a jump! And when I say jump, I meanTIME JUMP!
Which means I'll be skipping a few years :D I don't know how many just yet, but a few years will be skipped to get the story moving.