#chatzy bridget

[quiteashocker]

Werefox, Smoke Monster, and Huxian: OH MY! || Bridget & Effie

Effie ran a gloved hand down her face in exasperation. She couldn’t believe that this sort of place didn’t have more of an online accessibility. But at least Bridget was here to help her read and to help her research—Effie was certain she had done a good thing in confiding in Bridget. She was trustworthy and she seemed eager to help, and her allowing her the choice and the control over a session such as this was monumentally helpful for her to even be here. And she learned quite a bit about what was written about the Yako and the Nogitsune fox spirits. However, nothing seemed to be very helpful about this… terrifying fox monster that she saw herself as in her dream. “I haven’t read anything that resembles what I saw.” Effie finally broke their silence, a frown on her face. “How about you?”

Bridget glanced over to Effie. She was glad that she'd been able to help her -- even if just a tiny bit. Of course, the beings -- including Effie herself (Bridget still smiled at the thought, how ​cool​ was it that she was actually able to help someone not just on a theoretical level?!) were not something that stood in Bridget's line of specialty but she liked to think that she had done at least some tiny bit of a good job. "No, me neither. I need to get looking into it." She said, another sigh following as she tapped her fingers against her thigh. "More, at least. All I know is that it seems to be totally random -- who it's coming to, that is. It's also not like anything I can find in our books, at least not the ones I've read." She glanced over to Effie. "Have you seen it again, or was it just that once?"

Effie shook her head. “Really the only thing I can tell you about the thing that was in my apartment was… well, it was a little dark, but it was like a black ball of smoke with piercing white eyes… And it had a hand. But it wasn’t visible unless it was touching me… And I was a little distracted trying to get something out so I could defend myself. See how well that turned out.” She made a face. “But that fox monster… The one from my dream… I haven’t come across anything like it. There’s nothing in these texts about some giant… Hold on.” The image of Paige the Fox Monster Wife—something she wished her head would stop calling her—was ingrained in her mind and she snatched a piece of paper off the table and began to draw the best she could. “If so many other people are having dreams like these who also saw ​that creature​ then… I was trying to remain skeptical but I’m having a hard time believing they aren’t connected.”

"That sounds like some weird thing half out of Spirited Away." ​Bridget​ made a face. "Only worse. Obviously." She regarded Effie curiously, listening to her as she spoke, not wanting to interrupt. "Hey, you got startled. Plus you probably still defended yourself better than I could've." She pushed a few pencils towards Effie as she began to sketch, and Bridget peered over to see what she was creating. "That looks like a --" Bridget bit her lip. "Well, it's not like anything I came across, even when I was reading about you. Sorry, that sounds weird." She sighed. "It's probably connected. There was a time, back in the labours, where a whole lot of us -- or five, I guess -- ended up trapped in a weird dreamscape, but this seems even bigger than that. But still probably connected."

Effie blinked. “Spirited what?” she asked, eyebrows raising. “I was trying to get some of my heavy charged tech equipment. I guess I accidentally blew a fuse without realizing it again, because when I got upstairs none of the lights were on, and I can’t create my own electricity. Or if I can, then I don’t know how.” And she wouldn’t like to find out.” Effie put the teeth on the fox thing and added a tail. “It looks like a what? That might be helpful!” She encouraged Bridget, looking at her curiously. To be fair, her drawing didn’t look like much of anything than a Gumby suit with a snout with teeth and tails. “A weird dreamscape, huh? I don’t… Well I guess so many bad things happen to this town that it would be foolish to say that none of the events are connected.” With a sigh, she leaned back in her chair. “I wonder if that… dreamscape is connected to these dreams.”

"Movie. Not important." ​Bridget​ gave a shake of her head. "Though actually, I can lend it to you if you ever want." She blew a strand of hair from her face. "Well, if you ever wanna, we can work on figuring that out some other time." She glanced over to the door to her office. At least the fact that a number of the other Scribes held little or no respect for her had some benefits. They weren't about to be jumping at her door, ready to ask her various questions. "Werewolf, sorry." Bridget bit her lip again. "I don't think it is that, though. Can't see you marrying a werewolf, and you did say she was a fox, so that's that." At Effie's mention of the dreamscape Bridget sighed. "Oh, I sure hope not. I like to think that with getting rid of the labours we got rid of all that. But it couldn't hurt to look into it. However, all that happened with that was a manifestation of various individuals' fears, only in the dream, and a Ceryneian Hind."

“Movie?” Most of the movies Effie watched were various documentaries found on Netflix. “Uh, sure.” At the mention of her powers though, she tried to give her a small smile, thought it came more like a grimace. “Maybe, yeah. Next time… Or whenever we get this sorted out I suppose.” Effie said, her head tilting to the side slightly. Maybe not. Nothing seemed to help. Nothing. But maybe there was some key hidden in all this research… Or, maybe she was just doomed to live in this fear and anxiety forever… Effie shook that off, shaking her head. “It wasn’t a werewolf…. But… Well…” Effie’s eyebrows knit together. “What kind of species of werewolves are there… Uh… Was that the wrong question to ask?” Effie asked quickly, glancing at the door herself. “No, I meant… Can other animals be… were? Were-foxes? Or something? Or is that just things in bad television shows?” Because Bridget could have a point. Werewolves existed and if they looked sort of like that… Then maybe she was seeing some type of Werefox. Or something. “I hope it isn’t connected,” Effie admitted. “I really was only a part of the pageant, and then when I was… well, sick with that tea bird fiasco. Nothing like that. That sounds terrifying.” Perhaps more so than her own little waking nightmares.

"By Hayao Miyazaki." ​Bridget​ offered another shrug. "I watched it with my dads and sister ages ago. But it's not important nor is it relevant to the topic at hand." She sucked in her lower lip. "I -- whatever's good for you. No pressure, as always, as I've said. But I've got you if you need any help or find your interests kindled." Bridget rubbed a finger against the bridge of her nose. "Not the wrong question, it's fine!" She assured Effie. "I don't -- I don't think so, 'least not that I've heard of. Likely, or at least possibly the invention of horrible television I've never seen." Bridget held up the drawing. "Oh! I was in the pageant too. Tricked and in love with the whole idea. Still makes my skin crawl." She gave an involuntary shudder. "I remember the tea-bird thing. The dreamscape was quite awful, but we made it. Just like we'll make it through this, too. So... it just appeared, touched you, and kinda 'poofed'? Did it make any noise?"

Effie‘s head tilted. “Oh. It must… be a good movie then. My sister’s probably heard of it.” All four of them. She seemed to remember them mentioning Hayao Miyazaki at some point or another. She frowned slightly at that, and decided to steer the conversation away from her abilities. There wasn’t any need for that right now. But she tried to put on another smile. “I don’t know but… We don’t even know if these things are real. I could be causing a commotion for no reason and…” Effie let out a sigh. “Yeah, me too. I… They put me in some sort of swimming competition, and then some maze where I got attacked by… plants.” Effie rubbed her legs, wincing as she remembered the pain it caused. “No, it scared the hell out of me. I turned around and it was just there… And then it chased me as I ran around like an idiot.”

Bridget gave Effie another nod. "It is. If you ever want to watch it, I might have the DVD..." her voice trailed off as she focused back to the topic at hand. Away from Effie's abilities, which, while it was part of what she'd initially had her to the HQ to study, hadn't been what the two of them had ended up focusing on. "I don't think it's no reason." Bridget clenched her fist against her thigh. She needed to stop wanting to reach out to comfort others. Not everyone wanted that, especially when they were still near-strangers. "Plus, it's worth looking into even if it isn't anything. I had to find a wolpertinger with painted nails and then rid a room of an aniwye's scent. Not fun, either of those, but especially the latter." She glanced down at Effie's legs, then back up. "One, you're not an idiot, and two, okay. And it floated around?"

Effie appreciated the distance that Bridget gave her. She didn’t like to be touched and even though that little voice in the back of her mind told her that things would be different if she didn’t have these abilities that maybe she would like that. Comfort. Hugs. Among other things. “It will help to make sure it isn’t anything, regardless. A what with… I’m sorry, that doesn’t’ sound to pleasant.” Effie sighed, then looked back at her bad noodly drawing of the ‘werefox’. “Thank you, but I’m sure I was running around in some horror movie-esqe manner.” There was a wary grin on her face and she hoped it portrayed the humor in it. “It… Yeah. I think it was floating. It looked like it was floating. It was pretty fast, though. And I think I threw my phone ​through​ it, but it was dark and I couldn’t see totally.”

"It wasn't, but it's okay. I survived, and that's what matters, right?" ​Bridget​ grinned at Effie. "Well I do think that's probably some kinda appropriate response to such a creature, hm?" She offered another careful smile to Effie, the best way she could think to reassure her. Not that everything was fine and dandy, not exactly, but at least that she was there, and was going to do her best to solve this thing. Even if it meant not sleeping. She'd get it done. "This is all very helpful, thank you." Bridget traced her fingers around Effie's drawing. "Is your phone okay? I mean, you do own the electronics shop but still..."

Effie nodded. “Right… And my phone is fine, thankfully. It landed flat and slid under my couch. Really, I’m just glad my dog wasn’t here to witness it. It would have made it so much wor—“ ​This was it. She was young. She was a ​Huxian​. And today would be the day she gained her human form. Her mom said not to go for the hikers—But she wanted that little boy with the nice smelling backpack. It was easy to separate him—some stupid Eat. Pray. Love. Things would be turning onto the worst situation. She could feel her older siblings watching her and she felt a strike of annoyance. Couldn’t Edward and Ely leave her alone for this? Only her parents were supposed to be there. Ephie tackled the child, using her strong legs to pin him down as she started to rip of his face, the fleshy feeling in her mouth tasting satisfying as he screamed and—​ Effie’s words choked slightly. “—se? I… I have to go. Um. I forgot that Marley said.. Marley said she couldn’t close the shop today. I… I’ll message you later, okay?” Effie jumped up and was out the door before she could hear Bridget’s response. What the fuck was that… And more importantly, what the hell did she mean that she was a ​Huxian​?

"Well, that's good --" ​Bridget​ began before Effie seemed to stammer and stand up. Bridget stood up a few seconds after Effie, but the other woman was already gone. "Yes, of course. Message me --" she shook her head. There wasn't a point of responding if Effie wasn't around, but her words finished anyhow. "anytime." She sat down in her chair again and picked up the drawing, studying it. She still didn't know what was happening, but she did know that she had to figure it out, sooner or later. Sooner rather than later, really.

[cassidydanvers]

Should I Stay Or Should I Go...

An early morning trip by the sea goes awry with a run in with some inter-dimensional wildlife. Bridget and Cassie meet a few interesting creatures in the Cave of Voices, and Ashkent gets a new resident.

Backdated 27/08/17

For once when Cassie got out of work she saw daylight. At this point the fact that she didn’t burst into flames at the sight of it was almost surprising. What time was it exactly? Sunday sometime. The sky was pretty clear, not quite at its peak, but well past dawn was her guess. She put her vending machine coffee down for a second to rummage in her purse to check her cell. She passed her hand over the zippo lighter and felt the cool metal scrape across her fingers. Crap, she was supposed to have given that back last week. The second thing was the post-it note reminder to do just that and she rolled her eyes at herself. Moving the deodorant out of the way she fished out her cell, checked the time and shoved it into the pocket of her jacket and decided against heading back to the apartment just yet. If she killed a few hours before slinking back maybe she could avoid Mrs Ackerman’s latest attempt at an inquisition over what calls she took with names and places for the latest round of town gossip. With the coffee nursed against her chest she took a walk along the seafront a little away from the station and the hospital to watch the sun creep across the sky and get some air. The breeze coming in from the sea perked her up a little as she ambled along towards the docks.  

Beatrice was doing the grocery shopping for the week, and Bridget had decided that she needed to clear her head. Go out to the Cave of Voices and wade throughout the water, even though it was far from warm. But Maine waters rarely were truly warm, and the very end of August provided some of the better ones. Her Converse sneakers were in her backpack, and she carefully made her way into the cave, pulling out her phone briefly to respond to a text from Beatrice - they did need more peppermint tea, Bridget had just used the last bit the other day. The echoing of the water all around the cave still sent a small shiver down her back, but this was one of the best places in town to explore, so she took in a deep breath, running her fingers along the side of the cave, trying to see if anything had changed since her last visit.

Was it always this quiet down here? Apart from the water moving with the tide and the wind bustling around her and through her hair it was silent. Paused even. There were no birds. No seagulls swooping down at the first sign of a human with food in their hands, nothing. If she was smarter she would have taken it as a sign. The further Cassie walked the more everything felt dimmed down. Which was why the flickering in the cave caught her attention so quickly. Like something from a high budget nineties dream sequence it rippled with a pearlescent haze as she drew closer to try and figure out what the hell she was looking at. At the mouth of the cave she watched as it shimmered in place. The walls seemed to echo farther inside where they distorted into what sounded like wails and cries. She put the coffee down outside and ventured inside, it sounded human. It could have been human.

She knew that she should be grateful that she'd never slipped and fallen in the cave. That none of her on-occasion reckless behavior here had gotten her hurt. The town was far from calm, but Bridget had managed to sneak away from work, which had to count for something. She'd fought with Marley, and she'd not seen Veronica in ages, but there was something calm about this cave, though it made her miss Wren terribly. She turned around to glance back toward the entryway - where a figure stood. Bridget startled briefly, almost slipping into the water, but regaining her balance just in time. "Hey?" She called out, in question. She couldn't make out the figure well enough yet as to tell if it was a stranger or someone else.

This place was usually fenced off, at least it had been back home. Venturing a little inside Cassie hadn’t accounted for the water being as high as it was.  Even a little into the entrance the ankles of her jeans were submerged as she trudged towards the sound from before. It was definitely human, someone in pain, like they’d-well-like they’d done the exact thing she was doing but couldn’t get back out. She just couldn’t get a read on where it was coming from. Their voice, or voices now, covered everywhere the sound could echo. The pearlescent haze looked thicker now, brighter despite the darkness of the cavern. She took a tentative step towards it to gauge the water level. Her attention was snapped away from it by someone speaking behind her. “Wha-“ she turned to answer and knocked the top of her head against a chunk of rock face and cursed audibly. The noise bounced around the walls like a backup group. Once the pain ebbed she scrunched one eye open then the other to look towards the entrance to see a figure looking towards her. “Were you in here in second ago, I uh,” she pressed a palm to her head to check for damage, “heard someone yelling up by that light.”

"You heard someone yelling?" Bridget moved closer to the other figure. "I - well, it wasn't me. I like to try and be as quiet as possible, but I know the water can sound like screams." Unlike when Wren had shown Bridget her powers, and real screams and voices had echoed through the same cave. The other individual's voice sounded vaguely familiar and she waded through the water again until she could make out the other's face. "Cassie?" She asked, incredulous. "I've been here for a decent bit, but everything seems normal - or as normal as this cave ever is. I probably spend more time in here than I ought to." Bridget bit her bit, offering Cassie a small smile. "I promise I'm a safe person, honest. We just keep meeting in my less-safe moments. I like libraries a lot!" She blushed suddenly, "Which, I mean, you might assume given my profession. Hi again."

“It’s too far in for anybody to get out there that fast,” the throb on the side of Cassie’s head had dulled to an ache as she registered her name being called. She looked properly at her new companion and raised her eyebrows in recognition. “Bridget, Hi,” she gave an incline of her head in greeting and waded back towards the entrance and put her hands up, “I can’t talk,” she gestured towards where her shoes were under inches of water, “I’m-I was, uh, urban exploring…again...sort of.” That sounded even more feeble an excuse than it did in her head. “I didn’t come here on purpose, just wanted to kill a few hours here before I got home, “ she admitted. “Guess I’m a weirdness magnet. I think there’s someone’s in there,” she registered Bridget’s idea that it was the tide causing it but she shook it off. “Doesn’t sound like water, it sounds like a person. It’s different every time. Like they were in pain.” She waded a little farther and tried to ignore the object that brushed against her ankles in the water. Probably driftwood, but her mind was conjuring images of bones, or gnarled fingers and  ligaments. “Hey, is anyone down there?” Cassie called out and stopped to listen for a response. The sounds that returned wasn’t an echo but a frightened cry that sounded nothing like her own. Multiplied. Two, no, three people now. “You think that light thing’s from a phone? Maybe the water’s doing it I don’t know,” she squinted at it, trying to make it out. The inside of the cave felt charged, static almost. It happened again. Wails and moans whistled through the empty spaces and bounced from wall to wall. It made her shudder to the base of her spine. “Please tell me you heard that.”

"That's true." She murmured in agreement. She strained to hear whatever noise Cassie had heard, but shook her head when the other woman continued. "I suppose neither of us can, huh?" Bridget brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Living in Ashkent certainly ups your likelihood to attract weirdness." She moved closer to where Cassie stood, straining to hear the voices she did. "I don't see a light, I'm sorry." Bridget glanced around, heartbeat increasing just so. Cassie had sensed other things in the building, maybe there was something more to see now. "Tell me more about what you see, though. I might just be too adjusted to it already, having been in hear who even knows how long, y'know? You're a fresh view."

“Guess not,” Cassie said in agreement. Maybe at some point she’d get used to it, long time from now, who knew. She could hope. “guessing you get used to it, right?” If Bridget couldn’t hear it did that mean it was all in her head? No, she’d heard right, she was looking right at the ting. “It’s like it’s right in there, you’d have to be further in to see it maybe,” she twisted round again to get a better look at the thing, “hang on.” Cassie tested one of the rocks jagging out from the sand for purchase and moved further inside the cave. “I won’t go in past my knees, l’ll come back out in five,” she called over to Bridget as she pushed against the water to walk towards the source of the light. The water crept up slightly to the bottom of her calves as she moved under an arch. The thing in front of her was like something from a sci-fi. It rippled and shimmered like a nebula in the middle of the arch. “Nope definitely not from a cell phone,” she called back out to Bridget, raising her voice so it would carry back. “It’s uh,” she sifted through her brain to find the right words, “it’s this-I sound crazy, but it’s like this fog almost, like a veil, but it has this shine,” she titled her head and narrowed her eyes to look at it. “Kind of like the inside of a shell”. As she stood he voices had quietened now,  he hadn’t noticed until she looked away. It had gone silent again. She couldn’t hear anything. She frowned at it, the hell was going on? She wasn’t looking to hang around in there till high tide to find out. She started to move back out towards the entrance when something behind her moved and the veil shifted.

"You get at least used to your normal being almost any other town's wicked weird experience." Bridget shrugged. She wanted to see whatever it was that Cassie could see, but she couldn't. No matter how hard she strained her eyes, she couldn't see anything at all. She watched Cassie move forward for a brief moment before calling out. "Oh heck no, I learned my lesson back at that building. You are not going anywhere alone." Bridget began to move in the water toward Cassie. "I believe you." She nodded rapidly. "I just can't see it, but I trust that it's there." She chewed on her lower lip, squinting in the low light of the cave before something moved and all of a sudden the light was more clear and swirling, shimmering though without much in the way of fog. "Cassie, watch out!" Bridget called out, grabbing Cassie's arm and pulling her back, water splashing all around their legs. "What on earth is that?!"

Cassie barely registered the fact that Bridget was there until the silence was shattered with the sound of her yelling at her and grabbing her arm as she was pulled away from it. As she did something sparked from the centre of the light and shot out in a white flare. “You saw it, right?” Cassie asked incredulously from where they stood just out of view of the centre of what she now saw was some kind of opening, a portal.  “I have no idea.” The water felt higher than it had been just a few minutes ago. The air full of moisture. The wall she leaned her shoulder against felt warm. The rough surface of what she thought was the stone shifted under her touch. She stopped, and stepped away, eyes wide. Since when did cave walls move? “Uh, Bridget,” she kept the panic out of her voice and didn’t raise it past a soft rasp.

"I see it now." Bridget replied, giving a nod. A shaky nod, but a nod nonetheless. There was some sort of opening that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, exactly where Bridget had been exploring before Cassie showed up. She kept one hand on Cassie's shoulder, staring in shock and awe at what had just materialized in front of the two of them. The air was thicker, suddenly, and the water that had splashed up against their legs seemed to remain, pushed to a higher level than it had been before. "That's never happened before." She said, whispering to Cassie. She took another few steps back, doing her best to keep steady so that she didn't fall and injure herself. "Is that the thing you were talking about before?" She gestured toward the portal.

Cassie followed Bridget’s gaze to exactly where the light was coming from, she was looking right at it now. “That’s it,” she gave a brief nod and her face paled. If there was someone in here before then they sure as hell weren’t there now. They probably went through that thing. “I think I’ve seen this before.” This one was different, not like the one that had been at the warehouse, this one was bigger, tangible, but just as dangerous. It sparked off flares of pearlescent light like the specs of an opal and the jagged rocks lit up where the light touched. She���d seen enough. She wasn’t about to let Bridget get sucked into that thing. “Time to go,” and moved to steer Bridget towards the mouth of the cave when something moved to their right, that side of the cave grew dark and the water rushed in a small wave towards them. Cassie concentrated for a moment on keeping her footing steady and tried to pave a way through the water and avoid the sharp edges of the rocks underneath the water.

"I was about to say the same to you." Bridget glanced back over to Cassie. At least this portal didn't entrance her like that awful, miserable, and terrifying poster had last year. The very idea of beauty pageants made her sick to her stomach, but this wasn't that at all, and she had to focus on other things - on staying alive and not having Cassie get sucked into the - whatever exactly the shimmery space was. "Wait," She paused - would have skidded to a stop if they'd been on solid ground. She whipped her head around, trying to squint to see what had just moved. Because something had moved, though it had gone at least partially under the water. "I don't think I can go just yet - I need to see what that is..." Bridget moved a few steps closer to the dark figure.

At least they were on the same page on the ‘lets get the hell out of here’ front. They’d learned their lesson from the first Hammer Horror matinee back in that hell building. Or they were until Bridget stopped where she was. Cassie continued to push her legs through the water but stopped and looked over to where she was standing. “What-no-let’s just get the hel-“ but she knew even by the time it was out of her mouth it was pointless as Bridget waded towards the movement. Glancing towards the entrance and the daylight farther away than she would have liked she opened her mouth to try and get Bridget to drop it and hightail it out of there, but stopped. The sound of water and air puffing out from somewhere in the caverns further back almost sounded like something was breathing. Like some kind of Orca. The cluster or rocks in front and to the left of her lifted from the floor and curved along the water. No, not rocks, the- she wasn’t going to say it. That wasn’t a damn tail.

She ignored Cassie's words. She knew that it was Basic Survival 101 not to ignore something like that, but she couldn't help herself. There was something drawing her over to the movement. Something was breathing, causing ripples in the water and Bridget sucked in a sharp breath. There was no way - was there a tail, there? She turned to Cassie, motioning. "Just - come over here, please." She bit her lip. She was seeing things. Things that she'd wished for day after day, but that couldn't just - unless? Bridget glanced back over to the giant swirling and shimmering space in the cave, ducking as a few pieces of rock fell from the top of the cave and fell into the opening. "Is - do you -" She gestured at the space about twenty feet from where she stood, almost knee-deep in water. If it was what she imagined, it was not too large, though the tail (if it truly were) appeared to be rather long.

“Whatever it is, we need to leave,” Cassie breathed, her tone serious now. There was something in there with them. Something with part of a tail the size of a dinner table.  Worse, Bridget was trying to get close to the thing, signalling her over there. The nerves in her limbs were on fire, fighting with her to get her to move, but she couldn’t leave Bridget in there. Fragments of rock from above fell into the opening and Cassie darted her eyes up  in alarm and waded towards where she was standing. “There’s something in the water,” she nodded slowly, “I thought the cave was shifting after that…portal,” it sounded insane, “opened, but I think it was this thing.” Cassie held her breath as something brushed against her leg. A segment of driftwood she guessed and snatched it up into her hand for something to throw to get whatever it was to look the other way so they could scramble out of there with as much time as it could give them. “Okay, okay,” she repeated like a mantra, “just stop moving. It’ll feel it in there,” she gestured to the water around them. Like the freaking shark from Jaws.

"We don't." She responded, her voice barely above a whisper. "I - just trust me on this one, please?" Bridget closed her eyes, and in turn, took in a deep breath. She needed to approach this without getting too many of her hopes up. Because dragons were extinct, and almost none lived in the water. But there was still part of her that couldn't help but hope - maybe whatever that - portal, she thought, scrunching her nose - was, maybe it had linked to somewhere where dragons or something similar to them were still alive. Because this wasn't just an alligator or crocodile. That much she was certain of. "Just hear me out. I'm also good at getting out of this cave quickly if need be, I promise." Bridget turned to offer Cassie what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Plus, it's not guaranteed to do harm." She chirped, trying to keep her tone as light and optimistic. Everything would be totally fine, absolutely no doubt.

Trust her. Kind of a big ask then, which she felt a pang of guilt over, but that was soon overridden again by the need to get the hell out. “I do trust you,” Cassie said with a steady voice that surprised her considering her teeth were chattering and her nerves felt singed, “just not that.” How big was this thing exactly? That tail was only part if it and there were corners and crevices towards the back that nobody could get to. Not if they weren’t looking to make a one way trip. “How big is this cave?” A back wall rippled and curved that she realised was this thing’s torso and held her breath. The wet sand beneath them flattened in one spot and she felt her legs sliding towards it. The side of her shoe hit against something solid and curved. It was joined by four more as they splayed outwards in a stretch of a limb and pushed down and away. Not going to cause harm. Right, it was going to take them on adventures and give them lessons on life to a folksy wholesome soundtrack. “I’m not interested in finding out.”

She clenched her teeth at Cassie's comment, briefly. It was not a slight on her. "That's fair enough." A small murmur. "The cave? It goes a ways back, though I've never tried to go all the way back. That seemed to be pushing it." That did, and this did not? Bridget shook her head, but didn't voice that thought aloud. Instead, going against what she was certain Cassie would wish, she knelt down, soaking her dress in the salty water, and reached out a hand to touch the creature. She ran her fingers across the skin, a small smile crossing her face. "I just need to figure something out, that's all." She used her free hand to brush hair from her face. "Cassie, watch out!" She squeaked, as the portal shimmered and something else seemed to emerge - something long and possibly segmented. "What the hell is that?!" She shot up, splashing more water.

A ways back. This thing was huge. Where parts of it curved itself where the light reached were covered in scales varying in size in a deep teal sheen. In the darkness it had looked black, blended in with the surrounding walls so Cassie kept away from them and stationed herself beside a rock jutting out to a spike and remained still. “This is why there’s usually a fence around this thing.” Cassie started as if to move to stop her, but Bridget was already kneeling down in the water beside the thing and reached out a hand to touch it. No good could come of it. She was about to remind her of the last time she’d decided everywhere was a petting zoo but heard Bridget calling her name to watch out and whipped around to look where Bridget’s gaze was. The portal sparked and shimmered as something much faster coursed through the water along the bottom of the sand. A centipedal form emerged and it’s flank as it rose upwards. The ridges underneath and the bristles lining its body became visible. At the head was a set of pincers stretched out on either side of its mouth. Cassie did an about turn and let out a long string of profanities as she treaded water to grab Bridget, not caring about the noise it was making or the attention it carried. Her legs moved for her and pushed towards the narrowing exit.

"It's not exactly the safest of places in general." Bridget admitted. There was no point in not telling the truth - not that she ever believed in lying, but right now seemed an especially poor choice to claim that this cave normally held a sense of safety and warmth. "But it's not normally like," she gestured around, "like this. Just rocks and crashing waves and the occasional skeleton - animal, that is." Which I don't mind as much as maybe I should. Bridget thought to herself. But her thoughts were momentarily distracted as whatever the heck had just exited the portal slithered into the water, pincers moving in rapid motion. She felt a shudder flow through her body at the sight of the creature. She was not supposed to feel distaste for the unknown but she couldn't help but make a face that likely matched up well with the list of profanities Cassie had decided to start off with. "No," She said at Cassie's movement. "I can't - I - look, this is what I study." She motioned toward the teal-colored creature in the water. "If this is what I think it is, there's no way I'm leaving here, I'm sorry. I can't."

Bridget wasn’t moving. That hideous thing was snaking around the crevices and curves of the cavern like it was feeling around for them and she wasn’t walking on water to see daylight. She didn’t understand it. At the mention of skeletons Cassie looked down involuntarily and thought about the things brushing her legs. Her mind decided to conjure up a gnarled hand and part of an arm reaching out with sinewy fingers. Something bounced from the side of her right leg and she squirmed. Cassie looked up out of the corner of her eyes towards Bridget, everybody had stories about this place. Skulls washing up and collecting in the pockets and pools, the girls in her old homeroom who swore it was a mafia dumping ground. Stupid stories people told to keep kids and teenagers who should know better away from the place. “Which is exactly why we should motor.” A piece of rock crumbled and fell to the ground a few meters from her as she moved closer to Bridget and lost her footing for a moment. “Is it worth not getting out of here over?”

It was dangerous, and both Veronica and Beatrice would tell her to leave, that no matter what, her safety was first priority. But as she'd ignored Cassie's words, she pushed away the ones in her mind. Bridget scrunched up as more rock fell, and looked straight at Cassie. "We're not going to die." Oh, she wished she had Deirdre around, that would be so much more helpful, she'd be able to say that without a glimmer of hesitation. "But - yes, this is worth risking possible injury. At least for me - you can, if you need to, you can leave me behind, or whatever." There was no way she was going to pass up an opportunity like this, not ever. It was once-in-a-lifetime (and previously she'd thought it impossible, at least until time travel was invented). "I think it's a dragon." She breathed, looking up at Cassie. "That's why I can't leave it be."

“I’m not leaving you in here,” Cassie gave Bridget an are you serious? look. “I can see that it’s a…” she didn’t finish but gestured towards where she assumed the head of the dragon would be. “They must be real wherever the hell it came from-“ she ran a shaky hand through her hair, “look, take a selfie or a sketch or something but we need to-”A scraping from the back wall scratched along and more rock pieces felt to the ground with a heavy thump a few meters from them. There was a shriek of pain from the second creature that reverberated around the cave walls. “I can’t go if you don’t go,” she yelled over the din. “That thing,” she gestured back to the portal, “is spitting this stuff out like a conveyor belt. Anything could be in there and I don’t know how long we have till it pulls us into that thing with it, but it will. Please trust me on this.” Cassie took a steadying breath and shut her eyes for a moment to focus before opening them again, “so no, I’m not leaving you behind here.”

"They are real here, too!" She sputtered. "Just extinct. So wherever they are from, they were never driven to extinction." The whole cave vibrated then, and she gave a small huff. Bridget was not about to let this opportunity just slip away. "Okay, but I don't want that -" She gestured at the worm-looking thing. If worms were giant with huge pincers. "To hurt it." She moved closer to the dragon, resting her hand on its back. "So we can get out, but I can't let this die, it's done nothing!" She practically squeaked. She ducked as something spewed rocks towards where the two of them were standing, and Bridget pressed her body against the other creature (dragon still seemed weird to actually say), who shifted suddenly, causing a wave to flow throughout the cave.

“Okay,” Cassie put her hands up, “okay, sorry. Still…-new to this. I know that, it didn’t ask to be here. It’s stuck like the rest of us. Not its fault,” she paused, “I get it.” The last thing she needed was for them to be arguing semantics when the cave felt like it was crumbling away around them. A tail flick from the centipedal mutation sent a shower of rocks towards them. Cassie leapt in the opposite direction with the water wading up past her knees. “So what do we do?” She shrugged, ”I don’t know,” she dropped her hands down by her sides, “clap it on its side to get it to blot like a horse; let it cruise the coast?” There was nowhere for it to go, no way.  Not outside with people around walking the seafront by now. Not with that other thing trying to burrow between the crevices of the cave. “Aside from a anchor sized fish hook for that worm thing it has free reign.” As it to prove a point there was a clicking sound  and a rush of air as something snapped at the tail end of the dragon. A wave surged from movement in the cave and hit against the rocks and anything around them. The sand underneath felt like it was shifting and the deep teal scales she could make out in the dim light of the cave rippled and contracted as it shifted position. Raising part of its body upwards.

"I'm not -" She began, wanting to say that she wasn't stuck, that she'd moved here. She wasn't whoever her other self was - someone she only knew vague things about. "That's true. It didn't ask." A small smile offered at Cassie. She hadn't tried to intentionally annoy Bridget, and she was at least willing to understand the fact that a dragon was right by the two of them, she wasn't spewing out denial after denial. "That could -" She began again, before whatever the other creature was continued to cause a disturbance. It didn't deserve to die either, but - but it could do harm, clearly. The dragon then moved all of a sudden and Bridget jumped back - almost her entire body was soaked, now. But that didn't matter - it started to move forward, towards the light that was at the edge of the cave, though not all too quickly.

It was making a break for it. As Bridget jumped back and the water rushed towards them in waves again it pushed itself up to stand and waded its way towards the light at the mouth of the cave. To her right Cassie saw an outstretched claw dig into the sand the side of a coffee table. As it twisted its body round the jagged rocks jutting out from the ground the side of part of it hit against her and pushed her towards a rock formation. As it moved towards the exit the cave darkened till she could just about see in front of  her and looked towards Bridget as the ground underneath seemed to vibrate. Where did the worm go? She darted her gaze around the rest of the cave and strained her eyes to see. She looked to where the light of the portal was illuminated now in one corner but saw nothing. The ground juddered beneath her as sand shifted and sunk with the movement of something underground. After a few moments of silence something burst free from the water and lunged forwards.

She'd never quite realized just how large some of them could be. Bridget shook her head, half in awe, half in shock. The worm was gone - until, suddenly, it wasn't. It jumped out of the water and Bridget grabbed Cassie's arm, pulling her over to the side as the worm swooped just past where they had been and crashed into the opposite wall, causing a cascade of rocks to come tumbling down, some getting sucked right into the portal. The worm paid no attention, swooping back over as it made an attempt to bite the dragon's tail, which, in turn, swiped across the cave, only narrowly missing the portal's entrance.

Cassie jolted away as Bridget pulled her just as the worm burst out from the water and knocked into the wall they’d fled from sending fragments of rock to tumble free into the water. Cassie’s eyes were wide and looked to Bridget in a silent thanks. A piles of rubble flew through the air and a jagged boulder juddered and lifted from the ground as it was pulled violently in the portal a few feet from them. “It’s starting,” she couldn’t keep the fear out of her voice, “it pulls us in and we’re not coming back out.” Around them the worm struck again if Cassie didn’t know any better she’d have sworn it was in anger, but the dragon simply swatted it away. The tip of its tail slammed into the midsection of the worm and knocked it into the back wall. The portal sputtered and crackled as an almighty crash erupted. A piercing shriek from the worm rang out and reverberated around the cave before chunks of rock fell and buried the worm under them. She couldn’t see the portal anymore. Just the cracks in the rock where the light shone out and flickered in rays.

Bridget nodded back to Cassie. At least they were both in here, because just one of them would likely not do much good. "We're not going to let it get that far." She whispered. "No way am I getting pulled into that." She motioned vaguely back toward where the portal was. "We've survived some sort of living building, I'm not about to not survive in one of my favorite exploration spots!" She shuddered as the worm got knocked against the wall and fell underneath a pile of rocks. "Okay, okay now I'll listen." She looked over at Cassie. "But I don't want that," she nodded at the dragon, "to die or get stuck so, let's hope it decides to explore the great outdoors, okay?" She bit her lip, tasting saltwater, and possible something else - residue from the now-partly buried, partly exploded worm. She spat into the water and brushed her hair out of her face.

The portal was gone and that thing taken with it. The stillness that followed felt jarring, but Cassie shook it off and turned back to Bridget, she was listening to her. Just at the exact moment when she had no clue what to do. Bridget wasn’t leaving without the thing now blocking the exit coming with them. A small crescent shape of light remained at the front of the cave a few meters away as she looked towards the dragon and hesitated. “Uh,” she tried to think, and you know what, if it got them out of here at this point why the hell not. A breath of exasperated laughter escaped her, “we just need something to get it to mo-” No sooner had she spoke when a chunk of rock fell from the top of the cave and landed square on the Dragon’s flank. Its skin shuddered and the ground shifted and it was moving again. Standing full and snaking its way to the mouth of the cave and out to the daylight beyond. Debris rained down in small scatterings as it made its exit knocking against the rocks and rubble in its way in its escape.

Things were still, all of a sudden, and somehow that almost felt stranger than the chaos that had ensued just moments beforehand. Bridget shook her head. It was all fine, everything was fine. She had to keep up the optimistic attitude, lest she find her nerves getting to her too much. She was practically soaked from head-to-toe with sea water and worm goo, but she'd found a dragon. "I-" She began, moving to pull out her cellphone to try and take a photograph of the creature just as more rock broke away from the cave and sent the dragon out into the daylight - she snapped a small photo, though it wasn't as clear as she would have liked it to be. "We can maybe go now, then?" She turned to Cassie as she shoved her phone back into her backpack, so that it didn't get soaked. "I - thanks. Again, you're quite a hero, you know." She grinned over to Cassie briefly. "Plus, hey, two for us, zero for our weird town."

Cassie turned towards the direction of the flash from Bridget’s phone camera and put it away in her bag. “Now, we go,” she nodded and waded through the receding water. Her jeans were weighting her down to knee height but she managed to trudge through towards the entrance where the sea breeze whipped her water soaked hair in all directions. “It’s fine, never doing that again, but it’s fine,” she replied pulling strands of her hair away from her face and to the side. Cassie looked ahead and watched as the dragons body snaked through the sand and swerved further and further away and down towards the water. It slid into the shallow and pushed itself out in a few deft strokes of its limbs and submerged itself underneath. It disappeared out to the depths of the water but reappeared for a few moments before it curved its body and dived down out of sight. They’d released the Kraken. A hysterical giggle of laughter escaped her then. What the hell just happened? Cassie let out a snort of laughter at Bridget’s last sentence one and shook her head with an roll of her eyes and pulled her shirt way from where it was stuck to her skin. She noticed now the grey splatters of worm oose and grimaced. She was however right about one thing, two for two, couldn’t argue with those odds. “Let’s not make it best out of three.”

[hawthorne-inmyside]

Through The Looking Glass || Bridget and... Roger?

A few of her fellow Scribes were being particular headaches today, and so ​Bridget​ had made her way into the library. Not wandering the stacks with any set goal, but rather just to have a breather. Ironic when she could find calm in a library within the HQ of a group of researchers. Not that she was about to complain. Bridget fiddled with Deirdre's necklace and adjusted her sweater, wandering past shelves and breathing in the smell before she made her way past one of the few mirrors in the library. Slipped past it before turning on her heels and walking back. Her reflection wasn't there. Bridget blinked a few times, in rapid succession, before staring again. There wasn't -- her reflection still wasn't there. Which should have been impossible, given her assured humanity. Plus, she'd seen her reflection just this morning. She squinted at the mirror in puzzlement before she saw a figure begin to appear, off to the side. Roger? She jumped, suddenly, whipping her head around... but he wasn't behind her, and as she looked back to the mirror she noticed a long red line covering one side of his face. One that Roger most certainly hadn't had last time she'd stopped by his office. Bridget sucked in a deep breath and took a step towards the mirror. "Hey!" She said, a loud whisper (you did have to respect library rules, after all). "Who the heck are you? Also how'd you get into the mirror?"

 It had taken him a while to notice, but there was definitely something going on with the mirrors. Some were blackened, and others showed things they oughtn't. He hadn't had much time to investigate, too busy doing the writings other scribes were too lazy to, the things they always dumped on the rookie scribes. What he was. No one believed someone whose alternate self was a con artist could be a scribe, especially given how he looked. It was denigrating, laborious work, and he hated every second of it. But it was better than being back on the street and a target once again. Roger shuddered, typing up more illegible notes and only glancing at the library's mirror occasionally. The second he had an excuse to investigate, he did, and it was when he saw Bridget Blythe in the mirror but not in the room that he leapt to his feet and walked over. Not that the Blythe here was one to trust, but she was always a sharp one. His reflection wasn't there, but that was no bad thing. He hated his reflection these days. She mouthed words and he frowned. "I can't hear you." He said, then gestured to his ear with the hand he used to have.

She jumped when he gestured to his ear -- his had was missing. This was absolutely not the Roger she knew. ​Bridget​ bit her lip. "You can't hear me?" She whisper-yelled again, before giving a small and short rolling of her eyes. Something was off -- more than off, because as she looked into the mirror, it seemed as though wherever she was looking wasn't exactly the background she ought to have had. She took in a deep breath and pursed her lips. She didn't have a pad of paper right away -- though she did have her phone. She could type out a note to Roger, but she wanted to try something first. She quickly signed out 'You -- know -- signing?' a finger pointed at him, followed by a curved hand against her temple, and her pointer fingers circling around one another. She bit on her thumb's fingernail as she waited to see if he'd respond, giving another small shake of her head, followed by another shudder at his lack of an arm. Something was ​very​ much not right.

Roger rolled his eyes and nodded - he was much less patient, much more tired and frustrated. But she was thinking, and evidently had something she wanted to say, this Bridget through the looking glass. He watched her sign and nodded, but when he raised his hands to reply he remembered his problem. He'd always signed right hand dominant, which was a problem given that it had been removed in November. He gestured at himself, then did the gesture for try with one hand instead of both, the way it was meant to be. "Before right hand dominant," he explained further, slow and uneasy as he used his left hand. Like he was learning all over again. He overexaggerated when it usually required two hands and mouthed the words too. Just in case. "Why you inside mirror?"

Bridget gave a small sigh. But at least he knew sign language. She still wasn't fluent, but she was more than baseline conversational, now. She watched him sign, nodding along carefully. Why was ​she​ inside a mirror?! He was asking her that? Which meant that whatever caused him to end up where he was, inside this mirror, had made her do the same. Or something. She gave him the quick sign for O-K and bit her lip. "Not inside mirror." She signed back. "You inside mirror for me." A pause. "Why you not in office?" She gave a nod with her chin towards the direction of the offices.

"Research," ​Roger​ signed dismissively, frowning. Except, Bridget would have known that. He'd spoken to her briefly this morning. His frown deepened, about to accuse her of being a trick or curse, designed to break the Scribe headquarters like others had in the past. After all, Scribes trusted other scribes on a point of principle, in the mirror or not, and someone else might have told her exactly what they were working on. In fact, given what he suspected the Bridget here was like, this might even have been her trying to weasel more information about him. Roger bristled, until he spotted something just behind her. He stepped as if to look past her, then the other way when he remembered that this was still a mirror. On one of the bookshelves behind her, in a glass container, was a familiar white bust of Aristotle, almost pristine except the dried blood stains running down from its eyes like tears. Roger glanced behind him, and lo and behold it wasn't there. He looked back, his eyes widening as his mouth dropped open in surprise. It had come from Salem eight years ago, had brought a storm with it, and when it had cried blood three people had keeled over on the spot. The glass was the only thing stopping it from killing again. "Ashkent?" He finger spelled, closing his mouth as he stared at her, with even wider eyes.

Research would have made sense, except that ​Bridget​ was fairly certain Roger -- Mr. Hawthorne, she realized she likely ought to have been thinking of him as -- not that such formalities especially mattered when he was somehow in a mirror. In a mirror and looking so incredibly different from the Roger she'd known. That Roger had both hands and was not in the library with her. She watched as he glanced behind him and did so in turn -- the bust on her side not at all visible in his. At his finger-spelling her eyes grew wide. "Yes." She signed, before running her tongue across her teeth and finger-spelling to him -- "Ashford?" She pointed straight at him. "You?" But that -- the mirror had been fine the last time she'd looked in it.

Roger nodded once, his teeth grit together as his left hand curled into a tight fist. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Couldn't lose his cool, not now. If he stepped away, she might have too, and he desperately needed her not to. But this shook him to the core, was leaving him reeling and struggling to focus. It wasn't so long ago that he'd been grabbed off the street and beaten to a pulp, his ribs cracked and bruised. He still remembered the unadulterated as a man thrice his size had put a knife in his mouth and pulled it out through his cheek, but it didn't compare to what he was feeling now, so close and so far to the place he belonged. After a seconds, he jabbed a sign and pointed at her side of the mirror. "My home." Took another second to gather himself and pull himself together. "Is Sonya chief scribe?"

Bridget kept staring at him. Part of her wondered if she should run and check on Roger -- the Roger here, the one who she'd just seen going into his office not too long before she'd ran off to the library. But she was curious. Perhaps too much so, perhaps without proper justification, but nonetheless she remained, standing. Fiddled with the edge of her sweater and felt her lips part at his next sign. His home. But -- she glanced around her, grateful for the silence. "Sonya?" She finger-spelled, raising her eyebrows to show that it was a question. "No." Her fore and middle fingers pressed together and tapped against her thumb. "You -- chief scribe." She bit her lip. "No scar and you have both hands, though."

That was impossible. Preposterous, even. Roger's opposite was just that, nothing like how he was, incapable of leading the scribes. He hadn't finished high school, never mind any kind of scribe training. No, this had to be something worse. "Danger," he replied. "November, I swapped. Attacked." For the selfish things his other self had done. Roger deceived, but that was to ​save​ lives, not for his own gain. It was completely different. "He's an imposter!" His hand jabbed again, emphasising his point. "Curse, illusion. Find out!" He grit his teeth together, looking around. It was remarkably quiet. "I will investigate from this side. Why the mirrors, why now." It was an unusually cruel form of punishment, to not be able to reach the other side. Unless, of course... Roger stepped forward with a frown, and rapped the glass with his knuckle. Nevermind.

"I know." She signed back. "Good at faking, though." ​Bridget​ nodded her chin towards the offices, trying to make her point as clear as she could. "Other things in town swapped, also." She gave a careful sigh. "Sorry did not see Roger here not you." She knit her eyebrows together. "Find out what? More about him?" But she gave another shake of her head. "Will research." She signed, watching as Roger -- the real one -- or at least who had to be real -- even though the Roger here looked more like -- she offered him a small frown as he tapped on the glass. "Will find out. Promise." She brushed her fingers against the bridge of her nose.

"I know, they're here. Flipped, Iron Church, lots of people. Almost half the town, now. We're not sure what is causing it yet." ​Roger​ rubbed his chin, shaking his head. It was but a minor betrayal, that none of the people he had spent nearly two decades protecting hadn't seen him. Actually, it was a rather big one, but he couldn't let it hurt now. Just because he'd lost almost everything didn't mean he had to surrender his pride. Something had changed, something exploitable, something that might just bring him home. "Thank you." He was about to say something else when someone barged in. Higgling. "Where's my report, Roger?" He snapped, scowling with some smug superiority. "It'll be done in half an hour," Roger replied, politely but firmly. You didn't climb the ladders by biting the ankles of those above you, no matter how much he wanted to. "Then stop oggling yourself in the mirror and get on with it!" Higgling replied. Roger nodded, and waited for him to leave before looking apologetically to Bridget. "Will we meet again soon?" He asked.

 "Yes. Have noticed Sorry did not notice you." If he was switched, if any of this was true. She so wanted to believe him, but it was all confusing. "You're welcome." ​Bridget​ signed back, watching as someone else barged into the room, though as he began to speak she could not hear them. However, she had to roll her eyes at the way the new individual seemed to be talking -- she glanced around her side, glad that no one had come to try and find her, yet. ""Yes. Meet here, very soon." She looked around her again. "Other scribes do not come here much always. Thankfully." She bit her lip. "Thursday? Work for you?" Bit her lip. "Gives time to research some." Ran a hand through her hair. "Will figure out."

[themoral-dilemma-blog]

Positive Ankh-firmation|| Marley and Bridget (Chatzy)

Bridget straightened her skirt and jacket as she pulled her satchel closer to her body. She stood outside Cece's place, her heart racing. There was no reason to be nervous. She was just checking Marley out. For marks of resurrection. To help her figure out what was wrong and how to fix it. She'd worn the best outfit she could -- a simple purple dress with long sleeves, a grey sweater, tights, and boots. Hopefully something that would keep up Marley's respect for her. Before she could change her mind, she reached out and gave a sharp knock on the door, hoping Marley would answer soon.

Marley wasn't nervous at all for this meeting. It was going to go exactly as she planned. And, again, her super healing capacity had come in handy. She'd only gotten the tattoo that morning-- on the back of her neck, just below her hair line. It was the most inconspicuous place she could think of that she could have feasibly missed-- and it was already healed. As she'd said, she'd always wanted a tattoo. She scratched at the back of her neck, pulled her hair over her shoulders, and headed to the door when she heard the knock. She had felt Bridget before she even got there-- there was just something so peculiar about this Bridget Blythe. She opened the door with a tentative smile. "Bridget, hey!" she said, stepping aside, "come in! I'm glad you came."

"Hi!" ​Bridget​ said, bouncing on her feet. "It's Bridget. You know that. Sorry. Thank you." She made her way past Marley and into the entryway. "I'm glad to be here." She pushed off her boots and placed them by the door. This was good, this was helpful and the right thing to do, no matter what Deirdre had said. "Oh!" She said, suddenly remembering, "I brought you cookies." She opened up her satchel and pulled out a plastic bag filled with M&M cookies. "They're my favorite to make, I hope you like them."

Marley grinned as Bridget stepped in, closing the door behind her. She was so much nicer than her Ashford counterpart, but Marley had yet to determine if that was a plus or a minus. She hoping a plus-- it was definitely helping with her act so far. She took the bag of cookies, smiling gratefully. "Thanks! I'm sure I'll love them. Can't say I've had cookies with M&Ms before, though. I have had the ones with uh...the chocolate kiss on top of them. Whatever those are. Here!" she ushered them towards the kitchen. "I put some hot water on if you want tea."

Bridget smiled up at Marley. "Of course! I just thought it'd be nice to do." She let Marley take the cookies and gave a small nod. "Kisses. Those are good, but I prefer M&M's. So I hope you'll enjoy them. It's okay if not, though! Veronica doesn't always let me give her my baked goods because she's seriously into staying in shape but... sorry, rambling." She gave a nod at Marley's comment. "Always. I'd love tea, thank you. Feel free to lead the way."

"Does Veronica really need to watch her diet, though? Being a Slayer and all," ​Marley​ said nonchalantly, leading Bridget towards the kitchen. She knew Slayers had high metabolisms and lots of strength capacity, which meant eating a cookie wouldn't matter. She grabbed two cups and set them on the counter, filling each with the hot water from the teapot. "Uh...there, that drawer has all of Cece's tea in it. You can have whatever you'd like," she said, pointing. She grabbed the instant coffee for herself and dumped it in, mixing it up. "Thanks for coming over to do this. I know it's a little awkward..." she said after a moment, staring down into her mug as if embarrassed.

"Right. You know..." ​Bridget​ bit her lip. "N-no. Also she's already in crazy good shape, but it's her choice. If I ask a bit I can usually get her to eat something. Benefits of dating, I guess." She felt her cheeks flush as she followed Marley over to the kitchen and nodded when she held out the teas for her to choose. Simple English Breakfast. Usually safe, it took a lot to screw that one up. "It's okay! Honest! I don't mind, especially if it helps you and helps to make sure that this is real and full-blown actually happening." She took a sip of her tea, holding the mug in between her palms, letting it warm them up from the cold.

Marley gave a gentle smile. "It still just means a lot to me that you'd be willing to do this. And that Veronica is okay with it all," she said. "I mean...I haven't told her yet, what happened to me. I feel like maybe I should." She sipped her coffee and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Uh...Cece is out for the rest of the night, a case came in, so we can just...do it in the living room if that's better? Less awkward, maybe." She paused. "That...sounded different than I wanted it to. I meant the examination. Of my...to see if I have the mark."

Bridget took another sip of her tea. "It's my job." She replied with a shrug. "But I'm always happy to help, and don't worry, you're not going to be in any report I give to Mr. Hawthorne. This is just between us, though he is aware that I'm helping someone called Marley. Veronica? You can tell her if you want, but it's up to you. She's fine with it -- or at least she says she is, so it's okay!" Her voice rose slightly and she glanced down at her mug of tea. "We can do it -- the examination -- wherever you want. If you're more comfortable in your room, that's okay with me. I bet we'll figure this out in no time, anyhow."

Bridget was so easy to fluster, ​Marley​ found. Just give her a compliment and she squirmed like a fly in a sticky trap. "Oh, good, thanks. I was kinda hoping this could just stay between us. As much as I'd like to help out future victims of necromancy, I'd rather not have my story passed around, if that's okay..." Mainly because it wasn't even really her story. And it definitely wasn't true. She nodded towards the living room. "We can just go out and sit on the couch. I think there might be more room, anyway," she suggested. "Do you need anything else before we start?"

"My lips are zipped." ​Bridget​ said with a nod. "I might use info I find if I ever have to find and help others, but you'll stay out of it." She sighed. "Couch is good. I've got my notebooks and well, you, so I think I'm all set." Bridget began to make her way over to the living room, tea in hand. "I -- how do you want to go about starting this all?" She sat down and looked up at Marley as the other woman came over. "I really have got zero experience with any of this."

Marley sat across from Bridget, fidgeting with her cup in her hands. She chewed nervously on her bottom lip before looking up at Bridget with wide eyes. "I was thinking we could start with obviously places, right? Like, arms, legs, back...just kinda knock those off first. Ease into it." She reached over and set her cup on the coffee table. Gave a little chuckle, as if trying to lighten the mood. "I'm not usually this nervous to take my shirt off in front of a pretty girl," she teased, then quickly added on, "not that that's what this is. Just, uh...just trying to ease the tension." She pulled her sweater off, leaving only the light t-shirt she had underneath on. "Well...between the two of us, you're definitely the expert here, so..." held out her arms towards Bridget. "See anything, doc?" she teased again, giving a lopsided grin.

Bridget glanced over to Marley and gave a small nod. "Obvious is good to start, and yeah -- don't want to go totally jumping all in, that'll only make us miss something." Her eyes followed Marley's hands as she set her coffee on the table, before hearing her next words. "I-" her cheeks flushed quickly and she put her tea down, perhaps too suddenly. "Yes. Easing the tension is right and a good idea." She watched Marley pull off her sweater and grabbed her hand, running her fingers along it, to see if there were any markings that were only raised and not wholly visible. Though she assumed that the mark would be more visible than not. Bridget stood up and moved to stand next to Marley, eyes glancing up and down one arm, and then the other. "Nope, I don't see anything. Plus I do figure you'd notice it were you to have one right on your arms, right?"

Marley stayed still as Bridget checked her arms. Her hands were warm on her skin, but that was nothing new. Marley always felt cold. Maybe that was why she craved touch so much-- the absence of feeling made her want it more. "Well, I wouldn't really know what to look for. And besides, I can't even remember if I do have any tattoos or anything." She glanced back at Bridget, putting her arms back down. "So, what next? Back, maybe?" she asked, giving her a tentative look. She wanted Bridget to look at her eyes and think she was even more nervous about this than her. It was easy enough to fake.

"Duh, of course." ​Bridget​ bit her lip. "Well, I don't see any on your arms, unless it's wicked small, which I don't think it'd be. Back works." She offered Marley a reassuring nod. "Or stomach, or wherever. Whatever you're most comfortable with showing me." She shook her head. "Sorry, that sounded weird again. I'm happy to examine -- whatever you want is good, I promise to be as thorough as I can be." She reached across the table and slid her notebook closer to her, flipping it open. "Just in case I need to take notes. I do that a lot, so I hope it's still good with you if I do so this time."

Marley nodded slowly. "Back and stomach can probably be done at the same time and all..." she said. This is when she would likely find it, hidden under her hair on the back of her neck-- but this was as far as needed it to go. Bridget would see the scars that marked her body, thanks to the thin, black bracelet around her left wrist. That was the only other thing she needed Bridget to see. Carefully, she reached down and grabbed the hem of her shirt, tugging it up. She kept her arms tightly wrapped into herself for a moment, as if embarrassed. Set her shirt aside. "See, uh...see anything?" she asked, leaning forward a little to curl into herself.

Bridget listened to Marley's comments, giving another nod and smile. "Well, I don't think my range of vision is quite that good, but yes. They can be done in quick succession, that's a certainty." She ran a hand quickly through her hair and watched as Marley removed her shirt and quickly wrapped her arms around her. "I --" she began, letting her voice falter briefly for a moment. "You're gonna have to move your hands so I can see your body." Bridget bit down hard on her tongue. "I can --" She pulled her sweater over her head. "If that makes you more comfortable." She tossed it over to the couch and glanced back over to Marley. "Now I'm more casual, right?"

Marley gave a little chuckle at Bridget's attempt at a joke. Her arms loosened a bit. "Right, of course..." she mumbled. Best to play up the shame card. People ate that shit up, got all pitiful and sympathetic. After a moment, she unfurled her arms and set them by her side, "unable" to look Bridget in the eye. "Is that better?" she asked quietly, staring hard down at the grounds. The only real scar on her body was the jagged cut up her left side, but she doubted that one had a story anywhere near as pitiful as the ones that her counterpart had. There were so many of them. A bullet whole in the left shoulder. Surgical match on the scapula. Bite mark on the neck. The Y-inicision, plus some of the other cuts Kavanagh had done during her autopsy. Whoever her counterpart had been, she had treated her body just as badly as Marley herself did-- but Spitzer's body didn't have accelerated healing. Her scars stuck around. She glanced warily over at Bridget, as nervous under her judgmental eye.

"I-" ​Bridget's​ eyes widened as Marley unfurled her arms. "It is, thank you." Her eyes glanced over Marley's body. "I'm sorry -- I -- those look like they hurt." She winced. "All I ever got was my appendix out when I was about five-and-a-half, and that was for my benefit not--" She knelt down next to Marley, eyes still on her body. "Well, not this." She reached out a few fingers against Marley's side. Still no marking, unless one of these were -- but she doubted it, they were scars, not sighs of resurrection, and certainly not ankhs. Bridget drew her hand back, quickly and glanced up at Marley from her position on the floor. "Let me know if anything I do makes you feel uncomfortable, okay? I'm here to help, not to," ​push you away. Royally screw up.​ "ruin anything or make you feel ashamed, alright?"

"I'm sure they did at one point," ​Marley​ said quietly, still not looking up at Bridget. She could tell the other girl was getting nervous, that sad, sympathetic tone to her voice. She fought not to smirk. "I don't remember how I got any of them." She lifted a hand hesitantly, touched the incision scar on her chest. "Except this one." She chewed on her lip, finally glanced down at Bridget. "You're not. Making me feel uncomfortable. I just..." she stopped, looked away again. "People always said scars tell a story about the person. But I don't know my story, and there's so many of them." She dropped her hand. "They're reminders of what I'm not." Not her. She'd never be this Marley, but that didn't matter to her. It didn't. She straightened a little. "Anything?"

"Well perhaps those are memories best left forgotten." ​Bridget​ offered a shrug. "You can -- if you want -- tell me. But you don't gotta. Like I said, I'm here to help, not to pressure or screw things up." Her fingers found her necklace again and she fiddled with it, looking at Marley again. "Give me one moment." Bridget stood up again and glanced over Marley's body, at least what she could see of it, before resting her eyes on her hair. That could hide something, certainly. "Can I --" Bridget ran her fingers though Marley's hair, brushing it aside. "Your hair is beautiful," She said, blushing again. Once Marley's hair was off to the side Bridget looked at her shoulders before noticing a small mark on her neck. "Marley?" She swallowed. "I might've found something." Her fingers immediately reached out to touch the marking, running her fingers along it. "It matches the images I've seen, at least mostly."

"Maybe..." ​Marley​ said back quietly, sitting extremely still as Bridget inspected her. Waited patiently for her to finally go for the back of the neck, leaning her head forward as she pulled her hair aside and finally found the little symbol. This was the telling moment, whether Bridget would fall for it or not. Marley felt like she was holding her breath, though nerves wasn't the exact way to describe it-- perhaps anticipation. Excitement to see if all her hard work was going to pay off. To see if she really could fool every single one of these people into thinking she was someone she's not. "You-- found something?" she asked, worry wrought in her voice. She turned her head to look back at Bridget, her hand coming up to feel where Bridget's fingers had been just moments ago. Of course, she couldn't feel anything. "What is it? Does it mean--?"

"I did." ​Bridget​ said, nodding. "It's -- well, it looks like what my research has come up with." She moved so that she could see Marley. "I'm still no necromancy expert, but it looks like what I'd expect." She quirked her lips. "Or might think that I'd find." Her cheeks turned pink again. "Wait, give me a moment!" She slipped over to her bag and grabbed her phone, opening up the camera application and snapping a photo of the mark, before shoving the phone into Marley's hands. "There you go, now you can see."

To be fair, ​Marley​ hadn't actually seen the tattoo yet, so the surprise on her face when she saw it ​was​ genuine. Just not shock. The artist had done a good job, she'd have to thank them some extra way. It wasn't every day you got a request to 'make a tattoo look like its burned into my skin'. She reached back again to touch it, laying her hand flat. "So it's pretty much official, then," she said flatly, as if still trying to process this. As if everything up until that point had just been speculation, that maybe this wasn't necromancy, that maybe there was a different explanation, that maybe she'd never died in the first place. She looked up at Bridget. "I'm an undead monster..."

"It is official, yeah." ​Bridget​ tossed her phone toward the couch, glad when it didn't bounce off and onto the ground. However, she felt her heart sink at Marley's next comment, some of Deirdre's words shooting to her mind -- ​She’s not natural. Something is wrong. Don’t sympathize with her and don’t trust her. Not until we can figure out what she is.​ "No!" She practically yelped, covering her mouth quickly. "I just -- you're not a monster, Marley." She reached out a hand and rubbed it along Marley's shoulder. "You're not a monster, trust me on this. Okay?"

Marley flinched when Bridget cried out. That was actually...surprising. Something else had set her off, it wasn't just what Marley had said, though her words had done exactly what she'd wanted them to. Marley scrambled for her shirt and put it back on quickly, letting her body relax a little, sitting back on the couch. "Cece did a spell the other day," was all she said, her face pulling into a pensive, thoughtful look, "I'm not human. So whoever did this-- they purposefully brought me back as not human. As a monster." She paused, a sudden fear dawning on her face, "Bridget...what if they brought me to hurt people?"

Bridget listened to Marley's words as carefully as she put her shirt on. "Not a monster! Stop that!" She snapped again, glaring at Marley. "Sorry. I -- well, that part I can't speak to but I don't think you'd hurt anybody, not from what I've seen." She brushed some hair that had fallen into her face out of the way. "We'll have to make sure you don't hurt anybody, if this was the goal of whoever brought you back." She sat back down on the couch and took a sip of her tea. "But not being human doesn't equate monster. There's plenty of monstrous humans, and plenty of gentle non-humans. So you'll be okay. I'm sure of it."

Bridget was very adamant about ​Marley​ not being a monster, but she'd likely change her tune if she knew the whole truth. But, for now, this would do. She wasn't eager for anyone to find out her secret any time soon, even people she was more open with, like Dodge. She looked sideways at Bridget as she sat on the couch. "You promise?" she asked after a moment, looking at her with wide, forlorn eyes. Bridget fell so easily for big, sad, puppy dog eyes, she was definitely going to exploit that some more.

"I do promise." She smiled with a small sigh. "This is what I do. Well, not this specifically, but I help others. You're just now one of them." ​Bridget​ took another small sip of tea. "But we should talk about happier things now, right? I do certainly think that's a good way to go, if I do say so myself." After another pause, she added, "Thanks again -- y'know, for trusting me with this, especially when you don't even really know me."

Marley listened to Bridget talk. Trust was a strong word, but in a way, she was right. What Marley was doing was trusting her-- just not in the blind fall, open hearted, compassionate kind of way. She looked over at her, shifted a little. "Bridget," she said softly, "you're probably actually one of the people I trust the most." Gave a short smile before she leaned forward and hugged her tentatively. Finally let the smirk crawl onto her face, now that Bridget couldn't see. "I hope that's okay."

Bridget couldn't help but smile at Marley's comment, her whole face lighting up. "I --" she willed her cheeks to stay their normal color. "Thank you. That means so much." She fell into Marley's hug, wrapping her hands around her back. This was nice. Not normal, certainly, but nice. "Of course it's okay. I don't see how it could be anything but, hm?"

[blythewonder]

Good Girls Go Bad || Bridget & Molly [AR]

A sampling from the other side...

In Ashford River, Molly and Bridget deal with a deal gone somewhat wrong.

ft. the AR Boyfriends (aka Xavier and Jonas)

Molly was lying on the grass with one earbud tucked into her left ear as the other laid uselessly in the grass next to her head. The headphones had become a permanent accessory for Molly it seemed, and even at work the older Scribes didn't say anything to her about her headphones any longer. Not that they held much hold over her to begin with. Her father and grandfather held pretty high positions in this chapter and basically gave Molly immunity from any of the other Scribes that might have a problem with her or what she wore to work daily. But today wasn't a work day. Today she was just waiting for whoever Bridget had set up to buy some information to show up. Molly used to just supply the information for Bridget and let her handle the physical deal, accepting her cut afterwards. But she grew tired of sitting in the background and requested to start coming along just because she had grown bored. But waiting for this buyer to show up was equally as boring. "Is this a repeat customer? If so he sucks." Molly groaned from the ground, looking over at Bridget. She had been to a few meetings with her by now, but none that she had to wait outside in the cold for.

Bridget was sitting up, legs crossed as she scrolled through her phone, only half-paying attention to the buzz of the town around her. Her hair hung around her face in perfect curls. Her contact was supposed to arrive now, and she hated waiting. Always had. It was part of why she'd straight up applied early decision to college -- and even that hadn't been fast enough. "Where the fuck is he?" She glared at her phone, typing out a quick message. "He's repeat, but he's usually ​quite​ prompt." She glanced over to Molly. "You haven't heard anything, right? Because he's running on fifteen minutes late now and I'm ready to move on with my day." Her phone buzzed and she looked down. Someone else, not the guy they were supposed to be meeting. "What are you listening to?" She nodded at Molly as she pulled a package of gum out of her purse and unwrapped a piece. "Want one?" She held it out to her friend.

"He's quite late today," ​Molly​ pointed out the obvious, shaking her head at Bridget's next question. "Nope. I don't even know who the guy is. You made me promise not to hack into your stuff remember?" Molly had made it a habit of reading every file of every Scribe member that worked in Ashford River. Including Bridget's. And sometimes Molly took it a little further by adding a backdoor into their computer systems, especially if Molly thought it might be useful to her in the future. But the closer that her and Bridget became, the quicker Bridget became aware of just how capable Molly was with computers. She made Molly promise not to look into her personal things soon after that. Being the good friend Molly was, she had decided to respect that wish. "Avril Lavigne of course." A true pioneer of her generation and severely underappreciated. "Don't mind if I do" she popped the piece into her mouth and chewed for a bit before blowing a big bubble and letting it pop.

"So I've noticed." ​Bridget​ rolled her eyes. "I do remember, but I don't know, maybe you heard something from him." She tapped angrily at her phone again, red manicured nails clicking against the screen. "This isn't him, FYI." She said, chewing on her gum. "Some bullshit trainee Scribe wants to talk to me and ask about all my studies, just because one of my dads published that paper about fae languages. Like I give even one shit." She sighed. "Avril Lavigne? Not bad. A little dated, but hey, I like a girl who can appreciate the classics." She giggled, before blowing a bubble with her gum and sucking it back in. "I swear, if I get frostbite I'm going to kill somebody." She tugged her jacket tighter around her body.

Molly shrugged from her spot on the ground, barely doing anything except wrinkling her leather jacket. "I let you handle the people stuff I just steal the information." Molly had purposely built a login system into the Scribe server she created, specifically created as a security system for purposes exactly like how Molly now used it. The irony killed Molly too. All information logged or pulled up was kept under a specific Scribe number assigned to each person. That way she could keep track of who used what. Luckily Molly knew the only way around that. It's what made her so valuable to Bridget. "Have you told him that he can just look the stuff up on the computers and read the files for himself?" Molly suggested, a small part of her still acting in defensive of the to-be Scribe. She didn't care enough to actually get involved with it though. She glanced over at her phone, which currently had the camera feed from the park pulled up on it, to see a figure approaching the entrance. "Hey this dude looks shady is this your guy?" Molly asked, tossing her phone at Bridget.

Bridget nodded. "I'm aware, I'm quite a people person, funny enough. Thanks daddy and papa, at least you did something right." She made a face. "You know that I'm forever totally grateful to you for that, right?" She smiled over to Molly. It was true, she had grown incredibly fond of the other girl. Her job was possible to do solo -- she'd done just that back in Salem -- but having someone else made it all the more enjoyable. "I have. He says, and I practically quote, 'Oh, but Bridget, I want to talk to you.' Though he used the letter 'u' for 'you', but whatever." She glanced over to Molly's phone. "Mm-hmm, looks like him." She pushed herself off the ground, stuffing her own phone into her jacket pocket and crossed her arms over her chest. "Remember, he's curious about ashrays, right? He's just a warlock or something. Should be no problem-o at all."

Molly sat up and smiled widely at Bridget, "I know." She had been pretty thankful for the two finding each other. Before Bridget Molly had only ever stolen one file from that Scribes, and that was for Jonas. But that had been it. She had basically done nothing in her entire life wrong and had grown so incredibly bored of it. She needed something a little more flavorful in her live. "Maybe he has a crush on you. How adorable." Making a heart symbol with her hands and finally getting to her feet also. "Right. I got the flashdrive right here." She fished the flashdrive out of her jacket pocket and waved it around before stuffing it back into her pocket. "Ooh here comes the broody warlock right now. Work your magic Blythe."

"Well, so long as you know." ​Bridget​ grinned back to Molly. At least there was somebody else in the stifling place that was Ashford's HQ who she could stand to talk to. She made a face as Molly continued. "Oh I hope not. I mean, I am hot, but I don't think Xavier wants to share me, at least not with the boy who's been begging for the chance to talk to me. But hey, maybe I'll do it anyhow, wear an extra nice outfit, make his year." She let out a soft giggle. "Thanks a load." She nodded. "Don't call him that to his face, but I'm on it." Bridget fluffed the ends of her hair and made her way over to the man -- tall -- not as tall as Xavier, she noted with pride -- hair with way too much gel, a tattoo on his neck. As if he could become anything more of a stereotype. "We've got what you asked for," she smirked, making sure to keep the grin on her face as she stared up at him. "Every. Last. Detail." Bridget took a few steps closer to the man, relishing in the moment. "We don't disappoint," she cracked her gum, "so now all you've got to do is tuck that check of yours that I know you've already written," Bridget winked, "right into my pocket and my friend here'll give you just what you asked for, and then all of us can be out of this frigid weather." She blew out, her breath crystalizing, as if to make her point all the more clear. "Well, this'll be of good use." He replied. "But I wanna see what I'm getting first." He looked over to Molly. "Not given, just a view."

With a sort of astonished amazement, ​Molly​ watched as Bridget seemingly flipped a switch around different people. In front of the other Scribes Bridget was seemingly a perfect Scribe, living up to her legacy just as Molly was. And yet when she was with Molly she did almost a 180. Sarcastic, making fun of any Scribe that had dared to talk to her that day. She seemed real. Then in front of this man is was all business, with just a bit of fun tucked into it. Bridget was so good at playing others that she actually started to wonder just if the Bridget that Molly saw was the real one or just another mask. Whether or not that was the case, Molly couldn't help but like Bridget even more. Then the warlock turned his attention onto Molly and asked for the information. A preview at least. Right. Confirmation of the goods. People were good for this. She pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket and found his phone rather easily. Searching for Wi-Fi out here in the middle of the park? Not the wisest decision. She hacked into his phone easily and then pulled out the cord that connected from her phone and allowed someone to transfer a Flashdrive's information onto a cellular device. "Check your phone" she said, just as his phone began chiming. "Take a good luck now dude. Because that file will delete itself in about thirty seconds." As the grumbled and became distracted looking at his phone Molly grinned at Bridget and gave her a nonchalant thumbs up.

She almost wished Xavier could be here to watch her. But ​Bridget​ thoroughly enjoyed everything she did on her own. Without her sister around -- like her fathers had attempted to force upon her when she was a little girl. No, this was all on her own, and she'd gotten a true friend out of it in Molly, and so really, what was the harm? She could detail this to Xavier later when she went to his apartment. He'd said that he had a special surprise for her. She hoped it was new clothing. As the warlock -- Garvey -- spoke, Bridget chanced a glance over to Molly, watching in awe and appreciation as she worked her magic, before she turned back to Garvey. "I -- we -- don't disappoint." She winked at Molly. "This is good." Garvey said, voice gruff. "But I don't know, you're only two little girls, should I really pay you the full amount? This'll just be used for one quick viewing -- after all, that boy should be exposed for what he is, after all, and you two are charging quite the steep price." Bridget took a step forward, lips in a straight line. "We deliver, you pay." She glanced over at Molly. "My friend's done a fucking brilliant job, here. Also last I heard, you weren't doing this for any sort of bullshit exposure. I thought it was to gain some of their water or whatever. What gives?"

Excuse this creep, ​Molly​ was above average height for a female. She rolled her eyes at the man from a few feet back and began looking through his phone. Bridget even sounded a little confused as to his motives. Not that the two generally cared much for the reason behind wanting something from them, only caring about the highest bidder. But when those bidders went back on the money, Molly became a little more curious. She started going through his text messages, searching for anytime he used the word 'Ashray'. She flicked through a few messages that he had exchanged with a man who popped up in his phone as bae. Original. "Bridge. He's trying to expose a Scribe" She questioned out loud. Very clear, the name of a man that the two worked with at the headquarters who was clearly a an Ashray according to the file Molly had read when she started, was splattered all across their messages. "Our files detail how to kill an Ashray." Molly didn't care for the Scribes in any way, but she had worked with the guy. It wasn't like she wanted him to die. Molly took a deep breath, knowing that showing weakness was only going to make things worse. Instead, she did the next best thing she could think of. "Tsk tsk. You told your banking app to save your password?" She looked down at the phone dramatically, "And it's just your birthday backwards? Gotta do better than that dude." She tapped away at the phone, making sure to be extra loud with it. "You bitch" He growled, inching forward, but she held up a hand. "It'd be a lost cheaper to just give us the check than let me transfer out as much money as I can type in a second. Spoiler: It's a lot."

"Hm?" ​Bridget​ stepped away from the man for a minute, casting her eyes over to Molly. She'd had a bidder back out once before, or try to, until Bridget got him to change his mind. But this was different, and during that time she hadn't had Molly around to see if something else was up. Until now. "I don't--" ​care​, she wanted to say, but the words caught in her throat and she let out a sigh before flashing a glare over to Garvey. Damn Molly and her still mostly-present morals. At least when it came to caring about their co-workers. Not that Bridget advocated death, but she just wanted the deal cut and down with now, before her whole body froze. "Fuck off, Garvey." She moved away from Molly again. "You told me it was just so you could have fun with a bothersome one. You know I don't" -- ​usually​ "sell out my coworkers. That's some bullshit you're trying to pull on us." She crossed her arms. "My friend's not shitting you, so you better do what we say." Garvey took a step towards Bridget and she felt her body stiffen just slightly. "No can do, sweet-heart." He blew a kiss at the two of them. "You said you'd deliver, I never made you any kind of promise. So give me the file and all'll be well and good."

Molly could transfer all of the money out of his accounts in seconds, but that didn't seem to bother him. And without being able to threaten him electronically, what could Molly even do against the man? He was a warlock after all. Even if he was just a regular man she wasn't sure if the two could fight him off. Molly knew she couldn't. She inched backwards almost instinctively, letting a wave of fear wash over her. They could run right? Maybe they could. Could he stop them with some kind of magic? She played with the flash drive in her jacket pocket and thought about just handing it over to him. But before she could pull it out she saw a ridiculously tall figure approaching from behind the man. Next to him was a slightly shorter man and Molly was overcome with relief. "This douchebag giving you a problem?" The taller man called out curiously. The boyfriends were here.

Bridget wasn't sure exactly what do do. She had half a mind to grab the flashdrive from Molly and step on it, but what good would that do? Garvey didn't seem to be the sort to let things like that go lightly. Or maybe she could grab the flashdrive and just give it to him. One fewer scribe for the world to have to deal with. "I--" she'd began, before Xavier and Jonas appeared and Bridget let out a sigh of relief, flashing a grin over to Xavier. "He is." She pouted, just slightly. Not enough for it to be whinny, but just enough that he came over and pulled her closer to his body. "Dude, what gives?" Xavier said, his voice slightly gruff. "Breaking promises can lead to other broken things, let that sink into your mind." Bridget glanced over to Jonas, wondering if he'd speak up or if he and Molly were going to let her and Xavier do all the talking. She almost hoped he'd speak up. The two of them had shown up, the least they could do would be provide some use to the situation.

"What do you want me to do with him?" Jonas whispered into ​Molly​'s ear s he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind her. She stood just a few inches short than he did, just enough for him to rest his chin on her shoulder. Molly grinned. "Well a few broken bones wouldn't hurt too bad would it?" She asked out loud, mostly to the four of them. With all four of them here, this warlock did little more than annoy Molly. "What do you two think of some broken bones?" She called out to Bridget and Xavier.

"I wouldn't be opposed to a little of that, how about you?" Xavier pressed his lips against ​Bridget's​ head. "I haven't done that in a long while." He glanced over to Jonas and back to Garvey. Bridget found herself straightening up a little taller. Not that she would have let someone like the warlock ruffle her, but having both her and Molly's boyfriends here just made everything all the more thrilling. Especially when Garvey was at least four inches shorter than Xavier. "It might be a proper response, given how gosh darn disrespectful he's been to us, don't you think?" Bridget blew a bubble with her gum and let it ​pop!​ against her lips, sucking it in. "What goes around comes around, huh? In all sorts of funny ways."

"Fuck you guys," The warlock growled, pulling the crumpled check out of his pocket and practically throwing it at Bridget and Xavier before scampering off across the grass and out of their line of sight. Molly and Jonas both immediately busted out laughing. "What a fucking prick" Jonas laughed, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket, popping it in his mouth, and then lighting it, "Should let me go after him. I could catch him." Molly shook her head and shrugged his suggestion off. "Don't worry. The ARPD are going to realize that they actually have an open warrant for arrest on Garvey for attempted murder soon." She beamed from her phone, then pulled herself free from Jonas and made her way over offering a high five to both Xavier and Bridget, "We crushed that deal I think?"

"I love you." ​Bridget​ giggled, blowing a kiss toward Molly. "Best to let him go," Bridget began, glancing up at Xavier, "you can beat something up later, okay?", she bent down to pick up the check, pulling it tight between her hands, "we got paid and didn't even have to give him anything!" She gave a high-five to Molly. "I think this calls for extra celebration, if I do say so myself. Not every day you just get money and an afternoon off, hm?"

“I say we got get some drinks" ​Molly​ suggested. She was still underage, but Jonas had an in with more than a few of the bars here in town. And all of the owners knew Molly now by association. They didn't mind letting her drink when Jonas was with her. "I could really go for a cheeseburger right now" She laughed, wrapping her arms around Jonas in a hug before falling into pace with him, walking alongside Xavier and Bridget. "Maybe you'll get lucky and some drunk guy with start a bar fight Xavier. Then you can break some bones." Nothing was better than making some money on the side then spending her day off with her four best friends.

[blythewonder]

Clearing the Smoke || Bridget, Brett, and Roger [chatzy]

Further investigation into the smoke monster leads to discoveries.

This mysterious ghost-but-not-actually-g​host-black-smoke-thing was a mess of a creature. ​Bridget​ paced around outside of Roger's office door. She was going to be of help, again. Even though she still hadn't totally figured out why Ashkent was a magical hub, she'd done enough research throughout her year and a bit of living here that gave her some knowledge to at least ​talk​ about the issues at hand. So, with another deep breath and a pressing down on the skirt of her dress, she walked up to the door of Roger's office and gave it a sharp knock. "I'm here, as requested!" She called out. "Can I come in?"

Roger looked up from the many tomes in front of him, struggling. This was the one thing he couldn't fake. He simply wasn't familiar with the texts in this place, the system, anything. He had no idea where even to begin looking, and just brute forcing it wasn't going to work in a building with over a million books and even more scrolls, letters, randomly assorted files. Their database needed serious upgrading, too, even with the digitisation that was in process, it just didn't have any answers. The closest he'd come was a Brollochan, which was scary as shit, but it didn't have the glowing white eyes he was looking for, nor the shadows of claws and teeth. "Of course, Blythe, come in." At least it made sense that, theoretically, Roger Hawthorne couldn't possibly know everything there was to know. It just wasn't feasible. "Given the descriptions we've gotten, it's rather hard to pinpoint. I've gathered these texts I think may be relevant." He gestured at the pile as tall as him that covered everything.

Bridget opened the door and came in, making her way over to Roger's desk. "Well," she chirped, peering to see what the book on the top of the stack, "that's quite the number of relevant texts. Ha." She bit her lip. "It also doesn't seem to be targeting any specific type of individual, far as I know. But I don't think it's like that dreamscape I ended up in many months ago. One, there was no specific creature that lead to that ordeal, and two, we're not in the gosh darn Herculean Labours any longer. The eyes are the part that's stumping me the most, if I'm to be honest. But it's not the eyes that cause the -- whatever's going on -- the creature seems to have to touch the individuals for something to happen."

A creature made of smoke. Certainly something to get the mind rolling. Part of ​Brett​ wondered whether it was linked to the disappearing and switching towns. Could it be something form that other town that had found it's way into theirs? It was certainly not too far removed to be the case. With Roger personally messaging him, something that had been quite out of the ordinary as normally Brett was the one messaging him first, he decided it might be wise to actually figure this out with Roger. He certainly would be the most qualified in this building to help him out. With his folder tucked under one arm of all the research he had on Ashford River, he made his way to the door and was just about to knock when he found the door already open and with Bridget in there. Oh, maybe this wasn't such a good idea. He took a deep breath and stepped into the doorway, catching the end of her sentence. "Maybe it's feeding on something then." He shut the door behind him. "I'm really sorry but the door was open..."

Roger nodded, his eyes quickly flicking to the door as another figure stepped in. He waved Brett's apology away, unconcerned. Whatever bigotry Hawthorne held towards Tharp was mostly unfounded and entirely irrelevant to the situation. "Feeding on what? Confusion, perhaps? I considered Brain Biters briefly, but I haven't heard of any mentions of anyone losing their memories, only gaining them." He looked back to Bridget. "I agree. It does, but it's hardly an attack. We also need to consider that this is not something we have in our records because it may be from Ashford."

"Also Brain Biters don't look like what those I've talked do have described." ​Bridget​ chimed in, glancing over to Brett. "Unless there's a breed of them that can turn into black smoke." She rubbed her fingers against the bridge of her nose. "They could be feeding on confusion, concern, worry... or something else entirely, should that be the case." She bit her lip. "It's quite possible that it could be from Ashford, but it also could easily be from here and using the confusion all of us seem to be experiencing about Ashford to take the time to arrive and do what it's doing, now." She gave a shrug. "Someone who I talked to about it was very explicit about how what they saw couldn't have been real, so I doubt it's causing some sort of 'wish-to-have-beens' or whatever. It seems wholly separate from that. Especially since it's not all sunshine and perfection."

Brett moved over to the desk, peering at the books on there before he sat his folder down. "Then maybe it's memories, but not... exactly their memories," Brett mused, taking some of the photos out of his folder. "Ashford River and Ashkent Creek have been changing places, right? So, these memories, what if they are memories from the other town? If this creature has come from Ashford, then what if it's giving memories of this other town? What was the exact memories this person you spoke to was having? If buildings can switch, surely memories could too? Maybe I'm thinking too much into this... but it could be this."

"Obviously, but it isn't unheard of for the magically inclined to cast glamours on creatures in order to cause chaos." ​Roger​ said thoughtfully, flicking through the book in front of him. Thank fuck for the image to text ratio, it was so much easier to flick through if he didn't have to read the description. He listened to their deductions, sticking to his completely in character lie that he wasn't experiencing this. The guy had literally lied about being on the verge of death to his colleagues. "Possibly. It could be more than memories. Has anyone reported any changes in personality?" It was definitely one of his nagging concerns. "There isn't any simple creature in our bestiary that can traverse dimensions in that way. Not to mention, we've had one report of someone from Ashford River experiencing this too, and while the buildings have gone to Ashford, nothing has come back."

"Yes of course." ​Bridget​ said, breezing through her comment. "But still, seems doubtful. There's no memory-swapping going on, just getting memories that aren't their own." She fiddled with her necklace (the one benefit of the pageant she'd sooner forget), and looked between the two of them. "No, not as far as I can tell." She took a few more steps forward and picked up one of the books from the pile. "Yes, there doesn't seem to be an exchange of buildings. They go and are gone forever, or show up and don't seem to have any hope of switching back to what used to be." She turned to Brett. "It's not my place to disclose the exact memories, privacy and all, but they were remembering a different family structure than they can have here, and behaviors that are highly uncharacteristic of how they normally act."

"But they were having memories of themselves? Memories that aren't theirs but... are of them." ​Brett​ frowned, reaching for his notebook and starting to jot down notes. "It could well be some sort of glamour but I don't know. It depends on whether the being is purposely doing it or accidentally as well. It could be a side effect, not the actual cause of what's happening." He made sure to note down everything that had been said so far by them all. "It sounds like the two towns are blending then. Not switching, but blending. As in, what's happening is permanent. Which could be a spell." He bit down on the end of his pen, tugging at his hair. "What if this being is giving memories of the person they are in the other town? Their 'what if' selves?"

Roger listened to the two theorizing wordlessly, waiting for them to catch up. It wasn’t their fault they were from Ashkent, they didn’t have any inside experience, so didn’t realise how very disorientating finding yourself in another universe was. "I would disagree, we can't establish that anything is permanent yet. The Horrors were reversible. That said..." He drummed his fingers on his desk. "We've been looking at creatures. This creature could indeed be a spell." But at least it seemed they didn’t think people were changing. Roger wasnt ready to be a boring old sod yet.

"It might be reversible but, I dunno, it could still be some other self." It would make sense, at least somewhat. Why Effie saw some sort of creature neither she nor Bridget could place. Why there wasn't a wholly clear sort of logic to it all. "So a creature that's the side-effect or intended-effect of a spell, you mean?" She bit her lip. She could message Cece about it, should such a thing be needed. She knew a witch now, a real and proper one! But now wasn't the time to offer that up. "I don't know if this is the case for everyone, but some of the visions, or memories, or what-have-yous folks have been experiencing seem, shall we say, less than ideal. As I said, not something they'd dream up for themselves, at least not in full."

"That we haven't thought about..." It could be the side-effect of a spell certainly. Magic tended to leave a trace and what if that's what this was? "If this is a spell, then the being, whatever it is, could potentially be the lesser of two evils, as it were. If this is from a spell, someone must have done the spell to create it, and if that's the case, is it even possible to undo what has been done if the spell is in Ashford?" He tugged on his hair a little more. "Maybe we need to look at spells more, not creatures. Spells that can create something out of nothing maybe? Do we know if the memories can be stopped too? If they can, then that might help us figure out this being."

Roger nodded at Bridget's assertion, closing the book in front of him and reaching for a nearby theory of magic book. These got agonisingly technical, with spinning diagrams - bubble diagrams? - that he'd once seen in the physics books that he'd stumbled across in Cincinatti. "I have no doubt that the memories are memories, just concerned that it may not be the only thing spilling over." He looked at Brett and nodded there too. "The spell is leaking over, and it's still possible that these are the consequences we were warned of last summer. It may well be reversible. But this creature is new, so something has changed." He started flicking through the new text, gesturing at where the other two could find others. "I haven't heard of anyone who specialises in mental magic successfully undoing the memories, but I wouldn't discredit the possibility."

Bridget gave a nod. "It's a fair concern, I agree." She bit her lip. "I -- so if there's alternate places and possible alternate selves, like Brett said, does that make Ashford on another plane of existence or...?" She trailed off, shaking her head, before giving an involuntary cough at mental magic. Flashbacks to that gosh darn pageant that wouldn't let go. She had half a mind to pull the 'Don't you know Bruce? Can't he do something?' card, but now wasn't the time for bringing up times when she'd felt unsafe or uncomfortable, not if they wanted to solve this. "The memories seemed to only start with the arrival of this being, so maybe if we get rid of it, they'll go away? I'm not sure if they're permanent or not."

"So far, we don't know of anyone changing personalities but that could in theory be the next stage of whatever is happening now. As silly as it may seem, it might be wise to see if we can find it, at least so we can get a clearer picture of what we are dealing with." Not the brightest idea when it came to supernatural beings, but if they knew exactly what it looked like, it might be easier to identify. "Ashford could be an alternative dimension. A divergence of a path the town once took." He reached for one of the books, flicking through. "So the spell may have been newly performed then so it could be someone who's in Ashkent right now. That at least might help us find the source and yes, maybe if the being left, it would help stop the memories developing at the very least."

Neither of them could see it, but ​Dodge​ was cackling on the inside, listening to them speculating about his own very existence. He kept the face of studious curiosity. "Mirror dimensions. We have evidence of dimensions that are completely unlike our on, but the theory of universes that are this similar has never been supported by such compelling evidence as now." It was the one thing outside of himself that Roger had researched so studiously, looking for loophole after loophole. "I suggest that we focus our intentions on the being for now, though, it being the immediate threat."

Bridget couldn't help but grin. Well, at least they both seemed to support some of her ideas. Which wasn't totally abnormal, she was able to get some to listen to her when she didn't talk about her particular area of expertise, but it was still nice. "Yup. Plus, what with other towns that follow the pattern of our own existing, having a semi-replica of our own town existing in some parallel or pseudo-parallel world doesn't seem to far off." She dropped the book she'd been paging through on Roger's desk. "Perhaps in researching the being we'll find out more about Ashford and perhaps why it has started to bleed into Ashkent."

"Certainly." ​Brett​ agreed with Roger on that. They had to focus on the memory changer first and then they could focus on Ashkent and Ashford. It could be that they end up with them ending up in Ashford before they got a chance to figure this all out so the sooner, the better. "Does it seem to be going after certain people or is at complete random? Is there any pattern? If there's a pattern, that could help too."

Bridget truly was one for attention. Perhaps not the fierce red head Marley had known, but she seemed thrilled just by their agreements. He was almost worried for her in getting close to Marley, she was far too easy to manipulate. "Exactly, that would be my hope." Every day it felt like the possibility of getting back was growing slimmer, but he could hardly dwell on that now. "It seems to be completely random so far. Hopefully we'll find-" He paused, as the page he turned on seemed obvious. "What about this? It should have hit me sooner." He turned the book to them. Thaumogenesis.

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" ​Bridget​ chirped. "But yeah-huh, it's my hope too." She pursed her lips as Roger continued to talk, rising up on her tippie-toes as he turned the book over to them. "Oh!" She practically yelped, before sucking in a breath of air. "A being created as a by-product of a spell. Side-effect, right?" She glanced at the page Roger had opened to, skimming over the words as quickly as she could. "You think this is our thing?"

Brett stared down at the book that Roger showed to them, reading over the information. Oh, if it was going to be anything, that seemed to be it. "I think that could very likely be what we're looking for. Now, we just need to figure out a way of getting it to stop affecting people, or, reverse the spell..." He reached for his notebook, writing down the details. "That definitely seems like it could be it..."

Roger smirked, proud of himself. He could bullshit the research after all. "Black, white eyed, and it would make sense that a spell of this magnitude would result in something like this, and it certainly explains the effects." ​Blood exploded from the man's entire body, coating him and Cecelia in blood from head to toe. Sanguinode, he knew it.​ Roger clenched his teeth, but otherwise gave no recognition to that vividly gruesome memory. He spun the book back towards him, curiously. "We'll need to look elsewhere for that, there are no details of how to stop it in here." Just one sentence caught his eye. Destroying it may undo the spell. Dodge couldn't help the quirk of his lips at that. He might go home.

"Yes, that does indeed explain the effects." ​Bridget​ gave a nod. She watched Roger carefully, as he briefly clenched his teeth. But it was probably nothing, or nothing more than general worry about fixing the town. "Okay. I'm down for trying to figure that out, if you'd like. We'll work this out in no time, I'm sure!"

Brett watched him a little curiously. Things were odd about Roger recently, especially the fact he had actively contacted him and was taking on board his advice. He hadn't been mean to him once or forceful. It was strange. But, he'd worry about that later. He nodded in agreement with Bridget, picking up his folder. "We'll figure this all out."