When Ginko jumped, JW jumped and his ass slid right off the coffee table, sending him sprawling on the floor like a discarded Halloween decoration. Ah shit!
"D-door's open, Vidia!"
He dragged a hand down his face and groaned.
The knob turned and a long shadow fell over the both of them. It did not belong to Vidia the witch. It belonged to JW's neighbor, Mrs. Shirley. She stood far shorter than either of them, wide, commanding, and adorned with a Joe's Crab Shack t-shirt and flipflops. She rose a cruious brow between them and sniffed the air once.
Uh. Okay this wasn't even someone Ginko knew, but at least JW seemed to know her...? He wasn't actually sure if that made it better or worse.
Rather than making any sort of an effort to answer, he just sort of glanced away, awkwardly pulling at the collar of his coat as if that had any chance of drawing attention away from... well, anything going on here, really.
When Ginko offered no answer, Shirley invited herself on in and looked between the two. She bent down and grabbed JW under his arms as though it were a well-practiced gesture and stood him on his feet.
"Now what the hell is this?"
"Faeries."
Shirley visibly tensed and looked to the slowly donkifying man and then back to JW. Realization flashed across her face and she took her own turn to drag a hand down her face.
"I thought you were being murdered."
"We weren't that loud," JW insisted as if he had any volume control whatsoever while high. "Well we're not. We're waiting on Vidia to get here and help with...this." He gestured to his boyfriend.
"Nice t'meetcha." Shirley held her hand out for what used to be Ginko's. "Was wondering when I'd finally get to."
Ginko blinked, his furry ears flicking without him telling them to, then sort of... held his hoof up. Up to her to actually try to shake it or not, because no way was he gonna just shove this thing into someone else's hand.
"Uh... nice to meet you too." He glanced hesitantly at JW, then back at Shirley. "What do you mean by that?"
Is there anyone left in this town who DOESN'T know about him
Shirley burst out laughing at Ginko's hesitance. This poor boy! And here he thought he could hide from her. While she knew about him she had yet to pick up exactly what he was doing around here.
"Well, after months of smellin' you in the woods it's nice to finally have a face to put to it." When she beamed, she made sure that her jagged teeth were visible.
"She's a werwolf, Ginko," said JW with a shrug.
"Now you went and ruined all my fun!" Shirley stamped and let out a huff. "He was supposed to guess!"
"You're pretty obvious."
"Fooled you, didn't I?"
"Good job, you fooled a half-blind mentally ill man."
The werewolf rolled her eyes and let them come to rest on Donkgo. "You see how he is?"
Ginko glanced at JW, then back to Shirley, raising his eyebrows. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but... a what, exactly?" Is this something he's supposed to know about, or??
"Oh," said JW. He just assumed everywhere had werewolves. "It's a--"
Shirley cut him off by demonstrating exactly what a werewolf was. Her form billowed outward and her neck swooped forward, her smile becoming jaws as long as man's arm. In almost an instant she was a towering, gangling shaggy beast of a wolf that would not fit through any house door. The 'World's Best Nana' shirt clung to her, stretched to splitting and her fur poked out from the cuffs making her look like one of those purse dogs with a doggy sweater.
"A monster," she finished with a huge grin. Her voice boomed in the creaky old house.
"Nobody is impressed," grunted JW who had moved behind Ginko in the instant it took her to change.
Ginko froze up, his eyes going wide. He may have been used to seeing some rather strang things happen to human bodies, but nothing like this. He barely even noticed when JW ducked behind him.
"That... is probably the quickest way to explain, yes," he managed. Then, glancing over his shoulder at JW, he added, "Is this... common here, or...?"
"More than you'd think," said Shirley. She looked behind her and crouched down to peer through one of the little square windows. "But we keep it hush hush like you'd imagine." Her little ears twitched on the sides of her head. "Someone's commin'."
"That'll be Vidia," sighed JW. Oh, thank goodness.
"Oh, good, Iv'e been meanin' to talk to her about a recipe. You can't catch that girl no easier than you can catch a breeze in a basket."
"Don't I know it." JW rested his hands on Ginko's shoulders...but soon couldn't help himself. One drifted up to play with his long furry ears. "Maybe she'll let you keep this part."
His ears flicked and he glanced toward the door when Vidia's imminent arrival was announced. Okay, good, the sooner this was dealt with the better. Then JW could stop worrying and he could stop trying to force himself not to worry.
Then his ears flicked again when JW started messing with them. He glanced behind himself again with a snort. "I'm pretty sure I stick out enough already, thanks."
Shirley lifted a brow and looked between them. Some things she knew and other things she didn't. Hmmmmmm. JW, meanwhile, was oblivious and just kept playing with Ginko's donkey ears, making them flop forward to cover parts of his face.
"We'll get you a straw hat. No one will ever know."
A truck door slammed and Vidia's light footfalls could be heard before she knocked on the door.
Shirley, being a thoughtful behemoth of a werewolf, shuffled out of the way so that the door could open. Vidia didn't wait to be invited in, she was a witch, she belonged everywhere.
"Alright, alright, let's see how bad things have gotten." She put down her message bag and looked between the three creatures, easily dwarfed by all of them. "I've seen worse. Not fallen down any more stairs, have we?"
"I'm pretty sure they'll notice if I start wearing a hat all the time."
Ginko was just about as oblivious as JW, but the sounds of Vidia's arrival caught his attention, and his ears gave a sudden, surprised flick.
"Ah-- hey. That's good to hear." His tail swished back and forth and his shoulders lifted a little as he glanced sheepishly toward JW. "No, uh. Not recently."
"No they won't," JW insisted. But then it was time for him to shut up because help had finally arrived.
Vidia marched up to Ginko and reached for his face without hesitation. She spread his remaining eye open and had a good look, then she grabbed his chin and forced his mouth open.
"A good horse," she said. "I'll take him."
Shirley nearly keeled over and destroyed the coffee table from laughing so hard.
He held carefully still as she examined him, obediently opening his mouth. He didn't know how this worked, so all he could do was assume that she knew what she was--
--really. Ginko's nose scrunched up in vague irritation and he made a noise that was probably intended as some kind of objection.
"Like hell you will," barked JW. Vidia laughed but JW's tight little frown remained.
The witch's brows furrowed as she thought. She eyed the man's hoof hands, the make of the spell, and made a few disappointed humming sounds.
"The solution could be very very easy. Or it could not be."
"That's real helpful." JW slumped and finally stopped playing with Ginko's ears.
"I've been using those woods for years and I've never run into anything like this," said Shirley. Her own little ears perked forward.
"You are smart," said Vidia simply. "You must pay the faeries--a token. Just what, though, can be tricky to suss out. It could be something simple as a saucer of milk or as complicated as a little chair made out of cut sapphires."
Ginko kind of resented the implications of that bit about being smart, but he kept his complaints to himself. He didn't have much room to talk, given the circumstances.
"How do we figure out what it is?" He doubted it would be as simple as asking them what to do.
"Trial and error," Vidia said with a grim little frown. "I do not think it is permanent. Fey are fickle. They get bored easily."
"I've got a whole junk drawer we can bring." JW spoke up. "Odds, ends, a lot of metal. They love metal but we have to be careful.."
Vidia and JW shared a shudder, a memory of an adventure that had taken place before Ginko even came into the picture.
"I have some old jewelry," said Shirley suddenly. Vidia actually gave a little jump, having forgotten the giant werewolf was there looming behind her and taking everything in. She let out a deep, gruff laugh before continuing. "A lot left over from when my daughter moved out and some of my own, from here and there, swaps, you know that. No silver of course."
"Of course," said JW. "Thank you." He turned to Ginko, feeling dumb now that he was slowly coming down from his high. He guessed it really wasn't that big of a deal that he couldn't drive them to the witch's trailer. They wouldn't have had Shirley's input. And...well...who knows if the stress from the drive would have made things even more difficult for poor Ginko. "How are you feeling?"
"Right. Of course." Of course it would be trial and error. He supposed it was good to hear that this likely wouldn't last, but he couldn't bring himself to be all that optimistic about how quickly the effects might go away.
So, trial and error it was.
"Yeah - thanks, both of you, for helping with this." He answered JW's question with a lopsided shrug. "Alright, I guess, considering what's going on. The, uh... hooves ache a little, but that's about it."
He rubbed at the back of his neck, frowning at the prickle of fur progressing toward his back.
Shirley and Vida bid them farewell but not so farewell that Vidia wouldn't be too far in case things got out of hand. Or out of hoof, depending on how things went. Shirley was quick to shift back into a shape that would fit through the door and return with a big walmart bag full of old costume jewelry of varying quality. She also left the pair a couple of turkey sandwiches and gave JW a stern look before leaving.
JW furrowed his brow and sorted through some of the jewelry, occasionally sticking himself on sharp back pieces of earrings and clasps.
"I don't know how she expects you to eat that," he grumbled about the sandwich. Either Shirley was onto him enough to know that he wouldn't mind holding the sandwich for Ginko or she was trying to pressure him into eating both of them. "We need to hurry before I end up having to ride you back to the tree."
"Well, it was a nice gesture, anyway." He leaned over to look into the bag, then up at JW again. "So we're heading out right away, then? No other... preparations or anything."
He just wanted to be totally sure before they accidentally ended up wasting valuale time.
"What else is there?" It came out as a snap--but JW quickly reined himself in. "Sorry, Clover. I guess I'm still more freaked out than I thought I was...do you think we should do something else--WATER! We'll need water!"
He clapped a hand to the side of his head before just pinching the bridge of his nose. That was stupid. Water. Were they going to have time to sit and drink water?
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theattic2015-08-13 03:59 pm
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Then the doorbell rang and he jumped about half a foot.
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"D-door's open, Vidia!"
He dragged a hand down his face and groaned.
The knob turned and a long shadow fell over the both of them. It did not belong to Vidia the witch. It belonged to JW's neighbor, Mrs. Shirley. She stood far shorter than either of them, wide, commanding, and adorned with a Joe's Crab Shack t-shirt and flipflops. She rose a cruious brow between them and sniffed the air once.
"What's all this yellin' about?"
"Oh Jesus Christ," said JW.
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Rather than making any sort of an effort to answer, he just sort of glanced away, awkwardly pulling at the collar of his coat as if that had any chance of drawing attention away from... well, anything going on here, really.
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"Now what the hell is this?"
"Faeries."
Shirley visibly tensed and looked to the slowly donkifying man and then back to JW. Realization flashed across her face and she took her own turn to drag a hand down her face.
"I thought you were being murdered."
"We weren't that loud," JW insisted as if he had any volume control whatsoever while high. "Well we're not. We're waiting on Vidia to get here and help with...this." He gestured to his boyfriend.
"Nice t'meetcha." Shirley held her hand out for what used to be Ginko's. "Was wondering when I'd finally get to."
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"Uh... nice to meet you too." He glanced hesitantly at JW, then back at Shirley. "What do you mean by that?"
Is there anyone left in this town who DOESN'T know about himno subject
"Well, after months of smellin' you in the woods it's nice to finally have a face to put to it." When she beamed, she made sure that her jagged teeth were visible.
"She's a werwolf, Ginko," said JW with a shrug.
"Now you went and ruined all my fun!" Shirley stamped and let out a huff. "He was supposed to guess!"
"You're pretty obvious."
"Fooled you, didn't I?"
"Good job, you fooled a half-blind mentally ill man."
The werewolf rolled her eyes and let them come to rest on Donkgo. "You see how he is?"
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Ginko glanced at JW, then back to Shirley, raising his eyebrows. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but... a what, exactly?" Is this something he's supposed to know about, or??
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Shirley cut him off by demonstrating exactly what a werewolf was. Her form billowed outward and her neck swooped forward, her smile becoming jaws as long as man's arm. In almost an instant she was a towering, gangling shaggy beast of a wolf that would not fit through any house door. The 'World's Best Nana' shirt clung to her, stretched to splitting and her fur poked out from the cuffs making her look like one of those purse dogs with a doggy sweater.
"A monster," she finished with a huge grin. Her voice boomed in the creaky old house.
"Nobody is impressed," grunted JW who had moved behind Ginko in the instant it took her to change.
no subject
"That... is probably the quickest way to explain, yes," he managed. Then, glancing over his shoulder at JW, he added, "Is this... common here, or...?"
no subject
"That'll be Vidia," sighed JW. Oh, thank goodness.
"Oh, good, Iv'e been meanin' to talk to her about a recipe. You can't catch that girl no easier than you can catch a breeze in a basket."
"Don't I know it." JW rested his hands on Ginko's shoulders...but soon couldn't help himself. One drifted up to play with his long furry ears. "Maybe she'll let you keep this part."
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His ears flicked and he glanced toward the door when Vidia's imminent arrival was announced. Okay, good, the sooner this was dealt with the better. Then JW could stop worrying and he could stop trying to force himself not to worry.
Then his ears flicked again when JW started messing with them. He glanced behind himself again with a snort. "I'm pretty sure I stick out enough already, thanks."
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"We'll get you a straw hat. No one will ever know."
A truck door slammed and Vidia's light footfalls could be heard before she knocked on the door.
Shirley, being a thoughtful behemoth of a werewolf, shuffled out of the way so that the door could open. Vidia didn't wait to be invited in, she was a witch, she belonged everywhere.
"Alright, alright, let's see how bad things have gotten." She put down her message bag and looked between the three creatures, easily dwarfed by all of them. "I've seen worse. Not fallen down any more stairs, have we?"
no subject
Ginko was just about as oblivious as JW, but the sounds of Vidia's arrival caught his attention, and his ears gave a sudden, surprised flick.
"Ah-- hey. That's good to hear." His tail swished back and forth and his shoulders lifted a little as he glanced sheepishly toward JW. "No, uh. Not recently."
no subject
Vidia marched up to Ginko and reached for his face without hesitation. She spread his remaining eye open and had a good look, then she grabbed his chin and forced his mouth open.
"A good horse," she said. "I'll take him."
Shirley nearly keeled over and destroyed the coffee table from laughing so hard.
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--really. Ginko's nose scrunched up in vague irritation and he made a noise that was probably intended as some kind of objection.
no subject
The witch's brows furrowed as she thought. She eyed the man's hoof hands, the make of the spell, and made a few disappointed humming sounds.
"The solution could be very very easy. Or it could not be."
"That's real helpful." JW slumped and finally stopped playing with Ginko's ears.
"I've been using those woods for years and I've never run into anything like this," said Shirley. Her own little ears perked forward.
"You are smart," said Vidia simply. "You must pay the faeries--a token. Just what, though, can be tricky to suss out. It could be something simple as a saucer of milk or as complicated as a little chair made out of cut sapphires."
no subject
"How do we figure out what it is?" He doubted it would be as simple as asking them what to do.
no subject
"I've got a whole junk drawer we can bring." JW spoke up. "Odds, ends, a lot of metal. They love metal but we have to be careful.."
Vidia and JW shared a shudder, a memory of an adventure that had taken place before Ginko even came into the picture.
"I have some old jewelry," said Shirley suddenly. Vidia actually gave a little jump, having forgotten the giant werewolf was there looming behind her and taking everything in. She let out a deep, gruff laugh before continuing. "A lot left over from when my daughter moved out and some of my own, from here and there, swaps, you know that. No silver of course."
"Of course," said JW. "Thank you." He turned to Ginko, feeling dumb now that he was slowly coming down from his high. He guessed it really wasn't that big of a deal that he couldn't drive them to the witch's trailer. They wouldn't have had Shirley's input. And...well...who knows if the stress from the drive would have made things even more difficult for poor Ginko. "How are you feeling?"
no subject
So, trial and error it was.
"Yeah - thanks, both of you, for helping with this." He answered JW's question with a lopsided shrug. "Alright, I guess, considering what's going on. The, uh... hooves ache a little, but that's about it."
He rubbed at the back of his neck, frowning at the prickle of fur progressing toward his back.
no subject
JW furrowed his brow and sorted through some of the jewelry, occasionally sticking himself on sharp back pieces of earrings and clasps.
"I don't know how she expects you to eat that," he grumbled about the sandwich. Either Shirley was onto him enough to know that he wouldn't mind holding the sandwich for Ginko or she was trying to pressure him into eating both of them. "We need to hurry before I end up having to ride you back to the tree."
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He just wanted to be totally sure before they accidentally ended up wasting valuale time.
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He clapped a hand to the side of his head before just pinching the bridge of his nose. That was stupid. Water. Were they going to have time to sit and drink water?
"The attic? Should we look in the attic?"
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Ginko glanced in the general direction of the attic in question. "Maybe? Is there more jewelry we could grab up there?"
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He stared warily at the ceiling.
"I'd have to leave you down here alone though..."
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"I'll be fine. Nothing's gonna happen that wouldn't anyway, right?"
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