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[IC][Story][Arc 1] Reach for the Moon
RE: [IC][Story][Arc 1] (title to be announced later)
#7
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
November 5, 2016
10:44

Rob had wandered over to Bank Street and was walking north, trying to put the pieces together.

After Minako had told him her theory, he'd asked Makoto to tell him exactly what she'd seen. Her description was naggingly familiar - people who transformed into walking corpses, bloated as if they'd been dead for a while, but not for very long.

Rob knew that Makoto knew what a dead person looked like - her family had died in a plane crash. (Rob's mind went off on a tangent. Considering when and where Makoto came from, that had to have been JAL123 - hundreds dead, and only four survivors including a girl who would have been Makoto's age. But that survivor wasn't Makoto, and one of the other survivors was her mother ... but there was no reason the casualty list had to have been the same in her universe as it was in his. Then Rob realized his thoughts were running down a blind alley.) Yes, she knew what dead people looked like.

And they'd tried to eat Mii alive.

Zombies, needing the flesh of the living to sate the hunger of the undead? No, that didn't seem right. None of them had tried to eat her brain.

And they'd stopped their attack on Mii as soon as Makoto showed up. That was probably the only reason Mii was still alive. What made Makoto a more attractive target? Was it her magic, as he had suggested to Artemis the previous night, or was it because she was a fresh opponent who'd already shown herself to be dangerous?

Something didn't fit. But it should fit.

And why had he decided to walk instead of stay home to think? Early November in Ottawa is cold.

What was buried in his subconscious, and what was it trying to tell him?

And why did he think that walking into a Dairy Queen of all places was a good idea? Sure, he'd already wandered that far north, past Billings Bridge (both the mall and the bridge itself), but ice cream? Before lunch? In the middle of winter?

Then he noticed the car in the DQ's parking lot. The VW Beetle. The old-style VW Beetle.

Suddenly, everything fell into place. "Restless dead", not "undead", and it wasn't Makoto who'd caught their interest - it was Usagi. Or, rather, Sailor Moon. And that explained why they were there in the first place: they were attracted to the power of the Moon like moths to a flame.

As Rob went into the Dairy Queen, he wondered how long they'd been in Ottawa. Sure, the books said that they'd always been in Ottawa, but had they always been in Ottawa a week ago?

He ordered a burger and a strawberry shake. While they were being made, he looked at the tables and saw two women sitting at a table. One was blonde, with her hair in... a pixie cut? A bowl cut? A short bob, Rob finally decided; whatever it was, it didn't look like a professional cut. The other was a brunette with curly hair - big hair straight out of the late 1980s. And they appeared to be in their mid-twenties.

Rob nodded to himself once. They'd always been here, but they hadn't always been here a week ago. Ben's theory had another piece of supporting evidence.

The counter clerk passed Rob a tray. He took it and walked to the table beside the one the two young women were at. Being one table over, he couldn't help but overhear - especially considering he was eavesdropping on purpose.

"What happened to Lansdowne Park? What happened to the Fat Albert's? What's a Kettleman's?"

That's right - that restaurant was still a sub shop in the 1980s, not a bagel shop. And Lansdowne Park was still a park then, not a retail-and-condo development with a stadium. Rob didn't need any more evidence; he knew who they were. But addressing them by their names before he's given them a reason he knew them would be a bad idea.

He cleared his throat. "Miss, I couldn't help but overhear. What do you think today's date is?"

"October 15, 1988," the blonde replied.

"I have some disturbing news for the two of you. It's November 5, 2016."

"The three of us, but he doesn't need ta know that." He didn't see who'd said that, but he heard the comment.

"And that comment confirms my hunch. I can't see your faerie friend, but I heard him, possibly because I've been living with mages for a couple of months."

The brunette looked him straight in the eyes. "We need to talk, somewhere in private."

"Agreed. Some of the Host attacked my home and my foster family last night, and I could use the advice of the local Wisewoman and the local Jack." They both looked surprised to be addressed by those names - but Rob knew the surprise was because they were being said by somebody as mortal as themselves. At least his knowing their titles was reasonable given what he'd said. "I'll give you my address - it's just off Kilborn - and we can make our introductions there."





To be continued...

OOC: And the cat's out of the bag. For those who've never read Charles de Lint's modern faerie stories set in Ottawa, the blonde is the Jack - her name is Jacky - and the brunette is her closest friend. I'll leave the thread title as "(title to be announced later)" for now so people don't think it's a new thread and wonder what happened to the old one. That, and my working title is stupid. When it comes to titles, I don't know Jack.
--
Rob Kelk

Sticks and stones can break your bones,
But words can break your heart.
- unknown


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RE: [IC][Story][Arc 1] (title to be announced later) - by robkelk - 07-06-2018, 08:50 PM

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