eighth draft || [written]

[poorneedyand]

[The handwriting is unrecognizable, having gone from this to something much closer to this; it's neat as a pin, like someone spent a lot of time working on her penmanship.]It seems like this book is getting messages from other people (or else I don't know where all the words are coming from on the other pages), so I'll try writing a message, too.

Comments

[action.]

[ohmykethe]

[Earlier this morning, Mildmay had wandered out into the living room. He'd expected a few things to possibly be waiting for him-- a teenager, a grown woman, a dragon-- but not a small girl.]

...Uh. Hello?

[action.]

[kay_hunter]

[Said teenage girl looks up at him and startles slightly, eyes wide. That's a big scar you got there, Mister.]

H--hello. Who're you?

[action.]

[ohmykethe]

[Mildmay knows, he knows.]

Uh. Mildmay. Who're you?

[action.]

[kay_hunter]

My name's Kay. [Frown. Why is a man with a big scar the main person she's seen so far? This seems an awful lot like a kidnapping.] I dunno what kind of ransom you want, Mr. Mildmay, but my parents don't go--don't have much money. You'd be as well off just letting me go, honest.

[action.]

[ohmykethe]

...Oh, shit. [Mildmay goes to sit on the nearest bit of furniture, in this case being a conveniently-placed chair.] We ain't looking for no ransom. You ain't been kidnapped, I swear on Saint Augustina's little finger. [For all the good the solemn swear of someone who looks like him is worth. Can't hurt, he reckons.]

[action.]

[kay_hunter]

[Well, he doesn't act like kidnappers in the movies. He doesn't even have a moustache. She can't rule the theory out entirely, but maybe it's not as strong a theory as it seemed.] Then where am I? I looked out the window--it doesn't look like any part of Indianapolis I've been to before.

[action.]

[ohmykethe]

[Mentally, Mildmay squirrels away the word Indianapolis against later use.] Yeah, that's the tough part to explain. I still don't rightly know it all. It's some other... world. Luceti.

[action.]

[kay_hunter]

Another world? [Eyes as big as bellwheels, Mildmay, and this time not because she's scared.] Like--like the land of Oz?

[action.]

[ohmykethe]

...Yeah, like Oz. [Whatever Oz is.] So you kinda have been kidnapped, but I didn't have nothing to do with it. [Some small, controlled bit of emotion-- vehemence, in this case-- creeps into his voice, here. This is an important point, one he wants to underscore.] And ain't nobody knows how to get back where they came from.

[action.]

[kay_hunter]

Oh. Is that why we have wings? For a minute, I thought we died, but I pinched myself and it still hurt.

[action.]

[ohmykethe]

Yeah, you can put the wing in the 'shit nobody exactly knows' pile. We ain't dead, though, 'least, not as far as I know.

[action.]

[kay_hunter]

And I thought I was getting better anyway. [Now that you've gotten her started talking, she's not going to stop, Mildmay.] You'd think God would at least want you to know beforehand if you were actually going to die, don't you?

[action.]

[ohmykethe]

Naw, I seen it take folks real sudden. [He shrugs and gets up, going to make a sandwich.] You hungry, kid?

[action.]

[kay_hunter]

People what get sick usually kind of know, don't they? [And she follows him, because if he's not dangerous, she's curious. Also, food.] Kinda. May I have a sandwich?

[action.]

[ohmykethe]

[Mildmay shrugs, his back turned as he busies himself in the kitchen preparing food.] Sometimes, I guess. Depends on what all's wrong with 'em in the first place. What d'you want on it?

[action.]

[kay_hunter]

If you got any peanut butter, that'd be okay. [She sits in a chair at the kitchen table--they have a kitchen table, right?--and watches him.] Mrs. Horne knew she was going to die, so she let me have one of her books.