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Fic: Follow You Home - California Queen (1/20)
Title: Follow You Home - California Queen (1/20)
Author: Erin (erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Cain and DG, but if you saw 'em in the miniseries, they're here or mentioned. Plus some OCs
Rating: PG
Summary: DG left the Zone. Cain followed.
Warning: post-series. Blame n_e_star, for she fed Steve. ;)
Disclaimer: The original characters belong to L. Frank Baum and their respective actors. The current characters belong to Sci-Fi, the movie folks and their respective actors. The rest of 'em are mine. Title comes from song of same name by Nickelback.
Prologue One . Prologue Two
California Queen: Part One . Part Two . Part Three . Part Four . Part Five . Part Six . Part Seven . Part Eight . Part Nine . Part Ten . Part Eleven . Part Twelve . Part Thirteen . Part Fourteen . Part Fifteen . Part Sixteen . Part Seventeen . Part Eighteen . Part Nineteen . Part Twenty
California Tin | California Sun
Five | Waking Up (CaliSun 20.2) | Almost Like Being in Love (CaliSun 24.5) | An Hour and 45 Minutes | Hava Nagila | Unexpected
It had taken Cain the better part of two hours to work his way down the mountainside and into the edge of the populated area. He pulled out the device Glitch had given him and noticed a small blinking light on the face. Holding up the small box, he turned around and noted that the dot moved to the opposite side of the screen.
'That way, then,' he sighed, turning around again and moving down the street.
At the first major intersection of roadways, Cain found a collection of large metal boxes with newspapers behind glass. Judging by the headlines, he knew that he was currently in the vicinity of Los Angeles, New York and Pasadena, though none of those meant anything to him.
He continued down the street, noticing that he was moving from a residential area into the commerce section, and there were many more automobiles than he'd ever seen at one time in Central City, though none of them looked like the vehicles of the Outer Zone.
He noticed that the blinking light was moving to his right, but he wasn't about to leave a major thoroughfare until he knew how far east - 'West. Everything is reversed here,' - he was to go. The last thing he needed was to get himself lost, expert tracker or not.
He assumed he'd traveled at least three leagues when the dot grew brighter and was nearly due... west of his location. He was also back into a residential zone, but noticed that no one seemed to be paying him any mind. In the Outer Zone, twenty people would have already known his business.
The roadway turned to the left and then veered right again, coming to a dead end at another road. Cain was concerned, as the blinking light indicated that DG was ahead of him, but the light Glitch had pointed to had yet to go off. Looking up, Cain noticed an automobile turn at a corner a few yards south, so he decided to press on in that direction.
As he reached the corner, Cain could see a landscaped entrance ahead.
"What was she doing before she left?" Cain asked Glitch as Emily brought a tray of sandwiches into the lab. The two men, as well as Raw, hadn't left the room for hours. Glitch reached for a sandwich and took a large bite.
"Me mus eh essons," he replied with a mouthful of bread. Cain looked at him over invisible glasses and glared. Glitch swallowed and repeated: "She was in lessons. Or she was drawing... And when she wasn't, she was at the museums." Cain leaned back in his chair and stared at the tray of sandwiches.
Cain crossed the roadway and followed the paved path around to the right. It seemed that most people traveled by automobile, but he wasn't terribly concerned until he saw the guard. Emily had told him to flash the badge if necessary, and he'd heard every story in the Zone as a Tin Man; surely he could come up with something believable.
He reached into the jacket pocket for the badge and pulled it out as he neared. The guard stepped out of his little station and gave Cain a long glance. "Mornin'," he said with a nod.
Cain nodded back and held up the badge, noticing that the guard seemed to relax at the sight of it. "Mornin' to you, as well."
"What can I do for ya?" the guard asked. Cain took a quick glance of the area and gave the man a polite smile.
"Looking for a girl. Dark hair, blue eyes. Mid to late-twenties," he rattled off, remembering what Hank told him to say to sound like Other Side-law enforcement.
The guard shrugged and gave Cain a half-laugh. "Lotta girls fit that description 'round these parts." Cain gave him a half-laugh in response.
"Name's DG," he added, figuring there was a chance she'd given her name to someone. The guard shook his head again and sighed. A moment later, he looked at Cain.
"We got a DG, fits that description. Might be who you're lookin' for. She in trouble?" Cain shook his head, unsure he would be that lucky.
"Just have some questions." The guard nodded and held up a finger before turning and reaching into his booth. He pulled back holding a slip of emerald green paper and held it out for Cain.
"She's usually at the Gallery," he said, pointing to a building on Cain's left, off in the distance. "Show that at the guard station 'round the corner," he said, pointing behind him to another small building about fifty feet away from where they stood. "When you get to the circle, hang a left and follow Vista all the way down."
Cain took the slip of paper and nodded to the guard. "Much obliged."
DG stood off to the side as the couple pointed back and forth to different parts of the patio. She wasn't usually on wedding planner-duty, but Sasha was stuck on the highway. And since she had an amazingly high tolerance for patrons, the higher-ups suggested that DG fill in here and there.
It was her own fault, as she couldn't help but volunteer for every little job that came up. Really, she was just trying to keep in good with the management, because she needed to keep the job. It was dumb luck that she'd gotten the job at all, without decent references and a lack of a resume. Not to mention not even having a driver's license.
She'd been in on the free entrance day and run into her art teacher who, it turned out, knew the curator. And, it just so happened that she had been standing next to an older woman when a question about the displayed artwork came up that the docent couldn't answer. But she could, and she did.
Impressed with her knowledge on the subject, not to mention the glowing reference from her teacher, the curator had asked her background and qualifications. She'd told him that due to family issues, she hadn't been able to go to college, though she'd always been interested in art and spent much of her free time outside the family business at the art museums and learned from the artists and curators there. Of course, when he'd asked the names of the museums, she'd had to make up something rather quickly.
She couldn't exactly tell the man that the museums were on the other side of a twister.
Cain found the circle - or, at least the closest he could find to that effect - and noticed a sign for the North Vista. The walk went off to his left, as the guard instructed. As he walked along, Cain pulled the DG-detector out of his pocket again and his heart stopped for a moment.
The bulb was flashing.
________________
You guys know I'm not much for notes... but I felt the need to clarify that having Cain be that lucky at finding DG that fast is really because what fun would it be if Cain's circling the valley for a few days? And, well... the whole point of this is Cain on the Other Side.
So there you are.
Oh, and, as you can see... there's quite a few chapters ready to go. You'll get one a day. Because I'm still trying to finish and I may have just unintentionally rewritten a whole chunk this morning. *headdesk*
Oh yeah - almost forgot: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Author: Erin (erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Cain and DG, but if you saw 'em in the miniseries, they're here or mentioned. Plus some OCs
Rating: PG
Summary: DG left the Zone. Cain followed.
Warning: post-series. Blame n_e_star, for she fed Steve. ;)
Disclaimer: The original characters belong to L. Frank Baum and their respective actors. The current characters belong to Sci-Fi, the movie folks and their respective actors. The rest of 'em are mine. Title comes from song of same name by Nickelback.
Prologue One . Prologue Two
California Queen: Part One . Part Two . Part Three . Part Four . Part Five . Part Six . Part Seven . Part Eight . Part Nine . Part Ten . Part Eleven . Part Twelve . Part Thirteen . Part Fourteen . Part Fifteen . Part Sixteen . Part Seventeen . Part Eighteen . Part Nineteen . Part Twenty
California Tin | California Sun
Five | Waking Up (CaliSun 20.2) | Almost Like Being in Love (CaliSun 24.5) | An Hour and 45 Minutes | Hava Nagila | Unexpected
It had taken Cain the better part of two hours to work his way down the mountainside and into the edge of the populated area. He pulled out the device Glitch had given him and noticed a small blinking light on the face. Holding up the small box, he turned around and noted that the dot moved to the opposite side of the screen.
'That way, then,' he sighed, turning around again and moving down the street.
At the first major intersection of roadways, Cain found a collection of large metal boxes with newspapers behind glass. Judging by the headlines, he knew that he was currently in the vicinity of Los Angeles, New York and Pasadena, though none of those meant anything to him.
He continued down the street, noticing that he was moving from a residential area into the commerce section, and there were many more automobiles than he'd ever seen at one time in Central City, though none of them looked like the vehicles of the Outer Zone.
He noticed that the blinking light was moving to his right, but he wasn't about to leave a major thoroughfare until he knew how far east - 'West. Everything is reversed here,' - he was to go. The last thing he needed was to get himself lost, expert tracker or not.
He assumed he'd traveled at least three leagues when the dot grew brighter and was nearly due... west of his location. He was also back into a residential zone, but noticed that no one seemed to be paying him any mind. In the Outer Zone, twenty people would have already known his business.
The roadway turned to the left and then veered right again, coming to a dead end at another road. Cain was concerned, as the blinking light indicated that DG was ahead of him, but the light Glitch had pointed to had yet to go off. Looking up, Cain noticed an automobile turn at a corner a few yards south, so he decided to press on in that direction.
As he reached the corner, Cain could see a landscaped entrance ahead.
"What was she doing before she left?" Cain asked Glitch as Emily brought a tray of sandwiches into the lab. The two men, as well as Raw, hadn't left the room for hours. Glitch reached for a sandwich and took a large bite.
"Me mus eh essons," he replied with a mouthful of bread. Cain looked at him over invisible glasses and glared. Glitch swallowed and repeated: "She was in lessons. Or she was drawing... And when she wasn't, she was at the museums." Cain leaned back in his chair and stared at the tray of sandwiches.
Cain crossed the roadway and followed the paved path around to the right. It seemed that most people traveled by automobile, but he wasn't terribly concerned until he saw the guard. Emily had told him to flash the badge if necessary, and he'd heard every story in the Zone as a Tin Man; surely he could come up with something believable.
He reached into the jacket pocket for the badge and pulled it out as he neared. The guard stepped out of his little station and gave Cain a long glance. "Mornin'," he said with a nod.
Cain nodded back and held up the badge, noticing that the guard seemed to relax at the sight of it. "Mornin' to you, as well."
"What can I do for ya?" the guard asked. Cain took a quick glance of the area and gave the man a polite smile.
"Looking for a girl. Dark hair, blue eyes. Mid to late-twenties," he rattled off, remembering what Hank told him to say to sound like Other Side-law enforcement.
The guard shrugged and gave Cain a half-laugh. "Lotta girls fit that description 'round these parts." Cain gave him a half-laugh in response.
"Name's DG," he added, figuring there was a chance she'd given her name to someone. The guard shook his head again and sighed. A moment later, he looked at Cain.
"We got a DG, fits that description. Might be who you're lookin' for. She in trouble?" Cain shook his head, unsure he would be that lucky.
"Just have some questions." The guard nodded and held up a finger before turning and reaching into his booth. He pulled back holding a slip of emerald green paper and held it out for Cain.
"She's usually at the Gallery," he said, pointing to a building on Cain's left, off in the distance. "Show that at the guard station 'round the corner," he said, pointing behind him to another small building about fifty feet away from where they stood. "When you get to the circle, hang a left and follow Vista all the way down."
Cain took the slip of paper and nodded to the guard. "Much obliged."
DG stood off to the side as the couple pointed back and forth to different parts of the patio. She wasn't usually on wedding planner-duty, but Sasha was stuck on the highway. And since she had an amazingly high tolerance for patrons, the higher-ups suggested that DG fill in here and there.
It was her own fault, as she couldn't help but volunteer for every little job that came up. Really, she was just trying to keep in good with the management, because she needed to keep the job. It was dumb luck that she'd gotten the job at all, without decent references and a lack of a resume. Not to mention not even having a driver's license.
She'd been in on the free entrance day and run into her art teacher who, it turned out, knew the curator. And, it just so happened that she had been standing next to an older woman when a question about the displayed artwork came up that the docent couldn't answer. But she could, and she did.
Impressed with her knowledge on the subject, not to mention the glowing reference from her teacher, the curator had asked her background and qualifications. She'd told him that due to family issues, she hadn't been able to go to college, though she'd always been interested in art and spent much of her free time outside the family business at the art museums and learned from the artists and curators there. Of course, when he'd asked the names of the museums, she'd had to make up something rather quickly.
She couldn't exactly tell the man that the museums were on the other side of a twister.
Cain found the circle - or, at least the closest he could find to that effect - and noticed a sign for the North Vista. The walk went off to his left, as the guard instructed. As he walked along, Cain pulled the DG-detector out of his pocket again and his heart stopped for a moment.
The bulb was flashing.
________________
You guys know I'm not much for notes... but I felt the need to clarify that having Cain be that lucky at finding DG that fast is really because what fun would it be if Cain's circling the valley for a few days? And, well... the whole point of this is Cain on the Other Side.
So there you are.
Oh, and, as you can see... there's quite a few chapters ready to go. You'll get one a day. Because I'm still trying to finish and I may have just unintentionally rewritten a whole chunk this morning. *headdesk*
Oh yeah - almost forgot: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens