"I need a break," the redhead whispers to himself as he plops down onto the side of the road and pulls his satchel off his back. He sets it on his lap and untucks a cardboard sign from under his arm - hopefully the bright lettering will catch attention.
He rolls his eyes and hums for a bit, glancing down at his boots and wiggles his upper body in boredom before exhaling a small cloud of cold. "Yeeeeeeah, we can get you to Tamrick Wherevers. Then ditch you. Totally, man." They probably didn't say that last part. Of course, this was also not the first time he was stranded either - but his current surroundings did look like the sort of place where cops came by and arrested vagrants. It reeked of 'small time'. And 'small town'.
"...I should have bummed some cigs before they dropped me off," he laments, as he puffs his cheeks out and blows out a stream of misty air.
A lime-green, rusty Ford Ranger bounces down the road. Mavis doesn't seem to mind each bump and shudder of the truck's frame as the old shocks fail to do their job. She's driving, both light-brown hands holding the wheel with her many rings banding her slender fingers. Amity has command of the radio and Mavis' thumbs bop along to whatever tune happens to playing. The dusky-skinned mortal is also animatedly talking to her passenger, tilting her head some towards Amity while keeping her honey-brown eyes on the road in front of them.
"Okay, so I'm thinking when we get to the Olde Market-" She breaks off, spotting a person on the side of the road. It's Casper's wild blaze of hair that first catches Mavis' eye.
"Awws, man. It's freezing out," she goes in sympathy, although not slowing down for the cold figure sitting alongside the road. That young man with the red hair comes more into focus the closer they she get. She reads then sign then giggles as the Ford Ranger cruises past Casper. Then... she shoots Amity a LOOK of stern, matronly admonishment. "C'mon, Sunbeam. We gotta. You'd want someone like us to stop and help me, wouldn't you?"
Amity futzes with the old analog tuner, frowning as she gets a burst of static before she settles the radio onto a fuzzy pop music station. She's accepted that she probably won't get a terribly clear signal out here. She sits back against the well used vinyl seating and rubs her eyes with one hand. At least the heater in the old thing still worked! She's listening to Mavis, just looking out the window at the passing, foggy night as they drive. HEr eyes focus on the hitchhiker as he comes more clearly into view and she stares at him, half-listening until Mavis speaks up about stopping for the poor bastard. She looks over across the cab and sighs.
"You're the one driving, why are you trying to talk me into it?" She asks, teasing just a little. "But yes--we should pick the guy up and at /least/ get him into town. It's too cold to be walking around on the road tonight. He could freeze to death!" She suits actions to words and unbuckles her seatbelt in preparation for scooting over next to Mavis when they do stop.
Wait, this sign actually worked? ...No, it was much too foggy for anyone to possibly be able to see it. Still, what makes better friends than literal lifesavers? Casper pushes himself up to his feet and adjusts his jacket, throwing the satchel over a shoulder and waits for the truck to pull up. He approaches the car, making his way toward the passenger side and waits for Amity to open the door.
Even before this happens, there is hesitation in Casper's countenance as he looks through the window at Amity and then to Mavis. He appears visibly confused, but notices that the blonde woman has made room for him. Once the door is opened, he will climb inside, put the satchel onto the floorboard, and the sign onto his lap; Amity can more easily read it. Behind closed lips, his tongue feels around for something and then he shrugs.
Finally, as the heat of the car warms him up, he remembers his manners and smiles and extends a small hand to shake. "Hi, thanks. Was afraid I was gonna freeze. I'm Casper."
Mavis is expecting a rebuke from Amity. A disagreement. A fight on her hands, but nope! She shoots a grin at her girlfriend, flashing the millimeter gap between her two incisors and bites the tip of her tongue with glee. The truck slows, pulls over, and stops with the heavy crunch of gravel under big wheels. Casper's freckled face and crimson red hair pops up at the passenger side. Mavis peers past Amity when the heavy door creaks opened on squealing hinges.
"Hey Casper" greets Mavis, flashing her smile at him and lifting her hand from the wheel to give a small wave. Bracelets layer her wrists parkway up each forearm. The truck might be old but the heater works and it has been pumping through the cab since they got inside of it. "I'm Mavis. This is Amity." Her head tilts, shoulders half-turned towards her passengers, and Mavis waits for Casper to get settled in. "Seatbelt," she prompts him and then the truck starts rolling again once he has safely buckled up.
Amity is already securing the middle belt across her lap as Casper clambers into the cab. She gives him a much more subdued smile than her girlfriend, though it's fairly genuine. She settles back into her new seat and nods at the new arrival as Mavis makes introductions.
"Nice to meet you, Casper," she replies, studying him for a long moment. Hm. "Where you headed?" She asks as a follow up once the truck pulls back onto the road with a rumble and clatter from the old engine
Casper's smile, on the other hand, is wide and genuine. The hesitation he sported as greetings exchanged melts and his cold and dried lips bend into an earnest, friendly smile. "Radical. Well, nice to meet you both. Yous guys local?" When Mavis mentions a seatbelt he blinks twice, and turns to pull the belt over and across(?) his body. He is once again thankful for the minimal space he occupies.
Amity asks him a question and he shrugs his shoulders. "I, uh, don't know?" No lies there. "I, um," he lifts his left hand up, scratching at the corner of his left eye. "I'm pretty new in time-town. I'm, uh, new in town. And heard that this was a good place to get situated. Find a place, some room-mates, a job, a life."
Mavis, completely oblivious to any confused or considering looks that pass between her girlfriend and their hitchhiker, just drives; the mortal can't see what either of her passengers share in common. She does give a little chuckle though at that dated term-- radical-- and fights down on another grin as she drives.
She takes her hand off of the wheel for a moment to turn down the radio, glance over to her right to smile at them both. It's not her bright, beaming grin from before but friendly nonetheless. Later, when they were alone, Mavis would have to remember to swoon at Amity about how sweet she'd been today, stopping to help Casper. She keeps an engaged ear on the conversation while her eyes mind the road, listening for clues as to where to start heading to drop him off and her right hand slides off of the driver's wheel to land lightly atop Amity's thigh with a sense of familiarity that was impossible to miss. Casper tripping over his words earns him a confused, sidelong glance much like the look he'd first shot to her and Amity when his face appeared in the passenger window.
"Sheez," she hisses between her teeth in sympathy. "And all you've got is that sign? I mean, at least you wrote something good on it." Mavis frowns a little then shoots Amity a worried look that would alert the Lost woman to what was about to ensue. They had to help him, of course.
"It's a lot. I've been there, definitely," Amity raises an eyebrow at Casper's words, sapphire eyes peering at him intently. A pensive, thoughtful look crosses her face. It sounded familiar to her--though admittedly she'd come with a lot more than a bag of stuff and a cardboard sign. It was a good place to start over, she thought. For a lot of reasons. So she nods at Casper, trying to convey some of her understanding of his situation without saying much.
"It's a good place for that stuff, I think. When it's not dark and freezing," she points out. Her gaze flicks over to Mavis as the other woman taps her on the thigh and her eyebrows go even higher. Of course, that was Mavis. Considerate, kind, generous. And Amity honestly felt very similarly here--they couldn't let this kid wander around in the dark and cold with nowhere to stay. So she nods at Mavis before the other woman can say anything.
"We were gonna hit the Olde Market and then probably make soup when we got home. I still have bread I made last night to go with--are you hungry?"
Casper seems to exhale and crumple slightly - visibly relaxing. It sounded like he would have a starting point, at least. His eyes close for a moment and his chest and head hitch once. He is quiet for a a few seconds before nodding as he rubs his hands together. "C-Cool, thanks. Thank you, ma'am and ma'am." He repeats, nodding his head to the two of them. "I, um," his voice catches and he smiles and nods to Amity, "Yeah - wait, you have?" Let it go, Casper. "I mean, yeah. Of course. Moving. Right on. Yeah, I basically got dropped off at the county line and hoofed it here. So... yeah, please. Thank you."
He turns to Mavis, "Well, no. I have like... some stuff. You know, a change of clothes. Um... a, uh," medical discharge folder. "Papers. You know, legal stuff. I travel light." True, but not by choice. "Yeah, I learned that people don't care if you're hungry. Really, uh..." He thinks about his words carefully. "Sometimes, I'm worried I've woke up to a nightmare."
Mavis checks her passenger mirror, catching a glimpse of Casper in the process. The mortal's expression is one of mingled apprehension and deep trouble about something, but she smiles at him tightly in that brief moment.
Casper was probably half-starved. She and Amity could take him home, feed him and figure out what to do with him. She supposes that his feet probably hurt, having hoofed it as far as he had, and wandering around the Olde Market in the cold was suddenly less exciting than it had been.
"Let's skip the market tonight," she decides, at once, and announcing this even she turns on her blinker. She can see the turn-in to the market just ahead. The truck does an illegal u-turn and, just like that, they are driving in the OPPOSITE direction. "It's supposed to snow, anyways," lies Mavis with a flat poker face and eyes glued to the road as if the sky was, indeed, about to begin sprinkling snow even though she had no idea if that were true or not. "Casper, you mind coming back to the house? Amity here works at Red Clover Hotel, we can get you fed and see about where you can stay." She pointedly avoids looking at Amity. They'd have to talk about letting him stay at THEIR home later and in private, somehow. It seemed a risky and wild idea to grant him temporary lodgings, but hotel rooms cost money and...
Well, this red-headed Annie-boy didn't seem like a murderer, did he?
Amity cocks an eyebrow at Mavis as she suddenly tugs the truck around into a u-turn, hurtling them back down the road towards home in an instant. She hadn't thought that Casper's words were that pressing, but there was something familiar about them (and him) that she recognized. As Amity swayed back into place between the other two, she turned her attention back to Casper.
"Trust me, I know exactly what you mean when you say that," she says meaningfully. "The world's a bit crazy sometimes. The stuff you can go through can be crazier." She doesn't wink, but there's meaning in her words, at the very least. She flicks her attention back to the other side of, squeezed as she is between the other two. "And yes, I do work at the hotel but the Red Clover isn't exactly /cheap/." She doesn't want to come out and say that Casper is too broke to afford to stay there, but... he's probably too broke to afford to stay there.
Casper grabs the door to brace himself as the truck suddenly wheels around. His eyes widen at the mention of snow - why would Mavis suddenly lie to him about the weather? Not like he had a reference point! This meant soup was off the table, which is a bummer but a place to unwind and think about his next move? Still a damn fine positive. "Thanks; I don't meant to bug you two. I'd be happy to crash on a couch, or floor, or whatever." He smiles to Amity and Mavis.
Amity agrees with his sentiment. "I mean... cities broke, cops all... lookin' like bad guys in a comic. I..." He smiles to Amity, and then glances to Mavis - studying her for a moment. With a small nod, he returns his attention to Amity. "It seemed like it was one big trick. Like, just another..." He trails off and shrugs - finding the Red Clover as a quick pivot. "Oh, yeah, no. I'm... definitely on the low side of income." He smiles, flashing some teeth before shifting up and trying to get comfortable against the vinyl seating. "But yeah, I haven't eaten in a day or two... so that'd be rad. Thank you both so much."
Mavis puffs out a sigh, both of her hands back on the wheel since she had pulled that u-turn. She'd needed both of them to steer the old truck around.
She wishes Amity hadn't said that about the hotel being pricey. The mortal's still turning over options and maybe she could put him up at the Red Clover for a night or two. "Yeah, I crashed in their crappiest room for a few weeks when I first got here," notes Mavis regretfully and she leans to bump her shoulder against Amity buckled in next to her. What Casper says next is a little confusing and Mavis wonders if maybe he's a bit addled in that cute, floppy red head of his. "It was, uhh, well.. a little challenging to actually SAVE money while I was staying there and you're not on a payroll yet so." She goes quiet, eyes Amity then the road again. That brief glimpse at her girlfriend had been rife with questions: Can we? Should we? Do you think-?
Then Mavis offers, "I can talk to my boss, see if she needs any help. Usually does. She owns a few businesses around town and, hell, she took me. Pays more generous than my other jobs." Mavis' assurances are a little subdued, which may confusing to Casper, but mindful of Amity's-- uh-- complicated sentiments about her boss, November an Nua. "And it's okay, Casper. We're happy to help, you know?" A pause. "So, when we get to the house, Amity and I will get the soup going." Hopefully they weren't wicked witches or something, right? "And you grab a shower. I think I've got a pack of unopened toothbrushes I was going to use on an art project."
Amity is just doing her best to be open, honest and helpful. Really. She looks back at Mavis, her own look communicating the same questions and similar worries. But... this guy was one of hers, wasn't he? He was like her and needed help. And of course, Mavis suggests November--which for once, Amity doesn't find objectionable. She exhales and pushes herself further back into her seat. This... Oof. Oof. The answer? We /should/. Because it's right.
"Yes. November is likely to be able to help out in this case, I think," she says in quiet assent. That might clue Mavis in, but maybe not. She clenches her jaw a little, nods. "Right, get yourself cleaned up and we'll start on dinner. Don't worry about--we want to help." She glanced over at the man, studied him. The way he talked, the way he stumbled and seemed so unsure--reminded her a lot of how she'd felt when she'd gotten back. But that wasn't a question to be asking now.
Casper hadn't thought about brushing his teeth and suddenly became very self-conscious. His lips press together for a bit, and he straightens up and decides that the foggy outdoors are utterly fascinating. "Yeah, there is a lot to get used to," the redhead reaches up and scratches the back of his head. He then turns to Amity for just a moment, gives a closed-lip smile, and then returns to the window. He asks, "This is, uh, Vermont, right? Tamarack Falls?" The question was genuine. "I keep wondering if..." He shoots a glance to Mavis one more time and his eyes briefly widen as a thought crosses his mind! "The - A gnarly trip hadn't just left me goofed up. It'd be good to know from, y'know, someone with... experience could confirm. Just to hear it." He shrugs, shuts up and holds his hands up to the heat.
Casper says, "What with travel phones, and that creepy orange guy on TV, I keep thinking maybe not."
Amity goes along with her suggestions of contacting November and Mavis' fingers loosen their grip around the wheel. She hadn't realized she'd tightened her ringed digits when she'd brought the subject of her boss up, but her girlfriend didn't so much as flinch at the mention of the woman's name. Casper was a bit strange, though, wasn't he? Spouting off about broke cities and villain cops. But he wasn't wrong either. Her black brows furrow as Mavis continues driving back to Robin Hill, worriedly chewing the corner of her bottom lip. She wanted to talk to Amity in means more than brief, silently conveyed expressions.
She rolls her eyes at something Casper mentions and hisses. The view of the world outside is getting hillier the closer the Ford brings them to Mavis and Amity's home.
"That fuckn' orange creep-- Can we just NOT talk about that dipfuck?" Mavis seethes this with utmost loathing and shoots the both of them dirty looks. "We're not too far from the house.. And-- no big, Casper-- I used to drop acid years ago." She grins faintly, recalling it. "s'Wild. We've got a bit of pot at the house, actually. I'm pretty sure you're NOT an undercover cop."
Amity reaches up to pinch the bridge of her nose gently, trying to think. The way he talked, the way he was so... confused. He sounded the way Amity had /felt/. And maybe he was the way she had felt, too. If so, then there might be one hell of a conversation to be had once they were inside and warm with food in their bellies. Yep. YEP.
"Ugh, yes. Let's not talk about him," Amity agrees, her voice betraying more than her usual share of annoyance. It's a sore spot, okay? Kind of. She exhales--looks out the window. "We're almost there," she reassures Casper.
Casper's brow furrows, turning to look at both of them. He swallows and keeps his teeth pressed together "I... uh. Sorry. I didn't... Yeah, I guess that's pretty heavy... Yeah. We can kill it. No big deal Cool, yeah. I'm... pretty jazzed about the shower." He smiles to the pair. Then, his lips twist and he tries to get comfortable, propping his arm up against the window and leaning his head against it. Some sore spots were expected, but he didn't expect that to be... a thing. He is silent for a few road bumps.
Mavis' thumbs drum onto the steering wheel. Each one is circled by a band: one silvery bright metal and the other dark and sleek. She glances sidelong to check on Casper, picking up a tightness in the way he was talking. Did he feel uncomfortable now? Probably, she supposed, because she probably would have in his place as the rescued damsel.
"It's fine," she sighs to him, smiling at him before flicking on the truck's turn signal and making a turn. Aside from that illegal u-turn, Mavis wasn't really a terrible driver and it wasn't HER fault that the old, heavy Ford bounced and jostled. At least the heater works and continues to feed heat into the cab. "I just hate that prick and talking about him janks my mood all up, y'know? I don't even want to acknowledge his existence or let it drain on mine." Phew. She feels better after saying all of that and gives her head a little shake. "Don't worry about it, cutie."
Soon, the truck comes to a stop in front of a house on a hill with a paved sidewalk along the street joined to the bottom of the steps that lead up, up, up.
Amity stays quiet after that. Not because the mood is killed, especially, but more because she doesn't have much else to say. Thankfully, there's not much longer to wait and the rattling truck comes to a stop at the base of the hill. Amity glances out the window. Sighs.
"Mavis, how come your grandma didn't have a /driveway/? What did she do when got old? Just never leave the house?" No doubt an old topic of discussion for the pair. She waits patiently, stuck in the middle, for one or the other to let her out of the truck.
Casper is just about to ask about turning the radio up, but he does give a nod of understanding. "I uh, yeah. I don't really... like anyone with power," he slowly confesses with a small shrug, slowly turning from the window to reply to Mavis. He keeps giving Amity a small up and down look - a mix of raw curiosity, apprehension, and amazement. He has kept his mouth shut since the mention of a toothbrush, though, and is eager to exit the truck, grab his sign, his satchel and be escorted into whatever house Mavis and Amity happen to reside within. Hopefully, they have a spare couch.
Mavis didn't know WHY her grandma didn't have a driveway or WHY there were so many stupid steps up to where the hellhill levels out a little and becomes a sidewalk. The house tall, top and bottom floors sporting once-handsome windows. The walls are stoneworked with some white, wooden accents in need of paint and a lone tree grows in the front yard. A weeping willow with an empty swing hanging from the strongest branch beneath the bows. The sidewalk connecting to the stairs leads up a trio of-- yes, more steps-- and onto a screened-in porch and a red door which unlocks with a jingle of keys when Mavis inserts her house key into the lock.
She pushes on into a small, narrow mudroom and sheds her winter clothing. The house isn't exactly WARM, but it gets a little warmer as they leave the mudroom to enter the home proper.
It smells like baking in here and, also, of the coffee still hot and evaporated down to a strong, bitter brew at the bottom of the pot, because Mavis had left the coffee maker on. The place is clean, but cozy and bordering on cluttered. It looks like someone much older than Mavis and Amity lives here.
"And, yup. So, that's how Amity and I met and she's kind of been obsessed with me every since," declares Mavis, continuing on a narrative about how she'd thought Amity was cute the moment she checked in at the Red Clover when she got into town and they'd basically u-hauled it by Mavis moving into Amity's apartment and now they live here.
"Tadah! Home sweet home," chimes the mortal, watching Casper as he takes it all in. "So, if you want to head down the hallway to the bathroom-" A thumb is jabbed over her shoulder. "There's fresh towels in there and wash rags. You can use whatever bodywash and shampoo that's in there." After a moment, she shrugs and adds, "There's some guy soaps, too." Mavis squints at him, unsure of why he'd been talking so funny. Like he was keeping his mouth shut. Then she shrugs again and just tells him, "Hang on, I think those toothbrushes are in the kitchen junk drawer." She goes into the kitchen, is heard opening a drawer, rummaging, and then returns with an unopened value pack of five toothbrushes each colored a different color. "Aha! Here ya go."
Casper is mostly silent and does appear to take in the house with surprise and awe. His eyes are wide and he appears visibly impressed. "There are a lot of... stairs," he comments, "but yeah, no, this place is pretty far out..." The satchel remains on his back, and the sign that he kept with him stays tucked under arm as his eyes scan up and down his surroundings. He sucks on his teeth for a moment, offering Mavis and Amity another lippy, genuine smile. He receives the unopened set of five toothbrushes, quietly deciding on the green one in the package. "Thanks again for picking me up - and rescuing me from the snow. I had no idea... I'm... going to go... get that shower." He pulls the collar of his shirt and sniffs. An odd remark escapes him that the pair might catch, "ugh, I smell new thrift store donations..." He begins t make his way to the hallway, following Mavis's loose physical and mostly verbal directions!
The door to the bathroom opens, and then shuts. Moments later, the hiss of hot water may possibly be heard as he briefly exits the scene.
"No worries, we're happy to help!" Amity says cheerily. That said, Amity heads the opposite direction, into the kitchen, so she can get started on dinner. Onion, carrot, celery, broth... She starts pulling things from the fridge and pantry and sets to chopping veggies. She said she was making soup, so she's making soup damn it. It'll be something straightforward and simple, but it'll be hot and filling.
Mavis starts making her way up the stairs to the second floor of the house. When she comes back downstairs with an armload of clothes and stick of deodorant in her pocket, Amity is in the kitchen and she hears the shower running down the hallway.
"Hey, I just grabbed him some stuff to wear," she tells Amity, peeking her head into the kitchen and grinning ear-to-ear at her. "It was kind of fun picking out some clothes. I _think_ these will fit him." She holds up her items, riffling through them real quick to display to Amity: some red, green, and black fuzzy flannel bottoms, a pair of black and white striped socks, a faded, clover-green t-shirt with a cereal logo stamped on the chest, and some briefs. Mavis straightens the clothes laid out over her forearm and adds, quietly, "He's so smol... Anyways, soup's looking good, babe."
She ducks off down the hallway, a few seconds later there's a set of tawny-brown knuckles rapping at the bathroom door. Her voice speaks up from the other side of the door.
"Hey-ah-Cas?" Pause. "I've got you some clothes of mine if you want to let Amity give yours a wash." It sounded like this had been decided for him. "I'm just going to fold 'em up outside of the door for you and you can bring yours out or kick 'em into the hallway."
After his acquiescence, Mavis pops back up in the kitchen to lean about while Amity preps the soup.
Casper calls out from the bathroom over the shower, "Okay! Um... I'm kind of already in the shower... so, I can just... bring them out when I'm changed?" He calls out. He was not in a hurry - a running shower blasting him with hot water was something he di not know he was missing from his life. So, he is going to be thorough. Eventually, the hiss of the shower ends - now to get his teeth brushed. His eyes do flit toward the new clothing provided by Mavis and shrugs.
Amity has the soup going pretty well soon enough--she's throwing potatoes and other vegetables in as she goes. Simple vegetable soup--something to warm the stomach and the soul on a cold winter night. Perfect, really. She nods at Mavis as she returns from dropping off the clothing. "...I think he's one of mine," she says quietly, keeping her voice low.
"What?" blurts Mavis, blinking at Amity from where she's slouched against the counter. She'd been thinking about what to suggest to Amity first, a night at the hotel or just letting him crash here on the couch. The mortal looks at her girlfriend in mild surprise.
"You think or you know? Well, that does explain some things." She goes on, tentatively, "I was going to ask you if he seemed, y'know, a little off."
Amity looks over at Mavis from where she's stirring the soup, one hand resting against her ship. She gives a low sigh, a shrug. "Pretty sure normal people don't have marbles instead of eyes, love," she says in a quiet voice so that it doesn't carry. "And the way he talks about stuff..." She grimaces. "He sounds a lot like I did when I got back."
"Oh!" gasps Mavis, taken back. Curious, she leans forward and quietly asks, "What color are they? Are they green?" Pulling back to settle against the counter again, she adds musingly, "I wonder how long he has been back?"
Mavis pulls out her phone and starts typing out a text message with her thumb. She scrunches up her face then holds down a button on her screen and a series of quick, succinct bubble-popping sounds indicates that the mortal has just deleted her entire message.
"I want to text November," she sighs, "but not sure how to phrase it. We found a guy on the side of the road, think he's Lost, and he's completely stranded. Can you give him a job?" Her head gives a shake and she lowers her phone, frowning prettily. "It's not exactly the best hype-up."
The door to the bathroom opens, and Casper emerges carrying his satchel by one of the shoulder straps. It is open and his clothing stuffed into it. He eventually makes his way toward the kitchen, wearing the attire Mavis provided for him. His hair is still a bit damp, but is no less thick and red. (New Desc) "hey, do you guys mind if I wash these? I'm a little worried that they also smell." As soon as the smell of soup hits his nostrils he places a hand over his stomach.
"It's not," Amity agrees. "But that's what our community exists for, Mav." She looks as if she might say more, but then Casper emerges into the kitchen and her smile turns to him. "Oh, of course--washing machine is over. Just throw them in there and I'll run it later. Soup will be ready in a bit, but if you want bread and butter or something it's on the table." She indicates with her spoon.
Mavis tilts her head, inclining an ear back towards the entrance to the kitchen where she'd heard the bathroom door open. She smiles faintly then angles her lean a little expectantly for his arrival. The mortal BEAMS at him when he appears from the hallway, eying him down to his (her) striped socks all of the way back up to Casper's wild, damp locks.
"Cute tatts," she comments, smiling dimming down to a mischievous smirk and Mavis pockets her phone then motions for him to follow. "C'mon, I'll show you where the washer and drier are."
Then she pads across the kitchen to pull back a curtain sharing the wall with a door that leads out to the back yard. Crammed into this little nook are a washing machine and drier, some cupboards mounted above them with soap, bleach, drier sheets, and other household cleaning products. She gives him a quick-crash tutorial on how to use the washer (cos they're all the same, but a little different and this one's pretty old) then scoots out of the nook to watch him put his clothes on.
"So, Amity's a really great cook," remarks Mavis, beaming over her shoulder at her girlfriend at the stove then turning her face back to curiously eye him again, particularly wondering what Casper looked like under that Mask.
Casper gives a small nod to Amity when she gestures toward where the washer can be found - then Mavis offers to guid him toward it. He seems oblivious to her beaming, offering a nervous smile back toward her, as he follows behind her to deposit his clothing and get it going through a spin cycle. The pack is deposited beside it. "Yeah? Thanks. At first, it was going to be all traffic signals - then, uh... I watched a friend play a tube game where this little red guy grew or shrank when he touched mushrooms."
His lips twist and he leans in to ask Mavis a quick question while in that washroom section. His cheeks redden when he finishes, and he turns and returns to the kitchen.
"I'm... pretty jazzed about it. I've never had pretty girls cook for me." He beams and then looks around the room, "is there a place to sit and chill? It's nice to have my... Oh!" He quickly hurries back to the bathroom, opens the door, hurries in, hurries out his boots held together in his left hand. He quickly marches them to next to the door leading to the front yard and then slowly returns. "Sorry. I got so excited about the shower, I didn't think to take off my shoes till I started stripping down."
Amity gives a comforting little dip of her head. She's quietly a little proud that Mavis talks up her cookng. "Well, I like to cook so... you'll have to get used to it if you come over here." She shrugs, looks back to the quietly bubbling soup. Needs a little while longer, she thinks, so she lets it be. Time to simmer! "You can sit at the table--or the living room has a couch and whatnot," she offers in reply.
"You mean Mario?" supplies Mavis, eyebrows raising in appraisal. "Not bad." Then she furrows her brows and leans forward, tilting her head to catch that hurried whisper. She looks back at him in amusement then nods with a coiled grin on her lips and a shrugging of her shoulders, but she follows him with that same amused smile as he pads back off into the kitchen then hastily scuttles off, having remembered something he'd forgotten.
"He's kind of adorable," notes Mavis to Amity while he's gone. "And seems pretty harmless. He asked me if those were girl's underwear," she tells the blonde, cracking up quietly and sobering when Casper returns.
"It's okay, Cas. For future reference, we usually shuck off our shoes in the mudroom on the way in. Where are all the coats are put up." She jerks her chin back through the entrance to the kitchen. "I'm about to go put a fire on in the living room. Ya still cold?"
Casper returns, cheeks still a teensy bit pink, and gives a small nod. "The... mudroom," he repeats with an expression that says he totally knows what that is. A small slow cycle of breath enters through his nose and then exits between pursed lips and puffed cheeks as he makes his way toward the living room. He hesitates and makes his way toward the kitchen. "Um, hi." He lgances over his shoulder toward Mavis, and then averts his gaze with the world's most fake cough. Then, he glances upward for a moment, taking his sweet time to collect his thoughts. He decides he'll just ask Amity outright!
"So... how long have..." His words are slow and almost deliberate if they were not rife with hesitation, "you been... in... recovery?" Seems easy enough to work with.
Amity looks up from her cooking to stare at Casper, perhaps a little... confused. She furrows her brow for a moment, lips pursing. "I... I don't follow. Recovery?" She's not really sure what he's going for there. Does he mean how long she's been out of Arcadia?
Mavis gives her pale-brown eyes a roll, closing her eyelids a little too late to hide it. When she opens them again, she decidedly informs Casper in a voice that's a touch exasperated, "I'm cool, Cas. I know what Amity is and she told me what you are." Her shoulders give a little shrug and she brightens, less bogged down with THAT out in the open now. "I'm a mortal, I can't see you guys." Which is true to the last letter, but not ALL of the truth. "You can be yourself here."
Casper's brow furrows and his head tilts. He reaches up to rub his right eye, and takes a deep breath as he thinks he will have to come up with a new code. Then, Mavis just blurts it all out. So, he gets to blurt out things as well. He lets out an audible sigh of relief. "Faaaar out. That's a relief..." Whatever tension he had seems to melt, his shoulders roll for a moment and he snaps his left index finger and thumb together. "Oh! I was going to ask if I could grab a slice of bread and butter. I keep smelling the soup and... yeah, haven't eaten in a minute." He smiles, waits, during that time turns to Mavis.
"I mean, I kind of... Was afraid you guys knew and were gonna ambush me for a minute. But then, why go through the trouble of feeding me? So it was just like this down loop in my head." He smiles. "...So, are there... more of, um, us here?"
"Help yourself to the bread and butter on the table. Please." Amity says. She steps away from the stove at last and more fully examines Casper, her hands folded in front of her. She furrows her brow. Seems to think. "There are, yes, but... First why don't you fill me in on your story?" She turns back towards the stove, tastes the soup. "Think this is almost done..."
Mavis tips back her head and laughs. It's a dusky, throaty sound. "Far out, I like that. And, no, I don't think anyone here's going to ambush you. Least of all us two." She points a thumb with a black ring banding it first at Amity then jabs it at herself. "You had me really confused for minute," she tells him, sliding over to the table to pull out a wooden chair at an angle facing them. Mavis sits down, crossing her ankles. "It was kind of a relief to find out you're one of the Lost. Better than wondering if we'd picked up a crazy guy."
Casper immediately makes his way toward the table and hurriedly prepares himself a small snack. He even speaks with his mouthful as he tries to keep pace with the conversaiton - cramming a liberally buttered slice into his mouth. "Mi-mean, teknikly, 'm..." He covers his mouth, swallows, and clears his throat. "I mean... teeeechnically, I have been discharged from a mental institution? But they said it was just drugs and got shut down anyway." He shrugs. "Kinda wish it was," he smiles to the pair. "So uh... What do you wanna know? I got taken, I came back, I haven't been right since?"
"It's good to know, that's all," Amity says as she starts ladling soup into bowls. One gets set down in front of Casper, the other in front of Mavis. She moves back to get a bowl for herself, carrying on the conversation as she moves. "Sorry you ended up in that kind of place. It's... Well, I got lucky."
"Thanks," Mavis murmurs up to Amity, smiling at the bespectacled blonde as she sets the bowl of soup before her. She picks up the spoon, grins over at Casper, and then blows on her spoonful of soup. "And... wow, sorry that happened to you, Casper. Well, we don't think you're mental," she assures him behind her soup spoon the takes a bite to avoid commenting further. A few tastes later and she's praising to Amity, "Dinner's great, Sunbeam," while reaching over to grab herself some of the bread the Lost woman had baked the previous night. Dunking it into her soup, she says to Casper, "You should probably crash on the couch tonight." Mavis glances over at Amity. "Don't you think?"
Casper tilts his head. "I mean... I can talk about what I remember? It's a little bit like a nightmare... Still hurts to think about." He takes a seat at the table and his feet bounce against his toes as stares at the bowl presented before him as if it were a fabulous prize. His eyes are wide but he does not dig in just yet. "...Do you guys say Grace or anything? I didn't want to just... pig out right away." Still, what Amity says pierces that hunger fixation and drudges up curiousity - which he immediately asks about. "...Why lucky?"
Once Mavis starts eating though, he digs in as well - taking note of the steam and blowing the portion his spoon had gathered up. He was pretty eager about this meal - but was not in a hurry to burn himself. A few tastes in, though, Amity scores a compliment from him as well. "...Wow..."
Amity shakes her head. "You don't have to talk about it. I know it's hard. Forget I asked, really." Amity returns to the table and sinks into her seat. Smiles across the table at Casper with her usual tight-lipped expression. "We don't really do grace or whatever." She hasn't been the praying sort since she got back, really.
"Lucky because I didn't get locked up, I guess. I could have been." She takes a piece of bread and dunks it in her soup before she takes a bite. Smiles. "Aw, a 'wow'?"
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