Fantasy The Only way is Fae (Closed)

[salty_ moustachio]

Oswald shrugged, thinking it over, hands interlocked as he leaned his elbows on the kitchen counter. "I mean, in all possibility it might be true. And your mother probably wouldn't have lied about what happened, so maybe there was some element of truth to it." But that she was actually part-fairy? Who was to say? It was certainly something different about her, but without being able to trace her ancestry beyond her father being some gorgeous mysterious guy... it was hard to pinpoint where all this was coming from.

"I'm guessing that last night was the first time you'd threatened a date of yours with your 'plant power'?" Os had a bit of a smirk going on. He wasn't mocking her, but everything was so outlandish that he couldn't help but to be a little amused.

"I do believe you, honestly. At least as much as there could be something different about you. And there's somewhere I want to show you, when we get the chance. Somewhere that I came across when I was out in the forest. I figured if all this is true, and there are some special plant powers you have, that place might trigger... something?"

Now she probably thought he was off his tree. "We also need to report your date as missing too, you know." Os added as an afterthought.

 

[Amazonkass]

He was keeping her one her toes, and Audra wasn't sure she liked the feeling. He gave her a bit of a smile, and Audra relaxed a bit. He seemed to believe her, and Audra let out an audible sigh. He spoke about a place he wanted to take her to, and it gave Audra the feeling he might know what he's talking about. Activating her powers, that's what worried her. She could feel the plants around her, she could feel them breathing. She was a bit worried about what would happen if she got into a huge forest.

She didn't think he was off his tree, in fact she was feeling more at ease with him than ever. That was until he mentioned the man from last night. She looked away and took a deep breath. "I don't think anyone is going to miss him. He came straight for me when he got to the party, and I didn't see him talk to anyone." She couldn't shake the feeling that man had come there just for her. "I'm not even sure how I would even report it? I didn't get his name, and what do I tell the police?" she asked him seriously, "He disappeared into the ground after trying to drag me away?"

 

[salty_ moustachio]

Os raised his eyebrows and couldn't help but be skeptical. "You agreed to leave the party with him and you didn't even get his name?" Even though Os happened upon the guy dragging her, there wasn't a scuffle before they'd left the house so he can only assume she went willingly with him... the guy she didn't even know the name of.

He raised his hands in a surrender motion. "Look, okay. I'm not going to judge. You can do what you like. I just think it's weird."

No weirder than having some magical control over plants but still... he guessed after her mothers example of hooking up with random guys that might not even be entirely human... okay... Os wasn't going to go there. It was absolutely none of his business whatsoever what bad examples in her life choices that she was willing to follow. He still didn't know that much about her beyond what she was trusting him with now. He didn't know if she was at parties every weekend or it was a one-off, and still he had no right to know.

It felt more tense to him after saying that. Was she annoyed? "I just feel like we have to mention something. Maybe someone at the party knows who he was?"

 

[Amazonkass]

Though he intended not to judge, Audra felt like he was. She hadn't been talking to the mystery guy for long before he had dragged her outside. She took a moment to not get defensive, and shook her head. "If you must know, he asked me to dance, gave me what I'm sure were spiked drinks, and dragged me outside. I didn't get a formal introduction." She said, coming across more defensively than she meant to.

"Sorry...it's just all so much. We can ask people I knew at the party if they know him. See if anyone's missing him." She stopped for a moment and shook her head, "I'm sorry, this isn't really your problem and I'm going on about 'we' this and that. I can totally understand if you don't want any part of this. I've involved you enough as it is." She was getting nervous now. What had she just done, revealing her past to him and possibly putting him in danger?

"I can take care of this on my own." She said, not quite convinced of it herself. She wasn't sure where to start, but she was guessing going back to what was a gaping hole in the ground would be a good start. "You can go if you want..." She offered looking back at Os, trying to gauge where his mind was.

 

[salty_ moustachio]

Okay, he did make it worse by bringing up some reservations with her not knowing the guys name. Not only was she defending herself, but she was pushing him away and claiming she could do it all herself. And he didn't quite mind at all being referred to as 'we'.

Os just groaned and reached for his cap, plonking it on his head and rubbing his eyes before giving her his attention again from the other side of the kitchen counter. "No getting rid of me that easily." Os informed her. "I'm involved now, I've seen too much." There was a jesting in his tone and a glint in his eye.

"Anyway, can I borrow some toothpaste? I've got to get that coffee taste out of my mouth before we go investigating." Asking random people from the party last night wasn't going to be fun, but it felt somewhat necessary. Surely the guy knew someone and could be tracked down. And even though he was gone now, if he was really trying to kidnap Audra he needed to be reported to the authorities. He was a danger to society.

 

[Amazonkass]

Audra was completely surprised at Os' response to her one woman show of fortitude. When he reached to put his cap on, she was sure he was about to turn around and walk out the door. To her admitted happiness, he didn't. His comment about having seen too much made Audra crack a smile. How had she not spent more time with him before? He'd practically saved her last night, and now here he was, willing to dive off the deep end to help her get answers.

His request for toothpaste brought her out of her thoughts and she nodded, "There should be some in the bathroom, I think I even have an extra toothbrush..." She rounded the counter and brushed gently past him. The bathroom was small and Audra flipped the light on, illuminating yet more plants and a deep blue color scheme. She rummaged around in the cabinet below the sink and emerged with a still packaged toothbrush.

She handed him the pack as she emerged from the bathroom, "Toothpaste is in the medicine cabinet. I'm going to get changed while you do that." She told him before disappearing into her bedroom and closing the door.

 

[salty_ moustachio]

Something rose in his throat as she brushed past him, but he tried altogether to ignore it. This was her place and he was still intruding and he was keeping himself in check. It wasn't his place to feel anything, do anything or think anything that was unseemly for a visitor. Especially in the manner he managed to be there. It was happenstance in the end that drew him to coming across Audra and the guy he should really stop referring to as her 'date'.

"Um." He was a bit dumbfounded as she handed him the spare toothbrush. "Thanks." It was a small gesture from her, but still more than he expected. He went straight to the bathroom (easy to find in her tiny place) and tentatively opened the medicine cabinet. He hardly wanted to snoop, even if she allowed it. But the toothpaste was right there and Os made an effort not to look at anything else.

He couldn't stop the thoughts coming as he brushed. Wondering just where to go to from here. He knew he needed to take her to that place in the forest. But he'd keep feeling guilt if they didn't report something about the guy the sidewalk swallowed up... and then he wished that Audra had gotten a name because it would have made all of this so much easier.

Os spat out in the sink and rinsed his mouth and then splashed some water on his face for good measure. His soulful blue eyes staring back at him in the mirror. When he saw himself he could still hardly believe that he'd worn what he had to the party. Yes, flannel was his go-to but it looked a bit oversized on him now in th mirror and Os rolled up the sleeves now self consciously. His pants were a plain black jeans and sneakers completely scuffed. And Richie was probably too polite last night to say what a vagrant he looked like. No wonder Os was, for the most part, ignored.

He'd never cared much about his appearance before but he started to wonder if that was a good thing, or if living in his own head too much was the reason for the sorry social state he was in.

 

[Amazonkass]

When Os would open Audra's bathroom cabinet, nothing within would look out of place. There were face creams and all sorts of hair products, but nothing that would have made Os bat an eye if he saw them.

Audra dressed simply, changing into faded jeans and a faded band t-shirt. She left her hair down instead of it's usual ponytail or braid. By the time Os would be finished in the bathroom, Audra was sitting on the couch and pulling on her sneakers.

"Minty fresh?" she asked with a smile as she got up and searched the counter for her keys. She knew she should be worried about what their search would turn up, but she had a strange feeling that it would turn up nothing. "I was thinking, before we go and start finding people who were at the party, maybe we should go back to the sidewalk? The hole was pretty big, and I would be super surprised if someone hasn't noticed by now."

Audra could just imagine the scene. A gaping hole in the ground surrounded by orange cones and caution tape. She was sure that's exactly what they would come upon. "I think I'll drive this time..." she gave Os a smirk as she opened her front door and waited for Os to exit. She locked the deadbolt and headed for her car.

 

[salty_ moustachio]

Os left the bathroom, a little surprised she'd dressed so fast. This was more what he was used to. The way she looked in class, minus the hair pulled back. Audra didn't have to dress up the the nines like she did last night (and who was she intending to impress anyway?) , she was fine the way she was.

At Audra's first question he shot back a quick: "Want to check?"
Os surprised himself with his boldness, and then cleared his throat and wished his cap could swallow him up. Os hadn't even meant in necessarily the way it sounded, it was just... banter? Okay, he really needed his cap to swallow him up now or to be able to just sneak out unseen and hide somewhere.

"That's true but what can they do about it? Dig until they find what was underneath? Maybe your..." Os refrained from calling him a 'date', Audra wouldn't like that. "Acquaintance from last night managed to escape. I mean that would be good." Wouldn't it? He hadn't done crimes worthy of being pulled to the underworld... that they knew of.

Os followed her out, feeling a bit of a bruise in his pride about the driving. "Good call." he told her, wincing a little as he went out to find the car with her. His poor wounded pride took a beating enough lately.

 

[Amazonkass]

Os' quip about his breath had caught Audra off guard. She almost said something, but turned away as she felt her cheeks pink at the thought. She turned away quickly as she shook her head and they headed out. She hadn't meant to wound his pride with telling him she was going to drive, she had smiled when she said it.

His mention of someone digging in the hole to find the guy. Or maybe the guy escaped? Audra felt a lurch in her stomach as he mentioned the man being able to escape. She shrugged and shook her head. She wasn't sure that was possible.

They got into the car and took the short drive to the place the party had happened the night before. As Audra pulled up, she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary about the sidewalk. In fact, it looked like nothing had happened to it last night, least of all a gaping hole opening up in the middle of it.

She slowed as they got closer and parked on the curb close to where the hole should have been. She turned off the ignition and looked at Os in disbelief. "It's gone Os....it's like there wasn't even a hole here..." She was leaning over to get a better look.

Audra got out of the car and stepped onto the sidewalk, as if expecting it to give way at any moment.

 

[salty_ moustachio]

Spoiler: OOC

I can't wait till they do get to the forest to show more of that Tom Bombadil like side to Os. Excited!

Audra did drive better than he did. He had to admit it. And she was better at Biochemistry. But Os was sure he had some skills to compensate... maybe? He'd have to work that out another day.

Oswald rubbed at the back of his head trying to comprehend what was happening. They'd both seen it, that much was sure.

"Well that settles it." Os replied being not entirely serious. "It didn't happen. Now we can go back to life as usual. Studying and all that." And that reminded Os, he did need to text Richie and check what he got up to last night. Though Os wasn't going to exactly tell Richie about all this. The jest was in good nature, but he didn't mean it. He wasn't going to let up helping her yet. He was still tied to this whole 'was she really a fairy?' debacle (as nonsensical as it sounded).

"I guess we go and see if anyone stayed the night and is still around and might have some idea of you know.... him." Though it wasn't very likely. They were probably just going to hit another dead end.

 

[Amazonkass]

Audra could have laughed at Os' response to the hole not being there. Honestly, Audra found she wasn't surprised about the hole. When he suggested they see if anyone crashed at the house party, Audra nodded and got out of the car. She couldn't help herself, she walked over to the once gaping sidewalk. As if she were afraid the concrete would crumble under, she put one sneakered foot on the sidewalk.

Nothing happened. She stepped up on the sidewalk and jumped up and down on it for good measure. Audra was sure she looked like an absolute nut. Only Os would understand why she was doing what she was. She locked eyes with him and shrugged. "Solid as a rock." She joked as she waited for him to join her on the sidewalk.

"Did you know anyone who was at the party? I only had a few girl friends who were going..."

Audra had to kindle a little flame of relief. If the hole was gone, chances were that no one was missing the scary guy from the night before. But this also left her with a question, why had he come for her? If it was her Fae side, why had no one come after her before? None of this made any sense. She couldn't lay this all on Os, at least not yet.

"Ready?" She asked as they approached the front door.

 

[salty_ moustachio]

Os looked on with amusement as she jumped up and down on the pavement. It would look strange if anyone else was around, but this neighborhood wasn't a particularly busy one, just one older guy walking his dog down the other side of the street but he wasn't paying attention to either of them.

"Richie... you don't know him, he's majoring in Engineering. Um, that guy Jacob from our old Biochemistry, he was there." Os tried to think if there was anyone else. "I recognised a couple of other girls who live on campus with me. I mean, not with me obviously. Like me. Different floor though. I think one is Tiffany?" Although he hardly expected Audra to know. Os shrugged. "Being a social butterfly is not really something that I'm known for."

Anyway, he was blathering as he walked and they were already at the door. He knocked, briskly and it was opened rather quickly by some shirtless party-goer... or was he the host? Os wasn't even 100 percent sure whose house this even was.

"Hi." Os greeted the guy semi-awkwardly with a half wave. "Weird question but we were here last night and my friend here was with a guy that we lost track of. Just wanting to see if you know who that was?"

The guy however (who looked like he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed) just stood scratching his head for a moment. "Wait... ughhhh..." The guy finally stopped staring out into space. "Who are you again?"

 

[Amazonkass]

Audra was surprised when Os told her about the few people he'd known at the party. She'd texted a few of her girlfriends about the party, but she couldn't remember if she had seen any of them before she was dragged out. She didn't know any of the people he mentioned, aside from Jacob, who she vaguely recalled.

Audra had not expected Os to be the one who knocked and spoke. This was her mess after all, but she was glad that he took the initiative to ask the guy who answered a perfectly worded question. Audra had been trying to figure out how she would even ask it . The guy at the front door seemed to be high as a kite. It was obvious he wouldn't be any help.

She shot a look at Os before she pushed past the guy in the doorway.
"Dude!" He groaned but didn't put up a fight as she stepped inside and assumed Os was following her.

There was still trash strewn about from the party, and a few people asleep here and there on random furniture. Audra looked around and sighed. There was no way any of them would be in any shape to be questioned. "Any ideas?" she asked, looking somewhat imploringly at Os.

 

[salty_ moustachio]

"Um, sorry about that." Os said as Audra passed the guy and he patted the guy a couple of times awkwardly on his bare chest. Why did he do that? And then followed Audra in.

"The only thing we can do," Os told her and crouched down to some poor sleepy person on the floor by the couch. "I think they missed their intended sleeping destination." He gave a snort of amusement and looked up at Audra. Maybe the person had been sleeping on the couch at first and then rolled off, or maybe they were just so drunk they thought the floor was good enough.

Oswald shook their shoulder with one hand. "Hey. Hey sleepyhead. We've got a question."

He figured it was a girl? Maybe? Short hair, lots of piercings. "Hey." He said again and the girl opened her eyes. "Com'on man, let me sleep." she groaned and pushed Os away.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I just need you to look up at my friend up there," he indicated to Audra. "And maybe you can tell me if you saw her last night?"

 

[Amazonkass]

Audra wasn't sure what Os was going to do when he woke one of the sleeping party goers from the night before. When the girl finally groaned awake at Os' request, she looked Audra up and down. "I saw ya..uh..in the kitchen getting a drink...why?" the woman groaned as her hand went to her head. It was obvious she had had too much to drink the night before. Audra frowned and knelt down to talk to the girl face to face.

"Did you see me dancing with a guy?" Audra asked and the woman's face scrunched up, as if she was trying to remember.

The woman shook her head, "No, I saw you drinking and then leaving. Can I go back to sleep now?" The woman didn't wait for an answer before she laid back down and promptly fell back asleep.

Audra stood and looked to Os puzzled, "Is there a chance that no one saw him? I mean the hole disappeared?" She wondered out loud . Was it possible they had imagined it? Audra was beginning to question her sanity.

 

[salty_ moustachio]

Back to square one, Os supposed. Or worse. They weren't going to get any real answers here anyway. Nobody else was paying attention to Audra last night, except him and that guy who got swallowed up by the sidewalk. Os stood up, back near Audra and immediately felt bad for her. All of this was probably more difficult for her than it was for him.

"I don't know." He drew his mouth into a thin line, not sure how to respond. "What about talking with your mom? I mean, if you're really you know, then she would surely know somehow that we can..." he trailed off. He actually didn't even know what he was suggesting. Would her mother even know how to reach her father? Doubtful. Would it solve anything?

But this was a dead end and they didn't have much else to go on and then pretending that it hadn't happened was not an option. "Let's get out of here. I'll call Richie, you'll call your friends. We'll get breakfast and we'll figure this out." He gave her shoulder a light squeeze with his hand. "There will be an answer somewhere."

 

[Amazonkass]

Os' reassuring hand on Audra's shoulder made a world of difference to the thoughts swirling in her mind. His suggestion of asking her mother, got a shake from Audra. She wouldn't tell him the whole story now, but her mother hadn't seen hide nor hair of her father since she became pregnant. That was a whole can of worms that she could tell him at another time.

His mention of reaching out to his friends and her reaching out to hers over breakfast, garnered a nod from Audra. She could feel her stomach alternating between rumbling from hunger, and roiling with the remnants of the last night's libations.

They headed back out of the house and made their way back to the car. "Any recommendations on food? I know there's a little cafe not far from campus that has pretty good food." She offered as she opened her door and got in, waiting for Os to join her.

 

[salty_ moustachio]

They left the house. There wasn't much more to do, and besides, they had their own friends they could ask.

"Oh yeah. I know that cafe." Os said in recognition. There was only one she could be talking about and it was reasonably popular. He got in the car after her and went along with her to the cafe. It was regretful that they weren't getting answers but if at least he could provide some peace of mind it would be something.

"Can I take a picture of you, just to send to my friend Richie to see if he'd seen you last night? I mean, I can understand if you don't want me to but I think we need to just ask the people that we know first to rule out..." he trailed off. To rule out what? Any sort of natural explanations? "Rule out nothing being suspicious about the guy. I mean they might be able to at least help with that."

And Os would try not to take advantage of having a picture of her on his phone. Honest.

 

[Amazonkass]

When they arrived at the cafe, Os asked to take a picture of her to check with his friend. She nodded in agreement, dismissing his words about the suspicious man. She understood the need for her picture and waited patiently for Os to snap a quick pic. She didn't smile in the picture, but she liked to think she at least looked approachable in it. Once that was done, she got out of the car and waited for Os to follow. She chose a table for them on the patio, and got situated with a menu.

Her mind was still racing even though she looked so calm on the outside. She looked over the plastic covered menu and saw none of the words on it. How had all this happened? Did she have to worry about getting too upset at something? What if those vines showed up in the middle of a lecture or in the library?

She kept her menu up so Os couldn't see the concern on her face. "Know what you wanna get?" She asked, still not lowering it.

 

[salty_ moustachio]

Os snapped his picture and it was nice, a pleasant picture of Audra looking natural. Though since she didn't look as stunning as the night before, he was unsure if Richie would even recognise her. He sent the picture nonetheless.

'Did you see her last night? She was with a guy and something happened to him.'
That's all he texted to Richie. Hopefully he did see her.

That would be a little more helpful. He put his phone back away and looked at the menu. "Yeah, I'll just get one of the breakfast meals. A bagel sounds good. How about you? I can go and order if you know what you want."

 

[Amazonkass]

Audra nodded as she slowly lowered her menu. "That sounds good, hmmm, everything bagel and a bottle of water, please?" She said to Os who would now be able to see her perturbed face. She was going over and over the night before in her mind. She was trying to wrack her brain for any little detail that she might have forgotten in the haze of last night.

Once Os would get up from the table to order, Audra pulled out her phone and sent off a quick text to her friends who had been at the party. She asked them if they remembered the hot guy she had been dancing with. She made it sound like she wanted to find him again, and waited for her friends to respond.

With her phone back on the table, she sat back and closed her eyes. She was replaying the night before, the man had had dark hair and pretty pale skin. He'd been dressed in a black button up shirt, and dark jeans. Her face scrunched up as she realized he had been wearing some sort of necklace with a symbol on it. It was gold and she couldn't believe she hadn't remembered it before. The symbol had been a knot of tree roots in black that hung within a gold ring.

When Os came back, she would open her eyes and look at him. "I remembered something...he was wearing a necklace, I think I could draw the symbol if I had to...if our friends don't turn up any leads, maybe we can look into that?" She offered, sounding a little more like herself.

 

[salty_ moustachio]

While Os was in line to order he got a text message.
'yeah I saw her. pretty. dont remember a guy tho. friend of urs?'
Friend of his? Oswald stared at the reply. Not exactly and he didn't know what was compelling him to go on the hunt for this guy besides doing the right thing. He had studies to get to, but surely he could spend the time helping out someone in need and truth be told if she really did have those powers, it would be a game changer.

He ordered for both of them, and paid and went back to the table. He didn't have to pay either but he supposed it was a token of friendship, if that's what was going on.

A necklace? As a lead? Os shrugged. "I mean, if you think it will help?" And really wanted to go to any lengths besides talking to her mother. "Richie didn't remember the guy you were with by the way, so we're zero for two."

 

[Amazonkass]

Audra opened her phone when Os mentioned his friend's reply to her picture. Only two of her three friends had gotten back to her, and like Richie, they didn't remember the guy. All of their stories involved getting wasted on hard seltzer and leaving with some frat boy. She shook her head as she put her phone down. "Two of the three girls who I know went to the party, say they didn't even see me, let alone mystery man."

Audra chewed her bottom lip. It was a bad habit she had had since she was a child. "I feel like we're on a wild goose chase Os...I know you mentioned my mother, but she wouldn't have any info about my father. It's a bit of a sore subject...they'd had an affair and he left when she told him she was pregnant. He didn't want any part in my life, and my mother hasn't seen him since. I...kind of pestered her when I was younger for anything about my father...but she always told me the same story." She shrugged.

"I'm sorry that seems like another dead end. If you want, after breakfast, I can head to the library, to look into the symbol. I'm sure you've got other things to do..." She said, just as their waiter brought over their meals. Audra thanked him before beginning to dig in. "Thanks for breakfast, by the way."

 

[salty_ moustachio]

How her friends couldn't have even seen her was a mystery to him. Audra stood out wherever she went, and they were supposed to be her friends (of all things). And then he just looked at her rather sadly about the story with her father (and tried to avoid how mesmerising it was when she chewed on her bottom lip). Dead ends everywhere. Sympathy in his eyes but he didn't know how to really comfort her about it. It must have sucked to grow up without a father. Though Os' mother was more absent than his father was, so he supposed it was the norm for at least one parent to be absent while growing up.

"I mean, I need to go to the library anyway." said Os slowly, picking up his bagel delicately. He didn't really. He could study fine from home. "Besides, I'm happy to help. I always find just having a sounding board helps for the most part." So now he was offering to be her... sounding board? He could only imagine what Richie would say. Probably slap him upside the head or something, knowing him.

Os bit into the bagel, trying to keep all the filling in tact but it was difficult to do so. For now, he'd just concentrate on eating and enjoying the company, it was always good to make new friends. He would have to remind Richie of that fact if Richie said anything... disapproving.