Return of the Fountain Fellowship

The day dawned crisp and clear. The birds were already up and singing with all of their might. Most people weren't up quite yet, still tucked deep in their beds, or whatever sleeping device the strange creatures of Ditto Town slept in.

Kay was the exception. The Cup & Platter had to be open long before work time, so that the workers could catch some food before they were due at their jobs. To be frank, she was very excited about opening up the Pub. Being given the job of opening up shop indicated that she was trusted, and that made her glad. The girl inserted her key into the lock and opened up the door. Then she stepped inside and locked it behind her so that she could make the Pub ready undisturbed.

The sunshine that streamed inside as she opened up the drapes seemed to be an indication of her happiness, and it wasn't really unlikely that it was so. She was Kay Leeland, and everything seemed to be happy around Kay when she was happy. The leftover flowers in a rootbeer bottle up on a shelf seemed to brighten as she drew near, busying herself with opening up.

Hamelin

Grateful for something to do, Olivia spent a little more time than perhaps was necessary gathering firewood.

Her mind flew to her sister and brothers, somewhere with the Piper in these very woods. How long would it take them to catch up? Would the Piper accept the money?

It was impossible for Olivia to think like that for long. As she worked on starting the fire, she asked Annika in a low voice, "Are you doing all right?"

Return of the Fountain Fellowship
Cale walked out of his room and down the stairs of the apartment to the little breakfast nook the land lord put out for the occupants. He grabbed a bagel, buttered it then downed a glass of orange juice and took off for work.

A few minutes later he arrived at the Cup and Platter and knocked on the door, as he waited for Kay to open he chewed on his bagel trying his hardest not to get impatient, something he was prone to doing.
---
Shrims jumped out of bed with a yawn, his mouth growing extremely large in the process, this seemed to be a trait of his kind. When he saw the time he collapsed back in bed with a sigh.

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

Kay had just finished setting the last caf pot to brew when she saw Cale's familiar shadow at the door.

"Perfect!" She sang as she danced over to the door. "Wonderful, marvelous day!" Kay opened the door and one of the sets of window shades in two fluid motions. "'Morning, Cale!" She greeted as she opened the other shades.

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

"Hello Kay" Cale said as she opened the door "I don't think I need to ask you if your having a good day" he said with a grin before stepping inside, going to register he slipped a few coins in the machine. Then he went over to the coffee pot and pored himself a cup.

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

"Isn't it gorgeous out? Did you see the sunrise?" Kay let out a low whistle, just remembering.

The shades were up. It was time to start getting some food cooked to anticipate the morning rush. She guessed that they had ten minutes or so until opening time. Dancing back into the kitchen, Kay pulled out some pans to make meat dishes in and began pulling ingredients out of the fridge. "How are you today?" She called out to where Cale was drinking his coffee.

The Return of the Fountain Fellowship

"I'm fine" Cale said with a smile as he leaned against the counter. He picked up a newspaper and began reading it "The senate upset that the MESS soldiers let another insurgent get away... Mysterious figure fights back" he grinned then set the paper down.

"Well here they come" he said as a customer headed towards the door.

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

In the kitchen, Kay made a face. "Bah. It's a beautiful morning; let's not ruin it by talking politics..." She supposed that Cale wouldn't respond because they had customers.

Miraculously, Kay already had the preliminary food sizzling and almost ready. If she kept this up, and if the rush wasn't too bad, she and Cale should be alright. The other cook that usually helped her out was sick with a fever, so the two of them were going to be essentially on their own. Them and Hugh, of course.

She whirled and twirled, keeping busy and knowing that Cale was likely doing the same. Soon the orders would start coming in!

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

Raven Is'ha-Arel walked down the street of her new hometown. It was early morning, and so it looked pretty quiet; at least to her.

She saw a sign for a place called the 'Cup and Platter'. Sounds like a good place to go for breakfast, she thought. Making sure her sword was securely hidden underneath her cloak - strange as it seemed, it occurred to her that other people might not be used to armed people walking down streets in broad daylight - she went inside.

"Morning," she said to the few people already in there. It couldn't hurt to be friendly, could it?

Restart

Ty sighed. "Is that what you were doing at the newspaper office? Dotty, I said you should have come to me with this. Let me take care of it. I would have, you know."

Turning away her face, Dotty's eyes slowly closed as she released his hand, practically pushing away his consoling as she pulled her arms up to cross over her chest. The unison of preforming both actions held an air of resignation, and also resistance. "Now see, that's where you don't understand," she said in a quiet, firm voice.

"I-I . . ." She took a deep breath, grounded her teeth together, and batted a hand at her wet eyes. She had to remember he was asking for this. "I was trying to protect you. "

~~~~~~

"Nope!" Chase said with a grin. "I'm as snug as a bug in a rug. Though we could watch a movie before dinner, if you want. Our DVDs are down there." He pointed to a cabinet underneath the TV.

"Are you sure you're up to that?" Mary Jane asked without thinking how that sounded. She glanced at the TV, thinking they didn't have any movies that weren't heart-thumbing action movies. From her experience with John Luke getting headaches from watching those kinds of movies, she feared it might not be a good idea to start watching a movie that could bring on another one of Chase's attacks.

~~~~~~

Layla sighed and shook her head, deciding to stop questioning Shane and just go along with whatever he was planning.

"Apparently I have no imagination," she told John Luke. "What do you think of that?"

Although Layla's tone seemed to be in jest, John Luke frowned disapprovingly, an unusual thing for him to do, at the remark. "Not stupid," he told her in an authoritative tone, as if to correct and reprimand her for saying a naughty word. He held the deep frown for a moment, his forehead beginning to crease in concentration of his objection, but then out of the blue, a grin and giggle dissolved his uncharacteristic censure.

"Layla pret-tee."

"Uh-oh, watch it, nanny," Shane warned as he left them and went to his room. "Johnny Lu is getting a crush!" He laughed at the notion and the laughter carried its way to the living room even as he closed his door and started to change.

Restart

Ty sat in stunned silence for a long moment. Frowning, he ran a hand through his hair twice, which felt strange since he wasn't wearing it gelled up for the first time in as long as he could remember. A fringe in the front flopped down over his forehead, and he brushed it aside impatiently.

"Dotty . . ." he started, then trailed off. He swallowed hard and then frowned again, leaning forward and touching the edge of her hospital gown sleeve lightly. "What did you think I needed protection from?"

----

Chase blinked blankly. "It's not like the DVDs are going to jump out and attack me. Trust me, I take good care of them. They're my friends. So, you know, just open the cabinet doors slowly and speak gently, and I'm sure they won't get aggressive." He smirked faintly.

----

Layla smiled weakly. "Thank you, John Luke," she said as sincerely as she could. Shane's laughter grated her nerves and she wondered how much longer she could endure his strange company before she finally lost it. Seeing as she had grown up with Chase, she knew she had a high tolerance for stupidity and insane boy behavior, but everyone had a limit.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Restart

If it weren't for the fact that she already knew that he could be really dense a lot of times, Dotty would have sighed exasperatedly. Instead she whipped her face around and narrowed her eyes critically at him. "Do I need to spell it out for you?" she asked, and then proceeded to do so as if she was spelling out a four-letter word in front of a two-year-old.

"B. R. A. D. L. E. Y." Her left brow bent under the pressure of glaring at him. "And if you can't figure out what that means, you're more dense than I thought."

~~~~~~

At first Mary Jane stared at Chase without a hint of understanding that he was joking, but at his last remark, which stuck out in an odd way as if it did not belong with anything else he had just said, she got the punchline. She laughed weakly, too drained from trying to understand what he meant to give a proper laugh, at his joke.

"I'll be careful," she reassured unconvincingly as she knelt down and opened the cabinet doors. Sighing as she surveyed the DVDs, she suddenly came to the conclusion that she should not try out for the school play.

~~~~~~

A few moments later, Shane returned in his trunks and with a beachtowel around his neck. "You still not ready?" he observed in mild surprised as he walked by and then into the kitchen. He knew women could be slow, but since it was only John Luke that needed to change he thought she would have had him ready by now. He gave her ample time, he thought.

John Luke craned to see what his brother was up to in the kitchen when he heard the sound of ice crashing into a cooler. He looked back at Layla quizzically to ask, "Where go?"

And although he was dying to ask if he was coming too, he didn't dare.

Restart

Ty frowned. "What does Bradley have to do with the newspaper and protecting me? Sorry if you think I'm dense, Dotty, but you're not just being subtle. You're being down right encrypted. Stop beating around the bush and just tell me plain and simple what exactly is going on."

----

Chase's smirk faded as he watched MJ. He felt as though a small tear had entered the corner of his heart, but he wasn't entirely sure why. He picked up an abandoned nerf football and threw it gently so it hit her leg lightly.

"Hey," he said, suddenly serious. "Did my brain attack scare you that much?"

----

"Not sure, John Luke," Layla said. "But apparently it involves water. Come on, let's get your trunks on."

She led him into the bathroom where she quickly got him changed into his swimming trucks. She grabbed a couple more towels along with about five bottles of sunscreen, just in case. Piling all this stuff into a beach bag, she took John Luke's hand and led him to the kitchen where she stood in the doorway, watching Shane. After a minute she cleared her throat.

"Ready," she said.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Restart

Dotty continued to glare at Tyler, not blinking, with continuous intensity, as if willing the forces of nature to break down the barrier between their minds so he could simply read her mind. It would be so much easier that way. There wouldn't be any pain if he found out that way.

"He has everything to do with it," she spat vehemently, the very taste foul in her mouth. "Everything. He holds my life in his filthy hands."

Feeling a slight throb at the side of her head from staring so intently so long, she shut her eyes, sighed as she felt relief instantly, and cupped her face in her hands. She pinched the bridge of her nose as she sorted through her feelings and tried to "decode" what she was trying to say in simple English.

"I haven't been dodging the hospital," she murmured into her hands, "because I didn't want to get treated. That's not the real reason. The truth is. . ." She suddenly rubbed her face vigorously and counted to five. One. Two. Three--"Because they won't let me," she blurted out, throwing out her hands and shaking her fists at the air. "The Withers. They won't let me get treated because then they wouldn't have their precious money the government is sending to pay for my treatment. They would lose it! I'm the one paying for the house, the electricity, the beer, all of it!"

Dotty hung her head, resting it in her hand, as she consoled her headache with her fingertips. "And the worse of it all is that I let them. Because at the time I didn't want to get treated—I didn't have anything to live for then. I didn't want to live with them. It would have been quicker if I had died from not getting treated.

"But then you came along!" she announced with a laugh, waving her hand at him in a ta-da show. Her laugh was empty of humor. "And wrecked everything. Bradley was suspicious of you the moment he saw you. Thought that you would find out with your constant visits. I can't believe you haven't connected the dots after he clobbered you practically every time you came over." She paused to look to see if it was dawning on Tyler then before she continued. "And he knew about our 'buddy buddy' hang outs," she made a face as she quoted their relationship in a mock up way of copying Bradley's voice, "and you pretty much confirmed his suspicions when he saw our picture in the paper. I had to do something then. If I didn't I would have never seen you again or—"

Dotty shook her head, refusing to entertain what could have happened. Looking down at her crippled-self, she already knew what would have happened. And Bradley went easy on her.

~~~~~~

Mary Jane didn't even flinch when the nerf ball hit her. She was used to odd objects hitting her from behind (a four year old can set your wits for life), but she hung her head when Chase spoke. Turning to face him, she sat on top of her legs and held her hands together on her lap.

"I'm used to John Luke having attacks," she admitted in a soft voice. "He's allergic to the world and has had every kind of sickness you can think of. But. . ." She pushed her hair back behind her ear, diverting her gaze. "But his body isn't kil--hurting him. He just wasn't made for this world."

She realized that what she said about John Luke's illness was put in such a delicate way compared to what she almost said about Chase. Her cheeks flamed and she shook her head quickly. "I'm sorry," she apologized quickly, feeling like she had done more harm than good by visiting, and glancing at the door, she started to stand. "You shouldn't have to deal with this."

On her feet, Mary Jane quickly made for the door.

~~~~~~

At the announcement of water and putting his swimming trunks on, John Luke became very excited. More excited than he probably has ever been in his life. As Layla tried to change him, he was bouncing all over the bathroom in giddiness. The water! And not water as in the tub either. Water as in outside water. That was forbidden waters for him, but he was too excited to care or remind Layla that he wasn't allow to go outside or swim.

Once dressed he skipped with Layla to the kitchen, the happiest boy alive.

With the cooler not nearly enough filled with ice but had all the grape juice and beer a person could want, Shane had his head stuck in the freezer getting more ice when Layla announced that they were ready. He was careful of hitting his head this time and pulled himself out with a please smirk.

"'Bout time," he declared as he tossed the last handful of ice in the cooler. He was suddenly glad he bought a larger cooler the last time he went out. Snapping the lid shut, he hefted the heavy container up, shooed Layla and John Luke out of his way, and grabbed his surfboard.

"Alright then, Adventure Nanny, off we go!" There was something demented about the way he laughed and grinned.

"Yippee!" John Luke squeed, and without waiting for Layla, he released himself from her grasp and opened the door himself. He was halfway down the hall and towards the elevator before Shane could get his board out the door.

Restart

Ty stared at Dotty as her words washed over him. His expression went from puzzlement, to shock, to then horror. Standing quickly, he clenched his fists, feeling his blood rushing in his ears. Some part of him celebrated the fact that Dotty actually didn't hate him, that she actually did care about him, but it was overwhelmed by the rage building up from deep within.

"Bradley did this to you?" he asked in a low voice, almost a whisper. His throat felt tight and the muscles in his hands twitched. He wanted to storm out of there and pound that creep. And in his anger in that moment, he felt he could even kill the guy.

But the priest's words reached him from back in his memory, and he refrained from doing anything, though the strain of staying put almost made him pass out right then and there.

----

Chase practically fell of the couch in his haste to follow MJ. He hissed in pain as the movement jostled his bad shoulder and his injured ribs. But he simply slung his good arm protectively over his stomach and hurried to block MJ's exit.

"You're not bothering me," he said earnestly, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead as he fought the pain and dizziness. "I want you here, MJ. I-I need you . . . here." He bit his lip as he watched her expression. "Yeah, I'm dying. So what? Everyone dies. I just want to be normal. And normal people have their friends over for dinner." He tilted his head and looked at her pleadingly.

"And you did promise."

----

Layla shut the door behind them and pocketed the keys. She glanced sidelong at Shane as they walked down the hall to the elevators. "I hope you know what you're doing," she muttered, more to herself than to him. She motioned for John Luke to hit the button that would call the elevator, and then crossed her arms tightly over her chest, trying not to let Shane's presence intimidate her.

P.S."Brooklyn!"