[ Action, Video, and Voice! ] Good Golly, Miss Molly .001

[talentsgirl]

[Molly woke up on her side, in pain, and cold.

That's strange. I wasn't asleep a moment ago. Was I?

Also, her brain felt fuzzy. That wouldn't do. Deep breaths, Molly, and she remained still and safe for a moment - movement was a tell, and until she had her focus back she wasn't going to do anything until she was sure she could hide. Then slowly, Molly sat up.]

Woah.

[She was on top of a tree house. In what looked like a tree village, no less. And where the heck were her clothes?]

Let me guess. I'm not in Kansas anymore.

[Molly twisted around to try to see the source of pain on her back, only for bright pink to meet her eye - a single pink wing! With a blue one to match. Oh. Hahahahahaha, this must be a dream. She gave a light tug on one of her wings and the dull pain turned into a shooting one which made her grit her teeth against the sudden flare behind her eyes. OK, girl. The wings stay on. And if this was an illusion, it was a hell of one to sustain that much pain. She glanced around, found, and opened the journal.

Huh.]

...a magic book with my name on it. That's not at all suspicious. Well, I guess I'm already through the looking glass...

Hello, in the book! I'm looking for a white rabbit, he was supposed to give me the time. Or maybe the place? Either way, I'm late for an important date.

[No time to say hello, goodbye... either way, she couldn't sit around waiting for the magic book to talk back. Magic didn't work that way. And it was still here, she could feel it humming but... faint. And very much like it was through a looking glass. Strange.

Either way, she wasn't one to just sit around in a tower - or a treehouse - and wait to be rescued. She held the book carefully opened by inserting one finger in it and closing the book around it in case of a response, not knowing that flashes of video could escape through it as well, and began to make her way down as best as she could in a dress entirely too short for her long legs and thin enough to hint at just how low the thorn tattoo starting high at her neckline curved down. Time to wander the forest in hope of... something. Some kind of clue or direction.]

[Part the Second: Or if you'd rather not rescue/inform a New Feather]

[Clothed in jeans a light jacket, and boots, one tall young lady is poking about all the shops in the square. Maybe you'll run into her there?]

Comments

[greenjacketed]

"That? That I don't know."

He felt bad, now. Dumping information on her when he'd only been here hardly a day. What truth could he offer?

[Action] MAGNIFICENT DERPAGE

[quicktoanger]

"Yep. He told me Obi-Wan was here, too, but it was the one from the new movies."

I might have sounded a touch disappointed about that.

"Ah, here we are."

I gestured at some of the outlying buildings, now visible up ahead. Thank god, too. The sooner we got the kid some shoes, the sooner I could have mine back.

"Home sweet home."

[talentsgirl]

You could offer more truth than she knew, at least. "Okay. I guess there's time to find out."

A quick, fluttering smile, as she tried to dismiss her concern, or at least put it on the back burner. "So what have the people here been like?"

In a more flirtatious mood, she'd ask if they were all as helpful as he was, but she couldn't quite drum it up right now.

[greenjacketed]

"Some are very kind indeed. Some -- some might as well be riddles. Some are French. Some others? American."

He had met an American at the bar last night. He and Harry had enjoyed a few drinks; it hadn't gone badly. The bloke was alright.

"They seem willing enough to lend a hand."

[talentsgirl]

This was so much to take in. Molly had nearly reached her threshold of things that she needed to process, and don't doubt it, she was processing quite a bit. She'd been torn from her home, right before an important battle where Harry needed her, where a little girl needed her, she'd just worked, at his own request, some fairly questionable magic on the man she trusted more than anything, and signed his death warrant by doing it, and now she was in a strange place, with wings, where magic felt - fuzzy - clothed in some stranger's great coat with bandages on her feet and walking towards a village where people were being kept, where children were being kept... she really needed to sit down and study this guide.

And also procure shoes. And her own clothes.

God help me.

"Do you think they'd be willing to lend a cup of coffee? I've been trying to give up caffeine, but I think today calls for it."

Flippancy was occasionally her friend.

[greenjacketed]

"Aye. Or tea, lass."

What? He might be rough, but he was still British. "There are places for that sort of thing."

[arturius]

"Well, I have always liked strawberries." Seeing the jar labeled as such, he did the honors of retrieving that one himself. "This one, is it?"

[talentsgirl]

"Tea. Tea might be good." More calming, as it is. And she needed to remain calm. Zen.

You can't think if you're clouded by emotions, Molly.

[Action] no worries!

[talentsgirl]

[Molly glanced around the village square curiously.]

Okay, it's very... village-y. Which way to the clothes?

[greenjacketed]

"Right. I'll deliver you straight to the shop filled with clothing -- don't know why they still call it a shop. None shop there. And then make certain you get some tea into you."

A mission. Fantastic.

[talentsgirl]

"A classic choice," she said. "Let's go find someplace we can set up."

[arturius]

"Where I'm staying isn't far. The kitchen is large, too." Also shared, but that wasn't all that different from the castle's kitchen. Only he'd never had to try and make food in that one.

[Action]

[quicktoanger]

"Villages tend to have that quality."

I chuckled.

"Clothing is in that one there," I began, pointing out the shop in question, "And our other stuff will be down that way." I pointed back in the direction we came.

"Go ahead and grab whatever. If something's not there at first, wait a bit, like I said. And don't worry. Apparently they don't do money here. I'm gonna be next door if you need me."

[talentsgirl]

Molly couldn't help but laugh a little at that - all very proper and official. "Thank you, Richard. I think I'd appreciate the company."

[greenjacketed]

And he would absolutely appreciate being that company. Yes. So much so that he now smiled rather fully.

"You would?" A shock of disbelief. "Aye. You're quite welcome." A beat. "Molly."

[Action]

[talentsgirl]

[Clothes, and everything that came with them, first. Molly lifted up one foot to remove first one of Harry's shoes, and then the other. Storefront and pavement she could handle a lot better than forest floor.]

Thanks for the loan. [Somewhat sheepishly.]

1/3

[talentsgirl]

Okay, wow, what flipped that switch? She flicked a glance up at him, an astonished and appreciative smile on her face. "Of course I would."

You're the only person I know here, after all.

She tilted her head a little inquiringly, but she's not quite sure what she's asking--

[talentsgirl]

...which really goes to show that she should have been watching where she was going, as she just stepped on something small and pointy. Molly winced and sucked air abruptly through her teeth.

[talentsgirl]

"Okay, hang on one sec--" she stopped walking and lifted up her foot, craning her head to see what had happened to it.

[Action]

[rutagraveolens]

"Everyone seems really friendly and helpful, and there's all sorts of shops where everything is free, and no one goes hungry or anything. It's really nice." Rue's words are honesty and filled with child-like sincerity. It does nothing to explain why she's living out in a set of treehouses, but to each their own.

Re: [Action]

[quicktoanger]

"Ah, it's no big. Would hate to injure those delicate little lady-feet of yours. Forests require macho feet."

I laughed and pulled the shoes back on. Quickly, because apparently something- wait, no, apparently multiple somethings- back in the forest had drawn blood, and I did not want Molly to see that. Then I ruffled her hair- with the other hand, so as not to offend any delicate sensibilities regarding feet- and went toward the weapon shop.

[greenjacketed]

And just about the time she winced and stopped progressing, he reached one arm out to steady her. A light but steady hand on her shoulder. Barely felt, perhaps, through the greatcoat.

"Molly...?" Her warmth and his concern now made titles and superfluous words meaningless. It didn't take much for Sharpe to care.

[talentsgirl]

"I'm fine," it was automatic, but sincere. She neither shrunk away from his hand or leaned into it, simply accepting its presence as she plucked out - Hells bells, that was going to bleed.

"I just stepped on something a little sharp."

Fortunately, she'd kept a scrap of her dress for just such an occasion wrapped around her wrist, so she immediately takes it off to secure it around the wound. This was a bit awkward to do while standing on one foot, and embarrassing, but Molly just focused on the task at hand.

[greenjacketed]

"Here." He nudged her towards an old stump. "Sit down, lass. Let me. You'll topple yourself onto another thorny stick, wobbling there like that."

[Action]

[talentsgirl]

[Harry Dresden, you're just lucky that she doesn't know there's a clinic yet. Infection! There would be so much witch hazel poured on your feet, you don't even know.

Fortunately for you, Molly didn't see that, and she disappears relatively happily into the clothing shop for some time. When she emerges, she's happily wearing all the proper undergarments, jeans, boots, a sturdy jacket, and had somehow managed to find a T-shirt sporting a graphic with a pirate.

She pops her head into the Smithy.]

Hello? Harry?