faun

[shesepankh]

Saturday morning sees Bella with her notebooks about magic all in her knapsack, her medallion safety-pinned by its chain to her bra just in case she trips the wrong way, waiting with Charlie for pickup for the Avalon trip.

Comments

[sundayfish]

"Traffic stops, vandalism, shoplifting, domestics, occasional missing person who just went on too much of a hike, that's about it."

[shesepankh]

"And the people who don't know what 911 is for, don't forget those."

[steppingup]

"Heh. 'Tonight, on Bad Cop Show - some neighborhood kids need a stern talking to.'"

[sundayfish]

"I'd watch that one."

[shesepankh]

"Previously on Bad Cop Show: the turn signal neglecter! Shot of dramatic ticket-writing."

[castmyown]

Darren laughs helplessly.

[steppingup]

"At the end of every episode we would go to a diner and get coffee and make jokes about not eating donuts at all and how neighborhood kids never learn."

[shesepankh]

"Pitch it, get it funded, get a pilot shot," giggles Bella. "Anyway, how do we get in?"

[steppingup]

"I'll be a movie star."

[castmyown]

Darren is still laughing helplessly.

[steppingup]

"Entrance is over there," explains Vernon, who points at a little building that looks like the warehouses' central office building. "We walk over, you kids show your medallions and do a demonstration, and then we all walk in."

[shesepankh]

"Showing the medallion itself isn't necessary, right?"

[steppingup]

"No, it's just a way to avoid having to go midform or do what I did and spend an hour explaining everything I knew about 'critters.'"

[shesepankh]

"Right then."

Off they go!

[steppingup]

Off they go! There is a bored looking person sitting in a normal looking office. He looks up at them and says, "Ben's Warehouses, what can I do for you?"

"Oh, hey. You're the same one as last time. Hey. We'd like to be let in," says Vernon. Then he motions to the assorted perytons and sphinx for a volunteer to show that they know what's up.

[shesepankh]

Bella waves a hand. It's a paw after the first wave.

[steppingup]

"Huh. Yeah, go on in," shrugs the person at the door. "Gotta go through the motions of normalcy."

Vernon knows where the door is - it's the one that says 'Authorized Personnel Only.' The doorwatcher gets up, unlocks it, and opens it for them.

It's a perfectly normal looking hallway.

[shesepankh]

Oooh, a normal looking hallway. How exciting.

Bella recovers her opposable thumb but adopts paws, tail, and wings, as previously decided.

[castmyown]

Darren gets the antlers and wings, deciding against the hooves for fear of being mistaken as a satyr.

[morethanimaginary]

Savannah goes full peryton except for bipedal form and opposable thumbs. As promised, she is quite pretty - a dark shimmery black, with little speckly grey-blue spots on her back.

She is quite smug about the whole affair.

[steppingup]

Hallway, hallway, hallway - then, another door. "Ready?" asks Vernon.

[shesepankh]

"As I'll ever be."

[steppingup]

"Alrighty."

The door opens, and - that is not a warehouse interior.

That's definitely a town. The roads aren't built for cars and there's no sign of any, but they're lovely and paved, with cute shops and houses and little flower gardens that decorate the place. There's got to be some kind of magic at play with the ceiling, because it looks like the sky, even though they're inside a set of warehouses. It feels like they're outside, like they're in some kind of strange American town that decided to forgo cars entirely.

And, of course, fill itself with strange creatures. Midform appears to be the common theme. There are few people who look human, but they're rare and far between. Of the critters - they're quite varied in species, and it's possible to pick out entire families based on species. Everyone seems quite accustomed to it, and no one gives Bella or the twins a weird glance. They fit right in, here.

"Welcome to your first Avalon," says Vernon.

[shesepankh]

Bella grins. Her wings flutter a little with excitement.

[castmyown]

Darren's grinning, too. "This is nicer than Detroit's."