fandomtownies | The Playground In The Park, Monday Late Afternoon

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The Playground In The Park, Monday Late Afternoon

Evan... didn't want to go back.

He'd kind of forgotten just how easily this place could become home, and he'd known but he'd never fully realized just how much people hated... not just him, but everyone like him, back in his own world. He hadn't lasted long there before, when he'd been sent here to give him a chance to sort of breathe, and then he'd been called back, and...

He reached for a stick and threw it, and a dog and a small dinosaur both went racing off after it.

It wasn't just that he was hated, though. He was lonely. He missed his friends. He missed... he missed a lot of people.

Maybe if he just played here a little longer, and pretended as though everything was going to stay just like this forever, and ignored it, it would go away on its own.

"It's not, is it? Going to just fix itself?"

That was meant to be kind of rhetorical.

[OOC: Open! There are swings! Yay swings!]

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"Oh far out Man." Leo said happily. He looked around at the playground, smiling vaguely. "It's still here." He did a bit of a double take at the kid, as if he'd momentarily thought Evan was someone else.

Evan blinked back at the man, tilting his head as the dinosaur trotted back, stick in her mouth, with the dog... hanging by the teeth from one end of it.

Life with pets.

"The playground?"

"Yeah Man. I remember ~~not much~~ when they first built it. Unless this is a dfferent playground."

Leo gaped at the Dinosaur. "Woah! They're back! And me without my brownies. They love brownies Man."

"They do?"

Evan glanced at Old Lace.

Old Lace looked between Evan and the old guy, confused.

"I guess I could try giving her some later. I was always kind of worried she might have a bad reaction to them. Like dogs."

Evan might want to get a second opinion about all this.

"Oh man I hope not. Sure seemed to cool down the one that got into my shop a while ago though."

Maaaaybe there had been something extra in those brownies, huh?

"Well... We'll see," Evan decided, giving Old Lace a pat on the snout. "She's always kind of struck me as the kind of dinosaur who prefers rabbit, anyway."

Being a deinonychus and all.

Extra? Wasn't that a standard ingredient?

"Have you known her long Man?" Leo asked. "Was she like, here when you got here?" Maybe some of those dudes never left. He looked around to see if there were any more.

"She was... kind of a gift," Evan said, softly. "From a friend. I don't think she was here all along, though. I think she game to the island with Gert in the first place."

Leo nodded. He'd had to give Hyde his car when he couldn't take care of it anymore.

"I totally get it Man." he said. "Is it hard to take care of a Dinosaur?"

That reminded him, he needed to go check on his dog.

"She mostly takes care of herself," Evan admitted. "She's a very good hunter, though."

Because if he had to find enough meat out there to feed her himself, he'd be looking for dead animals forever. And ever. And ever.

"Oh, so she's more like a cat then." Leo nodded. Just hopefully without the leaving of 'gifts' on the front stoop. Except she'd been carrying a stick. "Or..." Don't hurt yourself Leo.

"Really, she's more like a dinosaur than a cat or a dog. A... really friendly dinosaur, unless she has good reason not to be," Evan clarified, reaching to give Old Lace a scratch behind the jaw. "Right, OL? You're a good girl?"

The way she was closing her eyes and leaning into the scratchings kind of suggested 'cat,' all the same. Or maybe 'very large bird.'

That did sort of look like Leo's hazy memory of a very mellow Dilophosaurus. ~~Fun fact, only Apatosaurus is in livejournal's dictionary~~

"Are they common pets where you're from Man?"

"Not even a little bit," Evan laughed. "She's the only one like her I've ever met. Probably the only one like her there is."

But she still played an excellent game of fetch.

That sounded rather lonely to him. "Glad she's got a friend like you then." Leo nodded. "Being alone's a bummer Man."

"I don't think things ever do," Sholeh said softly, from where she was swinging on the swings. One hand was clutching his, though, even with him being all the way over there. The closer they got to the inevitable leaving, the more Sholeh wanted to cling and hide. Maybe they could go through a different portal instead? Like Yeul's or Ulrik's or anyone else's at all? "But this is Fandom, after all. Anything can happen here."

"Anything can," Evan agreed. "Maybe the wrong portal will open and solve all of our problems."

He chewed the inside of his cheek thoughtfully.

"But I doubt it. We might have to actually... talk... about it."

That part was terrifying.

"Oh," Sholeh said. That option sounded terrible. "We can't just kiss some more instead?"

There had been a lot of ardent kissing and handholding this weekend. Ardent.

And it had been adorable and just the right amount of not too scandalous, honest.

"... We can do that, too," Evan replied. "Maybe... a kiss for every suggestion we come up with?"

Noooo, they weren't ready for scandalous yet! Though there had also been some adorable cuddling and snuggling, too.

"That's probably the best way to do this," Sholeh admitted reluctantly. "So at least we do try to make some suggestions?" Then, hopefully, "Do you get a kiss with coming up with that suggestion, too?"

Evan gave a little laugh, and then stretched over to offer her a kiss, absolutely.

... This kid was so noodly and it was probably a ridiculous sight for anybody but them.

"It was a suggestion that might help, right?"

Whatever. It absolutely delighted Sholeh to be able to say, "Get your face over here" and have Evan do so, while leaving the rest of him wherever he'd been. It made her giggle every time.

"It's the best one we've come up with all weekend." She kissed him soundly, then pushed herself a little, skirts fluttering in the air, the last of the sunlight catching on the copper in her hair.

Reasons to figure this out: noodle-kisses and the sunlight in Sholeh's hair.

"Going through a friend's portal? How about that?" Liara lived in space! Who would judge them in space?

"That... that might actually work," Evan replied, blinking. And then you know... stealing a kiss. Because Sholeh had come up with an idea. And because she was absolutely adorable there on the swing with the light in her hair. And any other time. "Do we know anybody who lives somewhere that we'd fit in, though?"

Was space friendly toward dinosaurs?

Who knew, but picture this: Old Lace in a spacesuit, complete with bubble helmet.

See? Worth it.

"Well, Yeul and Liara live in space, somewhere," Sholeh said dubiously. "Well, I mean, on a planet usually, but that planet is in space."

As were all planets.

"And Ulrik is a prince who lives near a town of time-traveled Americans. So maybe we wouldn't be the weirdest people there?"

Because: Americans.

"I'm American," Evan laughed. "I mean... sort of. Maybe by a technicality. But I'm close enough, I think. Space sounds pretty okay, I mean, if... space... is okay...? You know?"

Yes, Evan. Liara had a monopoly on all of space, and you weren't allowed.

"So you have first-hand experience with how weird they are!" Sholeh said with a laugh. "But yeah...if, maybe, we can do that, we could do that? I mean, I'm not sure what we could do out in space, but I'm sure we could do...something? We're smart. And we'd be together."

Evan pondered that for a moment.

"If... if we didn't leave through the same portal we came in," he settled on, "and we went to Portalocity, and we asked for a ticket to... to somewhere like that, where we could all live in peace... If your sisters are okay with it..."

It sounded like it was asking a lot, honestly. But Evan had nothing to lose, so this one wasn't really his call to make.

"Zeela has been saying we should have done that since we stepped onto Tryadnea. She won't say why, but she has."

=What, I can't just think you two deserve to be together?=

::No::

*No.* Sholeh and Zhari were in unison there.

"And she's only been less happy since we went to Vision. Zhahar's happy but...she'd be happier if we were, too. And I'm happiest when I'm with you."

Evan was... maybe a tiny bit surprised to hear that, admittedly, but what he was going to choose to focus on was that very last part.

The part where everyone here wanted Sholeh to be with him.

"Then... then I guess we go to Portalocity and ask about portal destinations," he decided, squaring his chin a bit. "We can shop around, right? And... and find somewhere that would work for both of us? Like space! Or even just a world where people like what's different...?"

"I like that idea," Sholeh said, reaching over to cup his face with her hands and kissing him. "There's no rule that says we have to stay in one place if we don't like it, right? And we have some savings; the money we made here didn't do us any good back home. So there's a little bit of a cushion, even."

Not much of one, of course, but enough for a few trips through Portalocity if they needed it.

"And I'm not afraid of working hard," Evan supplied, "and Old Lace generally fends for herself, so long as there's something she can hunt, and Ozzy..."

Ozzy kind of just buried things. And rolled in dirt. And barked at stuff.

"... Is a good boy."

Good job, Oz.

"We'll be okay."

Hey, sometimes it was good to have someone who was happy with the simple things. "Then, we're going to try?" Sholeh asked. "The four of us? Really?"

=I'm in,= Zeela said immediately. Zhahar's agreement was several beats later and far more hesitant, but it was there. *Me, too.*

Sholeh kept swinging, going higher and higher. "The three of us are in. For better or for worse, we're in this together."

"Well..." Evan pulled in a breath; that sort that happened mostly when somebody was fairly certain that they might forget how to do so any moment. "Then... I guess we're going to have to pay a visit to Portalocity, huh?"

They were doing this? They were actually doing this!

"I guess we are," Sholeh said, and jumped off at the apex of the swing, trusting Evan to catch her. She knew she could always trust Evan to catch her, no matter what. She trusted him like no one else. "I wonder if they have a catalogue or something of various worlds to look through."

Of course Evan caught her. He caught her, and even gave her another kiss while she was there. Why waste the opportunity?

"They must, right? I mean, if there are so many places people could end up, it would make sense. Maybe they even have a travel guide who can help us find somewhere accepting."

Sholeh wound her arms around his neck and smiled up at him, then leaned in to give him another sweet kiss in return. "Someone who could sit with us and talk to us about what we need, then find a place that's close enough for it to work? That would be wonderful. Then we wouldn't have to jump around, just find one world and settle down." She blushed a little, soft and rosy. "Together."

"Together," Evan echoed in agreement, nuzzling his face against hers. This was perfect. Heck, maybe it would even be doable. "I... I think this is actually going to work, Sholeh."

"I think you're right," Sholeh said, leaving a trail of tiny kisses wherever she could reach. "I'm almost scared to think about it too hard for fear of jinxing it."

She wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Is there anyone you want to call?" she asked. "To say goodbye?"

Sholeh wasn't surprised to realize that everyone she'd want to say goodbye to was already here, on the island.

Evan hesitated for a moment.

"Wade," he said, at length. "And Warren. And... I think that's all."

None of his classmates had ever really gotten past the 'tiny Apocalypse, exterminate him,' point, really.

"Will you explain?" she asked. "Will they understand?"

Not that she was worried that they'd be able to talk Evan out of this, but she didn't want his last goodbye filled with arguments or recriminations.

"I think Wade would understand," Evan replied, after a pause. "He gets how hard it is, there. And I've talked about you enough... and if I promise to keep in touch if I can anyway..."

He shrugged.

"Angel is just super supportive all the time anyway."

"You talked about me?" Sholeh asked, perking up a bit. She didn't know why she was so surprised about that--maybe because she had been constrained by what she could say about Evan to anyone who wasn't her sisters. "I wish I could have met him. Your Deadpool, I mean. I hope he'd like me."

She nuzzled closer to him. "And maybe...maybe we can visit sometime. I mean, wherever we settle will have portal access. So it doesn't have to be a goodbye. Just a see you later."

"Of course I did," Evan replied, surprised by... well... her surprise, mostly. "You're my family. And so is he. Maybe he'll be able to visit us, wherever we go."

...

That...

Evan, how was that a good idea?

~~POOR SECRET BEAR~~

"Anytime he likes," Sholeh agreed, because she had no idea what a terrible plan that could be. "I don't ever want you to regret giving up everything you ever knew to be with me."

The Sholeh that had left might have asked him again if he were sure, might have started to worry this was a bad idea for him. The Sholeh that had spent years missing him was willing to take that chance.

"I've already lost everything I ever knew," Evan countered, softly. "This is... this would be me finally getting some of that back."

It would be a nice change of pace.

It would be wonderful.

"I can't promise you'll never be lonely," Sholeh said, practically wrapping herself around him. "But I can promise you'll always be loved. And will always have a family."

Zhahar, his friend. Zeela, the obnoxious sister. And Sholeh herself, beloved.

She kissed him fiercely. "Let's go talk to Portalocity. I want to start out new life together as soon as possible."

Their new life. The two of them.

Together.

Evan smiled and wrapped his arms around her, and then, with a mischievous grin, scooped Sholeh up into his arms.

"I like the sound of that," he murmured. "Let's go find a place to belong."

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The Playground In The Park, Monday Late Afternoon

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