wesleynotponcy | Pylea | Monday Fandom Time

And so it came to pass that -- with Susan, Wesley and Alex having escaped the castle, Kennedy and Tara fleeing a potentially angry mob, and Loki held up back at the palace -- things were becoming slightly messy.

Just slightly. You know.

Kennedy	Kennedy hadn't gone horseback riding since high school, she was pretty sure, and that hadn't been in mountainy terrain either so she was kind of rusty-- not that she was paying much attention to that for most of the ride, what with the whole escaping deal. "Everyone okay?" she finally spoke up as they approached what looked like a clearing.
Angel	"Dealing," Angel said tightly. This had been easier back in the day when he'd just let Darla take the reins (literally), and when he hadn't been years out of practice. Fred wasn't speaking much. The shock of nearly being beheaded hadn't quite gone away yet, so she was still big with the clinging and trembling. As you do.
Tara	"... I've been better," Tara admitted. "The horses back home are nicer." Or Tara was less tense, so the horses were less tense and easier to handle.
Kennedy	Kennedy glanced over at her with a brief smile. "I think everything back home is nicer," she muttered as she looked around, then brought her horse to a stop. "Yo, Angel. I think the coast is clear."
Angel	"Right," Angel said, and gave the reins a tug. That would probably get it to stop, right? Huh. Nice. "Okay," he said, sliding off... not very smoothly at all. Look, it had been a really long time, all right? "From here we should probably stay on foot. In case they try to follow us."
Fred	Fred, meanwhile, was still stuck on dismounting, and after a clumsy return to her feet, turned her attention to gazing up at Kennedy. "Strong girl -- saved me from the monsters." She looked around wildly, quickly managed a Texan-accented "Bye" -- and then scampered away through the clearing into a cave not far away. So. That was a thing.
Kennedy	Oh god, why did that remind her so much of the look on Andrew's face whenever someone mentioned Scott Bakula? Right, so there was Kennedy swinging down off the horse, her eyebrows shooting up into her hairline for a moment because that was what she got for thinking Fandom could not possibly make her life any more awkward. ...for all of half a second before she blurted out, "Whoa hang on, hold up!" and-- with a quick 'come on, this way' cant of her head to Tara and Angel-- started after Fred.
Tara	And this was Tara, clumsily galloping along after Kennedy. ... not on a horse. Metaphorical galloping. She wanted to catch Fred, anyhow.
Fred	It turned out that Fred had actually spent some time in this cave before -- or so anyone could figure from the scribbled symbols in chalk on the cave walls and the crooked glasses Fred had grabbed off a boulder before crouching toward the back to add to the writing. She was hard at work: fist closed tight around the chalk, murmuring almost inaudibly to herself as she wrote.
Angel	"...hello?" Good luck with that, Angel.
Fred	Fred didn't look up, and focused on her writing instead. Every so often she crossed something out and wrote over it, tangled hair flying in her face every time she shook her head to do something over.
Kennedy	Kennedy looked over the scrawled symbols covering the walls and immediately realized they meant absolutely nothing to her. "Nice place," she said, for once not a trace of condescension in her voice.
Tara	Tara glanced to Kennedy and nodded in agreement before squatting near Fred. "It looks like you've ... um, done a lot of work," she observed.
Fred	Fred shook a little, but didn't jump back. "C-can't talk," she whispered.
Kennedy	"No one's gonna hurt you for it here," Kennedy assured her, having leapt to that conclusion courtesy of her own less-than-cordial reception by the locals. ...so she enjoyed getting to play big bad protector type sometimes. What?
Fred	"Except you're not real," Fred pointed out quietly. "Or -- or I'm not real. Somebody here isn't real and I suspect it's all of you. So if you're not real, that means that my head came off back there and that I'm dead now. And with me being dead and you not being real I can hardly be expected to have some big conversation with you at the moment, because it's just a little too much pressure, alright?!" So Fred was flustered.
Angel	"Okay, okay," Angel said quickly, taking a couple of steps back and holding up his hands as a gesture for the others to back off. Apparently satisfied, Fred turned back to her writing.
Kennedy	"What are you--" Kennedy began before picking up on Angel's cue to ease up; she trailed off and took a closer look at the walls instead, on the off chance they might start to make more sense. Not so much, although among the weird symbols and wordlike things she thought she could identify a very specific kind of gibberish. "Math formulas?"
Fred	Fred started to nod, then started to shake her head, and finally looked down. "I think I saw it in a dream," she offered. "I had a dream -- I had a name..."
Angel	Angel listened to that, but crouched down to pick something up off the cave floor. It was... a driver's license? "Winifred Burkle," he read off, brow furrowing. Then it clicked. "You're the girl from Cordy's vision! You're -- studying to be a physicist, you disappeared from a library in Los Angeles five years ago. It's not a dream, Fred."
Fred	Fred blinked up at him. "It's not?" "No," Angel said. "And my head's still on?" "Yeah," Angel said, offering her a smile. "And--" Fred's eyes flicked over to Kennedy and Tara. "You're all real?"
Tara	Tara edged forward a bit. "Well, uh ... I'm definitely real?" She held her hand out to Fred, in case the other girl wanted to touch it and see.
Kennedy	"Hundred percent real right here, too," Kennedy promised, holding both hands up.
Fred	Fred did reach out and touch both their hands, which was... well, the confirmation she was looking for, but it didn't seem to calm her much. "But--" Fred shook her head and took a few steps back. "No, no, no, I don't want you to be real."
Angel	Angel frowned. "Why not?"
Fred	"Because!" Fred exclaimed, spinning back around to face him. You're nice, and you saved me. And bad things will happen to you here." She wrung her hands, staring down. "Bad things always happen here."
Tara	"But you can help us now," Tara offered. "Just -- come with us and m-maybe nothing bad will happen?"
Kennedy	"Besides, dealing with the bad things is what we do." Way to take the liberty of speaking for everyone, Kennedy. Hey, she was trying to sound reassuring here!
Fred	Fred hesitated. They'd been so nice and everything, so maybe... maybe... "Really?"
Angel	"Yeah," Angel confirmed, offering a her an encouraging smile. "And as soon as we get out of here and head back to meet our friends, we'll get it done. Promise."

Cordelia	So, quick recap: Cordelia had arrived here and promptly been sold as a cow-slave. Then she'd had a vision and been promptly appointed princess. Then she'd discovered that apparently the princess had to com-shuck with a Groosalugg, which was way dirty and gross and so not happening, and when she'd gone to escape, everyone else had gotten out except her and the brat who talked a lot. How was this her life!? "And the worst part," Cordelia bitched to Loki as a couple of servants worked on her pedicure, "is that I was supposed to have an audition this weekend. For Bounty! The paper towels? I mean, hello, look at me, I can totally sell paper towels!"
Loki	"Oh, I am certain you can," Loki replied, not looking up from his purloined book. "All of the--" He hummed, flipping page after page. Look, someone was a fast reader.
Cordelia	Which was Cordelia's cue to glare. She didn't know what he was implying, but she was sure it was glare-worthy. "All of the what?"
Loki	It was their love. Their deep, abiding love. "I'm sorry, were you speaking to me?"
Cordelia	"No," Cordelia said, heavily sarcastic as she gestured down at her pedicurist. "I was speaking to Miss Clips-Too-Close-To-The-Cuticle here." Immediately the servant burst into a stream of profuse apologies. Cordy sighed. A lot.
Loki	"Oh, then carry on," Loki replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. Look, he was a god. He was better at this superiority thing.
Cordelia	And Cordy was about to explain how she didn't need his permission to carry on, thank you very much, when the door opened and her servants scattered. "Oh, hell," she groaned. "Your majesty," boomed Silas, the head priest. "The Groosalugg approaches." "Oh," Cordy said, pasting on an extremely fake smile. It was accompanied by a tiny whimper, so, you know, take it with a grain of salt. "Um. Good?"
Loki	At that, Loki silently closed his book. He glanced around for a moment before using this lovely distraction to find a spot out of the way. Where he could slip into the shadows--both metaphorically and literally. He may not have all the powers his predecessor possessed, he was still clever enough to use what he had.

Wesley	Well. Loki and Cordelia hadn't made it. That was... not good news. But the trapdoor from which they'd come had been quite a drop, and there was no way to return up to it. So they were forced to carry on. They'd been walking for quite some time before Wesley posited a hesitant, "We've, ah -- we've no idea where we are, do we?"
Susan	"No," said Susan, looking over at him as she walked. "Are you only just noticing?"
Alex	"I thought we were just winging it," Alex chimed in. "Unless you've been holding out on us with a map."
Wesley	"I was, ah." Wesley cleared his throat. "Following the sun." Except for how there were two suns here, Wes, you nerd.
Susan	Susan actually stopped walking at that. Come on, Wesley. Come on. "Oh, please."
Wesley	"What?" Wait for it... "Oh, blast." Yeaaah. Pretty much.
Alex	"Seriously?" Alex had to ask. "They're both right there!" With a rather expressive flail skywards.
Wesley	"The trees were in the way!" Wes. Really. Fail. "Well." He sighed. "That's... discouraging, but now all we need to do is to find another way to--" He paused and held up a hand. What was that noise?
Susan	Susan paused and listened. And jumped to what she felt would conventionally happen here. "Either it's going to be someone helpful in the nick of time, or bad guys of some sort," she decided.
Alex	Alex tilted his head to one side for a moment, then said, a little distant, "This is the part where we get attacked." Sometimes his precognition seemed to take the form of genre-savviness, yes.
Wesley	And sure enough, it was! As evidenced by the crowd of people dropping out of trees with clubs and sticks and other crude weapons raised, at any rate. Not to mention all the attacking they were doing. "Oh, hell," Wesley swore, fumbling around for something to use as a weapon. Making his best attempt at a pep talk as he charged forward, he shouted, "Let's give it our best, everyone!" Thanks, Wes. That was just... really, really helpful. And bound to lead to a positive end result. Really.