a magical far away place where the sun is always shining, and the air smells like warm root beer...

[theresalwayshope]

"So...remind me how you know Crocker again?"

"Nathan..."

"It's an honest question!"

Allison has to cover her mouth to keep from giggling as Nathan Wuornos and Audrey Parker lead her into the Gray Gull, still trying to pump her for answers. Her first stop was the bed & breakfast, and after unpacking a few things she finally got Duchess and Brownie together to take a walk. Spotting Nathan hadn't been hard, based on Duke's descriptions of him ("good looking fella...but he's not really that tall, that's just the giant pole up his ass") and of Audrey (cute, sweet...super hot...still trying to figure out what she sees in Wuornos."), who was right beside him when Allison asked for directions to the bar.

"Whoah, you might wanna tie the dog up outside, Miss Argent."

Allison rolls her eyes at Nathan with a grin. "Relax, he's gonna want to see this little girl right here." At least, as long as he remembers her...and Allison, for that matter.

Truthfully, she's still not sure how this world hopping stuff works, or what happens to those that leave the Barge against their will.

She distracts herself by glancing around, with no sign of the big lummox anywhere.

"Could he be on the boat?" she asks, glancing at Audrey.

"No, I texted him." Audrey replies slowly, scanning the room. "He said he was here--don't worry, I didn't say anything about you...kitchen, maybe?..."

Comments

[hearrrtofgold]

Allison hugs him and Duke ducks before his face shows all the emotions running through him. He hugs her back, supporting her just in case she needs it even though he knows how tough she is. "Hey, you're here now," he smiles, nudging his chin against her hair as they hugged. "It's okay. Was this your deal?"

When Brownie bounds in she nudges against Duke and settles for her paws against his leg as he scratches her ears. "Brownie! Who's a good girl? Yeah, you are. Go out there, okay, girl?" Brownie seemed amenable to the earscritches but not the words until Duke suggested "Go with Nathan, okay?"

Duke looks at Audrey and Nathan and nods. "It's okay. You know that weird alternate dimension I told you about? Allison's from that, but she's a good kid. I swear on my right hand."

[theresalwayshope]

"You say that like I trust either of your hands." Nathan deadpanned, though his features were soft with surprise and warmth as he watched Duke embrace the teenager like a long lost little sister.

"Be nice, Wuornos." Allison admonished over her shoulder, still unabashedly crying happy tears as she turned back to Duke.

"See that, Parker? Five minutes, and he's turned the kid against me...least the dog has good taste."

As Brownie obeyed Duke's command, Allison burrowed into Duke for one more quick hug before she drew back with a smile. "This isn't my deal, this is just a pit stop." She hesitated, her features sobering just a little as she bit her lower lip, knowing that the news probably wasn't going to go over well.

"After I spend a few weeks here...I'm going home to die. I'll be okay, though! That's my deal: I'm going to come back as a werewolf."