#for everyone's consideration: Jack in the Hawaiian shirt at a Town meeting

[tricked-out]

Summertime Fun in Halloween Town

As promised, here's a fun little summer action for our favorite autumn characters! [Read on FF HERE]

June 12

Sindelfingen, Stuttgart

10pm

Ivy had never been more grateful for her impromptu Halloween haircut. Sure, the blade of Bloody Mary and the scissors of a nervous Jack wouldn't have been her first choice of barbers, but without them she'd still have a mane of dark hair that would no doubt be heating up her skull even more.

As it was, her short locks were still plastered to her face and the top of her neck, damp with sweat. She'd long since kicked off the covers and peeled off her shirt, trying desperately to ignore the heavy heat in the air as the June heatwave took over the city, slowing down the usual summertime bustle. Every window in the house was flung open, leaving bees to drift in and out as they pleased, but Ivy and her family were beyond caring. With a groan, she flopped out of bed and landed on the hardwood floor, stifling a whine at the lack of cool wood she expected to press against her cheek.

She tried to distract herself - remembering the most boring of lectures she'd had to sit through, the droning of the Creature when he got on a tangent, the comfort of being able to sleep without being worried one's skin would melt off. Not for the first time, she thought wistfully of the air conditioned buildings she remembered from the States. Although it had felt strange at the time to go from sticky, damp heat to getting a blast of frozen air in her face, Ivy thought she wouldn't mind the environmental impact if she could just have a little breeze, please.

"You're welcome to make this more bearable anytime," she mumbled aloud to the utterly still air. No whisper of the Wind answered her and Ivy reluctantly pushed herself to her feet, wincing as her skin peeled away from the wood. She grabbed her shirt and sighed as she slipped it on, already hating the feeling of fabric against her too-warm skin.

Sticking her head out the window wasn't much better. The stifling heat continued outside, just with the soothing sounds of distant cards and - ugh, an Igelkarussell. Wincing at the sounds of fierce mating, she clambered out the window and hefted herself onto the roof before flopping backwards, letting her feet dangle as she stared up at the stars. There were hardly any, this close to the city center, and Ivy found herself missing the paradoxical expanses of the Halloween sky, where unrecognizable constellations soared overhead and the moon winked back, if you didn't blink first. A fierce longing filled her soul, along with the first sparks of an idea.

She sat up and gauged the position of the moon in the sky, sending its white beams down to the old houses below. She had enough time, if she was quick - and months of practice had honed her instincts in the matter.

In a burst of energy, she sat up and closed her eyes, breathing in the warm summer air that smelled of cut grass and cigarettes. The hum of the fans in the house below added to her hypnotic state, and Ivy focused on the tattoo on her arm, waking up the part of Halloween that grew within her.

The Wind finally made an appearance, swirling around and cooling her damp skin, nearly knocking the girl from her focused state. Rolling her eyes behind her eyelids, she breathed out until the sense of unease was heightened, a Gateway to Halloween forming in the timeless instant. With a grin on her face despite the heat, Ivy leaned forward and let the Universe whirl her away.

Halloween Town

2pm

Town Center

Most days, Jack loved the weather in Halloween Town. It was a catalogue of every possible weather that had occurred on October 31st, ranging from deep colds to a warm night filled with new scents. Most often, of course, it hung in the middle - the embodiment of a perfect fall day, where one could wear a jacket or feel the slight bite of the Wind against their outer layer, where the sky was open and the nights were long. It was familiar, it was relaxing, it was perfect.

It was not usually like this.

Jack and the other Citizens were dead, true, and thus weren't as bothered by things such as temperature, but it was the principal of the matter. The sun had risen early and refused to be thwarted by clouds, and the beams - so often gentle and welcoming - were instead harsh and demanding, melting the tar off a few houses and causing steam to erupt from the Well. Jack picked at his outwear, his usual black jacket abandoned in favor of a rather bizarre shirt Ivy had gifted him a few weeks prior. He didn't quite understand the mischief he'd seen in her eyes, but the fabric was loose, so he let it be.

He sat with his feet up in the shade of the café, content to watch the usually bustling Town wind down in the heat of the day. The liquid-based monsters were being particularly cautious, hating the sizzle of evaporation that would occur when they poked their heads out from the protection of the falling ceilings of the café. Jack noted with amusement that Vlad was nowhere to be seen, but the rest of the vampires were grouped together, each one with an umbrella larger than the last. Their waiter desperately tried to squeeze between the gaps to serve them their hot toddies, contorting their body to faithfully deliver the steaming saucers.

There was the whisper of fabric behind him, the scent of blood, and Jack felt energy miraculously dart through him as Sally came into his field of vision. His grip on his own drink (a mixture of chilled rattlesnake venom and limes) faltered as she sat down across from him, new dress flowing freely from her shoulders and her long red hair swept up in a delicate knot that Jack knew his fingers would get trapped in.

Not that his fingers would have cause to be in her hair, of course, but -

"It's the first day like this I can remember," Sally said in soft wonder, almond eyes sweeping over to the Fountain, where the children were taking turns dunking each other in. "Isn't it funny, how those little waves come up from the cobblestone? It almost makes the air shimmer like a spider-web!"

It was easy, sometimes, to forget that Sally wasn't even a year old, with her quiet maturity and the strange wisdom that sometimes glinted in her dark eyes. Ever since the day she'd gained Citizenship she'd seemed to slowly change, and no longer looked at him with quite the hesitancy he'd seen before. It was welcome, naturally, but it also….

Well. He appreciated her ability to make him see the long-familiar world through different eyes, and for a moment they both watched the heat waves rise from the hot stones.

There was a strange sound accompanied by a shifting of pressure in the air, some monster's ears popping as a Gateway opened in the shadowed corner across the street, and a human form slowly materialized. For half a moment Jack's ribs clenched with fear (not again!) but it eased just as quickly when Ivy stood up, momentarily peaceful expression instantly morphing into one of sheer rage.

"Oh, come on!" She screeched at the sky, startling the vampires into their bat forms. Jack stifled a laugh into his tea, watching in amusement as Ivy marched over, her eyes landing on Jack and lighting up in a way that caused a good warmth to flood through him.

"Welcome, Ambassador Ivy," he greeted, never tiring of the look of exasperation she'd give him at his formality. "What can we do for you?"

"How about what she can do for us?" griped a nearby monster. "Don't you have your own world? Why've you got come down here all the time?"

"It's way too hot to hang out up there," she shot back, gratefully stepping into the shade.

"It's hot here, too," Vinnie piped up, her bandages nearly half undone in an attempt to cool off.

Jack watched as Ivy bit down a sarcastic retort to the monster child, instead giving her a tight smile. "You're right, it is."

"You look weird!" Vinnie continued brightly.

"Thanks, Vin."

It was somewhat true. Ivy was a very colorful human, in terms of her mannerism, language, and, today, her skin. It was flushed a deep pink, a strange sheen to her eyes, and sweat rolled off her forehead and beaded at her hairline. An open button down swung at her sides, and for the first time Jack could remember she was wearing shorts. The human ran a head up the back of her neck, then seemed to notice Jack fully for the first time, her jaw going slack. "Uh, Jack? What are you wearing?"

"You're not having memory problems again, are you?" Jack asked in concern, pinching the strange material. "You gave this to me, remember?"

"Yeah, but as a - you're actually wearing it?" Her voice went up an octave.

Jack frowned. "Is there a problem? Have I violated some taboo?"

"Jack, you're wearing a Hawaiian shirt."

"Is that what it's called? Fascinating! It's been many years since we've encountered the spirits on those islands - "

Ivy's voice was strained in that strange way it got sometimes, whenever Jack found she was being particularly obtuse. "It's - it's bright red!"

"Not my color?" Jack glanced down in concern. Sally had stared a bit too, but he trusted her eye for style wholeheartedly, and she hadn't said anything, so -

"Give me strength," Ivy muttered, rolling her eyes to the sky.

"How about a drink instead?" the waiter cut in, glaring at Ivy pointedly until the human huffed and pulled a chair over to Sally and Jack's table, curling up with her legs dangling over the side.

"Love your dress, Sal," Ivy said after a moment, giving the ragdoll an approving thumbs up. "And your hair looks great up like that - right, Jack?"

The skeleton was too busy attempting to formulate an appropriate response to see the warning look Sally threw the girl, nor the gleeful expression she gave in return.

"Sally manages to maintain a horrendous appearance with everything she does," Jack said, deciding to go for neutrality in lieu of any other answer. Sally's stern face dropped along with her eyes, a dark blue flush covering her cheeks. It appeared rag dolls felt the heat the same way humans did, after all.

"That's - that's very kind of you, Jack," she managed, picking delicately at the edge of the ragged tablecloth. "I think you look rather - dreadful yourself."

The two stared at one another, the strange tension that always seemed to creep up on them thick in the air, only to be broken by the slow slurp of liquid through a straw as Ivy looked at them, one eyebrow raised in disbelief.

"What?" She asked.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Absolutely not," Jack said firmly, halting Ivy's trajectory with one firm grasp on her collar.

"Why not?" she whined, straining the edge of the fabric and gazing longingly at the other kids, who were lining up at the edge of the bridge. "I'm in no mood to get dunked in the Well, so what's wrong with the river?"

"And have to send you back to your world smelling like a swamp? I hardly think that's a good idea."

"Snake slither!" Angus yelled, stretching his small bat wings wide and soaring into the air, then wrapping them around himself and plummeting down, causing a delightful splash of green water.

Ivy turned to Jack in pleading desperation.

"Oh, don't do that face," Jack said immediately, turning his gaze skyward, though there was a twinge of franticness in his tone. Ivy, who wasn't aware she had such a face, tried to simultaneously enhance and maintain her expression. After a few tense moments, one of Jack's sockets twitched downward and he flinched, then gave a dramatic sigh that let Ivy know she'd won.

"Just for a bit, alright?" He warned sternly, even as Ivy began to eagerly scan the edge of the bridge. "You'll come out when I tell you so you can dry and wash up before going back to the human world."

"Yeah, yeah," she said, distracted, and Jack gave another sigh - familiar in its world weariness.

"Go have fun," he said with all the seriousness of assigning a position on Halloween night, and Ivy wasted no time in sprinting towards her friends.

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Jack found a spot on the riverbank to watch, not trusting the human in the slightest to behave. Her general maturity level (at least, in comparison to the rest of the children) seemed to fly out the window at the opportunity to show off, and Jack had too much experience with her human fragility to let his guard down. He tried, briefly, to remember how long humans could safely hold their breath, then abandoned the thought. It would only increase his paranoia, he decided.

A familiar sweet scent distracted him as Sally knelt in the grass beside him, watching as Vinnie hurtled herself into the water, her bandages soaking instantly.

"Did you ever do this?" She asked suddenly, one finger tracing the edge of her black lace parasol. "In a river or …. Some other type of water?" Her brow furrowed, and Jack leapt, as always, at the opportunity to provide the rag doll with a new word.

"I hid at the edge of the ocean once," he confessed with a grin. "I was tracking one particular human, and thought that arising from the depths of the sea at my height may give him quite the fright. And it's easy to disappear into!"

"Ocean," Sally said, testing the new word on her tongue. "What's that like?"

A familiar face flashed behind Jack's sockets and he shook his skull, banishing the memories as he tried to focus on the sensations and scale of the waves. "It's alive, in a way this river isn't. The Wind creates white peaks on the waves, which forever crash against the shore." He pointed to the bank of the river, where the water lapped gently at the plants, sometimes disturbed by the next child's entry into the water. "Imagine, perhaps, that you are an ant there on the riverbank. All you can see before you is water, and the sun shining upon it turns the dark blue into gold. You know if you step too far, you'll either be swept away or drowned. It has a mind of its own, the ocean."

Sally stared at the river bank, her mind no doubt conjuring up fantastic images. Jack basked in the memory of a sunset on the beach one last time, then tucked it away once more, and the pair fell into silence.

A stone his his head and he turned, one hand shielding his vision from the sun as he looked up at the top of the bridge. Ivy stood there, toeing off her shoes, and staring down into the murky water with her usual focused expression. She crouched down, whispering something to the fascinated children gathered around her, then quickly glanced over to the bank to see if Jack was watching with a forced and awkward attempt at subtlety.

Jack gave her a thumbs up and watched the involuntary grin take over her face, even as she pretended not to see him.

With a determined nod, Ivy pushed herself up and into the air, arms wheeling out for a brief instant before she wrapped them around her legs, hurtling towards the river with a screech that could have only been learned in scaring class. She hit the water with a solid boom!, water rushing into the sky like a fountain and spraying the occupants of the bank and bridge. The children cheered, climbing over each other to go next, but Jack didn't celebrate until he saw a dark head peek out from the water, shaking like Zero after a storm. She treaded water as she called the next child down, who kept the ball formation until they hit the water, landing flat on their back that no doubt would have stung had they been human. Reassured, Jack turned back to Sally, who watched the proceedings with amusement.

"That looks like fun," she said wistfully, angling her parasol to better protect her from the spray. "I'm not sure it would be good for me, though."

There was such a sorrow to her tone that Jack turned his attention fully to her, watching the way her red hair glinted in the sun. The shouts of Ivy and the children provided a cover for their conversation, prompting him to lean in closer. Sally's eyes widened, two strands dangling before them.

"Have you ever tried?"

"No," she whispered, as though it were a secret. Knowing Sally's guardian, perhaps it was. "Only my hands, and then I had to let them dry in the sun."

Another old memory flashed in Jack's mind, though whether it was from Halloween or before he couldn't quite distinguish. Putting the puzzle aside he stood up, shaking his bones loose and sending Sally a dazzling smile. "Come, let's try something."

Sally blinked owlishly but soon joined him by the bank of the river. The children were oblivious, now attempting to get as many of them on Ivy's shoulders as possible before she was forced beneath the murky water. The practice made Jack pause, but when the human bobbed back to the surface and hurtled one monster away, he decided she could handle it.

He knelt in the loose pebbles, feeling Sally wordlessly join him with a trust that made his ribs tighten. She gazed at the water with a mixture of trepidation and excitement, one hand hovering just above it. Jack steeled himself for the eventual headache and dunked his head under the water, blinking into the dark depths.

The Siren, who had been rising from the bottom of the river with one webbed hand extending towards Ivy's ankle, gazed innocently at Jack before receding back down.

He pulled his head up and shook it, spraying an astonished Sally. "You want me to do that?" She stammered, eyes torn between gazing at him and the water in horror.

"Why not?" He asked with a craggly grin.

"I'm - I don't know if the Doctor would want me to," she stammered, but Jack could see the spark of rebellion in her eyes, something that had been steadily growing over the past few months, and was seized with a sudden desire to fan the flames, if only to see what creature would emerge. At the back of his skull, his respect for the Good Doctor protested, but the front of his mind was focused solely on the rag doll before him.

"You'd have time to dry," he said, sockets flickering to the beating sun above them. "And what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

Sally tilted her head at him, then tipped her head back and laughed. It was clear and far gentler than anything he'd ever heard in Halloween Town, and he felt a strange sadness within him as it died away, only to be replaced by the graceful upturn of her lips.

"I should have known," she said, amused.

"Know what?"

"That the King creates his own rules." She stared at the water once more, then squared her shoulder that eerily reminded him of Ivy - thought it made sense, he supposed, given Sally's origins.

"Shall we?" He asked, extending a hand. Sally's eyes grew large but after only a moment's hesitation she took it. With her soft hand in his, they plunged their heads under in unison.

Without the need to breathe, they both took in the sight of the dark water, with a few stray sunbeams piercing through to the muddy bottom, where dark green algae clung to the sharp rocks. The strands of Sally's bun grew loose, fanning around her head in a manner that reminded Jack of the sea sirens of legend. Then, with an instinct he didn't quite understand, Jack unhinged his jaw to scream into the water.

It was muffled, and no breath meant no stream of bubbles, but Sally heard him all the same. She stared at him in befuddlement, then hesitantly opened her own stitched lips and gave a scream of her own - small, at first, as if unfamiliar with the concept, then growing until it was louder than Jack's, what sounded like months of pent-up something spilling into the water.

A burst of bubbles and flesh cut both their screams off as Ivy sank beneath the water, her arms wrapped around her legs once more, eyes screwed shut. A look of curiosity stole over her face after a few moments of floating downwards, and she unraveled herself before blinking open her eyes to meet the gazes of Sally and Jack, peeking beneath the water like strange serpents. She huffed, bubbles escaped from her nose and mouth, and promptly ignored them, kicking off the closest rock and kicking towards the surface.

Laughing, Jack pulled out of the water, and after a moment Sally did the same. The fabric of her face was a much darker blue, though for once due to something other than a blush. She let go of his hand (Jack had almost forgotten about it) and began to wring out her hair, a look of familiar wistfulness on her face.

"I've never screamed," she confessed. "Isn't that silly, for a creature in a Town like this?"

"Not at all," Jack rushed to reassure. "If anything, one's first scream is best saved for a special time, don't you think? The first of many more to come, no doubt!" Then, with a touch of embarrassment. "I'm sorry for forcing your first upon you -"

"You didn't," Sally said, an equal reassurance in her voice. "Without you, who knows how long I would've gone without doing it!"

"Surely the Doctor -"

Sally snorted. "He doesn't care for me to raise my voice, Jack." Then, as though realizing what she'd said, she hastily added, "which makes sense, of course, he needs the peace and quiet to work, and I do talk quite a bit, I suppose -"

The thought of Sally talking too much was one that Jack didn't fully grasp, but he supposed he'd never understood much of the Doctor's thought patterns. He was a genius, after all, fully mad and everything. He knew when to pick his battles.

"Well, I always enjoy what you have to say," Jack decided to answer, leading Sally back to their spots. He could already feel the water being leached from his skull, and didn't mind collapsing onto the thin grass to watch the children once more. Sally had no response other than to hum quietly, sitting beside him and tipping her face towards the sun to aid the drying process, plucking the spider silk tie from her hair, causing a cascade of red hair to topple down her back and Jack to wish for the refreshment of the freezing water once more.

A shadow fell across them as Ivy stumbled over and sat down, flipping her head over and wringing river water from her hair. She grinned over at Sally, a look of proud expectation on her face. "What'd you think, Sally?"

"I liked it," the rag doll admitted in her usual mix of shyness and honesty, keeping her eyes closed. "Perhaps next time I'll swim fully."

"I'll teach ya how to do a cannonball if you want!"

"That's very kind of you," Sally answered, though not quite accepting the human's offer. "You're very good at them."

The distraction worked - Ivy puffed up, smoothing one hand through her wet hair, causing the back to stick up in a way that had Jack's hands twitching for a brush. No wonder her hair was forever tangled. "Yeah, it's way easier to do them here than back in the Schwimmbad. There's always too many kids and not enough depth."

Sally nodded seriously, despite clearly not understanding a word. Jack, who never could resist the urge to learn, prodded Ivy's back until she looked at him. "Sally and I were discussing beaches. Have you ever been to one?"

Ivy shrugged. "Yeah, we went down to Italy a few years ago, and it was pretty nice." She tilted her head, a new laughter in her eyes and voice. "Papa always said it wasn't a real beach, though. Too rocky, just like this." She gestured towards the river bank, where stones and dirt lined the edge. "He thinks a beach should be all white sand." With that, she flopped backwards, tucking her arms behind her head and closing her eyes.

There was something strange happening to the skin of Ivy's face, something that tugged at old alarm bells in Jack's mind, but time had eroded the memories too much. He frowned but let it be, leaning back on his hands and enjoying the rare stillness in the heat of the day. Sally copied Ivy, folding her hands neatly across her stomach and letting her eyes flutter shut.

"We should get you a - oh, what are they called? A floatie," Ivy mumbled, her eyes still shut.

"What's that?" Sally asked in turn, confusion winning out over her politeness.

"It's a -" Ivy dug one hand behind her back, pulled out a stick, and tossed it blindly towards the river, where cheers from the children rose up. "It's a bit of plastic that helps you float on the water without getting wet."

"Really?" Sally sounded incredulous. She opened her eyes and peered at the river. "So I could go out without getting wet?"

"Yup. Get all the sun and current you want, without having to be all wet afterwards."

"I would like a … a floatie."

"We'll make it happen, Sal."

"Would they work for skeletons, as well?" Jack asked, feeling oddly left out.

Ivy snorted. "Tell you what, Jack, if I can find one that'll fit your gangly ass, it's yours."

The owner of the gangly ass sniffed indignantly, but fell silent, choosing instead to enjoy the sight of his friends.

Finally, hours later, Ivy woke from an impromptu cat nap, stretching and blinking into awareness. Jack stifled a smile at the sight from where he stood in the river, allowing the tiring children to climb up his limbs and dive off his shoulders. Sally sat on the edge of the bridge, her legs swinging freely over the side.

"Ugh." The human grumbled, pushing herself upright, then freezing, one finger poking her face and causing an immediate groan. "Oh, damn it."

"What is it?" Jack allowed the last child to stand on his hands and launched them into the air, then stepped out, rolling his pant legs down. It wouldn't do to ruin Sally's handiwork, after all. "Are you alright?"

Ivy stared up at him, a grumpy expression on her red face. "Sunburn," she mumbled, getting to shaky legs. "And, ow, headache. Serves me right for sleeping in the sun."

"Sunburn?" The word clicked into his mind and Jack nearly hit himself as he saw Ivy's red and peeling skin with new sockets. "Wait, don't you have a - a potion you use to prevent this?"

Ivy paused from brushing the dirt off her shirt to shoot him a look of pure disgust. "What, sunscreen? I'm not a nerd, Jack, I don't need it."

"Well, clearly, you - don't pick at it!" He shouted, as Ivy peeled a strip from her forearm. "Why do you have to -"

"Guess that one monster was right," Ivy said, blowing bits of loose skin off her arm. "We really do shed sometimes."

"Please stop," Jack all but begged, shedding his Hawaiian shirt and tossing it over her head, as though to prevent any more sun rays.

"Hey, Jack, watch." She held up her red arm, then poked it, laughing at the white imprint of her fingers that were left behind. "Ah, that's going to hurt like a bitch in the morning."

"I don't know how to fix this," Jack confessed quietly. Ivy finally looked away from her skin, raising one unimpressed eyebrow. The disapproving look was somewhat lessened by the hem of the red shirt hanging low across her forehead

"Jack, it's fine. It's my own fault, and I'll throw some Aloe Vera on it when I get back - "

"Sally!"

"Oh, god, no -"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

An hour and two plants later

Jack disposed of the last few plant stems, humming contentedly to himself. There was a silent stewing happening behind him, and that only made him smile harder.

"Quit smirking," the human's voice grouched. "I feel ridiculous."

"It's for your own good," he chided, turning and leaning against the sink, crossing his arms. The curtains were drawn at Ivy's insistence (and Jack found that it did make the Manor a bit cooler), so only a candle and Jack's night vision allowed him to see the scowl etched on his charge's now-shiny face, the strong smell of aloe vera juice permeating the air. "How were you going to explain getting that way overnight?"

"I'd've figured it out the same way I do everything else," Ivy muttered, and there was a weariness to the tone that gave him pause. He tilted his head and moved to - well, to try and say something, but Ivy seemed to sense the heaviness in her tone and brightened, touching one hand gingerly to her cheek, where a clump of aloe Vera juice lay. "You almost looked like you were having fun today."

That gave Jack a different kind of pause. "Do I not appear to have fun normally?"

"No, 'cause you don't," came the definitive reply.

"I'm consistently in good spirits!"

"Don't bullshit a bullshitter, dude."

"I do wish you'd speak less coarsely."

"And I wish you'd realize I know when you're faking being happy by now, so it looks like we're both disappointed." Ivy's arms crossed, and she gazed at Jack with a familiar piercing gaze. "What's going on with you? You had Sally today, you did your weird little bonding moment, why isn't that a good thing?"

"It is," Jack rushed. "I - it was… enjoyable, today, I suppose."

"Oh, high praise."

"Let me finish, please."

Ivy rolled her eyes but fell silent.

"Surely you remember the amount of things I'm responsible for in regards to running Halloween," Jack began, hoping that Ivy's memory wasn't failing her again. At her nod, he continued. "I can't afford to be lax in my days!"

"Yeah, but you also set the mood for the rest of the Town," Ivy argued, forgetting her promise to be silent (as usual). "If you're always high-strung and on the move, who's gonna be the voice of reason? We already have the Mayor for all the anxious nonsense, we don't need two of you."

"Hey now -"

"Jack, I think your bones are actually capable of falling apart when you're stressed." Ivy tried to glare at him further, only to immediately wince when it pained her face. "Just -" she took a breath, actually seeming to regain control. "Just - I'm here for you, ok? Like, I don't know how much help I can be, but, uh, I'll do what I can." She hesitated, then reached out to kick his leg.

"I feel the support," Jack responded dryly. Then, before she could make it worse, he hastily added: "and I thank you all the same." He sat beside her, and the two tried to exist with the heavy pressures of deceit and leadership on their shoulders. "And I am here for you as well," he said, as though uncertain.

Ivy laughed quietly, knocking her shoulder against his. "There's never any doubt of that, Bone Boy."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

At Sunrise

Ivy's closet was the perfect place for a Gateway - cramped, timeless, and seldom used. Still, that never made it easy for her to materialize inside of it, holding in a swear as she tripped over her shoes and pinwheeling frantically as she was muffled by the clothing. She opened the door and crept out, still feeling the sunburn tighten her skin painfully. The sun was creeping upwards over the village, and Ivy hurried to change from her river-stiff getup into a new shorts and tank top combo, hiding the evidence in the closet. She'd have to find some way to clean them, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

A glance at her watch had her hurrying - she scrambled beneath the covers, now somehow cool, and closed her eyes against the gentle transition from dawn to day. She began to count, slowing her breaths, until the tell-tale signs of her father getting ready for work began. At 250 seconds, her dialed up hearing altered her to the handle of her bedroom door opening as he performed his customary check to see if his daughter was still there. Ivy remained still, her breathing slow once more. The checks were getting more random, less easier to predict, but Ivy hadn't missed it once.

The door shut and Ivy refused to breathe a sigh of relief. Eventually, her papa's footfalls faded down the hall, and Ivy begrudgingly decided to try and get some sleep before facing another tremulous - and no doubt, hot - summer day.