Back to the Future (Tara)

[Milo Ventimiglia]

Fan-fucking-tastic. Tara had chosen the worst time to stick up for herself, regardless of all her ‘realist’ arguments before when it came to showing any kind of backbone or pride. I let out a sigh. Normally, I would have been happy to get into a fight. Not that I was that sort of guy. But right now? I was feeling the need to do something to show that I wasn’t defeated, that not everybody could dictate the way I lived my life here. So, while part of me wanted to join Tara, the other part of me was afraid that she would find out what was going on in school.

As if I hadn’t already lost enough pride.

Annie began to jeer at Tara. “Seriously, is that the best you can do, whore? Hey, so are you taking clients at the park during the day now?” Her eyes slid over to me, as if I was the ‘client’, and everybody started crowing with laughter.
My face reddened. I stood up, feeling hot all over, almost feverish without the dizziness. I picked my skateboard up for some reason. Maybe to flee, or to hit them with it, I don’t know.
“Don’t speak to her like that,” I hissed. Josh smirked in my direction. The kid was a real asshole, the kind of guy I really wanted to teach a lesson to. Unfortunately, he was way bigger than me.
“Ooooh, really, what are you gonna do about it?” he jeered, aggressively jerking his body forward as if to rush me. I tensed, which must have equated to a flinch, because there was more laughter.

“Why are you so obsessed with Tara?” I asked in exasperation. “Really, why all this effort to be dicks just because I’m not like you, because I find Tara more interesting and she’s not a...a...prostitot...like your girlfriend! If anyone’s the whore here, it’s her.” I nodded my head in Annie’s direction.
“What the hell’s a prostitot?”
“A kid who dresses like a slut. Prostitute, tot,” I explained vindictively. Annie gaped stupidly at us. Josh growled.
“You want a real pummelling, you little shit. Didn’t learn your lesson even after Friday? Man, you heal quick, not a single bruise. What are you, exactly?”

I didn’t even know what I was. Besides, was I gonna answer him? No. Instead of mulling over that fact, I felt somewhat sick inside that Tara now knew Josh had beaten me up. I guess I hadn’t really defended myself much. And even so, Josh was stronger than me. I didn’t know what he was either, but he was very strong. He was good at football. I was always too small for football. Skateboarding was more my thing; people like Josh like to shove others around. I liked to watch football, but when it came to sport, I liked the adrenaline rush I got from flying through the air on my board or being able to use it as a mode of transport. I preferred it over driving, even. There was just something calmer about it, less violent, but far more thrilling. It was the closest I would ever get to really flying unless I went skydiving or something. Not all football players were jerks like Josh, and maybe I’m being really simplistic in my comparisons, but it was more that Josh had probably joined the football team just to be the alpha male and push people into the ground like a big asshole bulldozer.

Maybe I kind of cringed a bit, looked at the ground or showed my embarrassment, because they all started their hyena cackling again.
“What do you think, should we give them a real dumping?” Josh looked over his shoulder at his peers, then headed for us. Annie and another guy headed for Tara.
“Back the fuck off if you know what’s good for you,” I threatened, taking a step back.
“What are you gonna do, call your Mafia buddies?”
“Geez, real funny,” I sighed as he grabbed my jacket front. I was still holding my skateboard, but my fingers were kind of clenched and unwilling to let go. “I’m laughing inside, really.”
“Shut it, smartass. Hey, like, throw them as far as you can, I wanna see them swim back. Say Milo, are you half cat? I mean with that tail...”

Suddenly, he shoved me face-first into a tree, then grabbed my tail and pulled me back towards him. It hurt like hell. I yelped, a sound that reminded me of my dog Blackie’s cry when my little bastard second cousin stepped on his paws on purpose last Christmas.
“Cats hate water, right? And maybe the whore could do with a bath!”
I couldn’t really see what was happening with Tara, mostly because Josh started to swing me around by my tail. I went in a full circle before he let go, and, still clutching my skateboard to me like a real idiot, I went flying into the lake. I guess onlookers were laughing and pointing and taking photos with new photography or phone technology I would never understand, but I didn’t get a chance to see much before I slammed into the water. The impact knocked the breath out of me, which was odd; I hadn’t exactly fallen from a great height. The next part is hazy; trying to describe it might be a little inaccurate, so I’ll say this: lights, roaring sounds...portal. I recognised it, because I had only come through one a week ago.

Like before, it didn’t last very long, but it was just as uncomfortable an experience. My back hit something soft; grass, maybe. My skateboard hit me in the face, then bounced off while I cursed in pain and lifted my hands up to my face.
Presently, I sat up and looked around, one hand still hovering near my face protectively in case anything else projected itself at my eyes.

“Loser!” someone yelled. What the hell? I finally risked taking my hand from my face. I was sitting up now, right next to my skateboard, which was also on its back, the wheels still rolling. A rotund kid stood nearby, eating an ice cream. It was all over his face, and he was pointing at me. “You totally fell off your skateboard! Fail!”
I blinked, then glared at him. “You’ve got fucking ice cream all down your face, asshole.”
Swearing at a ten year old or whatever he was probably wasn’t a great idea, but at least his parents weren’t around. He gave me the finger, used the back of his sleeve to wipe his chin, then cussed at me and ran after his friends.
“That’s right, get some exercise!” I shouted after him, feeling pretty bitter and hence vindictive.
Until I saw the palm tree.
My head kind of spun around. I should have recognised the scent at once. Palm trees, eucalypts, sea water, sun screen, smog.

I was in Los Angeles.

It took two seconds for me to stand up and look around in amazement. Somehow, I had come home. I was in the park near my house. Palm trees swayed above; the big tall ones, the little ones, and the ones with the huge trunks and wide foliage. Californians loved palm trees. There were also a lot of strong-smelling eucalypts around. They were a pest species, but they were ever-green, like palms and the numerous pine species we had around.
I noticed quickly that it was still fall. The trees here were almost completely devoid of leaves, apart from the evergreens. There was, of course, no smell of snow on the breeze, just the ocean. I frowned in confusion. Already, my brain was telling me that I had probably fallen off my skateboard and hit my head. Maybe I had been lying here for a while. Fuck, maybe the skateboard competition was also a dream. The whole thing was a dream! But how could it be fall? It had been the beginning of summer before. Or maybe it was winter or spring. God damn, I couldn’t remember.

I lived in a middle-class suburban area quite far from downtown, so the smog was barely evident here. Probably not at all noticeable to someone who didn’t have my sharp sense of smell. There were houses everywhere, and a strip mall just down the road. All of the lawns were well cared for. Since we had a lot of water restrictions here, some people had fake lawns, but a lot of people relied on treated water for their plants and lawns.
This park in general was small, but well-kept. I took my dog down here a lot. There was a small marsh just behind it where Blackie loved to explore. I picked up my skateboard, wondering whether Tara had been part of that dream.
Suddenly, I didn’t feel so good.

As my initial shock passed, I decided to see whether this really had been a dream. I hadn’t even taken a step yet, but my mind was working fast. Tara had seemed so real. I could remember her scent, so wild and free, yet so full of oppression.
The first thing I checked for was a tail. That would mean something, right? And sure enough, it was still there. I felt a mixture of dread and relief. Tara was real, but there was still something wrong with me. I had kind of grown to like the tail after a week. It was useful, it was amazing when it came to balance, especially since I was a skateboarder, and it looked pretty cool. But in a world where people with strange features were common, I had blended in. Here, it would be difficult to conceal. I mean, this was California; people would just assume I was dressed up. But that would pass me off when it came to random people. What about work? I had to go back to work. I loved my job, and I had to pay the bills; I wasn’t rich. I was well off, for now, but it wouldn’t last forever. Besides, I would just get depressed if I had to hide out. I could just have it removed, but I was pretty sure it would grow back. I healed quickly. And what the fuck would my friends think? My family? Well...my family was to blame. They must have tails too. If I was here and I still had a tail...
Or maybe, I had drowned and I was unconscious. Maybe this wasn’t real. I knew that it was, but I couldn’t stop coming up with excuses.

After spending about half an hour searching for Tara in the park, I started down the sidewalk. I walked and didn’t use my skateboard, because my head felt very funny. Coming through the portal had affected my balance last time as well. I didn’t bother to hide my tail. A couple of people gave it a brief glance, but they were all too busy doing whatever it was they did. As I got into my street, I knew it would only be a matter of time before somebody recognised me. I knew most of my neighbours quite well. I had been lucky to move into a neighbourhood where at least a few people gave two shits about each other. I wasn’t really famous enough to be recognised by the majority of people either, which was good. I had one fan who lived down the road from me, but she wasn’t psychotic or anything. She had moved in a few months ago and worked at a dog shelter, so she babysat Blackie when I was away for a weekend or whatever. Jackie, my sister, currently lived with me after her ex-husband had taken everything from her (the c***). If I had been missing, Jackie would have taken care of the dog. But how long had I been gone?

My first concern was to get home. I should have stayed around the park, but I couldn’t sense Tara anywhere. I figured I could find Jackie, then get into my car and search that way. My heart was racing again and my stomach hurt with worry. It was likely that she hadn’t even come through the portal with me, but my instincts were screaming at me to look for her, that she was indeed here.
You’re going crazy, I thought, feeling very sick. I looked around as I walked. Nothing had changed. I couldn’t have been gone that long. Mrs. Reich’s garage door still hadn’t been fixed. Mr. Barker’s garden looked no different; he had planted roses recently, I remembered because I had walked past as he was doing it, and he had been whistling a Deep Purple song that my dad always used to whistle to us when we were babies. It couldn’t have been more than a few weeks, I deduced.

I finally got to my house. It was a two-storey, like most of the other houses around here. I had a big garden; I really liked having wildlife in my yard. I employed a gardener to take care of most of it, though I sometimes did it myself. I had opted for the gardener instead of a house keeper. Jackie was a slob, unfortunately, and it was very hard to get her to help me with anything.
I also had a wall with gates. I had bought the property, not built it; I had actually chosen this property for the house and large gardens, and the walls were a bonus. I liked privacy.

When I had arrived in the other world, I had only had a few possessions with me. My wallet, my cell phone and my keys. Thankfully, I carried them everywhere. I unlocked the gates and went inside, seeing that Jackie wasn’t home. It was probably for the best right now; she would maybe freak, though I was going to have to text them. I had arrived here dry, which was odd since I had fallen into the lake. So I wasn’t worried my phone was broken.
Blackie wasn’t home, and his leash was gone. I noticed this as I stepped inside. Jackie had probably driven him to the beach, as her car wasn’t there. I was quick to notice a pile of paper on the bench; there was a police report and a bunch of ‘missing’ posters. I sighed as I read the date on the calendar; I had been gone for a month, and my family was probably worried sick about me.

I nearly sat down to think about it for ages, but finding Tara was definitely a priority. In the end, I had to go without my car. Jackie, it seemed, had taken it. Hers was normally parked outside because my garage was full of her crap, since she had only moved in here a month before I had vanished. Mine wasn’t in the garage. I left her a note saying that I was safe and searching for a friend, and that I would explain later, then locked my house and resumed my search. It was probably a little cruel to leave a note and vanish, but Tara was the most important thing right now. If my feelings were correct and she had come into this world, she would have no idea what to do or where to go.

My head must have been full of Tara, because I forgot to check the mirror to make sure I was the proper age. In fact, it was hardly on my mind until I got back to the park, and I probably would have just worried over Tara and not thought about my age if someone I knew hadn’t appeared on the scene.
It was Blackie, my border collie, who I noticed first. He was sitting by a water feature, and the girl scratching his ears was not my sister. It was the girl, Isabelle, who I asked to babysit him, the one who worked at the dog shelter. She was in her mid-twenties, quite a pretty girl who was the only person to actually recognise me as an actor. We had met when Blackie had escaped and she had found him. She had followed the address on his collar and bought the wily collie back to me. Blackie loved to explore.

“She’ll be home soon, don’t you worry,” Isabelle said, scratching Blackie’s head. “I know you miss Milo. I do too.”
Blackie saw me first. He started to bark. Isabelle had let him off the leash, so the dog bolted for me, barking and yelping. The collie flung himself on me, making me drop my skateboard. I had missed my dog immensely, and I caught him and held him, letting him lick my face and kick at me with his clawed paws. Big enough dogs just aren’t meant to be cuddled.
“Awww geez, you missed me,” I grinned, closing my eyes and laughing. “Eww, dog tongue!”
“Milo?!” Isabelle called. “Jesus Christ, what the hell? Where have you been?” She came running over to me. I put the dog down, petting him and letting him jump at me. I was seriously at a loss for what to say. I had been in another dimension? Really. Where was that gonna get me? She looked me up down, evidently confused. “Or are you his cousin or something? Hey, are you like, his brother? You look just like him, only younger.” Her face was suspicious. “Blackie, hey, calm!”
“Isabelle...it’s me,” I said, my heart sinking. “You got a mirror or something?”

She gave me a makeup mirror from her back. I felt really fucked now. I was still a kid. I had come home, somehow made it back, and I was still a kid. Even the fact I still had that stupid collar on my neck didn’t bother me as much, or having a freakish tail. I was sure I could get the collar off, which showed how naive I was about futuristic technology, and I could hide the tail. Somehow. By some miracle. But I couldn’t just age overnight.
“I don’t...I don’t understand...”
“What are you on about? I’m so confused,” said Isabelle.
“Listen, you can’t tell anybody about this. It’s me, I can prove it, any way you like. Hey, my fingerprints are exactly the same, doesn’t matter how old or young I am. Something happened to me. Isabelle, you gotta just keep my dog with you for a bit, please. I have to find someone. I assume my sister went away?”
“She’s visiting your parents in Sacramento,” she said, her face concerned. “Oh my god...like...you’re like...a kid!”
“This is humiliating.” I scowled. “I’ll explain later.”
“I want to ask about the tail and the collar but...I just won’t.”
“Good idea. Anyway I have to find someone.” I looked around distractedly. “She’s gonna be very lost and very afraid.”

Isabelle promised to take care of Blackie. I saw the engagement ring on her finger briefly before I ran off. She lived with her boyfriend, nice guy, closer to my age. I mean he was around thirty, not sixteen. Even if I had been gone just a month, so much had changed, I had missed a month, and that reminded me all too much. As I left, I heard Blackie.
“Come back! Come back to me! Don’t leave me!”
It was heart wrenching. And also weird to hear my dog talking to me in words I could understand and no one else could.

It was time to look for Tara. She wasn’t in the park. I wasn’t that far from the beach; I could see it from my balcony, but it was a good half-hour walk. I decided to check the strip mall first rather than go down to the water. But would Tara go to a mall or would she hide somewhere? Would she prefer the marsh? That marsh separated the mall from the park. So, it was just a matter of walking through it towards the mall, making it time efficient.
There was a nature walk in the marsh. Few people went there. Dogs weren’t allowed, but I went there sometimes. I liked it; it was secluded, peaceful, and full of wildlife. There seemed to be nobody around, which was a bonus. To one side, there was more of a forest. On the other side, the ground was spongy and wet, connecting to a small lake which ran through the park as well. Squirrels bounced through the trees, frogs called to one another and birds chased each other through the trees.
“Tara?” I called for the millionth time today. “Hey...you in here?”
Had I realised I could shape-change, it would have been as simple as changing forms and finding her scent.


((OOC: I thought you might want some creative freedom to have Tara wandering around the city alone, and Milo frantically looking for her in his confusion. Also introduced his neighbourhood a bit so you can figure out what it’s like. Middle-class neighbourhood I assume would be fairly nice houses but nothing ridiculous or gaudy. Told you it’d get long, despite me trying to cut it back.))

[tessa]

I’m not a violent person, but I could have ripped that fucking little slut to shreds and been glad for the opportunity. My face drained to white and I glared at Annie. Look at how young she was, I thought, look at her. Despite all her tough talk, all her bullying and trash talk, she was just desperately trying to claw her way up to status, so one day she wouldn’t end up like me. Her gang bleated and laughed at my expense and Annie stood proudly in front of them, her hands resting on her hips and a smug smirk stretching the make-up across her flawless features. She was like some sort of perverted Little Bo Peep, herding her lost little sheep because they couldn’t think for themselves. When they chewed gum, they resembled sheep all the more, chewing grass and cud, eyes glazed over with apathy. I clenched my fists into a ball and bit the inside of my lip, trying to decide if I should retort or do the ‘adult’ thing and just walk away. A part of me desperately wanted to prove myself, and show everyone that I was so tired of all of this petty bullshit. Another part of me, a stronger part of me, just wanted to walk away.


Annie grinned at me. She knew I didn’t want to defend myself this time, though I had given a poor try at it to begin with. As far as she was concerned I had already given up, and she had won. It only fuelled the gangs’ enthusiasm. I backed up to be next to Milo who was, as annoying and insanely amazing it was of him to do, defending me. I stood very close to him, looking around nervously as people laughed and gathered around us. I squeezed my eyes shut. Why?


“You want a real pummelling, you little shit. Didn’t learn your lesson even after Friday? Man, you heal quick, not a single bruise. What are you, exactly?”


So! They had beaten him up? Oh god! I felt so terrible. So terribly angry, at the gang, at the school, at myself! I should have continued to push him away. But I’d given in to his persistence and let him become associated with me. I knew that this was going to happen! It had never occurred to me that it might have made Milo feel like he was emasculated. In fact I had not once thought ‘poor little Milo, getting beat up’. No. I get beaten all the time, so I didn’t think twice about it, other than the fact that it must have hurt. I felt my body tingling with energy. I so wanted to punch someone! I barely heard anything else, not the crowd, not the gang, not Milo talking to them. I got the gist of what they were threatening Milo and I with. I launched myself at the guy who had Milo by the tail, but two others hand me by the arms and dragged me to the lake as well. They held me down under the water and I scratched their hands so they bled. They let go of me and I pushed off in time to see Milo disappear into the lake. I thought he was drowning.


I screamed into the water in case he might hear me, and swam frantically in his direction. Then I felt something pulling me, like--- like quicksand. I couldn’t get out. I was helpless, and I clawed at the water in desperation. A flash of light forced my eyes closed, and a sudden roaring, whirling, deafening white-noise, static, screaming, musical, rushing sound reached into my brain through my ears and squeezed until I felt as if my eyes might pop out.


Then it stopped, and all was silent.

I was dead.


Or, I thought I was. Had I drowned? I moved my arm. No I felt everything, and my headache was gone. I opened my eyes experimentally and looked around.

Everything was so warm! The air smelled disgusting, but there were flowers and trees all over the place. People, too. I sat up and held my head, blinking my eyes a few times to clear the tears so I could see properly. I was laying in a field of short grass, painted like a football field.

“Hey! Hey, how did you get in here? Didn’t you read the sign? NO TRESSPASSING! I’m calling the cops, stay right where you are!”

Oh shit! I panicked and scrambled to my feet. I was in an open stadium. No way out but up, and flying would be the fastest. I closed my eyes and took a running jump into the air, shifting into the huge black and white Raven I was. I circled high into the air and out of that stadium as fast as I could, leaving the guard to come back and search frantically for her. As it was, when he came back, he merely stood and looked around with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

My heart was pounding. It was pounding so hard I could barely fly. Everything about this place was different. Panicking, I circled the city for a few moments. I felt like I was in the stone age, with all these ancient buildings and cars and fashions. Where was I?

I went to the park to see if I could find Milo but I couldn’t. Where could he be? Where would I look? Exhausted, I landed awkwardly in a marsh like area and sat on the ground, shifting painfully into my human form, panting. I was still wearing my clothes--- a trick I had learned a long time ago.

I sat upright and looked around, dazzled and lost and dazed. I sat there for a good hour or two, before things began slowly came together. The lights, the movement, the confusion… god. Milo was right! This was an entirely new dimension.

I didn’t exist.

So why was someone calling my name?

“Hello?” I called out, scared sounding even to myself, “Milo?!”


(( OOC: ^_^; hope the post was okay. ))

[Milo Ventimiglia]

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe Tara wasn’t in the marsh. I looked around, sighing a little impatiently. Not because it was Tara’s fault, but because I felt like a real jackass, even though I knew I also wasn’t to blame for this. I scowled to myself in the dappled shadows, scratching my head and pacing a little. Should I move forward, or go back? She clearly wasn’t in the damned park. Besides, Isabelle was back in the park and that was way too awkward. She had seen me...as a teenager. Not only that, but she had recognised me fairly easily. So sure, my hair was different. I was way younger, thinner, shorter. Problem was, I had also done quite a few shows when I was younger, and I had looked similar to this into my twenties. People would recognise me if they had seen my earlier work but didn’t know what I looked like currently. Whatever the case, this was gonna cause so much confusion. And never mind those who knew me, or my fans. Those who didn’t know me would just see a minor, some kid who wasn’t allowed to go to the pub or vote and who was supposed to be in school.

I swore to myself, knowing it was a mistake to dwell on all this crap. All it was serving to do was work myself up into a worry, which didn’t help on top of my concern for Tara. What the fuck had I been thinking? Of course I would have gone to any length to get her here. But then what? Now that it had happened, and I had had no time to plan, I would have to figure out how to give her an identity, an existence in this world.
That meant dealing with some shady folk.

“Tara?” I called again. The marsh buzzed with life around me as I started to walk deeper in. The canopy thickened, making it darker and quieter. Well, the traffic was audible here, but the animals weren’t. My senses automatically tuned into the wilderness around, and I found myself gazing into the trees wistfully, wishing that life was as simple for me as it was for them. Or maybe I just felt drawn to it somehow. A gentle chatter broke the silence. Animals going about their daily lives, I supposed. It was both disconcerting and kind of a cool privilege to be able to listen in on their personal lives. Definitely surreal.

The rich variety of scents was almost distracting. Something moved sluggishly in the waters. I paused, wondering if I should be nervous, but it quickly dived further into the lake and vanished with a flick of what might have been a tail.
What is gonna be here other than the usual animals? I told myself, frowning. I swatted at some mosquitoes as they came closer. The path here was pretty rough and unmaintained; I guess the local council hadn’t really bothered with its upkeep since few people came here and the guy who conducted the nature walks had left the country two years ago. Nope; it was just Blackie and I most of the time, enjoying the silence and wondering whether any serial killers had hidden any bodies in here.

As luck had it, I wasn’t alone in the marsh. The sound of someone walking reached me, but I figured it wouldn’t be a problem. It wasn’t Tara; it smelled like a human male.
Fuck, getting used to saying ‘human’ like you’re not one of them, I thought bitterly.
A middle-aged police officer carrying a torch was heading straight for me. I almost mocked his use of a torch, but I had the advantage of good night vision in this dark, mysterious place. I kind of felt as though my peace had been disturbed, like this was my place.

“Hey,” I muttered as a form of politeness as he got closer. I kept my head low, while wondering desperately why he was here. Maybe the bodies really did exist.
“Hey, son. Stop a moment, would you?” the man said. I nearly bolted, but I stopped and looked up at him. “Shouldn’t you be in school? How old are you?”
“I’m eighteen,” I lied.
“No way on God’s earth are you eighteen. You barely look fifteen.”

Gee, thanks.

“I look young for my age,” I shrugged. If only he knew. “Did I do something wrong?”
“You should be in school,” he repeated, then paused. “I’m looking for a little girl. Her mother lost her at the park. I figured the marsh is a good ‘hidey hole’.” He peered at me almost suspiciously. “You seen any little kids around here, son?”
“No, I’m sorry, I haven’t. I’m looking for someone myself.”
“Why don’t you come with me?” His eyes looked me up and down, settling on first my skateboard then my tail. Great, he probably thought I was some rebel. “I can sort this out with your parents. Jesus freaking Christ, all I need, a distraction.”
“Hey, is that your girl?” I pointed, and as soon as he turned, I fled, cussing under my breath. Fuck me, this was ridiculous. Why hadn’t I just said I was home schooled? Then again, who the hell would buy that bullshit? It was probably a commonly used lie by kids playing hooky.
“Hey, hey!” the cop shouted. “Come back here young man! You come right back here!”
It was absurd. Chased down in my own neighbourhood for truanting. I kept running, but the cop’s footsteps died down presently. He had more pressing things on his mind than some kid, probably.

In my haste, I nearly tripped over someone. I should have smelled Tara before I saw her, but my mind was so full of crap that I wasn’t at all focused. I caught myself just before I ran into her, stumbling as I veered to the side slightly and then a few paces in front of her.
“Shit, what the fuck!” I said in surprise, turning around. “...Tara?” I blinked. “Oh my god Tara!” I probably embarrassed myself in the process, but not only did I drop my skateboard and hug her, I actually had tears in my eyes. God what a fucking loser I was today. “I thought I’d lost you...this is my fault somehow...I should have checked here first instead of going to try get my car, what a load of bullshit...man I’m so sorry, how long have you been here? I just knew you’d come through as well, I really had this feeling!”
I let go of her, realising I had hugged her.
“Shit, sorry...” I bashfully scratched my neck and took a few steps back, my face red. “I just...I dunno. I’m really freaked out. But...welcome to California. This is my home. I have no idea how we’re here, but we are.”

[tessa]

I heard him talking with the police man.

What could he possibly have gotten himself into this time? I wondered. I couldn’t make a move to help him though. I was so fucking frozen with fear that the only thing I could do was curl into myself further and hope to disappear. I didn’t want to get arrested. My mind was still geared towards my slave life, where getting arrested had become synonymous with unimaginable torture, and was something like a lottery where you would either be graced with immense luck or---lucky you--- ended up like almost every other abnormal person who has ever been arrested, and be subjected to degrading tests and the brunt of the police mans anger. Frankly I was not prepared, nor was I about to allow myself, to be put through that.

I was a little ashamed in myself. I sat there like a fucking lump, petrified to the point of not being able to help Milo even if I had half my mind to do so. So I squeezed my eyes shut and waited.

For some reason, a song came to mind. I had heard it, like...once before. It was from Canada...not ‘O Canada!’ but still something to do with the maple leaf. Singing helped me think anyway and managed to calm me down a bit. I caught myself humming the rough tune, my throat scratchy and the tone was way off but I didn’t give a rats shit what I sounded like; the idea was there. My own voice filled my brain and ears and closed me off from what I was sure were the sounds of Milo being arrested and taken off to be beaten, tried, or terminated and all I could fucking do was sit there and sing like some sort of scared fucking toddler.

I deserved to be a slave. I deserved to be arrested; I deserved every fucking beating I’d ever gotten if this was how I was going to act. How ashamed I was of myself. How submissive I had become. For the first time I saw myself not only as a slave, but as a person and that person had submitted willingly to the rule of humans and their supremecy, and that person was the reason I was about to lose the only person I actually enjoyed being near, or talking to, or even trusted for fucks sake!

I was pathetic.

I stopped singing and opened my eyes, listening. I tried to stand, having worked myself into some blind determination to save Milo, only to be knocked down again by some guy running down the path. I fell onto my ass but caught myself by sticking my palms out behind me, though my head snapped back as I looked up to see whose asshole I was about to rip open for not watching where they were going!

“...Tara?”

It was Milo.

“Oh my god Tara!”

My furious expression was swiped clean by shock, and he hugged me just as I righted myself into a proper sitting position. My arms were pinned to my sides as he hugged me and---was he crying?--- lord knows I was.
He seemed really upset. I couldn’t think of anything intelligent to say. All I did was sit there and stare blankly at the tree behind him until he let go of me and introduced me to his home. I peeled my eyes from the locked blank gaze that had them stuck to the tree and stuck it on Milo. My mouth opened—I don’t know how—and I whispered.

“You’re... this is...this is America?” We were still on Earth! The first thing I wanted to do was cross the border into my home country of Canada. It would be so much easier in this century! I could go home, finally go home! I smiled, “Milo... this is where you’re from? This is the fucking twenty-first century! Do you have ANY idea what this means? I mean,” I stood now and paced, my mind working a hundred miles a minute I swear! “I mean this—this is incredible! We’ve travelled through time, Milo! I knew people had said it was possible but I never thought it actually was! Fuck, I thought you were some sort of quack-job when we first met but it was in a cute way so I forget all about it but--” I practically threw my arms around him and hung off his neck, smiling and crying with happiness “ we’re both here and alive!”

I don’t know what had come over me. I squeezed him and let him go, grinning from ear to ear. “We need to go shopping!”

(( blech. muse was iffy, but I wanted to get one done before the power went out. lol))

[Milo Ventimiglia]

It figured. Tara had thought I was a whack job. She hadn’t believed me that I had come from the past...until now. And not just the past. Another whole dimension altogether, when taking into consideration the fact that no paranormal terrorists had ‘announced’ themselves in 2001 after the September 11th attacks in this world, and that I actually existed here. Tara wouldn’t, of course. I suddenly wondered if it would be kind to revel in the fact that she was here, with me. She was away from everything she knew, the same way I had been in her world. Technology here would seem dinosaurian to the point where she would have as much trouble using it as I had when using the strange, hi-tech things in her world.
Then again, who was revelling now? I was stuck as a kid. While she chattered in excitement, my mind tried to work out how someone from the future and someone who had de-aged and grown a tail would fit in here. I forced a shaky smile and hugged her back, letting her squeeze the breath out of my lungs.

“Seriously?” I said, mildly amused. “You find yourself in another world, in another time, and ... let me get this straight ... you wanna go shopping?” I shook my head and looked down the path. “We should go. There’s a cop looking for me. It’s school hours. They might even question you; I mean you could be seventeen or twenty-one for all they know, being nineteen and all. And you haven’t got any I.D.” I had I.D. from both worlds, as I had been able to keep my wallet, keys and cell phone, which suddenly had a signal again. Whilst walking home before, about a million texts had suddenly appeared in my inbox, but I hadn’t summoned the courage up to read them just yet. They would all be panic texts from my family, friends and work.

Where was I supposed to take Tara?
Back to my place, I thought, but I quickly squashed the idea. What if Jackie came home? She would question everything about me. I wasn’t ready to face her. I frowned in frustration, knowing that pretty soon, I would have to tell her my real age, and whatever else about me that was interesting. Maybe the fact I had a lot of fans who might freak her out. We could probably go unnoticed for long periods of time, I mean, I wasn’t that famous, but there were enough people around who might know me and who would cause some kind of trouble for us, given my young age and having Tara with me.
I wanted to just sit there and give up.
“So...shopping huh? Alright, let’s go shopping then,” I agreed after a moment’s hesitation. “We’ll go to the mall, we can get the bus just around the corner,” I suggested. The mall down the road was the one I went to for almost everything, so it wouldn’t be the best place to go. I looked over at Tara, studying her for a moment, then took her hand gently and squeezed it before letting go. I wished I hadn’t just done that, but I couldn’t help liking her as much as I did. “If you feel freaked out by anything, just let me know. Though I think you’re gonna just laugh at everything here. I mean...this is 2011. Technology to me is pretty awesome, but to you it’s going to seem really stone-age.” I quirked a smile just for her. “Feel free to make fun of whatever you want.”

As we walked, I figured it would be a good time to talk to her about this place. I hadn’t said much to her before about my life here. In fact, as we got out into the busy street and made our way to the bus stop, I kind of felt like I was on ‘This is Your Life’.
Cars piled up along the street, emitting greenhouse gases. Horns blared and people waved their fists out the window, faces screwed up in anger, foul language coming from their mouths. A girl wearing a pink dress lead a Chihuahua along on a leash, which was attached to a jewelled collar. She hung off a tall man, who laughed at some joke or other she made. The entire street was shaded by large trees, all caught in the throes of autumn. Palm trees swayed on every corner, and the odd eucalypt and pine complemented the well-kept gardens of my typical middle-class American neighbourhood. And of course, the sun shone down mercilessly, although it wasn’t too hot this time of year. None of the humidity which characterised the Midwest was evident here. That’s not to say it never gets humid in California. It does, but it’s not as common, and the further south you go towards San Diego, the more arid it gets.
The bus appeared. The large vehicle vibrated in an ungainly manner as it inched towards the very end of the bus stop. A group of teenagers jumped off, jostling each other, laughing and making jokes about strange characters whom they had seen throughout the day. They must have been around Tara’s age, out of school at least, and maybe just about to start their first year of college. One or two of them gave us a pass-over glance, and a girl slammed a heavy book on top of her partner’s head, making him cringe and laugh.
“Stop staring at her chest, asshole!” she giggled. I assumed they were referring to Tara, and I gave her a slightly startled look, forgetting that she was used to much cruder people.

The woman driving the bus looked as irritable as most of the bus drivers around here. I fished for my wallet again and found some quarters. Hawkeye had given them to me as change. Would they work here?
“Hey,” I said politely to the driver. She nodded her head, but otherwise didn’t seem too thrilled to see us. Her eyes ran over me and down to my tail. I looked down at the ticket machine, not wanting to see her expression, and touched my transport card to it. I took my ticket, then put the quarters in for Tara and handed her a ticket. I was relieved that the money seemed to be the same, or at least superficially the same.

“Easy,” I murmured to Tara as we took a seat. “Not that different from your world after all. We have transport cards that scan too, but I bet yours are way more high tech.” I settled on the seat next to her, leaning my skateboard up and curling my tail around me. “It takes nearly an hour to get into the city on this bus. We’re in my neighbourhood.” I gave her a serious look. “I guess this place will seem pretty odd to you. There are no slaves here in 2011. Well if there are, it’s completely illegal.” I thought about immigrants and people from over the Mexican border who did work for almost no money, but I didn’t want to complicate things by trying to explain that. “My tail is going to get odd looks. Only humans have civilisation here. There are some animals we can communicate with, but they are parrots, chimps and some others. Creatures like us...we aren’t supposed to exist. Just like pre-2001 in your world.” I’d given the history books an intense read, because I had wanted to know where I was. Not that I remembered much in a week’s reading other than the main points.
I didn’t actually know what Tara was, but I hadn’t wanted to rudely ask, either. I still didn’t know her all that well at all. That meant that I didn’t really know how she would react to all of this despite her happy outburst earlier.
“So...people don’t go around beating up other people. Only pets wear collars, and kids going to anime conventions or people who do it as a fashion. Like punks, Gothics, et cetera. So...people wear them out of choice here, which never seemed odd to me before I went to your world. You can imagine how much my mind has changed. Oh, and people wear wings and tails and that too. Costumes. Cosplays. They’ll think I’m a nerd with my tail, but that’s okay. But anyway, so...Tara...you don’t have to look down or behave as if they are better than you. I mean, obviously you can’t go and do the opposite, or you might get your face smacked in. But here, we are human. They will just see us as being human.” My babble probably went in one ear and out the other, but I couldn’t stop myself talking.

Anxiety made my heart beat a bit faster as the bus stopped and we exited. Sooner or later we would have to deal with life, and my ringing cell accentuated that fact.
“Excuse me,” I told Tara. I answered, seeing my sister’s name on the screen. We started walking towards the mall as I talked.
”Milo?!” Jackie yelled down the phone. I held it away from my ear, wincing. ”Where the fuck have you been? I get a note from you saying you’re ‘okay’ and all this bullshit, and where are you now, you just waltz off again? You have a real nerve! I’m calling mom and dad right now, you’re so busted!”
For a woman in her mid-thirties, Jackie sure as hell sounded more like fifteen. She had always been like that, though. She was older than me, but she had never quite grown up. She partied, she drank, she spent money on useless shit, and she bossed me around like it was her God-given right.
“I’m fine,” I replied, getting a bit angry. “Whatever, I vanish once and you get all on your high horse about it, when you always do stupid things like disappear for a weekend without saying anything, and...whatever.” I blushed, very aware of Tara’s presence now. I gave her an apologetic look. “Jackie, I’ll be home soon to explain it. I promise. I know you were worried, but trust me, it’s fine. I just...I just need some time to myself right now, without dealing with this.”
My voice must have sounded very broken up or something, because she relented.
”I’m ringing in an hour if I don’t see you,” she said a bit more calmly.

I hung up and put my phone away. I was all the more embarrassed because I had only met Tara a week ago. “Sorry about that, that was my sister. She’s understandably worried. But I just kind of want to walk around the mall right now with you and deal with all of that later. If she knew where I was, she would come storming down to get me, but she doesn’t.”
We were inside the mall doors now. I looked around, feeling a tiny bit more relaxed. The mall didn’t have any hologram helpers walking around, or people dragging slaves about on leashes. I inwardly cringed at the thought. Gerard had taken me to the mall a few days ago, and a hologram man had scared the fuck out of me. Then, some old guy had whacked me in the head with his walking stick ‘for looking at him’, and had told Gerard to put a damned leash on me. Gerard had actually defended me. He wasn’t all bad, just a jerk sometimes. But even if my adoptive parents weren’t totally evil, everyone else thought I was a freak worth being spat on and abused.
But not here. Here, I could look around and keep my head high...and smile. I quickly found an ATM and withdrew a heap of cash. I had a lot of money on my card, which had been useless in the other world. Even someone like me (who usually saved money and wasn’t materialistic like my sister) could appreciate the cash, and I looked at it in wonder before putting it into my wallet.
“God, it’s so good not to be poor again,” I said out loud to no one in particular. Sure, I had a months’ worth of bills and a mortgage to pay off...but that could wait. Jackie had hopefully paid the bills. It was better than getting pocket money from Gerard and Mauve and trying to survive on that. I handed Tara half of what I had withdrawn – about $200. “Now we have some money to do something fun with. You know, stuff we can do without being abused or kicked out for being freaks.”

Hardly anyone paid us any attention, except to my tail occasionally. However, it was just my luck that there was a Science Fiction convention going on just next door in the convention centre, and there were heaps of people dressed in crazy costumes around today. What an awesome convenient coincidence, I thought. So Tara and I became essentially just one of the many humans shopping and going about their daily lives, no one more important than the next person...and no one more lowly either. My world had plenty of racism and discrimination, but for once, we weren’t the victims.
Of course, people had other reasons to notice me. I turned my head for a second and saw a poster advertising the TV show I had been on for years, Heroes. And since I was on it, I quickly steered Tara in the other direction, my face red.
“Um let’s go...into...well what kind of stores do you like?” I asked her. She didn’t seem like Miss Fashion Princess, so maybe no clothes stores unless she asked. “Um...a music store? You could hear some old school music. Well old to you. I mean Lady Gaga to me is new.” I indicated the poster of her on the music store front. She was wearing some really, really insane outfit. “Let’s see if we can find a CD, I can show you the funny outfits.” I had no idea if she could tell that I was avoiding life in general right now, but I was in every way possible.

I calmed down a little bit, but I should have known that a Sci-Fi convention was actually a bad coincidence. We went into the store, and I saw a bunch of kids browsing through some records, mostly re-releases and some old original ones. They must have been at the convention, because they were dressed up. I didn’t actually realise one of them was dressed like my Heroes character Peter until it was too late.
“Omigod, like, no way,” one of the girls hissed. “That’s totally Milo Ventimiglia over there with that chick...”
“Dude, who is she?”
No human could have heard them, but I did, unfortunately. I tried not to react; after all, loud music was blasting through the store and I had the misfortune of being able to hear stuff over it.
“Okay is it just me or does he look really young? Are you sure that’s him?”
“It is, definitely,” said the guy who was wearing a long tan coloured coat like Peter’s. He looked nothing like me and I could tell he had spray-painted lighter hair black, because his complexion totally didn’t suit the hair colour. I didn’t know whether Tara had my sharp hearing, but I pretended I hadn’t heard and found the Lady Gaga CD, pulling the booklet out. I was clearly very uncomfortable and unable to hide it, which was sad considering I was an actor.

“I would totally know anyway,” said the girl who had first spoken.
“Yeah because you have an entire shrine devoted to him,” ‘Peter’ smirked.
“At least I don’t sit around all day at school reading comic books, loser,” she spat back. “Like, nobody reads X-men anymore. Everyone’s into Japanese manga now, it’s the in thing, it’s so cool.”
“It’s too cutesy for me, with those stupid big eyes,” he argued. I distracted myself away from their conversation as best as possible while trying to think of a reason to leave quickly. Too late; I should have kept listening, because they were standing in front of me before I could say anything.
The anime-fan girl was dressed crazily; she had a purple dress on which was trimmed with gold and flowed out around her feet, and a sword strapped to her back. She wore a white wig and lots of funny makeup, and had fake wings on her back. I wondered what Tara must think. The comic book guy just had jeans, a plain shirt and a long tan-coloured coat like Peter, but his hair looked terrible. He had definitely spray painted his hair black. My hair wasn’t even freaking black, it was dark brown. One of the other girls was wearing a cheerleading outfit from the show as well, and was probably dressed as Claire, Peter’s niece. And the forth girl – no idea; she was also in some odd anime costume.
I was usually really, really nice to my fans. Too nice. I thought they were awesome, and I respected them. But today I wasn’t in the mood. Still, I would make a real effort though I didn’t want to freak Tara out. They weren’t as bad as subjecting her to my insane sister and my parents, but fans can be a bit scary and these guys were definitely intimidating.

“Okay, he’s like, a kid, Milo’s not a teenager,” said ‘Peter’. “You sure that’s him? I admit the resemblance is ridiculous.”
“He’s the spitting image,” the winged girl persisted. She looked me over while I fumbled about trying to get the booklet back into the CD. “Besides, his name is on that collar tag, see?” How embarrassing. I had no idea what Tara was thinking because I was staring at the teenagers with a shocked look on my face, like a real idiot.
“He’s an actor, he can look any age he wants with a different haircut,” said the Claire girl. “Can we have your autograph? Please? Sorry, we’re like talking about you in front of you.” She grinned, revealing braces. “Is there any chance Heroes is going to come back? Why did they axe it?”
“I don’t...I don’t think so,” I stammered, feeling anxious again. Should I lie? They would talk either way. I scratched my head and put the CD down. “Sure, if you have a pen.” I shot Tara another apologetic look. I signed whatever they handed to me.
“No one said you were going to be at the convention. You were like, missing for a month, that’s crazy!”
“Where’d you get the tail and the collar? Awesome, I want some,” said the other anime girl, who had a fake collar on and fake fluffy ears on her head. “That tail moves!”
“I was just going there now,” I lied. “This is just a costume for...for some upcoming project that my friend and I here are in.” I indicated Tara, hating myself for putting her on the spot.

((OOC: Let’s say it’s now after school for the convention. Because I forgot that I’d made it a school day. Sorry the post is pretty shitty and all over the place, dunno why I had so much trouble with it. I should write at night but lately I’ve been too tired later to do anything!!))

[tessa]

I shook my head, “no, you idiot, I don’t want to go shopping because I want to go shopping.” I took a step back and looked down at my clothes; definitely not the norm on this planet. I gave myself and Milo a quick look over. I mean, to me we seemed normal. My clothes were ancient in comparison to the stuff, say, Anna bought, but here? Here they were still much too futuristic. I had learned about this time period in history. I seriously doubted I had learned about it correctly, or had learned events as events had actually had happened, so maybe things were much more similar than I thought and I was just overreacting. However I also found myself wondering why they would bother going and changing something like clothing habits and technology. It seemed like way too much effort and forethought on the government’s behalf. So I had decided I might know a little about what the deal was on this world, but not enough to go traipsing about dressing myself. Milo would know more about this than I would, no doubt. But the fashion differences were an easy assumption. “We look like freaks.” I grinned.

Then he took my hand and I stopped grinning. I don’t think I even blushed. I was stunned, but not stunned enough to not squeeze his hand back in response. God! His hand was so soft, so warm! So gentle and welcoming, and I cracked him a smile as he let go. “No I think I can handle it. I’ve got my big boy panties on today.” I said, though my voice was a little less certain of my joke as usual…much softer than I had intended it to be. I fell into step behind him, cursing inwardly at myself, and followed him through the park.

Capitol city was a lot busier than this but also, for some reason, a lot quieter. For example, those damned cars and busses! I have never heard anything so disgustingly loud and after being berated by that charming symphony I was fucking jumping for joy when I realized I hadn’t yet gone deaf. The second thing was the stench. I didn’t have the best sense of smell in my human or avian form and so I hadn’t realized how bad it smelled here. Again, because of the cars, and the sheer volume of people concentrated into small areas such as the sidewalks, which were poorly constructed at best, walking their dirty pets alongside civilized people. At least on my world pets were kept meticulously clean, which wasn’t something I could confidently say about slaves. I could feel my eyes widen and my ears ripped my head from side to side as new sounds and sights caught my attention. I was disoriented for a moment and clung to Milo as we walked along the sidewalk. When a bus approached us I stepped well back from it, even though I had placed Milo between it and me to begin with. I was mortified when he entered it and I entered tentatively, like some scared dog being led into a kennel for the first time. The driver looked at Milo and then at me, then back at the road as the doors swung shut on us and the bus lurched forward regardless of the groaning whine of the brakes. Soon it growled down the busy street and I found a seat very close to Milo, keeping my hands and arms as close to my person as I could, making me look all the more uncomfortable.

“Easy,” Milo murmured to me, and I strained to hear him over the sound of the bus that I wasn’t used to, “Not that different from your world after all.” He had said. Not that different? Not that different! Was he insane? Of course it was different! I was scared of my fucking wits. Poor Milo, I tried hard to imagine how he felt on my world. I looked away from him for a moment and out the window, admiring the old time buildings and billboards and ancient faces I had seen in archives which were new now; artists and politicians mostly. I was still listening to him, but only halfway. I was half caught up in my own thoughts. I felt like such a bitch. I was so caught up in my own little world that I was a complete bitch to him, and for no reason. All he ever was to me was… well a perfect gentleman to be honest, or as close as I have ever gotten to a proper gentleman, anyway. I would think again if I met someone who claimed to be from a different world. If I ever meet someone who claims to be from a different world, that is. He continued on, “…There are no slaves in 2011. Well if there are it’s completely illegal.” He went on to explain how there are animals that humans can communicate with and that people like us don’t exist, or aren’t supposed to; that only pets wear collars, or fucked up humans who wear costumes and such which was possibly the most messed up thing I have heard in my little life so far; and that people don’t go beating up other people. Oh sure fights happen, I was positive of that, but like…senseless hate crimes against paranormals? I guess it made sense that there were none of those here, since there weren’t technically any in existence to senselessly beat up, and the human rights movement had been established and followed through with by this time through the African Americans and World War Two and all that fun stuff, in North America anyway. I don’t know it’s all politics or some other bullshit like that; useless if you ask me, but I suppose that war was an exception.

“But anyway, so...Tara...you don’t have to look down or behave as if they are better than you. I mean, obviously you can’t go and do the opposite, or you might get your face smacked in. But here, we are human. They will just see us as being human.” That was an odd thought. Would I be able to do that? I flashed him a quick grin and turned my attention back out the window. Shit! I was going to fuck up and completely embarrass him. I would have to be even more careful on this world to make sure I was not subservient than I would on mine to make sure that I was. What a fucking twist that was.

I followed him off the bus and was so taken by the stuff I saw at first I hadn’t realised Milo had stopped to talk on his ancient phone. Seriously: how did that even work? It was fantastic!

I stopped a few steps away from him on the sidewalk, standing there awkwardly as people flowed around me. Some gave my collar odd looks and I smiled and let my gaze wander in the opposite direction. I could hear Milo talking on the phone and sauntered up to him again, listening with interest. Was he in trouble? When he closed the call he apologised and said it was his sister, which was a momentous relief because I was afraid it was something much worse than a worried family member. I smiled and took his hand in mine. Not that I had been thinking about doing that this entire time or anything, but as I did so I could feel my face flushing and my heart thud heavy in the bottom of my chest.

The mall was another fantastic place. But everything seemed so slow and primitive. I had to resist the urge to run up to every shop and stand I saw and examine everything thoroughly .Follow Milo, I instructed myself, don’t get side tracked. I felt as if Milo were going in more directions than I was, because a moment later I looked forward again and he was hovered over this strange little machine. I couldn’t imagine what it was possibly for, until he turned around and tried to hand me money.

“What?” I said, “No, no Milo I can’t take this. Seriously, for fucks sake man! Do you SEE how much that is? Did you fail math or something?” I shook my head. It was a nice thought but I felt weird taking money from him. “Snowballs chance in hell I’m letting you give me that much. I just need a change of clothes; that’s it.” I wasn’t about to take no for an answer, but suddenly felt nervous standing there with all that cash. I quickly put it in my pocket when I thought I saw someone looking for me. They were going to wonder why a slave had all that money; they would think I robbed some--- oh, hang on. I took another good look around the mall. Nope. No one was interested in the least as to what I was doing. Weird. I walked up and stood close to Milo, “Um. Thank you though. That’s very generous of you.” I said awkwardly, blushing madly. “Music is good. I like music.” I murmured, too embarrassed in myself to sound any more enthusiastic. The music store smelled like plastic, static electricity and dust. It was warm with the TV’s and the CD players. Wow! I walked up and down the aisles like a maniac, picking up and examining things. I picked up a CD next to a public CD player that let you try out CD’s first. How the hell did this thing work?

“Hurry up!” grumped another customer.
“S-sorry.” I muttered, dropping the CD and sliding into place next to Milo again. Soon a group of people dressed up like paranormals approached us. They must have been humans dressed up. They came, chattering about how different he looked; how younger he looked. A little warning bell went off in my head. Wait… didn’t I see a poster…and a DVD with someone that looked suspiciously like…? But no, I had dismissed it as some sort of coincidence. Now? Huh. I watched him carefully.

The fans chattered in excitement and asked him to autograph whatever they had handy. He gestured to me and I gave him a questioning look. The fans looked to me to answer, “Um…yeah. That’s me... we work together all the time.” I said with a nervous trailing chuckled. One of them gave me an odd look.

“Okay… so are you like, foreign or something?”


“I’m Canadian.” I answered proudly. They weren’t buying it. I grimaced, “eh.”

They beamed. “Cool! Thanks Milo, and er… miss…whatever; Canadian…girl. I can’t wait!” the uber-fan said as her friends dragged her away, mocking her for her shameless gushing over Milo. When they were gone I turned to him slowly, grinning.
“I see.” I said, crossing my arms and looking up at him with a satisfied ‘I knew it!’ kind of smirk. “Interesting…”

((OOC: Its long. DX hope its okay))

[Milo Ventimiglia]

Tara at least didn’t seem to be a poor liar. One of my eyebrows rose as the winged girl queried either her clothes or her accent, I wasn’t quite sure. It was a bit of a rude thing to ask, but then again, they hadn’t been entirely polite in the first place, coming up to us, talking about us blatantly where even a half-deaf human could hear them, and then badgering us. Not that I generally minded unless someone came up to me when I was very obviously busy or engaged in a conversation with someone else. That bothered me a lot, actually; I was always very careful about approaching people whom I looked up to. I usually didn’t bother to approach them, but if I was at a social gathering where they happened to be, I was extremely low key about it. Still, I took it with good grace. But...’Are you foreign?’? What kinda comment was that?!

“What, you’ve never met a Canadian before? It’s just over the border,” I asked them incredulously before I could stop myself. ‘Peter’ or whatever his real name was quirked both eyebrows at me, then shrugged. Teenagers were weird. It couldn’t be her fashion sense; I saw people in way weirder. Me, well, I had found the clothes most like what I normally wore back home anyway, so I didn’t feel too out of place.
They eventually left, leaving me to breathe a little easier...until Tara turned to smirk at me, eyes gleaming. I fidgeted uncomfortably and scratched my head.
“Well...I guess there might have been some...things that I didn’t mention,” I said guiltily. “I suppose I was gonna just come to it when we got home. And see, we got home didn’t we? All that talk about giving up, and I’m stuck here, and all that, well, here we are. Home.”

I took her out of the CD store and located a coffee place. We ordered, then sat down. There were no computers to order from at the tables, which was a relief. When I say computers, I mean weird hologram-type screen things that show up, and then vanish completely into the table once the order is placed. Sheesh! You’d think they were trying to limit contact with other people as much as possible on Tara’s world. It wasn’t like that everywhere; Hawkeye’s place had no computers.
While we waited for our order, I leaned over the table, fingers laced together, my face a bit grim. I couldn’t quite look her in the eye for more than a few seconds as I spoke, and I fidgeted, curling my tail around the chair leg without really thinking. A little girl behind us giggled, but I was too distracted to care.

“As you can see, I have some fans. I did mention I was an actor. Don’t worry, I’m not enormously famous or anything like that.” I made a face. “Not like that...that stupid pop star guy in your world, what’s his name? Finn something? I don't own a fancy car or a big ass house, I'm comfortable but I'm not rich...I have a mortgage to pay off. I have a holiday home in Sicily, but actually, I don't own it. My uncle does, he just lets me stay there whenever I want as long as I help around the farm.” I played with the menu on the table. “Oh yum, bruschetta bread. Anyway. Yeah...that’s not the big thing, really, I guess. We should talk about my age. Maybe you might’ve sort of picked up on it, a smart girl like you. I’m not...well...I was actually born in this world twenty-nine years ago.” This time, I did look up at her, even though I was a bit scared to. Would she care? “Something happened when I went through the portal. I guess the magic fucked with me. It could’ve been worse...I could’ve reverted to a baby or some shit. Y’know, that totally would have sucked. But yeah.”

I looked back down at myself, plucking at my shirt. I felt so...dorky. I was skinny, I needed a haircut, and I hadn’t even grown to my full height, which was a whopping 5’8 anyway. So, I wasn’t the tallest guy around, or the most muscular. I had definitely had muscle before this crazy adventure. I had always been leanly built, never a big guy, but now? I was weedy as anything.
“It’s not a lot of fun, being a teenager,” I mused. “My emotions are whacky. I’m...well look at me. It’s hit my brain too, because even though I have another thirteen years of knowledge and self awareness, I’m moody and if you were to make a joke about the reproductive system, I’m fairly sure I’d laugh for a bit. I’ve always had a pretty young mentality. Just more reserved as I got older, I guess.”

The waitress appeared at that moment. She smiled, leaning down to pass out our orders.
“Thanks,” I smiled, taking my cappuccino. I left it to cool down and waited until the girl had gone before resuming my speech. “I thought I would go back to normal when I got home. Clearly that’s not the case. I’m still a kid, and common sense tells me that I’m stuck this way. I’ll have to age normally.”
My eyes widened.
What if I didn’t age at all?
“Uh...surely I’ll age...right? Surely I won’t be a skinny dork forever? No. That’s stupid.” I calmed myself down a bit, then looked down at my coffee. “Stupid. Then again, who the fuck knows what’ll happen; I mean, a week ago, I didn’t know people could have tails. I didn’t know other dimensions existed. And I sure as hell didn’t know people could lose years instead of gaining them. I should be grateful, I’m not looking my thirtieth birthday in the eye, I’m looking forward to my seventeenth...but I can’t feel grateful.”

Except that you can kiss Tara and not feel bad about it. If she’s not hugely pissed off.

My eyes went from my coffee to Tara. She was such a pretty girl. I didn’t know what to think. Ten years wasn’t that big an age gap these days. But what about in her world? I had no idea if that was taboo there or not. Probably not. It had never really been taboo, I guess, when I thought about it. But just as bad was the fact I was now three years younger than she was. Would having existed for twenty-nine years make a difference to the fact that I was significantly younger than her physically? My sister Jackie used to scoff at the idea of dating a guy younger than her, unless he was in his mid-twenties...at the very least.
”Guys mature sooo much later,” she’d said. ”Look at you, prime example, still skateboarding around, geez Milo, you’re thirty this year, and you still play around like a kid. When are you gonna grow up?”

Never mind the fact that Jackie still went out and partied with her friends at dance clubs, got drunk until stupid hours of the morning, and woke up hung over several times a week.

“Hey...Tara. I’m sorry that I lied to you. It was a pretty bad thing to do. I guess...I barely know you. Let’s be honest and realistic here. But I like you. It should seem kind of wrong, I guess. You’re nineteen and I’m like, both ten years older and three years younger than you. Does that bother you? Cause if it does...I’ll shut the feelings away. And I’ll do my best to help you out here. I promise you, it won’t ruin things. I’ll try to move on. It seems silly, I have a goddamned crush on you.”
My face reddened a bit. I was lying anyway about moving on. It wasn’t that simple. But why complicate and ruin things for her? It seemed that she was probably stuck here anyway. Unless something happened to make us fall back into that hell hole of a world she had come from. I had visited Ontario a few years ago; Canada was a gorgeous place, with nice people and a generally good atmosphere if you went to the right parts. But if I ever went back there, I would be thinking about its possible future. Would the same thing happen? Too many bad things had happened in Wonder City for me.

“What sucks now is I really, really need to go home and see my family,” I said apologetically. “You can come if you want. If not, I have a friend, Isabella, who could take you in. It’s just, I’m not sure if I wanna subject you to my family. We’re all kinda loud.” I smiled ruefully. “My friends think it’s an Italian thing, but my mom’s just as loud, and she’s not Italian. Not even a little bit. I...I guess once I’ve let them know that I’m not...that I’m okay, we should discuss what happens next. What...well, what you wanna do.”

My expression became very serious and my hazel eyes filled with empathy.
“This must be crazy for you. This world. It’s probably dinosaurian to you; I’m probably so primitive, so ... well, clueless. It’s dirty here, yeah. L.A. city in general is pretty smoggy, but it doesn’t matter where you go unless you go right out into the countryside in this world. We’re trying to go green. And technology to me is kinda complex here as it is. But on your world? Insane. I just...” I tilted my head a little, really feeling bad for her, reconnecting briefly with my own experiences on her world. “You’ve got your freedom, but I want to help you get your own life. I was captured and just sold off. That won’t happen here. They gave me a life, but not my freedom. It’s the opposite here, but a nameless person will attract suspicion.”

I yanked at my collar a bit, my eyes hardening. “We should figure out how to get these horrible things off our necks. Whether they have the technology in my time to do that, I don’t know. I figure we can ask my dad first, he’s really good at making things.” I shuddered a little. “I won’t feel comfortable until it’s off my neck, even though I had forgotten about it really until now. But still, the thought of it being there...but yeah, your choice, family or Isabella’s...and I’m sorry, did I mention, I was sorry? And...and we can buy you clothes before hand, there're plenty of cool places, like American Eagle, I totally directed a TV show for them once, and Walmart for cheaper clothes but I have heaps of cash on me. Jackie would've paid a months' worth of bills anyway, hah, she uses up most of my freaking electricity anyway.”

Hopefully, Tara wasn’t massively pissed off at me. I had continued to talk in a crazed way for a good few minutes now, maybe delaying the inevitable, that she would be extremely fucking mad at me. I probably had a ‘forgive me’ face right now. Who knew who she would take it.

[tessa]

I could sense Milo’s annoyance with his fans. I thought it was kind of cool at first, after being initially worried about who these people were and why they were talking to us. I was mildly amused by their question, even more so amused that they thought a Canadian accent was defined by the word ‘eh’ and ‘eh’ alone.
I mean seriously, the only real reason Canadian’s even use that word is to make fun of stupid people like this. Americans, mostly, since we get more American tourists who think they know a bunch about Canada because they watched this show or that documentary. All American made I bet. It was kind of a funny relationship, between the two countries. Canadian’s assume all Americans own guns and talk with a thick southern drawl. And they do; in westerns.

I appreciated Milo defending me. He was getting very good at that. Actually at first I was a little annoyed. What did he think I couldn’t do anything on my own? Was I some fucking damsel in distress to be saved and saved again from some evil forces in the world my meek little mind and soft disposition couldn’t grasp? But I looked back at myself. What a fucking hypocrite I was. Of course I was a damsel in distress. I was practically useless, because I didn’t stand up for myself in any way, shape, or form. Milo didn’t know much about me. He didn’t know about my flings, my substance use, all of the fun things I did with the faint hopes that it may accidentally kill me. I admit it, there is no shame in it the way I see it and I fucking muddled my way through to something mildly better I guess. So who the fuck was I to judge? I wasn’t--- I am not.

I followed him from the CD store and stopped looking around like a confused idiot once my neck started to get sore. I lifted my hand and dug my thumb into the muscle of my neck and rubbed the knot from it, rolling my head from side to side. I felt it crack, and rolled my shoulders, straightening my spine as we entered the coffee shop. People ignored us, as usual. It was nice in some ways but the atmosphere seemed somehow cold…formal, uncaring and distant. A few people were reading silently, others were listening to their music and few were chatting. I noticed the lack of technology in the ways of ordering food, but then what was the difference between placing your order with these people rather than a computer? A pulse, perhaps, but they were getting their asses worked off since they were completely swamped with customers.

I took a seat at the table and felt the colour seep from my cheek bones. I was normally pale but I felt like I was wilting, though I did my best to prop myself up. I figured coffee might help anyway. In the meantime I leaned my elbows on the table and studied Milo’s face as he spoke, studied how pretty his features were. His eyes, his mouth and the way his hair sat on his head. I just wanted to reach out and hug him, feel his hands running through my hair, and softness of his skin under my own hands.

But… he was born twenty nine years ago from this year, this current year. That would make him ten years older than me. Ten! But I thought he was sixteen? I sat straight in my chair and considered that thought for a moment.

“… so you got changed into a teenager when you came to my world?” I recapped, noticing my coffee for the first time. I lifted it to my lips and sipped at it, and robotically placed it down again as if it were some foreign object that felt awkward to hold. “Sorry but I suck at science, in case you didn’t know.” I grinned at him, because honestly? After what had just happened to me---going to a whole new dimension--- how did he expect me not to believe him? No fucking way. I was expecting to turn green, or be able to run faster that speeding bullets, or grow an extra pair of lips on my ass so when people go to kiss it, it kisses back. That would be fucking awesome! Screw being a shapeshifter, I want a fucking pair of lips on my ass. But anyway, not being good at science didn’t mean I wasn’t interested in it. How could that turn you younger? Why was I still nineteen? WAS I still nineteen?

He talked again and I listened patiently, nodding here and there, grinning into my coffee as he admitted his feelings towards me, frowning again when he said it would be difficult being both ten years older and three years younger. He was a fucking conundrum on legs wasn’t he? At least he wasn’t a rubik’s cube. I fucking hate those things.

“Milo,” I said, “we’re okay. I like you two. I think you’re great, ten years older or three years younger. I guess you could say I have a thing for you too,” I explained, “I mean, not guess, I DO have a thing for you…a crush I suppose. But I’m okay being friends too, you ARE my friend, not just some piece of ass.” I grinned and looked down at my cup. “It doesn’t bother me---age. And there is no way I’m letting you go off and leave me here. I want to come with you, if that’s okay. I mean, if you think you’re family wont explode from the sudden surprises.”

[Milo Ventimiglia]

Tara’s easygoing acceptance of the age differences should have made me feel more relieved than it did. I mean, I was relieved, but I also felt a bit uneasy. I smiled, blushing a little at her words. It was so stupid, this high school crush stuff. Here I was, desperately infatuated with a girl and almost too shy to express it at all, though anyone with half a brain could probably see exactly what I was feeling by my body and facial language. It sucked to be such an open book right now.
“I...uh...yeah,” I mumbled, suddenly a bit lost for words after my long speech and her interesting reply. “So like...yeah. That’s good. I guess we should go back to my place.” I rubbed my neck and fumbled about with my coffee, nearly spilling it. I felt as if the hottest girl in school had just kissed me.
God, I may as well go and enrol back at high school, I’m behaving enough like I belong there, I despaired. Not that I would actually go and do that.
Shit.
Surely I wouldn’t have to go back to school?! I barely looked sixteen; people would ask questions. I would definitely have to obtain some proof of homeschooling.
Ha. Fuck.


I had the feeling that the other major source of my anxiety was because Tara had readily agreed to meet my family.
I had never been embarrassed about them; my parents were pretty hip, I suppose, though my dad could be a little scary to some people. My sister, well...people thought she was cool, a bit of a hippy maybe. Jackie was less reserved than me. She was also a charmer; most people liked her on sight. So why did I feel so nervous?
Because I have to confront them about this weird shit that’s happened, and Tara will be there, watching me squirm, I thought, looking into the distance uncomfortably and taking another sip of the warm, milky coffee.

We didn’t stay too long. I took our coffee mugs to the counter, something I had a habit of doing even though it wasn’t my job. I thanked the staff, who cast me a weird look (as usual), then lead Tara out of the shopping centre. I was a little shocked to see people taking photos of us as we got outside. The paparazzi, as I collectively called anyone obtrusively taking candid photos of someone they didn’t know, didn’t bother me all that much. I wasn’t interesting enough, but I wasn’t off their radar, either. I guess Tara was probably the point of interest. That and my sudden youth and my tail. I had very, very rarely been followed by them in my neighbourhood, but perhaps my sudden appearance had bought them flocking here. News spread fast, what with social media and all that.

“Just don’t look at them,” I said in embarrassment as one guy wearing copious amounts of bling aimed a camera at her. The last girl I had dated had been an actress, so I hadn’t had to explain things like this to her. “If you cover your face, they’ll just sell the photos to some stupid magazine, and some pretend ‘journalist’ will write an article speculating about your identity. Great, huh? But at least they won’t know who you are. Unless you want them to, then that’s your choice, not mine.” I said this in a nice way. Celebrity culture seemed to be very similar in her world, so she probably wasn’t ignorant about it.
Just to be a smartass, I took my cell phone out and snapped a few photos of the photographers. One of them laughed and gave me the thumbs up, missing the point, but hey, whatever.

The bus we took home was even ricketier than last time; it bounced over every pothole and bump in the road, skidded around the corners, deafened me with its squealing breaks, and nearly rammed up the ass of another bus. Damn, we needed some new buses. What the hell were they spending taxpayers’ money on? Not public transport, that was for sure.
“I’m sorry,” I said as we staggered unsteadily off the bus and onto the pavement near the park. “Your buses are so much more, um, well smooth.”

Isabella and Blackie were, predictably, no longer at the park. Tara and I took a short cut straight through the park rather than through the swamp. We avoided flying Frisbees, footballs and various other projectiles as we evaded school kids fresh from classes. I pulled an awesome ninja move near the edge of the park, catching a fast-moving baseball in midair without turning my head or pausing in my stride. I hadn’t been great at sports in high school, but I had incredible reflexes, and I hadn’t been interested enough in playing sports to even try my luck. Other than skateboarding, of course, but that wasn’t the kind of sport the school really endorsed. Not like football or basketball.
A moment later, I tripped over a floppy-eared, disproportionate puppy. I could be incredibly clumsy at times, too, which wasn’t as funny as the puppy’s owner made it out to be. Alright, I can give the kid a break; he was like, five years old or something.

My house loomed up ahead of us as we made our way into my street. A cicada chorus welcomed our arrival, starting up as we stepped onto the lawn. We were even greeted by a tiny earthquake, which probably wasn’t noticeable to most people.
Then again, I wasn’t ‘most people’.
“Jackie,” I called, knocking on the door and announcing my presence. I didn’t want her opening it and getting a surprise. Sure, she knew I was home, but seeing me was different to just hearing my voice. I was about to unlock the wooden door when it swung open a little violently.

A shocked face peered out at me, bluish-green eyes wide and staring. I vaguely noticed that Jackie had chopped her hair shorter before she rushed at me, grabbing me in a hug and literally dragging me inside. She didn’t seem to register Tara’s appearance, and strong arms kept me pinned so that I couldn’t escape.
Jackie’s scent washed over me, making me feel far more at home than anything else so far had, despite this world’s charming familiarity. She smelled a little of alcohol, which wasn’t unusual. Perfume overrode it, making me wrinkle my nose slightly. Underneath the less attractive scents was her own, unique scent; the scent I remembered from birth. I was only just now starting to realise how weird it was to be able to recognise my family members and friends by scent.

“God, Milo, where have you been?!” Jackie sniffed, her arms so tight I was having issues breathing. “You scared me...you really scared me...you little brat! I call...I called mom and dad...and they’re gonna be here any time now, little asshole! Where the fuck have you been?!”
She pushed me away from her, and I nearly stumbled back into Tara. I cast the poor girl an apologetic look while Jackie ranted.
“...month and your cell never picked up and you leave me a note! A note! Milo! A note!”
Jackie paused. She cocked her head to the side and put her hands on her hips. My sister was probably what people would consider a gorgeous woman. She was a couple of inches shorter than me, standing at a height of 5’6. Her hair was dark brown like mine, and reached a little past her shoulders. It was wavier than mine, which was almost completely straight apart from a slight kink or two. Jackie’s olive skin tone and facial structure was very similar to mine, although her eyes were an aqua colour and mine were hazel.

“You’re a kid,” she said suddenly. Like a cat, she began to slowly walk around me, casting Tara a brief, questioning glance before settling her eyes back on me. I noticed that she said absolutely nothing about my incredibly life-like, moving tail. It occurred to me in that moment that if my age was more important, Jackie must have known something about the tail for a lot longer than me. Her eyes narrowed for a moment, then she smirked.
“You’re so cute! Omigod! Look at your face, look at you, you’re so...lanky, and short! Look, you’re like, the same height as me now!”
“Why aren’t you freaking out as much as I did?!” I protested as she ruffled my hair, winked at Tara and continued to giggle at me.
“Hey, so who’s the girl then?”
“Tara. That’s Tara. Hey get off me! Stop it!” I shoved at her as she tried to pinch my cheek.
“She’s older than you, omigod my little brother is dating college girls! This gives a whole new meaning...depth...whatever to ‘little brother’. You could be my son, if I’d had kids at fifteen!”
“Jerk!” I growled. Jackie turned her back on me and offered Tara a hand.
“I’m Jackie. Milo’s -way- older sister. But young at heart.” Jackie looked maybe twenty-five at the most, but she was really thirty-one.

“You’ve said nothing about the tail,” I pointed out. Jackie turned to glare at me, probably because I was interrupting her greeting with Tara. I didn’t mean to be rude, but at the moment, this was important to me. I had to know.
“What about it? You’re gone for a month, and you come back with a tail, so what? I figure you must have worked it out. Anyway, what happened to you? Why are you all...adolescent?”
“To me, it’s been a week.” I sat down on a chair by the kitchen table, inviting Tara to also sit down. Jackie paced around the table a little, her hands on her hips as I continued. “I got pulled into some other dimension in Canada, as crazy as that sounds, and I got there as a kid. I met Tara there. Then I was suddenly back here. I don’t know what happened. I got there and I grew a tail, and the government there...well let’s just say they don’t like people who aren’t human, and clearly, I’m not, and I wanna know why.” I gave her an angry look. She shrugged and looked from me to Tara then back at me again, then took a seat.
“Well, mom and dad have tails, so do I. We just hide them. I found out a few years ago. They weren’t gonna tell us, but I was digging up information on Mactíre – you remember ol’ grandpa Mactíre, who looked like he was thirty, if even that? He was so weird, but he had the best stories.”
“Wait, how do you hide it?” I asked suddenly. Come to think of it, how did Tara hide what she was, and hey, what was she anyway?

Jackie was about to answer me when someone else knocked on the door. I knew instantly that it was my parents. I recognised their knock, and the way mom’s keys jingled in her bag, and I could kind of sense them. Great, more complications.
My sister opened the door. I fidgeted and hunched over the table, leaning on my elbows and partially covering my face with my hands. I had missed them terribly while I was in Wonder City, because I hadn’t thought I would ever see them again. Right now, however, I just didn’t want to confront them, for fear of what I might find out.
“Mom, dad, he’s here!” Jackie announced enthusiastically, sounding more like a little girl than a grown woman. Mom came in first, her face a picture of seriousness and relief. Her face was more drawn than usual, though her green eyes sparkled. My disappearance had probably hurt her the most. I suddenly felt like a real jackass, and I stood up, hugging her tightly without speaking. Dad and Jackie joined in the hug. I forgot all about poor Tara for a few moments, something which I felt a little bad for later. Here I was, showing off the fact that I had a home and a family who loved me when she was out of her world, her context, and everything else she knew.

I grew a little embarrassed as my parents examined me. One of dad’s eyebrows rose as he got a good look at me, and again I noticed that he paid my tail no attention, although mom seemed to be interested in it. I gave them the same brief explanation that I had given Jackie, but not going into details just yet.
“So, you look like a kid,” dad remarked. His dark brown eyes didn’t hold the same humour Jackie’s had. “Inter-dimensional travel can have some...uh...side effects. At least yours wasn’t anything malignant. Though you might want to stay away from the media for a while.”
“Too late, the goddamned paparazzi got a million shots of me and Tara outside the mall,” I sighed. “We should talk about how you know so much about all this sci-fi crap.”
“It’s not crap, Milo,” mom interjected. She sat down, studying Tara. “Who is your friend? I’m sorry, we just got so caught up...our son has been missing for...for a whole month. I’m Isolde, and my husband is Charlie.” She made a point of smiling. Dad also nodded at her, his face betraying his curiosity. He and I shared a lot of facial expressions. In fact, there was no mistaking that this was definitely my family.

Mom had a lot of mixed ethnicities, but she had pale skin and dark blonde hair, which was almost golden. She wouldn’t look out of place in some small Irish or Scottish village, not with such fey-like eyes. They were a more startling green than Jackie’s, and she and Jackie were around the same height.
Dad was the tallest in the family, reaching 5’10, just a couple of inches taller than I was. He was fully Sicilian, with short, curly black hair and slightly darker skin than mine, but the same olive tone. Like me, he was a slender build and leanly muscled. He may not have looked incredibly strong, but looks were deceiving with my dad. I guess I was a pretty good mix between my parents, though people almost always guessed I was Italian or something similar.

“Tara came here with me,” I said after Tara had replied. “She is from Canada, in the future. Man, I sound really insane.”
“No, you don’t,” dad said. He narrowed his eyes slightly, but not in a nasty way, his eyes on Tara still. His mouth quirked in a smile suddenly, as if he had come to some sort of decision. “Well, Tara, if you need anything, you know you can come to us, alright? It can’t be easy, being dragged from another world. I’m sure my son knows that.”
He didn’t even know her. What had he found so special about her?
“We’ll save the heavy discussions for later,” mom decided for everyone. “I just...god, a whole month...”
“I..but I have questions,” I protested. “I mean...dad, you said people sometimes grew...younger. What else can happen? Tara escaped the effects of the portal. And am I stuck like this? What about the tail?” It frustrated me that my parents and Jackie were so goddamned laid back about all of this stuff. Mom looked a little guilty, and even dad scratched at his neck, perhaps pondering just how to explain everything and tear away all of the perceptions of the world that I had grown up with.

“You’ll grow normally,” dad reassured me. “It might affect your mind a bit, but only to the point where you’ll just behave a bit like a teenager. You’ll stop aging in your twenties...physically, that is, but the way you dress can really change your age. You’re an actor, you know that.”
“I guess,” I mumbled. “...that little bit of grey in your hair...is that fake?”
“Yeah, it is.” Dad put a hand up to his hair, grinning a bit ruefully.
“Always thought it looked out of place. So I have to freaking wait, to grow up again?”
“Unfortunately, you do. It’s a bit of a problem,” mom said hesitantly. “We’ll work it out. And don’t worry about the tail, it’s completely natural. I can show you how to hide it. And what else can happen during interdimensional travel? You sure you wanna know? I’ll tell you anyway, because it’s interesting, but horrible. People can get mangled and even explode, that’s the worst case scenario. We knew someone who became a baby! She’s...just turned three...her own daughter is older than she is...”
“What’s with the funny collars, guys?” Jackie interrupted, which was probably a good thing since I was totally lost for words by mom’s explanation. “Is it some sort of kinky thing you guys have going? Maybe I should have tried bondage with my husband...we might not have gotten so bored...”
“Jackie!” mom glared. “We have company. I didn’t raise you to be so rude in public.”
“You wouldn’t care if we were alone,” she grinned impishly. I smirked despite the situation. Mom chuckled lightly and let it go.
“Uh, no, you pervert; the government forced them on us. I told you, they don’t like ‘freaks’-”
“Don’t ever use that word again!” Dad suddenly roared, slamming a fist on the table, which shuddered in protest. Mom rolled her eyes, but I didn’t have it in me to be so blasé about the anger radiating off my father. I shrank back a little, and Jackie folded her arms a little uncomfortably. All the hairs on my neck stood up. The air seemed to crackle with electricity, which always happened when anyone in my family got pissed off, including me. It was pretty strange.

“...um...sorry, it’s just...that’s what they call us,” I said quietly and a little bitterly, resisting the urge to get defensive.
“Charlie, calm the hell down,” mom snapped. “Milo, it’s okay. It’s fine. He isn’t angry with you.”
“No...no, I’m not mad,” dad sighed. “it’s just...I have a bad history with racism. I was teased mercilessly at school because I was Italian, and I was bilingual. You’re lucky, you don’t suffer from that as much these days. But that doesn’t bother me that much anymore. I’m talking a different kind of racism, between species.”
“Now isn’t the time,” mom reminded him. I was desperate to know, but I didn’t press him.

“So, Tara, what do you do for a living?” Jackie asked, bringing her chair a little closer to her. I just hoped Tara wasn’t too uncomfortable. Dad came to sit beside me.
“You want me to have a look at the collar?” he asked. I shrugged. I didn’t think he could get it off, to be honest; the technology of Tara’s time was quite a bit beyond that of 2011. I didn’t tell dad about the slaves, or the complex government legislation being passed to outlaw it, or about my ‘adoptive parents’. I didn’t mention the crap I had been through or Tara’s living conditions. Right now, the last thing I wanted was for them to worry too much. We were home now, and that was all that mattered.
“...where the hell is the opening?” dad growled, frustrated. “Milo, for god’s sakes, stop fidgeting!”
“I’m ticklish, geez!”
“...first boyfriend was Canadian,” I heard Jackie saying. “He was so cute, but he had to go back to Canada. We were like, nine.”
“Well try to sit still!” dad snapped at me, hooking a finger under the collar to keep me still. “This thing is pretty tight around your neck. Bastards...how can they allow such a thing?!”
“Humans...” mom muttered. “Almost as bad as the Seelie...hypocrites and cretins...”
Dad visibly stiffened. “Don’t mention those self-righteous, glowing sons of bitches to me...damn it, this collar is ridiculous!” He let me go. “The metal is so light, yet I can’t even break it. There’s a strange energy coming off it...I don’t like it...it makes my skin crawl.”
“Try being forced to wear one,” I said sullenly while wondering who the ‘Seelie’ were. I glanced at Jackie and Tara. Jackie seemed avidly interested in her. Like me, she had a natural curiosity, and also like me, she talked a lot.

((OOC: Hurried through this, sorry, just wanted to kind of get it written and done. Please excuse any poor writing or grammar stuff...I was really falling right asleep when I wrote it. I think I’m gonna have them disappear again shortly after they meet his folks, before Milo actually finds anything else out – I wanted him to find out about shifting a bit later. Thinking he meets Max somewhere and finds out through Max the other details. Later on. Or they can just go back to Milo’s world occasionally, which could be fun too. Milo’s dad could tell right away that Tara wasn’t human (or Seelie; that’s the racism he was referring to). He would have been able to smell it. Milo wouldn’t really know. He could smell what she is but wouldn’t really recognise the scent, whereas Milo’s parents would be acquainted with all kinds of shifters and such, I guess. Maybe not exactly the same as Tara, but enough for them to recognise her scent and at least deduce that she isn’t human and perhaps avian in some way.))

[tessa]

I fucking loved his sister.

Milo led me away from the coffee shop. People were taking photos of us with their ‘cameras’. I stuck close to Milo and did as he told me to, about not looking at them. I turned my attention to Milo instead of the picture people. Why were they so interested in Milo anyway? I mean, I get the celebrity thing, but do they not remember that he’s actually a living, breathing person not just some amazing thing? Perhaps—people—acting is an art, or a skill, okay, perhaps he worked hard to get there and had to learn like everyone else, not like it was some god given gift to make him some teen idol. Go take pictures of businessmen, who crunch numbers like nobodies fucking business, or those people who build toasters, or people who stock the shelves in supermarkets... or better yet-- firemen! Take lots and lots of pictures of firemen. Lots—haha! Sadly I don’t think Milo would like that much if we were to be together, me taking random pictures of firemen. That’s a damn shame, because I bet they have some nice looking ones here. Ah well.

Another bus ride left me feeling a bit green. Milo seemed just as ruffled by it as I was. A few times I thought I was going to die. These things were ancient, how did I know we weren’t going to burst into flames if we hit something? I mean there wasn’t exactly a slim chance that we weren’t going to hit anything either. I mean seriously… was our bus driver having a fucking stroke? The doors opened and I escaped as fast as I could manage, grateful for the solid concrete under my feet. I took a deep breath and exhaled, composing myself, and smiled at Milo. “It’s okay.” I said, lifting my hand and placing it on his shoulder, which I squeezed gently before letting go. “my buses hover over electromagnetic tracks. Want to know why?” I jerked my thumb to another bumbling bus. “Exhibit A.” I grinned good naturally at him, and it struck me for a moment how odd he was.

Not in a bad way. God, that sounded cruel. Hey Milo, thought you should know; you’re weird. No. I mean… I guess I hadn’t entirely figured him out yet. He was a mystery to me now. He had an entire life here, a family and a history and documents to prove it. How would I fit in? Would I fit in? Would he go back to his normal life and get a normal girlfriend and have a normal family? Even if I did manage to continue being around him, would I be a pain in the ass? I felt like one. I had no money; I was a high school failure even on my home world; and I had no skills. I worry too much…

The parks were nice. He lived in a nice area. People enjoyed parks pretty much the same here as on my world. Milo had some epic skills, and by skills I mean being able to catch a ball. My hand-eye coordination sucks. I hate sports. That didn’t mean he was more graceful than I was. Perhaps grace had nothing to do with it, more like being able to see and avoid objects. I tried not to laugh too much, but it was still possibly one of the cuter things I’d seen all day. Okay, okay so I have a thing for puppies. Puppies, kittens…baby animals in general. They’re cute, alright?

We walked up to Milo’s place and he knocked on the door. My heart beat a little faster and I stood a little closer to Milo. The door swung open and a woman answered. This was where it got good.

Yeah, so she was his sister. The whole “I missed you” aspect was there. Family things. But she spoke my fucking language, I mean it’s no wonder Milo didn’t seem too bothered by the way I talk to him! He looked back at me and I grinned, standing off to the side as his sister constricted him to death. I watched the entire show unfold, feeling very off to the side, very…distant. Later on when his parents arrived I felt a bit jealous too. I mean, he had everything here.

Alternatively, then, why was he even interested in me? I felt… honoured and worried. Maybe we didn’t fit, maybe was just too socially different, I didn’t know. I didn’t think for one second that my social status mattered to any of them. His dad chases away that thought before it even emerged. It’s just… I had no idea how to act in a family setting. And here I was, standing awkwardly off to the side, surrounded by someone else’s family. Weird, eh?

“Hey Jackie.” I said, shaking the woman’s hand with a grin, still chuckling at how she tossed her brother around the way she did. “I’m… well we’ve established this, but I’m Tara.” Milo’s girlfriend? Nah. I left it at Tara. She went back to torturing her brother in that loving sisterly kind of way. It was fun to watch. I sat and watched some more. They talked about my world, and about their species. I wasn’t entirely sure how my body worked half the time. It didn’t even occur to me that Milo didn’t know what I was. What do you mean, he can’t read my mind? I can be so thoughtless sometimes.

Milo got suffocated again when his parents came in. They looked like a nice couple, and I liked them even though I became a bit shy when they came in and decided to be as quiet as I could. Again I thought ‘what a nice life he has here’. I was glad he made it back.
I smiled and nodded at his parents, trying my damnedest to impress them even though I would swear up and down that I wasn’t worried in the slightest about meeting them. Fuck yeah I was. I was terrified. His mom and sister were beautiful. His dad was nice looking I guess. I mean come on, it is his dad I’m not going to say anything about his looks! He studied me for a moment and I wondered if I had something in my teeth, or in my nose? Did I smell offensive? What was going on?

“Well Tara,” he said to me, and the tone of his voice relaxed my tensed up shoulders. “if you need anything, you know you can come to us, right? It can’t be easy, being dragged from another world. I’m sure my son knows that.”

“Oh… thank you!” I said quietly, blushing a bit, and my smile widened. Wow! That was generous. I thought about saying,
‘Well yeah but here I’m freed from slavery. Milo was made a slave on my world. That makes things a bit easier.’

But I didn’t. I could tell his family really loved him and I didn’t want to ruin the reunion.

They continued to explain to Milo what was going on and I tried to follow but soon one conversation became three. I blushed at Jackie’s comment about the collars. It was funny at the time, but the thought of using them for what she insinuated made me shift once, uncomfortably as I flashed back to the last relationship I had the immense joy of being in. If that didn’t turn me off men, I don’t know what will. The light conversation turned serious at Charlie’s reaction to the word ‘freaks’. I didn’t see the problem. That’s what I was, wasn’t it? That’s what we were
.
I focused on what Jackie was saying, and tried to watch and see if Milo’s father, Charlie, could figure out the collar.


“I’m a waitress.” I said, “well, I’m actually a…” I decided to try to be honest but Jackie went on about some boyfriend from Canada. I smiled, but didn’t delve further into the boyfriend subject, for many reasons. I caught a part of a conversation. Something about a Seelie? What was that?

“So Tara, what exactly are you?” Jackie asked, sniffing the air
between us. I gave her a curious look.

“Um… shape shifter.”

“Bad ass!” Jackie said, “Let me guess…bird?”

“Raven.” I grinned at our little game. Jackie slapped the table with her hand, grinning like she just won an Olympic medal.

“Knew it!--I totally win at life.”

I laughed out loud, and sat comfortably in my seat. Milo’s parents were looking at me but they didn’t seem shocked.

“So…that’s why you have these collars on?” Milo’s mother asked. I
nodded,
“Well….sort of.”

“Oh?” Charlie asked, examining Milo’s collar, “What else do they do?”

“they’re remote controlled. It has a tracker, identification, different settings like a shock option which is popular…” I explained.

“A shock option?” Milo’s mother asked, horrified.

Jackie grinned wolfishly, “Kinky.” Prompting a glare from her mother.
“Jackie; enough. Why would you put a shock option?” His mother asked.

“I don’t get to choose…” I said, as if it were no big deal. I forgot where I was.

“Who has the remotes?” Charlie asked. They all stared at me and I shrunk a bit.

Oh…shit. I looked from Milo to his parents and even his sister seemed a bit more serious. I felt suddenly nauseous. “Um…”

(( ^_^ hope this is okay. I added in some action and awkwardness. You're right: Tara absolutely loves Jackie. ))