8:3 / act two
Mostly the room was silent as Siobhan finished reading, each of the group thinking whatever thoughts the story conjured in their mind. Expression a mix of confusion and curiosity, Abe sidled over to Dempsey and the two began a quiet conversation. Words like “story”, “disappearances”, and “weird shit” could be heard on the rise and fall of their voices.
Kim took the opening to mumble whisper to Siobhan. “Who’s the kid?”
“Abe is a friend of Dempsey’s. Dempsey asked them to talk to Dan about his tattoo.”
Mention of Dan’s tattoo drew Kim’s attention to the tattoo covering Abe’s hand, which they were gesturing with, up under the sleeve of their cassock. “Magick?”
Siobhan nodded.
“Air likes them.”
Siobhan turned to look at Kim. “Air likes them.”
A nod. “Yes.”
A look of speculation crossed Siobhan’s face. “Does Air like me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Kim shrugged. “Earth does. A lot.”
“How do you know? Did Earth,” Siobhan hesitated a moment, like she was testing the idea, then added, “tell you?”
“Plants nuzzle you.”
“They do not.”
Kim’s eyebrow lift spoke volumes.
“Fine,” Siobhan said, “maybe they do.”
“Its like watching a kid’s movie where the birds and animals and shit swan over the princess.”
“Swan?”
“Swan.” Kim’s response was emphatic, no room for debate there.
“You’ve never said anything about it before.”
“You’ve never seen an elemental creature before. It kind of opened the door.”
“Can it?”
“Can it what?”
“Open a door?”
“The fire coyote you saw in particular or any elemental creature?”
“The second one.”
“If it wanted to I guess, but they are usually incorporeal so walls and doors aren’t really something they’d interact with.”
As Kim answered she realized that pretty much every ear, separate from Dempsey and Abe who were still talking to each other, was following Kim and Siobhan’s conversation.
“Does anyone else have any questions?”
“About a hundred,” Patti said. Sass gave a tentative ‘peep’ and waved its arms around, poking Patti in the boob several times. Even Ivan nodded.
“Well, when we have time you can ask but right now,” Kim looked at the paper lying flaccid in Siobhan’s lap, “I’d say there’s work to be done. To the House!”
Enter The Woods 