The Roof, Tuesday evening

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

The afternoon's venture out into the fog had left Dinah jumping at shadows and mildly unnerved. So heading to the roof to squint out at far-off, smudgy streetlights to convince herself there was nothing out there seemed like a good plan.

...did you hear that?

[open, and getting more jumpy by the minute]

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

Jack hadn't had any odd experiences today; he was on the roof in the simple endeavor of finding a place to smoke.

Though that was harder when you couldn't see the lighter well enough to use it, and when you could hear but not see someone on the other end of the space.

"Is someone already up here?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Jack!" Dinah would completely deny sounding relieved, but she was. Even though she could barely see her hand in front of her face, or the edge of the roof balustrade under her fingers. "I'm here. Dinah. Over here. This-a-way!"

[bitten_notshy]

"Dinah," Jack echoed, following her voice until he could see her.

Well. A girl, with Dinah's hair and Dinah's voice. He wouldn't have sworn to anything more particular.

"This fog is something else," he observed. "I can't see two feet."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah squinted through the fog, barely able to make out a less-tall shape with gold hair, and Jack's distinctive accent. "It's even worse than it was this afternoon. I kind of missed Reserves because of it. I got all turned around down on the grounds."

Over at the corner of her vision, something flickered, but wasn't there when she looked directly at it. "It's creeeeepy."

[bitten_notshy]

"Creepy," Jack agreed, taking his place along the balustrade. "I just went to class and back."

He thought he saw something across the roof, and his muscles tensed. It was probably nothing but another student, but there was something about the way it moved that Jack didn't like.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah shivered, and rubbed her arms, muttering, "Something could sneak up on you in all this." She wished she had night-vision goggles. Heat vision goggles. Something. "Sound echoes in it. I wanted to see it from up here, but it all looks changed."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack leaned over to look down. "I can't even tell the water from the land," he observed. "I was going to smoke, but now I think I'll just go --"

And then he stopped, because when he looked over at Dinah, he didn't see Dinah at all, even dimly. Some kind of lizard monster had replaced her.

He yelped and took a step backward.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah jumped at Jack's yelp, and turned to say "Don't do that," then eep'd and snapped into fight stance.

Pony! With monkey-heads! Oh my god that was so wrong! "How did you get up here? Where's Jack?" she demanded.

[bitten_notshy]

All Jack heard was garbled roars, and the creature was moving into a threatening pose.

"Did you take Dinah?" he demanded, reaching down to try to ease his foot out of his boot. He wasn't armed; this was about the best he'd do on short notice.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah heard chittering and roars, and snapped back, "Give him back!" Then aimed a kick where she thought its legs were. Maybe.

...look, it was kind of wavering in the fog, she was guessing, okay?

[bitten_notshy]

The lizard kicked him! Hard, in the small of the back!

Jack howled in pain, then reached for the creature's leg. He'd given up on the plan to throw something; now he was going to try to bring it down, with the swiftness he only brought to fights.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah screeched as the monkey-headed-pony grabbed her leg, leaning forward to twist and ready to aim a punch at one of the three chittering, grotesque heads--

And when she hit the roof, she was looking at Jack. "Wha?"

[bitten_notshy]

Jack was a millisecond from swinging a punch at the lizard when it spoke and --

"Dinah?"

He was already reaching to help her up.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah took his hand, hers tightening in his grasp, still shaking. "I thought you were-- I saw-- Okay. Okay." She took a second to get her breath back as she got back to vertical, able to see that yes, it was definitely Jack, this close up. "I swear to God, you looked like a pony with monkey heads a second ago. Are you okay?"

[bitten_notshy]

"And you were a horrible lizard thing," Jack said. He drew a deep breath to steady himself; almost as he did, the lizard flickered back into view.

He ignored it.

"I think we should both get inside before things get worse again."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Seconded," Dinah said, voice shaking, cutting her eyes away from looking at Jack because no, he did not have sleek pony fur sprouting again. Or a tail. "And I'm sorry, wow. I'm seeing things. I must be way tired, or the light in the fog's playing tricks on me."

No! No tails!

[bitten_notshy]

"Something like that," Jack nodded eagerly, wanting to believe it was something rational that he might understand. "We'll have some rest and tomorrow the sun will come out and everything will be all right."

He chanced a glance at her, saw she had a lizard tail, and looked away. "Are you coming in?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yup," Dinah said, shivering and hugging herself. "Oh yup."

There were no monkey-ponies inside!*


[*And is now chronologically later than the chat with Griff.]

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

Griff was trying to find something to do with his little Lemur droid baby that seemed programmed not to want him to sleep ever and so he found himself on the roof, considering tossing it over the edge.

Too bad he didn't know where the edge was in all the fog. Still, wailing droid made his presence rather obvious.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

The whimpering and whining echoed weirdly in the fog, and Dinah tensed up, calling, "Who's there?" Please let something answer, and not just get closer and closer and...

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, over here," Griff called out at the sound of a voice. "It's me...uh Griff?" Not that he knew for sure whoever was calling out would know who that was but screw 'em, it was a free roof.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Oh! Oh good." Dinah skittishly made her way closer, then called, "It's Dinah. What's making that noise? It sounds like a cat dying."

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

"My Lemur," Griff answered, bouncing the droid baby against his shoulder to calm it a bit. "What are you doing up here in all the fog, Dinah?"

It was kind of creepy.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"That is -- pretty odd-looking. But cute," Dinah added hastily, peering at it. "And I was trying to convince myself there was nothing to be scared of," she said, sheepish.

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

"Don't encourage it," Griff begged. "Lemur is refusing to sleep so I was gonna boot it from up here, but I'm betting it'd float in the fog."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah snorted a giggle, then rubbed her face. "It's definitely thick enough. What are you doing with little lemur anyway?"

...right behind Griff. Something there. Dinah froze.

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

"His mum's not much for kids," he replied, unaware of anything lurking behind him. Probably because there was nothing there. "So it's looking like I'll be a single dad for much of this."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Oh," Dinah said, her voice higher. "Who's his mommy?" She took a sudden step sideways, looking past Griff, feet planted for a fight, then stopped, bewildered. "It's gone."

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

Griff was halfway into sharing the mom's name when he realized Dinah was maybe going insane. "What?" His eyes narrowed and Griff glanced behind himself in the fog.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"I thought I saw--" Dinah swung back around to talk to Griff and screamed.

Right next to him, in his shadow, instead of Griff's shadow, was a more-than-man-sized lizard, reaching for the lemur baby thing. "NO!"

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

"Dinah? Quit screaming, you're gonna wake Lemur and if I pitch him over the edge I don't think I pass the class," Griff pointed out, giving her a skeptical look.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah punched out at the giant lizard, trying to protect Griff-- only to find nothing was there, and she was stumbling into the edge of the roof railing. "...um?"

Well, at least that was quieter?

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

Griff stared at her, stepping back when she threw the punch, unsure what she was aiming for. "Dinah? The hell are you doing?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Jak would've recognized that sheepish rubbing-the-back-of-the-neck gesture Dinah just stole from him. "Nothing. Apparently," she added, in a lower voice. "I thought I saw-- I swear I saw--" A puddy tat! I did! I did see a puddy tat! "--I must be getting tired. I thought something was going to attack you."

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

Weirder and weirder these girls. "Yeah..." Griff turned to look again and the baby started wailing. "There's nothing there, Dinah."

He shook the droid. That didn't seem to help somehow.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Not, oh, so not, like that," Dinah protested, and to make up for being a freak, coaxed, "I'll calm him down for you? He's so cuuuuute."

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

"He's sinfully ugly," Griff countered, literally tossing the droid to her. "But if you can make him stop, more power to you."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Griff!" Dinah protested, catching the robo-baby, and cuddling it as if were a real baby. It wailed louder for two minutes, but having something that close and immediate to focus on calmed Dinah down, and eventually its wails slowed into small fussy sounds. "Whew. Sheesh. And you were going to tell me who his mom is?"

Doooon't look up, don't pay attention that flicker at the corner of your eye. You're imagining things.

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

"Effy. Explains all the weeping, right?" No, Griff, you would be the weeping one in that relationship.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah laughed. Rocking the lemur-thing was fun; it reminded her of babysitting, a long while ago now. "I've only met her a couple times. Detention once, and during the gremlin thing. That bad?" She grinned over at Griff, then quickly looked down at the lemur-bot again. The fog was messing with her, putting a scaly fuzz around Griff's form. "Has he got a name?"

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

"Lemur," Griff said. "Effy agreed he looks it. She's not so bad, but she's dating Karev, soooo." Sure, they claimed it wasn't dating, but Griff knew better.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Seriously?" Dinah blinked at him, squinched her eyes, but no, still Griff. Everything around him... hard to say. "I thought Karev didn't believe in dating. Or something. He said he liked his freedom, oh, ages ago." Weiiird. Although not as weird as the robo-lemur.

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, he says that," Griff shrugged, starting to feel a little weirded out by the fog beyond whatever Dinah'd been screaming about. "I think he's lying to himself. It's safe."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"So he can say they weren't dating, if they break up?" Dinah wondered. That seemed even weirder to her. Then again, she admitted to having a way-too-straightforward mind when it came to dating and all. She shot Griff a look as she thought of that, thinking of Fiona. "So, Effy skipped off and left you with Lemur? Or do you give him back in a bit?"

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

"Something like that," Griff shrugged, preferring not to think of Fiona when he could help it, especially now that she was gone. "I'm stuck with Lemur for the night. Who knows if she'll be 'round to collect him tomorrow. Doesn't really matter then."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Cool." And in the meantime, little Lemur had finally dropped off to sleep. Dinah smothered a grin, and offered him back to Griff. "Quick. Put him in a cradle or a pillow-nest or something while he's still down for the count."