The Universe's Mixer

Fresh from her makeover with Pixie at the helm, Beauty bounded up to the door of the mansion she knew was Charlie's. And Ted's. And the Horse's! Her hair was streaked with pastel multicolors that managed not to clash with the wispy bit of pink and pattern that she liked the most of all the dresses she and her friend selected together. She wasn't completely sure of herself in this new look, but she was determined to try it. She lifted her hand and knocked, pleased with the jangling chiming sound the movement produced. Thin silver, bronze, black and gold bracelets settled back down against the delicate bones of her wrist when she dropped her hand again.

On that arm also hung a basket filled with fruit and croissants. Some of it was for Horse. Some of it was for her and Charlie (and Ted, if he happened to be a fruit eater...or croissant eater). The other arm was occupied with hugging Ted's stickered laptop against her side. She shifted her weight in the chunky platform heels she wore, then stared down at her toes. They'd been painted a candy pink. Wriggling her toes again, she speculated just how women had started the practice of painting their toenails. She would have laughed at the notion, back in Paris.

Then again, she'd never heard of bronzer before, either. Beauty sucked in her cheeks, wrinkled her nose, and stared at the door expectantly. Her lips felt sticky and heavy from the almost-clear, pinky gloss. The test, she thought, was how other people would react to what she looked like. If no one gasped, she was going to count it as a success.

Beauty realized she was a little nervous about how Ted and Charlie would react to her new look, under the buzzy excitement she'd felt with Megan. She shifted her weight again. Lifted a foot. Set it down carefully again. Platform shoes. She was getting used to them.

Charlie was on his own for the evening, and that could mean any number of things. This particular evening meant checking out a bar he'd heard about. Supposedly there was karaoke and fortune telling. He wasn't sure he needed his fortune told, nor was he all that sure he wanted to sing; but, he was curious. He gave in to curiosity and hoped he wasn't the cat in the box with the possible poisonous gas. Dead, yet not dead. That was a thinker.

He stepped into Caritas, his badge in a pocket not out to be seen, just always there. His off-duty piece stored at his hip under a light jacket. The blade was stored in his pocket. He didn't plan on doing anything with them, but he didn't go anywhere without any of it. He also was curious to see how a certain riotous type was doing. He knew Logan Echolls worked here; he wanted to know if the kid was still working and doing well. He knew this could end badly, but he wanted to know all the same.

The detective headed slowly toward the bar, pausing when he thought he saw someone with a horn? He knew some people liked putting things under their skin to give themselves an interesting profile. Everyone had control, for the most part, of his or her own body; if they wanted to augment, it was their choice, wasn't it? Even if he always thought that extreme augmentation was...extreme. Charlie wasn't much for extremes.

The City Hall was chosen because it held a room within it that was big enough to accommodate the droves of people that were sure to come. Plus, being inside space, there were no worries over weather that couldn't be controlled. The people could sit and listen and not have to try to hear past traffic or wind.

Even with the late notice, everything was done well before the scheduled start time, which Thomas was proud of. He was glad that the ones who were born here weren't entirely useless without him around. They were keeping their heads together, doing what needed to be done. Of course, it also could have been the fact that they believed Thomas was who he claimed to be, and with his presence there with them, they felt better about the situation they were currently in.

Thomas looked at the stage. That's where he would be standing, talking to the people he had brought here. He had no doubts that they would be the ones with the questions, the ones who demanded answers. He was ready. He could do this.

He sat in a seat hidden by a curtain, where he could still see the stage and the rows of chairs beyond, and waited.

Jennifer had been very bothered by what the City had done now. With her past dealings with it, she knew something was up, but couldn't figure it out. Her cop instinct also told her that something was very wrong, but again, she couldn't wrap her mind around it. It made her a little angry. Angry at the City, angry at herself.

Then, on top of it, the murders had started again. So there'd only been one, but it was absolutely the same suspect as it had been before. There were too many similar things. There was also a lot that was different, worse. So much worse. Jennifer hadn't seen anything so gruesome in a very long time. Time had been taken. Time and care. She felt there had been much suffering. She felt it was her fault, because she'd given up the case when the trail had gotten cold. If she'd just kept at it, maybe this person, this Arkham employee, wouldn't have died.

Frustrated, Jennifer pushed the papers forward off of her desk. She didn't care where they landed, she just wanted them the hell away from her.

And she wanted to call Dean. She hadn't seen him since the change in the streets. She felt like she could use a very good tumble.

While much of the City struggled to adjust to the sudden normalcy of the place, Beauty found returning to a simpler life downright refreshing. It was made easier, of course, by the fact that she was wealthier than she'd been since... since her father's failing business sent them into the countryside to make a more rustic living, she realized. Beauty had hardly cared for the money she was earning from her job at the bookstore. The City, she had to admit, did a very fine job of taking care of her needs, which were few. The bookstore... She'd been there for love, nothing more. Even now, she would prefer being curled up in the back room, examining the newest shipment of books before she shelved them.

But with the City no longer providing for her daily meals, the supply of food in her cottage diminishing, she was very grateful to have the time to go shopping for the necessities. That's what led her out onto Market Street on this sunny, brisk mid-morning, all bundled in a wool coat and scarf and mittens, basket looped around one arm. The wind was a little sharp, but as she hurried toward the closest fruit stand, she wrapped the length of her hair twice around her palm, then tucked the twist under the collar of her coat. There -- that was much better!

And she had to say, as she examined the loads of fresh fruit in crates before her, the City certainly sourced from fine orchards! Picking out a couple gleaming red apples and setting them in her basket, she turned toward a crate of pears. These looked nice, too! But what were these yellow, strangely shaped fruits? She picked one up gingerly and turned it in her hand. When one looked down the back of it, it looked like a starburst. How... strange... What was it?

Ted couldn't exactly say that he was upset that The City had stopped moving around. He'd never particularly liked that bit about this place anyway. He was, however, a little sad that he actually had to do the grocery shopping now.

He was also a little sad that he was the one cleaning up cat litter and horse poo.

But it was all evened out by the mere fact that he had a job now - an actual job. One that meant something and wasn't just teaching a class every once in a while or working on somebody's portfolio because he was bored and had nothing else to do.

And this particular evening, he was in good spirits because he and Charlie were finally getting to have that dinner that they'd been talking about for a long while. It seemed that they both finally had some free time - or rather, Charlie had some free time - and they could meet up. Since he had more than one really exciting thing to share with his housemate, Ted was really looking forward to the evening.

Charlie had left a note on the counter in the kitchen telling Ted a time and a place. Ted had done some research and discovered that the place was a little bit fancy, and so dressed accordingly. He'd debated for some time if he should bring something for Charlie, it might have been a man-date, but it was still a date, and finally settled on a card. He hadn't been able to find exactly what he'd wanted, so instead improvised.

The card said "CONGRATULATIONS" very big across the top in colorful lettering on a yellow background. It had a balloon on it that Ted sharpied to look like a chubby little batman. On the inside he crossed out the "It's a boy!" Statement and replaced it with "You're not Batman!"

He carried the card in his hand as he entered the restaurant looking for his friend.

Temperance Brennan glanced back at Booth as he headed out of the airport. They'd said their goodbyes. Indonesia was waiting for her to further investigate the interspecies hominid remains that could be a crucial link in the evolutionary chain. She turned and continued toward the terminal where her flight was getting ready to leave. She knew that she needed this break, not only from the Jeffersonian and solving crimes, but from Booth. She wouldn't be getting completely away from the Jeffersonian, though, not with Daisy tagging along. But they were both going for the same purpose.

The flight was long and Brennan read when she wasn't sleeping. Her First Class accommodations treated her well and she was comfortable. But she was relieved when she finally felt the plane touch down. She gathered her belongings and met Daisy at the door. She stepped out of the plane, fully expecting to set her foot down on the tarmac, but instead, she stepped out onto a concrete sidewalk with high rise buildings on all sides.

It was not Indonesia, but it was familiar. She sighed in frustration, not knowing how long it would be this time, and if she would ever get to examine those remains in Indonesia. She had her carry-on suitcase with her, and as she patted her pockets, she found that a set of keys, a bank card and a cell phone had appeared. It seemed the City had her again.

It had been a busy couple of weeks, but Jack knew he needed the extra help with the budget. So he finally took the time to call down to the police department and set up a meeting with Charlie Crews. He could have gone down to the police station, he supposed. But it would be better to have a private meeting without the chance of being overheard.

He'd done some checking into Detective Crews' record and he was impressed with what he'd seen so far. He seemed to be a fine police officer, and Jack could think of few better to serve as a reference, assuming that Detective Crews was in fact willing to vouch for Ted.

She wasn't sure what happened. One moment she was walking away from Doom, into the heart of Halo City, and the next she was in a place that looked nothing like where she'd been. The tech was all so much older. She'd run back around the corner to find no trace of Doom, the car he'd forced her to steal, or even the spot where the two had been.

Confused, Annie wandered for a while, looking at the cars that were not the same as she was used to, being bombarded by things that wanted to speak to her, not sure what she was doing here, not sure how to get back to where she was - but not sure she really even wanted to go back. It wasn't as if home had been the greatest place to live. She knew it, sure, but could this place be any worse? The only problem with this place was that she didn't know how she'd gotten here.

Hey.

Annie turned. She didn't see anybody nearby. She began to walk again.

Hey. Please. It wasn't precisely words, not like other people might understand them. More like feelings projected. More like ideas. But she'd been at it so long, it was like plain English to her.

This time, she looked down. There, on the ground, was a watch. It's face cracked, it's strap broken. Annie knelt down, the watch looked really old. Though, she supposed it could be somebody's favored antique. Something that their great grandparent had worn, and had been kept in the family. That would be really rare, though. She didn't think a lot of things like that had survived the war. Not a lot of people had survived the war. But, this place didn't look as if there had been a war. Ever.

Don't leave me here.

"What if they come back for you?"

They won't. He won't. He doesn't care about me. He saw me drop and left me. Please. I can be fixed, I'm sure of it.

"Let me see..." Annie didn't touch the watch, not yet. She felt as if she might hurt it more somehow. As if it were a human body and it's neck was broken, if she moved it, she might kill it. She closed her eyes and pushed away all the strangeness that had just happened to her, blocking out all the noise. Then she looked at the watch again. Internally, it appeared to be fine. Annie smiled. "You're right. It's just your face that's broken. And your strap."

She reached down to pick the watch up.

Jesse Custer. He wasn't that difficult to find, as he was in the book. Plus, Jennifer knew the exact address. Having a partner who was aware helped. Then again, finding someone was a police detective's job.

Detective Charlie Crews of the City Police watched the numbers change as the elevator went to the correct floor. He waited for the doors to open before he even bothered moving. It was an easily ambling walk as he made his way to the desired door. His movement was just as relaxed as his hand lifted to knock on the door. He absently thought about Jennifer and her cat; it'd been a while since he'd checked in on the alien tabby. He also needed to get fish for his own cat; she'd been so good lately.

Finally his knuckles rapped against the door. He unbuttoned his jacket to show the badge sitting at his waistband; it wasn't exactly a threat, just a reminder of who or what he was. Sometimes it gave him just the edge he wanted. He needed to know that this man was a good guy; he had to look after his partner after all.

Shadowcrest could supply her with anything she needed and some things she wanted, but one of the things it flat out refused to provide for her were shoes. Zatanna was all right with that since it meant participating in one of her favorite pasttimes. SHOPPING! As weird as the City was rumored to be, its shoe stores were amazing! It was a great way to kill an afternoon.

Coming out of the last store (she promised!) with her bags of leather treasures she spied a familiar face. Part of her thought she should creep off before he noticed, but most of her thought she should try to be friendly. Because that's gone so well with her here with anyone that wasn't Dinah. Oh well. If at first you don't succeed, try to humiliate yourself again and again.

She approached him with a small wave of shoe bags and a smile. "Hi, Charlie."

Lois had been working long hours at the Planet. A reporter was only as good as their last story and she hadn't had a good story in awhile. She needed something, and it was possible that some of the strange murders around Metropolis could turn out to be the next great serial killer expose. For that matter, she hoped that she could get to the bottom of it and stop whoever was behind those murders. It wasn't just about the story, though the thrill of finding the truth and exposing it in words was just as much of a pull as helping people.

It was almost morning when she rested her head in her hand. She was exhausted, and she could just close her eyes for a minute or two. With any luck, Clark would be into work soon-hopefully with coffee. And she was sure she could send him on a doughnut run. She was going to need the sugar rush after pulling that all-nighter.

When she jerked awake, Lois didn't immediately notice the differences in the bustling bullpen. She didn't immediately realize that there were subtle differences in the look of the basement, or that she didn't know any of the people rushing around.

"LANE! Get your ass in here!" Lois almost jumped out of her chair as a voice shouted at her from the editor's office.

She scrambled to her feet, frowning. That wasn't her editor's voice. Not by a long shot.

"Lane, I'm not getting any younger here," the voice barked.

Lois didn't need to be told twice. Well, okay, she did. She tilted her head as she started to really take in the surroundings, and the lack of Daily Planet logo on the walls. All the same, she hurried into the editor's office.

"Lane, you're a day late and a dollar short. The Baltar rally began ten minutes ago. Now get your ass down there and do the job I'm paying you to do."

Lois blinked in surprise.

"Okay, usually in dreams like this, I'm naked in front of the bullpen too," she muttered.

The stern-looking editor just gave her a dirty look and Lois sighed.

"All right, I'm going, I'm going. Not that I'll ever make it on time. Not in this sort of nightmare."

After yet another glare, Lois sighed and rolled her eyes and turned to walk out of the office.

She made it all the way through the strange newsroom and out on the street, where she attempted to flag down a cab. Unfortunately, it apparently just wasn't her day, or night, as she was still convinced that this was all just one of those dreams. Yes, she might have had quite a few dreams about being late for a story or about trying to get somewhere to follow a lead and not being able to. No less than three taxis passed her by, despite the obvious hand waving.

"Come on," she grumbled. "Who do you have to bribe to get a cab here?"

(Happens the same day as this)

Detective Charlie Crews didn't settle down at his desk right away. He had the feeling that they were about to have some discussion, and he probably needed to focus. It wasn't that he couldn't follow conversations with his partner, but he knew there were times she couldn't always follow him. Or more she didn't want to follow him because it would mean she would have to think like him, and that bothered her a little. He was trying, see?

He poured hot water into the coffee press with the gourmet stuff waiting in the bottom to steep. He opened the box of fruit tarts they had picked up on the way back to the precinct, placing one pastry each on the two small plates. He then went to the trouble of getting out forks and napkins before setting them on the desks. He had an apple type confection and had gotten her whatever she'd wanted. Then after placing a nice clean mug beside each desk, setting the coffee press between them with the sugar and cream, he finally sat down.

"So, what did you think about the bunny pants? Seemed a little too obvious for a magician, don't you think?" Charlie thought that was a good opening. He hadn't thanked her exactly for getting them back to the office, but then he thought buying her a treat and setting up snack for whatever tete-a-tete they were about to have seemed like a good apology/thank you.

The storm had turned everything topsy-turvy. With some of his fellow police officers, Charlie was out canvasing streets in hopes of preventing looting, what there could be of it. He didn't even understand how the City wasn't cleaning things up; hadn't there been a Godzilla attack once? He was pretty certain someone had said that that had happened. He like those other police officers, who knew he was a detective but let him help out anyway, weren't worried about what the City wasn't doing; they had to worry about the citizen's of the City.

The detective had left a message with Ted, telling him that the damage to their mansion was minimal, not that they really had to worry about up keep. Ted had a large some of money after all, and Charlie wasn't that concerned with what happened to what he possessed. Possessions were nothing in the end. He had called someone to come look after the trees though; the orchard needed to be tended.

Charlie then called his partner. He hadn't talked to her in a while, at least socially. They'd had a few brushes at work, but nothing that had them working together which was a little odd seeing as they were partners. He missed her. He thought he might have scared her after their last big discussion. In fact, he missed her enough to call her back after he got a report that some woman was locked in her house. While it wasn't murder, Charlie felt they could try to figure this out together anyway. He got her on the phone the second time he called, and while he headed over, he gave her the address and the situation.

It seemed that neighbors had noticed that some woman was screaming bloody murder, or just yelling really loudly depending on who was asked. She wasn't coming out, and she might be locked in. Being locked in a house was odd, seeing as most of the buildings on the street had lost windows and some doors to the storm. Yet, the house seemed to have weathered things rather well. That was a small mystery in itself.

The detective headed up slowly to the front door. If he were one to put much faith in movies, he'd say this was one of those places horror movies happened. It was rife with the mystique and creep necessary to pull of a good horror movie. Thankfully, Charlie chalked it all up to this being a house recovering from a storm, a very lucky house.

"Unless it's not." He stood a few steps from the door. "Could have monsters inside, but what self-respecting monster would be inside when there is murder and mayhem to be had? Unless it's not one of those monsters." He had to give this one a small think through. Eventually he would get to the door.

He hadn't been entirely too happy with getting kicked out of Zoe's place almost right after they'd woken up, but he made it to a store and picked up a pack of cigarettes and it made him feel a little better. Going for an entire night without a smoke had been a new and unpleasant experience.

Real joy came, however, when he got back to his place and after a bit of messing around, discovered - accidentally - that he could become the dog at any time he wanted to. Of course, returning to human form meant that he was bare ass naked, which probably shouldn't happen in public, just for the sake of law breaking.

But remembering how much fun he'd had at night, and thought that a daytime excursion would be better. Different at the very least. More people. More animals out and about. The sunshine. Oh, sunshine. How would that feel on his fur? Maybe he could find some kids to play with, too. Run around until his doggy legs wouldn't carry him anymore.

Not having put on his clothes again after his return trip to humanland, Jesse reverted to the dog form again. He spent a moment trying to figure out if he could carry the smokes and a lighter with him, and decided he could not. Even if he could, he'd have to find somebody to get one out of the pack and light it for him, and that just didn't seem like it was going to happen. Zoe had been quite adamant about dogs not smoking. He was guessing that other people would be as well.

He took the same route out of the building as he had the first time, and ran straight to the park. Almost straight to the park. He did stop and sniff a couple of things on the way, including sticking his nose up a cute girl's skirt to see if he could get away with it. He could. She laughed.

In the morning sun, the grass smelled delightful. He was sniffing it and then started eating it, not even thinking about what he was doing. Once he'd had a good amount of it, he suddenly felt the need to throw up. The big green mushy ball that came out of him didn't disturb the dog part one bit. His human part, however, decided that if eating grass gave that result, he was going to do his best to stay away from even nibbling it.

Jesse took off at a full sprint through the park, tail wagging happily, smelling the air as it rushed into his nose.

Charlie felt strange. It had hurt, turning into this...whatever it was, but in the end, he decided that it could be a good change. He'd never been an animal before, other than the one known as man, so this would give him a different life experience. He was lucky that Lucy-Belle wasn't at home; he didn't think she'd like his new face. It was definitely not his old one, save for maybe the eyes somehow. He stared at himself in the bathroom mirror, and gave a testing bark. It wasn't a bad bark. He spent sometime testing out smells and tastes before heading downstairs.

He caught a scent back in the kitchen where the attack had happened. There was something that smelled tangy, not bad but not right..blood? He snuffed some more, finding other scents, some good, some bad. He finally found one that told him food. He followed it; it reminded him oddly enough of an old fur coat his ex-wife had had. Rabbit? Strangest coat. Bunny. He may have found his bad bunny.

He didn't leave a note, but he was kind enough to close the door that he had left open this whole time behind him. He started trailing that bad bunny. It had bitten him, and he wanted to bite back, or at least show it the error of its ankle biting ways. Charlie wondered why he couldn't have this ability normally; it seemed like very ideal for a homicide detective.

The trail was leading him away from the mansion and the orchard to the Park. This was going to take some very good detective skills and the keen sniffer this particular incarnation of this particular police detective just happen to have.

Murders, chaos, the usual was going on. They were still no closer to finding the answers than they had been, although Charlie's gut kept coming back to the only cannibal he knew that lived in the City. He was beginning to worry about his partner, but he wasn't sure if he should butt in to her life. He cared about her, much like he had cared about Reese; he'd have to talk to her eventually about Simon Tam. Apparently the doctor was no longer working at the Hospital, and his apartment was now someone else's home. He'd wait for the right time, if there was really something like that when it came to the matters of the heart.

Lucy-Belle was out with Jake again, which he wasn't going to stop. At least one creature in the house seemed to be having a good time of it. It was nice to know what the fluff ball of a Persian thought of her home, and when Jake was around, she would often times be rather vocal. Who knew cats could be so demanding, or so exacting?

Ted was...probably around. Charlie would need to spend more time with his friend. They hadn't done anything in a while. Not much at all since they'd decided to get a cat.

To be nice, and perhaps in hopes of seeing that strange woman again, Charlie went out to gather some fruit to make Ted a nice salad. Now and then Charlie would look for a particular tree, a strawberry with chocolate sap tree. It was a fanciful idea, but Charlie was curious to see if it would happen. Though he'd supposed it'd be more of a bush or a vine of some sort rather than an actual tree. So, there he was, collecting fruit to make a salad for his housemate, now and then saying something to the fruit to see if it spoke back to him.

There were more crimes and not enough law enforcement types to go around. The murders weren't escalating, and they weren't being solved. The detective didn't like what he was dealing, but the cops dealt with the unpleasant on a regular basis. It was his job.

Charlie Crews tried to let go of the unpleasant; he needed to make a difference, to make the world better. He dealt with the unpleasant, so that others didn't have to. Not that zen was all about the pleasant; it was dealing with life in a different way, seeing beyond life to the truth. It was releasing the world to find something true, real, wisdom.

He settled down at the table with the bowl of fruit he'd just picked from the orchard. He smiled with a little pride, claiming one of the apples from the bowl. He couldn't say he owned the orchard, or even the fruit. He could and would say he appreciated the fruit. For the moment, he'd let himself appreciate how the fruit looked, how it felt, how it existed. It wasn't exactly meditation, just something very like.

Drinking with Devon, his asshole of a roommate was probably a bad idea, Logan reflected. He'd accepted the invitation out without giving it too much thought, but now the jackass refused to shut the hell up.

Logan downed another beer, hoping that he would get less annoying through the pleasant haze of alcohol.

"And that girlfriend of yours... I'd definitely do her," Logan caught the last bit of that ramble. "If you ever decide you're done with her, let me know."

He slammed down his beer, and turned to his roommate. He stood up, puffing his chest out.

"You want to say that to me again?"

"Sure thing," Devon agreed and stood up, crossing his arms with a grin. "I said-"

His sentence was truncated as Logan's fist impacted squarely with his jaw. Devon reeled, and then dove at Logan.

Before Logan quite knew what was happening, several others had joined the fight and he was now parrying drunken blows from all sides and taking the advantage to work out some of his aggression as he fought his way through the crowd.

Charlie hadn't been avoiding the large and multifruited orchard, but something about it was bothering him. He couldn't decide if something were missing, or if something bad had happened in the beautiful orchard. He'd not bothered in talking to Ted about it because Ted didn't need to be concerned. The man had enough to worry about. Who knew looking after a cat could be so...adventurous? Not that Charlie had been too bothered by the white ball of fur, mainly because he hadn't been home for long enough periods of time. Somehow he'd even managed to sleep through the crazy attack kitty moments.

Today was a late day, and the kitty in question was actually surveying her territory. She was queen of a nice big house now. Even an orchard, but she'd yet to bother with going outside. There were still too many rooms to search when her male humans were away. The ginger, almost alpha, was good for a treat when she rubbed along his legs. Whether or not he did it to be kind or to get her to move along didn't matter. He wasn't cruel at least.

Charlie was definitely doing it to be kind. "So, Lucy Bell, do cats walk on leashes? I wouldn't ask, or put you on one, but I thought you'd like to go to the park. Ted wouldn't like it if I lost you." Even if she had her issues. "I'm also an officer of the law." Charlie paused for a moment as he was leaning down to scoop the white fluff of a cat up; were there leash laws in the City? He should probably know this.

Lucy Bell didn't fight him, even though she seemed more partial to the other human, the one who'd brought her to her new home. Charlie rubbed round her ears and scratched at her jaw and neck.

"I guess I could carry you. Do you chase mice?" Yes, Charlie was holding a conversation with a cat that didn't or couldn't talk back. "You probably could; animals don't forget how to kill even when they've got an easier life." Charlie would know. "I should know. Humans haven't stopped yet." He was currently walking to the front door and absently set her down to put his keys and a few other things in his pocket. Absently because as he was pocketing what he saw was necessary for the day, he also started to open the door. Lucy Bell saw her chance; it wasn't that this was a bad house, but who could resist an open door?

Charlie didn't curse, nor did he yell after her. He took a moment to text a note to Ted.

Cat ran out door. Will find her. Call if you want.

With that, he closed the door behind him, locked it, and went in search of a wayward kitty who had caught the scent of a fish market she had no idea existed. She wasn't the only one.