Who: Annie and Avar (featuring Timothy the mouse!) What: Annie brings a furry friend to work When: Early June Where: Cirque changing room Rating/Warning: Low/none Status: Complete
Annie wasn’t entirely sure why she had brought one of her mice with her to work today, except for the fact that it felt right, and when she’d put her arm down at her desk before she left, Timothy had run up the sleeve of her jacket as if he’d been trained for it.
She almost wondered if he had. These mice were far too smart to have always been wild mice. She was pretty sure they were smarter even than most trained mice. Douglas Adams had claimed that mice were the smartest creatures on the planet Earth, and Annie was beginning to wonder if he hadn’t been right.
The problem was that the leotard that Annie wore for practice didn’t leave much space for Timothy to hide out in, and while her stage costume that she’d wear during the actual performance had enough plumage that Timothy probably could have found a hiding space, but she wasn’t sure if she trusted that he’d be able to hold on and not get hurt while she was flying through the air.
“You’ll have to stay here,” Annie said, holding him in both her hands, fairly sure that she was alone in the changing rooms. She didn’t know if he could understand her, but she got the impression that even if he didn’t understand everything she said, he at least understood the general gist of what she was saying. “You can explore, if you want, but don’t steal anyone’s lunch, and make sure that you come back after.”
This was probably a bad idea, and she was beginning to wonder why she’d brought him with her in the first place. Even if he didn’t get caught by a mouse trap or something, what were the chances that he’d actually come back to her once she was done work?
Avar loved her job. She loved the practice and the performance both and she felt that honing her craft was important.
Today though, she felt the vaguest sort of pressure behind her eyes. She could almost pick up someone's mood without having to actually study them, or at least it felt like it. And she could sense something else, something curious and quick and not at all human though the feeling passed when she tried to trace it.
That thrum of energy and music and life faded to the back of her consciousness and she once again found herself frustrated and alone.
Shaking her head, she walked into the changing room and set her duffel down.
Then she did a double take at Annie, "Is that a mouse?"
Annie jumped and resisted the urge to hide Timothy behind her back - Avar had already seen him, and there’d be no point in that. Timothy also let out a panicked squeak, made for Annie’s wrist, and realizing that she wasn’t wearing her loose jacket sleeves anymore just circled her palms twice, almost panicked, and then stood on his hindlegs to watch Avar.
It didn’t take long for Annie to recover and smile at Avar. “It sure is,” she said brightly, bending down. Once she was close enough to the floor, he hopped off her hands and disappeared around a corner. “How are you doing? Ready for the show tonight?”
That was curious behaviour for a mouse, and Avar’s interest was piqued. She liked to think Jedi she was good with animals.
A little disappointed she didn't’ get a closer look at the mouse, she shrugged, “As ready as always. We should have a good audience tonight, too.”
Still, what was Annie doing with a mouse?
Annie was hoping to not have to answer that question. She’d found that admitting to something and then moving on was the best way to avoid follow up questions. But, she noticed with a small amount of horror, Timothy hadn’t run and hid somewhere. He was peering at them both from around the corner, with what might have looked like curiosity if he wasn’t a mouse.
She tried to gesture, discreetly with the hand that hung by her side, that he should be going. He cocked his head at her.
“Oh yeah,” she said, a little distracted. “I hope so at least. I like the energy from the big crowds.” She repeated the gesture, wondering what she was doing. He was a mouse, of course he wouldn’t know what she was trying to tell him.
“Are you all right?” Avar tilted her head, feeling like Annie was trying to hide something and wondering if it maybe had something to do with that mouse. “You’ve got this little…” She waved her hand, “Something going on there.”
“Oh yeah, fine,” Annie said, with one more futile gesture. Instead of turning to hide, Timothy stepped even further out, his whiskers twitching in curiosity, and Annie groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. She should have known from the get-go that Bring Your Mouse to Work Day was a bad idea.
“That mouse seems to be very friendly,” Avar noted, glancing at it and smiling. She could feel something almost intelligent about it, though explaining why was next to impossible. Maybe something to do with that Force thing. “And a curious little creature.”
“Oh yeah, he’s curious, that’s for sure,” Annie deadpanned, watching as the mouse came snuffling up to Avar’s feet.
She’d had the feeling recently that she was supposed to keep the mice secret, that no one outside of her family could know about them. That was ridiculous, of course - she’d already shown them and some of their stranger behaviour to Michael, and there was no way she’d show these to her family. Alex would probably feed them to the reptiles he studied, and she was sure that Verity would break down crying if she was so much as in the same room as a mouse.
Kneeling, Avar held her fingers out for the mouse to sniff, not at all afraid of being bitten. If anything this felt natural; soothing a beast, connecting with it, reaching across with the Force. The power of life, like a soft gentle song at the back of her mind.
As she peered at the mouse, a towel on a bench behind her started to float.
Annie managed, barely, to stifle a groan when Timothy hopped up onto Avar’s hand. Why couldn’t he act like a normal mouse just this once? She had no idea how she would explain this. She had the feeling that she couldn’t explain it even if she’d tried.
Of course, all the thoughts of Timothy flew from her mind once she noticed the towel floating behind Avar. She blinked, mouth falling open. For a moment, she wondered if it was a ghost but no. She knew ghosts. Her aunts Rose and Mary were ghosts. And this didn’t feel like a ghost.
She frowned for a moment, wondering where the idea that she had ghostly aunts had come from, and then decided quickly that this definitely was not the time to think about that.
“Hey Avar,” Annie said gently, not wanting to spook either Avar or whatever it was that was making the towel float. “You should come over here.” She didn’t know what she would do if whatever it was turned violent, but she had a feeling in her gut that she was equipped to deal with this kind of thing.
“Hmm?” Avar glanced up, then came over, carefully holding the mouse in her hands and gently rubbing the top of his soft little head. She’d had a mouse when she was little, and suddenly missed having one around. “What is--oh.”
There was a floating towel, but as soon as Avar noticed it, it flopped to the bench. Several other items clattered to the ground nearby, as well.
Something in Annie’s gut said it was wrong for someone not in the family to be holding one of the mice, but she couldn’t figure out why, and from the contented look on Timothy’s face, she was pretty sure that the mouse himself had no problems with the attention.
Annie frowned, fighting down the urge to call out Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse. Her Aunt Mary always hated being summoned that way - she said it was insulting - yet she always came whenever Annie called.
Except Annie didn’t have a dead ghostly Aunt Mary, and also, she was pretty sure now that this wasn’t a ghost. At least, if it was a ghost, she couldn’t figure out why it would run away as soon as Avar noticed it.
“So, that was weird,” she said slowly.
“Just a little,” Avar said, eyeing the spot where the towel had been floating warily. She knew such things were possible. It was simply mind over matter, basic training, the sort of thing any youngling studied on the way to becoming a padawan.
Her frown deepened and she looked down at her own hands, barely seeing the mouse right now. “I think I did that.”
Annie’s brow furrowed. Part of her wanted to say that wasn’t the strangest thing that had ever happened, but she was pretty sure it was, if one forgot about the mice. “You mean, like Jean Grey?” she asked after a moment, and then offered a half-smile. “You’re not planning on going all Dark Phoenix, are you?”
The Dark Side was always there, waiting and hungering for one to turn to it, but Avar had never been tempted by it. There was too much beauty in the galaxy, and the song of the Dark Side was discordant. She shook her head, smiling, “No, I’m pretty sure I’m the one that fights against the darkness.”
Annie’s mouth twitched into a half-smile. “Okay, that was a pretty good hero line,” she said. “If they ever make a comic book about you, that’d be a pretty good tagline.”
Saying that, though, was no longer as hypothetical as she might have liked. After all, she’d talked to Galinda Upland, or, at least, some girl who thought she was Galinda Upland on the Network. Maybe real life superheroes wasn’t just a fantasy anymore.
“I’d look good in spandex,” Avar joked back. “But the only thing I’ve gotten are robes.” She snapped her mouth shut at the admission, and focused more on the mouse again.
“And a knack for connecting with animals.”
“Someone gave you robes?” Annie asked, brows furrowing together. That seemed like a strange gift. She’d seen some people mention mysterious gifts on the Network. “That seems like a strange gift.”
“Found them in my closet, like they’d always been there,” Avar remarked. “But I can assure you they hadn’t been there the last time I’d checked. They’re… comfortable. Like coming home.”
She’d also found something else, cylindrical, that felt natural in her hand, but she chose to omit that one for now.
“I’ve been to enough Ren Fair’s to know exactly how comfortable robes are,” Annie said, grinning. By enough, she meant exactly one, right after high school graduation, that she’d had to practically beg her parents to let her, Arthur, and Sarah take a road trip to.
“I don’t know how I’d feel about random robes showing up in my closet though.”
“Probably pretty weird,” Avar admitted. “Even if they belonged to you. Somehow, in another life.”
She straightened, stretching and rolling her neck, “I think I’ll let you and your little friend alone and get to my own practice.”
Annie nodded. “I’ll can come help you stretch once I figure out what to do with him.” Which, honestly, was probably just let him roam free. There was a big part of her that thought that was a terrible idea, but a more insistent part of her that told her it was fine, that when she was ready to leave, he’d be snuggled safe in her locker. She’d just have to trust that voice.