Normally you could say Leanne easily kept an open mind; knowing that there were in fact things that most people didn't know existed helped. But it was knowing her friend whom she'd seen and talked to almost daily back in Britain had been here four months and seeing a person she knew to be tragically dead moving about with all the life in the world - it did her head in.
She liked to deal with things on her own most of the time but this whole thing warranted a visit. She rang Katie's doorbell intending on hugging her tightly for simply being there because however weird it was, it was better than not having her at all.
Unless this wasn't her. Leanne decided not to think about that just now.
--
To say that Katie was thrilled would be a severe understatement. Even as she told Leanne that she had only been here for about four months, it was hard to imagine. Maybe it was five? Honestly it felt much longer to her, so much has happened in Night Vale, and so many people appearing, it was easy for the days to blur together. One thing she did notice until Angelina’s arrival was how much she missed her friends. Having Tonks here was great, getting to know her better, as well as seeing Remus and meeting James Potter. It was nice, but she missed her friends.
Katie had messaged Pete to let him know what was going on, and that she’d message him later. Of course she’d introduce Leanne, but she wanted some time for her friend first. She practically lept from her seat on the sofa when the doorbell rang. Her eyes were bright, happy as she opened to the door. “Leanne!” Taking no time at all to embrace her friend. “I’m so glad you’re here!”
--
It was so weird to be hugged by Katie, who smelled and felt and sounded like Katie, when she’d been here four months yet Leanne had just seen her. But she let herself hug her friend just as tightly, sighing in relief. “You too! I’m - what’s it they say here? Freaking out?”
Katie smiled, motioning her friend to come in after their hug. “It’s okay. I know it’s really daunting right now, but it’ll be okay.” Once her friend was inside, she moved over to her sofa and sat down. “How are you handling everything so far? I know some of the information I gave you was confusing, with Harry’s parents being here and the others.”
--
“It’s mad! Isn’t it?” Leanne shook her head and sighed deeply. “I don’t know how to process this.” She walked into Katie’s apartment a little sheepishly, looking around. It was nice, quite like where she was staying, but with a Katie and Angie touch that she could tell just by looking.
“I dunno, it’s weird having seen you just now and you being here the entire time, Angie’s younger, I dunno…”
--
“It does take some time.” Katie said kindly. “Thankfully I wasn’t the only person from our world here, so at least there was some familiarity, even if it was very weird. I was able to meet people and make some new friends.” Katie grinned as she went over to the sofa to sit. “You’ll meet them soon, and I’m sure you’ll love them, especially Pete.” Her face grew warm but she was trying not to toss so much information at her friend at once.
“I wouldn’t say you get used to it, but in a way you do, especially the longer that you’re here, but it’s not so bad. The people have been great. The networking has been pretty amazing, everyone helping each other out. It’s nice.”
--
Leanne might not be the most observant, but given Katie was the only person in the room and they were talking, it was impossible not to notice the slight blush that occurred in Katie’s cheeks after mentioning some bloke named Pete.
“It’s always good to make friends. I’m up for that, you know that. But everything about this place is wild and I’m reeling.” She turned to her friend and smirked. Anything to change the focus from how displaced she was. “Who’s Pete then?”
--
“Take your time,” Katie said grinning. “This place can really take you for a ride.” It was hard to believe that she was almost used to the weirdness at this point. Katie remembered in the beginning, wondering if she ever would get used to the strangeness that was Night Vale, several months later and she was starting to get pretty good at going with the flow.
“He’s-he’ll remind you a lot of the guys back home. Funny, charming, incredibly good looking and he’s fully aware of all of it.” She laughed. “He’s so sweet though, and his friends are great. They call themselves Ghostbusters. They’re a bit different in their world, they basically help muggles who are being haunted and get rid of unwanted ghosts, they fight some pretty mean spirits from what he tells me.” Before she forgot she quickly added, “He has, honestly he reminds me a bit of Peeves, but he looks like a big green blob of slime. His name is Slimer, and he’s a bit like a toddler, full of trouble but also incredibly sweet when he wants to be. Just to warn you, if you meet him, you’ll probably get slimed.”
--
“So you’re dating a cocky yet not insufferable good guy who has a ghost for a pet but hunts them for a living. Interesting.” Leanne laughed. “Is it serious? Friends single? Anyone cute? Not that I’m looking, the whole Incident is still much too fresh.”
Sometimes Leanne got into auto-pilot saying the things people thought someone like her should or would say, but Katie knew better than to take her questions at face value. She wasn’t the type to hop on the friends groups of her own friends’ dates. Most of the time anyway.
--
Kaite laughed. “A bit, but I promise you’ll like him.” Leanne’s comment made her laugh harder. “I think Angelina asked me the same thing, the only one that I think might be single is Winston, but he’s not here yet. All the others though, you’ll like them a lot.”
“I-” She bit her lip. “I mean we haven’t said I love you or anything yet, but I’d be lying if I said my feelings weren’t growing stronger for him.” She certainly started thinking more and more about moving in with him, especially after Miller and Ray moving in together. The only reason why she hadn’t brought it up was because she didn’t want to compare relationships, things would progress with Peter the way they were supposed to, she had no doubt about that.
“How much have you seen the town? I can get Angelina and we can give you a little tour, if you like?”
--
“Awww! That’s great, though, I’m glad for ya!” Leanne replied, nudging Katie with her elbow. Now she had to meet all these ghostbusting blokes as soon as possible. Not that she was the type of friend to judge her friends’ significant others, but it was important getting to know her best friend’s boyfriend. Especially if he was this fun.
“Oh, I’d love that! I haven’t seen much, to be honest, this is all so dizzying.” She shrugged. “I got here, I was welcomed, I went to the flat I had the key for and that’s about it.”
--
“Thanks.” She grinned. Katie let out a big sigh of relief. “I’m so glad you and Angelina are here. Honestly, it was great meeting and getting to know the others from our world better, but I hated not having you guys around.” It made her a little more miserable than she was willing to admit but now that her best friends were starting to show up, she felt a little more at ease.
“Great, I’ll message her and see if she’s up for it.” She took out her device, still amused by the muggle technology. “We’ll take it easy, but it definitely helps with the confusion to have a little tour.” Katie smiled at her friend. “You’ll be one of us in no time.”