04 - Really Horrible Things

[imjustpicky]

Backdated to Saturday, November 12th

[Action - 7132 Brooks Lane, morning]

[Picky had been going out the door to enjoy a nice morning, but then he had found a severed drone head in a box on the doorstep. This was something so far out of his range of comprehension that he had dropped it, screamed at the top of his lungs, and then bolted back inside.]

AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!

[...and he's still screaming. The horror of it has yet to wear off.]

Key-Fu! KEY-FU!!!

[He was the only real person in here. The only real adult. Surely he could do something.]

[Phone]

[Picky's panic had not quite subsided by the time had made his way to the phone. He was so rattled that he forgot to ask the operator to speak to anyone in particular. He was just blurting.]

Someone put a HEAD in a BOX on our FRONT STEP!!! S-someone k-killed the... they... they put a... a...

That kid asked to play with me! And now he's...!

[He sounds like he's ready to burst into tears.]

Comments

[imjustpicky]

I'm... I'm not crying!

[He's not. Seriously! Not anymore! Not after being called on the crying.]

[ofoz.livejournal.com]

Take a deep breath. What you saw was surely a cruel prank. A clever illusion.

[imjustpicky]

[He takes a deep breath.]

...a prank.

[There is silence on the line, then. A faint sound, that of the receiver being set down, and then thumping on the floor as Picky moves away. Then a renewed, unhappy awp, and a panicky thump-thump-thump of feet as he returns to the phone.]

No! No, it's real! It's sticky!

[ofoz.livejournal.com]

Wait--

There are very convincing, cruel people here. People with magic, who think it funny to leave fake heads on little boys porches.

[imjustpicky]

Yeah, I know, I know... [He was whining, now.] I'm not new! [Not THAT new, anyway.]

[ofoz.livejournal.com]

Calm down. I did not say you were.

Would you like some cake?

[imjustpicky]

You sounded like you would... [Girls. Yeesh. Girls are the worst, sometimes.]

...uh.

[Cake was cake, but he kept seeing that severed head in his mind's eye and it was really putting him off his feed.]

Can I have cake later...?

[ofoz.livejournal.com]

Yes. That would be alright.

[imjustpicky]

Okay. Good.

[There's another one of those pauses. This one has an air of caution to it.]

...so who're you?

[ofoz.livejournal.com]

Princess Ozma of Oz.

I don't harm children. You have no reason to be afraid of me.

[imjustpicky]

Princess....

[He's met a king, and now a princess? Wow, this place has everything!]

I... didn't say I was afraid. Why would I be? [He is, perhaps, trying a bit too hard to sound tough.]

[ofoz.livejournal.com]

It's human nature to be afraid.

[imjustpicky]

It's wimpy nature. I'm not wimpy. [Tough, tough, so tough. So eloquent, too.]

[ofoz.livejournal.com]

Of course not. I'm sure you're a very brave boy.

[imjustpicky]

Of course I am.

[She wasn't being sarcastic, was she? He was pretty sure she wasn't. He knew all about sarcasm, what with having Pokey as a big brother...]

You've... gotta be brave, in Mayfield.