[D5 LA] Tiff's Tiff and other Miscellany

[Tiffani]

Tiffani's smile fades as her skin turns a shade more pale than it was a moment ago.

"You mean ... this thing wanted a blood sacrifice?"

One of her hands is frozen in the middle of picking off another piece of pepperoni.

"What did you do? I mean... did you have to, you know ... kill something for it? How did you get the apples? Wait, wait ... let me guess. You stole them?"

She smiles again only this time it's a cross between wry and mischeivous.

[Jack Doyle]

He shook his head. "It left them on Chantelle's counter and all around town, apparently. Anyone who ate them was compelled to go to the orchards and cut themselves, or someone else, and bleed into the ground."

"I went back, later that night, to see who or what what the Apple King was." He took a long sip of soda. "It was unearthly, like the Gentry, but not one of them. It spoke through one of the trees, where several locals had gathered. It's sap, which seemed very similar to blood, was offered to everyone to drink from. It said it would provide immortality and wealth to those who consumed it."

[Tiffani]

"Hmmm," Tiffani sounded rather skeptical, finishing her pepperoni picking, popping the last piece into her mouth.

"No offense, Jack, but, uh ... considering you're not wealthy, either this sap nonsense was just that ... nonsense. Or this tree-thing lied to you. Though, I guess we'll find out over time whether or not it granted immorality. Or ... did you decide not to drink it?"

This story was so bizarre to Tiffani that she really had no other choice than to go with it. She didn't think Jack was lying - of course not. She was all too aware that the world she thought existed was just a memory - that fantasy was reality. Given that, was it so weird that some vast consciousness would leave apples lying around?

Well ... yes, it was still weird no matter how true it was. "Anyway, that must've happened before I came here."

[Jack Doyle]

He shook his head again. "I didn't take the deal. But, I did feed it some glamour, to get one of it's branches."

[Tiffani]

"Oookay ...," Tiffani said, still sounding rather flummoxed. It sounded to her like some sort of Brothers Grimm fairy tale - but then again, she wouldn't have been all too surprised if the Brothers Grimm were also Changelings and derived their stories from their durances. "So ... what does this tree branch do? I mean, why would you want one?"

[Jack Doyle]

"I'm not sure yet." he admitted with a shrug. "But, it's definitely not normal wood."

[Tiffani]

"I see ..." Tiffani said matter-of-factly - which obviously meant that she really didn't see or quite understand, but she was getting used to having massive gaps in her knowledge. Especially when it came to things like magical tree branches and cosmic vampires. Admittedly, that bothered her for her ignorance made her vulnerable.

She pulls a few napkins out of the dispenser sitting on the table and wipes the grease off her fingers and face then tosses them on her paper plate.

Then she takes a deep breath and exhales slowly - something she does quite frequently when she wishes to purge stress. It goes without saying that the last three days have comprised of little else but stress.

"I suppose ... I should get to the furniture store before they close." She instinctively looked at her watch forgetting she had sold it. "Do you want to come along? Or do you want to get back and talk to Chantelle? That festival stuff is happening later, too, and I don't have a costume. But I'll figure something out, but I have to get ready for that, too. I think the king is going to officially induct me into the Autumn Court."

[Jack Doyle]

"I'll go with you." he answered. "Chantelle will be heading back to her apartment to pack. I'll catch up with her there."

[Tiffani]

"I won't be too long since I already have an idea of what I want to get - which really isn't that much," Tiffani says as she slides back out of the booth and counts out the cash for the pizza. "A bed is my first priority - sleeping on the floor isn't doing my back any favors."

She starts walking up to the cash register. "You sure you don't need a laptop or anything? Seems everyone has a computer these days. Last time I was, well, here ... the height of computing was an Atari 2600." She rolls her eyes at that knowing how ridiculously primitive an Atari 2600 is compared to today's computers.

After she pays for everything, she looks at Jack somewhat expectantly. "I hope you can help smooth things over with her."

[Jack Doyle]

"I barely understand the phone Chantelle gave me." he admitted. "I probably should learn about these computers for the Itsy thing Chantelle suggested, but I'd like to get settled in first."