(no subject)

[in-it.livejournal.com]

There was a Woobie inna bar, relaxing on a stool with a bottle of beer. He was once again wearing a blue t-shirt, proclaiming in white letters across the front:

My name is Andrew.
I am not a turtle.

Ahhh, it was almost like old times. Being a friendly sort, he wouldn't mind company in the least, and is especially fond of meeting new people.

Comments

[kitchen_maid]

The Ordinary Princess looks curiously at the sign. "Have people been mistaking you for a turtle?" she asks. He doesn't seem turtle-shaped, and she's confused.

[in-it.livejournal.com]

"Not lately, but they used to," Andrew answered with a warm smile. He took a quick sip from his beer and tilted his head at her. "You must be new."

[kitchen_maid]

"Rather new," she agrees, and smiles. "I'm Amy, and this," she indicates the tiny grey squirrel sitting on her shoulder, "is Simon Perryvall who used to be an acorn shell. People mistook you for a turtle?"

[in-it.livejournal.com]

"Nice to meet you, Amy. And Simon." Andrew eyed the squirrel with a wary smile. "He doesn't talk, does he? I have a friend who has two mice who talk." Two mice who talked who really freaked him out, actually.

"People mistook me for a guy who used to be a turtle, yeah. My best friend. He's on security here, so you'll probably see him around eventually. We don't look so much alike now that I've had my hair cut." He ran a hand through his hair impulsively. "Oh, and there's another guy who also looks like us. But he wasn't ever a turtle."

Smile pretty so the nice girl doesn't think you're insane, Largeman.

[kitchen_maid]

The Ordinary Princess makes a lot of her decisions about character based on people's smiles, and comes from a place where a fairy godmother can change you from a perfectly proper princess into an ordinary one in two sentences, so she doesn't often deem people insane.

"No, he doesn't talk. At least, not any differently than any other squirrel does. He does chatter."

"So you look just like two other people here, one of whom used to be a turtle, and the other of whom did not?" The Ordinary Princess thinks she has that all down.

[in-it.livejournal.com]

"You got it," Andrew smiled, glad she didn't seem to be unnerved by it. Then again, she had just told him that her squirrel used to be an acorn shell, so maybe that sort of thing was old hat where she came from. Speaking of...

"So, where are you from, Amy?"

[kitchen_maid]

"Well," she says, "right now I live in Amber. In the palace. I'm the fourteenth assistant kitchen maid." She has decided, for the moment, not to go into the rest of it.

"And what do I have?" she asks. He hasn't given her anything, and aside from Simon Perryvall, she isn't carrying anything. Three identical people one of whom used to be an amphibian she has no problem with. The phrase "you got it" is something else entirely.

[in-it.livejournal.com]

"Huh?" Andrew wondered if it was some sort of game. "I don't know, what do you have? You have a squirrel."

Does he get a cookie if he guesses right?

[kitchen_maid]

"Yes, I know I have a squirrel," she says. patiently. "Is that what you meant I had? You said I had something. Or that I got it or something." She sounds very confused.

[chelleuncurled]

Well, Michelle's not new but she is happy to see him. "Hi Andrew."

[in-it.livejournal.com]

"Michelle, hey!" The grin was instant. "How've you been? How's the wedding planning going?"

[chelleuncurled]

She smiles in return, "I've been better," she says honestly. "But things are okay. How are you?"

[in-it.livejournal.com]

"I'm fine," he replied absently, brow furrowing in concern. "What's wrong? That didn't sound good."

[chelleuncurled]

"Did I tell you about the playing cards?" she wonders, not able to remember. "Oh, I just...I got into a fight with a friend last night. A big one."

[in-it.livejournal.com]

"Playing cards? I don't think so." Suddenly, Andrew felt a surge of unexpected regret. How could he have stayed away so long? He wasn't more than an afterthought to most of the people he'd left behind, he assumed, and why should he be? He'd gone on with his life. No sense in dwelling. Yet, the pang in his chest remained. "You alright? Want to talk about it at all?"

[chelleuncurled]

"Where have you been?" she realizes that she's been out of the bar and hasn't seen him in a while. "It's...hard to explain," she gives him a small smile. "Remember when we were talking about whether or not we were fictional and the idea of asking Bar for DVDs? Well...I found out I am."

[in-it.livejournal.com]

"Oh, man." Andrew breathed out a long sigh. "That's gotta be weird, huh? But I mean, it's not like it's unexpected, right? I mean, when you think about it, odds are we're all fictional somewhere. All you have to do is take a look around this place to know that." He tilted his head as he regarded her, expression worried. "Was it bad?"

[renevatio.livejournal.com]

Lincoln knows what turtles are: he's seen them in the cartoons on the giant screens at the Institute.

This guy does not look like a turtle in the least. The t-shirt seems a bit redundant. Lincoln points at it from his seat. "Is that some sort of joke or something?"

[in-it.livejournal.com]

"Huh?" Andrew blinked at the fellow a moment, before he remembered what he was wearing. "Oh, no, it's not." He looked down at the front of his shirt and then back up at the guy. "There's a guy here who looks just like me. He used to be a turtle. It confused a lot of people when I first came here." He smiled, and extended his hand. "I'm Andrew-" He laughed, cutting a quick glance at his shirt again. "Obviously."

[renevatio.livejournal.com]

Lincoln's getting good at this hand-shaking thing: it's coming naturally now. As for the rest of it, it seems better not to ask.

"Lincoln Six-Echo. And there's a guy here who looks like me too. Does that happen to everybody? Because it's really worrying me."

[in-it.livejournal.com]

"Not everybody, no. At least, not as far as I know, but I've got two other guys who look like me, and my girlfriend has one." Andrew shrugged. "When you've got as many people from as many different places coming in and out of this place, I guess it's inevitable. But don't let it worry you. I ended up being best friends with the turtle."

[renevatio.livejournal.com]

"Yeah? My guy asked me if I was an enchanted animal at first. I think he's weird. He won't stop moping about this woman he knew, but he never talks about her. I don't even know her name. That seems a bit dodgy, eh?"

He stopped mid-smile, looking perturbed, and put his hand around his throat. It was happening more and more -- not that that was much, but it was still unnerving to hear yourself lose control of your speech.

[in-it.livejournal.com]

Actually, it sounded strangely familiar. But Andrew would keep that to himself, for now.

"Are you alright?" Andrew asked, furrowing his brow. "You go back and forth to a Scottish accent often?"

[renevatio.livejournal.com]

Lincoln shook his head. "I'm not sure. I didn't know I had an accent. Only Dr. Merrick talks any different from the rest of us."

[in-it.livejournal.com]

"You know, now that I look at you, you totally look just like this Scottish actor from my world." Andrew looked Lincoln over once appraisingly. "Weird." On some yet unacknowledged level, Andrew realized that such could very well mean that Ewan McGregor would or already had played this guy.

"Where're you from, anyway?"