Lily Evans: The Unduckening

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"'But oh, beamish nephew, beware of the day,/If your Snark be a Boojum! For then/You will softly and suddenly...'" the Cheshire Cat recites, breaking off when it notices it has company. It's sunning itself, draped belly-up over a parapet of the castle, but with an unsettling upside down smile it vanishes and then reappears on the bridge, just to one side of where the transformation took place.

"What?" Lily asks it, even though she's not expecting a real response that makes any sense. How did she get here? The last thing she remembers is going to sleep in the ice cream shop, although she's wearing her school uniform again, not pajamas, and she doesn't suspect herself of sleepwalking... even though she does have the odd feeling of just waking up from a dream.

"Well, h-hi there!" says a squeaky voice. Mickey, beaming, is coming up the bridge from the direction of the central plaza. "It's great to see you again! And isn't it a beautiful day!" He draws in a breath and seems to be a millisecond from zipadee-doo-dahing when the castle's portcullis rattles slightly and drops half an inch. He glances over his shoulder. "Cut it out, fellas! Just a minute..." He pats his newly appeared pockets.

"It's, er, nice to see you too," Lily tells him. She looks around, trying to regain her bearings. What the bloody hell is going on here?

"If you were a book," asks the Cheshire Cat, apparently apropos nothing, "what book would you be?"

A book? "I guess I'd be a A Little Princess," says Lily. "I mean, it was my favorite when I was a little girl. And I still like it a lot."

Mickey has extracted his notebook, and clears his throat. "'Boxers or briefs?'" he reads aloud, and promptly blushes redder than a fire truck.

Lily's eyes widen and then narrow. "What?!" he screeches. Were they really asking her that? Oh, for crying out loud! How dare they! Of course, she was a girl and thus wore neither, but still! It was the principle of the thing! "If you think I'm actually going to tell you that, you're out of your mind."

"Here's another," says Mickey. "List three things you'd do if you ruled the world."

"Rule the world?" Lily repeats. She shakes her head. "I'm sorry. That's another question I can't answer. I don't think that kind of responsbility or power should ever be given to just one person. Especially not someone my age."

The Cat's eyes seem to be wandering in opposite directions. It says, "Is reality best described as (a) an absolute, not reducible to the sum of its parts, (b) the material or phenomenal world, as presented to us through our experiences, (c) fundamentally unknowable, (d) all of the above - please elaborate - or (e) fish?"

Lily blinks. "Um, all of the above, I guess," she says alowly. "I mean, there's the physical component of the world, the stuff you see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears and you know it's real because you experience it physically... and then there's the stuff that we don't experience on physical level, maybe, but still there, just as real. Things like love, hope, dreams..." She wasn't sure what that fish comment was all about. "And I don't think anyone can really know everything about what life is all about. That's just not possible. I don't think even Dumbledore knows everything." And really, Dumbledore was the epitome of wisdom in Lily's eyes.

Mickey raises one white-gloved hand as though measuring his own height. "Are you tall enough to go on this ride?"

Lily isn't sure what ride he's talking about, but she dutifully measures her own height against his hand anyway. "Um, I think so," she concludes.

Comments

[ningyou-hime.livejournal.com]

Chii had listened to other interviews like this, but she hadn't taken much chance to talk with the people at them, so this time, she did, curiously.

The first thing out of her mouth this time was, "Excuse me. Welcome to Disneyland, but what is boxers or briefs? I do not understand this."

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"Um, thank you. But I've already been here, really. And... they're kinds of underwear. It's really not polite to ask people about them."

[ningyou-hime.livejournal.com]

"Chii...." More confusion on Chii's part follows, so she ends up asking, "What are underwear?"

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"It's... they're..." Lily hesitated. How did she explain something like that? But Chii clearly didn't know and it was probably better to tell her now, before someone else did.

"They're like knickers and things. Clothes that you wear under your clothes. To, um, cover private parts."

[ningyou-hime.livejournal.com]

And...cue more blinking from Chii. "What are...private parts?" the robot asked, being extra careful to form the words properly.

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

Oh. Oh, dear.

"They're...parts of you that other people shouldn't touch." Lily blushed faintly, but otherwise, seemed unflustered. "Anything covered by a swimsuit is 'private'."

[ningyou-hime.livejournal.com]

"Chii...." Well, Chii could understand that things covered were private and not things people should touch, now. Just one problem. "What is a swimsuit? I do not have one of those."

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"It's special clothes that you can wear to go swimming in," Lily explained, relieved to at least have something easier to explain than private parts. "It's usually made out of special material so that the water doesn't ruin it."

[ningyou-hime.livejournal.com]

There was a long blank stare from Chii as she processed this information away. "I do not have one. If I get one, I can see where private parts go?" Chii asked, determined to understand this new concept now.

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"Um, sure," Lily said hesitantly. "I know a store with some. I can use that to show you where private parts go, okay?" She laughed a little.

[ningyou-hime.livejournal.com]

"Okay!" Chii said happily - she would be learning new things~! And she made a new friend, so clearly this was a great day for Chii.

"We could go now? Or would Lily-san like to set another time?"

[ooc: And whenever you'd like/have time, let me know, and I'll set up a post.]

[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

That voice. It only took a second for it to sink in what James was hearing, and then he just stood there, listening to it until she was done. And then, within a second he appeared in front of her. "Lily," he breathed, and moved to embrace her.

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"James..."

Lily hesitated and stared back at him, wide-eyed and unsure. She remember everything that had happened before, but that only made all of this more confusing. She let herself be embracd, though, at least for the time being.

"I..."

[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

"I missed you," James said. "I missed you so much. I looked everywhere for you."

Well, he was probably sounding vaguely creepy right now, but he didn't care. He didn't know where Lily had been these past months (year?), but he hoped she had missed him as well.

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"This is all so much to take in at once," Lily admitted. Her head felt like it was swimming.

Something about the way he was talking unnerved her, too. "You did? How long was I gone?"

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

Sirius' plans for the day had mostly included sitting around and maybe kidnapping James and getting drunk. But obviously the voice over the loudspeaker was going to change that.

Because holy shit. Lily.

There was a part of Sirius that felt uncomfortably jealous-- it should have been his turn now, he couldn't help thinking-- but he squashed that because it was more selfish than he ever wanted to be when it came to James and Lily. Especially since he really did love her, too.

Instead, he went down to where Lily was being questioned, but hung back when he saw that James had already arrived.

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"Sirius," said Lily weakly, pulling herself away from James. She still wasn't entirely sure how to react to him. It wasn't just that he was Sirius and that itself presented issues. He was a thirtysomething, obviously-worse-for-the-wear Sirius. How did you act around that?

She did her best to just be friendly, at least for now. "Um, hullo."

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

Well, the fact that she was a teenage Lily hardly made him comfortable either-- he was undecided as to whether he should tease her like he did when he was that age, or think about her as like a sister the way he had before her death.

"Hullo yourself. Did that sad bastard over there explain what's going on, or what?" he asked with a small smile.

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"You mean James?" She smiled back, just a little. "No, not really. He said he'd been looking for me, though. And that I'd been missing a while..." She frowns, looking quite bothered by all of this.

"One minute I was pulling on my pajamas to go to bed and the next thing I knew, I was here. It was the night right after the day that..." No, she wasn't going to go into that with Sirius, at least not here and not yet, even though James probably already had.

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

Sirius shrugged.

"That's the gist of it. You know how people just drop off the face of the earth here? You did that about a year ago. And he's right, we did look everywhere. You weren't in the park. But a few people have come back and got requestioned recently, and it looks like your number is up."

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"I see..."

Well, that was disturbing. Lily wasn't sure how to take that. "A year ago? How do you know it's been that long?" But she didn't really sound like she disblieved him. It's just that a year feels like a long time to a seventeen-year-old, and the fact that she had no memory of the time between her disappearance and now didn't help.

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

"Moon," he explained. "It's been nearly twelve lunar cycles, so if they match up to any sort of real time...But I wouldn't worry too much about it, I don't think you'll wind up back home any later than you came." He gave her a kind smile that would probably have been odd on a seventeen year old Sirius. "I don't remember that happening."

[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

"That, and you disappeared not long after Valentine's Day, and Valentine's Day just rolled around again a month or two ago," James said.

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

"That too," Sirius agreed, grinning. "We got cute cards. You missed out."

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"Cards?" Lily asked, smiling a little. Sirius's smile had reassured her, and James for once not acting like a dolt did too.

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

"They had little pictures of us on them," Sirius said. "If I still have one, I'll give it to you, how about that?" he added.

And now he had to decide whether to let her see the "From me and your wife" one (http://community.livejournal.com/dizzy_land/256056.html#cutid1), or be nice and show her one of the others.

[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

At the mention of the cards, James remembered in the back of his head the one that was made for Kara. Still, that didn't matter. He hadn't sent it, so it wasn't important.

"I'm sure that I've still got some hanging around at my place if you want to see them, too." Beat. "Move in with me."

Okay, probably not a conversation they should have with Sirius around, since he did feel bad for Sirius not having Remus around. And he probably should let all this sink in with Lily a little more before he sprung it on her, but he had been wanting to say it as soon as he had heard her. In fact, he thought he had remarkable self control for being able to hold it in for as long as he had.

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

It was many years practice of being around James that kept him from rolling his eyes. That was a really stupid move, but his problem with Lily had always been coming on way too strong.

Instead, he frowned, as though considering a sensible proposal. "He has a point," he said. "What with all the disappearances we've had recently. It might be safer if you stayed with someone."

He grinned. "I'd offer myself, but well, you're a bit young and also I snore."

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"Move in with you?" Lily said, sounding shocked but not outraged, as she might have when she first arrived. The truth was, she had warmed to James since coming here.

But that didn't mean she was ready to move in with him.

Still, what Sirius was saying made sense. If she'd disappeared once, she might be at an increased risk of doing it again. Then again, maybe those who had already disappeared once had immunity now or something. It was hard to say.

"You're probably right," she admitted to Sirius. "But I still don't know, James. I'm not sure I'm ready for something like that."

[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

James nodded, messing up his hair again. "Well, listen, you should stay with someone at least. Do you have any other friends who you could stay with?"

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"I... Well..." Lily hesitated. She had a few people she was on relatively friendly terms with -- Dean and Adam and a few others -- but no one she felt close enough to ask to move in with.

"I guess not," she admitted. "At least, not here."

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

"Lily," he said, somewhat uncharacteristically gently. "You're probably not in any danger, really, but it really does make sense to stay with James or at least near him. Why don't you find a good spot nearby, and the second he starts to bother you, I give my solemn vow to hold him down while you hex him for it?"

He really didn't want to do that, but he figured Lily would probably not want to hex James, and if she did, she wouldn't hurt him. Besides, if she got good and mad, it wasn't as though she'd actually need Sirius' help.

[mickey-mous.livejournal.com]

"All righty, Lily! Now where'd I put you last time..." He started searching through his pockets and all number of odd things started falling out.

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"Main Street," Lily reminded him, biting her lip and trying not to laugh. "You put me in Main Street."

[mickey-mous.livejournal.com]

Peering quizzically at a lawnmower that had just come out of his pocket, Mickey blinked and looked back at Lily. "Didja like it there?"

That notebook had to be somewhere...

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"It...it was all right?" Lily volunteered. "Um, I didn't mind it too bad. I wouldn't mind trying another place, though. They all seem nice."

[mickey-mous.livejournal.com]

Mickey started pulling out odd things in great quantities: rubber chicken, birthday cake with lit candles, a ladder, a pogo stick, and, even more inexplicably, a sleeping cat.

"Do you like animals?" he asked abruptly.

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"Sure," said Lily, not sure where he was going with this but finding it amusing regardless. "I guess I like people more, but I like animals too."

[mickey-mous.livejournal.com]

"Wanna live in Critter Country, then?" he asked hopefully, while carefully putting the cat back in his pants.

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"Uh, sure. That's fine." Lily sounded distracted, though, and her eyes widened in alarm when he did tried to put the cat back into his pants. "Can...can it breathe in there?" she asked concernedly. She was far more worried about the cat, for the time being, than where she was going to get her mail.

[mickey-mous.livejournal.com]

"Keen! Then I'll..." Mickey stopped and looked at her in some surprise. "What?"

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

"The cat. Can it -- can it breathe in your, um, in your pants?

[mickey-mous.livejournal.com]

He pulled the cat out again. It was still sleeping (http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/funny-pictures-kitten-avoids-bath-plays-dead.jpg) and entirely unharmed.

[ningyou-hime.livejournal.com]

[[I wants Mickeh's kitteh. D:]]

[mickey-mous.livejournal.com]

((*giggles* It's a kyoot one. :D))

[charmingflower.livejournal.com]

Lily blinked rapidly. "Oh," she said. "Oh, oh, I see." She shook her head, still looking a little dizzy.

"Er. But yes. Critter Country is fine."

[mickey-mous.livejournal.com]

"Swell! Then I'll put you in Critter Country. Your mail will still go to Lily (http://community.livejournal.com/dizzy_land/tag/lily). Welcome back to the Happiest Place on Earth!"