[D2, LA} Is Isaac Croner Out There Somewhere?

[Tiffani Noelle]

"It was this overwhelming sense of ... security, safety, and belonging that really made me appreciate Christmas," Tiffani said. "It's difficult to put into words. You know, I never told anyone this before, but every Christmas Eve I would sneak out of the house after everyone was asleep and take a walk through town. I'm not sure why I did it, but I did. Maybe it was to see all the lights lit up, the trees in the windows - and to experience this ... this utterly profound silence. They say Christmas is a magical time of year, and while I don't take that literally, if I stood still and just felt more than listened, there was ... something in the air. Like standing really close to a power transformer. I had no explanation except to think that it was the energies, the anticipation, the excitement of billions of people whose minds were all concentrated, fixated on the same thing."

"But mostly - I remember standing in the dark, in the cold, and being so damn grateful that I wasn't a cast-off from society. I had a good life, Imogen, and I knew it. I wasn't one of those people whose 'good old days' were in the past. I was living mine - and I knew that I was."

"Ahh," she muttered disdainfully, "I don't know why I'm telling you any of this. I can't change what happened. And maybe you're right. There's a lot of Changelings out there who had their lives stolen just like I did ... and now they are searching for the same thing I am."

Tiffani turns to walk toward the camera stand just when Imogen snaps the picture. She snickers a bit, fluffs her hair, spreads her wings in all of their glory, and strikes some dramatic pose like the old pin-up girls from WWII. "Here you go." She snickers again and, whether Imogen takes the picture or not, she continues her walk to the camera.

"So ... when you take a picture of a Changeling, do you just get their mask? Or do you get ... you know ... everything on film?" She puts one hand in her jacket pocket, the other she uses to hold her hair back as she leans in to examine the camera - a far superior piece of technology than the Kodak Disk camera that she had just before she was taken. In her time, the Kodak Disk was the best there was for snap-shotting. Otherwise, you'd need a 35mm camera which required a lot of manual settings to be just right meaning you couldn't snap-shot with them.

"Oh, I suppose it's possible that I could have ended up bagging groceries at the local Tesco or being a receptionist in some doctor's office. But, uh, if you'll pardon the conceit, I really don't think so. I'm not saying I would be the next Carl Sagan, but I have enough faith in myself that I would make it." She looks upwards then at the darkening sky, the splendor of the winter stars already poking through the purplish sky. "Yeah ... there are a lot of mysteries up there, and a lot of physicists needed to solve them."

She looked back down and laughed outright at the "groaning or pity" remark and says, "Is he really that bad? It makes me want to meet him myself just see what kind of train wreck he really is. Maybe you can introduce him to me - I'll pity, you groan. Or vice-versa. It's up to you." She grins at Imogen, then continues to inspect the camera.

[Imogen Baker]

"Okay..." Imogen said after a beat, trying to process what Tiffani was going on about with her experience with Christmas. It didn't sound entirely unique but it did sound ephemeral. "I probably don't entirely get what you're talking about but I guess I get that it's kind of gone, or impossible to get back. I've had feelings like that before, not about Christmas and not in the way, but I can understand in that regard. As to why you're telling me all of this...?"

Her many eyes seemed to roam around and get a scope of her surroundings. "I guess it's because it's just you and I around here. Who else are you going to tell your tale? Not one of the locals, that's for sure," she smirked.

If Tiffani was willing to pose, Imogen was going take another picture of her gladly. She only had to trade a minute amount of space on her memory card for another picture anyway. "Only their mask. The camera may cost a lot but it's as observant as the people around us. It's not like the pictures have an extra dimension to them, being as conventional as they are. It does give you a better idea of how other people see you, at least."

Imogen let out a sigh and conceded that she might have made this a bigger deal than it was. "Okay, I admit that I might be exaggerating. But people who talk about God this and God that kind of get under my skin slightly. Maybe because I haven't done exactly the purest things or maybe I just don't like being put into a particular box."

[Tiffani Noelle]

"I suppose that's the reason," Tiffani said, referring to her talk of Christmas. She backed away from the camera and frowned at it. "Well, I'm probably going to look stupid in that picture then - I kind of posed with the wings in mind."

She shrugged then, saying, "I suppose it doesn't matter. I don't know what you would use it for - but if it somehow makes you some money, use it at your leisure. It's not like anyone ...."

And then a thought came to mind, a bittersweet thought, terrifying yet tempting all at once. "Wait, maybe you better not. I mean, it's a long shot of course, but ... were you to publish that, someone from my old life might ... you know ... recognize me. Or worse, someone from Arcadia."

Then she waved it all away. "Nae, go ahead and use it if you want. No one would believe I survived all these years and still look like I'm in my teens. And my Keeper doesn't want me, anyway, so it's not as though anyone is after me."

A wave of melancholia hit her then - for a variety of reasons - but she hid it well. She hid her expression by turning back to the cornfields. "A part of me just wants to walk into those fields, consequences be damned."

[Imogen Baker]

"I wouldn't worry too much about it," Imogen said in passing about the picture. It's not like she intended to use Tiffani or any of the other Lost in her line of work. If they were anything like her, they likely valued their privacy quite highly. However, there was a benefit to keeping records for everything around her. "If you really want me to entertain the thought of using it, I think I would need something less candid and in great quantity. I don't think the corn backdrop suite you. Maybe a mall food court or maybe that nearby plaza."

"It looks like that would be a good idea, doesn't it? But, really, why? Hm, I get the feeling it's not exactly as fun as it would look." She frowned. "It's not like you're going to fad off and join some heaven where all of the old baseball players are found."

[Tiffani Noelle]

"Oh ... no particular reason," Tiffani said rather airily - which didn't sound altogether truthful even to her own ears. "Curiosity? I used to get compared to that proverbial cat quite often in my old life. I guess Arcadia didn't do much to squelch that trait."

She watched the corn for a time then said. "Though you're probably right. I'll just end up walking through endless rows of corn, my feet will get tired. It'll be cold, boring, and I won't see or find anything but a lot more corn. I keep thinking there's a crop circle in there somewhere. Or some kind of clearing where the town gathers on a full moon to sacrifice virgins to the corn god. Melodramatic, yeah, I know, and more akin to a B-movie plot than anything real. But it would be exciting, no?"

"Besides, after Arcadia, I can't rule anything out." Those last words were spoken with a much darker, more ominous tone.

Another pause.

"Look, ahh ... not that I'm eager to do this, but I probably should get going - I have to talk to that priest before it gets too late and I end up sleeping somewhere - well - cold. And if he doesn't work out, I'll need time to talk to the other bloke - the one who runs the protestant church."

[Imogen Baker]

"Heh," Imogen grinned widely at first, having seen her share of horror movies become coming here. "That would be pretty exciting, I admit. I'm still waiting for the guy with the chainsaw and the literal face masks to pop up on the horizon. Or is that only around hung linens? The idea of those things would be great but even worse to happen to you. Let's not go wishing for things we can't really do anything about, right? I don't like where I'll end up on the list of potential victims."

"Sure," she nodded. "Good luck with that. I'll hang out here with my camera. I'll try to take pictures of UFOs, Slenderman or anything else strange I might see around here, seeing as you might appreciate that."

[Tiffani Noelle]

"I'm not really sure where I'd fit in with victims - but I would like to think I wouldn't be so bloody stupid as most horror movie victims are." Tiffani chuckled and picked her rather substantial backpack off the ground and slung it over her shoulder. "I suppose with limping, lame killers who can somehow move faster than someone at a full run, if you're scripted to die, you die, no matter what you do." She tried and failed to suppress an involuntary shiver. "Ick ... not a horror movie fan myself. I hate jump scares - even if I see them coming a light year away I still end up jumping."

She zips her jacket up the rest of the way, pulling her hair out from underneath it. Then she heaves a little sigh as if in some sort of regret. "But again, you're probably right. It's fun to think about, I suppose, but I don't think I'd want to live through the idea of being trapped in a tiny town surrounded by corn, a few Changelings against the whole town who are all in on it together."

Tiffani looks down at the snow for a moment, obviously thinking about ...something ... then says, "Well, if you're going to be here awhile, maybe I'll pass by this way later - see if you managed to capture proof of Bigfoot or maybe a troupe of Illuminati on their way to the Bohemian Grove. It's been nice talking to you, Imogen. Hopefully perhaps we can get together again sometime."

[Imogen Baker]

"I don't think we're against the whole town," she said with a frown, there wasn't much evidence of suspecting them of any foul play, yet.

Imogen gave her a two-fingered salute. "Yep, you'll likely see me around here for the next few days. I don't think I'll be able to wring all of the possible photo opportunities here in one sitting. Take care and watch out for the ditches. They can be troublesome with all of the stalks around here."

[Tiffani Noelle]

"Ditches ... huh." Tiffani said this as if she had never thought of that before. "I never really thought of that."

She gave her pack one final tug onto her shoulder to adjust it's weight and returned the two-fingered salute in a flippant sort of way.

"As we say back home ... cheerio," and with that, she began trodding her way through the snow and her dreaded meeting with the priest.

/scene