Seeing and Believing (open)

[Lillian Tinkerbell]

Tink had lost track of how long she’d been living in Tenebrae. Had it been days? Weeks? Months? Years? The weather hadn’t really changed in the whole time, so maybe it really had only been a matter of weeks. Then again, maybe the weather didn’t change here, and it hadbeen years. She had fallen into a routine of sorts, that was why the days seemed to flash by. On days she worked, she got up, tended to hygiene matters, ate breakfast, walked to the mall, worked, walked back home, ate dinner, tended to hygiene matters, and went to bed. On days she was off, she woke up, tended to hygiene matters, ate breakfast, found something to do, ate dinner, tended to hygiene matters, and went to bed. On Fridays, she ate out resturants, and on Saturdays, she did her grocery shopping. Today was an off day, and she had decided to spend it at the library.

On her first day at Tenebrae, the first person she met, Helena Bertinelli, had mentioned a book, Peter Pan. Helena had recognized Tink’s name because of the book. It seemed to mostly be about Peter, but Tink was determined to find it and read it. Where else would a book be, but at the library? So that was where she was now, the library.

Tink had actually been at the library for close to an hour, searching the shelves for the book she desired. She had had to search for it because she didn’t know who the author was. She suspected that Wendy or her daughter, Jane, had written it, but both the W and the J sections came up empty. She sighed in frustration. Where was it? It had to be here somewhere! This was a library. The whole reason for libraries was to hold books people wanted to read, and she wanted to read Peter Pan.

Finally, her frustration got the better of her, and she stomped up to desk. “I would like to read Peter Pan,” her talking device said. “but I can’t find it.”

The librarian at the desk looked up from the computer screen she was typing on and stared at the woman. “Try the catalog,” she said, pointing at the bank of computers against the wall. When the woman gave her a confused look, the librarian sighed. “It’s easy. You just type the book’s title or author using the keyboard, and a list will show up on the screen, showing you where the book is in the library.” This time, the woman smiled and walked away, leaving the librarian in peace to play her Tetris game.

Tink walked over to the computers the librarian had pointed out and typed out Peter Pan. She stood there for a few moments, staring at the computer’s blank screen as it searched the library’s database. Eventually, a message popped up on the screen. No materials found. She tilted her head to the side in confusion. How was that possible? She quickly checked to make sure she had spelled the name correctly. She had, but the message stayed the same. She stared for several long seconds as she thought. Wait, had Helena actually said the book was called Peter Pan? It was so long ago that Tink couldn’t really remember. She started typing out other possible titles. Neverland: no results. Tinkerbelle: no results. Hook: Aha! Here, there was something! Hooked: A Guide to Fishing She wrinkled her nose and tried something else. Wendy: Wendy’s Wonderful Adventures Well, this seemed more promising than a fishing guide. She wrote down the book’s number and left the computers to go look for it.

About five minutes later, she was standing in the children’s section, looking at a long shelf of thin picture books. Sure enough, there was the book she was looking for. Wendy’s Wonderful Adventures She picked it up and opened it. Instantly, her face turned bright red with frustration and embarrassment. Thhis was not what she was looking for at all. This book was about a little red-haired girl who just did little girl things. She didn’t even fly! Tinkerbell shoved the book back on the shelf in annoyance. As she did so, she noticed several ther books with the same title, or almost the same. Wendy’s Wonderful Adventures at the Park; Wendy’s Wonderful Adventures on a Plane Okay, so technically, the little girl did fly, but it still wasn’t what she wanted.

Tink turned away from the shelf feeling defeated. Why didn’t the library have Peter Pan or any other book on Neverland? She was sure they existed somewhere. Hadn’t Helena said she knew of Tink from a book? Then where was it? Not here, apparently. Maybe the book only existed in Helena’s world, or maybe the library just didn’t have it. Whichever was true, she felt very disappointed as she started walking slowly towards the exit.

That was when she saw it: the fairy. At least, she thought it was a fairy. It looked nothing like she had or even any of her friends had looked. Its skin was pale blue; its hair was a mess of dark blue knotted strands; it was wearing a white dress. The most startling hing about it were its wings. They were not like Tink’s wings had been, but large, white, and feathered. She was so shocked by the image that she couldn’t help but stand there and stare.

[Meg Evans]

Meg felt hopeless as she continued to explore more and more of the town. What year was it? How had she ended up here? What in the hell was the internet? Meg scratched her head as she wondered into the library, a place she felt quite comfortable being considering it consisted of books. Books contained paper and words (JUST paper and words) that were in black and white which made her feel quite comfortable and reminded her of home. Upon entering the one place that had the potential to bring her comfort she screwed up her nose and looked at the big boxes of plastic and glass she heard someone call a computer with dismay. Beyond the computers though, were loads of shelves containing thousands of books.

"Now if I were a book about Tenebrae...where would I be?" She murmured to herself as she took a cautious step forward. She made sure to stay away from the odd boxes and continued on towards the books.

Meg found it quite peculiar that they didn't have a town hall here. Where was she supposed to find information on where she was? How was she supposed to figure out what exactly was going on. Meg loved asking questions but loved to answer and solve them even more. The library was always such a helpful source for her. Being a writer she liked to get as much background information for her articles as she could. In this particular instance though she sincerely doubted she was going to find much. Why exactly were they trying to keep everyone in the dark about being 'shifted' as they called it. 

Meg paused to look at a book. Plumbing for Dummies. She arched a brow examining the bright yellow book with a drawn cartoon character on the cover. "These people are quite odd..." She whispered to herself. She always felt awkward when making too much noise in the library if at all. It seemed like such peaceful and relaxing place, she didn't want to be that person to disrupt anyone, though upon closer inspection, she didn't notice anyone here at all. As she was going to put the book away, it tumbled right out of her hands and slamming face first down on the floor making a large thud sound. 

"Oh gosh!" She whispered dropping to her knees quickly to pick it up. If anyone had been there before they were now alerted of a newcomer's presence. Her skirt settled around her as she stayed on her knees to think about what she would do next. As she was about to start getting up, she heard what she thought sounded like a frustrated sigh. A person! Maybe they could help her find answers! Getting up more quickly now, she returned the book and went in search of this new person. She prowled the aisles looking for someone, anyone who wanted to know just as much as her about this peculiar place.

Finally she came upon a tiny woman who she seemed to tower over with great ease. She was cute in a way and looked familiar but she couldn't quite place her finger on just where she'd seen her. "Excuse me..." Meg started quietly coming beside the woman. "Are you looking for answers too?" She asked genuine curiosity etched across her face.

[Lillian Tinkerbell]

After seeing the poster of the fairy with blue skin, Tink thought that maybe being at the library wasn’t such a bad thing after all. Sure, it seemed that they didn’t have her story or Peter’s or Hook’s, but maybe they had stories of other fairies. Quickly, she returned to the computers and typed in fairies. An incredibly long list popped up on screen with titles ranging from A Little Fairy’s First School to Fairies and Pixies: The Truth. Tink quickly wrote down each book’s number on a sheet of paper and then went off searching. Within minutes, she had a large stack of books on a table and adding more with every trip back to the stacks.

It was during one of these trips when Tink was startled by a very tall woman. She wasn’t so much startled by her presence, she’d heard the woman approaching, but goodness, was she ever tall. Tink took a step backward, clutching the fairy book tightly to her chest. The tall woman asked if she was looking for answers, but it was the last word, the too, that really caught her attention. So this woman was looking for answers? Well, good luck; she probably wouldn’t find any. Tink had been here for ages, and she still had no answers for her questions. Still, that was no reason to take the woman’s hope.

Slowly, Tink shook her head and pulled her talking device out of her pocket. After a moment of typing in a message, she pressed the SAY button, and a soft, feminine yet robotic voice floated out in a low volume. “Answers? No, not really. More like familiar faces.” She showed the woman her book, which was a thin, child’s picture book with a fairy peeking out from behind a flower petal. “I used to be a fairy,” the device continued speaking. She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly as if the used to be part of her sentence didn’t bother her. “What about you though?” The device asked as Tink peered at the woman curiously. “Are you looking for answers?”

[Meg Evans]

Meg looked down at the girl typing away and found it rather peculiar. Where had this device come from? Meg made a noise of frustration but not towards the girl, just towards the situation in general. How was this possible? Had she been transported from the future? How did that make sense though? When everyone thought they had been a fictional character before coming here, how did she fit in? She certainly was not fictional. She seemed real. She didn't come from a magical foreign place.

When she heard the soft robotic voice her attention turned back to the girl. "Well what kind of familiar faces?" Meg inquired. "Perhaps I can help you." She offered though she sincerely doubted she actually could. Perhaps giving this girl a sliver of hope before dashing it was cruel. She probably shouldn’t have offered. Meg let her fingers play with each other as she stood there, easily towering over the girl.

What if she finds me frightening? She is so tiny and I am so…not. I’m never going to find answers, nor am I going to find George.

Meg blew out a sigh that blew her bangs upwards.

“I used to be a fairy.”

What? There are no such things as fairies…Meg wasn’t about to go verbalize that to this girl though. Maybe she was dreaming. It was possible after all; she met a girl the other day that thought she was a pony.

What about her? Meg looked around and imitated the girl’s shrug. “I’m not…well not anything magical. Just a human. Though I think I’m in the wrong time period…” Meg murmured. “People keep telling me the year and that can’t be possible. It’s 1945 right now… at least it used to be. Then I was brought here and everything looked different. I don’t even think I’m in New York anymore and certainly not New York City.” She explained. “I just want to find George and go home.” Meg said finally looking to the tiny girl for help. “If George is even here that is…” She added quietly. Maybe she was the only one that got sucked into this place. Maybe he was in New York City at this very moment looking for her while she was looking for him.

[Lillian Tinkerbell]

Tink could hear the desperation in the tall woman's voice. She wanted to find her friend and go home; everyone here probably wanted the same thing. The former fairy had been here long enough to know that going home or finding old friends wouldn't be easy. The only thing you could really do was try to find new friends and make this place as much home as possible. It wasn't easy, but she had learned that if you focused too much on what you had lost, it only made this all that much harder. "My name's Lillian." The device said after she had typed in a message. Tink had stopped telling people her last name. It only hurt when people called her Lillian instead of Tinkerbell like she was used to. At least this way, she couldn't blame them.

She looked around her for a moment and her gaze fell on a bookshelf. Suddenly, she remembered why she had come to the library in the first place. "Maybe your friend is in a book?" She looked at the woman curiously. "On my first day here, someone recognized me from a book they had read. I came here looking for that book. I couldn't find it, but maybe you'll have better luck." She motioned at all the books around her, offering the woman a hopeful smile. With all these books around, there had to be some mention of the universe the girl was from. After all, 1945 New York was a place and time. You couldn't get rid of everything about it, much like you couldn't get rid of every mention of fairies.

[Meg Evans]

Meg looked down at her opposite and offered a small smile. Lillian? That's a pretty. Meg studied her for a moment trying to place where exactly she had seen her. The name sounded familiar perhaps she had met this girl before? No...not possible. She'd remember such a tiny woman such as this girl. It was hard to forget someone who was nearly half your size. No, where had she seen that name? Hmm.

Meg pondered this question while studying the girl again, as she spoke.

A book? "But I'm not from a book. I'm...well real. George is real too! Oh too bad I don't have a photograph of him...then I could show people what he looks like. Perhaps I would find him much faster. Then again maybe he isn't here..." Meg trailed off sadly. She had been so confused since arriving here. Everyone was so odd, perhaps they had gone mad here? Thinking they were strange creatures and characters from stories, it was all so peculiar. Then a thought occurred to Meg. What if she was a book character too and she didn't realize it?

"Did you know you were a character in a book before coming here?" She questioned.

Lillian began to speak again about looking for her book and not being able to find it. Perhaps Meg could help. She had loved to read when she was younger. "What story were you looking for? Perhaps I've heard of it." Meg offered. Meg couldn't do much for this girl as she didn't really know her nor did she know what the girl was up to but she could at least try. It was the best she could do and Lillian had been ever so helpful in just the few minutes that they had been talking.

[Lillian Tinkerbell]

Tink frowned slightly at the tall woman, her brow creasing. She couldn't help but notice that the woman hadn't introduced herself. She just kept on saying her friend's name, George. This seemed very rude to the former fairy. After all, she had introduced herself. Weren't your supposed to introduce yourself after the other person had done so? That's what she had always done. Introducing yourself said you wanted to be friends with the other person. Even Vidia had introduced herself. This woman hadn't though. Maybe she didn't want to be friends or maybe she was just too distracted with finding George. Either way, Tinkerbell really did try not to hold it against the woman, which turned out to be a lot harder than she thought it would be.

It also irked Tink that the woman had so quickly dismissed being from a book. Sure, it could be hard to accept, but the way she had said it. "But I'm not from a book. I'm ... well real." What did that make Tink? A figment of this woman's imagination? Hardly. She was every bit as real as the unnamed woman, and so were everyone she had met so far in this crazy place. Tink blew a strand of blonde hair out of her face with a frustrated huff as the woman once again started to go on about George.

Tink tried to feel sympathetic for the woman. Clearly, this George was very important to her. Maybe he was even her husband? Unfortunately, she wasn't giving any really helpful information, like his hair or eye color. No, she just kept on going about how she had to find him. This was all well and good, but how was Tink supposed to help without some basic information?

When the woman asked if she had known she was from a book, Tink simply shook her head no, not feeling like using her device for such a simple answer. Then the woman asked what book she'd been looking for. The young blonde woman waved her hand dismissively before starting to type out a response. "Oh, Peter Pan. I already checked the library's database, and it wasn't there." Her device was silent a moment before she started typing again, telling the woman the idea she'd had earlier. "If you're not from a book, maybe you can try searching for books about 1945 or New York City. Maybe you or your friend will be mentioned in one of those."

[Meg Evans]

Meg looked around sadly and shrugged. This wasn't going as planned. When Lillian answered her question about not knowing she was a character before she came here, this got Meg to thinking. Perhaps she was a story character. Her brows furrowed as she began to mull over what type of story she could be from. Perhaps she could find it here in the library! Looking around her Meg smiled a small smile. "Thank you so much...You've been incredibly helpful." She murmured looking around once more. "Lillian? Right?" Meg asked. Then it dawned on her. She knew where she had seen that name!

"You! I share a home with you now I believe!" Meg said feeling much relief after wondering where she had seen Lillian's name. "I knew I recognized your name. When I got here they assigned me a home and I saw the list of name who would be in the home." Meg explained. "I'm Meg." She added as an after thought.

This girl had been so incredibly nice and the niceness just blew Meg away. It wasn't that Meg wasn't nice, she was just incredibly shy normally. She didn't like to talk to strangers and liked to keep things short and sweet.

"Peter Pan?! You're from Peter Pan and Wendy!" Meg exclaimed. "Oh goodness!" She murmured to herself and began to rudely stare the girl. She did have the likeness of Tinkerbell. "Oh I can help you!" She exclaimed excited. Meg wanted to help her just as she had tried to help Meg. "What do you need to know? Why are you looking for it? It was my favorite story as a child. Well one of them." She added. Peter Pan and Wendy had been such a wonderful read. It was full of adventure and triumph and Meg had always envied Wendy. So grown up, and beautiful for such a young age and had an amazing knack for story telling. "Do you...do you remember anything about your home?" She questioned curiously. Meg figured she'd at least entertain the idea that perhaps they were all story characters. Perhaps they all were.

At the young woman's other suggestion Meg lit up like the Madison Square Christmas tree. "Oh that's brilliant!" Meg agreed turning in circles looking at all the books around her. Why hadn't she thought of that? She was a writer, half her work consisted of research anyway. "Oh thank you!" Meg smiled, her first genuine smile since arriving.

[Lillian Tinkerbell]

Tinkerbell felt very annoyed now, though not at Meg. No, she was annoyed at Tenebrae Estates. It seemed they had, once again, changed her housemates. This made the third time, and Meg was the first housemate she'd ever met. Why did they keep changing housemates on her? Where did her old housemates go? She filed the questions away in her mind. Of course, she had known she was getting a new housemate. She'd gotten a letter with the information, but she hadn't read the letter. She really didn't have any reason to because from her experience the housemates didn't last long. Now, she felt guilty, clearly Meg would be staying around for a while. Tink hadn't made any effort to tidy up or cook her new housemate a nice meal or anything else. She'd just assume that they would never actually meet, but now they had, and all she could hope for was that Meg hadn't been to the house yet.

When Meg asked about Peter Pan, Tink shrugged her shoulders. "I remember everything. I just wanted to see my friends again." She then blushed as the device said the next sentence. "I wanted to make sure I wasn't written about in a bad way. I know I was rude to Wendy, but that's not how I normally behave. I was just upset because Peter never asked me if they could come. He just grabbed me and shook my pixie dust all over them." She frowned at the memory and brushed at her shoulder as if dusting off extra pixie dust. Of course, this didn't really excuse what she'd done to Wendy, but it was her reason.

Tink smiled back as Meg announced her idea was brilliant. Well, of course, it was. Tinkers always had brilliant ideas. She nodded at the bank of computers. "Do you need help searching?" As a woman from 1945, Meg had probably never seen a computer before, but if she didn't use one now, she'd be at the library all day, searching through each individual bookshelf.

[Meg Evans]

"I wanted to make sure I wasn't written about in a bad way. I know I was rude to Wendy, but that's not how I normally behave. I was just upset because Peter never asked me if they could come. He just grabbed me and shook my pixie dust all over them."

Meg bit her lip and looked down to her feet. Well Tinkerbell was kind of awful to them, that was true but towards the end she was a wee bit better. Meg figured she just wouldn't mention it. "What was it like in Neverland?" She found herself asking curiously. "Were there lots of magical creatures? More than they portrayed in the books? What about Captain Hook? Is he here? He scared me as a child. Oh gosh and the alligator!" She smiled recalling fond memories of reading Peter Pan as a bedtime story with her parents. "Please know that your story, and Peter's and Wendy's...they brought happiness to many children." Meg told her not wanting her to worry about how she was written out to be. Tinkerbell's jealousy of Wendy and whatever else she had been experiencing was all just part of the story that made it so lovable.

Turning now towards the computers, Meg grimaced. "I think I prefer books...that's how I always do things. I feel like an old geezer looking at those things. I'm too chicken to go up to them" She shrugged embarrassed. "What do they do?" She asked curiously.

Meg looked at the boxes with glass and wondered how the worked. Were they difficult to use? Books were just so reliable and efficient. "Oh gosh..." Meg sighed. "What is the year anyway? I believe someone told me but I don't remember. How old was she? Was she still 24 or was she older? She still looked the same. What if there were two of her? The Current one and her current self from the past. What if there was an older looking Meg out there running around! Meg blinked rapidly trying to process this information, it was all so confusing.

[Lillian Tinkerbell]

Tink blinked at Meg's question about Neverland. How could she ever possibly describe it? It had been exotic and beautiful and magical. There was so much to it, not even she knew it all. She bit her lip, thinking. Finally, she just shook her head and started typing on her device. "Neverland was like every good dream you've ever had wrapped up together." It had been that way at first before Hook came along. Hook wasn't really scary though. It had always just been exciting to fight him. "I don't think Hook's here. I haven't seen him anywhere." She looked around warily as if almost expecting the pirate captain to suddenly appear out of nowhere. She breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't see anyone at all, especially not Hook. The library was surprisingly empty. When Tink turned back to face Meg, the tall woman was telling her how wonderful the story had been. The former fairy gave her a bright smile, feeling very much reassured.

Then they were talking about the computers again. It seemed Meg was too afraid to go near one. Tink could understand that. Over the decades, she'd seen the things being invented on her trips to the mainland. Even then, computers were not exactly part of her comfort zone. Still she knew that in this time and place, computers were àn essential part of daily life. She took a few moments to type a response into her talking device. "Well, those over there," She pointed at a group set up on tall platforms. "just access the library's database. They tell you which books are here, and it's really the only way you can find what you're looking for. It's either use the computer or spend ages searching each bookshelf." She then pointed at another group of computers set up on desks. "Those connect to the Internet. I'm not sure I can explain the Internet; I've only used it once myself. I've heard rumors that it's not very good though, that you can't even find half of what you're looking for." She shrugged as if unsure the rumors were true or not. The Internet had seemed to work fine when she'd used it before to order Marceline's fridge.

Tink looked at Meg in confusion. The year? She had absolutely no idea. Fairies didn't usually keep track of the years, and strangely, newspapers rarely washed up on Neverland. She had sometimes caught glimpses of dates on mainland newspapers, but the last year she could remember seeing was 2009. She shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not sure I should be the person to ask." Her device chirped softly. "Fairies don't really keep track of years, just seasons." She shrugged again. "It's probably a safe bet though that it's not 1945." She gave Meg a wry smile.

After a moment, Tink motioned to the standing computers. "Do you want help though? I could probably show you how to use them." Really, it wasn't that hard. She felt sure that Meg would be able to do it on her own soon. Then maybe they could talk about other things, like painting the house.