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The thing about falling is that when you’re falling for long enough you stop noticing that it’s happening.
Elliot dreamed of falling again, her broom next to her, falling handle-down, slowly twisting. This had been the last few nights, just falling in the void, every night waiting for the ground to come up to hit her. Every night, she closed her eyes and let the inevitable happen. Tonight, though, she waited for an impact that didn’t happen.
“Damn, baby witch, you live like this?”
Elliot spun around to the source of the voice. Rory sat on Elliot’s broom, kicking their legs under them. They beamed at Elliot.
“How’d you get… in here?” Elliot asked. She looked around. This was a dream, right?
“How’s it going, baby witch?” Well, their mouth didn’t move, but Elliot could hear their voice all the same.
“Why are you here?”
“The walls go up quick, don’t they?” Rory said. “You’re defensive.”
“Can’t imagine why.” Elliot twisted her body, turning away from Rory. She tried to will the ground to come to her, hoping to end the dream.
“How’re you feeling?” Rory asked. “Do you still hurt?”
The sky around them started to change. It had always been dark, like night. But the sky began to glow, first red, then pink. Crows began to fly around them in distant clouds.
Elliot sighed. “…I’m better. I can move around some. Ardy’s been helping.”
“That’s kind of her.”
Elliot pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them.
“Bones feel good?” Rory slowly began to move around to face Elliot. Elliot closed her eyes.
“The cuts on your arms are healing up. You’ll have scars, but that’s okay.”
“Scars are fine,” Elliot said softly.
“You have a few already,” Rory said. That was true, Elliot thought. She had a few. She also knew not to pick at them. Rory seemed to want to do just that.
“I think,” Rory said with satisfaction, “you will heal properly.”
“Okay,” Elliot said. She turned, her flopped-over mohawk sticking to her face. She brushed it away.
“Now,” Rory said. “Let’s talk about you.”
Elliot tried to make the ground come to her again.
Rory just laughed. “As long as I’m here, you’re going be in this dream.”
“Hey, so that’s fucked up,” Elliot said.
“You can stop this if you want to.”
Elliot stared. “This is really shitty.”
“Just trying to help you out, baby witch.”
The raccoon let a long sigh out her nose. “If you’re going to waste my time, at least let me not be in a coma. And also get me coffee.”
“I can make that happen,” Rory said. “But I want something from you in return.”
“What?”
“Honesty.”
“Like, I’m honestly mad that you’re in my dream right now?”
“Honesty,” Rory said. “Some introspection, too. Because I’m going to ask you a question, and to be honest to me, I think you’ll need to think about it.”
“Okay?”
“Are you happy with how things are going?”
Elliot froze. For so long, she had been avoiding that question. What was she trying to do? Was this it? Was she going to fall forever?
“No.”
Rory smiled broadly, kind and welcoming. They held out a hand. “Do you want to stop falling?”
“Yes.” Elliot took their hand. Below, the roof of Rory’s shop raced to meet them. A pinpoint of white light opened, and then grew to engulf them.
The world hit Elliot and knocked the wind out of her. She gasped for breath, unable to see, feeling for anything. She grabbed a solid surface and clung to it until she could breathe again. The world slowly came into focus.
She was in the cluttered back room of Rory’s shop, sitting at a well-used table. A trio of mismatched chairs surrounded the table. In front of her, Rory had already placed a mug, the Frasier logo printed on it, chipped and scuffed, a little faded. Rory appeared with a coffee pot and a plate of pastries. They poured Elliot some coffee, and some for themself, and then they sat.
“Why are you doing this?” Elliot asked.
“Introspection,” Rory said, Saxnōt speaking for them. They pushed the plate of pastries to Elliot. “You have some things to think about for that question to make sense. But I will say this. You’ve been so afraid of being found out, right?”
Elliot’s ears perked. “Uhm-”
“Honestly,” Rory said. They leaned forward a little.
“Yes,” Elliot said. “Ever since I learned that I could do magic. Ever since I found out I was strange and maybe dangerous? Like, every single day, I worried people would find out. And I honestly don’t know what will happen when people do.”
“You’ve run away before. What do you imagine will happen?”
Elliot drew her knees to her chest again, hugging them tight and staring down the pastries. “I’m not afraid of pain. I don’t think people will hurt me. But I am afraid that they’ll walk away from me. That they’ll just be done with me.”
“And your friends? Ardy? Do you think they worry too?”
“They seem like they know what they’re doing.”
“Elliot…”
“They must be terrified all of the time,” Elliot said. “Like I am.” She looked down at her coffee, and took a long drink. “Aren’t you scared?”
“Am I like you?” Rory laughed. “From Out of Town, like you say?”
“Shut up, you were in my fucking dream and you use a crow to talk,” Elliot said before she could stop herself. Rory laughed again.
“Baby witch, do you think the Sun is afraid of the Earth?”
Elliot nodded. “That’s a terrifying answer, thank you.”
Rory propped their head up with their hand, appraising Elliot. “Is this personality? Is this what Real Elliot is like?”
Elliot’s ears perked, and then folded back. She stared down at the pastries.
“That wasn’t a question that was meant to evoke this kind of response,” Rory said.
The raccoon nodded. “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
“You have a few things to work on, then,” Rory said. They retrieved a phone from their pocket, which Elliot instant recognized as hers. “I let Right Determination know you’re here, bee tee double yew.” They set the phone down on the table and pushed it to Elliot. “Call the people that want to help you.”
Elliot took her phone, and held it in her hands. It felt impossibly heavy, and she wanted nothing more than to drop it.
“You’ve got to stop pushing people away when things get complicated. Otherwise, you’ll just crash land on someone else’s roof. And they might not be as nice as me.”
“I’ll call them when I get back to Ardy’s,” Elliot said softly. “I want…” She pulled her jaw tight, her ears falling back on her head.
“You want to feel safe,” Rory said. “Well, should it go wrong, which it won’t, you’re safe here.”
Elliot nodded. “Thanks. I mean that for real. I’m sorry I’m a jerk.”
“This is nothing you can say to me that will hurt,” Rory said. “Your words are weak and your fear brings me sustenance.”
“Hey, we need to have a talk about this eldritch god shit, because it’s unsettling.”
Rory tapped their nose and winked.
“Don’t like that…”
“Okay, baby witch. You have a demon to get back to. She’s worried about you.” Rory drew a door for Elliot. “Tell her to ring me up sometime. I’d love to have tea with her.”
Elliot let out a little laugh. “Yeah, can do.” Despite everything she had built up inside herself for years, Elliot gave Rory a hug.
“Oh, that was nice!” Rory said. “You’re good at that.”
Elliot pushed Rory away and stepped through the door.
Ardy’s apartment was bright and sunny, as bright and sunny as an October day in Seattle could be. Elliot looked around the bedroom from where Rory had taken her, if only to ground her reality. Then she went to go talk to Ardy.
“I’m back,” she called as she stepped into the living space of the apartment. It felt open and airy, and cheerful somehow. It was nice.
Ardy was on the couch, sipping a glass of wine, watching a particularly spirited episode of Rick Steve’s Europe.
Elliot squinted at the TV. “Are you watching the travel dweeb?”
“There she is,” Ardy said. “Do you feel better? How was Rory’s?”
“It was…” Elliot didn’t really know. She was still processing everything. “It was good, I think.”
Ardy gave her a soft smile. “Good.” She stood and hugged Elliot. “I’m glad to see you up and about.”
Elliot sank into the hug, closing her eyes and nuzzling into the curve of Ardy’s neck.
A phone on the wall rang. Elliot had wondered how she had missed that, but given that it was Ardy’s place, a wall phone wasn’t out of character at all. Ardy let Elliot go and answered the phone.
“Yes? Oh, good! Hang tight, I’ll open the door.” She held a button down on the phone, and then hung up.
“Did you get a call from 1993?” Elliot asked.
Ardy laughed. “Hush. I got some lunch for us. I think you’ll like it.” She went to the kitchen and began to get plates and silverware out.
A moment later, the delivery carrier knocked on the door. Ardy motioned to the door.
“Do you mind? Everything is paid for, tip included.”
“Yeah, I got it.” Elliot carefully descended the stairs down to Ardy’s apartment door. She opened it.
Meryl waited on the other side. When she saw Elliot, her face lit up. “Hey, buddy!”