Running like the Wind

At first Joshua didn't even recognize the change of scenery - instead of running through the Hedge's brambles, ignoring the tearing and ripping, he ran through the streets of Sacramento. He didn't stop running, however. Running seemed to be his second nature and he had to force his legs to stop moving.

Taking a few deep breaths, he looked back; his escape seemed blurry, like the memory of a nightmare he had. Did he do it? He couldn't tell how he got through the thorny maze mostly unharmed, but he couldn't keep on running for now either - the adrenaline rush that pushed him that far subsided and he leaned against some wall, trembling. Staring at the direction he came from, he slid down and finally sat on the street. His legs were shaking fiercely now and he burst out in silent tears of relief and exhaustion.
After several minutes his tears have dried and he felt enough strenght to carry on, to at least get out of plain sight. Besides, he wanted to look for the coffee-shop where the girl worked; he guessed he owed him that much.
Carefully he tried to make out where exactly he was and which direction he had to take, always ready to run away if something didn't seem right; his legs were tired and his feet hurt, but he wouldn't go back there. Ever.

Seeing that people probably meant safety, Joshua headed to the park and then towards the direction, which (to his knowledge) lead his old "home".

Upon seeing the fog around the strange woman, Joshua's stomach cramped - sure, he is not the sharpest tool in the box, but if he had the chance to flee there were probably others, who escaped from the Weatherman's realm.

Uncertainness and fear gnawed on his nerves. What if she worked for Him? Would she even listen to what he has to say or would she be scared by him? Joshua just had to look at his arms to see that he wasn't entirely human anymore.
But on the other hand, this place, although recognizable enough for him to be sure that it was Sacramento, changed while he was gone - he didn't even know how long he had been gone, so he could well need some help.
His hands were ripping away small bits of skin - clouds - almost mechanically as he stood there thinking. In the end, his optimism helped to bring a decision: if something went wrong he probably could get help from the people in the park, so he could dare to talk to the woman.
Slowly he approached her.

"Uh.. yeah. I - I was kinda hoping you could tell me what time it is." he muttered. Hesitantly he added "And what date. " He was looking at her in a hopeful way.

April 2009? It's been pretty long and Joshua's astonishment was pretty obvious. A wave of disorientation nearly overwhelmed him - what if she didn't work there anymore or worse, what if the coffee-shop didn't exist anymore? He had nowhere to go to, no aim. The stupid thought that his escape was probably in vain crossed his mind, but he ditched it again; he had his freedom back, afterall. Yet..
I'm.. could you please help me? I'm looking for a place called..
That was odd. He couldn't remember the name. He just knew what it looked like inside and that a small silver bell rang, when one entered. Suddenly his legs gave in again and he had to sit down. He looked her in the eyes.
Help me.. please.

He grabbed her hand like a drowning person grabs a piece of driftwood and got shakingly back on his feet. "I'm sorry, I mean thank you it's just that I'm looking for this coffee shop I used to hang out and since I've been gone everything changed so much or I can't remember it properly, you know?
He went trough the possibilities in his head: either she experienced something like him and can sympathize(she certainly didn't look human) or she thinks he's crazy (she didn't look like him).

He looked at her with gratitude. That'd be great, thank you. He sat down in the chair and waited, while he ripped away small parts of skin from his fingers.

He forced himself to smile and took the bottle. "No, thank you." He actually didn't feel thirsty but he was polite enough to take a few sips of water.

When she came back he just looked at her stunned, as if he hadn't noticed how pretty she was until now. Then a thin layer of fog covered his eyes, as he closed them to think about where this damn coffee shop was. I.. I think it was downtown, near a park; does that ring a bell? Huh, ring a bell. That would have made him smile if he didn't just go through hell.

He gave her a grateful look and stood up. "Yeah, okay. Thank you."
He made the decision to ask her about a couple of things concerning his new life; maybe starting with her name.

Silas hadn't bothered to wait for the other woman and had instead visited a Coffee Shop, which he was walking out of now.
He spotted the one he'd come to know as 'Mother Goose' and the new nervous looking man that had appeared to be trailing with her. He walked over towards the two.
"For a mother, you seem to have frieghtend the wits from him, haven't you?" He had placed his plastic smile on his face.

"Fresh..." Silas muttered under his breath, "Is it just me, or are they getting more and more common?" And he looks sorta Asian, Silas thought.
Asians were on the good list. Unlike the French.

He didn't have the guts to talk to her the whole walk. Especially since the first two coffee shops didn't look familiar at all - had he forgotten them or where they new? The clouds that were his body shifted quicker and became darker as his mood darkened with every unknown shop and he was only able to shake his head wearily each time Tiffany asked.

As they walked to the third one and Silas exited the shop, Joshua heard it again - the silver bell. He ignored the other's conversation at first and just rushed to a window to look inside: yes, although the interior had slightly changed he recognized most of it - the somewhat excentric ceiling lamps, the chairs and tables made from fake mahogany and the sales clerk's clothes. The one he was looking for wasn't there, though. Joshua did his best to fight back his tears, but lost; he turned to the other two.
"I - this is it but.. she's not there. I don't know what I expected it's just that.." he gave them a pleading look while he looked for the right words "It's just that I don't have anything left here, I mean I wanted to finally ask her out and now what?" In his confused state he rather clinged to the familiar - Tifanny - and looked at her.

Silas thought to himself for a while. This man was obviously just out of the hedge. So a simple question would do.
"What's the last date you remember, except this one?" Silas asked, crossing his arms. The man was obviously looking for someone, and they could always ask questions. And if that didn't work? Well, can always ask questions more...louder.

Joshua looked at the man. What was the last date he remembered?
"I think it was the september of 2002 when I was here the last time... but I don't think I was more than 6 years... over there."
He started picking at his fingers again, little clouds drifting into thin air. "That's impossible, isn't it?"

Silas walked over towards the man. Inspecting his little cloudy demeanour.
"Tell me, you've been like, in a dream since then. Things that can't possibly exist and you saw them, right?"
Silas smiled his plastic smile once more.

"Yeah.." Although he did seem to have sympathy, the smile creeped Joshua out. It was unfair to think this way, since Silas seemed honestly trying to help, but he couldn't help it.
Hesitantly he added "So did you, didn't you?" then he pointed to Tiffany "And you, right?"
He wasn't a singular case, that was both, relieving and scaring.

"Kinda, but now you have to twist it around a bit and realise that it was real." Silas smiled and held up a hand, "I had similar experiances, and my name is Silas." He took hold of this plastic smile, wanting to watch how the man would take it.

Now Joshua was smiling too; maybe he wasn't completely alone after all. "I'm Joshua." he said, while taking Silas' hand, first tentatively, then more confident and firm.

This new one seemed to take it well, that amused Silas somewhat.
"So, you said you were going to ask some girl out, could be interesting, how about we find her" He winked at Tiffany, "What do you think?"

From the back of the coffee shop a towering giant of a creature watched the Lost gather and try to help the fresh Changeling. He smirked to himself, taking a deep gulp from his still steaming mug. He swallowed the entire thing in one shot before raising his fingers to his chin and stroking the thin black hairs that came to a point.

He was massive, over eight-feet tall, and by all the world's mythology would be regarded as some kind of demon or devil. Huge, curling red horns rose from his forehead and his flesh was the color of fire. His muscles rippled inhumanly beneath a loose, gray long coat. His eyes were a cool blue, flickering with the soft touch flame and his teeth were jagged and sharp. Despite his fearsome appearance, he looked weary and browbeaten, like someone who had spent a great many hours of the day in endless toil for meager pay and only remained standing by the strength of his pride.

"Poor bastard," he muttered to himself as he yelled for the waitress to bring him another cup.

Joshua flinched as the other changeling came - this was going a tad too fast for him: from the loneliness that was the endless running of his durance to the seeminly talkative community of all those strange people he now belonged to. Seeking help, he looked to Tifanny, who had remained somewhat silent the last few minutes and then to Silas. He probably had to get used to talking to people again. "Uh.. hi."
Oh, what an eloquent lad he was.

Silas straighted himself up and looked at the newcomer, looking him up and down and he fixed his smile back into place.
"Good day" He said politely and turned his attention back to Joshua.

The waitress brought Firestone a second cup of coffee, cutting him a dirty look as he stood up and tossed a few dollars onto the table while she poured him a fresh cup. He gave her a smirk and a nod, [red]"Thanks for the joe."[/red]

The spastic newcomer was finally too much to ignore and he lumbered over the commotion as if he were some kind of rubber necking bystander who happened upon an accident. Looking at Joshua with a kind of detached curiousity, he raised any eyebrow before casting a slightly confused glance at the other gathered Lost.

[Red]"What's his problem?"[/red]

Joshau gave Brandon a weak smile as he patted him on the shoulder. Seems he had to live off the kindness of strangers for now. The little bell seemed to place special emphasis on Brandon's words, but Joshua ditched this ridiculous thought; yet maybe it wasn't so ridiculous after all.

His train of thought, which was still going far too fast for his tastes, was stopped by yet another person, this time a somewhat less friendly one. What was his problem? Well, for starters, he just escaped a nightmare to get to a Sacramento he didn't know anymore, without anyone to turn to. But he didn't say that; he just looked down at the pavement. "I'm kinda lost." he muttered, before looking at Tiffany and Silas; he wasn't sure how much time they had left to waste to help him, but finding the girl should be impossible and he doesn't know where else to go, so he just waited for them to make a decision, fearing they would just leave him here because they had something better to do.

Firestone let out a single, almost sarcastic chuckle. "Yeah, welcome to the club, kid. Bad news is that generally speakin' it doesn't get much better. Good news is, you ain't gotta go it alone."

"Now, what do you remember from before those bastards on the other side of the Hedge scrabbled your past, present and future into cheap party mix?"

He turned his head towards the red Giant and looked him in the eyes. He wanted to say something, maybe something clever or witty, but closed his mouth again. After a second or two he opened it again. "Not much, really. A bit about the streets around here, some old faces of friends; my strongest memory was this coffee-shop. You know, the bell.." He stopped. That sounded silly: a bell was his strongest memory of what he once called home?
Yet, that's just how it is.

The great red giant nodded, a touch of sympathy in his eyes. "Let's start with the basics. What's your name? Your full name, if you can remember."

"It's Joshua." He frowned one moment, then smiled slightly. "Joshua Freemantle."

The silver bell jangles again, this time letting in Kyle. He looks normal (as normal as anybody with the head of a coyote on a human body can look at least), except for the cardboard Burger King crown perched jauntily on his head and the bag of food he's holding. He heads straight for the group of changelings, and he hands the bag to the only person he doesn't recognize. There's maybe six whoppers sitting in the bag.

"What? I'm always hungry after a long trip."

He offers Joshua a brotherly smile, clasping him on the shoulder with his massive red hands. "Well, already you're doing better than me, Joshua Freemantle. They call me Firestone."

He squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, "Look, Josh, things are gonna get confusing for you now that you're back. But," he looks to the other changelings present, "I think it would be safest for everyone involved if we get you back to the Four Seasons."

"Uhm.." Truth was, Joshua wasn't really hungry. Nevertheless he took out one Whopper and bit off a piece. "Thank you.." The coyote-headed guy just radiated light heartedness and Joshua envied and admired him. He put the burger back in the bag, as Firestone started talking again. Upon hearing the giant's name he smiled at him - seems like solidarity is something taken seriously here.


"But I think it would be safest for everyone involved if we get you back to the Four Seasons."
Save? Joshua thought for a bit; he escaped, didn't he? The thought that the Weatherman might come to recollect him never occured to him, but now that it had been mentioned he felt stupid for not thinking of it. Involuntarily he flinched at the thought and looked around. They surely will be mad at him for endangering them.

"Eh, some are hungrier than others right now, and they'll keep in a fridge for a few days. I'm Kyle Franesco by the way, bringing the entirely unofficial but nevertheless sincere greetings from everyone that's in the same boat as you." Kyle extends his hand and shakes vigorously if taken up on the offer. "Now, not to sweep you under the rug or anything, but I actually have semi-kinda-almost-official business with Ms Lysander here. Madam, could we abscond to someplace ever-so-slightly more private?" He beams at the Vizier.

Firestone nodded to Tiffany, then turned to Joshua and tried to offer him a comforting smile. "What do you say, Joshua Freemantle? How about we get you fitted for a new life?"

He kept repeating his name back to the new Lost, hoping this might help bring something - anything, back to his psyche. Never mind things like Keepers, Entitlements, or Courts. Politics were never a huge deal to Firestone to begin with, but when it came to saving someone's soul he'd cast them aside without a second thought.

"I'm sure it shouldn't be too much trouble" Silas fixed his smile once more and also started to fixate over the neatness of his clothing. He was going to voice anything about the woman in power. He may have politically 'sexist' views, but he wasn't suicidal.