2021-06-04 - An Unlikely Heist

When Fern wasn't teaching yoga or staring whistfully through the window of the local liquor store, she was volunteering at HOPE. Working hard with the others to get the building is good shape. She also knows vaguely that some of the other locals who volunteer here might just be who she needs to talk to about this gem situation. Or at least the carousel. So she is keeping an extra eye out today while painting one of the walls.

Fern is wearing a pair of paint stained overalls with a black workout tank underneath that has some kind of writing on it but isn't currently visible. Her hair is pulled back in a slightly messy bun and she's wearing a pair of thick framed black glasses.

Small towns being what they are, even one such as this one...

Well. Rumors get around. About the kooky owner of the Broadleaf who keeps talking to the carousel animals.

The self-same eccentric enters with his toolbox. "Hey Fern," Conner says. He's a soft-spoken and somewhat rumpled fellow...rumpled in clothing, rumpled in hair. The clothes are usually the same: jeans, basic, a slightly wrinkled denim shirt, a t-shirt underneath. Green, today. He usually comes to do repairs, and today, given some of the supplies tucked into the toolbox, he might be intent on fixing a persistent problem with H.O.P.E.'s plumbing.

Fern looks over her shoulder as she's addressed by a familiar voice. That bright, sunny smile crosses her features when she spots Conner. "Hey there Conner." She gives a quick flick over his tool box. "Pipe work today?" She knows nothing about plumbing. But she does know that Conner is one of the people she wants to try and talk to about that damn carousel. She dips her roller in some more paint.

"You got a second to talk before you get to deep into your work?" There really wasn't any point in beating around the bush, right? One of the things she did like about most of the HOPE volunteers was that they were in the know about the town. So you could just be open about things.

"Of course," he says, setting the toolbox down. He tilts his head at her with some curiosity, and he gives her his full attention, slipping his hands into his pockets. His gaze is intent, curious. One might guess that few people start conversations with this unassuming man with a request to talk to him. It just doesn't quite usually happen that way for him. "What's up?"

It is nice, because it saves an awful lot of beating around the bush and hey-do-you-know-stuff two-step shuffling on any number of counts. It's something the apartment manager appreciates on any number of levels.

Fern likes to stay busy. She has to. So she keeps painting while they talk, for now at least. But her attention is fully on their conversation - after all, painting a giant wall a single color is pretty hard to mess up. Right? Anywho...

"I heard through the grapevine that you might know something about what's going on with the carousel." Just like he may have heard she and a couple others had been around the carousel this most recent time a bear supposedly attacked and the manticore creature had tipped completely over. Pole and all.

"I may or may not have something that links to the why...but I'm just wanting more information about it in general. Was hoping you might be able to shed some light on it all for me."

"Well...I wasn't there when it got attacked, but I'm pretty worried about it," Conner admits. He pulls a chair around, turns it, straddles it. He drapes his arms over the back and gives her a long look.

"Each of those animals is a spirit," he says. "And they help children. Any kid goes and asks them for help, they have to do it, and they have the power to do it. I'm not sure if they're always awake exactly. When they are they don't like the poles in their back very much. You know...I really should research the physical history of it. I just met the animals when they woke up and just liked them."

He offers a bashful grin. "They're cool dudes."

Fern sort of stares at Conner for a moment and then finally puts down her paint roller. "The one I was privy to the other day didn't seem to take too kindly to what all was going on. Mind you, I dunno what exactly it was doing before I arrived on the scene. But it definitely seemed like it was in attack mode. " She lightly touched her chest where she'd nearly gotten a stinger to the heart.

"Maybe it was upset about the pole in its back. But we didn't actually hurt it...I don't think..." Except for taking its eye out. Fern furrowed her brow and reached into her pocket to show Conner the strange green gem that may or may not be an emerald. But it is polished and cut. "This was in place of its eye. Between Joe and myself we got it out and it became a regular carousel thing again. Do the other creatures have these in their eyes?"

She hadn't stuck around long to check.

"I've...never seen anything like that before," Conner says, frowning. "May I?"

He holds out his hand for it, adding: "I wonder if having all the chopped up Baxter ghost-dolls beneath the Carousel on Veil-side is causing some nasty side-effects. As far as I know that hasn't been resolved yet. And a child asked them to let her down there...and she hasn't done what she set out to do. She wanted to send them on, but that could have side-effects nobody wants."

He frowns and adds: "What happened, exactly? I think you're the first person I've spoken to who was there first hand."

Fern looked hesitant but then extended the gem out to Conner so he could take it. He hadn't given her a reason to distrust him yet at least. "There's ghost dolls under the Carousel?" Fern shook her head. "Just when I think I should know everything about this place. I learn about ghost dolls." There's an exasperated laugh at this. She really was lacking on local lore, having left as soon as she turned 18 and spending 3 of her five years back here in a drunken fog.

"Not that I know anything about ghosts but ghost dolls could probably cause some side effects. What about this girl that wanted to send them on? Where is she now?" Fern quirked a brow. Now it was her turn to slip her hands into her pockets.

"Hm...well...I heard commotion by the carousel. A man named August was near me and heard it too. So we went over and this manticore was...angry., lashing out. I don't know exactly what it had been doing though there was a little girl there who had a similar power to mine. Her mom was trying to get her away but she refused to go anywhere - claiming we we re hurting it. I was mostly just keeping it held in place, trying to prevent it from leaving the carousel."

"That didn't stop it from trying to stab me in the heart with its stinger though." Thank you acrobat body. She exhaled softly and gave a wry smile. "I spotted the gem, and it looked like it might have just been put in there that day. August shouted for me and Joe - who had shown up by then and was trying to help get some bystanders away - to try and take it out. And we managed to...and it turned back into a carousel animal."

"Still under there with the guy who is advising her to stop, as far as I know. They both agreed to slow their roll until people could find a solution, but...I think all of us are so baffled that nobody's really forwarded one yet. Not to mention it involves playing with a whole lot of lives and deaths, so nobody's really eager to stand up and say: I know what to do!"

He handles it with the utmost care, this gem, reaching out with his Arts to try to get a read on it. What he gets from it, if anything, isn't readily apparent, because soon enough he's offering it back to her. He might have simply decided to think on what he got before being prescriptive...or he might have gotten nothing at all.

Or he might just be listening to her story. He says quietly: "And just to be clear... there are still gems in the eyes of all the other animals?"

Fern's eyes widened a touch - which looked a little comical perhaps since she already has wide eyes. "How are they surviving down there? Is it easy to get in and out of or something??" She looks like she has a 1000 more questions to ask and like she wants to maybe try and go down there and see all this doll business for herself.

"I mean, yeah that makes sense. No one likes to play god when the opportunity actually presents itself." Fern brushed back a few loose strands of hair before accepting back the gem and pocketing it. "See anything?" Having felt the light use of his glimmer.

"I have no idea if the other animals have them. I didn't stick around to look or go back and check yet." There's a beat of pause. "Should we go back and check?"

Conner closes his eyes as if to bring the entire vision back to him. "It looks like the man you saw the manticore attacking told the little girl to get away from the carousel, and the carousel spirit interpreted it as a threat to the child. I think these gems make them hyper-aggressive in their natural purpose. And..."

His eyes fly open. "Muriel. That's the name of the ghost girl. She gave the gems to the real little girl. Told her the animals all needed fresh air, all needed to be taken for a walk. I don't know what her motives are for causing this kind of chaos, but it is very concerning that she is."

He meets her eyes and says, "We should go check. And get them out of there if we can. Though..."

Good sense does take over. "Maybe we should bring back-up."

Fern listens intently as Conner relayed everything the gem had shown him. She bit her lip lightly, looking uncertain. What happened to the good old days of just becoming an insomniac because every time you went to sleep you ended up in a Nightmare on Elm Street? "So Muriel is the one down there trying to do something with the ghost dolls?" She glances around to see who all was about and then looked back to Conner.

"I agree on back up. At least to actually do something about it. But we can do some preliminary scouting right? Maybe...tonight? Just before sundown or something? There would be less people around and we'd have more time to assess the other creatures." Fern offered. "If they have gems then we'll come back with back up to get them all out if we need to."

“Yeah, good point. No reason to round up a posse if you guys already solved the immediate problem. Timing is right too. Don’t want anyone around if something is going to go wrong. Also creates a little time to do that research.”

He nods, though, about Muriel. “And yeah. She’s the one. She probably means this as a form of encouragement to let her do what she wants to do.”

"Perfect, evening scouting mission on the carousel is ago then." Fern grinned again. "Hopefully nothing else goes sideways while we're there but if it does...we can always just run away and come back." Hopefully. As for Muriel, "Sounds like she never learned you can't always get what you want." She takes a couple steps back to pick up her paint roller. "I'm glad we got to have this chat Conner. I'll meet you in the park parking lot around 7ish?" The sun shouldn't be quite set yet by then.

"But if she tries sometimes, she might find she gets what she needs," Conner sing-songs, just softly, even as he gives a little grin. He picks up his plumbing supplies. "Sevenish it is," he says. "And for now...wish me luck."

Because he's heading into the bathroom with plumbing supplies, a combination everyone knows makes for a great day for most people. But maybe he'll get lucky in this. Luckier than the crew who ripped up the basement floors got, anyway. Or...there's gonna be a lot of water soon and it'll be a great day for everyone who shows up here today.

Nothing like rolling some dice.

"Good luck!" Fern called cheerfully as Conner went on his way. The rest of the day passed mostly uneventfully at least. With the help of some other volunteers they got that whole wall painted. Then Fern retreated to Dance Evolution to teach her late afternoon yoga class and finally to home to get ready for the night. Fern had no idea what to expect, but she hoped it would be cut and dry.

She's gone for all black attire tonight, ideal for sneaking around! And she's also got a flashlight with her. She arrived a little early and was leaning against the hood of her car, keeping an eye out for any patrons or park security. Her hair is left down and she's sans her glasses this time. Must be wearing contacts! Or she's gonna be blind as a bat. One of those two things.

Conner shows up...

Dressed exactly as he was dressed. He looks at her attire and goes. "Oh. I should have...well...ah..."

At least he wears dark colors normally. "It's probably fine, right? Right."

He gestures for her to lead the way, though, and steps behind her, adding: "The groundskeeper is usually on break right around now, we should be fine." It's clear he hasn't pulled off many heists, of the carousel variety or otherwise. It didn't occur to him that now that the gems are in (if, indeed, there are more of them) that people might take exception them being pulled out.

Fern looks over as Conner arrives and chuckles, flashing another grin. "Should be fine." She agreed, keeping the flashlight off for now as they entered into the park. "I just wear bright stuff all the time so I kind of had to change." She mused. There was still just enough light to be able to get the carousel at least. Or most of the way there.

She narrows her eyes just a touch to try and see better. "How long is their break typically? And dare I ask how you know this is their usual break time?" If it was any consolation? Fern wasn't thinking at all about the mundane consequences of the gems being removed either. Or the ghostly consequences. The main thing was finding out if they had gems at all.

"Because I visit the animals," Conner says, without a hint of embarrassment. "They have a tough job, and an important one. And they're cool guys. So...I come hang with them sometimes. Make sure they don't need anything. They can't usually talk back of course. The groundskeeper never exactly chases me off but he doesn't like me either...."

Another voice cuts through the darkness. "Jesus Christ, Hawthorne, again?"

"Shit, he's early," Conner mutters sheepishly, as the grouchy groundskeeper comes to glare at both of them. He's got a big maglite, and he shines it up at them, frowning darkly.

"He's crazy, you know," he tells Fern. "You probably shouldn't let him drag you into..." The man waves a hand at the carousel. "Whatever it is he does."

Fern tilted her head to look over at Conner. "Usually. So they have talked to you?" She asked, sounding genuinely curious. Then they're being interrupted. Rude.

She looks over, lifting her hand to semi shield her eyes from the shining maglite. "Pretty judgemental of you. What if I'm the crazy one and I dragged him into whatever it is I do?" She asked and then grabbed Conner's hand loosely.

"Besides. Since when is it illegal to walk past a carousel, dude? Park doesn't close just cause the sun goes down."

Conner seems startled when Fern grabs his hand, and it's probably his fault the employee looks so skeptical. It's hard to sell a romantic interlude when your 'date' looks like someone just hit him upside the head with a board. He clears his throat and asks, very mildly: "Does it really matter if I have someone with me, Ryan? You know I don't mean any harm here."

The employee gazes between the two of them, then throws his hands up. "Whatever," he says. "Just don't get me fired."

Conner lets out a long breath and gently squeezes Fern's hand before letting go, even as Ryan stalks off. "He's probably feeling a little more protective with it broken," he opines.

Fern opts to keep her mouth shut and let Conner finish handling things. As their hands part, she keeps watching until the groundskeeper is out of sight and then looks back to Conner. There's another moment of silence before she starts laughing, covering her mouth to try and keep it mostly quiet. "Gods, I'm a terrible liar." She said finally, getting a grip and giving him a nudge with her elbow. "Good thing he knows you." Even if he isn't Conner's biggest fan.

She takes the opportunity to turn her flashlight on. "Probably. I would be too. But we'll be quick." And hopefully not get Ryan fired! She starts walking closer towards the carousel. "Let's see what we're working with here..." She bypasses the manticore for now, wanting to look at the others first.

"There are worst things than being an honest person," he says, smiling at her. He pulls out his own flashlight now, going over to the hippo. "Hey buddy," he says, spotting a twinkle of green. "Feeling a little cranky lately are we?"

He realized Fern asked him a question earlier, and as he pulls out a screwdriver to start gently prying the gem away, he adds: "I think you have to be Veil-side to speak to them. Or they have to cross over. I think it was one of those events where you're just...sort of there, without meaning to be. The kind of Dream where you never went to sleep but there you are anyway. I don't think there's a physical staircase beneath the thing either, for example. So it's possible they're not super aware of us right now, but..."

"Ain't that the truth." Fern agreed softly as she did a brief walk around the carousel inspecting all the animals before stopping by Conner and the Hippo. "They all have gems." She watched him trying to pry out the one in the hippo. "Hopefully this prevents any more crazy stuff happening in the near future." Even if it wasn't a permanent fix with some ghost chick running around. But wouldn't it be nice if it was permanent?

"Veil-side makes sense. Or the crossing over...maybe that's what happened with the manticore..." She does feel bad about the manticore situation but had to remind herself that here it was just porcelain and plastic. "Maybe the gems allow them to cross over?" She sets to work on the tiger now, utilizing what little Spirit magic she has to slightly warp the eye socket to get the gem to fall out.

"If they start trying to come alive and attack, just remember - we GTFO." Fern said emphatically. "You know. I was away for a while. And not really with it for my first bit back. But does it seem like more waking dreams are happening? Or maybe I'm just really unlucky."

"I don't know," Conner admits quietly. "I sort of kept to myself for a long time. I left stuff alone and stuff left me alone. I've known. I've known all my life. But...I've only recently poked my head out."

Once that gem is free he moves on to another one, and says, "It might have something to do with those Veil books. Or the H.O.P.E. center too. Ravn believes basically that the fear-eaters are wanting to go to war over it, basically, for reducing the despair levels. Could just be one of those 'perfect storm' type things."

He shoots her a curious glance. "You came back," he observes. "Lotta people who take the next bus out don't. What brought you home?"

"Sounds opposite of me." Fern mused. "As soon as I discovered my powers...I used them. All the time. To practice my acrobatics and gymnastics." She shook her head a touch. "Which meant every chance it got, I was in a Dream. It was...not ideal."

"I can't say I know anything about Veil Books. But I could see the fear-eaters wanting to dismantle the HOPE center." She agreed on that point. "Do you think that incoming storm might be a part of it? That news guy is claiming it's like Apocalypse level basically." Fern didn't know if she believed it would really be that bad but, anything was possible in this damn place.

Fern's quiet for a longer moment or two when he asks about why she came back. She finally finishes the tiger and moves on to her second one as well. "Well. I was living my dream job. Traveling circus. I was an ariel performer. But I was still abusing my powers when I could. Still having sleep issues because of Dreams when we were in places that were thin. It was a routine I'd done a thousand times...and I missed a cue. I fell. Shattered my leg just about. It's a miracle it healed in a way that I can still walk on it without a cane or something." There's a soft sigh at that. "Anyway. I didn't have anyone. Or anywhere else to go. So I came back here. Back home. My parents live in Florida these days but they still own the house. So I've been staying there. It's been...5 years? But I spent the first three in a constant state of inebriation."

She cleared her throat a bit. "Sorry, kinda gave you the whole life story there I guess. What about you? Why did you decide to start poking around?"

"I tried talking to that guy. Weather guy." Conner says ruefully. "I concluded we needed some sort of...I don't know. Veil weather expert? He talked so long and so much that I came away overwhelmed."

He listens to her story though, even as he moves to the next animal. For now he's just slipping these gems in his pockets for lack of anything better to do with them. How they're going to actually set them up in any sort of a safe place is another problem to deal with at some point, but for now getting them out of the animals is enough. "You must have some incredible stories from that time," he says softly. "And it must have been really hard to go through that. Losing the ability to do something you loved. You don't have to apologize for telling me."

She asks why and he hesitates for a moment. "I locked myself in with books. I wanted to understand it all. Only the answers aren't in books. And sooner or later they became an excuse. Not just for not learning more. For not dealing with people. I'd become...just...isolated. I decided if I really wanted to know, to understand, I'd have to get out here. And...well. Sure enough, I've learned more in a handful of 'doing' months than I learned all those years reading. It probably sounds a little crazy, given all the dangers."

"Oh lord. That sounds awful." Fern sympathized about him talking to the weather guy. "I take it he wasn't actually helpful with any information." Fern worked at a somewhat slower pace than Conner did. Primarily because she honestly wasn't aware this was something she could do until August had encouraged her and Joe to try it.

"I was hard. It still is. That's why I stayed drunk for so long. But I sobered up and I started doing yoga. And then I started teaching it - and doing some private gymnastics and acrobatic training. I'll never be able to perform again, not like I used to. But the yoga and H.O.P.E keep me centered." Fern smiled a touch and looked over at him, listening to his own story. "I honestly don't blame you for not wanting to deal with people. We're kinda sucky in the big picture. But I'm glad you decided to poke your head out. We're all a little crazy but at least we're crazy together, right? Better to go through it with people who understand it."

"It's true. And I've met a lot of good folks, yourself included, so...it's been a net win for me," Conner replies, with a quick smile. "And everyone's been pretty patient with me, too. I guess a general state of confusion isn't so unusual even for the veteran-types."

His eyes twinkle and he adds, "I'd say I'd try yoga, but every image I have of myself doing it comes away embarrassing. For everyone involved."

He pat pats the shoulder of the animal he was working on and moves on to the next one. "You guys are doing great," he murmurs, as if in so doing he might keep them from coming to life and attacking them. So far so good on that front though. Which might not even be a feature of this intervention. He just does it naturally.

"Definitely. I'm still working on getting acquainted with people who are in the know these days but it's been good so far. But definitely not like riding a bike. Some things it feels like I'm relearning all over again." Fern admitted.

She couldn't help but chuckle at his sentiment about yoga. "Never know until you try though, right?" Fern grinned. "I'd be happy to go over some basic stuff with you some time if you wanted. First lesson is always free." It's the best way to get people to see what they're going to be paying for after all!

"You know. I think it's pretty cool that you talked to them. Or do talk to them. Even if they don't talk back. They probably won't try to eat you because they know you're chill."

Conner gives a half-embarrassed grin and says, "Well if I was out here at all hours and in all weather griping with the same friends 24/7 while trying to help any random child who came along, I'd want someone to look out for me, so. Though they also remember the children that loved them when they grow up. So they might know you're chill too, if you came out here a lot as a child, or had a favorite or anything."

"I hope you get to meet them properly someday," he adds. "They're pretty great. And...alright. I'll give it a shot. I'll swing by tomorrow, if you're open."

"That's an extremely fair point and honestly I couldn't tell you if I did or not. I don't really remember.." Fern frowned a touch, staring intently at the one she was working on for a moment. As if trying to remember. "Maybe we'll find out if I ever do happen to run into them Veil Side. While they aren't possessed by some weird gem stuff."

She popped the gem from the one she'd been looking at into her pocket. "Also how do the park people not notice these aren't normal eyes? You think they just look like eyes to them?" Fern speculated and then looked back to Conner mildly surprised he took her up on the offer. "Yeah! I definitely have some time. I primarily work out of Dance Evolution. But I can do it pretty much anywhere if there's somewhere you would feel more comfortable."

"I'll come to where you are," Conner says. Why complicate matters? As for how park people don't notice...

He sighs as he slips his screwdriver under another gem. "I guess the same way a bunch of people in town don't notice a whole lot of everything. They can't. Their brains explain it all away. And maybe for some that's even better. It might even help in a lot of ways. Keep the town functioning. Can you imagine if every single last person who kept things running could be out of commission for days because of dreams, or manticores? The mail wouldn't even get delivered on a regular basis."

"Works for me! Then we'll meet at Dance Evolution at whatever time works for you. I'll give you my number before we part ways tonight." Fern offered, standing upright now and letting Conner work on the last gem. Stretching some while doing another scan for the groundskeeper, just in case. "Oh yeah I can definitely agree with that." Fern focused back on her partner in crime.

"It's for the best that the majority doesn't have to deal with what we do." Fern pushed a hand through her hair. "This town would be even more of a mess than it already is. Sometimes I wish I could be so oblivious." She gave a wistful sigh and then laughed again. "But then again, even with all the bad, I have a lot to be thankful for, for being in the know."

Pop goes the gem, and Conner stuffs gem and screwdriver alike into his pocket. "It's nice to be able to do something about things that are going wrong. And there's a lot of beauty to find and see, too."

He blows out his cheeks a little and says: "Let's bug out before Ryan comes back. You've just reminded me he's not exactly going to see two upstanding citizens trying to save people from giant fanciful animal attacks. He's going to see two vandals. I don't want to be here when someone finds our handiwork."

He steps kind of quickly, over to her side so they can get the heck outta here together.

"Exactly. I've seen tons of stuff that is ridiculous and impossible. Terrifying even...but they can be beautiful at the same time." Fern grinned a little and then giggled again. "Yeahhhh you're right. Let's go!" Fern made sure the gems she'd taken were all accounted for and then hopped off the carousel with him.

Once they were back in the parking lot, "Do you wanna grab some coffee or something and check these out real quick? Or should I just hand all mine over to you?" Fern asked. She's getting her phone out though at the very least so they can play the phone number game.

He pulls his phone out so they can make the exchange, and he says, "Yeah, let's do that. But I don't think I should keep all of them. We need to find a way to secure them, and, well, they could be important later. They shouldn't just be in one person's possession as a result. Maybe one of these days we should all pool in on a storage unit meant to handle all the potentially dangerous crap we pick up. I've got all these Not-Figs..."

He shakes his head helplessly. He has already acquired a lot of stuff that just seems a little mystically radioactive. Not. That that stopped him. From planting one. But that's a whole other deal.

"Though we can't sit in a coffee shop and mess with them, we just committed a crime."

Fern pockets her phone once numbers are swapped. "You're right. You shouldn't. I can keep some and maybe I can talk to Ravn about hanging on to some too." She pondered and then rose her brow at him. "Not-Figs? What are those even?"

She thought for a moment. "We could check them over at my place." She suggested. "Neutral territory. No one's gonna come snooping around or spy on us or anything. How about you swing by Grizzly and get us some food to go and I'll get a start on making coffee and get the dining room set up to check over the gems. "

"Dream fruits that look like figs and make weird animals when you plant them," Conner says. "There's a um. Sort of a...thing going on at Mr. Roen's place where you can meet a wolf that...hatched? From one? Some little blue glass wasp looking things did too. A few flew off, and they may be invasive, so there's that."

He nods and says, "Okay. I"ll meet you there. Text me your order?" He heads to his car, a beat-up old Honda Accord of indeterminate color. It may have been blue once, but it's just sort of taken on that 'old car' color whereupon paint has worn away, a little rust has developed, color has faded.

"...I want one..." Fern said after listening to his explanation. "...I also want to see all of that." Then she clears her throat and shoots a quick text with what she wants along with her address. "I'll leave the door unlocked so just come on in when you get there. See you soon!" Fern's own car was a Toyota, early 2000s maybe. Nothing special to look at, but well cared for, in a deep green color. Fern gives him a final wave and then gets in her car and heads off towards Spruce.

Fern's home was a modest two story like most others on Spruce. One that was older and had that rustic late 70s/early 80s charm to it. Pale blue with pink shudders and pink porch railing. A little gaudy in the daylight maybe but it looked okay in the evening light. The porch light was on as well and Fern's car was in the driveway.

Inside, Fern was sitting at the dining room table. Her gems were all carefully laid out with an index card under each one and there were other index cards laid out, waiting for Conner's gems. The only index card that had any writing was the one with the gem she'd gotten from the Manticore. With notes about what Conner had relayed to her about the vision.

He arrives with food...and he's brought her a fig, because clearly when a person asks him for a Dream fig they should get one. "Don't plant it anywhere but in the enclosure at August's, if you do," he says. "They're dangerous." But she gets one. He gathered up a lot, why should he keep them all to himself? Like the gems, they could be important later.

Seeing her cataloging system has his eyebrows lifting, impressed. "Good idea," he says, though he grimaces. "I didn't...pay really close attention as I was pulling mine out though. It might take a minute to get mine cataloged. Also, you have a lovely home."

He sets out their food, and it's almost an eerie juxtaposition...these gems winking up at them and something perfectly normal like burgers and fries.

Fern looks over as Conner arrives. "Come on in! Make yourself at home." The decor of the home is older too, but cozy. It's likely all her parents stuff still. "Thanks for the food! And, oh...you shouldn't have.." Fern smiles a touch, seeing the fig but accepts it anyway. Looking it over curiously. "I won't." She promises. "Maybe I'll try and go out there this week and see what happens." There was the temptation to just try and put it in a planter now butttt probably best to be safe with Veil related things.

"Oh I didn't either. This was just quick and best off the top of my memory of which ones came out of which." Fern assured. "Just lay them out along the empty index cards and I figure we can go through one by one and notate. I don't think I can do the reading thing you can do though. So that part might be all on you." Fern says apologetically.

"I'll bring out the coffee and a couple paper plates and such while you're laying your gems out." Fern retreats into the archway that leads into the kitchen and starts preparing the serving tray with the coffee pot, mugs, and other fixings. Thank you parents.

Conner lays them out carefully, and ends up picking them up one by one. She's right, of course...if he could read them he could easily match them to carousel animals. Which he does, one by one, though he's looking increasingly bewildered as he goes along. He pauses, sits back, has a bite to eat, and frowns, looking increasingly concerned.

He is still in that posture of utter concern when she returns with the coffee, only now he isn't even eating. He's just frowning down at eyes and cards alike.

Fern comes back with the coffee and plates, pouring out the coffee into the mugs and passing one to him. She studies him for a few seconds, lowering herself in the seat that was catty corner from him. "...What's on your mind? What did you see?" She asks, looking concerned at his concern. Her order had been a burger and fries - simple. She nibbles on a fry lightly, waiting in anticipation.

"Nothing. Practically. All the rest of these are just...memories of kids playing on the carousel. Worried parents. Enough to match a few more-- " Before he stopped, but there are a few now matched in Conner's handwriting. "But nothing bad. I can't decide if we just blinded a bunch of carousel animals for no good reason, or if these are all just...sleeper bombs waiting to go wrong. I hope they aren't blind. I was acting on the assumption these were all foreign objects at this point, but...maybe it was a really bad assumption."

He looks up at her, truly worried, and adds: "And I don't know a good way to tell. But the little girl who Muriel approached said she'd take them all for walks. Did that mean she needed the green gem only to do that, or that she was going to stick something in every animal? I just don't know."

Fern furrowed her brow, looking to the gems a moment, rubbing her jaw. "It's impossible to say. I don't think we blinded them for no good reason. Especially if this Muriel girl has an ulterior motive of wanting to move along those ghost dolls. It seems like their guardians right? The carousel animals. If they all went for a walk...then there's no one guarding the carousel. Guardians keep stuff in and much as keeping stuff out. Right?"

Fern offered up an encouraging smile. "Once we know more, we can put them right back where we found them. But I think it's for the best right now that we took them. It was possibly only a matter of time until whatever happened...happened." A beat of pause. "Like what if she can manipulate the gems? As long as a gem is in one she can control the creature kind of thing?"

"Entirely possible," Conner says, each word coming out careful and slow. "I wonder who we can talk to about next steps."

Her reassurance seems to have helped though. The thought that he'd just gone and gauged out the eyes of his friends instead of helping them was pretty outwardly distressing, and this isn't a guy that shows much more emotion than basic placidity most of the time. He exhales a little bit and says, "That makes this impulse of yours all the more important though. Maybe we can put each set in an envelope with the card attached. That way if it is better to put them back they all go back to the right animal."

"Maybe Ravn? And August? I know Joe was going to reach out to a couple people to see if they could help with the gem specifically. See if we could figure out origins or something." Fern made a thoughtful noise and laid a hand on Conner's arm to give a brief squeeze before returning to her french fries. "Hopefully we'll learn something at least. I think this was a good first step."

"I don't know about envelopes but I've got a ton of little plastic snack baggies. Which could probably work just as well. " Fern offered. "And makes it easier if we decide to split them up further and distribute some to trusted people for safe keeping."

"Sounds good. Heck, we might not want them in our houses anyway. You know. Just in case." He suddenly gives her a long, owlish blink. "Goodness. I've never needed to work up an alibi before. We might need one. Though I guess we ahh...walked around the park for a bit, got food, came back to your house, were together the whole time and...certainly didn't mess with any carousel animals at all...works well enough. Maybe the Veil will ah. Do us a solid here."

He suddenly starts laughing though, shoulders shaking just a little as he reaches for a French Fry of his own. "I'm glad we ran into each other today," he says, a strange thing to declare after contemplating their life of crime. And yet. True.

"I wonder if there's somewhere safe at the center we could keep them?" Fern pondered. "As you've probably guess I'm not really a criminal mastermind...I definitely don't have secret safes and false floorboards." She chuckled and picked up another fry. She grins as he lays out their alibi. "Yeah, it was a pretty good first date I'd say." She winked and laughed with him, relaxing back in her chair and looking over the gems as she finally picked up her burger.

"I'm glad we ran in to each other today too. Not every day you find someone willing to vandalize a carousel with you for the potential greater good of the town." She takes a bite of burger and then rises to her feet to retrieve the sandwich bags. "You don't happen to have a secret vault or something right?" Mostly joking.