Jan could tell how uncomfortable Mr. Tumnus was in the dungarees. The material scraped up and down his legs, ruffling the fur. Whenever he stood up, a protesting lump rose from the small of his back. When Jan referenced to it Mr. Tumnus leaned into her shoulder and whispered straight down her ear canal that it was in fact his tail. Jan spluttered in a mixture of laughter and horror at the fact that he thought he still had to hide. The room was of amicable temperature so Jan nodded at his pleading stare.
Mr. Tumnus cleared his throat, "What I'm about to do may be misconstrued as somewhat salacious and I would like to now dispel these impressions. I want to make a good impression, really, I do, but this just has to be done."
He whipped off his t-shirt first, then shimmied out of his trousers and propped himself back onto the table. He had expected a glance or two but even Jan was transfixed by his head, actually just above it.
"Oh right," Mr. Tumnus reached his hand to his head, "Hat."
And there was the faun. In no way hidden, with his horns, legs and tail on display for all humans to mock. But of course they didn't. They were like young Lucy. They'd never do anything to hurt him. No.
"So it's true," Brian Jackson was the first to speak, "I assumed your legs and tail would become costume when you got here -"
"Brian, stop," Jan warned.
"I was just going to say that'd have been a right shame!" Brian protested.
Jan grinned at him and Brian nodded his understanding.
"So ... anybody else of a different species?" Mr. Tumnus ventured.
"Shame Professor X isn't here," Eliphia observed.
The group fell silent as they realised that, somewhere out there, Professor X and every other James McAvoy character could well be floundering around on their way here. Then they were interrupted.
The half-essence squirted from countless nozzles that appeared around the room - more likely they had simply "not noticed" them - and swirled from lonesome tendrils into an angry mob of cloudy smoke that engulfed everybody in a shroud of confusion. They were paralysed by the smoke but each individual paranoid that he or she was the sole victim of this predicament. None need have feared, for had they been physically able to move, they'd have been rooted to the spot by an undefined terror that swooped around their veins, becoming them.
They were not in that room, but they weren't anywhere new. It was as if their location was unimportant and so had been left out. They weren't anywhere, because they didn't need to be. If they could be described as anywhere, they were trapped in the murky depths that we tumble into when we close our eyes to sleep. They were of course - bodily - still in the exact same positions but their minds were nowhere.
They saw a map, a map of the world. Marked out were many red blimps. They ranged around the western world - Great Britain, America - and there was even a single pulsing light in Africa. It became clear upon further inspection that this was placed specifically in Uganda. Sure enough, they all matched settings: one for Wesley in Chicago, one for Joe somewhere in England, one for Brian in Bristol and another somewhere in the English countryside. There were others all over the map but these four pulsed faster and brighter than the others. Nobody knew how they were supposed to get all these places - or to Narnia for that matter - but evidently those were their marching orders. They would find a way.
Mr. Tumnus cleared his throat, "What I'm about to do may be misconstrued as somewhat salacious and I would like to now dispel these impressions. I want to make a good impression, really, I do, but this just has to be done."
He whipped off his t-shirt first, then shimmied out of his trousers and propped himself back onto the table. He had expected a glance or two but even Jan was transfixed by his head, actually just above it.
"Oh right," Mr. Tumnus reached his hand to his head, "Hat."
And there was the faun. In no way hidden, with his horns, legs and tail on display for all humans to mock. But of course they didn't. They were like young Lucy. They'd never do anything to hurt him. No.
"So it's true," Brian Jackson was the first to speak, "I assumed your legs and tail would become costume when you got here -"
"Brian, stop," Jan warned.
"I was just going to say that'd have been a right shame!" Brian protested.
Jan grinned at him and Brian nodded his understanding.
"So ... anybody else of a different species?" Mr. Tumnus ventured.
"Shame Professor X isn't here," Eliphia observed.
The group fell silent as they realised that, somewhere out there, Professor X and every other James McAvoy character could well be floundering around on their way here. Then they were interrupted.
The half-essence squirted from countless nozzles that appeared around the room - more likely they had simply "not noticed" them - and swirled from lonesome tendrils into an angry mob of cloudy smoke that engulfed everybody in a shroud of confusion. They were paralysed by the smoke but each individual paranoid that he or she was the sole victim of this predicament. None need have feared, for had they been physically able to move, they'd have been rooted to the spot by an undefined terror that swooped around their veins, becoming them.
They were not in that room, but they weren't anywhere new. It was as if their location was unimportant and so had been left out. They weren't anywhere, because they didn't need to be. If they could be described as anywhere, they were trapped in the murky depths that we tumble into when we close our eyes to sleep. They were of course - bodily - still in the exact same positions but their minds were nowhere.
They saw a map, a map of the world. Marked out were many red blimps. They ranged around the western world - Great Britain, America - and there was even a single pulsing light in Africa. It became clear upon further inspection that this was placed specifically in Uganda. Sure enough, they all matched settings: one for Wesley in Chicago, one for Joe somewhere in England, one for Brian in Bristol and another somewhere in the English countryside. There were others all over the map but these four pulsed faster and brighter than the others. Nobody knew how they were supposed to get all these places - or to Narnia for that matter - but evidently those were their marching orders. They would find a way.
