It's a PANdemic! (Ink)

The rural area of Kansas were like a dream: blue cloudy sky slowly turning into an orange and purple back drop, industrial sized farms with a couple of privately owned farms sprinkled here and there, and wheat, oh dear lord was there wheat. The swaying stalks moved with the wind like the waves of the ocean. It was a picture perfect, if you ignored the obnoxiously persistent mosquitoes.  

Walking alongside the country-styled interstate was a a large man carrying a herculean sized pack on his back, He wearing a tacky, purple and pink Hawaiian flower shirt over his butler suit. On his head he wore a gray and red baseball cap with the words "I DAISUKE Japan" on it that made his get up seem even more riddiculous. Beside him was a girl wearing black and white polka dotted dress with black sash around her waist. On her head was a white sun hat covered in shade from the umbrella sticking out of her. Mindy looked even more ridiculous now with all the souvenirs she was wearing, from pink star sunglasses, and at least three sets of tribal beads around her neck and five different colored arm bands across her forearm.

Sebastian spoke up his complaints once again, "Why couldn't we rent a car again?"
] Not missing a beat, Mindy chirped up. "Because it is an adventure Sebu! How else are we going to experience the hitchhikers dream!"
"You've been saying that since California!
Truth be told, Sebastian could care less about why they were doing what they were doing, he was more awed by how the thin framed girl managed to keep up with his pace, and how in the world she managed not to sweat or get bitten up by insects without bug spray. Was it the goddess's blessing or was it a part of the reason she didn't disintegrate when she took the rings on in the first place.

They kept going till the sun had finally set and they were thinking about setting up camp when... "It is perfect!"Mindy exclaimed. Sebastian looked up confused. "What is?"

"This barn is perfect to shack up in!" she said as she walked all the way up to the front door and rang the door bell. When the door opened, before the person who opened it could say something. Mindy curtsied and asked, "May we stay in your barn tonight? My name is Mindy Ashford and I am here with my butler, Sebastian Michaelis, and we must simply spend a night in a barn before I leave the country or else my trip will not be complete." And with the final word she bowed even lower, still not having seen who opened the door.

Sebastian still stood back a bit still flabbergasted at the sudden turn of events. It was just another thing he added to the list of peculiar things his ward did.[/color]

Dick Hanson opens the door and a young lady in very... eccentric clothing begins a seemingly prepared speech, asking to stay in his barn. He stares at her, then looks to the girl's 'butler,' who beams with an expression as baffled as his own.  The woman bows and Dick arches an eyebrow.  "Uh, listen, Miss, I'm not sure that's such a good..."  Dick pauses and looks the girl over.  He mutters.  "What're you gettin' yourself into, this time, Dick?"  Then he steps around the young lady and strolls toward the barn.  "You can stay, long as ya don't mind sharin' the barn with another... occupant.  Nothin' that'll be too uncomfortable, I don't think.  No cluckin' hens or smellin' pigs, anyhow."

From the rafters of the barn, a silhouette peers through a hole in the wall, looking down on Dick as he leads the two strangers toward the building.  It leaps away from the hole before it's noticed.  Hm...

"But she is a bit of a strange one," Dick continues.  He swings open the barn doors.  Inside is a large assortment of plush toys, an easel with finger painting on it, and a cozy little set-up in the corner, as if for a child.  Although the cot is larger than that of any belonging to a little one.  "Pan. Where're ya hidin', girl? Ya have guests."

The boards up in the rafters creak. Dick looks up. "Up here, Unc'a Dick," Pan says.  "Pan's up here."  Pan sits up in the rafters, dressed in her complete panda get-up, perched like a bird, looking down on the people. She hops down, landing as lightly as a feather. Then she walks up to Dick.  "Did Unc'a Dick need Pan?"  She looks around him at the two strangers.  "Who're flower man and umbrella lady?"

"A bit" strange didn't even begin to cover what they saw inside the barn. Well to put it lightly, there was no situation that ran through Sebastian's mind where they would see it full of plush toys and small recreational activities followed by meeting of a... panda  person?  This is going on the list of the strange stuff they've seen on their trip, at least in Sebastian's book. With Latino meta human gangsters, a justice-hungry angel, and a musical magic robot adding a giant panda person was pretty much bound to happen. Maybe this was the new norm for the world? What did Sebastian know? All he had was memories of his past lives and the word of an over excited fujoshi.

Speaking of his ward, he was more surprised that she hadn't said something by this point. She just stood there taking in the sight with her lips slightly ajar. Maybe she had finally reached her limit on how ridiculous their adventure had become.  That was when she finally spoke up, "You are absolutely gorgeous! She said with a sweet smile and her eyes full of awe and admiration towards Pan. Sebastian wanted to sigh. But, then again, this was the kind of response he was used to at this point. Oh well. When in Rome, do like the Romans.

"Milady, is named Mindy Ashford. She is the 5th daughter of the prestigious Ashford estate. I am her humble butler and servant. We have requested to sleep in this barn tonight." He said with a slight bow. He felt proud that at the least he was nailing the whole shtick about being a butler. He hadn't exactly been jumping at the prospect when Mindy had originally brought it up, but if one is going to do something, one might as well do it well. It also helped that one of his incarnations had spent an extended amount of time 17th century Victorian England.

Mindy hefted her pack to her side and began rummaging through it. It took a couple moments for her to finally pull out what she was looking for. She pulled out her camera, as well as two half-black half-white ribbons along with two small panda pins. Her mouth split into a warm smile as she practically skipped close to the young lady named Pan. Presenting the ribbons and pins to her, Mindy asked with pleading eyes, "Can you wear these, please? I think they would look good on you!" And while passively waving her camera around,  she added, "And we can even take pictures together!"

Sebastian looked at the situation and surmised that the Pan lady might not kill his ward if left them alone for a second, and if she did, well that was one worse thing he had to worry about. He thought, mentally shrugging to himself. "I will go retrieve the rest of our things." With another short bow to the kind farmer that was letting them stay, he began walking up to where they were getting ready to set up camp only a couple minutes earlier.

Dick runs his hand back beneath his hat and through his hair as the girl makes a beeline for Pan and all but swoons over her.  Pan, meanwhile, glances down at the hair ornaments being shoved into her mitts.  She blinks and looks up at this 'Mind' with the face of a toddler asked to recite the theory of relativity.  The black rings around her white eyes contort with her face into an arch as the girl pops a camera out of her bag.  "Pan's confused," she says.  "Is Mindy Lady a princess?  Shelly says princesses dress in pretty dresses and butlers where suits." She turns to Dick, who crosses his arms.

"Well, Pan, she's just a guest here, the night.  You don't mind that, do ya?"

Pan looks to Mindy, then Sebastian, and then back to Dick.  She shakes her head.  "Pan doesn't mind, Unc'a Dick.  They can use Pan's bed and Pan sleeps in the hay."

Mindy persists with the camera and Pan seems to shy away from it and its shutter sounds.  "Shelly says Pan shouldn't take pictures.  People can find out where Pan stays."

Pan...

Pan turns toward the stuffed panda toy on her cot and trots over to it, picking it up.  She returns, cradling it in both arms.  She rests her chin against its soft plush head.  Dick also leaves the girls alone, heading back to the house.  Pan waves goodbye and stands beside Mindy.  She looks back at the ribbons and pins Mindy gave her and sets the bear down on a barrel to try putting them on but struggles, even in the mirror.  She groans as she wrestles with the ribbons and drops a pin.

Pan. This woman.  

"Pan can't do it," Pan says, staring into the mirror.

The woman, Pan.  There is something... off.  As if the Neutral Force is tugging at her

When Pan went to go pick up the small stuffed panda plushie, Mindy noticed the shifting abnormality around it. The shimmer was there, albeit very subtle, almost like like bottled lightning. Mindy raised an eyebrow then rest her fact back into a smile as Pan approached closer. Whatever her suspicions would eventually end up at if she pursued the flights of fancy that entailed, she dispersed them before they would ever get there. Whatever the doll was, it was important to her new found friend. Maybe, they weren't friends yet, But Mindy found the girl so adorable that it was endearing. It gave a sense of closeness despite not having much a reason to do so.

After fumbling with the pins and ribbons that Mindy had given her, Pan became frustrated. With a kind smile, Mindy shooed the panda clad girl. She reached into her pack and pulled out a crystal hair brush, an aquamarine pouch, and a small, red, rectangular box. The brush was possible the second most valuable thing she owned so she always kept it close to her.

"We don't need to take pictures, if you don't want, Pan. Lets just put these on and see how you look with them on."

With that, Mindy pulled a high seated stool behind Pan and began brushing her hair with the comb. A few moments passed before Mindy began to sing. It was a song that made her think of her mother. "Chiisa na Kata wo~  Narabete aruita!  Nandemon ai Koto de Warai ai Onaji Yume O Mitsumeteita...~

Mindy's Song:

Mindy brushed and brushed and brushed, pulling out hay and other things that had gotten tangled in her hair. Despite all of that, her hair was healthy and mostly well kept. Around the time she reached "Ameagari no Sora no You Na Kokoro Ga Hareru You na" her voice almost got stuck in her throat. Despite that, she kept singing. After pulling back Pan's hair with small hair clips to keep them straight, Mindy began tying the ribbons to the sides of her hair and pinned them down and clipped them into place with the small panda pins.

Letting Pan take in what she saw, with a flourish of her hands and smile on her lips Mindy said, "There! now you look even more beautiful!" With a wink she added, "You look like a Panda Princess, Pan-pan!


Sebastian had finally finished bringing in their things and setting up their sleeping arrangements when he chanced upon the two girls. That was when he noticed the doll. For half a moment he felt an over whelming sense of dread. There was something unnatural about the panda themed teddy bear. Opening up their mental link he called out to Mindy, Mindy, there is something off about that- Without making a sound, Mindy raised a finger to her mouth. It doesnt matter.

Pan sits in the mirror as Mindy fixes the ribbons and whatnot in her hair.  She practically coos when the girl begins to sing.  When the singing stops, Pan opens her eyes and looks at herself in the mirror.  Mindy says something, but Pan just hops up from the seat and leans into the mirror, gawking at her hair.  "Ooh. Mindy Lady made Pan's hair pretty," she says, completely entranced.  She turns her head in the mirror a few times before stepping back from the mirror and giddily hopping.  Suddenly she pauses and blinks.

In the distance, a car door closes and there is a voice. Pan turns her head towards the barn door.  She leaps up into the rafters in a single bound and peers through the hole in the wall.  Then she leaps down.  "Shelly!"  With that rather loud exclamation of joy, Pan bursts through the barn door.  Shelly stands at the front of the house, talking to Dick when Pan snatches her up from the ground and hugs her like a plush toy.  "Pan missed Shelly!"

"I missed you too, Pan.  The whole four hours," the eleven-year-old says, patting Pan's head as Pan holds her up in the air with both arms.  She stops and retracts her hand, tilting her head.  "Pan? Did Auntie Em do your hair?"

"Uh uh.  Pan's new friend did it!"

Shelly blinks.  "New friend?"