First Meeting

Dr. Neil was pacing around the kitchen as he and Evangeline began to chit chat. She was busy putting in the brownie pattier on the cooking sheet while the oven heated up, so she pretty much went on and on about different things. Mechs, work, complaining about work, and then he finally went quiet. Evangeline was concerned if something happened so put the pan to the side as she looked to face the researcher. She noticed his hand was placed on his mouth deep in thought. Eventually he looked over with curiosity and asked, “hey… so I know you are making these for Morgan… buuuuuut how did you meet Morgan? A paranormal experience? Nolan?”

“Huh, I never told you how I met Morgan?” Evangeline asked Dr.Neil. Her unfolded ear twitching as she hears the soft sound of the oven’s tickling. She made a mental note to check on the brownies in a bit.

“No? In fact, you never really told me if you two were friends. I know for sure though,” Neil grinned, “you are for sure in love. You always talk about how you wanted to reconnect with her, how much you admire her, how much you care-.” Evangeline muffled him using her big paws to stop the researcher from babbling on and on. “Okay okay! I get it.” Ev released her paws from Neil’s head once she felt the muffling getting louder.  

“Yes, it is true I love her, but I…. we don’t talk often if at all. I guess… I don’t know what I am to her. So I have been keeping my distance. ” For a moment she felt her heart sink, recalling how guilty she felt when she saw Morgan’s face drop. Telling her she didn’t really want Morgan to ever hear her sing, that they weren’t close like that. Ev just said the first thing that she could think but she wished she could tell the truth.. Ev saw Neil’s eyebrows furrow as if he was checking if Ev was… crying? Ev turned her entire body away from Neil, “But! I was about to tell you how we met! Now… it was the spring festival-”

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The Spring festival was gorgeous. Flowers decorated all over the pathways around the park, the booths all had spring themed designs, and the string lights looked so lovely at night. Most cinnas came to the festival to celebrate the spring equinox by leaving offerings to their respective gods or throwing a special golden token the festival staff gave away to make a spring wish. Evangeline was there to take a break from school. It was around the time she was 13 years old. Ev was very popular in her classes for being the kind, smart, and soft spoken cinnadog, with the catch that she couldn’t even hang out with the kids in her 8th grade classes. Her mom was very protective of her since the day her powers came to her. The ability to control and intensify emotions. She didn’t want anyone to take advantage of her so kept a very close and strict eye on Evangeline, to make sure no one would hurt her daughter. This came with some issues, one of them being Evangeline wanting to rebel any chance she could. Most of the time, those little acts of rebelling would get her in trouble.

“Mom!? Moooom!?” Evangeline cupped her paws around her snout and shouted. She knew the crowds were going to be busy, her mom kept telling her to stay close to her so she wouldn’t get lost, but she had to go and look at a fair game that had rows of cute plushies on the backdrop wall. Among those plushies was a big oversized pink bunny with a flower shaped bow on one of its ears. Ev had to have it. It would be the perfect plush to hold at night! There was no way her mom was going to get that for her when she got ten other plushies that month. So she was going to get it herself.

By the time she spent all her pocket charge and didn’t knock down a single bowling pin, her mom was far away somewhere at the festival grounds. Ev didn’t step away from the booth, she continued to scream for her mom but the festival’s loud sounds drowned her out. Tears began to well up in her eyes. Ev crouched down and buried her face in her legs. What if her mom couldn’t find her? What if she was going to be lost all night? What if-

“Are you crying,” the flat tone of the voice shook her out of her thoughts as she looked up with snot and tears running down her face. Took her blinking to clear up her vision to see who was standing over her. Green fur, frowning face, pierced ears, black eyes, of course it was Morgan. The girl heard rumors in her classes. Some of the boys say she would hiss and glare at them for playing around. Some of the girls would say she was probably just dumped by a boy and that’s why in the middle of October, she became distant and very cold towards everyone.

“What do you want?” Evangeline tried to make herself sound annoyed. The hiccups and voice crack though wasn’t helping her case. “Are you here to make fun of me or say my crying is annoying?’ Finally Evangeline stood up, showing she towered over the green cat hoping it would make her go away. Yet she stood there. The two stared at each other for what seemed like forever, the sounds of people talking, the bright lights of the booths, and the smell of popcorn seemed to be the only thing that Evangeline’s tunnel vision could pay attention to besides Morgan.

 “Do you want the pink bunny or not?” “What?” She took a step back as her snout crutched up, “are you offering to get it for me?”

 “Yes I am, it seems to be something you need right now.” Morgan pushed Evangeline to the side, taking her question as a yes. Turning away from Evangeline as she handed the festival worker enough money for 3 turns. Ev couldn’t wrap her head around it, the girl who everyone swore was mean was… getting her a plush? That’s if she could manage to beat the game. Knocking down all 10 cans would be a miracle-

Wrack! Clink clank….  Morgan swung her first baseball, knocking down the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

Wrack! Clink clank….  Swung her 2nd and there goes 5 more.

The last two being across from each other with a huge gap. “How will she be able to knock down the last two…? They’re far away from each other-”  Evangeline then saw what Morgan was doing. Morgan turned her body to the side slightly, aiming to hit the side of the can on the left and using just enough force to make it bounce off to hit the right.

Wrack! Clink clank…. All 10 were laying on the ground.

 “Congratulations!” the worker clapped their hands and let out a loud cheer for Morgan, “now which one did you want?” “The pink bunny with the flower,” as Morgan was handed the plush, Evangeline couldn’t help but find it cute how Morgan barely was able to hold the bunny up with it being almost as big as her. A soft smile ran across her face. The green cat waddled side to side to turn to Ev, her arms outstretched holding the plush out for Ev to take. “Physics and gravity that did most of the work, I was the one who made sure they got you your bunny,” Morgan mumbled.

Ev took the prize into her arms and squeezed tight. It was perfect. As she held the bunny in her arms petting its soft fur, she looked at Morgan with a soft smile as she said thank you. Her reaction was not what the cinnadog was expecting, her eyes widened and snapped her head away from Ev as she stuttered out a welcome. “Huh… you aren’t as tough as I thought. You’re cute… like a kitty.” Morgan looked over flustered, not sure what to say or do, she could only squeak a small “thank you.” Luckily she was saved by the sudden loud shout shifting Ev’s attention away from her.

“Oh shot…. My mom is going to be so mad with me. Hey! We should hang out at school sometime, you seem pretty cool… and mysterious.” She heard her mom shout again, this time she could clearly hear the panic in her voice. “I gotta go! My name is Evangeline! Please don’t forget me!” Evangeline turned away and ran towards the voice, knowing when she got home she was grounded. This experience made it worth it to her. No matter, she got to see the softer side of Morgan, something most would say is rare like a blue moon back then.

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“Wow…. so you did know her before she became a paranormal investigator. Wait… did you not become friends with her afterwards? You seemed… sad recalling this.” Neil asked as he put a second coat of whipped cream on his brownie.

“No, my mom was upset with me for running off like that so by the time I was ungrounded and could hang out with her, Morgan was distant. I think she doesn’t even remember meeting me then.” Evangeline sighed as she moved the brownies off of the pan to a plate, “ I can’t blame her though. I eventually did find out she was going through some… tough times. She probably wants to bury any memories of middle school. Doesn't matter if it was good or bad.”

Neil looked up at Evangeline as he leaned against the kitchen counter, taking another bite of the brownie. “Listen… Evangeline, if anyone would know that life is too short to sit back and do nothing, it would be me. You should go and talk to her about this. If you are feeling brave enough, your feelings for her too. It sounds like you miss her and who knows? She might miss you too.”

“... You are right Dr. Neil. I’ll contact her this weekend, and we can catch up. Maybe I can remind her when we met.” She was about to thank him then heard loud coughing from where Neil was standing. She turned to make sure he was okay  and saw he nearly choked on the brownie, “Thank you for listening to me and… uh… word of advice, don’t talk with your mouth full.”