Fairly Normal People

-Chapter Five-

"First actually..." Andy said. "There's a friend I want you to meet."

Lucy stopped before she left and eyed her satchel, clearly uncomfortable at the prospect of leaving it behind yet equally distressed about lugging it around with her given her already ragged appearance. After a few vexatious moments she ran her fingers across it but left it behind. Andy met her gaze and nodded reassuringly and a small reluctant smile flickered on her lips before she broke the gaze.

"Oh yeah? Is he cute?" Lucy asked, distracting herself.

"Uhhh... His name's Tim." Andy said as he watched her movements.

"Tim... Sounds handsome. Can't wait to meet him." Lucy said as she walked to the entry to the stairwell with a sudden skip in her step.

"He's a little out of your age range I would think." Andy said as he opened the door for her and they began their descent. "He's no Immortal but he's getting on in years."

Lucy's stomach growled with hunger as it echoed down the stairwell and she slowed her pace and rubbed her belly. Before too long they reached the bottom of the stairs and Andy put a hand on Lucy's shoulder to stop her.

"Timothy?" Andy called out.

"Andrew?" Tim replied.

The greenish grey mound of slimy flesh that Lucy had mistaken for a pile of misshapen trash bags began to shake and move. Tim's four tiny thin legs that ended in round pads hefted him up with a grunt, with more than a little help from his long thin arms. He twisted and rotated around as the sight sunk into Lucy's mind. She went pale, so pale her skin just about went transparent. Tim's great flabby body waddled over to them with an unseemly grace and sat atop like a cherry on ice cream was his head, a large spherical bald head with no visible eyes or ears, a nose that consisted of two small slits and a mouth lined with crooked yellow teeth that bordered the top of his small weak chin, that it itself sat atop a number of folds that would be his other chins. His voice came out raspy and sharp like rocks scraping against each other though his language denoted a great intelligence and wisdom behind it. In one of his small spindly hands he held a very thick book that did well to express the strength in his arms despite their skeletal thinness as he waved it about with relative ease.

"Andrew! And a..." Tim said excitedly before his expression dropped and he sniffed at the air. "A young friend."

"Hey Tim, this is Lucille. I met her the other night, she's a tooth fey." Andy said as he gently nudged Lucy towards him. "And Lucy this is Tim, he's a troglodyte. One of the unglamoured fey. Or lazy, I could never really tell."

Tim let out a quick hissing laugh as he shambled over and held out his free hand to Lucy.

"When you get to my age, glamours are just a hassle you don't need in your spare time. No need to be afraid girl, I don't bite." Tim said before Lucy very quickly and very nervously shook his hand before she stepped back so fast she almost bowled over Andy. "She's awful new to this."

Andy caught her and held her straight with his hands on her shoulders but she squirmed her way out of them and darted out the exit from the stairwell.

"Feyster child." Andy said as the door closed behind her.

"Oh I see. And you thought to throw her into the deep end by showing me off to her?" Tim asked.

"She was living on the street and I've sort of taken her in, so she'd have to meet you eventually."

"At least she's quiet."

"What's that you're reading there, Tim? The new shipment come in this morning? I thought they didn't do mail on Sunday."