http://mike-inkheart.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] mike-inkheart.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] estdeus_innobis2010-12-28 03:28 pm
Entry tags:

Top off the tea... it lubricates the grey matter.

[Thursday, March 11th (Day 284)]
[Main Street in front of the Dormouse]
[Late afternoon, teatime]



Two more errands and I've completed most of them for the day.  Every day should be this good and I look up at the sunny sky, wondering if the nice weather has anything to do with it.  The Dormouse and the library are left on my list.  Should I drop off my note and maybe get lucky enough to meet Mrs. Whitman, or should I go to the library and check out a few books instead?

The library can wait and tucking the note into an envelope, I stop near the steps of the Dormouse.  Mrs. Wilson said that Mrs. Whitman's very pregnant so I don't think I'll see her today but it doesn't hurt to try.  Hopefully, she'll get my note anyway.  I heard that Romana worked here a few days ago so I'll just give it to her to pass along and maybe she'll get back to me.

I'm about to go up the stairs when I spot bright, blonde hair down Main Street.  She looks like Leah.  I wave and smile.  It never hurts to be friendly, especially to pretty women, and maybe she'll have some tea with me.


[Open to Leah, and Romana if she likes]

[identity profile] leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com 2010-12-28 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
It is a really bright day, the kinda Karina calls nice. The air is warmer and less dry than it has been, I'm looking forward to the next time it rains. I've just come from the library when I see a familiar face waving and smiling at me. Mike! He's standing at the door to Wanda's teashop and I smile back and walk in his direction.

"Hello Michael. Having a good day?"

[identity profile] leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com 2010-12-29 01:01 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, I am. He says and then he nods his head at the Wanda's shop before adding, I'm about to get some tea. You can join me, if you like. HE smiles again and I nod. "Yes, I'd like that."

He asks me me how I've been as he opens the door and holds it saying after you to indicate that he expects me to enter first. I tell him that I've been well and enter the teashop. It looks much like it did that last time I was here except that Wanda isn't here. Instead there's a blonde girl who I don't remember seeing here before. I look over at Micheal with a frown, trying to remember if I've seen the girl anywhere else as he asks, How's that assignment going? Have you seen anything interesting?

"Some," I admit, then I think of what happened during the reading with Hope and brighten up, "The most interesting was also the most recent."
Edited 2010-12-29 01:02 (UTC)

[identity profile] leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com 2010-12-30 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
He gives me a wide smile, Really? I like interesting. What happened?

I'm about to tell him about meeting Hope in the Miskatonic cafe but right then is when the blonde girl comes to our table and ask what we'd like. Mike orders chocolaty tea and lemon scones and ask what I'd like and then he keeps on talking; handing a bit of paper to the girl and asking her to give it to Mrs. Whitman. He probably means Wanda. The girl doesn't say anything to that just nods and looks at me to see what my order is going to be and so does Mike, You were going to order, and then tell me about your assignment, right? I nod and then add to the girl," I'd like the same tea as Michael's getting but I'd prefer cinnamon muffins with mine."

I wait until she's gone before I tell him, "I was in the Miskatonic Cafe when I met Hope from the Carnival. She gave me a card reading. There were two men who interrupted us but I didn't get their names."

[identity profile] leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com 2010-12-31 01:15 am (UTC)(link)
I laugh as he asks, Cinnamon muffins? Are they good here?

"I don't know for sure," I confess, "But everything else I've had here is so I thought I'd order something different and check that it is all the same level of quality. Besides, I like trying new things." Except maybe for getting hit. I didn't like that.

He looks very interested when I tell him about Hope and the reading, A card reading definitely sounds interesting.Was she any good at it?

I think for a moment and then nod. He adds,Did she seem like the real thing to you? And I frown just a tiny bit. Why wouldn't she she be real? Oh, did he think she might have been lying? But she said things that very few people would know and asked questions that they wouldn't have asked me and the things she told me about her and her sister...

"I think so..." I say slowly, "The things she said and the questions she let me ask her...She even offered to teach me how to read the cards."
Edited 2010-12-31 01:15 (UTC)

[identity profile] leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com 2010-12-31 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
I like trying new things too, Leah. He says smiling. He smiles a lot and I like seeing it. He says that maybe he'll try the muffins next time. Hope sounds very nice, and it sounds like she was open with you too. That's rare. It is? Hope is very nice and I was quite open with her too. I wouldn't have talked with just anyone about Pontarlier. I remember how Nanse-kam reacted.

Did you ask her about the cards, or something else? And if you need someone to practice on, I volunteer. his offer startles me. I hadn't thought that far ahead. But it is good to know that he'd let me use them on him. That he wouldn't mind me finding things out about him. And I find I want to know about him. Where he came from. What the future might bring. Anything he might not tell anyone else. I feel warm suddenly a bit like I did after drinking the punch that day in the market.

I return his smile feeling a bit shy like when I first walked into his office. "Both actually. I asked her about the cards and about what happened with those two men. and at first she was reluctant to talk about it. What the conversation with them was about but then she changed her mind and explained." I look down at the table for a moment and see that some of my hair has fallen down, I brush it back and then look up at him.

"It was a bit confusing for everyone, and I think it was sort of private but I ended up hearing it anyway. If we hadn't been talking about stuff before it happened I think she would have told me not to ask her anymore questions about it."

[identity profile] leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com 2010-12-31 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
What did she say and why do you think she changed her mind? Mike asks. I take a moment to think of how much to tell him. "She was very general at first just saying that it was a long story and one that might be hard to believe." I smile just a bit and then add,"I think that the reason she decided she could tell me was the things she had learned about me and my willingness to answer questions meant that I might understand or at least not be nasty about the bits other people have a hard time with."

He leans forward, really interested in my answers but has to lean back when the waitress comes back with our order. I watch him add sugar and milk to his tea while nodding at me to go on. He pushes the tea pot in my direction and I add just a little of the sugar to my tea. I won't add milk as that would make the water sluggish and less likely to tell me anything. Mike asks what I've learned and I take a sip of the tea before answering.

"It was complicated. She and her sister used to have their bodies fused together and now they are separate people. It wasn't easy though and they paid for it. The two men were shocked to see Hope by herself and very concerned about what had happened to Faith. I saw her sister at the end of things and she looks exactly like Hope but doesn't talk." I remember the way they both looked for a moment as Faith touched her sister and wonder if maybe they can talk to each other the way I pass information to Pontarlier or Nu. "Hope doesn't see." I add. "She mentioned a price had to be paid and I think it wasn't with money."




[identity profile] leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com 2011-01-02 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Mike doesn't react with disbelief at what I am telling him, he looks surprised and very interested. I relax a little bit, as he finally asks, Fused? And they're from the carnival? I nod. "Yes, that's what she told me."

His next question echoes those of Doc and the dark haired man,Besides the not-seeing and not-talking, are they okay? "Yes. If Hope had not told me, I would never have guessed that she and her sister hadn't always been separate people." I very briefly wonder what they looked like when they were fused. Maybe when I go to visit hope and learn to read the cards I can ask her.

Did she say who did it, who they had to pay? I have to think back to exactly what she said. "She didn't use a name just said Management. That they went to see Management and got it fixed for them. There was mention of the Tower but she only said that they didn't go there. That sight was less to pay than a soul. and that management likes balance which is why she can't see and Faith can't talk."

[identity profile] leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com 2011-01-02 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Michael looks even more surprised than before. Maybe this is what the novels meant when they use the word shocked. Or maybe stunned. It also comes out in his voice as he says, Management can change your body and it'll only cost your eyesight or your voice. For twins, one for each. I stay silent not knowing what he wants me to say. His hand is shaking as he picks up his cup and then puts it back down again. But that's a better deal than the Tower, because that would cost your soul instead. I take a sip of my own tea.

"That does seem to fit the information I picked up from Hope and her conversation with the two men. I remember something else that was said and add. "I think that the man she called Doc may have gone to the Tower for something. He certainly seemed relieved that Hope didn't go there. and she apologized for mentioning the Tower." I frown again thinking it over. "Maybe what she was poligixing for was the way she mentioned the Tower she sounded a bit upset that he might think she'd gone to the Tower to be split apart from her sister."

We share a moment of just sitting and sipping or stirring tea before Michael asks very casually, Is that normal around here? I saw a walking, flaming scarecrow the other day and now you're telling me that two women made a deal to change their bodies.

I have to think about that one for a while. The level of liquid in my cup drops and I put it down before Reaching for a muffin. "From everyone's reactions to things like that, no. I don't think they are exactly normal for Excolo, but these sorts of things are happening more frequently. Perhaps someday it will be normal." I lean forward then and say, "I would like to hear about the walking, flaming scarecrow. Where was it walking? and why was it on fire? did anyone try to put it out?" I break off a large piece of the muffin and put it in my mouth. I really need to remember to give people time to answer my questions before I ask more of them.

[identity profile] leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com 2011-02-21 08:16 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm really enjoying this. Sitting here with Michael, talking about what's happening in town and sharing what we think about it. He leans forward and I feel something, I'm not sure what it is, almost like a shiver but I'm not cold. He picks up the teapot and the feeling changes but doesn't go away. I wonder what it is?

But he's talking so I focus my attention on that instead,"The scarecrow was walking in front of the sheriff's office, and only the head was flaming, or at least part of it. I don't know why it was on fire. It arrived on the scene that way and it didn't seem to bother it any during the time I watched." He thinks for a bit and then adds, I saw two horse-riders go back and forth with it but how it ended, I don't know. I was inside the beauty salon at that point.

He's very good to answer all my questions even though the answers always give me more questions to ask. "Which part was on fire? who were the horse-riders? If you don't know how it ended, do you know who might? Besides the horse-riders and the scarecrow, I mean."

I finish my tea before I think to ask, "Why were you in the beauty salon?"

My muffin is almost gone when Michael says, Besides the scarecrow and the twins, I heard most of town lost its memory for a while, and before that, one of the mayor candidates was murdered but the killer was never found.When you said these kinds of things are happening more frequently, did you mean things like that?

I put the last bit of the muffin in my mouth and chew while thinking, is that the kind of thing I meant when I said that? I suppose so. I nod.

[identity profile] leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com 2011-02-21 10:32 pm (UTC)(link)
They came down this road, he says pointing to Main Street, But from the opposite end, away from the sheriff's office. What's down that way? Someone from that area might know who they were.

What is down that way? "There's the park with the schoolhouse and the Abbey at the end of the road. People live around there too. There are also roads to some other places nearby."

Michael smiles as he explains why he went into the salon. There was a lot of chaos in the street and I didn't want to stay out there. He motions towards the girl who's doing Wanda's job, I met her in a doorway, along with a few other people and they didn't want want to stay outside either. A purple-haired woman offered to let us in and it sounded like a good idea.

I reach for the teapot asking,"Who else did you meet that day?" Reaching for the sugar, I add. "I got invited into the bakery pretty early on so I didn't get to see the scarecrow. But I did have to stop the water from coming inside through the bottom of the door."

I think about the people I know in town and those I've only seen. I don't know a woman with purple hair but I've seen her, I think. Her hair isn't always purple. It was bright red at Hermia's party and she often comes to the cafe. "I think I've seen your purple haired woman, but I don't know her name." I tell him. She sat at the other end of the table from us.

A bit later on he asks me, So, did you lose your memory too? I shake my head and hold my teacup with both hands, feeling a bit cold inside at the thought of losing all the memories I've gained since becoming me. "No. No I didn't lose any memories but others did. Not everyone lost the same amount of memories, some people lost one or two things and others couldn't remember their names but could tell you something if you asked the right question." I think of Syl and how she didn't know her name but could tell us about how to do things to memories with magic.

[identity profile] leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com 2011-02-23 08:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Michael rubs his chin and says, The Abbey sounds like a good place to start. It's looks big enough. The Post Office too. He smiles at me and adds, You could investigate and find out.

I smile back and ask,"Are you asking me to do that?" If he is I'm happy to do it, I just want to know first that it's what he wants me to do.

He lists the people he met that day, all women and I notice he doesn't ay the name of the salon owner. But then he notices what I said about the water and asks about it. I bite my lip as I realize that I'm going to have to be careful what I say about it. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it at all.

Water? It was a riot, not a flood. I don't understand.

"It wasn't much of a flood but yes there sort of was." I contradict him gently. "It wasn't natural. Something, or someone, caused the water to rise from the ground or maybe melted the snow in the square so while it wasn't deep it was enough to start coming under the door at the bakery." There I think that tells what happened without letting on that I know more. That I know it was Nu who called the water, or that I was able to tell it to leave.

He remembers the purple haired woman's name as Verite with no last name. I nod as I would like to meet her properly someday and ask her about the changing colours in her hair.

I knew alot of people were affected but I didn't think it was different for everyone. I didn't know that. It sounds like it was really confusing but I'm glad you're okay.

"It was. I don't think people want to talk about it much now that it's over." I know that Maryk doesn't and he didn't lose nearly as much as Syl or some of the others.

[identity profile] leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com 2011-02-27 09:55 pm (UTC)(link)
He tells me that yes he would like me to look for the riders and explains why. Yes, I am. I think it would be good to know where they came from and why they decided to join the mob that way. Do you want to take on the investigation? If you do, you'll probably get to meet them and that could be fun. I smile back, happy that I was right that he did indeed want me to. It also sounds like it could be fun to investigate stuff like this.

"Yes! Yes, I would like to take on this investigation." I tell him.

I realize I've made a mistake, said too much, when Michael asks, Earlier, you said that you stopped it from coming in under the door. How'd you do that?

"Oh!" I say, looking down a bit then up a bit so I'm looking up at him from under the front of my hair. "That. I uh, didn't do anything special. I just sat in the water and waited til Edmund gave me a towel and told me to block the door with it." I hope Michael can't tell that I'm leaving so much out. I really don't want him to think I'm unnatural and then not want to be friends anymore.

[identity profile] leah-pontarlier.livejournal.com 2011-02-28 11:37 pm (UTC)(link)
His smile gets very big and he holds out his hand to me as if we'd just met as he says, It's yours. Congratulations on your first official story assignment. I put my hand in his hoping that's what I was supposed to do. His hand feels very warm. "Thank you." I reply almost in a whisper. I'm feeling very warm in my middle much like I did that day in the market after I almost spilled my drink on Syl.

When I try to give an explanation for the flood at the bakery I can tell he knows there's more to it because he asks another question.Who's Edmund? I'm glad he gave you a towel because sitting in the water like that doesn't sound like it was helping too much. I try to remember all the things that Maryk said about lying so I can try to not do them but it was a whole list of things and I think I may have already done one or two of them. So I make sure to look in Michael's eyes as I give my answer.

"Edmund's the bakery owner. He's the one who invited me into the bakery." I wonder what should I tell him about the water? I mean if it was anyone else sitting in the water it might not have done much except to slow it down a bit. But because it was me it put me into contact with the water so it could hear me when I asked it to leave. Is it taking too long for me to say something? I think it maybe is, so I need to say something.

"It did slow the water down a bit, but yes I suppose the towel was a better idea." I have to look away so I do, using my hand to brush my hair away from my face at the same time. I can see that he's thinking about what I just said and I hope he isn't going to ask what I'm lying about. Lying is so hard! How do other people, other liars, manage to learn to do this?

If you need any help with your assignment, you let me know. This is your first one but don't worry. I think you'll do great. I nod, and smile gratefully. "I will. Thank you again for giving it to me."