[EP/GP] Today is Check-In Day

[st_illunsmeared]

When the fifteenth of the month came and went without any new arrivals, most people logically supposed that there would be no new arrivals that week, or that the pattern they believed they'd found was false after all.

Kitty Pryde, Caroline Forbes, and Phryne Fisher were decidedly not most people.

Between them, they agreed it would be best to keep a watch for a few days following the fifteenth, on the grounds that, often enough, holidays interrupted regular schedules, which would reassert themselves again at the next instance. If "keeping a watch" had required them to do anything out of the ordinary, they might have been somewhat less sanguine about it. Might have, as they were not, after all, most people. Yet since their routines, almost invariably, had them in public places, working and people-watching, it required no special effort on their part to be alert for new arrivals.

So it was that Phryne had taken up a table in the lobby cafe to read and hold court, while Kitty took an extra shift tending bar, and Caroline tidied up and labeled the boxes of decorations from Valentine's day "for next year's residents" on the morning of the sixteenth and again on the seventeenth--and not one of them were surprised when, in early afternoon, newcomers began to arrive.

Comments

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_unning]

Alcuin turned more directly to the woman when she spoke, and met her eyes. "Yes," he said, managing a small, sad smile. "It is, yes."

She too spoke Cruinthe, with a slight variation on the accent that Vax'ildan had. It occurred to Alcuin that he should have asked if everyone spoke that language here. (How very strange, it was so obscure.) Actually, there were probably a hundred questions he should have asked.

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_illunsmeared]

Poor darling. He looked so terribly lost. Honestly, if they were in Melbourne, she'd have insisted on taking him home and tucking him into a warm bed for a good night's rest and some pampering.

"Perhaps it would help to have a bit of company, and something warm to drink? There's nothing like hot cocoa to soothe frazzled nerves. Or some soup if you're hungry?"

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_unning]

Alcuin suddenly looked grateful. "I - I am actually hungry," he confessed. "Soup would be lovely. That's very kind."

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_illunsmeared]

Phryne smiled encouragingly and tipped her head in the direction of her table. "If you want more than soup, that can easily be arranged. Will you join me, then?"

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_unning]

"Thank you, my lady," Alcuin said politely, and walked over, though waited for her to sit before he did so himself.

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_illunsmeared]

That reminded her of Jane not at all, as this young man had clearly been schooled in manners. She suspected he would be more comfortable with a little formality. "Miss Phryne Fisher," she told him and gestured for him to sit as she did. "Miss Fisher, or Miss Phryne, will do for now. What should I call you?"

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_unning]

"My name is Alcuin," he offered as he sat. "I - it is a pleasure to meet you. Forgive me if I'm a bit..." He wasn't even sure what it was that he might be. Distracted? Doubting his own sanity? Overwhelmed with grief? "You are only the second person I have met here."

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_illunsmeared]

"There's absolutely nothing to forgive, Alcuin, and I won't hear another word of apology from you," Phryne replied firmly in her kindest no-nonsense tone. He looked mere seconds from bursting into tears, and she wouldn't blame the poor thing if he did. "Now, then. How hungry are you, and what would you like to drink?"

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_unning]

Though she had no way of knowing, treating Alcuin this way was the best thing she could have possibly done. It was so easy to be obedient right now, over anything else. Anything that may have made him think too much.

"Is there tea?" he asked. "And - I really am not picky when it comes to food, but I think I may be even hungrier than I realize." He felt slightly nauseated, which he'd been assuming was emotional, but perhaps he was hungry.

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_illunsmeared]

"There is tea." And if there hadn't been, she would have gone to the Gift Shop for tea bags from one of the gift baskets to make sure there would be. Little though she wanted to leave him to himself, neither Dot nor Kitty were immediately visible. She rose again and said, "I won't be a moment."

True to her word, Phryne found Kitty just inside the door to the cafe kitchen. She quickly placed an order for tea, and while Kitty made the tea, she retrieved several of Dot's scones from the display case, and asked Kitty to see about the chicken of the day, or what Ignis might have on the go.

It was less than two minutes, all told, when Phryne returned with tea on a tray, with sugar, cream, and the scones. "Here you are. Let's start with this. Kitty will be along with something more substantial in a few minutes, but it's probably best to start with something simple."

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_unning]

"My thanks," Alcuin said, sounding immensely grateful. He picked up one of the scones and took a bite, and... yes, he had been very hungry.

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_illunsmeared]

Phryne selected one of the scones and placed it on her own plate. She broke off a piece, mostly to be companionable, but Dot's scones were the best she'd ever had, and she rarely turned down a chance to eat them.

She gave the boy a moment to eat in peace, but then observed, "New arrivals are often disoriented, but I can't help thinking you're more distressed than disoriented. Has something else happened, beyond your displacement?" Most likely, whatever had happened had happened before the boy arrived here, but a lady detective had to ask.

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_unning]

Alcuin was not surprised that his state of mind was so obvious.

He took a sip of tea, realized his hand was shaking a little, and set it down before looking up at her. "I arrived here with a hole in my stomach from a sword," he said. "After watching someone I love die."

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_illunsmeared]

"Oh, you poor darling." From another woman, another aristocrat, it might have been nothing more than pretty noise, but Phryne's felt his pain and her gaze softened with caring. "What a horrible shock."

She pressed her lipsticked lips together, sharing a moment of quiet with him, before saying, "I'm so sorry for your loss."

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_unning]

"Thank you," Alcuin said, and tried very, very hard to be strong and dignified. He thought he managed rather well under the circumstances. He thought, vaguely, that Anafiel would be proud of his control.

"Do you think this is an afterlife?" he asked her.

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_illunsmeared]

Seeing him struggle, Phryne shifted her seat closer to his and took his hand. "No, Alcuin, I don't. I don't believe in an afterlife that would separate two loves dying together." Or separate Dot from Hugh, but bring her Jack.

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_unning]

Alcuin had not thought about it quite that way, but that suddenly made it all make sense.

"Unless he should have been with someone else instead," Alcuin sighed. "And then perhaps this is the kindest thing after all."

Perhaps it should give him comfort, thinking that Anafiel may have been reunited with Rolande after death. It was what he would have wanted.

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_illunsmeared]

"I choose not to believe in an afterlife that treats one lover as the property of another." Or one where she wouldn't be reunited with Janey. "Surely the Divine if it exists is not so small and mean as not to recognize all loves."

She resisted the urge to pet the long, white-blonde hair that gleamed like moonlight, and instead said, "You loved him. Love should be rewarded, not punished."

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_unning]

Property. Alcuin had a subtle negative reaction to that word. But to her attempt at kindness he only said, "I dare say my deities would agree with you. And so perhaps you are right. Regardless. I am here and he is not."

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_illunsmeared]

Phryne nodded and released his hand. If he loved men, a woman's touch would be only a very poor comfort, and she didn't want to add to his distress. It occurred to her to mention that this love of his might yet arrive, or someone else he loved, but hope would be cruel now.

"Then it doesn't really matter, does it, whether you're dead or alive. You'll grieve him either way."

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_unning]

"Yes," Alcuin agreed softly.

He reached out and touched her arm lightly, not wanting her to think that he did not welcome her comfort. "And thank you. You're being very kind. And the other I've met here... if I am truly not dead, then it is because he saved my life."

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_illunsmeared]

She lay her hand over his as it touched her arm and pressed it gently. It hadn't escaped her attention, of course, that he'd said he'd been stabbed in the stomach when he arrived and he now had stomach enough eat. Ordinarily, she'd have assumed Caroline or Kitty, but 'he' opened up several other possibilities. Since it had been a rescue and not a murder, Phryne felt questioning him could wait.

Now he'd opened the matter for discussion, however, and she felt comfortable saying, "I wasn't aware we had any doctors here. Do you mind my asking who that was?"

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_unning]

"His name is Vax'ildan," Alcuin said. "I... am not entirely sure what he did. But the wound now is as if it has been healing for weeks." Perhaps he should have asked more, been curious at the time, but - well, he supposed he could be forgiven for distraction.

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_illunsmeared]

Vax'ildan. He, Sam and Dean Winchester had been her primary candidates, but what had he done? A mystery to be solved, and thankfully not the murder it would have been had Alcuin died.

Phryne smiled. "I've not had the pleasure of making his acquaintance, but I'll have to now, if only to thank him for saving your life."

Re: for Ignis + OTA

[st_unning]

"He is deserving of whatever praise he is given," Alcuin said, thinking of how he owed some measure of repayment to the man himself.

Thinking then of a very concrete question he could ask, he added, "Does everyone here speak Cruinthe? It is a rather obscure tongue where I come from. I am feeling grateful I happen to know it."