IC Contact - Exsilium

[maddeninghatter]

[ Thirty seconds of tuneless humming--beeeeeeeeep! ]

Comments

[Action, a few days after soul shenanigans]

[soul_sister]

[She had, for the first day, taken upon the childish idea of seeing how long she could actually avoid this conversation... Surely the hotel was big and the occupants busy... She, herself, had taken up another section to start cleaning under Gilbert's fussy direction.

It took a certain amount of bluster to overcome it. Which is why the knock on Break's door is particularly loud.]

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[maddeninghatter]

[ It's the habit of old men to snooze after lunch, which is what Break had been indulging in when she knocked. Sleep is, and always has been, an uncertain proposition for him: the promise of sweet, restful oblivion, balanced against the possibility of nightmares. This afternoon, he is dreaming of Paris, the sound of explosions and tens of millions of people screaming —

Thank you, Exsilium, for giving him more things to have bad dreams about, as if he didn't have enough.

Thus it is he awakens with a start, thus she might hear him cry "Hah!"

...

A little while later, he appears at the door, flinging it open. He is wide-eyed and haggard. ]

What is it —

[maddeninghatter]

[ But as soon as he recognizes Rosette (it takes an instant; he still has to remind himself to look at people) his expression resolves into an over-bright grin. ]

Whyyyyyyy, Miss Rosette! To what do I owe the pleasure?

[soul_sister]

[The frazzled appearance gave her a pause... but the smile a much longer one. She just gives him a sheepish grin and backs up a step.]

Ehh, if you were busy, I'll stop by later.

[maddeninghatter]

No, no. Not at alllll. Hang on a tick.

[ The door closes, there's a bit of shuffling on the other side, and then it opens again. Break now has his ugly Christmas sweater and moon boots on. ]

Let's go down and have a spot of tea, 'kaaay?

[ it goes without saying that he isn't going to invite a lady — even a demon-contracted one — into his room. ]

[soul_sister]

[The pause had given her a bit of time, and when he returns, she just nods amiably at that. It's a familiar enough setting for talks... and she steps around her cleaning supplies to head towards the kitchen.]

I could use a break!

[maddeninghatter]

[ His smile broadens. In a voice that's somewhere between conspiratorial and creepy: ]

Doesn't evvvvverybody~?

[soul_sister]

[She attempts to poke him in the shoulder, her expression a lidded, square eyed look.]

If you're making the pun I think you are, yes, I do, you jerk.

[maddeninghatter]

Hahahaha!

[ His shoulder melts away from her poke; in an instant, all she's touching is air, as he whirls about and disappears down the hall and two flights of stairs, to the kitchen. This is the land of on-demand hot water, so making tea is simply a matter of finding teapot and tea. Apart from that, the process is the same as it's been for centuries, so there's that necessary interval of steeping.

She'll find him perched on the counter, next to the teapot. It's got a knitted cozy on, in the shape of a rabbit. The ethereal smell of bergamot fills the air.

He waves when he sees her come in. ]

Do you take sugar? Lemon?

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[soul_sister]

[There's a moment where she just stands in the hallway, watching him vanish down the stairs.]

[soul_sister]

[And the distance really sets in. Ah. Like the orphanage.. like the convent, like the other exorcists.

There is a strange sort of serenity that settles around her. It's probably better this way.]

[soul_sister]

[She's cheerful, when she catches up to him.]

Sugar. [Honey was now an impossible resource, and traded as amazingly as salt and pepper in Exsilium.]

A lot.