1863 Dr. Jeremy Berkshire's Residence
A fire burned low in the hearth as the sound of soft singing of a lullaby echoed through the upper floor of the townhouse. The sound of a mother's soft singing mixed with the cooing of an infant's voice. It was the same as every night. Scarlett paced the floor holding baby Grant in her arms as the song from her childhood was sang to her son.
Goodnight, my angel,
Time to close your eyes,
And save these questions for another day,
I think I know what you’ve been asking me,
I think you know what I’ve been trying to say,
I promised I would never leave you,
And you should always know,
Wherever you may go,
No matter where you are,
I never will be far away…
How was the woman to know just how true this song would be? She settled the sleeping infant in his cradle and smoothed soft fingers delicately over his brow before turning to leave the room and let the moonlight play upon his cherubic features.
********************************************************
Two Years Later
"Mommy! Look what I found!" Little Grant came toddling into the laboratory with a scowling father hot on his heels. Scarlett turned from her work table in time to receive an arm full of a jubilant boy with his hands full of some kind of wilted flowers. Knowing he had plucked them from the grounds outside, she smiled warmly down to him and held him close for just a moment. "Oh my darling they are so very lovely." Then looked over the top of his head to the man that had yet to completely enter the room. "Dr. Berkshire, it makes me happy to see you here." She knew what he felt of his wife's office. What he felt society thought of her working when she should be moving within the proper social circles and the gambit that their title deemed. Though, the redhead spitfire he had married had never agreed to do any such thing. Sure, she had adapted to the title of Doctor's wife. Had donned the gowns and attended the functions and had even traversed hosting a number of them herself though, she had always found them lacking. Her one true love resided in this office he had begrudgingly allowed her to have and it was portrayed in the arrangement of chemical vials and bubbling burners that were scattered about the room.
Letting Grant go, she watched him scamper off to his own little makeshift table she had put in just for him and stood to approach her husband to place a proper kiss upon his cheek. "Really Scarlett, why is it you insist on wasting away in this drivel place? There are so many other things you should be doing." His tone was cold, uncaring, and full of disdain, though it couldn't put a damper on the smile that played upon her lips. It was one of pride and it matched the excited sparkle within sky blue eyes as she turned in time to watch her sister enter the room. "Excuse me Dr. Berkshire." Carrying a tray of tea and scones, Elizabeth scooted inside to set them upon a nearby counter. Once she had the cups full, she turned to offer one to the doctor first, and then to Scarlett. "I think we are ready for the current test Scarlett." She nodded to the table and the glass case that housed the crystal substance within. "Yes." Scarlett clapped her hands together excitedly and turned back to the advanced machine she had created with an eager smile. "Jeremy I'm so glad you're here to see this. It is history in the making!" To which, the doctor simply scoffed and she could only imagine the eye roll he gave to her back. It didn't seem to damper her spirits though as she started turning the crank of the machine and watched as the sparks came to life around the crystal.
It took only minutes to destroy an entire lifetime. Minutes of sparks and snaps and the breaking of glass for the first explosion to rock through the tiny lab as if a small bomb had been set off. Minutes of smoke to clear for panicked wide blue eyes to see the small form of her child lifeless on the floor, still holding those limp flowers in his hand. Minutes for her to realize that everything she cherished had been destroyed. Minutes for her to let the darkness take hold. How did she know? The clock had been her first creation and it had withstood the blast. Once the ringing in her ears stopped it was all she could hear......
Tick.....tick.....tick.
Clockwork Torment
Re: Clockwork Torment
Taken from live play in The Solarium with Tass mun and Pharlen Mun!
Once again, the old man found himself walking the paths of the Solarium. Once more he watched the comings and goings of those who were enjoying it. Once more, he listened to the wind and the whispers in the trees, with a small smile tucked on his lips. There were thoughts though... deeper thoughts that stirred within. Like a small rock shifting under the water, disturbed by something unseen.. unknown.. but disturbed the same, causing a shift in the way the water flowed, a change in the water's surface, if for only just a moment. His steps carried him to that cherry blossom once more, and once more he climbed the hill, feet bare. But this time he didn't sit at it's inviting base. No, this time he stood, and looked to it's base, where the bark of the trunk met the green of the grass. He looked beyond that grass to where the roots began their descent, to draw life to the tree, and give it its stability, allowing it to reach for the heavens as it grew. "Is the ripples which I have caused a means for growth? When you spread your roots, you cause waves of your own, though slower than mine, in the soil that surrounds. You take nutrition, but you don't destroy the ground. You give as you take, don't you?" Questions, answers.. who's to say if the conversation was one-sided or not. The old man was odd, after all. Or at least that was what the parents told their children as they moved from the area. Whether he got his answers, or the conversation was done.. or just because he was old, the old man finally moved to the base of the tree and took a seat up against it. There was no reclining, as he had previously, but still the tree seemed to shift with him, allowing the old man to lean his head back into the trunk, where he closed his eyes. "I don't know." His voice suddenly came, after a time of quietness. "Perhaps I should step away. I'm still not sure I'm where I need to be, but I'm here."
Tap tap...taptaptaptap.. The silence within the Solarium would be interrupted by the tapping of something metal from somewhere within. Tap tap tap....snap click! The little golden spider was snapping off photos here and there, while pausing to investigate a leaf of a flower or the stalk of a plant. It hadn't yet noticed the silent figure against the tree, well that is until the baritone of a voice caused it to freeze mid stride. The small camera lens swiveled and came into focus on the man. Snap..click!
His eyes were still closed as he leaned against the tree. "Yea, you're right. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't. But that doesn't mean.. " His voice cutoff a moment, and a lid opened just enough to have a purple hue peek out from beneath to the little thing.
It sounded like three more photos were taken before that lens twirled like a propeller on a helicopter and then tucked away inside the spider's body. Tap.....tap......tap. One by one the legs lifted slowly started lowering to join the others on the ground and the spider rotated his body, while keeping little beady eyes on the man, as it took one tentative step to the side.
He chuckled as he watched the little thing. "I will say this, " his voice picked up again, though if he was speaking to the creature or to something else, well.. the old man was odd. "It is always interesting."
If he wasn't moving, the spider wasn't either. With all eight legs on the ground, it stood mighty and proud...in a stare off.
There wasn't much of a stare off, because the old man chuckled again and closed that eye, much like a dragon does when resting in the sun. But his voice did speak up. "Feel free to take the pictures you need, little one. I'll not intrude on you and your errands."
The spider lifted a single leg and tapped near an eye as if in sending him a salute before it scurried closer to where the man was sitting. However, at the last moment it veered off to the side towards one of the flowering plants that sat low to the ground. Snap...click!
Either the flower couldn't help itself, or the earth and air felt the need to help. Or perhaps it was the old man, but the flower that had it's picture taken seemed to stretch up a bit, as if to say 'oh! oh! you're taking a picture of me! let me get all ready!'. Then, it seemed to shine a bit more in vibrance, and stood just that much taller than the ones around it.
.....! Snap click click click!
At least four more photos were taken of the flower as it seemed to preen from the attention. Meanwhile there were now muted steps coming from further down the path. “Yes I see it Peter but we are not here looking for that one. No matter how fascinating.”
He couldn't help the chuckle that came as he heard the voice. The flower, on the other hand, didn't seem to want the pictures to stop. It even leaned towards the creature a bit when the pictures stopped.
The spider wriggled it's feet and pranced happily about as the flower loomed ever closer. Obviously excited that it had discovered something unique, the spider ran in circles around it and even hopped up and down as if to draw attention to the voice that seemed to be getting closer and closer.
From around the bend came Scarlett. Brown was the prominent color of her clothing today. The dress, it was an older style of brown with tan pinstripes. Long sleeves cinched about her wrists and the collar fastened with a cameo broach. A darker brown, leather corset hugged her waist and matched the brown in the top hat that set at a jaunty angle upon amber ringlets. She lifted a gloved hand to the spectacles upon her nose and pushed them further up as she peered at the flowers that lined the path. "Now just tell me where you are and I will be the judge of that."
His voice called out then. "I believe what you are looking for is up here on top of the hill."
Whoosh. The bbq opened and the fragrant smoke poofed out. It was around lunchtime again! Pharlen hummed as she inspected today's batch, chicken, veggie kebabs, and ham. She moved around a few pieces, turned a few others, removed a few to the side to serve. And today, she had her roman stove, hot and loaded with a pair of pots. Beans and hot sweet kraut. Busy busy!
She looked up at the sound of a voice. Sky blue eyes squinted a bit behind those lenses as she scanned the vegetation among the trees on the hill. Pausing on the roman stove, and then the woman in green tending to it, brows furrowed beneath the brim of her hat. Strange, she would have thought that voice belonged to a male. However, far be it from her to judge one on anything that made them different. "Oh, hello there." The greeting was properly pleasant along with the smile she offered the woman as she headed that way.
"Hello, hello," she responded cheerfully. She loaded a few plates for a handful of kids and they scurried off to scarf down the food. Blinking a few times, touching at her glasses, she looked around, probably wondering where the... Ah! "Hello, Scarlett! Come and have some lunch. The kids found me, they'll likely pull me away and devour me too, once I'm out of ham and chicken." she didn't sound too horrified at her probable end. Most of the kids just giggled at her anyhow. But she fed the little devils!
She was happy that someone remembered her name and she took the invitation to mean that at least they tolerated her presence. Gloved fingers lifted the brown material of her skirt as she made her way across the grass towards where Pharlen was cooking. She looked past the lovely woman towards the flowers that lined the ground and settled among the cherry blossom trees. Eyes were searching for the glint of gold so they might have skipped over Tass's bared foot.
"Ham, chicken, veggie kebabs?" she called to Scarlett, pausing in her tending to fetch herself a cuppa coffee. She also tilted her head and looked around once more, a little more keenly. The last few times she'd seen Scarlett, she'd also seen Tass wandering around. Probably. Hn. Well. Food, drink, or pretty ladies would flush the old coot out soon enough.
"Chicken and veg," she echoed, dishing up the plate easily and handing it over. The stove was quite similar to a camping stove, but was heavy, and was easily chained to her grill to keep people from swiping it. Also, easier for the kid to cast a few no-steal cantrips onto. Then she finally picked out Tass. "You want food, y'old goat, or some booze?" like she wasn't an old goat.
She wasn't! She was a spry.. chicken! "I'm good, but thank you, hun."
Bock bock bock, she's a chook. She cleared off the grill and gestured to the pastry shop girls to take over handing out plates. Then, taking her own plate, she picked up her mug and settled at a table near them, leaning back comfortably. Mmm. Ham and Chicken and Beans. She didn't actually like saurkraut, but she made it awesomely. "How are things going?" Not really small talk, but she wouldn't complain if it was treated as such.
There were new visitors! The golden spider ran from the flower towards Scarlett, the tall grass making it hard to see, however those blades parted as something scooted through them. Scarlett seemed to snap back into motion, as if she had just been pondering something very intently. Her features softening into a polite smile as it was directed towards the two new arrivals. She had yet to take up the invitation for food or drink but since it had since passed, she was content to lower down to her haunches to hold her hand out, palm up.
The movement stopped, halfway to the hunkering Scarlett and the flower it had ran from. Dirt and grass muted the tiny legs but soon enough a tiny lens popped up from the grass and rotated, very slowly, before it landed on Pharlen. Snap click! Then it spun and landed on Tass Snap click! It was such a fast little critter! Look at how the grass parted so swiftly as the golden spider ran in little circles. It possibly drew a small bullseye in the grass before the knife hit! Then it scurried away towards that flower once more, but veered to climb up the bare foot of the sleeping man by the tree only to scamper up his leg, then his torso, and then finally his shoulder. If there was longer hair, it would hide beneath that too! "Peter! How very rude!" Scarlett stood and shook out her skirt before sending an apologetic smile to the two gentlemen. "Terribly sorry. He doesn't have film. We just lead him to believe he does." The spider stamped it's feet petulantly against Tass's shoulder.
The statue-esque old goat rumbled with a chuckle, as the little creature found his shoulder, and while he did have the long hair, it was pulled back loosely today.
"Digital, darling. Digital," despite the obviously steampunk aestetic, she recommended the easier option. Well. Technically easier. From her perspective, anyhow. Though, she took note of the explanation and odd flinch. There were threads there, yes yes.
She snap turned her head to look where the spider had ended up and huffed out a breath. "Oh wouldn't trust him with that, he'd just fill up to much space with excitement." She started through the grass once more, headed Tass's way, but her eyes were intently studying the spider. "Now..don't...move." Was that to the spider or to Tass? She didn't clarify. Gloved hands came out very very slowly in the direction of Tass's shoulder.
... said the Spyder to the fly... But the old man didn't move, though perhaps that was more for the excitement of when she was close enough to when he did...
"I make good bait." Offered, though he was watching Scarlett as he spoke, because, why not see the look on her face when the creature her spider was on spoke!
It was as if Pharlen and Tass were creating.. well.. a trap. One to the front, another from behind, and death, destruction, and lots of blood, guts, and gore in the middle.
There was no shift in her expression but there was definitely a smattering of freckles dancing across her nose now that her cheeks were turning a rosy color. Something within her eyes seemed to intensify the closer she got to the little spider perched upon his shoulder. "You are much to big to be a fly." She almost whispered as those gloved hands inched forward. Thankfully, the spider was to busy plucking at Tass's hairband to notice. Because of course, she thought he was referring to her using him to trap the spider! Of course she wasn't focusing on the other conversation as it wasn't her business to be!
His rumble of a voice came again, softer for the lady close enough to kiss... look, the old man didn't do that! "I can change that"
Thank everything that was holy for that!
He was most definitely not holy.
Tass was pure as undriven snow and stuff. Innocent. Maybe holed. Not Holy. And, she waggled fingers to Tass and Scarlett, and off she went!
She wasn’t even paying attention to him to be honest. There might have been the slightest sounds of gears turning to reach his ear, but the spider was awfully close to it so maybe it was the cause. Whether it was or not would be neither here nor there as hands seemed to move at a blurring speed and caught up the little spider between them. Sky blue eyes seemed to dilate with satisfaction and only then did she smile. “Ha! Got you!” With her prize in her hands, she stepped back and finally brought Tass's face into focus. Nodding, she tucked the spider close to her chest and started speaking softly to it. "If you don't start listening, I'm going to add more weight to you so you can't run so fast. Then you'll remember to behave." Backing up until there was a good amount of distance between her and the lounging man and the two others. Her eyes were focused on the little legs that squirmed between her fingers, she didn't see the way the trash was dispensed. Her thumb curled in and with a slight push inward, those legs went from a frenzied squirm to limply dangling. "There. Now at least I know you'll be safe." She carefully folded those legs in towards the spider and then tucked him away into a pocket in that leather corset. As the man by the cherry blossom seemed to drift into a slumber, Scarlett turned and headed in the same direction Pharlen had gone, not following by any means, but also not at such a sedate pace she was left alone with the...bait.
Once again, the old man found himself walking the paths of the Solarium. Once more he watched the comings and goings of those who were enjoying it. Once more, he listened to the wind and the whispers in the trees, with a small smile tucked on his lips. There were thoughts though... deeper thoughts that stirred within. Like a small rock shifting under the water, disturbed by something unseen.. unknown.. but disturbed the same, causing a shift in the way the water flowed, a change in the water's surface, if for only just a moment. His steps carried him to that cherry blossom once more, and once more he climbed the hill, feet bare. But this time he didn't sit at it's inviting base. No, this time he stood, and looked to it's base, where the bark of the trunk met the green of the grass. He looked beyond that grass to where the roots began their descent, to draw life to the tree, and give it its stability, allowing it to reach for the heavens as it grew. "Is the ripples which I have caused a means for growth? When you spread your roots, you cause waves of your own, though slower than mine, in the soil that surrounds. You take nutrition, but you don't destroy the ground. You give as you take, don't you?" Questions, answers.. who's to say if the conversation was one-sided or not. The old man was odd, after all. Or at least that was what the parents told their children as they moved from the area. Whether he got his answers, or the conversation was done.. or just because he was old, the old man finally moved to the base of the tree and took a seat up against it. There was no reclining, as he had previously, but still the tree seemed to shift with him, allowing the old man to lean his head back into the trunk, where he closed his eyes. "I don't know." His voice suddenly came, after a time of quietness. "Perhaps I should step away. I'm still not sure I'm where I need to be, but I'm here."
Tap tap...taptaptaptap.. The silence within the Solarium would be interrupted by the tapping of something metal from somewhere within. Tap tap tap....snap click! The little golden spider was snapping off photos here and there, while pausing to investigate a leaf of a flower or the stalk of a plant. It hadn't yet noticed the silent figure against the tree, well that is until the baritone of a voice caused it to freeze mid stride. The small camera lens swiveled and came into focus on the man. Snap..click!
His eyes were still closed as he leaned against the tree. "Yea, you're right. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't. But that doesn't mean.. " His voice cutoff a moment, and a lid opened just enough to have a purple hue peek out from beneath to the little thing.
It sounded like three more photos were taken before that lens twirled like a propeller on a helicopter and then tucked away inside the spider's body. Tap.....tap......tap. One by one the legs lifted slowly started lowering to join the others on the ground and the spider rotated his body, while keeping little beady eyes on the man, as it took one tentative step to the side.
He chuckled as he watched the little thing. "I will say this, " his voice picked up again, though if he was speaking to the creature or to something else, well.. the old man was odd. "It is always interesting."
If he wasn't moving, the spider wasn't either. With all eight legs on the ground, it stood mighty and proud...in a stare off.
There wasn't much of a stare off, because the old man chuckled again and closed that eye, much like a dragon does when resting in the sun. But his voice did speak up. "Feel free to take the pictures you need, little one. I'll not intrude on you and your errands."
The spider lifted a single leg and tapped near an eye as if in sending him a salute before it scurried closer to where the man was sitting. However, at the last moment it veered off to the side towards one of the flowering plants that sat low to the ground. Snap...click!
Either the flower couldn't help itself, or the earth and air felt the need to help. Or perhaps it was the old man, but the flower that had it's picture taken seemed to stretch up a bit, as if to say 'oh! oh! you're taking a picture of me! let me get all ready!'. Then, it seemed to shine a bit more in vibrance, and stood just that much taller than the ones around it.
.....! Snap click click click!
At least four more photos were taken of the flower as it seemed to preen from the attention. Meanwhile there were now muted steps coming from further down the path. “Yes I see it Peter but we are not here looking for that one. No matter how fascinating.”
He couldn't help the chuckle that came as he heard the voice. The flower, on the other hand, didn't seem to want the pictures to stop. It even leaned towards the creature a bit when the pictures stopped.
The spider wriggled it's feet and pranced happily about as the flower loomed ever closer. Obviously excited that it had discovered something unique, the spider ran in circles around it and even hopped up and down as if to draw attention to the voice that seemed to be getting closer and closer.
From around the bend came Scarlett. Brown was the prominent color of her clothing today. The dress, it was an older style of brown with tan pinstripes. Long sleeves cinched about her wrists and the collar fastened with a cameo broach. A darker brown, leather corset hugged her waist and matched the brown in the top hat that set at a jaunty angle upon amber ringlets. She lifted a gloved hand to the spectacles upon her nose and pushed them further up as she peered at the flowers that lined the path. "Now just tell me where you are and I will be the judge of that."
His voice called out then. "I believe what you are looking for is up here on top of the hill."
Whoosh. The bbq opened and the fragrant smoke poofed out. It was around lunchtime again! Pharlen hummed as she inspected today's batch, chicken, veggie kebabs, and ham. She moved around a few pieces, turned a few others, removed a few to the side to serve. And today, she had her roman stove, hot and loaded with a pair of pots. Beans and hot sweet kraut. Busy busy!
She looked up at the sound of a voice. Sky blue eyes squinted a bit behind those lenses as she scanned the vegetation among the trees on the hill. Pausing on the roman stove, and then the woman in green tending to it, brows furrowed beneath the brim of her hat. Strange, she would have thought that voice belonged to a male. However, far be it from her to judge one on anything that made them different. "Oh, hello there." The greeting was properly pleasant along with the smile she offered the woman as she headed that way.
"Hello, hello," she responded cheerfully. She loaded a few plates for a handful of kids and they scurried off to scarf down the food. Blinking a few times, touching at her glasses, she looked around, probably wondering where the... Ah! "Hello, Scarlett! Come and have some lunch. The kids found me, they'll likely pull me away and devour me too, once I'm out of ham and chicken." she didn't sound too horrified at her probable end. Most of the kids just giggled at her anyhow. But she fed the little devils!
She was happy that someone remembered her name and she took the invitation to mean that at least they tolerated her presence. Gloved fingers lifted the brown material of her skirt as she made her way across the grass towards where Pharlen was cooking. She looked past the lovely woman towards the flowers that lined the ground and settled among the cherry blossom trees. Eyes were searching for the glint of gold so they might have skipped over Tass's bared foot.
"Ham, chicken, veggie kebabs?" she called to Scarlett, pausing in her tending to fetch herself a cuppa coffee. She also tilted her head and looked around once more, a little more keenly. The last few times she'd seen Scarlett, she'd also seen Tass wandering around. Probably. Hn. Well. Food, drink, or pretty ladies would flush the old coot out soon enough.
"Chicken and veg," she echoed, dishing up the plate easily and handing it over. The stove was quite similar to a camping stove, but was heavy, and was easily chained to her grill to keep people from swiping it. Also, easier for the kid to cast a few no-steal cantrips onto. Then she finally picked out Tass. "You want food, y'old goat, or some booze?" like she wasn't an old goat.
She wasn't! She was a spry.. chicken! "I'm good, but thank you, hun."
Bock bock bock, she's a chook. She cleared off the grill and gestured to the pastry shop girls to take over handing out plates. Then, taking her own plate, she picked up her mug and settled at a table near them, leaning back comfortably. Mmm. Ham and Chicken and Beans. She didn't actually like saurkraut, but she made it awesomely. "How are things going?" Not really small talk, but she wouldn't complain if it was treated as such.
There were new visitors! The golden spider ran from the flower towards Scarlett, the tall grass making it hard to see, however those blades parted as something scooted through them. Scarlett seemed to snap back into motion, as if she had just been pondering something very intently. Her features softening into a polite smile as it was directed towards the two new arrivals. She had yet to take up the invitation for food or drink but since it had since passed, she was content to lower down to her haunches to hold her hand out, palm up.
The movement stopped, halfway to the hunkering Scarlett and the flower it had ran from. Dirt and grass muted the tiny legs but soon enough a tiny lens popped up from the grass and rotated, very slowly, before it landed on Pharlen. Snap click! Then it spun and landed on Tass Snap click! It was such a fast little critter! Look at how the grass parted so swiftly as the golden spider ran in little circles. It possibly drew a small bullseye in the grass before the knife hit! Then it scurried away towards that flower once more, but veered to climb up the bare foot of the sleeping man by the tree only to scamper up his leg, then his torso, and then finally his shoulder. If there was longer hair, it would hide beneath that too! "Peter! How very rude!" Scarlett stood and shook out her skirt before sending an apologetic smile to the two gentlemen. "Terribly sorry. He doesn't have film. We just lead him to believe he does." The spider stamped it's feet petulantly against Tass's shoulder.
The statue-esque old goat rumbled with a chuckle, as the little creature found his shoulder, and while he did have the long hair, it was pulled back loosely today.
"Digital, darling. Digital," despite the obviously steampunk aestetic, she recommended the easier option. Well. Technically easier. From her perspective, anyhow. Though, she took note of the explanation and odd flinch. There were threads there, yes yes.
She snap turned her head to look where the spider had ended up and huffed out a breath. "Oh wouldn't trust him with that, he'd just fill up to much space with excitement." She started through the grass once more, headed Tass's way, but her eyes were intently studying the spider. "Now..don't...move." Was that to the spider or to Tass? She didn't clarify. Gloved hands came out very very slowly in the direction of Tass's shoulder.
... said the Spyder to the fly... But the old man didn't move, though perhaps that was more for the excitement of when she was close enough to when he did...
"I make good bait." Offered, though he was watching Scarlett as he spoke, because, why not see the look on her face when the creature her spider was on spoke!
It was as if Pharlen and Tass were creating.. well.. a trap. One to the front, another from behind, and death, destruction, and lots of blood, guts, and gore in the middle.
There was no shift in her expression but there was definitely a smattering of freckles dancing across her nose now that her cheeks were turning a rosy color. Something within her eyes seemed to intensify the closer she got to the little spider perched upon his shoulder. "You are much to big to be a fly." She almost whispered as those gloved hands inched forward. Thankfully, the spider was to busy plucking at Tass's hairband to notice. Because of course, she thought he was referring to her using him to trap the spider! Of course she wasn't focusing on the other conversation as it wasn't her business to be!
His rumble of a voice came again, softer for the lady close enough to kiss... look, the old man didn't do that! "I can change that"
Thank everything that was holy for that!
He was most definitely not holy.
Tass was pure as undriven snow and stuff. Innocent. Maybe holed. Not Holy. And, she waggled fingers to Tass and Scarlett, and off she went!
She wasn’t even paying attention to him to be honest. There might have been the slightest sounds of gears turning to reach his ear, but the spider was awfully close to it so maybe it was the cause. Whether it was or not would be neither here nor there as hands seemed to move at a blurring speed and caught up the little spider between them. Sky blue eyes seemed to dilate with satisfaction and only then did she smile. “Ha! Got you!” With her prize in her hands, she stepped back and finally brought Tass's face into focus. Nodding, she tucked the spider close to her chest and started speaking softly to it. "If you don't start listening, I'm going to add more weight to you so you can't run so fast. Then you'll remember to behave." Backing up until there was a good amount of distance between her and the lounging man and the two others. Her eyes were focused on the little legs that squirmed between her fingers, she didn't see the way the trash was dispensed. Her thumb curled in and with a slight push inward, those legs went from a frenzied squirm to limply dangling. "There. Now at least I know you'll be safe." She carefully folded those legs in towards the spider and then tucked him away into a pocket in that leather corset. As the man by the cherry blossom seemed to drift into a slumber, Scarlett turned and headed in the same direction Pharlen had gone, not following by any means, but also not at such a sedate pace she was left alone with the...bait.
Re: Clockwork Torment
There was a loud ringing in her ears. It caused her to frown and wince and even lift a hand as if to shoo the sound away. "...ett! Wake up!" She heard the voice...it sounded familiar. But why was she yelling at her? Didn't she see she was trying to sleep? She moved and instantly regretted it when the pain in her chest seemed to scream louder than that voice. "No! Don't move! It's through your chest. I...I don't know what to do! You have to wake up!" Panic....the woman's voice was full of it. Why? Her husband was a doctor! She should just go find him! Slowly, her eyes opened and at first they were filled with a haze of smoke which caused her to start coughing and then the pain returned once more. "No...you need to lay still. I'm going to try and help you but I need to know what to do Scarlett. You can't sleep again I want you to stay with me." The woman was pleading and crying and...wait...was that Elizabeth? She tried to focus her gaze on features she remembered but all she could see was cuts and welts and..."What's wrong with your face?"
Her voice sounded strange even to her own ears, which were still ringing from the blast she seemed to have forgotten. Elizabeth was so greatfull that Scarlett was awake, she hurriedly tried to get her to focus on anything other than the large beam that was currently protruding from her chest. She struggled to hold the towel, which was blood red by now, in place as her hands had been burned beyond belief. It had been the only way she had saved her face from the full force of the explosion. Now, she couldn't worry about them. Without Scarlett, none of this would ever matter. "Scarlett! Open your eyes!" Older sister, matter of fact tone, snapped from cut and bleeding lips. "I need you to tell me where your notes are. I'm going to have to use your technology and you're going to have to help me through it." Scarlett frowned and tried to lift an arm to point a finger towards the area where her desk was. Towards the area where..."No...don't look and don't move. Just tell me." Elizabeth couldn't let Scarlett see Grant. Couldn't let her even realize what had happened. She needed the woman's mind sharp and she would do whatever she could to assure she would never remember. Even if that meant tweaking her technology in a way that Scarlett didn't approve of. "In...my bottom drawer. The key...it's taped beneath.." Scarlett's voice was getting weaker by the second. "The prototype...it's in the vault." The words were barely out before the woman passed out once more. "Damnit Scarlett! Wake up!!" Elizabeth screamed but to no avail, the loss of blood, the damage to a primary organ was significant. At least she had been given the correct information. The woman would not recover this day, but she knew, with her work, she would! Doctor Berkshire be damned! He was only in the way to begin with! Elizabeth now had her sister back and she would do whatever she had to, to make sure she would never lose her again. Even if it meant that Scarlett would never be the same again. "All in the name of science isn't that what you always said?" Elizabeth left Scarlett laying there as she moved to collect the paperwork and the key.
It was two long weeks of touch and go, but with all of the correct information, and a bit of tweaking, Scarlett had been revived. To Elizabeth, she was better than before. Disconnecting the wires, she pressed a few commands into the computer keyboard and watched in delight as the blue light came to life in the prone figures chest. Slowly, sky blue eyes opened and her head turned with a snap of motion to smile politely at Elizabeth. "Oh, hello. It's a pleasure to see you again." Elizabeth moved over to gently sweep an amber ringlet from her face. "Hello my creation. Welcome to your new life."
Her voice sounded strange even to her own ears, which were still ringing from the blast she seemed to have forgotten. Elizabeth was so greatfull that Scarlett was awake, she hurriedly tried to get her to focus on anything other than the large beam that was currently protruding from her chest. She struggled to hold the towel, which was blood red by now, in place as her hands had been burned beyond belief. It had been the only way she had saved her face from the full force of the explosion. Now, she couldn't worry about them. Without Scarlett, none of this would ever matter. "Scarlett! Open your eyes!" Older sister, matter of fact tone, snapped from cut and bleeding lips. "I need you to tell me where your notes are. I'm going to have to use your technology and you're going to have to help me through it." Scarlett frowned and tried to lift an arm to point a finger towards the area where her desk was. Towards the area where..."No...don't look and don't move. Just tell me." Elizabeth couldn't let Scarlett see Grant. Couldn't let her even realize what had happened. She needed the woman's mind sharp and she would do whatever she could to assure she would never remember. Even if that meant tweaking her technology in a way that Scarlett didn't approve of. "In...my bottom drawer. The key...it's taped beneath.." Scarlett's voice was getting weaker by the second. "The prototype...it's in the vault." The words were barely out before the woman passed out once more. "Damnit Scarlett! Wake up!!" Elizabeth screamed but to no avail, the loss of blood, the damage to a primary organ was significant. At least she had been given the correct information. The woman would not recover this day, but she knew, with her work, she would! Doctor Berkshire be damned! He was only in the way to begin with! Elizabeth now had her sister back and she would do whatever she had to, to make sure she would never lose her again. Even if it meant that Scarlett would never be the same again. "All in the name of science isn't that what you always said?" Elizabeth left Scarlett laying there as she moved to collect the paperwork and the key.
It was two long weeks of touch and go, but with all of the correct information, and a bit of tweaking, Scarlett had been revived. To Elizabeth, she was better than before. Disconnecting the wires, she pressed a few commands into the computer keyboard and watched in delight as the blue light came to life in the prone figures chest. Slowly, sky blue eyes opened and her head turned with a snap of motion to smile politely at Elizabeth. "Oh, hello. It's a pleasure to see you again." Elizabeth moved over to gently sweep an amber ringlet from her face. "Hello my creation. Welcome to your new life."
Re: Clockwork Torment
Taken from live play in The Solarium with Pharlen mun and Tass mun
It was funny. The old man found himself more and more in the Solarium. Perhaps it had to do with the proximity to the Library. Perhaps to the calmness found within. Perhaps to the bit of nature in the midst of chaos. Who knows. But here he was again, walking the path that lead once more to that old cherry blossom.
Taptap..tap tap tap. Thinking he was alone, the little spider made his way over the cobblestones towards the tall grass that would lead him up the hill and back towards the flowers. Snap click! Pausing to take a photo, the spider turned the camera in a complete circle and then simply froze as a figure came into view. Legs lowered and that golden body hunched down into the blades of grass while slowly lowering the camera lens back into it's hiding spot. Perhaps the figure hadn't seen them?
The old man had, but of course, he didn't let on to it. What fun would that be? Besides, he had said he wouldn't both the little one in it's quest, whatever quest that might be. As he stepped to the tree, he lifted a hand and set it on the bark, giving it a soft pat, like an old friend, before he turned and settled in against it, sitting down in the soft grass once again. The tree seemed to respond once more and shifted a bit around the old man, making it seem almost as of it was wrapping him up.
The blades of grass moved slightly and there was a flash of light before the spider took off running. Making a break for the flowers that lined the ground around the tree, it paused once it got beneath the cover of petals and looked up with beady black eyes. The camera slowly rose out from it's hiding space but did not start snapping photos. If one looked close enough, they might see a little blinking red light.
"Upgrade?" A simple word, but there it was, hanging on the air like the sweet smell of the blossoms around him. His lips tugged into a smile as he leaned his head back against the tree and closed his eyes.
Could it be the spider understood the word? It seemed to as it perked up and tapped a few legs against the ground and spun the camera in a circle as if to show it off.
"Ahh. Very nice. Is it only recording or does it do live feed as well?" Listen to the old man. Like he knows what he's talking about! Wait, his eyes were still closed.
The spider inched out from it's hiding spot. Tiny legs taking tentative steps towards the man's foot. Camera still trained on him, the red light blinked twice.
He didn't shift, but those eyes did open, for just a moment, and looked at the creature. "Hello, little one. Nice of you to come out." There was that smile again.
"That is not what we're here looking for Peter." From round the bend came Scarlett. Dressed in high fashion, well compared to what she usually wore it was. The dress was black and long. It covered her from the top of her neck all the way down to her feet. Cinched at the waist with a tiny row of buttons that traveled to the top of the ruffled collar. A bow tied neatly beneath the cameo broach centered at her nape. There was no top hat today so the amber ringlets were pulled up into a perfect coif that allowed a few to spring free. She stopped on the path and placed hands on her hips. The sound of a tapping foot would be heard even if it couldn't be seen. "Oh hello." She offered Tass a polite smile. "Forgive him, he is easily distracted."
Those opened eyes shifted, and the purple hues settled on the lady. "Afternoon ma'am. He's no bother at all. I believe this is the second time in which he's found me... distracting." He chuckled softly at that.
The spider stomped it's foot on the ground and shifted that lens to look right back at her, as if in defiance. Scarlett pursed her lips and shook her head at it and then looked back up at Tass. "He is still young and learning." She snapped fingers and Peter twitched before moving away from Tass and going back to his search of the flowers. Sky blue eyes focused just a moment on Peter and once she was satisfied that he was continuing on with his task .
"We all have to make our mistakes to learn from them." His gaze watched her for just a moment then turned to look back to the little one before he once more set his head back against the tree. "Care to join me while he.. learns?"
"Not that one, it's to old." Sometimes older was not always better, especially when it came to flowers. The spider moved further into the foliage before he disappeared. Scarlett blinked behind the spectacles perched on her nose and nodded. "It would be a pleasure as it is a pleasure to see you again." There was a slight snapping to her movements as she reached down to lift her skirt just enough so that she wouldn't step on it as she started to climb the hill to where he was.
"Even us old things can learn from our mistakes." He opened his eyes a crack with that, and that grin grew a bit. But as he watched her, he gave the tree a poke. "Mind helping her with a place to sit?" Of course, the tree might have said something, but then an exposed root went about lifting itself up a bit more, and flattened just enough to make a seat for the lady.
Her lips twitched as he spoke but before she could correct him the tree started...moving? Her head snapped in that direction and those eyes focused on the way it moved. "Such interesting things in this place." When the seat was formed, she headed that direction and settled with a smile. "I was speaking to the spider."
"Ahh." He looked to the spider, and the flower it was inspecting. "I don't know. There is a certain beauty to it. To see that it has lasted this long without being plucked or stepped on. It still stands in spite of all that can or has come against it, still showing off in all his tarnished glory, and happy for that tarnish."
She looked back to the orange flower and nodded in agreement. "Exactly. There's no reason to uproot it now that it has fought this long to be here." Besides the medicinal properties she needed would definitely kill the poor thing and that was not what Scarlett was trying to do.
"I'm sorry. I thought he was just there to take pictures... sorry, video of it."
She nodded. "He is. I'm the one to uproot it. But only if it is still in the sapling stage. The weather is perfect for doing a safe transplant. Early spring and fall care are best times for transplanting. Then the weather is cooler and the plants are not using as much water." It was as if she were reading from a book the way she said that but she ducked her head sheepishly and used looking for Peter as a reason. To help clear up his confusion, she removed the spectacles on her nose and held them out to him. "Want to see?"
He opened his eyes again, and turned his attention to her fully, for the first time. Then he looked to the glasses. "Sure. I'm always up to learning something new."
She waited for him to take them from her. Sky blue eyes focused on him and then on the glasses. "Here. Try them on."
He shifted just enough to stretch an arm out to take ahold of the glasses. As he took them, he looked over them for a moment prior to putting them on.
They looked like simple rounded spectacles, much like Harry Potter wore. There were no extravagances about the frame made of a bronze type metal. Watching him, she didn't say anything further.
There was a bit of a laugh that came as he looked through it. He seemed to wink here and there, closing one eye, then the next, until he seemed to satisfy his curiosity. He lifted his hand then and took the glasses to offer them back to her. "Very nice. Looking for something in particular within them?"
Her smile grew just a bit at the sound of his laugh and when he handed the glasses back, she slipped them back up to their proper place. "The pollen from the Ember flower is very potent, but the petals, just before they fall off are the best. Did you know that they have powerful healing properties that make them the essential component in the strongest healing potions and in resurrection balm. They are extremely rare." Once more as if she were reading from a book, she let loose another logical almost word for word from the dictionary response.
He nodded, then looked to the flowers. "So, which of you want to help this lovely lady out?" There was some shifting in those flowers, like a wind blowing through. Then, almost all of them stood taller, offering their stamen's for the collection of the pollen.
Peter froze. One leg poised over the petal of a flower. When said flower shifted, he hopped back and raised two feet up in a boxer type motion. Scarlett tilted her head as she looked from him to the flowers and when they started to move she brought her hands together in front of her and smiled delightedly. "Oh I say that's rather smart." She whistled softly and Peter snapped to attention. His back opening to bring out the proper tools to collect some of the delicate pollen. Looking back to Tass she nodded. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me. I just asked." He snickered.
Once the pollen was collected, the spider tucked the sample back inside and turned to scamper across the ground towards them once more. Scarlett leaned down and held out a hand, palm up, so that he could climb on and then up her arm. Three circles turned on her shoulder before legs folded and he settled down to a crouch. "It is peculiar that you can speak to flowers but since arriving here, I'm finding more peculiar things every day." Why couldn't someone talk to flowers? She'd seen a plant fighting the other day.
"If that's the only thing you find peculiar about me, I think I'd count that as a win." He laughed then. "But yet, there are all sorts of... well, peculiar things around RhyDin."
"So I was told. Now I am here and am seeing for myself." She looked away from him back to the flowers. A tilt of her head had her pausing for just a moment before she nodded.
"So what brings you to this peculiar place?" He might have meant the Solarium, but more than likely, he was speaking of RhyDin as a whole.
"Peculiarity is something that inventors like. When I heard of this place, I had to come see for myself." Her hands shifted on her lap when she looked back at him. "What brings you here?"
He thought on that question a moment. Then a moment more. Those moments stretched until it seemed like he wasn't going to answer, or perhaps didn't hear the question. He was old, after all. But he finally spoke. "You know, today, I'm not sure. Typically I go where I'm needed, but I'm not needed at the moment. At least, I don't think..."
"That must be tiring." She couldn't imagine how many beings needed help in this place. "Well I only came to collect the flower and maybe look out for other rare species." She meant flowers right? She was looking at Tass though.
"Oh, not really. It can be mentally exhausting some moments, but those moments pass." He paused and then looked at her. "So.. what kind of rare species?" There was that coy grin.
"It would depend. My research goes beyond flowers but I have not used or researched a different species just yet. Well, besides Peter but he doesn't count." She smirked as the spider shifted ever so slightly on her shoulder. "I
"Ah.. So what kind of research are we talking about?"
"Molecular biology and how to animate objects." She reached up to give Peter a little tap. "Peter was a trophy at one point." The spider stood, stretched, and hunkered down once more. "He still has some quirks, but I think I like him that way."
"Huh. So, if one were to put those two together, one might think of Mr. Victor." He couldn't help a little poke there, but there was a grin as he spoke, letting her know he was joking.
She tilted her head and her eyes focused on him a moment. Pupils dilated slightly as she pondered. "Mr. Victor?" She wasn't sure who that was. His grin did lead her to believe he was teasing but it would be hard to know what it was about if she didn't know who it was about right?
"Frankenstein."
Brows furrowed as she pondered that and slowly her lips curved into a smile before they parted to allow a delighted laugh to escape. "Oh...that's quite clever."
"So, care for something to eat or drink, before you experiment on me?" He was grinning again, though it did seem like he didn't mind if she did. He was.. peculiar, after all.
The pastry girls were handing out out brats and burgers, but the ex-gov was no where to be seen. No, wait for it. Yep. She led along a lovely little black mare pulling a small buckboard type wagon, loaded with all the pies. ALL of them. With Jack-O'lantern faces or weird dead man skin faces or holy spirits what was she drinking pastry decorations. She waved to Scarlett and Tass as she paraded by. The pony, incidentally, had a unicorn horn strapped to her noggin and so many frilly things in black and purple. So she matched Pharlen's fru fru 50's black and purple witchy lady. With stripey socks, thank you very much.
Now that sobered her right up and she snapped her gaze up to let blue eyes focus on his. "On you?" How had they gone from flowers to him that quickly? Pharlen's appearance saved him from an answer just yet though and she lifted her hand in a return wave identical to the one Pharlen sent their way. "Oh hello. It's a pleasure to see you again."
He laughed and sent a hand up as Phar went by. "You're missing the buckle shoes!"
"But they have pointy toes," she retorted. Kitten heels in purple velvet! "Pies, I have tons of pies to hand out. Homemade with love and occassional screaming fits of agony."
"And, Oh, I am sorry, were we using Tass as a table?" Buh-dum-bump.
He snickered. "Not yet."
Freckles danced across her nose as her cheeks burned with a crimson heat. "There are plenty of tables over there so we shouldn't need to do that." Practical Scarlett!
"...Hmm, true, and much less bumpy. Well, come on, they should have brats and hamburgers, and I have all the pies. Come along Daisy." She patted the little black mare's neck and the pony grumbled before continuing to the picnic tables. The creature eyed Haru, and a moment later, she was wreathed in a weird greenish miasma.
"Calling me fat?" He poked at both of them with a grin, but he found himself standing and he turned, offering a hand to the lady.
"A gentleman can be portly in his dotage," she called cheerfully.
He snickered.
Oh they were jesting! Of course! She took his hand only to stand and gather up her skirt before she slipped her hand free and started the way Pharlen headed. Peter seemed content to simply ride along for now. Once she neared the little party she paused and admired the pony and the cart it was pulling. "Did you make all of these?" She asked of the pies.
The old portly man followed, slowly. Cause he was old. and portly.
"I did, yes yes. I can and preserve much of the produce Desdenova brings from the garden, and then I hand it all out. I decided to make pies of it all this year for some unfathomable reason. I think because I saw all the adorable monster face pie crusts." Adorable! Once Daisy halted near the tables, Pharlen simply began moving them to the tables. "There's pumpkin, apple, peach, boysenberry, venison mincemeat, and vidalia onion, which sounds very strange but is astonishingly good."
Poor old Tass.
So many to choose from! "Baking is not a strong suit of mine so I rarely get to enjoy pie." She stepped to the side as to not block Tass's view of the rows and rows of pies Pharlen was setting out on the table.
"Why not taken a piece of each?" Offered as he settled down at one of the free tables.
"That would be like eating a whole pie." She considered..."Almost an entire pie." She didn't sit but stood at the cart peering at all the different things that Pharlen was pulling out of it.
"Hmm. I like the way you think," she mulled as Tass piped in his Mature Wisdom. She found an empty pie tin and a few moments later, FrankenPie was born. An amalgation of all the pies, with their weird pastry faces making an even more weird pastry face. She was pleased with the horror.
Nice, neat 1/8th pieces fitted back into a pie tin if that didn't make sense. Not just mashed in there.
"Now and then I offer something of worth." He snickered.
"I've already eaten but do you have an extra tin that I might take some home for later?" She ducked her head as she slipped a hand into a pocket hidden within the black folds of her skirt.
"Of course, yes yes," she replied cheerfully. And she popped a plastic lid onto FrankenPie, and slid it over to Scarlett. Then she set about making another, probably for Tass. Other people weren't so adventurous and simply took the monster face pies as is. "I've forgotten to ask, what is it that you do?" she wondered as she worked, flickering a smile to Scarlett.
"She wants to experiment on me" He offered with a grin.
"Oooh!" Beaming smile to Tass. "Good choice."
"Oh thank you." She took the pie pan with a gracious smile. Holding it before her, she looked to Pharlen when she asked her question. "I repair things, put things back together so they work again, and I'm an inventor." Tass received a shuttered look of sky blue eyes. "I believe it was you who asked me to do that."
"I'm sorry. You came to collect.. rare species. I could only presume it was for experimentation." He grinned then.
"Oh! When I get ideas I go down to my lab and make things. Unless my husband locked me out of there," she replied, adjusting her glasses and peering at Scarlett with much interes, yes yes. "Ah, are you trying to wiggle into being made over in a manner abhorrent to man and god?" she scolded Tass.
He snorted. "Too much work, being a god."
"Of flowers." She corrected him politely with a nod of her head. Pharlen's mention of a lab perked her curiosity enough to have her head snapping in her direction. "You have a lab? What do you study?"
"Mainly Tesla's work, and also, I dabble in a bit of g-strain circular energy nodded in such a way as to blow up the planet," she twinkled! Hey, everyone's gotta have a hobby, right? "Sometimes I do a little collaboration work with Evy, she's more of horomancer."
She listened intently and nodded with each word. "I'm fascinated by displacement." Lifting a hand, she slid the glasses further up her nose.
"Displacement?" she echoed, and glanced back, "Coffee, anyone?" Because the Kuerig had Goblin Droppings Coffee today.
She was about to answer when another question was posed. Shaking her head, she turned down the offer. "What does your friend do with her clock work magic?" Gears and cogs and chains they were fascinating too.
"I'm not actually sure. Either crime or salvation, or both, she does keep a lot of dinosaurs," she replied cheerfully. She took her coffee, and spiked it with the 'vodka, probably' bottle, then tisked softly. "I need to get on my way, lovelies. It was wonderful to see you. Come along, Daisy. We have work!" And yup, a wave, she left a lot of pies, and then she and her pony went on about their business!
He grinned and lifted a hand as Pharlen and Daisy took off. He looked to the lady then. "So, flowers."
Just as fast as she had appeared she was gone, leaving Scarlett holding a frankenpie and watching in bewilderment. Tass's comment, taken as one and not a question, had her looking back to him from where she stood next to the table. "Flowers. For today." That was why she was here, as she had told him.
"Then tomorrow, you'll come for other species, hrmm?" There's that grin.
"Tomorrow is not flowers." Her own smile grew.
"Then what would tomorrow be?"
"Roots." Answered easily. She turned to look towards the cherry blossom trees so she could hide the grin.
He looked down at his bare feet and wiggled his toes a moment. They seemed to laugh at him, but he cut a grin then. "Roots. Would be good to have some."
She nodded. "Roots are very good to have. There are lots of uses for them. Turmeric is a good example. Turmeric root can treat everything from arthritis, to stomach problems, to liver and gallbladder disorders, to headaches and infections."
He snickered. "Roots can also give you all those things."
Wait...wasn't that what she had just said? Blinking, she tilted her head and looked back to him. Perhaps his age made him have slow comprehension. She decided nodding in agreement was the best...route. "Peter..Wake up sleepy head." A wriggle of her shoulder had the spider jumping up to attention. "We have more to collect." She moved away from the table and braced a hand on her thigh as she hunkered down to extend her arm towards the ground so that the spider could crawl down and off into the grass. "You know the other two we're looking for. Off you go." She stayed that way and watched him for a moment before looking over the curve of a shoulder back at the inquisitive man. "Do you always ask random strangers to experiment on you?"
He couldn't help then but give a full on laugh. The tree's around them even moved, adding their own laughter to it. That wasn't him, honest! "Oh, I haven't asked that in a long while, honestly. Though most around here already know it doesn't bother me."
Her brows furrowed as he laughed and she looked around as the trees seemed to do so as well. Straightening, she moved back over to the table to pick up her discarded pie plate, as if she were afraid it would disappear if she weren't holding it. "Then I should feel so honored to be the one you've asked?"
"I can't say you should or not." He grinned. "I'm just an old man, after all."
She nodded. "Tarnished you mean?" She clutched the plate and turned to head over towards where the spider scampered. "Not that one, the one behind it." She chastised the spider with a bit of a harsher tone that she might have before.
"I go beyond tarnished." His voice slipped a bit, becoming more quiet, as he watched them.
The spider crawled past an electric blue flower to the one behind and once more scraped some of the pollen onto a small microscope plate. Only when it was assured none would get away did he scurry back to her. She took the plate and tucked it in her pocket before she whispered something that caused the arachnid to scurry off once more. “From what I’ve learned of this place so far, tarnished or not, things continue to exist here longer than most.”
"It's not just here where my tarnish has turned to rust, or even held together by the idea of what it once was." He paused a moment, then the smile came back and he shook his head. "But that's no matter. So what's the plan for the poultice?"
She turned back to him then, at that exact moment of seriousness from him. Where the grin faded and his voice lowered. The focus of her eyes was intense, almost like the lens the spider carried. She didn't comment on his words though, instead just filed them away for another day and her polite smile returned once more. "Resurrection lotion. To help with scarring."
He nodded. "That could fetch a nice price. I know there are a few who would like to make sure that their skin stays smooth."
"Oh I wouldn't dream of selling it. I'll not take more than what is needed." She made a motion out to the flowers she was having the spider collect samples from. "The intended person only requires a small amount. In return, she allows me to use her lab." It was a decent trade and Scarlett was proud of herself for procuring it.
He nodded. "Very admirable of you. Is it just this poultice that she requires, or are there other items which which asks for you to make?"
"My cr-" She paused and looked away from him back towards the flowers where she had sent the spider. "Benefactor has only asked for this poultice so far, but should she need something else that I could make I would do so if it allows me to continue using her lab." Still holding the pie, she tilted her head as she seemed to be staring out through the lenses towards the flowers. "Further back, it's red."
The spider returned and happily deposited another microscope plate before skittering across the ground towards Tass once more. Without hesitation, he climbed atop a bared foot and started towards his leg.
He chuckled as he wiggled his toes. He had heard the correction, but he didn't press it. Like all things, it would come with time. "Must be a nice lab."
"Oh it is." Her tone turned instantly wistful. "She has dozens of vials and beakers, burners and boilers, and welders too." The spider climbed up his leg and then started across his thigh towards his torso. If he let him, he'd make his way up to his shoulder like he had before. Scarlett seemed to preoccupied talking about the lab to even notice.
He didn't mind as Peter made his way up. He watched the little one for a bit, then turned his attention to the lady.
She turned enough to spot the spider on his shoulder and a soft smile played on her lips. "He does like you. Terribly sorry." She set the pie upon the table and stepped forward with her hands extended, just like the first day they had met. Eyes locked on the hyper little spider as he inched nearer and nearer to Tass's neck.
"Why are you sorry?" He didn't more. Just like he didn't the other day. While the old ways might have wanted him to, he had left those behind, and simply watched her, though a smile did play on his lips.
The spider saw her coming and darted beneath the ponytail of his hair, hiding on the back of his neck. The dark irises of her eyes narrowed as she pursed her lips. "He doesn't bother you?" She paused, turning her head just a tiny bit to meet his gaze.
He met that gaze of hers, mirth dancing within his. "Why would he?"
"He is a spider and some consider him a pest." Instant was that response before she pulled her gaze away to peer at his neck. "Peter..really must you?" Little feet skittered upon the nape of his neck and then seemed to burrow into his hair as if trying to camouflage himself within it.
He laughed. "There are many who might consider me one as well. No, he is fine."
Well, if he didn't mind...She let her hands drop and took several steps back. "I just hope he doesn't try out his newest stunt on you." Hair did smell awful when it burned.
He snickered. "And if he did? Would it be so bad?" He didn't know what stunt it could be, but being Tass... it wasn't like he hadn't had whatever it was done to him before.
"Only if you're not wanting to lose your hair." Well...he asked! She moved away even further now, though she still watched the area behind his neck.
"I'll grow back." He grinned. Yes, it might even grow back that same moment, but who's to say. He lifted a hand and sent it questing along his neck to give the little one a little scratch.
There was a clicking sound and soon enough, the end of his finger was wound up with thread. The spider crawled and pulled, as much as a little spider could, to try and hold his hand in place while he continued to string the thread all along the length of his shoulder and down the other arm. If Tass let him, soon he would be wound up like Gulliver.
Scarlett watched the spider with a fond look and Tass's attempt to pet him gained him one as well. She moved to settle on the bench of an empty picnic table, her skirt settling appropriately at her feet to cover them.
"Oi. Here now. I'm not to be trussed up like a holiday turkey. I promise I won't taste good. I'm too old and stringy. You want something younger." He tugged at he strings. He could easily overcome them, but why? Was more fun this way.
The spider crawled back up his back once he was satisfied with the bindings that wrapped about his torso. Once more on his shoulder, he raised two little legs in the air in victory. Huzzah! The giant has been tamed!
She watched the spiders antics and actually rolled her eyes. "You really think he can't escape that? And what would you do with a giant?" Speaking to Peter of course. She tilted her head and seemed to be listening to something and a light laugh escaped her lips. "I doubt she would allow you to bring him home Peter. Now let him go before he hurts you."
He snickered, seeing the victory of the spider, but then he looked to the lady. "Never know. She might." There was a grin on his lips.
Those eyes widened behind the spectacles and she went still for just a moment, as if she were focusing on something far away. "She wouldn't." Snapping out of her reverie she focused on him once more. "Besides we are new there and it wouldn't be proper to ask." One did not overstep the bounds of propriety of such a generous benefactor.
He laughed as he watched her. He didn't press it though.
Peter didn’t seem to care whether he could take his prize home or not. He tied off the bindings and crawled up the ponytail to settle with a tapping of legs to the top of his head.
Scarlett pursed her lips even more at the sound of his laugh and shook her head. “So what do you do?” He had asked her questions so now it seemed she felt it was her turn.
"Well.. " he wiggled a bit in his bindings, then looked up as he was tapped. "If you ask anyone around here, they'd all likely tell you something different. But since you're asking me, I don't know anymore."
She tilted her head and tried very hard not to laugh as she saw Peter nestled so happily on top of his. Only because his answer was so honest. “You don’t know because you haven’t done it or you don’t know because it’s not your choice?” She’d heard him say he went where he was needed so perhaps that’s what he was hinting at?
"Yes." He looked at her and gave her the biggest grin someone could. It even looked normal!He blinked, then looked up to the canopy of the tree. Then, he nodded and looked cross-eyed at the little one on his head. "Sorry little one. Got to go. You can capture me later and drag me home." Then with that, he faded away, leaving Peter on the ground, amidst all the cable.
She sat there for a long moment. Staring at what was left of the impression he had made. Without a word she leaned forward and held out her hand so that Peter could crawl up. Then she stood and carried the spider and the pie towards the exit. “Peculiar indeed.”
It was funny. The old man found himself more and more in the Solarium. Perhaps it had to do with the proximity to the Library. Perhaps to the calmness found within. Perhaps to the bit of nature in the midst of chaos. Who knows. But here he was again, walking the path that lead once more to that old cherry blossom.
Taptap..tap tap tap. Thinking he was alone, the little spider made his way over the cobblestones towards the tall grass that would lead him up the hill and back towards the flowers. Snap click! Pausing to take a photo, the spider turned the camera in a complete circle and then simply froze as a figure came into view. Legs lowered and that golden body hunched down into the blades of grass while slowly lowering the camera lens back into it's hiding spot. Perhaps the figure hadn't seen them?
The old man had, but of course, he didn't let on to it. What fun would that be? Besides, he had said he wouldn't both the little one in it's quest, whatever quest that might be. As he stepped to the tree, he lifted a hand and set it on the bark, giving it a soft pat, like an old friend, before he turned and settled in against it, sitting down in the soft grass once again. The tree seemed to respond once more and shifted a bit around the old man, making it seem almost as of it was wrapping him up.
The blades of grass moved slightly and there was a flash of light before the spider took off running. Making a break for the flowers that lined the ground around the tree, it paused once it got beneath the cover of petals and looked up with beady black eyes. The camera slowly rose out from it's hiding space but did not start snapping photos. If one looked close enough, they might see a little blinking red light.
"Upgrade?" A simple word, but there it was, hanging on the air like the sweet smell of the blossoms around him. His lips tugged into a smile as he leaned his head back against the tree and closed his eyes.
Could it be the spider understood the word? It seemed to as it perked up and tapped a few legs against the ground and spun the camera in a circle as if to show it off.
"Ahh. Very nice. Is it only recording or does it do live feed as well?" Listen to the old man. Like he knows what he's talking about! Wait, his eyes were still closed.
The spider inched out from it's hiding spot. Tiny legs taking tentative steps towards the man's foot. Camera still trained on him, the red light blinked twice.
He didn't shift, but those eyes did open, for just a moment, and looked at the creature. "Hello, little one. Nice of you to come out." There was that smile again.
"That is not what we're here looking for Peter." From round the bend came Scarlett. Dressed in high fashion, well compared to what she usually wore it was. The dress was black and long. It covered her from the top of her neck all the way down to her feet. Cinched at the waist with a tiny row of buttons that traveled to the top of the ruffled collar. A bow tied neatly beneath the cameo broach centered at her nape. There was no top hat today so the amber ringlets were pulled up into a perfect coif that allowed a few to spring free. She stopped on the path and placed hands on her hips. The sound of a tapping foot would be heard even if it couldn't be seen. "Oh hello." She offered Tass a polite smile. "Forgive him, he is easily distracted."
Those opened eyes shifted, and the purple hues settled on the lady. "Afternoon ma'am. He's no bother at all. I believe this is the second time in which he's found me... distracting." He chuckled softly at that.
The spider stomped it's foot on the ground and shifted that lens to look right back at her, as if in defiance. Scarlett pursed her lips and shook her head at it and then looked back up at Tass. "He is still young and learning." She snapped fingers and Peter twitched before moving away from Tass and going back to his search of the flowers. Sky blue eyes focused just a moment on Peter and once she was satisfied that he was continuing on with his task .
"We all have to make our mistakes to learn from them." His gaze watched her for just a moment then turned to look back to the little one before he once more set his head back against the tree. "Care to join me while he.. learns?"
"Not that one, it's to old." Sometimes older was not always better, especially when it came to flowers. The spider moved further into the foliage before he disappeared. Scarlett blinked behind the spectacles perched on her nose and nodded. "It would be a pleasure as it is a pleasure to see you again." There was a slight snapping to her movements as she reached down to lift her skirt just enough so that she wouldn't step on it as she started to climb the hill to where he was.
"Even us old things can learn from our mistakes." He opened his eyes a crack with that, and that grin grew a bit. But as he watched her, he gave the tree a poke. "Mind helping her with a place to sit?" Of course, the tree might have said something, but then an exposed root went about lifting itself up a bit more, and flattened just enough to make a seat for the lady.
Her lips twitched as he spoke but before she could correct him the tree started...moving? Her head snapped in that direction and those eyes focused on the way it moved. "Such interesting things in this place." When the seat was formed, she headed that direction and settled with a smile. "I was speaking to the spider."
"Ahh." He looked to the spider, and the flower it was inspecting. "I don't know. There is a certain beauty to it. To see that it has lasted this long without being plucked or stepped on. It still stands in spite of all that can or has come against it, still showing off in all his tarnished glory, and happy for that tarnish."
She looked back to the orange flower and nodded in agreement. "Exactly. There's no reason to uproot it now that it has fought this long to be here." Besides the medicinal properties she needed would definitely kill the poor thing and that was not what Scarlett was trying to do.
"I'm sorry. I thought he was just there to take pictures... sorry, video of it."
She nodded. "He is. I'm the one to uproot it. But only if it is still in the sapling stage. The weather is perfect for doing a safe transplant. Early spring and fall care are best times for transplanting. Then the weather is cooler and the plants are not using as much water." It was as if she were reading from a book the way she said that but she ducked her head sheepishly and used looking for Peter as a reason. To help clear up his confusion, she removed the spectacles on her nose and held them out to him. "Want to see?"
He opened his eyes again, and turned his attention to her fully, for the first time. Then he looked to the glasses. "Sure. I'm always up to learning something new."
She waited for him to take them from her. Sky blue eyes focused on him and then on the glasses. "Here. Try them on."
He shifted just enough to stretch an arm out to take ahold of the glasses. As he took them, he looked over them for a moment prior to putting them on.
They looked like simple rounded spectacles, much like Harry Potter wore. There were no extravagances about the frame made of a bronze type metal. Watching him, she didn't say anything further.
There was a bit of a laugh that came as he looked through it. He seemed to wink here and there, closing one eye, then the next, until he seemed to satisfy his curiosity. He lifted his hand then and took the glasses to offer them back to her. "Very nice. Looking for something in particular within them?"
Her smile grew just a bit at the sound of his laugh and when he handed the glasses back, she slipped them back up to their proper place. "The pollen from the Ember flower is very potent, but the petals, just before they fall off are the best. Did you know that they have powerful healing properties that make them the essential component in the strongest healing potions and in resurrection balm. They are extremely rare." Once more as if she were reading from a book, she let loose another logical almost word for word from the dictionary response.
He nodded, then looked to the flowers. "So, which of you want to help this lovely lady out?" There was some shifting in those flowers, like a wind blowing through. Then, almost all of them stood taller, offering their stamen's for the collection of the pollen.
Peter froze. One leg poised over the petal of a flower. When said flower shifted, he hopped back and raised two feet up in a boxer type motion. Scarlett tilted her head as she looked from him to the flowers and when they started to move she brought her hands together in front of her and smiled delightedly. "Oh I say that's rather smart." She whistled softly and Peter snapped to attention. His back opening to bring out the proper tools to collect some of the delicate pollen. Looking back to Tass she nodded. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me. I just asked." He snickered.
Once the pollen was collected, the spider tucked the sample back inside and turned to scamper across the ground towards them once more. Scarlett leaned down and held out a hand, palm up, so that he could climb on and then up her arm. Three circles turned on her shoulder before legs folded and he settled down to a crouch. "It is peculiar that you can speak to flowers but since arriving here, I'm finding more peculiar things every day." Why couldn't someone talk to flowers? She'd seen a plant fighting the other day.
"If that's the only thing you find peculiar about me, I think I'd count that as a win." He laughed then. "But yet, there are all sorts of... well, peculiar things around RhyDin."
"So I was told. Now I am here and am seeing for myself." She looked away from him back to the flowers. A tilt of her head had her pausing for just a moment before she nodded.
"So what brings you to this peculiar place?" He might have meant the Solarium, but more than likely, he was speaking of RhyDin as a whole.
"Peculiarity is something that inventors like. When I heard of this place, I had to come see for myself." Her hands shifted on her lap when she looked back at him. "What brings you here?"
He thought on that question a moment. Then a moment more. Those moments stretched until it seemed like he wasn't going to answer, or perhaps didn't hear the question. He was old, after all. But he finally spoke. "You know, today, I'm not sure. Typically I go where I'm needed, but I'm not needed at the moment. At least, I don't think..."
"That must be tiring." She couldn't imagine how many beings needed help in this place. "Well I only came to collect the flower and maybe look out for other rare species." She meant flowers right? She was looking at Tass though.
"Oh, not really. It can be mentally exhausting some moments, but those moments pass." He paused and then looked at her. "So.. what kind of rare species?" There was that coy grin.
"It would depend. My research goes beyond flowers but I have not used or researched a different species just yet. Well, besides Peter but he doesn't count." She smirked as the spider shifted ever so slightly on her shoulder. "I
"Ah.. So what kind of research are we talking about?"
"Molecular biology and how to animate objects." She reached up to give Peter a little tap. "Peter was a trophy at one point." The spider stood, stretched, and hunkered down once more. "He still has some quirks, but I think I like him that way."
"Huh. So, if one were to put those two together, one might think of Mr. Victor." He couldn't help a little poke there, but there was a grin as he spoke, letting her know he was joking.
She tilted her head and her eyes focused on him a moment. Pupils dilated slightly as she pondered. "Mr. Victor?" She wasn't sure who that was. His grin did lead her to believe he was teasing but it would be hard to know what it was about if she didn't know who it was about right?
"Frankenstein."
Brows furrowed as she pondered that and slowly her lips curved into a smile before they parted to allow a delighted laugh to escape. "Oh...that's quite clever."
"So, care for something to eat or drink, before you experiment on me?" He was grinning again, though it did seem like he didn't mind if she did. He was.. peculiar, after all.
The pastry girls were handing out out brats and burgers, but the ex-gov was no where to be seen. No, wait for it. Yep. She led along a lovely little black mare pulling a small buckboard type wagon, loaded with all the pies. ALL of them. With Jack-O'lantern faces or weird dead man skin faces or holy spirits what was she drinking pastry decorations. She waved to Scarlett and Tass as she paraded by. The pony, incidentally, had a unicorn horn strapped to her noggin and so many frilly things in black and purple. So she matched Pharlen's fru fru 50's black and purple witchy lady. With stripey socks, thank you very much.
Now that sobered her right up and she snapped her gaze up to let blue eyes focus on his. "On you?" How had they gone from flowers to him that quickly? Pharlen's appearance saved him from an answer just yet though and she lifted her hand in a return wave identical to the one Pharlen sent their way. "Oh hello. It's a pleasure to see you again."
He laughed and sent a hand up as Phar went by. "You're missing the buckle shoes!"
"But they have pointy toes," she retorted. Kitten heels in purple velvet! "Pies, I have tons of pies to hand out. Homemade with love and occassional screaming fits of agony."
"And, Oh, I am sorry, were we using Tass as a table?" Buh-dum-bump.
He snickered. "Not yet."
Freckles danced across her nose as her cheeks burned with a crimson heat. "There are plenty of tables over there so we shouldn't need to do that." Practical Scarlett!
"...Hmm, true, and much less bumpy. Well, come on, they should have brats and hamburgers, and I have all the pies. Come along Daisy." She patted the little black mare's neck and the pony grumbled before continuing to the picnic tables. The creature eyed Haru, and a moment later, she was wreathed in a weird greenish miasma.
"Calling me fat?" He poked at both of them with a grin, but he found himself standing and he turned, offering a hand to the lady.
"A gentleman can be portly in his dotage," she called cheerfully.
He snickered.
Oh they were jesting! Of course! She took his hand only to stand and gather up her skirt before she slipped her hand free and started the way Pharlen headed. Peter seemed content to simply ride along for now. Once she neared the little party she paused and admired the pony and the cart it was pulling. "Did you make all of these?" She asked of the pies.
The old portly man followed, slowly. Cause he was old. and portly.
"I did, yes yes. I can and preserve much of the produce Desdenova brings from the garden, and then I hand it all out. I decided to make pies of it all this year for some unfathomable reason. I think because I saw all the adorable monster face pie crusts." Adorable! Once Daisy halted near the tables, Pharlen simply began moving them to the tables. "There's pumpkin, apple, peach, boysenberry, venison mincemeat, and vidalia onion, which sounds very strange but is astonishingly good."
Poor old Tass.
So many to choose from! "Baking is not a strong suit of mine so I rarely get to enjoy pie." She stepped to the side as to not block Tass's view of the rows and rows of pies Pharlen was setting out on the table.
"Why not taken a piece of each?" Offered as he settled down at one of the free tables.
"That would be like eating a whole pie." She considered..."Almost an entire pie." She didn't sit but stood at the cart peering at all the different things that Pharlen was pulling out of it.
"Hmm. I like the way you think," she mulled as Tass piped in his Mature Wisdom. She found an empty pie tin and a few moments later, FrankenPie was born. An amalgation of all the pies, with their weird pastry faces making an even more weird pastry face. She was pleased with the horror.
Nice, neat 1/8th pieces fitted back into a pie tin if that didn't make sense. Not just mashed in there.
"Now and then I offer something of worth." He snickered.
"I've already eaten but do you have an extra tin that I might take some home for later?" She ducked her head as she slipped a hand into a pocket hidden within the black folds of her skirt.
"Of course, yes yes," she replied cheerfully. And she popped a plastic lid onto FrankenPie, and slid it over to Scarlett. Then she set about making another, probably for Tass. Other people weren't so adventurous and simply took the monster face pies as is. "I've forgotten to ask, what is it that you do?" she wondered as she worked, flickering a smile to Scarlett.
"She wants to experiment on me" He offered with a grin.
"Oooh!" Beaming smile to Tass. "Good choice."
"Oh thank you." She took the pie pan with a gracious smile. Holding it before her, she looked to Pharlen when she asked her question. "I repair things, put things back together so they work again, and I'm an inventor." Tass received a shuttered look of sky blue eyes. "I believe it was you who asked me to do that."
"I'm sorry. You came to collect.. rare species. I could only presume it was for experimentation." He grinned then.
"Oh! When I get ideas I go down to my lab and make things. Unless my husband locked me out of there," she replied, adjusting her glasses and peering at Scarlett with much interes, yes yes. "Ah, are you trying to wiggle into being made over in a manner abhorrent to man and god?" she scolded Tass.
He snorted. "Too much work, being a god."
"Of flowers." She corrected him politely with a nod of her head. Pharlen's mention of a lab perked her curiosity enough to have her head snapping in her direction. "You have a lab? What do you study?"
"Mainly Tesla's work, and also, I dabble in a bit of g-strain circular energy nodded in such a way as to blow up the planet," she twinkled! Hey, everyone's gotta have a hobby, right? "Sometimes I do a little collaboration work with Evy, she's more of horomancer."
She listened intently and nodded with each word. "I'm fascinated by displacement." Lifting a hand, she slid the glasses further up her nose.
"Displacement?" she echoed, and glanced back, "Coffee, anyone?" Because the Kuerig had Goblin Droppings Coffee today.
She was about to answer when another question was posed. Shaking her head, she turned down the offer. "What does your friend do with her clock work magic?" Gears and cogs and chains they were fascinating too.
"I'm not actually sure. Either crime or salvation, or both, she does keep a lot of dinosaurs," she replied cheerfully. She took her coffee, and spiked it with the 'vodka, probably' bottle, then tisked softly. "I need to get on my way, lovelies. It was wonderful to see you. Come along, Daisy. We have work!" And yup, a wave, she left a lot of pies, and then she and her pony went on about their business!
He grinned and lifted a hand as Pharlen and Daisy took off. He looked to the lady then. "So, flowers."
Just as fast as she had appeared she was gone, leaving Scarlett holding a frankenpie and watching in bewilderment. Tass's comment, taken as one and not a question, had her looking back to him from where she stood next to the table. "Flowers. For today." That was why she was here, as she had told him.
"Then tomorrow, you'll come for other species, hrmm?" There's that grin.
"Tomorrow is not flowers." Her own smile grew.
"Then what would tomorrow be?"
"Roots." Answered easily. She turned to look towards the cherry blossom trees so she could hide the grin.
He looked down at his bare feet and wiggled his toes a moment. They seemed to laugh at him, but he cut a grin then. "Roots. Would be good to have some."
She nodded. "Roots are very good to have. There are lots of uses for them. Turmeric is a good example. Turmeric root can treat everything from arthritis, to stomach problems, to liver and gallbladder disorders, to headaches and infections."
He snickered. "Roots can also give you all those things."
Wait...wasn't that what she had just said? Blinking, she tilted her head and looked back to him. Perhaps his age made him have slow comprehension. She decided nodding in agreement was the best...route. "Peter..Wake up sleepy head." A wriggle of her shoulder had the spider jumping up to attention. "We have more to collect." She moved away from the table and braced a hand on her thigh as she hunkered down to extend her arm towards the ground so that the spider could crawl down and off into the grass. "You know the other two we're looking for. Off you go." She stayed that way and watched him for a moment before looking over the curve of a shoulder back at the inquisitive man. "Do you always ask random strangers to experiment on you?"
He couldn't help then but give a full on laugh. The tree's around them even moved, adding their own laughter to it. That wasn't him, honest! "Oh, I haven't asked that in a long while, honestly. Though most around here already know it doesn't bother me."
Her brows furrowed as he laughed and she looked around as the trees seemed to do so as well. Straightening, she moved back over to the table to pick up her discarded pie plate, as if she were afraid it would disappear if she weren't holding it. "Then I should feel so honored to be the one you've asked?"
"I can't say you should or not." He grinned. "I'm just an old man, after all."
She nodded. "Tarnished you mean?" She clutched the plate and turned to head over towards where the spider scampered. "Not that one, the one behind it." She chastised the spider with a bit of a harsher tone that she might have before.
"I go beyond tarnished." His voice slipped a bit, becoming more quiet, as he watched them.
The spider crawled past an electric blue flower to the one behind and once more scraped some of the pollen onto a small microscope plate. Only when it was assured none would get away did he scurry back to her. She took the plate and tucked it in her pocket before she whispered something that caused the arachnid to scurry off once more. “From what I’ve learned of this place so far, tarnished or not, things continue to exist here longer than most.”
"It's not just here where my tarnish has turned to rust, or even held together by the idea of what it once was." He paused a moment, then the smile came back and he shook his head. "But that's no matter. So what's the plan for the poultice?"
She turned back to him then, at that exact moment of seriousness from him. Where the grin faded and his voice lowered. The focus of her eyes was intense, almost like the lens the spider carried. She didn't comment on his words though, instead just filed them away for another day and her polite smile returned once more. "Resurrection lotion. To help with scarring."
He nodded. "That could fetch a nice price. I know there are a few who would like to make sure that their skin stays smooth."
"Oh I wouldn't dream of selling it. I'll not take more than what is needed." She made a motion out to the flowers she was having the spider collect samples from. "The intended person only requires a small amount. In return, she allows me to use her lab." It was a decent trade and Scarlett was proud of herself for procuring it.
He nodded. "Very admirable of you. Is it just this poultice that she requires, or are there other items which which asks for you to make?"
"My cr-" She paused and looked away from him back towards the flowers where she had sent the spider. "Benefactor has only asked for this poultice so far, but should she need something else that I could make I would do so if it allows me to continue using her lab." Still holding the pie, she tilted her head as she seemed to be staring out through the lenses towards the flowers. "Further back, it's red."
The spider returned and happily deposited another microscope plate before skittering across the ground towards Tass once more. Without hesitation, he climbed atop a bared foot and started towards his leg.
He chuckled as he wiggled his toes. He had heard the correction, but he didn't press it. Like all things, it would come with time. "Must be a nice lab."
"Oh it is." Her tone turned instantly wistful. "She has dozens of vials and beakers, burners and boilers, and welders too." The spider climbed up his leg and then started across his thigh towards his torso. If he let him, he'd make his way up to his shoulder like he had before. Scarlett seemed to preoccupied talking about the lab to even notice.
He didn't mind as Peter made his way up. He watched the little one for a bit, then turned his attention to the lady.
She turned enough to spot the spider on his shoulder and a soft smile played on her lips. "He does like you. Terribly sorry." She set the pie upon the table and stepped forward with her hands extended, just like the first day they had met. Eyes locked on the hyper little spider as he inched nearer and nearer to Tass's neck.
"Why are you sorry?" He didn't more. Just like he didn't the other day. While the old ways might have wanted him to, he had left those behind, and simply watched her, though a smile did play on his lips.
The spider saw her coming and darted beneath the ponytail of his hair, hiding on the back of his neck. The dark irises of her eyes narrowed as she pursed her lips. "He doesn't bother you?" She paused, turning her head just a tiny bit to meet his gaze.
He met that gaze of hers, mirth dancing within his. "Why would he?"
"He is a spider and some consider him a pest." Instant was that response before she pulled her gaze away to peer at his neck. "Peter..really must you?" Little feet skittered upon the nape of his neck and then seemed to burrow into his hair as if trying to camouflage himself within it.
He laughed. "There are many who might consider me one as well. No, he is fine."
Well, if he didn't mind...She let her hands drop and took several steps back. "I just hope he doesn't try out his newest stunt on you." Hair did smell awful when it burned.
He snickered. "And if he did? Would it be so bad?" He didn't know what stunt it could be, but being Tass... it wasn't like he hadn't had whatever it was done to him before.
"Only if you're not wanting to lose your hair." Well...he asked! She moved away even further now, though she still watched the area behind his neck.
"I'll grow back." He grinned. Yes, it might even grow back that same moment, but who's to say. He lifted a hand and sent it questing along his neck to give the little one a little scratch.
There was a clicking sound and soon enough, the end of his finger was wound up with thread. The spider crawled and pulled, as much as a little spider could, to try and hold his hand in place while he continued to string the thread all along the length of his shoulder and down the other arm. If Tass let him, soon he would be wound up like Gulliver.
Scarlett watched the spider with a fond look and Tass's attempt to pet him gained him one as well. She moved to settle on the bench of an empty picnic table, her skirt settling appropriately at her feet to cover them.
"Oi. Here now. I'm not to be trussed up like a holiday turkey. I promise I won't taste good. I'm too old and stringy. You want something younger." He tugged at he strings. He could easily overcome them, but why? Was more fun this way.
The spider crawled back up his back once he was satisfied with the bindings that wrapped about his torso. Once more on his shoulder, he raised two little legs in the air in victory. Huzzah! The giant has been tamed!
She watched the spiders antics and actually rolled her eyes. "You really think he can't escape that? And what would you do with a giant?" Speaking to Peter of course. She tilted her head and seemed to be listening to something and a light laugh escaped her lips. "I doubt she would allow you to bring him home Peter. Now let him go before he hurts you."
He snickered, seeing the victory of the spider, but then he looked to the lady. "Never know. She might." There was a grin on his lips.
Those eyes widened behind the spectacles and she went still for just a moment, as if she were focusing on something far away. "She wouldn't." Snapping out of her reverie she focused on him once more. "Besides we are new there and it wouldn't be proper to ask." One did not overstep the bounds of propriety of such a generous benefactor.
He laughed as he watched her. He didn't press it though.
Peter didn’t seem to care whether he could take his prize home or not. He tied off the bindings and crawled up the ponytail to settle with a tapping of legs to the top of his head.
Scarlett pursed her lips even more at the sound of his laugh and shook her head. “So what do you do?” He had asked her questions so now it seemed she felt it was her turn.
"Well.. " he wiggled a bit in his bindings, then looked up as he was tapped. "If you ask anyone around here, they'd all likely tell you something different. But since you're asking me, I don't know anymore."
She tilted her head and tried very hard not to laugh as she saw Peter nestled so happily on top of his. Only because his answer was so honest. “You don’t know because you haven’t done it or you don’t know because it’s not your choice?” She’d heard him say he went where he was needed so perhaps that’s what he was hinting at?
"Yes." He looked at her and gave her the biggest grin someone could. It even looked normal!He blinked, then looked up to the canopy of the tree. Then, he nodded and looked cross-eyed at the little one on his head. "Sorry little one. Got to go. You can capture me later and drag me home." Then with that, he faded away, leaving Peter on the ground, amidst all the cable.
She sat there for a long moment. Staring at what was left of the impression he had made. Without a word she leaned forward and held out her hand so that Peter could crawl up. Then she stood and carried the spider and the pie towards the exit. “Peculiar indeed.”
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