[AU] an evening like any other

[sai_delgado]

Sunset's long come and gone, the horses are settled for the night, but it's too early by far to sleep. Susan Delgado's in the bar, curled up on the couch near the fireplace, a basket of golden straw nearby and a second one with dark leather strips beside it.

Bit by bit, she braids the golden straw, shaping it into a long plait that coils back into the basket on the floor. It's a contrast of sorts to her own sun-gold hair, which as usual she'd unbraided and brushed into a long smooth fall for the evening when she changed from her work-clothes into a simple chambray dress in a light denim blue.

Susan's humming softly under her breath as she works.

Comments

[sai_delgado]

Susan nods. “All sorts. There’s those who are beyond mortal ken, like the Seven,” she starts. “Lady Morphia, lady Mania, the Dream-lord, sai Desire all visit here, ye see. And there’s those who are angels, and one demon, but he’s not the usual sort.”

She’s counting on her fingers now, ticking off as she does so as not to forget. “And those that ye’d think are animals, but who speak and are as smart as any person, say true. Sir Reepicheep, for one, he’s a Mouse, and Jah-lila a red unicorn.”

[hears_no_evil]

He's starting to wonder if maybe he's not reading her lips correctly. A mouse? A unicorn? Dreams?

It's all more than he can quite absorb, after the shock of the last week. He shakes his head and rubs at his temple, unsure even how to respond.

[sai_delgado]

Very gently, she sets her hand on his arm for a moment in reassurance, and oh, but there’s understanding in the fog-gray eyes. “It’s strange, so it is, I kennit. Give yerself time.”

[hears_no_evil]

He gives her a small smile and nods, then pats the hand she has on his arm before gently dislodging it. Nick lifts his hands to either side of his head, then mimes his head exploding, eyes wide, before giving her a rueful glance.

[sai_delgado]

"I kennit," she says again, with a rueful smile of her own in answer. "But it gets easier, say true."

[hears_no_evil]

Nick nods, wry, then finishes his lemonade before writing out a note.

Not sure how well lip-reading could work with a mouse or unicorn, but I guess we'll see how it goes.

[sai_delgado]

Susan frowns over that, having not ever had reason to pay attention to such. "Mayhap ye'd need a, a, someone to speak for them, so ye could read their lips?" she concludes, a little reluctantly. It seems a great burden for Nick to have to find, but she can't think of another way.

"Or mayhap Kaylee'd have some trick ye could use. She's that clever, she is, and those of Serenity have things I'd have never thought possible."

[hears_no_evil]

Nick nods again and shrugs. It won't be the first time he's had to figure out some way to do something as simple for everyone else as communicate.

And maybe he won't see the mouse or unicorn, anyway.

What's Serenity?

[sai_delgado]

"It's a star-ship," Susan tells him. "It sails among the stars as others do on the water. Do'ee have star-ships in yer world?"

[hears_no_evil]

Nick stares at her, then slowly shakes his head.

Talking mice? Spaceships? Unicorns? His head is spinning.

[sai_delgado]

"Nor did we. I'd never even heard of such before coming here."

He looks more than a little glazed, as though he's taken a blow to the head, and Susan bites her lip. "Would'ee want another glass?" she ventures, checking the level of his lemonade and retreating to simpler things.

[hears_no_evil]

He glances at his glass and considers, then nods before writing her another note.

You're impressively well-adjusted about all of this. I feel like the top of my head is about to come off.

[sai_delgado]

Susan pats the Bar. "Another round for sai Andros?" she asks, and a new glass appears for him, as cool and refreshing as before.

On reading his note, she looks up at him with a smile. "I've been here near a year," she explains. More than a year since she died, now, but she's aware it'd been some months between that and her arrival. Time is a face on the water, say true. "I were just as overwhelmed at first, mayhap worse."

[hears_no_evil]

A whole year. When he's ever considered the idea of an afterlife, he'd thought it would likely be something that you moved to right away. This... waystation, as she'd called it, is wholly out of his perception of the world.

How he can be conversing (so to speak) with a dead girl in a place connecting all the worlds, where the dead and living mingle and the impossible is possible, is bizarre in the extreme to him.

He lifts his refreshed glass to her in a toast, then writes again.

I guess most people would be. It's not like anything I've ever heard of before. The religious zealots and philosophers back home would lose their minds if they knew about it. (If there were any left.)

[sai_delgado]

She raises her glass of tea to him in turn, then examines the next missive.

"Religious - oh, ye have the Jesus-man followers in yer world too?" she asks. "We have some of them, and the Manni, but mostly they keep to themselves. The Manni ken doors, though."

Susan shrugs. "I've not met a philosopher. Some few who've been taught of it, aye, or who ken it through reading, but I've not known anyone who that's all they did."

[hears_no_evil]

Not just Jesus, but yes.

He pauses there, thinking of the other half of his dream. He'd been pushed from the heights, and fell into a cornfield. And in the cornfield...

Sorry to change subjects, but I'm curious. You know of the dark man. Have you ever heard of someone called Mother Abagail?

[sai_delgado]

"Ye needn't say sorry," she tells him, and looks back at the paper, frowning over it.

"There were a note, I think," she murmurs, her gaze a little distant as she tries to remember. "Eddie said Jake found it. They weren't sure if it had aught to do with them or not. It said the dark man were in the west, and... and the old woman was Abagail."

[hears_no_evil]

Somehow, that's even more troubling than her knowing about the dark man. He gives her another note and a wry glance to accompany it.

Seems like I should definitely try to meet this Eddie.

[sai_delgado]

"Do'ee want me to go find him?" Susan offers. "He'd not mind, so he wouldn't."

[hears_no_evil]

He's torn. Who knows if he'll ever be able to find his way back to this place? What he should do, probably, is see the doctor, stuff himself with food, get some sleep, and then be on his way, making seeking out this Eddie before he goes. There isn't any real reason for his rush, but he feels it all the same, the call to be on the road, looking for Hemingford Home, Nebraska.

On the other hand, he's been starved for company, and it's inexpressibly good to sit here and communicate with another human being.

Not if you would mind. I'm already asking a lot of you.

[sai_delgado]

Susan's smile is sweet. "Ye're not, not at all. And I'd not mind it either. I just don't wish to overwhelm ye more."

[hears_no_evil]

She's very thoughtful, and kind to boot. Nick is reminded again of Jane Baker, whose kindness had been so thoroughly engrained in her, even as she was grieving and then deathly ill.

Then if you wouldn't mind, and if he has a moment, that would be great. Thank you.

[sai_delgado]

"I'll go and find out," she promises, hopping down from the barstool with easy grace. "Wait here, an'ye would."

Susan makes her way past the end of the bar and down a hallway, quickly vanishing from sight. She's gone for a few minutes, mayhap about as long as it'd take to explain things in very brief, and when she comes back, she's not alone.

She's keeping pace at the side of an older Black woman in a wheelchair, pushed by a dark-haired man whose sharp gaze misses absolutely nothing, although his smile is easy and warm. A close look might reveal that the older woman's gaze is just as keen.

"This your new friend, sugar?" the woman says, as the small group reaches him. "Introduce us."

Susan smiles at Nick, as reassuringly as she can. "Susannah, Eddie, this is Sai Nick Andros, of - of the world ye've seen some of. Nick, these are Susannah and Eddie Dean of New York, gunslingers of the line of Eld."

[hears_no_evil]

Nick slips off his chair, wincing a little as his right leg, which had stiffened as he sat at the bar, gives a complaining twinge and sends him slewing briefly to the side before he regains his balance. He lifts his hand in a wave and offers the woman a pre-written note.

It's really nice of you to come say hello. Like Susan said, I'm Nick. Hope I'm not interrupting.

[sai_delgado]

Susan moves instinctively to his side to be ready to support him should he need help.

"You're not," Eddie says, peering over Susannah's shoulder to read. "Interrupting, that is. Besides, Susan here says she told you we had a little bit of a jaunt through your Topeka after the flu from hell ripped through. And that you've had a particular dream that's along our lines of interest. Yeah?"

Susannah makes an exasperated sound. "We're not going to jaw about all this with me looking up at you three," she orders. "Susan, how about you lead the way over to your couch and we settle down there?"