[ Action, Voice ] Onions have layers, ogres have layers .002

[talentsgirl]

[Today Molly Carpenter is in your community buildings, exploring the floors and kitchens and opening (hopefully unoccupied!) random doors. Why is she doing this? She's not quite settled that Community Building Six is the best place for her and Harry to be, so far away from town, and collect evidence to present her case. Also - hey, strolling down someone's apartment corridor could be a great way to meet people!

And secretly, she's looking for thresholds. It makes sense that there aren't any here - five years, at most, being kept in a place against your will - could that even form a threshold? She didn't know, but it was so terribly contrary to her understanding of magic that she had to investigate.

Later in the day, a series of filters starting at 5 and not working their way up past 15 percent will appear in the journal followed by a voice post.]


[Filter at 5 percent]
Testing, testing... so you actually can do this.
[Filter at 10 5 percent]
Testing... drat.
[Filter at 10 7 percent]
Test, test - man, I thought for sure that would work
[Filter at 15 percent]
Ah-ha! Think I'm getting it now...
[Filter at 20 15 percent]
Test... nope.
[Filter at 20 15 percent]
Maybe this will--
[Filter at 20 15 percent]
Oh, come on!


Hi! So. Sorry if anyone bothered with that. I'm trying to get the hang of this "filtering" thing but it's just not like anything I've ever done before. If a couple wouldn't mind putting up some really low, easy filters in this post against me, I'd really appreciate it. That way I could try to sort of... learn it backwards? Thanks.

Comments

[greenjacketed]

"...Fortune cookies, Molly?"

[talentsgirl]

"Oh, they're... these little cookies that come at the end of a Chinese food meal? They're shaped like this," and she holds up her hand to make a crescent. "They're very thin and cracker-like, and for some reason it's a tradition to slip a 'fortune' inside of them, but they're usually filled with silly things like: 'It takes more than good memory to have good memories.' or 'Excitement and intrigue follow you closely wherever you go!' You break them in half, read the fortune, and eat the cookie."

She shrugs a little, "No one takes what they say very seriously."

[greenjacketed]

He rested one elbow on the bar's top and reached...not out to her hand but just forward enough to trace the shape in the air. Trying to visualize it. It was all a little funny, to him. Odd indeed.

Hmm. The fortunes didn't sound so silly, though. Not to him. Especially not that second one -- oh, to live in a time when cliches were still de rigour.

However, all he takes out of this verbally is: "But surely you've not been to China!"

[talentsgirl]

"Hmm? Oh, no." She shook her head. "But a lot of Chinese people have come to America. There are people from pretty much every nation, actually. And sometimes they set up restaurants and sell their food."

...explaining this was so odd.

[greenjacketed]

"And you like it? Chinese fare?"

[talentsgirl]

"I do! I'm not big on the heavily fried stuff, but they make a great stir fry."

And I don't have to cook.

[greenjacketed]

"Nothing too heavy. Stir fry. Right."

He committed this to memory. Damn and blast, if he had Harper here...? The man could whip up something suitably stirred and fried. Pat'd set it out on a fine wooden table and leave the lamp nearly doused nearby. And if they were home, he'd arrange for Hagman to be stationed on watch nearby. Humming and singing as he did.

But now they were here and Patrick Harper wasn't and he didn't know how to make this modern woman understand his desire to sit down and have a meal with her. It's just that she was so...comfortable to talk with. Somehow, she breathed tolerance as well as grace.

He'd only met her twice, now, but...by God, he wanted to meet her more.

"Been sticking to the spring rabbits, myself. Snow's a-leaving so their coats are darkening. Low fire. A few apples. Ain't nothing fancy..."

[talentsgirl]

There was a strange sort of undercurrent here which Molly couldn't quite catch. She knew when a man was interested in her, and she likewise knew it often didn't take much; Molly was very aware of how she looked, and comfortable, confident in her own skin.

But she'd been carefully trying not to give him the wrong impression - it certainly wasn't that he wasn't attractive. The man was a dead ringer for Boromir. That wasn't the issue. The issue was that he was from the Napoleonic era and that they were in an otherworldy prison village. As much as she might joke about it with Harry, Molly knew there was a time and place and the implications of the Napoleonic era were not lost on her. Talk about opportunity for crossed wires.

So for now she just remained... open to the undercurrents.

"It sounds good." Except... why was he eating rabbits? And the poor rabbits.

"It also sounds like you've been camping out."

[greenjacketed]

"It's no odd thing. We lads of the South Essex bivouac out of doors often enough."

[talentsgirl]

She tilted her head to the side again, considering. "So what you're telling me is that you've been staying outside this whole time. Does this mean you've yet to experience the wonders of indoor plumbing?"

[greenjacketed]

"Well, so long as you're asking? I make do."

[talentsgirl]

"I wasn't questioning your ability to be perfectly content. I was just wondering if I'd get to introduce you to the wonders of modern technology."

[greenjacketed]

Wait. Wait wait wait. This sounded lovely. Delightful. Downright wonderful.

"You, Molly?" A glance at her. A glance away. "I could picture no finer tutor."

[talentsgirl]

A genuinely pleased smile curled her lips at the compliment. "Good, although truthfully I'm no technological genius." She took a sip of the mead. "But let me know when you've picked a place to stay, or give me a call sometime when you're curious, and I'll be happy to show you the ropes."

[greenjacketed]

"A call?"

A frown. "Like on those books?"

[talentsgirl]

Oh - that's right, no telephones. "They seem to work best, but... okay, when I'm from there are these things called 'telephones.' They're connected with wire and electricity somehow, and practically everyone has one, and they're all assigned different numbers. You put the number you want to call into the phone - the telephone - and then you can connect with another telephone. Then you can speak with someone even if you're whole countries away, because the sound gets transmitted along the wires."

Somehow. She was never exactly clear on how it worked - which was possibly why her magic never interfered with landlines.

"I was saying 'call' using the books because they work in a similar way - or at least, they do a similar thing."

Which really, on reflection, was completely different than working the same way. She wondered how they did work. Hmm.

1/3

[greenjacketed]

2/3

[greenjacketed]

Maybe he should simply nod and pretend as though he understood.

[greenjacketed]

"Aye, then.

I'll...call on you."

1/2

[talentsgirl]

Pitter-patter, went her heart.

Or maybe 'flip-flop.'

Really, such a turn of phrase combined with that look should not be allowed.

[talentsgirl]

"Um, yeah." She took another sip, the only hints of her sudden awareness in the unusual verbal pause, the time-gathering tactic, before she managed to pull herself - mostly - back together.

"You should. Because there's really something wonderful about the whole 'hot shower' deal."

...hot shower.

Bad Molly. That was not the sort of mental image she needed right now. Oh well, hopefully she can let that stand on its own, going back to clarify would just make it sound... like it needed clarification.

[greenjacketed]

Oh, Lordy. God and all the saints above, lend him patience. Restraint. And, perhaps, just a hint of social grace. He'd beg for it if he was the begging type. But Richard Sharpe rarely pleaded for anything. Too proud.

"Hot showers, Molly?" A beat. He considered his words rather carefully. No use in spooking the gal. She spoke comfortably and openly but there was no denying the luxury of her lifestyle. "We make do with cold streams and buckets of water. Now and then."

[talentsgirl]

...was it just her, or was this conversation getting slightly charged?

Dropping it would mean acknowledging it, continuing it might be dangerous...

"Then maybe you should explain to me why you're willing to make do when there's a whole new experience to be had?"

She really was just talking about the water. Really. But the knowledge of the edge which they were dancing around wasn't very far from her either. She'd have to pull back soon, this wasn't fair to him, but... mmm.

[greenjacketed]

Another sip turned into a gulp turned into draining his glass.

"Naught but a simple soldier, Molly. That's me. Wouldn't know a new experience if it slapped me heartily on both cheeks."

In truth, it was more that this place was so...odd. Uncomfortable. Frighteningly new but he didn't dare explain that. Or even contemplate the raw fear that stayed in his belly now that the initial shock of this place had worn off.

"But if my personal grooming habits are offensive to you, lass, I might have to look into it." Just on the edge of cheeky. Tentative.

[talentsgirl]

So what you're telling me is that it's no new experience to be slapped heartily on both cheeks. Good to know.

She tilted her head and didn't bother to even attempt to camouflage her assessing glance, "I find myself decidedly unoffended, Major Sharpe." And no, she didn't really mind that it wasn't a word. Her tone matched that edge of cheek. "However, the new experience may be something you'd wish to look into."

"It's not so bad," she added quietly, looking down, "if you look at this as a chance to discover and experience things you wouldn't have otherwise."

Like arack for instance, and on that note she lifted and drained what remained of that liquor in her glass.