[pfsb] investigations and explorations

[blue_ajah]

Two days after Moiraine brought Wei Wuxian's talismans back to Twin Peaks, after she has taken the time necessary to review all of her notes as well as the histories she has been collecting, she calls Dale Cooper, who is still in Olympia, now, rather than Seattle.

All things considered, the conversation could have gone much, much worse.

She is well aware that they are going to have a much longer discussion after he returns in a few weeks, but he had agreed not to ask her to wait. She, in turn, had agreed, as before, not to go to Glastonbury Grove alone, or at night. She also agrees not to approach the pool closer than necessary to place the talismans, or to test it with her own weaving - not at present, anyway.

Hawk had been her next call.

A few days later, after he has had time to consider and to consult with the Bookhouse Boys, Hawk knocks on her apartment door and agrees to her request.

* * * * * * *
When Moiraine returns to Milliways, she leaves a sealed note with Bar, addressed to Wei Wuxian.

Master Wei--

I made the trial of your talismans according to your instructions. When I activated the one at the northernmost point, glowing red energy swept inward from the circle in a wave focused on the pool at its center.

The pool absorbed it all. It vanished into the depths without a ripple, and without a trace.

Nothing else has happened. Yet.

--Moiraine Sedai

That task completed, she settles at her preferred table with tea and begins sketching something in a notebook.

Comments

[we_bring_hell]

Harrow rises early by habit, but by her own clock; she is used to a scheduled governed by the clock and not by a sun. It is hard to discuss the relative nature of time between three distinct chrono-asynchronous locations, but from Harrow's perspective it is still early enough for the lines of her makeup to still be knife-sharp.

She is exploring some of the options the Bar has made available to her--still within her ebon color pallet and her requirements of modesty, but for instance black denim and a black turtleneck meet her needs without being the standard Drearburh habit. She is not wearing gloves, which is outlandish license. The leather of her journal feels strange on her hands, accustomed as she is to wearing them.

"Greetings, Moiraine Sedai," she says calmly, accepting a cup of tea that she makes an effort to remember to drink.

[acrookedpath]

Because he forgot to take the potion Ingress gave him, Wei Wuxian awoke with a vicious hangover, still in the too-snug clothes Madam Bar gave him, and would have reintroduced the entirety of last night to the floor if he hadn't fumbled the vial's contents into his mouth in time.

Once his head was clear and his stomach settled, he realized Lan Zhan still wasn't there.

Taking a shower and changing back into his robes did banish the last of the fog from his mind, but it did nothing to make Lan Zhan appear -- and by then, it was late enough in the day that he doubted he would see him at all until the evening. So much for his attempt at courage. So much for... a lot of things.

(How much worse has he made it already? Did Lan Zhan think he abandoned him? Did he decide he would be better off in Cold Pond Cave when he arrived at the inn and Wei Wuxian wasn't there?)

All of which is to say that he is already in a foul mood when he comes downstairs, hair still damp from the shower, and finds Moiraine's note waiting for him. Wei Wuxian takes a long, long breath, rests his forehead against his palm, and closes his eyes until he is sure he won't do anything rash.

Then he gets up, walks to her table, and unceremoniously drops the note on top of her sketch.

"Is every word written in here true?" he asks.

(She is oath-bound to speak the truth. Not, necessarily, write it.)

[mm_lorna]

Nearby, Gideon is stuffing herself full of fried paradoxes.

It's clearly not her first course of the meal, either: there are several plates clustered on the table she's commandeered, mostly scraped clean. Unsure of what else to do, she'd spent the morning doing press-ups and sit-ups out in the sun, then jogged around the perimeter of the woods surrounding the Bar and its surrounding buildings, so when she came back in, she was ravenous.

But now that's she's nearly finished eating, she's not sure what to do with herself, and is idly considering asking the Bar for some comics or dirty magazines to pass the time with when she glances at the next table over.

The jewel on her forehead alone is probably worth every dusty treasure in the Ninth's ancient coffers. And she's sketching on real paper, not just flimsy. Gideon, who has spent her whole life talking smartly back to Crux and Aiglamene, finds herself feeling unaccountably shy.

[herald_ingress]

Ingress breezes through the bar on the way to some convenient thread in her continuity! She's in Herald Whites, her sword at her side, and her usual pleasant expression on her face.

"Oh, hello, Moiraine," she says when she sees the familiar woman. Ingress was probably a teenager in her greys, rushing back from the House to Valdemar, the last time they met here.