[Jaunt] Not long after the beginning of Week Four

[awondrousplace]

Can anyone tell me what in the bloody hell is going on? One moment I was a professor, and now I am... myself, but also still somehow Professor Cavour.

Also, whoever decided I should be called bloody Cavour has some explaining to do.

At any rate, darlings, I'm back. What's been going on?

Comments

[leftbehindagain]

He's not sure what Helena's getting at, at first, but when the panel opens up, Naoki grins. "This is great."

[awondrousplace]

"I am ever so glad you like it." She steps into the room, and the door closes behind them both.

Settling by the table, she waves a hand, and a Japanese tea set appears, steaming a light, flavorful green tea that she has come to love.

"Now, my darling, what is going on in your head?"

[leftbehindagain]

Naoki sighs, even as he settles in and helps himself to some tea.

"I've been trying to figure out what I can do to help, and... it's looking more and more like the answer is 'leave it to other people.' I don't have a pog buddy. I think I got everything useful I can from the library, and in any case fighting with that stupid newsprint archive thing may not be worth the additional headache."

Perhaps more to the point, he's kind of dissatisfied with not being able to do more.

[awondrousplace]

"Do I even want to know what in the bloody hell a 'newsprint archive' is? Trying to look through all of the old records in the Warehouse is bad enough, and things rarely age there. I cannot imagine what it is outside of the Warehouse."

Helena leans back, thinking. "Sometimes, darling, the best thing to do to help is realize that what you're there to do is support others. In London, Josephine, our Caretaker, would say that people help the Warehouse just as much by staying home as by going out to collect Curiosities. Are your friends going to go fight? If so, stay here. Prepare something for them when they get back. Make certain that they are not hurt."

[leftbehindagain]

"Micro...something. Some really stupid arrangement where you feed film into a machine and look at it. I'm pretty sure it was out of date when I was four." Why couldn't he just google it. Why.

"There is something to that. It's pretty well established I don't have a pog and I'm not sure faking it with a Persona is the best idea, so I wouldn't be a whole lot of good on the front line anyway. I just... want to help see this thing through, as long as I'm here."

[awondrousplace]

"That sounds utterly impractical and asinine. Mr. Edison could have come up with something better, and he was an egregious, thieving arse."

She pauses, however, shaking her head. "Seeing something through, darling, is just as much being there for people as being on the front lines. Not everyone has to be as... active as Kanji."

[leftbehindagain]

Well, that at least startles a laugh out of him. "No need to hold back, okaa-san, tell us how you really feel."

He's completely in agreement that microfiche is stupid, though.

"I know, and I don't know why it's bugging me so much this time. Probably because most other things that required a fight, it's been easier to find a place in the fight."

[awondrousplace]

"Mr. Edison was the worst sort of so-called inventor. He did not have an original thought in his entire life." She laughs a bit, shaking her head. "Sorry, darling. This is not the time for a discussion of my original contemporaries."

There's a long pause before she shakes her head. "Sometimes the best way to support a fight is to stay out of it. In this case, your friends know you have their back, and there is nothing wrong with creating a new drink or two for them for when they get back. Too many cooks spoil the broth, after all. No one would ever accuse you at this particular moment, at least, of not caring."

[leftbehindagain]

"Kanji must be rubbing off on me. He's usually the one worried about being in the thick of things." Or maybe it's because the stakes are so much higher now.

"...I think you're right. I've done all I can for now, I'm just not used to running out of things I can do so quickly."

[awondrousplace]

"It can't be all bad, darling. Sometimes you could use a bit of a jump start." She's teasing. Mostly.

"It happens that way. There were more than a few collections at home in which I was fairly unhelpful after a time." A pause. "Especially one particular one in Jerusalem after Wooley refused to allow me to pretend to be his wife."

[leftbehindagain]

"What's that supposed to mean?" There's no venom in the protest, though, since Naoki knows it's absolutely true.

"...Why would you have wanted to pretend to be his wife?"

[awondrousplace]

"We were in a very traditionally Jewish part of Jerusalem, that did not appreciate unattended women walking about. No one would tell me anything as a woman of my age if I was unattached." She shrugs. "Wooley did well enough in the end, though."

[leftbehindagain]

"Ah. One of those situations. Did you manage to come up with anything to do, or were you stuck waiting it out?"