[PRP] Mysterious (Eve/Chester)

[Smerdle]

As it turned out, Eve Fitzpatrick was the owner of a tea shop near Professor Mercer's bookstore, which made her refreshingly easy to find. Plus... tea. Chester wasn't the most avid drinker of the stuff, but he enjoyed a cup of it every now and then, especially these days. It paired well with his ideas of what magic was and made him feel mysterious, not that he was admitting that to anyone any time soon.

He ducked into the shop very carefully, wary of first impressions he'd actually had time to think about. After a cursory glance around and a nod for anyone he could see, Chester moved to examine the nearest batch of tea things, sure that he would break something if he didn't keep to himself.

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"If you're new to tea, you might like the mild spiced chai blend. Or an Earl Grey," Eve suggested in a practiced, though darkly colored tone. Something about her voice was like dry leaves scraping against concrete in the wind. Her selection had a handful of spiced chai-styled blends, from mild to 'extra spicy' (which had a heavier emphasis on peppercorns).

Eve, who had a mischievous streak on top of having been a manual wheelchair user for nearly a decade, was quite good at making silent sudden appearances.

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

His eyebrows rose in an oh, hello, i'm not ruining your store kind of way, and they stayed there as she spoke. She had an impressive voice, containing the sort of subtlety that once again screamed magic at him, and he found himself smiling a bit even as he tucked his arms closer to his body. "Chai sounds good. I've had Earl Grey in the past, but only in bags. I have a tea ball as well, I've just never gotten that particular sort loose." It was less a ball and more a holey silicone manatee that hung off the side of his mug, but at least he was trying.

Chester swallowed. "Would you happen to be Eve Fitzpatrick, by any chance?"

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"I am," Eve replied warmly, writing down Chester's order. "Were you wanting to have this here? You can take a chair at my table in the back area, it's the one with a bunch of papers and a pincushion on it. I always make time for people who come to me with this sort of problem."

She'd already guessed at what was going on if she were being asked after by name.

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"Yes. That sounds all right." If he liked it, he could take some home. If not, he wouldn't be stuck with any more than a cup. He did wonder what sort of problem she thought he had as he nodded and made his way to the back. Besides the end of the world, that was.

Once he had reached the designated table Chester sat and waited, feeling slightly less out of place now that he was out of the way.

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[cibarium]

A fresh pot of tea, along with some cream and sugar, was brought out some minutes later, with Eve and Clover not far behind. She took her place behind Renard's grimoire, a journal of her own slowly acquiring its own dense set of notes, and nicer paper with more attempts at spell circles and other spell shapes.

"You're cutting it a bit close, the full moon's almost here," she began while reorganizing some of her things. "But I can arrange you a way to the other side. Have you experienced any partial transformations, behaviors, cravings... that sort of thing?"

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Mention of the full moon sparked a question that the rest of what she said turned into a denial, but he kept his mouth shut until Eve had finished speaking, messing with his tea until then. Partial transformations? Cravings? Were these the sorts of things that Oliver and Preacher dealt with?

"I'm flattered." Flattered? Was it flattery to be called a werewolf? He supposed it was better than loser or nerd, so yes, in this instance it was. "But I'm not a moonwalker." Chester smiled, small and polite. "Jeremiah Mercer actually gave me your name as someone to speak with about magic. There's so much to do before November and I don't have a clue where to begin, and you... you seem very put together."

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Eve had partially re-engrossed herself in her work as she'd started talking, but Chester's response made her look up in surprise and slight embarrassment. She'd gotten so accustomed to her role as a supportive figure for new moonwalkers that she hadn't expected someone with knowledge of magic would approach her about anything else. It was an interesting change of pace. Whether it was welcome, she had no clue, partially because she still had no idea what kind of help she was being asked for.

Just that it was the magic kind of help.

"My abilities were taken from me some time ago," she slowly answered, "but I can try. What are you hoping to learn?"

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Taken from her? He wanted to ask more, but the hows and whys behind that felt even more personal than the reasons behind someone's geas. He could at least offer his condolences, since having his magic nullified was probably the worst thing he could imagine.

"I'm sorry." He took a sip, nodding once as he set the cup back on its saucer. It was good. "I suppose my first question would be, what would you do to stop what's coming if you had all the power in the world? It's kind of broad, you see. I feel like if anyone was aware of any realistic possibilities, they would already be pursuing them. It also sounds a lot like what started all of this in the first place. One person trying to change the world."

"I'm Chester, by the way. I probably should have introduced myself before I launched into such... whatever." He recalled her now from the listserv, eloquent and knowledgeable while he bickered about chest hair. He was suddenly thankful he only ever signed his posts with his initials.

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"There's a lot to be stressed about," Eve said. She was a bit disheveled herself, and hadn't been sleeping as much as she normally preferred for quite some time. "Cutting right to the chase is understandable. As for your question..."

She thought for a moment, twirling a pen in her hand.

"I'd simply decide for it to stop. That would be enough if I had all the power in the world, wouldn't it?" Then she smiled wryly and shook her head. "But we don't. Renard didn't either. I think deciding to make such a huge change all on his own was a mistake we shouldn't try to repeat."

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Hm. Yes. Both valid points, but neither got him any closer to figuring out what to do. He smiled back, equally as wry with a dash of self-deprecation.

"I agree. It's too bad that knowing it's a bad idea doesn't make the desire to make such a mistake go away." Chester paused, took another sip. "This is good. Thank you." After a barely audible sigh, he added, "Do you and Jeremiah know each other well? I have a feeling he sent me to you to learn about moonwalkers, but I can't help thinking there are bigger questions now."

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[cibarium]

Eve smiled and nodded appreciatively at Chester's compliment: the gesture had an obvious undertone of well, of course it's good. Making tea was more of a way of life for her than an interest. Part of why she wanted the cycles to end was so she could get more fully back to it and live out a nice, long, boring life making it for herself and other people.

As much as she enjoyed her thrills, Eve seriously missed boredom nowadays.

"Jeremiah's been a friend to me for a long time," she answered, "in a way that makes him part of the family. He speaks highly of family he chooses. Maybe he figured I'd at least offer you something interesting." She paused for a moment to finish writing down an unrelated thought she was having. "I'm also something of a pagan, so the situation we're in has a meaning to me spiritually as well as intellectually and emotionally." Then she smiled again, adding, "Not that I suspect he sent you my way so I could convert you. We don't even really do that sort of thing."

smrdle

 

[Smerdle]

"Well, this has been interesting so far, so he would be right on that front." Where Vivien had been classed as ever so faintly unapproachable and creepy by her environment, with Eve he felt like a kid again, venturing into the tea shop to pick up a side quest and maybe turn pagan. He had a feeling he might have been coming across as some sort of fanboy, but... eh. It was close to the bottom of the list of ways he had embarrassed himself in this life.

"I'm sure that's not all he had in mind though. If it's not... painful or personal, I guess, maybe you could tell me about your magic. Does it seem to have a focus?" He hesitated to use the past tense for the same reasons he hesitated to bring it up, but he did so anyway.

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"Hard to say," Eve answered honestly. "This time last year I was eager to see what I was capable of, and who I could help. Before that... it was a form of prayer and a form of self-determination, essentially. That hasn't changed much." She realized her answer was already veering off what she was probably being asked for: something that could be concisely defined and modeled off of in some way. So she paused, and recollected herself.

"Now, I've become sick of being caught in some last-minute scenario without the knowledge or foresight to make the right decision." Her voice became rather curt and acerbic, colored by her ever-growing growing distaste for and impatience with the trap they were all in. "So now my focus is time magic."

Whether she liked it or not. It's what she had to work with.

smerdlex

 

[Smerdle]

Time magic? It seemed like both the answer to all of their present problems as well as the potential cause of so many others. They could extend the weeks they had left, benefit from magical rewinds, rip and resew the fabric of the universe so many times that it would no longer hold a stitch. Tempting and dangerous.

Not that he was knocking the idea, he just had a tendency toward pessimism.

"I'll admit I'm frustrated as well... obviously." He didn't normally solicit advice from people he didn't know, or at least he hadn't before December. "Time magic sounds like the perfect solution, which I imagine means finding out anything useful is near impossible." Pessimist.

"If you find you need any sort of help, I would be happy to try."

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