XANADU OPERA TIME | ALL INVITED

[shall_yield_us]

WHEN: Jan. 15 | the Xanadu gardens.
CHARACTERS: Everyone.
SUMMARY: we interrupt your regular Xanadu viewing for the following special reminder: ...the visit ain't over til the bloody plant sings.

That's right: our green belle been giving rather obnoxious titillating performances in Xanadu, to what can only be the... enjoyment... of certain Citizens. Adding injury to insult, it's quite possible that a couple of residents have also captured the plant's tune on film, and now the video's been turned into a network viral phenomenon!

But as Citizens surely know, every grand artist needs a doting live audience: come get dibs on more plant footage? Save someone from its evil clutches? Help a poor soul that's got lost in the gardens' great expanse? Get the plant to sign with your talent agency? Embark on a mystical quest to get it to shut up?

Just put your chlorophyll-tinted glasses on, and anything is possible.


[ ooc: Find whatever excuse to throw your character in Xanadu, tag someone new, and all around: GET IN HERE. Just as a note: hearing the plant is definitely optional, so please don't think it's an overwhelming sound that'd keep your character up at night or some such. It's just a log prompt. XD ]

Comments

[mintjulep]

[ There's a slight chuckle. ]

No, probably not. I'll take your word for it.

[likeboudica]

Since you cannot Change, I believe you will have to.

[ Slightest hesitation. ] I could show you.

[mintjulep]

[ A pause of his own. ]

Only if you feel comfortable doin' it.

[likeboudica]

It no longer hurts. [ She's not perfectly comfortable with it, but that has less to do with showing him and more with the fact that part of her still believes herself a monster for the ability, even though her time in the City and the acceptance of people here have helped considerably.

But she trusts Doctor McCoy, and she wants him to understand, or at least get close to understanding, what she is and what she can do. If he can still accept her after that, would that not mean that she is not a monster after all? ]

I would not wish to do it here, though. [ Too many people around. ]

[mintjulep]

It used to hurt? [ That makes sense, if he thinks about it, but it doesn't mean he has to be happy about it. He doesn't want her to hurt. ]

I don't blame you. [ He runs a hand through his hair for a moment, considering. ] Do you have a place in mind, or...? [ There's his apartment, of course, but it's sort of bare. For some reason, the idea of taking Tessa there, to a place that's obviously just a place to eat and sleep, doesn't sit well with him. ]

[likeboudica]

It felt as though I was ripped apart from the inside. [ That is the closest she can come to an accurate description. ]

Anywhere that has fewer people would be acceptable, I should think. Perhaps the youth centre, or even the library.

[mintjulep]

[ Jesus. He'd swear, but Tessa's a sixteen-year-old girl with Victorian sensibilities. ]

Wherever you're most comfortable.

[likeboudica]

The library, then. [ Tugging a hand into the crook of his arm. ]

[mintjulep]

[ He'll just pat her hand and let her lead. ]

[likeboudica]

[ once they reach the library, Tessa leads him through the rows of books and into the next room; the section full of old classics. Of course, for Tessa they're contemporary literature. ]

Very few people frequent this area of the library.

[ once upon a time, she might have worried about being unaccompanied in the presence of a man, but her time with the Shadowhunters and her stay in the City more so have disabused her of the notion that a chaperone is necessary and she may be compromised by a man's mere presence, and besides, this is Doctor McCoy. ]

[mintjulep]

[ And for McCoy, they're absolutely ancient. Actual books are harder to come by where he's from, and for a moment, he looks at them all. He'll have to stop by the library more often in the future. ]

That's a shame. Some of these are a pretty good read.

[ He recognizes titles; 250 years don't make classics stop being classics. They just make more of them. ]

[likeboudica]

[ Tessa smiles. ] It is indeed. Without some of these books, I do not think I would have been able to bear the training by the Darke Sisters as well as I did. [ Which wasn't very well, but that aside. ]

I told you that I can Change into another person, did I not. [ And a moment later, instead of Tessa, there's a blonde woman in her place - still in the same dress, blonde curls and a French accent when she speaks. Camille was not the easiest for Tessa to Change into, perhaps the hardest for all that she is foreign to Tessa, but Tessa cannot as easily access Camille's feelings and thoughts and she doesn't want to which makes Camille a good choice. ]

There are other shapeshifters in my world, warlocks, but they cannot as I can remember the memories and feel the emotions of the one they Change into.

[ And then there's Tessa again, watching McCoy with wide eyes. ]

[mintjulep]

[ To his credit, McCoy doesn't jump, though his eyes do widen. That's... damn, that's impressive, and it takes a lot not to pull out his tricorder. Good lord. ]

That really is somethin'.

[ But he's not afraid, not recoiling. Just surprised. ]

An' you have no idea how it works?

[likeboudica]

[ She visibly relaxes, tension draining out of her. ]

I assume it is magic of some sort.

[mintjulep]

Suppose that would make sense, where you come from.

[ There has to be some sort of science behind it, if she physically changes -- which is what it sounds like, if it used to hurt. ]

[likeboudica]

Do you [ she takes a deep breath ] If you want to-- do something, to learn how it works, if you can. [ She would let him. ]

[mintjulep]

[ He pauses, considers. It's tempting. But... ]

Not right now, and not here.

[likeboudica]

No, of course not. [ There's a little relief in those words. ]

[mintjulep]

I don't need to know how it works, Tess.

[ It's different if she wants to know how it works, but that doesn't matter to him as much as if she's healthy, happy. ]

[likeboudica]

No? [ She doesn't-- quite get that. ]

[mintjulep]

No. I'd be interested in knowing, sure, but I don't need to know. I can live without knowing. [ He pauses. ] I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, or obligated to show me or let yourself be poked and prodded at.

[likeboudica]

I know that I am not obliged to.

[ Thinking for a moment. ] Why are you so kind to me?

[mintjulep]

[ He considers for a brief moment, but it doesn't take long before he replies. ]

Because you've got to ask that question.

[likeboudica]

I don't understand.

[mintjulep]

You've been through more at sixteen than anyone should ever have to go through, Tess. If I can help make things a little easier for you, keep an eye out for you -- hell, even just teach you about horses -- then I will.