Sepúlveda
When he comes to pester the younger of his two students this time, Andrés doesn't bother laying on the horn outside her window or even texting to warn her of his impending arrival.
This may give her the impression that he had in fact gotten so drunk that he didn't remember what happened last night. That is an inaccurate impression. In the event of a blackout, the Son of Ether has a time rewinder. It comes in handy.
Margot's mentor knocks like a cop.
He's wearing the same outfit he had on last night when he ditched the two of them to go to another bar to hook up with "the filthy pagan." His hair is a mess.
"You two are just fucking with me, right?" is how he greets her when she opens the door.
Margot
The knocking on the door had a delayed answer. Maybe twenty seconds later, give or take, the door finally opened. Margot looked confused and curious and only the slightest bit disapproving to see him in the same clothes as he was wearing the night before. His greeting shifted the tone of scolding right back upon her, though, and it was confusion's turn to shine again.
"...What are you talking about?"
All the same, Margot opened the door to let Sepúlveda inside the little studio apartment. The place was tidy and Yorick was back too, visible napping on the floor in a patch of sun that cut in from the open balcony door.
Margot herself was dressed in a pair of denim shorts and a navy blue tank-top, barefoot in the comfort of her own home. The day was suddenly hot, nearly 80 degrees out in the afternoon, and her apartment didn't have air conditioning (a sad truth to contend with). The open door and window were helped by an area fan, not to mention the intermittant bursts of rain that would pass through in a hurry. Weather was weird.
Back to the Doc, though, what was he talking about?
Sepúlveda
If the weather is of any consequence to him, he hasn't dressed to reflect this. Hasn't even taken the time to run a comb through his hair. The heat doesn't bother him and neither does the fact that Margot doesn't have the fresh-posed question ringing in her ears like her mentor does.
Hell, he hasn't even told either of them that he has a device he uses to see what he's missed when he's had too much to drink. There's a lot he doesn't tell them. Hypocrites are an unrepentant lot.
His hands go into the pockets of his jacket and an eyebrow quirks.
"'The thing about Luke,'" he says.
Margot
Margot's face dropped completely. She was remembering, all of a sudden, that exact moment when the fog of dark started to roll in and she rolled her head and saw Ned's stupid smirk and remembered feeling a sudden hot flare of betrayal and anger. She'd forgotten with everything that followed, tumbling into some alternate Magickal reality of caverns and ravines and giants and quivers.
The blank realization crumpled away under a scowl, and Margot turned her head to the side and cursed. "God damnit, Ned."
On the spot with the Doc staring at her, hands in pockets, looking something like a premonition in his warm-for-the-day clothes and augural impression. She looked back up at him, frowned like she was considering holding her ground on the subject or putting up some kind of a fight to defend her decisions in secret keeping (even though she was just so terrible at it). Didn't fight right away, but still looked pretty defensive all the same.
"Ned's not funny. He wasn't joking, he was just being an ass."
Sepúlveda
Part of the problem with increasing power is that it comes with an increase in the scope of one's perspective. Personal problems cease to matter as much when reminders of the planet's decreasing ability to sustain human life begin multiplying.
While Margot and Ned are just now able to begin learning to manipulate living patterns and energy sources and the spirit world, their mentor is already able to control them. Soon he will be able to command the world around him.
So the fact that he doesn't say anything, just sucks on an eyetooth and stares at her, means he's giving her a chance to cough up whatever it is she's holding onto before he goes ahead and gets the answer some other way.
Margot
The sucking of the tooth and pointed staring was clue enough for Margot. She knew that she didn't entirely know the Doc's boundaries, but she did know that he wasn't above digging around in Space and Time to start hunting for details on his own. Maybe he'd give her a truth serum. Maybe he'd just look through reality to see what was happening. She had no idea what his gadgets could do, beyond the idea of everything.
So she sighed and looked over at her rabbit where he lounged in the sun, away from the Doc, and explained hurriedly.
"Last Monday Luke left me a voicemail. He's out and apparently remembers enough to remember that I took his arm. He's started traveling out west but stopped up in the Chicago area so far from what I know. I didn't want to tell you because I don't want you to kill him."
Sepúlveda
First he squints, as if it's his eyesight and not her explanation that is gumming up his gears. He isn't wearing his eyeglasses. That would help, but that isn't the problem.
Then he scratches his face, which has recovered some of its beard after last month's shearing. Where before there was a wedding band is bare flesh. It has been this way since Alexander's rescue and it appears as if the absence is now permanent.
Then he puts his hand back into its pocket.
"What."
Margot
"I'm so--..."
She was starting to apologize, watching him scratch his face and squint at her from across the room like that. She was stopped, though, by a small look of frustration at herself. Shook her head and corrected.
"No. I'm not sorry. Ned and I had a plan. I wanted my chance to try with Luke before it had to resort to killing. I didn't think you'd give me that chance." She crossed her arms over her ribs and frowned defensively again because at least that kept the look of apology away (she still didn't like lying to him about something as big a deal as having someone want to kill you).
"Don't know when he'll be here, but we're as ready as we'll be."
Sepúlveda
It doesn't take him very long to formulate an answer as to why she would think that on his own.
Even if he has yet to kill anyone in front of either of his students, she has heard him threaten a creature with it. She has figured out that he killed his wife, or the thing that he'd made of his wife's corpse. It stands to reason that that Colt Anaconda he keeps unloaded in his Wrangler has at least wounded another person.
In the glow of his lightbulb moment, Sepúlveda shrugs his shoulders and reaches for the doorknob.
"Alright, then," he says. "Have fun."
Margot
"What, really?"
Clearly Margot didn't expect that kind of a response. Dismissal, a well wish at best, and just walking away? No, she was braced for scolding, for cursing and being told that it was a terrible idea and maybe possibly even some yelling who knew? But not his turning around to leave.
"That's it? You come all the way to my door from whatever you were up to, demanding to know whats up, and you're just cool with this?" Eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?"
Sepúlveda
He's got the door open and is over the threshold by the time she looses her first question. It pauses him, but it doesn't rewind the action. He balances on one foot for a few seconds, eyebrows raised in an expression of irreverence. That third question has him planting both feet and doing her the kindness of at least facing her suspicion.
"First of all, I was clarifying, not demanding. B, if you didn't see the need to involve me before, I don't see the need to involve myself now. Also, Amazing Race is on tonight, and I've got money riding on those two idiot frisbee players getting eliminated."
The only thing that will keep him from closing the door at the end of that explanation is a swift interjection from his former student.
No comments:
Post a Comment