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 Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 11:43 am
"Unfortunately, a voice over a walkie-talkie won't dismiss them properly," Michael admitted. It could be Elise playing a trick, after all, and anyway he was not authorized to dismiss them without an explanation (or at all). It wouldn't do to pretend and get caught in the lie and have Elise catch him and get angry again. They had come so far! He did turn to Maia, however. "Could you please let them know that all is well. I will deliver news to them later. For now, I believe I'll remain to entertain Miss Winsett."
He turned back to Elise fully then and gestured to a seat. "May I?"
When she'd answered, he took appropriate answer and began: "The 'metal birds' are actually vehicles. They contain a hundred people or more, and take them between distant lands in a matter of hours. To come from America to Wales took about fifteen hours. They are propelled by gas engines, something that occurred long after you and I, I'm afraid, and glide on very large wings with flaps that control the flow of air around them. We took one of them here; they're called 'airplanes,' The louder ones with the propellers atop, those are called 'helicopters.' As for the boxes, I believe you mean these?" He conjured a mimicry of a modern cell phone. "Am I mistaken? These are personal telephones, called 'cell phones.' Through them, a person across the globe can speak to another, like a walkie-talkie at a great distance. There are also games to be played, and applications to enjoy. Telephones also exist in homes. They used to have cords,but do not any longer. In fact, few people still have 'land lines.' Those are connected through the tall poles with cords coming from them, like the lights. Electricity and electronics are well past our lives, but they are quite convenient. Telephones are nearly instant. Letters are very much a 'thing of the past.'"
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 12:04 pm
Maia promised that she would and made a quick exit. She headed downstairs. "Michael's keeping her company," she said, looking to Lori. "She's--well, I think she was asking about airplanes."
Elise gestured for him to sit, and listened attentively. Her teacup disappeared in a wisp, her eyes trailing over Michael as he spoke. "Like the flying machine?" She conjured a book with a sketch of Da Vinci's work. "I never thought anything like that would be real," she admitted. "Helicopters," she echoed. She was baffled, when Michael conjured the phone, and reached for it.
"It's like magic," she said. How could one little box do so much? "I never had anyone to write letters to, anyway."
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 12:14 pm
Lori looked surprised for a moment, then nodded. "Good, that's a start. I'm glad somebody could get to her. I'm sorry she locked you up like that.
"Ah, Da Vinci!" Michael said excitedly, a grin splitting his features. Women were not often educated in his lifetime, though to not fault of their own. Even then, most people in general were more interested in native poets and novels than Ca Vinci. "Yes, quite like that, but not powered by a man. Men cannot move as fast as is required, but a motor can."
He turned back to Elise then. "No? You seem like the type of woman to have many friends."
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 12:28 pm
"I'm alright," Maia assured him. "How's Toby?"
Oh. "So a motor is...like a very fast horse?" Lissie guessed. She was fascinated. "How does a radio work? Like the walkie talkie things?"
She shook her head, then. "A few. I'm afraid in life, I was considered odd. I stuck to my garden. It's dead now." She looked towards her window. "It used to be beautiful. I took care of it until I couldn't. And then I made everyone leave."
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 12:34 pm
Toby had since pulled a blanket over his shoulders, though he still sat hunched at the desk. He glanced to Maia through half-lidded eyes. "Maybe he can talk her into stopping this," he said, "because I feel like-- I feel awful." He'd have cussed anywhere else, but one never knew when an entity might take offense.
"It's funny you should say that," Michael was meanwhile explaining, "The power of an engine is measured in 'horsepower,' or how many horses would be needed to draw with equivalent force." He looked off to the window then, and though he wasn't at a good angle to see from it, he thought he knew what might be there. He had not been so odd himself, not in the ways that people usually considered oddity, though he had certainly been a bit boisterous and a mild criminal in silly ways. Mostly he had been a gentleman, and one of high standing and beauty. Life had been fairly easy for him, before his murder.
"I'm sorry for the garden. I'm afraid that being dead is no simpler than being alive, when you linger." The implication was, of course, that crossing over was much better. "The limitations can be difficult. I frightened people away from my mentor's home as well, though. I understand the desire."
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 12:45 pm
"I hope he can," Maia said, and moved to kiss Toby on the cheek. Her poor love. He looked how he felt, too. "Why don't we get you in bed?" She suggested.
Humans were truly fascinating. They learned so much in what seemed like so little time. Lissie conjured another book. "We could stay together," she suggested. "You're like me. We can make those people leave and have the house to ourselves." She opened the book. "I miss being alive," she said. "When I got sick, my family stopped caring. My fiancée stopped visiting. They didn't hire a doctor. They didn't care." She held up the book, open to Michael. "I want to visit here," she said.
It was a map, and she was pointing at America.
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:09 pm
"Because bed is the floor or a bag of air," Toby complained.
- - -
"I can't stay," Michael said. "My work is to help people like us. My white light reopened, but I chose to stay for my job. It was very warm, though. I wanted to go. There's something better beyond, but I want to help as many people make it there as I can before I go myself." He looked over the book then and smiled.
"You know, I live there now. Here." He tapped the book just over Arizona. "I came back on a plane, when they'd talked some sense into me. I'm sorry that your family didn't help. It's very sad, honestly. I was training to be a doctor myself, but my death had nothing to do with illness." Not his own, anyway, and not a physical one.
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:20 pm
"It sounds nice," Warmth always was a nice feeling. Flowers florished in the warmth of summer, peaceful lazy summer days under the tree in her garden came to mind. "But wouldn't it be lonely? All your friends are here."
Lissie set the book down behind her. "I wanted to be so many things, before I was old enough to realize I couldn't," she said. "Do you want to walk with me, through the house?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:23 pm
Michael shook his head. "Not all of them. I saw many of them when the light opened up again. The ones who have passed as well, they were there, and I saw my parents and my siblings too. My family never did wrong by me, and I'd never met my siblings. There are many things still open to you. They've simply changed." He nodded then. "Certainly, if you'd like."
He stood, and offered his hand to help Elise up. It would be up to her whether to take it, but it would be impolite to not offer, especially if they were to walk together.
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:34 pm
Lissie took his hand and smiled, standing. "We can go see your friends," she offered. "We can tell them to leave. Then I can show you the rest of the house. We used to have a library. My father's. He never minded me reading in there. Those people took everything out and made it a bedroom!"
She was frowning as she looked around. "I made the house better," she said. "What was your house like?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 3:40 pm
"Libraries have gone out of fashion," Michael admitted, and he released Elise's hand as soon as he could to walk with her. "Oddly enough, the average family is much smaller as well."
He began to lead the way downstairs, trying to reason out how he would introduce Elise to the crew, what was appropriate and what was not. He didn't want to make her angry.
"Oh, it was what you might expect. It was brick, with a fairly large garden. My mentor's home was in the city proper, so it was thinner, but taller. I'd spent most of my time there," he said, "My family home, though, it had a large library and a nice garden. The kitchen was very warm." He smiled fondly. "I miss it now, being here."
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 3:52 pm
"That's unfortunate," Lissie tsked. The intelligence of humans was dwindling, then? "How do people learn things, if not in a library?" She reached for his hand, shyly.
"I'm not going to let your friend escape," she informed him, almost regretfully. It had been Toby's fault for coming in the first place, and she'd warned him. He'd have to face the consequences.
"Your home sounds lovely. I used to love the kitchen. We'd make the best pies." But pies cooling on the counter didn't happen, once you were dead.
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 3:58 pm
Her hand wasn't warm, but it was still human. Though it might have been terribly inappropriate, Michael accepted her hand and held it gently.
"There's an electronic called a 'computer.' It's like a very complex telephone, and people can write up information and leave it there. Libraries still exist, but they're in their own buildings, like lending libraries without having to pay." He ignored the comment about 'his friend.' That could be worked-on.
"I wasn't in the kitchen often. It wasn't my place, they used to say. I don't know much about cooking, but I did enjoy watching and tasting. The cook was very kind to me." She was dead too, though, by longer than him.
When they finally reached the first floor, Michael released Elise's hand and approached the others with his hands at his sides, smiling.
"I do believe I've found the woman we came here to help."
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 5:22 pm
"I liked helping my mother," Lissie said. "We didn't have a cook, but I had a nurse. She tutored me, too."
Elise looked around. "I don't new help," she reminded Michael. "I'm sorry you're sick," she added, looking at Toby.
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 5:26 pm
Michael ignored the young woman's insistence.
"If I'm not wrong, you did this," Toby said, gesturing to himself.
Michael tsked and narrowed his eyes at the werewolf, then addressed the group.
"This is Miss Winsett. She passed away in this house, and now that we know who she is, I do believe we may be able to some of us go home, mightn't we?"
"We might," Lori agreed, and he had caught on. "We can take down the cameras for sure. We were only hoping you'd talk to them or... something." He smiled to Elise and gave a little bow of the head. It wasn't quite so reverent as a proper Victorian bow, but he had been alive more than a century as well.
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