|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 11:31 am
Michael saw this change in her face and clothing, but she wasn't looking toward any light and he didn't see it himself. Had it been conscious or unhelped? He felt two emotions in one sharp stab before he resolved to normalcy: fear that she was going and joy that she was free. When she made no move, however, he resolved to only think about tea and cakes and this exact moment. It was selfish to want her to stay, and he didn't. She had to go some time soon.
"I did," he said, but only because she needed some response. There was no desire to boast or brag or even accept the feat as his own. "Do you like strawberries? I could conjure something else." Would she be able to taste them? Would she care? He had been rather numb in the tongue himself, but he couldn't say if it was nature or his melancholy that had caused it. He had been able to taste through Maia, and hadn't conjured any tea or cakes for himself before or outside of her.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 11:43 am
"I can't remember the taste of strawberries," Lissie admitted, looking sorrowful. "Sometimes it's like I can almost taste things," she said, "I can imagine the warmth of tea, and the feel of things." But she couldn't really experience them.
She took a teacup and lifted it to her lips. "You really are different," she said. "No one would have done something like this for me, while I was alive. I wish I could have met you then." Life would have been so much better. Michael was so kind, so gentle, such a gentleman. He was handsome, and so special and they'd only known each other a short time. It was like a fairy tale.
But she was dead. And she was fairly sure it was too late for her to have a happy ending.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 11:49 am
'Well, I hope that I've done the texture some justice, at least," Michael said. So she couldn't taste. It was unfortunate, but maybe there were strawberries in heaven, or at least they they could be conjured there.
"Ah, but in this way death has done us well," he replied then with a smile. He poured Lissie's tea and conjured a tray for sugar cubes to push ahead and offer with the creamer. She might not be able to taste, but he knew that familiarity could be comforting. Of course she could likely conjure the sugar herself, but that wasn't the point. Today they could pretend to be at least partially alive. "The records of your life say that you were born sixteen years after my death. We are Victorian of different eras, and we never might have met in life. I was long gone before you were even born."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 12:14 pm
Lissie took a sip of her tea and smiled at him. She'd certainly never felt what she did for Michael for anyone during her lifetime.
"Oh," she said, blinked. She took another sip of tea to cover her surprise. "Michael, would you like to walk through the garden with me?" She asked. "You've made it so beautiful."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 12:22 pm
"I'm no old wretch, though," Michael insisted, "I was only twenty-three in life." He was smirking, amused by Lissie's surprise. Death united everyone. Surely there were knights and astronauts alike in heaven. Their age was no surprise to him any more. He knew living men twice his age, and boys not yet one year old.
"Certainly. I would love to," he said, though he had only just poured his own tea and was eying those cakes. He was lucky. He could conjure them later or at home for himself, though he was fairly sure that he had ruined them in sharing them with Lissie, whom he was now sure he would miss. "I hope I haven't bungled it too badly."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 12:28 pm
Lissie smiled at this. "I was going to say you looked young for your age, but I wasn't sure how to say it politely," she said. She took a plate and got herself one of the tea cakes.
"I remember liking strawberries," she said. "They're sweet?" She was guessing. The memory of their flavor had left her, along with her taste buds. She took a small bite.
"You did wonderfully. It's just as I remember it. We used to have a bird bath just there--" she pointed, "the robins would come and play in it. I loved to watch them, when I was young."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 12:38 pm
Michael only took a cake when Lissie had made it clear that she planned to linger at the table a while longer. He was just a little uncouth, having not conjured himself any silverware. Politeness was important, but convention could go lend off a cliff from time to time.
"They are," he said, "Not sugary-sweet, but sweet. I've only recently regained the ability to taste, myself." He turned to look where she was pointing while he chewed his strawberry. He conjured a bird bath of carved stone and filled it with water. A robin flew from the trees to bathe, though it was a false robin for now, purely for Lissie's enjoyment. He swallowed and sucked his teeth before he spoke again. "Like that?" He turned back to her, smiling.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 12:52 pm
Lissie was delighted. She turned to smile at Michael before finishing her cake and standing to go over to the birdbath. She held her finger out, wondering if the robin would land on it.
"You are amazing," she marveled, and gave him another smile. He was so talented with his illusion abilities! They were almost real.
"I've never been so happy," she said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 4:48 pm
The bird landed on her finger and chirruped to her, but illusions could do whatever one liked. Michael hadn't finished his cake or his tea, but he stood to join her nevertheless. She must want to walk now, and he couldn't blame her.
"I've brought some books from home, you know. If you'd like to borrow them, you may." Hopefully she wouldn't be around long enough to read any of them, but he wanted to offer nevertheless. He also offered his elbow once more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 5:02 pm
Lissie smiled at the bird, and then at Michael. "Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt you," she said, gesturing at his cake. She looked a bit awkward, then.
"I would really like that," she said, and gave him a brighter smile. "Do you have any about science? Maybe new inventions?" She looked hopeful. "I have so many decades to catch up on. Where do I begin?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 5:07 pm
"No, please. I can conjure cake any day. We only have the garden in Wales," Michael said. Unfortunately he had to shake his head at Lissie's question of content. "I admit that they are mostly fiction. There is modern technology in each, though, save those from our time. I was always a fan of novels, guiltily. My mentor was not very pleased that I was sometimes filling my mind with 'sentiment' rather than science."
He began to walk with her. "If you would like, I may be able to borrow Toby's computer to search the internet a while. That is new technology in and of itself, but I find it strangely easy to manipulate in my state." That was to say while dead.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 5:16 pm
"Sentiment is good, too," Lissie said, and gave him a smile. "But science is fascinating! Life is so exciting. I wanted to know how everything worked. I didn't get a chance." Women had such limitations. "My family would have cared more if I'd been male." She shook her head and looked to the robin on her finger.
"What is the Internet?" She asked. "Can we see how airplanes work?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 5:34 pm
"Society has always been biased one way or the other," Michael agreed with a little nod, "Women are more equal now, but still there are struggles. As for the ways of science, I'm certain that in another hundred years, everything will be advanced beyond our wildest dreams, and what we believe that we know now will be proven entirely false. It is the nature of science, and how wonderful it is! No one person will ever know the whole of the natural world. The internet holds most information, however. If you can find it in your heart to ignore the cruelty, it has a wealth of information on every subject."
He peered into the water and saw their reflections, smiled, and offered his elbow. "Shall we?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 6:31 pm
"Oh, good," Lissie smiled at that news. Women wouldn't have the same struggles she'd gone through, then. She rewarded him with a brighter smile when he spoke of science. "I love learning about the world," she said. "Cruelty?" She'd been imagining the internet like a library.
She took his arm. "Thank you again, for doing this," she said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 6:37 pm
"There is an anonymity that makes people feel as if they can say and do anything without repercussions. Some abuse this power." He began to walk with Lissie then, arm in arm. The bird bath and birds remained, existing in this world of illusion without Michael's attention.
He smiled then and offered a deep nod. "Of course. A lady such as you deserves a pleasant afternoon." He would have apologized, but that might have brought the sadder topics back to light. "So, tell me. What is your favorite flower?" He knew many types fairly well, perhaps better than the average man. His mother had been an avid gardener, but he had also liked to learn of the symbolism of particular blooms in life. Once one learned a flower, one rarely forgot it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
