|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:23 pm
 It was a late autumn day, and Thriller had come into the cafe just to get out of the cold. Freezing rain was coming down hard, and the wind made the rain seem like it was coming after you. The babben saw the first spot where it looked like he might be able to wait out the storm and ducked in.
Unfortunately for him, the place was... uh...
Well, it looked like there was a ban on anything fun or young. He was practically the only babben, and everything else was austere and quiet, like the cafe was the aging son of a particularly boring library. The seats were tall and hard to navigate for a smaller phony, and the drinks had no sweetener in them whatsoever. Pretty soon, Thriller felt... bored. Warm, but uncomfortable and bored.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:25 pm
Dark Water, unsurprisingly, had little issue with the rain or getting soaked. However, the wind and chill were a poor combination and could result in her catching a cold. That absolutely wouldn't do; there was no way she would allow herself to get either of her siblings sick just for the sake of enjoying the weather. Oh, how she would rather splash in frigid puddles and be soaked to the bone outside than linger in this drag of a place, but she had to be responsible for her siblings sakes. Instead, the filly also found herself retreating to the same dull, boring cafe, though she had arrived earlier than more colorful colt who just entered. Her pale eyes traced him with quiet scrutiny before she returned to her drink -- bitter and small but certainly warm.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:25 pm
Thriller sighed into his drink, trying not to faint dead away from sheer boredom. Just before he went nose-first into his tea (was it tea? Or the warmed up tears of sadbored customers?), he noticed the presence of another babben in the cafe! She was dark and lovely and slightly more sophisticated-looking than he was (no floating hair, no red eyes), so he wondered if maybe this was just Her Kind of Place.
Eh, what the heck. He'd give it a shot.
Scooting his chair slightly slowly (which was quite a feat, considering how unwieldy it was), he tried out a smile. He said, in his strange otherworldly voice: "Are you a babben, or just a very tiny Old Enough?" He continued, before she could reply: "Because I thought maybe I was the only babben in the universe who'd gotten cold enough to try this place."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:27 pm
At the scooting of his chair, Dark Water's attention returned to Thriller -- this time with narrowed eyes and a slight frown. Once he spoke, her features softened to something like curiosity and she turned her head ever-so-slightly towards him to offer him acknowledgment.
"Old Enough at heart, I could say," her own voice felt both wispy and weighted, not deep but certainly not light and unassuming. "The cold is a shame. I would be out in the rain otherwise."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:28 pm
Thriller liked the sound of this filly's voice. His eyes widened with pleasure and surprise, and he smiled his ghostly smile. "You're a fan of rain, then? I can't disagree... I just don't like being frozen by it at the same time."
He heaved a little sigh into his cup. "Have you been in here before? I can't imagine that anyone would have and then would have come BACK, but maybe I'm judging too harshly."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:30 pm
She watched Thriller over the rim of her drink as he spoke, her expression belying disinterest; Dark Water found his voice to be interesting as well, evidenced by her maintaining eye contact with him rather than looking anywhere else.
"Maybe," Dark Water said, a little coy, "I've passed it by more than I've been but--" finally, she glanced away and let her eyes roam over the room, "--it doesn't leave much of an impression, does it?" She had to admit, though, that the lack of sweeteners was refreshing compared to all of the colorful saccharine sweetness most places wore.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:34 pm
Thriller was glad she wasn't drawing away--he realized that the situation had thrown them together, and that some people liked their space. In fact, everyone else in the cafe seemed to like their space. Even the people who were sitting together were barely talking.
"Not really. I kind of wonder what everyone else is doing here." He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Like, look at that stallion there." He nodded toward a white-maned professor-type. "That stallion... he's clearly here to escape justice or something." He cleared his throat and continued, in his 'murder mystery' tone: "He knew the police would never look for him here, in St. Boring's Cathedral. Here, he would be safe from his crimes..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:35 pm
Dark Water leaned her head, gentle and slow, from side to side -- not quite a nod, for she wasn't wondering at all why anyone else was here, but in some agreement with the colt. She was about to return to an idle pace, similar to those around them who spoke so little, but Thriller's lowered voice kept her attentive. She looked, as instructed, and almost instinctively with his lowered voice she lowered herself a bit closer to the table.
The dreary foal's lips parted curiously, brows raised above half lidded eyes that dared to open just a bit more.
"And them?" she whispered and nodded towards a pair of mares hunched over their coffee and refusing to look at each other, "Perhaps they've just returned from burying their antagonist, but here they sit wracked with worry that the rain will uncover their dirty secret."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:36 pm
"Mmmmyes," said Thriller in that same, low-pitched voice. He narrowed his eyes at the two mares. "Yes... guilt climbs upon them as they sit. The one on the left will at any moment drown herself in that bowl-like mug of sludge. The second one, yes... she knows the police will show up soon. Their arms are way too slim to dig a deep hole."
He snickered, pleased with the macabre line of conversation. The barista behind the counter poured a black cup of coffee and then walked to the same two mares, putting the cup down with disinterest.
"Here you are, Spider Silk," she murmured.
"Spider Silk!" Thriller repeated. "You should be careful. She clearly takes young, wraps them in silk, and tries to drain them for their beauty." He shook his head mournfully. "... but it doesn't work. I mean, clearly."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:38 pm
Her gaze lingered on the mares, an intrigued smile faintly pulling at her lips. "They feel their sins crawling on their backs," she added during a short pause of Thriller's exposition.
The name piqued Dark Water's attention, a curious name indeed, and she looked to Thriller expectantly for his next description; he did not disappoint. Was that a compliment wrapped up into a macabre joke?
Her smile grew, though it looked somewhat mischievous. "How cruel a fate, to endlessly seek beauty and never attain it. Could her accomplice be the mantis? Slaying one suitor after the next when she tires of them. A deadly duo."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:39 pm
Thriller laughed at that, pleased with his companion's ingenuity. He looked at the other mare, curious. "Oh, yes... see how her hooves are on the table? Classic mantis pose. But they know the jig is up now. Look at them. They're drinking their last cups of coffee in this comfortless place. Getting ready for jail, no doubt."
One of the mares sneezed, wiping her snout with one hoof, and then sipped her coffee.
"No handkerchief!" Thriller shook his head sadly. "Mannerless Mantis."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:40 pm
His laugh was devilishly pleasant; at every turn since Thriller scooted himself beside her, Dark Water found herself more positively surprised than she had been for quite some time.
"Mannerless Mantis," she repeated with a wry grin, her voice soft with the ghost of a chuckle, "Their reign of terror ends here, in St. Boring's Cathedral, whereupon the stallion in hiding will learn he has made a grave mistake."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:41 pm
"Such an inauspicious end for what must have been decades of horror! Who knows how many lovely creatures met their end at their hooves... to the jailhouse with yeh!" Thriller waved a hoof at the women, a sentencing motion. He was almost giddily pleased at having made the stoic filly laugh, and with his own brand of humor, at that!
Just then, the door opened, ushering a stallion in. Thriller turned in his seat, half-expecting a policemare--but instead it was a tremendously normal-looking couple.
"Goodness, I'm so glad the rain finally let up!" said one of the pair with a sunny smile. "It was cats and dogs there for a while!"
"You're telling me! It could at least snow," said her upbeat companion. Thriller couldn't have been less happy to see them--they ruined the mood he and--hey, what WAS her name? He very much wanted to see her again, if possible.
"Well, maybe they're plainclothes detectives," he said. "But in any case, I'm Thriller. I do hope that maybe sometime you might be free to uncover some other mysteries?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:41 pm
And just like that, with the snap of the door, Dark Water was brought back from their narrative reverie. Her demeanor returned as it was before Thriller approached, quiet and detached as she watched the pair enter.
Silently, at first, she settled her gaze once again on the colt and nodded to his suggestion. Undercover, of course.
"Thriller," she tested it on her lips, "I'd like that. My name's Dark Water. And maybe, next time, the ambiance won't be quite so dull." She did rather like their game, as sudden as it was.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2015 9:42 pm
He smiled, sliding off the chair. "I should get going. But--I'll look for you!" Thriller nodded surreptitiously at the pair of mares they'd looked at before. "Even if the dangerous one is off the streets, we must keep vigilant for any copy-cat criminals, after all."
Thriller turned toward the door, his mind full of ideas. Banshee--Banshee might like this Dark Water rather as much as he did...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
