tushanshu_logs | tally-ho

Entry tags:

tally-ho

Characters: Solomon Wreath, Hayley Stark, Skulduggery Pleasant, Akito Wanijima
Date: Just after the jubilee
Location: Some ... cafe somewhere.
Situation: Solomon and Hayley meet for lunch to talk business, stories ensue, and Skul and Akito gatecrash.
Warnings/Rating: Nothing as yet.

After the jubilee Solomon was feeling somewhat ... out of sorts. He couldn't even tell what it was precisely, or if he was truly feeling anything at all, except that he knew something had changed. The problem was that the sensation wasn't acute enough to actually prove anything had changed. Yet. Maybe it would be come clearer in time.

Either way, when Hayley Stark had called to ask if they were still up for lunch, Solomon couldn't afford to refuse. If Asti's boon hadn't worked, he would still need an item; and if it had, then Hayley wanted one. It was worth looking into.

They had arranged to meet at a cafe, a public one if only for the veneer of safety. Solomon shadow-walked to the corner and then walked the rest of the way, keeping an eye out for a young lady waiting at one of the outside tables.

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Hayley had found some of the necessary materials before she had disappeared into isolation. The remaining material she knew where to find and how and was simply waiting until she needed it, its retrieval not exactly being a walk in the park, even though she wasn't doing the actual extraction herself.

Meeting with Solomon seemed a good place to start in her return to a social life and having goals. After all, the idea of manipulating shadows still appealed to her, if only to add to the reputation she knew she wanted, the one she knew most of her friends wouldn't like. It was a way of distancing herself.

She scratched at her hair as she sat bored, sipping at her coffee and watching the people walking around. Hayley hated waiting for people. She could be patient when she tried, but waiting around had never been her favorite thing and was something she mostly avoided when she could.

Ah, there she was. Sitting extremely impatiently. Such a teenager; no patience at all. Solomon almost managed to smile as he approached, and at least the amusement showed on his face as he took his seat. "Good morning. However have you been?"

It was something of a dry prod, because from all Solomon had seen Hayley had distanced herself from everyone for no obvious reason. It was curious. Trivial, but curious. Possibly a boy was involved, at her age.

"Amazing," she replied with an exaggerated grin. Hayley was pretty sure his question was pointed at her recent isolation, which meant she was all the more likely to avoid an honest answer and get down to business. For as much as she might be addicted to Solomon's mystery and darkness, she still didn't trust the guy much, not in the way she trusted Bart or Kon or even Clark. She trusted him with her weaknesses, not her vulnerabilities.

"And you, dear sir?" Her lips shifted to a light smirk before she took another sip of her coffee.

It had been, but Solomon wasn't surprised when she declined to give any details. He was used to not being trusted, and Hayley did have a modicum of sense. "Adequate," he said idly, signalling a waitress and ordering a pot of tea. "Here."

Last time they had met he had shown her a sphere of shadows suitable for her to play with, but hadn't had the power and control to make it divested of his presence. Now, he easily could, and placed on the table a very similar sphere, this one self-contained and able to withstand any of Hayley's experiments on it while still reacting to any of her shows of magic.

"So generous with your praise," she teased. As if this place was 'adequate' for anyone at all. It was terrible or not half bad, wonderful or a nightmare. It was difficult to imagine anything about it at all being 'adequate' and even less so for someone like Solomon. Maybe the mystery she had sensed in him before was actually just a penchant for ambiguity. It was hard to say.

Her eyes followed his movement and she watched him place the sphere on the table. Without explanation, she couldn't help but assume it was no different from the one he had presented her with on their last meeting and so her gaze lifted to stare at him with some level of incredulity. "Didn't we already do this whole ripple the sphere thing?"

"When I need to be." He had to laugh at the expression on her face. Teenagers took themselves so seriously. Often they neglected to think of all the options. "We did," he acknowledged, and leaned back to accept the tea-pot and pour himself some tea, quite deliberately pausing the conversation.

He only continued once he'd taken a sip, and smiled at her with an amused gleam in his eyes. "Last time you indicated that you would like to take it away with you. At that time, I was unable to oblige. Now I can. This sphere will remain intact. Unless, of course--" He flashed her a smile. "--you manage to break it yourself."

Hayley waited for an immediate elaboration and couldn't help but roll her eyes when one didn't come. She really could be patient at times. Now, however, there was no need or reason to be and so his intentional pauses for dramatic effect and the way he seemed to delight in tormenting her with making her wait on him, for him, with him served to annoy her if she didn't react with flippant disregard.

"You got an item already? I'm almost impressed," she replied with a smirk. Then she reached out and gently picked up the sphere, turning it over in her hands. As last time, she stared deep into and through it for a moment before she could rip her gaze away, finding the shadows all too mesmerizing. "Is this like, my first big test?"

"I don't," Solomon said dryly, "but I should think a month is sufficient time to develop enough control to create a toy without an item." By the time he'd actually thought of it, it had been easy. He supposed that shouldn't have been surprising--he'd been using his magic for various and sundry reasons.

He laughed again. "I was thinking more of a gift, though certainly it will be useful for your control. You clearly have a capacity for magic or you would not have made it react the first time, but being able to do so once is far from being trained." He indicated the sphere with a nod. "You will be able to practise your ability to summon shadows at need with the sphere."

Hayley set the sphere down and cradled it gently in her lap, lifting her hand to take a sip of her coffee again as she listened to him. Her lips twitched into a smirk when he said it was a gift, some part of her wondering how many students he had here and just how experienced he was with all this teasing and flattery. Of course she wanted to be the only one; Hayley liked being special.

"How do I practice? Is it more of that stare and will it to move thing? Or is there some phrase or blood sacrifice or something that I should be practicing?" She couldn't help teasing him a little. Shadow magic might be honorable where he was from, but it still seemed sketchy as hell to her. That was part of the appeal really.

"That's for your more advanced studies," Solomon said blandly, with just enough of a twinkle in his eyes to indicate he was joking. Even though it wasn't ... entirely ... inaccurate. Given the circumstances Hayley would never approach the level of being given details of blood-bindings.

"But that is essentially accurate, yes. It will seem tedious initially, but once you can control the sphere's surface with a moment's touch and thought, you will have developed enough control to attempt summoning shadows of your own."

"I'm super busy here, but maybe I can find the time to practice." She cast a sideways glance his way, another smirk on her lips. Then she took another sip of her coffee, as if this entire thing was old hat to her and she simply played along to make Solomon feel better. It was most likely the opposite. Hayley didn't care.

She was actually rather busy, still working at Wayne Enterprises and Stark Industries, as well as on her own projects here and there - including finding Solomon's item. Hayley held up a finger as she swallowed her drink, a thought occurring to her. "Mm. By the way, I'm thinking we call you the 'Farmer of Souls.' It has a good ring to it - I mean, I liked Harvester better, but no one's going to go for three syllables - and I think it really brings out that whole death and evil mystery thing you're going for."

On the street bordering the café, Skulduggery walked without drawing strange looks and without making more impressionable kedan scatter ahead of him. He was, for the first time since arriving on the turtle, wearing a face. One of China's magic-fuelled false faces, ruined upon Skulduggery's arrival and restored by Asti during the jubilee - restored past what even China herself had managed. It meant he could walk around in a disguise whenever he wanted.

Well - he said the first time, but in reality, it was more like the tenth time. It was simply the first Skulduggery had tried it in public.

His relatively good mood took a bit of a nosedive when he recognised Solomon Wreath sitting at one of the café's outside tables. It dropped even further when he recognised the girl sitting on the other side. They had a brief conversation over console several months ago, during which the girl - Hayley - reminded him almost painfully of Valkyrie. That Wreath was now taking an interest... the irony wasn't lost on him.

"Seducing someone else, I see," Skulduggery said as he walked up to their table. Had he remembered his disguise, he still wouldn't have taken it off. "The correct term is actually 'Death Bringer,' Hayley, but I do like 'Harvester of Souls.' It has a nice ring to it."

Solomon was feeling genuinely wry, even amused, up until the point Skulduggery cut in. When he heard the skeleton's voice his expression flickered and became impassive, too quickly for anyone to see how he felt ... except that, of course, he was unhappy with the interruption.

To be frank, he had been avoiding Skulduggery as graciously as possible for some time now.

"Hello, Skulduggery," he said blandly, and looked at him up and down. "And you're still trying too hard to do so, apparently. That face doesn't suit you. At all. Or your outfit, for that matter."

He wasn't exactly cold, but he was impassive and almost wary, and almost more dignified--as if it was a shield. He didn't make any comment on the title ... though it took more control than he wanted to admit not to flinch.

Hayley didn't recognize the man and her face contorted with absolute irritation both at his unsolicited commentary and his calling her by name. Creeper much? When Solomon called him by name, she thought for a moment and then recalled a Skulduggery that she had spoken with. Though it was less irritating to realize that she knew him, the surprise in general still left her feeling uncomfortable.

"He's pretty and all, but not really my type," Hayley quipped back to Skulduggery, a comment on the 'seduction.' It was fairly easy to notice the tension between them and the girl had to admit that, forced to choose in this moment, she would have chosen Solomon. But she was also keenly aware of how shady the man could be.

"I thought you were a skeleton."

"I am," Skulduggery assured her, ignoring Wreath entirely. "This is a disguise. Do you mind if I join you?"

He smiled at them both, completely contradicting both his resolve to ignore Wreath and his statement about the face being a disguise - at least, in any conventional definition of the word 'disguise.' On closer inspection, the skin was a little waxy, and the eyes didn't quite focus the way they should have. But the smile was still more than enough to unnerve anyone who knew Skulduggery best as a skeleton. He had that on very good authority.

Skulduggery is only slightly less unnerving to Akito with a disguise of flesh than bones and nothing else, though it's still pretty unsettling for someone who is so in tune with the way a body is supposed to move and sound. Thankfully Quintus is almost always there as a buffer, settling Akito down enough that Skul doesn't phase him no matter what form he's in.

Quintus acts as a buffer again today. And a mode of transportation for Akito, who sits atop his shell playing a game of fantasy with the turtle. He made the mistake of telling his little turtle-brother some classic fairy tales; knights and steeds and princesses and castles. So now he's temporarily the 'princess' that Quintus - both knight and steed - has 'saved' from the horrible 'castle' of his apartment.

"Skul-kun, your skin is looking kind of weird today."

Wonderful. More newcomers. "Since I hardly think it would matter if we didn't," Solomon said, "how can I refuse?" The polite smile he wore seemed only on the surface to be even the slightest bit amiable. Underneath, it was cutting. "You will, of course, have to pay for your own lunches."

He turned back to Hayley with the air of a man who had every intention of ignoring the interlopers, regardless of how difficult they were going to make it. "He likes to think he's good at disguises," Solomon said calmly, picking up his tea, "but I would still question any man, lacking face skin or organs, who believes that dressing as a nobleman's wife is an appropriate use of fashion."

"I like it," Hayley offered to Skul. Objectively, the visage was certainly attractive and, though she didn't necessarily mind the skeleton, the image did put her much more on edge than his appearance as mostly human. Even if a certain life was missing in his eyes and a certain fluidity missing in the movements.

The tension was obvious. Although impatient to speak more with Solomon and continue to learn, there was a different kind of curiosity that made her want to know more and to understand. Except then there was another guy joining them whom she'd never seen before and suddenly her intimate get together had become an unwelcome party.

"Hey, I'm Hayley," she said to the new guy, preferring to keep things as nonchalant as possible. If they were going to be forced to interact, the least they could do was get along.

Without showing any signs of tension in her own expression, Hayley subtly slipped the shadow orb deeper into her lap, hiding it beneath the table. She would follow Solomon's lead on whether or not to admit to trying to learn the magic -- unless it provided a good excuse for a revelation or power play, of course. For now, she preferred her secrets.

Instead, she took another sip of coffee, meeting Solomon's gaze over the top of the mug and then giving an amused smile at his unnecessary slight.

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