tushanshu_logs | [Closed] slow down you crazy child

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[Closed] slow down you crazy child

Characters: Valdis and "Rue"
Date: Early October
Location: The Midnight Hotel > the City
Situation: Rue lets Valdis in on a little secret; plotting may occur
Warnings/Rating: Possible mental health issues, probable Skulduggery Pleasant spoilers. Definite flamboyance.

Rue had been... a distraction, at first. A way to get information without the stigma of being who he was, having done what he'd done, and a chance to have a little laugh here and there on the side. God only knew he needed a laugh.

Only Erskine had forgotten somewhere along the way, since the real Saracen's arrival, just how useful the Rue identity could be. He hadn't actually intended to go as far as physically appearing as the Englishman, and yet over the course of a week or two, new clothing pieces started finding their way into his corner of Anton's closet.

And then Rue started appearing in the Hotel. Frock coat and heels and all.

It was relatively easy to get away with, too. Rue's hat was overly large and covered most of Erskine's face--and a little makeup did the rest. Erskine himself was known to hide from most people these days, in between shifts, so no one really questioned when Ravel disappeared and Rue made his entrance. The outgoing demeanor and poncy English accent certainly helped, too.

On this particular day he was waiting. He knew enough by now to know roughly when Valdis came back from work at the dojo on this day of the week.

They had a few things to talk about.

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The Dojo had been slower than she had grown used to, but it was a nice break from the long hours that had led up to the arrival of the Chihuelans. She was glad that they had done, glad that there hadn't been a fight, glad that the dead had been properly cared for. The kedan seemed happier with the Foreigners than before, and she was also glad of that, but she needed more than just the Dojo now.

Valdis was deep in thought as she entered the Hotel, ready to disarm for the day and perhaps get back to her hunt for the cultists. However, she was beginning to wonder about her lack of joy regarding her current circumstance. She needed a bit of fun, and she suspected that there were others in the same boat.

While Valdis was lost in thought, a second set of footsteps began to echo hers. Erskine waited until she passed and then started pacing her, just off to the side, just long enough to match his speed to hers and then reached out to hook one of her arms with his own.

"There you are, darling. I was beginning to worry I'd somehow missed you."

The accent: poncy and English. The clothing: poncy and very, very dated. The closest to a frock coat he could find in Keeliai, along with the appropriate breeches, hose and heels. And of course the wide-brimmed hat, with a very smug smile visible beneath it. Rouged lips. Even perfume, just enough to hopefully confound those with a strong sense of smell. Like Valdis, as Anton had so helpfully reminded him.

"Did you have plans for the afternoon, my dear?"

Just because she was lost in thought didn't mean she was entirely unaware, especially not with the strong stench of roses wafting through the entire room. Nonetheless, she played along, feigning surprise when Rue hooked his arm through hers.

"Oh, well, hello." she smiled, one brow raised as she turned to look over the somewhat eccentric wardrobe. Valdis loved roses, but the amount of perfume that Rue was wearing was threatening to make her eyes water. Friendly as they had been on the network, this was somewhat unexpected. "I have no plans," she replied, "did you have something in mind?"

Excusez-moi his perfume was not that bad. Unless you happened to have a nose like a bloodhound. Which certain people did.

"As a matter of fact, I did." He gently steered her in a half circle, so that they were heading back toward the entrance of the Hotel. "As I recall, my dear, you promised to give me a tour of this lovely city. If you're not terribly opposed to the time being now, I would very much like to take you up on that. I need to go shopping."

Shopping, to some people, was just another boring fact of life, little more than drudgery. Coming from Rue's mouth, even the suggestion of shopping became an adventure.

She went with it, completely unconcerned as he steered her back around toward the door. Her senses were adjusting to the perfume, shutting out the worst of the scent and enabling her to smile genuinely. "I did promise, didn't I?"

And it seemed that Rue did need to go shopping...for clothing from this century.

"If you won't die of impatience, I should like to put my weapons away before we hit the town."

Most of Rue's face wasn't visible, but the sudden cant of his head and the pause in his stride indicated surprise. "Of course, how silly of me. Of course you would be armed."

How 'Rue' should know that was for Valdis to figure out.

He withdrew his arm from hers and took a step back, one foot pointed out farther than the other, and dipped into a shallow but oh-so-polite bow with one hand on his midsection and the other held out at his side.

"I'm in a constant state of 'dying of impatience,' truth be told," he replied with an amused tone, "but some things are worth waiting for. I shall be here when you're ready."

Of course she would be armed? She didn't recall telling Rue anything about her job and the man barely knew her, but perhaps he was simply used to people wandering around armed. But his surprise also seemed genuine, this man was definitely odd, but she couldn't help but laugh at his bow.

"Thank you kindly," she said, "I won't be more than a moment."

True to her word, she returned in less than five minutes, now weapon free but for a single hidden knife, which she kept more out of habit than anything else.

"Let's go," she said with a smile.

He stayed in the lobby while Valdis disappeared up to her room, and he was in much the same place and position when she returned a few minutes later. At her reappearance he bowed again from the waist, not terribly deeply but with enough of a flourish that the whole thing looked rather impressive anyway.

"Oh good," he replied, immediately taking Valdis's arm again rather than offering an elbow, as a gentleman might. This was much more familiar. Rue was nothing if not a bit invasive--and a whole lot presumptuous "You're just in time, darling. Anton's been distracting me terribly. Let's go before I lose all of my willpower to leave."

A wry grin showed beneath the hat, and once again Rue steered Valdis toward the front doors of the Hotel. This time they made it through, out and into the city proper.

"Now then, where first? I want to see everything."

From his clothing to his flourishing bow and bold behavior, this Rue was quite the character. Normally she might have been a bit wary of such things, but she sensed that Rue was harmless, simply enthusiastic. In a way, he reminded her a bit of Anton's friend Rover. She let him steer her out of the Hotel, wondering exactly how Anton had been distracting Rue when he had been busy doing other things.

"That depends on what you are most interested in," She replied, noting that they had exited into the Sky Sector, "The gardens in this sector are particularly lovely. A bit wild, but lovely."

"Gardens..."

He slowed his steps for a moment, considering, and then nodded decisively. "Yes, I think that shall do nicely. A bit of an amuse-gueule before shopping, no?" (His French accent, it should be noted, was perfect.)

The gardens hadn't been a part of his mental itinerary for the day, but he had told Valdis to show him everything. And the gardens would probably offer much more seclusion than any shop they were likely to find. It would make telling her that much easier.

"Lead on then, my dear."

"Of course," she laughed, realizing that a garden was probably not the first thing on Rue's mind when it came to fun in the city.

"The gardens are a special place," she said as she steered the man through the streets. "They used to be the gardens of the Palace that once stood here, but when the Palace was taken over by an evil entity, they became overgrown and neglected. But when the Evil was defeated, they became a haven for the local fauna and flora." Not to mention Wan's favorite place.

The gardens were beautiful, despite the drought, there was some remaining green, and though the flowers were beginning to fade, a few of the hardier ones were hanging on, showing off their vibrant colors.

The city was a big place, and Erskine still hadn't seen all of it. Despite his more recent forays into the various sectors there were still plenty of locations he hadn't managed to visit--or water--yet. These gardens, as obvious as they might seem, were one of them.

As they walked, 'Rue' surreptitiously held his free hand out, down at his side, and felt the air around them. With his magic he could feel the air displacing around himself and Valdis, could feel the edges of the flowers and the greenery. Nothing else human-sized, and nothing nearby moving.

This was probably safe enough.

When he spoke next, all traces of the poncy English accent were gone. "I'll have to remember this place," he said quietly. "Looks like it could use some water."

Valdis was enjoying walking through the gardens, it made her think of Wan and Zuko and how much they had cared for this place. All happy memories, memories that made her smile.

Then Erskine's voice broke through her thoughts and she stopped cold. It made so much sense, his similarities to Rover, the perfume. Was is Anton or Skulduggery that had reminded him of her sense of smell?

"Erskine Ravel," she said, her tone sharp. she pulled her arm away and turned to face him, looking furious for an instant. Then her features softened and she broke into laughter, "You are hilariously brilliant."

'Rue' reached up to grasp the crown of the wide-brimmed hat, and when he pulled it off there was Erskine, rouged lips and all, grinning at her. He swept the hat out to the side and dipped into another bow with a flourish.

"I have my moments."

He straightened back up, still smiling, but didn't replace the hat on his head right away. "You can't tell anyone," he cautioned, allowing some amount of seriousness to leak through the smile. "Rue is a Dead Men secret. Has been for hundreds of years. I had to ask permission just to let you in on it."

She laughed as he bowed again.

"I would have figured it out eventually," she replied, "The perfume was a nice touch, but you can't fool all my senses, not forever at least."

She considered a moment, a hundred year old secret that he needed permission to tell her, of course she would keep it. Keeping secrets was easy, telling the truth, not so much, "I won't tell anyone." Then she smiled again, her eyes lighting up, "This could be so much fun."

"Alas, the problem with being stuck on a turtle with the same people for months on end," Erskine sighed, dropping his arms down to his sides so that the hat hit the side of his leg. "Present company excluded, of course. Rue used to be so easy to maintain, back before cameras and smartphones. We traveled, and there were seven of us to rotate the identity between. Anton's Rue voice is hilarious, by the way."

He chuckled. "Now just watch, Saracen's going to end up here on the turtle one of these days, wondering why half the men on the turtle are pissed at him and the other half are hitting on him." If Saracen didn't immediately try to kill him. There was no guarantee of that.

Valdis's enthusiasm was infectious. "As if it hasn't been already?" Erskine laughed. "Wreath and Raine were priceless."

Anton would always be Anton, but it was fascinating how they could switch the disguise between so many people.

"Yes, well, more fun for me anyway," she replied. "People might be even more convinced if you have an alibi for yourself or for Rue."

"It must be a nice escape though," she said, thinking of how much tension there had been, how much more relaxed Erskine seemed. "To pretend to be someone else, to let go of your own tension and just be able to have fun without the burden.

There were so many things that they could do, so much fun to be had. An idea begant o form in her head, "What if we gave everyone a chance to be someone else for a time?"

"That was partly why I wanted to tell you, actually," Ravel replied, nodding. "If 'Rue' has someone to corroborate his story.... I think enough people know by now that you and I are friends. If you claim I'm not feeling well or... whatever, whatever reason we concoct for why I'm not showing my face one day, no one's going to bat an eyelash at it coming from you. Not that they wouldn't believe Anton, but Rue knows Anton. He's a Dead Man. Having an alibi outside the unit might be a good idea."

He fell silent for a moment at the mention of burdens, then finally nodded again, only once. "It has been nice, I can't lie. It's hard to escape your problems when most of them are in your head. Kind of a nice change of pace."

That somber expression that had stolen across his face lifted somewhat. "What, we encourage everyone to tap into their inner poncy Englishman?" he asked with a spontaneous laugh.

"Might?" she asked, tucking her chin and giving him a skeptical look, "An alibi from a reliable witness, who happens to be well practiced at lying, might be a good idea?"

She was kidding of course, and it became evident a moment later when her smile returned.

"We could encourage that," she said, "or we could just throw a big party. A Masquerade."

"I don't know about reliable," Erskine shot back, keeping his face deadpan despite the obviously teasing tone in his voice. "That might be stretching it a bit far." His straight face broke a moment later, something approaching a grin replacing it.

God, it felt good to be smiling with someone. To have a friend to smile with.

The suggestion of a masquerade actually floored him for a second or two. He'd thrown the small party in the Hotel a few months ago, sure, but he'd never quite imagined doing something for the Foreigners on a scale like that. And it would have to be big, oh yes. One didn't throw little masquerade parties.

"You know what? That... is a fantastic idea." Erskine smiled and tossed Rue's hat back on, leaving it cocked at just such an angle that most of his face was still visible for the moment. "Rue would love a masquerade."

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[Closed] slow down you crazy child

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