log > for lack of a better place to do so

[gearsof.livejournal.com]

He had to wonder how it was that, if no one save a very, very select few could leave Whitechapel, he kept ending up elsewhere. Indeed, this wasn't the steam-driven, smog-choked section of city he called home. This was somewhere else entirely - and startlingly modern in comparison to the Victorian England he was so used to.

It was unseemly of him, but he found himself staring - tall buildings all steel and glass towered over him, and over that lay the clearest sky he'd seen in his entire life. The sun was bright, brighter that it had ever been in Whitechapel, with its constant overhang of smoke. All the better, he supposed, that he was wearing his usual attire, complete with dark glasses.

Alabaster stood alone on the street, a tall figure in smoke black stark against the clean, polished world he now found himself in. There seemed to be no one around. This city, if it was indeed a city and not some ludicrous dream, appeared to be deserted.

He reached into the pocket of his coat, fishing out a pocket watch. In this alien place, was Grandfather Clock - his God, and God over Whitechapel - still watching him through the clockface? Or had the connection been severed with his sudden disappearance?

Such things would be answered in due time, he told himself. For now, there was only the question of getting back. It wouldn't do to have Grandfather Clock's elite agent up and vanish in the middle of a rebellion, now would it?

Comments

[gearsof.livejournal.com]

Truthfully, he was happy to let her have the notes. All he was getting out of them was a big fat headache. He leaned forward, propping an elbow on the table and resting his chin in his hand (the real one). "You make it sound easy," he remarked dryly. A mechanized limb dropped the apple into his free hand. He turned it over in his palm a time or two before taking a bite.

[looneyrune.livejournal.com]

Saga snorted softly, setting the papers down in favor of stretching her arms above her head. "It's a talent of mine, right up there with juggling. The good news is that it really isn't as hard as it sounds, other than your own personal revelations." She couldn't help him there, after all. She was just the guide here.

[gearsof.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, that. Alabaster frowned, eyebrows knitting together slightly. "I'm afraid lighting hasn't struck yet, nor does it look like it's going to anytime soon." He was having a hard enough time coming to terms with where (and when) he was, the why escaped him completely.

[looneyrune.livejournal.com]

"It's never that simple, or you wouldn't still be here." She needed something substantially stronger than tea, so retreated to the kitchen in search of the coffee pot. "We'll just have to go along with it."

She didn't speak again until the smell of freshly-brewed coffee had begun to permeate the air, and then she reemerged with a steaming cup. "If it helps, you should be able to return to the very moment you were pulled from. You won't have missed anything."

[gearsof.livejournal.com]

Truth be told, that thought had crossed his mind, but hearing her say it made him feel much more at ease than any of his own hopes had. "I'm glad to hear that," he said, and meant it. Big things were unfolding in Whitechapel, and it wouldn't do for him to miss them.

Alabaster leaned back in his chair, finishing off the last of his snack as his mechanized limbs folded back into place against his exposed forearms.

[looneyrune.livejournal.com]

The girl only paused long enough to take a deep swig of coffee (and without sugar this time, the brave soul) and savor the taste, before she set the mug on the counter.

"If nothing else, we should try getting you a little more accustomed to this place, and that means going back out." She folded her arms across her chest, giving Alabaster a scrutinizing glance from head to toe. "Although you might look a little out of place out there. Well, we'll just have to improvise."

[gearsof.livejournal.com]

"A tour wouldn't be unwelcome," came the reply as Alabaster sipped on his own drink thoughtfully. He took a moment to look at how he was dressed in comparison to his companion - fashion had certainly changed in the last hundred-and-some-odd years. He would indeed look, as she put it, a little out of place, even without his sleeves rolled up. "Perhaps a disguise of sorts would be pertinent."

[looneyrune.livejournal.com]

"There are a few men's clothes here, but..." Saga sighed and shook her head. "Just from observation, they might be too small for you, except maybe the jacket. But that leaves everything else... so! I guess we're going shopping!"

[gearsof.livejournal.com]

Alabaster quirked an eyebrow. He never did any shopping at home, so going shopping here would prove to be a new experience in every way. "It's a good enough place to start as any."

((Maybe we should start a new thread for their shopping trip so we don't stretch the post too badly?))

Out and About

[looneyrune.livejournal.com]

The sun was a little lower in the sky when Saga and Alabaster set forth from the apartment in pursuit of a worthy disguise for the latter-- and it had dipped even lower by the time the former had realized that the mall was the other way.

Somehow, they'd made it there without ending up in the wrong city entirely (which, thankfully, she'd only managed once), and had left the question of men's fashion to one of the clerks. She hadn't seen Alabaster since he'd been hauled off, and was starting to consider trying to relocate him, having entertained thoughts of him tangled up in dress shirts or inadvertently cutting up slacks or worse.

[gearsof.livejournal.com]

The clerk had been annoying, but informative nonetheless. More than once he'd insisted Alabaster remove his coat to try on something or other, and Alabaster had vehemently refused. The slight amiableness he'd adopted with Saga was nowhere to be found, and the stone-faced, no-nonsense agent was back in full-force. At long last, the clerk gave him a sizable pile of things to try on and gladly left him in a fitting room.

After a while he emerged, wearing a white collared shirt beneath a black suit jacket (as much as he hated leaving the thing unbuttoned, all of the posters and mannequins around the store begged to differ), and a pair of jeans. The shoes were his own, but he saw no reason to get new ones when the old ones seemed to complete the ensemble just as well. In one hand was his own soot-stained outfit, in the other a couple of changes of clothes in similar style and functionality as the one he now wore.

Now, where had Saga gone off to?

[looneyrune.livejournal.com]

"Excuse me, sir." The delicate tap came from behind, where Saga now stood, head tilted and looking utterly solemn and inquisitive. "I seem to have lost my friend; have you seen him? He kind of looks like you, only with a longer coat and looking like he took a roll in a fireplace."

Stone-faced no-nonsense agent or not, it looked as though Hermes' granddaughter never changed.

[gearsof.livejournal.com]

Truth be told, he wasn't entirely sure if she was joking or not. His eyebrows went up, his earlier hostility receding now that he was in familiar company. "I beg your pardon?"

[looneyrune.livejournal.com]

The calm stare was instantly replaced with a grin that left no doubt as to who she was descended from. While part of her rejoiced that her poker face had only gotten better over the years, the other part was pleased that she'd been able to coax an expression out of him that wasn't stern, stoic, or any other similar looks.

"In other words, you're looking good. I almost didn't recognize you! Did you have any trouble?"

[gearsof.livejournal.com]

Alabaster frowned a bit. He should have known better, but he supposed he could blame lack of human company (other than the Gold Cloaks, who didn't much like him anyway) for his oblivious reaction.

"Truth be told, I think I annoyed the clerk," he replied with a shrug.

[looneyrune.livejournal.com]

"Oh, him?" Saga snorted lightly, almost dismissively. "He's always like that. If anything, you were good practice for his patience and tolerance level. Or his girlfriend's, anyway, when he goes home to complain to her about the thrills of retail. But come on..." She nudged him towards the register. "Business first."

[gearsof.livejournal.com]

Only then did it occur to Alabaster that he was completely and utterly broke. "Miss Laskaris," he said (for she hadn't told him to refer to her by her first name, and he was still a gentlemen after all), glancing over his shoulder at her. "I don't have the funds for all of this..." He frowned again. "Or any of it, for that matter."

[looneyrune.livejournal.com]

"Saga," she said automatically as she brushed past him, slipping her hand into her jacket pocket and producing a small, plastic card, which she then handed over to the disgruntled-looking clerk. "It's less of a mouthful. And don't worry about that, I've got you covered."

Already she was bidding farewell to eating out for the next month or so, but desperate times called for desperate depleting of her paychecks. She'd worked overtime so many times, anyway, that she'd be caught up again in no time.

[gearsof.livejournal.com]

The last thing Alabaster wanted to be was a burden. He hefted his bags, still frowning (and ignoring the dirty look the clerk was shooting him). "Saga, you've already done more than enough. If there's any way I can repay you, just ask." Okay, so maybe a burden was the second-to-last thing he wanted to be. The last thing he wanted to be was indebted to someone.

[looneyrune.livejournal.com]

What was it with every single male she knew not being content to just say "Thank you" and be done with it? Saga kept her eyes trained on the counter, automatically signing the receipt when it was presented, and put the card back in its original resting-place. It wasn't until they'd exited the store that she finally replied.

"You're giving me the honor of your company, and you're helping enough with my rune problem. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing you need to repay."

[gearsof.livejournal.com]

That hardly seemed like adequate repayment, but if it worked for her then who was he to argue? "If you say so," he remarked. He half-remembered her jokingly mentioning hiring him as a housekeeper, and he made a mental note to help her out if he could, if only to soothe his own conscience.

[looneyrune.livejournal.com]

Agreeable enough; her brothers could have taken a lesson from him (the thought of any of them with several sets of arms, however, was spine-chilling).

"That takes care of the disguise aspect, which leaves us... the wandering."

[gearsof.livejournal.com]

Their earlier detour on the way to the mall was still fresh in his mind - interesting that Saga, who lived here, couldn't find her own way around. Still, he figured even in wandering aimlessly, he would still get to see the place. "Lead on, then."

[[quick tag, since I will have company for the rest of the night!]]

[looneyrune.livejournal.com]

She could never claim to possess an unerring sense of direction, because that would have been a flat-out lie. Truth be told, Saga had been getting lost in new and interesting ways ever since she had been old enough to walk five steps without tipping over. Her only comfort was that she eventually ended up where she wanted to be, and her detours took her to places she never would have discovered on her own.

"You're putting a lot of faith in me, aren't you?" She muttered, nonetheless obeying and setting off for... nowhere in particular.

[gearsof.livejournal.com]

Alabaster followed, keeping quiet. He was much too intent on the scenery for conversation. And while Saga's lack of direction might prove to be a good thing for seeing the city in its entirety (whether she meant to show him or not), it wasn't much good for forming a mental map, but he would try his damnedest.