005 | Dictated/Spam

[hellofist]

Halloween is... for candy and costumes, right? Scary movie marathons, haunted houses. [There's a short, thoughtful pause here.] Or haunted castles, I guess.

This is first Halloween, for me. Not really sure... how it works. What do you do, where you're from?

Will need a costume...

[For anyone who happens to be out on a walk today, Cass can be found sitting on the grass outside the castle with a rather large pumpkin, a set of plastic carving tools, and an electric carving knife that's been kind of tossed off to the side. Apparently, the castle decided to get cute with her when she asked for something to carve her pumpkin with.]

Comments

[ofhope]

[ . . . ]

No, not here. There have been enough imposters.

[ Doesn't trust the journal even with filters. He's seen them break more than once. ]

[hellofist]

I could come over. If you... do want to talk.

[ofhope]

We were talking about Halloween and costumes.

[ Look at that, Joshua is capable of remembering the original topic. ]

[hellofist]

So? Talking about other things, now.

[She really wants to know more about him, about his family.]

I'm not busy. Can come now.

[ofhope]

[ Pushy... ]

If you like. You're always welcome.

[hellofist]

[Aww, Joshua.]

Will be there soon, then. Should I bring snacks?

[ofhope]

If you have extra...

[hellofist]

Do you have tea? Can get cake, from store.

[Tea and cake sounds kind of awesome, now she has three reasons to go see Joshua.]

[ofhope]

[ Christ everyone and tea. But Lucrezia lives here, so there is definitely tea. Before her there was just Earl Grey and a tea set gathering dust. ]

Yes, of course... I guess I'll wait in the kitchen, then.

[hellofist]

[Hey, tea is how Alfred shows his love okay. It's like a comfort food by now for Cass, it's something she shares with people she cares about.

And before long she'll show up at the kitchen window with a cake in hand, peeking in to see if she can find him. Windows are the best doors, you know.]

[ofhope]

[ He associates tea with a different sort of relationship, but there's no need to get into that. The tea set will be ready, anyway, with hot tea steaming and a maid standing quietly in the kitchen's entrance. The other is near the foyer but it looks like she won't be needing to answer the front door when he spots her through the window.

Well, there is a back door through the kitchen, which he'll be polite enough to get up and open for her. No need to crawl through windows if the door's two feet away, especially when a cake's precious life is on the line. ]

What flavor is it?

[hellofist]

[Party pooper, but Cass will behave and come in through the door if he's going to worry about it so much.]

Marble cake, chocolate frosting. Should have asked... what your favorite is.

[She'll eat anything, after all. Oops.]

[ofhope]

[ Joshua worries about...very few things. He's just being polite. Normally he does remember his manners, even if they're sometimes delayed or even at a time when they shouldn't be. Time flows so very differently for him. ]

It's strawberry.

[ But he grins, clearly approving of her voice anyway as he shuts the door and follows her back into the kitchen where hot tea is steaming and the maid waits off to the side in case of new orders. ]

But really, I think my favorite type of cake is cake. I guess it should go with stories.

[hellofist]

Strawberry. Will remember.

[She takes the cake over to the table, smiling at the maid in a silent greeting because what is a maid if not a lady Alfred? Alfred always got smiles as thanks, so it only seems right.]

I like stories... as much as cake. Will be good afternoon.

[ofhope]

I'm not sure what kind of story you're expecting.

[ The maid will just mutely nod, and Joshua will be the one to pull a chair out for Cass before he sits back down. ]

I haven't seen her in over eight years.

[ Normally he struggles with telling time so crisply, but in the time it took her to get here he did some reviewing of his old journal. He can math. ]

[hellofist]

[She sits, scooting the chair closer to him.]

Any kind. Whatever you... want to tell, is good.

[ofhope]

[ Meh meh, he shrugs like this is really no big deal while cutting up the cake, and there's nothing in the way he sits to currently suggest anything different. ]

You're the one who wants me to tell. So what kind of story do you want?

[hellofist]

Why not start with... how she is? What she's like?

[ofhope]

[ Such a broad question. One he can't honestly answer, although everything in his body language makes it seem so. He believes what he says, or he wouldn't say it. ]

She's perfect. Kind, patient, beautiful... Smart, obviously. Everything a woman should be. [ Nevermind that he hasn't seen her since they was kids. ] We used to want to be explorers.

[hellofist]

[Honestly, that's about how Cass would describe Steph and she'd probably have about the same body language going on. She smiles, already leaning forward in interest.]

Explorers? What would you explore?

[ofhope]

Anything, everything? Egypt, maybe, and southern Africa. Hm, but as kids we could only go what was within walking distance of the orphanage.

[hellofist]

Discover anything good, together?

[ofhope]

A crypt. A tomb. A demon.

[hellofist]

A demon?

[Welp, now you've definitely got her interest even more than before, Joshua.]

Tell that story.

[ofhope]

He wasn't that impressive. Not anymore. Especially after wasting away in that tomb for one or two hundred years, something like that, and not having his horns...

It's much more interesting who was in the tomb, although I didn't find that out until much later.