poly_chromatic | ( v o i c e )

Entry tags:

the infernal devices - tessa gray

( v o i c e )

I must admit that the flow of visitors may be a little overwhelming, but— if there is someone from the Institute here, if only for a day or two, I should like to make my own presence known, rather than spend all day in the library.

I only ask that— [ she pauses, clearly hesitant, before her voice comes again, stronger now and quite firm ] that whoever should wish to talk to me will not be too forward.

[ it doesn't quite express what she wishes to say (please, take care not to offend my 18th century sensibilities) but it comes close enough while still remaining polite ]

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[ Tessa hopes so. ]

It could destroy the City? [ what. ] Under those circumstances I truly think perhaps it is better not to attempt such a thing.

[He shrugs dismissively, momentarily forgetting that he has a Tessa attached to one arm.]

That is very, very unlikely, but no, it's a bad idea. I have never destroyed a city and I would not like to start, particularly not with this city.

[ Tessa stays attached. ]

I would prefer it if you didn't, indeed. I rather like this City, after all.

[This is much appreciated.]

It isn't Leningrad, but it is nice. Fifth, maybe, on a list of cities I like.

I have only been to three cities in my life. Four, if one counts Denver, but I only spent a very short time there on my way to London and did not see much of it.

Three only? Someday, you must visit Russia. You would like parts of Moscow, I think--the buildings off the Moskva River, Tsaritsyno Park, the Bolshoi Theater, the Landau Institute.

Where is Denver? Europe?

New York, London and this one. You must have been to very many places, surely?

Is Moscow very lovely?

Yes, in England. I arrived there.

[ooc; And this is what happens when I don't look shit up. I was thinking of Dover, but wrote Denver, and ta-da, it should have been Southhampton. I FAIL, sob ;;

l-let's pretend that never happened >.> ]

Yes, but most of the places I have been are in space. On Earth, I am not so far ahead of you.

Eh, some of it is lovely. Leningrad is the most beautiful of the cities I know.

Which of your cities do you prefer?

[ooc: DON'T WORRY. It says Southhampton everywhere up there. ♥ ]

I will likely never go to space. But if I get the chance, I shall go to Leningrad. [ unlikely, since she won't remember this conversation after leaving the City, but he's right: it is nice to pretend sometime ]

I think— I think I like this one the best, though I do not believe it much to do with the city itself, in terms of buildings. More with the circumstances.

[ Nearing the café now. ]

[ooc; Yes. Absolutely. It totally does. Really. >.> ]

The circumstances? Because it is safer than your home?

[He slips away from Tessa to run ahead and get the door.]

Yes. In New York, of course, I did not know that the world contained anything like vampires or shadowhunters, anything but humans, and I had my aunt and my brother still, but — [ but the apartment in New York was cold and the window didn't close and Nate was out gambling more often than not and her aunt tried her best, but they were poor and without books, Tessa things she may have gone mad there ]

and London has not been safe for me, though it is not the city's fault at all, I suppose. Yet when I think of London it is tainted with what I've experienced there. [ It wasn't all bad, certainly, but the bad did outweigh the good. ]

Thank you. [ entering the café. ]

Then I hope that you will stay here for a very long time. [He won't ask why New York was so bad, but he'll gladly listen if Tessa volunteers more information.]

[ Tessa can only stare at him for a moment before she catches herself. He - both he and Doctor Mccoy - are so kind. The Shadowhunters had been kind to her as well, but never completely without any ulterior goal. ]

Yes. I hope so too, lie or not.

[ Looking away and settling down at a table, busying herself with arranging her skirts. ]

[He sits down across from her, either oblivious or indifferent to any staring.]

Maybe this is not a lie? Multiple dimensions exist and it is possible to go between them.

[But the physics and reality of the City are things that have yet to be determined.]

Would you like me to place your order, Tessa?

But it is not my world, and once I return I will remember nothing of this place. [ That bothers her most— she's only just learning that she's not a monster, that she has nothing to be ashamed of, and she'll lose that. ]

Yes, of course. I would like coffee, please.

[There's nothing to say to make that idea more pleasant and it's not an idea that he's keen on, either.]

Make the most of it, then, and hope that you remember it in dreams.

Coffee! Yes, one moment.

[And off he goes to retrieve coffee--a mission that is complicated by the varieties offered, not to mention the number of available sizes. Demi? Grande? Venti? But he does eventually return with two very standard, very medium coffees.]

[ Tessa smiles when he comes back with the coffee. She didn't want any of the fancy variations. ]

Thank you.

[ Waiting until he sits down again. ] What is it that you do, Pavel? In— Starfleet, is it?

Of course, and thank Doctor McCoy, as well. He will be buying until I pay him back.

[Which doesn't actually look like it's going to happen. Sorry, Doctor.]

Starfleet, yes, associated with the United Federation of Planets. Officially, I navigate. Unofficially, I also work in stellar cartography, the physics lab, and engineering. [He pauses to try the coffee.] This is made with real coffee beans?

That is very nice of him. Though I truly could have paid as well. [ Smiling a little. ]

What does that all mean? [ Stellar cartography— charting the stars? ] do you navigate the spaceship?

Yes, of course. Do you not have coffee from coffee beans in the future?

We will see if he thinks that it is nice of him.

It means I stay very busy. [Which, while not what Tessa was asking, is absolutely true.] Yes, mostly that is what I do... plotting courses, adjusting the ship's headings as necessary, calculating the movements of stellar bodies to be sure that we do not hit stars while in warp drive.

Not on spaceships! Replicators make very bad coffee.

If we thank him, surely he will not mind.

[ Nodding along with his explanations. It makes sense, to a point. At least she can certainly believe that he is busy. ] It sounds like very important work.

Then it is a good thing we are having coffee now, is it not?

If you thank him, maybe. [Because Tessa has clearly been exposed to a kinder, gentler side of McCoy that his coworkers seldom get to see.]

All work on a spaceship is very important. [Chekov can't entirely hide his pride in his own work, but the least he can do is not boast out loud.] It is like an old sailing ship on the ocean. If everyone does not do his or her work, the ship will never reach its destination or it will sink.

It is! Thank you, Tessa, for suggesting that we come here.

I shall. [ She'd be surprised to hear it. ]

It is still a ship, only that it travels through space instead of over the water. [ Nodding. It only makes sense. They're called spaceships for a reason, of course. ] I have only been on a ship once.

You are quite welcome. Though perhaps I should be the one thanking you. I am, after all, not paying.

You have been on a sailing ship? [Needless to say, those sorts of ships aren't relied on too heavily in the twenty-third century.] What is that like? Was it very slow?

This is true, but you thought to come here.

I went from America to England in one. It took very long. [ She smiles, a little rueful. ] I did not mind, so much. They had books on board.

I'm glad that you enjoy it.

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