a u d i o / a c t i o n ][ 023

[diastereomer]

For those of you who show up and have no secured lodging with a friend or family member here, where do you end up staying?

[ From the clicking sound of doggy nails on the floor and the whining of you have the leash WHY ISNT IT ON ME RIGHT NOW YOU CRUEL CRUEL MAN, it would seem Yusuf is getting ready to take Pancake on a walk. There is a metallic click followed by a moment of silence. ]

Should anyone see Ariadne today, please ask her to stop by.

Comments

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[diastereomer]

[ Saying your name and getting you back.

But that's inappropriate, and Pancake is doing enough of that for the both of them, so Yusuf just smiles and shakes his head. ]

You've been gone for a while now, the City could have seem like a distant dream to you.

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[boutant]

Have I?

[ Ariadne wrinkles her nose, scratching Pancake behind the ears before setting him down -- he is, after all, going for a walk, and she doesn't particularly want him to have an accident on her. ]

How long has it been?

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[diastereomer]

Almost a month since your name showed up in the Hall.

[ If they don't start moving Pancake is going to do his best to 101 Dalmatians the both of them, so Yusuf locks the door and sets off down the steps. ]

Has it not been that long for you?

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[boutant]

[ She shakes her head, following after him. ]

No, definitely not.

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[diastereomer]

[ How odd... ]

How long has it been for you?

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[boutant]

A couple days. I was back in Paris.

[ Her hands slide into her pockets, Ariadne suddenly aware of how awkward it is to leave and come back and know that it will only be for a little while. ]

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[diastereomer]

That is good. [ Generic, bland, because that's exactly what waking up in Paris after spending nearly a year dodging curses in an alternate universe must seem like. Realistically, waking up in your home, back where you were before the City happened, is better than waking up to a massive dream conglomerate. It means, as strange as it may sound, this is all ordinary. The City isn't a dream, it's just another space they're temporarily occupying. Physics and matter.

Pancake pulls on the leash, straining to get to a specific patch of grass.

He has to ask. ] Did you know you were going home?

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[boutant]

[ She didn't even wake up there. She was in LA at first, just off the job -- caught her flight back to Paris, tried to settle in at home after everything that had happened.

But Yusuf doesn't need to worry about that. ]

Not at first. But right before I did... I guess I figured it out. I wrote a quick note and then that was it. I wanted to write more but... I didn't get a chance.