(no subject)

[herr_bookman]

After his "conversation" with the Dark Dragon and Mia's subsequent tongue-lashing, Autor found himself chastened and in need of a bracing cup of tea. He picks up a face mask for protection from the flu and soldiers out to see if his worries about Oswin and Rae being infected are well-founded.

Catch him out and about in the main bar.

Comments

[sunbaked_baker]

"Oh gods, you didn't catch it too, did you?" Rae asks, approaching the face-masked Autor with her own cup of tea in her hands. She has the tired, worn-out look of someone getting over a long illness. "I've not seen you for weeks."

[herr_bookman]

Autor's shoulders droop with relief momentarily before he straightens them again. "No, I... sort of holed up in Lucas' infirmary room," he says, looking her over. "You did catch it, then? Are you all right?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Full case," she says, offering a wryly relieved smile. "It's been... a rough couple of weeks. Glad you escaped, even if it meant holing up in the infirmary. What's this about Lucas? Is he okay?"

[herr_bookman]

The boy shakes his head. "He's... He's returned, but he has been out for two weeks and a day. He's also being possessed by a powerful being called the Dark Dragon, who claims that he'll be all right."

He furrows his brow. "Full case?" he asks. "What was it like?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Poor Lucas," Rae says, wincing. "Hopefully the... dragon is right."

"It was weird. On top of feeling awful, I could feel my control of my own body slipping out of my control, sometimes for hours or a day at a time, and had thoughts that weren't my own going through my head."

[forgottenmotley]

"Autor!" The Fool, mask-less, drops next to the boy with a smile. "How are you? What's with the thing on your face?"

[herr_bookman]

Autor jumps, a little, without managing to spill his tea. He turns to him, pointing to the mask. "This? This is something to keep the flu virus away from me," he says. "How are you, Fool? Not sick, I hope."

[forgottenmotley]

"Oh, no, I don't get sick," he says. "Does it actually work?"

[herr_bookman]

Autor sighs explosively through the mask. "Lucky," he says, with the tones of one ridiculously jealous. "And I hope it does. Otherwise I'll be hallucinating and unsure of which way is up, I'm sure."

He plucks the thing off and tosses it aside on the bar. "I am being rather silly, aren't I? I haven't seen a single sick person since I put it on."

[forgottenmotley]

Ah yes. He doesn't get sick, he's just the Fool. One totally makes up for the other.

"And I imagine if the germ thingies really wanted you to get sick, they'd get you sick." He puts his chin into his palm.

[cook_the_rude]

Dr. Hannibal Lecter enters from the staircase, and immediately makes a face.

"Very wise," he remarks to Autor in passing as he goes to the bar and fetches himself a mask as well.

"It does help a little against the stench," he says, returning to where Autor is drinking his tea.

[herr_bookman]

Autor was absorbed in his book until the good doctor made his passing remarks, but by the time he returns, he's a little more prepared--albeit a little surprised that Dr. Lecter came back.

"I don't suppose you know from whence it came?" he says, already looking for an escape route.

[cook_the_rude]

"The stench?" Dr. Lecter says. "No. The air freshener was perpetrated by the rats."

[herr_bookman]

Autor nods, and then looks him over. "I don't suppose you caught the flu that was going around? If so, I'm sorry to have missed that."

[cook_the_rude]

"You might have found me quite amusing as a gay Danish architect," Dr. Lecter smirks, "to say nothing of the knight of King Arthur, via a migration age Sarmatian cataphract."

[fluffiest_archadian]

"Afeared of this, er - strange illness that's going around?" Sherral, who looks a little run down but not ill, asks as Autor passes, looking up from his maps briefly. "The mask is very fetching, I'll note."

[herr_bookman]

Autor smiles, briefly, behind it as he slows to a stop. "I'd rather not catch anything that messes with my head, no," he says. "Did you?"

[fluffiest_archadian]

"Not even a sniffle, but I've been spending much time in my room anyway," Sherral says.

[herr_bookman]

"Good idea," Autor says, removing his mask to quickly sip his tea. "I've been holed up in the infirmary, watching over a friend. What made you venture out today? You look tired."

[fluffiest_archadian]

"Too much time in a room with maps will drive a man quite mad. I thought it best to be at least people-adjacent for a few hours," Sherral says. "I hope your friend is well? Or - no, not well, if they were well they wouldn't be in the infirmary. Recovering."

[is_the_motion]

A redhead in overalls is eying Autor with some suspicion. Even moreso now that Bonnie has found, on her second visit, that she can't get back to her class.

She has her notebook, and adds to her notes.

'People here from different points in space and time
How?
??abducted by aliens?
Everyone is sick
Last time I got back, now I can't, why?

Potential aliens:
Blue unicorn
Guy with blue hair and mask - some sort of scientist?'

[herr_bookman]

And of course Autor eyes her with suspicion back. "What," he says, setting his book down, "do you want?"

[is_the_motion]

Bonnie has the decency to look at least a tad embarrassed, and puts her notebook down. It's a ridiculous theory.

"I don't even know." she says. "I thought I got abducted by aliens or something, but if that's the case, the movies really got their facts wrong."

[herr_bookman]

"Why would you think you were abducted by aliens?" he says, blinking at her. "And what does that have to do with me?"

[is_the_motion]

"Well one minute I was in my class, the next I was here, then it happened again and I can't get back." Bonnie says. "I saw a creature here that didn't look like it came from Earth."

She's not frightened, per se. Alarmed, increasingly, by the fact she doesn't know what's happening.

"A lot of people here seem to be sick, I got it into my head that the aliens might be experimenting. Then I saw you in the mask and wondered if you were some sort of scientist..." but then she smiles. "Such a serious expression, I took you to be older than I see closer up."