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The door flies open and Mr Segundus rushes in and quickly shuts it behind him with the slightly frantic speed of one who has longed to find a moment alone and finally has managed to slip away. He scarcely, therefore, seems to notice what room he has stepped into: he stands a moment with his hand upon the knob, head bowed and eyes closed, sitting in some private thought for a moment.

Then he turns, and he looked unusually bright-eyed, a flush in his generally pale cheeks. Only then does he see the room, and his eyes go wide.

"Oh!" he says softly. "This place!"

One might guess, from his manner, though only a few months have passed in Milliways since last he was seen here, it has been rather longer on the other side of Mr Segundus's door.

[ooc: I'm bumping Mr Segundus up to the end of his canon!]

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Sam's doing some reading when Mr Segundus enters, "Are you alright?"

Looking that out of breath usually means something's chasing you. He's in his normal work shirt that's covered with various bits of grime and his Charter Mark is just visible on his forehead.

"Yes-- oh, yes! I am quite-- quite well, thank you!" Now that his surprise at seeing Milliways has passed, it is plainer that his energy is excitement, not fear or distress.

"That's good. What worked?" That's a better sort of look.

"Worked?" he echoes, startled but pleased. "Why, how did you know?"

"A guess, I do a lot of trying to get spells and devices to do what I want them to do. I thought your look of excitement might be from that,"

Most of his unexpected happiness comes from something doing what he wants it to.

Combeferre looks up from his book, and smiles. "Ah! Welcome back!"

"Why, Mr Combeferre!" Mr Segundus cries delightedly. "How do you do?"

"I'm well," says Combeferre, rising. "And you? Will you join me?" He gestures at the table.

"Oh yes, gladly!" he says.

And before he's even fully gotten into the chair: "Oh, Mr Combeferre, you will not believe--!"

Combeferre smiles. "Believe what? My friend, look around you--I've become accustomed to believing in all sorts of absurdities. What happened?"

He laughs and ducks his head, embarrassed. "Yes, of course! It has been so long since I have come here, it began to seem like some sort of dream... But oh, Mr Combeferre, I have seen such magic!"

Combeferre, scrutinizing Segundus's face, says, "It's been some months, for me, since I've seen you...I don't know if it's been longer for you. But do tell me about this magic! What was it? Who performed it?"

Combeferre's experimented with some magic himself, since he last saw Segundus, but the tone of Segundus's voice indicates he's talking about something rather more impressive.

"It has been more than a year since I was here last," Segundus says. "And in that time-- I scarcely know where to begin! But I have see a fairy, Mr Combeferre! From some distance, it's true, and I would not have wished to get any closer-- and I-- I!-- have performed magic!"

"You've performed magic here," Combeferre points out, but he's grinning, because he knows Segundus has not done magic in his own world. "But oh, how wonderful! I congratulate you! What sort of magic? Did you call upon the fairy?"

"Well, I was not certain-- that is, we could not prove whose power created that spell--" But he's getting sidetracked. "No, no, I did not! He arrived of his own volition-- you see, he had a lady under his power and I-- I freed her!"

He takes just a moment, a half a second, to bask in the utter improbability of he, John Segundus, doing something so splendid and heroic as rescue a lady from a fairy enchantment.

It's only a moment, though, and then he is quick to add, "Of course, the bulk of it was owing to others-- Mr Childermass, in the main--"

"I feel certain that you underrate your involvement," says Combeferre. "What a glorious thing, to use magic in such a way! Congratulations, my friend. Please, tell me all about it. What sort of fairy was this?"

Mr Segundus's explanation is long and a bit distracted-- he is not very good at being concise-- but he does get it all out in the end: becoming a madhouse-keeper, Lady Pole, Stephen Black, the enchantment that hung over the house and both of them, and finally the grand finale: the arrival of Childermass, the breaking of the spell, the appearance of the fairy-- and his equally suddenly disappearance.

"--I do not suppose you should mention any of this to Mr Childermass, should you encounter him here," Mr Segundus says, stopping short. "I believe these events to be far in his future."

[ooc: uh so I forgot about this thread and we can either pick it up or let it fade, whichever you prefer?]

Combeferre listens, eyes widening, as Segundus relates this bizarre tale. "How marvelous," he says. "And no, of course I won't tell him, should I meet him. But Lady Pole is well now? And the other captive, Stephen Black?"

" Master Segundus?" Segundus is, tentatively, someone Gringoire considers a friend. As far as that goes, which means he hasn't gone mad and tried to beat anyone yet, but one never knows, and he does look...excited? So there's a certain wariness to Gringoire's greeting. "Are you well?"

"Oh, yes, very well, very well indeed!" he cries. "But how are you, sir?"

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