milliways_bar | (no subject)

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The front door opens, and in comes Charlie McGee, looking around.

She's looking for a particular person or two, but wouldn't say no to meeting new people.

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Anthy is playing sudoku by the windows, and she's stumped; when Charlie steps in she looks up, pencil in mouth.

Charlie doesn't quite notice the purple-haired girl by the

(rose)

window, but she does take a few moments to admire the view again.

But there's already a 2 in that row.

She draws a small elephant in one of the squares.

Satisfaction.

The movement catches Charlie's eye, and she looks down at the girl and at the puzzle in front of her.

And stops, with a shock of something almost like recognition.

She never did get a visual of the girl Zillah had talked about; Zillah herself had never seen her out of her disguise. But the good-mind had passed along a ... well, a sense. Almost a scent.

Charlie pauses, and then says "Excuse me."

She's finished half of a second elephant before she realizes Charlie is talking to her, and looks up, blinking. "I'm sorry?"

Charlie smiles at her, half-apologetically. "This ... I'm sorry, this may be a strange question, but ... is your name Rose?"

Anthy blinks again.

"I don't think so."

"Is there any reason why someone might call you a rose? I'm sorry if this doesn't make any sense, it's just that I'm trying to find someone and I don't have a very large set of clues, and ... I think you may be her, but I could be wrong."

Anthy gives the elephant an ear.

"Trying to find someone?"

"Hoping to. I don't know for certain if she's here."

"Someone named Rose?"

"I don't know if that's her name. She was referred to as the rose in disguise."

Charlie's watching the girl carefully. She's getting very little sense from her other than the initial shock of recognition, which is already fading.

Anthy adds a trunk, elegantly raised, and a swishing tail.

Her eyebrows draw together, and apart again.

"How is Zillah?"

A pause.

"She's doing a lot better," Charlie says finally. "Are you the girl she spoke of? The one who impersonated River Tam as part of the rescue mission?"

Now the elephant has wings!

Anthy blinks blandly up at Charlie.

"I wasn't a part of a rescue mission."

"No?"

Charlie sits down, and clasps her hands on the table.

"But you were there, in place of River Tam?"

For a few moments she silently shades in the feathers.

Then, "Yes."

Charlie's silent a moment, as if in deliberate imitation.

Then she draws a small envelope out of her pocket and hands it to Anthy.

"Zillah asked me to give you this. I've been carrying it here every time I came, in hopes of finding you."

"Thank you," she says, taking it, and offers Charlie a distracted smile.

Then she looks uncertainly at the envelope.

"My name's Charlie," she says quietly. "Charlie McGee.

"And I'd like to be able to tell Zillah your name."

"Anthy Himemiya is my name."

"Thank you, Charlie."

A pause.

"The weather here is lovely today."

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