[ with weyland in nyc ]

[tragic_mask]

They step through the door, and find themselves on the cracked sidewalk outside of a lively bar. A sign glows: "Blue Owl."

It's nighttime, but the city still glows with all kinds of light, and shakes with the noise of honking, shouting, music, the clinking of glasses, all blending together into the cacophony and symphony of the city.

Melpomene looks around. "Well, we're back... Right where I started."

Comments

[mechanicalswans]

"We should find a place somewhere," he whispers, as though afraid to say it properly aloud. "Someone else's world where neither of us is a god, and just... be ordinary, for a while. Take a weekend off, let a semblance of ordinary life take the place of longing, even if it isn't real."

[tragic_mask]

There's a silence. Then: "Where would we go?"

[mechanicalswans]

"Anywhere," he says. "The past, the future, any part of the world, any part of some other planet. Wherever people go, wherever no people go."

[tragic_mask]

"Well, we can't go into the past of this world, or I might meet myself." She raises an eyebrow.

[mechanicalswans]

"And we can't go to my world at all, unless you want my mechanical companion to accompany us," he says. "While I am in that world, I cannot leave her alone for so long. And ordinary people don't bring mechanical people with them on vacation."

[tragic_mask]

"That's true." She thinks. "What is it ordinary people do, exactly? I suppose the answer depends on where we end up, given that 'ordinary' changes from place to place."

[mechanicalswans]

He is silent for a long moment, studying the side of her neck.

"I know exactly where we should go," he says. "The most ordinary thing two people can do--we should go to Niagara Falls. We would need luggage, and a camera, and someone to send postcards to."

[tragic_mask]

She lets out a surprised laugh. "Oh, yes, and bright, disgustingly flowery shirts. Or are those just for Hawaii?"

[mechanicalswans]

"As long as the weather is nice, I think those flowery shirts are acceptable, even encouraged, on vacations everywhere. So if it is at least springtime, yes--I would not pack suits at all."

A pause. "Well, maybe one. In case of nice restaurants. But for the most part, flowered shirts, shorts with big pockets, and sandals."

[tragic_mask]

"Well, I don't exactly own any of those, so perhaps I should go shopping so I can be properly normal."

[mechanicalswans]

"That's what normal people do," he says. "Buy new luggage, and then things to put in it. But you have to leave some empty space for the souvenirs, don't forget."

[tragic_mask]

"Oh, right," she says, somewhat lost. She's never really been on this sort of vacation. "You know best."

[mechanicalswans]

"Actually... I don't go on vacations," he admits. "Trips for business, but those are different. But that's what they do in the movies."

[tragic_mask]

"Well, I'm sure they're the best source of information on the matter. The best one we have, in any case."

[mechanicalswans]

"I don't think I even know anyone who goes on vacation," he says. "Not well enough that they wouldn't think it strange to be asked what one does. Do you plan what you are going to do before you go, or do you go there and see and decide there?"

[tragic_mask]

"I-- think I'd probably be the more spontaneous type," she says, thoughtfully.

[mechanicalswans]

"In that case, I think... well, we would need a hotel reservation. But beyond that, just ask people once there, the hotel staff or people in restaurants. Or just walk around and go see whatever looks interesting."

[tragic_mask]

She smiles. "As long as it's interesting in an ordinary way, right?"

[mechanicalswans]

"The most ordinary ways imaginable," he says solemnly. "We shall watch local weather reports on television in the hotel room, and ask for a newspaper with the room service breakfast but not read it. And we shall go to shops looking for gifts to bring back for all our nieces and nephews and the paperboy and your hairdresser, and we will discuss whether Aunt Trudy would rather a snow globe or a paperweight that does not contain water."

[tragic_mask]

"How delightful." And she seems to mean it.

[mechanicalswans]

"It will be the most delightfully ordinary vacation," he says, with a bit of a smile. "We will have to wait in line for things, maybe even buy tickets and then wait in line. We may interrupt housekeeping when we return to the room in the middle of the day to get the camera that we had forgotten. It will be brilliantly flawed."

[tragic_mask]

"It's a brilliant idea. Only I hope I don't slip back into my ordinary-- and by that I mean extraordinary-- ways, given the force of habit and all that."

[mechanicalswans]

"...well, you will have me to keep you from doing that. But only if you do the same for me--what good is a vacation if we will be our regular selves the entire time?"

[tragic_mask]

"Well, it'd be fun, but we'd have missed the point. I'm determined to act human. Maybe even get a few wrinkles, or something like that."

She beams. (This may be the first time in history that any woman has smiled while talking about wrinkles.)

[mechanicalswans]

"The kind you get from laughing?" he asks. "You'd look charming with a few, I'm sure. I shall have a bit of grey hair, I think. I forget how old my passport says I am."