[ 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]

"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."

[tragic_mask]

"Yes, that kind." She wrinkles her nose. "I'm 34 officially, I believe. Though people always tell me I look young for my age."

[mechanicalswans]

He shifts position a bit to take out his wallet, and consults his driver's license. Apparently godly influence can get one a not-unattractive license photo.

"I'm 37," he says, "38 in November. Certainly old enough to start looking 'distinguished.'"

[tragic_mask]

She looks, and takes on a serious face. "Mhm, yes, I can see how people might get that impression."

[mechanicalswans]

The license also lists his name as Isidor Adler, his height as 6'4" and his eyes as brown.

"I don't like to look too young. When you are very old, it's hard to pass yourself off as young and innocent. And even when we were young, we were never so innocent--at least my family was not."

[tragic_mask]

"Well, mine was. Rather, they said they were, though I think my sisters were born perverted."

There's a reason Melpomene doesn't ever see her family.

[mechanicalswans]

"There's a look in the eyes, you know. You can spot an immortal that way no matter what shape they are in, if you look closely enough. Some things can't be hidden."

[tragic_mask]

"I've never caught a god just strolling around, so I suppose I'm not trained in the ways of god-spotting."

[mechanicalswans]

"We won't have to worry about that while on our vacation," he says with a smile. "There will be no looking for gods--there will be no gods at all. Nobody but us ordinary mortals."

[tragic_mask]

"That's right," she says. "Just on a weekend trip up to the falls to see what all the fuss is about and buy presents for... Aunt Trudy, right?"

[mechanicalswans]

"Aunt Trudy, yes," he says with a nod. "You can buy something for Uncle Phil if you like, but I haven't forgotten what he said at Thanksgiving last year, and I'm not quite ready to put him back on my gift list yet. But you may."

[tragic_mask]

"Well, I'm sure he didn't mean it." She warms up to the part. "Besides, he's my only uncle, and he may keel over at any moment. So try to forget the family feud for just a little while, will you?"

[mechanicalswans]

He wrinkles his nose. "I will try," he says after a moment. "He doesn't make it easy, you know. I know I don't either, but... well, he thinks I'm not good enough for you. And he's going to have to get used to the fact that I'm not going anywhere."

[tragic_mask]

She laughs, and leans against him. "You do indignant spouse very well, you know that?"

[mechanicalswans]

"I do adoring spouse very well also," he says with a smile. "If there's one thing I'm very good at, it is artifice--imagine passing off a mechanical person as your spouse, to your neighbors and the people around town. I've had a lot of practice."

[tragic_mask]

"Oh, right. I guess I'm the newbie here."

[mechanicalswans]

"There's no shame in not having experience with synthetic relationships," he says softly. "I like you better this way. More spontaneous, as you said."