(no subject)

[tragic_mask]

Arriving at the Visitor's Center, Melpomene takes a look around.

"Well, this is it. In all its touristic glory. "

Comments

[tragic_mask]

"Haven't tried that one yet," she says, perhaps a bit too thoughtfully. "Though I did manage a Thanksgiving smoothie, at one point. All the nutrients of Thanksgiving in one large gulp."

Probably best if she stops there. So, she does.

[mechanicalswans]

"...did it have both the turkey and the pie?" he asks. "As long as it had the dessert too, I'd give it a try."

It's not entirely clear whether he's joking.

[tragic_mask]

"Of course," she says gravely. "Pumpkin."

[mechanicalswans]

"Better choice than apple," he says, and takes a drag on his cigarette. "The apple would be too sweet, too unlike the rest of the foods involved, but the pumpkin would have the right flavor, the right texture. It would fit."

[tragic_mask]

"You'd think," she says, with a dark look. "However, it's not an experiment I think I'll repeat. Keep all the courses separate, that's a great tradition and it's best to keep it that way."

[mechanicalswans]

"Well, of course, ideally... they would all be separate. But if they had to be mixed, pumpkin would be my choice rather than apple, that's all."

He glances to her.

"Though on its own, I usually prefer apple."

[tragic_mask]

"I will take that under consideration," says Melpomene the chef.

[mechanicalswans]

"I'm fond of cider, too," he says. "Autumn's my favorite time of the year, with the harvest and the apples... do you have a favorite time?"

[tragic_mask]

"I like the wintertime," she says. "It's undervalued-- but there's a certain beauty to the nakedness of dead trees against the sky. And... people are different in the winter, too. More closed into themselves."

[mechanicalswans]

"I like the feeling of transition," he says softly. "Youth and summer passing away, and there's nothing anyone can do to keep the cold of winter from coming. The inevitable march toward the end."

[tragic_mask]

"Certainly... fatalistic," she says. "The movement from life to death."

[mechanicalswans]

"I hope I'm not too depressing," he says. "But it seems I'm in very good company for that--given your work, of course, not that you yourself are depressing. In fact I find you quite cheerful, in your way."

[tragic_mask]

She shoots him a look, seeing if he really believes it.

"Yeah, that's my attempt at... not being what people expect me to be. You know. Mournful."

[mechanicalswans]

He certainly looks sincere.

"You'll need a sense of humor, with work like that," he says. "A very dark sense of humor, probably, but that's my favorite kind."

[tragic_mask]

"I do my best," she says.

[mechanicalswans]

"I know, and I love it," he says. "You don't seem to have fallen into despair--not all sunshine and brightness either, but that would be unnatural. It wouldn't suit you at all."

[tragic_mask]

"I agree," she says. "Which is-- not to put too fine a point on it-- why I mostly keep company with others who aren't sunshiney, either." She pauses. "It's a good thing, by the way. Too much sunshine is... off-putting."

[mechanicalswans]

"It's also generally unnatural," he says. "A cover, for something darker. Something they're in denial about. It's much healthier to just accept it."

[tragic_mask]

She nods. "Pent-up tragedy... that stuff's the darkest."

[mechanicalswans]

"They put all their strength into avoiding it altogether," he says, "so that when they can't avoid it, they crumble and cannot be repaired. People are too sheltered, too eager to avoid suffering."

[tragic_mask]

"Faking it is a popular hobby these days," she agrees.

[mechanicalswans]

"It's a bit of a specialty of mine," he admits, "but not in the same way, thankfully."

[tragic_mask]

"In what way?" she says, with an eyebrow quirk.

[mechanicalswans]

"Faking it?" he asks. "Haven't we been doing that for most of our vacation? Well, trying to."

[tragic_mask]

"Yeah," she admits. "You're definitely better at it than I am."