Returns with Confusion

[sweariwontdie]

Early Friday evening, Armand kisses Chris on the cheek and nuzzles baby Etienne and promises to come right back. He's thought of something he wants to get from the flat in Paris and meaning to try the plothole--it works for Marius and Cosette--as an easy means of travel he doesn't want to worry Chris. He only plans to be gone a few hours.

. . .The

Comments

[disheveledbear]

Shreve looked around the main room of the Mansion, looking for Melchior and Ilse's famous "closet that will give you anything you want." He didn't know quite what he would want to get from the closet-in all honesty, as interesting as this place was, he sort of wanted to go back to Harvard (how many days had passed since he had gotten here? How much Latin homework would that be to make up? And Quentin wouldn't be any help; he was always skipping class, to Shreve's worried unease). He wondered if "anything you want" could be an event, not just an item

[sweariwontdie]

The man was speaking very fast, but Armand thinks he understands him. One word catches his attention. "Magic?" he echoes. "This isn't England," he finally says.

[disheveledbear]

"Yes, magic," Shreve said. "At least, that's what I've been told-albeit by a man who speaks only in one-word phrases. And it would explain why I have no idea where I am." And why you don't either, presumably, he thought.

"This isn't England," Blue-coat said after a pause.

"You're sure? Well, that's a relief," said Shreve. "I was hoping I hadn't gone that far away." He had a sudden uneasy feeling that perhaps he was even further from Harvard than that, but tried to ignore it.

[sweariwontdie]

Armand bites his lip. "I don't think so any. It's not my brother-in-law's house. Near Richmond."

He laughs, a bit nervously. "It could be some other part of England. I hope it's not France."

[alcuin_delaunay]

Alcuin looks up from his book as Armand goes by. "Hello, Armand. Muffin?"

[sweariwontdie]

Armand pauses in his worried perusal of the room. Head to one side, he smiles nervously at Alcuin, whom he's not entirely sure just from looking is male or female. "You know me?"

[alcuin_delaunay]

"Oh dear. You've got amnesia." Alcuin nodded and offered a smile. "I'm Alcuin no Delaunay. We're friends."

[sweariwontdie]

Armand sighs, a bit less surprised than some might be. "I'm glad to have a friend in this strange place then."

[christopherwren]

Chris grinned and kissed Armand's cheek, holding baby Etienne in her arms. "Hello, love. Where did you run off to?"

[sweariwontdie]

Armand recoils, surprised. He stumbles back a step or two. He's not horrified or insulted, simply shocked. Such familiarity from a beautiful woman!

"Love? I'm sorry. Should I know you--" He glances down at the baby. "Madame?"

[christopherwren]

"Er, yes, darling, I think you should. I'm your -- wife?" She took a halfstep back, blinking.

[sweariwontdie]

"Wife?" Armand squeaks and then blushes. Where did he get a wife? And one who wasn't Jeanne. Oh dear. And English. Oh my.

He looks to Chris's left hand and then his own, where he sees a pair of identical rings even though he doesn't recognize them. "How long?" he finally manages to ask, getting just a little bit frightened now.

[dracoslytherin]

Draco sees Armand and raises an eyebrow at the surprised look on the man's face as well as the French. "What's wrong with you?"

Clearly, he also knows Armand.

[sweariwontdie]

Armand considers the blond carefully. English. "Should I know you, monsieur?" Clearly, something has happened that he doesn't understand. "Do you know where we are?"

[dracoslytherin]

He's assuming that it's one of the Mansion's many little tricks so he sighs and says, "This is the Mansion. I'm Draco Malfoy. We've know each other for years. What in Salazar's name happened to you? Did you eat something you shouldn't have?" His manner is quite blunt, but does have an odd trace of affection - as if for an errant sibling.

[sweariwontdie]

"I don't recall eating anything unusual." He turns to look back at the door through which he'd come. "I was at home. Then I was here." Home being likely somewhere near Blakeney Manor in 1794 England.

Draco's tone and attitude is one familiar to him, but he's used to be mildly scolded by his sister.

[poetickatharine]

"It's a magic Mansion."

[sweariwontdie]

"What is magic about it, mademoiselle?"

[poetickatharine]

"People come here from all different times and places. There's a plothole that gives you whatever you want. I think that's how you came in."

[sweariwontdie]

That goes with something he was told. Armand looks back at the door and then at the little girl again. "Thank you, petite mademoiselle."