closed RP: Susan Sto Helit and Stephen Maturin: comparing notes

[estebanmd]

(( Takes place after Susan's conversation with Gin, Dib's owls to Stephen and Susan, and Stephen's re-emergence from a week incommunicado. )) Aloysius had been dutifully collecting all the owls that should have reached Stephen and River while they were not-precisely-away, leaving on Stephen's office desk a pile of letters (some of them pointless

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[sensiblesusan]

With the tribble safely in its cage, Susan walked briskly down to Stephen's office. The little animal seemed quite content, purring happily even as she made her way through the school halls.

She knocked on the office door to announce herself. "Stephen? Welcome back! How was your holiday?"

[estebanmd]

Opening the door, Stephen looked surprised. "What holiday? I have not left the school." Which was, literally, true. Then he caught sight of the tribble. "Oh, it is wonderful! May I?"

[sensiblesusan]

"Not left -- ah. Well, I hope it was enjoyable all the same." She grinned and presented the tribble. "It's a very sweet and strange little creature. It doesn't do much apart from purring and eating, and it doesn't like reptiles. The only caution is that you've got to be careful about how much you feed it -- Dr Grant was very insistent on that point."

[estebanmd]

Stephen took the cage and peered inside. The tribble made an agreeable sound. "Should I contact Grant as to the specifics of its diet, do you think? It would be a pity for the dear to take ill. But I quite forget courtesy, as always. Come in, come in."

[sensiblesusan]

"Oh. Oh dear. How very ..." she searched for a word, and for once was entirely unable to come up with something that suited. "Was it a productive discussion, at least? Worth the possible reappearance of a rubber duck at an impolitic time? To say nothing of the horror of seeing him disrobed."

[estebanmd]

"No discussion with him is ever productive, is it, really? No, it consisted primarily of thwarting various lines of inquiry. As to his disrobing, I think he hoped it would be rather shocking, but really, what did he expect 19th-century sailors to have worn into the sea? I know there have been vast advances in textile science since my time, of course." Stephen did not seem the least bit embarrassed to be discussing his bath with Gin, now that the subject had been broached. "Perhaps it can be viewed as somewhat productive to have had the satisfaction of wiping that damnable smile off his face for a moment."

[sensiblesusan]

"I think that's about all the satisfaction any of us can hope for, when talking with him. It's exhausting, you know, to have to always stay a step ahead of him in conversation, and to keep from showing anything that could be interpreted as weakness. Ugh." She made a face. "At least it sounds as if he may be going back to Soul Society for a time; maybe things will be quiet in the interim.

"Oh, incidentally, I finally spoke to Professor Lupin and made him aware of the, ah, situation. With Teatime. He's agreed to keep an eye on things." She paused and wondered if she ought to mention her initial reluctance to bring Lupin into the mess.

[estebanmd]

"He is going back? Now that I did not know. And you mentioned a superior of his, an Aizen? I wonder what Byakuya Kuchiki would make of this." Stephen steepled his hands, reflective. "And I do not know what to say to Dib, at all. Any form of discipline I could impose would be no less than laughable. Send the man to detention with his friend Teatime? Take house points?" Stephen clearly did not think house points were particularly motivational.

"Now that is welcome news," he said, in response to Susan's comment on Lupin. "Not in that I think he could keep any better apprised of the situation than you can; but he is your Head of House, and as such, he does need to know things like this. He is a good man."

[estebanmd]

Stephen accepted the redirection gracefully. "Your grandfather, yes. He does not seem interested in potions either."

[sensiblesusan]

"It's probably just as well. He would be very precise in making them, but would undoubtedly ask lots of perplexing questions. I wish he was about, though -- I've got to talk to him. Oh!" She frowned. "I hadn't told you this, had I? Teatime. He's got a sword that's ... very like Granddad's. It probably isn't his, because I'd have heard about it by now if it was. But if it's what he says it is, it's a terribly powerful artifact all the same."

[estebanmd]

"Bloody hell." Stephen was silent for a moment, absorbing this and its possible ramifications. "I am not sure which I dislike more, the fact Teatime should have such a thing, or the fact Gin is after him and might find it out." In such a matter as this he was perfectly willing to ask questions. "What powers does the sword possess?"

[sensiblesusan]

"The same powers as the scythe," she said, gloomily. "It's got an edge so fine that you can scarcely see it; it can slice flame, cut sound -- and, as it was meant to do, separate the soul from the body at the moment of death. I don't know if Teatime can really use it, but even without the skill, he could do a hell of a lot of damage. It is a small and very perverse reassurance that he appears determined to save the bloody damn thing for me, however, whenever he finally gets around to attempting his revenge. He considers it poetic justice."