(Untitled)

[octavia_minor]

In the months she'd spent on the island, Octavia had come to grow fairly fond of the place. It was different, yes, and it had its downsides, but overall, it was a good deal more enjoyable than that she'd left behind, and she made no secret of it -- no mother to deal with, no assassinations of her uncle, fewer of society's rules and confines to

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[mythofcain]

Jason Bourne has seen a lot of things in his lifetime, and he assumes he's seen even more for the stretches and patches of black space in his past he can't quite seem to remember no matter how hard he tries. He's seen much more ever since arriving on the island, and has had to come to accept the improbable from time to time.

However, even Jason sometimes can't help the very human reaction to just stop and stare.

[octavia_minor]

At the sight of someone staring, Octavia lifted her head slightly off the pillow, watching for just a moment before she commanded, "Stop." The thing did, and lowered slightly, though still suspended off the ground. She sat up fully, brushing off the simple dress she had managed to coax out of the box. "Hello," she said to the man, about as brightly as she said anything; and, just out of courtesy, added, "Is everything all right?"

[mythofcain]

Something twinges deep in Jason's mind, and he thinks royalty, maybe high-class, knows there should be people carrying the girl around in the litter. It's one of the stranger, more mundane things he's remembered.

"No, no, I'm fine," he says, but he can't hide his curiosity. David would have found something like this fantastical, is Jason's argument with himself. "Does that really respond to your voice?"

[octavia_minor]

"It appears to, yes," Octavia answered, unable to help herself from smiling. "I don't quite understand it, but it's remarkable, don't you think?"

The ride was much smoother than a litter from back home, too, which was just another reason for her to appreciate the island.

[picksthelosers]

There's an elephant beside her. He's not very big1, and they're both observing the sight that is passing by them.

She looks at the elephant, he looks back. She nods, he trumpets.

"That is what we call ingenuity, Jingo."

He bobs his head.

1. But he is still an elephant, and no matter how young he is, and thus how small, he's still rather large. This is what one calls perspective.

[octavia_minor]

The sight of an elephant beside her brought Octavia to an upright seated position. She'd seen them once before, at Caesar's triumph, and while those were bigger, she'd not expected to see any here.

"Jingo?" she questioned, uncertain as to whether or not she'd heard properly, and upon remembering to, ordered, "Stop," which the litter did. "Did you name an elephant Jingo?"

[picksthelosers]

"Of course."

Jingo stamps his foot. She smiles. What else would she have named him? Honestly one would think that the names of the other elephants on A'Tuin's back had had more reasonable names.

"You say that like it's something abnormal."

[octavia_minor]

Octavia shuddered slightly when the elephant -- Jingo -- stamped, if only out of principle. "Well," she said stiffly, clearing her throat, "I can't say I've ever heard of an elephant being named before, let alone named Jingo."

Gods, but this place continued to get stranger.

[poison_pearl]

I think it at first no more than a trick of the eyes; some kind of devilishly clever optical illusion. So I wait, patiently, for it to resolve itself into something entirely mundane as it draws clearer.

It does not. It becomes, if anything, even more vexing to the eyes and mind. I bend at the waist, attempting to comprehend what my eyes tell me through a new angle, a better look at the undercarriage. The new angle tells me nothing; the undercarriage still lacks wheels, or any identifiable form of support.

I straighten, and wonder if I've run mad.-If, as I suspected when first I arrived, I have been mad all along and this is simply a new, deeper note on the refrain of my insanity.

[octavia_minor]

Upon seeing Maud, Octavia smiled, ordering the litter to stop -- which, of course, it did, left hovering a bit above the ground. "It's incredible, isn't it?" she asked, and though it was somewhat rhetorical, she traced her fingers gently along one of the posts as she sat up. "It just appeared here, an hour or so ago, with my name on it."

[poison_pearl]

"It's enough to make one believe in witchery," I say, stepping cautiously closer, as if too loud a footfall will cause the thing to run wild. "It does what you order it to?"

[octavia_minor]

"It appears to, yes," Octavia said, half-incredulous still, tugging her skirt further over her knees as she drew her legs in, bent to the side of her. "Would you like to give it a try? There's more than enough room."

[belongtonobody]

"Well," Inara remarked, tone admiring, eyes admiring, as she stood to the side of the path to let the machine pass. "I've never seen one like that. Must be quite useful here." She had only been going for a walk, enjoying the weather now that it was as it once had been; there was, really, little enough else to be done in these parts.

[octavia_minor]

Turning her head at the sound of a voice, Octavia ordered, "Stop," and the litter complied, lowering to hover just off the ground. "I've never seen one like it, either," she said to the woman, unable to help the expression close to proud on her face. "But it is useful so far, yes. It only appeared an hour or so ago."

[belongtonobody]

Inara's head raised higher, almost a nod of understanding. "I see," she said. "It seems as if everyone's been given presents this month, right out of the air." She could hardly complain; she'd been given a bed herself. The luxury of it reminded her more of what she was accustomed to than anything in the last few months had done.

[octavia_minor]

"It's rather nice, I'd say," Octavia mused, one arm curling over her head as she stretched her legs, lounging further across the cushion of the litter with a slow, deep breath. "Especially with all else that's happened around here." The luxury was similar, for her; she'd been so accustomed to it back home that being devoid of it for those first few months had been nearly refreshing, but now it was a comfort to have it back in some capacity, especially one so convenient.

[manwithstyle]

Albus Dumbledore was quite accustomed to hovering objects, even when said hovering objects were Roman litters. In fact, instead of the traditional response of staring at such an occurrence, he idly wondered what the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office would have to say about a hovering litter and decided after a moment that they would surely ban them. That was, after all, their job.

Or, rather, that would have been their job if the hovering litter operated on magic. As it was, it did not. That, thought Albus, was evident by the fact that it hovered at all.

Standing on the side of the path, he watched the litter hover towards him with polite interest.

"Curious," he observed.

[octavia_minor]

It took Octavia aback, albeit momentarily, to hear Albus's voice coming from the path beside her; she may have met the man on several occasions, but that didn't stop him from seeming startlingly similar to her brother, despite their difference in hair styles. She quickly sat straight up, her back arching slightly, and commanded the litter to stop, which, of course, it did.

"Yes," she said simply a moment later, instantly more composed from her intial shock, which hadn't really been that apparently anyway. "It is rather curious, isn't it?" She smiled, though, as proud as her name would suggest. "It appeared not long ago, marked for me."

[manwithstyle]

Albus's thoughts drifted back to days before and the sudden arrival of a crate of firewhiskey marked for one Bartemius Crouch Jr and he smiled fleetingly at the memory. "It would appear that this Island has a hitherto unseen sense of generosity," he said archly. He stepped closer to the litter and absently reached a hand forwards. However, upon realizing his lack of manners, he stopped just short of actually touching. "Would you mind horribly if I...?" he asked, affecting quite convincingly an air of sheepishness.

[octavia_minor]

"Oh, not at all," Octavia said quickly, one hand waving dismissively through the air. "Go right ahead." Back home, the thought would certainly have been unheard of, but things were different here, and that was why she liked it; Albus may not have been from a well-born Roman family -- in fact, she knew nothing about his heritage -- but she saw no reason to stop him from touching the litter. Act of Island generosity or not, it was merely a litter.

"It is unusually kind of the island," she continued in agreement, as much to herself as to him, and twirled a lock of hair around one finger. "But I can't object, when it provides things like this."