hh_mirror | Open RP Hallway to the Ravenclaw Common Room

"Truer words are rarely spoken, there were all sorts there." Mr Universe said in response. He set the bottle down, still debating on whether he would actually drink any. "Well, there were some interesting people; a young girl questioned me extensively about Lenore, she really stood out, so did a few men, another girl offered to help me with some technology issues that might arise when I try to fulfill my bribes. I also ended up running into an old friend from my universe." He shrugged, "an interesting bunch here."

It was strange how he could say a fair number of words without really giving any information at all, Camilla thought. Her own friends tended to be masters of the improbable anecdote. Even when they weren't telling the truth, it was charming enough that you'd like to believe it. Whether Jeff had in fact met boring people or whether he just didn't know how to make them sound as interesting as they were, Camilla really found nothing she could say in response, except to note, "How nice you did happen upon a friend from your own neck of the woods, temporally speaking. Not every reunion here is always so pleasant." She sipped her martini, glancing about.

It was probably for the best that Mr. Universe couldn't tell how badly he was crashing and burning as far as conversation was going; if he could, they'd probably wouldn't get him out of his room for the next... ever. "Yeah, it's always good to run into someone friendly in a new situation." He looked at her when she made her next comment and asked, "is there anyone around here from when or where you are?" He also added, "unpleasant reunions... I'm glad there aren't many people I'd have one of those with..." as he said that, he thought of the Operative, the man who had killed him, and tried to suppress a shudder at the memory.

Camilla nodded. "All my old friends from college are here. My brother's here, too. And someone we used to know who didn't like us very much." As a description of Bunny Corcoran, this was a bit of an understatement. "We studied classics together. It would have been dreadfully boring to you, I'm sure. How did you learn so much about machines?"

"Well, it's always nice to meet up with old friends. I met the one from my universe who's here in flight school; which is incidentally where I learned a bit about mechanics. I picked up most of my knowledge myself, I was always a bit intuitive about that sort of thing." He shrugged and said, "I don't know, learning is rarely boring, even ancient information. Well, it only really matters if you enjoyed it."

"So you're an autodidact." Camilla's estimation of the man went up a few notches. "My best friend taught himself quite a lot before he ever came to school. One can learn so much, if one cares to."

Mr. Universe smiled, "pretty much. I picked up a little from my family, mechanics was my dad's hobby, but I took it much further than he ever did. It is true though, you can learn a lot more than people will ever teach you, if you just put in the effort." He questioned, "so, other than classics, what sort of things did you study?"

A light, self-deprecating laugh. "I'm afraid that's all we did study, really. Classics was our major. Well, we did other things, when our teacher thought some deficiency needed addressing. We also read a fair amount of medieval literature. Dante. The Roman de la Rose. The Chanson de Roland. Mostly, though, it was Latin and Greek. We had a wonderful time." She sighed. The sigh could be taken as an indication perhaps they were not having such a wonderful time anymore. "It seems so much longer than it's really been, between then and now. Only a few years really."

Mr. Universe shrugged, "well, as long as you were enjoying the learning, that's really the important thing... if you don't enjoy what you're doing, there's little point to doing it," obviously oblivious to any possible indication to the contrary. He agreed, "yeah, it's really strange, it seems like so much time has passed between my past and now, but it's really only been a few days by my count. Time is funny that way."

Camilla blinked, nonplussed. "Your past?"

Mr. Universe said, "well, as far as I can tell, I died before I came to this time here, so it would technically be my past. I dunno, there wasn't really an accurate word that fit there, but it was the first one that came to me."

He'd died? If he'd said that in his Sorting, Camilla had missed it somehow. "So this is another life for you in every sense," she said. "Well, you're not alone in that. There are other resurrected persons at Hogwarts presently." Some of them more welcome than others. "When you say it seems like so much time has passed between your past and now, what do you mean, exactly, in terms of subjective time?"

While it may have been mentioned before, this was the first time he'd actually out and out said it to anyone. Mr. Universe nodded; "as far as I can tell. Actually, my friend is one of them. We both ended up dying before we showed up here, which I find extremely odd." He added, "well, it feels like a lot of time has passed both between then and now, but also since I came here, but that could be just because I'm in such a strange setting, and around people who are so different from what I'm used to." By which he actually meant being around people in general.

Sipping her martini, Camilla listened with unfeigned interest. "Was it a natural death?"

Mr. Universe visibly shook a little as he answered, obviously more than a little nervous about discussing this. "Not exactly; I was murdered actually, by a man with a sword. Not exactly a common weapon in my universe," he tried to joke, not managing very well.

Murder fazed Camilla not at all. In utter tranquility she took another drink of her martini. "What was it like?" she wanted to know.

Mr. Universe stared at her, obviously confused. "Um... what do you mean by that... being killed, being dead, I'll need you to be a bit more specific if I'm going to answer that." He really hoped he didn't have to answer; but would if pressed.

"Why, both," answered Camilla promptly, a bit surprised he should have asked for such a clarification.

"Well," Mr. Universe looked down at the floor. He said quietly, after a slightly awkward pause, "being killed was... painful mostly; but it wasn't a quick thing, it was a long agonizing thing... I had enough time to leave a message for some people, but it was hard... really hard..." he trailed off near the end, not really knowing what to say. He shook his head once, trying to clear it. "But being dead... I don't remember that at all. It was like I was dying in Lenore's lap one minute, and in the Sorting Room a few seconds later... I wish I remembered more," he looked up at Camilla, "that would probably have made the whole experience worthwhile."

Camilla offered a small reassuring smile. "Most people don't remember much of it," she said. "Of being dead, I mean. I'm rather curious as to what they do remember, when they do." She wondered whether he would drink now, and if so, whether he'd find a glass first.

Mr. Universe reached over the bar, and found a shot glass, opened the vodka, and poured himself a shot. He knocked it back quickly and responded, "I think it's probably just one of those things you're not meant to remember... you just kind of block it out in hopes of forgetting it happened..." He added, "but this is talking from my own death, which was trauma enough as it was. So I could be dead wrong," he finished, without realizing the possible pun there.

Camilla caught the pun, intended or not, and laughed quietly. "I'm sure I couldn't say, never having been dead."

Mr. Universe shrugged, "well, I don't plan on dying again anytime soon, so I'm hoping I'm not the one who ends up going back to find out." He poured another shot and downed it. He looked to the celing and said, "though it would be an interesting thing to send someone to find out..." He then shook his head and added, "no, I couldn't do that to anyone... not even for the pursuit of knowledge," he trailed off at the end and looked down and away.

Camilla leaned forward, very slightly.

"Why couldn't you?" Something unreadable in those gray eyes of hers.

Mr. Universe continued to look away and said in the same quiet unsure voice, "after knowing what being murdered was like, I couldn't even imagine putting someone through that experience." He looked up leaned in slightly as well, and said with just a slight break in his voice, "if you'd gone through what I did, you'd understand."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject