songerein | How can you tell me you're lonely?

Who: Luca, some NPCS, and YOU
Which: Open Log
Where: Around town
What: Catchall for November!
Warnings: Awkward encounters mainly. Will update if needed.

Clothes Maketh the Man
It seems the bird woman running the boutique is feeling rather generous today. Luca is seen coming out of that place in something more presentable, for once... But he's also stuck holding onto that Halloween costume from the 'dreamscape'. Metal parts and all.

"Always a pleasure doing business with you!" Madame Blackbird smiles as she guides Luca out the door, "Until next time, may the black bird's song guide you~"

"Huh?" Luca blinks in confusion. "Wait! How am I supposed to wear this?!"

But she's shut the door on him before he's able to turn around and ask.

Mad Tea Party
If that last experience wasn't sudden enough... One minute, Luca was walking through the market area. The next, some extremely tall fellow grabs him by the arm and mutters something about tea. Luca was only able to yelp in fright as he's abruptly pulled into the shop...

Should anyone investigate the disturbance, they will find Luca seated at an uncommonly large table in an uncommonly large store surrounded by an uncommonly large variety of... Things. Mainly hats and chemicals, but also a few curious trinkets. He's less frightened at this point, but he does sit there bewildered as a teapot with mechanical spider legs scuttles across the table to pour him a drink.

"Ah... Well. I'm not entirely sure what I expected from this place."

Mechanical Wonderland
After some time humoring the hat maker and questioning him about the various inventions, Luca begins to warm up to the fellow. He didn't think he'd actually meet another inventor in this sort of place, much less one who was as interested in alternate energy sources as he was. The two of them were chatting up quite a storm in that shop, it was so easy to lose track of time...

"... As far as I know, the trouble is I never seem to have the right resources to conduct my experiments! Back where I was before all this, I didn't have the funding or space for my work. Then I come to the... The... Either it was called the Index or the Realm of Stories... But there I had more than enough thanks to my essence, but by then I'd forgotten what exactly I was trying to accomplish! By the time I figured it out..."

The hat maker nods as he listens to Luca's rambling. Both of them are so lost in their discussion that they don't notice anyone walking in on them.

WILDCARD
[ Yes, I know I'm supposed to be on hiatus soon, but I was told I could tag during it. Tags will be slow, but if you have any other ideas for prompts feel free to hit me up. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[At first, Ferran is merely exploring the district to see if anything interesting has popped up; his copying abilities means that seeing more pretty much gives him more, and a guy needs Things.

But then, as he's glancing at the items displayed at the hatter's shop, he catches a bit of that conversation, if just because of Luca's enthusiasm. He's not an engineer, but he'd be lying if he said it didn't interest him, once he starts getting the gist of it.

He steps in, and then seeing that neither of them have taken note of him, slides slowly and quietly into a seat at that enormous table to observe, just out of their peripheral. Even if he doesn't end up getting anything concrete out of it, it's free entertainment... and snacks. He'll just be over here, munching on a cookie delivered to him by a mechanical tray—don't mind him.]

[ Oh, your presence isn't minded at all. In fact, the other two are so engrossed in their conversation that they haven't taken notice at all. ]

Oh, no. I don't think anyone exactly laughed at me. I think there might have been some discouragement, but I don't recall them laughing. [ He mumbles something about checking notes. ] Anyway, I shan't let their opinions steer me away--

He turns his head and sees the fellow munching cookies and staring. Oh... Hello. [ Now the hat maker has turned his attention to the newcomer too. ] I don't think I saw you there.

[Staring? Absolutely not, that's rude—what Ferran has been doing has been looking on in interest. He simply nods at the acknowledgement as if this is an entirely normal and expected way for the conversation to proceed. He knows enough about this particular flavor of hatter in stories to assume normal manners are only so important here, and Luca's presence doesn't change that. When in Rome and all that.]

So, what is this big project you finally remembered?

[He says, as if he was a part of the conversation all along. Rather than reach for one of the teacups sitting too far away from his seat, he simply makes one—a perfect duplicate of one slightly chipped cup across the table appears in his hand with a small crackle of light.]

Erm...

[ How did that man... Ah. Now Luca has been put on the spot. Strange person just butted in and asked him a thing. How does one respond in a way that doesn't-

The hatmaker nudges Luca in an attempt to get him to speak. There's one wide-eyed glance at that man before he attempts to respond. ]

I- Ah... I think I wanted to make some sort of... Perpetual... Energy... Thing?

[Ferran's brow rises as he tilts his head momentarily to acknowledge the response.]

Ambitious!

[All of a sudden, this guy doesn't seem that confident. Problems speaking with strangers, maybe? Instead of acknowledging that, he simply progresses the conversation.]

What inspired you to work towards that kind of thing? If you remember.

... Other than a desire to prove myself? I don't recall.

[ That is a good question, actually. He's sure he remembers why he's wanting to do this, but he never thought about why he wanted to invent that certain thing in the process.

Luca gazes at the ceiling in thought as a mechanical teapot hops on the table and scuttles to the new person. ]

[Ferran slides his cup forward to allow the pot to do its job, resting his chin against his knuckles.]

That's as good a reason as any, [he acknowledges, though he was hoping for a little more of a story,] and as long as you still want to, I guess it doesn't matter what exactly started it.

[Personally, he's been trying not to dwell on what he can't recall, and just accepting that he feels the way he does about certain things. But instead of trying to force the conversation along, He waits a few moments to see if Luca's pondering goes anywhere.]

“Neither do I. I have never seen this many hats and chemicals on a table before,” Anya adds in as she too sits down to the table and is also greeted by a spider leg teapot pouring her a cup of tea, “Um… Thank you, Mr. Teapot.”

While she is trying to see if there are snacks on the table, Pooka meanwhile finds himself sniffing at some of the trinkets and hats, wisely choosing not to sniff at the chemicals that could’ve made him feel uneasy after getting a whiff of it.

The mechanical teapot skitters away after pouring a cup for Anya, only to detect the dog's presence and hurries over. Does the dog like tea? The teapot is offering it tea.

Luca hasn't realized where the teapot went to. "I think hatters tend to use certain chemicals to make the felts for their hats, but this isn't quite what I had in mind..."

He glances over at a cabinet, taking note of some of the things inside... Bottles with odd labels on them, felt, hats, some dangerous looking weapon he doesn't recognize. "What sort of shop is this?"

Edited 2021-11-15 02:59 (UTC)

“I can’t tell either,” Anya admits while she takes some of the tea and is also not paying attention to the teapot’s whereabouts, “I suppose that this is a hat boutique judging from the amounts of hats and materials needed to make them in here, but there seems to be other things inside the shop too. Very hard to tell at the moment.”

The teapot did spook out Pooka a bit when it approached him and offered him tea, causing him to sniff at it in a cautious manner. He has never seen a moving household item before, even when he and his master were in the Realm of Stories as he had to stay in the cottage while Anya had to attend a birthday party.

How can you tell me you're lonely?

mechanical wonderland

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This took way too long.

no problem c:

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Mad Tea Party

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