2019-07-29 - The Map

It's a quiet afternoon at Memento Mori, but then again, it's almost always quiet here. The front door is open wide but that doesn't seem to be inviting any stragglers within; which leaves Violet here alone with the hoarder-level stacks of antiques and rare books. She sits behind a too-tall counter in the very back of the shop, only the top of her pale golden head visible from the door. She is seated in an oversized swivel chair wearing a long skirt and a maroon-colored top with a lace collar, her legs tucked under her, reading a book.

Teresa walks in. She's in black and black, with a black messenger bag by her side. She's dressed warm. Dressed for business. She approaches the counter, approaches that slight hint of blond. "Excuse me," she says. She is too smooth to bark.

"Oh!" Violet doesn't jump out of her seat, but she does startle at the voice, eyes growing owlishly wide behind thick glasses as she looks up over the counter to Teresa. "Oh," she says again, slamming her book shut, and sitting up straighter. Remember your manners, Violet! She plasters on a smile that doesn't look quite right. "Welcome to Memento Mori! Can I help you?"

"Yes." And Teresa remembers her manners. "Thank you." She in turn does not quite smile, save for a lazy half thing, a default "if I must" expression. She studies Violet. "I have a map, an old one, I think. Would you be able to look at it?" A slightly ruder beat. "Usefully?"

"A map?" Violet repeats, blinking at Teresa. She seems to study the woman for a moment, the smile slipping into a more neutral expression. Flat. "You work at the Pourhouse," where her father drinks. It's not a question, just a statement of fact. "I don't know anything about cartography," she admits. "But I know antiques. I could take a look," she offers.

"Yes. I work at the Pourhouse," Teresa says, levelly. She opens her messenger bag and draws out the fragile, folded piece of paper. She smooths it out on top of the counter with great care (https://imgur.com/a/FEyyT8c). "Can't say as I know what to make of it. Fairly new in town. Thus, the Pourhouse."

"I'm sorry," Violet says of her being new in town. Or perhaps of her being in town. "This is not a good place to be. Especially if you are new. I've lived here all my life. I'm Violet," she offers, even if she wasn't asked, and turns her attention down to the map as it is rolled out onto her counter. It means he has to stand, and she is a short thing, so she leans over the desk onto the tips of her toes. Then she immediately pulls back with a flinch, hand to her chest.

"That isn't from here," she snaps, looking up to Teresa, her blue eyes demanding understanding. "You brought that back from somewhere. Somewhere not here."

"Teresa," Teresa offers. "Is it so bad? I'm from Florida," she says with a careful minglement of amusement and awareness. (Wouldn't be the only town not quite so great). At Violet's snap, her eyes widen only slightly. In the same tone of offering neutral information, she says, "Sometimes you happen across a surprise. I thought it was just a dream, but here it is. Not a dream."

Violet doesn't comment on how bad the town is, mostly because she's fixated on the map. "Do you feel it? Did you see? You're like me, sort of, but different," she squints at Teresa. "It was like a Dream," emphasis on the capital D. "But it wasn't. And you brought something back. That car.. I swear Alex told me about that car.." she is muttering under her breath, shaking her head.

"The car." Teresa looks like she might keep talking, but her eyes vague. Her whole expression distances. A thousand miles away. When she blinks to, she says, softly unnerved, "I was not me. Just now. I had old hands, the hands of Doctor Marshall, perhaps? I was-- he was speaking. He was looking out into the place I was, that strange Gray Harbor, from the car. He said 'X marks the spot. We have too many X's but they mark the spot!' Then he said they'd find the spot where it is today." She shakes her head. "I have no idea where /it/ is. But I saw the car. Met the car. The map was on the seat." She sounds a bit ground-down sharing this, but she shares it. Meeting Violet's eyes.

Violet falls back onto her chair at Teresa's words. Her own eyes are a thousand miles away; she's as pale as a ghost. "Doctor Marshall," she repeats in a murmur, her hand coming up to her throat, and she makes a quiet whimpering sound as she briefly closes her eyes. "I saw it too. The car, the .. he was looking for something. I.." she wets her lips, and when she looks back up to Teresa, her eyes are glistening with unfallen tears. "My sister is missing. She.. she was sent away, years ago, to a hospital we can't find. A hospital that Doctor Marshall works.... worked at, I think he is dead now," it's a rushed explanation, a quiet one. "It doesn't make any sense. None of this makes any sense. Did you .. did you see a hospital, while you were There?"

Teresa shakes her head. "I didn't. I saw an old store. There were wrappers in the car -- Unicorn Burger? A sorbet place. I don't know." It's clearly an effort for Teresa to continue meeting Violet's eyes while there are tears in them. She manages. "The car wants Marshall back. I don't know where the dead go. Do you?" A beat, an attempt to be more sensitive. "May be the hospital is /there/. But I imagine you've looked. And looked."

"Unicorn Burger..?" Violet's brow creases and she shakes her head. "I don't know," where the dead go. "And I haven't looked. I don't.. I've only ever Dreamed. I don't know how to get There, not on purpose. Can you get there on purpose?" she looks to Teresa for understanding. "I think my sister is in trouble. Something.. some*one* killed Doctor Marshall. Maybe this map..." she trails, looking back down to the map, then up to Teresa again. "Can I keep it? Can I buy it from you? Please."

"Maybe. I think I can." Teresa pauses another moment, then. "Yes, I can." Violet's desperate request has her still for a moment. Two. Too long for consideration. "Would a photocopy do? Is there something about the thing itself you /must/ have?"

Violet puts her hands together, wringing them in her lap. She's basically on the edge of her seat now, pleading eyes up at Teresa. "Doctor Marshall is the only lead I have in finding her, Teresa. My sister, she's my twin. She's the other half of me," she gets a little choked up, but forges ahead. "If this is his map, maybe.. maybe we can use it to find the hospital, and I can find her. I need to find her." She bites her bottom lip. "A photocopy is fine. I .. I have a printer, I can make one. But do you.. if you can go there.." Goodness, this was hard for her to say.

"Will you take me?"

"Yes." Teresa's smile wakes widen and glittering and /interested/. "Yes. Let's photocopy this thing and I'll take you. Only--" Her smile dims. More than a bit. "This is the one time I've been. Don't know that I can do much more than let you in and walk with you. Don't know the byways or how to fight. Don't know the /rules/."

The answer - and Teresa's sudden interest - should probably scare the shit out of Violet. But she doesn't seem very scared at all. "Okay. Okay, I can make a copy," she reaches out hesitantly, warily, to take the map. The copier is right behind her. "I don't know if there are rules anymore, Teresa. All the rules that I thought I knew .. they've changed. Everything's changed," she murmurs. She makes a copy of the map and returns the original - carefully, oh so carefully! - to Teresa. And then she plucks a business card from a holder nearby and lays it on top. "That is me. Violet Whitehouse. The number is my cellphone. I... I need to make some arrangements. But soon," she looks like she's about to sit down again, but stalls. There's a moment of silence as she looks back to Teresa. "It won't be safe. You should make arrangements, too."

Teresa hands over the map with a little bare hesitation, and takes it back with a little bare relief. She folds it into her bag, and sets the business card atop of it. "I don't know what I'm doing." She is that honest. "And it's strange to be this open and have you be this open. Suppose that means other people will be this open. For good or ill. I will see if I can't find resources." She touches the bag. "Even if it's just a bag full of rocks to throw."

"I don't know what I'm doing either," Violet admits, sinking down into her seat. "But I don't know what else to do." She reaches for her phone, dragging it towards her, and then offers something akin to a smile up to Teresa. It doesn't last. "Thank you. For coming in. For... if we go," she swallows. "This is the first real break we've had in... forever, it feels like."

"I'm sorry you've been looking so long," and Teresa does say this with some feeling. "Harm done to family, it can't be forgiven. Ever. So you won't forgive it. But we will resolve it. Soon."

"I hope you're right, Teresa," Violet murmurs, clutching her phone as she suddenly gets to her feet. "I'm sorry. If you'll excuse me, I.. I need to make a phone call. You can take a book if you'd like. For.. for thanks."

"Ah. I'll see you soon." Teresa -- ahs and inclines her head toward Violet. She leaves. Without a book. At least, this time.