Miranda
- Ingenious Pilot -
All that we see, or seem, is but a dream, a dream within a dream.%\1\%
Posts: 221
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Post by Miranda on Mar 31, 2009 12:11:26 GMT -5
Miranda couldn't quite remember how, or why - although how seemed unimportant and why seemed like it were just out of reach of the conscious mind, and that she'd recall any moment - she'd come here, but she remembered when she had, very well. It was Valentine's Day, 1900. Was it still? Did it matter?
No, Miranda decided, as she walked down the streets. It had been a sort of soft twilight when she'd first arrived, or at least, by the time she was conscious enough of time to think so. For clearly this was rather like a dream, and she'd woken into it, and perhaps would never be waking up again. She could recall where she had been before this, and knew it was a part of her life that she would not be returning to; but she couldn't feel grief, nor understand that she should. She'd been here since then, and here was really nothing at all, not in the same sense that flowers were flowers, and rocks were rocks, and time was time. But it had since grown dark, and Miranda had not seen anyone in these dreamscape streets, for some time now (and those who she had seen she had not gotten a good look at. Maybe Miranda was in someone's dream, then, and they had been in someone else's, and they were not to interweave), and she thought she might ask someone else in the dream where she might go from here, because she had left her gloves at the school, and now her fingers were getting cold.
She turned, suddenly, as though she thought someone were behind her, then completed the circle when no one had been there, brushing back strands of her hair, and continued on, a ghost in chaste white for all anyone knew, never to know of the missing, presumed dead posters, or that she'd soon be honored by a suicide, or of the fates of the other girls, and never to care.
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Post by Daniel on Mar 31, 2009 13:01:45 GMT -5
Daniel, as was his wont, was out wandering the Parisian streets. He wasn't out on the hunt, not really, as he'd already taken care of that particular need...but that didn't mean that other desires had been met yet.
He'd been thinking about the recent turn of events with Louis when the sense of another presence cut across his thoughts. He paused, quickly spotting the girl wandering alone. Well...yet another porcelain doll out and about. Paris did seem to have a plethora of girls like this, didn't it?
He quietly observed her for a minutes before speaking.
"You look lost, madamoiselle."
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Miranda
- Ingenious Pilot -
All that we see, or seem, is but a dream, a dream within a dream.%\1\%
Posts: 221
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Post by Miranda on Mar 31, 2009 13:13:51 GMT -5
Miranda turned again in much the same fashion, hand moving immediately to her throat, though not in fear. It was a natural response, fingers curled against the breastbone beneath the lace, that sort of thing. This time, however, she had heard the voice, and someone was there, indeed. Like a white wisp of flame, or like a ghost himself, with violet eyes. One of the two. Or something else.
"No," said Miranda Englishly, eyes wide but not widened, turning her head slightly as though about to shake it in disagreement, but choosing, instead, not to disagree but to look at that from another perspective. Just the slightest turn in angle, and the answer was, "Yes."
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Post by Daniel on Mar 31, 2009 13:28:24 GMT -5
And here was why he'd never tire of this game: there were many such girls, but they never reacted the same way. Unlike one that she reminded him of, this one did not give off a shrinking-violet vibe.
"Neither and both at the same time. Such a place to be caught in."
He moved closer, neither slowly nor fast, not so much casually approaching as just walking, and she just so happened to be standing in the direction he was going.
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Miranda
- Ingenious Pilot -
All that we see, or seem, is but a dream, a dream within a dream.%\1\%
Posts: 221
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Post by Miranda on Mar 31, 2009 13:34:56 GMT -5
Just what she'd been thinking, and with such precision. Where on earth did that accent come from? She'd never heard it before. Not English, and not Australian. But that was not surprising. Why assume this was earth? Maybe it was somewhere above it. Not heaven; but some layer which, like a veil, layer over it, part of it and yet separate.
In any case, if they were just figures in someone's dream somewhere, they were obviously part of the same dream, weren't they? Meant to speak?
"It is," said Miranda, as though to affirm it, before continuing just as leisurely, "it is Valentine's Day, still, isn't it?"
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Post by Daniel on Mar 31, 2009 14:04:42 GMT -5
"It's actually near the end of March."
Hmmm...was she one of those lost ones that came from elsewhere? It wouldn't be any kind of surprise if that was the case.
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Miranda
- Ingenious Pilot -
All that we see, or seem, is but a dream, a dream within a dream.%\1\%
Posts: 221
|
Post by Miranda on Mar 31, 2009 14:15:02 GMT -5
Miranda was struck not by the fact that it wasn't, but that there was any date at all. But then, it seemed fitting a moment later. It was probably not possible for anything here to not seem right and fitting and natural to her, and this was really the only logical explanation, because this place seemed to be made of such amorphous material that it could really take on any shape.
"Oh," said Miranda, placing her hands over her belt and smoothing down her dress as she continued to walk, in a drifting sort of fashion, not at all in a straight line, although now that she was being joined this habit was subdued. "I see. How did you get here?" she asked, glancing up at him. He was plainly a he, that is, although in what sense of the word, one couldn't be entirely sure. Only as male as he needed to be, she imagined. He had very strong, very fine features, very breath-taking ones, and it was a beauty that specifically met the standards of the male sex. "We had a picnic."
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Post by Daniel on Mar 31, 2009 14:36:06 GMT -5
He was trying to gauge just how much effort would have to be expended when it came to this one. He was certainly in a mood for playing games, but at the same time, he had a problem with impatience. And she was so pretty. He'd just have to see which desire won out in the end.
"I live here."
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Miranda
- Ingenious Pilot -
All that we see, or seem, is but a dream, a dream within a dream.%\1\%
Posts: 221
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Post by Miranda on Mar 31, 2009 14:43:14 GMT -5
Miranda smiled, lips parting, head dipping slightly in a nod as she brought her hands to her face as though shyly about to cover it, although she didn't, and did not seem shy. Her fingertips barely grazed her cheeks and slid over her jawline, and she lowered her hands again. It was the good Edwardian girl's practiced method of suddenly expending energy without becoming ungainly, inelegant, or unladylike. Languid Miranda found it effortless.
"Of course you do," she said, still smiling, eyebrows lifting as though to chide herself. "How thoughtless." Her fingers curled, and she rubbed at them. They were still cold. They had since fallen into step beside each other, which Miranda found more than natural. It was easy to look at him, and easy to look ahead, and easy to walk without becoming distracted, or, more truthfully, without letting the fact that she was distracted cause difficulties for herself. After another moment, she spoke again. "My name is Miranda."
Of course, there were honorifics to go with that, not to mention a surname, but none of them seemed substantial or important under the circumstances.
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Post by Daniel on Mar 31, 2009 15:15:01 GMT -5
It was interesting, how she just fell into step with him, seemingly without any qualms about walking with a complete stranger along a dark street. Perhaps she was fearless, or foolish, though he had a feeling it was neither of those things.
"Miranda," he said, taking her hand in his and giving the back a kiss. Because he'd fed earlier, he was actually quite warm to the touch at the moment.
"You can call me Daniel."
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Miranda
- Ingenious Pilot -
All that we see, or seem, is but a dream, a dream within a dream.%\1\%
Posts: 221
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Post by Miranda on Mar 31, 2009 15:23:34 GMT -5
Ironically, Daniel's hand was colder than her own was, although - even though Miranda did not appreciate the irony in that, she did appreciate the warmth. And the familiarity of the gesture, although at the same time she almost glanced away at it as though bemused, for it seemed like an odd sort of custom to her now, before she remembered it was one her own culture held. Was it this place, or Australia? Indeed, she'd not met a young man at the boarding school in ages, and
"You do seem to know very well what I can and can't do," Miranda remarked as though amused, although there was a certain gravity and detachment to her that she was never able, or willing, to banish. "Daniel..."
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Post by Daniel on Mar 31, 2009 15:32:51 GMT -5
"Do I? I hadn't realized."
Hmm, this one was interesting, as she didn't easily give cues to what would be appropriate behavior towards her. It was a thing he didn't actually care about, except to use as a way to lure people in.
He kept hold of her hand. Although all humans felt hot to the touch to him, her hands felt a bit cooler than was usual.
"Is there a destination you had? Or were you simply out wandering?"
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Miranda
- Ingenious Pilot -
All that we see, or seem, is but a dream, a dream within a dream.%\1\%
Posts: 221
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Post by Miranda on Mar 31, 2009 15:52:01 GMT -5
"Do you believe in destiny?" Miranda asked, quite openly and honestly, assuming that it was close enough to destination to fit. In any case, she had no destination, although she didn't precisely had a lack of one. She had simply ended up here from Hanging Rock in Australia with no idea or care as to how it had happened. "I really feel we must walk together, if that is what is happening."
From other lips it might have sounded evasive or playful or flirtatious, even suggestive, but there was an almost mystical undertone to the words when Miranda said them, without any of the heady confusing dark-purply feelings associated with mysticism. In fact, it was something of the opposite - too much freshness, too much simplicity, and that was where the mystery lay.
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Post by Daniel on Mar 31, 2009 16:14:42 GMT -5
"Can't say I'm a fan of the idea. I like being in control of my own fate. But," he said, still walking along and holding her hand.
"We can certainly keep walking."
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Miranda
- Ingenious Pilot -
All that we see, or seem, is but a dream, a dream within a dream.%\1\%
Posts: 221
|
Post by Miranda on Mar 31, 2009 16:24:28 GMT -5
She liked holding his hand, not because of the action itself - in perfect honesty, Miranda had never cared one way or another for holding hands, which had certainly caused poor Sara enough grief at times, although Miranda had been good at reassuring her that it was not a measure of her love - but because of the symbolism, in the strange street of this strange little rift in time, the two bright flames in the dark making one. Because it did not occur to Miranda that because she was plenty human and Daniel was, to her, very much not, she was not permitted to be joined to him. Because if they were part of the same dream...
"I don't know that I control my own fate," said Miranda. "Although I can't say you don't control yours..." A slight incline of the head, deferentially. "I feel that I simply know it, not beforehand, but that when it happens, it is not a surprise." No matter how many words she spoke, Miranda did not give the impression of speaking idly or babbling, or even speaking quickly. Her voice had a certain soft quality to it by nature, and she spoke at her leisure, never rushing to get the words out. With time what it was, why rush?
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