warm front

[cumulonimbus]

After Mathilde has left (and Stormy has her schedule for the next few days all written down), Stormy goes aprowl through the house again to make sure she's clear on the layout and see if anybody else wants to talk to her while she is still novel.

Comments

[calendarofcrime]

"Usually about something she is trying to make, often with magic. Sometimes about other things she is learning or doing."

[cumulonimbus]

Stormy nods. "What time is dinner usually?"

[calendarofcrime]

"Around sundown. It varies, because Mercy doesn't stick to exact schedules very well. But we always make sure to collect everyone unless we know they are eating somewhere else."

[cumulonimbus]

"Okay, cool."

[calendarofcrime]

"He brought in fresh basil today and he has not used it yet, so I predict it will feature," she adds.

[cumulonimbus]

"Where does he get groceries? Does he just get things from the Hub or are there separate shopping trips?"

[calendarofcrime]

"Some things from the Hub and some things from Rook's garden."

[cumulonimbus]

"I think I want a list of the things that are in the garden," decides Stormy. "I don't know what it will be for but I would like it. Are they labeled or do I have to ask?"

[calendarofcrime]

"They are not labeled. If you ask Rook he will list all the things for you."

[cumulonimbus]

"Okay." Stormy writes that down. "Maybe I'll go do that now."

Rahi seems nice but talking to her is kind of hard.

[calendarofcrime]

"He is in the garden," she says.

[cumulonimbus]

"Are you just guessing?"

[calendarofcrime]

She shakes her head. "I can hear him there."

[cumulonimbus]

Stormy cocks her head and listens.

[calendarofcrime]

Rahi stays perfectly still.

If Stormy listens very, very closely, she might hear a faint sound that could conceivably be plants rustling.

[cumulonimbus]

"I can hear leaves maybe? But it could just be the wind, or somebody else besides Rook," she says.

[calendarofcrime]

"That is the sound of Rook being in the garden. If he was not there, it would sound a little different."

[cumulonimbus]

Stormy considers this. "You must have much better ears than me if you can really do that," she says.

[calendarofcrime]

"I seem to have much better ears than most people."

[cumulonimbus]

"Magic-better?" wonders Stormy.

[calendarofcrime]

"I don't know if it's magic. I don't know if it is even my ears. I think part of it is that I pay attention differently," she says. "And remember the details just so."

[cumulonimbus]

"You could tell if it's your ears by covering your ears," suggests Stormy.

[calendarofcrime]

"I mean I don't know if it is that I hear things better," she says. "Or if I hear things the same but notice them differently."

[cumulonimbus]

"Oh. I guess that you could check by having somebody make a noise the same way at a bunch of different distances and see if you could still tell when they were doing it from farther away than somebody else?"

[calendarofcrime]

"That might work," she says. "It would need to be somewhere that was very quiet otherwise."