Haunts

“Did she take you to all her haunts?” Pedar asked Nupur as we came in, and the answer is yes. I did.

Today’s little adventure actually began at nine o’clock in the morning when I carefully got out of bed without disturbing Nupur. My bed is somewhere between single and double, and as Hannah and Enid shared it the night after the Full Moon Party, we know it holds two people, but with difficulty. Hannah and Enid were doing the RPS thing, whereas I was doing my best not to kick the girl with the jet-lag. In some ways, Joshua got the best of it. He got a bed in the library, sleeping among the books.

So, yes, I got myself out of bed and had an hour more to less to myself, briefly checking email, doing beta for amchau, actually getting dressed, that sort of thing, before going back to my room. I don’t wake people up. People wake me up. I hated pulling them out when they were both sleeping so deeply.

It took another hour to get them safely this side of consciousness, and out of the house in time to catch the train. Which I am glad we caught, because Jane was on it and this makes me very happy. I am horribly afraid I gave away all my secrets while I was talking to her; we started doing the giggly squee thing and she promised to give me links to Ripper!fic, which makes me very happy. And I got to see the tattoo, and be bowled over by the epitome of cool.

Michael was there too, in the seat behind mine so every so often I heard his voice rising lugubriously from the depths. It was disconcerting in the extreme.

We bid goodbye at Central, met emerald_embers for a brief confused second, and Hannah was there. She managed to introduce herself without any input from me, and we went off to Quiggins from there.

I was very happy to see Hannah again; I missed her when she was in Barcelona, and I wasn’t expecting her to come with me today when she might as well be engaging in unpaid babysitting. She volunteered, is my only defence. And she got to go to Quiggins, as did we all. We put Gay Bar on the jukebox. It was fun.

I was worried about Nupur and Joshua, though. They seemed very fish-out-of-water, both of them, and a little bemused. Freedom is good. Freedom is very good. We take it for granted, and I think I should stop doing that.

Quiggins wasn’t proving all that productive – Hannah and I were lusting over all the things we want and can’t have, as per usual, but not so the other two. It was the Bead Shop that seemed to wake Nupur up. Well, it would. It’s a beautifully pink and purple shop devoted to beads and jewellery and all things girly. I may be wicked for saying it, but Nupur is so young for her age, it’s scary. I will go out on a limb and say definitively that her mother has inhibited her personality. I know that comparing myself to her is not really going to work, but there are some genetics involved and Nupur compared to me at fourteen doesn’t compute.

While we were in the Bead Shop, Hannah and I had our own little conversation whilst Nupur explored like it was Christmas Eve. We were discussing the Blue Moon Party and whether it would be a good idea for me to take Nupur and Joshua. Hannah asked, “How much do they know about your extra-curricular activities?”

It amused me, made me feel like Clark Kent, and I started giggling. “Nothing at all.”

And I now feel compelled to password-protect every single file on this computer. Particularly the latest fic. Urgh.

They may know more now, however. Hannah and I discussed Passion at length, because I am still in shock over it, and I don’t know, information seeps in by osmosis.

We had lunch on Chavasse, talked a bit, went to look at the Yellow Submarine, eat ice-cream and take silly pictures of it, and finally, went on a wander down to see the Lambanana. It is… well, yellow. And half-lamb, half-banana. But you have to take pictures of it. It’s what you do.

We met Jane again in Clayton Square, which was appropriately surreal but fun, and ended up in Costa eventually. Hannah and I talked whilst Nupur made bracelets. I really don’t know if today was a success or not. Hannah and I certainly had a good day in each other’s company, but I don’t know about the young ‘uns, as she calls them.

Anyway. It now does seems as if they’re going to the Blue Moon Party. This should prove interesting. And ohmygod password going on latest fic right now. I feel like such an elder sister.