Titania and Ingrid

[Titania]

Standing in the middle of the sidewalk, waiting for the movers to finally get back to their job - they wouldn't get their builder's tea otherwise - the brunette was deep diving her stream of Consciousness. Sacramento truly deserved its nickname of the "City of Trees", it was magnificent, surrounded as it was by lush green foilage. Her small apartment had been a blinder, she could have run for the position of Mayor of Tortuga, even then, it was an insufferable euphemism. If only she could improve her job prospects, or maybe get her fetch to lend her money? You know, it was HERS to start with.

She needed to stop the ramblings, it wasn't going to get her anywhere.

An old bean with a scholarly appeal passed by, wearing a nerdy t-shirt with some kind of math joke. The girl instantly turned to the right in an act of modesty, staring absent-mindedly at the window of a shop and folding her arms over her chest. She was wearing a long trench-coat, on a cold day and over the heels she was sporting? It was marvellous, besides, it kept the lecherous gazes of the hoi polloi at bay.

"Golly gosh, I'm unforgivable"


Her manicured hand quickly slipped inside her bag, emerging with a smartphone that could have only been assembled two or more generations ago.

The phone rung, rung and rung again. She was attempting contact with a lady of great station, she felt jittery.

Ingrid Yumyumcrow

[Ingrid]

Ingrid awoke with a start, coughed out some leaves that had stuck to her lips.

Her back aches.

The ringing is persistent. Persistent enough to penetrate the fugue that dulls her senses.

The Darkling is laying on the ground, under a growth of bushes and shrubs, her mind scrambling to catch up with the last twenty fours hours. Hedge. Looking for Lost fleeing San Francisco. Blackbird Bishops. Again!

The phone allows her to focus.

"Uhm. Yeah?" She says thickly into the phone receiver.

Her feet scrape on the leaf litter around her.

[Titania]

She yelped startled, the woman's voice was unlike she had imagined. Composing herself, she replied.

"Hello, is this ******? My name is Eleanor Tessier, I was referred to the owner of this account by a common acquaintance, as to perfect my induction within the community. May I speak with her?", her tone was soft, a very distinctive Oxonian mark marred her elocution.

Biting her lower lip, she hoped she hadn't been too vague and that she hadn't breached etiquette. The Lost were mercurial.

[Ingrid]

Ingrid made an undignified cough.

"Yeah. Thats me."

Pause.

"Common acquaintance? Um. From Chicago? Or San Francisco? Oh forget that.... Thats too vague to help. Mutual acquaintance, hey? You into gardening? 'Cause our allotment is turning into a veritable Hedge, if you catch my drift."

[Titania]

"London, I'm a loyal subject of her Majesty the Queen", she replied when her turn to speak came.

The cough and the drop of the word Gardening were everything she needed to flare her interest up.

"Rather! I have green fingers, it helps a lot when you're interested in medicine. But not the carnivorous ones, I need to get to know them better. But I'll be glad to help whenever I can", she said with enthusiasm.

"I could help with that cough, if you wish", her heels clicked against the pavement.

[Ingrid]

"Cough. No. Dry throat. Why did I end up in Granite Park. I'm in Granite Park! Anyway... Probably not the best place to meet up."

A pause.

"London? So I guess High Tea. Or something? Do you like good music? I mean authentic music?"

The cobwebs were being brushed form Ingrid's mind. One could hear it through her voice.

[Titania]

The light-hearted causerie was pleasant, such casualness was unanticipated if not welcome. Nevertheless, with her comment the woman had inadvertently opened Pandora's box.

Authentic music? She had been weaned on a diet of Mozart, Chopin and Bach. Before her Durance, she had even gone as far as she could to defy her governess, smuggling some of Sinatra, Astaire and Arlen's records inside her room. Her excursus had been cut short when Matilda found a Duke Ellington stashed inside a secret box.
She still remembers that scolding fondly. No place for such low-brow vulgarities in the household of a Lady! Her face looked like a red tomato.

She had lost so much, and as much as music could rank pretty high on her to-do list - and she really adored Glenn Gould - it was a topic she wasn't comfortable with... yet. Though she had heard some British pop and regularly listened to the radio.

"I... I...I'm afraid I'm not the most knowledgeable person on the topic", she said, her voice trembling. The past three years had been hard. "but, I've been to a R...adiohead? Concert once... if that counts, they appeared on the cover of Tatler", her BBC accent gushing.

"Granite Park? I apologize for my topographical agnosia. I'm in Midtown, it's a spiffing place really. May I invite you to join me for an afternoon tea, if that doesn't impose any hindrance on your calendar of course. My appearance and... condition don't really lend themselves to more public social outings", she said eagerly and with a tint of anxiety.

[Ingrid]

"Radiohead works." There was a hint of deadpan in her voice.

"So. I suggest <<here>>. Its a club. They do good music and give the local talent somewhere to cut loose. How about <<this time>>. You know, top of the hour. I'll be lurking in a corner - look for the shadows, they seem to like me. We can share gardening adventures!"

I'll get a proper scene running in a little while

[Titania]

"Oh...", a silence that seemed to last more than the ticking of the clock would have suggested. Had the woman sidestepped her concern entirely?


"it is not too crowded isn't it? I'll try to be there. Thank you!"

[Ingrid]

Scene is about to be set up