path_unprepared | (no subject)

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It takes a moment for him to realise that the ground beneath his feet is not the hard, polished wood of a floor, but something oddly springy.

He slows, and lowers his book.

Somehow, he's not inside Nemuro Memorial Hall on a late afternoon. He's outside, wet grass underfoot and a starry sky above.

This would be strange in and of itself, were it not also for the fact that a short distance away is a greenhouse that looks exactly like the one

('I wonder if the flowers themselves are happy, being forced to last so long.')

in Ohtori.

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He frowns. She's not in uniform, and she's certainly not supposed to be outside at this time of night.

Closing his book, he strolls up to her. He isn't a Student Council member, but he is a senior student. There's a duty to see that the younger students learn the rules early on.

'Shouldn't you be in your dormitory, young lady?' he says quietly, not wanting to startle her too much.

Mary glances up, her face drawing into a scowl almost immediately.

"This is my garden," she informs him, slightly swollen nose lifted high in the air. "I may tend it when I please - and I do not have a dormitory."

The scowl on her face does nothing to change the placid, overly polite expression on his.

'Of course you have a dormitory,' he counters. 'Unless you are one of the teachers' children? Even so, what are you doing out here at this time of' -- he glances up at the sky quickly, just to assure himself that it is, in fact -- 'night?'

"I am not anybody's child," Mary says, flatly. "My parents are dead - and I live in the Manor, which is not here."

Her gaze flicks briefly to the door in the back of the greenhouse, before she returns her stare to Mikage.

"Who are you?"

He stares at her for a long moment, and then blinks, shaking his head slightly.

'I am....' He trails off, then quickly continues, thinking aloud. 'One of us is not where we are supposed to be. This is the greenhouse, no mistake about that. But I opened the door to the Hall, walked inside, and -- now I am not there.'

He peers at Mary curiously, as if seeing her for the first time. 'Who are you?'

"I know where I am."

Mary folds her arms defensively over her chest, clambering up to her feet in order to glare at him from her full height.

. . . which, admittedly, is not much. Also, the knees of her stockings are dirty.

"And I asked you first."

The only time Mikage has ever really spoken to anyone around Mary's age for any length of time was when young Tsuwabuki-kun interviewed for a place in his seminar.

That, at least, was business. This is entirely different.

A little stiffly, though still politely: 'Mikage Souji. Final year student, Ohtori Academy, head of the Mikage Seminar. And you would be?'

"I am Mary Lennox," Mary informs him, with a haughteur that implies that this is the most important fact he will ever need to know.

"I live in the Manor, as I have said. And you are standing in front of my garden. Do not step on the pansies."

'If this is your garden, Mary Lennox-san,' he counters, 'then where is this place? And how did I happen to find myself here?'

Some part of him is wondering why he is making these enquires of a mere child. But as there is no one else around who is likely to give him answers to his questions, it seems that beggars cannot be choosers.

Mary points a stubby finger behind him, back towards the main bar.

"That is Milliways," she tells him. "It is a bar - and these are the grounds. There are doors to it in odd places - there is one that leads where I come from in the - not very far from here."

A pause; then, chin jutting out: "But you may not go there - that is my world. Strangers are not to go there. If you wish to leave you ought to go back to your place."

He glances behind him, following her pointing finger (somehow refraining from informing her that it is not polite to point), then back at her.

'So I walked through a door and found myself here. If I opened the door, it would lead back to my own...world?'

"It ought to."

Mary's shoulders go up in a quick shrug.

"It does not always. People are sometimes trapped here - it is part of the Magick. But if you are there is not much you can do about it in any case."

The thought of being trapped here is...unnerving, to say the least. Particularly if all those in this place are similar to this young girl.

'I suppose I shall have to find out for myself,' he says. 'Sooner rather than later.' He tucks his book under his arm, and gives Mary another small bow. 'My thanks, Mary Lennox-san. And my apologies for disturbing your garden, and mistaking it for another's.'

After a pause, he adds belatedly, 'I will not step on the pansies.'

"Thank you," Mary says, with dignity.

"It is all right," she adds, generously, after a moment. "I suppose it is an easy confusion to make - and it was not, after all, my garden at first. It was Anthy Himemiya's. She let me have it."

Mikage nods at that. 'I will keep that in mind, then. Good evening, Mary Lennox-san.'

As he turns, and walks back to the bar, he wonders why the name Anthy Himemiya should sound so familiar to him.

Mary could, if she wished, tell him that Anthy Himemiya was a GIANT WEIRDO who kept BOXING KANGAROOS in her arsenal.

But her garden needs tending. And so she doesn't.

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