dì​sì​; the red shoes.

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[River is sprawled out on the ground - again, let's be honest, she's done this sort of thing before - with multi-coloured markers and a book of fairy tales stolen from the library on the Plane. On first glance she appears to be annotating it; on further inspection, it becomes clear that she's not so much annotating as editing, crossing out whole sections and writing new ones in the margins, pointing out fallacies, and occasionally drawing diagrams. She's fixing it, you see! Making it better. It may or may not be a very valuable edition.

You'll thank her later.]

Comments

[fruitbrandy.livejournal.com]

[bear in arms, Sebastian leans over to look at the writing] I always get in trouble for writing in books. I suppose it's very important to someone or other that they stay as they are. What are you changing?

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[Her attention is a little more caught by Aloysius than Sebastian, as it happens - and she half-smiles at the bear.] There's stories.

[And then, suddenly, she gathers herself and her book up and flips to a certain story, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, so she can offer it to Aloysius politely. She hasn't touched this one yet, aside from a quick notation about the difference in masses between bears and humans.]

It's for you.

[fruitbrandy.livejournal.com]

Aloysius thanks you kindly for it. [With the seriousness of a child playing grown-up, Sebastian uses his hands to support Aloysius taking the book from River]

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

Bù​yòng​xiè​.

[And then she rests her hands behind her back while waiting for Aloysius to finish reading it, somewhat like a student waiting for the teacher to look over a set of problems. One hopes Aloysius is a reasonably fast reader.]

[fruitbrandy.livejournal.com]

[Aloysius and Sebastian sit down together to read, Aloysius in Sebastian's lap and the book open on Aloysius's lap. They also read it together, Sebastian turning the pages for them. Alas, they are not the speediest readers in the world, but we can forgive them because one has stuffings for brains and the other is a bear.]

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[River waits nicely, settled in place with no outward signs of impatience; actually, she mostly looks hopeful, waiting for their pronouncement. Then again, it's possible she's also gotten a bit distracted by a nebula in her line of vision.

She kindly does not mention either of their handicaps. River is just that polite.]

[fruitbrandy.livejournal.com]

[Sebastian closes the book and looks up at her] It's a bit classical, isn't it? Aloysius, what do you think? [to River] He can be terribly Puritanical at times, I don't know where he gets it from. Yet he falls so easily into temptation.

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[Her face drops a little. Do not crush her dreams! D:] It's ahout faeries.

[Yes, yes, she is horribly inconsistent, what of it.]

[fruitbrandy.livejournal.com]

I thought it was about bears.

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

Enchanted.

[She glances at Aloysius hopefully for confirmation. He's enchanted, right? That's why Sebastian carries him around all the time, isn't it?]

[fruitbrandy.livejournal.com]

[Sad to let her down, but---] American.

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[At that, she abruptly goes... confused, uncomprehending, and a little bit hurt.

Explain before she really gets upset?]

[fruitbrandy.livejournal.com]

Aloysius, I've been told, is an American. He's supposed to be one of the original teddy bears. I don't believe it, of course, as he hasn't a trace of an accent, but he was raised with me, so perhaps he just never had the chance to learn the colonial way of speaking.

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[Well! That explains a considerable amount. Her mood softens out a little, and she even waves a little. Because she has just been introduced properly, and it's only proper.]

I'm not. American. It's the wrong time frame for it.

[Beat.]

Hi. [:D!]

[fruitbrandy.livejournal.com]

[Sebastian beams at her] You already know Aloysius, of course. I'm Sebastian. How do you?

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

River. [Because, even if she's said it to Aloysius before, clearly he wouldn't know her name!] I'm okay.

[:DDDD

And she is holding a hand out for the return of her book. She has work to do, you see.]

[fruitbrandy.livejournal.com]

[misreading this gesture, Sebastian takes her hand to shake it] Are you from the past or the future?

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[Her hand goes limp for a moment when he takes hold of it, but then strengthens. Okay, she can go with that.] Relative to your when.

[Silly Sebastian. But that's okay, because she can pinpoint his time on her own.]

Future.

[fruitbrandy.livejournal.com]

It seems almost everyone is. I'm beginning to feel rather left behind, to be honest.

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

It's okay.

[It's somewhat half-hearted assurance, but that's all right! She's trying.] You can contribute to anthropological studies.

[fruitbrandy.livejournal.com]

[He is trying too!] Don't you have to be dead for that?

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[Slightly blank look.] No.

[It lilts up at the end a little, almost like a question. In the meantime, she extends a hand towards Aloysius, a little shyly.]

[fruitbrandy.livejournal.com]

[Not reassured that crazy anthropologists aren't going to kill him just to study the past] You don't sound completely convinced.

[Sebastian, curious, assists Aloysius to raise a paw to touch River's hand]

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[She is adorably pleased by this, and shakes his paw somewhat in awe, as if a touch just a tad too rough would cause him to fall to pieces.

As a result of her religious experience with the teddy bear, her response to Sebastian is lacking in depth.] It's okay.

[fruitbrandy.livejournal.com]

[For his part, Sebastian is quite pleased at his bear being treated with such respect.] Have you met many bears before?