Three - [Text + A photo]

[beardman]

Between all the murder and mayhem, sometimes a man has to find a way to keep himself busy. Tempting as it is to know you've got an endless supply of all the fine spirits you could want right there in that old closet, there's a balance to be struck - Namely between 'having fun' and 'getting yelled at', and Lord knows I'm not always good at finding it.

So a hobby, then! Something productive - And here it is!

[Insert here a photo of a blue knit scarf. It's... it sure is a scarf. It's not terrible, but it's definitely uh, a beginner's work. Also the framing of the picture is a little askew, and it's not in completely crisp focus, but he's from the 18th century so you'll have to forgive him. At least he figured out this much.]

Really, the pride ought to be all Mrs. Fraser's though, patient woman that she is. It does make a man appreciate the effort ladies put into all this sort of thing.

The next one will stay the same size throughout, I think. That's the plan, at least.

Comments

[mucked]

Sounds ominous. Or like fun.

[beardman]

Could be a bit of both, I suppose.

Does it sound like your kind of fun?

[mucked]

Once upon a time, yes. It would have.

[beardman]

Ah. Become responsible, have we?

[mucked]

We have. From head to toe.

[ or else she's just done a remarkably job at shuffling all that responsibility to the foreground, hiding a devilishness below. ]

I daresay even an afternoon spent purling is too exciting for me now.

[beardman]

What, really? Even that? What do you do instead, then?

[mucked]

Crossword puzzles.

[ god's truth! ]

[beardman]

I don't know what that is.

[mucked]

No? [ pity. ] They are a kind of...word game, I suppose. Blanks are arranged horizontally as well as vertically, occasionally intersecting, and the clues help you fill them in.

[ the more cryptic the better, as far as she's concerned. of course, this is all a bit of a ruse. she loves a puzzle, yes, but she's no stranger to trouble. no matter how genially she claims otherwise. ]

[beardman]

I see. That does sound interesting... [Not exactly his sort of thing, but Ben would like it. He's going to look for some now.]

[mucked]

They can be deceptively tricky. Although it depends a great deal on the one setting the puzzles. I'm quite partial to the ones they print in the London Times, but it's ages since I've had my hands on one.

[beardman]

Oh, they're in newspapers? [He makes a little note of it. There's newspapers at the library, right?]

Are you from London, then?

[mucked]

I am. Although I haven't been back there in some time.

[beardman]

Where have you been since, then? I mean, aside from Wonderland.

[mucked]

America. New York, mostly. But -- California as well.

[beardman]

New York, really? I'm from Long Island.

[mucked]

Small bloody multiverse, isn't it?

[ oh, it's not fair how partial and sweet she can be on new yorkers. ]

I'm in the city. Manhattan -- and I was missing it even before I got dragged here. The west coast has its charms, but I know where I'd rather be.

[beardman]

There's no 'west coast' yet where I'm from, but I've heard it's not a bad place to be... There's something about New York that calls though, isn't there?

Don't know if I'll find myself back there again to live, but we'll see.

[mucked]

On the road, are you?

[ back home, back when, back whatever it is he's doing that isn't being stuck here. ]

[beardman]

You could call it that.

[mucked]

And what would you call it, instead?

[beardman]

Fighting a war.

[mucked]

Now that I understand.

Fighting a war is how I wound up in New York in the first place.

[ which sounds terribly sinister, of course, but for once peggy's not thinking about that. ]

[beardman]

Is it?

[That DOES sound sinister, and he's a little concerned. He knows there have been other wars, at home, of course there have, but...]

[mucked]

One doesn't liaise with American forces without getting a decent look under the bonnet. So to speak.