xp_logs | New Orleans is Sinking: Drip, Drip, Drip

Doug stops by Marie-Ange's apartment, and discovers her acting...odd.

A faint noise, almost like rustling, was audible through the door of Marie-Ange's apartment. Doug halted in the hallway, his copy of the key to the apartment halfway outstretched to the doorknob. He cocked his head, trying to determine what exactly the sound was. Unable to place the source of it, he opened the door and let himself in. Stopping abruptly in the entryway as he realized where the noise was, he called out. "Um, Angie?"

In Marie-Ange's kitchen, the dishwasher churned noisily, and the sink's faucet ran on full, water cascading around clean stacks of plastic dishes and the few pots and pans that she owned. The water had not yet filled the sink to overflowing, but it was close.

Marie-Ange was nowhere to be seen, but the sound of running water and the repeated flush of a toilet could be heard from her bathroom, and as Doug came closer, he could hear the shower start and the noises grow louder.

"Angie?" Doug called again as he wandered through the apartment. "Angie!" he said more sharply as he found her in the bathroom, trying to get her attention. He snatched her hands as she tried to flush the toilet again, causing her to look up at him. "Uh, what's going on?" he asked gently.

"I am trying to find out where the water noises are coming from. My plumbing is possesed." Marie-Ange said, matter-of-factly. "I had all sorts of dreams last night about floods and I've been hearing water all day and I cannot figure out from where." That she hadn't turned off any of the faucets was unimportant. The noises were coming from somewhere -else-.

"O...kay." She wasn't making much sense. Which was a pretty sure indication that Wacky Precog Hijinks were afoot. Now if they could just figure out what it all meant. Of course, that was the extremely tricky part of dating a precognitive, as sometimes it wouldn't make sense despite all of their best efforts. "How about we start by turning off all the faucets?" he asked.

Marie-Ange frowned and pursed her lips. "You are humoring me..." she accused. "Why do we not just turn off all the water in the city and then I can figure it out the hard way, hrm? That would be so much easier!"

"I seriously doubt you're hearing someone taking a shower across town," Doug said wryly. "Think about it. You said yourself that you had dreams of floods all last night. What does that suggest to you?"

With a resigned sigh, Marie-Ange reached behind her and shut off the shower. "If my plumbing bursts and everything in my apartment is soaked, I am letting all my wet things dry on your ugly chair." She threatened. "I still hear water..."

It occurred to Doug that there might be an easy way to test his theory. He reached forward, covering Marie-Ange's ears completely and stopping at least most of the ambient noise of the city from reaching them. "How about now?" he mouthed slowly to her.

It occured to Marie-Ange that her boyfriend was tricky. And altogether too impressed with his own cleverness sometimes, if the expression on his face was any indication. In a show of absolute immaturity, she answered "I cannot hear what you are saying, all I can hear is the running water.." and then stuck out her tongue.

Doug shook his bemusedly as he lifted his hands off of Marie-Ange's ears. "At least now you won't wander around the apartment turning all the water on," he said.

"I still cannot figure out where the water noises are coming from." Marie-Ange protested. "And what the flood dreams mean. Forge is back, the island is back, I do not think that Irene Adler is trying Marie's patience this week... why would I have more dreams about storms?"

"I don't know," Doug answered after some thought. "But it must mean something, since it's not real water you're hearing. Can you see anyone or any particular place in the dreams?" he asked. Somewhere was the clue that would unlock the whole picture. It just remained to be seen if they could find it.

While turning off the rest of the faucets, Marie-Ange explained as much of the details as she could remember. The raging storms in her dreams, flooded mausoleums, and the disintegrating walls and repeating images of people drowning, unable to breathe. "And the only person I saw in the whole thing was very obviously Death. He had the scythe and little rat. Although the little rat was wearing those fishermen's boots that go all the way up.."

"You've been reading too much of my Terry Pratchett," Doug mused. If the people drowning had been people they'd known, she would have mentioned it as such. Mausoleums above ground, walls crumbling leading to people drowning...it niggled at the back of Doug's brain. "Anything else?"

"Not unless bees with fleur de lis on their abdomens swarming about a bowl means anything to you?" Marie-Ange asked. "But I think that was because of Wanda's power hitting me. It does not even fit with the rest of the dreams. And the bee colors were all wrong. They were... as if they were made of metal, I think."

The fleur de lis in metallic black and gold. Bees, or hornets? Doug bit his lip in thought and scratched at his forehead. "New Orleans?" he questioned. It was one of the few places he could think of with aboveground mausoleums. The New Orleans Saints' emblem was a black-on-gold fleur de lis, and the Hornets were New Orleans' NBA franchise. It seemed a bit shaky to him, but it was the best he could come up with.

Marie-Ange raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "I am not sure that makes sense. And I would think that Tante Mattie would know if a storm was going to hit her city, yes?" She sat down at her kitchen table, and rested her head in her hands. "My head hurts thinking about this."

"It's the only thing I can think of," Doug replied with a shrug. "Maybe you should talk to Remy, see if he's heard anything from Tante Mattie?"

Marie-Ange nodded in agreement. "And I can see if he will let me go there to speak to her as well. If I am having powers troubles, I would like to get them fixed before I need to rely on them."