Log: Artie & Matt

[x-daredevil.livejournal.com]

Backdated to May 28. Matt and Artie have a tea party with Esther, the little girl ghost, so that she will leave them alone




Artie looked over the room and sighed before typing "So, uh, are you sure we have to? Isn't there another way we can do this?" At least there weren't going to be any witnessess, right?

"It is the only way," said Esther solemnly, hovering as she fixed Artie with a firm and uncompromising look. She floated over to Matt. "You may choose who gets to wear the boa and who wears the hat, though."

That was a no brainer, at least for Matt. "I'll take the hat," he stated. If he had to be a part of this...well, nonsense, then he was going to take the less feathery way out. It wasn't that he didn't believe in ghosts and all that, but well...this was all pretty weird. And he naturally did not trust things he could not sense or understand on his own, which this definitely qualified for.

Artie glared and put the boa on and sat down at the tablecloth spread over the floor of the suite, typing "Cups are about foot in front of your right foot, Matt," (okay, the cups were fourteen point two inches in front of Matt's foot but he didn't care) and added "And if you ever, ever mention this to anyone, so help me, I will kill you in your sleep."

"The mental image will have to be enough," he replied drolly, plopping the hat down on his head. Really, how could Artie be hating on him? He was wearing an old grannie hat at a tea party! And what was worse, was that he could not see his roommate wearing a feather boa! Yet, Artie could see him. Unfair. "Trust me, my lips are sealed. I don't think I've ever had a tea party in my life," it wasn't really something he did with the guys as a kid.

Esther moved back, hovering in the air and looking at the two young men with a critical eye. She put her finger to her chin, circling each of them and looking at them from different angles before finally settling in her place for the tea party.

"This will do," she declared. "Now pour the tea."

Artie nearly sprained something rolling his eyes as he poured the imaginary tea. The worst of it was that you couldn't be mean to someone that looked like that, no matter how inconvenient they'd made your life, so he took a moment to stick in an illusion of tea being poured and filled the cups with it, as well. "Milk?" he typed, teeth gritted.

Uh...it was times like these that Matt was acutely reminded of the lack of female presence in his life. No mother. No sisters. His dad had had women, but they weren't girlfriends. They were more like...one night stands. And it wasn't as if he had really ever been close to too many girls either. "Uh...sure?" he asked, it clearly a question more than an affirmative. It was fake tea. Why not fake milk too? "Please."

"No, thank you," replied Esther in her most prim and proper voice. "But I would like some sugar. Two lumps, if you please." She looked expectantly at Artie.

The tea set hadn't included a sugar ...thingie or tongs, so Artie obediently made a set, putting the lumps into her tea. Illyana had trained him about these things. He was glad, though, that the only living witness was blind.

"This is a lovely tea party," said Esther. She spoke seriously and primly, in a way that might have been fitting if she was having tea with the Queen of England. "Don't you agree?"

"Uh...yeah, lovely," Matt replied 'sipping' at his tea. How was it that some little kid ghost that he couldn't even see was making him feel like some sort of uncouth hooligan? That he was an uncouth hooligan did not help things either. Thanks to his nerves his accent was more pronounced, the New Yorker in him coming out strongly. "You make good tea...Artie."


He shrugged and typed. "One of the old students here, Illyana loved these. Would you like a biscuit, Esther?"


She liked tea parties? Well, he supposed that made sense since he assumed that she was a little girl of the tea party having age, "They're very good," he added to Esther, though they were imaginary. Imaginary biscuits were delicious! Damn but he felt foolish.

"Yes, please," said Esther, taking the imaginary biscuit. She went through the motions of biting little bits and chewing with her mouth closed like a proper little lady should, completely stonefaced for a full two minutes. Then, for the first time in a very long time, Esther smiled at the two boys.

"Thank you for playing with me," she told them as she began to fade. "It was fun. I think it's almost time for me to go home, now..."

Yes. Go home! Matt wanted to say that, but he didn't. Instead he sighed, "Well...we must do this again sometime. Like, when we're a ghost or something," or never. Hopefully Esther would not take them up on that. Heaven did not involve tea parties. Nope.

Illyana had beaten tea parties into him. And she'd gone for the painful bits when she pinched you for not doing it right. Artie knew what was expected of him. "Thank you for coming to tea, Esther," he typed, deeply afraid that if they didn't get it right she'd come back and they'd have to do this again. Probably in public.

"Thank you and goodbye," were Esther's last words. She shut her eyes as she faded away, but the smile remained on her face even as she was disappearing. Less than thirty seconds later, she had vanished completely, leaving the two young men with only the feather boa, hat, and imaginary tea as reminders that she had ever existed.