undergrounds | time for a check up (open post)

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time for a check up (open post)

KNOW CLARA?

You may then know, more or less, the incident of her granddaughter getting kidnapped by the vampires. It distressed her but she's fine. Honest to goodness she's fine.

It's normal for her to worry for people she cares for. It's pretty normal for her to think of all the worst case scenarios some of them could find themselves in due to their personalities/their histories/their everything.

It's very normal for her to suddenly check on them one day out of the blue, just appearing next to them without a warning or a heads up.

"Are you okay?"

She's totally calmed down about the incident last month. Really.

DON'T KNOW CLARA?

What do you mean by that?

Now you do as she suddenly phases through the wall and looks directly at you during her search for everyone she knows.

It doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing. It doesn't matter if there are people there or you're supposed to be by yourself. Suddenly you have a woman staring at you in confusion for a second before it registers in her head that no. You're not someone she knows through passing.

"Um. Oops."

[ OOC: Or make your own scenario in your comment! Prose and brackets welcomed! ]

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"Way to go! They can't make ya work every day; you gotta demand benefits!" And unionize! Did ghosts have unions? In any case, Heiji clearly thought this was an excellent idea, especially if Clara was fired up about it.

A lot of spirits were sort of listless and depressed -- without much purpose. That Clara continued to find ways to be connected to this world was perhaps not so good from a moving-on point of view, but at least it made her happy.

"What is it? Nothing bad, I hope."

It's going to take either a long time or a lot of convincing for Clara to seriously begin looking for what is keeping her tied to the living world still, to do what she needed if she wanted peace while she still could do it. For now, she's happy with the pace of her life and with the goals she's setting up for herself.

Plus ghost unions and ghost union meetings. Whenever the idea comes to mind, of course.

"It's nothing bad. Not at all! I just never know what you do with your free time now that I think about it." She has a faint idea he works at a eating place of some sort. Frightening as the first few hours of Magra's disappearance was, she remembered the earlier parts of it before the rescue. "What do you do for the most of the day if I can ask. You always seem to be on the go somewhere."

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

This question was a little hard to answer. It wasn't as though fae had jobs. Well... not most of them, anyway. "I used to work at that one cafe part-time, but I ain't had much time for that lately, so I had to turn in my notice. I help the cops out on cases sometimes, I talk to people, and I explore the city!"

He crossed his arms. "So I guess you could say I got a lot of free time. Recently I got a promotion, though, so I might get busier in the future..."

Hopefully not too busy, though. He enjoyed chatting people up and wandering around, even if sometimes he wandered exactly where he shouldn't.

Can you see the stars in Clara's eyes, Heiji? Can you?

Because there are stars in Clara's eyes when she hears that he works with the authorities, not questioning the other things he said. (Or putting much thought to them, really.)

"You help the cops with mysteries? Ohhh! Like from that TV show, Addock?" While she's not the intended demographic, Magra being the ideal viewer for it thanks to the handsome stars and stunning melodrama, Clara has become enraptured by the show that is a modern adaption of the beloved Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective stories.

How exciting!

Wow, those were some shiny stars. "Kind of," said Heiji, looking rather gratified that finally someone appreciated mysteries, mystery-solving, and all similar investigatory goodness.

"Of course, I try to keep a bit of a lower profile! Can't go around solvin' cases if everyone recognizes ya, right?"

Someone stop him.

Today will not be the case of stopping him, sadly. Clara is not going to be one of those stoppers because if anything she is an enabling enabler who enables.

"It would be hard to solve mysteries and help people out if everyone came to you. Barely be enough time in the day for yourself!" It'll be hard, having to shift through all the attention and notice he must get already He's a busy bee from her understanding and now it's beginning to make more sense on why is that!

"I bet that's why you were looking at the piece of papers of yours earlier. Related to a case of yours or something else quiet important, I bet." She's very willing to forgive you for the implication California's Universal Studios aren't as good as Japan's.

"Yeah, exactly! You get a reputation, and all of a sudden half your day is people askin' you to find their lost cat! Not that it's bad to find lost cats. I just got other stuff to do, too." Heiji was actually pretty fond of cats; they didn't take issue with him like dogs did.

"Papers?" It actually took Heiji a beat to realize what Clara meant, and then he immediately looked embarassed. "I-it's not like that! Ugh... okay, I asked Apollo if he wanted to visit my hometown with me, okay? And all of a sudden he comes out sayin' he wants to see Universal Studios. I told him wasn't any point goin' all the way to Japan to visit in when he lived in L.A., for cryin' out loud. But he insisted!"

IT WASN'T HIS FAULT. THIS WASN'T HIS IDEA.

Clara blinks a little bit at the sudden outburst, eyes wide and full of surprise as she tries to register what he told her.

It sinks in sooner rather than later. That's a good thing, right? That way Heiji isn't forced to stew too long in silence, waiting for her response.

"So you telling that you're maybe planning a trip back home with Apollo... Oh, Heiji! That's a wonderful idea!" She claps her hands together, the sound soft and subtle thanks to her being a spirit. "There's no place like home after all and with you being so busy as a detective and Apollo being so busy with almost everything these days, I do think you two deserve to have a nice break together."

Especially in a place beautiful and rich as Japan. She tilts her head and she laughs a bit, good natured through and through. "Though I have to agree that heading to Universal Studios of all places there is a bit strange. I suppose he wants to see that latest opening attraction from that wizard series or see if the rumours about the lines there are true or not."

"Y-yeah, that's what I thought, too. We can go home, do some sightseein', get some real Japanese food, have some fun. Apollo seems like he could use some. I mean, he's kinda stressed out. Plus I caught him sleepin' on the train." Would anyone ever get Heiji to say 'Tube'? It was a mystery...

"I seriously don't know what he's thinkin' about Universal Studios. Who goes to Japan to see an American theme park? Maybe he really likes movies?" Note to self: Bug Apollow about films.

"Anyway, I think it'd be fun to go see Kaiyuukan. It's one of the biggest aquariums in the world, y'know. They got a whale shark there, too. It's real cute with all those little spots."

"He fell asleep? On the train?" That's so dangerous! She clucks her tongue in disapproval. One could almost feel her concern and her 'oh honey no' feelings radiating off of her in waves. "Looks like I have another thing to worry from him besides the lack of nutritional value in his usual meals. Goodness gracious, the poor dear."

That aside, she seems quite open to the ideas Heiji has on where to take Apollo besides Universal. In fact she's downright charmed by how bright her smile is and how open her expression is too. "That sounds like a lovely place to visit, the aquarium. It sounds amazing. I'm sure Apollo will appreciate it since he'll still get a chance to relax but know more things along the way too."

Good for his teaching side, right? She likes to think that's the case. "That's one way to introduce Apollo to nature while still in the city. Maybe, perhaps, whenever you two go there it'll be during the time when the blossoms were in bloom and you could watch it during a... a... What do you call it? Ha-something. That much I'm sure of."

She looks a bit embarrassed for not knowing how to pronounce the name of the tradition. Oh!

"Lack of nutritional value? You watch him eat? Wait a second, he's a lawyer, so why ain't he eating right?" Gosh. Maybe he should watch Apollo eat sometime. Watch him eat and judge.

"Plus, doesn't it seem like he'd like lookin' at fish swimming around?" Around and around and around, so soothing. He laughed. "We'll probably be going this month, so I don't think we'll get a chance to do hanami. But it's definitely real nice in the spring. It's just too bad we can't take you along."

He looked speculatively at Clara. Could they?

"Goodness no!" That sounds so creepy the way it is worded. She shakes her head. "I would never do that.

"I've only seen him shop now and then at this grocery store I like to visit." One of the elderly greeters there happened to be a witch and a friendly one at that. Her talks with him are quite stimulating, honest. "From what I see he only has coffee and maybe a meal to hide his coffee."

The musings of someone else's eating habits aside -- She looks a bit curious at the implied question herself, trying to remember the times she's travelled far.

"Hmm... I never travelled far from London, truth be told . The furthest I've ever been from London was at the very edge of it and that was by pure luck. I wasn't paying much attention at the time." The moment she realised it, she panicked and snapped back into the coffee shop. That's not even factoring in the large body of water they'll need to go over and other things. "If I could be put into something, like hidden in a suitcase, maybe it'll be easier?"

She hopes there are not luggage requirements about ghosts in one's luggage.

"Hmm." Heiji sounded a little disapproving, actually. "I like coffee as much as the next guy, but that can't be healthy. What if he loads himself up with coffee just to get himself through them jobs of his? Maybe it's worth following him around a little more, make sure he's eatin' his vegetables."

He put a hand to his chin, looking thoughtful. "I guess I can think of one way we could do it... but I don't think it'd be all that pleasant. Kinda like travelin' in steerage, yeah? And it's a pretty long trip by plane..."

Plus, could he really ask Clara to put up with being in a confined space for so long? Seemed like a terrible thing to do to a ghost grandma.

(Oh, Apollo. Now there's another person who knows.)

Clara waves her hand at his concern that she'll be uncomfortable with being stuffed next to someone's tube socks, perfectly okay with it.

Really, she's fine.

"I have travelled in steerage before. Or something close to it. Only once, yes, but I have done that. " When coming to London, in fact. To say she's ready for it again is an understatement. "It'll be fine if that's what we need to do. If it's easier on you and Apollo. And, of course, if you two are willing to let me tag along for the ride."

(screened comment)

"Ah! I've heard of those from Apollo himself." She does look a bit uncomfortable at the idea of being put into one of those jars. Her understanding of them so far is that where the bad ghosts end up getting trapped in. That and jars are fragile during flights.

Still. She smiles again, happy that there's a solution to this problem. That will be an excellent way to get over most obstacles that would stand in her way during a typical travel. "I do hope he doesn't mind someone else maybe joining in. I always wanted to travel more when I was still alive. Now that I have all the time in the world why not do it now? And with people I enjoy being with too?"

"Yeah, I hope so, too. I mean, you guys know each other, right? So I can't see why he'd have a problem with it. But even if he does, we can always go some other time. You gonna be okay with your job, though? I mean... gotta do your rounds and all, right?"

The question was where Heiji could even find a ghost jar. The one they'd found in the mansion was... well, occupied. Hmm. Hmm.

"He's currently teaching over at Redbright so yes! We definitely know each other." And very well too, she likes to think. Seeing how often she drops by his classroom after his classes are over and she's hoping for a nice chat. "Hmmm-- I can always ask when my vacation hours are in so I can use them to be with you two. I hope they'll understand."

If not, she won't push her luck. She wants to help the school after all and if they needed her, they needed her. "I suppose it'll be too much to ask the dean if she happens to have a jar anywhere lying around? Seems like a handy thing to have just in case."

Because she knows not all ghosts are good ghosts or even polite ghosts. Better to be safe than sorry.

"You think so? I mean, I guess it's the Institute and all, so they probably have some somewhere..." Probably? Though if they did, he wasn't sure what the policy was on borrowing one so that they could cart one of their employees about on an airplane.

...Maybe there was a signout process?

"They should! At the very least have one or two as examples for the witchy students to see in person." That's an educational thing to have for students, right? A normal educational thing for them to have?

Besides surely the school has had weirder requests asked in the past. A ghost needing means of transportation to somewhere wouldn't be strange. "But! I'm sure we'll figure this out in the future. No need to do it now since I don't want to stress you over it. It's your and Apollo's trip. You two should focus on having the most fun there along with trying not to get in trouble."

Here she gives him a little look because she has a feeling its hard for Heiji and Apollo to not get in trouble due to being themselves. Hmmm.

"Wait... getting in trouble? Hey, it's not like we're schoolkids, y'know! We can take care of ourselves!"

Sure, there might be a murder or two on the plane ride, but that was 100% actually normal, as everyone knew.

"Besides, I'm a detective and he's a lawyer! What could possibly go wrong?" Someone stop them...

"Says the man who takes on mysteries to help people who is friends with someone who helps people with mysteries." She likes to think that's a recipe for disaster or good results. Whichever comes first and they usually come at the same time.

Clara is trying very hard to not imagine what could go wrong but it is difficult for her. She used to be a mother after all. A parent's job is to fret. "Do I need to remind you what happened last month?"

"H-hey, that's different!" he protested. Luckily, Clara only knew one of the things that had happened with Apollo during the last month. Otherwise, her fretting might go into overdrive.

"I mean, sure, dangerous things happen once in a while. But we've survived this long! We can definitely survive at least a couple of weeks more!" This was obviously a very reassuring thing to say.

Her grandmother radar only picks up so many things at once. Please be safe, you two.

She thins her lips, looking unimpressed by that comment because giving everything and all, but she tries to keep up her good cheer. If he's confident and happy then why should she try and dispel it? "I suppose you're right. I shouldn't be a Doubting Donnie after all you two have been through, I bet. If anything I should be more confident about you two being able to fend for yourselves!"

He laughed. "Right? We'll be fine, Miss Clara! Anyhow, I better get going. Thanks for checkin' up on me."

That was basically what she'd been doing, right?

time for a check up (open post)

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