Storyteller / Shared NPC
Well, finally it seemed to be over. As far as Wyatt was concerned he and Weedy had definitely earned that money. This whole matter was rather disgusting. God forbid, if he died, he did not want to be posed and photographed by Arabella! Weedy was glad to be done with it all too.
"I gotta go, I have chores to do," Weedy declared adding, "And Wyatt has to help me."
"Nah, I gotta get back home pretty soon. Sorry, Weedy, but you're on your own, see ya tomorrow," Wyatt let him know.
"Hey, come on fellers" Surprisingly, it was Wyatt's fellow angel who came in on Arabella's side. "Ara paid you, you gotta finish the job off"
"Why thank you, Raymond!" Arabella said airily as she rearranged poor little Mary's hair and shroud nicely in the coffin.
He had a point but Wyatt just sighed in exasperation.
"Now, Porter, help me carry the plates and the camera back to the Christian Girl's Refuge, Mr Jolly doesn't like me leaving this stuff all around, and your duties will be fulfilled." she looked at her two angels "... and you two can stay here and get changed."
Oh thank the lord! Wyatt nodded, "Good! Last time I ever agree to this, just so you know."
As the other two left, he glanced over to Raymond, maybe this was a chance to get to know a little about this boy? They'd never really met let along talked.
"Yeah, all right." Sighing, Weedy gathered the equipment and trudged after Arabella, casting a glance back at Wyatt and rolling his eyes. He hadn't intended for his friend to actually help with chores...heck, he didn't actually have any chores just now...he was just trying to give them an out.
Oh, well, they were done and that was what mattered.
At least until he let his curiosity get the better of him. "So, where's these pictures? I want to see Wyatt all angelic-like!"
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
At least until he let his curiosity get the better of him. "So, where's these pictures? I want to see Wyatt all angelic-like!"
Arabella laughed as they walked along "Oh Porter, it isn't that easy. I have to do a whole lot of stuff with chemicals and what not to make the pictures come out. First I have to fix the image on the plates you're carrying in that sack. That makes what we call a negative. That's like a funny see-through picture where all the light parts are dark and all the dark parts are light. Then I can use that to make pictures with. I can show you if you like, it takes a terrible long time, though, and you'll be locked in a dark room with me!"
Judging by the way he'd screwed up his face when she pretended to kiss him before, she didn't imagine that that idea would appear to the young lad at all.
The idea of darkened rooms, though, sparked a separate thought in Miss Mudd's mind.
"That reminds me... did you and Jemima ever have that Seance you were planning? You'd better hurry up, if not, I don't think she's going to be around much longer."
Meanwhile, back at the funeral parlour, with little Mary safely back inside and Arabella and Weedy gone, Ray sniffed at his hands.
"Ugh!" he wrinkled his nose in disgust and looked at Wyatt "Listen, I got a washstand with some clean water and soap up in my room - let's go up and try and wash off the smell of that girl, and change out of these sissy dresses."
It was a harmless and sensible suggestion under the circumstances.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
"Ugh!" Raymond wrinkled his nose in disgust and looked at Wyatt "Listen, I got a washstand with some clean water and soap up in my room - let's go up and try and wash off the smell of that girl, and change out of these sissy dresses."
"Yeah, I don't believe Arabella when she claims there is no smell. Maybe her nose doesn't work right or she's used to it," Wyatt replied.
"Sure lemme grab my stuff," he went over to his pile of clothing, shoes, and socks then scooped it all up.
"Let's go," Wyatt was more than willing. Besides he was curious to see this boy's room. He knew next to nothing about this kid and like most young folk he was nosy.
She was just a girl, so Weedy didn't mind being locked in the dark with Arabeller if it meant seeing how pictures were made...he could take her in an instant if she tried anything hinky!
"Sure, I want to see how the pictures work, how can they be wrong then be right?" He wasn't quite sure what she was talking about, and really wasn't sure that she wasn't just making stuff up to sound important.
"That reminds me... did you and Jemima ever have that Seance you were planning? You'd better hurry up, if not, I don't think she's going to be around much longer."
"Nah, all that stuff with her happened, and then Addy says it's a powerful lot of hooey and porkeepine dung!" Weedy grinned, then asked, "Where is Miss Jemima going, anyway?"
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"Sure, I want to see how the pictures work, how can they be wrong then be right?"
"Well, all right, but you can't just come and go out of the dark room, once I lock us in and put the blanket over the door, you can't leave until I'm done, all right? Else it'll ruin the pictures."
She then asked him about the seance he and Jemima Wigfall had been planning to have.
"Nah, all that stuff with her happened..."
"Stuff?" Arabella queried - then the penny dropped "Oh, her attempted murder of Elias Steelgrave! Ha! Gotta love that girl!" Arabella chuckled.
"... and then Addy says it's a powerful lot of hooey and porkeepine dung!" Weedy grinned, then asked.
"Hmm" Arabella grunted thoughtfully "Maybe she's right. Jemima and Mrs Orr and another couple of Spiritualists do it every Sunday. You and Addy should go along, if there's any trickery, she'll spot it, being a conjuror herself."
Miss Mudd admired Miss Chappel in more than just the usual way, she thought her slight of hand tricks very clever and amusing.
"Where is Miss Jemima going, anyway?"
"Come on Porter, use your noodle. The Circus is coming to town and when it leaves... well... do you know anyone who belongs in a circus more than Jemima Wigfall?" she asked, apparently in all seriousness.
"Oh." Well, Weedy had never actually seen a circus, so he didn't know why Jemima, in particular, would be in a circus, or why they would want her. "All right."
There was a awful lot to process, what with making pictures appear in the dark, and Jemima joining the circus and being a spiritualist...
"Maybe me and Addy could go, I don't know if she...Miss Addy's a conjer? What's that?"
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"Maybe me and Addy could go, I don't know if she...Miss Addy's a conjer? What's that?"
"Con-jur-ror" Arabella corrected the lad's pronunciation "You know, she does magic tricks." The girl stopped in her tracks and looked across at Weedy. Time was, a year ago, she'd look down at him, but he was springing up these days.
"I can't believe that you've lived with her for a year and never seen her do any card tricks or leger-de-main or pull a nickel out of your ear or anything like that."
She shrugged and carried on walking.
"Anyway, if she did, she'd probably spoil the effect by telling you how it's done, not wanting for you to think it's real magic. But I think there is real magic in the world, Porter, nothing spectacular like Merlin the Magician used to do in the olden days, or the miracles in the bible, but sometimes just a funny feeling that something's about to happen, and it does, or the glimpse of a ghost in a mirror. You ever feel anything like that?"
"Sure, Addy does some magic tricks, but that's just tricks, and she did show me how to do some." He grinned. "I'm going to trick people when Wyatt and I are pirates!"
Then he considered her other inquiry and shrugged. "Maybe...sometimes...once..." It was something he'd never admitted, even to Addy. "When that storm, and the snow...I think I knew I'd never see my mom again." As much as he'd wanted her to be a real Mom, Weedy still loved her, and had always hoped she'd get better.
"Do you do that sometimes, too?"