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Stanley Padgett     Tea time, huh? Well, Stanley can 100 percent read online reviews and Helpy recommendations and all those sorts of things. And the best place he can find for Tea Time is....
    Well it's in an unrelated England. Not a dream, not one of the worlds close to Lampport. Stanley gets on the warp gates for the second time of his life, and makes the walk through to... Sheffield, South Yorkshire, to a bistro called Farthing Sense. It is horribly kitschy, intended to harass tourists with Values and Honest Food By Honest People. Stanley, in the future, will know better but probably not today.

    That said, the young man has settled in, paid for 'The Tea Time Special' which apparently is going to be a selection of sandwiches and nibblets and also as much tea as you can drink though probably a reasonable amount in the end.
    It's fine, it's his dad's money.

    His phone is on the table, letting both Hibiki and Hook know where he is.
Stanley Padgett     Also, for the record.
    Stanley is here in his school uniform, white shirt, Silver Springs colored and patterned tie, dark green slacks.

    His hair is ORANGE but not anime orange. It's dyed orange. Though hot competently so. He's still working on that.    
Hibiki Tachibana     As it turns out, Hibiki isn't normally a tea drinker, probably to the surprise of no one that knows her half decently. More of a sports drink-water-soda-etcetera kind of girl. But exceptions can be made.

    Like friends. Especially one she hasn't gotten to catch up with in a while. And also, she can't imagine Stanley drinks it very often either, and seeing that will probably both be mildly amusing and also not make her feel like the odd one out when Captain Hook brings what she's sure is going to be some high quality stuff.

    She shows up to the bistro in her usual casual, taking a single glance around the place - when it comes down to it, any place where the food is solid is a place she's a-ok to be - before finding their host and sliding right on in to join him, along with one of her usual laid-back waves of greeting.

    "Yo. Not a get-together in Lampport this time, huh? Yeah, that's fair." It's okay, Stanley. We all know there aren't any tea places in the middle of America. "You been okay since...uh, you know. Last time?"
Captain Hook      It is tremendously unfortunate for a modern Sheffield, South Yorkshire, to suffer a man like William Hook for even five minutes.

     Farthing Sense is a place that loves tourists - people who stand out *just enough* by dint of being foreigners and/or unfamiliar faces, but otherwise blend in as *normal*. They spend their money eagerly and are occasionally perhaps a bit rude or ignorant but can otherwise disappear into the crowd if you're no longer doing business with them. Stanley is American, and a teenager, and Americans and teenagers are two groups of people most eager to spend money and then talk loudly on social media about the quaint place they just ate, so Stanley in *particular* is someone this sort of place loves.

     William Hook, however, is the exact sort of person Farthing Sense - and, by extension, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, and all other tourist traps of which it is a small microcosm - despises.

     It's not hard to see why. The moment he set foot in town, people were whispering about him, that sort of whisper that becomes Gossip, that sort of Gossip that becomes News. He *stands out*. Even before he arrives at the Farthing Sense people are already muttering about the stranger and he's been here for all of maybe five minutes.

     With good reason. Blue hair. An eyepatch. A hook for a hand. Handsome - arguably even *beautiful* - with a sort of faerie 'too-real-for-the-world' atmosphere to him. A charming smile.

     A *pirate coat slung over his shoulders*.

     A *cutlass*.

     A *flintlock pistol*.

     A *walking cane*.

     And the worst part of it all is the accent, because the accent, in one fell swoop, the *moment* he introduces himself to ask for directions from a young lady who will probably talk about this as a highlight of her week for months to come, marks him as *an Englishman*.

     So not a tourist.

     So not going to spend money.

     A stand-out odd man who isn't going to spend money and makes Waves in a town's gossip and news is the worst sort of thing for a tourist trap. It's distracting from the touristy part.

     And yet when Hook throws open the door to the bistro - he cannot help himself but make an entrance - the owner is smiling at him like he isn't already hoping the weird man will leave the shop, and a waitress and waiter are already making eyes at him because he's Exciting and Strange and Exotic, and everyone in the place already knows that this man is not a Mark but a Problem.

     So almost everyone breathes a *massive* sigh of relief when he strolls over to the two tourists and sits down next to Hibiki with a broad smile. "Princess."

     He pulls a bouquet of flowers from his coat. The waitress and waiter bite their lips jealously as it falls in front of Hibiki. "I never bought you flowers in the hospital, I don't believe."

     He didn't buy them now - he snatched them on his way over - but that's neither here nor there.

     The pirate holds out his (good) hand across the table. "Mister Padgett. Captain William Hook. A pleasure!"
Stanley Padgett     If Stanley was built to feel jealous about other people being prettier than him, he might be upset about this. But literally, no, not at all. He blinks a bit as Hook *sashays* into the Bistro, carrying flowers for Hibiki, and calling her Princess.
    The phone comes up, Stanely snaps a pic of this exchange, and then types furiously. Is he taking notes?

    But then it's his turn to be greeted, and he plants the phone back down, reaches out to shake Hook's good hand, and then smiles. "That's right, but you can call me Stanley if you want. It's a pleasure to meet more people from my phone." A most winning smile, something practiced by necessity. He then sits back down, and looks to Hibiki. "...I didn't know you were a Princess, I would have offered more than greasy pizza or nachos or arcade tokens."

    One of the waitresses, clad in her Very Kitsch British Maid gear, starts bringing over the blog-worthy trays of snacks and tea cakes, minding her quiet as she watches the Handsome Man and the two teens partake.
Hibiki Tachibana     Hook shows up with all of the swagger--scratch that, a lot more swagger than any pirate from actual history probably actually had, making waves everywhere he goes and outright coming onto the scene with...flowers. Her brows go up in surprise, staring for a moment before slowly extending her hands to take the bundle.

    Her casual smile comes back after a second, with just a little bit of embarrassment for good measure. "...I mean, you brought me something way more important back then, but I won't say no." She'll find a place next to her in her seat to put those safely for the moment, before...

    She catches a glimpse of both Stanley and the waitress. Make that more than just a little bit of embarrassment, as a hand comes to her mouth and she clears her throat a little bit too loudly. It's mostly because of a misconception here. "I-I'm not a /literal/ princess, that's just a nickname," she starts mumbling. "I'm even still in high school just like you, so don't get the wrong idea. Greasy pizza and nachos is exactly my thing."

    So are trays of snacks, apparently, as she loses pretty much all fluster she has the moment food starts rolling in. Must not be the kind of thing she eats often, from the way her eyes light up a bit. These tea cakes must be consumed.

    Thankfully, she's not going to talk and eat at the same time. Probably. Maybe. "...Oh, yeah. That reminds me. I don't think I've ever seen someone just texting over their phone for that instead of just...talking. I guess you're more comfortable with that?"
Captain Hook      The Captain's smile does not change. "She isn't. It's simply that, when I had the opportunity to help her out, she was in the hospital, and I, being the sort of man who detests signing my name on anything that keeps track of me heres-and-theres, climbed the side of the building and entered through the window, as one might for a forlorn Princess in a tower."

     Hook settles his fingers against the table and smiles. "So I made it stick."

     Hook's eye is sharp and bright. When Stanley makes the smile there's the barest flick of the eye towards Stanley's lip, like Hook is...observing something. Making note of something. Breaking something Stanley did down in the back of his mind.

     When the waitress comes over Hook's uncanny concentration swaps immediately to her, and he's charming and gentlemanly and all sorts of lovely as he slips a choice biscuits from the tray without anyone ever noticing, because he's very good at making you pay attention to the handsome face and the shiny hook hand and the brilliant smile and not anything else he's doing. By the time the waitress leaves she'll assuredly be paying more attention to the flower he somehow slipped into her bosom than the missing food the store will have to pay for.

     William Hook has principles. One of those principles is not paying people for things out of pocket.

     Hey, it's not a *great* principle, but it's certainly *one*.

     And if *Stanley* notices he might pay for it *for* Hook, which is just about the best sort of victory a pirate can ask for short of the government paying out of pocket for his pleasure without a *letter of marque* being involved.

     Hook side-eyes Hibiki out of his one good one. "Yes, well. Doing a turn for an important friend is always worth my time, so let's consider this rather a formality of pleasantness and a societal obligation a gentleman ought uphold."

     "What have you been up to since we rescued *your* Princess from his castle?" Ha, ha. Oh, if Muramasa could hear himself being called Hibiki's Princess.

     "I take it you've been thriving, at least a touch."

     Then he shifts to Stanley. "So tell me, Mister Padgett, about you - and about your clock conundrum. You've my interest and my attention."
Stanley Padgett     Stanley is still, well. He's still working out a lot of things in his life. Girls is one of those things. "Well, that's good, I was worried there for a moment. The Happycade is about the fanciest place they'll let me go in Lampport without my breaking and entering. Or, you know, it being one of those gentrificated places." A grump, and then he stuffs a lemon bar in his face a moment, as Hook holds court with the waitress....

    And then he takes a breath. "Right, so. You are... William Hook, which says... a lot for me, so, I'm going to just like... assume you're cool with weird shi-" Cough. "Stuff. Uh."
    Stanley taps at the back of his phone, as the waitress pours everyone cups of tea, still trying to finagle another flower from Hook... "So. There's another side to my world. The Reversal, where people's collective unconsciousness meet. A world forged from the history and thoughts of a community. I, and one of my new friends... have been tasked with cleaning it up, because someone is messing around and causing trouble."
    He taps his chest. "I stopped one of my school administrators from making it look like a bunch of kids ran away, by beating up the monster his Shadow had become. And now we're having to deal with someone who has made it always been Labor Day Weekend. One of my classmates. We're not sure how, but whatever he's done, he's left a major mark on the Reversal, and it's spreading each time it loops." He takes a sip of tea and huffs.

    "The big old wound in the Reversal is Wonderland, and on that side, he is the White Rabbit."

    Stanley assumes Hook to be well read enough to get the connections.
Hibiki Tachibana     "You sure always /are/ the gentleman," Hibiki adds on very matter-of-factly, talking about formalities and obligations. She goes and takes the moment to stuff about half of one of those tea cakes right into her mouth on the spot, looking momentarily surprised before chewing slowly to savor the taste. Yup, that sure is the reaction of someone who doesn't eat these things much at all.

    And because everyone won the coin toss on table manners today, she actually does swallow and stop before her next chomp to reply to the good Captain. It's a very good thing her laugh-scoff happened after the fact and not while she was chowing up. "Been keeping things stable at home. Other than some of the usual monster punching, it's been quiet there, for the most part. Almost too quiet..." She makes a small sound before speaking up again, "but I'll sure take that. 'Home' meaning more uh, my world in general, since actual home is...good. Really good."

    The way her grin widens a bit and she briefly closes her eyes shows that to definitely be true enough. And when she opens them again, she's staring at Stanley. "Which gives me plenty of chances to get into trouble elsewhere and help everyone else with their problems, like our friend here." While Stanley explains the situation, she seizes the opportunity to begin going right back to her food. More than once, there seems to be some confusion on whether she should be drinking the tea /with/ the cakes, or just alongside it.

    Her expression takes a turn towards the serious the more the exposition goes on, however, so her actual thoughts about things probably aren't so easygoing. Another swallow, and she speaks up after he's done. "...So we're going to stop the White Rabbit, which should hopefully have Chet's Shadow do the same thing that Hunnicut's did the last time you had an incident like this. Yeah?"
Captain Hook      "Manners cost nothing and profit everything, which is, of course, the reason I indulge in them," Hook says with a sly grin.

     "I'm perfectly used to odd things, yes. Though I must underline that I am not *James* Hook, though I am very similar to him in many ways through the mad happenstance that is this Multiverse and its permutations, and I suppose that infinite space and infinite time must therefore produce folk who are quite alike in dignity." Yes, Stanley, he is well-read enough to understand Alice In Wonderland.

     Ah. A dream world. Hook's smile shifts only slightly as Stanley speaks. No flicker of a frown, no shock at a strange loop of time, at an other-side unconsciousness. Is that right, that smile says. Is that so. He doesn't say a word and yet his smile conveys exactly what he wants it to. Exactly what it ought.

     "I'm delighted to hear it, Princess," Hook says after a moment, "You deserve it." And he means it, too. Earnest and honest. His smile turns from a conversational filler for a thoughtful eye to a warm and friendly affectionate awareness. "I suppose I was worried, though honestly, not too worried. You're powerful." He doesn't say *strong*.

     When Hibiki goes into the talk about Stanley's world the conversation-filler-slash-thinking smile reappears.

     Finally, the hallmark of every good listener, Hook asks the Pertinent Question:

     "And what does *he* get out of splitting the tock from the tick?"
Stanley Padgett     Stanley /frowns/ at the pertinent question, before he grumbles. "I... I really wish I knew. Chet's Shadow was real insistent on getting free from Wonderland, and was doing all he could to convince us to get him out, but I don't think his Shadow can actually escape that section of the Reversal. And then Woz and Zi-O started the fight and he turned into... well the White Rabbit. Went all Tyrant."

    A beat as Hibiki mentions the other incident. "...Yeah, my principal was just a guy, until I challenged him in the Reversal and he turned into Attila The Hun, only a weird, fuc-" Huff. "A messed up version of what you see in the history books. 8 feet tall, and summoning horse archers and stuff. But when I /beat/ his ass, his regular Shadow came back and apologized and said all he wanted to do was make the trouble kids go away for a while so the school could get its metrics up." Stanley makes a disgusted noise, and sips on his tea, considering his words. "...So I'm not sure what making it forever Labor Day could..."

    Wheels are turning in Stanley's head, and he crams a macron in his mouth for fuel.
Hibiki Tachibana     "...Yeah. And he did, too." Hibiki accepts the Captain's earnestness with a subdued but genuine smile, staring down briefly at her teacup after reaching for it. Even the sip of it she takes after is pretty slow and measured, which are two things she can rarely be described as, before setting it back down. "Powerful, huh..."

    He indeed did not say strong. That particular phrasing seems to give her some food for thought, on top of the food she's returning to snacking on while Stanley recounts the past. When he stops to stuff his face, she takes that as her cue to swallow what's in hers and offer up some of what's been bouncing around in her own mind. Especially after hearing that. "Well, if it was me in his situation...not that I really know anything about the real Chet..."

    She plants an elbow on the table surface, resting her cheek in her hand for a moment. "...If I went and made the weekend repeat itself over and over, it'd probably be for something petty like not wanting to go back to school. Or just wanting to stay at home for whatever reason. Maybe I'd have a bunch of homework I hadn't done - ...again... - and that'd definitely be enough to make me want to put it off forever."

    A moment passes. And then another one. Then she gives a long sigh. "It's probably not anything that simple though, huh?"
Captain Hook      "There must always be *some* benefit to an action," Hook says, "Qui bono, et al." He rolls his hook hand (sort of - it is a HOOK, after all, it doesn't exactly have a lot of wrist motion) to emphasize.

     "Your administrator wanted your school to be more prominent. Famous. Show off its quality not by raising the bar but by removing the outliers. Prestige, therein, for his school and himself. Simple. I imagine you already knew that, but laying it out from an outside party likely helps."

     He taps the hook on the table. "So, then. What do you know of this young man called 'Chet'? Does he keep to himself? Withdrawn? Reclusive? Is he the target of bullying? Is he the type to excel or shirk duties? Pull him apart in your words bit by bit and you will doubtless find how he profits - and if you do not, and he does not clearly profit, then there is probably another involved." Hook scoops up a cup of tea with his hook hand and raises it to his lips. It is impossible to say how he didn't spill any of the tea while drinking with a hand that has no thumb or fingers, and yet, he doesn't - the teacup lands back on the table without a single droplet out of place.

     "By what mechanism does this Reversal afflict such change, anyhow? A dream overlaying itself in reality? Is it a change others can see and know? Do they repeat the same actions, ad infinitum, unaware that time is passing, or do they simply fail to recognize that something is wrong as time winds on?"
Stanley Padgett     Stanley's brainmeats are still ticking as Hook massages them with questions, and he rap tap taps his fingers again the table with nervous energy. "...I have had a most rare vision, I have had a dream past the wit of man to say what dream it was."
    A look to Hook, and Stanley murmurs. "I've only been at the school... in real time about 6 weeks, but now it's been a while. I'm not sure how things are going to shake out once we break the loop." He sounds confident of that. Stanley closes his eyes, and seems to be counting places in his head. "Chet Markson. Class 5-B, Mrs. Staven's Chem II." He's a boy who memorizes his classmates. Interesting.
    "...he's on lacrosse but I don't go to the games so I don't see him play. He doesn't seem that out of place in class, but he struggled with some of the compounding..." He's about to say 'yesterday' but stops himself. "We've got a test straight away on Tuesday. Whenever Tuesday gets here."

    Stanley looks at Hook, and then looks at Hibiki and scoffs. "...no. No it's... it can't be that easy, can it?"
Captain Hook      Hook shrugs. "Is staving off facing fear ever 'that simple'? Men have killed and died to hide from terrors of mind and matter. Does it strike you as such a stretch? Who knows what rides upon that day but him? Upon success or failure?"
Hibiki Tachibana     Hook exposits his line of questioning, and Hibiki listens closely with her face still resting in her palm. Target of bullying? Yeah, she could easily see that. Shirk his duties? Relatable. Having already written off her own theory, she scrunches up her face a bit in thought, using her free hand to idly run her teacup around in a bit of a circle.

    Until Stanley brings up what he knows about Chet, leading to a bit more expression-skrunkling until he says the golden phrase. We've got a test straight away on Tuesday.

    Her eyes go from slightly narrowed to slowly widening. Her head lifts, and exactly like Stanley, she goes from looking at one of them, to the other, and then back again.

    There is /absolutely/ no way it can be that easy.

    "It...might be that easy?"

    She sits up entirely straight again, just to apply that hand she was resting on to her face and run her hands along he forehead. "...I mean, I know what /I/ just said, but..."
Captain Hook      "A sportsman struggling with a test desperate to postpone it so he has a chance to do better to avoid disappointing...a coach? A parent? To avoid being kicked off a team he feels some identity with? Is he struggling with his marks?" Hook shrugs again. "'That simple' is so very relative. The bottom line may have nothing to do with 'simplicity' and everything to do with 'circumstance and struggle.'"

     "I advise not judging him when you meet the White Rabbit face to face. He may indeed be late for a very important date. To him it may be the most important day in the world, even if to you it's merely Tuesday."
Stanley Padgett     Stanley's brow furrows in a manner betting someone much older than himself, and for a briefest of moments, both Hook and Hibiki will get the sense of age, an afterimage of a giant, armor clad fender behind Stanley, before it's gone.

    What escapes Stanley next is part recitation, part memory, and part exultation. "...then dreams he of cutting foreign throats, of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades, of healths five-fathom deep; and then anon... Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes, and being thus frighted swears a prayer or two and sleeps again."

    He sucks a breath through his nose and then looks right at Hook. "I went looking for the man, William, caught him, looked to catch his ear in the real but he was no where to be found. Not at his home, nor pitch nor fair maiden's patch. Not a sight at his family's domicile, nor his haunts." The amber eyes of the fencer are burning, and in some moment, his foil has appeared from the duffel bag at his side... it rests in his lap, but Stanley has an iron grip on it. "...I wish to bend his ear, not till it breaks, but till it spills all secrets."

    Uh... Stanley. Buddy.
Hibiki Tachibana     "Well, yeah..." Hibiki sounds a bit guilty, at Hook pointing out the logical. "Everyone's 'important things' are theirs, no matter how ordinary they might seem to someone else. We won't have any way of knowing until we manage to talk to him for real." Of course, he could still be that petty. Like her. Maybe he will be. Then she'll feel a little better about herself on that front.

    Whatever she was going to say next ends up just kind of dying off in her throat, mouth opening and then just sort of hanging there while she stares at Stanley. And stares. And stares. The more he speaks, the more her eyebrows drift upwards.

    Even after he stops, she hangs like that for a second longer before her mouth slowly closes. And then, "...I don't think I understood a word of that."

    She is the only person at this table who doesn't read classic literature. To the surprise of no one.
Captain Hook      "Act One, Scene Four, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare," Hook asides to Hibiki, "Mercutio speaking to Romeo of dreams. The children of an idle brain, he says."

     Hook's hair suddenly hangs over his eyepatch. He looks a sight more menacing now, a sight more like a *pirate* and a sight less like a fairy-tale swashbuckler. The ominous shadow cast across his face hangs as he says, "The wind you talk of blows from you yourself."

     He picks up his teacup in his good hand. "Some consequence yet hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin his fearful date."

     And then the dark shadow is gone. He leans to Hibiki and translates, "Intent to wring the young man until he tells all that he knows, because this young Chet's dreams are a selfish trouble for the town."
Stanley Padgett     Stanley likewise takes a breath and then steps back as a chirpy voice from behind the table 'aHEMs'. "Please no weapons in the cafe, sirs and madam."

    Stanley looks down at his foil, and then at Hibiki and Hook and takes a longer breath, secreting it back into his bag. "...Sorry not sure what... that was, but..."

    He haltingly takes a sip of tea and sighs. "...Yes, I tried to find him. Found out where he lives but it's his mom's house and she wasn't there and he wasn't there, so that was a dead end, his friends say he might be out of town on a trip but I don't think so, cause... he'd be right back here every Saturday, and he isn't. Not when the loop starts."

    The fencer sighs, and looks to Hibiki. "Sorry, I just... well, when I said I liked Shakespeare, I meant I... REALLY am into Shakespeare. Or Shakespeare is into me, now."
Captain Hook      "It's my understanding that Shakespeare was into quite a few ladies and gentlemen, though nowhere in the sonnets does he mention an orange-haired youth," Hook asides idly.
Hibiki Tachibana     "Of dreams...? The children of an idle what?" The good captain's first explanation is met with an equal amount of confusion, if not more.

    Then he actually translates, after that rather menacing moment she may or may not have processed.

    "Oh."

    The bewildered look on her face mostly goes away, especially when Stanley himself clarifies. She nods. Now she understands everything. Absolutely everything. "Okay, I get it. And since his Shadow doesn't seem to know anything either, saying he was 'left behind', seems like there wouldn't be anyone who knows where he is, huh?"

    'Shakespeare is into me' gets a bit of that coming back (again) however, along with a blink. Hibiki's head turns, vaguely in the direction of 'looking behind Stanley', presumably to where that ghastly image had appeared. "...Does that mean it has to do with...? ...Huh."
Stanley Padgett     Stanley *blushes* at Hook, and stammers. "Wwhnn I... no, I mean... it's..."
Captain Hook      "I understood perfectly well," Hook clarifies, waving his hand dismissively, "It has to do with your connection to this realm beyond the world."
Stanley Padgett     Brave Fencer Stanley takes a deep breath, and centers himself. "...Sorry, just." An awkward laugh, and he tries to cover it up with the last of the cucumber sandwiches. Surprisingly okay. "I'm still getting used to the idea of having uh... friends that might just stick around this time, so..."
    He looks at Hook and Hibiki. "Thanks. This has been really helpful, even if we didn't yet talk about me becoming a pirate."

    A pointed look at Hook.
Hibiki Tachibana     Fortunately for Stanley's dignity, that brief moment between him and Hook right there seems to have flown right on over her head. She's too occupied writing off her confusion from a moment ago with another tea cake shoved into her mouth. She apparently really likes these things. Kind of like cookies.

    And after she finishes it and takes a quick breath, she's able to flash a smile up to the boy. "I get how that is," she says in the slightly low but genuine tone of someone who indeed gets how that is. "It's...kinda weird to adjust to, but you'll get there. I know I'll stick around for sure if you pick out places like /this/ to eat." That part's a joke.

    And then, a look to Hook herself. And then back to Stanley. She is implicitly listening in on the Pirate Thing.
Captain Hook      "Well, it's not much to talk about, really. Do you want to be a pirate?" Hook says. "That's really the beginning and the end. I've no need to sell you on it. I simply..."

     He stops and looks off into the middle distance. Then he shrugs. "A troubled young man who wants to escape his life can do much worse than becoming a pirate."
Stanley Padgett     Padgett takes a last sip of his tea, and then considers. "Once we're done with Lampport, with whatever is riling up the Reversal, whatever it is that Igor and Delilah need us to do... I won't really have a place, anymore, except for what I make of it."

    "So I'll highly consider it then."