OOM: First Date with Agnes

[thesupersmeller]

This time, Gus at least has the benefit of knowing what he's going into a day ahead of time after confronting Shawn about his previous blind date. He's also got the benefit of added nervousness and the absolute certainty it's going to go badly because his dates usually do. After an hour of preening and making sure everything is perfect and as it should be, he settles on a dark blue shirt open at the collar with khakis - casual, comfortable and drives to the Psych office. On his desk is a small, square box with a sticky note on the front bearing Shawn's handwritten: "NOT FOR YOU" and beside it a Hershey bar with another note reading: "FOR YOU".

Sometimes, Shawn could be a pretty cool guy. Or,  you know, he felt bad about tricking Gus into going on the first blind date and setting him up like a piece of meat to begin with. But, he had to admit he was a tiny bit grateful that at least someone was looking out for him while he had himself all wrapped up in a bit of madness he never should have touched to begin with.

Steeling himself, he picks up the candy - leaving behind said sticky notes - and steps through the locker to Milliways. This time the meeting is to be indoors and he picks a quiet booth in a corner hoping that Shawn had at least had the sense to show her a picture so they could find each other. No less, he sits facing the doors and opens his candy bar, forcing himself to break off each chocolaty square to eat slowly and not assuage his nerves by downing the whole thing.

Comments

[agnes_nitt]

It took some additional prodding from Perdita to get Agnes to come. She's still very nervous about this meeting, despite everything Shawn and Juliet had said to reassure her, but standing someone up was a level of rudeness she wasn't prepared to stoop to. She could always beat a hasty retreat back home if need be.

Agnes self-consciously adjusts her witch's hat as she scans the bar for Gus. She had considered leaving it behind, but only got as far as putting her hand on the doorknob before feeling utterly naked without it. She was a witch, and she'd be damned if she'd ever feel ashamed of that again. Gus would accept her as she was or he wouldn't.

Finally, she manages to locate him off in the corner, coincidentally in the same booth that she was used to occupying when wanting to be alone and out of the flow of traffic. Agnes takes a deep breath and sets her shoulders before striding over to him with a confidence she didn't really feel.

"Gus? Hi, I'm Agnes."

[thesupersmeller]

In his nervous near panic, he is shoving the last of his chocolate in his mouth as she approaches.

"Oh! Right, yes..." He smiles broadly, reflexive as he pushes up out of the booth, and offers her his hand.

"Burton Guster, but you, uh... You already know that." He takes an obvious, deep breath to calm himself and sheepishly admits; "I'm kind of nervous right now and pretty much bound to do or say something really stupid in the next few minutes - can I get you a drink before I do?"

[agnes_nitt]

She's put her foot in her mouth just saying hello. That's a new record.

"Oh, do you prefer Burton? I'm sorry; Shawn seemed to imply you preferred to be called 'Gus'."

[thesupersmeller]

He's good at that.

"No. No... 'Gus' is perfect, pretty much everyone uses it." His smile relaxes to a more natural tilt and he gestures toward the table; "Whatever you're comfortable with is fine with me."

[agnes_nitt]

She inclines her head slightly as she takes her seat. "It's not my comfort I'm concerned with," she says gently. "Names are important to me. Comes with the territory." A slight pause. "Shawn did mention my... profession, didn't he?"

[thesupersmeller]

Gus decides to eschew the drinks for the moment and slides into the booth across from her, eyes lingering on the interesting shape of her hat before looking her in the eyes.

"Shawn?" He half-laughs, "No, he's pretty bad about keeping me up on details. But, uh, I'm very open minded."

[agnes_nitt]

It's an odd thing, looking a potential suitor in the eyes. Agnes had been so used to automatically avoiding Carlos' because of the wizard thing that it takes a conscious effort not to look away. She also noticed him eyeing the hat and spares him having to ask the question. "I'm a witch," she explains.

[thesupersmeller]

Sat what now? Clearly the chocolate has gone to his head and he's hearing things because he's pretty sure she just said she's a witch.

Except she's sitting there looking right at him with that same look Juliet gives when she says 'yes Gus, it's a body you can go throw up now'. He heard right and she's not joking.

A witch. Well, it could be worse. Still a step up from Lucifer in terms of potentially bad situations even if she isn't on the Glenda side.

After a long, awkward pause, he asks; "What sort of witch are we talking here? Crystals and candles, or ritualistic sacrifice?"

[agnes_nitt]

"No, it's not like either of those," she says after taking a deep breath. It's not his fault, she reminds herself, he didn't grow up on the Disc. She once thought it was all crystals and candles, too. And everyone had heard stories of Black Aliss and her child-sized oven.

"Witches -- real witches -- are more of the spells and potions type. Herbalism, midwifery, and taking care of animals. Oh, what was the Earth word for that? Vegetarians."

[thesupersmeller]

Slowly, his smile returns; "Granola fan? I can roll with that." He chuckles slightly, shaking his head; "So you're into good things, right? Helping people, loving nature?"

That's actually pretty awesome, and not nearly as scary as the mental image he had... pointy hat aside.

[agnes_nitt]

"Well, I don't know what 'granola' is, but more or less. We help people that deserve to be helped and love nature to the extent that it loves us back. Granny Weatherwax -- that the senior witch in my coven -- says that witches walk the line between the light and the dark. And sometimes that means making the hard choices because no one else can."

[thesupersmeller]

The name 'Granny Weatherwax' sounds familiar, but he can't pinpoint from where, instead he focuses on the woman in front of him and the intriguing explanation. While nobody's ever had to explain that sort of thing to him before, he's really glad she's taking the time to help him understand.

In a lot of ways, she reminds him of Demeter - and that only makes it easier to enjoy the company. He wants to ask if she's ever had to make those sort of dark side decisions, but figures that'd probably be pretty rude.

"I can imagine that'd be a really difficult job to have," and he means it sincerely, he's always been kind of glad that even when they have to make life or death decisions with cases they usually don't realize they're doing it until it's over.

[agnes_nitt]

She thinks of the time she was helping to deliver Sarah Krimple's first baby, and it quickly became clear that only one of them would survive the night.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is."

[thesupersmeller]

He nods slowly; watching the shift of mood.

"Unrelated, two questions. One, are you fan of chocolate goodness?"

To remove all subtext on the question, he pushes forward the small square box of wrapped chocolate caramels that he'd been avoiding setting hands on since he saw them.

"And two, would you like a glass of wine or something? Because I think a drink would be nice."

[agnes_nitt]

Agnes shakes away the memory and forces a smile. "Sorry. Woolgathering. Yes, chocolate and wine would be lovely."

[thesupersmeller]

He knows a forced smile when he sees one, and lately most of them have been in the mirror. But he's not about to push it.

Instead, he snags the corner of the plastic wrapping and slides his thumb down the seam to peel it open and when the waitrat comes by he asks for a simple Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

"Did Shawn tell you about our business?"

[agnes_nitt]

Agnes pops one of the chocolates in her mouth before answering. Chocolate is one of those things (those few things) that the Disc doesn't get quite right. She's not sure why^*, but nothing on the Disc comes close to Earth chocolate.

"A little bit. I understand you're some sort of superhero team?"


* It's because there is nowhere on the Disc that is Definitely Not Switzerland, so there is no standard of chocolate perfection to aspire to.

[thesupersmeller]

His smile eases, seeing her accept the candy - being a witch he can handle, but meeting someone that didn't like chocolate would blow his mind.

"Superhero? Not so much," he laughs and shakes his head; "though that would be pretty cool."

He opens the bottle of wine, taking in the heady scent of oak and cherry and raspberry mingled with the sweet grapes as he considers his response.

After pouring their drinks he wedges the cork back in the bottle and answers; "We're a psychic detective agency - we mostly work with the Santa Barbara police department to solve murders and stuff. It's a lot better than my day job." Even though it doesn't pay the bills.

[agnes_nitt]

The wine is quite good, and really complements the taste of the chocolates. It was a good choice. Agnes decides there's more to Gus than there might first appear.

"So you read people's minds to see if they killed someone?" Seems like an easy enough job. Bring everyone you think did it through, and read each one until you find the killer. If only being a witch were so easy.

[thesupersmeller]

It's not much, but he tries. He tries too hard with everything, really.

"I'm not a psychic," he shakes his head, almost adding that Shawn isn't either - but the fool's damn determined to keep up the illusion and he knows it's not his place to out him on it. "My job is pretty much making sure we don't get killed and the bills get paid." He shrugs, lowering his eyes; "Sometimes I get to do some pretty cool stuff, though. Like a few weeks ago we had this case where a man was convicted of a murder he didn't commit but his lawyer claimed he was crazy and got him put in an asylum. So Shawn and I went undercover at the place and it turns out the medication he was on was for something he didn't even have and was manifesting symptoms just like the mental disorders he was diagnosed with. The guy that put him in the asylum was the one giving it to him to cover up that he was actually the killer."

He beams proudly and adds; "Without my encyclopedic knowledge of medications they'd probably be giving the poor bastard the psychiatric treatment."

Picking up a chocolate, he pinches it between his fingers and eats it slowly.

"That was probably a really boring story for you... I'm sorry. I just get a little excited when I get to use my skills." They're pretty specific, but he does have a few skills that have come in handy on cases.

[agnes_nitt]

"It's okay; I do that sometimes, too. And it wasn't boring. I just... didn't understand a lot of the words. But it sounds like it was exciting, the way you tell it."

[thesupersmeller]

His smile returning, he nods - lifting his eyes back up to meet hers.

"I've got some friends that are the same way, I just... never really know what people understand. Maybe if you can tell me what you don't get I can make it work for you?" He means to be helpful, but knows it's the sort of offer some people would probably see as condescending.

"Unless you think it's more fun to figure it out on your own?" He shrugs.

[agnes_nitt]

Agnes smiles back, and then rewinds the conversation in her mind to pick out the unfamiliar words. "Okay, it's quite a list: lawyer, asylum, undercover, medication, encyclopedic, and psychiatric." She repeats the words with the exact intonations that he'd used when saying them, just parroting the words back thanks to that perfect tonal memory of hers.

[thesupersmeller]

Her intonation is impressive, and despite a lifetime of being worn down by Shawn's photographic memory exact tone reproduction catches his ear. But, he lets it slide in favor of something he knows he can give answers for.

"Mmm, fun ones." He takes a short sip of his wine, letting the flavor roll over his tongue as he considered the list. "Uh, lawyer - is kind of like someone who presents your side of an argument before a judge when you're accused of something. Notoriously shady in my world and not the kind of people you trust. An asylum... is..." he stammers, looking for sensitive way to explain something he's honestly not always sensitive about. "It's where people that have psychiatric disorders - which is kind of a nice way of saying crazy that's dangerous - are looked after by doctors and nurses that try to help them. Ideally. It doesn't always work out that way, but it's supposed to."

He tries to recall the rest of the words, plucking out another chocolate in the process. "Going undercover is something we do sometimes, really we just pretend we're someone else as part of a police operation to get information that we couldn't get going in there as ourselves. If that makes any sense. It's sort of like acting," or lying, but he's not about to get that harsh; "but with a goal in mind. Uh, encyclopedic..." he pops the chocolate in his mouth, lapping over his thumb - brows knitting together again. "When it comes to medication... medicine, kind of like herbs and compounds for treating illnesses but instead of like a potion like you're used to it's in a tablet or a capsule or sometimes a liquid or a cream... it's sort of a broad word. But I know a lot about those compounds like what drugs are used to treat what and what's in them and what they interact with and that sort of thing. See, my day job... when I'm not working with Shawn, is talking doctors into taking samples for their patients - sick people and the like - of medication that the company I work for produces."

When tries to break it down it really all sounds much more complicated than it is, and he's never really thought about it much before.

[agnes_nitt]

Agnes tries to wrap her mind around all of that.

"I think I understand it now. I'm sure it's all completely obvious and normal to people on Earth. I've been to a few versions, but I still have trouble keeping up with how different everything is."