Pre-Cog-What?

Who: Harper and Herbert
When: Early Afternoon, around 1PM
Where: Nevermore

The store wasn't actually open, but the light was on. Harper knew there'd be no customers after yesterday, so she didn't want to open and force the store to pay her for doing nothing. But she needed information. After everything that happened, she needed to know why. Nevermore had all the resources she needed, and normally she'd never go there when it was closed and exploit the fact that she had a key, but these weren't normal circumstances. Harper sat in the chair nearish the window and was reading more about psychic visions. She was re-reading things she'd already read. She just needed to know what was going on.

Herbert was looking for Harper. He'd much rather talk to people in person than on the phone, he'd found, and see and smell for himself that people were okay and whole and all that. It made him feel better. And since she hadn't returned his call, well... he was determined to see her. So when she wasn't at her house, he turned himself around and biked over to Nevermore. It was the only place he could think of where she might be. He was a little wet when he got there-- or, well, a lot wet-- but not nearly as bad as when he'd gotten to Charlie's. The rain was more sporadic now, and not as heavy. Elda poked her head out of his coat pocket as he slowed to a stop, and he paused under the overhang to try again, and just as unsuccessfully, to wring out his clothes before he went inside.

He walked his bicycle up to the window, cupping one hand to the window to peer in. There was light in there, and-- aha, there was Harper! He rapped gently on the glass, trying to get her attention.

Harper pulled out of her book at the noise and turned around to look at the window. Herbert? Harper slid from her seat, laying the book down so it wouldn't loose her place and walked to the door. She pulled her sweater tightly around her and unlocked the front door. "Herbert?" She asked, seeing him there. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for you!" Herbert said brightly, smiling. She looked like she'd been okay. Elda quacked a cute, not-quite quack at Harper, stretching her little neck out curiously. "You never called me back, so I had to make sure you were okay, eh?"

Harper stepped back so he could come in out of the rain. "I'm sorry." Shit, he had called her back hadn't he? "I guess... I'm sorry, I got distracted." She told him. "'I'm glad you're ok though." Looking at the duck in his coat Harper arched her brow slowly. "Cute friend."

"Her name's Elda," Herbert said, looking down at her with a fond smile and giving the top of her head a pet with one finger, which she then tried to nibble on. He came inside, sticking by the doorway so he wouldn't track water inside. "I'm glad you're okay. Olivia said you called-- did they hurt you at all?" He leaned over to try and get a sniff, testing for blood-scent or bandage-scent.

"No." She said, shaking her head. "Olivia told me to smash the mirror. So I grabbed a hammer." Harper had managed to actually fight them off with her little knife even on the street. It was her arm she was kinda worried about. Breaking the car window was probably not the smoothest of moves and if that didn't fuck it up, the rearview mirror probably did- the thing still throbbed occasionally. "It didn't even make it out of the mirror before I smashed it. The rest, I was just lucky I guess." Knowing where they were coming from probably helped a bit.

"Ooooh." Even if he'd been seriously unhappy with Olivia the day before, he was glad she'd been helpful to Harper. "You know, I didn't even think of using a hammer." He looked down at his right hand, which while it was no longer actually bandaged, still had several vibrant, dark red scabs all across the knuckles from his own mirror-smashing adventures. "So you're okay," he sighed, relieved, though he did smell "pain" even if he didn't really get any "blood" smells. Hrm. "Did the shop open?" He looked around with a frown. "Is the shop open?"

Harper shook her head again. "No, I didn't think anyone would want to shop today." She lowered her head, a bit ashamed to admit her indiscretion. "I know it's wrong, but I really needed to read about something and so I came here. It's a horrible thing to do, exploiting my key privileges and all..." She faded off. "But yea, my arm hurts a bit." Stupid shadows, cars, and other things. "But I'm ok."

"You said yourself we could read stuff," Herbert reminded her reassuringly. "Check it out, and everything. I don't think it's a bad thing." He leaned back a little against the doors, one finger still available for Elda to mouth at. Or bill at, as the case might be. "What were you looking up?"

"Pre-cognition." She replied, looking over at the books. She knew they could check them out, but it was a big difference between taking a book home and hanging out at work while it was closed. Harper looked back at Herbert and the duck, smiling a little- the bird was cute... made her feel kinda fluffy inside.

"Pre-cog-what?" Herbert asked, blinking at her blankly. He was, unfortunately, not one to use a lot of big words around....

"Ummm... Pre-cognition. The ability to see the future." Harper clarified.

"Oh!" He blinked again, then asked the first question to come to mind: "Why, can you do it?" It wasn't because he thought about any of the small signs she'd given over the past couple weeks he'd known her, or even because he thought it would be cool. It really just was the first question that popped into his head; after all, the first thing he'd looked up once hired and having some free time had been lycanthropes.

Harper hadn't actually -told- Herbert what she could do, though she had assumed he had a pretty good idea, especially due to the vampire attack. "I..." She shrugged a little. "I'm not sure. I mean I did... but I hadn't before." Did that even make sense? "I know I didn't tell you... and after you... well... showed me what you can do I should have... I'm clairvoyant. I can see things as they happen, and get 'vibes' sometimes right before things happen." Harper paced a little of the way back to the chair she'd been in. "You know when you wake up in the morning and have a feeling that it's going to be a good or a bad day? Well when I did it was normally right."

No, Herbert hadn't even gotten a hint of that, and he was a surprised bear at that revelation. An impressed bear, too. He watched her with wide eyes and a bit of a smile. "Wow, that's pretty neat. Can you see anything, anywhere? Or just some stuff? Do you always get feelings like that?"

Lots of questions. "Yes, I think. It's kinda random sometimes, and sometimes not. Not always." She answered, sitting down in the seat finally. "It kinda just happens. Sometimes randomly like... every other time the phone rings. It happens more when I'm stressed or, like, when the adrenaline's going... like when you saved me from the vampires. Sometimes I think it's because I -need- to see it... even if I don't want to." Like her parents. "But I really don't know how it works... I've been trying to find out. Meditating, trying to force them, trying to go back into them. I've been writing them down and trying to draw what I see now." She still carried around her journal everywhere.

That suddenly made more sense to Herbert, reminded of the vampires and her perfectly-timed warnings and her suggestion of taking off heads-- he shuddered a little at the memory, still; it was unusually clear, even after all this time-- and he smiled. "Oh, right-- and like when you know it's me calling! But what does that have to do with seeing the future? Is that a different gift from clair-- clairvoyance, or kind of like, the same thing only more?"

Harper looked over a the books, she was starting to talk about what she'd read. "Well, it's all psychic stuff." She said, fiddling with the sleeve of her sweater that was awkwardly pulled over her cast. "I never could see the future, but technically it is possible. There are different classifications, pre-cogs, clairvoyants, telepaths, empaths... it's all mental stuff and some I guess, branch off from the other. Last week I saw a guy get hit by a car." She said softly. "He'd been in the store once before... only the next day he came in to buy one of the last books that had something about the shadows."

"So you saw something that hadn't happened yet." That was simple enough for Herbert to put together. "Has he-- did he get hit by the car yet? Or is he okay still?" That had to be... not fun to see. Watching someone get hit by a car. Ouch.

"Yesterday... which is why I didn't call you back. I saw it again. Clearer though and I went to try and stop it. He's ok, his girlfriend pulled him back in time." Harper told him. "But I also... I saw the shadows attack -me-... before they did. That's why I called your house."

"Ooooh. Is that why you're not hurt?" Herbert asked, impressed again. Or still? "You saw them first and could-- break the mirror, right?" She said she'd taken the hammer to it, and all.

Harper nodded. "Yea, that's why I'm not hurt." She decided it was probably best not to tell him that she saw a bit worse than herself getting 'hurt'. "But, the whole thing has me... confused. So I'm trying to see if I can't figure it out. I mean nothing like that had happened to me before."

"Well, if it's a related gift, and it seems like it's happening more and more--" Car accident twice, shadows and mirrors, who knew what else, now. "--sounds pretty straight-forward to me. You were practicing, and you got better." Things were often that straight-forward to Herbert, of course. It was just the way he saw things.

Harper nodded a bit. “I guess. I mean it makes sense. I guess I’m just still trying to understand it all. You know, like, why do I see what I see?” It was always something Harper’s wondered, though she did doubt a book could answer that. Why did she see death?

"That, I don't know," Herbert admitted. "What kinds of things do you see, exactly? Car crashes, shadows, how to kill vampires, and who's on the phone-- that's all I know." Not that he figured he'd be much help, but maybe if she just had someone to bounce ideas off of?

“A lot of bad things.” Harper replied, looking over at him. “You know when the cats attacked the kids on the beach? I saw that.” And the man get mauled by them a couple days before. “I saw the vampires before they came… attacking a city up north.” She pulled her arms to her. “I saw a lot of what was going on in town that week too.”

"That couldn't've been fun," Herbert said, feeling bad for her. "I dunno... maybe you saw it then because you wanted to be able to do something about it, you just weren't good enough yet?" It was a stab in the dark, but it was a pretty wild one, in his eyes.

Harper told himself that he didn’t know. She hadn’t told him, she couldn’t get upset about it. “I don’t know.” She -wanted- to see her parents crash? No, she could have gone her whole life without seeing that -or- her brothers death. “I mean why see something as it’s happening if there’s nothing you can do to stop it?”

"I don't know," Herbert said again, apologetically. "Maybe just because you weren't good enough yet and had to practice...." He shrugged, picking Elda up out of his pocket and holding her in one hand, petting her between her wings with the other. "I'm just guessing, I don't know a thing about this sort of thing. What do the books say? Anything?"

“They’re kinda all over the board.” Harper replied. “I mean some talk about ‘greater powers’ guiding visions. Others talk about energies on the earth influencing psychics. Even others talk about residual connections with people the psychics come in contact with connecting them to events in their lives.” She shrugged. “I don’t think there’s been a real scientific study published to give any -real- answers… only theories.”

"They do studies on that sort of thing?" Herbert said, amazed at the very idea of it. How would that work? Could someone track down a bunch of psychics and make them try to look for things and take, like, measurements? How would you measure something like that? What if it was impossible to trace? Of course, Herbert was a bit fuzzy on what counted as a scientific study, anyway. "Do you think it'd be helpful if they did?"

Harper laughed a little. "I have no idea, but yea I think it might be a bit helpful. At least we'd know the answer to 'why'." And that's what killed Harper more than anything, the 'why'. She laid her head back a bit. "It might help deal with it ya know?"

Though Herbert had no helpful advice to give-- with this kind of thing was way out of his depth, and he knew it-- he was a good reader of people, and she didn't seem terribly happy. He cocked his head a little at her with a sympathetic expression. "Are you okay?" he asked. "What with everything, and all. It's gotta be tough."

Harper shrugged slightly. "It was nice to be able to help someone finally." She admitted. "But it doesn't mean I don't still see the horrible things." She looked up at him. "I'm sorry, this is probably really a downer."

"No, it's okay." Herbert came further in, over to her chair, and set Elda on her lap. "I've found that she helps," he said simply and with a smile. "Even if just for a little while." Hey, it worked for Geo, right? When he sat and pet her after his parents died, he at least felt a little better for a while.

Harper looked down at the little duck and smiled. "She is cute." Harper said as she carefully reached down to pet Elda. "I don't know how you stood up against those shadows for more than a day." Harper said after a moment. "One day and I thought I was done for. If it wasn't for Olivia telling me about the darkness I probably wouldn't have made it."

"Well, I didn't, really," Herbert admitted, dropping to a crouch where Elda could still see him. "They were after Olivia, not me. I just tried to help when I could, that's all. They really didn't stand much of a chance against a bear, though." Yes, he'd shifted to deal with them. Inside, too, which had been interesting.

"Even so." Harper replied, not letting him be humble about it. Elda was sweet, Harper had honestly never been this close to, well, -any- bird actually. But she liked this one. "Thank you for listening." She told him. "It's something not a lot of people would do. So, thank you."

Elda mouthed at Harper's sweater sleeve with more curiosity than malice, then shook her head vigorously, as if she didn't like the flavor. She was a fairly well-behaved bird-- it was hard not to be with a role model like Herbert. "I don't see why other people wouldn't listen-- it's important stuff, especially to you. But you're very welcome." He reached over to pat her knee fondly.

He was too good for his own good. "Not as many people care as much as you." She said, giggling a little at Elda. Harper looked up at him. "Depending on how things go, I'm hoping to open again tomorrow. But if things are still dead in town I may wait until Monday." There really was no reason to open if there would be no customers, but with how fast this town bounced back she was sure that things would be back to normal before they knew it.

"I think maybe we oughta open tomorrow," Herbert suggested tentatively. "There might be a lot of people wanting to know what happened-- and we're probably the best store in town for answers." Given both of the workers knew, and they did have a couple books with hints at answers in them.

Well, what books hadn't already been snagged up by those who had a sneak peek into the day before. "Yea." She nodded. "You're right. Though I don't even know what I'd begin to tell people." Harper laughed a little. "But at least it's over."

"Thank the spirits," Herbert said with a relieved sigh. "And that my roommate thought it was over enough for me to come out, too! I wouldn't've been surprised if she'd wanted me to stay in today, too. Just in case." Okay, so maybe he was still a little annoyed by that. A little. It came out sounding exasperated in his voice.

"So then, I know you've missed a bit of work this week... due to... stuff..." Harper said with a little smile. "Did you wanna come in tomorrow and make up some of that time? I wanna work on finishing with fixing the sections and moving around some of the end displays to flow better." She wasn't sure why, but she had a feeling that the store needed to be better than perfect and soon.

"Yes, please," Herbert said, nodding quickly. "If you don't mind my bringing her." He pointed to Elda, then reached over to scratch the top of her head with a finger. "I can't leave her at home that long. She'll be good, though, promise, I'll keep her back in the back in her box." Which she was rapidly outgrowing, actually. She needed a new box soon.

"Yea, of course." Harper told him with a gentle smile. "She seems tame enough. I don't think it'll be a problem." She chuckled a little. "Might be nice to have something cute an cuddly around after all the not so cute and cuddly stuff."

"Now, see, that's how I see it!" Herbert exclaimed cheerfully. "My roommate doesn't much like her." Which he didn't really understand. It wasn't like she smelled. Well, smelled bad-- Herbert liked the way she smelled. And he kept her box clean... when he got home from school, anyway. "But I suppose not everyone will." He pulled his hand back, and Elda tried to catch his fingers, making him chuckle.

"Some people just aren't bird people... or animal people I'd gather then." Harper replied, giving Elda another gentle pet. "My aunt had lots, so I guess I'm a little used to them." Her aunt who would probably be calling soon again to check on her.

"Lots of birds? Or lots of ducks?" Herbert asked with a grin, figuring she meant birds but not above a little teasing.

"Animals actually. Though she did have a parakeet, mostly it was cats, dogs, mice, rabbits, hamsters, two ferrets... we kinda lived on a bit of land in the middle of no where." She told him. "Most of the cats and dogs were from other people who got them then decided they didn't want them."

"Ooooh. Wow, that's a lot of animals." Herbert could only imagine the diversity of scents at that house. He'd love it. Really, he kind of would love to live like that. "I never had pets growing up, but I always kinda wanted one. Was it pretty neat?"

Harper shrugged a little. "A bit chaotic at times, but it was nice to always have something to love on when you were feeling down." One of the cats had bonded with Harper and slept with her every night. She missed them all desperately sometimes. "And you know, I think Elda here makes a wonderful little pet."

"I think so, too. She's sweet. And thinks I'm her Ma," he added sheepishly, grinning. "Which would be cute, if I weren't, y'know, me." Big and bearish and very not-ma-like. Well, not like your usual ma, he actually took after his mother in appearance quite a bit. She'd been bigger than his pa.

Harper chuckled a little. "It is cute. Actually cuter than if you weren't you." She told him. Harper was grateful for Herbert, he was easy to talk to like a good friend- if she could call him that. "It looks like the rain's letting up a bit." She said, glancing outside. "Might be a good time to go before it gets worse. Though I think she'd be right at home." Harper added, looking down at the duck.

"Oh, yes. She likes the rain and being wet." Herbert pushed himself to his feet with a little groan at the cuts on his back, then held out his hands for Elda. "Do you need a ride home? I can take you on my handlebars."

Shaking her head Harper lifted the duckling to Herbert. "Nah, I'm going to stick around and read a bit more, then head home. I don't mind the rain either, it relaxes me." She told him. "But thank you for offering."

"All right, then. You're welcome." He tucked Elda into his coat pocket again, fighting with her feet a little as she tried to hook her little claws into the fabric. Then he smiled back at Harper. "I'll see you tomorrow, then? I'll be by early. Probably noonish-- if that's okay." He still had a couple people he needed to swing by beforehand, but noonish was earlier than usual.

She nodded. "That's fine. I'll come up with stuff to keep busy with between people, don't worry." Harper told him as she got up to get the door behind him.

"Okay." Herbert, feeling a little drier now, paused to put an arm around her shoulders in a brief, only-slightly-squelchy hug. He tried not to let it linger and soak into her top, or anything. "Enjoy your reading."

"Thank you. Ride safe." She said, returning the hug a little and getting the door for him. "When you see Olivia, can you tell her thank you for yesterday for me?" Harper asked, leaning against the door frame slightly.

"I will," Herbert promised with a smile, thinking Olivia would probably appreciate it. He headed outside, waving over his shoulder as he went. The rain had stopped altogether again, but it was still gloomy. Maybe if he was quick he could get a romp in the woods in before the next downpour... it was definitely a thought.