So uh... WTF?

Who: Harper and Lucius
When: Noonish
Where: Nevermore

Harper had sent Herbert to get some food for them, seeing as it had slowed down a bit. To her surprise Herbert had been right and they'd been pretty busy that day. Or at least it came in waves. They had also managed to get quite a bit of the rows looking nice. Starting from the back and moving forward they were shifting around some of the sections to make them flow a little better and fit the shelves better because some had thinned due to lack of stock while others had expanded. They were also making sure everything was in the right section and straightened in such a way to make it easy to find things.

Harper had just finished up with the last person who had been wandering the store and waved them out. She took the moments break to take some pain killers for her cast- she was reluctant to go back to the hospital about it- and then stepped out from behind the counter over to the row she'd been working on.

Keeping his mind off things was going as good as could be expected for Lucius. He'd spent as much time as possible in his room at Beacon House, doing his best to try and catch up on the sleep that he'd been missing out on the last few days. That didn't seem to work though, as all he could seem to do was lay in the bed and think about Marlowe. He'd really messed things up. She wouldn't talk to him and then she'd asked for him to be dropped off while she drove herself home. He hadn't known what to say to patch things up and laying in bed definitely wasn't helping his mood.

So he got dressed and headed through town, figuring walking around and keeping himself busy might help him. Rounding the corner, Nevermore came into view and he wondered if Harper was working. The whole car-almost-hitting-him thing was a bit confusing and in the light of a new day he was curious as to how Harper just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He headed across the street and into the store to find Harper working on a row of books. "Hey Harper, got a minute?"

She looked up at her name being called and smiled slightly at Lucius. "Yea." She replied, putting the books she was holding on the cart and turning to face him. She wasn't dressed -as- professionally as normal; still in nice black slacks, her shirt was something that was looser and easier to get on over her cast as it had been hurting more that morning. "I've got a minute or two."

"Good." he said with a nod. "How's your arm?" he questioned, not wanting to just blurt out his confusion without at least making her a bit more comfortable with him before his line of questioning began.

Harper nodded. "Getting better." She said, lying. But she didn't want him to worry about her, he was probably just asking out of courtesy anyhow. Harper went ahead and moved out of the stacks and back toward the front, so he could sit in one of the reading chairs. "What did you want to talk about?"

He ran his fingers through his hair and let out a sigh. "Well uh... I kinda wanted to talk to you about that whole... thing... the other day with the car and the yelling and the crash and the... yeah, that." he said, knowing that despite his lack of knowing what exactly to call the situation she'd know what he was talking about. "Why were you there?" he questioned, plopping down in a chair.

Harper took a seat opposite him with a bit of a sigh. "Right place, right time?" She offered before shaking her head. "You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you." She told him. "You were very lucky to have that girl with you to pull you back."

He sighed, really not wanting his thoughts to move back to Marlowe. "Yeah, lucky. You'd be surprised at how much I'm capable of believing." he retorted. "Just tell me the truth Harper, because honestly I've been dealing with a lot of strange things lately and I'd rather you just give it to me straight okay?"

Placing her hands in her lap she sighed a little. She had to be more trusting, she was running the occult bookstore now, she believed and had to convince others of believing and part of that was accepting what she was in her own heart and letting others accept or not-accept it as they saw fit. "I saw it happen." She replied to him after a moments silence.

"That's why you asked me if I got in a car accident?" he questioned, seemingly unaffected by the fact that this girl just told him she 'saw' something before it happened. It was all starting to make a lot more sense now. He somewhat felt that he should be thanking the girl for technically saving him from impending death. "Well I'm glad for whatever reason that you decided my life was valuable enough to save..."

Harper's eyes turned to the floor. "I couldn't let it happen if I knew I could stop it." She'd see so many people die and was helpless to do anything. It didn't matter how much she didn't think she really mattered in the scheme of things, she couldn't watch another person die. "But you're welcome… even though all I did was yell." It was easy to think you didn't do much when there had been someone else there doing the actual physical part.

He shook his head. "If you hadn't of yelled, Marlowe wouldn't have seen the car, I wouldn't have gotten pulled back and we wouldn't be having this conversation right now." he told her. "Don't sell yourself short." She'd done a lot more than she was giving herself credit for. Yeah, maybe all she physically did was yell, but she'd set in motion a series of events that had resulted in his life being spared.

Blushing a little Harper shook her head. "I'm glad your ok." He told her, looking back up. "And I'm sorry for creeping you out the other day- what I saw was kinda new for me." One of her hands fiddled with her shirt as she sat there.

He nodded. "It was just a little strange." he told her. "I didn't really understand why you were asking me about being in a car accident." He laughed slightly at that. "And I know what you mean about stuff being new. Believe me... I've been there before. Scary as hell ain't it?" His southern twang came through unmistakably.

"Actually." Harper said, looking back up to him. "Compared to what it -has- been… it's a wonderful thing." She detected that the way he phrased the part about 'knowing what she meant' that he was suggesting that he was 'special' as well, but Harper wasn't one to really inquire into the gifts of others.

He nodded, understanding completely. "Yeah." he agreed. "How was it before?" he questioned. He couldn't help but be curious as to how it might have been worse than what it was now. Maybe she saw things -after- they had already happened. He retracted his statement after realizing that she might not want to talk about it. "Sorry... you really don't have to tell me that, gues I'm just nosy. People always were curious about me so I guess I picked it up a little. I shouldn't pry..."

Shaking her head again, she took in a small breath. "No, it's ok." Harper had to get more comfortable talking about this when she needed to and she did want to tell him. "I used to see things as they happened, now I guess I see them before."

He nodded. "Bet that sucked." He knew how it felt to watch something happening and be able to nothing to stop it. He sighed. "Well I used to make things move accidentally..." he said looking up at her. She'd saved his life, he owed her at least some insight into the life she'd saved. "Now I can make them move on purpose..."

So that's what he meant. "That's why you wanted the book on psychics." She told him, choosing not to reflect on how much it sucked to watch people die and not being able to do anything about it. "Did you find it helpful?" Harper inquired, a little curious now that he brought it out into the open.

He nodded. "Yeah." he said with a smile. "I thought I was going crazy for the longest time." he admtited. "At least til I came into town. I mean I knew I could do stuff but... I dunno. I thought that kinda stuff was just what you'd see in a movie or something." He shrugged. "I think I'm accepting it a lot more now. Not as ashamed of it, or scared of it or whatever. It actually comes in handy."

"At least you weren't seeing things." She said with a little laugh, totally understanding the crazy thing. "Actually when I saw you come into the store that day I thought that maybe I'd been wrong all these years." Harper felt a little more comfortable now that she knew he'd trusted her with his secret. It felt a bit flattering as well. "I thought I'd seen you die, because that's how it had always worked. Then, when you hadn't… I started to question everything that I'd seen before."

"Well I'm glad that for whatever reason I was the lucky exception to your rule." he smirked. "Thanks... a lot.." he told her. He hadn't valued his life much for a long time, but now looking back on everything, dispite the fact that his relationship with Marlowe had hit quite the snag, he was thankful to be alive regardless. His eyes flickered up to hers, catching them in his own blue-green puddles.

"So was I." She said with a sigh before thinking. It sounded like she'd just said she was lucky that he was the exception to the rule... Harper's mouth opened slightly as she realized what she'd said. He probably would take it wrong, or not understand. "I-um. I saw a shadow attack me before I woke up that morning..." She explained.

He nodded. "Well looks like you're lucky that things changed for whatever reason with me. You could have been just as dead as I could have been." The whole scene played over again in his mind and he shook his head to make it disappear. "Why'd you bother looking for me that day?" he questioned. "I mean, why did it really matter to you whether I was going to live or not?" He was a bit curious to the girls motives. Not many people had his wellbeing on the top of their priorities list and this girl barely knew him. He was a bit confused as to why she'd go to so much trouble to protect him.

Harper blushed a little again as she tried to think of a reason to give him. "I don't know. I mean I know I didn't want to see anyone else die. And you seemed nice." Harper was never good around guys, especially ones that were kinda cute. But she didn't have to worry really here, the way he was with the other girl they had clearly been together so she could- should just relax.

He let out a short chuckle. "I wish you'd tell Marlowe that." he muttered under his breath. 'Nice' was probably the last word Mar would have used to describe him at that point. He let out a sigh and shook his head unwilling to continue thinking of the girl. He knew thinking about her was what he was trying to avoid.

"Marlowe?" Harper asked, a bit confused. She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I just... I couldn't let someone else die when there are so many I couldn't save." She told him, managing to actually keep all waiver from her voice.

He nodded. "Marlowe. My girl-" he sighed and started again. "My ex-girlfriend. Hell I don't know anymore." he shrugged. He looked up at her when she said that there were 'so many she couldn't save'. He knew that feeling too, although there was only one person he couldn't save. His expression flickered for a moment at that thought. He wasn't about to question what she'd meant, he knew how painful it was to talk about his mother, and should these people she couldn't save be close to her, he wasn't going to pry.

"Oh." Can, meet worms. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to..." Harper blushed a little more now and looked at the floor. "I'm sure things will work itself out, the last couple days-" Hell couple weeks. "-have been tough for everyone."

He shook his head. "Nah, it's okay, really. It wasn't the last few days, just last night that was rough." he clarified. "But yeah, let's uh... talk about something else." he said with a hopeful grin. "Rembrandt." he blurted. "I uh, never told you my last name. Kinda feel like I should since you like uh, saved me from being smooshed under an oncoming vehicle."

"Connroy." She replied, looking back up to him as her hands brushed over her slacks. "I-" Harper was cut off by the buzzing from the counter. Her cell phone was vibrating as a call came in. There was only one person it could be, and she didn't want to speak with her, couldn't speak with her right now. "I like your name, and I guess your namesake as well."

He shrugged. "I have no idea if I'm related to the artist or not... it was my mother's maiden name and... she died before I got much of a chance to ask her about family history." he divulged. His eyes flicked up to the buzzing sound and the cellphone it was coming from. "Do you need to get that?" he questioned.

Harper shook her head. "No, it's ok. It's not important." Even though it probably was... she just didn't care. She probably should speak with her aunt at some point, but her fears and denials kept her from it. At some point she'd have to confront things, but now wasn't the time.

"Okay..." he replied. He shifted back in his chair, letting his hands find the back of his head and intertwine against it. It was then that he realized the girl was still at work and he might be hindering her job. "Am I like... keepin you from doin your job?" he questioned with a smile. "I mean I don't wanna get you in trouble with anyone, I can go."

She ran her hand through her hair a little bit. "Umm... I probably should get back." Harper stood up slowly. "But feel free to come by any time if... you know... you need to talk." She smiled at him. "About anything."

He nodded as he stood from the chair. "Will do." he replied pulling his cell out of his pocket. "If I get your number do you promise not to ignore me when I call?" he teased.

She nodded and held her hand out so she could punch in her number. Once done she handed it back. "It was nice talking with you." Harper told him, and she meant it too. She didn't get thanked for something so important very often, it was nice.

He nodded as he took his cell and replaced it in his pocket. "Yeah, you too." he agreed. "I'll call you later and see what you're up to." he told, heading for the door.

She gave him a little wave. "I get off at close." Which was earlier on a Sunday, so the full day wasn't going to be too bad. "Bye." Harper waiting until he was gone before heading back into the stacks, Herbert would be back any moment with food.