The Park//After 5:00 pm [6/17]

[union-jane.livejournal.com]

After a mostly uneventful shift at All and Sundries, Seras locked up the store went to the park to meet with Walter.

She was anxious to say the least. He'd said he wanted to talk to her about That Weekend. Seras had to assume that it had something to do with what the other Walter had said about her.

Well, you'll find out soon enough she told herself as she scanned the place for Walter.

[Park is open; Seras and Walter's thread is locked to those two; Content of their conversation is NFB, please.]

Comments

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter was there sitting on a bench with a thermos of tea that didn't seem quite appropriate to the weather, but he'd said he'd bring it. He waved to Seras and stood up just to be polite.

[union-jane.livejournal.com]

Seras waved back and walked over to Walter's bench, trying her best to look casual and unconcerned. She'd bought some shortbread from All and Sundries and the bag bumped annoyingly against her legs as she moved.

"Hey..."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"Hey." Walter sat down and glanced up at the sky. It had been promising rain, and he had a feeling this was just the sort of conversation that would summon thunder if anything would.

"Tea?"

[union-jane.livejournal.com]

Seras nodded.

"Yes, please."

She sat down on the bench and took out the tin of short bread. Opening it, she placed it on the bench between them.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter produced two cups from somewhere as well as small containers of milk and sugar and poured for Seras and himself before passing the containers to Seras to properly flavor it for herself.

"How are you?" Ah yes, so proper before the rain came.

[union-jane.livejournal.com]

Curious.


Worried.


"Pretty well. Yourself?"

Seras added milk and sugar and, still trying to appear casual, took a deep, appreciative sip of Walter's perfectly brewed tea.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Less than thrilled.

Wanting to be somewhere else.

"I'm doing well. Nadia is out of the locker. The basketball game was interesting." He had a sip of tea and took a piece of shortbread, ignoring the importunate looks from several ducks.

[union-jane.livejournal.com]

"Oh good. I'm glad to hear that Nadia's back. Is she alright?"

Seras considered the short bread, but wasn't feeling much appetite at the moment.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Neither was Walter, but it kept his hands occupied.

"She seems alright. She was tired last night, so I didn't quiz her too much about it. I'll ask her more later."

Another sip of tea, a nibble of shortbread. All perfectly normal here.

[union-jane.livejournal.com]

"Oh good...Pip came into All and Sundries today. He wanted to buy the ingredients to make crepes. I think he said he wanted to make everyone breakfast tomorrow..."

Seras was itching to ask Walter what it was he wanted to tell her about. But, she didn't want to turn their conversation into the Spanish Inquisition.

So, the English Casual Chat it was.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"He does that. Pip, Pippi and I could almost give the rotating brunches in town a run for their money." This time Pip wouldn't dump crepes on Nadia. Probably.

He fell silent, sipping his tea and watching the ducks until the silence had stretched long enough to tell him that he couldn't really draw this out much longer.

"About the reason I wanted to talk to you..."

[union-jane.livejournal.com]

Seras looked up from her tea and waited quietly for Walter to continue.

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"There were some things the vampire said that only I could hear," Walter said slowly. "And I didn't tell you about them because I didn't really know how to."

[union-jane.livejournal.com]

Seras nodded.

Okay. She'd expected it to be something about the other one. Though, she couldn't say that this was quite what she'd imagined.

"What's made you try to tell me now?"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"I'd rather it were my choice, done my way, than have it be because of some spell someone cast."

[union-jane.livejournal.com]

With a creeping feeling, Seras remembered this past Tuesday. Waking up with little to no memories of Sunday or Monday and feeling inexplicably furious with Walter. Did he suspect that this was why? If that was the case, then Walter was right.

They should get this out in the open.

Seras bit her lip and nodded.

"Okay."

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

Walter looked away from the ducks to give her a neutral look as he dropped the bomb. "He implied that it was Alucard who made you a vampire."

[union-jane.livejournal.com]

"Alucard...the vampire who works with you? The one who made Pup?"

Seras shook her head.

"Did he say how? Or why?"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"The same, and he didn't," Walter said, shaking his head. "He wouldn't tell me anything. All he said was, 'Why Alucard brought her home remains a mystery to me.'"

[union-jane.livejournal.com]

Seras ran a hand through her hair.

"Okay...okay...that's kind of vague. It doesn't even specifically say that Alucard made me into a vampire. He...he could have been just messing with you, Walter. He probably was."

Grasping at thin air? Oh yeah...

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"He could have, but he was in the middle of trying to save himself, so it was an odd time to try to mess with me." A cigarette would really have been welcome about then.

[union-jane.livejournal.com]

"Not really. I mean, you were trying to get control back of your body, right? Wouldn't it have made sense for him to want to distract you?"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"You could be right," Walter conceded. "But it seemed more like a thought he let slip than one meant for me. Either way, now you know."

[union-jane.livejournal.com]

Seras nodded.

"Now I know..."

She looked over at him.

"What made it so hard for you to tell me, Walter?"

[walter-n-wires.livejournal.com]

"The whole weekend is hard to talk about," Walter said after a moment. "And I don't know what to think about what he said."