WHO: Finnerty and Elliot WHEN: June 9th WHERE: Angkor Wat, a temple tour PROMPT: Keys WARNINGS: They’re nerds
“So we can have a person tour guide or they’ve got little tape recorder things we can listen to.” Elliot smiled over at Finnerty with the options. Not many people seemed to be willing to go on these little tours with him, little glimpses to life around the world. But Finnerty always seemed to be excited to go and listen to other people share their knowledge. Sure these sorts of tours were only surface levels but it was more about the experience while learning than just reading it out of a book.
Something about being there made the knowledge stick better, something that Elliot had always appreciated. And he could not argue that reasons to get away from the main cirque grounds at least for a little while was a useful thing right now. Centuries of running and apparently letting the cirque do the running for him had been the downfall.
At least he had tours still. “Which is your pleasure today?” he added.
“Um. I think I would rather a person guide. I don’t much care for the- whirling noises that come with the record things. Someone tried to get me to listen to a song on one and it was awful.” It might have been the music, as well, but she did not understand how people felt comfortable with padded things around their ears full of mechanical sounds that overtook any piece of music they might be listening to. Finnerty thought it a peculiar human quirk.
Her face did not stay in a look of disgust, as it never really did, she enjoyed being happy and having Elliot around allowed her to learn more about human life. Vampires made her feel weird, their electromagnetic energy so low it could hardly be detected, but Elliot told stories one after another that she always knew where he was around her. Unlike many of the others. Even after the massage with Felix, she still could not shake the instinctive uncomfortableness that came from vampires being around her.
“I guess it could be.” Elliot chuckled softly, not at Finnerty but at the thought of how it all worked. Take these things back even a few decades ago and it would be almost akin to magic. But mimicry had its limitations and those who were more sensitive to them were less likely to be taken along. “You know the first time I ever heard a recording? It was like a ghost. All crackling around this far off sound. It was amazing.”
“I could imagine. The first time I heard one the human-” The man who had captured her and kidnapped her for his personal traveling freakshow. “-had on this awful music over... “ Words for electronics did not come naturally to her with her only having been around in this set of memories for four years. “...over speakers? It made the tank feel prickly.” Finnerty replied.
Still real person guide it was. Which meant they would have times they needed to adhere to. Looking over the times posted it seemed there was one in fifteen minutes. “I’ll get us tickets.” He pulled out his wallet and then smiled at Finnerty again. “Maybe we can get souvenirs after. Usually there’s some kind of gift shop.”
Finnerty’s eyes lit up at the mention of souvenirs. Elliot had taught her the meaning of the word in Rome with all the places they had visited in just one day. She had a small collection of keychains hanging around her trailer at random as she had no keys to go with them. “Do you think there is one?”
“If there isn’t I’m sure we can find something that can act as a souvenir.” Elliot could not imagine that there would not be something available for sale. Even if it was just local crafts it was unlikely that there would not be something that helped with the upkeep. Keychains were easy, simple things but really just about anything Finnerty might want would probably be within budget.
His budget did get a little hazy now with the actual threat of death over his head. He might not need to be as strict with it. It wasn’t as if there was a money trail to hide now. Right now he bought their tickets, handing one over to Finnerty. “Should only be a few minutes till the guide shows up.”
Finnerty nodded, accepting the ticket. Her hazel eyes scanning the people around her. Everyone looked different and their electromagnetic fields were all over the place, it made her sway slightly under the waves. She looked down at her clothes and then over to Elliot. “Am I dressed okay?” It was a common worry for her when she went out. Clothes felt weird on her skin and she did not particularly like to wear them, but she understood that humans had strange rules about clothes.
Elliot knew an all right amount about fashion only from having been alive far too long and occasionally moving in circles where that mattered. Most advancement required money after all and that was where the most involved sorts of fashions went. “It seems fine.” Elliot gave what he supposed passed for a critical eye. “If it was too bad I’d have marched you back to your trailer when we were still on the grounds.” he added with a chuckle.
With a soft laugh, Finn smiled. “I don’t know how everyone does it. These things feel terrible.” She pulled at her cotton shorts. “I suppose being unable to withstand temperature changes is horrid for humans that they have to create such things. Oh! Like the layers and layers in the old dresses I saw from the 1800s. How strange that would have felt.”
“The men's wear could be just as bad, believe me.” Elliot sighed with some affection for memories. There were times when getting dressed was a task in itself. Though he couldn’t properly speak on behalf of the women. “Maybe if we end up somewhere that I’ve some things stored, I’ll show you so you can be properly horrified.”
“Heh. I’m not sure that sounds very fun, but I would love to see your memories.” In her family storing things either meant storing food (which did not happen very often) or storing items they found in various lives as memories for their time previous. It was like Elliot’s souvenirs. Before she had been swept away from the ocean, Finnerty had seen the alcove of items her last life had collected- the woman had been very stern and mature so they had been less bobbles and more items that warned about humans’ obsessions.
“Really I should just donate it all to museums. Not much use to me anymore.” he chuckled easily with a shake of his head. Especially if he ended up dead. He should update his affairs in that order. Well hopefully there would be some time. “But I’d be happy to show you any memories I’ve stored away we come upon. They’re mostly educational. You’ll get bored of them soon enough.”
“I like educational!” She retorted with a laugh. “That’s why i like your stories. They give me clues to what I still have yet to learn.”
A tall, brown-haired person walked out to where the small group of visitors sat and announced the start of the tour. Finnerty grabbed Elliot’s hand and squeezed it in excitement. “This is going to be fun.”
Elliot smiled at her, squeezing Finnerty’s hand back as the tour started to gather. It was nice to have someone who marveled at new things like he did. Sometimes he was a little in awe at just how excited Finnerty could get. He vaguely remembered that, when everything was so exciting and new. It was a good feeling to remember, to keep himself from getting too jaded from centuries.
“It is!” he agreed happily as they fell into line with the group.