Chapter Text
John let out a shaky breath and looked around him to see if anyone had heard that and with dismay, saw Marie standing a few feet away from him with some shopping bags in her hands.
“Good morning, John.” She said, looking him over. “I trust you slept well?”
“O-oh, hello.” He replied, a feeling of embarrassment settling over him. He cleared his throat and composed himself quickly. “Yes, I did. I hope you did as well.”
“I did… As well as I could with a stranger under my roof.” The old woman wandered over to the table and set her bags down. They seemed to be filled with various housekeeping items.
John suddenly felt very exposed. He didn’t quite know what to say, but he tried anyway. “I… I suppose that is fair. Thank you for letting us in anyway.”
“Who were you speaking to on the phone just now?” She questioned, turning to her items and beginning to slowly take them out of the bags.
“Noel-. Uh. Detective Noel. A friend of ours, from the last time we were in New York. He helped us with what we were doing before we showed up here.” John explained, figuring that honesty was the best policy. “We promised we would call him the day after everything, but Arthur wasn’t awake so I thought I would just do it myself to not worry him.”
Marie nodded slowly before asking her next question. “You speak an awful lot of ‘we’, but I don’t recall meeting you and I don’t think that you and Arthur met in New York. You seem… Too close for that to be the case.” She eyed him suspiciously, but her last comment was made without judgement.
“Uh…” John swallowed nervously and sighed. “Well, to tell you the truth until very recently I was… Well… I know this sounds strange but, I was inside Arthur’s head. I was bound to him, a process that gifted me his eyes. I described everything he saw.”
The old woman studied him. “And how did that happen?”
“I was bound to a book that he opened.” John told her. “I am… A fractured piece of an entity beyond this reality, much like Scratch was. I don’t… I don’t even look like this, I’m putting on a human disguise.” He admitted.
She paused, studying him in greater detail, as if trying to see behind it. John spread his arms as if to shrug and dropped his glamour. If she was nervous or scared, she didn’t show it. Just studied him.
“I-I… I’m sorry.” He said quietly, suddenly feeling like he wanted to shrink into the floor and be forgotten.
Marie was silent for a moment before speaking. “I understand why you did it. Thank you for being honest, John. Now help me carry these to the closet.” She gestured to her bag of items.
“O-oh! Of course.” He said, putting his glamour back on before reaching for one of the bags.
“You don’t have to do that when it's just us if you don’t want to.” Marie stated. “I don’t mind seeing who’s living under my roof. Just be careful around Hattie… She's a bit sensitive these days, for good reason, but she isn't home right now.”
He blinked at her and incredulously faded his form back in.
“There you go. Now, take these and follow me. They’re quite heavy, I’d rather not carry them more than I’ve already had to.”
John nodded silently and took the bags, following the old woman to wherever the items’ new home would be.
That had definitely gone better than expected…