Secret Identity - Printable Version
+- Charming (https://charmingrp.com)
+-- Forum: OOC - The End (https://charmingrp.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: The Archives (https://charmingrp.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=52)
+---- Forum: 1891 (https://charmingrp.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=122)
+---- Thread: Secret Identity (/showthread.php?tid=7817)
+- Charming (https://charmingrp.com)
+-- Forum: OOC - The End (https://charmingrp.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: The Archives (https://charmingrp.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=52)
+---- Forum: 1891 (https://charmingrp.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=122)
+---- Thread: Secret Identity (/showthread.php?tid=7817)
RE: Secret Identity - Juliana Ainsworth - February 7, 2021
"Well," Juliana said, with finality, "Maybe a book like this can help them see the nuance. There couldn't be anything more opposed to what people typically think of when they hear about werewolves than motherhood."
This was, perhaps, saying a bit too much — she was not used to admitting to having such resolute feelings about lycanthropy with people she knew, and certainly not with strangers. It wasn't a very popular topic for a middle class young woman to have opinions about, and she liked to keep her research as far removed from the other aspects of her life as possible. It wasn't as though she could stop now, though — if she'd wanted to back out of this conversation she ought to have done that several minutes earlier.
RE: Secret Identity - Kieran Abernathy - February 7, 2021
Kieran made another noise of agreement. "You have a lot more thoughts on werewolves than I would have expected," he said, because he could not help but point it out. And he added: "Kieran Abernathy, by the way." Introducing yourself to middle class girls wasn't done, unless they were a little offbeat like Miss Scamander, but they'd been talking for long enough that he had decided she was a little offbeat.
RE: Secret Identity - Juliana Ainsworth - February 7, 2021
Juliana flushed, but said nothing in response to his first comment; there was very little to say. She didn't have any reasonable explanation for her very involved and impassioned ideas about lycanthropy, and if she tried to make vague excuses she would probably only succeed in convincing this reporter that she was a werewolf, which she certainly didn't need.
The introduction sent a quick flash of panic through her. She hadn't been expecting it, and didn't have a fake name at hand, though she knew giving him her real name was not the best idea after the conversation they'd just had — and him being a reporter, and specifically a reporter who reported on werewolves and wrote letters to Marlowe Forfang. (On the other hand, if she kept lying about her name in the middle of Wizzhard's one of the staff members was bound to call her on it eventually — they all knew her).
"Juliana Binns," she eventually replied, because her name was the only one she could summon up. "My, uhm, my brother owns the bookstore."
RE: Secret Identity - Kieran Abernathy - February 7, 2021
"Oh!" Kieran said, cheered by her admission. "You might be able to help me, then. Do you know anything about author visits?" Even if she didn't, he could at least tell Pengloss he'd tried; this was better than telling Pengloss he stood around in a bookstore having conversations about lycanthropy and society, which was probably not something the Prophet would be ecstatic to be paying for.
RE: Secret Identity - Juliana Ainsworth - February 7, 2021
"Oh," she said, a little distracted; this felt like a dramatic shift in the conversation, though only because she hadn't thought to connect his sudden interest in the book she was still holding. "Sometimes. Why?"
RE: Secret Identity - Kieran Abernathy - February 7, 2021
"Well, it's a little secret," Kieran said, because he also was not supposed to go around telling his work-in-progress stories everywhere. "But I was hoping to - talk with Marlowe Forfang? And he's awfully difficult to get a hold of."
RE: Secret Identity - Juliana Ainsworth - February 8, 2021
Jules' mouth fell open in a little o before she could stop herself. She recovered quickly, moving the book from one hand to hold it against one side of her chest (a vaguely librarian pose, as though to bolster his faith that she had any authority to speak on the subject). "I hear he's rather reclusive," she said. "And if Picardy's challenge didn't bring him out of the woodwork I doubt anything would. Why is it a secret that you want to talk to him?"
RE: Secret Identity - Kieran Abernathy - February 8, 2021
Miss Binns looked more surprised than Kieran would have thought; he noted it, but he didn't dwell on it. "I was hoping that because I'm less of a -" he could not call Picardy a dick in front of a lady, and Kieran stopped himself short to think of a different word before continuing "- prat, than Picardy, he might be more willing to talk to me." He took another second to gather his thoughts before following up, not wanting to give away too much. He felt so weird about the actual assignment - namely Who is Marlowe Forfang? - that he didn't want to go around spilling it.
"My editor isn't big on us talking about things we're writing before they hit publication," Kieran said. His tone turned a little wistful when he continued: "But I just have this thought that - people would really like to hear from Forfang directly, outside of an editorial. I'd love to interview him."
And that was true, right? That was true. He wanted to interview Marlowe Forfang, not just spill all of his secrets.
"My editor isn't big on us talking about things we're writing before they hit publication," Kieran said. His tone turned a little wistful when he continued: "But I just have this thought that - people would really like to hear from Forfang directly, outside of an editorial. I'd love to interview him."
And that was true, right? That was true. He wanted to interview Marlowe Forfang, not just spill all of his secrets.
RE: Secret Identity - Juliana Ainsworth - February 8, 2021
Juliana was blushing; the way he talked about people wanting to hear from Forfang was a little flattering, in a strange way. She knew an interview was impossible, as impossible as taking the stage to combat some of Picardy's lunacy, but — maybe it wasn't entirely impossible, with the right precautions? She'd interviewed some of her subjects, after all, with magical safeguards to protect their identities. She could use a screen — she would have to change her voice. But if she agreed to an anonymous interview it would be admitting that Marlowe Forfang was a pseudonym, which she hadn't done yet. Picardy had declared it so, but Picardy was insane, and people might not believe him — and she wasn't sure she was willing to give up the idea of Professor Forfang, yet. If she did an anonymous interview and everyone knew she was not only not really Marlowe Forfang but also reachable and accessible, surely this wouldn't be the only reporter trying to figure her out?
Jules hesitated, teetering. "Have you tried writing him directly?" she eventually asked.
RE: Secret Identity - Kieran Abernathy - February 8, 2021
Kieran nodded. "That's how I got the book early," he said, "But -" He shrugged at her. "There's a lot that's lost, in a written interview. It's not the same as actually talking to someone." He didn't think anyone would like it much if he claimed to be getting answers from Forfang via letter, having never seen the man - especially given the brewing scandal regarding his identity.
RE: Secret Identity - Juliana Ainsworth - February 8, 2021
Jules hesitated again. "I think you can learn a lot through written interviews," she said, a little evasively. "But you might write him and ask for a meeting, if that's what you want. I think your chances of getting one would be higher that way than they might be just hanging around at bookstores," Juliana said a little wryly. (Though, ironically, hanging around at bookstores had gotten him an interview with Forfang, only he didn't know it — and she had not decided yet whether she would answer the letter, if he did write).
RE: Secret Identity - Kieran Abernathy - February 8, 2021
"You're probably right," Kieran said with a laugh. Pengloss really wasn't going to like this description of his afternoon, (if he asked, which he might - he seemed a little invested in the Marlowe Forfang Question.) "But - can I leave a card with you? In case he comes by," he added, inspired by the thought of Pengloss asking. Again, at least this way he could say he'd try.
RE: Secret Identity - Juliana Ainsworth - February 8, 2021
Juliana again failed to keep the surprise from her face. She wasn't even an actual employee of the bookstore, so ought to have said no, but that wasn't what she said at all. "Uhm, if you like," she said, extending a hand to take it. "Though I really don't think he'll drop by and have a chat with me."
RE: Secret Identity - Kieran Abernathy - February 8, 2021
"Eh, you never know," Kieran said with a shrug of his shoulders, "Besides - you're smart." They'd had a very lengthy conversation about werewolves and she was surprising him, which was unusual - the only other people who surprised him when it came to lycanthropy were Morwenna, and M. Jude, who surprised him constantly in terms of nearly everything else, couldn't even manage it most of the time.
So Miss Binns was interesting.
Kieran turned to the shelf and pulled a loose piece of paper out of his pocket, because Kieran was not in the habit of carrying around actual cards. He rolled up the left sleeve of his coat to write properly, wanting to avoid smudging the paper as much as possible. This exposed healed scarring around his wrist; raised bits of white flesh that had, if one squinted, the pattern of chains.
He wasn't thinking about that when he wrote, though - of all Kieran's scars, that was one of the less damning.
So Miss Binns was interesting.
Kieran turned to the shelf and pulled a loose piece of paper out of his pocket, because Kieran was not in the habit of carrying around actual cards. He rolled up the left sleeve of his coat to write properly, wanting to avoid smudging the paper as much as possible. This exposed healed scarring around his wrist; raised bits of white flesh that had, if one squinted, the pattern of chains.
He wasn't thinking about that when he wrote, though - of all Kieran's scars, that was one of the less damning.
RE: Secret Identity - Juliana Ainsworth - February 8, 2021
Jules' eyes were drawn to the different color of skin on his wrist, and she nearly asked about it — in fact, she opened her mouth to do so before thinking better of it. It wasn't polite to ask questions about people's bodies, and particularly not about... scars, if that was what they were. Her brow furrowed slightly as he wrote; thinking.
"Oh — thank you," she said, at his unexpected compliment. She took his card and read the name again. There was something tingling at the back of her brain, but it wasn't quite developed enough for her to pull it forward. "You're not so dull yourself. For a reporter, anyway," she teased, with a smile.
RE: Secret Identity - Kieran Abernathy - February 9, 2021
"Well, I try," Kieran said with a grin. He tugged his sleeve down, hiding his wrist again. "Hope you enjoy the rest of your day, Miss Binns. You should check out that book, too." He thought she would like it; she clearly cared about werewolves, and she would presumably be slightly less repulsed by the gory details than Kieran had been.