A/N: Hello lovely readers! So as you might have guessed from the chapter title this is just a preview of the interlude. Trust me, it will be much longer than this. Unfortunately, I severely underestimated the mental drain doing two jobs would take, and I find most weekdays packed. I still plan on working on this story and finishing up the interlude (and the rest) but I wouldn't expect an update again until next year. For the anniversary of this fic (8 years already!) please enjoy this preview of the next chapter. I will delete and replace this with the actual interlude come time to post. Thank you again for reading!
The man stood stock still in his spot. He stared straight upwards, mouth hung slightly open. Even after over twenty minutes had passed he showed no sign of moving. Perse was beginning to suspect there might be something wrong with him.
She should have guessed that he would be a little off. His mid-day appearance had caught her off guard; there were no noted "customers" expected to arrive that day, and the only other people who normally frequented during that hour were older women looking for bits of fabric or yarn for projects. Not young men her age. She greeted him of course, as was protocol, and Perse noted that his eyes hovered over a space just to the side of her for a second longer than she anticipated. Before she could speak, his gaze moved back towards the content of the store and he made his way over to one of the fabric displays she had up. Perse wondered if there was something she was missing, but held back from asking any questions. If he really was just here to buy something or to kill time she could leave him be. So she watched him examine the wares in silence, his eyes flickering towards different displays, until he momentarily glanced up…and continued looking up for far longer than any normal person would. Didn't his neck ache by now?
"Excuse me, sir?" she asked, moving towards him. "Is everything alright?"
He didn't look away as he spoke. "Who made these?"
Perse didn't even bother to look up, as there was only one thing he could have been referring to. The high ceiling was crawling with various knitted creations, all suspended from string in a way that looked like they were floating in place. Most were animals or plants of some kind, ranging from tiny butterflies to a fierce some sea creature that covered nearly a third of the space. Equally varied were the colors, most done in a realistic hue if it were a real creature and fantastically bright for the occasional mythical beast such as the one dragon. Between all of them, threads and fabrics of various sizes, shapes, and colors connected them, making rainbow after rainbow crisscross above.
"Why are you wanting to know, sir?"
"Because I think they're beautiful."
Perse found herself at a loss for words. For a moment, all she could do was stare at the man, whose eyes crinkled in that way when one was close to tears, and a tiny smile graced his lips. What on Earthland about these things prompted such an emotional reaction? She felt herself wanting to take a step closer, look deeper into his eyes to see if she could find the answer…
She froze as her mind recalled training drilled into her. Steady. Focus. Do not lower your guard. Do not bend your will. Focus.
She placed her hands behind her back. "I don't know who made them. They were donated anonymously."
The man finally turned to look at her. Perse found herself re-assessing him. Initially, between his average physical build, average clothing style, and average-looking face, he simply screamed "ordinary". Now that she was closer, one part of his appearance did stand out; clear blue eyes that seemed to stare straight through her. From a distance she hadn't felt their presence, but up close, she could feel a trickle of sweat run down her back. Perse couldn't quite pinpoint what about them made her so nervous, only noting once again that they seemed to linger a bit longer than normal on a space just to the side of her. She reminded herself to stay on track, but also to not let her guard down.
"That's too bad. I would have liked to meet them."
"Did you want to purchase one of them? We could see about one of the ones above if you desired. Otherwise, we occasionally receive new works, so we could attempt to relay a message and see if the individual would like to take on a commission."
But the man waved his hand sadly. "No, I have no room for one. I move around quite a bit, so I try and keep my possessions to a minimum. And…" he looked away, slightly sheepish, "if I'm being honest, part of my fascination was due to the threads in between the knitted creatures. Who put those in place?"
"I did. I thought it would be a good idea to display some of our wares to those who looked up and saw them. I wanted it to be more than just–" her answer was cut short by the man, who leaned towards her. Clear blue, sharp with focus, bore down on her as his smile widened.
"Really? Truly? Oh, then I have so many questions to ask you! Like, what were you thinking when you tied that orange one to the two up there? Or that dark blue one wrapping around the three of them? Is green so common because you had the most available, or was there something else…"
On and on he droned about the colors, the textures, the sizes of the threads she used. Perse's head began to spin at his dizzying assault of questions. She'd never in all her time at the shop seen someone so obsessed with the specificity of threads placed. And she had listened to countless fanatics over the shop's existence chatter about the exact designs they were going to use her products for. Compared to this man, they were nothing more than hobbyists.
"Sir!" She took a step backwards. The man paused his questions at her sudden movement. "I'm afraid I don't have time to answer all your questions."
His body deflated. The spark in his eyes snuffed out like a finger to a candlewick. Only his smile remained, but one that looked similar to the one he'd greeted her with, an impassive, generic smile. "I see…my apologizes for my exuberance. I tend to get a little…excited by this sort of topic."
Perse held back a frown. "Excited" felt too lukewarm a word for the reaction he'd given. "…That is quite alright, sir. As long as you recognize the time and place for such enthusiasm." She straightened, mentally refocusing her mind and body. "Feel free to look around at your leisure."
"Right," he replied. His wandering eyes once again drifted up, and a hint of the smile from before crept it's way back through his mouth. Perse glanced up again as well, and after a moment, gave a quiet sigh.
"And…if you have any, relevant questions…I will do my best to answer them."
He blinked. The blue in his eyes shimmered like ocean water on a clear day as he smiled. "Certainly, certainly. Only the most relevant questions, of course. Thank you very much, Miss…?"
"You may call me Perse."
He blinked again. Then he laughed. She felt a sudden urge to revoke her previous statement. "Is something about that funny?"
"Ah, ahaha, no…I'm sorry again. Just a silly coincidence is all." He shook his head and his eyes were filled with mirth, not mockery. "Well met, Perse. My name is Percy."