[April 5, 2007] [Princess Tutu] Idle Gossip

Title: Idle Gossip
Day/Theme: April 5: Whispers
Series: Princess Tutu
Character/Pairing: Autor, mentions of Uhrmacher (OC)
Rating: PG (just in case)

“There’s that weird guy again.”
“What’s his name?”
“Autor, or something.”

Autor didn’t even look up when he heard his name whispered. The moment he heard the word “weird” he knew they were talking about him.

“He’s always here in the library, every time I come.”
“Really? Most people don’t really come in here often.”
“He does. It seems like he’s always here when he’s not in class.”
“Odd. Maybe he’s just studious?”

‘Researching, actually,’ is what Autor wanted to say. But he knew there wasn’t any point in striking up a conversation with gossips.

“I doubt it. He’s in the music division like me. We don’t need that many books for our homework.”
“Oh…”
“Plus…”
“Yes?”
“The other day…I heard Mr. Penguin threaten him with the probationary class.”

Autor tensed. How did she know that? He had been called aside after class when the rest of the students were leaving…
He glanced up from his book for a moment to get a look at the girl who had spoken.
Oh. Her. A brunette girl, one of the gossipy flutists in his class. Come to think of it, she had been dawdling in the hall when he came out of class that day.

“What? Really? No way!”
“Really! He’s been doing really terribly with his piano playing lately. I’m starting to think he doesn’t even practice at all!”

That wasn’t true. He had been practicing. Not as much as he used to, maybe, but he still practiced every day. It wasn’t like he’d given up on it…

“Wow! So what’s he doing in the library, then? Isn’t he worried about his grades suffering?”
“He’s probably too obsessed with his books to care.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Did you see that dark-haired man that used to wander down by the south gate? Herr Uhrmacher?”

Now what? Why bring up his father?

“No, I don’t remember anyone like that…”
“Well…he was sort of quiet. Easy to miss. And he died a little bit ago, too.”

Seven months and tweleve days, to be exact. And Autor still wasn’t used to how quiet his house was.

“…But he was sort of weird.”
“Weird? How?”
“Well, if you did talk to him, he would talk about…Drosselmeyer, and things.”
“You mean that author that used to live here a long time ago?”

The greatest that ever lived.

“Yeah. He wrote The Prince and the Raven and other books.”
“Oh, so…Uhrmacher liked those books?”
“You could say that. A better way to put it was that he was obsessed with the guy. And then sometimes he would go on about…puppet shows, or something.”

Marionettes, not puppet shows. ‘Everyone’s a marionette, Autor.’ His father had said that the day his mother…

“That is weird…but what does it have to do with Autor?”
“Well, Herr Uhrmacher was his father…”
“Oh…so those books…they’re probably…”
“Drosselmeyer’s? Yeah.”
“But why in the world would he waste his time with those books if his schoolwork’s suffering so much?”
“I told you…his father was obsessed with that guy. I bet he’s just starting to take after his father more than his mother.”
“Huh?”
“She was a pianist, too. I’m guessing that’s why he went into the music division in the first place.”

No. He went into the music division because he loved music. He wasn’t trying to be as good of a player as his mother was—that would’ve been impossible.

“So…she wasn’t as weird as his father, then?”
“Not at all. She was really beautiful, too.”
“How’d she end up with a guy like Uhrmacher, then?”
“I don’t know. Although they seemed a little distant when I saw them together. It was almost as if they had been fighting about something.”

…That was absurd. His parents loved each other. They didn’t fight any more than any other husband and wife. And how in the world did she even know what his parents seemed like together? She would’ve been a child when his mother disappeared. She’s probably just repeating some idle gossip of her mother’s…

“Did she seem upset when her husband died?”
“What? No, she was already gone.”
“Gone? She died, too?”
“No one knows. One day she just…disappeared. Although…”
“Hm?"
“If things were getting bad between them…Uhrmacher was crazy enough, that maybe…he had something to do with it.”

That’s it. Autor had enough of this. He couldn’t believe people were still repeating that ridiculous rumor.
He stood up from his seat, grabbing his books off of the desk and walking towards the door. On his way out, he walked past the two girls that had been whispering among themselves.
“You shouldn’t talk so much in a library,” he told them, sunlight from a nearby window glinting off of his glasses. “It’s very rude.”

He turned and walked away, leaving the two girls staring after him.
”You don’t think he heard us, do you?”
“I doubt it. He would’ve said something earlier if he had.”