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capeandcowllogs2009-11-27 09:45 pm
20-lbs-of-crazy.livejournal.com) wrote in capeandcowllogs2009-11-27 09:45 pm
life's like an hourglass glued to the table
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20_lbs_of_crazy and taughttolisten
WHERE: Sunshine Bakery, below Obi-Wan's studio
WHEN: Friday November 27
SUMMARY: Parker's BFF just got Ported out, so she's sulking and avoiding people again. It'll probably take a Jedi Master to pull her out of her shell. And maybe cupcakes.
WARNINGS: Some sulking and emo. And rather vicious consumption of baked goods.
FORMAT: Whatever! TL;DR just to set it up.
It was too quiet with him gone.
Parker had checked everywhere she could think of in the city. Every arcade, every decent pizza place, even went so far as to get kicked out of the Chuck E. Cheese again. No Hardison. She'd been about to see if she could teleport to Iceland when she found his comm. (Well, he'd been particularly happy to know he wasn't wanted in Iceland anymore. Worth a shot.) The only reason she hadn't gone screaming at the Porter was because she'd seen what it did to Invincible, although she was still tempted.
But there was no sign of Hardison. No snarky text messages, no GPS tracker stuck to her shoe, nobody hacking into her private conversations to defend his honor and geek out about dinosaurs. The silence left in the wake of his chatter was unbearable, although she hadn't noticed it so keenly until after he was gone. She really should have dragged him with her to Belgrade. Maybe then he wouldn't have vanished. He'd have complained, but then he'd be around to complain.
When people started bringing up Thanksgiving plans on the comm, she'd turned hers off and left town for two days. Mingling with a bunch of people who were going to disappear anyway didn't sound like fun. She didn't feel thankful, and a quick, high-risk, last-minute improvised job out of town was sure to kill that hollow, numb feeling she'd had in the pit of her stomach all week.
The job paid well and it was hilarious to watch the art collector's security detail flail around like morons well after she'd gotten the painting off the premises and a block away. But it wasn't enough. The usual things weren't working.
She came back to the City Friday morning and wandered the streets, dodging the crazed Black Friday crowds and lifting a few wallets. She mostly just swapped people's wallets to watch the ensuing chaos and confusion, which was funny for a little while until the novelty wore off. Bored, she left the shopping district and aimlessly wandered around with no direction in mind, just heading in a direction that felt right for some reason. The feeling of rightness, almost comforting, grew as she approached a small bakery she hadn't visited in over a month. The smell of baked goods easily drew her inside.
Which was why, if Obi-Wan stopped into the Sunshine Bakery that afternoon, he would find a very familiar blonde thief sitting there, violently tearing into a bear claw and staring blankly out the window, the look in her eyes as flat and bleak as concrete.
20_lbs_of_crazy and taughttolistenWHERE: Sunshine Bakery, below Obi-Wan's studio
WHEN: Friday November 27
SUMMARY: Parker's BFF just got Ported out, so she's sulking and avoiding people again. It'll probably take a Jedi Master to pull her out of her shell. And maybe cupcakes.
WARNINGS: Some sulking and emo. And rather vicious consumption of baked goods.
FORMAT: Whatever! TL;DR just to set it up.
It was too quiet with him gone.
Parker had checked everywhere she could think of in the city. Every arcade, every decent pizza place, even went so far as to get kicked out of the Chuck E. Cheese again. No Hardison. She'd been about to see if she could teleport to Iceland when she found his comm. (Well, he'd been particularly happy to know he wasn't wanted in Iceland anymore. Worth a shot.) The only reason she hadn't gone screaming at the Porter was because she'd seen what it did to Invincible, although she was still tempted.
But there was no sign of Hardison. No snarky text messages, no GPS tracker stuck to her shoe, nobody hacking into her private conversations to defend his honor and geek out about dinosaurs. The silence left in the wake of his chatter was unbearable, although she hadn't noticed it so keenly until after he was gone. She really should have dragged him with her to Belgrade. Maybe then he wouldn't have vanished. He'd have complained, but then he'd be around to complain.
When people started bringing up Thanksgiving plans on the comm, she'd turned hers off and left town for two days. Mingling with a bunch of people who were going to disappear anyway didn't sound like fun. She didn't feel thankful, and a quick, high-risk, last-minute improvised job out of town was sure to kill that hollow, numb feeling she'd had in the pit of her stomach all week.
The job paid well and it was hilarious to watch the art collector's security detail flail around like morons well after she'd gotten the painting off the premises and a block away. But it wasn't enough. The usual things weren't working.
She came back to the City Friday morning and wandered the streets, dodging the crazed Black Friday crowds and lifting a few wallets. She mostly just swapped people's wallets to watch the ensuing chaos and confusion, which was funny for a little while until the novelty wore off. Bored, she left the shopping district and aimlessly wandered around with no direction in mind, just heading in a direction that felt right for some reason. The feeling of rightness, almost comforting, grew as she approached a small bakery she hadn't visited in over a month. The smell of baked goods easily drew her inside.
Which was why, if Obi-Wan stopped into the Sunshine Bakery that afternoon, he would find a very familiar blonde thief sitting there, violently tearing into a bear claw and staring blankly out the window, the look in her eyes as flat and bleak as concrete.
no subject
Coming downstairs, though, brought a minor surprise.
There was a ripple of absolute misery in the Force, of raw fresh grief. And at its source was an empty-eyed young woman he recognized, staring off into space, lost in her own unhappiness.
He knew all too well what that felt like.
Quietly, not wanting to startle her, he moved into the range of her peripheral vision and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"More pickpocketing, or will you ask for a demonstration this time?"
no subject
So she blinked up at him in surprise, her mouth still full of fresh hot pastry, as she tried to reply. "Mmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm?" Oh, yeah. Chew, swallow, try again. "What're you doing here?" She paused, adding in a lower voice, "Is finding people a Jedi thing too?"
The thing about not really paying attention to where you were going meant that it was hard to connect one's destination to other places one had visited. Like the studio upstairs.
no subject
He glanced up briefly, to give the girls behind the counter a friendly wave, before gesturing at the chair opposite Parker. "Do you mind if I sit?"
no subject
She nodded at his question, taking another bite of pastry and pulling her feet down from where they had been propped up on the other chair. Even if he couldn't find Hardison, he could confirm that Hardison was home and not kidnapped or crazy or worse.