gunsforhire | (no subject)

Who: Roxy, anyone
What: A certain day
Where: The coffee shop that keeps seeing a lot of shit
When: April 13, mid-morning to mid-afternoon
Warnings: Depression over dead friends?

She hated time travel.

Everytime time travel was brought up, it was a reminder. Calliope was in her future. Jane and Jake were in her past. Her mom would know everything that happened to her and help her despite her also being in the past. Time travel was just a reminder that everyone was far away.

And today, today it was April 13th. Jane's birthday. The day she "left" her world only to arrive here almost a month and a half earlier. It almost feels like it happened that way just so she could see the date glaring at her.

Today was supposed to be a good day. It was supposed to be a celebration of Jane's sweet sixteen. It was supposed to be a party with all their friends as their youngest finally reached the milestone and it was going to have cake and be great.

Instead it was the day they all died.

And Roxy? Roxy was a sentimentalist in her heart. So while she heard about the cloud coming, she still went out to get a cake. With cyan icing and one of those sixteen candles. She got a weird looks, it's not like cake packages were air tight, she was risking it getting ruined, but she couldn't take the chance of it being tomorrow when it cleared up.

Of course she got caught and what happened to be nearby, but that one coffee shop. She had retreated inside to protect the cake and, well...she was stuck. Which was horrible because she kept REMEMBERING today and wanting to cry and she just kind of hoped no one would bother her if she just hid in the alcove area near the bathrooms.

She tapped away on the games on her phone, in her attempts to not stare at the cake in hopes of avoiding it, at least.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You're hesitating over taking the treat I bought for you," Florida points out. "You didn't buy any food for yourself when you entered. The cloud may hang over here for a while but as a newcomer to the city you are, rightfully, scared of the clouds and so sought shelter. This is a minor cloud, one could easily go out and get to their destination, as buildings aren't locked down yet. And you haven't touched your baked goods."

He points to the box near her before smiling softly at the girl.

"You look nervous, you look like you don't know how to accept something that someone offers you, and honestly? You look like, at this moment, you could use a friend. You don't have to confirm that to me, and you don't have to explain yourself or talk about what's wrong. But I'm here to offer you a cookie, a smiling face that can assure you you'll get through whatever this is, maybe order you some hot chocolate, and then tell you ridiculously inflated tales of my own antics to keep you distracted until you feel safe enough to go where you need to go."

In the end, she's just a kid. She looks it. And Florida... he's got a soft spot for kids.

"Not afraid of the cloud," Roxy said with a frown. "But a cake box ain't a vacuum seal, and the cake is...for a special occasion. Last one got ruined by sand, didn't want to make this one inedible by death plague."

She didn't comment on the hesitation or what's wrong. It's not like he was wrong and she so hated to actually lie outright. But it was hardly easy to talk about. About how she's used to watching her food because she was the only one who could, the Carapacians always had the worst impulse control in the face of hunger. And she certainly didn't want to talk about the 'special occasion' because she'd start crying and she already cried once in public and she HATED it.

So what she does say is, "won't say no to stories. I like stories. Esp anticsy ones."

Florida smiles wider at that. "Alright then. Well, first secret that is pretty open to anyone I know... I am a world class knitter. No kidding. A man like me. I also quite love to cook. So, recently, when I thought a friend of mine who is pretty much forbidden from cooking had burned my BRAND NEW two-quart pot, I decided to get revenge."

He has to chuckle. "You know how if you hold a single piece of pasta and bend it, then it snaps? But if you hold, like, fifty, it's really strong? The same thing is true of yarn. I used this horrendous rainbow acrylic stuff and knitted him to his own bed!"

Roxy perked up slightly at the mention of knitting. She always liked the idea of knitting. You could make so many cute things out of yarn. And, well, she was pretty sure her mom knitted? She liked to think her scarf was self knitted.

She laughed at that. "Omg, that's the best prank. Worthy of J-musta sent your gambit through the roof. How long did it take for him to get out?"

"Though not sure why it'd be a surprise you knit. You got hands that'd be good for delicate work, I think."

Florida laughs happy at her amusement. "Hours. But not before my other friend used scarves to seal all his dressers and drawers and even his closet. I took pictures, of course, to share with our fellows."

He'd share with her but, well, that was over now. "I left him a knife to get out. I think it was hours. It started a prank war. I even ended up using rope to make a hammock over his bedframe. He didn't appreciate it. Or me knitting a cozy over his shower nozzle."

She looks a touch better already.

She could do distractions. Roxy was good with being distracted and losing herself in the present. She's had years of practice at it, really. It made it so much easier to keep going if she didn't think about everything weighing her down.

"Even his closet? Now that's impressive if they were makin' it supes to undo again." You could wrap scarves around the other stuff, but a closet was kind of in a wall.

She snickered. "Well, at least wet yarn in the face is a quick way to wake up?"

"I could hear his scream of rage from my room," Florida laughs. "He takes these long showers that eat up all our hot water. Ass."

"Oh, defs. Some people need the bathroom in those hours." She may have a distorted view of what a 'long shower' is. "Not surprised at the rage."

"We had our fun," Florida chuckles, smiling before he sips his cup and sets it aside. "Let's see... I also had a friend who has been gone for a long while return. That's funny because she's a bit scary. You know, those people that you look at and go 'they could choke me simply by staring at me'? Well, she's one of those, and while I made her a welcome home cheesecake she has challenged me to a game. She's going to try to break into my room."

His ideas of fun are so wrapped.

Oh, Roxy doesn't know. Sounds pretty legit.

"Never actually met someone like that, didn't know that was a real thing," Roxy said with a thoughtful hum. "But the scary can be fun. So, she any good at breaking in? And how's your security?" Because that's interesting, okay.

"She's not, and it's amazing," Florida smiles. "She's going to get shot by paintball guns and I'm going to put up pictures."

She snorted at that. "Oh my god. That sounds amazing. Almost wanna suggest putting a bucket of water somewhere, nothing burns quite like a classic."

"Yes, but then my floor would be wet," Florida laughs. That was unreasonable.

"That IS a problem. Not even if you put down a towel?" Hey, just in case that'd do it for him.

"Not even then," he laughs. "It would clue in where the bucket is."

"Damn, that is a downside. Woe to the lack of camo towels."

"Those exist," Florida corrects. "But they aren't helpful."

"...well, I know what I'll have to Google tonight," she said. "Even if they dun work."

He laughs. "Have fun with that."

She shrugged. "Hey, Googling is an important past time. So any other evil plans?"

"Nefarious," Florida corrects. "I'm not evil."

"Oh, forgive me, of course. Nefarious plans then," she said in a jokingly formal tone.