The Perk - Sunday late afternoon

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir felt a curious case of deja vu. Here he was, after a great journey. After the loss of someone who meant so much to him.

Waiting in a cafe.

The differences, though, were important. For one, his hand was wrapped around the handle of the broom. For another, he knew that the person who meant so much would be back. And almost like history repeating, he knew Professor Ambrose would come for him.

His Scarecrow.

No, that was disrespectful.

His Father.

That had him smiling as he sipped at his hot chocolate, and though the smile didn't reach his eyes, that had nothing to do with Professor Ambrose and everything to do with the rest of this week.

[Liir's thread is for one, please, but the rest of the post is open for Perk-tastic usage! ETA: ...and it totally always said Sunday]

Comments

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

A left, and then a right, or was it the other way around? Glitch was scrambling, synapses still going in all directions as opposed to the ones he needed at the moment, and he was trying very hard to just be thankful that he wasn't being followed by something large and hungry.

It took him a little longer than expected to make his way to the Perk, but it wasn't for lack of wanting to be there.

He had to make sure Liir was back, and safe, and not eaten by anything that had once been on display.

All of that might be why he simply skipped the greeting once he got inside and went, instead, for a hug. Hugs were always good at the ends of thrilling adventures.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir startled at first before hugging him back and holding on. Tight.

"Are you all right?" he asked immediately.

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

This only helped to confirm Glitch's thought that hugs at the end of adventures should be mandatory.

"I'm fine. There were lions though. Are you?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He began to nod.

Then he wobbled a hand. Professor Ambrose deserved honesty.

"Mostly. Where did you go?"

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

The hand wobble was worrying.

"A museum. I think," he said, considering it. He wasn't exactly sure.

Glitch was serious, though, when he leaned back and looked at Liir. "What happened?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He shrugged.

"An asylum. It wasn't a pleasant place. The memories that were there were..."

He shook it off. They'd get to the deer eventually. But he wanted to know about the museum.

"Museum? That sounds interesting."

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

"There were lions, and I don't think I'm going to go back any time soon," he said simply.

"What about the memories there?"

Sometimes, like now, Glitch could actually stay focused. He was very grateful for those times.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"They were unpleasant and I couldn't really shut them up."

He blinked then, mostly to try and distract.

"Lions? Or were they just lions? I'm familiar enough with the first."

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

"The, uhm, the shields your friend showed you didn't work?" If that was the case, he might have to talk to the Queen.

Glitch winced, a little, at the question.

"Well, they didn't talk to me, so I think they were just lions. Ones that were supposed to be on display, but, got out."

There was really no other way for him to explain that.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"They work when I'm asleep. They're too thick for day to day use, though. I feel blind with them on. We're working on it, though. And there was--"

He broke off on that thought, curious about something else.

"...aren't the living lions at the zoo?" he asked.

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

That derailed his synapses' carefully aligned train of thought fairly well.

"These ones weren't," he said. His hands kind of moved in a gesture that expressed just how much he was giving up on trying to understand just what that was all about. "Maybe they have living lions at museums sometimes, I don't know."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Maybe it wasn't a very good museum," he said thoughtfully. "After all, if the lions were out and bothering people..."

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

"They weren't out until after we broke in."

He thought about that for a moment.

"Maybe that's why..."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"You broke in?"

That seemed...

It was illegal! His father was doing illegal things! Bucking the system! Breaking the rules! Defying the law!

...all right, so it wasn't anything new, but it was unexpected all the same.

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

"It isn't the first time I've had to sneak in someplace. There was a lot less leather this time, though."

Yes, he'll explain that if asked. And no, he really was not fond of having to wear a Longcoat's uniform for any length of time. For now, though, he just shook his head at remembering it.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"...is leather required then, for that sort of thing?"

He was wondering now because of Vala's detention and now this.

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

He gave Liir a Look.

"When you have to dress as a Longcoat, it is."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"What's a Longcoat? Other than a coat that happens to be, well, long?"

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

"When the Witch was in power, they were her enforcers."

Glitch looked thoughtful for a moment. Wasn't there something else they were talking about? Synapses were insistent that there was something, but couldn't quite bring it back to the front.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Like the Gale Forcers, then," he said thoughtfully. "For the Wizard."

No, he really didn't like talking about the Witch without something in front of it to label it as not his Witch. It made him twitchy.

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

Glitch didn't entirely get the reference, but he nodded. A moment or two later, his synapses came back with the right information and he nodded again.

Then they came back with something a little more recent.

"Oh, how was your, uhm," he thought for another moment, "at where they sent you?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Why do you ask?"

He didn't want to talk about it, at least not if he could redirect the conversation.

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

Glitch raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you not want to tell me?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Because it will more than likely upset you."

Beat.

"And probably get me yelled at."

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

He considered it for a second.

"Well, I broke into a museum, so, I don't think I'd yell at you for anything."

Glitch wasn't going to say he wouldn't be upset.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I sort of, um, ...had to defend myself. With, um..."

He wiggled his fingers. He felt embarrassed saying it. Why hadn't he just clubbed it to death or tricked it into running into a tree or something? Now that he thought of it, he'd come up with the silliest solution. Had he been insane?

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

Glitch had no idea what that meant, and it probably showed on his face.

"Defend yourself with what?"

He may have been confused, but he was also very concerned.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He was red. Wine red.

"Um, magic."

He didn't know if he should add--

"I couldn't think of anything else at the time."

Maybe it'd been Lulu blowing things up just before. It had been rather impressive.

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

Even after a few moments of letting his synapses absorb that, he still couldn't figure out why that would upset him.

"Did it work, at least? You didn't get hurt?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He nodded.

"It worked," he said, but there was a brittleness to his smile.

"And it didn't hurt me, um, exactly. I'm just a bit on edge from it. Nothing to worry on. It was just silly, now that I think of it. Unnecessary, really."

He was, however, a teenager. And just as a young man will use his brand new driver's license to go get a jug of milk from the store three streets down, so did Liir use his newly found magic when there was probably a better way around the situation. At least, such had he started telling himself.

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

Glitch frowned.

"Would you have been hurt if you hadn't?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Probably not," he said. "But someone would have. There were as many of the things as there were people, and that one was fixated on me. So I had to take care of it.

"I should have just made it run into a tree by accident or something."

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

"Then you did what you could to keep yourself safe. It's better than getting yourself..."

Wait.

"What exactly did you do to it?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

This was the part where he wasn't looking at Professor Ambrose. Er. Especially.

"I sort of... checked to see what it was. When, um, it t-turned out to be made of all kinds of negative things, I sort of took that and, um, d-distilled it and added to it and threw it back at the thing.

"It sort of, um, w-went berserk, thrashed about, and then disappeared after that."

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

He blinked and let his synapses mull that over. They still couldn't find what they would have yelled about.

"If it was going to hurt you, I don't see why you'd think that I'd be upset with you for what you did to protect yourself."

It made sense to him.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Well, it sort of hurt me," he admitted. Then he realized he probably shouldn't have.

"Considerably less than a hoof to the head or an antler through the chest, but I've been a little sensitive since I did it. It'll certainly remind me not to do that again."

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

"Are you sure? Did you tell anyone you were with about it when it happened? Nothing else there hurt you, did it?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He shook his head and lied through his teeth.

"I'm fine" he wouldn't be until Andrew was back "and I got through it all right."

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

Who would've thought that there would be so much frowning? Glitch was certainly at least a little surprised by it.

"Are you sure?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He was sure of nothing. Especially not anything to do with himself or his... quirks.

"Are you all right? It sounds as if there were worse than lions. Did you encounter someone who'd been taken by the angels as well?"

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

He nodded. "We did. And I'm okay, though I don't think I'll be going back to that museum."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Judging by things," he said honestly, "I'd rather not leave the island. For a while. Possibly graduation. That might do."

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

Glitch nodded, a lot.

"That sounds like a good plan."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I'm just glad you're all right," he said with a faint wry smile. "It'd be just my luck."

He didn't have to say what that pertained to.

[a-no-brainer.livejournal.com]

Glitch grinned a little sideways. It was reassuring, really.

"They weren't that bad." They were. "Besides, I've dealt with worse than strange lions." He had.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure you had," he said.

"And at least they weren't singing."