The Arms Hotel Lobby, Wednesday

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

Jeff was confused.

Oh, he was happy-- the weekend's crisis had been averted-- but he still wasn't sure what had happened.

Also, he had a baby shaped like a flower. Nana had been trying to eat it all day, and even putting it on the hotel desk hadn't stopped her from bouncing at it.

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[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

It was Wednesday, and therefore her (first) turn to take the baby. Hinata slipped inside the lobby, taking a moment to glance around as she didn't often come here.

"Good morning," she said, pleased that it came out smoothly, if still quietly.

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"I didn't take any of it!" Jeff declared, somewhat panicked, and held up the flour.

Not so much triumphantly.

It looked as if it could go flying at any moment.

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

Her eyes widened.

"B-Be careful," Hinata said, hurrying over. "You d-don't want to drop it."

Or throw it. Either or.

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"I won't!" Jeff said, scrambling to get the flour back into his arms. "I didn't take anything," he repeated, "And I only briefly thought of cakes. I couldn't stop that."

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

She laughed softly.

"T-Thinking is fine," she assured him, at the counter now. "I w-won't hold it against you. You seem to be getting a-along well enough with the baby."

Who was flour.

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"Well, it's a bag," Jeff pointed out, "I just put it in the corner and tried not to get near it."

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"Jeff," she said, very patiently. "You're s-supposed to treat it like a real child. W-Would you stick a real child in the corner and avoid it?"

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

Jeff blinked at her, owlishly.

The answer was probably yes.

"It's flour," he said, "I'm not sure if it has feelings yet."

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"You're s-supposed to treat it like it has feelings," she explained. "Like a r-real baby."

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"But you said it wasn't going to get committed," Jeff said, somewhat paranoidly.

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"It isn't," she said, voice set on 'soothe'. "It's j-just pretend."

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"No, see, that's where you're wrong," Jeff argued, "These things get a life of their own after a bit. All that pretending sort of... culminates. It's like my magazines."

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"It's only for a week," she reminded him. "Do y-your magazines give a timeline for the c-culmination?"

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"..."

He blinked at her.

"Some of them are positively dedicated," he said.

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure our f-flour is not," she informed him lightly. "As it will have t-two people to try to culminate from, instead of just one. It w-will take longer."

Hinata was not entirely sure that made sense.

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"..."

More ellipses were needed.

Jeff stared at her. His mind may have vacated. "Two people culminating."

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"Will t-take longer," she repeated serenely in the face of his staring (it was the best way to deal with this, she had found), and holding out her hands. "The f-flour baby, if you would?"

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

Wordlessly, Jeff offered her the flour.

He could not get the word 'culminating' out of his head.

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," she said, taking the flour baby and hoping she hadn't broken him. "I h-hope you have a good day."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Sometimes around noon, as usual, a girlfriend came around with a bag of sandwiches in her hand and her usual bright greeting. "Jeff!"

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"Turtle!" Jeff cried, enthused. "Sandwiches!" In much the same tone of voice.

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Surprisingly, Turtle didn't feel at all reduced by being put on the same tone as sandwiches. Sandwiches, after all, were a pretty big deal. She smiled, setting the bag on the desk before carefully hopping up to sit on it.

"How's it going?"

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"...There's sandwiches now," Jeff tried, reaching for the bag and its contents the minute it hit the desk, "And Hinata got the baby. Flour! She got the flour."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"But the flour," Turtle said, reaching for one of the sandwiches for herself, "is supposed to be like a baby, isn't it? And how long will Hinata have it for before she has to trade it back?"

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"Couple of days," Jeff said, shrugging a bit. "...I don't remember." Pause. "Oh god. I don't remember. What if she kills me?"

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"She's not going to kill you, Jeff," Turtle said, reassuringly, but also as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "The worst thing she'll do is track you down and make you take a bag of flour."

It was Hinata, for crying out loud. Yes, Turtle understood that she was a woman, but, still, she probably had even fewer breasts than Turtle, so the whole being terrified of her thing didn't really make a lot of sense.

[scary-jeff.livejournal.com]

"You don't know that," Jeff said, somewhat sullenly, "She could decide to get cross and come in and slap me. That'd be really bad."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"And, if she slapped you," Turtle stated, "I'd go and kick her in the shins."