Android's Dungeon, Wednesday, 2/18

[saveyoulater.livejournal.com]

Sarah opened the shop early and set to work ... well, cleaning out the back room.

For real. Sorting through back issues to keep or discard, sweeping out the corners, throwing out promos from movies that had flopped three seasons ago.

It was pretty grimy in there, and her face was smudged when she emerged. She suspected she needed to introduce some of her employees to the wonders of Windex.

[OOC: Open store, no OCD!]

Comments

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

Lindsay wasn't sure what exactly led her back here to the store but something Loki had said was bugging her and since it tagently involved Sarah...

Well that's how she ended up here. "Anyone here?" She called out.

[saveyoulater.livejournal.com]

"One second," Sarah called. She checked the mirror in the back room, wiped the smudge off her forehead (but missed the one on her jaw), and emerged.

Her shoulders squared and her smile went poisonous when she saw who it was. "Lindsay, hello."

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

"Sarah," she said crossing her arms and returning Sarah's smile with an icy grin of her own. "How's business?"

[saveyoulater.livejournal.com]

"It's been a quiet day," Sarah said, perfectly formal and polite. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Lindsay said sarcastically, "I'm here for the latest issue of Bitterwoman."

[saveyoulater.livejournal.com]

"Oh, it's in the tower in the corner," Sarah said sweetly, pointing. "Is it based on your life?"

Sometimes, she couldn't help herself.

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

"Hardly," Linz said with a bit of edge to her voice. "I thought that maybe you and I could talk about what happened. However if you just want to stand around and trade bitchy comments with me we can do that too."

[saveyoulater.livejournal.com]

Sarah shrugged a little and folded her own arms. "We can talk," she said, in a tone that suggested she wasn't sure how much she'd appreciate what Lindsay had to say.

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

"Good."

Linz let out a long breath. "So. Okay. The thing. That happened. Between all the parties here the other day. With the whole mine and... gun thing."

Yeah. You'd think she'd be better at the talking thing.

"See, something happened yesterday and... well Loki reminded me of something and then it made me realize something about last week and..."

Yeah. Still not with the good talking.

"Okay. Here it is. Ever hear of misdirected anger?"

[saveyoulater.livejournal.com]

Sarah bit back her first retort. It sounded like Lindsay was trying to apologize; she could be pleasant. "I know the concept. What about it?"

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

"I... won't get into the whole details but, there's a thing. Between me and my dad. Bad blood," she said trying to explain. "So. Me. Your dad. Probably a bit of projection there. Which is me trying to say I probably shouldn't have tried to push him around so much."

There was a bit of a cough because wow that was actually tough for her to admit.

"Don't get me wrong. I still think he's a crook. But... yeah. I was rougher than I should have been."

[saveyoulater.livejournal.com]

"He's not violent, Lindsay," Sarah said. "We'd already agreed to call the police."

She couldn't let it go quite this easily, no, though there was sympathy in her eyes.

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, well a hell of a lot of good they did," Linz said with an eyeroll. "Anyhow, what happened happened. And if I were in your shoes? I'd probably would have done the same thing."

She paused and shifted awkwardly in the store.

"And that's all I can really say."

[saveyoulater.livejournal.com]

Sarah nodded slowly as she took that in. "You were trying to do your job."

It wasn't forgiveness. It was a start.

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

"Or what my job used to be," she said with a nod. "Old habits die hard."

[saveyoulater.livejournal.com]

Sarah bit her lip, tugging a little on a sleeve. "I worked with my dad since I was little," she admitted. "I probably should have asked more questions when he showed up and said he went straight, but ... old habits, like you said."

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

"He's your dad," Linz said with a nod. "No matter what happens that doesn't change and... yeah. Anyhow. That's what I came here to say. It's a pretty small island so I thought it would be best just to clear the air and everything. We don't have to like each other but we can at least understand each other."

[saveyoulater.livejournal.com]

"The place is way too small not to at least be civil. Thanks," Sarah said simply, then hesitated.

"What happened with your dad?"

It was half nosiness, half a step to compassion.

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

"He was a cop. Turns out he was on the take," Linz replied looking uncomfortable. "I was on the force at the time and there was a lot of blowback and I couldn't trust him after that."

[saveyoulater.livejournal.com]

Sarah winced. She had no sympathy for crooked cops; at least her father made no bones out of doing what he did.

"Sounds like he put you in a really tough position. I'm sorry."

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. Well. It was a thing," she said awkwardly. "Sounds like we both have issues."

[saveyoulater.livejournal.com]

Sarah gave a tiny smile. "Does anyone get to be a grow-up without them?"

Well. Daisy. Maybe. But that was ... another thing.

[memberslonely.livejournal.com]

Linz grinned a little at that. "I'll let you know when I grow up."

[saveyoulater.livejournal.com]

"I'm told it happens to the best of us," Sarah said, and her smile was something close to genuine. "Thank you for stopping in."

She meant it. No one else had made the effort.