The Perk | Morning | Tuesday | August 17

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

Hannibal didn't know why he was already awake and out of his room. It might have signaled the apocalypse or it might have just signaled the continued stress that leaving was causing. Either way, he was awake and on his third cup of coffee (yes, already) while reading through a newspaper.

His phone was on the table beside him and it occasionally went off with messages from his mom or dad or Abigail but it was otherwise silent. To anyone else, he looked like some nerdy student. To anyone who knew him, he probably looked out of place.

At least he hadn't inhaled enough caffeine to start jittering. Yet.

[Open place in town so it's open, of course]

Comments

[vanillajello]

He did look out of place. So out of place, in fact, that it took Kate all through coming in, glancing around, purchasing a cup of hot chocolate, and starting to look for a place to sit before she noticed him.

And even then she sounded a little incredulous, if amused. "Hannibal King?"

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"Kate Gregson?" he asked, looking up when she said his name. He didn't realize he looked that out of place since he wasn't thinking about it but he did pick up on the tone. "What? Do I have a milk mustache or something?"

[vanillajello]

"The one and only Kate Gregson, yes," she replied, pulling herself a chair by his table and flopping down in it. If he thought she was going to sit at another table, he-- Well, there was zero reason for him to think that.

"Or, technically, I guess, not the only one. Stupid alternative universes. Anyway. You're reading, and it's morning, and you're here."

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"It's morning and you're here too," he pointed out, tossing his newspaper aside. "The only thing you're not doing is reading. What's so wrong about what I'm doing?"

Now, he was maybe beginning to pick up a hint as to why that would be weird. "I'm literate!"

[vanillajello]

Kate snickered. "I didn't doubt that, although right now I kinda feel like maybe I should," she said, raising her cup to her lips. "Anyway, I think I'm here in the mornings way more often than you are."

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"I couldn't sleep," he said, leaning an arm on the table and making a face. "Well, I couldn't sleep anymore. And I woke up, expecting it to be after noon and it's not which is just wrong. The reading was just me passing the time until something better came along."

And here, he nodded towards her. "And then it did."

[vanillajello]

Well, that was an excellent way to make Kate look a little smug. Even if that wasn't too hard to accomplish. She had a lot of smugness in her.

"Lucky you," she said. "So what's with the weird sleeping?"

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"I've been off since that weird shit the other week with the black holes and losing four days of my life," he said, scratching his head. "Couple that with other stress, I'm just off balance, I guess."

[vanillajello]

"Wait, you lost four days?"

Kate... hadn't really bothered to find out what had been going on with those that disappeared beyond what Bod had told her. Asking felt like intruding, and really, she just hadn't wanted to know.

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, one of those things just swallowed me up and I was gone for four days. Popped back out Sunday, fine and fit as a fiddle. Barely even messed up my hair. It was just disorienting."

He shook his head and downed some more of that coffee. "Strange fucking sensation. I got the feeling I'd missed some serious shit."

[vanillajello]

"Uh, yeah." Without thinking about it, she reached for the back of her shoulder, where her biggest bruise had already almost faded away. It didn't hurt to touch it anymore. "That's one way to put it."

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"Yeah?" he asked, eyebrows going up at both the words and movement. "You all right?"

[vanillajello]

"Better than some people," she said, shrugging a shoulder and picking up her cup again. "It was a weird four days."

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"That's what it sounds like," he said, nodding a few times. "Glad to hear that most everyone made it back though. Small silver lining."

[vanillajello]

"Mmh. I think no one lost any limbs, at least," she replied, a little dryly. "But, Fandom hijinks. Life goes on."

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"Yup." He could agree with that. "What've you been up, dearest? Have I missed anything fun in your life that I should know about?"

[vanillajello]

Kate rolled her eyes, but it wasn't particularly hostile. "What, apart from having to dig tiny rocks from the bottoms of my boyfriend's bloody feet? Not much. The usual."

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

Hannibal winced and was a little glad he hadn't been eating anything. "Well, that sounds like...fun. What happened to him?"

[vanillajello]

Kate pursed her lips and looked down at her hott chocolate before replying.

"Got sucked into some nightmare world with no shoes on."

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

Hannibal winced again and held off on asking anything else for a moment or two. "Is he all right now? I mean, you're here and you look all right so I'd hope so."

[vanillajello]

"Well, he seems less shaken and he can walk with actual shoes on again, so I guess he's doing okay," Kate shrugged. "We're still gonna go take a little break in Kansas, though."

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"You're bringing him home with you?" Hannibal asked, a little amused by that. Amused in an affectionate way. "Nervous?"

[vanillajello]

"Not really." Not yet anyway. ... Okay, not much, anyway. "I trust him. And family will probably behave themselves."

Probably being the operative word.

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"They know you're bringing him?" Hannibal asked, sitting back in his chair and grinning.

[vanillajello]

"Not... yet," she replied, trying to sound idle but failing. "I'm gonna give them a heads up, though."