The Perk- Sunday afternoon

[solo_sword]

Jaina was always so happy when weird stuff happened and skipped her. It wasn't even so much that she took real pleasure in watching everyone else be crazy- though it was really entertaining as long as they weren't breaking her brain trying to get her in the backseat of their '64 Pontiac- but she liked being herself and not doing slutty things or thinking she could stop crime by turning into a bird or something.

Since she wasn't going to spend the weekend cooped up in her hotel room even if this wasn't the kind of catchup weekend that she'd thought it would be, Jaina headed off to the Perk. She got her coffee, found a seat, and maybe checked out whether or not anyone else around was acting a little strange. Then again, this was Fandom, so if she didn't already know them, that might just be how they behaved on any given day.


[Open!]

Comments

[zoocitizen]

Zinzi had actually managed to miss that there was anything strange (or stranger than usual, anyway) going on on the island this weekend. Sloth had been a bit antsier than usual, but she'd written that off to him getting his claws on some bad leaves.

She headed into the Perk and nodded to Jaina, noting silently that she hadn't seen her around the island before. "Howzit?"

[solo_sword]

"Hey," Jaina said, and frowned a little. "You've got a little..."

You know, just in case she didn't know Sloth was there. This weekend, it was best to check.

[zoocitizen]

Zinzi huffed a laugh. "He's not that little."

Sloth slowly waved one long arm at Jaina. Zinzi figured that was her cue to introduce herself. "Zinzi December. This is Sloth."

[solo_sword]

Jaina gave a little wave back to the sloth. It was just that kind of weekend. "Jaina Solo. You new here?"

[zoocitizen]

"Newish," Zinzi said. "Couple of months. Seemed like a decent enough place to stop for awhile."

[solo_sword]

"It's not bad, once you get used to some of the weird stuff," she said. Which, okay, this was still not her favorite place by a long shot but the people kept her coming back. "I guess it's got a certain charm."

[zoocitizen]

"I have definitely seen worse." Mind you, she hadn't been here long enough to see Fandom at it's worst. "You been here long?"

Out of curiosity, Zinzi idly took note of some of the threads coming off of Jaina. Most were fairly standard, though maybe a touch wilder than she would usually see on a woman Jaina's apparent age and class back home. And of course there were the usual abstractions that everyone gathered after awhile, just from the process of growing up.

That one, though. She frowned faintly. Thicker than most, leading off into seemingly nowhere. . . . That was unusual.

[solo_sword]

"I went to school here for a few years, come back from time to time," she said, way oversimplifying that. "I'm only in for the weekend."

Was that a frown? "Everything okay?"

[zoocitizen]

Zinzi was tempted to just say it was nothing and brush it off, but Sloth reached up to scratch at her good ear with his claws, the way he did when he wanted her to follow through on something.

"It's, uh. A little complicated." She dug into her pocket for one of her new business cards -- Zinzi December: Lost and Found, which at least beat the hell out of word pimp. "You've lost something, haven't you? Something kinda big."

She wasn't going to follow that thread too hard without at least a small go-ahead from Jaina. For all Zinzi knew, the girl was trying to let that thread go.

[solo_sword]

Jaina paused, trying to get a sense of this girl, but she wasn't feeling anything malicious at all. "I've lost a lot of big things," she said honestly. "You might have to narrow it down a bit."

[zoocitizen]

That'd have to do. Zinzi's gaze went a little bit distant as she worked on following the thread as far out as she could. She never got very distinct images -- well, when she wasn't around someone whose shavi was boosting the power on other people's, anyway -- but she could usually get a general sense of what the item was.

"Memories?" she said, not realizing immediately that she'd spoken out loud. "Hell, you weren't hit over the head recently or something were you? That is a wide-ass chunk for a forgotten memory."

[solo_sword]

And suddenly Jaina had a bad feeling about this. It wasn't about Zinzi, but things like losing big memories felt like a big deal. "Haven't been hit, no," she said, frowning. "You can see forgotten memories?"

[zoocitizen]

"Not the memories themselves, no." Zinzi shrugged. "I see threads, linking people to the things they've lost. Usually we're talking house keys or an old toy. With memories, they're usually whisper thin, but this one's practically a tree branch."

[solo_sword]

"And that means it's something really big?" There was probably some level of futility to trying to remember what she might have forgotten, but that didn't mean she wasn't automatically trying.

[zoocitizen]

"One big one, or a bunch of smaller ones all wrapped up together. Wish I could give you something more specific than that, but I'm not that powerful."

[solo_sword]

It could be some sort of traumatic event where she'd repressed the event and those surrounding it, but she didn't tend to go through those alone. She'd have someone reminding her of it. And her head injuries had always checked out fine...

"Can you tell anything about how they went missing?" she asked.

[zoocitizen]

Zinzi's first reaction was to say no, but then Sloth chomped lightly on his shoulder. He'd noticed something about the thread. She took another look.

"Well . . . it's pretty precise. You expect most memories to be fuzzier around the edges, ja? Back home, I'd say it was some sort of muti -- or magic."

[solo_sword]

Now Jaina realized she'd been hoping to have any other answer. Any. She knew no shortage of people who could mess with her mind, but she knew who she automatically assumed it was.

"That definitely narrows it down," she said with a sigh. "Thanks for telling me that."

[zoocitizen]

"No trouble. I try not to snoop, but, well, sometimes they're hard for me to miss."

[solo_sword]

"I know what that's like." She did like her shielding sometimes. "Is that some kind of magic, or just a natural power?"

[zoocitizen]

"I wasn't born with it, if that's what you're asking. It's a kind of . . . punishment." She tilted her head to Sloth, who was resting his chin on her shoulder. "Same with him. Like a cosmic responsibility check."

[solo_sword]

She wanted to ask, but having just met her, she wasn't sure how okay that would be. "He's kind of cute for a responsibility check."

[zoocitizen]

Zinzi still wasn't super used to people not just knowing, at least generally, what she'd done wrong.

"He's grown on me," she said, reaching back to scratch Sloth on the head.

[texted3times]

"Greetings, coffee minion!" Meekus crowed. "I would like a--"

"Orange mocha frappacino," the barista muttered. Meekus had been there a lot.

[solo_sword]

Oh, wow, Eric during the day. Kind of. That was new.

"Coffee minion?"

[texted3times]

"Hello, Earth to Jaina, bar-thingie is so hard to say," Meekus said.

[solo_sword]

That was twice now. Twice. "Barista?" she checked.

[texted3times]

"Yes, that," Meekus said. "I speak two languages and have to remember how to walk properly. I cannot remember everything."

[solo_sword]

"You have to remember how to walk properly?" She'd never heard of such a thing.

[texted3times]

"Of course!" Meekus said, sad for her ignorance. "I would never want to lose a walk-off! It would be sooooo humiliating."

[solo_sword]

"What's a walk-off?" She was hearing all sorts of new things! Things she could tease Eric with forever!

[texted3times]

Meekus stood up straighter, put a really stupid appropriately model-y expression on his face, and sauntered down the center of the store throwing off "you are not worthy to look at me" vibes.

"Like this."

[solo_sword]

Worthy or not, she was definitely looking at him. "That was a really impressive walk," she smiled.

Seriously, she deserved a medal for not giggling or recording this. Both were so, so tempting.

[texted3times]

"I know," Meekus replied.