fandomtownies | The Perk, Thursday

Entry tags:

The Perk, Thursday

Kenzi was debating going in to Caritas to work tonight. On the one hand: free reign to torment zombies. On the other hand: eerily quiet bar except for zombie stylings on Twilight Zone- like music.

In the meantime, there was coffee, demanded from bored-out-of-their-minds baristas. And hoping Toby and Bo and everybody were okay, somewhere.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Arietty had spent the last few days on a borrowing binge in the dorms -- there were no beans to see her. None! -- before finally deciding she'd venture out into town to see what was going on. She'd spotted the note Kenzi left in the lobby the night before, and thus aimed for the Perk first thing, just in case she was camping out.

Which would be why a small radio-controlled Mini Cooper was zipping in through the door, its tiny driver blasting brit-pop on a phone as tall as she was.

It was too quiet in this town without any beans in it.

Kenzi leaned over off her chair, until her face was right above Arietty's auto. "Duuuude. I so need a car like that. And you're still here! Yes!"

"I have two," Arietty said proudly. "Mercy fixed them up for me." She nodded up at Kenzi, pulling out her safety-pin grappling hook and flinging it up on an available chair to start climbing. "And of course I'm still here. I thought perhaps there was some sort of bean holiday going on."

"Not hardly." Kenzi pulled herself back up and pouted, pushing the plate with the half-eaten muffin on it closer to where Arietty was climbing up. "Everyone just disappeared! I think I've seen like two other people around the dorms all week! And barely anybody else in town who isn't a zombie!" She watched Arietty's progress. "You didn't see or hear anything either?"

Arietty finished climbing up to the table top and shook her head. "Sorry. It was quite exciting at first. I've gotten some very good borrowing in."

Hope no one missed their lipsticks, hair ties, mismatched earrings, random socks, varieties of coins, and any other tiny ephemera they might have left lying about in the dorms.

Kenzi might have had some fun in various houses across the city. She was, in fact, wearing Bo's boots. But it was less fun when Bo wasn't there to tease about it.

"I've been over the whole island in the last couple days. There's no note, nothing wrecked, nothing destroyed. The people are just gone." She bit her lip. "This stuff, it usually lasts a week or so before we undo it... but. When we don't know what to undo..."

Arietty frowned. "Well, how do you usually figure it out? Last fall, I didn't think anything was strange at all about being stuck hiding in the walls until after it was all over."

"Oh, thank God," Petra said when she saw Kenzi. "What's going on, do you know? Did I miss a memo or something and everybody's in the Caribbean right now without us?"

"Well, usually something new shows up. But there's not even a ransom note here." Kenzi frowned, trying to think. "No meteorite. Um. Maybe we can check with Portalocity, maybe they noticed something...?"

"Jeeeez I'm glad to see you too." Kenzi practically beamed at her, then shook her head. "Nuh-unh, no idea, and if you missed a memo, everyone else I talked to did too. It's people in town, too, not just teachers and students."

"Someone must've," Arietty said. "That's rather a lot of people to move at once. It seems like it'd take a lot of effort."

"And can we get there? ... without whoever did it noticing us." Kenzi paused, frowning as she broke off a bite of muffin. "Dude. Maybe we should call in, I don't know. The FBI? The U.N.? There's gotta be someone that deals with this crap." NOT the school council, though. Aside from Lovey Howell, they sucked.

Arietty didn't actually know what either of those organizations were. "I'm guessing there isn't a bean group that just handles mass disappearances," she said. "Or someone would already have told them. Unless they did, and then the group disappeared, too?"

"I dunno. I haven't tried the Mayor's office yet. Maybe they know something." Kenzi bit her lower lip, trying not to freak out too much. "Nobody who does that for Borrowers, hunh."

"If a borrower disappears, we just assume they've been Seen," Arietty said. "Or possibly eaten by a cat."

Arietty waved from the table. "I thought perhaps they all declared a holiday."

"Gyaaah. Okay. Let's hope that's not the version working here, or we're screwed. Although a giant cat might not even notice you." Kenzi took a sip of her coffee, eyes shadowed. "If this keeps up too long, then I guess-- go home? Get help from somebody?"

As she had taken to doing since everyone went missing, Grace made her way into the Perk around dinner time and went up to the counter with a sad expression on her face. "Can I have some cookies and hot chocolate and an apple?" she asked. "My mom will pay you when she's back, I promise."

Sure enough, the barista made a sympathetic noise at her and handed the food over to Grace without a second thought, and Grace sat down at one of the tables, looking much less upset now that she had free dinner. Sure, there was plenty of food at her house, but that involved pouring things and cleaning up messes, and that's what her mom would do whenever this stupid thing was over and everyone was okay again.

Kenzi blinked at the sight of a little kid by herself-- this wasn't last weekend any more. Picking up her mocha, she headed over to the table and asked, "Can I sit here too? I'm Kenzi."

"If there were a giant cat," Arietty said. "I think we might have heard it." Cats were good at sneaking up on people, but when they pounced, there was usually a fair amount of noise. "How long is too long? I haven't seen anyone about for at least a few days."

Kenzi considered. "I haven't seen anybody, or any clue why, since Tuesday." She grimaced. "Tomorrow, maybe? Or, I dunno. Maybe everything will be normal on Monday?" She could dream, right?

"Maybe Monday," Arietty agreed. "You said it sometimes lasts a week, and I wouldn't like to leave when they might really need our help."

"Good point. I wish it wasn't." Kenzi deflated and sighed. "Meantime. I'm staying in town at my friend Bo's place. You want to stay with, or stick to the dorm?"

"It's actually a bit creepy in the dorms," Arietty admitted. "I'm not used to not even hearing beans wandering around. If you think your friend Bo will be alright with it?"

She promised not to borrow too much.

"Okay! I'm Grace it's nice to meet you," she said quickly, smiling and holding out her hand for a shake.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 3

The Perk, Thursday

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject