The warehouse district, Friday evening

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Mommy really should've marked our path back to our home sweet home, hunh?" Mia nodded vigorously, clutching onto Kenzi's hand. "So, if we don't find our new place, we're gonna get a new new place!"

Right, maybe it was this left, up the stairs? ... why the hell did this place have to have SO MANY stairs?


[ooc: so, so open, since the warehouse district is a little more populated than usual this week.]

Comments

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

A voice from up above drifted down, sounding amused. "New neighbors?"

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi stopped and looked up, picking up Mia in case there was a problem. "Who's asking?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Nobody." Kestrel shifted so she could see the woman and her kid a little better. "Nobody you want to know, anyway."

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, that's not creepy," Kenzi said under her breath, glaring up at the fire escape three stories above. "So hey, Nobody, you seen a warehouse with blue brick and glass windows, with graffiti that says DIE UMBRIDGE on one side?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Two blocks that way. Down another flight of stairs. Left. Can't miss it." Kestrel was watching Mia. "Not the safest place for a kid."

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, well, that's my call to make, Nobody." Kenzi paused, and then called, "Thanks. I'm Kenzi."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

A long pause. "Kestrel. Welcome to Fandom."

[voiceoverdue]

Cecil was heading to the antique shop - okay, so it wasn't his turn to work until tomorrow, but maybe if he started the heat on low tonight it wouldn't be so cold in the morning - when he spotted a familiar face.

"Kenzi!" He and his tattoos grinned and he waved one hand and several tentacles as he jogged over to say hi. "You changed your hair back!"

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi had frowned, and turned at the unknown voice, then her eyes went huge when she shrieked.

"Mommy, look! Octopus!"

Well, close enough.

[voiceoverdue]

Cecil looked around for a moment, confused, then realized and laughed. "Nope, I'm not an octopus. Not quite enough wavy limbs, and no suckers, see?" He waved one smooth tentacle at the cute little girl. "Well, unless I make it look like that with my tattoos." He demonstrated. "Hi, I'm Cecil! Sorry to startle you."

Was he wondering when Kenzi got a kid? Yep. But cute kids with big eyes took priority.

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"I'm Mia!"

"Honey--" Kenzi took a breath, still freaking out, which had to be obvious from that nervous grin. "Hey, stranger person named Cecil. Who ... knows from me somewhere." She paused, and then said, "Those really are awesome tatts, gotta admit."

Mia was leeeeaning forward, reaching for the tentacle, squealing. "No no, come on, Cecil doesn't want you playing grabby-fingers with him."

[voiceoverdue]

"I've known you for months!" Cecil protested. "Oh, wait! You must be a different Kenzi. The island's being weird. Do you know about the island's weirdness yet?" He grinned at Mia and tickled her hand with the tip of his tentacle.

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"The island's what?" Kenzi kind of felt like she was having an out-of-body experience here, and it wasn't helped by the pounding headache that had just started. She didn't want to panic Mia, but seriously? Strange guy in the close-to-night in a warehouse district? Wasn't this how she ended up a statistic?

Mia giggled, waving her hands energetically.

"Is this something about why your tattoos are looking at me?" See, she could do calm. Until she saw a good chance to run away.

[voiceoverdue]

"Nope; they're just curious," Cecil answered cheerfully. "But the island's sort of swapping people in and out and..." He shrugged. "I was going to go put the heat on in the shop," he waved at the antique store, "and we've got chairs and coffee and I think maybe some popcorn if you want? It might take a while to tell you."

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Popcorn!" Mia squealed, and Kenzi rolled her eyes, biting her lip. She was about to say no, thanks but no thanks, when Mia loudly whispered, "Mommy, need potty."

Well, crap. Literally. "Okay. But not for long. And I warn you, buster, I can mess you up if you try anything."

[voiceoverdue]

"Definitely!" Cecil answered with a nod. "I'm not really much of a fighter." He led the way to the shop and opened it. "I'm more sneaky and shoot from a safe distance, you know? But I promise I won't try anything harmful!" he hurried to add.

His tattoos all made "scout's honor" signs.

[nookiepowered]

Once they'd finished up in the library, Bo who was totally here last night had been checking out the warehouse district for most of the evening, both relieved that Kenzi hadn't just completely vanished and worried for... any number of really obvious reasons. So far, she'd only managed to track down one place that looked inhabited, and from the era and color of the clothes scattered around, it definitely wasn't Kenzi's.

So. Right? Left? Down that really dark alley where Bo really hoped she hadn't moved in, especially with a kid?

Or maybe just around that corner. That could work too. "Kenz!"

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Ahh!" Kenzi jumped, then made shhhing noises; Mia was asleep against her shoulder, and waking her up again would guarantee a cranky toddler.

Someone else who knew her? She sighed. "Hi, person who knows me, who I don't know. Careful not to wake up the sleeping mini-demon."

[nookiepowered]

"Sorry! I didn't mean to freak you out; I'm just glad I found you."

Okay, so possibly crushing hugs of relief would be a bad idea, then. Freaked-out Kenzi, Bo could live (and had lived) with; a toddler, less so. She'd already had her fill of kids who were loudly, if rightfully, mad at her today.

"Person Who Knows Me Who I Don't Know is kind of a mouthful, though useful for letting me know you've got some idea what's up around here," she added carefully. "Bo's shorter."

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Hi," Kenzi said, nodding, then saying thoughtfully, "Cecil mentioned that I should know you. Or, that some other me does. And how weird is that?" She looked over Bo, boots to bouncy hair, and said, "I'm just heading back to our place. If you wanna see it."

[nookiepowered]

"Your...abandoned warehouse place." Thank you, Rilla. You'd at least given Bo something to work with when looking for her.

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Home sweet abandoned industrial bunker," Kenzi agreed, with a nervous grin. She hugged Mia tighter, watching Bo closely. "It's not bad. No rats. Nobody else there." Cecil had called Bo her best friend; she was wondering what the hell they had in common, aside from maybe both being Canadian.

And, well, the love of boots.

[nookiepowered]

"No heat. No cable." Bo ticked things off on her fingers. "No six foot long Minoan bathtub..."

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi had opened her mouth to argue, then blinked. "Six-foot bath tub? Seriously?" Mia smacked her lips in her sleep, on the edge of waking, and Kenzi swayed a little to calm her down. "Right, like that's a priority." Although Mia would love something like that.

[nookiepowered]

"Food, fridge..." Bo kept ticking. "Furniture. Lots of space now that my roommate and everything she owns seems to have disappeared..."