Chilly Boulder, Sunday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

When Kathy had meandered into town today, it hadn't been with the intent on heading to the ice cream shop, even if--in retrospect--ice cream was probably a great way to shake the lingering effects of a poisonous curse. She'd just wanted to get away from her dorm room, away from the bits of glass she was still finding on the floor, away from the reminder that she was supposed to be taking her SATs right now. She'd figured she'd maybe wander around a bit, eat dinner somewhere, and try to come up with a good excuse to tell her parents when they inevitably called to ask how the test went.

Instead, she'd met up with Gorgon--err, with Nick--who had taken one look at her and declared they were going out for ice cream.

In lieu of there being any awesome pickle places nearby, ice cream sounded really good right then.

[Open ice cream shop!]

Comments

[gunslingerpose]

"So," Nick said, stuffing his hands into his pockets and nodding at the selection. "Whatever you want, and it's on me."

Because you looked like shit, Kathy. And the last time he'd looked that shitty, you were sewing up a bullet hole in his shoulder. So.

[spin_kick_snap]

"You've seen how much I eat," Kathy mumbled, shoving her hands in her pockets and looking at her feet. "You sure that's a good idea?"

Were she and Sparkle the only people on the island that worried about money? Not that she really had to, drawing a paycheck from Barry as she did, but old habits died hard.

"I've got money."

...In her dorm room.

[gunslingerpose]

"Yeah, and I've got Hugh Laurie's career paying my bills," Nick replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Least I can do. Anyway, this is ice cream. If you're hungry, we can do proper food after, but shit, I don't even want to think about how sick you'd be if you treated this like a meal. So. Let's start with the biggest sundae they have in whatever flavor you pick, and then go from there, hm?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Wasn't he dead?

"Well..." Kathy couldn't think of a real argument against this, other than 'you shouldn't want to spend money on me' and she had a fairly decent idea of how that conversation would turn out. So she just nodded and ordered an extra large brownie sundae with scoops of red bean and chocolate truffle ice cream.

"I'm surprised to see you on the island," she said once she was finished. "I didn't think we'd see you again now that you trekked back to LA."

[gunslingerpose]

Nick was going to be that guy who just settled for a vanilla cone. Because, eh. He wasn't the one who looked like hell right now. Mostly. Except for his face.

Which he wasn't holding against Allie, and his shades were mostly hiding the twin black-eyes anyway.

"I'm full of surprises," he replied, smirking. "That, and a friend tipped me off that things were doing their usual 'the island is fucked up again' routine and I couldn't possibly sit that out."

Because Allie had been crazy. That was why. He couldn't possibly sit it out when Allie was crazy.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Glad there was at least one hero on the island while this all went down," Kathy said, studiously watching her sundae get assembled. It was fascinating stuff, truly. "You have to talk anyone down? Or just here to be cavalry as needed?"

[gunslingerpose]

"I got to talk one person down before I wound up down for the count and napping for a few days," Nick replied, shrugging a little. "Got a forehead to the face a few times. I'm going to have to replace a lens. But things went pretty okay on my end otherwise."

More or less. If you ignore the broken face and other assorted beatings he'd taken. At least Allie hadn't had her sword.

"You were on the other side, then."

It wasn't an accusation, so much. She was wearing it as plain as day on her face.

[spin_kick_snap]

Might not be an accusation, but Kathy curled in on herself a bit anyway. "Yeah. I was one of the stupid ones. Got suckered in by some shady businessman with a few second-rate magic tricks. Kinda hard to feel all heroic even now that the bastard's gone."

[gunslingerpose]

"Yeah, well... you and one of my other closest friends both fell into the same trap," Nick replied, shrugging his shoulders. "You're not the only one who ever made a mistake around here, Kathy. You have anybody pull you out?"

[vdistinctive]

"Hey," Eliot said, offering his hand. "Eliot Spencer. You're a friend of Kathy's?"

[gunslingerpose]

"Nick Bartamian," Nikolai replied, nodding and giving Eliot that handshake. "And yeah, friend of Kathy's. Met her back when I was still living on the island. You too?"

It was a shame he'd been all fucked up on blood loss and pain that last time he'd heard Eliot's voice. He'd probably be making some kind of mental connection here, otherwise.

[vdistinctive]

Well, that was a familiar voice. It took Eliot a little while to place it, though, since last time it'd been weak as anything and transmitted through a speakerphone with no face to go with it.

Nice to see the guy Kathy'd stitched up came out of it okay.

"She's one of my students." Eliot grabbed a chair, not quite up to standing for long periods again, yet. "She's a good kid."

[gunslingerpose]

"She is," Nick agreed, pursing his lips a little. Right, kid. It was hard to think of anyone as a kid after they'd sewn you back together again in the wake of a gunshot wound, he supposed, though with as down on herself as Kathy seemed right now, it was easier to see again. "Stronger than she gives herself credit for. Gutsy. All that good stuff."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot nodded. "Ain't every highschooler can stitch a guy up after a fight," he said, watching Nick carefully. "Not sure I'd've managed it, at her age."

[gunslingerpose]

Nick pulled in a little breath between his teeth, but kept an easy smile on all the same. Ah, right. There had been a voice on the phone before, hadn't there?

"I know I sure as hell wouldn't have. I have a long list of stupid shit I was willing to do when I was in high school. Sewing people up again doesn't even rank."

[vdistinctive]

"Or runnin' around trying to fight crime," Eliot said. "Was too busy countin' down the days to get out of town."

[gunslingerpose]

"Yeah, crime fighting wasn't exactly on my list, either," Nick replied, pursing his lips thoughtfully. "Life's full of little fucking surprises that way."

In fairness, using his powers to fight crime hadn't exactly been mandatory. It had just... been the thing to do? Something like that, anyway. He didn't want people mistakenly thinking he was noble or anything like that.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot wasn't really the "going out for ice cream" sort. But he was the "duck into an ice cream shop to try to avoid getting hugged by a giant teddy bear again" sort. Especially when he was still too wiped out to fight them off properly.

"Kathy," he greeted, brushing his hair back from his face and trying to play it cool after darting in like the street was on fire. Outside, a fluffy brown bear with a jaunty red bowtie strolled past. "Hi."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Mr. Spencer!" Kathy looked up from her sundae to give her teacher a relieved smile, quite possibly the largest one she'd worn in days. "You're all right! And--" her eyes tracked to the giant bear in the street "--also realized that ice cream would probably help make things better?"

She had your back, Mr. Spencer.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot's eyes flicked from her to the staff to her friend. "Yeah. Ice cream." Why not. He looked over the selection and pointed to the cherry. "Scoop of that."

You know, just to keep his cover.

He turned back to Kathy with a smile. "How you holding up?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I..." Sure. Ask the hard questions, Eliot. "Umm...I'd say about four naps and ten meals away from being back to normal," she offered, hoping maybe he'd take that as an entire answer. "Plus whatever conditioning I need to do to get my stamina back. Umm, any ideas for that?"

Deflect, Kathy! Defleeeeect!

[vdistinctive]

Eliot took his scoop of cherry ice cream from the clerk and shrugged. "I'll let you know soon as I figure one out. Can't say I've had to recover from havin' my soul poisoned, before."

Well, not in a literal sense, anyway.

[spin_kick_snap]

"And here I thought you'd seen everything," Kathy said with another small smile, which faded a second later as she said, "Mr. Spencer, I owe you a major apology. I'm so sorry for about what happened in class last week. And for helping steal Ms. Parker's and Mr. Hardison's hard drive."

[vdistinctive]

"I'll accept that," Eliot said. "So long as you take mine for class, too. I, uh. I didn't hurt your ankle, did I?"

He honestly wasn't sure. He hadn't been paying attention at the time.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy shook her head. "You squeezed it and that hurt? But it wasn't damaging or anything. Kinda like how a pinch hurts, but doesn't hurt."

Which had sorta been what it was? A full-handed pinch? Maybe?

"Wanna know the saddest thing? I hadn't even gotten that stupid mirror yet. I was still trying to figure out how I was going to rob Mr. Starsmore to get it."

Not even really 'if' by that point. How.