The park, Friday afternoon

[vdistinctive]

A week and a half was a lot of time to be as intently focused on something as Eliot had been on Kathy and the Butcher of Kiev. The way it had finally shaken out, with Sterling swooping in at the last possible moment and him and Kathy having to have their heart to heart while fleeing the scene, had left Eliot with even more to think over and worry about. The stitches over his cheek were throbbing in time to the rest of his body -- fighting the Butcher was never easy -- but Eliot knew when he needed to decompress.

Turned out, having a puppy who wanted nothing more from you than your attention and some room to run around in was really good for decompression.

Val was extremely excited to be outside again with her person without him constantly checking his phone. So much so she wasn't even much concerned with the fact that he was mostly interested in sitting on a bench and pressing a cold pack to his face. She ran circles around the bench, pausing on each revolution for a head pat or a back scritch, then taking off again. She chased a squirrel up a tree -- leaving Eliot to wonder if he was going to get trash talked on the radio, now -- and barked joyously at thin air.

It was exhausting just watching her. But Eliot was hard-pressed to think of anything he'd rather be doing just now.

[ooc: My Friday started with a migraine aura ten minutes after I woke up. Post is VERY open.]

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[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal was out enjoying the day, but it was hard to miss the exuberant puppy. And then the somewhat less bouncy Eliot.

He nodded pleasantly at Eliot, then raised an inquiring eyebrow at his face. "Have I missed something happening, or did you manage that on your own?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot smirked faintly. "Got into a tussle in Baltimore." Tussle, knife fight with a professional killer, same thing. "How's it goin', doc?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"I'm well," Hannibal answered. "Yourself? Apart from the obvious."

[vdistinctive]

"Can't complain." Not to Hannibal, anyway. "Been pretty quiet around here, yesterday's bags notwithstanding." Yesterday's countless tiny little bags covered in names Eliot tried not to think about. "Waitin' for the other shoe to drop."

They were just about due for something big, by Eliot's reckoning.

[sharp_as_knives]

"The other shoe apart from the impending holidays?" Hannibal asked, smiling.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot scoffed. "Holidays happen everywhere."

[sharp_as_knives]

"And cause immense amounts of stress for many people," Hannibal pointed out. "Although some aspects are less worrisome for some. Will you be having your Thanksgiving meal here?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot nodded. "I'll probably whip somethin' up for my partners, watch the game. You and Jono got plans?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"Nothing special," Hannibal answered. "I may cook for myself and share with him, but that's hardly out of the ordinary."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Now that the thing with the Butcher was settled, Parker felt like a debrief was in order.

"Sooooo... how are you doing?" She was just there, perched on the back of the bench, watching Megabyte with him.

[vdistinctive]

This was new. "I'm fine," Eliot said. It wasn't really a lie. "Pissed at Sterling and my face hurts. Not exactly unusual."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker nudged her shoulder with his. "I can't be too pissed at him, 'cause he helped. But it's Sterling, so..." So being mad at him wasn't much effort, though. "How's Kathy?"

[vdistinctive]

"He didn't help, he intruded. I had it under control." Well, not as much as he liked to think. "Kathy's . . . probably still kinda pissed at me. But she's alright."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"He was Sterling." Which meant he did both. The jerk. "Do you want me to talk to her? Do you think it would help at all?" Parker wasn't sure it could, but. Could it hurt?

[vdistinctive]

"Nah. I mean, you can if you want to, but we managed to clear the air a little bit last night. So it's a little less 'she's never gonna talk to me again' than it was."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Good." Parker leaned back, watching Val for a minute. "I'm glad you didn't get dead."

And her feelings about the Butcher still being alive were very mixed.

[vdistinctive]

"I'm generally a fan of staying alive." Most of the time. ". . . You didn't call him, did you?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

If Eliot was wondering whether or not Hardison was feeling guilty about Sterling showing up, him wandering up in the park probably answered that question. Hardison wasn't one for communing with nature if he could help it.

"Hey," he said quietly, taking up a position next to Eliot. "'Sup?"

[vdistinctive]

"You're outside," Eliot observed, not entirely certain what to make of that fact. "On purpose."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison shrugged. Totally casually. "Yeah, well, sometimes it's nice to get outside. You know, all the...plants. Trees. Staircases." He paused, sniffing. "Yo, what's that smell?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot sighed. "Grass." Or this time of year: leaf mold.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Ugh," Hardison said, wrinkling his nose. "I don't like it."

[vdistinctive]

"Yeah," Eliot said. "I know."

He usually found that vaguely charming as well as irritating, but today it was pretty much just irritating.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Yo," Hardison said tiredly. "We gonna do this? Or are we just gonna stand around and glare and grunt at one another?"

[vdistinctive]

"Do what?" Yeah, Eliot knew what he was getting at. But he wasn't much feeling like making it easy on Hardison. He'd had a long couple of weeks.