Outside Luke's, Saturday afternoon

[vdistinctive]

After spending much of the morning flinging himself full speed up and down the stairs around the island with Val leaping after him frantically to keep up/probably yelling at him to be more careful, Eliot decided it was time to spend some time relaxing.

So he picked an awning he rather liked, shoved a battered copy of meta for Treasure Island down the back of his pants, and climbed up on one of the outdoor tables to get into reach of one of the supports.

He loved reading. He especially liked to do so in extremely awkward and hard to get to places. They made it way harder for Gertie to come bug him and get him in trouble for not playing with her.

He lost his grip trying to swing his legs up around the support beam, and barely managed to break his fall by grabbing onto one of the closed umbrellas leaning against the wall. Momentum carried him and the umbrella down to the cobblestones with a thud, and he lay there for a moment staring up at the awning.

"Ow."

Then he grinned, jumped back up, and tried it again.

[open!]

Comments

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

And suddenly, there was a girl. "You're clumsy," she observed from the roof, swinging her legs. "Did that hurt?"

[vdistinctive]

"Am not," Eliot said easily, this time managing to wrap his legs around the support beam and hanging upside down from them with a big grin.

His book fell out of his pants and landed on the ground. Oops.

"I've had worse."

Eliot was one of those kids who injured himself at least once a year as a matter of course.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker nodded back, solemn and unsmiling, but stretched out to lie flat on the roof, digging in her toes as she hung half over the edge to watch him. "You lost your book." At least this kid kept trying. She could respect that.

[vdistinctive]

"That's alright," Eliot said. "I'm talkin' to you instead."

She wasn't his little sister and she was sitting on a roof. She was way more interesting than a book about pirates, right now.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Hunh." Okay, that was new. Someone who actually wanted to talk to her? Parker peered at him from behind her hair. "Parker." She paused and added, "Is my name."

[vdistinctive]

"Eliot." He waved, still upside down. "Whatcha doin' up there?"

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Another pause; Parker had to keep considering if she wanted to keep talking to this kid. But. Why not? "Looking. Around," she added, in case that wasn't clear. "You can see stuff. The park. The bridge-thing."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Y'all gon' get in trouble!" Hardison called up to her. He was not comfortable with all this wandering around on the rooftop that the girl was doing. "An' I'mma get in trouble, too! I don' wanna get in more trouble, I'm tryna be good!"

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker leaned down upside down, and stuck out her tongue at the yelly boy. "Why're you in trouble?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"I'm not!" Hardison said, looking around to spot any adults who might be nearby and listening to their conversation. It seemed to involve a lot of squinting. "But I'm gonna be 'cause you're up where you're not s'posed to be. An' bad kids get stuck in foster care forever."

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker considered that, and said definitely, "Then I don't have any reason to be good. I'm gonna be in foster care forever anyway." So there! Parker took one arm off the roof to wave at him, teetering. "I'll tell them you tried to stop me, though."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"You're in--" he paused, eyes going wide with concern. "No, wait! You're gonna fall! Come back, use two hands!"

Panic! Panic panic panic panic!

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker giggled, then switched hands. "Like this?" Switch! "Or this?"

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Not Kenzi's usual day at the diner, no. But there were tiny people everywhere, and while she didn't want to take any home, she was up for feeding them. Eliot and Hardison would back her up on this.

The Menu said:

SPECIALS
PB&J on sourdough
Artisanal Grilled Cheese
Pizza Bites
Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies
but only if you're shorter than our hostess.

[vdistinctive]

"What's an artisanal grill?" Eliot asked, sounding the unfamiliar word out a little stiltedly.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"I dunno," Parker said as she tugged open the door, then squinted at the woman behind the counter. "We're shorter than her, though. So that's good."

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"You guys didn't see any elephants on the roof out there, did you?" Kenzi asked, clicking her nails on the counter. By the time she's looked out the window they were on the ground, and hey, she wasn't their mom. "I could swear I heard some."

[vdistinctive]

"Hilaaaaaarious," Eliot said, rolling his eyes (after discreetly choking down a giggle). "And I'm not that short."

Eliot was a bit short for his age. And would never not be. It was a bit of a sore point.

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker gave him a confused look, then measured herself against him, finding she was the same height almost exactly. "You're as short as me. Or tall as me." She gave the woman behind the counter a defiant look then. "We have money. What's an artisanal grill? Is it poison?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

There was a troubled voice coming from out the window. "You're doin' that again? That's stupid. You're a get hurt an' hospitals is 'spensive."

[vdistinctive]

"'If at first you don't succeed,'" Eliot quoted with great self importance. "'Sides, it's fun."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"You got some weird ideas 'bout fun," Hardison told him. "...I don' like heights. They're scary!"

[vdistinctive]

"But that's the part that's fun!" Eliot looked around, confused. "Where are you?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison poked his head out the window, just for a minute. "'M up here!" he called. "Inside! There's all sorts of cool stuff up here an' none of it is up way super-high!"

Where it would be scary!

[vdistinctive]

"Well duh," Eliot said. "Nothin's super up high indoors." He looked around for a good way to get into the window, but wasn't spotting one. "You wanna come outside and play?"