Luke's, Friday

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker had decided that supervision was needed today, after various bouts of singing from the kitchen staff this week. Also, she wanted to see how they'd react to being stared at without her speaking for as long as possible.

Very nervously, it turned out.

SPECIALS
Shrimp Tacos
Zucchini Noodles
Veggie Scramble


Luke's was open. With Parker doing her feral cat imitation.

Comments

Mod Your Service

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

The Tacos are really yummy today.

Talk to Parker

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Who is nomming on the shrimp like she stole it. Which she did.

Re: Talk to Parker

[vdistinctive]

Eliot got a voicemail from his busboy that consisted entirely of panicked breathing and a furtively whispered "make her stop!", so he came over to the diner to see what was going on.

"Parker," Eliot said, smiling and moving to snag one of her shrimps for himself. He had no expectation of success. "You're scarin' the help."

Re: Talk to Parker

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Yay!" Parker slid him a grin, then said very low, "They've been singing cannibal songs around Hardison. They should know better." She contemplated one of her shrimps. "I could sing to them."

Yeah, because that didn't sound sinister.

Re: Talk to Parker

[vdistinctive]

"Yeah, I'm thinkin' just staring at them isn't really going to help," Eliot said. "They don't know why you're doin' it."

Re: Talk to Parker

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker's grin broke out again. "So maybe now they won't do anything for a while. I want to see if I can make any of them cry." She considered her shrimp. "This needs guacamole." She looked up at Eliot, and offered him a shrimp.

Re: Talk to Parker

[vdistinctive]

Eliot accepted it and bit the head off with the side of his mouth.

"Please don't make my staff cry. I always end up with all sorts of 'hostile work environment' complaints." Not that he didn't get those every time they had a weird weekend anyway. Most of these people had been living here longer than he had, they should be used to it by now.

Re: Talk to Parker

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Fiiiine." Spoil her fun. Parker took another shrimp and said, "So. Kathy?"

Re: Talk to Parker

[vdistinctive]

"Kathy," Eliot said, smiling faintly. He was on a bit of an emotional roller coaster this week, buoyed up when he thought about Kathy, then dragged back down if he thought about his dad. "You alright with it? Her being part of the family? Like . . . more officially than she had been."

Re: Talk to Parker

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker gave him an Are You Crazier Than Me? look. "Of course. I mean, if you want to make paperwork on it, we can get Hardison to do it. Or even do it for real. But she's been family for ages." She smiled a little more quietly at him. "And maybe it'll help her, you know. Get her head on straight."

Not 'back to normal', because what was that? And not 'get better', because she was fine as she was. But Kathy wasn't happy, and she had a lot of reasons not to be. This was a happy thing. A no-pressure thing. A good thing.

Re: Talk to Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

"Mmmrgh," Kathy said, sitting down across from Eliot with a plate of veggie scramble. An entire plate; you couldn't see the plate for food. Kathy was almost intimidated by the amount, she hadn't eaten that much at once in a long time.

Almost a year, in fact.

"Fllrgh." Parker got the benefit of real words. You were family now, Eliot, so you got sleepy mumbles delivered in ducky-print pjs.

Re: Talk to Parker

[vdistinctive]

"Nice to see your appetite's coming back," Eliot observed.

Who needed real words?

Re: Talk to Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

"Cook's fault," she muttered. "Didn't ask for this much."

But the staff had taken it as their duty in life to try to feed her as much as they remembered her eating.

Re: Talk to Parker

[vdistinctive]

Eliot would say she needed it, that she was getting too skinny, but he was going for surrogate father, not surrogate grandmother. "What's on your mind?"

Re: Talk to Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

"Too early for minds."

Kathy it was after noon.

Re: Talk to Parker

[vdistinctive]

"So we're on the 'sleeping til 3 PM' phase of things, huh?" Eliot asked. She could be as belligerent as she liked, Eliot was going to ride this high side of the emotional roller coaster as long as he could. "You know that ain't gonna help your ability to sleep at night."

RE: Re: Talk to Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

"Like there's much chance of that anyway," Kathy grumbled, poking at her plate with her fork. If only eating didn't always make her feel like she'd lost a fight with the endless hunger that drove an ex. "I'm thinking about trying to get some sleeping pills."

Re: Talk to Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

It was lunchtime by the time Kathy came downstairs, hair still mussed from sleep and droopy-eyed. Nights were still difficult, but there was something about the peace of the early morning that made it easier for Kathy to snatch a few hours of sleep.

"Hey, Parker," she mumbled, not seeming at all fazed by the creepy stare she was directing at the staff. It was possible she hadn't even noticed yet. "Can I have some of the veggie scramble?"

Re: Talk to Parker

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"Of course you can," Parker said, affect changing from disaffected spree killer to warmth immediately. She pointed at one of the servers, and raised her eyebrows at him. "Chop chop." She studied Kathy and said, "Sleep's good. You get enough?"

Re: Talk to Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

The server leapt into action like someone had threatened his family, disappearing into the kitchen to get the biggest plate of veggie scramble he could find.

For her part, Kathy shrugged. "Bout the same."

So...no.

Re: Talk to Parker

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Parker frowned at that, and scooted closer. "Do you need a different bed? Or a hammock or something?" Might as well ask the easy questions first.

RE: Re: Talk to Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

"I need different dreams," Kathy said, working through her brainfog to make words happen. For Parker. "I think those will follow me no matter what I sleep on."

They'd chased her to Boston.

Re: Re: Talk to Parker

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

"There's probably a way to make that happen here, you know." It being Fandom and all. But before they went to the magic stuff (and she was so going to ask that Jenkins guy about dreams) there was always regular coping methods. "Do you want to talk to someone about it? Or do you think you need to?"

RE: Re: Re: Talk to Parker

[spin_kick_snap]

"I...." Kathy faltered. "Nobody wants to know what's going on in my head."

Kathy, that was not true and you knew it.

"And no one who's to listen will believe me."

OOC

[whoisalicewhite.livejournal.com]

Around at lunch, and this evening, and no idea in between.