Mooby Land - Sunday afternoon.

[hernando_fuentes]

After an aborted attempt to talk to Eliot at Luke's, Hernando made his way to a business he hadn't yet been to. His hopes weren't high. The bright yellow of the building and the cartoonish characters were a bit garish and the person in the golden calf outfit was too excitable for his tastes.

He looked over the menu. Everything began with 'Mooby'. There were no descriptions what the items were other than 'burger' 'chips' 'fries' 'chicken noggs'.

Hernando made the mistake of asking. The golden calf bounced over and began singing at him. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Hernando shook his head. "Just .. a cheeseburger, fries, soda combination, please."

"That'd be a Mooby Cheesy Mooby Burger, Mooby Fries, Mooby Beverage in a Mooby Cow Combo?"

"..Yes," he said. His voice was perhaps a little plaintive.

When the tray arrived, he went and found a seat as far away from the singing golden calf as he could.

At least the burger wasn't terrible.

[Open!]

Comments

[spectre_alenko]

Fast food places were the one spot Kaidan had been sure he'd never see Hernando. That's probably why he escaped notice in the far corner until Kaidan had already ordered and collected his tray.

Walking over, Kaidan took a seat at his table without bothering to ask first, and blurted, ".. the hell are you doing in a burger joint?"

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando looked up as Kaidan sat down uninvited and gave him a wry, if wan, smile. "A man needs to eat, Kaidan. I tried Luke's first. I was hoping to connect with Eliot about a matter."

[spectre_alenko]

"You get kicked out?" Kaidan asked mildly. He knew what day it was. He also knew Kanan wouldn't do that without provocation, however, Kanan's definition of 'provocation' was probably a little broad where Hernando was concerned right now.

He bit into his burger as though the answer didn't matter.

[hernando_fuentes]

"No. I saw Kanan was working and I left," Hernando replied, "I was mostly looking for Eliot. I was in no mood to deal with your angry friend. Spit is a condiment I don't enjoy."

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan paused with the burger halfway to his mouth. He glanced from it to Hernando's burger, to Hernando's face. "And you felt this was the safer choice? Come on, Hernando. He wouldn't do that."

He took the bite. When he was done chewing, he added, "Might turn your order into a to-go whether you'd planned on it or not, though."

[hernando_fuentes]

"You aren't the one he's mad at," Hernando said simply.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan wondered for a moment if Hernando'd had a brain transplant somewhere along the line.

"Wait, what? Repeat those words again out loud and maybe listen to what you just said," Kaidan said dryly.

[hernando_fuentes]

"You aren't the one he's been avoiding, if you prefer," Hernando said with a small frown, "Unless he has been and you haven't mentioned it?"

[spectre_alenko]

"I'm not," Kaidan agreed calmly, "Which is good, because I'm not above hiring a skywriter."

[hernando_fuentes]

"Sky..writer.." Hernando frowned, "You must explain what that means to me, please."

[spectre_alenko]

"'Stop being a stubborn asshole and call me'," Kaidan recited calmly. "It's more effective when I can just shake some sense into him occasionally. But like I said, skywriting? Not off the table."

He ate a few fries.

"Anyway. How've you been? Heard from Sparkle?"

[hernando_fuentes]

"He might think the skywriting was about you," Hernando pointed out dryly, "Since you are also a stubborn asshole."

He frowned and spent a moment sipping his cola. "I've been fine. The store is a delight." Another sip. "I have not heard from Sparkle. I did not want to seem pushy and so I have not gone by his store to see if he is there."

[spectre_alenko]

"I know. There's two of us. It's great." Kaidan deadpanned.

Kaidan shrugged a shoulder, "Stop by the Perk, pick up the most sugary, caffeinated, cold thing they've got, have them top it with a metric crap-ton of whipped cream, and stop by."

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando pushed a fry around the paper on the tray for a moment. He thought about the suggestion. It was a good suggestion.

"Is that what you plan to do?"

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan shook his head a little. "Not right now. Normally, yeah. It'd be a bad idea for me to seek him out right now, I think." He ate another bite. "I'm still sending him encouragement texts and getting minimal replies, which tells me he's concentrating on being the rock."

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando's brow furrowed while he frowned across the table. "He's your friend. Why would you think that?"

That's dumb, Kaidan. That's completely un-Kaidanlike of you.

[spectre_alenko]

"Because I threatened to hug the shit out of him, he knows I'll do it, and if he's in a space where he's busy being the rock, yanking him out of that groove might not be appreciated right now," Kaidan explained.

Another few fries disappeared. "It was pointed out to me that I'm really, really bad at trusting people to know what's best for themselves. Especially if it looks to me like what they're doing, isn't."

He ate another fry, slowly. "I'm working on it. Consider it some sort of weird litmus test. I'm trusting Sparkle to have this handled. I'm trusting that he'll contact me when he's ready. I'm trusting that he knows I'm here if he needs me."

And it would utterly shatter him if none of that was true. So be it. He'd made a promise.

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando busied himself with his burger while he listened to Kaidan. "And if you're wrong?"

[spectre_alenko]

"You say 'hey, just thought you could use this, gotta go see a man about a dog, you have my number if you need anything, bye'," Kaidan pointed out.

"Unless you mean if I'm wrong about trusting him? Because I could be, and if so, it'll be another notch on the bedpost of mistakes I've made in the last couple months."

[hernando_fuentes]

"Maybe I shall do that," Hernando murmured. He was worried.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan finished his food. He nodded as he gathered up his trash. "If he's in manic cleaning mode, make sure his door's at least propped open, yeah?"

He gave Hernando a lopsided smile, "My turn to go see a man about a dog. Except in my case, that happens to be true. See you tomorrow?"

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando shook his head, "No. Tomorrow's a holiday, the club is closed." He hesitated before offering, "If you wanted to practice, we could find somewhere?"

[spectre_alenko]

"Right, holiday," Kaidan sighed. "I'll let you know once I see how I'm feeling tomorrow."

Pitching his trash in the bin, he waved and headed out.