Caritas- Tuesday

[throughaphase]

"Okay," Kitty said when she walked in and saw the mess. "Use plastic glasses when you're practicing bar tricks."

The first part of Kitty's shift was definitely spent cleaning glass. And anything served by Tino was going to be in a plastic cup because he could not be trusted.


[Open, no OCD!]

Comments

[died8yearsago]

Rosa had been coming here consistently on Tuesday for long enough to know the mood of the bar the moment she stepped in; she didn't even need to look to know that Tino had an expression on his face that only proved that Kitty definitely didn't get paid enough for whatever bullcrap of his she had to deal with.

And she thought to ask about it, too, but that would just distract her from something she was already feeling was stupid, because Valentine's Day was stupid, and getting gifts for people you weren't even banging was pretty stupid, too, yet there she was, and if she didn't just get it out of the way, then she probably would just back out and not do it at all.

She trusted Kitty to help make this as painless for her as possible.

Well, maybe a little painful, but Rosa would deserve it, because this was pretty dumb, and dumb jerks like her deserved a little pain for being so dumb.

"I don't know if I'll see you before Thursday," she said, coming up to the bar and smacking down a small wrapped present as if it had been burning her hands, "so here. Happy Valentine's Day, or whatever."

Cool. So that was done, and they could accept it and not acknowledge it and get on with the drinking and shooting the shit now, right?

[throughaphase]

In a second.

"Wait. For me?" Because Kitty would not have ever expected this. "You're sure?"

[died8yearsago]

Was she sure? Not even a little.

"No, it's for Tino," Rosa said, rolling her eyes. "Of course I'm sure."

Just ignore the fact that she looked about two seconds away from snatching it back at even the slightest provocation.

[throughaphase]

"Thank you," Kitty said, picking it up. "Should I open it now?"

Somehow she felt like the answer would be no.

[died8yearsago]

"I don't care," Rosa shrugged. "Whatever."

And then she proceeded to just tell Kitty about what she would find inside when she did open it, which would include two necklaces with a metalwork flower on them and a pink sparkly beaded bracelet.

"It's not a big deal, or anything. Just some pieces from my handmade jewelry line. The bigger one's yours, the smaller matching one for Lexi, and the pink sparkly bracelet's for Clint."

The faint twitch on Rosa's face proved that, no matter how many times she'd rehearsed that last part in her head, it was still really difficult, even for her, to say it with a completely straight face.

[uncertain_dume]

Hey. Hey, Kitty. Guess who had two whole days of stubble and the same short hair he'd had on Sunday, today.

Kanan was trying, dammit. It left a little something to be desired, but at least he looked slightly more his own age again.

"So, what do you recommend for a guy who spent two days as a clueless idiot?"

And who was still keeping dry.

"Hey, Kitty."

[throughaphase]

"Hmm, I think thiscalls for a Kanan," Kitty said. "If it helps, most people were clueless idiots."

[throughaphase]

Well, now she had to open it, jaw dropping as she did. "Rosa! This is gorgeous. You made this?"

[died8yearsago]

Nooooo.

Rosa was going to be shrugging a lot during this conversation until she managed to get past all this extreme akwardness with just a slight undercurrent of pride. "I picked up a few tips here and there from Blackstone," she said. "And everyone on Instagram eats that crap right up, so I just kept at it."

[throughaphase]

"Thank you," she said again. "I love it. And I'm sure Clint and Lexi will too."

[uncertain_dume]

"Feels a little telling that the 'clueless idiot' drink is the one named after me," Kanan mused, smiling wryly. "But that does help, yeah."

[throughaphase]

"It's a drink I know will help you," she said, going for a glass. Not plastic, because she was an adult. "How're you doing?"

[filleauloup]

"Oh no, what has Tino done now?"

Éponine had so much faith in him, didn't she?

[throughaphase]

"He thought he could stack glasses and pour."

He could not!

[what_the_shock]

"This was a pretty stupid weekend."

Hi, Rosa.

[filleauloup]

"And leaving you to clean up the mess? For shame, Tino," Éponine said, casting a reproachful look at him. "As if you haven't enough to deal with as it is. D'you need anything tonight? I wouldn't mind making a delivery run for something that isn't heart shaped for a change today."

[died8yearsago]

Rosa nodded. "And if you mention this to anyone else," she said, "I'll kidnap your kid and hit the road, raising her as my own under false pretenses as we start our own matriarchial mommy-daughter biker gang."

An empty threat, obviously, because it would involve her actually--gross--raising a kid, but she felt a threat of some kind needed to at least be made.

"And now I'm really going to need a beer."

But it was kind of nice to not only meet but exceed your emotional output quota by Tuesday. Get it out of the way for the rest of the week.

[throughaphase]

"I'm fine tonight," Kitty assured her. "You sit. Have a drink. Tell me how you are."

[died8yearsago]

"Yeah, I know; I didn't even figure out who the bad guys," or good guys, "were so I could kick their asses."

Hey, Tightpants.

[throughaphase]

"That would be a pretty badass AU," said Kitty, who knew about these things. She put the present behind the bar so Rosa didn't have to look at it, and slid over a beer. "So what else do you have going on?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Overall?" Kanan breathed out a little laugh. "Coming back into my own head has been a process. It was a good weekend, stands to reason yesterday was spent just adjusting to the flipside of 'ignorance is bliss.'"

[throughaphase]

"It's like Fandom's way of putting you through therapy and making you deal with stuff," she nodded.

[uncertain_dume]

"Yeah," Kanan agreed with a sigh. "Space, I'll never do it myself if I'm left to my own devices, after all."

No. Really. When Obi-Wan Kenobi told you that you needed to recognize your shit and fix it and you decided that meant, 'eventually,' you probably needed to be strong-armed into some stuff.

[throughaphase]

"Until then, you get Kanans," she says, presenting him with one. "What are you thinking about the hair now?"

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan gave her a brief, thankful smile as he reached for his delicious, sugary regret drink.

"Honestly... it's not the end of the world," he decided. "I'm going to grow it all back, and it's going to take some time, but I've been reassured that I don't look half as much like the kid I'm afraid I look like as my head keeps telling me."

It wasn't a disaster. It was just weird.