Luke's, Sunday

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb was restless.

This was nothing new, exacly, as Caleb tended to remain on the move from place to place, had been on the move for years now, though he'd always at least had some idea of where he was going. This place was a mystery to him, one that had come up out of nowhere and showed no signs of being solvable, at least not yet. He didn't know where he was or why he was here, and it distressed him almost as much that he'd been brought here without Nott as it did that he was distressed about it at all.

Leave it to him to let a small green woman begin to pull him out of the shell that he'd built for himself, apparently.

It had started raining after he'd been shooed from the library that morning, and the rain had soaked heavily into his coat and was bringing a chill to his bones, and so he ducked into a nearby business to try to find a moment's respite from it, only to have a fellow look up at him in relief, drag him further inside, wet clothing, wet cat, and all, and then tell him to just sit behind the counter and look busy. If there was anything at all that he needed...

"... I do not suppose you, ah, bake your own bread here, do you?"

Luke's was open, and apparently the special for the day was that you got to eat your meal while being treated to the sight of a scruffy wizard who had torn either end open and was using a fresh-baked loaf of bread as some kind of steaming hot muff for his chilled hands. You're welcome.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[somethingwithturquoise]

Lady Summer Smith, Blessed Sister to the Mighty Mort'dyb, All Sing the Benevelance of his Name and Countenance, was not having a very good day. She was not having a very good weekend, really, considering she'd somehow managed to find herself in some particularly stupid dimension of Earth pretty much in the Dark Ages of history. She had no slaves, none, and had to do lit.ter.ral.ly everything herself. The live food provided to her was being promblematic, and it turned out that the idiot shopkeeper hadn't given her cat poison, but cat nip, and so now the food was being both problematic and hyperactive. And then, when she marched down to this supposed Portalocity Office to demand to be returned to her proper place at the Citadel, they had the audacity to refuse her, trying to pass it off as some sort of temporary (and, surely, higly selective) freeze on outgoing portals to previously unknown dimensions for the time being.

Worthless. She hoped they really took to heart her threats about what she would do to their families once she'd gotten this all straightened out.

And being this irritated at everything had made Summer fairly hungry and, not wanting to deal with that damn cat again, she found a diner that she supposed would suffice, stomped in, and started making demands.

"If I don't have a plate of pancakes and a milkshake this instant, I will crush this very place down to the foundation with my rage!"

And, considering that it wasn't exactly all that out of the ordinary for Summer to come in and just yell at them, the staff just figured at least she was feeling like her normal self, although, giiiirl, what was with that outfit? She was clearly in a mood, though, so they were not about to ask.

Summer, meanwhile, was just finally glad to see that some people around here seemed to respect her authority.

[uncertain_dume]

... Huh. Must be a barbarian.

Caleb looked up mildly at the girl who had just stomped in, and his glance was joined by that of a cat whose glance was entirely too canny. Frumpkin saw you there, Summer, and was unimpressed.

Of course, he was a cat. He was unimpressed by most things.

"Do you do that often?"

Caleb would like to vacate before it came to that, if possible, thanks.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Uuurrgggghh! This version of Earth was, easily, the worst version Summer had, like, ever experienced, by faaar, and the worst of it was the fact that people here seemed to think it was okay to just straight up talk to her. Without even the slightest hint of prostration or worship or self-flaggelation or anything!

Of all the primitive, backwater, barbaric, uncivilized shitholes to wind up in...!

Summer slowly turned toward the voice, her eyes wide and piercing in a way that, if she had laser eyes, this person likely be in some trouble.

Why, oh why, couldn't she have had laser eyes??

Instead, all she really had in her arsenal was the acid in her voice. "I beg your pardon," she said, in a tone that very clearly was not begging for anything, much less a pardon.

[uncertain_dume]

This really wasn't shaking that whole 'barbarian' vibe in the least, Summer. Caleb stared back, torn, for a moment, between pushing back and backing down. On the one hand, she was very much rubbing him the wrong way. In fact, Frumpkin was giving a low growl of feline warning, clearly not liking that tone either.

On the other hand, pushing back would involve drawing more attention to himself than he cared to have as it was.

"I asked," Caleb replied evenly, "if you frequently crush entire buildings down to their foundations in a rage."

[biotic_psychotic]

Summer was still at least recognizably herself. Even if it was a.. well. It was a look. Jack nodded at her and asked, "Summer? Are you still havin' trouble with the cat? Do you want me to come take care of the cat for you so you can, uh, concentrate on gettin' back home?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

Aaaaaand there was another one. At least this person looked a bit more like the people she was used to seeing around here, but that didn't just excuse this woman from just coming right up and talking to her like she knew her, like they were friends...

She...did actually know who she was, even if she clearly had either a death wish or was too stupid to realize that she should never be addressed by her actual name by anyone outside of the holy family. Summer fixed her with a hard, firm, incredulous stare, but reminded herself to proceed with perhaps a bit of caution. If this woman actually knew who she was, and that she was trying to get back to the Citidel, perhaps she could still be...useful.

Still, though, really. She didn't even bow, and no matter how useful she could be, that was...practically unacceptable and she couldn't let her think that she could just get away with that.

"I'm sorry," she said, sounding not a bit sorry at all, but certainly sounding every bit as disgusted and offended by this encounter as she rightfully should be, "but am I supposed to know who you are? To address me in such a familiar way?"

Why, she'd should be whisked off to her mother's torture chamber before she could even blink for even thinking of it!

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack swiveled the stool so she was facing Summer directly. Her entire countenance shifted as Jack let every single ounce of pleasantness fall away. Letting herself relax the 'try not to scare people with your face' effort. Focusing intently on Summer while her mouth curved into an entirely different sort of smile. Something cold, emotionless and entirely predatory.

What her face looked like when she wasn't trying to be nice, trying to fit in. The face she'd worn before she met all the do-gooder types who'd made her want to try. A woman without fear, without conscience.

Her voice came out almost a purr, "You tell me, Summer. Someone like me. Addressing you familiarly. Offering to take care of a problem for you. Just who do you think I am?"

[filleauloup]

Amélie was not in Montmartre, nor any part of Paris for that matter, and this diner was most definitely not the Café des 2 Moulins, but she wasn't abandoning her calling in life just because she wasn't at home.

She scurried by quickly, not stopping, and dropped a pair of mittens and an umbrella on the counter near Caleb as she passed.

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb blinked at both of those things, and then after the lady who had left them there, looking more than a little bit bemused.

At least until Frumpkin jumped from his shoulder to the counter and started batting at one of the mittens. That was about the point he (grudgingly) extracted one of his hands from the nice, warm bread, and claimed the mittens to wear, himself.

[notallbluemonks]

. . . look, yesterday had been a day, all right? And no amount of effort on Stephanie's part would get her comm to work properly, which meant that she couldn't get a hold of Oracle, and she was not freaking out about this at all really.

Well, she'd been trained as a detective, hadn't she? So she'd spent all of yesterday (you know, after her very confusing wakeup experience) casing the town, trying to figure out what was going on.

That had possibly made things worse, because this town made no damn sense whatsoever. So. Heading for the diner, and sliding into a corner booth.

"Just . . . I need waffles, okay?" she asked the staff. "And coffee, and maybe keep 'em coming, please?"

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb glanced around, waiting for somebody to answer this woman. And then realized, perhaps a few moments belatedly, that the person expected to answer this woman was... well... him. Which meant he was drawing a total blank for a few moments more.

Um.

"Waffles," he repeated, eventually. "And coffee."

He glanced toward the kitchen, and recited back at them, "Waffles and coffee?"

The cook back there yelled something about pouring the coffee already, and Caleb took yet another moment to wonder where in the world they kept the mugs for exactly that purpose.

... And why he was actually doing this in the first place.

[notallbluemonks]

"Thanks," Stephanie said, digging into her pocket for a bottle of Tylenol, because this place was giving her a headache. She peered at Caleb for a moment, frowning. "Um. Are you okay?"

He seemed about as lost as she felt, really.

[uncertain_dume]

"Ja," Caleb replied, definitely feeling about as lost as he seemed, on top of it all. "I am as well as can be expected." A beat. "Thank you."

Manners. Manners. Those were a thing.

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack scowled her way into Luke's fully prepared to walk her ass behind the counter and serve herself.

She narrowed her eyes a little at the scruffy man behind the counter. She recognized him from what the squirrels had told her in their panicked rush to assure her that they did not mean that Caleb. After she'd turned off the mic, she'd had a conversation with the little furry jerks, arranging for them to come get her if they ever did see Kanan in his younger mien.

Sliding her ass onto a stool at the counter, her gaze swept over him thoughtfully. "Mornin'," she said pleasantly, "You must be Caleb. How you doin'? You doin' ok?"

She caught the busboy's attention, "You. Coffee please."

[uncertain_dume]

Please excuse the slightly soggy scruffy wizard man who was looking at you strangely, Jack. For what it was worth, he kind of did that to everyone. Even the people who he knew very well.

... Which was a short list, at present.

"I... am fine," he hedged, his words carrying the light tint of a German Zemnian accent, "though I must confess I am a little curious as to how it is my reputation precedes me."

Especially since he'd been using this particular name for maybe a month now.

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack looked him over. Oh goody. Another pre-tech. "Town crier types," she said succinctly, "New people in town get noticed. It's not a bad thing. It's supposed to help everyone know there's new people around and to be nice to 'em."

.. Sure. Something like that. Maybe not much like that but sure.

"..Are you someone who believes in magic or someone who don't?" she asked cautiously, "Cuz if you're one who don't, it's best I don't say more about it."

[uncertain_dume]

She asks the wizard.

Caleb gave her an odd look at that, raising an eyebrow.

"It would be foolish to not believe in something that exists," he noted. "I am many things, but I prefer to not think of myself as a fool."

[notallbluemonks]

Don't mind Stephanie just eyeing you with mild caution from her booth, Jack. She was just a little on edge here, and a Gotham City kid.

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack threw her an arched eyebrow in return. "Which one are you, new confused person who woke up somewhere she don't know?" Look, there'd been a few new blondes in town yesterday.

[notallbluemonks]

"Stephanie. Stephanie Brown. And I . . . may have woken up with a woman I don't even know, so that's awkward. Is it that obvious?" She laughed, a little high-pitched, and ran a hand through her hair. "Then again it does seem to be going around. Oh god, is this some kind of epidemic? Some highly sophisticated mass kidnapping?"

[firstofitskind]

... Sorry Jack, apparently stares were the order of the day today, although Liam’s was more just plain childish curiosity,

[biotic_psychotic]

Jack glanced back at the tiny, scarily breakable human. She knew who it just about had to be. It wasn't as if there were many other tiny barely out of diaper types running around. "Hi Liam," she greeted him, "Do you need breakfast?"

[firstofitskind]

Look, Liam didn’t know how long he’d be here- on this island, on this planet, whatever, and so he wanted to explore. Unfortunately, exploring was hungry work, so eventually he found himself drawn towards a place that appeared to serve food.

“I am hungry,” he declared to the man who had... his hands... in bread? Was that sanitary? “May I have something to eat?”

[uncertain_dume]

Look, it was only unsanitary if you were planning on sharing the bread.

"You may," Caleb replied, after a pause. "What is it you would like to eat?"

Presumably this was where you went to get food, after all.

... Or to be pressed into service in exchance for warm bread.

[firstofitskind]

Liam shrugged. “Some fruit?” That was usually what he was given back home. And the place he had woken up in yesterday had not had any, that’s for sure.