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.

[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]

... 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.

[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 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.

[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.

[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."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer considered not bothering to answer the inquiry, because she certainly didn't owe answers to anyone except her brother, but, at the same time, it really wouldn't hurt if people around here started to understand a little better about who she was so she could finally start getting the proper respect.

Which would be so much easier with laser eyes.

"If the situation calls for it," she said, lifting her chin haughtily, her tone lofty with a touch of warning as she glanced back toward the kitchen, "due to unsatifactory performance...yes."

So there.

[uncertain_dume]

"One might think you would run out of places to go to in search of pancakes, that way," Caleb noted, mildly.

He... was not actually all that terribly intimidated. Sorry, Summer. He was calling scheisse on that threat.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Oh, please," Summer rolled her eyes, a gesture she was doing an awful lot, really, but she shouldn't be surprised. People were just all complete morons in this particular day and age. "There are, like, infinite universes and dimensions. Which means infinite shitty pancake houses to destroy on my very whim if I so desire. If I actually ran out of places in search of pancakes at that point, well, then, I'd say I would have truly earned my place in blessed oblivion and finally get to enjoy myself for a change."

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb was now giving her a look that was more or less as canny as the one the cat on his shoulder had been giving her.

"Only you don't know how to leave here either, do you? And so really, you're about as limited as any of the rest of us."

Hi, Caleb was a pretty insightful guy.

[somethingwithturquoise]

That perma-glare on Summer's face hardened just a little bit more.

"For the time being," she said tightly, "yes, but I don't suspect that will last for long. It is a merely temporary set-back. If anything, they will recognize my absence at the Citadel and bring reinforcements to ensure that I've been properly returned to my rightful place beside my brother."

She'd already said far more than she should ever have to about the situation, but she understood that the current circumstances were...exceptional. She sucked in a breath, lifted her chin, and snagged up the milkshake that had finally appeared on the counter and gave it a very dramatic sort of sip.

"It is only a matter of time. Until then, this," she waved a dismissive hand at the world in general, and this disgusting form of a human and his, like, suuuuper judgy cat in particular, "is just a minor inconvenience."

[uncertain_dume]

"Of course," Caleb replied, settling back behind the counter with a faintly amused look on his face.

Look, there was very little in the world that was more satisfying than watching priveleged people have to settle for something that they thought was well below their station. Especially when there was absolutely nothing they could do about it.

"Enjoy your," he waved a vague hand toward her drink. "... Milkshake."

[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."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Oh, honey. This place wasn't just below Summer's station. This place was fucking subterranian.

"I will," Summer stated, somehow managing to find more space for her chin to be lifted up into, "especially now that I think I'll be taking my food to go."

Sticking around here was clearly going to be detrimental to her appetite.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[uncertain_dume]

Caleb simply shrugged. No sweat off his back, not having to deal with the social elite.

Or people who clearly thought they were, at that.

"Suit yourself," he replied evenly.

And if Frumpkin was going for a wander down onto the floor, it was entirely so that he could go and have himself a piss on her boots while she was busy with her nose in the air.

[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 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."

[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.

[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?"

[notallbluemonks]

Stephanie knew that!

. . . much more than Beauregard did, go figure.

"You as confused as I am?" she asked gently. "Looks like there's quite a few of us."