J,GoB; Sunday Afternoon

[totalwildcard]

Okay, so Barbie probably wasn't in Barbieland anymore, that much had become clear. She wasn't... exactly sure what to do with that information, but she was choosing to try and make the best of it! And right now? Right now, that meant she'd found a nice little bakery and coffee place in town, and ordered coffee and a cupcake. The person behind the counted seemed a little weirded out by the money she handed over, but accepted it, so Barbie picked up her things to head to one of the tables.

"... Oh, gosh, that was a close one!"

She really wasn't used to carrying things with actual liquid inside! But it was just a matter of just being a little more careful about holding the cup, right? Right. She made it to one of the window tables without another incident of almost spilling coffee on herself.

She had not yet thought about what the experience drinking it would be like, though.

(open! eta: now with 100% less clashing with Summer's post)

Comments

[what_big_teeth]

To say that Chad was a man on a mission suggested that Chad ever had any direction in life beyond what was straight in front of him, so that might not have been entirely accurate. But he had been trying to figure out whose room he'd been staying in, so let's say he was a man with a vaguely defined goal?

Which he hoped to accomplish, apparently, by going up to random people at bakeries, like Barbie, and asking, "Hey, are you Eleanor?"

[totalwildcard]

"Me?" Barbie asked, slightly less weirded out by the entire concept that anyone would think her name would be anything other than what it was now than she would have been the previous day. "No, I'm Barbie, hi!"

[what_big_teeth]

"Awww, bummer, brah," Chad frowned a little with that small moment of disappointment. "I was kinda hoping you would be, 'cuz you're all cute and you kinda have that whole...quirky, vintage style that I think she has? Based on what's in her room? If you catch my drift?

"But that's cool." The disappointment wasn't likely to stick around for long, and he was soon grinning at Barbie, perking up his chin in greeting back and crossing his arms in front of him in a pose tgat was clearly very smooth, very cool. "I'm Chad. 'Sup?"

[totalwildcard]

Barbie suddenly found she was getting kind of a Ken vibe off of Chad.

It was not necessarily a compliment.

"Hi," she said again, friendly all the same. And then some of the other parts he'd said registered. "If you don't mind me asking... why were you in the room of a woman that's enough of a stranger to you that you don't know what she looks like?"

[what_big_teeth]

Kens walked so Chads everywhere could run.

"Idunno," Chad shrugged, mushing it all into one word. "We probably hooked up or something. I bet it was pretty sweet, but probably did too many Red Bulls, that's why I don't remember. Sometimes you can kinda, like, black out? And then I think she went to go get us coffee in the morning and forgot to come back."

But, man, if Chad actually did find out what this Eleanor looked like??

...he wouldn't think anything of it, actually. It would make sense, even, since most people in his world looked just like him.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden's head snapped up. "Did you say Eleanor?"

[what_big_teeth]

"Uh, yeah, brah!" Chad instantly brightened at the prospect of a lead, and then his grin grew even more when he turned toward the person who asked. "I sure am! Are you Eleanor?"

His shades slid down his nose a little so he could peer over them to get a better look at Potential-Eleanor, and gave himself a little fist pump of victory.

"Nice."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

There was a very loooooooong second while Arden looked at Chad. If this whole weekend hadn't already put her solidly in a place of unending 'what the fuckery,' this might have been what did it.

"Uhh, no," she told Eleanor. Not-Eleanor? Whatever. "I'm her friend, Arden. I...ahh... don't think you'll find her this weekend."

[what_big_teeth]

"Aww, really?" Chad asked. "You think?"

But his initial disappointment was quickly turned into a thoughtful, understanding nod. "Playing hard to get probably, huh? Love of the chase and all that? I get it. I respect that. But, hey, if you see her, maybe you can give her my digits? And you can give me yours, too, just in case."

[wildgalegirl]

Charlie had finally left the Perk when the baristas started deliberately cleaning his table around him as his phone calls got even louder. He had to admit it was the smell of the pastries that got him in this door. "Yeah, I don't know how I got here, Sam. ... Look... Look... Look! Can somebody please just make sure the president knows I - " He sighed. "Trust me, I'll be back as soon as I can."

He closed his phone and sat down near the... woman who really really loved pink. Seemed to be a thing here apparently. "Pardon me, ma'am. You wouldn't happen to know how I can get out of here, do you?"

[totalwildcard]

Barbie frowned a little.

Then she pointed helpfully, towards the way he'd come in from. "The door? Have you tried that?"

Not a trace of sarcasm in that, either.

[wildgalegirl]

"The door..." Charlie took a breath. "Yes, ma'am, thank you, I appreciate that. But I was thinking more in terms of getting off this island. There's a causeway, but it doesn't seem to be letting anyone through." And wasn't that bizarre in and of itself?

"I assume you're from here?

[totalwildcard]

"Oh, no," Barbie said, shaking her head. "I'm from Barbieland, I don't actually know how I got here."

Yes, he'd heard that correctly. Barbieland.

"But I brought my house with me, however it happened!"

[wildgalegirl]

"You're from Barbieland," Charlie said slowly. "And you brought your house with you."

This was like some bizzaro version of Big Block of Cheese Day apparently.

"Well, I'm glad your house travelled with you, ma'am. Must hwve made things a bit easier for you."

Definitely fever dreams.

[what_big_teeth]

"Hey, man," Chad sidled up to Charlie's table and lifted his chin in greeting. "You know any Eleanors?"

[wildgalegirl]

Charlie gave him a side glance. "Are you talking about the preisdent's daughter?" he asked.

[what_big_teeth]

Chad's jaw dropped so hard it nearly dislodged his sweet, sweet killer shades.

"Whoa, dude! You serious?? I hooked up with the president's daughter?? Are you, like, totally secret service come to protect me because we're totally, like, in love now?"

[wildgalegirl]

"Oh hell no," Charlie said. "Ellie Bartlett would chew you up and spit you out and then the Secret Service would take you away. I can assure you that you did not 'hook up' with her. And I am absolutely not Secret Service."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Um, off the island?" Arden checked.

No, he wasn't talking to her, but as she was the one person here who was aware of reality...

[wildgalegirl]

Charlie turned to her quickly. "Yes! Off the island," he said. "There's a causeway thing, but it doesn't seem to connect to anything and I really have to get back."

He offered his hand. "Charlie Young, and I'd appreciate any help you can give me, ma'am."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden didn't know how this all worked, so she didn't make the connection between this Charlie and the regular one. But she did shake his hand while her mind raced to figure out a good, calming lie.

"Arden Finch," she said. "And, err, yes. We're closed off for the weekend, but you'll be back home before work on Monday, I guarantee it."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden didn't know why she'd shown up for Sunday pastries, considering the odds that anyone she knew would be here, but some things were just habit, she guessed.

Or maybe she just needed more chocolate to get through the rest of the day.

It was the vibrant pink that caught her eye and nearly had her fumbling her plate of beignets. "Harley?!"

Yes, she knew that was probably wrong because of the weekend, but it was hard not to sputter anyway.

[totalwildcard]

Yeah, no, even aside from all the pink (and boy was there plenty of it!), Barbie's skin had a healthy glow and no tattoos, on the face or otherwise.

The fantastic bone structure remained, though!

Barbie looked up at the voice, even though the name brought no recognition. Well, not like that, anyway - hadn't that non-Ken guy from the day before called her that, too...? "Oh, sorry, no," she said with an easy smile, "that's not me."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I'm so sorry, ma'am, I mistook you for someone else," Arden said quickly. "I, uh. You just look a lot like this other woman I know."

Must have been the same mold.

[totalwildcard]

"Don't worry about it," Barbie said, with a friendly smile, "I get that a lot."

Granted, maybe a little more here than she was used to.

"Hi, I'm Barbie."