thatsamilkshake | Town and then Room 505, Monday Night

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Town and then Room 505, Monday Night

As she headed back to the dorms from town, Francine was more lost in her own thoughts than usual, between being back in Fandom after a week away, the conversation this morning, and the ... thing that didn't happen yesterday morning.

So she paid no attention to...

A shadowy stalker	The continuing surveillance had lead to another person of interest. One who didn't seem aware they were being followed....
Francine	One who would probably only be aware of being followed if someone walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder, especially considering the pile of boxes she was concentrating on carrying. Look, she'd stopped in after shopping to get pizza, and, well, there were new cheese puffs and cinna-stix!
A shadowy stalker	The stalker watched, and followed more silently than had been the case with the blond boy. If this had been a serious stalking, this girl would already be abducted.
Francine	Knowing this girl, the stalker might have had to inform her of that verbally for her to realize that's what was going on. Last time, after all, there had been a gun pointed at her head. Standards had been set. That said, Francine did pause on the pavement for a moment, but not because she saw or heard anything. She just felt... odd. Telling it from the thousands of species of odd you can find in Fandom on any given day was eluding her, though.
A shadowy stalker	The stalker froze, watching. Had the girl sensed something? Seen something? Motionless, the figure kept their gaze on the girl, watching for some indication regarding the reason for her pause.
Francine	And though Francine wasn't even looking that way, just the being watched pushed at something in her. Two somethings: the old familiar feeling of being suddenly naked on stage with everyone staring, and the newer one of recognizing that sometimes her feelings were actually Feelings. So, right, the odd was definitely in the Creepy family. Good to know. (Except not.) Francine looked around, but there was still nothing she could see, and standing still wasn't helping with the creep factor, so she took off walking towards the school again.
A shadowy stalker	Her follower kept a little further back, but didn't lose sight of her. Rooftop to rooftop, then down a fire escape to pace her in the shadows behind her. No attack necessary. Reconnaissance alone. And yet, there was always the temptation, to send a message....
Francine	That was Francine speeding up, and that was... a not at all random flash of that day at the causeway when there was a gun to her head. There was nothing here, but the feeling was the same: that this -- whatever the creep factor was -- wasn't about her at all.
A shadowy stalker	Interesting. A meta, of some kind? Subtle, but her reaction was there, to the change in purpose. If she knew the real prey, that would be an effective tactic-- A pause. Then slowing, keeping the girl in sight. Do you feel safe now, little girl?
Francine	..Yeah, not really. Also, she felt like her pizza was getting cold. Francine was talented like that: she could think about how something not about her had still ended up with her and Merlin beaten and tied to chairs, and how she needed to tell somebody about this but it wasn't Katchoo this time or Francine would be terrified now instead of just creeped out, and about cold pizza and how it was awful for dinner but somehow magically awesome for breakfast, and how fast she could walk without actually looking like she was running. Unless it had onions on it. The pizza.
A shadowy stalker	Amused, and theory almost confirmed, the figure swarmed back up the side of a building, and watched Francine retreat in the distance. The real target could wait; more surveillance to be done. But this wouldn't be forgotten. Nothing ever was.

By the time Francine made it back to her room, the creep factor was fading a bit -- though she was still no clearer on what it meant -- but you better believe she was locking the door this time.

[OOC: Preplayed with and coded by the bonny

blondecanary. Sneaky business is NFB, but post is open after Francine's return. Door's locked but knockable. Or openable with a key if you're Katchoo.]

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Dinah wanted to hear how England had gone, and also to possibly squee over stuff, so she bopped by to check in with Francine. She knocked on the door when she found it closed. "Francine? You decent?"

...Well, that was one way to get the door unlocked after a pause by an extremely red-faced girl. Holding a pizza box, so it wasn't a total loss.

"...Yes?" Try to squeak a little less when you say that, honey.

Grinning at her, Dinah asked, "So, no happy funtimes--- and can we pretend I didn't ask that?" She facepalmed, and pointed to the pizza. "Unless you want to be left alone?"

They could so totally pretend she didn't ask that. See how hard Francine was pretending?

"Not now!" Which was the answer to both questions, but Francine had to fight not to hide her face in her own hand when she realized it. "I mean... I could really use some company, actually. Me and the pizza."

Dinah snickered, then walked into the room, and said, "Yeah? What're you up to? And ooo, how was England? Did you see Stonehenge? Or anything really cool in London?"

"England was Wales," Francine said completely sensically, feeling the ridiculous need to check the hallway and lock the door again behind Dinah.

"None of the London-y bits?" Dinah said, translating that from Francine. "Too bad... okay, what are you double-checking out there for? Gremlins?"

"I don't know," Francine admitted sheepishly, coming back with the pizza box. "What I'm checking for I mean. I know there's no Londony bits in Wales."

"So what's in Wales aside from ... I don't know what's there, actually," Dinah realized, sitting down, and reaching for a piece of pizza. She studied Francine, and nibbled on her piece a second, before asking, "Did something happen?"

"In Wales?" Focus, Francine. "Um. No. I mean maybe? Not in Wales. When I was walking back here from the pizza place."

Dinah's eyebrows went up as she swallowed a bite of pizza. "Like what? Something weird?... er, than normal? Keeping in mind where we are and all."

"Well, that's just it. Nothing happened." Safely locked in her own room, you'd think she'd start the rationalizing thing where she convinced herself that nothing did happen, but the ...thing, whatever it was, still tingled along the hairs on the back of her neck. "I just felt like something was watching me. Didn't see anybody, or hear anything, just this creepy feeling that I was being stared at."

And boy, did she know from being stared at.

"Uuuugh," Dinah said, giving a small shiver. She studied Francine speculatively. "Maybe someone was? I mean. This is Fandom. It's more likely to be true, than not... which does beg the question of why, though." And wasn't that a less-than-comforting thought?

"Maybe," Francine agreed. "But the thing is, it was or they were, whatever, watching me, but not looking for me? Does that make sense?" Stupid questions ahoy! "I mean, that's the feeling I had. Like I could've been in danger but only because I was there; they wanted somebody else."

"Hunh." Dinah paused to chew that over with the pizza, and then said, "So, kind of impersonal? Like... a mountain lion, and you just wandered through its sight range? So it was watching 'cause you were moving through there?" Creeeepy, but slightly reassuring, because if Francine's instincts were right -- and they could be, she had a white spot in her hair and other stuff in the past that said she could know stuff-- then whoever, or whatever it was, probably hadn't followed her home to the dorms.

"I hope it wasn't a mountain lion!" What? Like it couldn't be? "The poor teal deer."

"And poor you!" Dinah said, pointing at Francine. "Not food for predators! Sheesh." She tilted her head. "But are you feeling safer now?"

"Well...yeah." Weirdly so, even. Better now than when she'd got safely back to the room. "Talking about it helped make it feel less freaky. Which is maybe a little freaky on its own, but... I'm not complaining."

"Yay for that," Dinah had to agree. She considered. "Hopefully something else will get it. Or it'll leave, whatever it was. Makes you wonder how many things go through Fandom that we never get to see."

Francine finally reached for her own slice of pizza, but raised her eyebrows. "Oh, well, that's not a creepy thought at all..."

Dinah grinned, popping a pepperoni in her mouth. "Suntanning ghosts? Invisible cabana boys? ... okay, that's creepy and depressing. I'd want to see 'em."

"Did you get to see any of the visible kind on break?" Oh, look, a normal question.

"It was like a conga-line! Or a cavalcade? Or a line-up. Shirtless guys everywhere." Dinah's mood brightened considerably at the memory. "Constantly. It was awesome. Guys on the beach, guys in the water, guys at the casino... Heh. Well. Not so much shirtless there."

Francine grinned. "We had. Um. Medieval English guys? And that was about it."

"But they're top-quality Medieval English guys," Dinah said solemnly. She grinned. "And of course, you had your S.O. there too." She tilted her head. "Girlfriend? Is Katchoo good being called that?"

Wow, those three minutes of non-awkward conversation sure were nice. "I, um, I don't know. I haven't, really." Said that. She'd come close. She was just... working her way up to it.

"But you are, I mean..." Look, there was nothing so Awkward that Dinah couldn't at least reach up to try and add to it. "Sorta serious, and all?" She'd just figured. "And you guys wouldn't have to break up, after graduation. Like some people will be doing."

"No, it's not like that!" Which was such an echo of the way she used to say exactly the opposite thing -- it's not like that with Katchoo and me... -- that it sent Francine into a half-aborted facepalm. "I mean, it's not sorta serious, it's sorta permanent."

"Awwww. Yay!" Dinah grinned, totally pleased to hear that. "I'm glad. That it's so definite." And a little envious, but mostly happy. "Do you know what you guys are doing, after graduation yet? Being together... getting an apartment somewheres?"

Francine shook her head, reaching for a napkin to swipe across her mouth. "I know, we're going to have to figure something out soon. We just haven't talked about it yet." Francine wouldn't even deny that a lot of the inertia there came from not wanting to think about leaving here, or other people going away.

"My college acceptances or rejections should be arriving soon," Dinah said, considering that. "Can't decide anything else until I know about those." She sighed. "I want to take everyone with me to Gotham. I don't want to have to depend on undependable Portalocity to see people when I want to."

Francine pretended to consider that. "Well, Wayne manor is pretty big. You could open your own college. Get Barbara and Helen to teach crimefighting and computer stuff."

"Ooooooo. This could work!" Dinah bounced and pointed at Francine with another piece of pizza. "We wouldn't even have to charge! It could be a write-off for the Wayne Foundation! You could all just come and stay and learn to fight crime!" IT's probably a measure of how bad Dinah was anticipating missing people that she was half-serious about this.

Francine laughed. "Speaking of that, we need to set a Friday for you to come teach everybody at Support about getting tied up." Beat. Mental image, not of Dinah. Beat. "You know what I mean."

Dinah snorted, and rolled her eyes as she grinned. "Yup, I do. Although the squirrels will insist it's an orgy by the time we're done. Maybe, hmm, this Friday? Or ohh, hmm, *handwavey* week?"

"That sounds good," said Francine. ~~Of handwavey week.~~ "I think Morgana already has something for this week."

"Works. I'll bring rope, and some handcuffs and thumbcuffs." She grinned. "Which are good for winning bar bets. Or so I hear. I don't get to go to the kind of bars where people would be that dumb yet."

Francine's forehead scrunched up. "Thumbcuffs?"

Dinah held her thumbs in front of her, close together. "Little cuffs. Usually for drunk and disorderly types. They link your thumbs together, and they're tough to get out of if you don't know how to hold your hands right." She grinned. "You can haul someone around by them, especially if they're already kinda blitzed, though."

Francine tried to picture that. "Wow. How drunk would you have to be to not get your thumbs out of cuffs?" She really ought to know better than to ask questions like that on this island.

"I'll bring along a pair to show you," Dinah said mischievously. "You can be my assistant! And help tie me up!"

"Okay!" ...Ahem. Wow, that was louder and more enthusiastic than it had sounded in her head. Francine would be coughing and glancing at the ceiling now.

Dinah snickered, then looked up at the ceiling. Ooh, look at that. Sconces. Or something.

"...or I could get someone else to help, if that's too weird?"

"What? No! Why would that be weird? It's educational!"

"It is! And we don't care about the squirrels!" Dinah said, punching the air with a slice of pizza.

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Town and then Room 505, Monday Night

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