St. Louis: The Coffee Shop Across The Street From Francine's Dorm, Wednesday Evening

[thatsamilkshake]

Wow, a red-letter day for Francine: the first time since she'd left Fandom that she actually missed the ability to fume her way over to Caritas and order whatever the heck she wanted without getting carded.

Not that she'd ever done that while she was there and not thinking she was someone else -- she just missed the ability now. Peppermint hot chocolate just wasn't the same. Francine sighed and glanced out the window at the sidewalk; at least the drink was warm, unlike the cold, grumbling rain outside.

Oh God, someone was waving at her from the gym next door. Pigtails, leotard, bright, wide smile... Any other time, maybe, but the last thing Francine wanted to do right now was talk to someone who would bounce in her face.

Which was why she immediately grabbed her phone and held it to her ear as if she'd just received a Very Important Call. Don't make eye contact don't make eye contact don't make eye contact...

[Open for actual calls/texts, because scaring the frak out of Francie is fun. Francie, on the other hand, is not very fun at all right now. A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend. Also given the hour and my threat-level-violet headache, SP is the name of the game; pinging in late/tomorrow is fiiine.]

Comments

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Oh, poor Francine.

Poor, poor Francine.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Agggh!" Mmm, peppermint phone.


Francine managed to fish it out of her coffee before there were any sparks, at least. One more line of Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo and her phone would've been toast.

Soggy toast. "Merlin? Hang on. Sorry. Drying my phone off."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Drying it off?" What was this tomfoolery, Francine?

[thatsamilkshake]

"It's raining?" she tried, because that made her sound slightly less foolish, and God knew she needed that today.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Francine, you're just lucky that he wasn't going to question that. "You should get an umbrella."

[thatsamilkshake]

"I have one." Luckily for anything approaching dignity, he couldn't see her lick the whipped cream off the back of her phone.

Unlike EVERYONE ELSE IN THE COFFEE SHOP.

"I was just too mad to remember to take it with me."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Mad?" Oh dear. "What happened? Do Arthur and I need to come visit?"

And turn people into toads? Or make them puke toads? Or have Arthur beat them up?

[thatsamilkshake]

"No!" Wait, that sounded wrong. "I, I mean, you're welcome to. I just..." No, no, no, she was not going to start sniffling.

"Sniff... Katchoo...arrrrrgh!" There, that explained everything, right?

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Oh god, Merlin was going to have to turn Katchoo into a bunny again, won't he?

"I'm not sure I can translate 'arrrrgh'," he said, peering around to make sure Gaius wasn't outside his room. "What happened?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Bored, bored, bored. Stakeout again. This time, a bank.

Why couldn't that fun cat burglar come back?

*ring!*

[thatsamilkshake]

Oh thank God -- Casey had made her way to the door now, and now that Merlin was off the phone, there was no way Francine could fake one side of a non-existent call in person.

Francine answered the second her phone gave the slightest buzz; no waiting for a ringtone this time. "Hi. Whoever you are, please know that I will love you forever if you stay on the line and protect me from bouncy blonde people being bouncy and blonde in my face."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"... Does it help that I'm a thousand miles away, and I'm being vewy quiet 'cause I'm hunting bad guys?" Dinah whispered.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Oh!" Francine, that was not vewy quiet. "Dinah! I didn't mean you! I meant--" The person standing in front of her table.

"Francine! It's so good to see you! Isn't the weather awful, though? I almost didn't come into work, but then I thought really? Really, Casey, since when have you ever let a little rain keep you away from rocking out at dancercize? People are counting on me, you know?"

"...Casey. Hi." Saaaaave meeeee. "Sorry, this is, um. Kind of an important call?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah managed not to chortle so someone -- someone blond and bubbly and in Francine's face -- could hear her. She did clear her throat, though.

"It is important, Francine," she hissed as loudly as she could. "Life or death. Crime and punishment. Secret lives!"

Drama llama on demand!

[thatsamilkshake]

"Oh, is it for a class?"

Francine tried very hard to remember that she liked this girl. "No, it's uh. A friend from high school. She needs to talk about..." How bad a liar Francine was. "It's um. You know. Personal?"

Hint. Hint.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah wondered if this was Margy. Or someone else; hmm. "Franciiiine," she said, raising her voice to a level that wouldn't get her caught up on a rooftop, but might be heard by someone standing close-by. "I told Kyle the truth and the whole truth. Pleeeease, I need your help!" She paused, then said even more loudly, "It's private." A sniff. Then a hiccup.

Give her a second to work up some fake sobs, Francine. She never had to cry on-stage.

[thatsamilkshake]

"The whole truth? That always goes well." Oh, did someone sneak a few packets of Cynical & Low into her drink?

Francine gave Casey another look of UM, possibly more awkward than the last, and the ponytailed blonde finally made an O of her lips, nodded, and brought one finger to them, backing away towards the counter.

Safe for the moment, at least.

[bitchprince]

After hearing-- something from Merlin, Arthur had been struck by this sense that he should probably do something.

However, he'd also been struck by a healthy and long-standing fear of upset girls (who were irrational and impossible to handle), so he'd taken an equally healthy wait before actually trying to call.

Maybe she'd stopped crying. That would be brilliant. (Had she been crying? She must've.)

[thatsamilkshake]

Duuuuh.

But lucky, lucky Arthur was getting a Francine who'd already talked to two people and ordered a second cup of cocoa, so the odds of her bursting into tears on him were... well. She was still Francine. Good luck with that.

"Hi, Arthur."

[bitchprince]

Never before had he been so flummoxed by a simple greeting. The etiquette for dealing with upset girls still largely escaped him, and Arthur was already beginning to see where he had gone wrong here.

He should have called Katchoo. She would have yelled. At least that would have been comforting and familiar.

"Francine," he began, in a tone of voice that was entirely too upbeat for the situation. "Merlin tells me you're in a bit of a state." Did anyone need to be maimed? Because he could do that.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Actually Missouri's a pretty big state..."

If only she were being sarcastic, Arthur. If only.

[bitchprince]

Well, at least that was a better reaction than crying or blubbering or whatever he'd expected.

"What?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"It's not a bit of a state. I mean, it's not as big as Texas, but nothing's as big as Texas. Except maybe California."

Not blubbering, not anymore. Just not bouncy. Not bouncy to the extent that despite the ludicrousness in applying it to Francine, you could almost use the word flat.

[bitchprince]

It was probably a good thing Francine couldn't see the expression on Arthur's face right now; it was the one he generally used when he doubted the existence of her brain whilst being completely confused at the same time.

"...I was talking about you," he said, "Not bloody geography!"

Oh, sure. Yell at her. That'll do it.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Well, why didn't you say so?" Possibly not entirely flat, then, but you couldn't call it bouncy, either. Except perhaps for the sudden sharp drop back to "Oh. Right."