A Secluded Couch In The Arms Hotel Lobby, Saturday Morning - Give or Take 20 Years

[thatsamilkshake]

Well, here goes nothin'... See ya in the funny papers, princess...

Francine, eyes still closed, was trying to rub at her forehead while someone was kissing her hand. Wasn't working out so well. That happened when you were still three quarters asleep, and that someone was leaving, and...

"Wait! Color woman! Take me with you! Don't leave me here!"

Well. That woke her up, enough to sit bolt upright on the ...couch where she'd fallen asleep. At least she could reach her forehead now, which was good, because it ached - like every other part of her. Black-and-white superheroines might feel no pain after a late flight, a later call home to check in on their daughter (with their husband was a lost cause, but somehow Francine had managed to ask if he was home yet with a straight face, even if she'd already known what the answer would be) and five hours sleep on a hotel lobby couch, but Francine Peters-Silver was no superheroine.

She sure as hell wasn't 20 years younger and 40 pounds lighter, with longer hair and a white streak that she'd been dyeing away since before Ashley was born, and she was pretty sure superheroines didn't get hangovers from airline cocktails either, even more than a few of them. Flying in planes used to just make her nervous, but that was before... Francine shook her head, which was an achey mistake, but just one more on top of the giant pile that was this weekend. What was she even doing here? What had possessed her to think this was a good idea? What had possessed her mother, of all people, who usually preferred to pretend Francine's last two years of high school never happened, to suggest that she come back for this reunion?

Francine stretched, also a mistake, and pushed her way to her feet. Now that she was here and awake, she might as well check in.

[OOC: Establishy, but also open if anyone who's not a miniscule blonde would like to run into her before the mixer.]

Comments

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

And be assaulted by cheerful wizards, right? "Francine!"

[thatsamilkshake]

There was a voice she hadn't heard in...much longer than was true for Merlin, though Francine was for the moment unaware of that fact. She didn't need time to place it, but the seconds of silence that followed came at least partially from matching the years-older face up with the voice of the boy she'd known.

"Merlin." Who didn't look nearly as much older as Francine felt, even so.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin was too busy hugging her to notice the glaring differences between her and the Francine he knew. "Is Katchoo around too? Or did she manage to get away from the cheer already?"

[thatsamilkshake]

Oh, she'd missed that. Not that she didn't get in plenty of hugs on the mom front, but it was different when the other person wasn't a ten year old girl. Well, it was Merlin, so that might have been giving too much credit.

So she didn't immediately freeze at the question. There was at least a five second time delay. "I haven't... she's here?"

That'd be what he just asked you, dumbass.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin frowned, pulling back to look her in the eye. "You don't know?" And since when had she looked so haggard?

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine shrank a little at the once-over, and self-consciously tucked her slept-on-the-couch hair behind her ears. "I haven't seen...Katchoo in years. Not since I got married." She hadn't even said the name in so long that she almost tripped over it. "I've seen you more recently."

And even that was sometime before Ashley was born.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"...you got married?" And it wasn't to Katchoo? "When was that?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"You do realize April Fool's Day was yesterday, right?" Also her 39th birthday, but Francine saw no reason to mention that. "You were there. I realize it's been fifteen years or so, but I'd think Katchoo punching out the best man would be pretty memorable."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Well, yeah. Yesterday was your birthday."

A beat.

"...Is this a Fandom joke?"

[thatsamilkshake]

Something Francine had been wondering since the moment she crossed the causeway. "Isn't it all?" she asked tiredly, confused about why he was confused. "I wasn't even gonna come back for this, but my mom, of all people, fished the invite out of the trash and said I should go. Well, we, but Brad couldn't get away for it."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin frowned, nodding as though he knew who Brad was. He disliked him already, though. Just because he could. "I just--the Francine I know is different."

[thatsamilkshake]

She wasn't getting it, not yet, though the general (old, familiar) sense that there was something she was missing came through loud and clear. "It's been a long time? I guess we all change."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"No," Merlin replied firmly. "We spoke very recently. This isn't--do you have Lily still?"

At least?

[thatsamilkshake]

Okay, now Francine was really confused, but beginning to see that it wasn't just her. "Lily, like..."

Her hand went to the one lily that she did have, though no, she didn't pull her sweater down to make it visible, thank you very much. And yes, she did still have it, despite how many times Brad had assured her she could easily get it removed by the partner in his practice who specialized in reconstructive surgery.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Like your--our daughter," Merlin replied sadly. Because picturing a place where she didn't exist wasn't something he wanted to do.

[thatsamilkshake]

"My daughter's name is Ashley. You--"



That Lily. The one who'd baked and played with Arthur and Merlin's son, and had two moms and the world's most obvious ears, and belonged to a life Francine had turned her back on, not entirely by her own choice. "The little girl who showed up in Fandom our senior year? That Lily?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Yes. She happened where I'm from..."

You know. Happy ending land.

[thatsamilkshake]

Was there a screen that came after the Blue Screen of Death? Or was that the point when your computer just actually started smoking and throwing off sparks? Because this was the point that Francine's brain hit with that statement.

CTRL+ALT+DEL?

Pfft, like that had worked since Bill Gates' second presidential administration.

Lacking a re-set button, Francine closed her eyes and settled for the first sandpapery words that made it out of her mouth: "Oh...fuck you, Fandom. Just fuck you."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Francine?" Merlin asked, reaching for her shoulders.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Why on earth did I think we could set foot on this island and have it not mess with us?" she asked, mostly rhetorically.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"Hey," he said softly. "It's just different. That's all. I'm sure... Craig? And you are very happy too."

STOP HELPING, MERLIN.

[thatsamilkshake]

STOP HELPING, MERLIN.

"Brad. His name is Brad." Francine opened her eyes and blinked hard. "Of course we're happy. We have a house and a little girl and two cars and a swimming pool; who wouldn't be happy? I married a doctor; even my mom is happy."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Totally happy! He could tell. Merlin cleared his throat and went back to 'helping'.

"May I ask what happened? With you and Katchoo?"

[thatsamilkshake]

Bad enough to dredge all that back up after this many years anyway; explaining it to someone who ought to know just put a whole new sheen on ridiculously unfair.

"A bunch of things, I suppose; it's so long ago I'm not sure I could even say where it started." She could say where it finished, though. "There was always some new crazy person showing up from her old life, and me not getting told until somebody got hurt and there was no way for her to avoid it. The last time it happened, she pushed me out of her life so literally I ended up with a broken rib; that's how I met Brad." Francine snorted. "I think in romantic comedies they call that a Meet Cute."

Best conversation topic ever, and not at all awkward or awful. Not that Francine's attempt to segue with "What about you and Arthur? Are you still..." and a heavily-forced smile was any less awkward, or remotely subtle.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Oh. Well. Merlin was not at all going to look into time travel spells to yell at people. A lot.

"Still together," he replied distantly. "He's king now."

[thatsamilkshake]

"Oh, that's great!" There was at least some part of that which wasn't just Francine forcing cheer; she'd never lost the knack for being happy about other people's success. "I mean, not that... I didn't mean great that his dad is gone, but..."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"It was a long time ago," he assured her. "Did you want to get coffee? We can catch up."

Or something sweet that he could drown his worries in? AWKWARD DAY WAS AWKWARD.

[thatsamilkshake]

Like half a dozen doughnuts? Francine could go for half a dozen doughnuts and a gallon of mocha.

"Sure - just let me check in and drop my luggage off at the desk."