(no subject)

[cutting_edgex23]

X slips downstairs after her shift in the nightclub, half-glancing at the back door before she decides to forgo training for the moment.

It is more important to eat something. Just in case.

The fact that X-23 (and her soup) are settled at the bar instead of her usual booth is entirely unrelated to anything.

Except that she refuses to be uncomfortable in what is, for now, her home.

This is just proof of that.

[ooc: This post is open until it falls off the front page or X gets another EP, whichever comes first. Thanks!]

Comments

[untiedtheknots]

The mun flipped a mental coin, and so there is an Artemis two stools over.

She, woefully, does not have soup. On the plus side, she does have grilled cheese sandwiches, and is contenting herself with these.

"Hi there."

[cutting_edgex23]

X looks up, expression just this side of blank, shading toward wary.

"Hello."

She may be poised to flee. A little.

[untiedtheknots]

"Hey," she murmurs.

Artemis leans away on her stool, trying to give X as much space as she can without fleeing herself.

"Are you okay?"

[cutting_edgex23]

X tilts her head, though she does not frown.

"It is relevant?"

X is not sure.

[evil_koala_626]

"Aloha," The familiar greeting comes from the vacinity of knee level. Or where knee level would be if the adresse were not sitting on a bar stool.

Someone is in a good mood. This may not have any thing to do with the fact that said somone recieved a gift when he entered Milliways earlier today. He grins up at her. Never mind that it keeps slipping over his eyes, that is the the grin of the cat that got the canary.

[cutting_edgex23]

X looks down at him, startled.

"Oh."

Beat.

"Hello."

She pushes her soup away a little, head tilting.

"Your hat is too big."

[evil_koala_626]

"Takka morcheeba!" Stitch replies, clambering up a neighboring stool. Because 'Your hat is too big' it totally a compliment.

The soup is peered at curiously.

[cutting_edgex23]

"I am eating. Dinner."

X is good at explaining.

Beat.

"It is not sweet."

[not_lugosi]

Bela is a few booths over, angled just enough to see X and her soup.

She really feels badly about how their last conversation went, and she's not used to feeling badly about anything she does. While she'd happily rail against 494 or ignore him altogether, X is different. She's not nearly as tough as Bela thought she was.

She slides out of her booth and walks over.

"Hey, X."

[cutting_edgex23]

X looks up, eyes a little wider than normal.

"Hello."

Beat.

"Bela."

This next pause is longer--maybe it's even assessing.

"You are okay?"

[not_lugosi]

"Um. Yeah, yeah I am. Are you?"

[cutting_edgex23]

X weighs her answer.

Or maybe she's just quiet.

Then--

"I do not know."

Beat.

"It is relevant?"

[ellectrical]

Elle's head hurts.

And, for some reason, she didn't have her shoes. The Bar did give her a nice pair of blue shoes, but they're flats.

As she comes up to the bar and promptly rests her forehead in her hand, it's probably just as well.

Still, today, she appears perfectly willing to look to X, and then at her soup.

[cutting_edgex23]

"You are hungry, too?"

This might be an offer.

She's also studying Elle carefully, because it seems like things are still not okay.

[ellectrical]

It's a moment, but -

"Yeah." She blinks, almost wincing, then moves her elbow and looks down at the bar.



And it's also soup. Something hot sounds good right now. She pokes at a few times, and rather than eating it informs X, "My head hurts."

[cutting_edgex23]

"Oh."

X considers this.

"There are pills."

Beat.

"It is not getting better?"

[seewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

The door to the bar shudders once, then twice. It's the sound of something heavy being thrown against it. There are a few seconds of silence before it opens to reveal a black silhouette.

Cass steps over the still form of a body on the ground and into the bar before looking around.

She spots X and pauses. Something is wrong.

[cutting_edgex23]

X's gaze snaps to the front door at that first sound, then holds there to see who comes through.

The sight of Cass makes X's shoulders relax. Fractionally.

There is no disappointment in it. Or the residual of--fear?

[seewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cass frowns underneath her mask. It's not something that most people would see, but some people might smell it.

X is not supposed to look like that.

[3nanashi]

When Trowa comes in, he doesn't stop by the bar. Just finds himself a table, and sits.

He does catch X's eye sooner or later, though.

It's deliberate, so it's probably a greeting.

[cutting_edgex23]

X watches him steadily for a few moments, then nods.

That is probably a returned greeting.

[3nanashi]

For the moment, apparently, that's sufficient conversation.

[md_donighal]

There's someone she may recognize approaching her seat. "Good evening, X," says the man in the gray suit (who smells more like a mutant than a human, with a faint undercurrent of wood fire and an even fainter one of something that can only be likened to rotting metal). "Or do you prefer 23?"

[cutting_edgex23]

X has been looking at him since he began approaching, her head just slightly tilted. There's only a little bit of tension in her shoulders. She saw what he did to the Combine. And the Strider.

"X is okay."

Beat.

"You are back, too."

[md_donighal]

"X it is, then." He takes a seat next to her and orders a French Dip sandwich with fries and a mug of chai. "And, as far as I know, everybody's back now except Alyx and Valerie. Whether they're okay is another matter. Personally, I want to find the bastard who dragged me out and remove his head." There are flames crackling in his voice on those last words, but the smile doesn't leave his lips; it just stops being a pleasant smile if you have any understanding of human emotions.