milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Rapunzel went home five weeks ago. Ever since, Knox has popped into the Bar every day, looked for her, and left. It's hard being here when she's gone.

But he could use a break from his bar at home. A bar he more or less stopped visiting since he found Milliways. A bar he missed, but one that just doesn't seem the same as it used to. Apparently, he likes the weirdness more than he realized.

So he's got a seat from where he can't see the door. Since he knows that he will never stop watching it open, raising hopes, dashing hopes. He's got a beer, and a legal pad, and some files, and he's trying to pretend he can finish a column here. But he could use with a little friendly conversation to take his mind of how much he misses his ladylove.

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There's a rather distinctive clomping over oversized boots moving across the floor that Knox might remember. Makita's grown since she arrived in the bar, putting on pounds and inches with access to real food. She'll never be anything but 'petite', but she's not really 'scrawny' anymore, and 'skeletal' is way behind her.

He blinks. And stares. He hasn't seen Makita in how long? (He'd begun to wonder if she, like Allie Keyes, had gone off to meet whatever destiny she was too young to meet.) "Kita?"

Her footsteps come to a complete stop. She... hasn't really been around much. She knows that hiding away in her room isn't really healthy, but she's lost a lot, and while Milliways has given much, it also seems just as likely to take away.

Her head swivels toward Knox. And she blinks.

She thought he'd stopped coming. Not that she really checked or anything. Hiding in her room and all.

"Hey. You...you look good." He doesn't know what else to say. "It's been..."

Makita's lip twitches slightly at the compliment.

"A while," she finishes for him.

"Yeah. Come here, you." He has to hug her.

She hesitates for a second. It's been a while, after all. But then she steps forward and leans into him.

Her body is tense, but that's nothing new. Eating and sleeping enough hadn't changed her that much.

He doesn't hug her long. Mainly because she still kind of scares him, and he doesn't want to annoy her enough that she throws him through the window.

"How are you? How're things at home?" He's not expecting to hear anything positive.

Lousy stinking war.

She tenses up a little bit more.

"The same." Worse, actually, but no need worry Knox with that.

Yeah, he'll worry enough. "But you're hanging in there. At least you have that."

"At least I have that," she repeats softly.

"How long have you been back?" He wonders how long it's been for her. She might look healthier, but she doesn't really look older.

"A... while."

She hasn't been keeping track, really. She just knows that when she came back, almost everyone she knew was gone.

"Wish I'd know. I have some...some spare time." He pauses. "Raps kinda finally found her door home." He tries to seem chipper about it. It's not working.

"Oh."

Makita's smile slips a bit. She infers from his tone that Raps also hasn't been back since. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks. I miss her lots. Been over a month.

"I know there's no way she isn't going to try to come home. But you know how doors are. And her people can be difficult." He worries that she's been locked back in a tower for falling in love with a Mundy, and this time there's no prince to save her.

"She'll be back."

It wouldn't be fair if Knox lost the woman he loves to the vagaries of the bar.

"Yeah. She better be." He's got...ideas. "The place isn't the same without her." By which he means their room.

"I... know how that feels."

Makita hasn't seen her roommate in quite some time now.

"It's not like it used to be here. I haven't seen Sarge or Bird in ages. Lots of others, too.

"Steph, even. Never thought I'd miss her," he says with a smirk.

"Yeah. She... hasn't been around."

And that left Makita with almost no one she knew anymore.

"Where do you think she could be? Dead people aren't supposed to not be here." Maybe she reincarnated? That would be too odd.

"Maybe..."

Makita shakes her head. She can't bring herself to say that Steph might have finally left. Moved on. Whatever.

"Time's weird here, though. Maybe she's just lost in the woods and it will be a day for here and a year for us. Rapunzel had that happen.

"Well, not a year, but a long while. She fell asleep." Which does seem right for a fairy tale queen and all.

Makita nods, even though with each passing day she finds her faith slipping a bit further.

Alex is still not sure what to say. He never has been with Kita. "It's rough sometimes."

Yeah. It is.

Makita nods, exhaustion clear in the way she holds herself. Not physical exhaustion, though there's a bit of that there, what with the nightmares, but emotionally she's just...

Tired.

"Hey, you need to talk to someone or to lean on someone, I'm still here. Same room as Rapunzel. And if I'm not around, leave a note. I'm checking in every day." Every day till Rapunzel comes home.

Makita nods, and even musters up a little smile for him. It's not terribly convincing.

Probably because she hates the idea of burdening Knox with her problems. They're not his, and she can tell how worried he is already. No need to add to that.

Not convincing at all. But the smile he returns is real. If sad. Sad because it's a sad world. Sad because two sad people seem pretty lost right now.

But still a smile.

[ooc: fade, I think]

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