Alice Munroe (ex_barebones985) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-01-24 15:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 03, alice munroe, jacklyn baker, jed bailey, leo parker, ~ series: nv meetups |
Week 3 - Friday
Characters: Alice Munroe, Jed Bailey, Leo Parker (and Walker), with special guest Jacklyn Baker
Setting: The Museum
Summary: Jed and Alice are awkward after the previous night's events. Leo shows up to invite more awkward conversation. Just to make things better, Jack shows up to exercise her inability to be disciplined, and things generally spiral downward from there.
Rating: PG
Jed had called Alice to tell her he'd be running late that morning and she'd better take her bike. Which was true. Or it could have been true. He had thought there'd be some problems with Jack and it would probably take up a lot of time. But Jack had been fine. She was all but smiling the whole morning, and when he lingered, she reminded him he'd be late. So there ended up being plenty of time to call Alice and let her know he could pick her up after all.
He didn't.
Instead he went to one of the storage hotel rooms and started counting inventory. That was important, too, after all.
He wasn't all that late to the museum in the end, getting there about twenty minutes before noon. He was slow walking to the door, though. They'd said they'd talk about last night sometime when they were sober, but now that he was sober, he'd rather pretend nothing happened. What Alice wanted, well, as usual, he had no idea.
Alice was found sitting at the table, eyes focused downward as she looked at a map, her lower lip caught between her teeth. She looked like she normally did - hair pulled back, tank top, cargo pants and boots - but the very fact that she wasn't dressed like she had been the night before conjured the image of it; how she could look so different and yet be the same person. When she heard the doors open her eyes moved upward, catching his, and for a moment there was a smile there, but then it was gone again as she returned her eyes down to the map.
"'lo."
"Mornin'," he said, slowly making his way over to her. "What're you doin'?" It was pretty obvious, but it wasn't like he had anything else to say.
"Planning out my route tomorrow," she said. "There's still a few more places I wanna look before we all talk tomorrow." By 'we' she meant, of course, the four of them: Jed, Cassidy, ZoƩ, and herself. They'd planned the prior week to come together with locations by the end of that week to field-trip together. It seemed that things were finally coming together, regardless of whether or not she was ready.
"Cool, yeah. Anything you need me to do before then?"
Alice looked up, his question somewhat off-putting. "Have you been going out to look, too?"
"Yeah, yeah, 'course," he said quickly. "I mean, I don't know places as good, but I got some ideas, yeah."
"You've been going inside?" she said, doubting him a little. For all she knew, he had opened up some tourist brochures and hadn't gone out at all. "Checking to see if there's room enough for everyone to sleep and eat, and store thing?"
"Yeah. Only way to make sure no one's already there, too," he said, a slight huff in his voice as he sat down. "It ain't easy to find ideal places, y'know, though."
"That's why we're all doing it," she said, reaching for her water bottle and taking a deep pull from it. The bottle made a noisy suction as she pulled back and the air rushed in to fill the empty space. She went quiet a moment, eyes staring at the map but unfocused, as if she was looking straight through it.
He drummed lightly on the table. If the pause got too long, there was no telling where it could lead. "Jack an' Searle got in a fight," he said conversationally. "The kid's some kind of hippie; don't like Jack usin' a gun."
Alice nodded, remembering the conversation she'd had with the teenager when he'd first come by. He hadn't been fond of the idea of using guns, but he'd seemed to concede a little after she'd explained to him why. Apparently he hadn't conceded entirely. "I don't really like her using a gun either, but that's mostly because she's never used one before," she mused, folding the map up. She'd already planned most of her route out. "It takes a good long while to learn how to use one proper. Just knowing how to aim'n fire isn't gonna help her much unless she's point blank."
"I ain't trainin' her to be a sniper," he said with a snort. Alice scowled.
"I know that--"
"I juss wanted her to know enough to handle one without bein' a danger. I don't want her to have to use it, but if that's the only option, then she's gotta know how."
"It's not, though," Alice replied, brows furrowing a little. "She should learn how to use a knife. Or at least how to break out of a hold or something; that'd be a lot more useful to her than a gun."
"I'm gonna teach her that, too, alright?" he said testily. Although he'd been having issues trying to figure out how to do the hand-to-hand combat stuff. "Jesus, sorry I brought it up. Juss thought you might wanna know."
You wanna teach her to use a gun first and then how to do the other stuff? she thought, half-tempted to say it out loud, but hearing his tone and biting it back. She didn't want to fight with him at that point; she was really trying not to have a repeat of the previous week.
"Listen..." she started, her voice going a little quiet and serious. "The other night, when I... when we..."
The front doors pushed open, slowly and tentatively, the front end of a shotgun sliding through first as Leo inched his way into the museum. Walker was the one keeping him from coming in with his head held high and confident; the little boy clinging like a barnacle to the side of the man's leg. Leo glanced up, once inside, dark eyes in search of Alice. If she wasn't there like she said she'd be, he wasn't going to stay.
Jed was on his feet in an instant, reaching for his gun - which he realized he's left in his truck in his distraction over Alice. He'd come to the goddamn meeting empty-handed.
"Put yer gun down," he said loudly and firmly, as though he could back the order up.
Leo blinked, lowering the barrel of the gun almost to the floor, but that was all the negotiating he was about to do. With Walker peeking out from behind him, he looked at Jed and to Alice and back again. The other man didn't appear to have a weapon, himself. "I'm not putting it down," he said bluntly, glaring across the empty space between them. "I'm not going to shoot anybody for Christ's sake." The two hovered there near the doorway. It'd taken a whole millisecond for Leo to feel unwelcomed. It had been a mistake to come here.
"Leo!" Alice said, her voice a lot more warm and welcoming as she rose to her feet. He hadn't told her when he'd planned to come to the meetup, or she would have given Jed a warning. Even she had tensed up a bit at Jed's sudden reaction. Without waiting she grabbed two water bottles from the cooler and moved over to where he was. "So you decided to come after all."
Jed practically jumped at Alice's reaction, staring at her, then looking back over at the man. And the boy clinging to his side. Oh.
When Alice was halfway to them, Walker all but burst out from behind Leo, galloping in her direction. He stilled looked a little under the weather, his face pale and his cheeks rosy, but he was all grins when he finally reached the woman. Alice immediately dropped down to her knees to embrace the little boy, making sure not to hug him too hard.
"You're lookin' better, sugarpie," she said when she pulled back, smiling fondly at him as she passed him a water bottle. He took it happily and smiled at her.
Leo, on the other hand, uncertain of the other man, had a hard time taking his eyes off him, but when he finally did he regarded Alice with a softer expression. "Figured I should, if I'm going to stick around."
Alice rose to her full height again, holding the bottle out at the neck for him, something of a smile on her face. Reaching out, he grabbed the water and offered her a brief but grateful smile. It'd been the first time she'd seen him since Wednesday morning, and it was certainly good to see him again. "Good to know," she said with a nod, hesitating on hugging him or anything. She could feel Jed's eyes boring into her back and turned her head to look at him.
"Jed, this is Leo. The guy I told you about last week, with the kid?"
"Yeah, sorta figured that out for myself," Jed said with a smile that was only slightly strained. He walked over, first holding a fist out for the kid. "Hey there, buddy." Walker smiled a little, shyly of course, and hid half-way behind Alice. He liked the way the man talked, and his eyes shined with friendly curiosity, despite his reserved reaction.
Watching intently, Leo nodded a greeting to Jed, though he was obviously sizing him up. He shifted the weight of his gun in his hand, and motioned around the museum with his bottled water. "Thought there'd be more people here," he admitted.
"Aren't that many people around," Alice said. "We've had people stop in, but not anyone who comes daily." she smiled slightly. "Guess they're not as crazy as we are."
Jed gave a snort, flashing the kid a smile before his eyes flicked to Leo, to his gun, and back again. "Yeah, for ev'ryone else, it's come as you please, but for me an' Alice it's a job. He's really taken a liking to you," he said the last part to Alice, looking back at the kid again.
Alice smiled a little. "God knows why, I'm such a mean person," she quipped, connecting eyes with Leo. He let his gaze linger, and even though he'd decided he would try not to think about what had happened between them, he found himself suddenly drowning in the memory of it and forced himself to look away. Jed only caught the tail end of the look, but it was enough. His jaw tightened. A guy looking at a woman like that didn't have friendship in mind. And his kid already had Alice cooing like a, well, woman. Leo already had an in, if he wanted to exploit it.
For a moment, the man with the gun let his mind wander, trying half-heartedly to come up with a topic to strike up some sort of conversation, but being of so few words he pressed the water bottle to the back of his neck and let the coolness of it sink into him. Leo stepped away from the little gathering, passing the other three so he could get a better look at the inside of the museum. He'd hoped to see the blond he had met at the mall, more because he'd been expecting to than anything else. She had been the first one he'd bumped into in this city, and the first to tell him about these meetings. "How many people you say've been comin?" Leo turned and looked at both Jed and Alice.
"I think about..." Alice trailed off as she did a mental count, "...six, counting us and you--"
The sound of the doors opening seemed overly loud in the empty museum. They were interrupted by a kid in an overly large Fox racing T-shirt and carrying a backpack and a motorcycle helmet. Jack tried to tell herself that things just seemed extra noisy because there weren't very many people and not because she was nervous. Because she wasn't nervous. After all, she'd told Jed that she'd follow him if he didn't let her go, so he couldn't get mad at her. Right?
She didn't say anything right away, just looked straight for Jed. Alice was with some strange little boy and it was strangely weird to see someone younger than her. The other man she didn't notice at all, at first. "Hi," she said, holding her head high.
The moment the doors opened, Walker disappeared from Alice's side, running over to grab hold of Leo's shirt. The man took a step to the side, surprised to see an older boy standing in the same place he'd been standing just minutes before. It'd been the youngest person Leo had seen, besides the boy clinging onto him again. "It's okay," he said quietly, for Walker's benefit only.
For a while, all Jed could do was stare. He was seeing things, right? Maybe just someone who looked like Jack? But one look at Alice, who was scowling right back at him, and he knew. Setting his jaw, he marched right over to the girl and grabbed her arm.
"We're takin' you back, right now," he said, trying to keep his voice quiet, though it was pretty pointless in the empty foyer.
Jack frowned right back up at him. "I told you," she protested immediately. "I told you I'd follow you. I'll just come back tomorrow if you don't let me stay."
"Then I'll juss take you right back tomorrow," he snapped back.
Alice watched the two of them where they stood, her scowl deepening a little. At least Leo was here so that she wouldn't have to be completely alone in the meantime, but the sound of Jack's protest made it obvious that this was going to quickly be an ongoing issue. She went back to the table where she and Jed usually sat, turning to look over at Walker where he was hiding behind Leo.
"Did you bring your yo-yo? I wanna show you some tricks on it."
The little boy was worried about the confrontation, even though it seemed minor to everyone else. His blue eyes turned toward Alice, watching her thoughtfully, and finally he let go of Leo to retrieve the yo-yo from the back pocket of his jeans. He jogged over to her, passing it over, knotty string and all. Leo, who had been watching everything unfold like a nosy bystander, eventually took his eyes off the door to shoot Alice a 'what-the-hell's-going-on?' kind of look. Alice simply rolled her eyes and shook her head a little, her hands automatically working on un-knotting the yo-yo's string.
Jack kept her attention on Jed, trying to convince him not to take her home. "It would use up lots of gas taking me back-and-forth," she pointed out. "If anything bad happens, I'll find a place to hide. Besides, that kid's even littler than me and he gets to stay." It wouldn't be fair to send her away now.
Alice could hear Jack's argument, the whine in her voice, and gritted her teeth, unable to hold back her response anymore. Clearly what Jed was saying to her was not working. "That's because he is six years old and can't be left alone by himself, Jack," Alice said, raising her voice so that she could be heard across the distance. She turned her eyes out toward the pair of them, hands still unraveling the yo-yo, but her face hard and strict. "Just like you can't be left alone with an unlocked liquor cabinet, only you should know better."
As pissed off as he was, Jed was about to let Jack stay for the day at least. Then Alice had to butt in. He shot her a glare. "Alice, I got this one."
Alice glared right back, losing her patience but biting her lip. There would be words later, no doubt about that. "Doesn't look like it to me," she muttered under her breath.
Jack sent Alice a glare of her own at being reminded. That was none of Alice's business and it was only one time! Jack turned back to Jed, and this time she kept any trace of whining out of her voice. "Please, Jed? I don't wanna be left by myself. Please?"
Jed was torn. He knew what Alice would think of him if he caved, but hell, this wasn't Alice's issue. He got to make the decisions here. "Juss this one time," he finally said, holding up a finger in case she misheard. "An' only 'cause I don't wanna bother goin' back. But you'll see, it ain't anything special. Most days no one comes along."
Hearing Jed's response, Alice could feel her blood boiling. After all the trouble they'd gone to looking for her and even setting up these meetups, and she couldn't be left with someone else; she just had to be there? After the big stink he'd made about keeping her at home? Whining and weaseling until she got her way? He'd been the one claiming it wasn't safe to be there when she'd asked him why he left her at home that first drive after she was back. He couldn't own up to whether to treat her like a child or treat her like an adult, when it was clear by her attitude just exactly how she needed to be treated. Alice would have been willing to treat her as an adult, but the entire stint with the alcohol and running away had ruined that chance.
If Leo wasn't there, she could have simply shouted at both of them, but she didn't want Leo to think that she couldn't keep herself composed. Jed was doing a good job by himself making them both look bad.
"Can I talk to you privately, Jed?" she said, her words clipped. She'd finished un-knotting the yo-yo and quickly wrapped the string up around it.
Jed let out a breath. He knew exactly what Alice wanted to talk about, and he sure as hell wasn't in the mood. "Not right now, alright?" he said, looking at her. He caught her look, saw her eyes flashing angrily, and then she was looking away from him entirely, turning her body away from him as she slid the loop of the yo-yo around her middle finger.
"When you do the drop," she said to Walker, holding the yo-yo in her palm with her fingers curled around its shape, "You have to pull your wrist back a little like this, see?" she did so, letting the yo-yo shoot to the floor, "And then when it hits the bottom, and you feel that little tug and it's still spinning, you yank your wrist back up again--" the yo-yo shot up when she did so, hitting her palm lightly but audibly. "--just like that. Here, you try."