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[nostalgiabomb]

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[blahnik]

Yeah, you're fine.

Anyway, I was calling to check up on you. As first impressions go, that's not one I'm proud of.

[nostalgiabomb]

It's fine, honestly. And I'm not just saying that. I'm pretty sure no one was on their best behavior that night.

[ He pauses, shifting as if to get into a more comfortable position. ]

What about now? You doin' okay?

[blahnik]

[ claire exhales shortly. ] I'm still adjusting.

[ she forces a smile in hopes the gesture bleeds into her tone, makes it more convincing. ]

Seems like every other day something else comes up. [ she laughs. ] The craziness is almost starting to feel normal.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ He breathes in through his teeth, wincing a little at that. ]

Yeah, I get what you mean. I'm worried I'm gonna get to a point where I just think, "Oh, is everything on fire again? Must be a Tuesday."

Doesn't make it okay, though.

[blahnik]

No. It doesn't.

But putting out fires is part of it. Just hopefully not literally.

[nostalgiabomb]

--I guess now's a bad time that literal fires have happened, and that imPorts get called in to literally put them out, huh.

[blahnik]

So it's a line of people holding fire extinguishers?

[nostalgiabomb]

Kinda.

Or little buckets of water, when all else fails.

[blahnik]

I'll keep one handy.

Anyway, I should let you go. It's late.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ He's quiet for a second, pursing his lips. ]

You-- sure you're good? [ A touch of concern bleeds into his voice. ] It was a pretty rough night for everyone.

If you-- [ he pauses, clears his throat. ] If you needed to talk or-- whatever...

[blahnik]

[ a little pause. ]

There's a bakery near my place. Not that big, but the coffee is decent and it's open until one.

[nostalgiabomb]

If you've got an address, I can meet you there in a few minutes.

[blahnik]

Give me a minute —

[ and address goes here! ]

[nostalgiabomb]

Got it. Meet you there in a few, then.

[ Oh, the perks of being a teleporter.

True to his word, he's there in under a handful of minutes, waiting at the door for her. He looks tired -- but who doesn't, these days? It's practically in fashion. ]

[blahnik]

[ claire is two minutes late at least according to her watch. in contrast, she almost looks like normal. dressed in a soft sweater and long pants for once, makeup quickly touched up. nothing a little ( or a lot of ) concealer won't fix.

her phone, as usual, comes with her. aside from that, she is very much alone. ripley can fend for herself for an hour.

her stomach does an odd flip at peter's staggering familiarity. but it is only the once, which claire takes as a good sign. a weird case of separated twins. that can happen. easy to rationalize. as soon as she is within earshot, she smiles. ]

Hey. I hope you weren't waiting long. [ she rolls her eyes as she comes to a stop. ] Ripley woke up as I was leaving.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ He offers a smile as she approaches, then holds the door open for her when she's near enough. ]

You sure she's not gonna trash the place while you're gone? I hear pets can get real anxious when their owners aren't around.

[blahnik]

I left her with another toy. A lion. With any luck, she'll leave my couch alone.

[ casually knocking all other apex predators from their perch.

inside the bakery, there are only a couple other patrons and no line. claire slides to the register to order a tall cup of coffee. she looks to peter. ]

What do you want?

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Peter ends up ordering the same, and swoops in to pay for it, too. He's good on cash, since he's been swiping wallets from assholes to keep himself busy.

~super heroes~

Drinks and table claimed, Peter leans back in his seat. ]

Guessin' you wanted to talk, then?

[blahnik]

Company, actually.

[ claire makes an apologetic moue. hands wrapped around the cup, she lets it warm her fingers. her nail polish has been picked at in nervous bursts. ]

It's just — [ claire sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. ] I know it wasn't real, but I — I keep hearing it.

[ she drops her hand on the table. her eyes fall on the coffee. the surface remains still. claire drags her eyes away. ]

It's driving me crazy.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ He nods slowly in response; he knows a thing or two about being chased by the scariest shit from his past.

Peter spins the cup idly by its lip, head tilted to one side as he watches her. ]

It was some kind of dinosaur, right? Sounded like it must've been scary as hell.

[blahnik]

It was designed to be. From its genetic blueprint to its name.

[ she smiles without humor. ]

We wanted something to scare the kids.

[nostalgiabomb]

You guys designed a dinosaur?

[ He whistles, caught saying something between, That's impressive and That's suicidal.

It's Peter instinct to keep things light, which is why he goes for the joke: ]

If you really wanted to scare kids, just tell them the park's out of candy.

[blahnik]

Unfortunately, that wouldn't have brought in a profit.

[ her wry tone vanishes. ] We had the costs of both a zoo and a theme park. If we didn't innovate, we'd stagnate.

[ the coffee burns her tongue, but claire takes another swallow. her mouth twists. ]

It was a mistake.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ He continues to carefully twirl the cup on the table. He knows it's too hot to drink just now, and he frowns at her when she takes not one pull but two. ]

... I'm guessin' this story doesn't have a happy ending, huh? Your test tube dino didn't bring in all the happy visitors you wanted.

[blahnik]

It broke out. [ she is surprised at how easily she can sum up that day. "it broke out." easy. accurate. yet it says nothing. it fails to come close to encompassing everything that happened.

to her credit, she maintains an even tone. ] Turned out it was capable of masking its thermal signature. Fooled our sensors.