Early December 2012: Leena's B&B

[damncompass]

December is damn cold in the badlands. Good thing the B&B has a good heater. Due to the cold and Joshua's typical inclinations, he has been getting up a bit earlier than usual to make breakfast for Morning Meetings, which he's been running more often than not because Artie just doesn't want to leave the Warehouse in the cold. (Not that Joshua blames him in the slightest).

So this particular morning, Pete and Myka were already on a case from yesterday involving rather frightning office supplies, so Joshua was making tea instead of the usual coffee, and much less bacon.

It still smells damn good, though.

Comments

[damncompass]

"The hell'd you do?" Joshua sighs, and shakes his head.

"Alright." He puts a plate on the extra food, and takes his to the table. "If they don't arrive soon, they might miss morning meeting such as it is."

[timelessinventor]

"Well, is there a case for them? If so, I'm sure Artie would delight in the opportunity to fill them in."

[damncompass]

"Not as such, so I guess it was more family breakfast and possible debrief from what they were working on yesterday. I think Claud was doing something in the gooery and Jinksy was helping." He shrugs. "Just, you know, trying to make us more than shadows in the night."

[timelessinventor]

"If they happen to make it downstairs, we can still do precisely that. If not, you're still going to Minneapolis. If we put this off much longer neither of us will have anything to wear."

And to some extent, Helena's still not used to moving in the fully-pre-made-clothing world. If something needs tailoring, this is about as close as they can cut it and still have their clothes when they need them.

[damncompass]

"Alright, alright." Joshua sighs, poking his fork at the pancakes on his plate. "Looks like you've already made plans for the day." He's still a bit sullen, but he'll get over it.

[timelessinventor]

Helena sighs. "Darling, what's wrong?"

[damncompass]

"Don't worry about it. I'll get over it." He sighs, finishing his breakfast and standing up. "I should go up and pack then, shouldn't I? What's our timing on this?"

[timelessinventor]

"I took the liberty of packing for us both while you were busy yesterday - and don't worry, I restrained myself." They're going out with the express purpose of buying clothing, after all; no point in packing excess amounts. "You needn't rush, but the sooner we can be on our way, the better."

[damncompass]

"Alright, let me at least tell Claudia and put on something more acceptable." He sighs, and walks out to the kitchen to put his dishes in the sink. "I'll probably be ready in about twenty."

[timelessinventor]

"All right. I'll be ready when you are."

[damncompass]

He goes upstairs, and gently pushes Claudia's door open. Walking over to her bed, he shakes her shoulder. "Claudia?"

[claudiometer]

Claudia smacks her hand in the direction of the disturbance, and wakes up a tiny bit when she realises there's something there.
"wha... oh. hi. what're y'doin'?"

[damncompass]

He pulls his hand back before she smacks it. "Hey. Sorry to wake you up. Helena and I are going to Minneapolis. Knowing her, we'll be back tomorrow at some point."

[claudiometer]

"oh. 'k." She rolls over.
...And then she rolls back over and frowns. "'s in Minneapolis? ping?"

[damncompass]

"No. Don't worry about it." He shrugs, and ruffles her hair, pulling up the covers over her. "We'll be back tomorrow."

[claudiometer]

"'k. love you."
When she wakes up more fully and realises what this must be, he can expect some texts.

[damncompass]

"Love you too, baby sister." He leans down and kisses her forehead, and then goes back to his room, gets dressed, and heads downstairs with his bag on his shoulder and waits for Helena.

[timelessinventor]

Helena, meanwhile, took the time to wash the dishes they'd used (might as well save Leena a bit of bother) and grab the bags she'd packed. "Shall we?"

[damncompass]

"Yeah, I think we should." Joshua takes the bags on instinct, and goes out to the car, packing it, and turning on the heater. "Alright, you're going to have to tell me where to go, if we're flying or driving, or what."

[timelessinventor]

"To the airport. If we don't fly, we won't have time to do a bloody thing once we get there."

Some time later, their plane lands in Minneapolis; once they're out of the airport, Helena flags down a taxi and gives the driver the name of a hotel. That done, she turns to Joshua. "Once we've set up shop, I've gathered a list of formal wear shops. I don't know how many we may need to try before we find something that fits your specifications and something I like. And at some point today, we are getting you a haircut."

[damncompass]

"... eesh. You've really made plans for this." He sighs. "I admit, I did get tickets to Sweden leaving Monday. I... well, I thought I should probably at least get that. They're putting us up in some hotel, but... yeah. Plane tickets." He's rambling, not really making much sense, but he feels so far out of his element that he's not really sure what to do.

[timelessinventor]

Helena shakes her head. "Oh, darling. You're over-thinking this. Breathe. You're going to be fine."

[damncompass]

"I'm trying to breathe. It's just... I don't know. I just feel so overwhelmed with it all."

[timelessinventor]

"And if you don't think about it so hard, you'll be fine. The less you get preoccupied with what's actually happening, the more you'll be able to act naturally."

[damncompass]

"Yeah, yeah." Joshua falls silent, watching the city go by outside of the taxi. He's always been bad at not thinking about things.