Wine's been poured and thank the Lord I've had the napkins freshly pressed... [Party-Thread]

[cookiesandhugs]

Grant Park, on any other day, could be called just a nice little park (or EPIC PARK, seeing as how it appears to have eaten Chicago) where people see other people and other people exercise and some people from different universes fall into Chicago

Comments

[beanshield]

Bean appears late to the party--punctuality has never been her strong suit--and looks around rather tentatively. She doesn't really like to crash parties, and although the woman named Gladys pretty clearly invited everyone, she still feels just a little awkward.

It's not long, though, before she's chowing down on cookies and other delicious goodies, passing a few of the non-chocolate ones off to Potato as well.

[justashitmagnet]

Mike sees the tiny girl and no parents. Mike is concerned. Mike is also dumb, but whatever.

"Nice dog," he says, nodding at Potato. "Your folks just let you run around with it?"

See Mike. See Mike be dumb. Be dumb Mike, be dumb!

[beanshield]

Bean blinks up at him. "Oh, sure! I mean, he's my service dog, so I can't really go anywhere without him." She smiles and scritches Potato's head. "Not that I'd want to anyway! He's like my best friend."

Potato snuffles at her hand and licks off some cookie crumbs, then looks over at Mike and sniffs at him delicately, determining whether he is safe for his human.

[justashitmagnet]

Oh. Mike's REALLY dumb today, apparently. "Oh," he says. "Well. He looks like a nice dog." Blink blink, while he struggles to find words that will get rid of this horribly guilty feeling building in his gut. "Well. Um. Do you have far to go, home-wise? Because you really shouldn't be out alone."

See Mike be vaguely sketchy. He can't help it. He's the tall dark stranger here for the rescue.

[beanshield]

"He's the best dog!" Bean says and then hands Potato a peanut butter cookie.

She stares up at him and blinks a little, tugging at a strand of hair. "Oh, it's not too far, it's like a bus stop and then a walk. It's fine! I'm out on my own a lot." She beams up at him. It's a little curious that he seems so worried, but she thinks he's just being sweet.

[justashitmagnet]

Mike nods. "Well," he says. "Just... be careful. You never know who's going to pop out of nowhere. And don't stand on the bus if you can help it--you're less likely to get pick-pocketed."

He's kind of ridiculous, but he's still firmly in the camp that little girls shouldn't wander Chicago with only a dog for safety.

[beanshield]

"Oh, I know. Chicago really isn't that bad, I mean, as far as cities go. My dad made sure to teach us all the tricks about how to be safe in cities and all when we were living in Kosovo." She smiles. "But thanks! You're really nice."

[justashitmagnet]

Mike shakes his head. "That's good, that he taught you that stuff." But STILL. He's hung up on this whole 'child walking around the city' thing. Little things like that get to Mike. He's seen the underbelly. He and the underbelly have been rather intimate. The underbelly scares the shit out of Mike.

And then he blushes and looks at his feet. "Just don't want more murders in the city," he says to the ground.

[beanshield]

"Oh, yeah. I mean, he takes that kind of stuff seriously." She munches a cookie thoughtfully. "Well, in Kosovo he wouldn't let any of us go off the base alone, since that was like...when was that? It was after the war was over, so things were pretty bad. 2000, I think."

She stares at him a little, because that's kind of an odd thing to say. "Oh...well, I'm not planning on getting murdered or anything."

[justashitmagnet]

Mike nods. "Your dad's a smart man," he comments. "It's not really idea to let kids go running around like wild animals. Not that you're a wild animal." Well, he fucked that one over. Oh well.

He half-grimaces at that answer. "I don't think most people plan on getting murdered," he says. "I'm fairly sure it just sort of happens to them."

[beanshield]

Bean smiles and decides that he's just kind of awkward. She's awkward herself, so she knows how it is. "Oh, well, he lets us run around these days. Mostly because he trusts us to be streetwise and anything. Anyways, with me that's just kind of how it is." Both of her parents had their overprotective phase when they first learned about Bean's epilepsy, but these days they accept that there really isn't all that much they can do to protect her--she's always going to be in a state of potential danger. Bean is glad they're not as clingy as they used to be.

"Oh, well. I think Potato would protect me, anyway." And Bean does have her amulet, though Mike doesn't need to know about that.

[justashitmagnet]

"Oh." Mike half-nods. "That's... well. Yeah." He's kind of run out of words at this point. Whoops.

He nods a little more aggressively as he takes a bite out of a cookie. "Good dog," he says around a mouthful. "I'm sure he would."

[beanshield]

Bean beams at him. "It's okay! I'm good at staying safe, really." Never mind how much trouble she tends to get into.

Potato snuffles at Mike's pant leg. "He is! He can be pretty protective of me sometimes, but not to the point that he's like, aggressive or anything, so it's okay."

[justashitmagnet]

"Well, good. Just... yeah." Mike nods. This girl already probably knows everything he has to say. Whatever.

Mike offers his hand for the dog to sniff. "But will he attack if you are?" he asks. "Attacked, I mean." CHILDREN SHOULDN'T RUN AROUND CHICAGO. He can't stop fixating on that point.

[beanshield]

Potato sniffs delicately at Mike's hand, then snorts a little and almost seems to nod. This human seems fine enough.

"Well, I'm not sure. I've never really been attacked? But I think he'd protect me. Plus, I think it would be okay." She tilts her head at Mike. "You kinda worry a lot, huh? I mean, no offense or anything. But how come you're all worried when you don't really know me?"

[justashitmagnet]

Mike shakes his head. "I've just... things can go messy. Very easily. And I've seen too many teenage girls dead not to worry." Not that makes this any less creepy. Whatever. He can't really help himself. He's not going to try.