You know they put a man on the moon simply to prove that we all need a place to go

[stillaboyscout]

It's been a fairly quiet Black Friday in Chicago, at least for a select few.

Chance Adams hasn't been out in quite some time, and she's enjoying the brisk Chicago air. She's at Grant Park at the moment, smiling to herself as she watches the kids play. She misses her family a little, sure, and she sure as hell didn't eat any turkey yesterday, but

Comments

[pplrunincircles]

Elizabeth has not seen Mike since the Zombie. The Zombie was before the plagues, before Josef, before the fire. It was a long, long time ago. Her hands are bandaged still. They'll be that way for at least a week or two. The only reason she left Josef's apartment (it was very very difficult to do) was to fetch cake. He made dinner last night so apparently that means she should buy him cake. It's in a bag which is wrapped around her wrist.

It's been so long since she's seen him but she can still smile. It's a wide smile of relief. Part of her feels like too much has changed, and she can't possibly act like it hasn't but then she starts speaking, and it's easier than she ever imagined.

"Hey, it's you. You helped me fight that zombie like forever ago." Oh, that's right she got in an argument the last time she saw him. Oops! It hardly seems important now. Whatever it was about. "I'm... it's really good to see that you're still... you know. Alive and stuff. What with the blood water and the frogs falling and the lice. The... you know... the plagues"

She'd hate for him to have died especially since she certainly wasn't there to help

[justashitmagnet]

Mike just stares at her. "And... I'm glad you're alive," he said back. That is... weird.

And then his eyes fall to her hands and his jaw practically drops, but he manages to keep it together. "Your hands..." he instead says weakly. "It wasn't the fire... from the..." He bites his lip.

"Do you need help with that?" he finally asks.

[pplrunincircles]

Elizabeth smiles at him when he says that.

"I'm pretty glad about that, too. It didn't- You didn't-" She presses her lips together in a frustrated, kind of frown. "I was going to ask if the plagues didn't treat you too horribly but I guess they kind of were a huge, terrible disaster for everyone. I don't think anyone has a worse time than... anyone else. It's sort of hard to compare or anything. I guess I just meant that I hope you're okay, too. Alive is only the first... step."

Her face falls when he mentions her hands, and she tries instinctively to pull them back into the sleeves of her coat. "N- no." She looks back up at him, taking in a deep breath to calm the panic in her heart. "It was... a different fire. I'm okay though."

Elizabeth holds up the bag. "You mean help with this? No, not really. It's kind of heavy on my wrist but I don't want to keep you from going wherever it is you were going... and I don't have to go too far."

[justashitmagnet]

Mike shakes his head. "I... had it better than others, I'm sure," he says quickly. "I mean, I barely came outside after that first day... I just locked myself up in my room and didn't do anything at all." With his door that has a lock. Thank God for that thing.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to call attention to--I'm sorry," he quickly apologizes. "I just... you're okay? Okay. I'm just..." He's failing at words, and he knows it too. He closes his eyes for a minute, trying to figure out how to do this without getting awkward all over everything, because clearly his previous tactics failed.

"No, I'd like to help you--I mean. I'm not going anywhere, and if it's not far than sure it's not far out of my way anyway. If I was going anywhere. Which I'm not. I--" he winces. "Will you just give me the bags, please?" he asks finally.

[pplrunincircles]

"I had it better than others, too," Elizabeth says. "I'm glad that you stayed safe though. It was kind of scary outside. And by kind of... I mean it was like a regular horror movie. Only with less naked people running around. I don't know why people are so naked all the time in horror movies."

She shakes her head at him with a small smile, feeling bad that he seems to feel so badly about it.

"It's okay. Really. You don't have to say sorry about anything. I'm just- I'm still trying to get used to it is all. It- The burns kind of made my hands all ugly so I'm like being a self conscious teen about it. You're fine. I promise. I'm just... being silly."

Elizabeth raises her eyebrows at him but instead of fighting any longer, she decides to give him a break. She lifts her arm up wincing a bit cause she has to move her hand to do so.

"Fine. Okay. Uhm. Thank you?" She presses her lips together and then smiles a little at him, deciding that it's maybe best if she changes the subject. "Did you have a good Thanksgiving?"

[justashitmagnet]

Mike just nods a little at her vague ramble. He can listen. He's really good at it! ...He's less good at responding.

"I'm sure they're not ugly," he says quickly. "All healed up, I'm sure they'll be prettier than any other girl's hands ever." Way for that to sound way creepier than you meant it, Mike. Oh well.

"Thank you--er. You're welcome?" He takes the bag from her with a confused shake of his head. "Thank you," he finally says.

[pplrunincircles]

Elizabeth smiles a little wider at that. If it comes out creepily, she doesn't really seem to notice.

"I don't know about that. They're definitely going to be scarred and stuff. Scars aren't really pretty," she says, wrinkling her nose and trying not to think about it too much. "But thank you for saying that anyway. That's really sweet of you."

She laughs softly and nudges him with her elbow. It's really rare that she isn't the one tripping over her words. She kind of likes being on the other side of things for once.

"Why are you thanking me? You're the one carrying my bag for me."