Count your miles from the lightning, and rest your tired eyes

[guardsintheory]

In the Kashtta, Annie Cartwright is playing the piano, some jazzy ragtime number. It's still a little hesitant - she hasn't played since university, and she's having trouble remembering bits, but she's smiling and clearly having fun.

In the coffee shop, Rose Tyler is hiding from another spurt of rain, nursing a drink that only tastes mostly like

Comments

[doneanddoner]

There's another person taking advantage of the break in the rainstorm, but she was planning on ducking in and out of buildings to quite literally get her errands done.

She's very determined when it comes to fulfilling her task. Which is why she doesn't even see Mat until she's almost on top of him.

"Oh! Hi."

[guardsintheory]

Mat is more than happy to be nearly run over by this particular tinygirl, as is evidenced by the big grin that spreads across his face before he leans down to kiss her. "Hey! Missed you, sweet stuff."

...Yes, it's cheesy. But Mat is perfectly capable of schmoopy cheese.

[doneanddoner]

Her glasses aren't on for once (therefore, less of a barrier and less likely to get squished back onto her nose), but her ponytail is pretty wet because someone left the house without an umbrella.

"Missed you too," she murmurs, soft and against his lips.

She may have to steal another kiss from him while she's there. It's convenient placement, after all.

[guardsintheory]

Mmm, Fredkisses. Oddly enough, he still feels weird when he realises he's kissing a girl (he had that with Rose, too), but he loves her, so it doesn't matter.

"I was just standing here," he says, shifting to wrap her up in his arms and rest his chin on her head, "staring at the Millennium Falcon and thinking how weird it is that a piece of my childhood is crash-landed in the park."

[almosttooloyal]

It has been a long time since Ami has had a chance to play chess. Time to actually sit down with someone who knows the game. Being a girl of many hobbies is difficult when one of those hobbies is saving the world, and the future world.

For most of the morning, she sat at a stone table, holding an umbrella with one hand, and playing chess with herself. Not a lot of people come out to play chess in the rain. But she loves the water, and she loves chess. It's like a match made somewhere.

Eventually, though, she has to pack the chess set up. She's got some volunteer work to do at the animal shelter, before she goes and finds out what boy Minako is chasing around town. She pauses, though, when she sees Mat. There's something about the expression on her face that she can relate to.

"You like spaceships?" she asks, giving him a smile. "Star Wars, right?"

[guardsintheory]

"I like Star Wars," Mat corrects, still not looking away from the ship. "Corellian light freighter Millennium Falcon, owned and piloted by Han Solo, who won it in a sabacc tournament from Lando Calrissian. Purportedly the fastest ship in the galaxy, goes 0.5 past lightspeed and made the Kessel Run in under twelve parsecs, whatever that means."

He glances over at Ami with a sheepish grin. "I was sort of obsessed with those movies as a kid. Still remember a lot of trivia. Got the brain for it, I guess." That and not much else, he'd say if pressed....

[almosttooloyal]

Ami smiles and looks away. It's a lot easier to look at the spaceship, after all. "Ah, yes, Han Solo," she agrees, blushing slightly. "Let the wookie win, yes?"

She's honestly not too worried about what he does or doesn't have the brain for. Intellectual peers are not things she really seeks out, as they're almost impossible to find. And she doesn't like flaunting her intelligence, even if sometimes it seems it's impossible not to. She doesn't mean to, at least.

"You should open your umbrella."

[guardsintheory]

"Let the Wookie win," Mat affirms with a nod. He blinks a bit when she mentions his umbrella, and looks at it, and then up at the clouds.

"Well... I guess I could. It's not really raining, though, just spitting. It's kind of refreshing." Of course, the change in pressure means his shoulder hurts, and he'll be damp and cold and Tay will tell him he looks like a drowned puppy when he gets back to the Gauche, but he feels... good.

That's pretty rare these days.

[thehandsomeone]

Dean is also in the park, for no real reason other than there's a great little taco place, right in the middle, and he has a craving. He sees a familiar face - or back of the head - on his way, though, and stops for a second.

"Hey, Sa -" he starts to say, and then does the doubletake associated with seeing his brother's doppleganger of sorts. "Oh. Hey, Mat."

[guardsintheory]

Mat stiffens at the sound of Dean's voice. It's not the same, not exactly, but it's close enough to Nate's to hurt. He takes a deep breath and turns around, trying to keep some semblance of a smile even though he feels, seeing this stranger with his brother's face, like he's been punched in the gut.

"Um, h-hey, Dean."

His smile's looking much more like a grimace, and he sounds so excited to see Dean.

[thehandsomeone]

And that - gives Dean a bit of a pause. Sam and Mat are different, definitely; Mat's a hell of a lot twitchier than Sam ever was, but their faces are similar enough to share certain expressions.

Dean recognizes this one, that holding things together face.

"Everything okay?"

[guardsintheory]

"I-- N-- Yeah. A-absolutely. Perfectly... perfectly okay." Which is why he's stammering and his voice is cracking and he can't look directly at Dean. He breathes deeply, trying to not freak out. He's not going to break down. He's fine. He's completely fine.

He's not alone in the world. He's got Tay and Buffy and Jack and he's not alone and he's not freaking out.

[xandtheman3]

Here, Willow, have a best friend!

Xander hasn't noticed that her concentration is focused in on the floating pencil. He just plops down on a seat next to her.

"Hey, Wills," he says, sending her an easy smile.

It's hard to describe how amazing it is to have both of his best friends here. He felt kind of lost without Willow near. They've been best friends for so long.

[computermagic]

Willow yelps, and the pencil kind of... explodes. Well, not really explodes, but it scatters across the room in four or five chunks. Will looks at the pencil with a bit of trepidation. "Well. I'm really glad I didn't start with kittens."

She then levels a look at Xander that's more teasing than anything. "You interrupted my floaty-pencil-time. And now I don't have a pencil anymore."

[xandtheman3]

Xander flails. When he realizes there is a projectile object involved, he ducks and covers.

"What the--"

He rolls out of the ducking and sends her his best attempt at an innocent smile, tilting his head to the right.

"This is why there should be a sign. Floaty-pencil-time: Do not disturb."

He picks up one of the chunks of pencil. "So that magicy stuff is coming... along. Why would you need to float a kitten? But I am really happy that I'm not covered in kitten chunks."

[destroytheother]

Josef Soltini also finds himself in the park. His suit got wet since he was not carrying an umbrella. He's kind of pissed about it. It's an expensive suit, but the reason he was out and about was worth the ruining of it.

He spots Mat and recognizes him. Josef remembers every face and every name he's ever come across.

Comes with the territory.

"Feeling philosophical?" he asks with the harmless slanting of his head.

[guardsintheory]

"More like nostalgic," Mat says with a quiet laugh. "I used to be such a Star Wars geek when I was a kid, y'know? Could rattle off all the most obscure facts without thinking... Not to mention I had a huge crush on Han Solo."

He still could rattle off a bunch of useless trivia, if you asked him. Or if it seemed fitting to rattle off. But he won't admit that just yet.

[destroytheother]

"I'm more of a Princess Leia man myself, but I can see the appeal," Josef answers with a charming grin. The easygoing countenance all but functions on auto pilot, pretense at the tips of his fingers.

If he's disappointed Mat seems in far better spirits than when they last met, he doesn't show it.

"Don't tell me you played with light sabers, Mattie."

[guardsintheory]

"I don't tend to be a princess man at all," Mat laughs quietly, and shrugs. "Unless I'm the one in the sparkly crown."

It's okay, Josef - it's not like it'd be difficult to get him in a less-than-chipper mood again. Like so...

"Well, I liked blasters myself," he says. "But my br--" His voice, and smile, falter a tiny bit. He tries not to let it show, but the emotional twist in his chest can't be hidden. The falter only lasts a second, though, and he continues on. "Um, my brother was big on Jedi, so we had lightsaber battles a lot. He usually won."