Drinking away the pain (Open, multiple threads welcome)

[meansfamily]

Lilo had taken to keeping a diary since she'd found out she couldn't leave the hotel. The entries were brief, and mostly written in crayon, but they all were about the same thing: what she missed back home, the faces she hoped to see again, what she wondered Nani and Stitch were up to

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[man_outof_time]

"Aren't you a tiny bit young for beer, sweetheart?" Jack had been watching the kid for a few minutes, amused and slightly worried. He'd heard about her, but hadn't run into her yet. He was pretty glad she was here, but...why at the bar, of all places? Maybe because she was likelier to meet people?

He took the stool next to her. "Water, lots of ice please." Then he looked down at her with his best smile, "So, come here often?"

[meansfamily]

Lilo put her head on the bar. "I vant to be aloooone," she mimicked. But she looked up and blinked. It was an older guy, handsome, with pretty hair. "And it's root beer. It's not really beer. You want some?" She swung her legs, immediately more cheerful now that someone was there with her.

"And no. This is my first time here. It's fancy." Lilo looked at him. "You're fancy too. I like your suspenders."

[man_outof_time]

Jack's eyes twinkled at her. "Why thank you. You look lovely, yourself." He held out his hand. "I'm Jack. What's your name?"

[meansfamily]

"This is my favourite muʻumuʻu! Thank you!" She swiveled around on the stool, beaming. When she took his much larger hand in her small brown one, her eyes lowered. She couldn't help feeling a little shy.

"I'm Lilo."

[man_outof_time]

And here, Jack became a little bit stuck. He wasn't that good with children, really- not that this one looked dangerous or troubled, beyond the expected, but he wasn't even sure how to approach the fact that she was stuck here, nevermind how to help. "I've heard about you from the Doctor." He said at last. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He shook her hand gravely. Relting to females too young to tease was...hard.

"How've you been? You've found the dining room, right?" Not an interrogation, he reminded himself. Just talking to a kid. "Having fun?" Lame, Jack. Owen'd be laughing his head off.

[meansfamily]

"The Doctor talks about me? I like him. He's nice, and has poofy hair, and is handsome. Not as handsome as you, but I like him a lot. He's funny." She held out the shot glass, ready for another root beer.

"I found the dining room. It's weird - I didn't expect there to be so much Hawaiian food. There's mahi mahi in there, you know. It's so good." She analyzed him, her eyes running over his features. "You know who you remind me of? Elvis."

[man_outof_time]

"He's very nice, I like him too." Phew, back to familiar territory. "Never tried that, but I think the hotel's trying to make us all feel as comfortable as we can be here. If that means good old fashioned home cooking, that's what you get."

He laughed when she mentioned Elvis, and tilted his head slightly, doing his best impression. "Thank you. Thank you very much." Looking around the bar, he said thoughtfully, "I saw him preform, once. And I could sing his stuff, but not like him. He was kinda unique. You're a fan?"

[meansfamily]

"Are you brothers, or just friends? Or are you special friends?" She'd seen enough tourist men snuggling and smooching on the beach to have a vague idea of what it all meant.

His Elvis impression was pretty good, and got a belly laugh from Lilo. "You saw him? Which concert? At home, I have lots of his recordings, but there's only one here in my room. The Doctor says he met him, and I'm so jealous."

[man_outof_time]

"We're friends." That was enough- he was far from ashamed in what they had, but wasn't sure the Doctor wanted it made public just yet. "And we're both pretty special." She was a bright kid, she'd figure it out and he won't have said anything directly.

He grinned when she laughed. "I was on a mission in the US, saw him in Vegas in '71. It was pretty cool." Almost made up for how crappy the mission had been. "Always felt sorry for him, dying so young."

[meansfamily]

She didn't comment on anything Jack said until he got to the 'dying young' part. She sighed and sipped her root beer. "My dad, before he... left. He always said that people died when they had lived as much life as they needed to. I guess Elvis had a pretty big life."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I just wished he could've stayed. I need him sometimes."

[man_outof_time]

He frowned- 'left', as parents sometimes did, or left-left, as in he was dead? Both would go a ways to explaining why she was here alone. "He did." He agreed with the point of Elvis, then put a careful hand on her shoulder. "Did your dad have a big life, too?"

[meansfamily]

Lilo knew what she meant. Adults never wanted to say the word 'dead', for fear she'd react poorly. "Mom and Dad went out for a drive. It was raining." She shrugged. He could figure out the rest, he seemed smart. "My big sister Nani takes care of me."

[man_outof_time]

Jack nodded. "I'm sorry." He said with full sincerity, his eyes sympathetic. "My parents died too, a very long time ago." He was too familiar with death to worry about the words describing it, but should a six year old be? "You were with your sister when you came here? Did you get separated?"

[meansfamily]

"It's okay. I miss them, but I still have my family. I'm sorry about your parents." She patted his hand gently.

"I was running from feeding Pudge to my hula lesson when I got here. Nani was at work." She shrugged. "I'm resourceful, so I'm okay to walk myself around. Plus, we're in a really small town where we know everyone, and even if a tourist did something, I'd scream or hit them with a rock."

[man_outof_time]

"Smart girl." Jack said approvingly. The last time he'd been anywhere near Hawaii had been right after WW2 had ended, but even then, rebuilding, it'd been pretty and peaceful. Made sense that a kid could walk around alone. "It's the same here, yeah? If anybody tries anything, you yell and run and tell someone, alright? The Doctor or myself." It wasn't his place, and maybe he should do it, but something said he should.

"Look, Lilo- I know we've only just met, so if you don't wanna tell me it's ok, but you're on your own now, right? Do you- want to have a roommate? Live with a grown up, just to have somone you know you can go to if you need anything?"

[meansfamily]

"Oh, if someone tried something here, I'm getting to a good height where I can reach stuff that Nani taught me to punch. If someone kicks you in the junk good and hard, can you still pee? Or do you fill up with pee and die?" Lilo worried about the important things.

When Jack proposed that she move in with him, Lilo blushed. "I think I'm too young for you to live with, Jack. You should move in with a girl who's older."