Once upon a December ...

[dont_go_west]

There's something in the air. Something like ... a sense of yellow tinted blur, with unusually high contrast between light and dark! There might even be cross-dissolves.

Could this be a flashback?

Comments

[noattachments]

Perched on a thick curved branch in the biggest tree near the bar's back door, Kate holds an almost empty bottle of beer between her denim-clad knees and a small toy airplane between her fingers.

She's antsy tonight. Introspective. This place is a mixed bag: it hands you a blank -- or almost blank -- slate and sticks you in a cage you can't always get free from for long.

When the plane slips from between her fingers and drops to the grass beneath her, she looks disapprovingly down at it for a second and then, before she makes any move to climb down, finishes the last of her beer.

[dont_go_west]

West has been out for a surreptitious flight. It may be a risk, but hey, it's dark out - and it's nice to remind himself, every so often, that no matter what the judgmental idiots on the ground might think, he's got the edge.

(Of course he hasn't been looking into anyone's windows. Why would anyone ask such a thing?)

He doesn't see Kate in the tree until he's almost too close, but the falling plane tips him off and he drops down to the ground in haste, with a slight thump on the ground, a few feet away from the tree.

[noattachments]

About three seconds later, Kate lands on the ground herself, feet planted hard to brace against the drop from the branch.

Her eyebrows are definitely raised. "Sorry if I startled you."

Her brain says no, of course he wasn't flying, but even as she reaches down to hurriedly recover the fallen plane, her mouth proves to have a mind of its own. "Next time maybe I'll wear orange before I climb any of these trees. Just in case."

[dont_go_west]

West stares at her. "Maybe you should," he says, more snappishly than even he thinks the situation actually warrants. His heart is still thumping. "Were you spying on me?"

[noattachments]

She wastes no time sliding the plane back into her pocket, deliberately casual about it, but looks at him like he's nuts.

"Why would I be spying on you? I don't even know who you are."

[dont_go_west]

The looking at him like he's nuts is actually kind of reassuring.

This doesn't stop West from saying, "Well, that would be a reason to spy on me. You don't have to spy on somebody if you already know everything about them."

[noattachments]

Letting out a laugh that's half disbelief and half amusement, she folds her arms over her chest.

"But I'd have to know you exist before I can spy on you, right?" She makes a swooping gesture in the air with one finger. "And until you soared by just now, I had no idea."

[dont_go_west]

"Or so you say," says West, triumphant. "That's exactly what you'd say if you were spying on me, though. To throw me off."

His logic is impeccable!