I need you, I need you, by sun or candlelight [Magically un-backdated!]

[designed2kill]

Luka Petrovic is just leaving the O's headquarters.  She'd been grilling Duncan about the whereabouts of one Jason Randall, a.k.a. J, without much success.  After telling him to keep an eye out and call her cell phone if he got any leads, she's stalking out of the building to go find him herself.  She has a Christmas present for him, and she is

Comments

[cuckoobaron]

Somewhere in the not-far distance, there are cats. Lots and lots of cats, all gathered in one spot, meowing. It almost looks like they're hanging around a person...

Or, in this case, a demon.

"Cats," Baron addresses them, hands on his hips, "I demand you bring me food. If you are going to follow me around the city like this, you had better earn my company!"

The cats are not listening.

[designed2kill]

Luka watches the scene with bemusement. "Hello, Baron," she says. "I don't think they can understand you." Even the Laboratory scientists hadn't managed to put human-level sentience in the brain of an animal like a cat, yet, though not for lack of trying. Not enough brain space in the skull or something like that.

[cuckoobaron]

"They must understand me," Baron points out, shaking a cat off of his leg. "They are, after all, suddenly rather fond of me. And, because the last feline I encountered in an alleyway last week tried very valiantly to take my face off, I am wary of the intentions of these cats."

Perhaps, he muses, that other cat sent his cat friends after Baron.

...horrifying.

"However, they seem tame, and I cannot figure out what else to do with them."

[designed2kill]

"I don't think fondness follows from understanding," Luka says dubiously. There are plenty of things she understands but isn't fond of. The Laboratory, for one. Although her understanding of that is not complete, she rather thinks she'd be even less fond of it if she understood it more. "Besides, they don't have mindfeelings."

Luka squats down to get on eye level with one of the cats. "Hello cat, can you talk?" She's met cats that talk before, you see. But this cat just meows in her face. "I thought not."

Luka gets up. "Well, Baron, if they prove too troublesome, I can always dispose of them for you," she says with a shrug.

[hey_capn_jack]

J is out in the open air, down by Millennium Park! Sure, it took a song and dance routine at his guardian angel, but this is a small price to pay for freedom and an area where the natural population density should shield him from awkward chance encounters of the sort that keep happening in the Kashtta Tower right-

...is that Luka?

[designed2kill]

It is, in fact, Luka. She spots J and hurries over to meet him. "J! You didn't answer my journal entry!" she says disapprovingly. "I have a present for you."

Luka takes off her backpack and rifles inside. She pulls out a crumpled Borders shopping bag with The Complete National Geographic: Every issue since 1888 (price tag still on), and three pairs of black socks (price tag also still on) inside. She hands it to J. "Phoebe taught me about Christmas presents, so I wanted to get something for you."

[hey_capn_jack]

For a man who once woke up in bed with his executioners, J is more surprised by this than he should be. Really, given his history with Luka and what he knows about her haphazard quest to become more completely human, even the fact that the girl assassin who shot him once without preamble is buying him presents is... kinda understandable, really, if no less objectively bizarre.

When put in the context of the rest of this week, though, "kinda understandable" rockets straight past "objectively bizarre" to take its place at the forefront of "...this is beginning to form a pattern."

"Luka!" he says, and then she's foisting things on him. "I was going to respond, but I - ...you really didn't have to," he says, finding himself suddenly in possession of a bag and looking bewildered.

A moment later, it occurs to him to actually open it

[designed2kill]

"That's okay," Luka says. "I know you can't get out and go shopping. I take it by the fact that you're out right now that they do let you out sometimes?" Luka surreptitiously looks around for an escort, because she knows there has to be one somewhere.

"Anyway, I bought you the National Geographic because they're supposed to have pretty pictures of the outdoors and lots of articles for you to read so you don't get bored. And the socks are because Phoebe says that guys like socks. She also said that guys like ties as presents, but I couldn't see you wearing a tie, so I didn't get you one. I hope that's okay."

[kineticmachine]

Arlin did not do any Christmas shopping, and he didn't go out for New Year's. He is a very boring person, sometimes -- usually when there isn't anyone he feels he should be celebrating anything with. Which is often, so the narration isn't sure why he felt that was necessary to point out.

But he's out now, which is the point. Out and making his way toward HQ, 'cause he gots some work to do. He does not see the Luka right away, but when he does, he doesn't do the usual 'maybe I should avoid this person oh crap they've already seen me' dance. He's feeling a good deal better than the last time they interacted, at least, despite all the holiday cheer, et cetera.

[designed2kill]

On the other hand, Luka can feel Arlin coming, because she does that. (The narration sometimes wonders if she can feel him coming even outside her normal range, she's so obsessed.)

"Hello, Aaron," she says when he gets close. There is a slight pause as the Trickster effect takes hold. Then, "I love you."

Cue 'deer in the headlights' look...now.

[kineticmachine]

You are not the only one with the deer in the headlights look, Luka. Arlin has stopped completely and is just staring down at you, now. Looking vaguely confused and mostly annoyed, really, so it's a very special deer in headlights look, but that's beside the point.

Because what? He doesn't even know how to respond to that. Of course she doesn't, but...how to explain that. "I suspect you don't know what love is," Arlin says, finally, with a small downward quirk of the lips.

[designed2kill]

Oh no, she annoyed him. She really didn't want to do that. But the words just came out of her mouth and she couldn't stop them.

"Anka explained it to me," Luka says, which may give Arlin a hint as to how long this has been happening since Anka hasn't been alive for quite some time. "I asked her to tell me about love and she explained it to me and then I explained what I felt about you to her and she agreed it was love." See, Arlin, she did go through the effort of getting a second opinion on this, because she knows she's not good with emotions on her own. She's not just pulling this out of nowhere.