infomodder | IC contact [Mask or Menace]

I have something to drop off for you, should I leave it in the shop or at your place or somewhere else?

[goddamnit annie]

the shop it's technically closed I can make my way over though are you in Heropa already?

[ ur welcome ]

No, not yet. I'm about forty-five minutes away, another twenty for extra traffic. Fewer trains are running today.

[ANGRY CAT HISSING NOISES SPIT BOO]

Because it's Christmas please tell me you've got other business in Heropa than dropping off something for my birthday

I have a few Christmas gifts to drop off as well. You're not getting one. I felt your birthday was the more important of the two celebrations. I hope that's all right.

[...oh.]

It's more than all right.

[How many times had people just given him one thing and said it was for both, and how aggravating and smug they'd been while doing so? This was...well, this was a nice, much better reason to only get one.]

I need to get myself together, but I'll be at the shop by the time you get there. [Unless something drastic happens, naturally. Weather disaster. Getting abducted. Finding a dog.] Thank you.

[ Wow, cheap jerks. Annie didn't want the two conflated, since there's no obligation in her mind for either one, but especially not for one that isn't meaningful to her. Birthdays she can get behind, not because "ah, this is a birthday," but for taking that chance to show appreciation to another person for their existence.

it could have been obligation, if she had people to be obligated to, but she doesn't. not without choosing. ]

You're welcome. See you.

[ and she does take more than forty-five minutes with all the holiday delays, but then there's annie, backpack with two other gifts tucked inside all slung over her shoulder, a reusable shopping bag made of canvas with a box inside containing the first, kind of sad efforts of making a cake she's ever indulged, with an even smaller box wrapped in brown paper tied with twine. ]

[Cheap jerks indeed. But Will grew up poor, learned that if he eventually stopped getting anything at all from his father, it wasn't because his father hated him or Will had been on the naughty list. It was simply a lack of funds. There was a difference with that reality and people who would put the birthday and holiday together, laugh about it, mention that he must be used to it. Nah, y'all. He's used to getting socks and underwear. Maybe.

Jerks.

Will's in the shop, dressed for a quick outing as opposed to a day spent at work. Plaid and jeans and a jacket, shaven, but there's still something about it all that screams he's not planning to stay too long...other than the fact that the sign is flipped to CLOSED, needed lights are on and someone is inside, mulling around. The shop really is only open to two people at the moment, and that's how he wants it to stay.

He's not at all sure what to expect, which prompts the mulling to involve shuffling, hands stuffed into a jacket he doesn't need. When Annie appears, Will's done a magnificent job of separating a container of bobbers by color and nothing else. Much productive. Very morning person. Such doge.]

Mornin'. [The throaty quality of his voice speaks to sleepiness, not aggravation. He's not aggravated. He's almost smiling as he approaches, even if it's slow.] Want me to open it now?

[ Annie doesn't appear like she's planning to be around for long either. Getting what she needs to have done today before jetting off to back home, where she can be quiet again, or start on a project she's unwittingly found herself facing. She doesn't think much on delivering gifts on the day of, rather than before - Will is getting the birthday treatment, and those who are getting gifts for Christmas have her operating from the same general point of view.

It's been odd and quiet going through town and the marina, those little places usually open mid-week all reading as CLOSED, people not out in the kind force they have been until now.

Annie gives him a small shrug as she hands over his "gifts." ]

If you like.

[ It's a little gratifying when she can see she's not allocated funds for something terrible that no one can make use of (liking perhaps being secondary), but it's not a feeling she needs. Certainly not that she craves, not over something like this. ]

It's your birthday present. You get to do with it as you like.

[Odd and quiet, definitely. Will knew it would be, but he'd still been taken aback by it when he stepped out. Wondered why it couldn't be like it more, without all the people droning about. It was nicer this way, in his opinion. Go figure.

Trying to keep that smile at quarter mast, he took a hold of the gifts and slid them onto the counter. Something small and something not small (it smelled like...no, couldn't be?)—clearly he opened the small first. Just gently tugged that twine off, unwrapped it carefully, and let out a short bark of laughter at what he found. The urge to put his hand to his stomach was present but like hell was he going to risk dropping this gorgeous specimen of doggie paraphernalia. If there is what sounds like a curse on the Christ of Christmas in that laugh, it's quiet and mixed in with actual joy this time around, not too overt.]

Oh my God. [That one definitely is, once he flips open and figures out the smell is a cake. Surprise, delight, grateful, everything someone should be upon receiving birthday gifts. And when that involves holding up a dog tape dispenser in one hand and looking at a cake, all is right in the world.] This is— [Very kind (human) of you? Sweet? Unexpected?] —perfect.

[It's small and understated and one-on-one and Will is all smiles and normal happy face in her direction despite the hour.]

Thank you.

[ She's quiet as she catalogs and watches him unwrap, first the dog - which really, is almost ugly, but it serves a dual function and a third one of a paperweight of he ever felt he needed one of those - and that bark of laughter, then the cake with the frosting that will never look right because "wait until cooled before frosting" had been missing from the recipe she'd been following.

He says thank you. He looks actually pleased. In spite of anything, that is gratifying. Annie glances away, brushing her hair back behind an ear. ]

The frosting looks like shit, but... you're welcome.

[ There's nothing professional about that cake, but it is a cake, and that's... sure baked from scratch. (Those are the sorts of cookbooks Annie's picked up. Knowing all the ingredients makes it easier for her overall, and the time spent has been, well, holiday time. A break from reading and training and studying. ]

[Almost ugly doesn't matter. Is it tacky? Is it tasteless? She can look around her and find plenty of shirts and hats with tackier and more tasteless things written all over them. The dog belongs here, in this haven of the harmlessly crude. Will doesn't find it anything other than perfect. This is the guy who has seven dogs in his normal home and still has more on his shelves, in old pictures, in knick-knacks. Annie made a damn good match here, she has every right to a sense of gratification.]

Doesn't matter what it looks like. [It doesn't look great, he's not dismissing that. He's dismissing the idea that it actually matters. It's a Goddamn cake, it's meant to be eaten, not stared at. There was an effort, and even if that effort wouldn't make the A grade with a bakery, it sure as hell makes the A grade with Will Graham. He's staring at it the same way he looks at his dogs, even. When he stops, when he lets the cover back over it, that absolute joy and attachment transfers straight onto Annie, no stopping it.] You, uh...need anything for the rest of your errands around town today? You got a drink in your backpack?

[Does she want a free one? Bottled water or crappy soda in that back fridge, maybe? That's what he seems to be indicating, at least, his head tilted somewhat in that direction, if she so desires. If she didn't stock up. Not many places will be open on Christmas, no need to get thirsty halfway through it all and spend twenty minutes grumping about the lack of the usual fare, might as well drink out of the damn hose on this lawn. Weeh, life hard, Santa is a dick.]

I wasn't planning on being in town for that long.

[ She looks back to Will, adjusting the strap of her backpack. She wishes any of these sat better, more like the ones she's tested with her work up in Nonah. Packs meant to carry and balance weight. They were back-savers. ]

I'm stopping by Jayden's and Uzu's, then heading back to Nonah.

[ Short and sweet. Annie herself being only one of the two. ]

[He notices the adjustment, but he can't read her mind. If she'd say as much out loud, he might be able to be of some assistance. Bait shop, fishing is an outdoor activity. If she wants a backpack that could actually do the Goddamn job its meant to better than what they market for schools...those outdoorsy ones were the meal ticket.

He can help, Ma.

Uzu...Uzu...one eyebrow quirks and he tilts his head at the name, thinking over who that must be and summarily hoping Annie doesn't eat any proffered food.]

All right. Good luck with it. I'm sure it'll be...quiet out. [Dead, almost. Will slides both gifts back into that bag, certain Annie knows that if she ever needs it returned, he'll be glad to. He's clearly here just as long as Annie is, turns out the light as he heads for the door, pulling his keys out of his front pocket as he does so.] You walking, too?

[ Only the konyaku. All his friends swear by it. Technically by now, she's probably been introduced to this mysterious strange potato like dish prepared however he liked, but even if she hasn't, she'll have that tenuous faith that not everyone is attempting to set her up for a fall. Axe me no more questions and all in the aftermath that had followed Uzu's attempt at rallying her to his konyaku cause. ]

Mmm. Seems easiest. I could have borrowed a hovercycle from the base, but I didn't want to head back that way.

[ Taking the military driven shuttle into Heropa has been enough. She can get through the rest on her own two feet, no problem. It's what she'd expect anywhere else as it is. ]

[Ladies first, when it comes to leaving a building. Or, really, more like anyone else who doesn't have the keys to lock up first. He's fallen into a routine with it by this point, barely has to look at the lock to slide the key in and turn. He nods, seems to agree that walking is easiest—he walked here, after all. But that's easier when he's relocated to Heropa and doesn't have to go through the unusual commute every time he wants to stop by the shop for any reason.]

Moved in with April when I got out of the hospital. [Casual talk for someone who could casually fall in next to Annie, neither a step behind or a step ahead, equal footing. Gifts get held against his chest, keys plopped back into his front pocket as he offers a muted but honest smile.] So I'm back in Heropa. We can walk together until we have to part ways, if that's all right with you.

[And they can walk in total silence as much as they could walk in conversation, of course.]

[ She's not surprised. April will have had the pleasure of dealing with another disappearance, reappearance, and Will being the mostly-dying party to come back after his time back home. April's been here for long enough to have seen the pattern so often over the years. There's a take it or leave it quality to embracing relationships with all people here. Friends, allies, enemies, lovers, the countless other kinds. Mentors and students...

Annie shakes her head, breathing out. She can see herself exhaling - it's just colder right now in the shade. ]

It's fine.

[ That's it. There's nothing else she feels she needs to say. For her it's easy to walk in quiet, in this too quiet world, with people inside and tucked out of the way for the holiday. Not everyone, but it would never be everyone. Just enough to make the streets seem abandoned at an eerily early time on a weekday.

...Which means that unless there's something he wants to bring up, she'll stay quiet as they walk back toward another part of town. ]

IC contact [Mask or Menace]

text sent early on 12/25

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