[For Auggie] Jan. 14: Just what God needs, one more victim

[girlsolo]

When Kate wakes to a quiet hut instead of a creaky Victorian house, sun on her face instead of frozen toes, she's not sure whether to freak the fuck out, or just enjoy it. Roll and stretch proves she's back to boyshorts and t-shirts and enjoying it wins out. Too bad Declan's not here to enjoy warm naked skin without piles of blankets.

Later.

She rolls out of bed and throws on cutoffs and a tank, straps a blade on her thigh in case the change set the dinosaurs free, pulls on her boots and five minutes later she's on her way to the Compound for breakfast and to get any news she needs. Plus see if Declan left her anything interesting in her mailbox last night. Sometimes he does.

Half an hour and a shower later, there's nothing there and she drops in to grab breakfast. She's not due at the Children's Office today, so there's coffee, lots of coffee, in mugs, oh god, in her future. Then maybe she'll find Steve about starting up training and surfing lessons again.

She's just got her first cup when she spots Auggie looking kind of out of sorts. Maybe he's having trouble with readjusting or something? "Hey, gorgeous," she calls across to him. "Want some coffee?"

Comments

[theblindguy]

Something was wrong.

It's a thought that's been mulling about in his head for at least an hour now. For as much as he'd shrugged off Joan not showing up for breakfast in front of Annie - to ease her worries about it - he doesn't buy a thing he tells her. Joan wasn't the kind of person who forgot. Annie hadn't known her as long as he had, didn't see the kind of track record she had. If she says she'll be somewhere, she'll be somewhere. Why was this morning different?

Annie's been gone a little while. He makes an excuse for why he wants to hang around and she buys it (he can still lie when he needs to, and he doesn't want to alarm her if he doesn't have to), but really, he's mostly hoping Joan shows up a little later than she said. It's a hope that's quickly diminishing as time ticks by. When Kate happens upon him, it's past the point of just being late. He's distracted enough about deciding what to do next that he doesn't even notice Kate's nearby until she speaks. He does his best to shake himself out of his own thoughts the moment he does.

"Kate," he greets, glancing toward the direction of her voice. The offer of coffee is a particularly welcome one at this point, so he adds, "Yeah, sure, if you're offering."

[girlsolo]

"For you?" Especially when he looks like a staticky cat? "Any time." She's not really the service type and doesn't do much out of just plain kindness but Auggie's a friend and something's eating at him. So like Will the other day at the bar, she dials it down from bitch-flirt to you can tell me anything and pours Auggie a cup.

"How do you take it?" Since she's not his girlfriend (she's cute, though, Annie and seems like she's good to Auggie from what Kate's seen), she doesn't know.

[theblindguy]

He gets a feeling he probably is becoming more and more noticeably on edge. It makes him silently glad Annie had left. If Kate can read him - and he's sure she can - Annie definitely would, too.

"Just a little bit of milk, if there's any," he replies. He has no idea what's available with the switch back to normal weather.

[girlsolo]

"Cop a squat and I'll be right over." This 'nice' thing she's got going on with bringing people coffee and caring about them's kind of a pain in the ass. Her boyfriend, Mr. Manners, is definitely rubbing off on her. Heh. Like that, too.

Fixing up the coffee's quick and the room's small. Only takes a minute before she's crossing back to Auggie with two cups of coffee. One for him and one for her. She's holding his hostage until he answers, "Something's chewing your face off. What's up?"

[theblindguy]

He finds a nearby seat - one he'd been sitting in recently, but started getting too restless to stay in one spot. She heads over, but doesn't sit or give him the drink she's brought. He sees the question she asks coming before she even opens her mouth.

"Nothing," he replies, because if he didn't want to bother Annie with this, he definitely didn't want to bother Kate. But she doesn't budge, and he knows she's not buying what he's saying. He sighs after a long pause. "I am going to assume you're giving me a disbelieving look right now."

[girlsolo]

"What gave me away, the coffee I'm still holding or did you hear my eyes rolling like nickel slots?" The words are more sarcastic than her tone. Kate knows damned well it takes plenty to rattle Auggie. So it's either got to be something personal like a fight with Annie or something big. Either way, he's a friend and she's not interested in being a dick.

"Talk, or the coffee gets it." It's an idle threat. She's already putting it in his hand.

[theblindguy]

"Both, actually. It's been a while since someone held my coffee hostage. Good touch," he says with a quiet snort, managing a smile. He knows jokes aren't going to get her off the subject, though, even when she hands over the coffee anyway.

"I was just waiting around here to see if a friend of mine is going to show up. She was supposed to meet me here earlier but -" he trails off, then shrugs, trying to diminish the actual amount of worry he has about it. He's probably overreacting. He does wish he knew where she lived, though, because it'd be easier to check there than mull about here. After he takes a sip of coffee, he adds, "I don't know. She's just not usually late."

[girlsolo]

Not like Auggie to get that kind of bothered over someone not showing up for breakfast. She frowns and takes a drink of her coffee. Will's the detective, but Kate's disappeared enough times to be able to think this one through.

She ticks off reasons on her mental fingers. "Assuming you've been through the possibilities, but: she might've met someone and spent the night, not wanted to get out of bed. Could be seriously hungover. If she's kind of new or not good with directions, might've gotten lost with the island gone back to itself last night." Could've gotten hurt, too, but Kate's not about to add to his worries. "Want me to see if I can find her?"

[theblindguy]

It's hard to explain to someone who didn't know Joan why this felt so off. Not without divulging more than he wants to divulge.

"I've known her for years and I don't remember a single time she didn't show up somewhere when she said she would," he says, which more or less got rid of any of the things she suggested except for the last one. And even that didn't seem very probable - it's not hard to find places on this island, and it was late enough that he's sure she would've found her way to the Compound by now. The search idea, though - that's something he can work with. If he didn't want to try to keep Annie out of it - and disappearing for a long stretch of time to go look for Joan certainly would tip her off - he would be offering to join her. "Maybe that's a good idea. I don't really know where to tell you to start, though. She came to the island during the snow."

[girlsolo]

In Kate's experience, Auggie's pretty perceptive. He's pretty damned good at reading people, so if he doesn't think this friend is having an island fling or sleeping off a hangover, Kate can accept that she's not.

It doesn't surprise her that he doesn't offer to help search. Sure, he could, but it's a lot easier for her and she's a lot more mobile on her own. She's got an entire network of people she can recruit, too, if she needs to.

"Tell me what she...well, whatever you can about what she looks like, where she was staying in the city, and her name. I don't have anywhere to be, so I can go right now."

[theblindguy]

Joan's easier for him to describe than Annie would be - he'd known her when he could still see. And while it's been a while, he remembers enough to know he can be helpful

"Early forties, little shorter than I am," he says, thinking about what would make her stand out. "Blonde hair, blue eyes. Is that enough to go on?"

[girlsolo]

"Pale blonde, kinda icy, delicate but walks like someone you don't want to mess with?" Kate asks, clarifying, because it slots right in to a very vivid memory from New Year's Eve and...last night actually. Her questions obviously give away that Kate's seen her before, but there's nothing to suggest she hasn't seen her with Auggie and Annie. She has. Seen her with both of them. It's just that she's seen her with someone else, too.

[theblindguy]

"Yeah, exactly. Have you guys met?" he asks, because it's a spot on description - one that'd she could only say if she'd seen her around. It'll make it even easier for her to find her, if his assumption is right. "Her name is Joan."

[girlsolo]

"Nah," Kate answers casually and takes another slug of her coffee to break up her speech rhythms. "Just saw her with you a couple of times and with a chick I rescued from the mistletoe, Emily." And Druitt. She pops up a grin and teases, "She got a tat that says she'll kick my ass if I walk up on her from behind?"

There are things she knows about Auggie that they don't talk about. She hopes he gets she's not asking for honor code violations about his pal. Just need to know enough to protect her and Joan if she is lost. And maybe to know if she stood a chance of getting away from Druitt if he went after her.

[theblindguy]

"No, nothing like that. She's nicer than she looks," he promises with a short laugh. Which is true, actually, except she's also right in assuming she could kick someone's ass if she needed to - something he's not going to divulge outright. He'd never gotten to see her in action, but her reputation was pretty hard to miss when you worked in the Agency. "Unless she doesn't like you. I'd try to stay on her good side if you find her."

[girlsolo]

"Oh, great. Me, stay on someone like her's good side. Sure." Kate's grinning when she says it, though. She's always been good at staying in the moment when she needs to. "Will namedropping the great Auggie Anderson help?"

The last sip of her coffee is cold and bitter, so she pushes it away. She's got to find Druitt. Now. But she can't rush away from Auggie or he'll know something's up.

[theblindguy]

"Name dropping my name is always a good idea," he replies, dryly. And in this case, it's probably true - even though if she ends up being fine, he really is going to feel like an idiot. But better to feel like that than regret it, especially when everything about the situation is pinging as something being wrong to him. Growing a little more serious, he does make sure to add, "Thanks for offering to help. I really do appreciate it."

She doesn't need to do this - there's no obligation whatsoever - and he knows that. It's something he'll remember.

[girlsolo]

"Not a problem." Taking a cue, Kate pushes up to her feet and grabs her cup to clear it. "You can owe me on." Auggie had to know her well enough by now to know she liked being one up on the scales, so that worked.

She tossed a saucy wink and shimmy back his way, even though he couldn't see it and added, "Besides. Good way for me to figure out where everyone I met in London lives now."