Nudged into action.

[brokendoors]

It's been an interesting few weeks. Far more interesting than usual, and Ivy finally gets a moment to sit down.
But once she's on her butt, she can't sit still.

Caleb's spending the Thanksgiving weekend with his grandparents and isn't due until Monday afternoon, and she's lonely. This why she gets the urge to pull out her cell phone, and scrolls through the list of names.

And stares, bites her lip, and begins texting a message.

Hi, Casper. I doubt you remember me. Ivy, from the Nexus. Got a little boy with asthma. If you do, I was wondering if you were busy? Maybe get a coffee or something.

He probably doesn't remember her, and it's been so long that she's had an actual friend so she'll be really pathetically awkward.

Comments

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

"If you promise not to laugh at me if I die like.. a billion times."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

"I can promise to just laugh a little bit." He grins over the rim of his coffee cup. But then he goes on after a sip. "Or you could borrow my console if you'd like to play it with Caleb. Or you could bring him along so he can laugh at you as well."

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

"Oh thanks." she says dryly, though she's smiling. She takes another sip of her own coffee, making a happy sound before she says, "Condoning five year olds laughing at their mom, are you? He'd like that. We might have to treat him to a Happy Meal before hand though. Or pizza." It doesn't even occur to her that she should've said "I" instead of "we".

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

"Of course I condone kids laughing at their moms. Dads too. And I not only condone it; I encourage it!" It's simply more fun that way. "And for your information, I make a mean pizza. So food wouldn't be a problem."

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

((...That icon makes me laugh...))

"And since we'll be gaming, I'll bring the Mountain Dew. And dessert."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

((Sort of the point. And I have worse!))

"You know, I think I'm starting to like this plan." It's not all that often that he gets company over.

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

((It can get worse!?))

"Me too! You never know. I might surprise you." It's rare that Ivy gets to go out, period. She's not exactly shut in, or completely friendless, but opportunity is slim. Most of her friends are childless, and just don't understand.

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

((With this PB? Oh yes. He seems to be the master of strange expressions.))

"Oh? How so? With culinary dessert-skills, or gaming skills?" In Casper's case it's a matter of him not having many friends. But the ones he's had has been very good friends, so he's never had a reason to complain.

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

((I've seen him in videos before, but the result of me drooling in my chair is probably because of the cellos. I'm not familiar with him being goofy.))

"Probably not culinary. I make a mean can of spaghettios, and I can follow a recipe."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

((There's a lot of behind the scenes type of stuff in both video and text that's absolutely hilarious.))

"I'm very thankful for my mom insisting that I learn to cook and cook well before I moved out. She did not want to have me living on noodles and junk food during my college days."

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

Ivy nods. "Yeah, it helps. I just haven't had a lot of ability to." But if those apartments are still available.. oh yes.

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

"Hmm, yeah. Living in a hotel room, I can see why." She'd better prod him about that, because he's too into thoughts of food, coffee and videogames to remember right now.

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

"Oh, it was fun to begin with, but" she shrugs. "It lost it's appeal after five years. I do wanna look into those apartments in the Nexus, if you're still up for it."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

He snaps his fingers as he's reminded of their earlier conversation. "Right, I'd forgotten about that. Well, I have no plans for the day, so unless you wanna go sightseeing we can go look after we're done here." Then he suddenly pauses and looks at her. Did she just say..? "Five years? Yeah. It's probably time for a change there."

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh. How to choose? Sightseeing or looking for a new home?!

Alright, what could be better than a bedroom of his own for Christmas? "I think.. apartments." Grin. "Definitely!"

"It was a godsend at the time," she explains. "I had a job, and a new place to live - and I could bring the baby along to work. But he's older now, and yeah. He needs something more normal."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

"Good choice. San Fran will always be around." Maybe not always always, but... Yeah. Sightseeing can happen some other day.

"Hey, I'm hardly criticizing you. We all work with what we've got, and obviously this has worked for you."

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

She softens, just a little, and manages to look sheepish. "Yes. I know, I'm sorry. It just sometimes feels like I can't stop hearing people say that it's not a good environment."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

He shrugs, finishing off the last of his coffee before it gets cold. "Sure, it could be better. But it could also be a hell of a lot worse. Take credit in that."

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, it could." She grins over her own cup. "That's what I keep tellin' people but they never seem to believe me."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

"Trust me, I haven't even seen this place, and I can already say that I've seen worse. And, even if the roof over ones head might be better, the living conditions could still be worse."

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. Thankfully, the reason the living conditions come under question so often is because he's cared about." Caleb's grandparents love him a lot, she'll give them that.

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

"That's what's important, right?" The kid is loved. As long as there's that, and that there's no actual hard coming to him from living in a hotel, Casper thinks he'll be fine.

But, an actual apartment and that the kid gets his own room? Yep, that is better. As soon as Ivy's done with her coffee, he'll take her to go look for a place.


((Lalalaa, you did not see that misposting with a wrong acount!))

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

((I saw nothing.))

"Yessir!" Smile.

"So.." Ivy says when they're back in the Nexus, on their way to an apartment building. "Crazy, that this place is so big."

[watchingsparrow.livejournal.com]

"Truthfully I try to not think about just how big it might be. A world between an endless number of worlds? . This is the block where I live. It's not the most fancy, and there's everything from werewolves to creatures from the Black Lagoon to angels living here. But it's cheap, and all the odd creatures are friendly enough."

[ivyandcaleb.livejournal.com]

"What's the crime like?" She's used to some crime; she lives in Columbus after all. But a new town, new environment.. it's a little scary.