Respite

Log Title: Respite

Characters: Kimber, Major Bludd

Location: Northern Territory, Australia

Date: 29 March 2016

TP: Killing Jar TP

Summary: Kimber and Major Bludd find a place to rest and eat, and discuss their next move.

Before long, the pair of unlikely travelling companions come upon a small slatted yellow building with a red awning. A couple picnic tables stand beneath the awning, which shelters them from the sun. A sign attached to the building reads 'Erldunda Roadhouse Cafe'. Music and the smells of fried food and cigarette smoke waft out from the open doorway.

"Erldunda," Bludd murmurs to himself. "Doesn't sound familiar. Well, they've gotta have maps." He inhales deeply as they approach the cafe. "I'm hungry," he declares, turning to Kimber. "You hungry?"

"Oh, my gawd!" Kimber nearly yells. "I'm starving! Do they have pizza in Australia?" She practically runs towards the café, mouth salivating at the smell of fried food, with a willingness to ignore the cigarette smoke considering the situation. Kimber doesn't quite realize she looks a bit of a fright - barefoot, makeup-less, tangled hair pulled back in a messy ponytail - but after all she's been through, the normally style-conscious musician doesn't seem to care.

Bludd laughs as Kimber takes off toward the cafe. He quickens his step to keep near her. "Yes, o'course there's pizza in Australia, love."

Inside, the cafe is simply decorated in earthy browns and bricks, with small round tables set here and there, surrounded by heavy plastic swivelling chairs. A flat-screen television displays a rock concert of some kind. The place isn't busy; a few of the tables are occupied, but it looks like a quiet afternoon here.

Bludd takes a moment to gaze around the place before directing Kimber to sit at a nearby table. "I'll order us up some pizza, then, shall I?" He grins at her. "I been thinkin' about pizza since ya mentioned it back aboard ..." He pauses, suddenly aware how insane he'll sound if he casually mentions he was captive aboard an alien spaceship. "Back there," he amends, waving a hand vaguely in the air.

GAME: Kimber PASSES an INTELLIGENCE roll of Average difficulty.

Kimber nods excitedly at the prospect of pizza, although she gets distracted a moment by the display of a rock concert on the TV. She goes to sit down, but then pauses, and re-approaches Bludd. "Oh, my Gawd," she says again, although this time at barely a whisper. "I don't have any money! I wasn't carrying any when I was kidnapped," she says quietly into Bludd's ear. "Do you have any? I'm soo sorry." She suddenly looks ready to cry.

"G'day!" A middle-aged man with greying hair at his temples beams at the pair as they come in. He casts a concerned gaze at the somewhat disheveled Kimber from his place behind the counter. "Doin' alright?" he asks.

Bludd gives the man a friendly smile and a nod, then turns to Kimber. "It's alright," he tells her, "I've got it covered." It helps that he was living in Australia before he was abducted: while he's not loaded, he's certainly carrying enough Australian cash in his wallet to buy them a pizza dinner, and maybe even a room to stay in for the night as well. He lays a hand on her shoulder. "G'wan an' siddown," he drawls, and goes to the counter to speak with the man.

Kimber looks so relieved, and mutters, "I'll pay you back," before she goes to take a seat. Propped on the edge of a chair, she studies Bludd for a moment while he speaks with the proprietor, but then turns her attention to the TV again before she gets caught staring. She taps her fingertips on the table as the watches the concert, observing them play even if the sound is down too far for her to really hear the music.

Bludd orders some food and drinks for himself and Kimber, and digs some cash out of his wallet to pay for a map the man hands him. He tucks the map in his back pocket, collects a pair of plastic glasses filled with soda, and returns to the table. "Pizza'll be up before we know it," he tells Kimber enthusiastically, setting the sodas down on the table and dropping into the chair opposite her.

"Oh my gawd soda!" Kimber enthuses, grabbing a glass and downing half of in one gulp, emitting a very unladylike burp after the fact. "I'm supposed to be cutting down on my sugar, but you know what? I don't care!" She drinks more of her soda, and then fixes Bludd with an appreciative smile. "Thanks so much, Major, for everything. I owe you, like, my life!" she chirps, and then looks somewhat embarrassed.

A heavy-set woman a few tables distant looks over at Kimber in distaste, while a boy of about twelve bursts out laughing, earning himself a stern look from the woman. Bludd squints his eye shut and turns his face toward the door so that no one except Kimber can see him fighting to keep from laughing out loud. He grins at her and shakes his head. "I can't take you anywhere," he quips through his supressed laughter. Shortly he gets himself under control again. "Don't worry about it, love," he says. He lays a hand on her arm and looks at her seriously. "Given our past, an' what we've been through recently..." He shakes his head, repeating, "Don't worry about it."

Kimber beams, and glances down at Bludd's hand on her arm with a smile - a far cry from her feelings towards him when they met. "So, what kind of pizza did you order?" she burbles. "I like all kinds, except anchovies. Do you like anchovies? Yuck! Fish are so weird and gross. What are gills, even?! So gross!" She grins at Bludd and finishes off her soda, remaining where she is so she doesn't have to retract her arm.

Bludd chuckles at Kimber's somewhat random train of thought. "Played it safe," he replies. "Got plain' ol' cheese. No conflicts there, right? And no, I'm not a fan of anchovies either." He gives her arm a gentle squeeze before reaching for his own soda and pulling it across the table to him.

Kimber nods quickly. "Just-cheese sounds great to me! Sometimes I like pizza with veggies and an egg, and I used to like bacon on pizza, but I'm thinking about becoming a vegetarian again, because I love animals, you know?" With hardly a breath she switches gears to, "So, what's the next step of our plan, Major? Have you figured out where we are? This is kind of civilization, but I'm not sure how I'm going to get back to LA without getting you in trouble. We may have to part ways." Perhaps astoundingly, she pouts at that idea.

Bludd smiles at Kimber over the edge of his glass before taking a sip. He sets the glass down again and reaches into his back pocket for the map. "We're actually quite close to Alice Springs," he says, unfolding it and laying it on the table. "I'm surprised we found an area with moist soil and grass when we arrived... that might have been left over from the a-- er, the last place we were. Erldunda claims to be the centre of Australia, and by this map I can't argue with them." He taps a spot on the map with a finger. "We're here." His finger moves northeast toward a city labelled 'Alice Springs'. "And this is Alice." He looks up at her. "Ayers Rock is only a few hundred kilometres from here." He points it out on the map. "I grew up in this country and I've never actually visited it. As far as getting you back to LA, there are flights to coastal cities from Alice Springs. Shouldn't be a problem to get you to Sydney or Melbourne and to LA from there." He, too, seems to sober a bit at the thought.

Kimber follows Bludd's indications on the map and nods her head to indicate her understanding. When he's through, she looks around the room and then lowers her voice to a stage whisper. "Is it going to be safe for you to travel?" she asks. "What if someone recognizes you - or me?!" Her pale eyes widen. "I'm a famous missing person!" she exclaims, stage whisper forgotten. "They must be looking for me all over!" She glances at the TV, as if they might be interrupting the concert RIGHT NOW for a 'Have you seen this girl?' announcement.

"Calm down, will you?" Bludd hisses, reaching across the table to wrap his fingers around her hand. He stares at her in annoyance, casting a surreptitious glance toward the counter. Fortunately the man who was attending it is currently elsewhere. The woman a few tables down gives Kimber another distasteful glare, then gets up, gathering the remnants of her meal and the boy's. The boy grins over at Kimber before hopping down from his chair and trailing after the woman as she goes to a trash receptacle and dumps the trash into it.

Bludd takes a deliberate breath, closing his eye for a moment. "If you like, you can call Jerrica and let her know you're alright. That would take care of the need to worry you'll be recognised." He looks at her with a softer expression. "I've no intention of attempting to keep you from returning to LA. That said, I'm rather enjoying this whole thing, now that we're back in a ... normal place." He avoids the gaze of the stern woman and the boy as they walk past and exit the cafe. "I had considered..." He seems to notice his hand is still covering Kimber's, and he withdraws it a bit more quickly than necessary, a startled look crossing his face for the faintest of instants, and clasps his glass with both hands. "I was going to ask you if you'd like to go see Ayers Rock with me," he adds quietly, staring into his soda.

"Oh!" Kimber exclaims. "I didn't... I didn't think to call yet, because, well - I didn't want to get you in trouble. And I didn't think you'd try to stop me - it hadn't even occurred to me." She smiles at him. "I trust you." She twists her face into a frown of deep thought. "I should get back, but ... I'm already here, and I've never seen Ayers Rock before, so maybe I could stay just one more day." She winks at Major Bludd. "Just one more thing, though. If you could look like anything else - look different in any way - how would you look?" Her pale eyes sparkle with mischief.

"Don't worry about me, love," Bludd replies, glancing up at Kimber. He frowns in confusion when she asks him how he'd change his appearance. "What?" He's apparently forgotten about the hologram technology Kimber possesses. "What d'you mean?"

Kimber grins mischievously. "I mean, I might be in range again now that we're back on Earth, and I might be able to help you with a disguise - and you wouldn't even have to shave your mustache!" she giggles, eyes suddenly widening at a stray thought that popped into her head. She blushes deeply, and then says, "Help me out. What would you like to look like if you didn't look like you?" She leans forward, looking penetratively into Bludd's eye.

"Oh, right, the holograms." Bludd unconsciously strokes his beard, smiling as Kimber blushes. "What was that?" he asks mischievously. "You have an idea of your own?"

Kimber blinks her eyes rapidly. "Oh! No, uh..." She quickly changes the subject. "I have a tiny holoemitter I keep on my person, linked with a computer back home. Way more advanced than what Rio gave Cobra - I can create holographic disguises around the both of us that I guarantee will be indistinguishable from the real thing. So what should we make you - goth boi? Metalhead? Punk? Oy oy oy!" she exclaims with gusto, raising her tiny fists in the air.

Bludd laughs. "Hardly anything so grandiose," he replies. "I think disguising my injury and my hair colour will be sufficient." He winks at her with the hidden, damaged left eye, the nearby muscles twitching to give the effect even without the eye visible. "Although... I admit I'm curious to see what you'd do to me."

Kimber laughs. "I'll keep it simple for now. We can play more when we're not in public." She frowns in a 'I'm not sure that came out right' way, but then literally shrugs it off. "OK." She reaches into the front of her shirt, and pulls out a small red-star necklace. She presses her thumb on the center of the star, and says quietly, "Synergy? Can you hear me? Please tell Jerrica I'm OK and will be home soon, but DON'T tell her where I am. Also, I'll need inconspicuous disguises for me and my friend. OK?" Kimber looks up at Bludd and smiles.

"Showtime, Synergy."