[open thread] la la la la london.

[trainedweapon.livejournal.com]

Characters: Laura, you.
Setting: The hotel lobby in London.
Content: People run into Laura? Thread-jacking okay.
Status: Open and incomplete.


[Laura is sitting quietly in the hotel lobby, looking through a travel guide pamphlet placed on one of the tables nearby. She might be waiting for someone. Or maybe she's just reading up on what there is to see besides the major landmarks she already knows.]

Comments

[golden-elixir.livejournal.com]

Hey.



You want to go on the giant Ferris wheel with me?

[trainedweapon.livejournal.com]

[Laura looks up when he speaks, even though she had sensed him the moment he walked off the elevator. Elixir. Joshua Foley. Healer. Her stare fixes on him. She's thinking about their mission to save Meg.]

There's a giant Ferris wheel?

[golden-elixir.livejournal.com]

Well - yeah, technically, it's called the London Eye, but it is a giant Ferris wheel. You can see the whole city from the top!

[trainedweapon.livejournal.com]

[She catalogs his fidgets, perhaps gives them a little too much attention, which might make him feel more awkward. That's what Laura does: she observes. She learns quickly. He is nervous in her presence.]

I will go.

[She says this softly, closing the pamphlet and rising.]

[golden-elixir.livejournal.com]

Awesome.



Did you want to wait for anybody?

[trainedweapon.livejournal.com]

[Laura pauses to look back. Megan wanted to go shopping, but she was still sleeping with Laura woke up. Still, she hovers for a moment, as if--well, as if Bobby might come out of the woodwork. :P She turns back to Josh, deciding just them is better off anyway.]

No.

[golden-elixir.livejournal.com]

All right.

I was thinking we should really do it all tourist-like and take one of the double-decker busses.

[trainedweapon.livejournal.com]

That's fine. [Laura says this just as quietly, pulling her leather, fur-lined jacket tighter around her, because it's too damned cold in London as they turn towards a conveniently located double-decker tourist bus stop. Caaaaauuuuse they are at a hotel and tourist buses go here.]

[never-too-cold.livejournal.com]

[Bobby's already there, waiting for a bus. He's surprised but pleased to see them, and flashes them a smile.]

Hey! Where are you guys headed?

[trainedweapon.livejournal.com]

[Laura blinks in slight surprise and something... else as she spots Bobby. The wind was blowing towards him; she had not caught his scent. Josh and Laura stop in front of him.]

We are catching the next bus to the London Eye.

[never-too-cold.livejournal.com]

Mind if I tag along? I've just been sitting here trying to figure out where I actually want to go.

[He indicates the small guidebook in his hand, which he'd bought before they'd left the mansion. Because he's always prepared. Like any good Boy Scout.]

[trainedweapon.livejournal.com]

I don't mind. [She tears her stare away from Bobby to glance at Josh.] We were going on the Ferris Wheel.

[golden-elixir.livejournal.com]

Umm, yeah.

Think my good looks will cause any problems there?

After the above epic thread...

[never-too-cold.livejournal.com]

[Bobby smiles at Laura as she makes her way back over to him, and waves goodbye to Josh.]

Everything okay?

:D :D

[trainedweapon.livejournal.com]

[If Laura is agitated or unsettled by her conversation with Josh, she does not show it as she makes her way back to Bobby.]

Yes. Josh and I are friends.

[She doesn't mean telling him like Josh meant it; it is simply the truth. The summation of their talk. Yep, that's what it is.]

Re: :D :D

[never-too-cold.livejournal.com]

Cool.

[Bobby finds her statement kind of odd, but then, every conversation he's ever had with Laura could be described as "kind of odd" so he doesn't think anything of it.]

So, ready to go?

[He's strangely looking forward to this trip, and he's not exactly an art aficionado. He's not sure what it is. Maybe it has something to do with the tiny, almost imperceptible smile on Laura's face.

Not that he's thinking about that, of course.]

[trainedweapon.livejournal.com]

[Sure he isn't. Laura falls into step next to him, resolutely deciding that Joshua Foley doesn't know what he is talking about. And that she should not look at Bobby's excited smile so closely. There is no reason.]

Yes.

[never-too-cold.livejournal.com]

[They catch another tourist bus to the Gallery. Thankfully, the Gallery is not quite as crowded as the Eye.]

So is art another of those random subjects you know everything about?

[It's said with a teasing grin as they walk inside. He dismisses the strange tingle from his arm brushing hers when she moves closer to avoid colliding with a woman and her toddler. Because Bobby's still nowhere near all the way over Rogue yet, so of course he can't be thinking about another girl.

(Right?)]

[trainedweapon.livejournal.com]

No, I... [She pauses momentarily as their arms brush, as she catches a sidelong glance at his smile. Her gaze is soft, but she tries not to smile back, however small. They are friends. She wonders what she is doing to make Josh think differently. She should correct her behavior.

Right?] I don't know very much.

[There is a pause, and she adds quietly.] That is part of why I like it.

Sooo

[never-too-cold.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have to admit I don't know much about art either.

[Looking around, he spots a sign advertising guided tours.]

So, do you want to take a tour, or do you want to just wander around by ourselves?

soooooo?

[trainedweapon.livejournal.com]

I would rather wander. [She says this, leaning towards the entrance into a hall filled with paintings. Laura can't help it; she's a loner.]

LMAO. I mean to say "Sooo... I know nothing about the Gallery/art apart from what Wikipedia says" XD

[never-too-cold.livejournal.com]

Sure.

[After so many months of just not knowing how to talk to Laura, he's finally getting comfortable with their mutual silence. They take in the artwork with unexperienced but nonetheless appreciative eyes.]

Have you ever tried painting before?

[It's an innocent enough question, but once he's asked it, he's not sure he should have asked. He knows she didn't exactly have a childhood growing up.]

LMAO oops. Yeah, me either. :P We're both in the dark.

[trainedweapon.livejournal.com]

[They're standing in front of Van Gogh's Sunflowers painting (http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/vincent-van-gogh-sunflowers) when he asks this. Laura doesn't look away from the mellow colors and thick brush strokes at his question. But she's getting better at reading him, smelling the change in his perspiration. She recognizes how he second-guesses himself. She wants to assuage him of his worry. She doesn't know how.]

No. I have not. [She looks over to him.] Have you?

Re: LMAO oops. Yeah, me either. :P We're both in the dark.

[never-too-cold.livejournal.com]

[He laughs, reaching up to rub the back of his neck.]

Back when I was in first grade, maybe. I'm not much of a painter. Pete's the artist.

[He examines the painting, strangely aware of Laura's proximity.]

I can do okay with sculpture - ice, you know? I used to do it a lot, out on the fountains in winter.

[trainedweapon.livejournal.com]

Why did you stop?

[She is conscious of his proximity too. As the conversation continues, her body angles slightly towards him, away from the painting. She is aware of his every blink, every shift, the movement of his muscles beneath his skin. Laura doesn't miss anything.

But she doesn't understand--no, she doesn't want to understand why she's paying so much attention, cataloguing and absorbing him in with such careful intent. Almost affection.]