(Untitled)

[whitechapelred]

Welcome. What can I get you?

Comments

[speedforcefreak]

Huh?

[Impulse looks up. He seems kind of... dazed. He didn't even realize he walked into the tea shop.]

Oh, uh...

No, not really.

[speedforcefreak]

...I should sleep. I will in a little, I guess.

[whitechapelred]

Do you want me to stay with you till you do?

[speedforcefreak]

You're busy with your shop, aren't you?

[Not a yes or a no. He really doesn't care either way. (He'll fall asleep, too exhausted to keep going, in about five more minutes anyway.)]

[whitechapelred]

Only if you're alright up here on your own. [Jack bits his lip.] Just get some rest and sing out if you need anything.

[speedforcefreak]

[Bart nods. As said before, he does fall asleep. It's several hours before he wakes up, but when he does, he gets out of bed -- gah, the floor is cold! -- and quietly goes down the stairs again into the shop.]

Thanks for letting me use your bed.

[whitechapelred]

No trouble. [Jack waves it off.] I was just making some lunch. Want something?

[speedforcefreak]

...Sandwiches are easy, I guess.

[whitechapelred]

I was making Guinness and beef pies actually. How's that sound to you. I can make you a sandwich if you'd prefer?

[speedforcefreak]

Whatever's the least trouble. But... [there's a faint glimmer of interest] I've never had a beef pie before.

[whitechapelred]

They're already in the oven. Easy done. [Jack raises an eyebrow] Really? Well, that we can fix. More tea while you're waiting?

[speedforcefreak]

...Okay.

[whitechapelred]

Okay... [Jack runs his hands over the drawers of tea.] Lemon-grass and Japanese green tea. [He brews it up for Bart and sits it front of him with a few slices of lemon on a plate.] Pies will be out in a sec. You just relax here, I won't be a moment.

[speedforcefreak]

[Bart drinks the tea, more for something to do than for the fact that he's thirsty. Curse of the speedsters, his brain is going a thousand times faster than anyone else's, and right now, his is stuck on the events that lead up to his return to the Hub. His recent sleep -- more like a brain blackout -- has been the only break he's gotten.]

Maybe... [He's just thinking aloud,] Thad wanted to take my place, for his mission. But maybe he wants it for real. If he thinks I'm dead, since I'm not there anymore... if he thinks I'm dead, maybe he saved Max so that Max would be grateful. Let him live my life, like he has been.

[whitechapelred]

[Jack listens in silence, cupping Bart's shoulder softly. He has no idea what the young man is talking about but he's happy to listen.] Maybe. Is there anything you can do without getting back to your world?

[speedforcefreak]

I can't... I can't think of anything. [It might not be as dire as it sounds, his brain is a bit stuck on the past, after all.]