St. Louis: The Coffee Shop Across The Street From Francine's Dorm, Wednesday Evening

[thatsamilkshake]

Wow, a red-letter day for Francine: the first time since she'd left Fandom that she actually missed the ability to fume her way over to Caritas and order whatever the heck she wanted without getting carded.

Not that she'd ever done that while she was there and not thinking she was someone else -- she just missed the ability now. Peppermint hot

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[bigdamndestiny]

Oh, poor Francine.

Poor, poor Francine.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Agggh!" Mmm, peppermint phone.

Francine managed to fish it out of her coffee before there were any sparks, at least. One more line of Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo and her phone would've been toast.

Soggy toast. "Merlin? Hang on. Sorry. Drying my phone off."

[bigdamndestiny]

"Drying it off?" What was this tomfoolery, Francine?

[thatsamilkshake]

"It's raining?" she tried, because that made her sound slightly less foolish, and God knew she needed that today.

[blondecanary]

Bored, bored, bored. Stakeout again. This time, a bank.

Why couldn't that fun cat burglar come back?

*ring!*

[thatsamilkshake]

Oh thank God -- Casey had made her way to the door now, and now that Merlin was off the phone, there was no way Francine could fake one side of a non-existent call in person.

Francine answered the second her phone gave the slightest buzz; no waiting for a ringtone this time. "Hi. Whoever you are, please know that I will love you forever if you stay on the line and protect me from bouncy blonde people being bouncy and blonde in my face."

[blondecanary]

"... Does it help that I'm a thousand miles away, and I'm being vewy quiet 'cause I'm hunting bad guys?" Dinah whispered.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Oh!" Francine, that was not vewy quiet. "Dinah! I didn't mean you! I meant--" The person standing in front of her table.

"Francine! It's so good to see you! Isn't the weather awful, though? I almost didn't come into work, but then I thought really? Really, Casey, since when have you ever let a little rain keep you away from rocking out at dancercize? People are counting on me, you know?"

"...Casey. Hi." Saaaaave meeeee. "Sorry, this is, um. Kind of an important call?"

[bitch_prince]

After hearing-- something from Merlin, Arthur had been struck by this sense that he should probably do something.

However, he'd also been struck by a healthy and long-standing fear of upset girls (who were irrational and impossible to handle), so he'd taken an equally healthy wait before actually trying to call.

Maybe she'd stopped crying. That would be brilliant. (Had she been crying? She must've.)

[thatsamilkshake]

Duuuuh.

But lucky, lucky Arthur was getting a Francine who'd already talked to two people and ordered a second cup of cocoa, so the odds of her bursting into tears on him were... well. She was still Francine. Good luck with that.

"Hi, Arthur."

[bitch_prince]

Never before had he been so flummoxed by a simple greeting. The etiquette for dealing with upset girls still largely escaped him, and Arthur was already beginning to see where he had gone wrong here.

He should have called Katchoo. She would have yelled. At least that would have been comforting and familiar.

"Francine," he began, in a tone of voice that was entirely too upbeat for the situation. "Merlin tells me you're in a bit of a state." Did anyone need to be maimed? Because he could do that.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Actually Missouri's a pretty big state..."

If only she were being sarcastic, Arthur. If only.