SPOILERS: Designate This
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"I miss Herbal, man," Sketchy remarked as he joined Original Cindy at their lockers. "I met a great babe last night I'd love to tell him about."
Original Cindy barely looked up from her backpack, where she was digging around to find her pager. "Fool. He's just in Spokane. Give him a call."
"Can't. Long-distance service requires a certain amount of cash, which--in case you haven't noticed--I lack. Even if I had the money, it wouldn't be the same. I have pictures."
Why does Sketchy have pictures of this girl after just one night? Original Cindy rolled her eyes and grunted. Still, after a minute she held out her hand, and Sketchy placed the pictures into them. Their circle of friends at Jam Pony had dwindled, with Max's death and Herbal's departure for a promising job, so Original Cindy and Sketchy had picked up the slack for each other. As she flipped through them, surprised by their innocent nature, she commented, "Damn. She's fine."
"Met her doing bike tricks at Crash," he replied with a lopsided grin. "She has a sister if you're interested."
"Yeah. Maybe." Wouldn't hurt. It wasn't like she had a homegirl to hang with that night.
"Can you come over to Logan's?" Bling asked her on the phone. "It's about Max."
Max had been gone a couple of days, but Original Cindy hadn't thought much of it. Not only did Max have a habit of skipping out for a night or two, doing God knows what, but Original Cindy figured she and Logan had been busy celebrating their anniversary. She stepped off Logan's elevator half-expecting to see the two of them still cuddled on the couch.
But the couch held only Logan.
Original Cindy stayed with Kendra and Walter for a few days afterward, not ready to go back and face the apartment she had shared with Max. Going back to Jam Pony was just as hard. Seeing Normal shocked into silence was the only thing that saved her.
(END FLASHBACK)
(FLASHBACK)
As if reading her thoughts, Sketchy asked the question he couldn't bring himself to stop asking. "Any word on Max?" The Jam Pony crew had heard next to nothing about what had happened to her. An unusually subdued Original Cindy had broken the news to the messengers that Max had gotten into some trouble and was presumed dead. That was all they knew. In a way, their ignorance was a comfort; as long as her body went unfound, they could hope--however doubtfully--that she was still alive somewhere.
Original Cindy, of course, knew more details than the rest of them did, thanks to the fact that she'd been privy to her girl's secret. Still, while she knew the circumstances surrounding Max's disappearance, she had no more clue than they did whether Max was still alive. "Sorry, boo. Nothin'."
"I figured." Sketchy was about to ask Original Cindy what she was having for lunch, in hopes of exchanging away his own drab sandwich, when he remembered it was Wednesday. "Guess Logan'll be here in a few minutes, huh?"
A quick glance at her pager told Original Cindy that he was right. "Yeah. I'll let you know if there's any news."
"Cool. See ya later." He pulled out his sandwich, slung his bag over his shoulder, and munched as he headed for the door. On his way out, he saw Logan walking in, and nodded a greeting to him. Logan nodded back and made his way through a crowd of messengers over to Original Cindy.
"Hey."
"Hey," she answered, zipping her bag and putting it on. "How 'bout the park on Fourth Street today?"
"Sure, fine. Whatever," he answered, and Original Cindy could tell he was even more distracted than he usually was these days. Something was up. She'd have to wait until they were in private to ask about it, though, so they walked to the nearby park in silence.
It had become an unofficial weekly thing, lunch with Logan. The first one had been a sad one, Logan realizing that Original Cindy deserved to know the whole truth about Max's death. They'd each sort of found each other after that--both missing Max and feeling just a little bit closer to her when with the other. Eventually a friendship had developed. Lately, Original Cindy also felt the need to pull Logan out of his own little obsessed world now and then. The boy needed to breathe some fresh air--or as fresh as it could be in post-Pulse Seattle.
When they got to the park, Original Cindy brushed some litter off a picnic table and sat down, digging into the bag of food Logan had brought with him. He sat as well, and the mechanical whine Original Cindy was getting used to stopped. Barely two minutes passed by until it started again, though, as Logan got back up and started pacing.
"What's wit' you today?" she asked as she unwrapped the garlic bread, her stomach growling in response.
"Huh?"
"Come on. Any fool can see something's got your shorts in a bunch. What's on your mind, boo?"
Logan stood there for a minute and then sat down quickly, as if suddenly snapping out of it. His voice lowered. "Got a call from Lydecker last night."
"Max's black-helicopter guy?"
"Yeah. Says he might know where Manticore's gone to."
"That's good," Original Cindy answered without enthusiasm. She knew Logan was looking for Manticore so he could take it down, but unless it would bring Max back, Original Cindy just wasn't that worried about it. Instead she focused on the salad, poking each homemade crouton deliberately and forcefully with her fork.
"I got a feeling about this," Logan said, his tone of voice asking her to care. She raised her eyes and met his intense gaze. "If he comes through on this, I'll have what I need. And...maybe what I want."
"Huh?"
He looked down, studying the ground but not really seeing it. "Asha mentioned the other day that maybe I'm looking for Max more than I am Manticore. I'm not sure, but I couldn't deny it."
Original Cindy put her fork down and watched the man Max had loved. She didn't doubt for a moment that what Asha had said was true. Logan had a highly developed sense of justice, and no doubt he was sincere in his desire to take Manticore to task and prevent further atrocities. But he wasn't just chasing Manticore; he was chasing Max.
She reached over to take his hand, and he looked up in surprise at the sudden contact. "Boo, Original Cindy wouldn't deny it either. Get everything you can outta this Lydecker." She paused and smiled. "Then go back and whip up some more of this garlic bread, 'cause I want leftovers next week."
Logan's face broke into a smile. After that, he relaxed visibly and seemed able to concentrate on eating his lunch. Original Cindy couldn't help feeling a sense of satisfaction at her ability to bring him into the real. Plus maybe by next week he'd have something definitive on Max. She was looking forward to it.
