exsiliumlogs | give a kid a fish

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give a kid a fish

Date & Time: breakfast time, because it's always breakfast time on Breaking Bad.
Location: lunar 409 and then the cafeteria
Characters: Jesse pinkman, Stanley Lucerne, and a borrowed Exsile child named Peace
Summary: the kids are hungry and they have reason to suspect Jesse knows how to cook
Warnings: language, maybe mentions of drugs because...these two. oh and some missing teeth. long story.

The thing is, you have to know when to admit defeat. And when a four year old gives you a dirty look for the probably one thousandth piece of stale, crappy soda bread toast you've tried to serve her in the past few weeks, it might be time to wave the white flag. The question is, who do you ask for help?

Not the network. Fuck the fucking network, it's full of crazy people. There's that big bruiser guy with the funny ear who helped once, but he has cop aura. And Saul called the guy a PI, better not to. Then there's Saul, who was totally going to feed Stanley sometimes anyway because of...actually he doesn't know why. But Saul wouldn't poison them.

Stephanie might do something like try to take the kid away, though. She might even be right to. Except Peace bawled her head off if he left her alone long enough to take a piss (which he had no choice about anyway,) let alone if he just handed her over to a crazy lady who maybe knew how to cook more than toast. It just wasn't a good idea, and those two came as a set lately as far as Stan could tell.

Only, once Saul had mentioned that Jesse could cook. And Jesse wouldn't try anything douchey. So Stan waited until Lisbeth left to go bite some vampires or whatever she got up to in her spare time, and peeked in on Jesse to see if he was sleeping or what. 'Cause either way, he was making some breakfast. Peace was getting good at puppy eyes, it would totally work.

"Jesse? Hey, Jesse..."

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Nope, Jesse isn't sleeping. He has difficulty doing that, now that he's off the drugs and left to deal with his thoughts in their purest state. But he finds ways to distract himself, and he's doing just that, sprawled out in bed and idly browsing the network while listening to his iPod. He doesn't hear Stanley over the music, but he catches movement out of the corner of his eye and tugs out his earbuds as he looks over.

"Huh? What? What's up?"

Please don't tell him something exploded or a bunch of people died.

Nothing about Jesse's reaction seems weird to Stanley. He just picks up Peace on his hip and wanders in to sit on the bed, the better to let her use her puppy eyes on Jesse. He shrugs, trying to play it off casually. He's an impressively bad liar, though, so no doubt it's obvious that he wants something.

"Whacha doin'?"

As though it isn't obvious. Even as stoned as Stanley happens to be at the moment, he can see exactly what Jesse's up to. Just hanging out. It's perfect. He's probably bored. And open to suggestion about better uses of his time. Namely, breakfast.

Jesse's shoulders sink in relief when it's obviously nothing urgent, and his eyes light up at the sight of the baby. He sits up properly and pushes his electronics out of the way to make room for them.

"Nothing," he says to Stanley, though his eyes are mostly on Peace. And then the next words are directly solely to her, in a baby voice, "Heyyyy, Sweet-Peace. How you doing, huh?"

Peace is used to Jesse by now, so she wriggles out of Stanley's arms and takes the few wobbly steps across the mattress to see Jesse. She smiles and pats him on the head. Jesse is fuzzy. She likes that.

Stanley watches this exchange idly. He's not concerned, Jesse is fine with Peace and even if she falls off the bed it's not that far. "So this big lawyer bird told us a thing, right?"

Jesse laughs and bends his head down a little so she can have a field day playing with his hair. That lasts about two seconds before he can't resist anymore and he scoops her up for a wriggly hug.

"Oh yeah? What'd the big lawyer bird say?"

Peace giggles when Jesse picks her up and hugs her. If Stanley is her temporary mom, Jesse is her silly, fun uncle. She doesn't really speak much, between the bad hearing and the language gap, but she understands hugs just fine. She pats Jesse on the back with one tiny hand and grasps his shirt with the other, easy and familiar.

Stanley loses his train of thought for a moment, watching them in a sort of day dreamy way, mostly staring past them. It takes him a moment to remember what the hell the conversation is even about. "Huh? Oh. Uh...breakfast. I mean, cooking. He said you can cook."

Jesse wouldn't expect much conversation out of a baby like her, anyway. He's content to cradle her in his arms just like this. His attention drifts over to Stan while he rocks Peace back and forth, and now that he's not completely distracted, his face falls a bit.

Ah. Stan's stoned.

"A little, yeah," Jesse answers curtly, trying not to sound too pissed off though he really, really disapproves of getting high while caring for small children. Stan's pretty much a kid too, he reminds himself, so... "You guys're hungry? When's the last time you fed her?"

The tone change registers, though Stan can't actually figure out what the problem is. Jesse's usually not a pissy guy, so it takes him by surprise. He eyes Jesse nervously, fighting the urge to take Peace back from him. He's not hurting her, after all. It's...probably fine. But he doesn't take his eyes off of them again.

"Tried to like ten minutes ago, but she keeps throwing the toast. Then I gotta eat floor toast while people glare at me. I think she wants something else, ya know?"

Oh, Stan's worried about Jesse? That's a laugh. But Jesse goes back to baby-talking at Peace, and it's like he was never mad at all, "You didn't like the toast? Dat's okay, we'll find something yummy. Maybe you'll like pancakes. Pancakes are really yummy."

He picks her up with him as he stands, nodding for Stan to follow, though he doesn't really wait before heading out. As far as Jesse's concerned, Peace is now in his care until Stan sobers up.

Stanley doesn't hop up quickly enough, and Peace starts wailing before Jesse even makes it out of the doorway. Nooooo Jesse, you forgot something!

The sound of the baby crying makes Stanley cringe, and he hops up, pauses just long enough for his head to stop spinning, and jogs after Jesse. Yeah, okay. Dude isn't happy with him. Did he see Stan staring at Lisbeth's nipples the other morning when she wasn't wearing a bra? Damn it. It wasn't on purpose, they were just...there.

"Hey..."

Jesse knows exactly why Peace is crying, but he's undeterred. "Shh, shh," he whispers to her while he walks briskly toward the cafeteria. "He's right behind us. We didn't leave him. Stan needs pancakes, too, I know."

When the kid comes running up beside them, Jesse gives him a sidelong glance over the top of Peace's head. It's a yeah, what? though he doesn't ask out loud.

Ellie's just passing on through when she catches sight of Jesse--Jesse and a kid, which is what made her head turn that way in the first place. She had no idea there were kids that young on the moon base. Was that... did Jesse have a kid? That almost seems like something he'd mention fairly early on in their conversations, especially given her age. People tended to tell her if they were parents, like it would comfort her, ease her into trusting them.

Most people, anyway.

"Hey," she greets, approaching him with a mix of caution and wonder. He hasn't been in a good place the last few times they chatted, but she's never really been around a baby before, so she's gotta check this out. She notices the guy around her age behind him, and gives him a nod of acknowledgement.

"That's... uh. That's a baby. A loud baby."

"She's usually good, just-" Stanley dodges someone walking the opposite direction, trying to keep up with Jesse's irritable pace. The new girl who joins them hardly gets a glance. He's just trying to get close enough to make Peace stop shrieking like that. It's brutal in this enclosed, echoing space.

Yep, that's right. The baby apparently belongs to the teenager. Or she acts like it anyway, squirming and bawling and reaching for him like a kid in the store who got told she can't have the toy she wants.

Jesse slows down enough so that Peace can see that Stan's right there, but he isn't going to just hand her over. He strokes her back and kisses the top of her head to comfort her a little, too, but there's Ellie out of nowhere and maybe he should explain things so it doesn't look like he just kidnapped some random baby.

"She's hungry," he explains. "We were just gonna make her some pancakes. You want some, too?" He might as well offer. He doesn't know Joel well enough to know if Ellie's been getting properly fed up here. Apparently there's a problem with people being too fucked up to take care of the kids, so it's a question that needs asking.

Ellie looks between Jesse and baby and the other guy, eyebrows lifting. A hungry baby that wants to be held by the teenager. Brother? ... dad? She supposes the details don't really matter if she's being offered pancakes.

"Um, sure," she agrees. Joel doesn't need to worry about Ellie since she's good at getting herself fed when there's food available, but she's not one to say no to anyone making her food. And she knows how good pancakes are.

After a moment of rapid-fire contemplation and courage gathering, Ellie offers her hand to the guy that's not Jesse. It's almost hard to look away from that baby.

"Ellie."

With Stanley close enough for her to grab a fistful of golden hair again, the little girl quiets down to sniffles and hiccups.

"Ow! ..Hi. Uh. Stanley." Offers the teenager to Ellie, shaking her hand briefly before he tries to gently unclench the toddler fist from his hair. It's like being on a choke leash, in that it hurts every time he starts to fall behind.

"Ow! Jesse! Fuck..."

"Keep up, loser," Jesse chides, although he's sounding less angry and more teasing now that Ellie's around. He adjusts Peace in his arms a bit so that at least she's got enough range to not keep Stan practically pressed up against him.

"What do you guys think? Chocolate chip pancakes, or blueberry?" He's really asking Ellie here. The stoner will probably think anything in front of him is amazing.

Ellie makes a little sympathetic noise of pain when the baby grabs Stanley's hair. Ouch. That looks painful, but Ellie's not about to touch a baby in case she breaks it. Her. Yeah.

She's about to ask what the baby's name is when Jesse starts talking about food, properly derailing her train of thought.

"Are you kidding? Chocolate. Duh."

Someone's developed a sweet tooth. This other guy better not say blueberry, otherwise the baby would have to cast the final vote.

Stanley narrows his eyes slightly at Jesse, not amused, but used to being generally taunted anyway. He doesn't even bother to reply, just trips along beside Jesse, trying to keep his scalp mostly out of harm's way.

He also knows enough women (who can kick his scrawny ass) to be fully aware that you never argue with them about chocolate. Besides, anything that isn't floor toast will be fucking amazing at this point.

"C'mon, baby girl, leggo...let Stanny go, 'k?" He pleads instead, screeching a bit himself when Peace gives his hair a fond tug instead. "Fuck, fuck, fuck..."

Sorry, Ellie. Please stand by for coherent conversation.

Stan can whine like a bitch all he wants. Jesse doesn't even consider handing the toddler over until they've reached the cafeteria. It's empty when they get there, which is good, because he doesn't exactly want anyone else to notice that Stan's on drugs while he's supposed to be this baby's guardian. Jesse might be mad about it, but he doesn't want the kid in serious trouble.

Peace is finally passed over when they're next to one of the tables, because Jesse assumes that Stan can manage to sit down without dropping her. "It'll just be a few minutes. You guys chill over here."

The words baby girl has Ellie's attention entirely on Stanley. It's strange, hearing someone else say that term of endearment. She has to shake her head a little to stop herself from staring like a weirdo. Normal, Ellie. You're trying to be the general consensus for normal because you don't like people staring at you, either.

"Alright."

Ellie doesn't sound entirely sure about the idea, sitting down with someone she just met who will be holding a baby, but if she can fight infected, she can do this. Social situations should be a piece of cake. She plops down into a chair, and even nudges the opposite one out a bit with her foot, since Stanley's arms will be full of baby in a moment.

Whining like a bitch is one of the few things Stanley happens to be good at, but it stops when Jesse hands Peace over and he can finally get his hair out of her grip. Though he slugs Jesse in the shoulder and grumbles a few obscenities at him under his breath before he goes to sit down.

The kid, however, he just "flies" over to the table gently. The odd look from Ellie before went unnoticed, what with his head being under someone else's control at the time, but the kicked out chair gets a nod of acknowledgment. He drops down opposite her, giggling little girl and all. He rubs at his poor scalp for a while and bounces the kid on his knee.

"You new, Ellie?"

Jesse doesn't seem to mind the punch. Either he barely felt it or it's just standard behavior for the 409 crew and he's used to it by now. He only glances over to make sure the three of them are settled before disappearing into the kitchen to start cooking.

"About three months new," she replies, though she certainly still feels as if she's only been around for a month. The move to the moon didn't help. She tries to keep her eyes on Stanley's face, but it's all too easy to drop her gaze down to the baby. She's... Ellie doesn't know what she is. Giggling is better than crying at least.

"How about you? Were you in Exsilium for a while before all of this?"

In spite of having just asked the same question, Stanley seems surprised by it. He frowns a little, and glances around. Whatever he's looking for, he doesn't seem to find it, though.

For a moment, he's quiet. Then, he shrugs. It isn't sheepish, but it probably would be if he wasn't feeling so good at the moment. "Uh, I dunno. What month is it?"

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