Cordelia Chase (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
letsbe_clear) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
self_inflictedexhile2011-04-12 11:02 pm
letsbe_clear) wrote in self_inflictedexhile2011-04-12 11:02 pm
rachel's diner } { I'm bankin' on the fables of the far, far better things we do
Cordelia Chase was nothing if not adaptable. Even if she tended to complain while doing it.
When the Powers said she had another path to take, she didn’t think it was a literal other path. After leaving Angel in his office at Wolfram and Hart, Cordelia assumed that she was heading off to that other plane of existence, destined to be bored for the rest of her afterlife, but she was stunned to find that there were other plans in mind for her. They didn’t feel like sharing that plan either, which was even more annoying. She figured that after everything she sacrificed and lost for the ‘Grand Plan’ that she would be let in on the plan a bit, but she knew that it was there way of protecting free will. If she wanted to know what was happening, she needed to figure it out on her own and choose to be a part of it. Or, she could consider this a vacation from her life of fighting evil and just be a normal girl.
Being normal had never really been something that worked for her.
She was dumped at a roadside diner somewhere off I70, with a whole lot of confusion, and nothing but the clothes on her back and all of five cents to her name. She was lucky in the fact that the diner owner was sympathetic to her unfortunate plight and was willing to offer her a job and board until she got on her feet. Five years later, Cordelia was still at that same diner, working for a reason she couldn’t really explain. She knew that the Powers had dumped her there for a reason. Even though she wasn’t really sure of the hows and whys, she was pretty sure that it would come to her eventually. She just needed to figure out when. So she donned her apron and went to work every day. And for the most part, it was almost … nice.
It had been so long since she had a real job with steady income, that she had almost forgotten how nice it was to actually be normal. She was sure that parts of it were still overrated, but she had a real life again. She had passed the visions to Angel when she kissed him, so there were no more loud, painful signals from the Powers that Be. No more demons, no more vampires—Cordelia was just a regular girl, with a regular job, in a small little town off a normal highway. Sure there was the occasional nightmare, and the odd case of déjà vu, but for the most part, she had left her old life behind. The life she was building now may have been less exciting, but it was a life.
Still. There was that déjà vu. And when the déjà vu was connected to that customer sitting at her back corner booth, she didn’t have it in her to just leave it alone. She picked up her strongest pot of coffee, before making her way to the back to start to try and figure him out. He had already ordered his food, and since they had a slow period, now was the chance for a little small talk. She swayed her way over, and held up the pot to try and get his attention.
“Can I top you off?”
When the Powers said she had another path to take, she didn’t think it was a literal other path. After leaving Angel in his office at Wolfram and Hart, Cordelia assumed that she was heading off to that other plane of existence, destined to be bored for the rest of her afterlife, but she was stunned to find that there were other plans in mind for her. They didn’t feel like sharing that plan either, which was even more annoying. She figured that after everything she sacrificed and lost for the ‘Grand Plan’ that she would be let in on the plan a bit, but she knew that it was there way of protecting free will. If she wanted to know what was happening, she needed to figure it out on her own and choose to be a part of it. Or, she could consider this a vacation from her life of fighting evil and just be a normal girl.
Being normal had never really been something that worked for her.
She was dumped at a roadside diner somewhere off I70, with a whole lot of confusion, and nothing but the clothes on her back and all of five cents to her name. She was lucky in the fact that the diner owner was sympathetic to her unfortunate plight and was willing to offer her a job and board until she got on her feet. Five years later, Cordelia was still at that same diner, working for a reason she couldn’t really explain. She knew that the Powers had dumped her there for a reason. Even though she wasn’t really sure of the hows and whys, she was pretty sure that it would come to her eventually. She just needed to figure out when. So she donned her apron and went to work every day. And for the most part, it was almost … nice.
It had been so long since she had a real job with steady income, that she had almost forgotten how nice it was to actually be normal. She was sure that parts of it were still overrated, but she had a real life again. She had passed the visions to Angel when she kissed him, so there were no more loud, painful signals from the Powers that Be. No more demons, no more vampires—Cordelia was just a regular girl, with a regular job, in a small little town off a normal highway. Sure there was the occasional nightmare, and the odd case of déjà vu, but for the most part, she had left her old life behind. The life she was building now may have been less exciting, but it was a life.
Still. There was that déjà vu. And when the déjà vu was connected to that customer sitting at her back corner booth, she didn’t have it in her to just leave it alone. She picked up her strongest pot of coffee, before making her way to the back to start to try and figure him out. He had already ordered his food, and since they had a slow period, now was the chance for a little small talk. She swayed her way over, and held up the pot to try and get his attention.
“Can I top you off?”
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He really didn't. Leather jacket, rough hands -- he just seemed like the kind of guy who spent most of his time running into danger instead of doing barbecues and family get-togethers.
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She reached into her apron, pulling out pad she had taken his order on and looking it over. After doing some quick math, she circled the total and placed it on the table next to him.
"Have a safe drive to Cicero."
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He glanced back at her after a moment, uncertainly. "One more thing, real quick ... do I give this to you, or take it up front, or what?"
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Getting to his feet, he leaned over the table to separate the tip from the total, tucking the former under his empty coffee cup, and moved up to the front counter, his newspaper forgotten on the table. He hadn't meant to leave it behind, and by the time it occurred to him that he had, he was half-way to the door, his check paid, and he didn't quite have the motivation to go after it. Let the waitress chick keep it or trash it. Let the next schmuck who sat down for breakfast take it home with him. Whatever. It wasn't as though he'd actually been interested in it in the first place, and that in mind, he didn't cast so much as a backwards glance at it as he moved outside.
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"Oh, shit."
Precognitive dreams? So not better than visions. As non-painful as they were. She dropped the plastic bin on the table with a clatter, before bolting for the other door. She poked her head out and shouted after him.
"Cleveland!"
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He sighed. "Uh ... what?"
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"Say what you want for small Indiana towns, but ... I think you might find something a little more fulfilling in Cleveland."
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"Suit yourself. But the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame usually makes it pretty worth it."
Cordelia was the only one in this conversation who knew that it had been raised to the ground, but ... details.
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She knew that that was not what he wanted to hear that answer start with, because he's probably had enough of it. "Look, I know this life. I know it sucks way more than you probably care to admit. But I also know that you can't quit it. Not cold turkey."
Now when it was so ingrained in your bones that you don't know who you are without it. She knew that one from experience.
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"I'm not saying you have to trust me. I'm not even saying you have to listen to me. But I don't believe in coincidences, either."
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"And, uh, maybe you missed the memo, but I made a promise that I wouldn't go back to that crap, so whatever you saw or think you saw or whatever? I'm done." He could quit cold turkey just fine, thank you very much. "So find some other schmuck to send off to whatever big bad's waitin' in Cleveland."
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So she just took a breath and held up her hands. "It's your choice. I was just making a suggestion."
Besides, there was already someone taking a piece of the big bads in Cleveland. But no one was saying she couldn't use a little help.
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God, he hoped not, but it sounded a hell of a lot better than anything else he could come up with off the top of his head, regardless of how sarcastic he'd sounded. Not that he waited to see how she took it, however -- or if she bothered with any cryptic bullshit about how he probably would. Instead, he just put the car in reverse, swung out of his parking spot, and peeled out of the lot, checking over his shoulder every so often to make sure she wasn't following him until he'd made it back to highway proper.
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"You know, I used to beat guys like that off with a stick," she muttered to herself as she turned to walk back around and head back into the diner. "Now they can't get away fast enough."
Some days? She really hated her life.