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[lasthugs]

Hi there! You've reached Cass' cell phone. I'm unable to take your call right now, but please leave me your name, number, and message, and I'll call you back as soon as I can!


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[lasthugs]

Hey yourself. [She chews on her lip a moment.] Did you guys get to California, then? How was the drive? The traffic situation? How was--

[No, no. Stop, Cass, this is no time for you to be spazzing out.]

... I'm glad you called, Tadashi.

[tadeadshi]

[He can't help the little smile on his face; some slice of normalcy with her asking all those questions, he missed it.]

We got here last night, and the drive was fine. We're all kind of taking some time to ourselves now that we're here.

[And a quiet beat.]

Good to hear you, Aunt Cass.

[lasthugs]

I heard you had to take apart your cars. I'm glad to hear you're safe -- just make sure to regroup, okay? Stretch out your legs after sitting in a car for so long, you know?

[It's her turn to smile at the sincerity at the end. Of course, it's easy for her to smile no matter what, but still.]

You too. You know you can call me whenever you'd like.

[tadeadshi]

[There's some hesitation on his end but. Ultimately he's glad he called. He probably sounds a little choked up and like he's trying to squash it down.]

I know. I'm -- I'm really glad you're here.

[lasthugs]

[She catches it, but when she's three thousand miles away, she doesn't want to provoke it. At least not by calling it out. Telling people they can cry only makes them clam up more.]

With you two here? There's no place else I'd rather be.

Hey, listen, if you find anywhere selling coffee you like? Buy some of the beans, I've been looking for ones that're are good as what we have back home, but nothing's measuring up. Then we can have good coffee whenever you come by. I'll trust your tastebuds if they can survive our chicken.

Oh, and sweetie? Check the outside pocket of your bag, the one with the zipper that you miraculously didn't have filled up. [Did she sneak cash into it with the note "happy early birthday! get something nice for yourself! :)))"? Yes she did.]

[tadeadshi]

I'll keep an eye out. I've been trying every brand I run into, but nothing's as good.

Hiro and I were gonna talk to you when we get back - see if you wanted help starting a cafe here. We could help fund it.

[He'll check it later, when he doubles back while the hotel room is empty.]

[lasthugs]

A café?

[You can hear the cheer grow. No matter what, Cass keeps herself open to excitement. It's how she got through everything, trying to be cheerful and bright and shining strongly enough. If she can do that, then she can keep herself up and find her way when the world goes dark. And she can lead the others through their darkness too -- or so she had hoped.

Besides, a café would make this feel more like home, and don't they all need that?]

Oh that'll be so exciting -- I do. I miss it so much. But -- are you sure? Funding it?

[tadeadshi]

We both work at a tech lab, make really good money. But since we stay in the government housing, we don't have to deal with bills or anything, so it just sort of piles up. Better to put it to something good, right?

[Like their aunt having a little slice of home here.]

It's up to you. We can talk about it when we get back.

[lasthugs]

Well, if anything you're darn right a café's a good thing.

I think it'll be lovely, Tadashi. We'll definitely have to talk about it when you get back. I bet you're all going to be wiped from another long drive, so I can take care of whatever meal you're all going to be back for.