The Perk; Monday Afternoon.

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

Things had clearly seemed to have smoothed over around town, and, for that, Charlotte was incredibly grateful. Not only did the whole mess with a potential take over and ghosts and monsters and everything really creep her out, but it had been very difficult and exhausting work trying to keep Dale from being involved. Still, she'd managed to placate the bunnified boyfriend (although she was still baffled as to how), and had told him that, see? Everyone had managed just fine without him, which wasn't to say, of course, that she thought he wasn't needed. She told him that she was just sure that things would have gone along more smoothly if he had been there, but that would only have been if he was feeling himself again, which he still hadn't been.

Still, she felt pretty bad about the whole thing, so she took him over to the Perk with her and told him that he could have as much coffee and desserts as his little bunny self could handle. Just so long as, later, it didn't lead to little bunny throw-up on her carpet.

[[ open, of course, for all your caffeinated neeeeeds ]]

Comments

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

If there was one thing Juli needed after being stuck in the library for most of the weekend it was coffee. So, after a late start, not that she'd admit to it, Juli slipped on down to the Perk.

She blinked bemusedly at the picture Charlotte and rabbit made with coffee. "A rabbit, Charlotte?"

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

Charlotte gave Juli a small smile. "Boyfriend, actually," she pointed out with a slightly apologetic look for the correction. "Dale seems to have been hit with a bit of the...you know..." She lowered her voice as if telling a dirty secret, "Fandom Weirdness."

Her smile broadened as she looked over to Dale a little and wrinkled her nose at him. "Haven't you, sweetie?" she gushed; she couldn't help it. He was just so cute!

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

Juli laughed softly, obtaining her coffee and, on a whim, a slice of apple pie and heading over to them.

"Oh my," she said, deeply amused, "has he been like that long?"

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

And, just as she expected, Charlotte couldn't help notice Dale's ears perk up a little on sighting the apple pie. She gave him a warning look. "You have to finish what you already have before I get you any more. If anything, I'll promise we'll take some home, okay?"

Her attention went back to Juli, again apologetic. "Since Thursday morning. I can assure you, it was quite a surprise when I came into my kitchen and found him like that."

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"I can only imagine," Juli laughed. "Has he been holding up, alright? Have you been holding up alright?"

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Oh, we're doing fine," Charlotte assured Juli with a bobbing nod of her head. "Especially now that all that ghost and monster and takeover business is over, although I think he's still kind of sore at me for not letting him participate. Not to say that I don't doubt his abilities, but I think being a rabbit may have restricted him a bit more than he was anticipating."

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry, Dale," Juli said to the rabbit, then sipping her coffee, "but I'm going to have to agree with Charlotte on this one. It was probably for the best that she kept you away."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

Even as a rabbit, Dale was quite capable of conveying a sort of distinguished expression that politely told the ladies that they would simply have to respectfully agree to disagree on this matter and went back to sipping at his bowl of coffee.

Which Charlotte was okay with, because it was just so damn cute. "I told him," she explained to Juli, "that he could have as much coffee and pie as he wanted today, but I think that only makes up for part of it. Still, it sounded pretty hairy out there. Did you...get very involved?"

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"I had an... encounter with a ghost," she admitted, "but I threw my coffee at it and that distracted it long enough that I was able to get away. For the most part, I confess, I spent the weekend researching in the library."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

Suddenly, there was a slight slip, as Dale lost his careful balance on the edge of the bowl and flopped a little into it, splashing a bit over the side. Charlotte jumped a little in surprise, with a little "Oh!" accompanying it, and quickly reached for a napkin to clean up the poor bunny Dale's nose.

Chuckling a little despite herself, she explained to Juli. "I think he's was a bit shocked at your careless disposal of perfectly good coffee, Juli."

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"It was my coffee or my conciousness," Juli noted, "it wasn't a hard decision to make, I'm afraid."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

Charlotte eyed Dale for a second and shook his head. "I honestly think he might have been a little torn. Or he's probably thinking right now that, surely, there would have been other options..."

She hesitated a moment before leaning forward to whisper to Juli, "I probably would have done the same thing if I were in your spot, to be honest."

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

Juli smiled at the whisper, and nodded before taking a bit of her pie. "There might, of course, have been more options but I did not see them right then and there."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"And not all of us," Charlotte added pointedly with a small glance toward the rabbit, "were Eagle Scouts when we were little..."

Although Charlotte had been a Girl Scout. Still...

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry," Juli looked mildly puzzled, "but, Eagle Scouts?"

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Um, I think it's a higher rank of the Boy Scouts of America?" Charlotte offered with a thoughtful tilt of her head. "It's a youth group, for boys, that emphasizes excellence and resourcefulness, that sort of thing."

She barely kept herself from adding that, yes, it was a little on the dorky side, especially since the girls back home would just latch onto that and be merciless in their teasing, but she thought it was very cute.

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

It was very definitely dorky. But it sounded dorky in a useful way, and Juli approved of that.

"Is it actually useful?" Juli wondered. "Or merely a group to keep boys out of trouble, hopefully."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Well," Charlotte said with a light laugh, "for someone like Dale, I'm sure it was practically a way of life, and therefor pretty useful all around. I was actually in the girl's version of it, the Girl Scouts, for a bit, and really, it's quite a good thing. Looks good on your college transcripts and you got involved in a lot of community projects and things like that. I didn't stick with it much through high school because of everything else I was involved with then..."

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"Everything else?" Juli asked interested.

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Oh, you know," Charlotte waved her hand dismissively. "President of student council, track team captain, cheerleading, my Young Republicans club total Mary-Sue...To name the big ones."

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"Busy," she noted. "You must be quite impressive at managing your time."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

Charlotte chuckled a little. "Sometimes I wonder how I don't drive myself crazy these days having so little to do, but, then again, I had a lot more energy as a teenager."

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"Don't we all?" she asked, slightly ruefully. "It's too bad we can't have that energy longer."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Well," Charlotte considered and beamed brightly, in a way that almost seemed to suggest that she still had just as much energy as she did when she was seventeen, "I guess that's why we have coffee!"

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

Juli laughed. "To coffee then, and be glad for that."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

It was a quiet day at the hotel, so Mary snuck out a bit early to grab a coffee and a muffin at the Perk. She was also interested in hearing how the weekend went for anyone who stayed behind on the island.

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Hello, Mary!" Charlotte gave the other woman a smile and a friendly wave from where she sat at her table with her latte, a muffin, and a rabbit thoroughly enjoying his own coffee and assortment of pies.

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"Hi!" said Mary. "I just got back from California this morning and I was hoping to catch up on what I missed. Speaking of which, looks like you got a new pet."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Not a pet," Charlotte informed Mary with a small smile, "but a boyfriend. Dale seems to be suffering a little bit of...you know..." Her lips tightened as she nodded a little, as if saying Fandom Weirdness out loud was a guaranteed curse put right on your forehead.

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"Uh oh," said Mary. "Although he makes the cutest little bunny rabbit! You seem to be handling it pretty well."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

Charlotte beamed a moment, because, really, he was adorable. Her nose wrinkled in appreciation of this fact at him for a moment and he wrinkled his back which made her chuckle a little before giving her attention back over to Mary.

"Well," she said, "I'll admit, it helped quite a bit that it was just him this time, to be honest."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"I bet," said Mary with a chuckle. "I think waking up as a pony, and then turning to George Michael and finding that he was also a pony is one of those things I'll always remember."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

Charlotte's eyes widened a little, hardened, and she drew in a breath. "You're telling me. That morning was the first morning after...well..." She quirked her head a little toward Dale, lowering her voice a bit as if to keep him from hearing her discussing anything of this topic of any sorts to anyone, really. "...You know. Stayed over. So, yes. Definitely ingrained in my memory."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"Oh? Oh!" said Mary, cringing slightly. "That must have made things very... interesting. Although, in a sense, you don't really know someone until you see how they react to a thing like that."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"I thought maybe it was something to do with me," Charlotte admitted with a deep frown. "Some sort of curse or something; I was very relieved to find out that this was not the case, that this sort of thing happens all the time around here, and, besides, Dale was just...incredibly good about it. I don't know what I would have done if he wasn't there, to be honest."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"I think it's a sign," said Mary. "You were definitely with the right person that day. You know, Dale is one of the first people I met when I arrived in Fandom. He was so helpful, even warning me about the radio squirrels."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"He was...actually one of the first people I met when I moved here, as well," Charlotte said, looking a little sheepish. "Although, admittedly, it wasn't...quite as nice an experience. I...well, he looks uncannily like my ex-husband, Mary, the last person I thought to see, so... Hard to believe from that first encounter, that we ended up where we are now..."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"Knowing how many look-a-likes we have in Fandom, I'm not entirely surprised, but that must have been a shock," said Mary. "I can only imagine how I would have reacted if Danny McCoy's twin walked in one day."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"I actually like to think of Dale as a bit of my second chance," Charlotte admitted, ducking her head sheepishly because, really, he was a rabbit, but he was still right there, although she had a pretty good feeling that he wouldn't mind too terribly. "Because things went so wrong with Trey, and, really, Dale's practically perfect, and I'm very lucky to have him."

And she knew he was probably politely trying not to listen, but he did hop over to give her elbow a little nudge with his nose in appreciation of the sentiment, and she gave him a little scritch behind the ears.

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"Awww, that is so sweet!" said Mary. "It's so easy to give up on love, but it's so rewarding when you see two people find happiness together."

Which reminded her of the events of the last few days. "George Michael and I went looking for house that's convenient for him when he's at school," she said. "He's still not sure about getting married yet, though. I'm not sure if I should be waiting patiently or giving up."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Waiting patiently!" Charlotte said, without a moment's hesitation, and a gasping expression that made it seem like it was a personal affront to her that Mary would even suggest the other option. "You should never give up! Just wait until you get used to the situation and I'm sure everything will just fall into place, Mary."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"I think I would have been okay with it if he hadn't brought up marriage first," said Mary. "I was perfectly happy with the way things were before he proposed. I didn't want to put any pressure on him, so when he did propose, it was absolutely wonderful! And now the waiting is driving me mad."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Maybe..." Charlotte said, after a moment of frowning thoughtfully at that, "Maybe you should pick up a hobby! To help, you know, keep your mind off of it!"

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"Now, we're talking about a hobby other than wedding planning, right?" asked Mary.

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Yesss," Charlotte said, laughing a little. "Unfortunately. Maybe knitting?"

Her nose wrinkled very quickly at that. "No, not knitting. Too old. Tap dancing! Ooh! Or sculpture. Painting, maybe. And then, for the next exhibit, you can submit something! I plan to do a community showcase next, you know."

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"The only painting I've ever done was painting walls when I did some renovations last year," said Mary. "Decorating, maybe? I have a few unfinished specialty suites that I wanted to finish off this summer, and I've had some of my work in Las Vegas featured in an interior design magazine."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"There you go!" Charlotte chirped happily. "That sounds perfect!"

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

"It couldn't hurt. I've been meaning to do something with those extra suites," said Mary. "Besides, I know all about keeping busy. It's what I did all last summer."