The Perk, Sunday Morning

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell could've gone home by now, and in future weeks likely would: there wasn't any reason for him to stick around long every week now. But he liked the solitude of Fandom island, sometimes - the relative solitude, at least, without any of the worries of Bristol that occasionally lifted their heads up.

He had a portal scheduled for later that day, but right now he was going to enjoy his last day here (until Wednesday, at least) by sipping his coffee and prodding at a thin slice of cake the barrista had given him.

It had the consistency of cardboard, but he'd learned to expect that from coffee shop cake by now.

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[raspberryturk]

Ah, morning. That one time of day where Reno could get out and saunter around town and breathe in the... Ozone, mostly, after the rain from last night. And it sure as hell beat the air back in Edge, and it was fresher at this time of day. He'd stand by that stance, damn it.

The only trouble with mornings were the pain and simple fact that mornings were... Well, mornings, but coffee would fix that right up, too. And so it was with something tall and black and with very little sugar in mind that Reno sauntered into the Perk, grinned a bit when he noticed that he wasn't alone in there, and gave Mitchell a nod.

"Coffee day, man?"

That was totally a greeting, in Reno-land.

[chosehumanity]

"Coffee morning," Mitchell corrected, with a lightly amused edge to his lilt, and raised his cup of coffee. "I don't think I can cut back enough to keep my caffeine intake that unambitious."

[raspberryturk]

"Morning, day," Reno chuckled, waving a dismissive hand about in the air in a gesture that suggested that he was swatting at a fly, "there ain't a hell of a lot of difference, yo. It's just a matter of where the sun sits, anyhow."

He'd never admit it, but there were moments that he missed looking up to a green-black sky in the middle of the day, just as much as there had been moments in Midgar where he would have killed to see the sunshine.

"How's it goin' for you so far, man?"

[chosehumanity]

"It's been quiet," he admitted, easily. His cup made it back to the table. Quiet: that was the right word for it. "I'm just getting in a last cuppa before my portal shows up." Lifting his chin at Reno, he added, "How about you, then? I haven't seen you around - island still what you expected?"

And while he spoke, there would be that gesture that clearly spelled out come on, sit down. He was amiable enough.

[raspberryturk]

Reno slapped down some coin on the counter, not paying much attention to whatever had been in his hand. There was still the odd Gil in his pocket, and the gold content in that would more than cover his coffee needs for the... month. Who needed to count when you came from a world that still used precious metals as currency?

"It's been quiet," he agreed, taking his cup of entirely too much coffee and making his way across the room to pull up a seat. "I ain't had to beat nothin' off me with a glorified cattle prod yet, so that's somethin', yo."

He pursed his lips momentarily, and then sipped at his coffee. "I'm not disappointed, yet."

[chosehumanity]

"Yet because we haven't been attacked, or yet in spite of us not being attacked?" Mitchell asked, cracking a slight grin. "Sounds like you're challenging the fates, mate."

[raspberryturk]

Reno couldn't help but snort, at that.

"I'm teachin' a class on the end of the world, from experience," he pointed out, that lazy smirk not leaving his lips for so much as a second, even if there was a bit of an edge to his voice. "If they fates are gonna try an' pull shit on me, they'll go right ahead and do it, without me givin' 'em ideas, yo."

And then that lazy smirk twisted into a grin that was more sharp than pleasant.

"Gotta admit, I wouldn't mind the excuse to get my knuckles bloody now an' then, though. It ain't like people around here can't handle themselves if the island goes and gets any ideas again."

[vanillajello]

This was a hot chocolate kind of weekend, apparently, because here Kate was for the second day in a row, getting her fix of chocolatey goodness. With whipped cream on top. No one ever said her warm beverage habits were terribly healthy.

Mitchell got a lopsided smirk as she wandered over to his table. "Hey. I'm sure you missed me in class."

[chosehumanity]

"Likely."

Mitchell's own feelings on invasions ran a little more complicated than that, somewhere between not wanting to see anyone hurt, his own fighting-hurting-hunting instincts and his rather sharp recollection of the last time a bit of violence wound up attributed to vampires on this island - so he took a sip of coffee and quirked his mouth in return.

"Nothing wrong with a punch-up, but I'm glad I spend half my days in Bristol. Bar brawls are a little more predictable."

[chosehumanity]

"Oh, were you gone? Must've missed that," Mitchell said, lightly, and a little fondly. "Did you get kidnapped, or did you get turned into a cat again?" It could've been both, in this place, but for the most part he was just teasing.

[raspberryturk]

"Yeah," Reno replied, and he even spared a moment for a pout, "an' we don't even have any of those around here."

Why so peaceful, Caritas?

"I shouldn't bitch too much," Reno sighed as he casually fingered at the rim of his coffee cup. "I got what I came here for, yo. Bit of peace of mind and maybe makin' a bit of difference to the students around here before it's their time to get the hell outta here. Anything more'n that, that's what portals are for."

[chosehumanity]

"Portaling around, trying to find the best pubs?" he hazarded, lifting his eyebrows. "What did you come here for anyway, if you don't mind me asking?"

[vanillajello]

Kate snorted and flopped down into a nearby chair. "I'm sorry to report that there's still been no kidnapping."

Maybe the island should change it up a little.

[raspberryturk]

Actually, portalling around in search of the good pubs was a tempting notion, now that Mitchell had put it into Reno's head.

"Same problem both times. Different reasons." He shrugged. "Edge is the sorta city that leaves you wonderin' what the hell the point even is." And no, he wasn't going to clarify on the point of what. "Sometimes, you gotta get the hell outta dodge before you got a clear enough head to look back and figure out what's wrong in the first place."

[chosehumanity]

"Ah. So hairballs?"

Mitchell, you could try sounding a little more sympathetic.

[chosehumanity]

"Figure out where you stand," Mitchell surmised, "What can be done, that sort of thing?" He nodded lightly, understanding in his own way. "That ought to make a mess of your head a bit." Not that he was speaking from experience.

[vanillajello]

Yeah, Kate was just going to make a face at that.

"I'd really rather concentrate on the tail and getting to sleep a lot."

[raspberryturk]

"You tell me, man," Reno said, smirking lopsidedly and lifting his cup toward the ceiling, "I strike you as a guy with a mess made outta my head?"

Reno knew damn well that he was. This wasn't exactly a trick question. But it helped to figure out if he seemed even slightly sane at a glance, somehow. Turk thing, probably.

[chosehumanity]

"So what you're saying is I should double your courseload next week because you slept through my class?"

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell's quirk-of-the-lips twisted up a little. "Oh, I don't know," he said, "Looks can be a bit deceiving, generally speaking."

[raspberryturk]

"Speakin' real generally, are we?" Down came the cup again, en route to Reno's mouth.

Mmm, bean juice.

"How 'bout you? What brought you to a place like this, anyhow?"

[vanillajello]

"Yeah I'm sure that would just be a lot of work," Kate retorted. "Really."

[chosehumanity]

"Just experience," Mitchell said, lightly, and tapped his finger against his cup. "You seem all right, for what it's worth."

Sitting back, he added, "I had a friend who turned out to be a little... unusual. So I picked him up and encouraged him to enroll here, learn to cope with it." A beat. "In the end I think the unusualness of the island got to him -- but I like it."

[raspberryturk]

"It grows on you after a while, if you let it," Reno noted. And then, with a wry smirk, he added, "Literally, too. So much of this place's crap followed me home after I left that I might as well have stuck around, yo."

Tormenting the boss with a random bout of femininity had been completely worth it, though.

[chosehumanity]

"I could find you some," Mitchell retorted, leaning back. "It's my duty as an educator."