The Perk, Monday Evening

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders didn't actually spend all week on the island, but after losing an entire week to being stuck in Special Collections he felt like making up for some of the time. Maybe lounging at the Perk with a triple blended mocha and whipped cream wasn't the optimal use of his time, but sometimes you just couldn't turn down the lure of caffeine and chocolate.

And a muffin.

Feet hooked into the rungs of his chair, he was lounging, drumming the fingers of one hand idly on the tabletop as he hummed softly to himself.

The tune could be familiar, yeah.

[OOC: Open like a coffeeshop. Mmm, caffeine.]

Comments

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

Rilla decided to quest into town (unaccompanied! scandalous!) in search of a good cup of tea and perhaps something to nibble upon.

The basket of goodies from home had been devoured days ago.

She gave the man in the shop a polite smile as she sat down with her paper cup and wondered what Susan would think about drinking tea from something other than porcelain.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Hey, there," Anders greeted her with a casual wave. He didn't often feel as old as he liked to claim he did around the current students, but this girl seemed younger than most, and suddenly his whole twenty-two years seemed like a hell of a lot. "How's it goin' tonight?"

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Very well, thank you," Rilla said with a faint blush. "Are you a musician?" she asked. "I heard you humming."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"A musician?" Anders looked at her in honest surprise for a moment, then laughed. "Nah. Every now and then I think about picking up an instrument, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. You ever get songs stuck in your head? Happens to me all the time."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

Rilla nodded, feeling terribly bold for initiating a conversation. "Or bits of poetry," she said, "and I can never remember where I read it."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Yeah?" Anders set his drink down and leaned forward with both elbows on the table. (Sorry, Rilla. Table manners aren't what they used to be.) "You ever go around muttering it to yourself over and over, hoping maybe you'll remember?"

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

She pursed her lips. "Only out in the woods or in Rainbow Valley where no one would see me and think me mad," she finally admitted.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Even if you feel like you're gonna go crazy if you don't try and figure it out." Anders chuckled. "Yeah. I hear that. 'cept sometimes I can't stop myself, like you just caught me doing."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"I won't tell people you're mad," Rilla said earnestly. "You can depend on my discretion."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders almost laughed, but stopped himself just in . . . okay, he cracked a grin before he stopped himself. "Much appreciated. Had enough of a reputation for that when I went to school here."

Justifiably, but . . .

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Was it a very long time ago?" Rilla asked, wide-eyed.

From fourteen, twenty-two is ancient.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Oh, gods." Anders ran a hand through his hair. "I graduated in '08. That's three entire senior classes ago now?"

He actually was ancient, was the ironic thing, even though neither of them knew it.

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

It still took Rilla a bit to remember she wasn't in 1913 any longer, which was why she frowned. "Only three classes? Shouldn't it be six?"

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Congratulations, Rilla, your fourteen-year-old self got Anders to look contrite.

"2008, sorry," he amended quickly. "I oughta know better."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

Her cheeks flamed up. "It is I who needs to apologize," she stammered. "I forgot what century I'm in and corrected an elder who needed no correcting. Please forgive me."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Hey, hey, whoa!" Anders held his hands up. "I'm not that much older than you, and I wasn't kidding -- I oughta know better than to forget people come from different times around here. 'sides. Ask anybody who knows me, they'll be happy to tell you I need a lot of correcting."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

She continued to blush. "Oh, I doubt that," she said, then held out her hand. "I'm Miss Blythe."

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Samuel Anders," he answered, grasping her hand and shaking it lightly. "I'm teaching --" that still brought a bemused look to his face -- "a sports workshop this term. How long've you been in Fandom, ah, Miss Blythe?"

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Since the early summer," she said, "but some days I feel like I shall never belong. Everyone wears so very little clothing!"

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"Still throws you, huh?" he asked after a sip of coffee. "'s understandable. Took me a hell of a long time to get used to the idea that Earth isn't a myth, myself."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Whyever would Earth be a myth?" Rilla asked, sensing a story here. Sara would be so disappointed if she didn't remember exactly what this man told her.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

*shakes fist* Anders had explained this a lot over the years, and he leaned back in his chair, tucking his hands behind his head. "Legend has it my people originally came from a planet called Kobol, far away from here," he explained. "Centuries ago there was . . . sorry, I'm not an expert on this . . . some kind of civil war between the gods and everyone was exiled from the planet. Had to go find new worlds to colonize. There were thirteen tribes back then, but one got lost heading for Earth. Never heard from 'em again, for so long everyone sort of figured they were looking for a place that didn't really exist. And then I got sent here. Go figure."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

At least she's not suggesting he tell it to the Story Girl himself? "So are you going to go home and tell your people how to find us?" she asked, sounding a bit nervous.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

WELL THAT MIGHT HAVE TO HAPPEN NOW. WHY DO YOU PEOPLE GIVE ME IDEAS. "Nah. They wouldn't believe me," Anders assured her. "Anyway, I haven't been home in five years, except for one quick visit."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Don't you miss your family horribly?" she asked a little plaintively.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

Anders had the grace to look somewhat apologetic, but he was honest. "A little bit, but mostly not that much."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"That's terrible!" Rilla declared. "Do they not treat you well?" she asked faintly.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"No, no," Anders answered hurriedly. "Not that. Just . . ."

He shrugged. "I haven't heard from them in years. We're not really close."

Which was a much less awkward way of saying there was hardcore jossing and it hurt the longer he'd been on Earth the less he was sure they were real.

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

Rilla, who was extremely close with her family, couldn't imagine a more tragic tale. "I will share the treats Susan sends to me with you the next time a gift basket comes from home," she declared.

[cantgetnorelief.livejournal.com]

"You'd extend that offer to some teacher guy you just met?" asked the teacher guy who'd spent good chunks of his time in common rooms offering random people cupcakes. "That's nice of you, kid, but it's okay. Plenty of hungry students in the cabins, y'know?"

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Oh, Susan sends enough to feed the entire school," Rilla said with a smile. "She doesn't think anyone in the States can cook."