fandomtownies | The Perk, Sunday Afternoon

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The Perk, Sunday Afternoon

Mitchell wouldn't be able to afford staying in Fandom for much longer. A few more days until the full moon in Bristol - tonight here, but time had shifted some on its own axis, and... well, he wasn't a scientist.

The fact of the matter was that he didn't have a great deal of time left to him in Fandom. He contemplated calling Chloe, but that felt awkward somehow; she was a student, and, well. Then there was Max, but Max was Max.

At the end of it all, the Perk had seemed the best choice. It tended to be a hub for people of all stripes. If he wanted to bump into someone he know, say his last goodbyes, it was most likely here.

So he ordered a coffee and sat down, staring out the window.

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This had been a long, long week of hospitals and fake princesses, and Kate thought it deserved to be ended with a big cup of hot chocolate and maybe a muffin or two.

So that was what had her walking into the Perk now, fiddling with her phone and not really paying much attention to her surroundings for the time being.

Mitchell had noticed her the minute she walked in. He watched her for a moment or two, determining whether saying something would count as an interruption.

"Kate?"

She'd just put in her order for hot chocolate, and she spun around at the sound of her name in that particular voice, already smiling a bit as she did. "Hey, you."

He smiled back, but it was a weak attempt. "Want to sit down?" Mitchell prompted. "I'll try to charm the baristas so they don't shy away from your order this time."

"They haven't been withholding hot chocolate from me so far," Kate pointed out with a glance behind the counter, but traipsed over to his table anyway, to flop down into a chair. "Somehow sugar's not as bad as caffeine."

"Well, that's a relief."

And... he had absolutely no idea how to break this to her. He clung to his coffee instead, hiding his expression behind a sip of hot black java.

Too bad this week had left Kate paying pretty close attention to him. And she was watching him now, picking up some random vibe of something maybe being amiss.

But then she thought the whole Bristol debacle just might have made her a little paranoid.

"So... How are you?" she asked, going for something sort of neutral.

"I've been better," Mitchell said, after a pause. "I lost a lot of blood. I'm not up to my full strength yet." He gave his cup a little push.

"But you're getting better, right?" Kate asked, raising an eyebrow. "Right?"

"Yeah," he said. "I'm getting better. But look, Kate, Herrick--" He bit on his lower lip. "He's not going to just let us go."

Cue Kate looking apprehensive instead of trying to keep up a neutral facade. "And?"

"And," Mitchell said, plowing onwards as best as he could, "I've challenged him to a duel. It's-- for the best. If I win, we won't have any trouble. If he wins..." He trailed off. "Annie and George go free. And he leaves Fandom alone."

"... A duel?"

Kate couldn't have sounded more incredulous.

"Look, it's the only way I can put an end to this," Mitchell said, sagging back in his seat.

And this, this was Kate's fairly relaxed Sunday getting completely trashed. She probably shouldn't be surprised.

"And what if you can't?"

The barista that brought her hot chocolate just then hurried away as quickly as possible after placing the cup on the table, at hearing her raise her voice.

She didn't even notice.

"Then at least George and Annie get a chance at having a life."

Or an unlife, in Annie's case, but that's not what mattered. "Kate..."

"What?" Was it bad her go-to reaction was anger when she couldn't deal with something? Probably, but that's what he was getting. "No. That's insane."

Mitchell pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned forward. "There isn't another option," he said. "Please. This needs to happen, and I'd-- like to be able to say goodbye to you before it does. Along with them."

"No! You don't get to fucking say goodbye to me," Kate snapped. "If you want to say goodbye, it means even you don't believe in your chances."

"Fine," he said, leaning right on back again. "Then come wish me luck. For god's sakes, Kate."

That appeased her some, though not all the way because there was nothing that could accomplish that particular feat.

She leaned back in her chair as well, crossing her arms. "So when's this complete act of traumatizing idiocy supposed to go down?"

"Wednesday evening," Mitchell said, rubbing his thumb at the bridge of his nose. "Full moon's a bit later back in Bristol than here. Thought I'd spare George a few feats of running about."

"I see." That was probably a lie, in a way. "So... George is like a werewolf or something?"

No one had actually bothered to explicitly tell her, so far, though the hints had been there.

Oh, Christ. He hadn't told her before, had he?

He wasn't really in the secret-keeping mood; George would have to forgive him later. "Yeah," Mitchell said. "Exactly like that."

Kate's reaction was mild. A quiet snort, a little shake of her head. "Of course. Figures, it's a complete set."

"I didn't realise our kind were a 'set', now." He attempted to muster up some amusement, and found it.

Kate shrugged a shoulder. "It's a pattern that seems to happen."

Silas, that Romanian lady, and the whole graveyard full of ghosts that raised Bod formed one too.

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The Perk, Sunday Afternoon

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