The Perk, Friday Morning

[genesishero]

It had been a fairly quiet week, what with classes being out and the whole shark... thing... being done and over with, and Evan had been handling it about as productively as one might imagine, with a stack of library books that he was making his way through like a man on a mission.

His mission, of course, was to get through the library books before they were overdue.

He had a small pile of them with him at the Perk this morning, having found a quiet corner with a couch that he could curl up on, and he was alternating between silently losing himself in books on Egyptian history and ancient battle strategies, and emailing his Uncle Cluster with his phone to continue working out the dynamics of him staying on the island for another semester. Things were still pretty crazy among the X-Men with the whole... Phoenix... thing... and so Evan's uncle agreed that it was probably for the best that he stay on the island for a little longer. And then told him to go forth and sow some wild oats, and that he'd be very disappointed if he didn't have to post bail at least once before the semester was through.

Evan wrinkled his nose a little as he reached for the chai latte that he'd ordered. He... was going to just get back to reading about the Battle of Actium, and pretend that he had no idea what any of that meant. Yeah.

[Open Perk! Come entertain me while I animate crocodiles?]

Comments

[ultron_junior]

Victor came in for a blended mocha made with plenty of cinnamon and topped with too much whipped cream, eyes idly wandering over to Evan as he claimed a pile of napkins for the inevitable post-drink stickiness.

He knew who the guy looked like. He'd also seen enough of him in class to figure it was either a weird coincidence, or at the very least something that didn't have much to do with who Evan seemed to be day to day.

Anyhow, it was only polite to say hi. So.

"Hi," Victor said, with a dorky wave of the hand that wasn't full of napkins and coffee drink. "Ready for the next newbie invasion?"

[genesishero]

"About as ready as I'll ever be, I guess," Evan replied, peering up at Victor with a wry little smile as he marked his place in his book with his thumb. "I haven't been here for one of those yet. Or, well, I have been. But it'll be nice to be able to go to it and not be the new kid anymore, you know?"

[ultron_junior]

"That was my favorite part about my second one," Victor said, head bobbing in a nod. "The food was good, but just knowing I didn't have 'new kid' in giant letters on my forehead anymore was priceless. People here really notice."

[genesishero]

"They really, really notice," Evan agreed, wrinkling his nose a bit. "I want to say there's some sort of 'new kid smell,' but I think it's probably more how the new ones spend most of the day just staring at things, looking totally lost."

A beat.

"I don't know. Here is still kind of normal, compared to home."

Yes, even with the weird time jump thing a few weeks back.

[ultron_junior]

"That, and it helps that there are only a couple dozen of us," Victor guessed. "You get to know all the faces pretty fast."

He sipped at his drink, furrowed his brow. "What's going on at home?" he asked, with relatively mild concern.

[genesishero]

Evan glanced at Victor, looking thoughtful for a moment before reaching for his own drink.

"It's... you know. Avengers stuff. X-Men stuff. Complicated things that I really don't have anything to do with, but mostly it means that if I stay back there, I'm kind of... in the way."

Vague enough if there were timeline issues. Generic enough that Victor would be able to follow along with some if it if there were reality issues. Evan figured that was kind of answer enough. Maybe?

[ultron_junior]

That was generic to both answer the question and remind Victor that he probably shouldn't ask for more information. Timeline issues were already hard enough to deal with.

"We stay away from those guys," he said, with a little shrug. "There's nothing big going on that I know about, but my friends aren't always exactly in the loop."

He could spend more time scouring news sites from home to see what Nico forgot to tell him and Karolina and Chase didn't think of, but that tended to just make him feel guilty he was here and not there.

"So..." He drummed his fingers on the table. "Sorry you feel in the way, though. That piece sucks."

[genesishero]

It was... actually kind of good, knowing that there was someone else out there who knew who the Avengers were, Loki aside. Evan liked Loki, too, but the more the merrier... right?

"It happens, I guess," he replied, shrugging a little. "I mean... they have better things to do than babysit, even if I don't really need it. And people here... they're kind of great, for the most part, you know?"

[ultron_junior]

Victor, database of Avengers information in his head notwithstanding, had managed to have an entire conversation with Loki without realizing it was the Loki. So he lacked an opinion, which was probably just as well.

"They are," he said, bobbing his head. "Even the ones who are from worlds without ... the stuff you're talking about. It seems like everybody's at least willing to listen."

[genesishero]

Evan nodded a little, smiling at that.

"I haven't had any problems with anybody around here," he noted, "except my roommate kind of stares, still, but I can't really do anything about that."

Nope. Evan was always going to look weird.

"I'm... kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop or something. Is that weird?"

[ultron_junior]

"You could stare back at him," Victor suggested. Sometimes rudeness deserved more rudeness. "My roomie's ... very different from me" -- seriously, how could you be part angel? -- "but he's a good guy to live with."

He smiled, a tiny twitch of his lips. "If it's weird, I'm weird too. That bad week was pretty bad, but it's still been a lot easier to be here than it is to be at home. I think that's why I'm staying for the year, which makes me feel sort of like a jerk."

[genesishero]

Evan tried to picture himself staring back, and mostly just felt himself blushing as he realized just how horribly he'd fail at that. His parents would be so disappointed!

"Well... if it makes you a jerk, at least you're in good company," he offered, smiling faintly. "Here is way easier right now than my last school. And I just... kind of begged my uncle to let me stay here longer."

[ultron_junior]

"Yeah?" Victor glanced over again. "My deal with my friends is ... I was only planning to stay for the summer, but nobody seems all that upset I'm not going back right away."

Victor supposed that made sense, as much as he'd like to be indispensable. There'd been plenty of loss lately to get them used to the concept.

"Where are you from, anyhow?" he added. "I grew up in L.A."

[abitlowkey]

Because there weren't enough potential villains in the Perk yet...

"Oh, hello, Evan."

[genesishero]

Adorable potential villains!

"Loki! Hi!" Evan gave him a smile and a little wave, setting his book open-side-down on the table. "How have you been?"

[abitlowkey]

"Survived the perils of another semester of school," Loki replied seriously. "I believe I am doing quite well."

[genesishero]

"That is an accomplishment," Evan decided, smiling faintly. "After the summer we've had here so far, I mean. And you're going to be staying here for another semester, too?"

Oh, he hoped so. He needed more friends as it was, he didn't want to see any more leave the island.

[abitlowkey]

"Oh, yes. It is... for the best that I spend time away from the rebuilding of Asgard."

[genesishero]

"So you've mentioned," Evan replied. There was some definite sympathy in that statement. "I was afraid that I was going to have to go before the fall semester, but things are still a little... weird back home. So my Uncle agreed that it was for the best that I stay."

Which was a huge relief.

[abitlowkey]

"Things are always 'weird'," Loki replied, taking a seat to peer over at the drink specials. "'Weird' is normal."

[genesishero]

"I wish somebody would tell that to the people around here who still stare," Evan mumbled, shaking his head a little. "But I guess you can't have everything. And there'll be new people here to stare tomorrow, too, I guess."

The trials and tribulations of a kid with funny lips.

[abitlowkey]

"We could always kick them very hard." Though, considering he was Asgardian, that might involve someone being injured more than a bruise.

[genesishero]

"It's kind of tempting sometimes," Evan admitted, though he didn't seem too thrilled about that. "But I don't think they mean anything by it. They don't really say anything, you know? Not like the people at my last school did."

Quire.

[abitlowkey]

"Of course they do," Loki replied, trying to chose between chocolate and caramel for his latte. "They fear the differences and those who are above them. They hate what they fear because it makes them feel weak."

Not that he had any experience with people hating him. Really.

[genesishero]

"But... I don't want people to be afraid of me," Evan murmured. "Whatever it is they think I am... that isn't me. I want to help people. Not... not rule them or make them feel smaller."

His latte was going to sit forgotten for a moment.

"And hardly anybody will even tell me what it is they're so afraid of. I don't understand."