Streets of Fandom | Friday Afternoon

[abakingmetaphor.livejournal.com]

Okay, fresh start take number...a lot. Buffy had been through this enough to not be one hundred percent sure on the whole "normal" town thing, but she was on the positive side of the spectrum. The island was pretty and there were no cars allowed so nobody could complain about her poor driving here. It was a little strange to just be wandering around the street with a large suitcase in hand, but the weight of it didn't seem to be bothering her. The majority of her stuff had been sent ahead to Serendipity Place but there were some things she didn't trust to movers. Namely, her favorite shoes. Of which there was a lot.

Now where the hell was her house? Or, even better, a coffee place.

[And Buffy has arrived. Open, of course]

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[newroutines]

Well, Mike was neither a house nor a coffee place, but he was a guy with a Squishy and a Turtle and Canary bag full of Jell-O and plain gelatine and stuff.

He took party prep seriously.

No, that probably wasn't going to help Buffy.

But this might: "Looking for something?"

[abakingmetaphor.livejournal.com]

Well. As far as first impressions go, Fandom could have definitely done worse.

"Serendipity Place," she said, offering a smile. "Or someplace with caffeine. Either/or."

[newroutines]

"Well, Serendipity Place is pretty much on the other side of the island," Mike replied, glancing around. "But for coffee, The Perk should be nearby. And I think the bakery also deals caffeine on the side."

[abakingmetaphor.livejournal.com]

"Wow a place this small has two coffee places?" she asked. "Please tell me they're rivals and they have gang wars."

[newroutines]

"Not... that I know of." Mike exhaled a laugh. "But you may have just jinxed us. So, it'll be on you if they get any ideas, now."

The reporter squirrels had just been on strike. Coffee gang wars seemed pretty plausible next to that.

[abakingmetaphor.livejournal.com]

"You don't think it'd be kind of cool?" Buffy asked. "People could be armed with creamer and those little stirrer thingys."

[newroutines]

"I don't know, it might escalade," Mike mused. "Before you know it, there's lives being ruined and people swearing off coffee forever."

[abakingmetaphor.livejournal.com]

"Impossible, no one swears off coffee forever," she said with a shake of her head. "It's the Hotel California of beverages."

[newroutines]

Mike clucked his tongue. "I don't know, I don't know. Stranger things have happened."

Like, all the time.

[abakingmetaphor.livejournal.com]

"Oh I know." Did she ever know. "I'm Buffy, by the way."

[newroutines]

"Mike," he said. "And you're new. I'm guessing from the suitcase, and not knowing where to get coffee wvn though you hold it in such high esteem."

[abakingmetaphor.livejournal.com]

"So very new," she confirmed with a nod. "By the way you're the first person I've seen here so I'm going to base the rest of the island on this interaction right now."

[newroutines]

"Well, that doesn't put any pressure on me at all." It actually didn't. Being friendly was his super power. "Guess that means I should invite you to my party tomorrow night. On behalf of the island."

[throughaphase]

Kitty was actually on her way back from the Perk, mocha in hand, and had to stop when she saw the suitcase. "New girl?" she checked.

[abakingmetaphor.livejournal.com]

"It's the suitcase, isn't it?" she asked. "I knew it'd make me conspicuous."

[throughaphase]

"Well, I do know most of the faces in this town already," Kitty said. "But yeah, it's totally the suitcase. Did you just get here?"

[abakingmetaphor.livejournal.com]

"Just walked across the causeway a few minutes ago," she confirmed. "I'm Buffy."

[throughaphase]

"Kitty," she said with a smile. "Where are you headed?"

[abakingmetaphor.livejournal.com]

"Serendipity Place eventually," she said. "My new humble abode is there."

[throughaphase]

"Is it really humble?" Kitty asked, just to see what she'd say.

[abakingmetaphor.livejournal.com]

"I hope so," Buffy said. "It's just me there and I'm not too big of a fan of cleaning a huge house myself and I'm too young to be one of those old ladies who don't seem to notice there's dust on everything."

[throughaphase]

"You could probably hire a student to do it," Kitty said. "...Why did I never think of that before?"

[abakingmetaphor.livejournal.com]

"I don't think I've established the street cred that would be needed to hire teenagers to come to my house and clean for me," she said. "Might come off as creepy."

[throughaphase]

"Details," Kitty said. "Also, street cred doesn't count for much here, anyway."

[abakingmetaphor.livejournal.com]

"Too small a place?" she guessed.