fandomtownies | The Perk, Sunday Morning

There were more awkward things in life than waking up from a wet dream to find a kitten licking your face, no doubt. Ender preferred not to think about it overly much, but he did take it as a sign - it was probably time for him to leave the hotel room and do something with himself.

Being in Fandom without any way of collecting interesting Formic data or checking in on the situation back in Shakespeare had been driving him nuts with Ben around. Now, with no one but Jane for him to genuinely talk to, he was crawling up the walls.

"Daylight," Jane crowed in his ears. "Are you sure you're okay having spent five minutes covered in UV rays? Maybe you should get some sunglasses."

Ender sighed and pushed open the door to the Perk, red kitten in his arms (because he was terrified to come home to a clawed-up bed, not because he particularly needed to keep Ben around in this state). "You're not funny."

"You try talking to you for several days straight without relief," Jane said. "It's enough to drive the humor out of anybody. You should be lucky I'm still trying."

He ordered a coffee from the barista without responding, then found a table and sat down. Pressed the safety lid onto his cup extra-tight, because the last thing he needed was for Ben to suddenly get restless in his lap and knock coffee all over both of them.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm minding two destructive baby animals at once," he muttered.

"Don't compare me to him," Jane sniffed, "That's insulting."

[[ open! jane conversation nfb. ]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Natalie had reason to believe she was going to be a shut-in for most of the day, so she'd decided to start her day with coffee at the Perk. So here she was, ordering her usual before glancing around the place.

And you'd think after two, almost three months, she would no longer have flinched at the sight of Ender thanks to the little dungeon adventure, especially since her AU counterpart had already run into him once since then. But you'd have been wrong. Even if it was just a slight sudden tensing of her shoulders. A slight widening of her eyes.

Before she went back to dealing with the barista, while telling her body to cut it out. There was nothing to be afraid of here.

That reaction didn't exactly escape Ender's notice. Small twitches, certainly, but he wasn't exactly a foreigner to reading body language.

The kitten in his lap got up; Ender had to move forward suddenly to grab him before he ran off.

Too late, as it turned out. Ben hopped onto the floor and went trotting up to Natalie's ankles.

Natalie flinched again, though this time it was just from surprise. She raised one eyebrow as she looked down at Ben. As you do.

"... Hello, cat."

Ender approached, slowing his steps consciously. He'd rather not see Ben go running off and out of the Perk, but he didn't want to spook someone who already seemed to suffer some anxiety at his presence. "Sorry," he said. "He isn't as bad when he's a human."

Ben seemed more intent on rubbing his head all over said ankle.

Natalie was stomping pretty firmly on that anxiety and disregarding the quiet voice in the back of her mind, telling her to run. That was the part that had had all those nightmares after the dungeon. She could ignore it with rational thinking.

Still looked just a little bit wary. "It's okay," she said. "I have experience both with cats as well as humans turned into animals."

"He seems to be running on instinct a lot more than I anticipated," Ender said. "Would you mind if I picked him up?"

Seeing as how Ben was plastered to her leg right now.

The pause between the question and her answer was of an acceptable length. Pretty much.

"No, of course not."

Ender squatted down and managed to grab the kitten before he could escape. Ben squirmed a little in his hands, but he quieted once Ender offered him a piece of bacon.

"Sorry," he said again.

"It's okay," Natalie replied, back to a comforting neutral sort of mildness. "Not your fault."

That applied to more than the obvious.

"I've been making you uncomfortable," Ender said simply, taking a step back. "That wasn't my intention."

Whatever the reason.

Natalie shrugged one shoulder with a precise little movement. "Also not really your fault. It's an island thing."

"Is it me, or just people in general?" Ender asked, barely wincing as Ben accidentally scratched his arm.

"It's just you." Her gaze dipped down to Ben. Maybe because it was convenient, or maybe because cats were always likely to catch her attention. "Bad experience in an alternate dimension, and I haven't run into you as myself since."

See, already calm and rational enough to just deliver the neutral facts.

Ender kept his discomfort at hearing that hidden away perfectly behind his usual expression. He had an idea what she may be hinting at, and it was bringing up memories of Karla's story about much the same.

"I'm sorry for whatever my alternate self did, then," he said, "Regardless of whether or not that's my fault in particular. I can leave, if you want."

"You don't have to." She might have been of a different mind had this happened a little sooner after the dungeon. But at this point? It would have been like giving into an anxiety that was barely more than a nightmare. "I wasn't going to stick around for long, anyway."

Also, there was that.

"All right," Ender said. With the amount of wiggling Ben was doing, he was... starting to consider buying a pet carrier. "If you need to talk about what happened, I'll be back at my table." He turned back towards it.

Probably best for Ender's sanity if she didn't, but his was of lesser importance.

Natalie grabbed her coffee, and glanced over at him again. Or at his back. "I think at this point that would do nothing but hurt us both, Ender," she said. "So I think I'll pass."

As much as she was fascinated by poking at Wiggins. It didn't feel like the day for it.

"Thank you, though."

Ender sat back down at his old table and reached for his by now cooling coffee. "Any time," he said.

Natalie gave him a last nod, then headed for the door, and was gone again.

She could deal with herself on her own.

Ender rubbed at his arm when she was gone, releasing a heavy sigh. He was never going to be escaping this, was he...?

A wet little nose nudged against his elbow. He glanced down.

"You know it isn't actually your fault," Jane said.

"It's a me's fault," Ender said simply, "So it's my fault."

"Truly, you are a master of self-punishment. They should write books about you-- Fifty Shades of Mope."

He didn't answer. He sipped his coffee. It was cold.

The Perk, Sunday Morning

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject