fandomtownies | The Sidewalk Outside the Perk, Monday Evening

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The Sidewalk Outside the Perk, Monday Evening

It seemed, to Evan, like a good evening for walking, just wandering around the island with his dog, a book in hand, and appreciating the fresh air and the fact that nothing was falling out of it looking to kill people. And, as Evan walked down Unicorn Street, it seemed more and more like it could even be a good evening for sitting at one of the little tables outside of the Perk, sipping a coffee and reading while Ozzy napped at his feet.

It was good to see that the best laid plans sometimes did work out nicely, because ten minutes later he had himself a mocha frappuccino, and was a few pages in on one of the books he'd taken out from the library while Ozzy settled himself down on the cobblestones, content to rest for a while.

Not a bad way to spend a Monday evening.

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And Yeul, who had had similar thoughts about the evening, came wandering slowly down the street not long after. She took her time, which was probably not surprising given that... she never rushed.

"Hello, Evan," Yeul said, pausing by his table. She smiled and knelt down to pet Ozzy. "Hello, Ozzy."

Ozzy was tuckered out from all of the walking Evan had taken him for already tonight, but he still spared Yeul a sniff, a few licks, and a decent round of tailwagging.

Evan, meanwhile, marked his place in his book, set it down on the table, and gave her a warm smile.

"Good evening, Yeul! How are you doing tonight?"

She was in one piece after the weekend, so that was a good start!

Given all the horrible ways the weekend could have gone, it certainly was!

Yeul gave Ozzy another smile then stood. "I'm well," she said agreeably. "You look like you're doing well tonight."

"It's a pretty good evening," Evan agreed with a smile and a nod. "I mean, I have good company, a good book, the coffee's nice... There's nothing to complain about right now, you know?"

Well, nothing new. But Evan would have to face the same old complaints in Dealing With Loss class tomorrow, so tonight, he was taking it easy.

"There are people who can always find something to complain about," Yeul mused, "but I am not one of them. Though I think I would like a drink. Do you mind if I go and get one?"

She'd come back!

"Not at all!" Yeah, Evan was only just shy of chirping that. "I'll save you a seat!"

And it would give him a few more minutes to try to get to the end of the chapter before she came back with a drink.

Priorities.

Reading was very important!

Yeul gave him another smile and then stepped past him, to make her way into the Perk.

It did take a few minutes, mostly because she took her time in deciding what to buy.

When she came back outside, it was with an iced green tea lemonade in hand. "Sorry," she said, "I did not mean to be so long."

"That's fine!" Evan still looked pleased, so clearly he didn't mind all that much. "I finished this chapter while I was waiting. Did you get something good?"

It looked good.

She took a seat, setting her drink down on the table to tug her chair a bit closer, before responding. "It's a lemonade," Yeul said. "I thought it might be nice for a summer's evening."

"Summer's almost over, so really, we better appreciate it while we can," Evan decided, taking a sip of his frappe. "Then it'll be things like pumpkin spice lattes, and fancy hot chocolates."

He wasn't going to lie- He was kind of looking forward to those, too.

She grinned at him. "Which is another reason to frequent the Perk, right?"

Delicious drinks!

"Are you looking forward to classes being over?"

Evan pursed his lips a little at that question, staring down quietly into his drink.

"Kind of," he admitted. "I'm taking a class this semester that I'm glad I decided to take, but it kind of makes me face things every week that I'm not sure I want to, some days."

And he didn't have it in him to skip a class.

"And yet you still go?" Yeul asked quietly, sipping her drink.

Evan gave his shoulders a little shrug, still not quite looking up.

"Learning how to cope with loss seemed kind of important," he murmured. "It's not really something I'm any good at."

And if he was going to be as long-lived as his progenitor, he was going to have to learn, or else just never get close to anybody again.

"It's all right," Yeul said softly. "You'll get better." Which was... the voice of experience talking. "Do you think the class is helping?"

"Maybe a little bit. Professor Alenko has us keeping journals, and writing letters to people we lost, that kind of thing. I think it's more a class about coming to terms with our own emotions and the fact that we have them, honestly."

Which on its own was also pretty useful, so he wasn't going to complain.

"That's not such a bad thing, is it? Do you think it helps, to write everything down?"

Evan was silent for a moment at that question, and then he shrugged his shoulders again.

"I think it means that I've finally found a book I don't ever want to open again," he admitted. "I never thought I'd find such a thing, honestly."

Yeah, he was kind of skirting around the question, but it still managed to sum up his feelings on the matter.

"Then it had to happen eventually," she said calmly, unperturbed by the thought. "And it is not really so bad to not want to read a book you have experienced. Most people don't."

"I'm kind of afraid somebody else will open it, too," Evan added after a moment. "There are things in there that I don't know if I want to have written down. It's a weird feeling, taking every bad dream and horror and putting it down on paper where it goes from a memory and a figment right back to being something real and tangible and right there to be seen again."

Yeul considered that quietly.

"Why not burn it?" she suggested. "When you're ready to let those words go?"

Evan chewed on his lip for a moment, and then nodded his head.

"I could do that," he agreed, quietly. "They'd go right back to being memories, then."

"Yes," she said, "where only you know them. Perhaps burning them might give you... peace, as well. It can."

"Peace," Evan echoed. "Peace would be nice to have, wouldn't it? I mean, just for a change of pace?"

He smiled faintly, wryly, just to show that he was trying to make a joke. Though the smile didn't quite reach his eyes, and his tone fell something shy of 'amused.'

Yeul took him seriously.

"Peace," she said quietly, "is something every person must find within themselves. It is different for each of us."

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