fandomtownies | The Perk, Sunday Evening

Ah, a Sunday evening, and still a few hours to go before Nikolai's usual 'head to Baltimore and behave like an idiot doling out vigilante justice to muggers' routine. Which meant, of course, coffee.

And when coffee meant a familiar face, well, he was going to consider that a win.

"You know, I know it's rude to interrupt a lady while she's reading," he noted, pulling up a seat near Allie once he'd been handed a cup of coffee that was a few sizes larger than any sane person needed at this hour of the day, "but I might have to make an exception for a familiar face like yours."

He gave her a shameless little grin and lifted his cup in greeting.

"Evening, Allie."

Allie grinned and looked around for whatever lady Nick was talking about. "I think you have me confused with someone else. Lady?"

"Yet another reason why I figured you wouldn't mind the interruption so much," Nick laughed, setting his coffee down on the table. "Figured you really weren't the sort to worry about the state of my manners anyway. How goes it?"

"Never. You're always welcome to interrupt me," she smiled. "It goes, mostly. There's still random weirdness going on but since nothing seems to be trying to eat us, I'm not going to complain."

"That's pretty much where I'm at, too," Nick noted with a nod. "Avoiding ending up with kids or going insane and thinking I'm the heir to a diamond mine is all in a day's work lately, sure, but nothing with huge teeth has tried to take my head off in ages, so I'm calling it a win."

A beat.

"I guess it would make for good exercise, though."

Priorities, Nikolai.

"I spent both of those weekends hiding," Allie admitted. "The last thing in the world I'd want to deal with is a kid. The other weekend might have been fun just for teasing purposes. But my luck someone would probably think they were some sort of vampire hunter or something."

She picked up her coffee and inhaled before setting it back down. "You know if you're looking for exercise, you only have to ask."

"And when you put it like that, you know I'm not sure if you're coming on to me, or offering to kick my ass?"

Or both! Nick was big on having options!

And also big on teasing. And smirking. And being a dick.

It was probably a good thing vampires couldn't blush. Allie would have been a really bright shade of scarlet.

Laughing, she ducked her head. "Not a come on. Just a offer for an ass kicking if you want."

Blush or not, Nikolai was going to take that as a little victory. One hot, flustered vampire, and it was completely his fault.

"I really could use the ass kicking from someone who won't just crumple over with a stern look," he noted with a nod. "And, I mean, just in general. Usually I don't get close to anyone who'd kick my ass without knocking myself up a few tiers, first."

He could be proud, but Allie was just going to press on and ignore any random thoughts her brain came up with even if some of them were...interesting. Stupid brain.

"Well in that case pick a night," Allie offered. "It'll be fun. Especially if we do it after one of your nights in Baltimore."

"After a good night, I might almost be able to give you a run for your money," Nick mused. "Especially now that I won't be burning through my hits as fast getting from point A to point B. I mean, I didn't need a motorbike. I just totally needed the motorbike."

Again, priorities.

"How's tomorrow?"

"Fine. If you don't mind landing in the snow a few times," she teased. "But you're going to have to give me a ride on the bike first. I rode one once before. It was like flying. I could have ridden forever."

"A ride on the bike in exchange for landing on my ass in the snow? Seems fair enough to me," Nikolai decided with a laugh. "Hopefully the roads aren't too shitty come tomorrow evening. I grew up in LA. I'm not exactly the king of winter driving, here."

So this could really only end poorly, most likely.

"In that case we probably should hold off on the ride." Even though it killed Allie to say it. "I'd heal if there was a crash. You're a little more breakable. We'll just go a few round and wait till it's warmer for the ride."

"I'm not all that breakable after a few hits," Nick lamented with a sigh. "But I'd die a little inside if we wound up dropping my bike just a few days after I got it. Either way, it's not going anywhere. There'll be plenty of time for all the bike rides you could possibly want, once spring actually happens."

Spring would happen soon, right? Please? Yes?

"I'm wondering if that's ever going to happen," she admitted. "As much as I like the longer nights, the crappy weather is getting old."

"It's completely welcome to happen any time soon, really," Nikolai agreed. "I try to limit my time spent in snowy wastelands, and the island is really going out of its way this winter to test my resolve avoiding a city as big as LA until I'm more confident with that whole eye thing."

He missed the little things. Like heat.

"Isn't it raining there now?" Allie asked curiously. "I read something online and it seemed like everyone was freaking out."

"Yeah, record rainfall, tornado warnings, twelve-foot waves, flood watches. Not exactly a weather situation I'd want to patrol in, but I'm pretty sure it's keeping the Sevens off the streets for the time being, anyway."

Because if he were to go back to LA, of course he'd keep patrolling. Baltimore was sort of like a warmup for the real trouble back home.

"It's brutal, but it'll pass."

"Sounds like winter in New Covington. Brutal." She grimaced as some decidedly bad memories rushed back. "It would get colder then this. And we didn't have heat." Or much food. "We were always so glad when spring came."

Nikolai remembered the food situation from that one time he'd made that giant batch of spaghetti in the Arms kitchen. He was piecing that together with the idea of a relentless cold, and it was making him wince in sympathy.

"I guess you would be," he replied, frowning a little and reaching for his coffee. Nice, kind of lukewarm coffee. "In light of that, I suppose I don't really have room to bitch." He contemplated that over a mouthful of said lukewarm coffee, and then offered her a smile. "Keeping active is good for fighting off that shitty chill, though."

Allie shrugged, and took another inhale of her own coffee. "It's not an issue anymore, thought it doesn't stop me from appreciating being able to hide out in my apartment on the crappy nights."

"And this just means you'll appreciate LA that much more when you get back there."

"Pretty much, yeah," Nick agreed, nodding and toasting her with his coffee. "Whenever the hell I get around to heading back there, anyway. In the meantime, it's wet snow and Baltimore muggers to get me through the rough nights."

At least the cold didn't bother him so much after he was up a few tiers.

There was a selfish part of Allie that hoped that time wouldn't come any time soon. She liked having her friends around.

"I'd say there probably are better ways to pass the night, but I'm weird and beating up on bad guys sounds like fun."

"It... actually kind of is," Nikolai admitted with a little grin. "And the look on their faces when they go down... it's priceless. You get out to Baltimore often?"

"Not really. I'm always afraid I'll wind up cut off," she explained. "It's one thing to be cut off from home here on the island where people are used to strange things. But out there? I don't want to risk it. At least not on my own."

"Well, speaking as one strange thing who makes regular trips out there, I haven't been cut off yet, and I think the local muggers are starting to get sick of me."

Yes. That was one way to put it.

"I prefer to work alone, but, you know, if you were feeling up for punching a few assholes in the face tonight, I wouldn't be opposed to someone else to keep me company. Even if you'll probably spend half the time laughing as I try not to fall on my ass in the snow."

Apparently superhuman agility could only compensate for ice so much when you were throwing some superhuman speed into the mix, too. At least, if you had no idea what to do with an icy sidewalk.

Heavy boots were the answer. Heavy boots and a good sense of balance.

"Just as long as the local muggers don't start shooting at you." Allie considered his offer for half a second and held out her arm. "Okay, you've twisted it enough. I'll go," she laughed.

"With the dinky little handguns the muggers are carrying? They'd have a hell of a time actually hitting me with those things without making eye-contact," Nick replied, and then laughed and reached forward, miming out a twisting gesture in thin air. "Really didn't take much to convince you, did it? Was it the punching, or the promise of seeing me do epic battle with icy sidewalks that did it?"

"A combination of both. It's been a while since I've done any hunting. Throw in sidewalk figure skating and I'm in." Allie would never admit it, but she missed the Olympics.

"For the full effect, I can play music on my phone really loudly and you can score me on my technique," Nick chuckled, and then downed the rest of his coffee. It was lukewarm at this point anyway. No sense in nursing it. "We should just be happy I don't do this with blades strapped to my feet."

"I'll do double duty and also supply inane commentary on your technique while scoring." Even though it had been her first Olympics, Allie caught on quick.

Her own coffee was still full, just noticeably cooler. "Do you want this? It's a hazelnut something or other. If you don't I'll just get the barista to dump it."

Nick considered the coffee in question, and then gave his shoulders a shrug.

"I think I'm good," he replied. "If I get a few hits out there in the city, I won't need the extra boost. If you want, I can gear up and we can head out right away. Evil waits for no-one. Or... some crap like that."

Said coffee was quickly left with the baristas for dumping.

Allie tucked her book in her coat pocket and picked up her sword from where it had resting against the table. "As much as I hate the idea, while you gear up, I should probably bring this back home. Somehow girl with katana just doesn't seem all that low profile."

"Yeah, not really the sort of thing you carry around if you want to blend. But then, you should see my getup."

Goggles with mirrored iris-lenses, and a leather duster like the cowboys wore in old Westerns, over body armor. Yeah, Gorgon was not exactly meant to blend.

"But your get-up just means you've got a weird sense of fashion. Not that you're looking to take someone's head."

Tipping her head towards the door, she asked. "Meet you at the Causeway in twenty minutes?"

"Causeway in twenty," Nick agreed easily, pulling himself to his feet. "You can start judging my figure skating costume in no time."

Oh, tonight was going to be fun.

The Perk, Sunday Evening

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