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The Perk | Tuesday Afternoon

Jim was seriously beginning to consider just taking a vacation and getting away from the island. He figured he could just randomly choose something by spinning a globe and just getting the hell out of dodge since everything seemed to be getting weirder and weirder. And yet, he hadn't changed. Well, he didn't think he had and no one had mentioned anything different so he was choosing to think he was all good.

While he pondered just up and leaving, he was going to kick his feet up at a table in the corner with a warm drink. Winter seemed to be never ending and he was getting a little tired of that too. Maybe he'd randomly choose somewhere warm where he could sit on a beach and the only people that he'd be exposed to would be pretty guys and girls that would bring him drinks.

Sounded like a good plan to him. When he looked outside, hoping to see some sun and saw nothing but grey skies and drizzle, he sighed and shook his head.

Definitely somewhere warm. This warm drink just wasn't cutting it.

[Open place and post]

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A disgruntled Mord'Sith came into the Perk.

Which admittedly happened every so often in the normal run of things, but it was a different disgruntled Mord'Sith today.

Denna couldn't believe it, just when she'd started putting plans into motion, she'd ended up on a different island. At least no one seemed to be into wearing sheeting in public on this one.

Yeah, she didn't look happy at all. It wasn't that hard to notice and Jim was pretty observant without it being obvious. He didn't recognize the new arrival which could mean a lot of things.

Jim was just going to subtly keep an eye on her, see what she did. Maybe she'd just harass the barista or something.

Harassing the barista made for a start. "One of whichever drinks you serve most of here," she said, not overly friendly, but not overtly rude or threatening either.

Once she'd gotten one, however, Denna glared at her latte as if it had personally offended her. It did not look alcoholic. At all.

Yeah, she was probably going to come up short in the alcohol department at the Perk. They didn't tend to spike things here. And the place was all the sadder for it.

But, Jim was watching her make her order and then glare and trying not to be too amused. He was hiding any smiling behind his cup. He was so sly, you see.

You weren't as subtle as you thought, Jim.

Denna turned her head in his direction. "Is something funny?" she asked, her voice silky and much more amused than she felt.

Unlike some people, Denna was at least vaguely capable of faking social graces.

"Hmm? Oh, just remembering something someone told me the other day," he lied smoothly. "It was a good joke and I'm still laughing."

"Really?" There really wasn't any other word for what Denna was doing as she moved towards Jim than slinking. "It must have been an amazing joke then."

She was also capable of not letting her sarcasm show in her tone.

"Oh, it was," Jim said, eyes wide. He nodded. He was just going to take her sarcasm literally. "I'd tell it to you but...I don't know if I wanna share with someone I don't even know. It should be shared among friends."

"Now there's no reason that we can't be friends." Except for the fact Denna didn't do friends, and not because she was a socially awkward failbot. "Or at least not stranger. My name's Denna."

She was sure she could have him adding the 'Mistress' in no time if she was stuck here, get a headstart on collecting minions.

"Denna," he repeated, giving her a nod. "I'm Jim. Pleasure to meet you. You new to town or something? Don't think we've run into each other and shared jokes before."

Denna moved in towards Jim, staying just on the right side of violating his personal space. "I'm afraid I just arrived here today, but I'm sure I could use someone like you." In more ways that one. "To help me get the lay of the land."

That was direct, wasn't it? Jim approved.

"The lay of the land?" he repeated, not commenting on the forwardness just yet. "It's a small island. I could draw you a map on this napkin here."

He tapped the napkin with a finger. "I'm much more than a tour guide."

Technically, direct for Denna involved a lot more chains, shirtlessness, and pain, but she had no problem being very forward when it suited her purposes. "I'm sure you are, Jim."

Somewhere in the Midlands, Cara wondered why she had a sudden and overwhelming desire to smack Jim upside the head. More than usual that was.

Jim was always looking to do Cara proud. Always.

"Are you patronizing me?" Jim asked, more amused than offended.

Yes. "Of course not," Denna purred. "I can see that you're clearly a fine young man. Strapping, even."

Maybe not the brightest, but that just meant less work for her. Because she was the best Mord'Sith. The best.

Oh, he was bright. He just didn't let on that he was bright. And he didn't let on that he was getting a little creeped out by Denna. He didn't show fear.

"Well, you're not wrong about that," Jim said, smirking up at her. "I'm the finest young man you're gonna find in this little town. There's no one better."

Since he wasn't listening to that fear and getting the hell away from her, Denna remained unconvinced of Jim's smarts.

"I'm quite sure of that," she said. "I don't suppose you'd like to tell me more about this little town?"

"Anything specific you wanna know?" he asked, tilting his head. "There's loads I could tell you but I might bore you."

She was mainly interested in things like the defences or the current power structure, but she probably needed to work up to that. "Just start with whatever you think is more interesting."

"Free reign, eh?"

Jim shrugged a shoulder.

"Well, a talking pony teaches a class up at the school, the school janitor is a troll, there's a lot of goddamn stairs and it's cold."

Sounded interesting, didn't it? Jim might have been teasing her on purpose here. Living dangerously.

Denna bit out a laugh. It was that or give him a taste of her agiel and it would be hard to walk back once she started down that path. "I can see what you meant by jokes so funny you laugh the next day."

Jim would have bowed if he hadn't been sitting down. Instead, he just smirked up at her, pleased.

"Technically, all of that is true," he allowed with a shrug. "It's just probably not what you want to know. But, I'm glad to know you're gonna be thinking of me tomorrow morning. I like to leave a mark."

"So do I." Pity Denna's real smile wasn't any more reassuring than her fake one. "But tell me more about this school, the students for example."

They couldn't be worse than some of the ones on the other island.

Yeah, Jim was pretty sure they were talking about different marks. He tilted his head again.

"I'm from the future," he shared, not sure if he really wanted to divulge information about his friends to someone who was such a question mark. "Centuries in the future where there's space travel and contact with other alien races. This place and this time? It's nothing compared to where I'm from."

He shrugged a shoulder. "Everyone's different here. You've got rich, poor, male, female, strong, weak, funny, boring, and everything in between. It's a melting pot, as some people would say."

"How interesting." Certainly more than people who'd barely figured out iron swords. "Very different to where I'm from."

Both places, but no need to mention that to Jim.

"This place does tend to be pretty different," he said, shrugging a shoulder. "It's pretty easy to adjust once you get into the flow of things and just go with whatever might be happening. Hopefully, you'll be able to do that without much assistance."

He smirked again.

"True." Denna rested a hand on the handle of her agiel, as she considered Jim, he looked like the kind of man who only looked better in pain. "But I'm sure we'd both find it much more pleasant if I did have help."

"Both?" Jim asked, raising an eyebrow. "You sound like you're including me in these plans of yours."

The smug side of him was pleased. The rational side of him was concerned. The narcissistic side of him definitely thought he looked awesome when he was in pain.

"Only if you'd care to be included." And she could ensure that he would.

This is what happened when you kept poking at scary women in red leather, Jim, sooner or later you'd find that one of them had no qualms about poking back.

Things went differently when he poked Cara (not dirty)! He missed Cara.

"I don't know, I'm kinda busy," Jim said, holding his drink up to prove that. "Lots of things to do, so little time."

Denna might've been better able to fake acting like a functional human being, but Cara was a model of mellowness and self-restraint compared to her when it came to Jim's poking (Surreal would have a few things to say if it was).

"I'm sure I can convince you to free up your schedule," she said moving to brush her agiel against his knee under the table.

Now, he really missed Cara.

Jim didn't know what she'd just done to him but he did know whatever it was had hurt and hurt a lot. He was glad he hadn't been drinking anything because he probably would have spit it up or choked on it. Instead, he slammed a fist against the table and cursed. Loudly. The baristas were probably scandalized.

"What the fuck?" he managed to huff out, breathing hard. "What was that?"

Cara would've bodily dragged him out of the cafe by now, before going back to deal with Denna, so yes, he should miss her.

"A hint of persuasion," she said, as if she'd not done anything out of the ordinary, since she hadn't. She'd barely even given him a full taste of what the agiel was capable of. "Care for another?"

He did, he really, really did. He'd probably even be convinced to apologize for being a jackass to her at this point. Maybe. Potentially.

"That's persuasion?" Jim asked, glaring at her now that his breathing seemed to be returning to normal and his knee wasn't screaming in agony. "Lady, you need to work on your persuasion skills or get a dictionary because that doesn't persuade me to do anything."

Jim stood up because just sitting there wasn't doing him any favors.

At the very least he should be exceedingly grateful Cara never used her agiels on him whenever she kicked his ass.

This indignation was adorable on him, Denna tilted her head as she consider whether or not to use the agiel on him again. "It's the stick." The painful, phallic stick. "You didn't seem very interested in the carrot."

Yeah, Cara did enough damage with her fists and feet. He didn't need agiels to be added to that. He'd be scared to know what she could do with those phallic looking sticks.

"Congratulations, you've got a stick." A very, very painful stick but a stick nonetheless. "You want a cookie?"

Be nice, Jim. Oh whatever, that would never happen.

Maybe Cara should've gone fort he agiels, it might have knocked some sense into him before he decided to give Denna lip.

Denna sighed and went to brush her agiel against his leg again, aiming for the outside of his thigh this time.

Why weren't the baristas helping him? Probably because they were hiding or cowering in fear?

Jim actually tried to squirm away from that freaking stick and while he managed to avoid some of that stick, the agiel still caught some of his thigh. Enough that he actually shouted in both pain and surprise. He had to grasp the table to keep himself upright and white knuckled it to try and outlet the pain somewhere.

Giving people lip was a talent. He probably wouldn't ever be cured of it but what he was feeling right now was certainly doing enough to shut him up because he was too busy groaning and hissing in pain.

In that case, the baristas were smarter than Jim.

Denna pulled the agiel back. "So you can be taught."

That was not a comforting sentence. Run, Jim, run.

Running was beginning to look like a good option, yeah. He pushed himself back up, glaring coldly at her. That little sentence of hers prickled so he didn't run.

Yet.

Instead, he picked up the glass of his warm drink and actually threw it in her direction. Why? Because he was dumb and he was angry and did dumb stuff but it might work as a decent distraction as well.

Jim getting whatever this liquid was over her leathers was annoying, but that didn't stop Denna laughing. Like her smile the real thing was no more reassuring than the fake.

"I do like a man with spirit." So much more satisfying to watch them bend and break, if only she had somewhere set up to work. "I'm sure I'll be seeing much more of you, Jim."

"Not if I can help it."

But he was just gonna back away from her and silently apologize to the baristas for leaving them alone with Denna. He'd come back and make it up to them later.

Eventually, his back hit the door and he slipped out. He wasn't gonna give her the satisfaction of running away. He was just going to walk. Actually, he was gonna limp a little and try and get back to his room as quick as he could.

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The Perk | Tuesday Afternoon

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