The Perk [Friday morning]

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

It was now looking as though the whole teaching thing was going to happen, and as in all things in her life, Irene was attacking the idea with a sort of single-minded bent towards organization and thoroughness. Feeling quite recovered after the events of the weekend, she'd trekked out to the Perk this morning with her laptop in tow, and had cozied up in a corner to try to put her half-formed ideas towards a syllabus.

She kept getting distracted by the need to add things in, though -- every time she wondered whether something might be inappropriate, she realized that was probably all the more reason to include it, really. But that didn't mean everyone agreed, and it was only when she heard some discreet coughing over her shoulder that she realized that she was possibly looking up the not-most-public-safe things in a highly public place.

And clearly the answer to that was to angle her computer so that no one else could see her screen. It wasn't her fault that other people had hangups, really.

[open!]

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[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

After yesterday's lamprey rainstorm and subsequent discovery of the wine cellar, Hatter's mood had improved somewhat. Maybe that was more due to the wine then the lack of weird creatures falling from the sky though.

Whatever it was, it had him out early enough, looking for something to eat for breakfast. He stopped in the Perk on a whim but was distracted by his food hunt by someone familiar in a corner.

"Working already?" he asked, tilting his head and leaning against the counter. "I believe you are what most people would call an overachiever."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Only in some areas," Irene told him cheerily, glancing up. "You're out and about early today."

For whatever reason, he didn't strike her as a particularly early riser.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"I had to stay inside all of yesterday because of whatever that was falling from the sky," he said, making an irritated gestured towards the ceiling. "I went to bed early. It meant I wasn't tired anymore earlier than I would have liked. But, at least I can go outside today."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Yes, that was vile, wasn't it?" Irene said, eyes wide with interest. "Were those some sort of little sea monsters? I didn't go out."

Of course she hadn't. No one would be surprised by that revelation. Or by the fact that she had no idea what a lamprey was.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"They looked like some sort of eel," Hatter said, making a face. "Whatever they were, I wasn't about go out and have some creature attach itself to me and drain me of my blood or whatever."

The lamprey probably wasn't vampiric but whatever.

"I was going to go the mainland but ended up discovering a wine cellar underneath my restaurant."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"A wine cellar?" Well, if he hadn't had her attention before (which he had), he certainly would have gained it with that little bit of information. Irene smiled, leaning her chin in her hand eagerly. "And you didn't know about it before yesterday? How'd you manage to miss that?"

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"Because I wasn't going to go to the basement and risk stepping in mold or tepid water puddles," Hatter said, making a face. "I just cleaned these shoes."

They'd gotten a bit dirty during his time with the stupid carnival. "But, boredom makes you do strange things so I went down there yesterday and discovered it. There is a lot of wine down there, all perfectly chilled."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"And when are you having a wine tasting party?" Irene prompted with a grin. "Or at least having me over to help you go through it?"

She was so altruistic, this one.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"I haven't figure that out quite yet," Hatter admitted, shrugging. "I took one bottle for my own but haven't even begun to sift through the rest. I should probably do that at some point. Might be a lot of money down there."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Well, whenever you decide to bust into more of them," Irene said, raising her brows at him, "let me know. I'm loads of fun to drink with."

Plus she would argue that he rather owed her, all things considered.

"I might need it, in fact. I've decided to take up teaching, so drinking heavily sounds like it'll probably be in my future."

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"You're going to teach?" he asked, unable to keep the surprise from his voice. "The children?"

Pardon him from snickering. He was sorry...kind of.

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Yes," Irene said, sighing. "I'm like Mother Theresa, really, selflessly sacrificing my time in order to educate the impoverished, underprivileged children of this island."

Almost nothing in that sentence was actually factual.

"I really deserve a medal or something."

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I'm sure they'll give you something," Hatter said, crossing his arms. "What are you going to teach, then? Something about fashion? Perhaps something involving telephones?"

[throughaphase]

Once Kitty had gotten her drink, she wandered by Irene's table to say hi. "You look busy. So naturally I'm gonna interrupt you."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Good, because this is partially your fault," Irene said with a smile as she looked up. "Hello. All better from anything weird last weekend?"

[throughaphase]

"Yep," Kitty nodded. Clint was probably still getting cuddle therapy whether he liked it or not but that's what you get for getting stabbed in the heart. "How about you, Miss I Got Poisoned?"

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Been through worse," Irene assured her with an airy little wave. "I got to slap him for it at the end, anyway, so. Wasn't a total loss."

Seriously, it totally shook out fairly in her mind.

[throughaphase]

"Slapping really does help," Kitty agreed. "Welcome to Fandom, everything's weird."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"I actually thought the fish and sea monsters falling from the sky was a bit weirder, honestly."

She still didn't know what a lamprey was.

[throughaphase]

"Lampreys," Kitty corrected. "They're not sea monsters, they're just gross. And this is the weirdest rain of anything I've seen here."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Lamprey, sea monster, to-may-to, to-mah-to," Irene said, shaking her head. "Is the funny rain a thing that happens often? I'll invest in a pair of wellies if it's going to happen again. I just didn't go outside yesterday, but I had to on Tuesday."

And now she had clothes that she needed to burn because of fish-smell.

[throughaphase]

"Sometimes. Sometimes it's like candy, and sometimes it might be gross, so having not-so-nice clothes and shoes just in case is a good idea," Kitty advised. "Oh, and sort of related, sometimes like, alcohol will pour from the faucets instead of water so you might want to have a jug of water or something stored away in your place for washing up."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"That's...strange and convenient," Irene mused, "but noted all the same. Bet you don't see a lot of business when that sort of thing happens, hmm?"

Even she wasn't so extravagant as to spend money on booze when it was literally pouring from the faucet.

[throughaphase]

"Sometimes people want to drink something that they haven't tried washing their hands with all day," she explained. "It's when we have the days where like every liquid all over town turned into a Shamrock shake or whatever that we get slow."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"What," asked Irene, "is a shamrock shake?"

She wasn't really like, a McDonald's person. Or a shake person. Or a green food dye person.