The Perk- Monday afternoon

[throughaphase]

Vacation had made Kitty just a little resentful of the cold, so after class she decided to hang out at the Perk for a little bit. She still had a book to finish from the cruise- which she could have read at home but she would be guaranteed to be distracted by having dogs to play with- and she could sit and read with a really large hot coffee.

And make the baristas jealous of her tan, la.


[Open!]

Comments

[filleauloup]

Éponine, who had been down the street when she spotted Kitty and decided she was taking her afternoon break now, let herself into the shop, ordered a mocha, and flung herself into a nearby chair. "I see the trip agreed with you! I'm glad you're back, though. I'm glad everyone's back. I don't like how quiet it gets around this place with everyone gone."

[throughaphase]

"Hey! I have stuff for you, I was going to bring it tomorrow," Kitty greeted her. "Were you bored?"

[filleauloup]

"Very." Éponine grinned crookedly. "I can only talk to people, when I bring them their mail, so many days in a row before they start finding someplace else to be the moment they see me coming."

Possibly the only people who hated it more than she did when the island got that quiet were the people along her route; she got extra chatty to try and make up for the boredom.

[throughaphase]

"Aww. One of these times we need a trip where everyone can go and you don't have to miss us," she decided.

[filleauloup]

"What d'you think the odds of that are?" Éponine wondered, prying the lid off her mocha so she could eat the whipped cream through a stirrer straw, because there was dignity, but then there was whipped cream. "Really, you're lucky your phones weren't working, or I'd have bothered all of you day and night while you were gone. Don't suppose you brought some of the warmth back with you?"

[throughaphase]

"I could work the odds," Kitty said thoughtfully. "And I wish I brought the warmth. I'm like all bitter about the cold now. I'm from Chicago, I should be able to handle this better, but noooo."

[filleauloup]

"That's what happens when you go from a week in the sun back to this, so in a way you brought it on yourself," Éponine teased.

[throughaphase]

"I know, I should blame myself, but instead I think I'm going to say it's all climate change's fault," Kitty said.

[filleauloup]

"S'pose that's fair," Éponine agreed. "I don't know much about that, except that some people like to make a fuss about how there's no such thing, and sound ridiculous about it when they do. I looked up what weather's like in Paris right about now, and it's not how I remember it at all."

[throughaphase]

"Science is too difficult for some people to even acknowledge exists," Kitty said, sipping her coffee. "And all they do is make themselves look stupid and put off actually doing anything about it."

[filleauloup]

Éponine huffed and rolled her eyes. "People in general are impossibly stupid, it seems like, and that's one thing that never changes."

So optimistic, this one.

[throughaphase]

"You'll get no argument from me," Kitty said. "Except I tend to have the hope that at least some of them will learn."

Because if she didn't she'd probably go nuts dealing with what she did.

[filleauloup]

"D'you know, I think I can do the same now, if only a little bit?" Éponine said thoughtfully, after another few long slurps of whipped cream through the straw. "I never used to, before. But some of you lot aren't so bad after all."

That last line was punctuated with an affectionate grin.

[throughaphase]

"We kinda grow on you, right?" Kitty smiled. "It was way too hard to stay jaded for long once I got here. It's the freakish amount of niceness from everyone."

[filleauloup]

"Grow on me all you like, I don't mind it at all, let me tell you that," Éponine said firmly. "You're a nice bunch, and I'm not likely to find that anywhere else, am I? No, I think I'll keep you."

She sort of made it sound like she was hoarding friends the same way she'd hoard books or liquor. Which was more or less how she saw it anyway.

[throughaphase]

"Well, I suppose," Kitty said with a totally fake put-upon sigh. "I guess there are worse things."

[filleauloup]

"Oh, there are. Much," Éponine said with no small touch of smugness. "You're stuck with me now, you are. But tell me all about the trip! Did you go anywhere especially exciting?"

[throughaphase]

"A few different ports in Mexico. In 1978," Kitty said. "So that was interesting. I spent a lot of time at the beach or pool or outside which is why coming back is such a shock."

[filleauloup]

Éponine laughed briefly. "And not a terribly pleasant one, I'll bet. Though you must be glad to be on land again, at least. I hope the students weren't too much trouble?"

[throughaphase]

"Nah, they were fine, as far as I know. Nothing can compare to the year some of them tried to steal a camel, so as long as no one ends up overboard or arrested I'm happy," Kitty said, having lowered her standards a bunch since Turkey.

[filleauloup]

". . . some of them tried to steal a camel?" repeated Éponine in a tone that was equal parts incredulity and 'why didn't I think of something like that?'

[throughaphase]

"Yeeeah. I wasn't the chaperone for them, thank god, but that story kind of made the rounds," she said. "I mean, at least they got creative?"

[throughaphase]

"Yeeeah. I wasn't the chaperone for them, thank god, but that story kind of made the rounds," she said. "I mean, at least they got creative?"