The Perk, Saturday Morning

[whenshewasnice]

As she was currently on tour, Envy had only gotten into town late Friday night. And yes, she'd known Homecoming arrangements had been handled by Gideon before... everything had happened, but the Bridal Suite had still been a –– well, a surprise.

She wasn't going to read too much into it. No point, really.

She appreciated the piano, though.

But right now, she was out of the hotel and enjoying a cup of coffee and a pastry at the Perk. Like old times. Except for how she was dressed to the nines and was handling random business emails on her phone in-between bouts of watching the street outside the window.

Maybe it was nice to take a short breather like this.

[ooc: Open, for both your Perk and Envy needs!]

Comments

[lockestheway]

"Fancy meeting you here."

Peter had a large cup of coffee - he had to feed his addiction somehow. He held on to it as he sat down opposite her at the table. "I thought you'd be touring."

[whenshewasnice]

"I am," Envy replied easily, setting her phone down on the table. "But I have a few break days right now." Courtesy of Gideon, still managing to run her life from beyond the grave, even if it was in small, fading ways. "It's more surprising you're here."

[lockestheway]

"Petra's finishing things up in Russia," Peter said mildly. "I can't say I'm running out of work any time soon, but I'm no longer dealing with another potential World War. I had some time."

[whenshewasnice]

"How is Petra, anyway?"

It... hadn't exactly been among her top concerns when she'd been visiting last, no.

[lockestheway]

"She's well," Peter said. "I think she's eager to come home and see her kids again."

[whenshewasnice]

"Mothers can be like that," Envy noted lightly. She was going to see hers soon, Montreal being the last stop of the Canadian leg of the tour. "Glad to hear she's okay."

[lockestheway]

"Her kids are growing up nicely," Peter offered. "Bean's parents are certainly making sure of it."

And he did, in his regular jaunts to the Delphiki home. But he wasn't going to admit that.

"So how's the road?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Busy, but also like a string of long bus rides interspersed with shows," she said. "The reception's been great, it's going well."

She was much more proud of that than her tone let on.

[lockestheway]

"Your first entirely solo album," Peter said. He took a sip of his coffee. "I can't say I'm surprised it's going well."

[whenshewasnice]

"Well, the general public doesn't always have the best taste." But good thing they hadn't left it fully up to that - there was a lot to be said about Gideon, but he did understand marketing. And so did Envy. She quirked that faint smile of hers. "Sales are up too, obviously."

[lockestheway]

"I said nothing about the quality of the album. I'm not equipped to judge that, even if I like it," Peter said wryly. "But I have a great deal of faith in your business acumen." He held his cup between his hands. "Earning well?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Irrelevant, but yes. Can't complain." The earnings, while nice, weren't high up on her list of priorities. Not as high as fame and power, anyway. "I've brought people over from Gideon's enterprise to oversee money. For now, anyway."

She was going to have to think business things over once the tour was done.

[lockestheway]

"How are you feeling about that?" Peter asked.

Money was a practicality; that's why he'd asked after it.

[whenshewasnice]

"Which part?" Envy returned.

[lockestheway]

"Relying on Gideon's people to oversee your money."

[whenshewasnice]

"I picked people who I thought were most likely to turn from Gideon's people into mine."

He'd employed various types of people. Some were far more decent than others.

[lockestheway]

"Clever," Peter noted. "Any luck with that?"

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm sure I'll re-organize things around a lot once the tour is over," Envy replied after a sip of coffee. "But so far, they seem to be working out pretty well. Gideon didn't have an all-asshole hiring policy, you know."

[lockestheway]

"I didn't say that he did," Peter said. "I was simply interested in your policies - whether you planned to keep his influence in your life while it was useful, or no."

He sipped his coffee.

"But work aside," he said, "How are you?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Office people are not an influence," Envy retorted, lightly, ignoring his question (or shelving it for just slightly later) in favour of doing that instead. "The fact that he booked me the Bridal Suite for this weekend, that's an influence."

[lockestheway]

"Office people are still an influence," Peter said. "Just a small one. But keeping the same staff means keeping on some working traditions. That's all."

That had been what had necked Achilles, back in the day.

[whenshewasnice]

"Mm," said Envy.

Then... left it at that, but surely he was used to that already.

[lockestheway]

"So," Peter said easily, because yes, he was used to it, "How are you doing?"

Yes, he was repeating himself. That was fine. He could wait and see if she actually replied this time.

[whenshewasnice]

"Fine," she replied with a little shrug. "Busy. Happy when I'm on stage."

It had turned out she really liked the attention.

[lockestheway]

"All business now, huh," Peter said. "That's interesting."

[whenshewasnice]

Envy gave him a (mild) long-suffering look and tilted her head like she was expecting him to explain himself.

Far be it from her to actually ask.

[lockestheway]

"I'm trying to remember the last time that look intimidated me," Peter mused idly. "I know business is going well, Envy. That doesn't surprise me. I was just wondering how you were doing."

Petra's kids were a mellowing influence on him.

[whenshewasnice]

Envy didn't visibly bristle, but. "I thought I answered you."

Honestly, no less, which wasn't really a given with her, these days.

[lockestheway]

There was a very old, ingrained instinct to roll his eyes at that Peter was wrestling down like a champ. "Okay," he said instead. "Then don't mind me at all."

He took a sip of coffee.

[whenshewasnice]

Envy saw no reason not to roll her eyes at him. It was a perfectly acceptable urge, and one she would happily go along with right now. So she did.

Then looked out the window.

[lockestheway]

Peter decided to take his losses gracefully. And so he turned his attention to his coffee, which he sipped at idly as he watched the barista work.

[whenshewasnice]

Envy was quiet, but the way her long nails clicked against the coffee cup telegraphed annoyed.

(In fact, had this been an audiovisual medium, it may have come out being Morse code of the same.)

But she didn't say anything. Just kept looking out.

[lockestheway]

Peter sat back in his seat, looking almost beatifically unmoved.

Yes, he was getting the picture that she was annoyed. No, he wasn't going to start scrambling to work out why.

He was content to wait a while longer to see if she'd use actual words or not.

[whenshewasnice]

It shouldn't have taken scrambling in the first place.

"I'm not going to talk about it," she informed the window very, very mildly after a moment. "So in case you're waiting for that, you might as well leave my table."

[lockestheway]

Since when had Peter ever been that empathic, Envy?

"I wasn't," he said. "I believe I said 'okay'."

[whenshewasnice]

After another silence, Envy finally looked back over at him. Perfectly even, perfectly neutral.

"Go away, Peter."

[lockestheway]

"Why?" Peter asked, also perfectly even.

[whenshewasnice]

"I don't feel like being around you now."

Still with the dispassionate tone.

"And I was here first."

[lockestheway]

Peter sighed.

He set his cup down on the table and got up.

"I didn't stay because I was waiting for you to give me an answer," he said. "I stayed because I miss you."

He stuck his hands in his pockets and walked around the table, calmly, and to the door like the drama queen he was.

[whenshewasnice]

"Clearly not enough to listen to me."

She didn't particularly care whether he caught that or not, while he was doing his quiet drama queen thing.

So at least he was in good company with that.