The Perk, Friday Afternoon

[arboreal_priestess]

It was a holiday for the Aeslin mice and Verity had escaped the hotel room as soon as she'd could. One of the high priestesses had started making hopeful eyes at her while mentioning the possibility of a benediction. Verity was not prepared to offer some kind of prayer-slash-speech for a group of mice before at least two cups of coffee. And maybe a pastry or two. Which was why her hair was still wet from the shower and one of her shoes untied as she grabbed a seat and waited for her ridiculous concoction to finish being prepared.

She needed a job. Mostly because she needed a place to live that wasn't a hotel room. The Aeslin mice needed their own room; the small hotel closet wasn't cutting it anymore.

Was there some kind of local paper where she could look at want ads?

Comments

[newroutines]

Mike had been out on the mainland making a delivery out of his workspace there. Apart from Caritas tomorrow, that was his work week done by Friday afternoon, for once. He'd earned some kind of a ridiculous pastry and a good damn cup of coffee.

And that was why he ambled in right now.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity looked up to spot the one person she'd managed to meet on this island. She'd spent the better part of her time being ignored in favor of preplays in Baltimore getting to know the local cryptid scene to meet any of her actual human neighbors.

But she had found a Madhura bakery, so it wasn't a total loss.

Still, seeing a familiar face brought a grin to her own and Verity gave him a wave from her table. "Here for that coffee I owe you?" she asked. "Hard to offer you one when I forget to get anything but your name."

[newroutines]

Mike looked up and grinned back at her. "Verity, hi!" he said. "Here I thought you'd just used me for my muscles."

Hey, it happened sometimes! Though not in a very serious way.

"Could definitely use that coffee right now."

[arboreal_priestess]

"I'd never do that," Verity said, trying to look as innocent as possible. "For one thing, I might need your help again when I finally get that apartment."

She winked at him and strolled over to the register. "I'll pay for whatever he's having," she told the barista, before leaning against the counter and looking at him again. "In appreciation for those muscles."

[newroutines]

Was Mike cheesy enough to flex his arm for that? You bet your ass. Even if he immediately chuckled and dropped his arm back down, afterwards.

He put in an order for his coffee and one of the giant muffins. "For my muscles." It was very important to make the distinction. Then he turned a little more towards her. "So hey, you haven't run off yet."

[arboreal_priestess]

Was Mike cute enough to get away with it? You bet his ass he was.

"It's going to take a lot more than some stairs and a couple of parallel universes to do that," she said. Especially not after the phone call she'd had with her father about it. He'd practically ordered her to stay and find out more. "Okay, actually, that's not true. A few more stairs and I might have thought about it."

[newroutines]

"Well, totally selfishly, I'm gonna say it's a good thing the stairs stopped when they did, then," Mike said. And smirked, just a bit. "Because that would've been a loss."

[arboreal_priestess]

"And not just because you were tired of hauling that damn thing up the stairs?" Verity asked, smirking right back.

[newroutines]

"Might've factored in, somewhat," Mike replied, half-teasing, half... Look, there were better things to be doing in life than lugging a Barbie Dream House around a town with too many stairs. "But mostly, yeah, no. Mostly, I'm just... interested in seeing you stick around, 's all."

[arboreal_priestess]

The spark of interest in her eyes kindled a little higher. "That so?" she asked, leaning forward a bit. "Well, I'm sticking around for the next year if that helps any."

[newroutines]

His eyebrows bounced. "Yeah? You already made plans for the long term?"

[arboreal_priestess]

"Just for the year," Verity said. "I agreed to help my dad with some research on the local wildlife while I decide what I want to do. So I'm here for the year to help with that and then..." she spread her hands. "The world is my oyster, I guess."

[newroutines]

"Year's a pretty long time." Said the dude who'd been here for getting closer to five. "Hey, welcome to Fandom. Gonna be a wild ride before you go off in exploration of oysters."

[throughaphase]

Kitty was stopping in to get coffee before heading into her office, and as she waited at the counter and said, "Hi. You look new."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Does a few weeks still count as new?" Verity asked, glancing up with a smile.

Yes, Verity, it absolutely does. Especially since you'd barely shown up on the island. "Hi, Verity Price. Nice to meet you."

[throughaphase]

"Kitty Barton. How're you liking it so far?" Luckily it'd probably been too quiet to send anyone running screaming yet.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Still settling in, but so far it seems nice. The stairs ensure I'm never going to have a reason to regret the extra caramel sauce I get on my coffees, that's for damn sure," Verity said. "Never going to complain about moving into my freshman year dorm, that's for sure. You live here long?"

[throughaphase]

"Five years? Oh god, how did that happen," Kitty said. "Also the stairs aren't so bad when you realize you never have to get on a Stair Master again."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Ever," Verity agreed with a laugh. "I gave some serious thought to just staying in bed the day after I moved here. Those stairs worked muscles I didn't know I had."

Or, at least, muscles that hadn't been properly worked out in months.

[throughaphase]

"It gets easier. Or your legs will fall off, either one," Kitty said helpfully. "Where are you staying?"

[arboreal_priestess]

"At the hotel for now," Verity said, with a wave in the general direction of the Arms. "Going to look for an apartment soon, though. I was just thinking I could use a Fandom Craig's List if you all had something like that. "

[throughaphase]

"We don't. I think the place is so small we kind of get around on word of mouth," she said. "I used to live in MHA and liked it, and MCA is pretty much the same thing but more populated. And I think some people have rooms available in their houses but you might have to track them down."

[arboreal_priestess]

"MHA and MCA?" Verity asked. "Is that some kind of apartment complex?" If so, that sounded like a decent place to start. "You know where I can find the landlord?"

[throughaphase]

"I'm not really sure who's in charge these days, but MHA is right down Apocalypse, past Caritas- that's my bar, by the way- and MCA's on the other side of the park, by the pond," Kitty said.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Well, if there are only two of them, it shouldn't be too hard to hunt down whoever is in charge of either," Verity said. "Much better than wandering around the island, thanks."