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The Perk, Tuesday

Despite Kanan's insistence that coffee was Not The Same as caf, Hera was curious about all the different flavors and preparations of it. And there looked like there were so many teas, too!

So, she'd come by the shop this morning to try some out.

"I don't know what I like," she'd told the person behind the counter. "Something a little sweet?"

She hadn't thought she'd had to specify hot. Now she was eyeing the cold, creamy thing in her hands a bit dubiously. But she sipped, and... "Huh. That's not bad. Thank you!"

It was probably a good thing she wasn't terribly picky. Maybe she'd specify hot next time, but meanwhile this would do.

She got a pastry and sat at a table, just watching people.

[Open post!]

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She's sipping her coconut milk mocha macchiato, because why not?

"Gyokuro," Nathan said to the barista for probably the tenth time. "Not genmaicha, I don't need rice in my tea. Just gyokuro."

The barista raised an eyebrow and slid him a cup of matcha.

Nathan sighed.

"Good enough." And then he took the drink and made his way to a nearby seat to people-watch, himself. He noticed the new face - she was hard to miss, all things considered - and offered her a wry smile and a little nod hello as he raised his cup in greeting.

Hera nodded and smiled back. "They put rice in tea here?" she asked curiously.

"Only certain teas," Nathan replied, shaking his head. "Genmaicha has toasted rice in it, to enhance the flavor, so not as much actual tea is needed. At least from where I've been living, it's just meant as a filler, to reduce the price of the tea."

The more you knew, right?

"What they gave me isn't what I'd been asking for, either," he noted, sighing and looking down at his matcha, "but I'm probably just being picky. None of these teas are actually from around here, and I probably shouldn't expect some part-time minimum wage barista to know the difference between a matcha and a gyokuro when most people around here just settle for 'green.'"

Nathan had strong Tea Feelings.

"I certainly wouldn't know any of them," Hera said.

And she sort of liked green. Just for reasons.

Well, she wasn't an unpleasant shade of it, herself.

"Fair enough," Nathan chuckled, shaking his head. "Then just suffice it to say that if they were to try to pass the one with rice off on me at full price back home, I'd be able to accuse them of trying to pull one over on me."

Not that it was unpleasant tea, but it was kind of taking the place of an old whiskey habit, so he liked to at least be able to pick his somewhat grass-flavored poison.

"I'll keep that in mind," Hera said. She laughed. "Though I doubt I'd be able to taste the difference, either."

"Here is where I say something about the smoky flavor of the rice and the sweeter undertones of the gyokuro and everyone within earshot despairs of me," Nathan chuckled, shaking his head. "So I'll simply leave it at that."

He stood, leaned forward as far as he was able, and offered her his hand.

"I'm Nathan, by the way. A pleasure to meet you."

Even if you apparently weren't a Japanese tea aficionado, Hera.

Hera grinned and leaned forward to shake his hand. "Hera. Nice to meet you. And here's where I say I'll pretty much drink whatever caf or tea's in front of me, and you probably despair of me, so we can call it even."

"I think I can live with that," Nathan decided, shaking her hand and then easing himself back into his seat. "I've had my fair share of terrible coffee in the past, I'm really in no position to judge."

War rations were not exactly what anybody would consider gourmet. Except maybe the people on the other side, who had to go without coffee. Poor bastards.

"You judge tea, though." Hera smiled. "So you obviously have an opinion."

"Well, an opinion of the tea," Nathan replied with a quick grin. "I'm in no position to judge the people who drink it. There's really no accounting for taste."

"True in a lot of ways," Hera agreed. "The galaxy's full of too many people for everyone to like the same thing."

"For better or worse," Nathan agreed, easily, before sipping at his tea. And managing to not make a face. "Things would get boring fairly quickly if everyone did, anyway."

"Food certainly would," Hera said.

"Though," Nathan mused, "if it became boring for everyone, I suppose sooner or later we'd all find something new to like, to make up for that."

These were the things that kept him up at night.

No, not really. Unspeakable cruelty kept him up at night. But wouldn't it be nice if his sleep was interrupted by stupid speculation instead of nightmare memories and guilt?

"But then we'd all find the same thing again," Hera pointed out.

"We would. But would we find it boring, or would we simply be boring people? The two aren't necessarily the same thing." He shrugged. "I know plenty of boring people who are perfectly happy to just go on being boring for the rest of their days."

"Are they really happy about it, or do they just not know better?" Hera asked. "The boring people I know usually don't stay that way once they find out there's something else."

It was possible her sample was skewed.

Nathan smiled wryly and shrugged.

"Boring is safe," he pointed out. "Some people would gladly trade in things like 'variety' and 'excitement' for safety and stability."

Hell, he had. It hadn't worked out for him; he was here, after all. But he'd made the attempt.

"A mix of the two would be nice," Hera said a little wistfully.

"Well, at least you're in the right place for that. Fandom Island is generally stable right up until it isn't, after all." He tilted his head at her, thoughtfully. "I'm sorry, are you new here, or do I simply need to get out more? I haven't seen you around, but admittedly, I don't generally stray far from here or the school these days."

Which made him sound like one of those boring ones, but so help him, this island had too many damn stairs.

"I'm new," Hera admitted. "I'm a friend of Kanan's, if you know him."

NO WORLD ENDING!

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Talk to Hera!

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Have your own coffee!

OOC