The Perk, Thursday

[what_the_shock]

Coffee. Coffee was good.

Well, okay, having local currency was good. But after a quick stop at the bank, coffee was good.

So here was Miguel, sunglasses firmly in place, still looking a bit groggy, trying to get just a coffee.

He ended up with something heavily sugared, but it was also heavily caffeinated, so he was calling it a win. And sitting outside with it, because he got less weird looks for wearing sunglasses outside. So there.



[Open post! Come meet the newbie!]

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[vdistinctive]

Eliot was taking a break from working on the house, going for a long walk around town with Val. Which always meant swinging by the Perk for some caffeine along the way. He paused to wrap Val's leash around one of the empty chairs before heading in, nodding to the other guy already sitting there.

"She won't bother you or nothin', will she?" he said. "She's a chill dog, but I can let wait for me somewhere else if you need."

Some people just weren't into dogs, for all sorts of reasons. That was why Eliot didn't bring Val in the shops with him, even if the baristas here always had a treat ready for him to give her for them. As far as Eliot was concerned, that was just good dog etiquette.

[what_the_shock]

"Huh?" Miguel glanced at the guy and then the dog. "Oh. No, she's fine as long as she doesn't spill my coffee."

Coffee was important.

[vdistinctive]

"She definitely ain't gonna do that," Eliot said, giving Val a good ear rub. "Don't think I've seen you around before. I'm Eliot, this is Val."

[what_the_shock]

"Hi." He waved a little awkwardly. "Miguel. I just got in yesterday."

[vdistinctive]

"That'd do it. What brings you to town?"

It was even odds that the answer would be either "needed a change of pace" or "got sucked through a random portal", Eliot figured.

[what_the_shock]

"A portal, a bunch of bugs, and a vacation," Miguel said, covering all the bases.

[vdistinctive]

"A bunch of bugs?"

That was a new one.

[myownface]

Coffee. Coffee was good.

It wasn't a bad day to accept that one universal truth, really, if you asked Sparkle. Some days you just had to go out and get some coffee. Maybe stroll around town. Appreciate the almost-fall ambiance. Nod at the new guy sitting outside.

(Casually check out the new guy sitting outside.)

Thursday afternoon stuff.

[what_the_shock]

"The timebreakers," Miguel explained. "They're these huge...things. Some like roaches and some like...I think Morph called them mantises?"

Miguel was a city boy, where the city didn't even mostly reach the ground.

"They suggested this place."

[what_the_shock]

Hey, the new guy was pretty buff and was perfectly happy in his sexuality, so he had no objections.

Miguel nodded back.

[vdistinctive]

"Time breakers."

There was an evocative term.

"Well, good to know our reputation precedes us."

[myownface]

Ooo, returned nodding! That was promising enough to Sparkle, who sidled up with a grin and nodded toward Miguel's cup.

"Hey, new guy. You need a top-up, there?"

[what_the_shock]

"I need about another three," Miguel said wryly. "You offering?"

[myownface]

"Wouldn't have asked otherwise," Sparkle replied with a smirk. "What's your poison, there?"

He'd try to deliver, but he could make no promises in this place.

[what_the_shock]

"It was supposed to be black coffee with sugar," Miguel said, finishing his cup and handing it over. "I think I got...actually, I have no idea what I got. It had coffee and sugar in it, anyway."

Belatedly (hey, he was only one cup in) he stuck out his hand. "Hey. Miguel O'Hara."

[myownface]

"Sparkle," Sparkle replied, reaching out to shake Miguel's hand. "For real. You're new here, huh?"

He knew most pretty faces. He double knew most pretty biceps.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel snorted. "This place must be even smaller than I thought. Yeah, I just got here yesterday."

[myownface]

"Way small," Sparkle laughed, shrugging. "And I have a good eye for new faces. What brings you to the island?"

You were gonna get this question a lot, Miguel.

[what_the_shock]

And his answer was going to be the same each time, too.

"A portal, bugs, and vacation. I'm gonna have to put that in a holorecording or something." Wait, they still used radio. "Or a...what is it you use? Tapes?"

[myownface]

"Pretty sure tapes fell out of vogue like twenty years ago," Sparkle replied, smiling wryly. "We're into digital recording territory now. iTunes and shit. So you're, what, a future boy, huh?"

Bugs barely even registered, at this point.

[what_the_shock]

"I'm apparently not even born for another sixty years or so," Miguel agreed. "A friend of mine had a thing for twencen stuff, but the early twenty-first is kind of a grey area. You go as far as digital now? Wow."

Yes, that was a little sarcastic. Miguel, like Kanan, found this level of tech a bit adorable.

[myownface]

"Yeah," Sparkle snorted, "sooner or later we'll get around to those flying cars they were promising us, like, sixty years ago, but for the time being we'll make do with music streaming. I like to think our priorities are okay."

[what_the_shock]

"Flying's better than wheels," Miguel said. "Unless there's some shocking idiot behind the wheel. What's music streaming?"

[myownface]

Sparkle held up a finger for a moment, then reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

"Literally just like listening to music online." He paused. "Do you still have 'online' in the future? Oh god, if I live to a ripe old age how will I survive without my Twitter?"

[what_the_shock]

Miguel snorted. "Online yes, Twitter, never heard of it. But my world might not be yours," he pointed out.