The Perk, Saturday Afternoon

[always_someone]

Now that Norman was working, he actually had a little bit of money to throw around again, and his first stop was going to be at the sporting goods store to get something he'd been missing since he'd arrived on the island. Sure, the streets were no good for biking on, but that didn't mean there weren't places he could ride around at. Like... the park! The park had paths, and if those were busy he could always just pedal his heart out across the grass instead, right?

And if that failed, he could just ride back and forth across the causeway. He had options, just not many of them.

Unfortunately, it was a rainy day, and colder than he'd expected, and Norman had found himself ducking into the Perk before ever making it to his intended destination, buying himself the biggest hot chocolate they could make for him, and sitting himself down by the window, hoping to either warm up or wait out the rain.

"Maybe my first big purchase should be an umbrella," he murmured, and clung to his drink as a nearby ghost made an oh-so-clever crack about catching his death of cold before getting back to waiting for the latte she'd been waiting on for at least twenty years.

He laughed politely, shivered again, and returned his attention to his hot chocolate.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[justice_undone]

Breq had just intended to go for a long walk - in the rain, without an umbrella - but when she saw Norman in the window, stopping for a cup of tea first seemed like a good idea. As she stepped inside, she wiped rain water from her hair, and made sure to smile at the baristas before heading over to Norman's table.

"Hello, Norman. Escaping the rain too?"

[always_someone]

Norman blinked up from his hot chocolate, and then smiled a little when he recognized the face of the person who had spoken to him.

"Hi, Breq. And yeah," he admitted. "I wanted to make my way to the sporting goods store? But hot chocolate seemed like a way better idea all of a sudden. Maybe next time I'll check the weather reports first."

[justice_undone]

"Sporting goods? What are you going to buy?" she asked.

[always_someone]

"I want to get a bike," he explained. "I have one back home that I ride all over town. And... I mean... Fandom isn't great for biking? But I kind of miss it anyway. I could ride it in the park or something."

Just so long as he was careful to not run into anybody, living or dead.

[justice_undone]

"A two-wheeled vehicle without an engine? I haven't seen a lot of those around," she said. "Do you mind if I join you? I'm going to get at cup of tea."

[always_someone]

"A two-wheeled vehicle without an engine," Norman agreed, smiling faintly. "I want to get a little more exercise in. I'm in two classes right now that leave me feeling like my arms and legs want to crawl away from the rest of me and die somewhere, so it's probably not a bad idea to at least take care of one of those problems."

He gestured for the seat across from him.

"And by all means."

[justice_undone]

Breq walked over to the counter. Unlike some people she could order nice, loose leaf tea without insulting anyone, and she remembered to smile too.

"That's the reason I go for long walks," she said as she sat down.

[always_someone]

"I get distracted pretty easily on walks," Norman admitted with a little smile. "There are too many people to talk to, you know?"

It was far easier to avoid interaction if you were going too quickly for more than a polite 'good morning.'

[justice_undone]

Breq guessed being able to see both the living and the dead meant places were usually a lot more crowded.

"Do you like talking to people?"

She didn't mind, and sometimes she found it interesting, but Breq often had to remind herself that they were addressing her as if she was a person.

[always_someone]

"I'm still more comfortable with certain kinds of people more than others," Norman admitted, then took a sip of his drink. "But I'm working on that part. So far, people around here mostly seem okay, though."

He'd only ever really butted heads with one person, and crazy tea guy didn't strike him as someone who got along with anyone.

[justice_undone]

Crazy tea guy had no friends, unlike Norman.

"They do," Breq agreed. "Do you prefer the dead or the living, or is that not the important part?"

It was a blunt question, perhaps, but she didn't think Norman would mind.

[always_someone]

Norman ducked his head a little, shrugging his shoulders. That was exactly the important part.

"The dead have always been kinder," he replied.

So...

[justice_undone]

Breq took a sip from her tea. "Do people become kinder when they die, or are the kind ones more likely to become ghosts?"

[seriesofbaddecisions]

Who needed an umbrella when you had a helmet? Sabine was going to head to the warehouse but decided to check out the coffee here on the way, since it'd somehow been a week and she hadn't yet. She took off her helmet and tucked it under her arm as she figured out where she needed to order, and then what to order, and then leaned against the counter to wait.

"People watching?" she guessed.

[always_someone]

"Thawing out," Norman replied, holding up his cup and offering Sabine a sheepish grin. "I might have misjudged how much time I had before the rain when I headed out today. But the people watching is usually pretty okay, too."

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"On the plus side, at least the rain's not colored?"

She respected the colored rain. But not when she thought she'd have to repaint.

[always_someone]

"The colorful rain was kind of neat," Norman laughed, "but by the time we made it across the finish line, I was a lot of weird shades of green."

Which wasn't that weird around here, granted. And he'd made a lot of silly zombie faces in the mirror when he got back to the dorms, just because.

"How are you settling in, rainy week aside?"

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Okay, considering," she said, as her drink came up. "I lucked out on roommates and my I'm a TA now for one of my five classes-" Still weird. "-and the rest I'll probably get used to with more time."

[always_someone]

"That's a pretty good start, though," Norman blinked. "I mostly just spent my first week putting up posters on my side of the dorm room."

She was doing way better than him. But then, Norman got the impression that Sabine was far more outgoing than he'd ever be, too.

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Oh, we did that, too. Or, at least we base painted it," Sabine said. "We'll see what the rest of it turns out to be."

[always_someone]

"See," Norman laughed, "way more productive than my first week."

His first week hadn't had any weirdness, for a start. If it wasn't for the strange ghosts, he absolutely would've doubted it was even a thing for quite a while.

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"How's your week been?" she asked, walking over with her helmet under one arm and coffee in her other hand, like a pro.

[always_someone]

"Well," Norman mused, pausing for another mouthful of his hot chocolate. "So far I won a boat race, but the prize went missing, which I'm actually okay with?"

Because those fish were terrifying.

"And between that and two of my three classes, I realized that I am not the best choice on the island for sustained physical activity of... basically any kind."

Winter had involved a lot of not doing much at all. Then again, he and Khadgar had won the boat race. Somehow. He still wasn't sure how.

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Did a moose sign you up for two of those three classes?" she checked.

It was Kanan's fault she was going to blame a moose for everything now.

[always_someone]

"No," Norman admitted. "I kind of figured I could use both of them. I maybe didn't think ahead farther than that."

One such class in the week was gonna hurt, but he'd survive. But construction? That sledgehammer was heavy.