The Perk - Thursday mid-morning.

[spectre_alenko]

Another day of datamining, another day he needed enough caffeine to jumpstart his heart. Kaidan headed to the Perk. "Not strawberry," he joked with the barista, "Maybe do a turtle mocha?"

She shot him a slightly petulant look. It wasn't fair when he came right out and asked for something like that.

"Don't worry, I'll be having more than one," he reassured her, "You can make the next one wacky."

Satisfied, she went to make him a large hot turtle mocha with a staggering amount of whipped cream.

Kaidan took his coffee to the comfy chair, settled it on the table at his elbow, and fired up his Omni Tool. The datapoint was still bothering him. Why Ilium? So now he was running down all of the shipping between Camala and Ilium for the prior ten years. It was sparse.

He couldn't actually drink the coffee until he worked the whipped cream down, so every few moments, he was taking another bite out of the mound and trying not to get it on his nose.

[Open!]

Comments

[built_fjord_tough]

"You've, ah, got a little something..."

There was a clawed green finger pointing at a similarly green nose, mouth pulled into a bit of a smile just below it. In his other hand, a coffee. Apparently, Amaya was giving Fjord an education in sword-making and a caffeine addiction.

[spectre_alenko]

"Kind of hard not to," Kaidan sighed, scrubbing a hand over his nose to get the whipped cream off it. "I think they emptied the can over my cup."

He nodded a thanks. "How've you been, Fjord?"

[built_fjord_tough]

"With the exception of Tuesday?" Fjord shrugged and shook his head. "Settling in, I suppose. I'm trying not to think of Tuesday."

Because Tuesday had been horrid in ways that would mess with a budding warlock's head right away.

"Yourself?"

He pulled up a seat at a table not far off.

[spectre_alenko]

"Tuesday was wacky but benign," Kaidan said, "I'll take it."

He powered down the Omni, not wishing to be rude. "I'm doing ok. Trying to get ready for the silly season."

[built_fjord_tough]

"The silly season," Fjord echoed. "That'd be the one with the, ah, the sweaters?"

Miguel had mentioned the sweaters. Fjord was not looking forward to that bit, really. How would those even go with his armor?

[spectre_alenko]

"Mmhm," Kaidan agreed, "Sweaters, decorations, holiday music all up in your everywhere. Apparently here, voyeur mistletoe.."

He was really not happy about the mistletoe.

[built_fjord_tough]

"Voyeur... mistletoe."

Yeah, Fjord was just raising an eyebrow at that. Taking a mouthful of his coffee.

"I had really been hoping, when people mentioned the 'holiday season,' that they were referring to that Halloween thing. That one was okay."

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan threw him a lopsided half-smile, "Welcome to Earth, we have holidays every month, just about. Next one shouldn't be that bad, American Thanksgiving in a few weeks. That one's mostly about eating and watching sports."

He made a noise in his throat and sipped his coffee. Now that he was down to the coffee. "Voyeur mistletoe," he confirmed with a small scowl. "Apparently it sneaks up on people and ties them together until they kiss. Whether or not they're interested in kissing anyone. I'm upgrading my Omni Tool with an inferno mode."

[built_fjord_tough]

"... Good to know. Staying away from people through that entire season, then."

Fjord wasn't in the market for any kissing stuff at the moment, no.

It would also be difficult for him to make good on that threat, what with the three jobs.

[spectre_alenko]

"My plan is to burn any plants that come creeping near me," Kaidan said, "If that fails, well, I have a knife. I have certain views about consent."

Radical views, like: there should be some from both parties.

"Apparently blowing people a kiss also works," he noted. Thanks, Liam, for that info.

[built_fjord_tough]

"Well, that's... reassuring."

Yeah, it would probably turn out better than throwing eldritch blasts around at creeping plants, anyway.

"Why are there so many holidays, here? Are the humans of Earth a particularly celebratory people?"

[spectre_alenko]

"Many different cultures," Kaidan explained, "and they all like to share their holidays. I suppose it makes sense. There's a lot of ugly in the world, taking a day or so a month to remind yourself there's some good.. probably not the worst thing that could happen."

[built_fjord_tough]

"Mm," Fjord mused, "I suppose it isn't, at that."

He fell quiet, taking another mouthful of coffee.

"I suppose it'll be interesting to see the local festivities. Even if I won't be in much of a position to understand what many of them are about."

[what_the_shock]

Miguel walked in for his coffee, gave Kaidan's a pained look, and made sure to get black coffee, in the next-to-a-bucket size.

"Like any coffee with your sugar?" he asked.

[spectre_alenko]

"There's coffee in there," Kaidan protested, "It's just buried under the sugar."

He slurped it to make a point. "How're you doing, Miguel?"

[what_the_shock]

Miguel shrugged. "Making man-eating plants in class today. Curious what the kids'll come up with. Ought to at least tell me how misanthropic they all are. You?"

[spectre_alenko]

"Scanning shipping manifests between two planets for the last decade trying to figure out why one of them is bugging me," Kaidan shrugged, "Haven't found the reason yet but that datapoint is pinging on my radar for something. I'll chase it down eventually. Letting the background processes run in my head, sucking down caffeine to stay awake. You know. The usual."

[what_the_shock]

"Yeah?" Miguel sipped his coffee and nodded his chin at Kaidan's work. "What are you looking at?"

[spectre_alenko]

"Transpo data," Kaidan answered, "Ship names, registry information, listed cargo, freight weights, dates, times, whether there was return cargo or if they made further stops, if there was import duty on the cargo."

He shrugged a shoulder, "In short: everything. So far nothing's abnormal, not even the one my brain won't let go of. The planet they're going to is a hub of commerce in my galaxy. None of this is strange. Except it is and I can't pinpoint why."

[what_the_shock]

"Too normal?" Miguel suggested. "Aggressively average?"

[spectre_alenko]

"I wish I could say yes," Kaidan sighed, "But no. It's getting to the point where I'd almost think I'm being paranoid, except there's really no such thing where the guy who's on my radar is concerned. I just don't know why that one shipment is bugging me. There's nothing at all odd about it except my brain won't let go of it."

[what_the_shock]

"What's it shipping?" Miguel asked.

[spectre_alenko]

"Asari honey marinade and," Kaidan made a face, "a drug called Red Sand. As much as I really hate that drug, it's legal on the planet it's coming from and it's legal with a license on the planet it went to - and the license checks out. There's nothing strange about either product and the weights aren't off according to the landing tallies."

[what_the_shock]

"Seems a weird combination," Miguel noted. "At least for my world."

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan shook his head, "I mean, it's no odder than some of the other cargos. These are both .. well, not luxury items, but they're not cheap, either. The licensing fee on the dust is up there."