The Perk, Wednesday Late Morning

[bookbeltof_love]

After class, Nina had done some work in her room before deciding that the bulk of her work, now, was reading and reading she could do anywhere and, like, since class had all been about complaining about things and she'd gotten to whine about not having been around to go on vacation—despite signing up for it—and that had just made her decide that, you know what, she was going to go treat herself at the Perk with a hot apple cider that was positively drenched in whipped cream and caramel and a blueberry muffin.

It was tasty—and she took a picture of her drink and muffin to post to her Insta—but, like, it didn't really make her feel better.

"You're not doing your job properly," she said sulkily, to her treats, as she curled up in a chair by the window and settled in to get some quality reading done.

[Open!

EDIT: That Nina is in a bad mood about missing vacation while talking to Liam is FB, everything else in that thread is NFB, please!]

Comments

[firstofitskind]

Liam had just collected his own drink (a hot chocolate, if anyone was wondering) and was heading for a seat when he overheard Nina’s sulky declaration to her treats.

“Uh oh,” he intoned solemnly. “That doesn’t sound good.”

[SP because work, but I couldn’t help it.]

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina immediately fixed him with her most plaintive, pathetic look.

"They should be," she said, "but they're not and it's tragic……………"

[<3 <3 <3 <3!]

[firstofitskind]

“I’d offer to have a stern talk with someone, but my authority over baked goods and sugary drinks is minimal,” he said apologetically.

[bookbeltof_love]

She sighed.

“I appreciate the thought, nonetheless,” she allowed. “And, like, I’m not sure I’d want to eat sugary snacks if they talked back to anyone......................”

[firstofitskind]

“That would be weird,” Liam agreed. “I am actually a good listener, though, for what it’s worth,” he offered.

[bookbeltof_love]

She eyed him speculatively.

He wasn't Bus Dean, but he was her second favourite teacher.

"Ostensibly," she began, "I'm upset about having missing vacation because I had to work.........."

She was a little miffed about that but, no, that was not what she'd been in a Mood about all week.

[firstofitskind]

“Ostensibly,” Liam repeated. “So is the real issue something else entirely, or are they connected?”

[bookbeltof_love]

"I don't care much about missing vacation," she admitted, after a moment. "Like, it would have been fun but I'm only a sophomore, so there's going to be other vacations……….."

Though this had been the last one she could've gone on with her brother, but that was something to brood about for a different day.

"But, like, I was back home for work," Nina said, "and…………… and everything was normal?????????????? Like, they treated me the way they always do……… and now I'm upset about it?????????????"

And she didn't know what to make about it.

[firstofitskind]

And see, some people might think ‘being treated normally’ was an odd thing to be upset about, but Liam had a couple theories, more or less based on some of his own experiences.

“Because you’ve changed and they didn’t seem to notice or care, or because the way people treat you here isn’t what you’re treated like ‘normally’ back home?” he guessed. Or possibly some combination of both.

[bookbeltof_love]

She squirmed a little.

"People here do treat me differently," she admitted, picking at her muffin. "But, like, it's not like they treat me bad back home..........."

[firstofitskind]

“No,” Liam said, not unkindly, “but I’m guessing they maybe pay more attention to what you can do for them rather than you yourself.”

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina was too good at lying to freeze up at those words, but she wanted to.

A lot.

"It's not their fault," she said defensively. "Like, they never asked to deal with a kid dumped on their doorstep.................."

[firstofitskind]

“Neither did the people who raised me,” Liam admitted, though there was a brief twitch in his expression at ‘raised’, as it would never be the right word. “But that doesn’t excuse anything, not really. You know that.”

Or she wouldn’t be upset by it.

[seriesofbaddecisions]

Sabine was skipping the coffee today but a croissant was absolutely necessary, so she greeted her with a "Hey, Nina," after picking it up. "What're you reading?"

[bookbeltof_love]

"Saaaaaaaaaaaaaabiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiineeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Which was very, very slightly not quite as cheerful as it could've been, since it was missing the usual italics.

"No drink???????????????" she asked. "And, like, I'm catching up on reports and stuff from home????????????????"

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"I think I probably got my week's allotment of caffeine on Monday," Sabine admitted. "Anything interesting going on?"

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina perked up a little because, like, even if her feelings were decidedly mixed on a bunch of things, there was exciting news from home.

"Peace talks are on-going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she enthused. "And, like, it looks like it might actually stick this time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! King Agares of Highland is making concessions that he didn't before, but from what we can tell it's in good faith!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Okay, that's definitely good," Sabine smiled. "Any idea how long it might take for things to shake out?"

[bookbeltof_love]

“Months, probably,” Nina admitted. “Like, teeeeeechnically we’ve been at peace for my whole life but it’s that not really peace state, you know???????????????”

She toyed with her coffee sleeve.

“Like, where most overt attacks didn’t happen but that just meant people fought and died without uniforms on rather than actual peace........ but this is sounding like it might be real!!!!!!!!!!”

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"I'm going to be really hopeful for you guys," Sabine promised.

Not too hopeful. Because was only working through being jaded on stuff like that.

[bookbeltof_love]

"Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She clapped her hands together in sheer delight. "I mean, like, part of me can't even imagine it, but on the other hand it could be amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Nina shrugged a little.

"Though, like, it does mean I'll be busy for a while," she admitted.

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"How busy?" Sabine wondered.

[bookbeltof_love]

"I mean, my world doesn't have the tech to do anything observing remotely," Nina explained. "So, in order to get information you have to be there or able to intercept other people who were there......... so, I'll probably be off island a lot around my things here.............."

She looked pensive.

"I probably won't be able to teach in the summer," she said regretfully.

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Are you okay with that?" Sabine asked slowly, because that was kind of the most important thing.

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina blinked.

"I mean, like, it doesn't really matter???????????????????"