The Perk, Tuesday Afternoon

[firstofitskind]

It was a testament to just how bad yesterday had been that Liam had actually slept in this morning. And even briefly considered actually ordering a coffee when he made his way into the Perk by the time afternoon rolled around. Briefly.

"Don't even," he warned the barista, who'd been eyeing the way Liam had been moving rather stiffly as he made his way to the front counter to place his order.

Collecting his tea and muffin, he went to find a seat in one of the armchairs, collapsing into it with an entirely dignified groan.

Comments

[bookbeltof_love]

A dignified groan, was it?

Nina swept into the shop in a flurry of blonde hair and energy an bounced up to the counter.

"Hi, Liam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she greeted cheerfully, not stopping her beeline for placing an order. She was hungry. Priorities!

[firstofitskind]

So very, very dignified.

"Nina," Liam mustered a- somewhat more subdued than usual- smile in greeting. "How's your day going?"

[bookbeltof_love]

She paid for her order and then, since it wasn't ready yet, wandered over to him.

"Goooooooooooooooooood," she said, eyeing him. "At least, like, better than yours is, I think?????????????????????????"

[firstofitskind]

"What do you mean?" Liam asked innocently. "Today is great. I've got tea, a muffin, good company..." A few bumps and bruises, sure, but today involved exactly zero werewolves so far, and was thus loads better than yesterday.

[bookbeltof_love]

"You didn't sound as happy," she accused. "All, like, blah????????????????"

[firstofitskind]

"It's less 'blah' and more 'bleh'," Liam told her, because there was totally a difference.

[bookbeltof_love]

"Yes, but----------"

Nina momentarily abandoned him to pick up her tea and her oatmeal, then brought it back to sit down across from him in another armchair.

"Why are you bleh???????????"

She figured if it was a thing he didn't want to say then he'd say that.

[firstofitskind]

"Werewolves," Liam said, grimacing. "Do they have those where you're from?" he checked. Not that they had them where he was from, either, but there were at least stories.

[bookbeltof_love]

"Well, yeah," she said, "like, they're a race of wolfmen that keep human form through the usage of runes????????????????????? They're, like, pretty rare though since their home was razed years ago though.................."

They were also not the kind of werewolves he was talking about!

But, sure, she knew werewolves!

[firstofitskind]

"Right, okay, they're a little different in Verity's world," Liam said. "I wish that was what werewolves were like there," he sighed. Nina's werewolves just sounded like regular therianthropes that preferred to look human most of the time.

[bookbeltof_love]

From their reputation, Nina also knew they were fearsome warriors but, yeah, that was... not sounding like...

"What are Miss Verity's werewolves like??????????????????"

[firstofitskind]

"Well, they're not an individual species, the way that the basilisks or the frickens or anything else we've talked about in class are," Liam explained. "Rather, werewolves are mammals that have been infected with a particular virus that causes them to shift between their regular form and a wolflike one. And it doesn't seem to matter how calm or gentle that person or creature is normally, when they're transformed they're just... violent."

[bookbeltof_love]

"That's terrible!!!!!!!!!!!! That's, like, taking a curse to a whole new level!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

She shivered.

"Like, just being forced to become something you're not??????????????? No!!!!!!!!!!"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia showed up a little later, with a random craving for a hot chocolate or something in that general vein of thing.

Of course, before she even made it to the counter to order, she spotted Liam.

"Oh, hey."

[ooc: If you think 'SP warning', YOU THINK RIGHT. But I gotta!]

[firstofitskind]

Funny how the sudden abundance of hot chocolate made those cravings happen more often! Though Liam had opted for tea today himself; something about the particular warmth of a hot cup of tea and sore muscles.

"Hey," he greeted back, expression maybe a little strained and yet no less genuinely pleased.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia took note of the strain, even though the pleased never really stopped lowkey amazing her.

"You okay?" she asked lightly. Hey, it made sense, just in general! It'd been a while since they'd talked.

[firstofitskind]

"Tired," Liam admitted, which probably said a lot given how little sleep he usually needed. Also moving a little stiffly. Yesterday had been rough.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's head tilted. "Wasn't sure you got tired."

Half joking, half not.

[firstofitskind]

"It happens," Liam acknowledged, a little dryly. "Especially when the day before involved significantly more werewolves than one should ever hope for."

Did Octavia know about werewolves? Liam had no idea.

[okteiviakom]

With her questionable TV viewing habits over the past couple of years? Come on.

The headtilt didn't exactly straighten itself, though. "What, actual werewolves?"

[firstofitskind]

“Actual werewolves,” Liam confirmed. “Verity got a call about some suspicious activity at a farm out on the mainland. Turns out the ‘suspicious activity’ was a bunch of infected sheep.”

Yes, sheep.

[okteiviakom]

"... This is really starting to sound like one of those movies that are on TV at like two in the morning."

And as a Fandom resident, that was saying something.

[firstofitskind]

“If you’re talking horror movie, sure,” Liam said with a shrug. “At least it was just a family farm and not one of those large-scale industrial operations.” Which was no comfort at all to the family that had been torn apart by their own flock of sheep, but.

[okteiviakom]

"I barely know what that means." Look, they didn't make movies or bad TV shows about industrial-scale farms. "You guys are both okay though, right?"

Tired and sore were not the same as 'not okay', in her book.

[firstofitskind]

"Means there were only dozens of presumably-infected sheep and not hundreds," Liam explained. "We're okay," though Liam's abrupt turn towards vegetarianism was continuing indefinitely thanks to this (and yes, he realized that was a privilege, having the choice to do that). "I maybe reminded her that as much as she likes taking care of stuff on her own, dealing with sheep-wolf-monsters was probably one of those times we should have waited for backup."