The Perk, Monday Afternoon

[stykera]

When Stark exited his apartment today there were a few somewhat worse for wear carnations outside the door along with a glittery pawprint. Were the raccoons getting bolder? Or just aware that leaving the flowers outside might have damaged them further? Stark was trying not to think too hard on it and was instead just going to head to the coffee shop.

Stark drank more tea than coffee so his apartment was well-stocked with teas (not all ones that would live up to the standards of someone like Seivarden, but still plenty of teas). He preferred getting coffee from the shop.

Today there was a pistachio latte on the specials board so he had ordered one of those and found himself an empty table. He had pulled a small pad of paper and a pen out of a pocket, though the paper remained blank.

[Open coffee shop is super open. I've got the day off.]

Comments

[firstofitskind]

Liam was a tea drinker regardless, but sometimes getting it from the shop was just better, somehow.

Chai latte and danish in hand, he wandered over to where Stark was sitting. His gaze flicked to that empty pad of paper, but all he said was. "Good afternoon."

[stykera]

Having someone else make the drink just made it taste better. And they had so many more flavors!

Stark looked up and offered a small smile. "Hello, Liam. Would you like to sit?"

[firstofitskind]

"Sure," Liam replied, taking the offered seat. "How's your afternoon going?"

[stykera]

"Fine. So far." You never knew when that qualifier might be needed, especially around here. "Quiet and the coffee's good so it's fine. And yours?"

[firstofitskind]

"Well," Liam said, taking a long sip of his tea. Mondays were typically the day he headed off to the mainland to talk to a therapist in the mornings, so afternoons were-

Sometimes fraught. Sometimes they involved going to the gym to hit things. Sometimes they involved hiding in his apartment. And sometimes? Sometimes a good way to spend a Monday afternoon was in the company of a friend.

"Not bad," he settled on. "Just killing time until Nina's class this evening."

[stykera]

Talking to someone instead of bottling things up inside? What an odd concept.

The pause earned Liam a curious look but Stark certainly wasn't going to pry.

"How is the class going? I'm just...thinking. Or not. Thinking about thinking, maybe."

[firstofitskind]

"It's really starting to take shape," Liam said. "We're still working on the outer walls, of course, but it's getting there. Maybe you should stop by and check it out sometime."

"Thinking about thinking, huh? Anything I can help with?"

[stykera]

"Maybe I should," Stark said agreeably.

He paused then, looking at the blank paper and then back at Liam. "The bags," he said. No need for elaboration there. "Made me think..." Too much about too many things. "Made me think I ought to contact the ship, my shipmates. Friends." That was the easiest thing to deal with that those bags had brought to the surface, anyway. "I'm not sure I can." And he didn't want to try and fail.

"And perhaps I need ideas for class, as well." Not his best effort at misdirection, really.

[firstofitskind]

Liam's soft snort of amusement at that addition probably made it clear just how much he believed that misdirection attempt, yes.

"Keeping in touch with people is important," Liam agreed. "I don't think I'll ever go back to where I'm from- not to stay, anyway- but I call them pretty regularly."

"When you say not sure you can- do you mean 'not sure' as in whether Fandom will let you, or 'not sure' as in finding the resolve to do it?"

[stykera]

"I haven't been back, to the ship since..." Since he'd watched his friend almost destroy the universe to stop an unwinnable war. "It's been a long time. Cycles. Years. Here at least. Not sure how long."

That was not an answer to the question, Stark.

"Yes? Both. I don't know. I don't know if the comms still work." That was more of an answer, at least.

[firstofitskind]

"Sometimes time works differently between here and other places," Liam pointed out. "I can't speak for you, of course, but trying- in your shoes, I'd want to try. You might end up with more questions, but at least you'd have the answer to whether or not you can."

[stykera]

The last time Stark called Moya there had been The Nothing rampaging through the multiverse and the call hadn't ended well. It had really been that long, in Fandom time. He never called, he never wrote, he disappeared for years on end...

"I don't want it not to work," he said in a small voice. "Or for something to have happened. Again."

[firstofitskind]

"I know," Liam said, voice full of sympathy. "But they've probably missed you, just as you've missed them. Don't you think that's worth taking the chance, if you can let them know you're okay, that you're doing well?"

[stykera]

Stark made a noncommittal noise in response then sighed, more at himself than at Liam.

"They might have missed me," he allowed. He wasn't convinced but if he found himself even missing Rygel at times it was certainly possible the others missed him as well. "Though I left more than once before. The last time to come here and then. Oh. Oh...I should call." Had the idea just occurred to him that someone might be worried he'd ended up imprisoned again? Yes. Yes it had.

[firstofitskind]

“Yes. You should call,” Liam echoed, firmly but also gently.

[stykera]

"Yes. If the comms work. If they don't work...someone here might be able to do something. I might be able to do something. I...But they might work."

Stark was definitely trying to psych himself up here.

[firstofitskind]

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Liam asked. "I'm pretty good with tech, myself." He was no Tony Stark, but he got by.

[stykera]

"I don't know. There's not much to them...might have been away from Moya too long. Leviathan tech won't always work then. If it's too far or too long. I can fix things sometimes," Stark said vaguely. Sometimes, if he was in a good headspace or if it was necessary. "Not lately. I haven't tried anything lately. But you could look if you like."


[oy, Dreamwidth, send notifs]