The Perk | Sunday Morning

[defenderofdesmoines]

Given that Annie was giving all things Hargreeves a fairly wide berth at the moment for the sake of, you know, their patriarch staying unsinged/her own person staying un-teleported, she figured she could throw her efforts into entertaining Ms. Stillwell for the remainder of her visit.

Which, again, was so weird, because they'd only ever had a handful of half-hour meetings when Madelyn had been alive, but whatever. Annie actually kind of liked her this way. It seemed like since she'd died, she found she had nothing to really lose, and it gave her a frankness that was kind of refreshing.

And that was why Annie had had the brilliant idea to pull out her copy of her new contract from its drawer in her filing cabinet, and brought it out for Madelyn to read over coffee at the Perk this morning.

(Was this maybe to just afford Annie some peace and quiet with her own coffee and her phone while Madelyn read through a fifty-odd-page document and offered the occasional comment about how good a lawyer she'd hired? Yes. Yes, it absolutely was.)

[open!]

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[flora_evolved]

They could have stayed in Stark's apartment all day but Zhaan had meant it when she said she wanted to see the more of this island and perhaps meet more of his friends. Beverages seemed a reasonable first stop. Yes, they'd stopped in here yesterday but she'd only been able to try their two drinks and it seemed a shame to leave everything else untasted.

"Would you like to sit," she asked him as they walked in, hand in hand. "Or continue walking?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

Well, that got Annie's attention. For one thing, Zhaan herself was just rather eye-catching, if nothing else.

She glanced over at where Ms. Stillwell was still peering through her glasses at the fine print and tracing lines with a pen before waving over at Stark and Zhaan. "Morning!"

She kind of had an idea of who this eye-catching lady might be. At least, in the abstract.

[stykera]

Zhaan was quite striking. Stark would definitely agree, though he was perhaps a bit biased when it came to her.

The greeting got a smile in response from Stark, who honestly hadn't looked around enough to recognize anyone before she spoke. "Hello, Annie."

To Zhaan he added a quiet "we could stay here, for a bit." Because there was a friend here. And one who knew a little about her.

[iwrotethemyth]

"Holy shit, she's blue," Madelyn noted in mild surprise as she looked up from Starlight's (remarkably airtight, good job) contract.

"Yeah," Annie agreed, reaching over and patting the table reassuringly. "And they aren't Supes. Don't even ask."

"Mmm," Madelyn contributed noncommittally, still staring in obvious fascination at the pair.

"Ms. Stillwell, don't be rude," Annie added, slipping a little lower in her chair with a sigh. "Stark, this is my...late boss, Madelyn Stillwell. She's -- visiting for the weekend."

The way that pretty, fascinating blue lady was, probably.

[flora_evolved]

"I am blue," Zhaan said, more amused by the reaction than anything else. It was hardly the first time someone had been startled by her coloring. It wasn't even the first time a human had been.

Stark was eyeing Madelyn a little warily. "Not Supes," he confirmed. What he knew about Annie's job was enough to to make him hesitate even without the staring.

"Zhaan is...visiting as well."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm glad to meet you, Zhaan," Annie told her sincerely, smiling and shifting so she could offer out her hand to shake. (Old, polite habits died hard, even when she knew perfectly well that there was a good chance that aliens did not shake hands.) "Stark's told me a lot about you."

She darted a glance over at Stark, adding, "Right?"

Because come on. This had to be the person he'd talked about on the day with the luggage.

[flora_evolved]

"I did," Stark confirmed. "I have. I...didn't think you'd be able to meet."

Zhaan reached out and clasped Annie's hand in both of her own. Handshakes were familiar enough, after all that time with Crichton.

"I am always pleased to meet a friend of Stark's." And always a little relieved that he had them. She worried for him but he did seem much better this visit than the first one.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"It's a special circumstance," Annie told Zhaan warmly, smiling up at her. "Nice of the island to let us meet."

"So what do you two do?" Madelyn asked, leaning her chin in her hand in obvious, unchanged interest.

Clearly they weren't the local superheroes of Pittsburgh or anything -- if nothing else, Tall Drink of Blue Kool-Aid here was egregiously wasting all kinds of opportunities by not dressing in skin-tight spandex -- but they were still very interesting.

[stykera]

"Zhaan is. Was? Zhaan...is a priest," Stark said warily. That look was too reminiscent of ones right before someone called him valuable. "I live here. I work at the school, sometimes. Or the clinic. Sometimes."

Zhaan was unconcerned and beamed at Annie. "We were given a gift of a little time."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Stark and I are glowing buddies," Annie added to Madelyn and Zhaan both, and she was just going to leave it up to him whether he wanted to elaborate on what that meant. Even if she was dead and harmless, Madelyn Stillwell was still going to have, you know, a whole reaction to that. "No one's ever told me about this weekend, when they've warned me about the island before. It's been kind of a surprise."

Mostly a nice one! Like, Reginald's visit wasn't her favorite thing, but that seemed to be an unrelated, unfortunate coincidence.

[flora_evolved]

"'Glowing buddies'?" Zhaan echoed, interested. Look, she's a plant. She'd find Annie's ability very intriguing.

"We do both glow," Stark said, hand on his mask briefly. "And...I didn't know this had happened more than once. It was a long time ago. I wasn't living here, I just came back for a visit and then...and I wasn't sure what was happening until Friday night. I was...surprised."

"He fell off his barstool," Zhaan said fondly.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh, that's adorable. I can imagine that would be a little surprising," Annie decided, not even hiding her smile. "And yeah, I glow too. I'm a little different. I convert electricity to ultra-violet light and can shoot it out of my palms."

You know, like you do.

"It's both blinding and deadly," Madelyn added with a bright, cheerful smile. "You wouldn't see it coming, right? So much power in such a pretty package."

Look at her wink at you now, Annie. She could market you from beyond the grave.

[stykera]

"It was very surprising," Stark agreed. "But...a very good surprise." Aside from how he knew there was a time limit and he was absolutely certain there would be fallout later.

"I have never heard of such an ability," Zhaan said to Annie. She was, in fact, quite intrigued. "The universe is vast and full of surprises, even now."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm pretty unique back home, too. But it helps that this is, like, a multidimensional nexus or whatever," Annie said cheerfully. "We don't have aliens or living spaceships or anything where I'm from. Just superheroes."

"Of course they're aliens," she added to a fairly surprised-looking Madelyn. Like, duh.

[flora_evolved]

Obviously aliens. Humanity could not achieve the blue perfection that was Zhaan.

"You've heard about Moya, then?" Zhaan said, smiling at the mention of living ships. "The first human I ever met was quite startled to learn how many lifeforms the universe held. And how varied we all are. He acclimated, though it took time."

"I'm a Delvian," she added after a moment, though that would likely not mean anything to either of them.

[hatesparadise]

Did Danny need to swing by the Perk? No. But he was pretending to get supplies for pancakes and using that time to avoid yelling at Steve's dad. "Annie," he said, frowning in confusion at Annie's guest for a moment.

[defenderofdesmoines]

It sure didn't! But Annie looked interested all the same, while Madelyn merely looked politely confused.

"Oh, yeah, Moya's the coolest thing Stark's told me about," Annie said, totally honestly. "I've never heard of anywhere else in the whole universe where people live on living ships. Or, like, those ships having baby ships."

She did, however, know that one of her best friends had once dated a spaceship, so there was that.

She also was picturing Moya as essentially a whale. A whale that could fly through space. That housed people. Aliens. Whatever.

[iwrotethemyth]

And before Annie could even answer in greeting, Madelyn had looked up from the contract, pen poised over the paper, and was eyeing this newcomer with near-predatory interest.

"Danny," Annie returned, half-sighing. "This is my, um, late boss. Madelyn Stillwell, Danny Williams."

"Pleasure," Madelyn replied, her smile widening a fraction.

[flora_evolved]

"Moya is magnificent," Zhaan said. "She is missed by both of us, I think."

Stark nodded. "She was home."

That 'was' was telling and Zhaan smiled softly. "What else have you heard? Did he speak of the rest of his shipmates?" And should she tell Annie she was a plant person? She remembered Crichton's reaction. It had been a long time since she'd been able to startle someone so.

[hatesparadise]

"Ah," Danny said, expression turning more wry than polite as he offered a hand to shake. "Nice to meet you?"

He side eyed Annie for confirmation on that one.

[iwrotethemyth]

"I know your Pilot is, like, part of Moya or psychic with her or something," Annie remembered thoughtfully, while Madelyn was just looking back and forth between the three.

And honestly, if Annie found out she was a plant person, she'd be delighted. She, herself, was what she would describe as a 'plant person,' though she'd probably change that description after meeting Zhaan.

"Okay so like, what do you do?" Madelyn had to ask, and this time she swirled her hand out in front of herself a little. "Or is this just a, 'look, I'm an alien, look, I'm blue, we come in peace' thing?"

Madelyn had seen a lot of superpowers in her day. She wanted to know what made you two special, please.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Eh," Annie replied, totally honestly.

"Thanks," Madelyn said, rolling her eyes at Annie as she shook Danny's offered hand. "I mean, she's not wrong, I wasn't especially nice to her."

"But things are a little better now," Annie added, graciously.

"You know, it's a lot less stressful being dead," Madelyn noted with a nod. That was probably why she was a little less...intense than she had been in life.

[hatesparadise]

"You haven't tried or threatened to kill me, so it's a step up from other coworkers of hers," Danny had to admit dryly.

[flora_evolved]

"I'm a priest," Zhaan said, eyeing Madelyn thoughtfully. This might be an opportunity for just a tiny bit of mischief. Surely she was allowed a little, as a treat. "A Pa'u of the tenth level. Stark is a Stykera, attuned to the dying."

It was an extra weird weekend around here if you were Stark, but at least the visitors were all alive and not ghosts wandering about. That would have been much, much worse.

"And Delvians are, of course, flora-evolved." Was that special enough?

[defenderofdesmoines]

Madelyn did not seem to find any of this interesting, because Madelyn was used to things like, 'I can stop a school bus with one arm,' and 'I can run fast enough to turn a human woman into mush.'

But Annie, who was juuuuust quick enough to kind of piece together what she thought Zhaan was saying there, asked, "Wait, are you a plant?"

Oh, shit, that came out less politely than she'd meant it to. But to be fair, she'd never asked someone if they were a plant before.