The Perk, Friday Afternoon

[amitragic]

So yeah Ulysses was back in Fandom after like, what? Five, six years? And he had no fucking clue how he'd ended up here, and none of the increasingly frantic and yell-y texts he was trying to send to Los Angeles were delivering at all.

(Yes, the only reason he was even out of the apartment was because he'd been trying to chase a signal that never showed up.)

And now he was at the Perk, having a giant cup of coffee and something far too sugary - because caffeine and sugar were clearly what he needed on top of all that excessice vaping he'd been doing all morning - and drumming his fingers anxiously against the edge of the table while he scrolled through his phone.

Or tried to, anyway.

Because, you see, none of his feeds were updating at all. And somehow that felt liek the freakiest thing of all.

[ooc: So open!]

Comments

[existencemisspent]

Eliot was a man of many vices. Booze, drugs, sex, food, and right now? Beautiful caffeine.

“Well,” he said, upon spotting the beautiful man gracing the coffee shop with his presence today. “Hello.”

[amitragic]

Sorry, Ulysses was kind of preoccupied with his completely useless and pointless endeavors, so it took a moment before it even registered that someone had spoken to him.

He looked up, blinking owlishly.

"Uh," he said, eloquently. "Hiii...?"

(He'd beat himself up over this first impression once he could actually process how attractive this guy was.)

[existencemisspent]

Social awkwardness and signs of obsession. There were two of Eliot's boxes checked, on top of the general prettiness.

He was maybe doomed.

"I'm Eliot," he said, smirking down at the guy from all of his 6'3", standing in a near perfect balletic fifth position, hands clasped over his waistcoat. (He knew how to make an impression, okay?) "I'm new around here."

Did you want to show him around, beautiful man?

[amitragic]

Ulysses blinked some more up at him. (Way, way up. That was a lot of guy, right there.)

"Uh, well," he said, both of those words coming out kind of slow and hesitant. Maybe he shouldn't have had so much of just -- everything, since waking up. "So am I." A beat. "Kinda. I think?"

Another beat, and his head tilted, and his expression scrunched up in a quizzical way.

"Actually, this is gonna sound like a stupid question, but, what day is it?"

[existencemisspent]

Eliot's smirk turned into something more like a real smile.

"One of those nights, hmm? I know them well. It's Friday, dear. September 10th. Year of . . . some lord . . . 2021, in case you've been time traveling as well as indulging."

[amitragic]

"2021," Ulysses repeated, like he needed to hear it in his own voice to even believe it.

Then he sank back in his chair.

And rubbed both hands over his face. "Oh, Jesus."

[existencemisspent]

Eliot pulled out his flask and silently offered it to the guy as he gracefully took the seat across from him.

[amitragic]

It took Ulysses a second or two to realize he was being offered something. But once he had, he reached for thet flask pretty damn quick, yeah.

Took a swig, made a face, held it back out again.

"Thanks," he said, half on a cough.

[existencemisspent]

Oh no, even that face and cough were adorable.

"You're entirely welcome," Eliot said. "So . . . what's your name?"

Did no one on this island know how to introduce themselves properly?

[amitragic]

"Ulysses."

Who was going through kind of a lot right now, so that was his excuse.

He brushed some curls out of his face. They fell right back down. "Hi."

[existencemisspent]

Lucky for Ulysses, Eliot had a thing for hot messes.

(He hoped Quentin was doing okay. He should try to text him again soon.)

"Hi."

[amitragic]

Well, he was in for a treat then, because even on his better days (and this was definitely not one of those), Ulysses didn't make it very far above messdom.

"What's your --" he started, only to realize it was a dumb question. "Oh, right, you already... You said."

A beat.

"Eliot, right?"

[existencemisspent]

"Correct," Eliot said, with an amused smile. "So. Ulysses." He was clearly savoring that name, yes. "When were you hoping it was?"

[gospel_of_oblivion]

Ugh, Illyana had made the mistake during class of admitting that she had feelings about anything (gross), so she was here to wash that taste of shame out of her mouth with enough caffiene to power some awesome magic.

Maybe she'd try scrying on Uly again. She'd been trying regularly since she got back, but something was blocking her magical sight. It was weird, and she didn't like it.

Except she apparently didn't need to power her magic with the boost that was espresso because he was right there.

"WHAT THE FUCK, ULY. DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW TO ANSWER YOUR TEXTS?"

[amitragic]

Okay that was loud, and Ulysses startled in his nervous finger-tapping enough that he almost knocked over his giant coffee cup. "Jesus fucking --"

Wait, he knew that yelling.

He looked up.

"Illy?"

[gospel_of_oblivion]

"No, I'm Santa," she snapped, rolling her eyes as she strode over. "Clearly."

[amitragic]

"Oh thank fuck you're here," Ulysses said all in one rush, getting up from his seat, as if she didn't look like she was just about ready to punch him in the face. "... Wait, did you always look this young?"

Because, surprise! While Uly still largely looked like the same aggressively gaudy hipster he always had, his facial hair had finally filled in properly, while the rest of his face had lost some of its roundness, and --

Okay, he was still lean and kind of scrawny, but in a more toned, twenty-something kind of way.

[gospel_of_oblivion]

She gave him an utterly horrified WTF face, before giving him a once-over of her own.

"...oh my Dark Gods you're old." Illyana, no. Mean. "What is it about this island that all my people are old? Is this why I couldn't scry on you? Were you fucking around with the Fountain of Old People?"

[amitragic]

Ulysses definitely looked offended at that 'old' bit.

"I haven't been fucking ar-- I've been gone for like, six years." Age had not taken away any of his tendency to gesture with his hands a whole lot, nope.

[gospel_of_oblivion]

"I was gone for a few weeks because I got stuck between realities while teleporting, and when I found my way back, you were gone." That was not a sad pout. If you thought you saw a sad pout you were wrong. Illyana was totally still annoyed. "But it's still 2021, it totally hasn't been six years here. I am exactly the age I'm supposed to be."

"More or less." Since, well, her own timeline-hopping meant she was seventeen, not six.

[amitragic]

"I tried to text you for like, months." Possibly weeks, but that was a long time ago now. Point was, he'd tried. "But nothing looked like it was actually going through. I didn't do any of this on purpose."

He'd totally seen a sad pout.

[gospel_of_oblivion]

"I mean, same. The texts just kinda did that thing where the sending fails? So, um, I tried to use magic." To spy on you and make sure you hadn't done anything completely stupid, Uly. She wasn't gonna apologize for it. "But I couldn't see anything except static. An almost itchy static, if that makes any sense."

"Where have you been?"

[amitragic]

He'd done so many completely stupid things, Illyana.

"College." Yes, really. "And uh, Los Angeles, afterwards."

[gospel_of_oblivion]

Of course he had. He was her Uly to her Illy.

"College? You went and graduated from college already?" Oh look, that look of horror was back on her face. "Olllllllllllllllllllllllllld."

[amitragic]

Ulysses looked affronted and offended, immediately.

"It's not my fault!" he objected. Because clearly that was relevant here. "Shouldn't you at least, y'know, like congratulate me for graduating first or some shit like that?"