The Perk, Thursday (... Definitely Thursday) Morning

[doctorgingerspice]

Today - no, yesterday, by now, Will was absolutely sure there'd been a sunrise at some point between the FBI stuffing him in a car and dropping him off at O'Hare, and then picking him up at BWI and dropping him off at... a causeway? A causeway! - Yesterday should have been the best day of his life, finally married to the woman he loved and by all rights he should be on his honeymoon now and not-

Not in some coffee shop on some tiny little island off the coast of Baltimore, drinking some peppermint-and-caffeine-laden concoction in an effort to keep himself awake.

Yeah, he knew he ought to take the duffel bag he'd been allowed to pack and check in to the hotel room that had been arranged for him, but he knew as soon as he caught sight of anything bed-shaped he'd be tempted to sleep and just... no. Nope. Nope.

[ooc: ayyyy I have the day off entertain meeee.]

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[defenderofdesmoines]

There were Christmas drinks already, and Annie kind of was torn on which one to try. She'd spent the first half of the week in New York, shooting holiday station bumpers and sitting down with Good Morning America, but while she'd been there she'd popped into Jitter Bean to try their gingerbread-cookie-flavored-whipped-cream-sprinklefest.

So, like. This was for science, okay? Science.

But Annie wasn't so into her scientific drink that she didn't notice that there was a guy she didn't recognize with a duffel bag.

"New in town?" she asked, her tone sympathetic based on the guy's whole...vibe. "Or just passing through?"

(No one was ever just 'passing through' Fandom, but sometimes they thought they were.)

[doctorgingerspice]

"I-" Will took a deep breath, looking up from the table that he'd been studying very, very intently.

He wanted to say 'just passing through', because he wanted to believe that much was true, that this nightmare might be over within a couple of days and he'd be able to get back to Chicago, to Natalie, to his life. But if that were true, the FBI wouldn't have gone to the trouble of relocating him to an entirely different state.

"New in town," he settled on, trying to smile as he met Annie's eyes. It probably wasn't the most convincing of smiles.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Sure wasn't! But Annie was sensitive enough to just roll with it. "Well, welcome to Fandom, then," she said, injecting a little extra warmth into her smile and her voice as she shifted her coffee and offered out a hand to shake. "Annie January. It's good to meet you."

[stykera]

Stark didn't run into Annie often these days for some reason. But they were both in the same place at the moment so he raised his own sugary coffee in her direction with a cheerful "Good morning, Annie!"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Morning, Stark!" Annie replied with a wave. "Did you get Christmassy coffee too?"

[firehousehimbo]

Buck made a daily trip to the Perk because, well, he didn't own a coffee maker and there really wasn't much else to do. So here he was, and it was not at all sad that the barista started to make his drink without him asking.

"Hey, man," Buck said, giving a nod towards Will's bag. "Coming or going?"

[doctorgingerspice]

“Uh,” Will blinked, and took a long sip of his own drink. “Coming?”

“I mean, uh,” he shrugged. “This was kind of an impulse decision, you know?”

[firehousehimbo]

"Yeah, same here. Happens a lot, I think," Buck said. "I'm Buck, been here since September."

[sharp_man]

Hannibal had cooking to do, but for right now he was starting out with some espresso in a nice latte. With absolutely no pumpkin or fake peppermint flavor, thank you.

He paused at the new face and nodded politely. "Good morning."

[doctorgingerspice]

Oh, sure, go and have standards, Hannibal.

Will had no such qualms.

“Morning,” he returned the greeting.

[sharp_man]

Hannibal nodded to Will's bag. "A question you will likely get tired of hearing: are you new to the island?"

[stykera]

Stark had already had his first peppermint coffee of the season earlier this week and had decided he ought to try some of the others, so he was back for the sugar cookie one today. He had to try it to make sure it actually did taste like a cookie.

He was expecting coffee and maybe even a familiar face or two. He wasn't expecting an unfamiliar face, though there were still a few recent arrivals he hadn't actually met. This particular unfamiliar face looked very tired. And very new, judging by the bag.

"Are you alright?"

[doctorgingerspice]

Good question, Stark!

“I’m fine,” Will said, absolutely lying. “Just, ah. It was a long- trip.” Yeah, let’s go with that.

Thankfully, years of being a doctor and seeing some pretty weird shit meant while the mask got a momentary eyebrow-raise, there was no staring.

[stykera]

That wasn't terribly convincing, Will.

"Oh. Where from?" Around here sometimes long trip meant a few hours drive and sometimes it meant cross-country plane rides and sometimes it meant 'I don't even know what galaxy I'm in' and it was so hard to tell which one someone might mean.

"I'm Stark," he offered after a moment. The eyebrow raise didn't even register. But hey, there'd be ample opportunities to stare later if needed. It was a small island.

[thatwaslucky]

So as it turned out, the peppermint drink from earlier in the week had been really good.

And so Rey ended up noticing him as she waited for her drink, giving him a little wave hello.

[doctorgingerspice]

Were all people in small towns so friendly?

Will gave her a smile (again, of the kind that didn’t quite reach his eyes) and a salute of sorts with his coffee cup.

“Morning.”

[thatwaslucky]

This town was special.

"Morning," she said. "Are you new?"

Maybe not! Steph hadn't seemed to expect to be new and yet.

[sword_chocobro]

Well, it was Thursday, and even though Gladio had plans for later to give Prompto a little privacy for his little "cat playdate" later that evening, he'd definitely enjoyed his new habit of getting some reading done in the Perk, and, besides, there was only so much room in the kitchen for the snacks Ignis was working on, so he might as well give him the space and just come back when he could reap the benefits of just eating said snacks.

And while he was used to seeing a few people in there when he popped in, ready to double-fist whatever seasonal drinks were available and crack into a new book, today had him stopping for a moment at the door before making his way to the counter.

"Popular place today," he commented, to no one in particular or perhaps whoever wanted to comment back on it, especially as he noticed a few different faces than who he was expecting to see in here based on the last couple of times, but he looked impressed. There was a reason he came out here to the cafe rather than just lurking in his office, after all.

[doctorgingerspice]

“Yeah?” Will asked, giving the guy a wary look. And not just because Gladio looked like he could bench press Will himself. But also because he wasn’t sure if that comment was directed his way.

[sword_chocobro]

Well, it wasn't not directed his way, technically speaking, just meant to hang there in the ehter to see who might latch onto it, but he was glad at least someone did, and he met the question (and the wary look) with a faint grin.

"Must be the shift in the weather," said the guy wearing a tank top in November and seemed perfectly fine with it. Then he considered the bag (and the wary look a little further), tilted his head thoughtfully, and then lifted a finger as if making a realization. "I don't think we've met."

[notagoose]

Goose had been for a run and decided to stop by the Perk afterwards, he noticed that there was someone new … which honestly wasn’t that hard for someone to be new to Goose, “morning,” he said with a nod of greeting as he got his coffee.

[doctorgingerspice]

"Good morning," by now Will was almost expecting this; someone came in to the coffee shop, they said hi to him.

Small towns were weird.

[notagoose]

Goose tilted his head, “are you new to Fandom or have I just not been social enough?”

It honestly wouldn’t have surprised him if it was the latter.

[grenadesandohana]

Steve arrived 3 hours late with Starbucks needed a coffee badly. He nodded at the unfamiliar face as he went to get his black, uninteresting, coffee.

[doctorgingerspice]

The friendliness of people around here was still something of a novelty. And yes, a nod counted as friendly. Strangers in Chicago were much more prone to either ignoring you or swearing at you than giving you a nod in greeting.

"Morning," Will said, taking a sip of his much more interesting coffee.