The Perk, Friday Afternoon (Saturday)

[weirderthanthou]

The staff of the Perk were used to shenanigans. Weird lights? New piece of island? Pfft. The only person who was even a little taken aback was the newbie, and they had already dealt with advent this year.

No, the baristas made their coffee, tables were cleaned, and the Perk's seats were free and cosy to anyone looking to read the paper just obviously enough to invite conversation. Come on, get it while it's hot!

[[ feel free to ping in and use this for all your perk needs. ]]

Comments

[hashtag_chocobro]

This was all...waaay too much for Prompto right now. After that bizarro world deja vu of a class, he realized that Ignis and Gladio were just going to keep repeating the exact same beats that they had yesterday, and even everything else around the island...even Issa!...was doing the same thing, and it was just...it was a lot, he felt like he was going crazy, and so he had to at least get away from them and the apartment for a little bit, which landed him at the Perk, buying a latte he was barely touching as he alternated between just sort of staring at the table in a overwhelmed dazed or, occasionally, just lifting his eyes toward the window to watch the marshmallow snow and try to think of what he could do to break out of this, because clearly, this was Fandom doing some kind of thing, but what kind of thing? He didn't know, and he felt like he was the only person who even knew there was a thing and if that was true, how the hell was he supposed to even know what to do about it?

Maybe, eventually, he might go seek out Liz, or Nina, or maybe even Liam or Summer to see if any of them had any idea what was going on, but, at the same time, if it turned out that they were 'normal' like Gladio and Ignis....then what was he going to do?

[defenderofdesmoines]

Okay, so Annie hadn't seen Prompto here yesterday! Maybe that was something? (Or maybe she'd been absorbed in her phone yesterday and had missed him, because how the hell was she supposed to know in advance that something weird might happen and she'd need to remember every incidental thing she'd done yesterday in case it happened again?)

Anyway. Maybe he'd noticed the weird...thing, too? Or if he hadn't, Annie could kind of file that away, too.

"Hey, Prompto," she ventured, offering out a hesitant little wave. "How's it going?"

Please say weird. Please say weird.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"A-Annie." Prompto blinked out of her reverie at her, frowning deeply for a moment to pull out of his thoughts long enough to process who was talking to him. "Uh, h-hey....I, uh...I'm...good? I'm good. I'm doing fine..."

Which wasn't true at all, and he knew he wasn't convincing anyone right now, so he just shook his head and looked at her apologetically.

"Actually, I..." He started, trying to figure out how to even explain, especially after trying and failing so much earlier with Ignis and Gladio, and he sighed.

"Actually," he tried again, finally getting a grip on it as he look at her planitively, so she knew he was serious, "can I....can I ask you maybe kind of a weird question?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

Oh, bless you and your adorable serious look, Prompto, because that was promising already.

"Is it what day of the week it is?" Annie asked, offering out a tiny, uncertain smile. "'Cause I was thinking of asking you if you knew, but I didn't want to freak you out."

Her phone said Friday, but yesterday had been Friday? Right? Unless she, personally, was losing her mind, but around here that usually wasn't actually the Occam's Razor solution.

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Ohmygod, Annie." The flood of relief washing over Prompto was palpable, his shoulders slumping forward as if he could suddenly breathe again. "Yes! That was it exactly! Because it's Saturday, right? Or, at least...it should be Saturday, but everyone and everything seems to think it's Friday again, and Gladio and Ignis are acting like...like...NPCs, or something, in a video game, and they don't believe me, and I thought I was going crazy....!"

He could go on, too, but he stopped himself, took another breath, and looked at her hopefully.

"You, too, huh?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Me too," Annie agreed, picking up her drink to move over to Prompto's table, don't mind her. That relief was palpable, and Annie's was probably showing all over her own face, too. "Diego threw up on my shoes exactly like he did yesterday -- Diego's a cat at the moment, should have led with that -- and like, it's Saturday, right? It's supposed to be! But I was here yesterday, and so were they."

She jerked her head over towards the staff, trying not to look totally suspicious. "But Gladio and Ignis are...like, stuck? That sucks, I'm so sorry."

Diego seemed to be stuck, too, if the cat puke was any indication -- but it was also like, hard to track the movements of a cat. Again, if she'd known, she would have taken more notes! Maybe pictures!

[myfifthrodeo]

"So, uh," Rosa said as she ordered her coffee. "Maybe this is just me, but I could have sworn there wasn't a weird research station looking thing sticking off the island, yesterday?"

The barista gave her a pitying look, and 10% off her order.

[defenderofdesmoines]

It had mostly been annoying that Annie had awoken to the sound of cat vomit for a second day in a row. It had been annoying to clean it off her boots again -- like, way to get the exact same spot as yesterday, Diego, fucking trajectory manipulation at work, there -- and it had been annoying to look out the window and realize that it had snowed again, but....

Yeah.

Annoying took a back seat as Annie realized she was looking over the exact same texts and emails as she had yesterday as she trudged through the -- yup, same as yesterday? -- marshmallow snow to the Perk.

...where, like, she didn't take a lot of notice of the people who worked here (sorry), but those were the same folks as yesterday, weren't they?

But just to be contrary, Annie ordered a different drink than she had yesterday, and no chocolate croissant this time. Just to prove -- maybe even just to herself -- that she could do that differently. It didn't help the creeping anxiety she felt as she shed her coat and took up a spot in the corner, though. Neither did the drink itself, even though chocolate almost always did.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon nodded to her as he picked up his tea. "Good afternoon, Annie."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Hey, Jon," Annie said, already eyeing him with a sort of scrutiny in spite of an effort to not look...you know, suspicious. "How's it going?"

She hadn't seen him here yesterday, so maybe he was one of the ones who was...awake, or whatever, like Prompto was? But also maybe Annie had just been answering an incredibly important email about eyeshadow when he'd been here and she'd just missed it! God, she'd just be kicking herself for however long this lasted.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Sticky," Jon answered ruefully. "I thought these things were only supposed to be one day; if it keeps going, I'll have to get more laundry machines in for everyone."

Yeah, he totally hadn't figured it out yet. He was a creature of Knowing, not Understanding.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"My coat hoses right off, at least," Annie shared, indicating her -- indeed, sticky -- coat and the boots Diego kept vomiting on. "Usually it's just a one-day thing. I think this might be a kind of...weird thing."

He clearly didn't know what was up, but hey, if he knew that this was the second day of marshmallow snow...like, that meant he wasn't stuck, right? Right?

Detective Annie, everyone!

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"There is definitely something going on," Jon said. "Eliot said it's Friday again, and my phone agrees, but I know it should be Saturday."

[notagoose]

Goose was not the most observant person ever but even he had picked up that something was wrong when his wrist communicator told him it was Friday and it was definitely supposed to be Saturday.

Then while on his normal run around the island he had ended up getting into a handwavy shootout at the abandoned warehouse district … which he wasn’t complaining about but knew that wasn’t normal so he was a bit confused when he eventually showed up at the Perk to get a coffee.

[existencemisspent]

"Hi," Eliot said. "I don't suppose you offer a 'deeply stupid timeloop' discount?"

He hadn't even died. What was the point of being in a timeloop if it wasn't undoing your untimely death?

[defenderofdesmoines]

You know, Annie had been planning to sort of subtly scope out people as they came in, try to see whether she remembered them from yesterday to narrow down the chances that they'd be aware, maybe gently approach folks about whether it was Friday or Saturday -- you know. Play the subtle game for once.

But then Eliot went and just said that, and subtlety went out the window, where it belonged.

"Hey, Eliot. Did you say 'time loop'?" Annie asked, perking up eagerly.

[existencemisspent]

"I did say 'time loop', yes," Eliot said, turning to her. "I have some experience with these things."

Not nearly as much as he was going to have, someday.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I don't," Annie replied easily, clearly seizing right upon Eliot and his knowledge of time loops as a beacon of hope. "You think that's what's happening right now? 'Cause my phone says it's Friday but it's definitely supposed to be Saturday, right?"

[existencemisspent]

"It is," Eliot said. "Hence the snow, and Margo wearing the same thing two days in a row, and. . . ."

He trailed off. That was actually about the sum total of his evidence. But to be fair, Margo had worn the same thing two days in a row.

". . . And well. You, now."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Honestly, given Annie's limited knowledge of Margo, that actually spoke volumes.

"It seems like a pretty mixed bag, as far as who...like, knows?" Annie offered carefully. "Diego's a cat right now, but he seems to be doing the same cat things as yesterday? I think, anyway. And Prompto told me his roommates are acting like video game NPCs."

This statement was accompanied by a look that suggested Annie did not really know what that term meant, but that she did understand that it was pretty serious based on how Prompto had said it, okay.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

After laundry and rounds, Jon decided to come in and get tea. Or maybe, given all the marshmallows, a hot chocolate? Jo seemed to enjoy them.

Well, the barista knew his order by now, so apparently it was tea.

[existencemisspent]

"Jon," Eliot greeted. "You tend to 'Know' things. What day is it?"

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Saturday," Jon answered. He frowned and started and discarded three different questions. "I assume there's a reason you're asking."

[existencemisspent]

"Because according to Margo and the internet," Eliot said, holding up his phone for Jon to see, "it's actually Friday. Again."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon frowned at Eliot's phone, then took his own out and flipped to the calendar, which he hadn't even noticed earlier. "Mine, too. I Knew that something was off, but not what. I wonder what could cause something like this."

Apparently any number of things, and the Eye was not being forthcoming.