fandomtownies | The Perk; Sunday Afternoon [01/30].

After the news Ignis had gotten through the pipeline about the Empire seemingly increasing some of their activity around the Disc of Cauthess, he and Gladio had basically turned their apartment into a research center, pouring over information they currently had about where the Nifs were currently set up and tracking any movement they knew about in the past few months to try and determine whether this was just Business as Usual or Something to be Worried About. Obviously, when they got back to Insomnia, they'd be in touch with the other Crownsguard who might be in on the news, and maybe even a few Hunters would could tell them more, and they might have just left early, but, Specs being Specs, he wanted to develop a few ideas before they really hit the ground running.

And Gladio?

Gladio just kind of needed a break. After a full day of strategizing and speculating, and knowing they'd have a busy week ahead of them, he needed to just get some space. While Ignis continued to just stare and frown at their make-shift map, Gladio excused himself for some fresh air and to go and get the kind of coffee drink that Ignis would give him a withering look over. Some kind of white chocolate raspberry thing they were promoting, and, with that in hand, he went to find a good table to just sit and relax at.

He'd brought a book with him, on the Cosmogony, specifically the Hexatheon, but his brain really was desperate for a break, so he was mostly just spending his time on his phone, idly running through a few mindless raids on King's Knight.

[[ this is me, hoping that if I post something, then clearly I can manifest a day slow enough at work that I can at least ping in a little, right? very much open for all your perkly needs, whether I am dragged into work hell or not ]]

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Billy didn't like the cold. But you know what he liked even less? Being bored and cooped up inside. So he had braved the chill to go get something nice and hot and caffeinated to drink. And to enjoy a change of scenery, at least until he could figure out something else to do maybe to distract him a little longer.

After getting his drink, with a nod of thanks to the barista, Billy headed for a nearby table. He caught sight of Gladio and paused for a moment as he passed by.

"Hey stranger, how's it been?"

The greeting made Gladio snort a little, almost automatically quirking up his chin in response, before giving a shrug of his shoulder and a grunt that seemed to suggest the answer was a bit TBD. "Could be worse," he said, and, gods, he really hoped it was not about to be worse. "How 'bout you? Keeping yourself warm?"

He honestly didn't see why everyone seemed to think it was even that cold out, really.

"As good as I can be with this kind of weather" Billy said with a slight scoff. Look, he might be a near clone of you Gladio, but he was not made for the cold. Mexico, the Bahamas, the Keys... that would be better than snow and ice.

"Admittedly been spending most of my time in the apartment..." Billy admitted. And yeah he had been spending a lot of time in that very very under furnished apartment. "But trying not to go and become a total hermit and all."

Lucis was a pretty warm region, too; Gladio was just insane.

He shook his head a little. "I couldn't," he said. "I start feeling like a caged animal in one place for too long."

Case in point: pretty much all of yesterday. But the man did literally dimension-hop between planets every week like it was all nothing these days, so he might have a wider scope on that sort of thing than most.

"I can understand that" Billy said. "If is was better weather and all, I'd be spending more time at the shop. But yeah... winter isn't exactly conducive to running a surf shop. Even one that has a HolloSuite in it." He gave a slight "but what can you do" shrug at that.

"You could just change the focus based on the seasons," Gladio pointed out with a grin. "Snowboarding's pretty much just surfing on snow, right?"

"True.." Billy said somewhat thoughtfully. "May have to see what I can figure out with that dang HolloSuite. Took me a week to figure out how to even get the thing booted up" he admitted somewhat sheepishly.

"HoloSuite?" asked Gladio, quirking an eyebrow curiously with a sip of his drink, and a moment's distraction from his phone to remind him he was still in middle of game. A few taps with his thumb took care of that for now, though.

"Yeah, some kind of virtual reality thing," Billy said with a shrug. "I'm still trying to figure out how to get it all to work. There was nothing like that back 20 years ago where I'm from so... bit of a learning curve. Work in progress I guess" he added with a slight chuckle.

"Virtual reality...like the Danger Shop virtual reality?" Gladio asked, then he snorted. "I'd tell you to maybe go talk to Prompto about that kind of thing, but then you'll probably just end up with a shop full of giant birds."

He was never letting Argentum live that one down.

"I've been messing around with it a bit" Billy said. "Maybe in the next week or so I will have it figure out enough to do something with it. Might be nice for some virtual getaway from the cold and all. I mean, if you can't make it to the tropics to get warm it's the next best thing right?"

And now Billy suddenly had some new inspiration to try and get that all set up even faster, if only for his own benefit dealing with the long winter that was likely ahead.

"Does sound pretty nice," Gladio agreed with a small laugh. "Nice enough to make me wonder what you're doing here instead of getting that going, really."

Perhaps she should stop by the shop later to make sure the plants had survived the interior snowstorm, but that sort of thing tended to sort itself out here, didn't it?

Regardless, Lucille needed a cup of tea, and especially a piece of apple pie to go with it. While waiting for her order she looked around to see who was there.

At least the snowstorm was isolated to just the shop and not the apartment above, or Gladio would have had a very different couple of days.

But he looked up from his phone when he noticed someone coming in, tilted his head a little curiously, and offered the requisite bro-lift of his chin in greeting if her eyes happened to pass his way.

Lucille smiled.

"You live above the flower shop, don't you?"

She didn't keep track on all the people who lived there though, so she could be mistaken.

To be fair, it did seem to be in constant fluctuation these days. Even the cat had moved out.

"Every once in a while," Gladio confirmed with a grin. "Is that why you look a little familiar? You work there?"

He must have spotted her in the window every once in a while in passing...

"I do," Lucille said. "I own the shop. The previous owner is a friend of my former roommate."

Friend was perhaps not the right word, but it would have to do.

Gladio squinted a little, his expression over-exaggeration of thought as he lifted a finger, danced it in the air as if keeping tabs, then nodded with another grin. "I think I got it," he said. "You mean Seivarden? Didn't she used to run that place, or am I remembering that wrong? Either way, hope we're not too obnoxious as neighbors."

They were honestly barely even there, especially during business hours. A glorified place to sleep and eat, really, more often than not.

"I hardly notice you," Lucille said truthfully. "Now that the cat has moved out."

Yes, she knew Issa was now staying with Summer.

"Perhaps the shop itself can be a worse neighbour. Yesterday there was a snow storm inside."

That was definitely enough to quirk Gladio's eyebrow, for sure. "Inside the store?"

He thought things felt maybe a bit drafty yesterday.

"I mean," he added, "I'm no horticulturist, but isn't that gonna be bad for the plants?"

"They have survived worse," Lucille said. "At least I think they have. I will be upset if it has ruined my record player though."

The Perk; Sunday Afternoon [01/30].

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