The Perk | Tuesday Afternoon

[begmetwice]

Despite what it might seem like, Irene was not really one to make much of a fuss over herself these days. She was fabulous and amazing and deserved parades daily, if you asked her, but that was mostly a cover. (A disguise, you know, is always a bit of a self portrait.)

In any case: Irene was thirty-three years old today, if you followed the calendar to the loosest degree and ignored things like time jumps (since, horrifyingly, if time had proceeded in the linear fashion she was used to, she would actually be forty today.) And while she was doing her best to ignore the day, an impulse of whimsy seized her when she was picking out her coffee this morning and studying the pastry case.

"Which one of these," she asked the barista, a little hesitant, "is the very best cupcake? I don't really do cupcakes, much."

And that was how she found herself seated at a table in the corner with a latte and something called a bumpy cake, which was incredibly indelicate to eat but utterly delicious.

Fine way to ring in one's Jesus birthday, she thought. (And there was something there about how she, herself, had been 'resurrected' twice, too.)

[open!]

Comments

[mother_love]

Billy was doing his best to just roll with the nightmares and late nights and less-than-stellar sleep schedule he was finding himself in. But that didn't mean that he was going to give up his coffee entirely either.

"No... no, I am not slipping back into the coffee addiction again" he assured the barista with a slight, appreciative grin. "Appreciate the concern" he added as he took his extra-large mocha cappuccino, adding a nice tip to the jar.

Making his way to one of the tables nearby he gave Irene a nod and a smile. "Morning," he said, remember to be polite and sociable.

[begmetwice]

"Afternoon," Irene corrected good-naturedly with a little glance at her watch, offering over a little wave at the gentleman she vaguely recognized. (At first she thought he was Gladio, which -- unbeknownst to Irene -- was a common enough assumption.) "That's quite the bucket."

Either he loved his caffeine, or he needed to stay awake. Perhaps both!

[mother_love]

Yes yes... very common assumption indeed. Seemed to be somewhat of a running joke the island was delighted to play with them both. Much to Billy's secret amusement honestly.

"Ah yeah. Good afternoon" Billy said correcting himself with a grin. "Sleep schedule is a bit of a mess, so it's a little hard to keep track at times" he admitted as he held up the "bucket" with a chuckle. "Thank the gods the coffee is back to normal at least."

[begmetwice]

"One of the crueler tricks I've seen this island pull," Irene agreed, holding up her own much more moderately-sized cup in a little salute. "Coffee and all the hard stuff? I ended up taking myself to the coast for the week, once it all really started setting in."

It wasn't even that Irene herself had especially strong addictions, though she'd gotten a caffeine headache along with everyone else. It was more being on an island with an entirely cranky population.

[mother_love]

"I've not been here too long myself but if that was one of the cruelest, I think I just might survive... even if I do seem to be a bit stuck here as it were." He took a drink from the oversized cup with a somewhat satisfied grin. "As long as the caffeine doesn't disappear totally, I will be fine... hopefully. Though it's good those who could were able to get off the island and get their vices taken care of."

[begmetwice]

"I mostly just didn't want to listen to you lot complain about it," Irene admitted with an easy smile and a shrug. "And I've been here a bit, off and on -- there's plenty of strange things the island will throw at us that aren't my favorite, but alternate universe children are a different breed of strangeness than just removing people's addictions. Really might have hurt someone, that."

Honestly, she ought to check in on Margo. Make sure Eliot had made it through.

[mother_love]

OK that was gonna earn you a bit of an eyebrow raise there Irene.

"Alternate... reality... children?" he asked again, making sure he had heard that right. "Like what, the island randomly starts giving people children to take care of? And here I thought being handed a shop to manage was bad enough!"

[begmetwice]

"In my case," Irene shared, nodding along with his incredulity, "it wasn't just a random child -- it was a little boy some version of me had had with someone I know from home."

And just in case Billy was unclear on how very alternate that reality was, Irene accompanied that comment with a derisive scoff and a roll of her eyes. "Someone with whom that would never, ever happen."

[mother_love]

"Riiiight. So, I am taking it the kid was temporary?" Billy asked, noting no little hellion running around anywhere in the area. "I guess that is a good thing at least. I can hardly keep myself together. Pretty sure I would fail utterly at the whole parenting thing."

[begmetwice]

"Oh, I mostly let little Hamish mind himself," Irene admitted airily, waving a hand. "It was just a weekend thing, anyway. They can't get into too much trouble, nor do I think any parenting would exactly take in such a short window."

[mother_love]

"That's good to know... I'm pretty sure any poor kid that sent to me, even for the weekend, would be terribly bored."

He didn't even have a TV let alone any video games or a even a computer to keep a kid occupied with.

"This island sure seems to get up to some mischief....." he said shaking his head slightly. "And I thought I was going to get a break from the madness getting stranded on such a small island."

[begmetwice]

"Oh, poor you," Irene said, not especially seeming sincere about the sentiment. "You've found yourself the strangest place in several universes to be stranded, I think."

She paused to sip her coffee, then seemed to remember her manners. "Irene, by the by."

[mother_love]

"Won't be the first time I've had the rug pulled out from under me" Billy said with a shrug. "I've survived military conspiracies, zombies, and apparent fear entities among other things. I am sure I will survive."

He gave her a slight nod. "Billy" he said in return. "Nice to meet you, Irene."

[begmetwice]

"Quite the pedigree," Irene commented lightly, lifting a brow before examining one fingernail critically. "And an open book about it. I like it."

[died8yearsago]

If Rosa was on this side of the island on a Tuesday, it was usually much later and not at the Perk, but she was heading to Turtle & Canary to harass harass a guy about some spider propaganda, and figured some extra caffeine to support the endeavor wouldn't hurt.

And while she was there, she might as well pass over an arch look toward the patron already there. Might as well make it a trend.

[begmetwice]

"Hello, holiday roomie," Irene called, flickering a little wave at Rosa with a slight smile. "Holiday-roomie-slash-advice-angel, really. Though I think it was actually Rosa, right?"

Call her foolish, but this woman did not seem like the sort who'd especially enjoy being called either Holiday Roomie or Advice Angel on the regular, so getting her name right seemed important.

[died8yearsago]

Anyone referring to Rosa as an angel should probably have their head examined, if you asked her, which was why she almost considered the whole 'no, actually, Rosa is my sister bit' for a hot second.

But so help her if the context for this particular situation didn't win out just that little bit more.

"Yeah," she said, grabbing her coffee (large, black, not a complicated order) and dropping her tip. "Rosa." She took a sip. "Don't think I remember yours."

Not an act! She just sometimes forgot things, like a cool person.

[begmetwice]

"Irene," she supplied, her smile widening slightly. "Irene Adler. Pleasure to make your acquaintance formally."

She picked up her own cup, raising it in a salute. "I believe I owe you one, actually, as it happens."

Meat on sticks had not exactly been the magic bullet (or Cupid's arrow) she'd needed to land Amaya and her objections in bed with her without protests and stubbornness (and snoring), but Irene really hadn't gotten her hopes up that high. But getting her to relax some and actually getting to know the object of her pursuit without quite so many walls up had almost been better, really.

[died8yearsago]

"I don't know if I'd go that far," said Rosa, who definitely felt her advice had sort of been the equivalent of informing Irene that water was wet, but, well, if she was offering.... "but I wouldn't say no to a beer if the occasion popped up."

Her head tilted. Marginally.

"So it worked out for you, huh?"

Of course it did. They were meats-on-sticks.

[begmetwice]

"It worked," Irene told her, smile broadening. "And I certainly never would have thought of it myself. Believe it or not, this is the first time I've attempted to get to know a woman via the power of...food on sticks."

So strange, that.

[died8yearsago]

"Yeah, well," Rosa almost snorted, "Blackstone's definitely a different breed."

And not the kind she'd have figured would be even close to Irene's type, but....people were full of surprises.

Or they were crazy or just gluttons for punishment. Those felt like possible options, too.

[begmetwice]

Quite honestly, the more time she spent around Amaya, the more she was learning that she was alarmingly Irene's type -- and not just in the 'female, brunette, competent' way that half the island (Rosa herself included, hello there) was Irene's type.

"She is at that," Irene agreed, her expression turning a bit more fond in spite of herself. "Here I am, trying the apparently ridiculous route of flowers...."

[died8yearsago]

Ugh. Way to ruin all that potential, Tightpants. Whose bright idea was this whole monogamy thing, anyway?

Oh. Right. Hers.

Blech.

Rosa's eyebrows lifted at this news, though.

"Wooooow," she said, sounding like she felt she was almost impressed by a shot that far off. "Have you even met Amaya?"

To both of their credits, though, Rosa would completely have approved of sending flowers based on that rack alone.

[begmetwice]

Even if she hadn't become all fixated on the challenge Amaya presented, and even if she hadn't found her mannerisms and brain both adorable and attractive -- yeah, that rack would still absolutely a factor.

"Who doesn't like receiving flowers? The attention alone usually goes over so well," Irene replied, exasperated. "It wasn't that bad a guess!"

Except it had been, and she was learning. But fortunately for everyone, Irene really liked learning new things.

Even about messy, kind of greasy things on sticks.

"But meat on sticks?" she added, eyebrows arching up. "Like a charm. Better than I could have hoped."

[died8yearsago]

When Irene asked who didn't like receiving flowers, Rosa immediately, pointedly, lifted her hand, but that wasn't the point. Holding back a smirk, she eyed Irene a bit more curiously now.

"Told you they would."

See? Everyone should listen to Rosa all the time about everything.

[begmetwice]

Irene narrowed her eyes slightly at that lifted hand -- unsurprising, really, because Rosa seemed the type to say she didn't like flowers even if she did, which seemed to be something she might well have in common with Amaya -- but still looked ultimately amused.

"How did you know?" she asked, genuinely, openly curious.

[died8yearsago]

Well, Rosa didn't exactly have a forge she could just throw flowers into, but there was a giant stuffed pink dog in her bedroom that she'd immediately taken a knife to when she first saw it.

To be fair, though, she was just checking to see if it was bugged, which is what any reasonable person would do in that scenario.

As to the question, she just sort of shrugged and looked like anyone with two brain cells could have figured it out.

But, more helpfully, she added, "Blackstone and I go way back. We've been working together for years now."

[begmetwice]

"Then I may have to do some further picking of your brain over that beer I owe you," Irene decided, never one to ignore a helpful source of information.

She really would have never thought of meat on sticks -- even in hindsight, seeing it in context and how happy Amaya had been, it still wouldn't have been something she'd thought of on her own.

[died8yearsago]

"Might need to up the ante to some quality hard liquor, then," Rosa advised. "That woman makes my knives. Wouldn't want to tarnish that relationship if she found out I've been sleeping with the enemy."

There was, if you looked closely, a faint smirk with her pause.

If you looked even closer, you might even say it was mildly suggestive.

"So to speak," she added.

What? This whole thing was weird as hell, might as well have some fun with it.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon fidgeted outside briefly, then came inside and glanced between the counter and Irene before giving up and going toward the latter first, fussing with an envelope.

"Hello, Irene. Erm. Happy birthday." He held out the envelope awkwardly.