The Perk - Tuesday Afternoon (6/14)

[hasaknightjob]

Marc was the early riser of the two of them. Which was good because that meant he was able to listen to radio before Steven did and firmly decide who wasn't getting the body that day because hoo boy did Steven not need to hear that.

Had Marc lied to Steven and said he wanted to spend the day trying to meet people? Yes. Had Steven looked at him suspiciously but agreed to it? Yes. Did Marc feel guilty about it? Always, about everything Not in the slightest.

He didn't want to be cooped up in the apartment, however. So here he was at a table in the Perk with a coffee and an egg and cheese sandwich. He was pointedly ignoring his last text from Layla ("Someone you care about does things that frustrate you? Please tell me what that's like.") and instead focusing on his phone as he tried to figure out if living a few years in the past meant he could be keeping on top of twice as many Cubs games this season.

[open!]

Comments

[thatwaslucky]

Was Rey coming back for the pink whipped cream monstrosity? Yes. Shut up.

And it also meant she gave a friendly little wave to who she thought was Steven as she waited for it.

[hasaknightjob]

Oh hey, someone Steven had met who didn't make Marc want to bang his head against a wall. Since he already knew about the Poe thing, Marc decided to help her out by saying, in his decidedly American accent, "Wrong one twice over but hi."

[thatwaslucky]

"I'm sorry?" Rey said, blinking.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc pointed to himself. "Not Steven, not Poe. Marc. Hi."

[thatwaslucky]

"Oh! This is very new for me, I'm sorry," she said. Multiple Lukes, sure. Multiple people with the exact face of someone she knew back home? Different somehow. "I'm Rey, but I'm guessing you know that."

[hasaknightjob]

"New for me too so you're fine," Marc said. "Yeah Steven - uh - mentioned meeting someone who looked like you."

It's possible there was good reason why Layla had always been the one to come up with their cover stories when they needed them.

[thatwaslucky]

Definitely iffy, but it was a small town. "How tired are you of introducing yourself by now?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Hasn't hit yet," Marc admitted. "Steven's the more social one. Plus we don't tend to hang with the same crowds."

It was a small island though so the overlap in the people they met was bound to start being an issue sooner rather than later.

[thatwaslucky]

"Then I'm glad to get in before it's too annoying," Rey said lightly. "Are you twins? Or you just look alike, like with Poe?"

[misshapen_spark]

And sometimes, Fandom really liked to mess with people's desire to avoid messes.

It was a nice day outside, so when Yang walked into the Perk for her afternoon coffee, she was wearing a tank-top and her arm was on prominent display. After almost a year in Fandom, she was well and truly past being worried about it making people uncomfortable.

"Largest and strongest cold brew you have, light ice, sweetened condensed milk and extra sugar," she said cheerfully. "I want to be able to see through time."

As the NPC barista quickly started on her order to get AWAY from her, her eyes alighted on Marc. "Huh. I need to listen to radio more. Hi, New Guy."

Or not, Yang. You didn't listen to radio for REASONS, and today was one of those reasons.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc looked up. Someone who neither he nor Steven had met yet? Perfect. That meant zero chance that this would in any way increase his current headache over the freaking mess that was Steven's love life.

"Hi new gal," he replied.

[misshapen_spark]

Yang laughed. It was awesome when people shared her sense of humor.

"Yang Xiao Long," she said, walking over and offering her right (mechanical) hand. "Welcome to the madhouse of Fandom."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc shook her hand, unbothered by it. "Madhouse? I'm definitely in the right place."

[misshapen_spark]

"I can't think of a better term for it... the place tries to kill us on a regular basis, and yet we still keep coming back," she said wryly. "Willingly, even."

He hadn't even hesitated, so between that and his sense of humor, New Guy was going on the 'potential cool person' list.

"Though that says more about us than Fandom, I guess."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc had briefly been a Marine. It didn't give him the automatic ability to know for sure when someone had seen combat but it did mean he wasn't going to be thrown by a strong woman who'd been through some shit somewhere.

"It says something about me," Marc said. "I practically feel at home here. That's probably not great news for everyone else."

[misshapen_spark]

"Eh," Yang waved her hands in a so-so motion. "I mean, my personal theory is that we all end up here because there's something here that we need. But I originally ended up here as a teenage superhero prepping to go to superhero college, so that doesn't say great things about me, either."

"And now sometimes I teach classes about survival, or making a difference without heroics, or ways not to get yourself killed."

[hasaknightjob]

"Heroics are overrated," Marc said. He was of the opinion that most heroes were overrated as well. "Survival? Based on personal experience?"

There was no gross glancing at her arms when he said that. He wasn't someone trying to probe into her appearance. This was coming from a place of someone who'd been in his own survival situations sensing she was someone who knew how to handle herself.

[unusual_sith]

Lana came in for her sugary...hm. Chai, today, and waved and smiled at...wait, that wasn't Steven, the Force signature was completely wrong.

"Sorry," she told whoever it was, "I thought you were someone else for a moment."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc didn't know anything about Lana's powers other than the cup moving trick she did for Steven. Between that and the fact that he wasn't wearing Steven's clothes it didn't throw him that she was able to tell he wasn't the same guy. "Marc, yeah. Hey."

[unusual_sith]

"Ah, you're Marc." Lana smiled. "Steven mentioned you, but he failed to mention you were twins." She held out her hand. "Lana Beniko."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc had an internal twitch of dislike at the label of "twins" but since Lana was already on introductions he figured better to keep that train of thought moving instead of raising more questions by calling attention to it.

He shook her hand in return. "Marc Spector."

[unusual_sith]

"A pleasure." Lana raised an eyebrow at him. "Not twins, then? Clones? Or are you from different universes?"

[hasaknightjob]

Well shit, so much for hoping not mentioning it would give him a pass. Steven was building a friendship with this one so Marc had to be careful. "Something like that yeah. He told me about you. He boring you with the language lessons yet?"

[unusual_sith]

That was very much not an answer, Marc, and Lana knew it. But she would let it go for now.

"Not at all!" she protested. "How is his Aurebesh coming? Not quite as fascinating as the hieroglyphics, I'm sure."

[hasaknightjob]

"I have no idea which parts he's been reading," Marc said, glad she took the subject change. "He doing his homework okay? I can nag him if he needs it."

Marc had no idea if there even was homework with this but if it was something that could keep Steven busy and away from any trouble that Marc had to have headaches about, Marc would be thrilled about it.