The Perk, Monday Afternoon

[pocketpretzels]

Well.

It only took two and a half months, but Watts had finally been convinced to try one of these “iced” coffees.

Convinced was perhaps a strong word. Forced, more like, though he supposed he could have taken his business elsewhere- there were other places on the island that he’d found served coffee, even if they didn’t specialize in it.

The point was, the barista had just told him in no uncertain terms that he really did not want a hot coffee today, and here, have an iced mocha. On the house.

It was hard to argue with the price of free, so he took the drink and sat down at a table.

“… That’s not bad,” he had to admit, after taking a cautious sip.

[ooc: open!]

Comments

[begmetwice]

It was so goddamned hot. Irene was also in the mood for something iced (though intentionally so, on her part) -- and, more to the point, some air conditioning before her hair collapsed in on itself in utter despair. She swanned into the Perk with a Burberry umbrella hooked over one arm -- rain was in the forecast, and she was absolutely not in the mood to drag herself back home through it unprepared.

"Afternoon, Detective Watts," she greeted him with a bright smile, once she'd placed her order (some sort of gloriously-refreshing-looking pink confection with lots of ice.)

[pocketpretzels]

“Miss Adler,” he greeted in return. His habitual frown lessened somewhat at the fact that she actually used his proper title. “It’s good to see you.”

[begmetwice]

Irene was not only observant -- she was kind of weird about detectives, in particular.

"And you," she replied, lightly fanning herself as she leaned against the counter to wait for her drink. "Even if I'm considering booking myself on some sort of Arctic holiday until September."

Drama queen.

[pocketpretzels]

“Seems a bit extreme,” observed the man in the full three-piece suit.

[begmetwice]

"You're right, I don't especially want snow instead of this awful humidity," Irene conceded, having no intention of going anywhere. (She had several weeks more of a blacksmithing class to attend, after all.) "Maybe Australia, until it's our turn for winter."

[pocketpretzels]

“Have you been before?” asked Watts, noticeably curious now. He’d done a fair amount of traveling, but hadn’t yet made it to Australia.

[begmetwice]

"To Sydney and Melbourne both, a few times," Irene told him, nodding. "I traveled internationally quite a bit in my old life."

More often than not, clients had come to her, of course. Much more discreet for them.

[pocketpretzels]

“I’ve never been, myself,” Watts admitted. “I’d like to, someday. I suppose it’s easier now, isn’t it? With the commercial aeros.”

[begmetwice]

"That's how I went," Irene told him with a quick little smile as she grabbed her now-ready drink and wandered over to his table, where she leaned casually on the opposite chair. If they were doing Detective and Miss, she'd take her social cues from him, rather than immediately sliding into that chair like she might with nearly anyone else on the island. "Still not what you'd call quick. It was about twenty hours each way. Though I suppose that is better than an ocean voyage's timeline."

[pocketpretzels]

“Almost two months,” Watts confirmed. “Would you- care to sit?” he asked, as if the thought just occurred to him to ask.

[begmetwice]

"Thank you." Irene smoothly slid into the chair, immediately crossing one leg over the other. "'Course, if you wanted to travel now, I think most people 'round the island do it via portals."

She was still wrapping her mind around them a bit, herself.

[pocketpretzels]

“I’ve heard a little about those,” Watts admitted. “Not sure I entirely trust them.”

[anomaly_research_nerd]

After an eventful time at the apartment earlier that morning, and with Rex safely in the apartment once more, Connor decided he had earned a treat and so there he was. Ordering a rather large chilled and overly caffeinated drink. He didn't need to sleep that night anyways...

"Thank the heavens for coffee..." he said as he took the first drink and turned from the counter. He stopped and gave Watts a slight nod. "Good afternoon mate," he said with a lift of his drink in greeting.

[pocketpretzels]

“Afternoon,” Watts nodded, lifting his own drink slightly in return.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Got some crazy weather going on here lately huh?" Connor said with a nod towards the similarly chilled drink. "Good thing caffeine comes cold, cuz I'm not sure I'd survive drinking it hot right now."

"Oh, I'm Connor by the way" he said as he held a hand out.

[pocketpretzels]

“I was dubious,” Watts admitted. “But it’s not at all what I was expecting.” Which was just coffee, but cold.

He glanced at Connor’s outstretched hand just a moment too long than was probably polite before taking it. “Detective Llewellyn Watts.”

Bit of an emphasis on the surname there, yes. The given name was reserved for one person only at this point.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Iced coffee is a godsend this time of year" Connor said after the shake. "And detective huh? Cool. Guess I know who to contact if anything odd goes down at the museum" Connor said with a slight laugh.

[pocketpretzels]

“Ah, the museum?” Watts said. “You’re Steven’s coworker, then?”

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Ah Steven! Yes he's me coworker" Connor said. "Good chap he is. Good to work with and made it easier for get settled in here too."

[pocketpretzels]

Watt’s’ opinion of Steven was well beyond ‘good chap’, but that that was Connor’s assessment was a point in his favour.

“The very best,” he agreed. “Did he?” he certainly had been helping Watts himself with the whole acclimation process, but Connor looked more or less like he fit in here.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Well, it's good overall to have someone you can talk to about the crazy things you got up to back home and have them not look at ya like you are a crazy person and all" Connor said with a matter of fact tone. "Back home, crazy was a way of life really, but a lot of it was still a hush-hush matter outside me teammates. Though, this whole place seems to be a bit more on board with the odd and bizarre than good ole London was" he added with a laugh.

[pocketpretzels]

“I’m afraid my own frame of reference is somewhat skewed,” Watts admitted. “I’m from over a century in the past.”

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Ah a fellow time traveler then," Connor said. There were a surprising number of them around here it seemed. "I'm from just a few years back comparatively. But I have been back a mite bit further than a century or two here and there" he said with a slight grin.

[pocketpretzels]

“Here and there? I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that the possibility exists outside of connecting the various realities and timelines to this island,” Watts admitted.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Back home me and the team were dealing with some.. portal-like anomalies that kept popping up. Most of them opened up to ancient prehistoric times" Connor said, watching Watts to see at what point the 'ok you crazy' look started to take hold. "Got myself stuck in the Cretaceous time period for a year at one point so... yeah, done a bit of time hopping on my end."

[pocketpretzels]

Yeah, Connor might well have gotten that look, but for the fact that Watts was dating someone who a) shared his body with someone else and b) along with that someone else, was an avatar of an Egyptian god. He’d come to accept a lot of seemingly impossible things over the last few months.

“A year?” Watts echoed. “That sounds-“ and while most people might use terms like ‘scary’ or ‘difficult’ or ‘inconvenient’ (the Cretaceous certainly lacked a lot of things, including iced coffee), Watts went with “-absolutely fascinating.”

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Ok now Connor was going to give a bit of a raised eyebrow of surprise at that reaction. Was definitely not the norm or what he was expecting.

"Oh it was fascinating, especially from my archeological scientific perspective" Connor allowed with a smirk. "Up until a Spinosaurus showed up and wrecked our shelter. Don't ever want to get that close to 4 inch long teeth again though" he said with a slow head shake. "One time is more than enough!"

He considered Watts for a moment before adding "Bet you got some stories to tell yourself huh, being a detective and all?"

[pocketpretzels]

“Mmm,” Watts nodded. “More than a few, that’s for certain.”

If Connor was asking him to share any of those stories he might need to be a little more direct.

[anomaly_research_nerd]

Just idle chitchat, the stories could wait for a later time.

"Seems like just about everyone around here has their share of interesting stories," Connor said with a slight nod. "Even us normal people without superpowers and such (hey he had at least heard about Tony and a few of the others even if he had not met them yet) seem to have some tales to tell of back home. Though I'm pretty sure even my own family would have trouble believing what all has happed to their "little" Connor Temple since I left" he said with a laugh at the air quotes he put around that descriptor.

[pocketpretzels]

Watts made note of the surname, as again, given names were a bit familiar considering they’d just met.

“Ahh. Baby of the family, I presume?”

[anomaly_research_nerd]

"Yeah youngest in a totally head canon family because OMG canon gives us nothing decent sized family" Connor replied.