The Perk, Wednesday Afternoon

[pocketpretzels]

Watts really ought to invest in a coffee machine of his own. He knew this. It would certainly make things much simpler in the mornings.

Not that it was morning now. Nor was he drinking a regular cup of coffee. Would home coffee makers even be able to make the iced variety? He'd have to do some research. Still felt a little sheepish, too, that he'd held off on the iced coffee so long as he'd just assumed it was regular coffee, but cold.

Anyway. Not the point. The point was, here he was at the Perk, sitting with his chair turned around backwards, hunched over a table with a Korean language workbook spread open, dutifully and painstakingly copying the exercises down.

[ooc: omg open.]

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[begmetwice]

The afternoon found Irene taking a break and sticking a sign in the Dite's window indicating she'd be back in a few minutes before setting out for the fortification of caffeine.

And while she had every intention of just popping in and out again so she could get back to the shop -- well, you couldn't exactly expect her to not peer at what Watts was working with, could you?

It would be even more unreasonable to expect that she wouldn't then offer out a polite greeting in Korean. "Annyeong haseyo," she offered, lifting her own iced latte once she had it in hand and smiling at Watts.

[pocketpretzels]

It took Watts a second to realize someone was talking to him.

But once that realization hit, his head snapped up and he gave Irene a nod in greeting. “ Annyeong haseyo, Miss Adler,” he offered in return. “Would you care to sit?” he gestured at the empty chair at his table.

[begmetwice]

"You know, I think the shop can probably spare me a moment or two longer," Irene decided after a moment's consideration, smiling at him as she took the proffered seat. "Recreational knowledge, or are you planning a trip?" she asked, nodding to Watts' workbook.

[pocketpretzels]

“Recreational. Updating my knowledge, as it were. A trip’s- not out of the question, I suppose, but nothing in the works currently,” he explained.

Portugal was first on the list when it came to future international trips, after all.

[begmetwice]

"I've actually never been, myself," Irene explained. "But I used to have a number of Korean clients in my past life. It's a very useful language to know. And the school takes a holiday somewhere every fall and spring -- as far as I know, they've yet to visit Korea, so it might yet be handy too if you found a way to tag along on one of those."

Irene always found a way to tag along, personally. She highly recommended it.

[pocketpretzels]

“That’s… I didn’t know that. About the school holidays. And they let folks not associated with the school… tag along?” Watts asked.

[begmetwice]

"Every teacher gets a plus-one," Irene noted. "So you'll need to make a friend on the faculty. But otherwise, yes."

And in her experience, it was incredibly easy to just declare you'd be someone's plus-one, too. But that was Irene.

[pocketpretzels]

“Hm,” Watts acknowledged. “I suppose I ought to look into… making friends.”

Which might be easier if you didn’t treat it as if it were some kind of chore, Watts.

[begmetwice]

"Glad to provide an incentive," Irene teased, tossing off a wink at him. "You've probably got until mid-October, if memory serves."

[pocketpretzels]

“It’s not a skill I’ve perfected,” Watts admitted, because he suspected Irene might have guessed as much. “So the more time the better.”

[begmetwice]

What? Noooooo, Irene would have never suspected.

"Fortunately, the denizens of Fandom are, largely, aggressive in their friendliness," Irene assured him. "Perfect lot to practice on."

And besides, in her experience -- if someone had perfected the art of making friends, they probably had other motives and shouldn't be trusted. (Irene herself very much included.)

[designateddadfriend]

Travis had a coffee machine at home. But that wasn't going to stop him from stopping in for fancy coffees on occasion.

"Ooo, you're learning Korean!"

Other people might say "hello" first, Trav.

[pocketpretzels]

“How to read it, at least,” Watts confirmed. His spoken Korean was at the moment limited to the very basic phrases.

[designateddadfriend]

That . . . actually already put him ahead of Travis, honestly.

"My mom's from Seoul," he said, undeterred. "If nothing else, you'll be all set for going out to restaurants."

[pocketpretzels]

Which was, admittedly, a rather large draw from Watts’s perspective.

“Do you speak Korean as well, then?” he asked, curious.

[pocketpretzels]

“Mmm. I have noticed that as well,” Watts agreed. “And no one I’ve met so far could be classified as dull, so this place has that going for it as well.”

[hasaknightjob]

Marc had spent the morning dealing with various bullshit related to keeping things running back home. Now he needed coffee.

Well he'd prefer a drink but coffee was what was open now. So there he was, at the counter, ordering a regular coffee with actual milk, thank you.

[designateddadfriend]

"Uh. . . ." Travis grimaced. "Nooo. Dad doesn't, so Mom never used it much at home. I know appa and eomma, halmoni . . . and jima, which I heard all the time growing up. And food words. Mom loves to cook."

[begmetwice]

"Even if you suspect someone might be dull," Irene offered, conspiratorial, "more often than not, it turns out they're secretly a literary pirate or have a stock of emotional poisons, or something. I think it's a prerequisite to living here, that you must be nominally interesting. And, generally, attractive."

What? Prove her wrong. Nearly everyone here was beautiful, and Irene was fairly selective about that sort of thing, even.

[pocketpretzels]

“I’ve been told my own face is rather disagreeable,” Watts offered. Not by anyone here , notably, but still.

[pocketpretzels]

And he just so happened to walk in at a point when Watts was looking up from his writing. “Mr. Spector,” he greeted, once Marc had secured his coffee.

[pocketpretzels]

“Ah,” Watts said, somewhat disappointed. “That’s too bad. I’ve had reasonable success with teaching myself but I’ve found a conversational partner can expedite the process.”

[hasaknightjob]

"Watts," Marc replied. Which for him was downright effusive. He nodded in the direction of the books. "Another trip?"

He knew about Portugal already.

[designateddadfriend]

Travis shrugged. "I mean, I've been meaning to pick it up. And I . . . probably have a decent ear for pronunciation? But yeah, it'd be more of a 'learning buddy' situation than a conversational partner."

[designateddadfriend]

"Hey Steven!" Travis greeted. He would be a bit surprised to find out he was greeting the wrong person, yes. "How's it going?"