The Perk, Sunday Afternoon

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

Newbie watching got boring after a while, so Margo had skipped over the picnic to spend more time pouring over useless magical tomes. It had become a ritual of sorts, more than something she thought would offer them an actual way out. But it made her feel like she was at least trying.

"Two caramel shots, two mocha," she told the barista at the Perk, with barely repressed impatience.

Even trying, after a while, felt too much like failing.

She was in a mood. She took her drink and sank down into a seat, wearing her ridiculously high-waisted pants, and stared moodily out the window.

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Comments

[pun_king]

Well, Margo was about to have a rather large-sized capybara staring (not moodily, but actually quite blankly) staring back at her from the other side of the window, as Graham parked Triumph right outside of it before dismounting and heading into the Perk. He'd long since learned that the baristas tended to give him the most disparaging of looks when he brought Triumph inside with him, and, not one to cause displeasure with those making his beverages, he was just glad that Triumph didn't seem to care either way, and was actually pretty content to just stand there by the windows, waiting, and either staring in at Margo right now or (even more likely) his own reflection in the glass, which Margo conveniently was behind.

"One double caramel mocha triple shot half-caf extra whip breve cappuccino with a cherry on top, please!" Graham recited, proudly, happily, once he got to the counter, because ordering a fancy drink at the cafe always felt like reciting a spell, one that manifested some of the most amazing liquid creations the mind could ever conceive "And also four of those maple glazed custard-filled doughnuts, and the largest cup of water you can give me!"

It was important to stay hydrated, after all! And, with his order put in and several coins of various value and origin tossed into the tip cup, Graham awaited his order, taking a moment to look happily around the shop with a contented sigh, and a ready wave and greeting for anyone who caught his eye.

And also probably even for the people who didn't.

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

Margo eyed the capybara with the look of a woman who had seen a million magical fuzzy things in her time and wasn't impressed, just annoyed. It felt like a taunt, honestly.

"Does it talk?" she asked, raising her voice.

[pun_king]

"Hmmm?" Graham may have drifted off slightly, dreaming about the drink and doughnuts in his near future, but when he caught up with the question, he met it with a bright grin.

"Oh, yes," he said, emphatically, proudly. "Of course he does! But he can be a little difficult to understand sometimes, it really helps if you know Capybara. Do you know Capybara? I've known it pretty much since I could talk, we've always had Triumphs around when I was growing up, so it was a good language to know! I'm actually pretty fluent in most Woodland Creatures, though I definitely need to work more on my Birds. They're kind of tricky, they have so many different dialects!"

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

That sure was a lot of exposition. She ignored it.

"You probably shouldn't make it wait outside like a fuckin' dog if it's a talking capybara," Margo drawled.

[pun_king]

Useless Exposition had almost been Graham's middle name!

"Well, dogs talk, too," Graham pointed out, wondering if she'd even heard any of that. "All animals do, it's just a matter of whether of not you can understand them. And he doesn't mind, but these guys," he hitched a thumb over his shoulder toward the counter with a roll of his eyes, "sure seem to!"

He dropped his voice to the kind of whisper that wasn't fooling anyone. "I think they're just still a little mad," he revealed, hand to his mouth clandestinely as if that would help, "about that one time he tried to get all the sugar packets."

But, really, now, if they didn't want people (and capybaras) to have them, they why would they just leave them all out like that?

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

"In my experience, you got talking animals and dumb animals," Margo said, finally tearing her eyes away from the capybara to look at the little man. "You really going to cop to a bunch of baristas getting all speciesist on you?"

[pun_king]

All that talk of sugar packets reminded Graham that he should probably stock up, and so when the barista cleared his throat to let him know his order was ready, he was caught at just the moment of pulling his hand out of one of his cloak's pockets after stuffing a good handful inside. He chuckled sheepishly, embarrassed, but not enough to do much about it except get his drinks and his bag of doughnuts, and then mosey on over to Margo's table to have a seat, because they were clearly friends now.

"Seems to just be unnecessary tension if he really doesn't mind," Graham offered, while Triumph seemed to prove that he really didn't mind much at all, and just started nuzzling against his reflection in the window. "But I can bring him in if you'd like to meet him! Honestly, I think he likes it better outside, anyway. He spends a lot of time all cooped up in the stables, and the chances of random pets from passersby has got to be at least fifty-five percent better out there, too!"

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

"Hey, it's your funeral if he decides to rise up and kill you in your sleep," Margo said, making a little pointing-up, then curving-her-finger-down motion to illustrate her point. "I just know not to underestimate a talking animal."

[pun_king]

One could argue that not listening to them when they tell you something like 'I don't mind waiting outside' was underestimating them, Margo.

"Oh, Triumph would never!" Graham remarked, eyes going wide with shock at the mere suggestion of it. "He's my mighty steed! I'd trust him with anything, especially my own life! If he wanted to kill me, he's had millions of opportunities to do it, and none of them nearly as peaceful as it would be to have me go in my sleep!"

Although, now that he mentioned it...

"That would be kind of nice of him, though, wouldn't it?" he said with a fond smile sent toward the window, currently being no doubt painted with enough cabybara snot to make the baristas think, you know what? Let him inside after all, just so we don't have to clean the windows next time. "Killing me in my sleep rather than some other particularly brutal way? He could trample me or drown me or eat my flesh alive. Killing me in my sleep, that'd be a true sign of friendship, really."

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

'I don't mind waiting outside' wasn't the kind of phrase Margo associated with enthusiasm, more with trying to keep yourself small to avoid bumping into others. And that... was pretty antithetical to her way of being.

Fuck anybody who made you want to be small.

But moving past that...

"Fuck," Margo said, with feeling, and lifted her drink to take a sip, "You're an optimist."

[pun_king]

And, true to Margo's assessment, Graham was more likely to suspect any time a phrase like that was uttered, it was because it was generally followed with something like 'because it's such a nice day!' Or 'so that I can make better friends with those pigeons!'

"Guilty as charged!" Graham confirmed brightly, shoulders squaring and preening a little, proud that she'd noticed. "There's always a bright side to everything, I always say, and if you're having trouble finding one, all's you got to do, really, is just find the right light!"

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

"That's cute," Margo said. Sip. "Where I come from you'd be the first to die in a grisly and hideously awful way. But it's cute."

[pun_king]

Graham looked a little nonplussed at that, for a moment, until he blinked and managed to find a smile to push right through it.

"Then it's a pretty good thing, isn't it," he said, "that I'm not where you come from.

"Where are you from, anyway?" he then asked, that smile starting to gain more ease and purchase again. "Oooh, and what's your name? Mine's Graham. Graham Cr--"

It was, of course, at this moment that the barista set to work on a frozen drink someone had ordered, the sound of the blender drowning out rest.

"I'm from a land called Llwedor, which is an entirely different realm, far, far away from here! Do you know Miss Amaya, the blacksmith? She's from there, too, only a different area than me, and plus, she lived in Daventry," a word spoken with the utmost reverence and awe, "for a while, too, so we didn't actually meet until I came here! Kind of funny, how that works, isn't it?"

[sith_happened]

Wearing sunglasses, however tempted Anakin was today, was just not part of his aesthetic.

So there he was squinting against the sun and ordering the biggest coffee the Perk had that didn't actually come in a bucket.

He gave Margo a slightly pained nod in greeting.

Stupid tequila shots last night.

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

"Oh, so this is definitely a you thing, then," Margo said, drawing a little circle in the air with one finger to indicate... all of Graham.

Look, she'd met Amaya Blackstone. She was pretty sure Amaya could clobber a drunk god and run fast enough not to be immediately murdered by something stupid.

"I'm High Queen Margo, the Destroyer," she added in a sort-of-bored drawl. "Originally from Earth, after that, the kingdom of Fillory, which is full of weird, cute, whimsical shit that'll eat your face off."

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

"Holy shit," Margo voiced, way too amused as she took note of Anakin with a lift of her chin. "Someone was up partying past his bedtime."

[sith_happened]

"And remembering today why I haven't done that in years," Anakin said, gulping from his too-hot cup.

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

"Getting old sucks," Margo agreed. She sipped her drink. "Glad I'm not in your shoes."

[needsacatchphrase]

Well, Jane was set on the school end of things (she hoped) and now was taking a moment to explore the cute little town. Which meant ending that session of wandering around with a coffee and pastry reward.

Because she had an Asgardian level appetite these days and it was going to be fully taken advantage of. "Can I take the top row of things?" Jane asked. "Oh, and a black coffee. Large."

She offered a smile to the lady who she hoped, probably unrealistically, wouldn't judge her for this.

[sith_happened]

"Wish I wasn't in my shoes either," Anakin admitted. "May I sit?"

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

"Sure, knock yourself out," Margo said, with a wave of her hand and a snicker.

What? With a hangover like that, he easily could.

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

"Living your best life, huh."

Margo loved judging people for basically breathing. But indulging in food and coffee? Especially with biceps like that?

Fuck, go for it.

(Just as long as she could stare at those biceps a second longer.)

[needsacatchphrase]

They were just there and ready to be ogled by anyone in sight, it was true.

"You know what?" Jane replied. " I'm certainly trying to."

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

"Good," Margo said, taking another sip of her drink. "Life's too short, yadda yadda. Especially with that exercise regime you gotta have going on."

[pun_king]

Oh, Graham's whole Graham-ness truly was a singularly unique phenomenon all its own, for sure, which he was absolutely going to take as a compliment, thank you, Margo.

"Zooooounds!" Graham gushed, his eyes going wide and more than a little bit sparkly. "You're a Queen?? Actually," he grinned, gave a confident nod, "no, that makes sense, you're very regal. You know, I'm actually going to be a king one day! Of Daventry! The island told me so! Maybe we can be allies! I don't know if they have anything cute that'll eat your face off, but I do hear they've got plenty of hideous beasts!"