The Perk, Sunday Afternoon

[deathsmajesty]

Oddly enough, almost as soon as Josu's food was handled, Liliana once again realized that she had an errand that required her to return to town almost immediately. She was in desperate need of tea coffee, and since she didn't keep much in the house, nothing would do but to turn around and head to The Perk for a cup! And, fortunately, the rickshaw driver she'd commandeered hadn't gotten far so she could get another ride, since she didn't think her feet would survive all those stairs.

Blast the Raven Man to any of the nine hells. That had been her favorite teacup! And these were her favorite feet!

...This never would have happened before the Mending.

But now she was at the coffee shop, trying to explain that, no, she didn't want her coffee in a pumpkin, which was apparently something they were pushing today. "I do not wish my coffee to be served in any type of gourd," she informed the server. "A cup is fine. I don't care that it's like 'a bread bowl, but for coffee'. I don't want bread, either. I just want a cup." Beat. "...I have even less idea what a cup made of noodles is. I just want a cup made of cup."

And then one of the baristas muttered something about, "Two cups one girl," that made all of them break into snickers and Liliana was just going to flounce to her table and wait for her ridiculously decadent coffee, which had better not be served in any other kind of foodstuff.

[Open!]

Comments

[unusual_sith]

Lana was also in need of a coffee, though she wouldn't say no to a PSL.

When she got her drink and looked around, though, there was another reason to perk up. "Liliana! How have you been?"

[deathsmajesty]

But did she want it served in an actual pumpkin? And not even, like, a normal-sized pumpkin, where the caffeine overload might make up for it. A decorative pumpkin!

No. No, she didn't. Because Lana had sense.

"Lana!" Liliana said, glancing up at the sound of her name with a gratified smile. They'd only met once, but Lana had struck her as a right-minded individual over their conversation about murder and magic and how dumb Jedi philosophy was. "I just had a lovely week." That had ended Friday. Saturday had been dreadful. "How are you?"

[unusual_sith]

Coincidentally, that was one of the reasons Lana remembered her, too.

"I've been well, thank you. It's good to see you again. What have you been up to?"

[deathsmajesty]

You remembered people who knew what they were talking about for murder and magic.

"I've been fairly busy the last week or so," Liliana said lightly, eliding over everything from before that week. "Starting with Three Minute Dates the other weekend and ending with the party on Friday. Yourself?"

[unusual_sith]

"Oh, I had fun at the dates! I'm sorry I missed you, though. I've been teaching again." She smirked. "The nature of good and evil."

[deathsmajesty]

"I had a delightful set of dates," Liliana assured her. "Each of them fascinating in their own way - and the first date of the evening led to several dinners. And a breakfast." She smiled a little bit at that. "Who did you match with? And tell me all about your class, please!"

Nobody knew what a fucking nerd Liliana was until they started talking about teaching.

[unusual_sith]

"Remember how we discussed the Jedi, the so-called 'good' to the Sith's 'evil'?" Lana asked. "Well, there's a Jedi who seems to find the dichotomy as reductive as I do, so we're teaching together. Giving the students actual examples of things and having them determine where they think they fall. I hope we'll be giving them a more nuanced view of things."

[deathsmajesty]

Every interaction benefitted from the inclusion of nuance. It was known.

"Glad to hear there's at least one," Liliana declared. "It's like listening to someone argue that spells that use black mana are bad and ones that use white are good - as of power is anything beyond a tool that serves intentions."

[unusual_sith]

So modest, that nuance-y stuff.

Lana shook her head in commiseration. "Honestly, sometimes I think the Dean expects me to sacrifice the students instead of teaching them. And I took his classes as a student here! It's not like I turned into a Jedi."

[stykera]

Stark was also not ordering coffee in a pumpkin. He was ordering his blended frozen PSL in a cup and with the usual small mountain of whipped cream on top.

Once he had it in hand he turned and headed for a table. He nodded to Liliana when he spotted her, offering a slight smile and a "hello."

[deathsmajesty]

And look! This time Liliana knew his name! Banner day for necromancers!

"Hello, Stark," she said with a smile, holding up her cup in a small salute. "Enjoying your day?"

[stykera]

Stark would have been disappointed to be forgotten but not overly so. It had certainly happened before.

"It's fine so far," he said. "Quiet. And you?"

[deathsmajesty]

"Also fairly quiet," Liliana said, turning her salute into a sip. "Ran some errands in town and decided to treat myself to coffee." She shot a baleful glare at the baristas. "With a side of argument over appropriate drinking vessel, apparently."

The baristas, of course, ignored her.

[stykera]

Stark glanced over at the baristas who were looking overly innocent.

"They never give me any trouble." Possibly because he tipped excessively and always had.

"It's been a quiet weekend, after the party. You enjoyed yourself?"

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana tipped, because she was amoral, not a straight up monster.

"I had a lovely time at the party," Liliana said, ignoring how everything after it had been terrible. "I think I spoke to more people there than I have the rest of my time on the island. And I've been given reason to finish up refurbishing my ballroom." Which, even when not in use, would not be a gym, Steve.

"And you? Get that dance?"

[stykera]

"You have a ballroom?" Stark asked.

"I'm still surprised, sometimes, that I have more than one room to call my own." When he'd first had his own room it had been a lot.

[deathsmajesty]

"Oh yes," Liliana said, with a wave of her hand that suggested that it would be more of a surprise if she hadn't. "I live in a--" creepy "--mansion not far from my store. It's a little removed from town, however--" being in the woods and all, as well as being abandoned for however long before she'd moved in. "--so I'm not surprised that you don't know of it."

It still looked creepy and abandoned on the outside. On the inside however, it was refurbished and atmospheric and fully Liliana vibes.

[justalittlerepressed]

There was really nothing wrong with some pumpkin flavored drinks. And the weather was actually kind of nice for a change, so Eddie had no trouble with walking into town to pick up drinks for the household.

He offered the lady already there a polite smile and nod before taking a moment to think about why she looked familiar.

Maybe it was because she wasn't in the middle of a fire.

[deathsmajesty]

But not drinks in a pumpkin!

Liliana nodded at the man and smiled back, with absolutely no recognition whatever. Look, the fire had been a lot and she had been very distraught and then she had been conquering some random plane for five months. Barefoot. With no memory of doing so.

It had just been a lot, you know?

[justalittlerepressed]

He moved here from LA, that was almost mild for weird drink choices. At least there wasn't wheatgrass involved!

It took a moment before where he recognized her hit on his face. "You were at the warehouse fire," he said.

[deathsmajesty]

Or kombucha.

Sorry, Eddie, there was still no recognition here. "Yeeees," she said slowly. "I was. I take it you were as well?"

[justalittlerepressed]

Yeah, that wasn't too unexpected with all the equipment on either. "I'm with the fire department," he said, jerking his thumb in the vague direction of the station. "I remember you and your, ah, friends?"

Zombies. They were zombies.

[deathsmajesty]

They could be both things, tyvm! Anyone who thought otherwise had some unchallenged zombie prejudices to work through.

"My poor darlings," Liliana said softly. "Fire is so hateful to them." And then, since what little she remembered of that didn't paint her in exactly the best light, she added, "Thank you all very much for your handling of the fire. I admit I was a little...distraught."

Over zombies, yes.

[justalittlerepressed]

Somewhere out there was a Paladin developing an eye-twitch.

Eddie nodded in just complete confusion about the word 'darlings' being applied to the living dead there, but he was trying his level best to just not let it sink in. Because that way lay some sort of nervous breakdown. "Well, it's good to see you've recovered from the smoke."

[deathsmajesty]

Tch. Sounded like the paladin's problem. Also which one?

Besides, like this whole town wouldn't rise up and riot if something happened to the Caritas zombies. "I did, thank you," she said, then added with a soft laugh, "I promise I didn't spend the entirety of the past five months recovering! I had business on another plane."

Conquering it with an undead horde, but there were extenuating circumstances and the zombies should not be held accountable.