The Perk, Thursday afternoon

[stykera]

Stark's first class of the day had been off-putting. Too many false ghosts that had looked and sounded too real even if he knew they weren't because they didn't feel real.

He'd managed to get through it and even to focus on his photography class after. But now that he had nothing left to occupy his thoughts and his hands he needed something and a very sugary coffee seemed like just the thing.

Especially since there were new seasonal drinks to be had, like the chocolate covered strawberry mocha with extra whipped cream he has brought to his table by the window with him.

[very open since I'm at work another 6 hours probably... please entertain me]

Comments

[pocketpretzels]

Watts had his own, albeit much-less-fancy mocha in hand as he spotted Stark and veered over in his direction, pausing only briefly to snag a half-finished muffin from a table on the way.

“Stark, hello,” he greeted. “How are you?”

[stykera]

"I'm..." Stark paused to consider the question.

"All right," he said eventually. "It was an odd morning but that's over with now. And you?"

[pocketpretzels]

“All right,” Watts said. “I had my usual lunch with Steven at the museum,” he added with a smile. “But other than that my day has been fairly quiet.”

[stykera]

"Quiet can be very good," Stark said with a nod. "I had classes this morning. With Liliana and Prompto. Liliana's had ghosts... would you like to sit?"

[pocketpretzels]

Watts nodded, pulling out a chair and twirling down into it, before taking a bite of his purloined muffin.

“Ghosts?” Watts echoed. “What sort of ghosts?”

[stykera]

Some people might have been taken aback by the muffin but Stark had spent enough of his life hungry that it wasn't even worth commenting on.

"Not real ones," Stark said quickly. "The danger shop made them. I'd have known if they were real but they looked real enough. Sounded real enough. There were all sorts. Ones I've never seen before."

He frowned and took a sip of his coffee.

"She took us to a world she's been too. One full of spirits. Not really, just in the danger shop, but I've no desire to visit the real version."

[pocketpretzels]

“No, I don’t believe that I would either,” Watts agreed. “Full of spirits sounds terribly unpleasant. Unless they were friendly ones, I suppose, but from my understanding that is rarely the case.”

Of course, his understanding was mostly limited to fiction as ghosts didn’t exist in his reality.

[stykera]

"These weren't," Stark said. "Some are. And some only need help to get to where they're meant to be. Some of these were... vengeful? They wanted to do harm."

[pocketpretzels]

“I stand by my assertion of terribly unpleasant, then,” Watts said.

“Mr. Argentum’s class was less troubling?” he checked.

[stykera]

"I knew they weren't real but they seemed real enough even though I knew the truth. Unpleasant is a good word for it." Stark nodded and took another long sip of his coffee.

"Photography wasn't troubling at all. I developed some film. I'd never done that before. Are you taking classes?"

[pocketpretzels]

“One,” Watts nodded. “Conversational Japanese.”

If Stark were inclined to notice such things, he might pick up on how Watts’s posture changed as he spoke, causing him to sit up straighter.

[stykera]

"We went to Japan on a school trip," Stark said. "A few years ago. That was the first one I went on."

A brief, slightly sad smile crossed his face but it disappeared almost as soon as it came.

"I liked it there." Room shenanigans and all.

[pocketpretzels]

“I’ve never been, myself,” Watts said. “I would like to, someday.”

[stykera]

"I think you'd like it," Stark said. "It was a beautiful place. I liked the temples best I think. And the food was very good. But perhaps it would have been even nicer in warmer months."

[pocketpretzels]

"I find most things are, personally," Watts said.

[stykera]

"I prefer warmer weather too," Stark said. "But this winter has been...better."

Maybe the company he had been keeping had something to do with that. Maybe the few days at a tropical resort at Christmas did. Maybe it was both.

[pocketpretzels]

"I am beginning to tire of it," Watts said with a grimace.

Though, yes, the right company certainly did make things easier.

[stykera]

"It should start to warm up," Stark said. "Sometime soonish. I think. And there's the trip. That might be somewhere warm again. Last year it was."

And it had been a wonderful trip, for the most part.

[pocketpretzels]

"We thought about going on the school trip," Watts acknowledged. "Steven and I. But- as you say, it might be somewhere warm. We," okay, mostly Watts, but Steven had no objections, "wished to be sure it was. And so we are going to Barbados, an island with a tropical climate."

[stykera]

"It wasn't cold when we went to Japan," Stark said. "But not tropical. When we, Summer and I, went to Grenada at Christmas, it was warm and lovely. I hope your island is lovely as well. With good food."

[pocketpretzels]

"I am certainly looking forward to the food," Watts nodded in agreement. "Sadly, it's not an area that produces wine. Though they are known for their rum in that part of the world."