The Perk; Thursday Morning

[totalwildcard]

Some days you just woke up with an extra strong desire for coffee that your humble coffee machine at home just couldn't really sate. And that was what had Harley rushing into the Perk and right to the counter on that particular Thursday morning.

"Have you guys ever tried puttin' all your different special coffees together?" she asked the nearest barista, with her hands against the edge of said counter, leaning forward way too much. "Espresso, latte, supercalifragilisticexpialimocha, whatever you got, like, all into one thing of coffee?"

It was gonna take a while, because it was now an experiment!

An experiment where the result was going to be just a big thing of coffee with maybe a faint taste of milk in there, if you were being generous, but no one tell Harley that yet! No spoilers.

(open, duh)

Comments

[totalwildcard]

"Detective Fancy Hat!"

By now, Harley had her giant coffee concoction in hand. Was it a good idea for her to be putting so much caffeine into her system, with her baseline level of energy being what it was? Probably not!

But she made a lavish gesture at the container that held it all! "I have here officially all the kindsa coffee they sell here, so I am great!"

[pocketpretzels]

"All of them?" Watts asked. "Including the different flavourings, or is your concoction limited to just- varieties of coffee?" Which he was still sort of getting accustomed to. Coffee with flavouring was one thing, but otherwise he'd always just considered coffee... coffee.

[totalwildcard]

"Oh, just regular ones, yanno, milk and sugar and cream and stuff," Harley was quick to explain, possibly even quicker than usual. "This time -" The baristas were probably already sighing, if they caught her saying that. "- 'cause I wanted to taste the coffee."

And she was most certainly tasting coffee.

It was basically all she was tasting.

[pocketpretzels]

"Logical enough," Watts agreed, twirling down in to a seat and gesturing at the empty chair across from him in invitation. "You are enjoying your experiment, I take it?"

[totalwildcard]

"It's coffee!" Harley said, almost as if that said it all. "I wanted coffee, I got coffee, I can't complain!"

She could sit down, though. Or flop into the empty chair, still counted.

"So what's up with you, anything new? Is your coffee good?"

[pocketpretzels]

"A mocha," he informed her. "And yes, it is good. Steven and I are leaving for a short holiday tomorrow, so I am- making sure all of my arrangements for that are in place."

[totalwildcard]

There was nothing particular of note about the way Harley's eyebrows quirked at that. Promise.

"Oh yeah?" she asked. "Where to?"

[pocketpretzels]

Nothing at all!

"San Luis Obispo," Watts told her. "In California."

[totalwildcard]

"California?" Harley asked, and made a little soft little 'oo' noise, like she was impressed. "Oh, that sounds like it's gonna be a great time!"

Anyway.

"How long?"

She was thinking about how much time she'd have in their absence to try and convince Midnight to let her into spaces she wasn't supposed to go, obviously.

[pocketpretzels]

"Just the weekend," Watts informed her. "We shall be returning late Monday evening."

So she knew when to concentrate her efforts and all.

[totalwildcard]

"Well, that's not that long." Probably? Harley's grasp on the passage of time wasn't always the best. But she'd take whatever felt most optimistic to her in the moment. "Sounds like you're maybe packing a lotta vacation into a few days?"

[pocketpretzels]

"We have taken longer trips on occasion," Watts informed her. "During the school break weeks and the like."

Which this technically would be falling on, but it was clearly different in summer when 90% of the island wasn't also going on a trip somewhere. "But yes, you are correct on both counts."

[totalwildcard]

"Oo, how long was the longest?"

That part was genuine curiosity from someone who didn't really ever travel. Except when she was being transported to and from max security facilities, anyway.

Although sure maybe there was a distant, ever-moving part of her mind that was calculating the time between now and when he'd said they were leaving but not much was going to come of that.

[pocketpretzels]

"We spent nine days in Peru last year," Watts told her. "Not all in one place- visiting several cities throughout the country."

[totalwildcard]

"Oh, nice," Harley said, with absolute sincerity. "I've never been, though that's not really a surprise, I don't really travel. Was it good?"

[pocketpretzels]

"Oh, absolutely," Watts said. "We toured a winery and visited historic sites- they've mummies in Peru, you see, not the same as the Egyptian sort but interesting all the same. And the food was- oh," he gestured expansively in a way that hopefully conveyed his very positive opinion. "They've an entire museum dedicated to chocolate there, did you know?"

[totalwildcard]

Harley's expression looked positively shocked. "There's a museum for chocolate?!"

So that was probably a no to his question.

"Do you get to eat the displays?"

Revise that to a resounding no, and also sorry about how loud she got.

[pocketpretzels]

"Not the displays," Watts said, "Which were mostly about the history and production process. But they did have a rather extensive gift shop."

[totalwildcard]

Whatever disappointment was on Harley's face at the revelation that you did not get to eat your way through the museum was mostly overtaken by her approval of the gift shop.

"The good good chocolate?" she checked.

[pocketpretzels]

"Very high quality," Watts confirmed. "And chocolate-covered fruits as well. Like mangoes."