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

[knightinshinarmor]

At least it wasn't a caramel pumpkin spice peppermint unicorn latte or something equally horrifying?

Remy's coffee tastes were a little simpler. And since he'd spent the night over on the mainland, he was swinging through on his way home, rather than rejecting his home brew.

"Americano, si vous plait," he ordered with a smile and a wink for the barista. "And an almond croissant."

[totalwildcard]

The staff members who weren't currently involved in the lengthy task of making Harley's ridiculous concoction of coffee-on-coffee-on-coffee may have seemed a little relieved to get an ordinary and easy order.

The same went for snatching Harley's attention enough that she peeled herself off the counter. (What? It had been interesting to watch them work! They might not have thought so or appreciated it, however!) "Oh, it's Frenchie!" she chirped. "And gettin' a croissant?"

[knightinshinarmor]

‘Frenchie’ wasn’t any less ridiculous than ‘Gumbo’ — if a little more technically inaccurate — so Remy simply sketched a bow at her. “It is your Cajun friend. And yes. I like croissants. Especially since the beignets here are atrocious.” He flicked the barista a grimace. “It’s not your fault, petite. Most beignets outside of New Orleans are.”

[pocketpretzels]

A quick scan of the tables as Watts came in revealed no leftover breakfast he could purloin, and so he ordered a blueberry muffin along with his mocha.

"Doctor Quinn," he greeted. "How are you today?"

[knightinshinarmor]

Remy greeted him with a nod from where he was picking up his almond croissant. "Bonjour."

[pocketpretzels]

"Mr. LeBeau," Watts greeted. "How are you this morning?"

[knightinshinarmor]

"Gambit, please," Remy said. "If you don't want to use my first name. 'Mr. LeBeau' makes me feel like I'm in trouble."

Which he usually was, but Watts didn't need to know that yet.

[pocketpretzels]

"Gambit," Watts echoed a little tentatively, still tempted to tack a 'Mr.' in front of it just out of habit. "All right."

[knightinshinarmor]

'Mr. Gambit' was what at least a few of the students at the Jean Grey Academy had called him. It was cute!

"Merci. And how are you?"

[pocketpretzels]

"Ah, I asked you first," Watts said, wagging a finger at him.

[totalwildcard]

Harley straightened up even further, if only so that she could properly wag a very serious finger at him. "Uh-uh, you're not my friend," she said. "No."

And a beat.

"Even though the ducks were cute."

And another.

"And the frogs."

And also she was getting into the game with the whole Flint business and all...

"But you're not my friend." And finally: "Also I don't know what the fuck a beignet is, but you're getting me a croissant, too!"

[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."

[knightinshinarmor]

Remy chuckled. "You have me there, homme. This Cajun is doing just fine. And yourself?"

[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.