The Perk, Friday Afternoon

[ifwebeworthy]

Don had skipped the gremlin Starbucks at the towerlet, hoping to avoid the onslaught of specialty fall beverages, but he still needed coffee, so he'd stopped in at the Perk, where...

"No, I don't want an apple crisp latte. I just want coffee! Who puts apples in coffee?...Sure, you drink coffee with pie, but...actually, do you have any pie?"

Now he wanted pie, and Thor was curious about the apple crisp latte. He should've gone to JGoB. Well, at least he had finally obtained a plain black coffee and a table to drink it at.

(Open Perk is open!)

Comments

[the_best_sister]

After getting things squared away at the cottage, Yelena swung by the perk to get a beverage and also started butting heads with the barista. They were awfully pushy today.

"I don't even like pumpkin spice. No, I've never had it. Just give me coffee."

Somehow she ended up with a pumpkin spice frappucino. This was probably punishment for bringing her dog in the other day.

She sighed and took a reluctant sip.

"Damn it."

It tasted good.

[ifwebeworthy]

It did taste good. But the caffeine was adulterated, which meant less of it got into your system at a time. Don knew this from med school. Not from like a lecture or something like that. From running on caffeine for several years straight.

"You have to be firm with them," he told the woman he didn't know. "They tried to give me apple coffee."

It might be good.

Don was just ignoring that.

[the_best_sister]

"I thought I was firm. I'm a very firm person," Yelena insisted, shooting a glare at the barista. "And yet, I ended up with this ridiculous drink."

Which, of course, Yelena was still drinking. The barista looked smug, like they'd won some unspoken battle. "Don’t give me that look. You put apples in coffee. That’s an abomination."

Suitably chastised, the barista turned away. Yelena glanced at Don, her expression victorious. "Thanks for the ammunition," she said with a smirk.

[ifwebeworthy]

Don smiled and saluted her with his coffee cup. "Glad to help. I'm Don Blake, by the way. I don't believe I've seen you around before." And he would have remembered, even here on Hot People Island.

[the_best_sister]

"Yelena Belova," Yelena replied with a wry smile and raising her half-empty cup in a return salute. "And it’s been a hell of a welcome. Monday was literally Christmas Day for me, and now I’m back in August. So yeah, still figuring this place out."

[ifwebeworthy]

"That's quite a change in weather," Don observed. "Unless you were coming from Australia, I guess. Although I think we have a couple of people around from the 1800s, so...could be worse?" Always look on the bright side: you weren't Captain Flint. "Has anyone given you the 'multiversal nexus' speech yet?"

[the_best_sister]

"I’ve picked up a bit of it," Yelena replied, settling into a seat across from Don. "I brought someone else to the island who’s a witch, but he’d never heard of Doctor Strange who's kind of famous back home. I thought all magical folks would at least know about him."

[ifwebeworthy]

"He might be from a universe without a Doctor Strange," Don pointed out. "I'm from a universe with a Doctor Strange, which makes me think we might be neighbors, more or less. Does your universe have the Avengers? Or the X-Men?" Or at least mutants? Where were all the mutants?

[the_best_sister]

Look, be patient with the MCU. They still have to get through the umpteenth version of the Fantastic Four first.

“X-Men? Uh. No. Avengers yes,” Yelena replied. “In fact I’m starting my job over at Stark Industries this week. Which I don’t think is my Stark but with this whacky place who knows? Have you been here long?”

[ifwebeworthy]

Eventually they were bound to turn out a version that didn't suck, right?

...right?

"The Tony Stark here comes from a universe where there are X-Men, so probably not," Don told her. "Although not the one I come from. I live at Stark Tower, so we'll probably see each other around. I've been here a few months. I got here at the beginning of the summer." Which reminded him it was past time to call the New York Education Department and try to find out what the holdup was on his medical license. "It's...I'd say you get used to it but I get the feeling I might just come from a weirder universe than most people."

[the_best_sister]

Tony Stark. Alive. Of course he is. Just a different one. Helena’s mouth went a little flat at the mention of his name.

“You have Avengers and X people and are weirder than most?” Helena said, her interest piqued. “How weird?”

[ifwebeworthy]

"It's hard to explain what's weird when it all seems pretty normal to me," Don said. "But...time travel, witches, vampires, aliens, gods and monsters...I've seen all of that before. Usually having a knock-down drag-out in the middle of a Manhattan street while I'm trying to get to work. The people made of felt were new, sure, but they didn't seem that weird?" There was probably a mutant with felt powers back home.

He sipped his rapidly cooling and diminishing coffee before he added thoughtfully, "The zombie karaoke band. That was new."

[the_best_sister]

For a brief moment, Yelena believed that Don’s world had people made of felt until he mentioned the Zombies. The image of a heroic Avengers made of felt made the edges of her mouth come up into a smirk.

“Yeah, I saw the zombies the other night,” Yelena said coming back to the conversation at hand. “Which honestly seems dangerous and also against several health codes. But I was able to drink and not get my brain eaten so who knows? Maybe it’s fine. Maybe they are vegan zombies.”

[ifwebeworthy]

Hey, you never knew. It could happen!

"Not sure how that would work, but I could go with it," Don said. "Tofu is sort of like brains if you prepare it wrong, I guess. I could ask Jane--she works at Caritas, and she's my ex-girlfriend...well. Sort of. I used to date the version of her from my universe, and she used to date the version of me from hers." Just multiversal things.

[the_best_sister]

“You use to date each other but in different universes.”

Loki must be having a blast with these timelines.

“That sounds awkward. Especially on a small island like this. Luckily I don’t think I’ll have that-“

Hmph.

“There’s not a Natasha Romanoff living in that little tower is there?”

Now that would be awkward.

[ifwebeworthy]

"Just a little bit. You know Natasha?" Don asked, and then actually answered her question. "No, she's not--" Pause. Adjust grammar for the possibility of multiple Natashas. "There's not one of her around. Wanda Maximoff runs the magic shop, though, and Steve Rogers teaches at the school...and is married to Tony Stark." He would just let that sink in for a moment while he tried to think of who else someone who knew Natasha but not the X-Men might know.

It was a good thing Don & Thor hadn't yet crossed paths with their universe's Yelena Belova as far as their player knew.

[the_best_sister]

Yelena let out an exhale of breath that she didn’t k ow she was holding. Whether it was disappointment or relief it was hard to tell. Helena wasn’t sure herself.

… Iron Man and Captain America were married? Well that tracks what Nat told her during their long helicopter ride to Siberia.

“Yeah. I know Natasha. She’s family. Of sorts.”

[ifwebeworthy]

"Oh!" Don exclaimed. "I didn't know..." Actually, no, he knew Natasha was an orphan, so either Yelena's universe was really different or he was talking to some form of Russian special operative (or both), and he was just going to go ahead and file that under 'absolutely none of my business until proven otherwise.' "Natasha didn't have family where I'm from," he went with instead, and then amended that with, "That I'm aware of."

[the_best_sister]

Well, the Russian accent might be a clue but Yelena was happy to avoid the topic of being a Russian operative.

Yelena forced a smile. “We’re adopted. It’s complicated. Much like the fact I’ve finished my pumpkin spice Frappuccino and want more but I don’t want to give the barista the satisfaction.”

[ifwebeworthy]

It would be weirder if she didn't have a Russian accent, either way.

"You could always order the apple thing instead," Don joked.

It's probably delicious.

Shut up, Thor.

[the_best_sister]

“Apples and coffee should not go together,” Yelena said, smiling slightly. “I don’t suppose there are other coffee shops that offer the same item? Or I can convince you to order one for me.”

[ifwebeworthy]

Don leaned in and lowered his voice. "You didn't hear it from me, because I want to keep on the good side of the baristas so they don't put apples in my coffee, but the gremlins at the Starbucks in the lobby of Stark Tower will hook you up."

[the_best_sister]

“Gremlins. That is euphemism, yes? Please tell me there are not creatures who should get wet or fed after midnight making coffee where I work,” Yelena said looking confused.

[ifwebeworthy]

"I don't know about those things, but I've heard you shouldn't let them bite you." Not that helpful, Don. "But hey, you probably get an employee discount?"

[the_best_sister]

“Okay. Pro tip: do not get bitten on first day of job but do ask for a discount,” Yelena deadpanned. “That is very helpful Mr. Don Blake.”

[ifwebeworthy]

Don tried not to say it. He really did. But he ultimately could not resist, "It's 'Doctor,' actually."

And, hey, 'Don't get bitten on the first day on the job,' was pretty solid advice if you thought about it. And now Yelena was warned about the gremlins!

Eh, she'd learn.

[the_best_sister]

“Ohhhh. A doctor who lives with Avengers,” Yelena said leaning back in her chair and looking impressed. “That’s a pretty high pedigree. Are you medical or research?”

[ifwebeworthy]

"Medical," Don told her. "Surgeon. Somebody has to patch those guys up," he added, lest she start to think he was a superhero. "Or...had to. Right now I'm working on getting my license to practice back. I was dead," he said, to clear up that it wasn't malpractice or anything like that. Very important.

"So what brings you to Fandom? Assuming you knew you were coming." And could talk about it. "Some people don't." Or couldn't.

[the_best_sister]

Ok, Don. You do not just drop “I was dead” with someone and expect them to just ignore that.

“Wait. Hold up there,” Yelena said, wanting to make sure she heard that right. “You were dead. Like dead, dead. And came back?”

Yelena had some experience with this.

[ifwebeworthy]

What? It wasn't normal where she came from? Don knew so many people who had died!

"Technically I didn't exactly die," Don told her. "It's just easier to tell people that than to explain. There was a...let's go with magical mishap. I was removed from reality, and spent several years in the void of nonexistence." Which was really different for him than it had been for another guy who was now here on this here island. "Zero out of ten, would not recommend."

[the_best_sister]

Nothing about dying and coming back is normal, Don. It’s like that meme about having zero level of pain.

The usual deadpan snark was gone from Yelena’s voice, replaced by empathy. She wasn’t one to feel, let alone show, sympathy for others. But Don's words hit her somewhere deep.

"That sounds... horrible," she said, hesitating for a moment, weighing whether to share a piece of herself. "Do you remember being in this void?"

[ifwebeworthy]

"I do," Don said. "And it was. Horrible." It still was, but he'd be going back there soon so that Thor didn't have to keep being there. "It's...I can't really explain it. It's not something a human mind is really meant to comprehend, I think."

NFB (Ha!)

[the_best_sister]

Suddenly Yelena realized what happened to her could have been so much worse.

“I… can’t imagine that,” Yelena said quietly. “Though I understand some of it. Kind of. For five years I was just gone. Wiped from existence. Then I came back and I had no idea what was going on.”

She frowned and played a bit with the straw in her cup. “If I was aware of that time just being gone it would have been so much worse.”

Re: NFB (Ha!)

[ifwebeworthy]

"In a way, it was good, I think," Don said. "It gave me time to...figure some things out." Like who the hell he was, even. "And then I had a whole lot more time to be stuck there." He aimed for wry, but probably didn't quite land there.

"Jane--uh, my sort-of ex, she mentioned something similar. She said it happened to a lot of people? I'm saying that to clarify if that is or isn't the same thing," he added quickly, "not to lessen what happened to you. I know how much it sucks to come back and everything's different and now you have to rebuild your life from...whatever the hell is left."

Re: NFB (Ha!)

[the_best_sister]

Between her talk with Clint less than a few days ago and this conversation about being blipped with Don, Yelena felt some of those walls she’d built starting to crack. She took a deep breath, tried for a smile, but quickly abandoned the effort.

“Yes, it happened to a lot of people, everywhere,” she said quietly. “I went to a bathroom to wash my face, and suddenly I was gone. For me, it was just a second, and then I was back. But the world… it moved on without us. Mostly.” She paused, glancing away for a moment before continuing. “Now, I’m here. A place where it doesn’t feel like I’m catching up.”

Re: NFB (Ha!)

[ifwebeworthy]

"I get it," Don told her. He would have reached over to squeeze her hand in sympathy if not for the lingering suspicion she could pop him like a grape if she didn't want to be touched. "I mean, it's the same for me. I couldn't stay in New York, it was...everyone had moved on. Everyone had forgotten me." Everyone was having a giant slap fight over the SHRA. "So I came here."

Re: NFB (Ha!)

[the_best_sister]

It had been a long time since Yelena let her guard down. Even longer since she felt any real empathy. She could feel the walls coming back up, the practiced smile settling into place “A lost island for lost people. Seems very fitting,” she said with her dry sense of humor creeping back in. “Well, thank you for the conversation, Dr. Don Blake. The next time we run into each other at Stark’s I’ll have to buy you some coffee. No apples. No pumpkins. “