Nico Robin (all_sunday) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-08-28 17:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !partner thread, nico robin, peter pan |
Who: Peter Pan and Nico Robin
What: Robin needs some coffee!
Where: Peter’s coffee shop
When: Early in the Shattered Sight Plot
Rating: Low
Status: Complete!
It was just another day in the neighborhood. Peter had to kick out a couple drunk college-aged students, one of whom he recognized from classes, and he was looking forward to the end of his shift. Who in the world got drunk in the middle of the day and decided to terrorize a coffee shop? Peter couldn’t help but let out an annoyed sigh as he stood in the back room and searched for the new bottle of vanilla syrup that he had come back there for. It didn’t help that he was having such weird dreams that apparently were a thing on the network. Why did he have to join in on the craziness?
The worst part was the birds following after him when he walked outside. He also felt a tingling in his skin that reminded him of flying and he was afraid he would do something crazy - like actually taking off one of these days. At least the shop was a slice of normalcy as he made his way back to the front and greeted a customer as he brought the syrup over to the bar.
It was time for Robin’s afternoon ritual of coffee and a scone. It was a good way to wind down after a long day tending store. It had been an unusually slow day for a weekend. She had expected her usual customers who always came to see what new things she’d picked up over the week, or to simply come and chat as they had with the former owner. No one had come. She had a few browsers as was usual, but the day as a whole had just seemed off. Robin couldn’t figure out what exactly was wrong, but she was glad to lock up for the afternoon.
She smiled at Peter as he came out of the back room. “Hello, Peter,” she said, happy to see a familiar face. “How are you?”
“Oh hey, Robin,” Peter couldn’t help the smile that appeared. Regulars were his favorite kind of customers, “Sorry, my head was slightly in the clouds just then. I would have given you a much more enthusiastic greeting. I’m doing well, what about you?”
It had taken him a moment to realize it was Robin front of him. He was really good with knowing his regulars and he was more than happy to see lovely face. There was a reason that his boss had bumped him up to assistant manager and that was mainly because he was so friendly. Robin came in usually around the same time every day and bought the same thing, so she was pretty easy to track, but he had lost track of time.
It hadn’t been until she’d returned to Orange County the second time that Robin had become a regular anywhere. She may not have liked keeping to a schedule while she’d been in school, but now that she owned a business of her own, Robin found that there was something to be said for regularity and predictableness. So much could go so wrong in such a short period of time, it was nice to know that there were certain things she could always count on. One was afternoon coffee. Two was Peter behind the the counter ready with her cup before she even ordered.
Peter seemed a bit off today, however. He hadn’t greeted her with his normally warm smile and sunny disposition. Robin had been coming to his particular little coffee shop for a little while now and always Peter seemed to be a ray of sunshine even on days that most people would consider cloudy. Perhaps it was just that kind of day for everyone, Robin included.
She let out a little sigh. “business could have been better,” she said. “Saturdays are usually on of my busier days but there was hardly anyone in the shop today.” She needlessly ordered her regular grande sized mocha latte. She gave Peter a tiny impish smile. “You were in the clouds, were you? What had you so far away from the counter this afternoon?”
“Apparently it’s the kind of day where college bros show up drunk and cause a ruckus instead of shopping in your store,” Peter offered by way of explanation to what had taken his attention away from his work. He wasn’t completely sure if he wanted to share the dreams he had because they honestly didn’t even sound like that real. It could just be something that he was making up in his mind and now he was regretting believing that it actually meant something. But how else would Wendy know the exact gardens he had dreamt of.
Her drink order was in and he made his way over to the espresso machine, giving him a moment to think instead of speak, since it was hard to hear over the noise. “There’s some other stuff as well. I haven’t been sleeping very well, so it must be throwing me off my game. I feel awful that I slacked in your usual greeting,” there was a wry smile upon his face when he said that and poured the steamed milk into the cup, “I’ll just have to give you extra whipped cream.”
Robin followed Peter with her eyes as he moved about behind the counter. A small frown touched her lips as he described the college students who had been in causing a scene. Despite the abundance of caffeine one could get at coffee houses they were not places of high energy. “If these students were that disruptive I wouldn’t want them in my store,” she said. It was unusual for her to get college kids in her store anyway. When school resumed after a break and last year around the Holidays a handful of college age kids would wander in out of curiosity or in need of the Perfect Gift. Usually, though, the sight of a price tag scared them off. It was unfortunate, though. Robin wasn’t above haggling or making payment arrangements if a customer had truly fallen in love with an item. She was even known to trade from time to time, that is if the item she was receiving held some worth or - better yet - intrigue. It wasn’t unusual for the two to go hand-in-hand with each other in the world of antiques.
Robin’s eyes followed Peter as he came back towards her, her drink in hand. She would never turn down extra whipped cream.
“That seems perfectly fair,” she said approvingly. She was, however, more interested in what he’d said about not sleeping well. It seemed as though everyone she spoke to lately had sleep - or rather Dreams - on the mind. Was Peter also involved with the site like Klaus and Leon were? There were many people there, all of whom were faceless pseudonyms for the most part completely anonymous. It was possible that Peter was among them.
Then again it was also perfectly possible that Peter was having a simple bout of insomnia brought on by stress, or struggling to correct an irregular sleep pattern, or simply staying up too late at night reading, watching TV or whatever entertainment he pursued when not slinging coffee.
“I’m sorry you haven’t been sleeping well,” Robin said sympathetically. “Is everything alright?”
“They’re too crude to go to your shop, anyway. I doubt twenty-something frat boys would do anything with antiques unless you were attempting to sell old cases of beer or something,” Peter pointed out with a bit of a laugh. He knew that Robin’s workplace would be completely safe from any drunk people unless they accidentally stumbled into it, but she would be able to get rid of them quickly, “And I should offer you something more, but whipped cream is the easiest and most delicious way to apologize.”
“Yeah, just odd dreams,” Peter wasn’t sure if she was having the weird dreams like he was. It was something that had been confusing him since they started, “I had a dream that I was flying around in London as a child and I could understand what birds were saying. I ended up in some garden and the birds decided to raise me.” It sounded absolutely mad when he said it aloud, so he gave a bit of a shrug to try and downplay what he was talking about.
“You’re probably right,” Robin said with a laugh. “And no one wants to drink old beer.” She took her coffee drink from him with a smile. “Whipped cream is plenty, Peter,” she assured him. “Thank you very much.”
She sipped her coffee and listened as Peter described his dream to her. Her brows furrowed together slightly. So it appeared that dreams were the cause behind Peter’s lack of sleep. And she certainly could see why. Her smile grew a little bit. “Peter, those dreams sound amazing! And fun!” and no monsters apparently, that was something of a relief. Peter didn’t seem like the kind of person who would enjoy fighting off carnivorous animals or terrifying monsters. “Are you having dreams like these often?”
Peter had to admit that dreaming about flying wasn’t the worst possible set of dreams he could be having. People talked on the network all the time about being in battles, people dying, and being injured. A flying child with talking birds wasn’t truly horrible at all and he should count himself lucky. Robin’s enthusiastic response to his dreams, however, brought about a laugh, “It is pretty interesting. I’m not having them too often. This just happened the other night and was the first time I had the dreams.”
He stepped away slightly to help his coworker with a drink and came back with a towel in his hand as he washed the counter in front of him, “Are you having strange dreams as well?” He was curious as to if this really was a shared experience and everyone else was having their own thing. Although, Wendy knew the garden from his dream, so perhaps a few shared the same realm.
Robin sipped her coffee carefully. It was nice and warm, but not scalding and it had the perfect amount of whipped cream, of which she licked off her upper lip. Peter was a craftsman when it came to making a cup of coffee.
She shook her head. “No,” she admitted with disappointment. “Not yet, anyway. I’ve been told that they will happen, but so far my dreams have been the normal kind.” She laughed a little bit, “or, well, as normal as dreams can be, I suppose. But, nothing out of the usual. I’m curious to learn what it is I’ll dream about.”
If she ever told Peter that then he would boast about it for the rest of the day, much to the chagrin of his coworkers. It pleased him greatly though when people saw that he was good at what he did. It wasn’t something he would do forever, but he might as well do it justice for the time being.
“Ah,” Peter mused with a smile, “Well, I’m certainly looking forward to you having dreams then. You have to promise to keep me updated and I’ll do the same for you. I’m curious to see what adventures the child version of me will get up to. You know something is going to happen when there’s flying and fairies involved. And hey, it’s time for my break - want to sit down and we can discuss possible dream scenarios for you?”
“Oh, there are fairies too?” Robin asked, a brow raised. “It sounds as though you’re dreaming about a fantasy land. That’s very exciting. Fantasy realms are known for their adventures.” She took another sip of her drink and cast a quick glance around the coffee shop.’
“I would love to sit and talk, Peter,” she said with a smile.