for Five

[topino]

Ever since Nicky got his lay of the land, he assessed what to do with the situation. He had a place to hole up, which he checked for listening devices and made sure his vantage points were clear. He investigated places he could purchase weapons and made sure he started to set aside cash for the purchases. He went to the farmer's market, met a lovely old woman, and got a good recipe for gazpacho.

He missed Joe.

Of course he missed Joe, but it's only been a few weeks, and he and Joe have been on missions apart longer than that. Back before instant communication, sometimes it would be months between letters. In his mind, he's treating it like that.

Nicky's new mission is one going very poorly. He's just stepped out of a coffee shop, sipping on their Americano, and it is...well, dishwater disgusting is a kind way to evaluate it. Spitting the coffee back into the cup, he throws it out in the nearest trash before taking a small notebook from his front pocket. Eyeing the shop behind him disdainfully, he neatly crosses it out.

"Che cazzo," he mutters, both disappointed and a little frustrated. How is it that he can find a pistol easier than he's able to find a good cup of coffee in this city?

Comments

[number_five]

"Grinders?" Five says, looking for recognition on the other man's face. It's kind of a hole in the wall place that he found by accident, and the name is pretty unoriginal, but Five likes it better than any of the other places he's found in Darrow.

"The coffee makes up for the name," he says, and by now he's already turning to head off, "Follow me, I'll show you."

[topino]

Nicky gestures for him to take the lead, falling into step with him. Does it bother him that they apparently have many years and a height difference greatly between them? Possibly, but Nicky has an age difference with everyone.

If that bothered him, he would never really stop being bothered.

"And what do I call my coffee saviour?" he wonders.

[number_five]

"Five works," Five replies, "Coffee savior... that's probably a bit of a stretch."

As far as Five goes, he's still getting used to not looking his age. He'd been closing in on a month when he ended up in Darrow, and even now, it hasn't been much longer. He doesn't think he'll ever not be bothered by it.

[topino]

Nicky shrugs. Five it is. He's heard stranger names and modern times comes up with so many strange things. It's almost easier. "Nicky," he replies, gesturing to himself loosely. "If you find me something that does not make me want to replace my tongue," he deadpans, "it will be saviour enough."

And he could do that. He could cut the tip and get a new one that never tasted such awful coffee, but as Joe would say, it would be a touch dramatic.

"I am struggling with finding the things I'm used to," he explains. "Coffee is only one."

[number_five]

"I can definitely relate to that, Nicky," Five says, "but that's been a challenge for a long time now."

After the apocalypse, he was never in place for very long when he worked with the Commission. Setting the timeline straight meant a lot of travel, and not a lot of time for finding a regular coffee shop.

"I take it you're not from around here. Different time, or just different place?"

[topino]

Nicky squints at him for a long moment, debating how to best explain it. "It was 2020 when I left," he admits, so it's not that he's from a time far in the past, but he has lived through enough of them that he's developed favourites and habits that stretch much further back than this place can give him.

"Place? It was London," he admits. "I was hoping that I would be on my way to Malta," is a regrettable thing to say, because he's definitely not going now. "And you? Same time, or place?"

[number_five]

"Neither," Five says, frowning, "Dallas, 1963. And 2019 before that. It's a long story."

And that's without getting into before he was able to make it back home. Or his time with the Commission. Or the job he was actually on in the 80s before he ended up in Darrow. He's going to have to come up with a more streamlined way to explain these things if this is how people in Darrow tend to make introductions.

[topino]

Nicky is used to complicated things, but for someone to be from two times that are so far apart is strange. The way he speaks makes Nicky think it's not like he lived through it, either. "I've heard many long stories," he admits.

"I prefer to have the coffee before I hear any stories, though," he confesses. He walks, brows furrowing. "What month in '63?" he asks curiously.

[number_five]

"The exact month you're probably thinking of," Five says, because even though a number of things happened that year, there's really only one big one. Well, in this version of reality at least.

He and his siblings were nearly directly responsible for another big event. The last big event.

[topino]

Nicky thinks he'd been in South America during that month, but he remembers feeling like he'd missed his chance to do something good and help defend him. He raises a brow, not asking any questions about it, but letting his eyes fall over him.

"Only one question," is what he says aloud. He waits a beat, just enough to make Five have to lean in. "Was the coffee better or worse, there?"

[number_five]

"Both, strangely enough," Five replies. Truthfully, he hadn't had a lot of time to peruse coffee options in the few days he'd been there. But the coffee at the diner had been shitty, and Elliot's hadn't been half bad.

"It was a whirlwind trip to be honest with you."

As he talks, Grinders comes into view, and Five gestures in that direction.

[topino]

Nicky lights up when he sees it, grateful that he might have something to caffeinate him. Without Joe, he's not sleeping and while his body and brain will heal the damage, he hates feeling so tired. The sooner he can find something tolerable, the better.

"If it came to give you an appreciation for coffee that made you this judgmental, then I'm happy for it," Nicky admits. "Otherwise, I fear there will be a very expensive machine I need to purchase in my future."

[number_five]

"That's probably worth the trouble anyway," Five replies, "A place like Darrow... you never know how long something will last."

People apparently appear and disappear seemingly at random; if the guy who owns Grinders goes, then the business likely goes with it.

[topino]

Nicky eyes Five for a long moment, mainly because he's not sure what that means, and it's mainly because this isn't his first language. "Is that because of the vanishings? Where people don't stay?" Or maybe he means it in a more nefarious way.

"Or is there something that makes people go out of business?" he asks, a touch darker. "A group of people that need to be dealt with?"

[number_five]

"Mostly the vanishings," Five says, "Though I don't know anyone personally who's gone, it's probably only a matter of time."

And who's to say that the proprietor of his favorite place to get coffee won't be next? Nicky's assumption almost telling, though.