The Perk | Morning | Wednesday | June 30

[see_beyond]

Jonas was up early. That in itself wasn't a surprise since he didn't tend to sleep in but being in town already was a bit off his routine. He'd been bored and rather restless and an early morning walk turned into a stop at the Perk to get something to drink and sit at one of the small tables near the window

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[drywitmartini]

Hawkeye came in looking like he'd hardly slept, and that was about right. He was bleary-eyed as he waited in line and fumbled his way through ordering a coffee. How could anyone be expected to navigate their way through a complicated system of sizes, flavors and amounts of milk before they'd been caffeinated?

He grabbed a paper and sat down at the table next to Jonas', newspaper in hand. Then the newspaper was no longer in hand, but on the table and so was a splash of coffee from his cup. Hawkeye sighed and started mopping up the mess. He looked over at Jonas. "One of those mornings. I hope yours hasn't been as damp." He set a napkin aside and shook the paper to dry it.

[see_beyond]

"It has but mine was just due to some occasional sprinkles of rain and not anything I was drinking," Jonas said, sounding almost apologetic about that. "Are you having a difficult morning?"

[drywitmartini]

"Only of my own doing," he replied. "Not enough sleep, not enough coffee yet to wake me up. I'm trying to fix the latter, but I think my newspaper was thirsty. Are you a fellow caffeine addict or only a casual passerby in the world of coffee?"

[see_beyond]

"Passerby," Jonas answered, holding up the cup of hot chocolate he'd been willing to try. "It's not coffee but I believe chocolate has some caffeine in it. I've never tried coffee. I'm not fond of the smell."

[drywitmartini]

"The most staunch of coffee connoisseurs will tell you it's the nectar of the gods, but the truth is that the taste is bitter and it takes a while to get used to it. There are plenty of other better things to drink, but it's the caffeine that keeps you coming back for more. Wait until college. When you're cramming for final exams and you see the stack of unfinished papers you have to find time to write, coffee will be tempting."

[see_beyond]

"You're...not really making me want to go to college," Jonas said, laughing a bit. "Is it really that difficult? After attending school here, I fear I'll be unprepared for anything like that. I can deal with gremlins but not papers."

[drywitmartini]

Hawkeye shook his head and waved his hand to dismiss himself. "College can mean some of the best years of your life. It can be a lot of work, but it depends on whether you do what you love. If you go in there studying science when all you want to be is a poet, you're going to hate it. But if you're lucky," he said, getting a small smile on his face despite the lack of caffeine, "if you're smart, the hard work won't matter because you'll be learning more than you ever thought you could, meet people who love the same things you love and papers will be your opportunity to come to your own conclusions about everything they throw at you. You don't get that anywhere else. Are you planning on going?"

[see_beyond]

"I want to go," he said, nodding almost immediately, "but I know it costs money and I don't have a lot of that. Back home, I didn't even know what college was. We were tasked for a career at the age of thirteen so there was no real higher education to be had."

[drywitmartini]

"There are scholarships," Hawkeye mused. "Fandom High seems like a prestigious prep school to those who don't know any better, so it might look good on college applications. You'd probably have to expand your academic horizons beyond Fandom's usual classes. A career at eighteen?" he asked. "When I was thirteen, I was getting into trouble by my teachers for talking too much and trying to sneak kisses from girls, not thinking about a career."

[see_beyond]

"It wasn't really by choice," Jonas explained carefully. "When anyone turned thirteen, there was a Ceremony and the Elders would reveal what they'd chosen for each person. It was how people were slotted into their future jobs."

[drywitmartini]

"They would have missed the mark on me. At thirteen, my elders weren't even sure I'd sit still long enough to pass high school, let alone go on to finish medical school and become a doctor. But if you're considering college, then it sounds like you're choosing your own path, am I right?"

[see_beyond]

"I'm trying to," he said, laughing a bit. "I don't know if I've chosen something that I'd like to do in the future. I'm still learning about the things I missed by being sheltered back home."

[drywitmartini]

"You have plenty of time. Even after you leave here, you can keep deciding your whole life what you want to do. If it's the same thing they told you you should do when you were 13, then at least you made your own decision. What's the best thing you've learned since you got here?"

[see_beyond]

"I don't think it would be the same thing they selected for me," Jonas said, fairly confident of that. He was gaining memories on his own now, after all.

"And..." He paused at the second question, thoughtful. "I've really liked seeing and learning about animals. Those didn't...well, they existed but they weren't allowed in the Community. I only saw pictures. They didn't do the actual animals any justice."

[drywitmartini]

"Good answer," Hawkeye said. He liked it. "And it's true, pictures can never do them justice. Have you ever tried to draw a dog? Unless you're a good artist, it usually turns out looking like a circle with four legs and another circle for a head, which could be anything from a dog to a horse to a gazelle."

[see_beyond]

"I haven't," he laughed, shaking his head. "I've actually never tried to draw much of anything. It wasn't one of the required elements of the education I got. There wasn't much need for art."

The Community had been...incredibly bland and uniform. Jonas was realizing how rare seeing in color was now that he was there.

"Do you try to draw animals often or just in your spare time?"