day|starters: the call of the coffee

[9mmshotglass]

There was a point in the extraordinarily early morning in which Reese found herself wandering out of the dorms (she hated them and usually crashed on a couch somewhere not there) and into the kitchen. Blind coffee-making was done by routine, before she could even see straight. The clothes box had given her pajamas that were almost too colorful

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[easiertohate]

Ros didn't mind mornings. She never had minded them. That wasn't to say she liked mornings, and wouldn't stay in bed if she could, but this wasn't home. The last time she had slept in had been with Adam, both of them late as they'd- Ros cut that train of thought off abruptly. She wasn't sleeping in her own bed, in fact she didn't even have her own house, not yet. That was being built.

"Is that actually for someone in specific or did you hear me coming?" She glanced at the woman, obviously another one of those who needed it. American. Of course. They were all American here.

[9mmshotglass]

"Habit," Reese said and gestured. "You're welcome to it. Too used to throwing a pot on in the middle of a case and grabbing a cup for my partner." She covered up a yawn. "I can't function until I've got at least one in me." She squinted up at the woman. "Dani Reese, lately of the Los Angeles Police Department and formerly a homicide detective. God knows what the hell I am here."

British, obviously. Reese combed a hand through her hair and took another determined sip of coffee.

[easiertohate]

Americans were so open and in your face about things. It was appalling really. Ros grimaced slightly as she added milk and sugar to the mug, deciding that she should at least make a modicum of effort. There was a mug of coffee involved after all, "I worked with someone the same. He couldn't function without coffee," she leaned against the counter, blowing lightly on the warm liquid before sipping at it.

"Is this where I tell you my life story as well then? Ros Myers, formerly of British Intelligence Services." Not like it mattered here. Nothing mattered here.

[9mmshotglass]

"Another Spook," she said quietly and nodded, the motion barely there. "My partner would probably say the universe has a sense of humor, but I think, given our current situation, it's a bitch with PMS and no chocolate."

Reese rubbed at her eyes and took a breath that she let out slowly. Insecure. The universe is just a big fucking baby with a cruel sense of humor. When it all came down to it, they were still stuck on an island that liked to screw with people's heads.

[easiertohate]

Ros bit back a laugh, the slightest twitch of her mouth the only indication she found it at all amusing. Her eyes met the other woman's over the coffee she sipped. "Another?" She likely meant Adam, but Ros wasn't going to assume anything. Assumptions got you killed.

"I don't know. It seems more like a man who's had his toys taken away, or his ego cut down. Vindictive and not particularly creative in it's ways."

[9mmshotglass]

"Adam Carter," Reese said, just to confirm, with a slight shake of her head as she mused over the toys bit. "I may have to change my viewpoint." An image of Bobby Stark popped up unbidden and she rolled her eyes. Or Crews without his knife, though he was better at keeping the vindictive for the criminals. Stark just blundered in stupidly and insulted because he could.

He'd definitely been the school bully.

"I know a few guys who'd be in the running for the title of Universal Vindictive Asshole. Most of them are cops or lawyers." It was amusing, God was it amusing how damned right that was.

[easiertohate]

Of course. Adam bloody Carter, everywhere. Her assumptions had been correct, and Ros nodded. "Adam doesn't do well without coffee." He'd make their lives living hell if the Grid ever ran out of filters, never mind what he was like if there was no actual coffee.

Cops and lawyers. The woman had said she was a detective. She was small, attractive, some sort of middle eastern background. Chip on the shoulder type, she thought, not at all aware of the irony of that very thing. "Funny, most of the ones I know who qualify are American." At least she said it with a smile, "CIA usually."

[9mmshotglass]

Reese snorted.

"I usually get to deal with the FBI." She said it with an edge to her voice. "They like to take our perps away and laugh because they're Feds and we can't do a damned thing to stop them. I'd imagine the CIA is much the same, only they enjoy not sharing information because they're bastards. Americans, in general, are assholes. Pure and simple."

[easiertohate]

Ros was adjusting her opinion on this woman. It wasn't a matter of like and dislike, things were never that simplistic. Just perhaps not so quick to dismiss, Dani at least seemed to be amusing as well as intelligent. Those traits were far too rare.

"The CIA are the FBI with passports. I used to have a theory it's where bullies went when they grew up. One playground, than the other, always trying for the weaker boys' pocket money."

[9mmshotglass]

Reese raised her coffee mug to that and offered a genuine grin.

"Bullies have to have a place to keep on destroying sandcastles and building block towers," she said with a quiet laugh. "What happened to the theory? As far as I can tell, it'd dead on. FBI, CIA, Feds in general? You just get bigger bullies the further up the chain of command you go. If they aren't pissing in your sandbox, they're compromising some important operation and leaving you dangling somewhere unpleasant."

Her next cup of coffee was going to have cream and a bit of sugar in it, that's just the way the day was shaping itself. Reese glanced into the deep black of her mug and tried not to grimace as she took a long swallow. At least it was waking her up.

[easiertohate]

Her coffee was already mostly gone, and the growl in her stomach said she would have to follow it with something more substantial before she had another.

"We're all bullies. Some of us just haven't lost our way quite as much."

[9mmshotglass]

"Yep." Statement of fact. "Some of us have learned to be a different sort of asshole, others shut down, others are simply boorish and ham-fisted bastards." She took a thoughtful sip. "The smart ones usually don't make it out because their too damned smart and the stupid ones? They die first."

Reese felt like rising, rummaging for eggs, and making an omelet or something. After a moment of staring (not particularly at Ros), she moved to grab some eggs and pull out whatever she could find that might conceivably go into an omelet. She filed it under palatable and generally good vegetables to eat.

"Omelet?" she offered, already well into preparation (at least with the chopping and the spice rummaging).

[easiertohate]

She huffed out a small laugh, barely a sound at all before draining the rest of her coffee. "Some are more ham-fisted than others. Of course, not only the stupid die first. The smart ones get caught in the crossfire."

Ros kept her tone carefully neutral, carefully emotionless. There were too many that had died because of the stupidity of others. It's why she didn't get close, tried not to. Less to mourn later. "Yes. Thank you."

[9mmshotglass]

"Mmn," Reese muttered. "The smart ones get the shit beaten out of them and left for dead." It came out flatly as Reese beat the eggs, pepper, salt, milk and various spices on hand, there was a bit of basil in there too. "We learn to bring our own arsenals and a little backpack where the parachute is kept along with the bulletproof jacket, bras, and underwear. If all that fails, there's always sex."

In went the assorted veges that added bits of color, got swirled around and turned before Reese had them into a lightly greased pan. There'd be plenty of it. She let it sit and reached for more coffee. All great things too too much fucking time.

[easiertohate]

That made her actually laugh. A real laugh, her head down and shaking from side to side. It was short, but she smiled when she looked up again. Her tone was drier than ever though, "I'm beginning to think it's the universal coping mechanism." For people like them anyway.

Ros lifted her mug when Dani reached for the coffee. "Is there enough for two?"

[9mmshotglass]

"Sex is the universe's answer to too much stress. The bulletproof shit? That's insurance," Reese said, matching Ros's tone spot on. She swished the coffee in the pot around a bit. "Plenty. I apparently made a full pot when I wasn't even half awake. Six more cups left in here."

She poured Ros a cup, neat and careful, with just enough room for fixings and then did the same for herself before placing the pot back on the warmer. Milk. Hers was a careful drizzle and a spoon full of sugar (Mary Poppins somehow entered her head and she tipped a few more granules in just so she didn't have that shit bouncing around in her head) before she passed it on to Ros.

And then she folded the massive omelet and flipped it to cook through. She could already tell it was going to come out fluffy, which was a relief. Her mother would have been proud.