strangetrip | [EP] aliens control the coffee supply

Entry tags:

[EP] aliens control the coffee supply

Xavin, for the most part, hadn't actually bothered keeping regular hours at her little coffee nook. She spent some time there most days, how long depending on how many people wanted coffee or how interested she was in whatever books she'd selected for the day.

Today was probably going to be a longer day, if only because she'd had to restock a little from the kitchens. She'd found a little cart to haul things and was currently engaged in putting her supplies away. Milks and whipped cream into the little refrigerator, beans stashed in their cupboard, disposable cups stacked and non-disposable cups cleaned and put away. (Some people liked those, particularly if they didn't intend to leave the library. But it meant that her kitchen time included doing dishes, which was often more fun than drudgery. Especially when she accidentally overdid the soap.)

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

"Okay, I concede" He walked up with a pleasant smile. "Convince me to love coffee."

The gnome had faith that Xavin could do this over anyone else. Except, perhaps, Pike, but he'd do anything for her.

“I accept your challenge,” Xavin replied with a grave nod. “What kinds of flavors do you like, generally?” With an idea of what Scanlan liked, she could construct a drink that leaned on it.

"Hmmm... Ale's my favourite. Wine is next. Water, if I absolutely need to. That Coca Cola stuff isn't too bad either, but it has a lot of sugar." Scanlan, of course, assumed she solely meant beverage flavours.

Hmm, that was not helpful. Beyond ‘not too sweet’ being important. Some to smooth out the coffee... “I will try this.” One shot of espresso, steamed milk, some maple flavor, and one more things: a little bacon salt (because salt in coffee was delicious).

Maple bacon latte. Xavin placed the cup in front of Scanlan. “Several attempts may be called for before we find one that works. This one first.”

At the smell of coffee beans, Tony's synapses began firing back to life as he wandered the halls. The effect was all the more intensified after a night full of wandering the halls doing "research" (as much as it was an excuse to stay out of his still-unacceptable assigned room.) The sight of the coffee stand was enough to bring a tear to the eye, and he approached it like a fly drawn to honey.

"Anything ready yet? I'll take a drip straight." His dark eyes were glazed over with the anticipation of his nectar of life. "Literally. Straight into my mouth. Shove me under the dispenser."

“I will not. That is unsanitary.” The man was familiar, but not from the Inn. From before, then. Xavin busied herself drawing a cup of drip and setting it in front of him before, and only then did recognition set in.

He was lucky she had better control than to flinch back and knock over the cup, and enough presence of mind to turn and busy herself about lining up six of the tiny glasses for espresso shots.

Tony Stark. head of SHIELD, administrator of the Superhuman Registration Act provisions and likely general of Earth’s forces in the last Skrull attempted invasion she remembered. A man who, back ‘home’, would capture or kill her out of hand. And that was all without the armor.

She took a subtle (she hoped) steadying breath, pushed the buttons to start the shots brewing, then turned back. “You can have those when they are done if you promise your face will not go in my machine.”

"I should probably say that coffee flavour basically tastes the worst. It's bitter, but not in the 'at least I'm going to get drunk' sort of way."

Still, when the concoction was ready, Scanlan took it in hand and sniffed. It didn't smell too bad. He took a sip and it looked like someone doing a wine tasting. He smacked his lips a few times and swished around. He swallowed though instead of spitting it out.

"Do I detect a note of bacon?"

"You drive a hard bargain." Completely unwitting of the barista's obvious discomfort, Tony leaned in. His pupils were dilated at the sight of his next fix.

"Where was this godsend for the last few days? I've been having withdrawals like no one's business."

"You do." Xavin nodded. "Bacon salt. I understand that bacon and maple work well together as flavors."

"It has been here even if you came while I was not here." The machine was too bulky to haul around conveniently. At least, conveniently without using Super-Skrull powers she was still wary of displaying.

Each of the little espresso shots was poured into a larger cup, so the end result was just a lot of espresso with nothing added. Which, as promised, Xavin offered to him. "I find it difficult to believe Tony Stark does not know how to operate a simple coffee machine."

That was actually teasing, or at least a clumsy attempt at it. The Skrull Empire was more advanced than most of Earth, and Xavin had still almost blown up the machine several times. As well, it seemed doubly important now not to hide. Even if it turned into a fight now, if she didn't hide, she was not acting like a typical Skrull.

"Bacon is fantastic. You know though, I only take maple for the first time here. Which is a shame, really. That stuff is delicious."

He took another sip, but didn't look entirely sold. "Still tastes a little too coffee-y"

Sliding it over his own way, Tony indulged in a long inhale of the sweet roast. Everything else seemed to fade into the background as the scent filled his chest.

"Thank you, oh my goodness." He couldn't have cared less about the clumsy end product or the fact that this person somehow knew his name (he was getting used to that fact anyway). "You wouldn't think so, but it's been a few years." Having said that, he was sure a few seconds with it and he'd put two and two together.

“You are welcome.” He was politer than she might have thought he’d be. And clearly desperate for coffee. Not many people were willing to drink six shots of straight espresso. Xavin considered, not quite biting her lip, then said abruptly, “I am a Skrull. So you know, in case at matters to whether you drink that.”

Tony shot his kind barista a clearly puzzled look over his cup. "You could be six ducks in a trench coat and you would be every bit my Caffeine Goddess right now."

The shockingly bitter drink made his eyes pop and his chest burn in the best way possible. "Whew! Nice. And. Strong."

Xavin blinked. That was not the reaction she'd been expecting. The reaction she'd been expecting had involved sudden Iron Man armor and a repulsor blast to the face that she'd have to block with a force field. Although it was probably nice to be 'Caffeine Goddess'.

He wasn't young, especially - it was not possible that he was from her world and hadn't heard of Skrulls. But Peter did not know either, and he was Spider-Man, so....

Hmm. Xavin shifted briefly into her Skrull form, hardly ever used while she lived among mostly humans. "Does this help you recall?"

"I was trying to avoid too much sweet." Xavin considered, then started on another drink. A little vanilla, some white chocolate, some marshmallow syrup. That plus steamed milk meant that the coffee almost added a toasted sort of flavor rather than necessarily tasting like coffee.

Of course, to Xavin there seemed to be little point in drinking coffee if you didn't like the flavor of coffee. Still, the practice was good.

Another little cup was placed on the counter. "Perhaps this one."

Watching her make a coffee was sort of like watching someone make a potion. Some of it he had no idea what she was putting in. When it was done, he had to admit - he liked the smell.

"That looked really complicated." He proceeded to do the same sort of extravagant taste test as the first. "Not bad. Kind of feels like dessert, though. Is coffee a dessert?"

He looked over at the machine that produced the grounds. "Where'd you learn to do this anyways?"

The burning in his chest shot straight back up his throat and out his nose, and Tony Stark went straight down for the count.

"Recall--agh! Shit...!" He grabbed a handful of napkins and pressed them against every orifice of his face, half-way kneeling on the floor. One would think that working with Bruce Banner on a routine basis would have prepared one for these sorts of things.

“I will take that as ‘no’.” Xavin shifted back to human female, almost not consciously, then grabbed her wet towel (for wiping down) and crossed to the other side to offer it. It was better than napkins, being softer and more absorbent.

“Coffee is often served along with dessert, so yes. It can be dessert.” Certainly there was nothing savory about the white chocolate marshmallow thing.

Xavin looked over at the machine when Scanlan did. “I watched others operate it on Earth with my... friends.” Not family, really, but friends was unlikely to provoke much argument. “When I arrived here, I experimented until it worked corrrectly.”

"Sorry, sorry, God." Taking up the offerings, Tony blew his nose into it hard. Where was the laundry in this place, again? Questions for later.

"I have a...a good friend who does the--" He gestured up and down at Xavin's figure, "The shapeshifting thing. I'm used to it, promise."

"As a dessert coffee, this isn't bad. Could use some alcohol probably." Scanlan wasn't sure he could have a lot of the drink, though, since it was pretty sweet.

"So coffee maker was not your first and original line of work." He nodded. "Well, good for you finding a niche here."

"Brandy or vodka, maybe." A number of dessert-course coffee drinks did have alcohol of some kind in them. Xavin decided that she would look for a book of coffee drinks, or hot alcoholic beverages. There had to be something somewhere.

She smiled briefly at the observation about her original line of work, then replied completely straight-faced, "Yes, it was very pleasant to find a place when I realized there were no openings for 'alien warlord' or 'planetary ruler' here. Thank the Great Ones for coffee."

"There is no need to apologize to me." In fact, Xavin felt bad for startling him so severely. The fear was still there, of course; this was Tony Stark and she'd spent a fair amount of her time with the Runaways being afraid of what would happen if Tony Stark noticed them.

But this was clearly not that Tony Stark, as the Inn's California was not the one where she'd lived with Karolina and the others. "In my world, my appearance would have resulted in violence to me, not violence to your own self. I did not think. Therefore, I apologize to you."

"I don't know. I bet you could try to warlord over us. Or you could run an election and run against Regina - at the very least it will definitely be amusing." He could see Regina very competitive at something like that.

"Alright. So you maybe sold me maybe on dessert coffee. But isn't it supposed to wake me up?"

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 4

[EP] aliens control the coffee supply

Scanlan/Xavin

Re: Scanlan/Xavin

Re: Scanlan/Xavin

Re: Scanlan/Xavin

Tony & Xavin

Re: Tony & Xavin

Re: Scanlan/Xavin

Re: Tony & Xavin

Re: Scanlan/Xavin

Re: Tony & Xavin

Re: Scanlan/Xavin

Re: Tony & Xavin

Re: Tony & Xavin

Re: Tony & Xavin

Re: Tony & Xavin

Re: Scanlan/Xavin

Re: Scanlan/Xavin

Re: Tony & Xavin

Re: Tony & Xavin

Re: Scanlan/Xavin

Re: Tony & Xavin

Re: Scanlan/Xavin

Re: Scanlan/Xavin

Re: Tony & Xavin

Re: Scanlan/Xavin