OPEN LOG

[angelskills]

WHO: Colette and YOU! And you, and you. And why not, you too.
WHAT: Open tea parlor log! Come and get some delicious tea and glorious CR.
WHEN: Anytime within the past two weeks? If you'd like a specific date just throw it in the subject line.
WHERE: Posies Tea Parlor! Located near LCU, about 5-10 minutes walking distance.
WHY: Let's make some FRIENDS or something.



[ The past few months have been difficult, to say the last. For her, and for Locke City itself. The city she grew up in... even though lately she had these vivid, oh so vivid memories of a small town where all the children shared one school room - and a church, some deity that she didn't recognize, a house surrounded by flowers...

A place vastly different from Locke. A place that, in an odd way, she felt nostalgic for.

The shop is empty at the moment and deathly quiet as she polishes a pretty tea cup clean from behind the counter, blonde hair falling over her shoulders as she works. Every slight noise within a reasonable distance rings in her ears but it's no longer intolerable. The shelves and shelves of books around the parlor are somewhat disheveled; it's clear she was cleaning through them before getting distracted by the cups.

It's quiet, but the city is far from still itself, and after a moment she places the cup into the rack of variously colored and sized teacups and begins to sweep the floor. ]

Comments

[angelskills]

Is it? Well... it's probably not the easiest thing in the world, huh? Or finding somewhere else...

...

[ She pauses as she pours the tea, filling two cups to just below the brim. ]

Do you want to leave?

[espigeonage]

It takes money, that's for sure. And it helps to know there's gonna be a job, wherever you're going. I know some uni students are putting in to transfer to different schools.

[Leaning back in his chair, Julien crosses his legs at the ankles and exhales deeply, a breath that takes about twenty seconds. He smiles, but faintly.]

I've thought about it! But I can't leave yet. Can't turn my back on what's happening, or my friends.

[angelskills]

[ She rests the cups on a tray so she can carry them over to his table, stepping slowly so she doesn't trip, being the klutz she is. ]

Mm... well keep strong, right? Even when things get tougher.

[ Because, for some reason, she knows things will get tougher. ]

I'd like to convince my parents to leave, but I don't think they ever will.

[espigeonage]

Of course. [he sounds mildly startled.] You can't ever stop trying.

[Julien starts to lean back, then shifts directions and leans forwards, clasping his hands together on the table before him, slightly concerned about the tray.]

Heh. Some people are just stubborn, huh? [He knows he's not just talking about her parents. It's in his smile.]

[angelskills]

[ She gots it, she gots it. Mostly. It goes down onto the table without a spill, somehow, and she plops down in the chair across from him. There's still no one here; the shop feels empty, and their only company is the wind howling against the glass windows. ]

We know a lot of stubborn people, I think.

[espigeonage]

[Ah, good. Julien reaches across the table and two-handedly takes both cups and saucers off the tray, setting one before her, bringing the other to him. He inhales the steam gratefully.]

Mmm. Well, that's hardly a bad thing. Well behaved people rarely make history, right?

[angelskills]

Well, some do.

[ BUT THEY USUALLY DIE... ]

But there are certainly more troublemakers!

[ Not that The Numbers Club is full of troublemakers, per se.. ]

How have things been, Julien?

[ Aka, deets?? ]

[espigeonage]

True!

[He adds a little bit of sugar and stirs in a desultory fashion.]

I've been okay. [Like he'd say anything else.] Still taking care of the sick birds, but there's fewer of those now, and I have a better idea of what I'm doing. Hah. It was kind of touch and go at first. Now if I go out in certain areas, some of them come to say hi.

[angelskills]

[ Like she'd expect anything else, either. ]

I see. That's great! That there are less of them getting sick, and that you're figuring things out.

[ She pauses to take a sip of tea, not adding anything to hers beforehand. ]

Anything else?

[espigeonage]

It's harder to find ones that can't take care of themselves now. Birds like to hide that they're sick and when they finally can't anymore, that means it's pretty serious. [Pot, kettle.] If you do find one that like can't fly well, or is sluggish, tell me, all right?

[He blows on the surface of his tea, steaming his glasses opaque.]

...damn, you'd think I'd remember that this happens by now. [They start to clear. Julien smiles crookedly.] I told the network a while back that my sister's moving away.

[angelskills]

... Mm. A lot of people are moving, from what I've heard.

[ And, unfortunately, her family isn't among them. Too stubborn were they, especially Grannie, who had nothing but the tea shop left to her name. ]

I don't blame them.

[espigeonage]

Yeah...

[He cups his hands together around his tea.]

Cece said she has her daughter to worry about. And the bombing really shook her. I know... she was in New York, a decade ago. School trip. So, maybe she wouldn't have stayed even without Val.