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Friendly Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 9:06 pm
The waitress hovered momentarily while Huan Yi ordered the hamburger for both herself and Tsuji, asking for a slight increase in the side order of fries knowing of the child's like of them. The older teen girl smiled and tapped the notepad with her pen.
"I'll be right back with your drinks, then." She moved off without another word or glance, likely focused on her task, but the Chinese girl seated at the table inwardly breathed sigh of relief. Just by a brief look when she had finally drawn her eyes up from the table to give her order showed her all she had needed to know about this stranger: tall, pretty, confident, a people person. Things she felt that she sorely lacked.
However the waitress was lacking an Ashe, and Tsuji did not let any foul mood or awkward silences sit unnoticed, as pointed out by the smiles her comment on Huan Yi's blushing had earned from most of the table's occupants. She dragged her eyes up to look at Tier with her mouth forming a timid smile.
"... I'm glad you accepted, then." And she did feel grateful. Tonight was rather lucky, she ventured to think, perhaps even meant to happen-- no no. No thoughts like that now, she chastised herself. They will only lead to trouble.. and silly fantasies. In the back of her mind, she'd already played up the encounter just a little, comparing this older, cool-seeming man to a prince who has come to rescue her.. but it was a silly notion and she knew it. Still, the thought lingered, and she amused herself with the mental image. Meanwhile Tsuji fiddled with the countertop radio dials, flipping through the small selection and staring at the scribbles written on the cards without comprehending.
"Mama, I need some coins." She knew what this machine did and where to put the money, and how to get music to play from it. Not being learned enough to read yet, she amused herself with pressing the buttons, curious as to what kind of sound will come out. Something slow? Something fast? Huan Yi fished through her coat pockets and dug out a couple of quarters, pressing them into the child's expectant palm. "Salem, help me pick some of these." She indicated the keypad. "We need three.. three, right?" Her guardian nodded.
The coins jingled as they went down and the knob was turned, and the Ashe's attention was now fully on the machine, leaving Huan Yi to answer Tier's questions about why they were out so late.
"W-We had to go to the store." The stutter returned with a vengeance, and once again her eyes met the table. "William was pulling an all-nighter to help the school he works at.. t-they're preparing papers for testing.. and he ran out of coffee, so I volunteered. It was my fault really." Her cheeks flushed a light pink.
"He shoulda gotten it himself." Tsuji muttered, still flipping through the small selections, amused by the busy click as the pages passed. Click-click-click.
"W-William is my brother," Huan Yi replied suddenly, and she even detected the small urgent quiver in her voice. Why was this so important to clarify? Luckily the conversation shifted to the topic of eating out, and Tsuji took the opportunity to break the silence with something other than her pressing of buttons.
"Not really." The blue Asheling pressed her hands against the table edge for balance's sake as she tried to reposition herself, legs tucked beneath her. "Mama cooks a lot. But it's okay since it's all good stuff. 'Cept for that fishy sandwich stuff, anyway." Her guardian laughed nervously and shook her head at the child's praise (well, mostly praise anyway - nice to know her opinion on tuna salad sandwiches).
"M-My skills are a work in progress a-at best, but eating at home is a little more convenient." Huan Yi's hands rested on the tabletop and she linked her fingers together. "My brother brought me to this restaurant shortly after I moved in with him.. i-if you are ever looking for places to eat. T-There's also a cafe closer towards downtown that I go to on occasion. But otherwise.. we don't get out too often." She half-wanted to invite them over for dinner sometime, but that would be going too far. Be realistic, now.
"We go to the park sometimes though," Tsuji interjected. "We went a couple of times.. dunno where else though.." She frowned at the thought and folded her tiny arms across her chest as she tried to remember back. The session surfaced no new memories though, and she turned her glance to her guardian with a pleading in her eyes that matched her voice. "Mamaaaa, can we go out again tomorrow?"
"W-We'll see." She rested a hand on top of Tsuji's hat and patted it softly, before diverting the child's attention just a little. "We'll have to see what's convenient wherever we go next." In all honestly she was a little surprised that she was ready to head out into parts unknown so soon after an encounter like the one they had just had. Huan Yi personally wanted to hide out for at least a week, and her stomach still did sharp flutters at the thought of what could have been.
Then again, remembering how the child had reacted to the encounter in comparison to her own reaction.. maybe it wasn't that surprising.
Tsuji turned in the seat to face Salem more directly. "We're moving soon." She nodded matter-of-factly. "The apartment people are.. uhm.." Her face scrunched up in thought, and her tiny fingers drummed on the edge of the table. "Re.. rena.. ?"
"'Renovating,' or fixing up." Huan Yi finished the sentence moreso for Tsuji's benefit rather than any explanations towards their two guests. Her charge gave a long, slow nod, that revealed that she still didn't quite understand but wouldn't ask any further, seeing as it didn't matter much to her anyway. Instead she changed gears and turned the conversation around. The waitress arrived with drinks and mozzarella sticks in hand, and the divying up of the goods went mostly unacknowledged by the child. "Careful, it's hot." Her hands gingerly grasped the porcelain mug as it was pushed her way, but she kept her attention on her companion seated across the way.
"D'you live around here?" The note was hopeful, the fact of their imminent move removed from her mind. "Maybe we can play sometime." The smile she showed so often crossed her features and she happily raised the cup to her lips. In her eagerness she took more than she could handle and the liquid scorched her mouth. "Nnngnghh!!" Bright yellow eyes welled up with pained tears as she rocked on her knees.
"D-Don't drink so fast!" Huan Yi cried in surprise. She shook her head and the expression wore to one of slight helplessness, until a crinkle of amusement lit her gaze when Tsuji turned towards her with tears welling in her eyes, a beautiful whipped cream mustache unintentionally smeared on her upper lip.
Lack of tact was something that definitely ran in their odd little family.
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 1:48 pm
Tier gave a brief smile to the waitress, nodding his thanks before his attention was given to Huan Yi again. It was a bit unusual; the waitress was attractive, not too much younger than himself, and if he were here alone or without a female companion, he likely would have stared more. The waitress certainly had, if only for a moment, but really, it wouldn't have been fair to give more attention to the stranger than he was to Huan Yi, also a stranger but a far more acceptable one.
He felt himself give a hearty sigh, smile growing when she said she was grateful. Cute. Way too cute. If it weren't for Tsuji's timely interjection, he probably would have stared at her a little too long.
"Ah..." was Salem's response to being called for assistance, and briefly he glanced at Tier before sitting himself up and tucking his legs beneath himself to lean across the table, same as Tsuji. The words written on the cards that flipped around as the blue haired girl pressed the buttons were completely foreign, looking like meaningless symbols to the Ashe. Could Tsuji decipher them or was she as clueless as he was? If not, he would be of no help, but he could always pick one that looked kind of interesting.
The contraption was foreign to the small boy, a shiny metal outside with a light on the inside to illuminate the pieces of laminated paper inside that listed who knows what. And the coins, weren't those necessary to get things? Were they giving the machine coins to do something or give them something in return? Each time the card flipped inside, it gave a loud click in time with the button and it caused Salem to flinch several times before he got used to it. Scrunching his eyebrows together, he leaned forward and very slightly pulled down his sunglasses so he could get a better look at the strange scribbles. Sounds of thought, "uhs" and "ums", came from him as he fumbled for thoughts. It was useless, really, there was no way he could truly choose something this way, so the only course of action was to pick at random.
A gloved finger clumsily tapped against the glass separating them from the choices, first withdrawing immediately as if he thought the machine would react and n** at him, but returning and resting at his choice when he was certain it would do no such thing. "Th-this?" he offered, looking at Tsuji with his white pupils as they peaked over his black frames. She probably wouldn't agree with the choice, but if that was the case, he could go back to sitting normally and she could choose something much better.
The two guardians spoke with one another, Tier largely remaining silent but nodding and keeping eye contacting to show he was, indeed, listening, and occasionally he would make a comment to fill in any silent gaps where Tsuji didn't speak herself. "Oh," Tier responded as Huan Yi explained who this 'William' guy was. Without that explanation, the thought had drifted by of whether or not it was her boyfriend, most certainly, but he felt some weight lift off of his shoulders when she proved that to be false. "Your names are very different, is he adopted?" That was what he could figure, anyway, unless her parents had named their Asian son and English name, which was quite possible. It was likely he was far off base.
"Ah, I can't cook much," he laughed, leaning back in the cushiony booth bench, "I can do the basics okay; soup, pasta, grilled cheese, mac and cheese," again he chuckled at his lack of skill, resting an elbow on the table and his chin in his hand, "Enough to get by, but Salem and I usually get take out. I'm trying to stop that since it's getting expensive and home made stuff is usually healthier." If it weren't for the young fae child now in his care, Tier would have continued such habits with not a care, but he supposed it was something like 'eating for two'; you had to make sure to take care of the other and not just yourself.
The both of them listened intently when the apartment was mentioned, and Tier frowned slightly in confusion. Did the renovations force them to move or did they just not want to stay during it and it was a temporary relocation? These musings were interrupted by the waitress returning with their orders, Tier taking the container of mozzerella sticks and setting it in the middle of the table for all to grab at. He assisted with drinks, as well, passing Salem's to him and taking his own before the waitress set them down. When thanking her, he repeated her name, which seemed to have gotten her attention but as soon as she look to give him a smile, he was setting a napkin for Salem. Parenthood also made you ignore things like that, which he would normally jump on in an instant.
Salem watched the steam rise from his mug of hot chocolate for a short while, listening to Tsuji speak. He glanced over to Tier, who had asked for the same thing as the two children, and observed his guardian blow on the drink a few times, making the steam lessen before taking a short sip. The purple haired Ashe mimicked this, holding onto his mug with both hands and leaning forward to blow on it, but he tensed up when Tsuji chugged hers down without a second thought, only to squirm and yelp.
Huan Yi and Tier seemed to react the same way, though he stood up and leaned over the table to offer a napkin, unsure if she had spilled in the process of burning her poor tiny throat. The whipped cream covering her mouth brought the laughter, though Salem was still petrified in his seat, staring at Tsuji with intense sympathy, his own eyes glistening slightly with the same tears. "Be careful," Tier chuckled, handing the small girl the napkin to clean her mouth off and sitting back down.
In all of the commotion, Salem had nearly forgotten what Tsuji had asked, but decided it might be best to answer it now, perhaps as a distraction to her embarrassment and pain. He would let his hot chocolate cool off just a little longer. "Um, w-we live in an apartment, too... A c-couple, um..." fumbling with his words, he turned to look over his shoulder and pointed towards one of the walls, "Over there."
Tier picked up where he left off, reaching over to ruffle Salem's hood slightly, "We live in the Regent's Fall apartments, just a couple blocks back." He couldn't help but smile at the fact that Tsuji seemed interested in meeting Salem again. He had met one other child, a strange one in the snow all by himself, but neither hit it off and they never saw him again. The boy, Faustus, didn't express interest in seeing Salem again, either, but in the same day, another child, another... whatever it was they were, wanted to be with Salem.
"M-maybe... When you move, we c-could...?" It was hard for him to express, but Salem was moved by Tsuji's interest. The empathetic tears that had come when she burned her mouth were replaced with a much more grateful glistening, and Salem quickly pushed his sunglasses back up to hide it. Maybe Tsuji could come and see their home one day. To him, it was the best place in the world. "It'd be...nice..."
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Friendly Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 7:17 pm
"Sounds good!" Tsuji hummed her approval and reached over to tap a finger on the glass that separated them from the sheet of their choice. There was a moment of squinting at the shapes, eyes darting back and forth from the keypad to the selection, but it ended up being in vain and she turned to Huan Yi with a pleading in her eyes and a wheedling noise on her tongue. The Chinese girl withdrew her attention from the man across from her and glanced over the selection that rested under Salem's timid finger and Tsuji's more demanding one. After a moment she reached over and pressed the buttons, smiling at the two of them, before returning to the conversation at hand. A moment passed, before a grainy beat issued from the jukebox's speakers. The song was undoubtedly old, a couple decades old at least, but the melody and voice were pleasant. Tsuji nodded her head to the song and a smile crossed her lips. She didn't know the tune but she certainly liked it, and her smile said as much when she flashed it to the timid Asheling across the table. "I like it. Whatcha think, Salem?"
Seeing the two of them together made Huan Yi feel lighter for some reason. It seemed like their little foursome were becoming fast friends, most definitely her and Tier's young charges. Tsuji's presence in her life had brought so many interesting people, and she mused on where it might take her. She drifted lazily in the thought until Tier's question gently brought her back to earth. Oh.. William, that's right.
"I'm the adopted one, actually." She smiled. "His parents were family friends, so they took me in after I lost mine. William works as a teacher at the junior high." A momentary ripple of discomfort made itself known in the back of her mind, but she did well in not showing it outwardly (having had much practice). It was still so strange, adjusting to life without Mr. and Mrs. Egan, and even though William was there, things had just changed so rapidly. The cottage didn't belong to them anymore, and the loss of the only parents she completely remembered probably contributed to a lot of her culture shock when she moved to the city. Regardless this was a path she'd gone down a number of times, and this certainly wasn't the time nor place to be thinking of it. With doo-wop on the jukebox and good company, there was no place for entertaining gloomy thoughts. "What do you do for work, Tier?"
A lightening of the mood came with Tsuji burning her tongue, and Huan Yi's giggle at her small mustache eased her. The Ashe girl gratefully accepted the napkin from Tier and cast Salem what she hoped to be a reassuring look.
"Thanks," she replied from a burning mouth, and set to work wiping up some of the hot chocolate that had spilled onto her lips. Her tongue traced the edge of the whipped mustache though, and with a sneaky smile her fingers came up and cleared it away, tucking the foam into her mouth. The sight of Salem's obvious distress at her pain made her insides squirm, but she couldn't place the exact feeling. It was a good squirm though, most definitely. "Don't worry about it, I'm okay!" One hand curled into a thumbs up, hoping that that would let him know things were A-OK.
The conversation shifted then as the song tinkered on, this time to the subject of apartments. The knowledge that Tier and Salem lived nearby exhilarated both Ashe and guardian, but the simultaneous knowledge that they were preparing to move tempered things. "Hopefully this time we'll find a place without a hidden asbestos problem." Would chance ever bring them together again? But where Huan Yi doubted, Tsuji came in on a wave of optimism.
"Yeah it would! And we'll play again, I betcha." She said this with finality and accompanied it with an enthusiastic nod. "We'll just haveta give you guys our phone number." At this she looked towards her parent figure, who nodded with just as much enthusiasm, although she didn't quite realize it. Between moments of fanciful thoughts, the child sometimes surprised her with the suggestion of something pratical. And she was supposed to be the parent figure.
"I-It would be a pleasure." Immediately Huan Yi ripped off a piece of the napkin that cushioned her water glass and fished the pen from her coat pocket. "Perhaps you c-could come for dinner? I would love to cook for you both.. if you'd like that." A couple of writing attempts produced ink and she wrote, frantically, excitedly. Tsuji's eyes followed the pen, and the two shared a mutual excitement at another meeting.
The waitress appeared again and interrupted her scribbling much sooner than expected, this time with arms laden with plates. She cheerfully doled up the dishes and flashed a sweet smile as she did so. Huan Yi's envy of such a smile wouldn't leave - she wondered if Tier noticed how much the waitress was eyeing him?
"I'll be back to check on you." The girl turned on her heels and disappeared into the kitchen, and both Tsuji and Huan Yi stared at the burger. The Ashe eyed it hungrily as the guardian picked up the knife and set to work sawing it in half. She grabbed it up immediately and took a large bite out of her half, chewing slowly and watching the two across with wide eyes. The boy across from her was quiet, but it wasn't an offensive quiet. On the contrary, it was a rather comfortable quiet. She most definitely wanted to see him again.
"When d'you think we can play again?" She asked, making sure to swallow before doing so (she hated how Huan Yi scolded about talking with your mouth full). She didn't want to be pushy, but she was eager to set up the next playdate. She wanted something to look forward to.
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