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 Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 9:32 pm
Dari grinned. It was good that Maia could still get excited over something through her nerves. Even better, Lorien was fairly commonly one of the people to work with clients in schooling. To have her know another person would undoubtedly help.
He walked with Maia to the table where a rather large man sat, tall and broad of shoulder. His biceps were clearly built-up. He was eating breakfast and reading the newspaper.
"Lorien," Dari said, smiling and touching the man's shoulder. Lorien turned up and smiled. He was a man with brown hair and a well-trimmed brown beard and might have seemed entirely normal were his eyes not a slightly bizarre shade of blue-green and his ears not gently pointed.
Lorien looked to Maia and lifted a hand to wave. "Hello! I bet you're the new selkie, aren't you?" He stood only to gesture to the other chairs at the table: "Sit down, join me!" He would sit after his table-guests had taken their seats.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 12:48 am
Maia followed Dari with interest, but paused when they came to a large man. Huh. An elf? Did they normally grow facial hair? The selkie wasn't particularly sure; She hadn't heard much about them. Children seemed to talk more about the tiny elves who made shoes or caused trouble. And especially the ones who worked for this fat guy in a red suit. Maia had been asked many times if She believed in him.
She still wasn't sure about that.
Lorien seemed friendly, friendly enough that the selkie found herself liking him immediately. She set her plate down on the table and returned his smile. "That's right. I'm Maia." She sat down and looked to Dari before saying, "They said you're an elf. How do you know about me?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 9:54 am
Dari sat politely and Lorien continued.
"I'm in the Research division, so I was one of the people in charge of going over your video." A thousand times. Really he could probably act it out with a few of his colleagues, complete with the shocked musings of the camera operator. He was part of the reason they had gone out to rescue her before anything bad happened.
He leaned over the table to offer Maia his hand to shake briefly and smiled.
"I'm Lorien, if you couldn't tell. You can call me 'Lori' or 'that guy' or whatever you want, really." He shook her hand and returned to his breakfast a bit but left his newspaper folded on the table. "It's nice to finally meet you."
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 10:20 am
Oh. So that's how he'd known about her: Maia would have to get used to that. Toby had said they'd looked over the video so often that they'd been able to tell it was real. At least, that was what she'd thought debunk meant.
She took his hand and shook it.
"I guessed Dari wasn't calling you that for fun," she said. "Lori then. Nice to meet you too." She began to cut her waffles into pieces. "Do you think Toby will join us for breakfast?" she asked, glancing at Dari.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 10:46 am
Lorien nodded and offered another smile. His personality certainly counteracted his gruff exterior, but anyone willing to have a conversation with him would find that out.
At the change in subject, the elf turned his gaze toward the clock on the wall. They'd all have to set off for their shift soon enough. He turned back to take part in the conversation and listened.
Dari shook his head. "Toby tends to eat at home. He does know where we are, though, and I'm sure you'll see him before you start classes."
"Oh, hey, you're here for schooling? We'll almost definitely be working together, then," Lori offered.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 11:16 am
So Toby ate at home. Hum. Well there went that idea. "You told him?" She asked. She hadn't heard Dari call him. "Good." She glanced at Lori, pausing briefly. If he was teaching, she didn't think she'd mind it as much as she'd thought previously.
"Yeah, Toby thought I should," she said. "Do you teach? What classes? Dari told me he's going to teach me to read and write in English. I can in Gaelic. But I don't think computers translate into it."
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 11:31 am
Dari nodded. Yes, he'd told him.
"It's always good to go back out with more information than you came in, even if it's only the simple things," Lorien agreed, "Gaelic's a rough one. It's considered a dying language and I don't think I know of a single computer that can translate it correctly. English is useful. I usually do more of the racial information and human studies myself. I was raised amongst humans, unlike a good amount of fae." He offered another smile and ate a bite of his own waffle. "What are you thinking about taking?"
Of course they were discussing it like an actual class, but it wasn't always so formal. Usually you went with someone and had a discussion about certain subjects, asked questions and were offered answers. How to balance a checkbook and find a job were not really whole-day events. Language studies, though, that was more formal.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 11:43 am
"I haven't really thought about it." To be honest, Maia had given more thought on how to get out of schooling than what she might be interested in learning. "Reading and writing, of course. What else is there?" He'd grown up among humans? Maia couldn't imagine that. While she'd spent a large amount of time with human children, she rarely had paid attention to the happenings beyond the beach.
"I'm interested in other fae," she said. "Well fae and other creatures. I've never met another fae, at least up to yesterday. And that Kelpie, but he doesn't really count." She took a bite of her waffle, considering. She swallowed. "How to blend in more might be nice, too."
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 11:50 am
"Sure, we can do that. Mostly it's just the basics of surviving within the social structure of humanity; how to handle money, how to get a job, certain facets of social interaction and such." Lori nodded. "I bet you'll catch on quick, though. You seem an intelligent sort."
It was then that Toby appeared, dressed in his suit and headed toward the trio at the table. Dari was fantastically easy to spot in a crowd when he wasn't made-up. He walked briskly to them and invited himself to sit.
"Hey! Toby!" Lori greeted him, patting him on the back, "How are things?"
"Pretty good," Toby said with a smile, and then turned to Maia, "Hello again. How was your first night?" Dari gave him a look that said maybe he shouldn't have asked.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 12:24 pm
Maia nodded in understanding. So she'd be taught how to use and make money. "I am," she agreed. "I've handled money before, but not large amounts. Enough to buy burgers and things. I spent a lot of time talking to children. But they seem much easier to talk to." They were humans not yet confined by the things society demanded of them.
She looked up when Toby sat down, flashing him a smile. At his question though, the smile faded. She focused on her plate and began to eat, ignoring the presence of the three men.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 12:47 pm
Lori nodded. "Kids are definitely easier to deal with. Unfortunately banks don't tend to employ them." He smiled.
Then things got... strange. He had no knowledge of Maia's first night himself, but obviously it hadn't gone all that well. The three men exchanged glances, unsure how to fix the situation and draw Maia back in.
"That good, huh?" Toby finally asked, and he nudged her foot under the table. "Hey. It does get better."
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 1:07 pm
Maia looked up. She frowned at Toby and sent a kick towards the foot that nudged her. "If you think I'm staying another night in that room..." She muttered. At least she was staying with Dari tonight. It had been easier last night with him there. Swimming had made it easier. She took another bite of her waffle, swallowed and glanced to Lori.
"I think children are smarter about some things. Maybe not money or things humans find particularly important. Pieces of paper and such. They still believe in magic. It always made me sad to watch them grow up into people who'd say it'd all been a game."
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 1:33 pm
Hey! Toby's face was clearly startled. He hadn't been expecting to receive a kick for what he thought was an attempt at comfort. Well fine, then. It must have been really bad. He kept quiet after that. Even Lori was a little surprised, but he continued the conversation in hopes of recovering normalcy.
"Kids haven't gotten all those lessons about what they're supposed to think yet. They're people purely working on their own beliefs, and people aren't born thinking other people are bad 'just because.'"
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 1:51 pm
"I like them better without the lessons." Why would humans want to teach their offspring to be judgemental nonbelievers? Magic was a wonderful thing: but she supposed it was to their benefit. If every human knew, there'd be a line of them covering the entire world waiting for magical solutions to their problems.
"Dari invited me to his apartment tonight, you should come too," she invited Toby. She gave him an apologetic expression. "Can he Dari? Can he come?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 2:15 pm
Lori nodded. "I think the world might be a better place without them."
Of course that didn't just apply to magic and supernatural creatures, but to everyone in general. As far as the people around him knew, he was human. No questions asked. An adult taking the chance to ask would likely get a story about body modifications and being young and stupid once, but kids? All kids needed was a wink, and they knew.
Toby turned to look at Maia with even more surprise on his face. Really? She had just kicked him under the table and now she wanted to have a sleep-over? Dari just turned to the selkie and nodded. "Of course he can."
"Uh." That was about as specific an answer as Toby could manage at the moment.
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