|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2023 9:25 am
“What? Why?” Riker sputtered in alarm, although he probably had nothing to be alarmed about. She was offering to buy him a coffee which…
She was offering to buy him a coffee? She was offering to buy him coffee??
Sure, they’d just run away from a really freaky looking youma, and he had sacrificed his coffee to distract it. But anyone would do that, right? Oh, or maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe they would have just let someone get eaten by a youma, which was definitely not cool.
Oh, but she was also a bit older than him. Should he tell her he was only fifteen? Did he look older? Maybe she didn’t care. He didn’t care! He didn’t mind an older woman offering to buy him coffee. Should he be the one offering to buy coffee for her?
“I mean,” he sputtered again after his brain caught up with him. He didn’t know how long he’d been standing there and just staring, but he hoped it was just a fraction of a second.
“Yeah, I could be into that,” he forced a grin and lifted his arm so he could use it to lean against the wall outside the store so he could look cool or something, but was a little too far away from a solid surface when he leaned over and nearly stumbled.
He coughed awkwardly and grabbed the handle to the door instead, scrambling to hold it open for her.
“I’m Riker. Do you usually carry around bear spray? Was that bear spray?” he glanced with wide eyes at her bag where he swore he saw her pull out a can. Was that normal? Did girls usually carry stuff like that? Should he be hiding behind the door? No, if she was going to spray him, she would have done that and not offered him coffee.
Probably.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2023 7:03 am
It was difficult for Kaðlín to tell the difference between an actual why and a rhetorical why. To avoid accidentally leaving people in the lurch, she had accepted all of them as actual questions and resolved to answer them accordingly, even if it left her looking foolish or socially inept by doing so. She could live with that, but she didn't want to live with someone misinterpreting her as rude or withholding.
"I thought you would want your coffee back. And I think a good deed deserves another good deed. You didn't have to help me back there, after all." He could have watched, or just gone on about his day without saying anything. She might've escaped on her own, or she might've ended up another story in one of those occult magazines. Either way, she was a stranger, and she was owed nothing from him or anyone else that would call her stranger.
"It's nice to meet you, Riker. I'm Kaðlín, but you can call me anything close enough to that." She shuffled forward in line.
She thought about the bear spray comment. It seemed normal to her, but her normal was usually out in the woods that were either part of bear country or close enough to it that bringing bear spray was prudent. Then there were unscrupulous folks who tried to take advantage of a girl traveling by herself, in which case bear spray was still a deterrent. Not that their faces much appreciated it. "Yeah, it's bear spray. I usually take it with me when I go hiking. I guess I forgot to take it out of my bag.
"What would you like? I'll order for you if you don't mind finding us a seat?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2023 12:52 pm
Well no, he didn’t have to help her out back there. But she would have been eaten. And it wasn’t like anyone he knew was around. And if they were, he would have to deal with it then, but… he would rather not see on the news how she got torn apart by a youma.
His brows furrowed at the name. “What kind of name is that?” he asked before he could stop himself. His ears burned and he coughed awkwardly. “Ka…uh.. Like, Kadlin? Kat-- I’m really not good at foreign names,” he admitted with a grimace.
Oh, but if she was going to actually buy him coffee… and not spray him with bear spray. Maybe he would just avoid saying it so he wouldn’t offend her while she still had the bear spray.
As for what kind of coffee… “Oh, uh…” Should he give her what he would normally drink? Or something more cool? Something that she probably wouldn’t look down her nose at him for….?
“Just… black,” he forced a grin, but was internally dying a little. He wasn’t really into the bitter taste. The hint of coffee was nice, but he would prefer a lot of sugar. “Oh, and make sure they don’t uh… nevermind, it’s fine. Just black,” he second guessed himself.
He wasn’t going to start getting picky about what he was drinking if someone else was getting it for him. He would just have to be careful and hope they didn’t use contaminated spoons for whatever reason. But that was being a little excessive, he knew. It would be fine.
Riker glanced around to find a seat near the back of the little shop, and awkwardly sat down as he waited.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2023 12:41 pm
Kaðlín decided it would be easier to explain the name thing once they were both settled in with their respective drinks. Black coffee sounded like a strong choice that she wouldn't be able to take herself; her stomach felt a little upset just thinking about it. Apart from that, though, his choice was his. She was happy to step up to the counter once it was her turn, ordering a hazelnut cappuccino for herself and a tall black coffee for Riker.
Afterward, she was instructed to stand over by the pick-up counter and wait for her order. In not more than a few minutes, Kaitlin was called for the black coffee and accompanying cappuccino. She forced a polite smile, thanked the baristas for her order, and carried both cups back to the distant seat that Riker had chosen.
Before she sat down, she set his cup in front of him. "Kah-lean," she explained as she slid into the booth across from him. "It's Icelandic, so I don't blame you if it sounds unusual. But like I said, if something else is easier for you, you can call me that, too." She laced her fingers around her own cup, drawing it closer and hemming it between her thumbs. "They just called me Katlin, by the way."
She left the conversation to hang for a moment as she took a sip of her drink. The warm, nutty flavor offset the bitterness of the blonde roast perfectly.
"If I can ask, do you know what that was? In the alley."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2023 9:12 am
This was weird. This was really weird. He wasn’t used to being asked -- told -- he would be getting coffee to repay him for yeeting a cup at a youma. Okay, it was a little more complicated than that (was it?), but still.
He glanced around to see if there was anyone who might have known him or his brother… or his mother… he couldn’t tell. No one seemed like they would have talked to either of them, but he could never be sure. Either way, he was definitely having coffee with an older woman (arguable since she wasn’t that much older than him), so that was cool, right?
Oh, and black coffee was cool, right? Definitely what a grown, mature man would drink. Nothing sweet and delicious. Oh. Like the drink Kaðlín had. It smelled good. Looked much better than the muck he had in his cup, but he lifted it to his lips to force himself to sip anyway. Or at least pretend to.
She’d offered to let him call her something else before, and now as well, but it seemed kind of rude to purposefully call her another name. He would try to work on his pronunciation probably.
“Oh, the youm-- uh…” he paused and glanced around again. His ears were burning. “It’s uh… I mean, it’s not like people who live in this city haven’t seen weird things. So uh… I heard… someone at school -- on the street… someone I don’t know and who definitely doesn’t go to Azure -- uh, or any school that I… definitely don’t go to. Um.”
What was he saying? He wasn’t trying to make it obvious that he knew what they were, and just that he knew... what they were. In a different way.
“Um. I think they’re called… youma. Someone said it. Don’t know who. They might be wrong. Anyway, they’re like… dementors. From that kids book about wizards. But they come in different shapes and some have a lot more teeth and claws than others.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2023 4:21 pm
Kaðlín wasn't particularly observant of other people's behaviors. She knew she was trusting. That she was, often times, gullible. She knew that want to take the face value as the truth might have cost her the opportunity to help her friend skirt a terrible fate. But watching Riker both stumble through and change his story mid-sentence invoked such a sense of secondary embarrassment that she suddenly felt the urge to apologize for him and let him know that he didn't have to say anything.
And then she would hope that he'd take the opportunity as a hint to stop saying anything, because it was blatantly cringeworthy to watch someone stumble through a lie so badly. She couldn't bring herself to say it, though; doing so might have spawned an even greater interpersonal dumpsterfire than the one that was unfolding in front of her.
So she sipped her drink, winced a little as she burnt her tongue, and rubbed the raw sandpapery feeling against the roof of her mouth for a moment. At least, during that time, he got on with talking about it.
"You're talking about Harry Potter?" She asked. She'd never read any of it, though. A quick Google search confirmed the fandom in question, and in it were a few words about the function of these dementors. "They drain peace, hope, and happiness out of people?"Looking up from her phone, her brows lifted in inquiry.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2023 5:36 pm
“Uh… a little more than just peace, hope, and happiness. I’m thinking more about the soul sucking part,” he cringed at the mental image of the scene from the movie that he… he maybe… glanced at when he was a kid but only because it was on TV or something like that, not because he was a child and actually watched children movies! Or something like that.
“They’re bad. So, um. I don’t have anything else to compare them to. Maybe chupacabras? Wait, no, they’re not vampire creatures. And they would go after people, not goats. I think. I’m not entirely sure what else their food source is.”
He was rambling. He felt awkward already but she was making him maybe delve into things he shouldn’t. But she deserved to know some and be safe!
“Look, some are just… dangerous. They’re like rabid animals, but worse. There’s like, crazy costumed vigilantes that live in the city and attack them, so just let them do their job. It’s best to just get out of the way. But don’t be surprised if you see some pretty weird outfits.”
Oh yeah, that was definitely going to help her out and not make it more confusing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2023 5:02 am
Kaðlín wanted to grimace, but she just stared at him instead. Soul-sucking sounded… Generally bad. She had no idea what kind of bad, she didn't know if people died without their souls, or if they became zombies instead, or if they somehow regrew new ones after a while. In all, it boiled down to something precious being taken from someone, and Kaðlín couldn't help but wonder if they were still able to bounce back from that.
And she didn't know anything about chupacabras, so she took out her phone long enough to Google the name so the inevitable Wikipedia page would be accessible for her later. She nodded, though the understanding wasn't there. She'd learn later, though.
But even without knowing about chupacabras (which apparently ate goats), there was something important to take home from Riker's message — they largely went after people. That made sense if they wanted souls, and was almost relieving for Kaðlín due to the implication that they were leaving animals alone. It was still distressing and intolerable that they went after people, but she was glad the animals were spared. If they were animals themselves, though, Kaðlín didn't know how to rectify her feelings on the matter. They sounded like Riker considered them monsters from fairytales or fantasy worlds, though.
It was a lot to think on. Kaðlín sipped her cappuccino, though her mind was so preoccupied that she didn't notice the flavor.
The next bit of information complicated the matter further. It reminded her of that show her sister watched off and on. Ruby or something? It had a group of anime girls in bizarre, flashy outfits that fought things that looked like monsters. She couldn't remember what they were called in the story, but those monsters only ever seemed to go after people, and they were considered universally bad because of it. "I think I know what you're talking about," she admitted with a nod. "My sister watched a show kind of like that."
But it was just so hard to think that it could be so close to real life. She didn't know Riker; they'd just met. He could be leading her on for a laugh, but Kaðlín didn't think he was. He seemed genuinely perturbed by the thing in the alleyway earlier, and sounded quite convinced that it wasn't actually a rabid or hungry animal.
"Okay," she agreed after a beat. "If I see any of them, I'll let them do their thing. And thanks, again, for your help back there."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2023 7:40 am
She was the quiet type that made Riker unsure of what she was thinking about. It made him squirm a little with anxiety but that was okay. It was better than her telling him she knew his brother and was going to report how uncool he was to him.
Although, he knew that sounded pretty crazy in his head. Maybe he was a little obsessed, but he couldn’t exactly help it when his life literally revolved around his brother from the day he was born.
But that wasn’t anything he was going to mention to a stranger. Especially if she didn’t know Beckett. Thank goodness.
“Yeah yeah, no problem. But, um… I think I’m gonna get some sugar added to this,” he grimaced as he glanced down at his very bitter and, in his opinion, disgusting tasting black coffee. Since she didn’t know his brother, he could be a little uncool.
“Be right back,” he promised, although he was also relieved that she seemed to be taking his warning seriously. And maybe if he saw her again he could at least wave hi without the world exploding or something dramatic. That would be nice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
