Participants:
| Scene Title | Coffee With Future Plans For Crazy |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | The two women meet properly for the first time. Family and future plans of partying at discussed. Lu might have just gained a potential new friend. |
| Date | March 20, 2011 |
A Coffee Shop
The rain clouds of the night before have cleared, and the day is bright and sunny, brisk and chilly. Nora's cheeks are ruddy from the walk to the coffee shop as she approaches the counter of the classic style coffee shop, complete with a waitress in a yellow poof-sleeved dress with an apron, her name in loopy cursive "Marguerite" across the chest.
It's not the ambience Nora wants — just the caffeine. And at $1 for a cup of coffee with as many refills as one could hope for, it's much cheaper than the $4 joe at Starbucks.
The teen lowers herself onto one of the low stools and picks up the upside down coffee mug to right to indicate that, yes, she'd like some coffee, please.
It's been three days since the ballroom fiasco took place and even though the worst of the effect of the concussion she received that night are over.. she still has a pretty huge headache and bright lights make her a bit dizzy. And so there she is, Lucille Ryans, sitting not but one stool away from Nora and as the teen sits and gets her coffee. Lucille takes a sip from her coffee as well.
Hair let down and falling down to her shoulders, her light grey eyes are covered by a pair of aviator Ray Bans. Ray Bans are her favorite brand and she almost never leaves the house without them. Dressed in a dark red tank top and a pair of nicely fitted dark jeans, her booted feet hang. On the stool next to Lucille, in between Nora and she is a dark brown leather jacket that Lucille was wearing outside.
Sighing, she runs a hand through her hair and gulps down some more coffee. She bet her dad got a few injuries when he first started being all badass, maybe.. just maybe she can learn to be like him.
ORDER: Tasha Lucille
The coffee filled in her cup by the apathetic waitress who goes back to text messaging once she makes sure all her customers are taken care of, Nora pours cream but has to look around for the sweetener container — the little ceramic box holding the various packets is closer to Lucille.
The teen murmurs, "Pardon me," as she nods to the container, then reaches to slide it so it rests between them rather than right in front of Lucille. She pulls out four packets of regular sugar, and tears them to tap into her coffee. "Thanks," she adds with a polite smile.
"No problem hun." Lu says softly, a barely there smile on her lips as she turns her head to nod gently at Nora. But then she blinks and slowly lifts the shades from covering her eyes. "Are you.." she trails off and rubs her chin. "You look terribly familiar. Like I should really know where I've seen you before." The former model says to Nora before taking another sip of her coffee.
Lu isn't a regular at this place so it can't be here that they've seen each other. Or well, Lucille was doing the seeing. Nora was more of feeling about. "I'm sorry, I just got my head smacked pretty damn hard a few days ago. I could be mistaking you for someone else." She waves her hand off and takes another sip of her coffee.
Though she continues to give Nora that stare that she must know her, she's just trying to connect the dots in her head.
Being told she looks familiar isn't something Nora wants to hear here, so she gives Lucille a bit of a wary glance — perhaps enough of one to hint to Lucille where she's seen the younger woman. "I have one of those faces, probably," she says with a shrug, lifting the coffee to take a sip and putting her dollar and some change on the counter to pay for it and a small tip. The waitress looks irritated — coffee drinkers who require refills but don't order food are the bane of her existence, her expression says as she comes by to sweep up the currency.
"Sorry you got hurt," Nora adds. "Head trauma is the worst."
"Yeah.. guess you're right." Lucille shrugs lightly and is drinking her coffee, watching Nora out of the corner of her eye, "Tell me about it, I thought things were trippy when I took acid that one time but this.. definitely takes the cake." Lu replies and then she's blinking and nodding her head more as she finally suspects where she's seen Nora.
Leaning in for a second to whisper, "The island?" If Nora didn't know what she was talking about then she would probably think Lucille is insane, which works if Luc is wrong about where she's seen this woman before. An eyebrow arches at Nora with a question. Hmm?
Dark eyes narrow at the question and Nora takes another sip of her coffee, trying to consider her response. The odds that it's a trap when the woman was already in the coffee shop before her — are not impossible. If Lucille's a telepath, the 'island' could have come from Nora's own memories and thoughts. Her brows twitch and she glances down at her coffee cup, still mostly full, a bit longingly. If she abandons it, it will be the second thing she's paid for and not gotten to enjoy in less than a day.
"I … should go," Nora says, taking another swallow of the coffee and wincing a little at the heat, before setting the mug down again.
"No wait." Throwing a hand out but not actually touching the teen, Lucille winces at the sudden movement but looks at Nora. "I just didn't remember you from before, you were the.. blind girl right?" Lucille is struggling to remember and her current condition isn't helping at all. "I wasn't there for long, my dad and sister are apart of that group? Delia and Benjamin Ryans?"
At her own mentioning of her family, Lu frowns and looks back down at her mug. Putting her hand down on the counter. "Sorry if I freaked you out. I guess I got excited, haven't seen them in a while."
A sigh and then she's drinking the last of her coffee. She needs it, she hasn't been sleeping right for the past three days.
Oh. Nora relaxes a little, though she whispers shhh at the names. Not that they're in earshot of many people. "Yeah. Sorry. I just… I don't want to be the one who screws things up," Nora says quietly. "I remember now. I mean, I remember that there was another of you, anyway." Her cheeks flush a little with the awkwardness, trying to talk secretly in an open place.
"I'm Nora," she says, finally, a little more confidently. "No longer the blind girl." She smiles a little at that.
Lu looks over her shoulder and then back to Nora with a light smile, "Lucille." She offers in a softer tone. "Trust me, I understand. Things are crazy around here, you can never know who you can really trust." She chuckles softly and gestures for the waitress to fill her mug back up. She puts on her most dazzling smile, it worked for photographers and bouncers at clubs. It's like, 'hey sorry you don't want to be here.. but can I have some coffee.' Kind of smile.
"Are there many people here on the mainland now?" Another brief look over her shoulder but nobody is there to listen to them.
Nora shrugs and pushes her cup out too as Marguerite starts to come their way. Once the mugs are filled and she's away again, Nora looks back up at Lucille.
"I don't … know exactly who is and who isn't. I think your sister is back in town here. Some people come and go a bit more than others. Most just stay put, though," she says quietly, dark eyes sweeping the little diner to make sure no one's watching them with any undue interest.
"Wait.. you just said.. you aren't blind anymore.. how'd that happen?" Lucille looks puzzled, she knows there are healers out there, but still.. "I.. yeah. My sister and I don't really get along, I try to pop in on her every now and then though. We've had a real stranded relationship recently.." Lucille says as she nods her thanks to the waitress and drinks some of the coffee. She takes it black. Then she's swallowing the liquid and peering over at Nora. "Do you have any siblings?" A simple question, she's being polite.
"Because if you do, you'd know what I mean by stranded relationship. I think almost all siblings go through this at least once in their life."
A simple question. Nora shakes her head, then shrugs. "Kinda," she answers. "I'm an only child, but I sort of have a bunch of big brothers and sisters who looked out for me growing up." Because she's all grown up at 18, right?
There's a smile as she reaches for more sugar and stirs it into her coffee. After sipping it, she looks back up at Lucille. "I get the strained thing, though. It's hard. But the important thing is that you love one another in the end. We can only hurt the people who love us, really, and vice versa." She gives a nod toward Lucille's head. "Not counting physical stuff. Anyone can hurt us that way, of course."
"That must be nice, having big brothers. Until they decide to be all macho and try to beat up your boyfriend." She jokes lightly, drinking more coffee. "Not speaking from experience. I just found out a few months ago that I have an older brother. Not that I know him from a stranger on the street." Lucille frowns again, her family is just one big ass mess of lies, betrayal, pettiness and just.. drama right now.
"But you're right, I do love her. Always and forever. I'd take a bullet for her, she's my sister. And we're stuck with each other at least until one of us goes six feet under." A gentle smile on Lu's face.
The word boyfriend earns a flush of cheeks and a shake of Nora's head. "Family's complicated," she murmurs simply, though there's something like sympathy in her tone as she watches Lucille.
"Your brother would probably like to get to know you, I'm sure. Family's important, even if it's frustrating and even if it's confusing," she adds, frowning into her coffee cup. "I lost some of mine, and if I could, I'd go back and spend as much time as possible with them… because you never know when you can't anymore… when it's too late." Nora's voice cracks just a little, and she tries to cover it by picking up the mug and swallowing more of the brew inside.
"I would buy you shot after that statement if I thought you looked old enough to drink" Lu says with a chuckle nodding her head. "I want to get to know him, before it feels like it's pointless to make a connection with him."
A sad look is thrown Nora's way and Lucille places a hand on her shoulder. "I lost my mom.. she was killed in the Bomb." She admits and does her best to not cry in public. "I still wish I could go back in time and save her.. stop her from going.. maybe not be in Europe when it happened and then she wouldn't have been near the blast radius.. maybe." Stupid thoughts, irrational, she knows. Lucille doesn't blame herself anymore, but it's still depressing to think about.
"I'm sorry for your loss Nora."
"It's not pointless," Nora says vehemently, shaking her head. "Like you said — being here for your mom might have changed things… you being in his life, his being in yours now might change things in a good way. And even if you never become best friends who have brunch every Sunday and buy each other's kids Christmas presents or anything like that, just having one more person in this fucking world who caress if you live or die can be worthwhile."
Her cheeks grow a bit ruddy with the passion of the speech before she coughs a little self consciously and takes another swallow of her coffee. "And underage drinking is the least of the laws I'm breaking, Lu," she adds with a smirk.
A bit surprised at the passion behind the speech, Lucille blinks and looks at Nora closely. "I'm gonna try my best to know him, it needs to happen." She admits to Nora and then she's chuckling softly. "Well then, I'll buy her a bottle of something and we'll have to kick back a few. You invite some friends? I don't really have.. any.. um yeah. Being on the run from the government cuts into social lives." Lu chuckles.
"I do have a 'happy' friend but.. that's complicated." It's Lu, whose looking sheepish drinking more of her coffee. But then she's shrugging her shoulders, "I wanna take shots with you, I have a feeling you're a fun drunk." A laugh, I mean come on.. everyone drinks before they're twenty-one, right?!
"A 'happy' friend?" Nora says, perhaps a bit innocently. She laughs a little at the offer of taking shots and inviting people for a happy hour. She shakes her head. "I may be in town for a few days. We'll see. I don't have a cell phone or anything, though, and I'm probably a migrant across a couple people's couches, so it's a bit hard to be sure where I'll be."
"Yeah the word 'commitment, makes him lose his shit. No kidding, you'd think I said castrate or something." She murmurs into her cup of coffee, amused by Tahir's behavior. She likes him though, which is what she guesses is the problem.
"Well.. we could all meet at my old job, Old Lucy's? It burned down a while ago, but it's in the Village and we could go somewhere from there!" The idea of actually hanging out with other people makes her excited. "Just tell me a day, I'm without a job.. or school. I have no life, save me from myself." She chuckles and winks at Nora.
"Ummm. Tuesday?" Nora says, as if thinking about her oh-so-busy calendar. "I kinda don't have much of a life either at the moment, so it's okay. Just stuff at the … resort." The resort is a euphemism for Bannerman apparently, thrown in as the waitress comes by to lackadaisically splash more coffee into each of their cups, whether they want it or not.
"That sounds perfect! Bring some of your friends, it'll be awesome. I have a roommate and he has this fucking cool basement apartment that he wouldn't mind a few visitors. I mean, he needs to drink too." Lucille chuckles and runs a hand through her hair. Looking over at the waitress with a raised eyebrow. "I was a bartender for a while and I was never like that." She whispers to Nora with a grin, good thing she didn't order food or the woman would have like.. did something to her food. Who knows!
"I'm actually pretty excited for this, I need to unwind.. have fun. Be free for once, in a safe environment. Ya know? This city, scratch that. This world is so fucked up that people our age can't even get together like we use too have a good time. I tried to throw a house party once before.. I bailed out though, my sister didn't go to her best friend's house and I just knew she'd rat me out." Good thing Delia isn't around at the moment.
The teenager laughs. "As long as it's somewhere safe. And you should be sure your head is okay — drinking with a concussion isn't a good idea," Nora points out, reaching down for her bag and pulling it over her shoulder. "I'll meet you at eight then on Tuesday? If I'm late, then don't wait, it'll mean I couldn't make it for some reason, okay?"
With that, she stands up. "It was nice meeting you," she offers, before tipping her head toward the door. "I gotta go get some stuff done. Have a good day."
"Yeah, we'll see how I'm doing on Tuesday and eight sounds great!" Lucille grins and nods over at Nora, "Nice meeting you too. Be safe out there." Lu drinks more of her coffee before sliding a few more bills on the counter. For the waitress having a bad day.
Pulling her sunglasses back on. Lu stands as well, preparing to leave. She tugs her jacket on, back turned. She grins, proud of herself. "Who said you can't make new friends, Lucille. Who said."
Oh boy.