Officially, the Seventh House Cafe is closed for the evening. The 'Closed' sign hangs in the window... right above the print-out taped to the glass declaring tonight Witch + Bitch, inviting those of a particular inclination to come right on in. Inside, the place smells goddamned great, all the blended teas and herbs and flowers. Triphop plays low in the background over the soundsystem. Vinnie, all in black and white with her oversized tee declaring 'hell was boring' and her cheap--and probably stolen--blue-lensed sunglasses tucked up in her hair, is slouched into the corner of one of the couches with a big old plastic cup of some pretty pink iced tea concoction in hand, probably fruity and floral, a departure from her usual slurpees, but not all that far. While she waits for others to come by and settle in, she fusses with her phone absently.
Audrey slips through the door, with an uncertain air. Dark hair rousted into messy ponytail, oversized open front sweater and cut offs like she can't decide if she's hot or freezing. Dirty "white" converse. Grubby backpack over one shoulder. She looks around the room, focusing on Vinnie- the only living point of contact in the room - with a uncertanity that makes the young witch look like she's about to step into the first day of high school all over again. "Uh, is this... the meeting?" She asks, one hand shoving into a pocket with an uncertain air. The question despite the sign on the door.
Out of the backroom comes Avalon, a cup of tea in her hands. She wears a black dress with a deep green shawl of velvet over it, fringe swaying with each little step. Her smile towards Vinnie is radiant, and she dips her head in a greeting. It's the more colorful woman's show, tonight, and as such she hangs back. But she does flash that warm smile towards Audrey, when she looks to the other woman.
Vinnie looks up when Audrey arrives and makes a show of playing Mean Girl to amp up that high school anxiety. She's even able to hold it for a few good long seconds before busting out a wide, if off-center, smile and answering in the affirmative, "Such as it is." Her accent's got that not-from-around-here quality, decidedly not New England, but it's hard to quite mark where she's from. Somewhere nonspecifically east coast, likely. She drops her phone onto the cushion beside her and gestures toward herself, "Heh--" No, that's not the right first sound. How damned long has she been introducing herself as 'Heather' now? Tonight, she's playing nice and, after a snort of laughter at her own damned self, offers, "Vinnie." Then there's a look back toward loveliest creature in the room, who gets a proper name, too. "Avalon." And a nod toward the orange tabby curled up on one of the cushy chairs. "Cat." No name for Trick. Looking back to Audrey, she shrugs, "Was kinda hoping there'd be more of us, but guess we're the only ones who get it. Hi."
Audrey looks momentarily ballasted by Avalon's non-verbal reception before something in Vinnie's momentary lapse into a re-mix of high school social Darwinism. Her eyes find the floor, mouth setting in a line that seems to give away how she's calculating to get out of this and go back to the hotel. But then... it's a joke and Vinnie isn't actually doing the thing and the tension that had ratcheted up Audrey's shoulders releases and they slump as Audrey grins in something like relief at Vinnie and Avalon, both. "Audrey." Her accent is also especially non-New England. It sounds highly American but highly middle of such- so like buffet gravy, without taste or color. She advances a few more steps into the cafe, her backpack slipping down her shoulder and poised to set it down. "Are there not a lot of... us?"
The fingers of her right hand leave the cup of tea, and Avalon gives a waggle of fingers towards the new face. Barefoot, brilliantly blue painted toenails peek out from the hem of her dress as she walks towards Vinnie. She slides around to kiss one cheek, before she keeps walking. "There's more than a handful of Us," she offers. Her accent? Very local. And those mis-matched eyes move over Audrey to take her in once she relaxes, to listen to her tones. "But it's hard to get them out of the shadows." A gentle tsk. "I'm glad Vinnie decided to hostess, though."
Vinnie's baby blues half-lid as she tips toward that passing affection from Avalon, watching the barefoot beauty as she drifts. Blue seems the highlight color of choice, matching what she wears on her eyes, her lips, those sunglasses tucked into her hair. "Well," she starts on the wake of Avalon's words, "with Princess Pornpants down in NYC and unlikely to return to Nowheresville Vermont, that leaves us one down. Getting my favorite bit of slink and slither to find himself anywhere on time is--" Her eyes go wide as she gives her hand a wobble while trying to decide on the precise degree of near-impossibility to declare. She opts not to bother either way. "Pretty sure the Princess had a pet she was grooming?" She shrugs. "And there's a yummy piece of goth ass that's doing little baby warding rituals who could be worth grooming, hard hardly think he belongs here yet." But then she's looking between the other two and noting, "But AV knows better, really. Been here longer." Beat. "You been here long?"
Audrey finds a chair across from them. Her bag finds the floor with a light 'doof' noise that indicates that she might be carrying a lot of shit in there. This talk of coaxing the higher than expected population of Us gets a slightly raise eyebrow to pair with a pleased look. Audrey listens to the coded rollcall from Vinnie, the grist of who, what, where, wards when, and princesses and pants. "I've been here a week," she offers, her eyes rolling ceiling ward. "Got a job and went to that weird bookstore with the almond milk," she informs them, in terms of just how deeply imbedded she's (not) gotten into this community. Maybe it's the almond milk? She pauses, observing Avalon and Vinnie more closely before vaunting a question to them: "So, like, do you both speak for all of them?," she asks, the question presuming the answer: yes.
"There's one other, I'm suspecting that she might be the one that the Princess was grooming," Avalon asides to Vinnie. "She's...still got a lot to learn. Especially when it comes to the things that she's dabbling in." A brief twist of a frown, though it doesn't last very long. "I think you called her boring in here, once." That, that makes her grin. "And then there's the one that owns Alchemy, if you listen to the rumors." A pause. "Where are you working, Audrey? And can I get you something to drink?" She chuckles, and dips her head. "They might call me the White Witch of Tamarack Falls, but the only person I speak for is myself."
Vinnie taps a finger to her nose, all lazily smug, at the description Avalon applies to the absent neophyte. That's precisely the one she'd been thinking of. The suggestion that the owner of Alchemy might have some witchy interest piques her curiosity, a decidedly intrigued look angled toward Avalon. "Yeah? All the more reason to head over." As if she already had reason before that. Her eyes go wide at Audrey's question about speaking for others, a nod tipped toward the more familiar woman in the wake of her answer. "Ya know, one of these days, when I'm the High Priestess of Sleaze, maybe I'll speak for all the grubby little worms lapping at my feet," said so very sweetly as if it were some lofty aspiration. And then she's back down to reality, brow scrunched and grin crooked. "But no. Just me. We're all independent operators at the moment. Hence the club, yeah? So we can maybe see about coordinating some efforts. If there are efforts to coordinate. So, first order of business?"
The orange-haired slacker gestures with her cup, some condensation spilling with it. "Hi. I'm Vinnie Smith, the little nudge you need to get past your bullshit. Also good with spirits. Dreams. Tipping shit in my favor. Aaaand yeah. Let's go with that." She draws her cup back and slurps through the straw at its pink contents.
Audrey's eyes shift to the counter, surveying the possibilities and perhaps noting that coffee isn't a thing here she looks decidedly out to sea for a tick of a second. "Uh, the... green tea?" She decides with a slightly wary tone that isn't sure if green is tea doublespeak for something decidedly ungreen. She shifts downward, going for the front pocket of her pack. "I got money," she adds, like its an assurance that she can pay for things. "I'm waitressing at the Badb Catha over in the really fancy part of town. Pays pretty good. Haven't been grabbed once." This Yelp-worthy review mostly stated into the front pocket of the backpack until she fishes out a roll of money lashed together by a rubberband. It's not overly large, this wad.
She does look surprised a touch that Avalon and Vinnie don't have the equivalent of managerial titles in the witch hierarchy. Her particularly kind of Dorothy may be far away from a certain kind of Kansas. "Oh, uh, cool." Audrey's response isn't unsupportive... just, well, kind of unfamiliar in that 'well I guess that's how its done here' way. "But yeah, I can help. What are we fucking up or keeping from getting fucked up?"
"I bet that would come with an absolutely fantastic bit of headpiece." Avalon grins over to Vinnie, before the good witch is in motion again. To the counter, where she gets down one of those canisters and starts this particular bit of magic that is brewing tea. "I appreciate that you're willing to pay, Audrey. But not tonight. Not during one of these." She smiles, and it's as genuine as her words. "There are go-tos in the community, of course," she adds. "But we don't have a central organization. Not like the local psychics."
That bit of info imparted, Avalon turns her back to work on the tea as she continues to talk. "Avalon Lefevre, at your service. Research, local lore, languages, along with tipping the odds and healing. Things are quiet for us, right now. Always makes me wary."
Vinnie's brows arch high at the mention of a 'really fancy part of town' like maybe she wouldn't be able to place where that is. Aside to Avalon, she notes, of the potential headpiece belonging to the High Priestess of Sleaze, "I bet it would be a paper crown from Burger King with one of the little knobs missing and a ketchup stain inconspiculously placed." And, really, it sounds like that would suit her just fine. Her eyes roll at the mention of psychics as she sinks back in her seat--as if turning to watch Avalon had her more than minimally twisted--and refocuses on Audrey. "Quiet's the right time to stir stuff up, right? So, with solstice coming around, tipping the light back to the dark, figuring we need to do something fun." She gives her drink a little waggle, half-melted ice issuing a muted clatter. "Maybe a ritual to see us through the calendar's downslope, if that's your thing. Maybe some fucking revelry to celebrate the ride." But she seems to be fielding suggestions.
"I can ward and unfuck logistics and fuck up other people's logistics," Audrey volunteers since Vinnie and Avalon are both showing their cards, a certain confidence in these abilities crowing quietly underneath these words. "No ghosts or spirits, though. Yet. Too many where I'm from, the people get nothing but hit up for help all the time with those." She looks at Avalon and Vinnie both, her eyes tracking Avalon to the counter to keep her looped into the conversation even as she puts her money away with a reluctant air. She offers Avalon an appreciative but brief smile her way. "Oh, and I sorta fell through the floor and ended up in that one video with the dude singing like its a black and white comic book? I went too hard on the Northern Lights, but whatever that was... that too." Her mouth puckers briefly to one side in a way, her own view on that trick being so far decidedly useless.
"What's the deal with psychics?" Audrey calls the question, Vinne's eye certainly noted and now there are questions. "I mean I know what they do. But. Like, are they assholes here?" Another slight tip of the cards on her tone that may suggest that asshole psychics are a back home kind of problem, too. "We usually do a revel at home right after Labor Day gets gone and so do the the tourists. Not sure if it's the same kinda revel?"
A moment of silent consideration, and then Avalon bobs her head. "With some leftover dollar store gems on it," she decides. "And you know me, darling. I'm always up for a bit of revelry to celebrate the lengthening of night." Just because she's the white witch doesn't mean Av is a stick in the mud. At least not all the time. She finishes with the tea, and back she wanders to the two. Setting the cup down in front of Audrey, before sliding into a spot close to Vinnie. "Reminds me - Jack does have a kid after all, a Beltane conception." Smirk. "She's a Shaman, but has a whole lot of green to her."
"As for the psychics, there's a local group called The Eye. A bit pretentious, yeah. But it goes way back. They sort of keep an eye out - hah - for budding psychics and events. Not assholes. Some egos. But mostly, they're just around. There's a high number of people with Gifts of one kind or the other in the Falls. Don't talk about it in the City, though. A lot more close-minded, down there."
"Like a rhinestone cowboy," Vinnie croons over to Avalon at the suggestion of bedazzling that imaginary crown of hers. When the name 'Jack,' is mentioned, her expression pretty plainly reads 'who?' as if it's not ringing any bells. But the guy seems to know the right time to get it on, and that has her snorting amusement. "Like, a shaman for real or a shaman cuz she read some spooky-fu paperback and knows everything now? Shamanism's the new wicca." All tea, all shade, the orange-haired beauty sips at her drink. It's Audrey's remark about 'falling through the floor' which has her brows scrunching together. She gets the Take On Me reference, but the rest? There's a flicker of attention toward Avalon, a question unasked, before she asks Audrey directly, "The Shadow?" Is that what she means?
But then they're talking psychics. "Fluff. Good on Team Hufflefluff for having more productive pow-wows, but that doesn't make 'em badass like we are." Beat. "And no, not like some Labor Day thing. Not another barbecue. Not that there's anything wrong with barbecues. Fire and meat and crowds. I get it. But I'm thinking something a little more specific, a little more directed. What do you want out of the down half of the year?"
"Yeah, I get it." Audrey nods at Avalon, in response to her run down. "I'm pretty down with not being open about this in general. People are weird about this shit and assume its all freaky Satanist shit. So. Better not to have to get into the position of having to explain." She gestures mildly in emphasis at nothing in particular before picking up the cup set down before her, considering its contents but not quite ready to sample them.
"I mean, there's other stuff at the barbecue 'sides meat and beer...," she says, a touch of mild defense where the traditions of Hill People might come into play. "But me? Uh, I... uh... I don't know?" Truly, Vinnie's question forms a bit of a flumox in Audrey, as if the idea of wanting something for herself via magic rubs up against selfish and profane. "I just got here?" She adds, a bit of an excuse edge to that. Her eyes drift to Avalon as if Avalon has any hope of going fish and coming up with something for Audrey, a stranger she's yet just met. So Audrey might do the next best thing which is, a switchback on the order of topics. "So, the Shadow? That's what it is? My shit on other things doesn't get into that much at all. Why the fuck are the mailboxes and trees and shit gotta stare like that in there?"
"I'm not sure, just yet. But her mother was one of my kin, so there's something there. Just not sure about how she goes on." Avalon lifts a shoulder in a shrug. "But I'm trying to keep half an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't get herself into the wrong sort of trouble. Jack's the one that sung some Queen, that night. Good guy." There's weight to those words. And that look she shares with Vinnie, at the unspoken question.
Suddenly, Audrey has those mis-matched eyes more solidly on her, as Avalon's head cants in questioning. "Tell us a bit more about what you experienced. Between the two of us, we can probably tell you where you ended up. The experience around it, how it happened, would help, too." A pause, so she can sip her tea. "As for me? I want this half of the year to be productive. Both in my busines and my skill. There's always more to learn. Power comes with a price, but I'm willing to make a few sacrifices."
"Oh shit!" Vinnie suddenly remembers who Jack is once Avalon makes that connection. "Right. Guy with the dog." Surely, she caught his name at some point, but it plainly didn't stick. Maybe it will now, given the significance leant to Avalon's description of him. "Who was the guy talking bout eating the horses?" No reason. Audrey gets a weird look for her tone more than the word themselves, like she's maybe trying to peel back the meaning, but that doesn't negate the smug little grin that's got her lips skewing leftward at the subtle implication that she, herself, were selfish and profane for having asked. But Avalon's got an answer, and that answer gets a thoughtful nod. She'll leave that brewing for a bit, see what comes of it. For now? She keeps her attention on Audrey while she sips at her pink drink, settling into listening.
Audrey nods, even if Avalon's reference to 'kin' seems to advance something the visible act of recalling something even if she's not fully tracking the particulars of this 'Jack' person. Or perhaps what 'Shamanism' is but there's polite nodding along all the same. Vinnie's gentle indictment of her response is noticed and answered, in the form slightly perking moment of self-consciousness. "Oh shit, I didn't mean..." She begins, it feeling and perhaps looking a little helpless. "Just that's not how we-" We? Who is this we that /she/ is no longer apart? "Just home. Just home stuff." She summarizes, looking at Vinnie and Avalon both with a hint of apology.
Audrey's eyes shift around the room, this more habit than something present company might inspire. The long ingrained habits of knowing who else is your unintended audience surfacing in this room of open talk. Reasonably satisfied that this isn't going to end in a confrontation about who needs Jesus the most, she sits back a touch in her chair and finally takes a sip of the tea. Fully prepared to mask any sort of grimacing dislike, she looks momentarily surprised that perhaps there's nothing to grimace about? Huh. Right, the tale. "I got off work that night and couldn't really sleep so I just got up and thought I'd meditate a bit. I figured it might get me centered, at the least. Got out my vaporizer, did the do but kinda went hard on the pulls. I was kinda thinking if I did more than usual than it would balance out feeling all jacked up and unable to sleep."
"At first, I was just kinda sitting there try to force myself to focus up and then, my stomach did that weird drop thing and I thought I actually fell through the floor and then I got up and realized that I was laying there but also standing there. Freaked out and whatever, so I ran out of my room looking for help and then, stuff was making noises and skittering around and so I just started running and ended up in the middle of town." She pauses, finally taking a breath. "Just everything seemed to be speaking and everything else was watching me and there were trees where there aren't trees and those seemed to be speaking and just- it looked like everything caught on fire and someone put it out and just left it like that? Anyway, I got back up here. Eventually. For a while, I was pretty sure I was fucked."
"I don't know who that was. Unfortunately. He seemed interesting, at the least. Seemed to know Jack a little, though. He might know." Avalon gnaws on her lip just a bit in thought, before her attention returns, quietly, back to Audrey. There's silence, as she listens to the story. Leaning back herself, and giving the slight bob of head every now and then that says she's listening. Tea is sipped, and there's a sound made as the tale gets to the point of a world on fire. A gesture to Vinnie, like this is all hers to answer.
Vinnie's got nothing but a big old gives-no-fucks shrug for Audrey's talk of how things were done back home, her grin only growing to assure she doesn't mind. Even less now that her curiosity has been sated. Well, that little sliver of it. There's a whole lot more for the Falling Through the Floor story, blue-eyed attention steady on the out-of-towner as she retells the event. When it's all out, she looks to Avalon. Who's looking at her. Right. She pulls the straw from her mouth and looks back to Audrey and with some measure of authority says, "Fuck if I know, but it sure as hell sounds like it merits some experimentation if you're up for it. Learn how to control that shit. Figure out what it really is. I mean, sounds like it could just as well be the Shadow or the Underworld, the spirits or the dead. Which aren't the same thing. No matter what Hollywood and, like, all of Eduardian and Victorian literature might say to the contrary."
At the moment, the trio are all on the comfy leather seating. Make that quartet. Trick's there, too, even if he's happily slumbering. Everyone's got a tea drink of some variety, though Vinnie's is in a big old plastic cup with a straw and ice and colored a deep shade of pink. Cuz snowflake.
"Yeah that'd be cool. I got freaked out when I was going back in that I was gonna go back inside my body upside down and die or something." The girl in the cut offs and the sweater like she can't figure out if she's too hot or too cold, speaks with the Vinnie and Avalon. A gleam in her eye for the suggestion of shenanigans. "Mostly... back ho-" She pauses, grimacing slightly and apparently self-conscious of how she can't shut the fuck up about a place she sure didn't have a problem unhoming recently. "Yeah, uh, like ghosts and spirits and shit. I wasn't really allowed to get into that shit. I guess, they want shit- sometimes some serious shit and they can be really fucked up and dangerous." Audrey's roll slows, looking at the pair and nervously shifting her messy, long, dark ponytail back from where it was hanging down over her shoulder. "But maybe that's not news to you guys?"
It had taken Scarver a while to find his way to the cafe, even with the Pin Vinnie sent him to make sure he knew just where to go. The world was a distracting place. He eventually wandered in, probably two hours late, but time stopped having much meaning a handful of pills ago. There's nothing special about any one thing, not the faded black Black Sabbath tee or the equally faded and worn out black jeans, the Converse sneakers that hadn't known white soles in years, not the oily kinks in his hair or the keen bloodshot eyes; it's just something about the sum of the parts that seems to want to spidervein corruption around him like an aura. He takes a moment just inside the door to survey the room, not that Vinnie is all that hard to spot. He tugs earbuds out of his ears and pockets it along with his phone once he has and has turned his long, lazy stride towards the trio of witches. Gula, of course, was close on his heels, scuttling along as he do, and crawling his way up to perch on the back of Vinnie's seat to hang over her like a gargoyle on a cathedral awning. Scarver wasn't so forward about taking a seat as the spirit, just slowing his steps as he neared, lifting a brow at the tail end of what he heard from Audrey before his eye swung Vinnie's way. "Got caught up," constitutes all the apology he was likely to give for being late.
A nod, Avalon seeming to agree with most of what Vinnie has to say. Though, being the resident Good Witch, she does add: "But do keep a measure of caution about it. Both can be dangerous places." She's leaning back in her spot, as she lifts her cup to take a sip of her nearly-red tea. Fragrant, a little floral. Her eyes - one amber, the other green - keep watch on the woman as she speaks, though there are little flits of glances to Vinnie. "Not exactly news, no. Things can get rather fucked up, indeed. I..." Her voice trails out, as there's a new arrival into the cafe. It pulls her attention off of Audrey, for a few long moments as she watches the man. But there's a smile that comes, even if she doesn't offer an introduction before looking back to her previous subject of interest. "I'm interested in hearing more about things back home for you, of course. But I'll also remind you - you're not there, anymore. You're here. Time to spread your wings, little bird."
"Everybody wants shit," Vinnie informs Audrey, all nice and dry. "Just easier to understand drives that are a bit closer to our own." That last comes with her eyes settled on the man coming through the door, her lips skewing left in that off-center grin again, though it might seem a touch hungrier this time. She may just be selling her point. Given the finger-wiggling wave Scarver gets, though, there can be no mistaking that they're familiar. Given the current company, even if only half of 'em can see spirits, she doesn't hesitate to reach up and brush a hand through the air above her once Gula takes up his perch; she can't actually make any contact with the spirit, but the intention's got to count for something, the gesture fond for the filthy thing. "And if you've got a talent for slipping into elsewhere, we'll help you navigate that. I don't know much about the dead, but spirits tend to want things that resonate with their purpose. Spirit of this tea house, for instance? Probably likes tea. Maybe conversations held over it. Ain't all big and bad." But that's an oversimplification, and not one she's going to expound upon right now. Instead, she looks back to Scarver and offers, "Audrey, Avalon--" Who he might recognize as the name of her roommate, the kind person who's been giving her crash space for, like, ever now. "--Scarver. Might be a little more adept at some of this shit than me." She gives her hand a wobble.
Audrey nods slowly at Avalon's insight before intoning a slightly bashful: "Yeah, you're right." It's a slightly gawky and self-conscious agreement that surfaces the done with her teens but they're maybe not done with her part of the otherwise adult-pretending being. Her mouthed too poised to say more but Scarver's entrance pulls the weight of her attention that way. Audrey gawks for a moment in his direction, before she offers him a grin. That grin, strangely or not, settling somewhere between fascinated with him and comfortably relieved that he's now here. Vinnie's reaction to Scarver is certainly noted, if its not a touch confused for the stroking of the air just a hint behind him. She squints a small amount, taking in the gesture but says nothing. "Thanks, that'd be good." She does affirm, in terms of not getting fucked up and falling between the cracks in reality again, as her attention falls on Scarver for his apparent expertise at this very thing.
Scarver's grin back at Avalon's smile probably wasn't meant to be quite that lecherous but curling the way his lines do, it can't really be helped surely. He pairs it with a shoulder-and-head tip, some jarring perfectly executed formal bow, crisp and deliberate. And then's right back to lazy lax movement, heading to collapse into a sprawl on the loveseat beside Vinnie while he listens to the conversation and plays mental catch up. He settles his shoe on his knee, if only to keep his restless fingers busy picking at his laces. Introductions made, he nods to them both in turn. "Evening, ladies," greeted briefly. There's a bit of side-eye towards Vinnie, a soft snort, before he reminds, "I've been at this longer than you've been a thing that existed. You're catching up quick." When he looks back towards the others to find Audrey looking at him like *that*, he mumbles, "Shit, didn't know I was supposed to bring a lesson. I ah - It's an art. Get your hands dirty and practice." Glancing towards Avalon a beat, he adds, "With sound a sound mentor and all due precautions," with a quick clearing of his throat and a completely and obviously feigned shifting of his weight like he were trying to get comfortable.
Avalon's head dips when she's named by Vinnie, and there's a look that suggests she at least has heard a thing or two about the man that just joined them. "It's true," she adds on to Vinnie's words. "They have wants. Sometimes they're harder to figure out. Sometimes they can be big, nasty things. Others, well. Like Vin said, the spirit of this place is pretty easy to work with. For now, at least. There are people that know a lot more about Spirits than I do. I've only learnt enough to have an idea." She lifts her cup, and sipping the last bits of tea, takes a glance down into that off-white surface. Studying it, for a moment. "But yes, like Scarver says, the best way to learn is to get your hands in the muck. With an experienced guide." She uncurls from her spot, but not before giving Vinnie's leg a squeeze. "I hate to leave. But my Vodyanoy is expecting me." A curve of smile, just a touch impish, before she looks to the other two. "Audrey, Scarver, it was good to meet you both. I hope to do so, again, soon."
"Prodigy, darling," Vinnie croons, shamelessly proud, in response to Scarver's observation about the discrepancy in their experience. She casts a look down his form, ending at those fidgeting fingers, before looking back up and tipping her half-empty cup his way in offering. Should he feel brave enough to figure out what fruity, floral and entirely nonalcoholic tea-based beverage she's drinking tonight. Her attention turns to Avalon with that leg-squeeze, with the shift of her roommate's weight. The smile she lifts toward Avalon, in that moment, is genuinely warm, a fond thing which skews back toward her usual crookedness at the flash of impishness in the offered excuse. "Now that you've met my favorite monster," is spoken in lower tones, just for Avalon, the end of the sentence, the expectation of reciprocation, left implied. She flicks a look toward Audrey then, but her attention settles on Scarver as she explains, "We'd also been talking about maybe doing a proper solstice ritual, welcome in the darkening of the light, start the turn of the year right." Then, blue-eyed focus shifting back to Audrey, she proposes, "Maybe could call up a fitting spirit. Make a proper sacrifice."
Audrey can't help but look a touch disappointed that whatever font of pending-Scarver wisdom isn't exactly as hoped for. She covers it though with another long sip of her tea, which seems to go down even better at the second try. Avalon offering more meat in the way of details at least pulls her attention and the reminder to practice safe magic can't help but earn Avalon a small, appreciative grin her direction. "Thanks for letting us meet here...," she states, one hand off her cup to wave goodbye to Avalon as she goes. Her attention falling back now on just the two, she watches the interplay between Vinnie and Scarver with a neutral, if curious expression. "Yeah," Audrey confirms, on the business of solstice rituals for Scarver, though she hadn't perhaps calculated that it might involve a suggested spirit? "Yeah, that'd be dope" Her grin is wide, on board and perhaps way too enthusiastic for an Apostle.
Scarver lifts a hand with a flicked loose finger wave after Avalon when she gives her farewells. "Same," offered succinctly. When she steps away, he glances towards Vinnie to ask, "Just how much did have you been gossiping about me, Princess Prodigy?" with an amused laugh. He knew recognition when he saw it. He settles in and takes the tea passed his way without much thought, starting to take a sip just to catch himself short at the unexpected scent. Beyond that he drinks it just fine, doesn't even burst into flames or anything. "If it gets me out of doing the family gig, I'm down," Scarver added for himself. He takes another deep swallow and passes the tea back to Vinnie when he asks, "Should use it as a time to earn a little favor with some of the local broods."
There's just a little chortle at Vinnie's words, the unfinished sentence. Avalon winks, eclipsing that amber eye briefly. "My pleasure. It's a large part of why I opened this cafe - to give those like us a place we could gather, regardless of tradition. And if you need anything, Audrey, it's the best place to find me." Another quick smile, and then she's gone, out into the back.
Vinnie's face screws up at the title that Scarver gives her, and she is quick to correct, "High Priestess Prodigy, thank you," as she brings her empty hand up to adjust her imaginary headpiece with all its make-believe paper and dollar-store bling. Quieter, she adds, "And, really, not that much." She and AV just, ya know, get each other. She casts a look back after Avalon before looking to Audrey again and adding, "I'm here a good bit, too. Got a room upstairs." She takes her pink tea back, nodding for Scarver's suggestion. "Yeah, alright." Though it sounds like agreement, it looks more like ackowledgement, like it's triggered some thinking. "Think I'mma need to do some digging, then. Got a couple weeks yet." With a tilt of her head toward Audrey, "You got a number I can text you at when I've got something solid in place?"
"Cool, I'm at the Badb Catha if you need to find me or just want a free drink." Audrey's invitation seems to extend to all assembled nd also the now away Avalon, her eyes marking the space she was last there by inclusion. "But yeah... here's my..." Her hands are picking up that grubby pack, just on the floor at her feet. It was once grey with pink polkadots but time has moved heavily all over it and the grey and pink notes have drifted to wan and shiftless hues. The dirt on it makes up for the rest. Digging around, she finally comes up with a pen and a business card for a local wireless store. "...it's a new number." She offers, copying business card to back of random receipt.
"Are you going to come out for it, too?" The question offered to Scarver, with an excess of curiosity trying to stay down and probably failing. It follows a pause in her writing to look up at him before she goes back to finishing up and offering the newly copied number to Vinnie.
"High my ass, you're stone fucking sober," Scaver snickers at Vinnie. He shifts his weight to offer up his hip pocket her way. He just couldn't be fucked to go digging for the ever present bag of party favors. Looking back to Audrey, he adds matter-of-factly following Vinnie's addendum, "This is the first time I've been in this place in my life." Then back to Vinnie, "Put the number in my phone while you're in there, write mine down for her." When he looks up again Audrey, there's a brief pause where his lips part but words are bitten back. He grins a bit wider into his cheeks, nestling the little spheres on them into the crease with a short chuckle before he started again. "Yes, as long as I'm not too blitzed to get off the floor, I mean to be there."
Vinnie's smile goes wide at that amused accusation from Scarver and that shift of his hip up toward her. Really, it looks terribly suggestive. She even lets her tongue peek out over her blue-painted lips as she slips her fingers into his pocket all nice and slow and feels around. Not that the feeling-about is all that suggestive in and of itself. It's a practical thing, an accounting for shape and size, a consideration of possible combinations. She comes up with three: a pair of tablets in differing shades of pale and a half-orange capsule. All of which are popped into her mouth with only the briefest inspection and washed down with a big swallow of her swiftly dwindling tea. The cup's given a swirl before she sets it down, what's left barely pink anymore, all watered down with melted ice cubes.
She takes up the offered number from Audrey, but gives Scarver a weird look for his instructions. Write... stuff... down? Nevermind that she's holding a written down number herself. No, she pulls out her phone, adds Audrey in then texts her own number and Scarver's right on over. No writing needed. She also texts Audrey's number to Scarver's phone, but sure, she'll actually set up the contact for him, no shame in pulling his phone from his pocket. It's surely easier to find than individual pills. Did she miss the self-censorship from Scarver? Nope. But her amused eyeroll was subdued, easy to miss while she was busy fussing with phones. "We'll make sure the getting blitzed part happens after. Or during." That's for Audrey, inviting her into the conspiracy. "You want something for the road?"
Audrey just looks... well down. Not in anywhere in particular. Just down. The tensioned exchange, suggestive hip movements, the secretarial interlude - it's all apparently like watching a private moment that somehow feels like she shouldn't be watching. So her eyes politely find nothing interesting on the floor to watch for a moment. She grins, though, somewhere between humored by their exchange and a touch bashful that she's here for it. "Cool," she says, in a polite, staid sort of way for Scarver's affirmation that drug cocktails pending, he'll attend. "But-" Her head dips up, reaching into her backpack front pocket and pulling out the previously mentioned vaporizer. Her thumb flicks a button and a blue light flares up. "I'm good. Picked up some Sour Diesel in Boston. Gonna give it a shot." Her hand rocks the vaporizer in a tiny side-to-side motion as she stands.
Vinnie's smile goes all wide when Audrey produces her own vaporizer. Hell, she almost looks proud. Entirely unduly. "You're gonna fit right in." But, with that, she knocks her knee into Scarver's, an indication that she's about to get up. "Think we can call this first meeting of whatever the fuck we are closed. Was good meeting you, Audrey. Good start, yeah?" She sets to cleaning up, then, collecting the cups and wiping down the table. When the newcomer heads out, she'll lock up, turn out the lights, and take her fellow pill-popper upstairs, leaving the cat alone all by himself in the dark to fend for himself. He scarcely seems to notice.
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