It's evening in the back room of Crossroads Cafe, and Gisa is settled at one of the tables. She has her long coat folded neatly next to her on the bench seat, and is leaning against it as if it's a pillow; on the table in front of her is a carafe full of coffee, a cup of same doctored with a lot of creamer, and a plate half-full of food -- she's slowly eating her way through some eggs over easy, hash browns, and toast. Next to her plate is a battered volume that's clearly well-loved and quite old, with post-its sticking out of various pages and notations in the margins. Things underlined. That sort of thing. Her left hand holds the book open and turns pages right to left occasionally. Sometimes she picks up a pen or a highlighter from the table and makes a little note in a margin or underlines something. Her right hand holds a fork, and she trades notes with small bites of egg. Thoughtful Golem Face. The symbol on her ceramic forehead -- a Hebrew shin with an extra 'arm' -- glows with a gentle, steady light.
Imogene The door to the diner is eased open buy petal pink hands, whose fingers almost appear dyed a pretty leafy green, that fades up along them. Dressed in what some might call boho romantic, long white dress that brushes the floor as she walks. Which was for the best, as it hide the fact that she was barefoot. The smell of wildflowers and berries in the air, her bright violet eyes dance around as she looks around the diner. Spying Gisa by herself, she heads that way, a little smile on her lips. "Hi!" Pausing as she leans a litle forward, hands clasped in front of her as she rocks softly on her feet.
The air around Gisa is rife with Potential and Possibility, the signs of a rather strong Dawn mantle evident in the petrichor -- the scent of rain-fresh earth -- and the feeling at the back of the neck that lightning's about to strike, the hairs on the back of the neck lifting. Too, there is the smell of a match striking, that sulphur edge that just precedes the flame. The petrichor increases when her Mantle overlaps Imogene's, that potential becoming the potential more for a lovely Spring than anything else. "Shalom," Gisa greets, the focus of her eyeflames sliding up from the page she was reading to Imogene's face; she closes her book (the title reads 'JPS Tanakh' in gold lettering on a brown cover) and neatly stacks the highlighters and pen on the cover. "Would you like to join me? Your face is familiar, but I do not think we have much spoken before."
Imogene the little smile jsut grows in epic proportions as Gisa asks if she would like to join her. Head bobbob up and day with happy delight. The wildflower hops a step to the side and slips into booth across from the golem. "Thank you!" her voice was sweet and expressive, a slight musical quality to it. "I'm Imogene." She offers rather exuberantly. "What are you reading?" She says leaning forward some as she looks curiously at the book, before her violet eyes dart back up towards Gisa.
"I am Gisa Cohen, of Dawn." In the back room, it's relatively safe to talk about these things; the back room is reserved for those in the know, Changelings and those pledged to the Freehold. Gisa queries, "Would you like something to eat? They will put it on my tab so I can pay it tomorrow evening." Her voice is nearly a monotone, though a gentle enough one; the Elemental's tone doesn't modulate much. She rests her hand on the book for a moment, and tips her head forward. "It is Shabbat, and so I am reading the weekly Torah portion. I walked back from services, and stopped for dinner on my way home." A pause. "What brings you out this evening?"
"Oh! Right, I sometimes forget that part. I'm a Spring." She says with a little bubbly giggle, violet eyes widening a little as her head bobbed some more. The violets, and pink wild roses that were currently growing and decorating her hair, bobbled and swayed a little with her movement. "Shabbat?" Blinking a little, not seeming able to place it. "Ummm... food would be great, thank you. I was hungry, and remembered that there was a place to get food late at night at. So, here I am. Do you do go to services often?"
A nod of acknowledgement to the Court, and Gisa answers, "The Court of Desire and that of Hope have a great deal of crossover. I am pleased to meet you. You might like my bookstore. I have been given many succulents; my little cacti and so on are everywhere now. It began at a Spring event, the egg hunt, and now it is what they call a 'running joke,' the succulents." The golem listens, tilting her head slightly to the side; her eyeflames flicker and sparkle. "Shabbat, yes. I am a golem, and therefore Jewish. It is my Sabbath day right now. So I have been reading the Torah." Her shoulders rise and fall like a mountain range. "Yes, I go weekly on Friday nights. Sometimes Saturday mornings. And then on holidays. What would you like to eat?"
"French toast?.. that's the bread dipped in egg and cinnamon, right?" She asks a little unsure at first and then smiles, a little nod. "Yes, that's it, French toast, please. With strawberries if they have some." Her bright eyes dance around as she looks at the back room a litle. Slightly wiggling in the booth as she pulls her feet up and tucks them under herself. "Succulents?!" That is said with very sunny disposition and eagerness over it. Head tilting a little, "A running joke? How is it a joke?"
"That is what French toast is, yes." The golem rises to her feet -- every movement of hers is not exactly slow, but it is very deliberate, as if she's considering the consequences of even something so simple as 'getting up from her seat' -- and trundles over to the door to the front room. She returns a moment later, explaining, "Hazel is not in, so I order up front. No one comes back here but us." She settles back in to the booth. "Oh, it is a running joke of sorts because when I was at the egg hunt, I put one of the little succulents on my head and walked around with it. Then Dielle called me 'Gisa Pet,' because Gisa sounds like Chia and I had a plant on my head, and... " Gisa spreads her left hand, then clicks her ceramic fingers together. See? She's made of clay, just like a chia pet. This, apparently, is Golem Humor (tm).
"Oh!" Unlike Gisa she was a bit chaotic, energetic, a little bundle of excitement just coiled up and ready to burst free. Her feet untuck and she starts to scoot-hop out of the booth, pausing midway as she returns. Head bobbing up and down a little as she listens to the Dawn. And then a momentary blank look on her face at the mention of Chia, blinking a little confused over the joke. It seemed the wildflower did not seem know what what that was. "Ummm..." She leans a little forward like she was sharing a great secret. "I don't know what that is." A rather silly sort of look on her face.
It's certainly a study in contrasts, these two. It's probably fascinating to watch from the outside. Gisa is almost exactly her opposite: steady, slow, patient. If she has boundless energy, it's hidden down deep, the only manifestation being when her eyes flicker and flare, and the slow burning of her sigil on her forehead. She lingers by the end of the table, waiting to go get the food for Imogene. "A chia pet was -- is -- a gag gift sort of thing. It is a clay figure, they come in many shapes. You put water in it and you put a seed mixture on the outside, and it grows a small carpet of plants in a humorous form. For example you could get one looking like a sheep and it would grow to look like its wool, or you could get one that looks like a head and the seeds would grow into a plant that looks like a big fuzzy afro." She rolls her shoulders. "It is amusing because I am a golem and therefore made from clay, so with a plant on my head I am like a chia pet." Leave it to an Elemental to explain a joke exactly to death.
There was a faint warm giggle, her feet swung a little bit, as they dangled off the end of the booth, as she sat in it sideways now. Her head still tilted jsut slightly as she listended, it was almost child like in a way. Her barefeet stained that healthy pretty green leaf color, that fades just a little ways up her feet. Flexing her toes a little and wiggling them some. "Ooh! Ooooh! I get it!" She giggles a little more. "Have you tried to grow a plant on your head?" She askes, with genuine curiosity, again smiliar to a child. "What kind of succulents have you been given? Some of them bloom some of the prettiest flowers." Her head bobs a little there in thought, smiling happily.
The corners of her mouth tug up just a very little bit, and Gisa shakes her head slightly. "I think that might cause issues if any of the people who come into my bookshop were to see it. Most people cannot grow flowers on their heads that are visible to humans," she points out. There was a smile there! A little one, but it was there. She trundles back over to pick up Imogene's food and deliver it, setting it on the table in front of the flowery Spring. "To be honest, I do not know. Many of them were won from the Spring event, and others came as gifts. I am not as gifted with flora as some are. Perhaps when you come to visit the store you can tell me."
Alex comes inside from the town square.
Bitting just the at the corner of her lip as she nods her head, several times, a soft giggle as her lips break into a wide smile. Giggling a bit more at the mention of growing flowers. Green tipped fingers lightly brush at the wild roses that grew in hers. "Mmm, no I suppose the can't." Nose wrinkling a moment and then a beam of a smile as she eagerly watches the plate of French toast. A little bounce as she picks a piece up, tearing it in half and plopping it into her mouth. Nodding again, always several at once. "Is.. good.." she says around the food. "I would like that. Do you have a shoe policy. I hate shoes."
Her eyeflames flicker and sparkle, and when Imogene tears into her food? Gisa picks up her fork and takes another bite of her eggs. There's a soft warmth that spreads out from the Fireheart, all the more evident now that she's seated and content. "I am of the earth, and usually go barefoot myself. In fact... " Gisa scoots to the end of the booth and tips up her foot at the heel. Her Hedgespun hiking boots? They have no soles. There's only a band across the sole which holds it in place; otherwise, her ceramic feet are open to, well, the floor in here, but the earth outside. Chances are they look like they have soles to those who see the Mask. Clever girl. "You can wear no shoes in my store, especially the back room. It is a safe place for Lost. There are clean clothes there, a first aid kit, food. Though I imagine you do not often need a first aid kit."
She wiggled a little in the booth as Gisa warmth spread outwards, shoulders lifting as her face tilts up a little, and there is this adorable happy contented smile on her face. Apparently the the Fairest enjoyed the warmth, which well seemed fitting from the Spring, who's own mantle radiated a comforting warmth, much like a warm spring day. The sort you could laze about in the grass in and fall asleep. Leaning over to check out the soleless boots, her eyes widen with a little gleeful excitement. "Ooh! Those are neat! That's... That's a really good idea!" A pause as she eats a couple bits full of of food. "And no, not really. Unless I chase the rabbits into the thorns." She says brightly, around her mouthful of food. "Then I need it for myself. But not others."
"I am happier and stronger when my feet touch the earth," Gisa answers, and then she raises her eyebrows. "Do not chase the rabbits into the thorns," she chides gently. Setting down her fork, she adds, "Excuse me. I will return in a moment." And then she trundles off to the little golem's room.
Alex is a distinctive figure. Mostly it is that she is, while still appearing a mundane mortal to Changeling eyes, a riot of colour. She has long, wild curly blonde tresses that frame her head and move upwards rather than down her back, a honey-brown that vergewson a lustrous blonde. Her eyes are a pale blue, similar to some steel. The girl herself is wearing a pink t-shirt which reads, "You've read my shirt! That's enough socializing for today." Her jeans are black and her shoes are a sky blue to match the pink shirt and its white lettering. Even her smile is a perfect, gleaming ivory.
The girl also doesn't lack for enthusiasm. She bounces slightly as she walks, her eyes wide as she scans the cafe and adjusts her duffel bag across her shoulder. Her almost frenetic energy is just contained beneath the skin and paired against a surprising amount of grace as she moves through the room, apparently searching out a table. The smile evnetually becomes a thoughtful frown. Not concerned. Contemplative.
Imogene had frowned a little a Gisa's gentle chiding, though the frown easily and quickly gave way to a bright smile. Her head bobbed a few times as Gisa had headed off to the little golem's room. Leaving Imogene sitting there in the booth alone, with the food. Some would say that was a bad idea, with her as she had no compunctions eating off other's plates. But. Thankfully she still have French toast to eat! Bright violet eyes darted upwards as Alex entered, her head tilting a little to the side as she absently tore apart another slice of French toast and shoved it into her mouth, as she watched the young woman. "Do you not like talking to people?" Came her warm, bright voice, that was exceedingly femnine, and youthful. A little blink as her head tilted a bit, a sort of childlike curiosity.
"Hmm?" Alex turns slowly, those blue eyes of hers wide as she trains her gaze on the speaker. The girl's skin is a rich shade a bit lighter than caramel, adding 'exotic' to the list of traits which could be used to describe her appearance. Her brows match the thick, wild hair, and it would take quite a bit of work to dye it with the unruly way it's worn. "Well, um..." A beat. "I'll talk, I'm just not much good at it." Alex's voicei s soft but sweet, a mezzo-soprano that falters slightly as she carefully picks out her words. She glances at the charm bracelet on her left wrist for a second there. "My name's Alex." There's that positively incandescent smile again. She dosn't have the voice of a youthful angel but but she all but glows as she walks up to the table where Imogen is seated and watches the taller girl carefully.
Mouth full of food she worked away at the French toast, her head tilting even further to the side as Alex stood at the table, watching Imogene. Violet eyes softly blink, as she watches Alex in return. "You have a very pretty smile!" She finally concludes after watching the other young woman, her voice was of a lyric soprano. "Is Alex short for Alexandra? I'm Imogene." Voice bright and cheerful, pulling up one leg to rest her foot on the edge of the booth, as a hand shot out towards Alex. To shake? Yep. Grabbing her hand and giving it a very exubrant shake, as she smiled even wider and brighter. "Wanna sit down? Gisa just went to the... little... the bathroom!" She finally decides on.
"It's-" Alex frowns faintly when questioned on ehr name. Those blue eyes drop to the bracelet agin and hen the girl quickly finishes with, "Alexandria." there's that smile agian, and Alex is quick ot return the bombastic glee with which her hand is shaken. She has a stronger grip than Imogene might expect from a girl who is both shorter and scrawnier than herself. Alex blinks but she slowly returns the smile before nodding and slipping into the offered seat. A quick glance around the shop shows that this is one of her best otions for finding someplace to be. "Thanks. You have, um, amazing- you know." She gestures to her face, specifically to her own wide blue eyes. Alex's voice is fairly cheerful but she is softspoken at best, all of the time. A gnetle mezzo-soprano that likely goes frequently unheard. "You're out with a friend?" She asks, tentatively.
"Do you like French toast? Alexandria is very pretty name." Smiling radiantly at Alex, a soft bright warmth about Imogene. Her cheeks grow a shoft, pretty deep pink. "Thank you Alex. That is ever so thoughtful and kind of you to say." She brightly praises the woman, perhaps it might come off a bit rude when some might say such things, but with Imogene it was hard to believe that. Her voice and face carrying a genuine quality to it. Almost as if she just didn't have a mean bone in her body. Her had shakes and then bobs and then shakes and then bobs. "acquaintance! We just met, like you and I just met. She asked if I wanted to join her, and now I asked if you wanted to join us. Is right thing to do, all neighborly like!" A big nod at the end there, and a pause of consideration afterwards as she beams at Alex.
"Neighborly?" Alex arches a brow at that though she gives a slow nod afterward. "Don't hear too many people using that word very often anymore," she continues, though there's still that smile. She isn't rejecting the advance by any means. Alex is, however, a naturally inobtrusive personality despite her appearance and her eyes dart about to warily consider the room at large. She pauses for a second and slowly tilts her head. "I..." A beat. "Are you, um. New around here?" She asks then, beginning to study Imogene's features with a careful intensity that matches the scrutiny of the room.
GAME: Alex spends 1 Willpower
-> >> Alex to Here << <-==============================================
Rolled 1 Success
< 1 4 4 6 6 8 >
===================-> >> Wits + Empathy.Auras + 1 - 4 No Flags << <-
"They don't?" She says a little shocked at that, as if that had just never occured to her that it was not something that was said or used. Blinking a little. And then she just shrugs a little and smiles at Alex. A tiny shake of her head and then it bobs up and down, this repeats a few times. "Ummm yes, sort of. I have been around for a while, ummmmmmmmm..." The sound continues a bit as her nose scrunches up in thought. "Over a year... a bit more then that." Finally says with a firm bob of her head as she smiles warmly, widely to Alex.
"Huh! I've lived out here my whole life. What brought you all the way up to- um..." Alex glances around briefly and then slowly shakes her head. "Well, here anyway. " She gestures vaguely to the room at large and then gives a soft laugh. A rich, melodic laugh that hints her voice might be more plasant if she were willing to speak at a louder volume. Alex shifts her weight lightly in her seat and then takes a deep breath, holding it for a beat or two. "Well, s'good you're here now. What d'you do for fun'n stuff?"
her head shakes several times, cause her rich brown hair to go every which way. "Oh, no I am not frome here..." Pausing, her lips press together, pushing off to the side, as she suddently looks completely unsure and lost. Much like a small child would when asked where home is and not able to tell you. Her teeth lightly brush over her bottom lip, bitting it for a moment. And then a shrug of her shoulders as she frowns momentarily. "...nope, don't know." The frown lingered a little before it faded and was replaced with her typical warm bright smile. "I like to garden. And sing. I really enjoy flowers and plants. And I like making things. What about you?" A beat. "And helping people, I really like helping people and cheering them up." A tiny firm nod of her head there.
Alex titls her head at the way this is all being phrased, her brow furrowing while she studies the featureso f the young woman across from her for a long moment. The blonde-haired girl of indeterminate ethnicity ultimately nods her head, curls going in all directions as they bob in response to the movement. Then she shruggs her shoulders. "I like flowers and making stuff too. I make all kinds of things, little- um... Well, they roll around and are controlled with a remote. Um." There's a scowl of annoyance and Alex is shaking her head a couple times, hard. "Anyway." Alex flashes a brief smile, more fond than pleased, and adds. "I like to run. Fast, and far. All over. Just see the world rushing past." She shrugs. "Are you from... Another country, then?"
Imogene smiled soft and sweet, not exactly seeing the issue with how she was pharsing things, her own head tilting a little to the opposite side that Alex's does, making them look rather a pair. And likely too cute in such a pose. Violet eyes searching over Alex, she gives a tiny shrug. "Maybe... yes, I believe so. I don't remember much of my past." She shrugs a little more, and smiles softly. As if it was no big deal. "Running? Running is fun, and swimming too, or climbing trees. Really big old ones, those are the best. Remote?"
Alex blinks owlishly. "Yeah. The really big old ones are the best," she agrees with a slow nod. Those blue eyes mimic Imogene's violets in roaming over her companion, much the same way that they seem to be mirroring their body language against one another. Alex shifts slgihtly in her seat, twisting so that she can face Imogene properly. "I like all of that stuff. You don't remember anything about your past?" She asks carefully. "And, um. Remote. You push buttons and sutt and it controls certain things without needing to touch them."
her head bobs a little at the question about her past. "Mmmhmm. It is fuzzy, but not fuzzy like a kitty's fur." She smiles there, a happy dreamy sort and then it brightens as she pokes at the food on her plate a little. A soft shrug. "It doesn't really bother me, I am happy here. It is nice here." Her brow furrows a little, as she takes a moment to think over Alex's words some more. "Controls things? Oh. Yes... that. You make electronic things?" Leaning forward a little as she shifts about in the booth a little, resting an elbow on the edge of the table. "What's your favorite flower?"
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