ArchivedLogs:Trying New Things
| Trying New Things | |
|---|---|
| Dramatis Personae | |
| In Absentia
|
2013-02-04 ' |
| Location
<WES> The Grindstone - Salem Center | |
Bright and cheery, this coffeeshop is Salem Center's social hub. Its black-and-white tiled floors are always kept spotless, and the deep wooden tables are polished smooth. Seating here is abundant, found in the clusters of large and social tables and tucked away at smaller booths, or along the stools at the window counters where the large windows make for ideal people-watching along the main street of Salem Center. School's out for the afternoon, which means Shane's presence at the Grindstone isn't even illicit! Not playing hookie. Just coffeeing. Or, more accurately, teaing, a large mug of chai sitting on the counter in front of him. He's claimed a stool by the window, the heels of his brown boat shoes thudding against the rungs. He's spread out to claim more space than he really needs, backpack dropped onto a neighboring stool, black peacoat on another, and underneath his deep green vest is crisp and neat over a grey t-shirt. There's a fair number of people in the shop, teenagers from the local not-mutant-high clustered around many tables, but with Xavier's close at hand the people of Salem Center are used /enough/ to mutants that the boy by the window gets only some odd looks. Most of the other students are pretty busily focused on giggling at things on various cellphone screens. Sebastian bears a good deal more color than his twin when he pushes the door open -- /holds/ it open for his companion. His innate blue has been paired with a pink wrap skirt batik-printed with butterflies, and underneath his jacket his long-sleeved black shirt has bell-sleeves in purple and green. There's a peacock feather spread across the short-sleeved tee he wears over it, though the knit cap pulled down over his spiky mess of hair is a staid grey. "-- been tryyyying to not have so much caffeine but, gosh, with that giant /load/ of biology today I think I'm going to need to be up a /while/." Rasa appears in the doorway of the unfamiliar coffee shop shyly, peeking in and examining the room quietly. Ze is wrapped up warmly, so has forsaken most of hir usual coverings in favor of a cream colored hat, scarf, and gloves paired with a bark brown coat. Ze is hurried into the warmer room by other customers and the conversation that Sebastian holds with hir. Ze nods and draws in a deep breath, leaving room for other customers and unconsciously staying close to 'Bastian. "It doesn't seem very feasible to finish it all at once. It doesn't seem quite right that they be allowed to assign it," ze offers quietly. "Umm, what is tasty here?" Hir eyes are now locked on the menu boards, hir irises whitening with overwhelmed thoughts, hir pupils disappearing entirely. "It's like a form of sadism," Shane opines, from over on his stool, waving to the others and hopping down from his chair to toss an arm around Sebastian's shoulder, jerk his chin up in a nod to Rasa. "S'all good. You going for mega-caffeine or sorta-caffeine or no-caffeine? Bastian, they're out of roast beef who the fuck runs out of roast beef." "They do, apparently." Sebastian seems braced for incoming arm-slinging, shoulders straightening minutely in the instance before they receive a twinattachment. "Do you like cocoa? They have /really/ tasty cocoa." He doesn't reach for his wallet. He reaches for Shane's, absently GROPING his brother to pull it out of his rear pocket. "I don't think it's sadism, though, I think they're just trying to get us to learn. Fast." "Why fast? We're not going anywhere anytime soon," Rasa's eyes flicker back to the twins, filling up with a hazel color as ze does. If ze notices the groping, it doesn't register as anything to hir reactive mutation. Ze inhales deeply and crinkles hir eyes unhappily. "Roast beef is tasty. I shall try the turkey, with bacon." Ze turns to look at Shane and considers. "I don't know about caffeine. I'm not - well, maybe I should stay up too? Maybe little caffeine... but cocoa is good too." Still a little overwhelmed, hir skin turns pale. "Well, they can't keep us in shool forever." Shane obligingly shifts to allow his wallet-stealing without complaint. "Hey, I need more turkey, too." Maybe this suffices as an /order/. He says it to Sebastian like he /expects/ his brother to Make Turkey Appear, and then scoots back towards his chair before his chai gets cold or his backpack disappears. "There's so /much/ to fit in, though," Sebastian says, earnestly. "The turkey's good. Better if you sub out the mayo for the -- chipotle -- whatever stuff. How about we share a /pot/ of cocoa? There's coffee at the school if we need it later." He's stepping up to the counter, offering the cashier a shy smile and ordering a turkey sandwich for Shane and a tuna salad for himself. His eyebrows raise, questioning, about the cocoa. "Oh. Yes. A pot of cocoa. That sounds great." Rasa nods enthusiastically and reaches into hir pocket to pull out a wallet and begin to fumble around with money and mittens until sense overrides insecurity. The scarf is nudged down and Rasa's teeth pull the mittens off hir fingers. Ze has a much easier time pulling out a few five dollar bills as ze waits in line. "I will try your recommended chipotle sauce. It sounds spicy." Hir eyes follow Shane over to his table while ze waits. Shane sits at his table. Bopping. Humming to himself. People-watching. Sebastian orders the cocoa, paying for his order and Shane's -- with Shane's money, admittedly, and then standing aside to let Rasa order. His phone buzzes, and he takes it out to glance at it, lips twitching slightly. "It's only a /little/ spicy," he tells Rasa, "it's mostly tasty. I guess if you just put chipotle peppers on straight they'd be more spicy -- oh, man, that would be so /good/ though. Do you like spicy?"
"Are you talking about the spicy of hot or the spicy of many spices added to a thing?" Rasa questions before making hir order and paying quietly. Ze accepts the change, hands as quiet as ze can keep them in front of a standard human, stuffing them quickly in hir pockets after. "I like both, but am not really motivated to eat things simply because they are hot." Ze wets hir lips and steps back, looking at the signage to make sure where they are to wait for their food stuffs. Ze glances at the phone but says nothing. "Spicy -- um. Either spicy, I guess," Sebastian decides after a moment of thought. "My neighbor eats stuff that's so hot I can't feel my tongue. It's like food /pain/. I don't know if I like foodpain. But sometimes a kick is nice. I don't eat that /much/ spicy stuff," he admits, "but I guess I eat a lot of my stuff raw. So. Uhm. No spices."
"People have curious reactions to things. I have often wondered about observing them, but I feel it would be invasive and probably unwelcomed." Rasa moves a little to the side to allow someone to order and is soon rewarded with tasty food. Ze waits for Sebastian to pick his up first before helping to gather the cups and hir plate of food before moving back to the seats Shane holds. "You don't marinate your uncooked foods? Some cultures do. Like kibbeh nayyeh." Ze speaks stilted, distracted by carrying things. Shane bounces up from his seat again, helping relieve the others of their burdens to spread them down on the counter. "Like whatsthat? Is it tasty? Sometimes we have stuff marinated but uh most of the time we're kinda killing it. No time for marinade. Just sink your teeth in and RIP." He chomps his teeth together. Demonstratively. Sebastian collects some of the things, but he seems glad for the assistance, one hand occupied with a phone that he is suddenly staring at, wide-eyed. His face is turning a good few shades darker. And then darker, still, as he looks at Shane. "Shane!" He cringes, eying Rasa uncertainly. "Only -- only like /animal/ things," he says hastily, self-conscious.
"Oh! don't worry," Rasa rushes to reassure Sebastian, glancing at the coloration of his face, "I do not mind." Ze carefully unzips hir coat and lays it down over hir chair before sitting on it. The scarf and hat stay on for now. "I think that it is jealousy of the ability to rip and tear that caused us smoother toothed creatures to see marinades. We have to beat the meat soft first, and push in some citrus acids or other spices into the flesh to make it easier still to chew." Ze smiles cautiously as ze looks back and forth between the two, hir nervousness starting to scrawl inky words down the side of hir face, 'fuck it would be nice if I could look this up instead of trying to remember...' "Woah, is that what the acid is for? Cool!" Shane seems genuinely intrigued by this. "Tender things are nice. But toothsome shit's good too. Fresh. Here." He doesn't seem to pay much attention to the words on Rasa's face but he /does/ pull his phone out of his pocket, unlocking it and opening up a browser before offering it to Rasa. "I think it's jealousy that made people invent knives but they're pretty handy. For ripping. Tearing." Sebastian takes his seat, between Shane and Rasa, still blushing kind of dark. Frowning both at his phone and at Shane. "I -- guess," he says, still uncomfortable but somewhat less so at Rasa's reassurance. "Do you like kib -- kibbeh?" The word sounds unfamiliar on his tongue. "I wonder if we could find it, I bet there's places in the city. Maybe you should come back to our place some weekend! Have you been in the city much?"
Rasa looks utterly confused when ze is handed a phone, but ze does shrug and starts opening up a browser to search. Ze hums a little, quietly while ze looks. "No, I have not been in the city before. I used to live in a couple other cities, but this one - well, New York - we only drove through. My parents might have stayed in the city after they left, but I don't know." Ze shakes hir head, skin darkening around the fringes, hiding the words first and seeping further in toward hir nose. "I... um... Wouldn't mind visiting. If it is okay with the school... and all involved." Finally, ze looks up and leaves a wikipedia article open for Shane on Kibbeh Nayyeh. "I think I have put pieces together into what I think is sense. No one actually says they have tooth jealousy." Shane frowns at Sebastian's frowning, shamelessly leeeeaning over his brother's shoulder to PEEK at the text messages Sebastian is receiving. His cheeks colour, then, too, dark as he kind of GRUMPILY looks back at his phone instead. The grump eases away as he reads. "Sure it'll probably be cool. Our dad's totally chill he won't care about anything. I dunno about the school can't you just -- come?" He grins, bright and VERY TOOTHY. "Tooth envy. Man. I bet so many people have that." Sebastian angles his phone slightly away from Shane, but it's pretty halfhearted. "Um -- you can just go but you get in /trouble/, you're /supposed/ to get permisson if you're going to be away. But if you're gonna stay with us and /pa/ I don't think the school will mind." He pours two mugs of the cocoa, sliding one to Rasa. "The city's kind of cool, there's so /much/ to do. A little overwhelming, though. /So/ many people."
"I do not know. The school is my guardian, as my parents have abdicated. There are rules, but I am sure that with a permission slip, perhaps?" Rasa draws in a deep breath, puffing up until hir sweater starts to swell, looking over at Sebastian before letting it out, collapsing very thin. Ze takes the cup and wraps hir hands around the ceramic sides, hands almost appearing to glow with heat. "mmmmmm." Ze relaxes a little as ze leans over to inhale the beverage. "I'm not good with people, but if you guys are with me... it could be fun. I could show you kibbeh and other Syrian dishes. Are there things you can't eat?" "Can't eat most things." Shane shrugs a shoulder, pocketing his phone. "'least not /much/. Basically just meat. Anything else makes me sick after a couple bites. City's fun, though, s'always shit going on. Always assholes to heckle. I'd be /so/ down for finding a Syrian place though. Always like to try new shit." "Heckling people isn't what we spend our weekends doing, though," Sebastian adds hastily, putting his phone away, too. "Shane just -- it really isn't. With a permission slip it'd probably be okay. Our pa cooks a lot of things really yummy, too. What kinda places would you /like/ to go?" Rasa looks up again. "Oh. I don't know. I am not used to going places. How about I, um, point to things when I get there?" Ze grabs hir sandwich and takes a bite, hir cheeks turning pink now as happy white curley cues trace all over hir darkened skin like lace. More distracted chewing continues as hir eyes close in concentration. Clearly, across hir forehead is written, 'you won't let me choose something dangerous, please?' in hir well practiced handwriting. "I'd probably let you do totally dangerous shit," Shane admits shamelessly. "But that's part of living. We'd be there to bail you /out/ afterwards that counts for something, right? Anyway there's not /that/ much danger in the city. I've only seen, like, two people get shot this year." Sebastian smiles, pulling the bread off his sandwich and just digging into the tuna salad with a spoon. "I doooon't think you're helping," he says, bumping his shoulder against his brother's. "Um. Yeah you can just -- we can go /easy/ places first. Places we know are cool. Branch out from there. Nobody's getting shot." Rasa swallows hard and blinks hir eyes open at Shane. "Shot!" Ze blanches entirely, looking over at Sebastian still wide eyed with concern. "I do not want to be shot. Let's not do any of that." Ze is firm on that topic. "They only got a /little/ shot," Shane hedges. "I mean they're fine /now/." He shrugs, but quiets at Sebastian's bumping. "Yeah, okay, nobody's getting shot. Do you dance?" "Shane's just teasing," Sebastian assures Rasa. "/We've/ never been shot in the city. I mostly just -- I don't know. I go to the library. I drink coffee. There's nice parks, I take my dog." "I..." Rasa looks blankly at Shane, "...do not know real dances very well, but I do know how to move. I do not know if I could dance in front of people." Ze puts down hir sandwich and starts to drink cocoa as it is easier to talk around. "Is your dog nice? I don't know many dogs. I am sorry that I am unaccustomed to things, but..." ze scans each of their faces, "I think I would like to try them. With you two." Shane is attacking his sandwich, deconstructing it to tear out the turkey and chomp it down. He speaks around a mouthful of meat, shrugging a shoulder. "I don't mean like real dances I mean like just go out to a club and /move/. Our dog's a fucking dumbass, stupid as a box of rocks." He swallows his mouthful. "Yeah, he's sweet. Might've seen him around. Dipshit beagle? One eye? He comes in sometimes. Not as much in winter really." "There's dance classes," Sebastian says quietly, considering, "but I think Shane meant -- that." He shrugs, smiling brighter. "Both kinds are fun in their place. /I/ like swing. My pa's real good. And, uhhhhhhhm yeah," he admits reluctantly, "Obie's not so bright. But he's /real/ sweet. S'okay," he adds, "we weren't very -- used to things for a long time, too. We grew up a little --" Another shrug. "Sheltered." "As did I, but I get the feeling it was different." Rasa continues eating the sandwich ze ordered and finds a more muted please reaction to the flavors. Ze also eats all of hir food. "SO, why don't you guys just order it without the bread?" Hir eyebrows rise. "I have not been to a club," 'and the thought of it terrifies me' scrawls across her cheek "But I will try it out." "I don't think cages are /shelter/ so much as fucking prison, dude." Shane snorts, digging out another piece of turkey. "Dunno, sometimes I do. Some people give us weird looks though. Have you been /anywhere/? Uh, anywhere interesting?" Sebastian shrugs, scooping up another mouthful of tuna. "S'lots of things out there to try." He glances between the other two, amused. "I think Shane's made it his goal to try basically all of them." Rasa cringes a little at Shanes retort, brow wrinkling up in dismay. Ze turns her face down a little as ze eats, chewing carefully and deliberately slow. Ze eventually looks up to grab hir cup of cocoa and sips. "I was just sheltered - sent to school, kept in my room, once everything started. Um, that... is all." Ze scratches at hir scalp once ze puts the cup down. "We lived in Chicago and D.C., but I did not see much." "This is the only city I've ever lived in," Shane admits. "Place we came from first was tiny. Like a little speck in the mountains. You're gonna have to change that, though. I mean, hiding in the school all the time, isn't that boring as shit?" "What's wrong with the school?" Sebastian sips his cocoa, too, tucking his sneakers behind the rung of his stool. "I mean, except I guess we can't stay there /forever/." Which he sounds mildly disappointed about. "So everyone's gotta practice dealing with the world sometime." "So, we change it - try new things," Rasa agrees, swallowing hard again. "With easy stuff first, then... then we can talk about the dangerous stuff that you will watch my back on, eh?" Ze looks over at Shane and nods a little, giving him a firm lipped smile. So say we all. | |
