coffee chats

[coeur_de_lion]

Alli is the one who arranges the weekly coffee date in Avalon. She's got plenty of friends at school, she's not lonely, but she's never really had critter friends before. She hadn't even realized how much she enjoys having people to hang out in midform with until she has them. She decides she likes it, and that she would like this to continue, thanks very much. She tries the spontaneous approach for a while, more out of laziness than anything, but Jenny has school and work and siblings, May has her girlfriend and has turned into a bottomless pit of magic practice, and Emma can't leave Avalon. So Alli finally just throws up her hands and proclaims that everyone's meeting in the Avalon coffee shop at the same time every week, okay, okay? Cool.

It works better than she expects, honestly. She's not sure they would have become friends naturally- it's probably telling that they weren't, before- but they've got enough shared history under their belt by this point that it hardly matters. Everyone has the occasional conflict, but they're rare and they're mostly good about telling the group beforehand. (Okay, so everyone except Alli is great about it, and Alli has a memory like a sieve.) But Alli had last minute detention last week, so she's feeling guilty enough to arrive early. Almost early. A few minutes early, anyway.

She's amused but not particularly surprised to see Emma and Jenny already there when she arrives. Emma's usually early, since she lives in Avalon and all, but she and Jenny look like they've been there for a while; they've got half empty cups in front of them and Jenny's most of the way through a cookie. Alli grins and joins them. "Even when I'm early, I'm late. Frimeuses, vous deux. May here yet?"

Comments

[led_to_water]

"Oh. No, I don't think I met her." She frowns in thought. "Isabella isn't particularly, is she? I don't remember it, at least."

[hatchedplan]

"She - gives the topic more thought than any random passerby probably does but does not feel as strongly about it as her mom."

[horsefeathered]

Jenny lifts her head out of her hands looking both upset and annoyed. "I need to- just gonna- be right back," she mumbles, and heads to the counter to ask to borrow a phone. She's got some very pointed questions to ask her priest.

[led_to_water]

Emma watches her go in concern, but decides to wait till she's done. Instead, she asks May, "So, uh, if you're not a wyvern, what's different?" She smiles slightly. "Guess I know why I haven't seen you in fullform, but is it just the shape? Um, sorry if it's a weird question, just- dragon."

[hatchedplan]

"Wyvern tails have barbs and mine doesn't. And dragons have a cool magic power. And if I produced wings they wouldn't replace my arms, and I don't know if wyverns actually ever have horns like mine or my color scales."

[led_to_water]

"...I don't suppose your cool magic power lets you make medallions," Emma says wistfully.

[hatchedplan]

"I would be extremely reluctant to use my cool magic power to do any magic intended for use by anyone but me. It suppresses magic that's on me, personally, which means I can cheat a lot at spellcasting, but I wouldn't make an object with that cheating and hand it to somebody else. Me and Isabella still plan to work on that among other things but don't have a shortcut."

[led_to_water]

Emma only understands maybe half of what May's talking about, but she gets the gist of 'no such luck.' She hadn't been hoping, exactly, but her face falls a little anyway. "I- yeah, it's okay. I'm just, um," she gestures at her lower half, "kinda tired of being stuck in Avalon."

[hatchedplan]

"I get it. I'm sorry. Maybe someday we can stop hiding altogether."

[coeur_de_lion]

Alli snorts. "Our grandkids, maybe. I'd rather not turn into a lab rat."

[hatchedplan]

"I'm not sure becoming publicly known is quite on the level of being a lab rat."

[coeur_de_lion]

"Yeah, but I also don't wanna be the one to find out?"

[hatchedplan]

"There's a huge number of critters. I would want to coordinate something with most or all of us at once."

[led_to_water]

"It's going to be hard to convince people," Emma predicts. "Most critters I know like the secrecy."

[hatchedplan]

"What is it they like about it?"

[led_to_water]

"Um, I haven't, uh, asked people in detail or anything, but- most critters don't have a very high opinion of humans I don't think? Or at least not the monsters." She sounds a little bitter at that. "They don't want to share their space, or their magic, or the knowledge of our existence. They're, uh, I guess smug?"

[hatchedplan]

"Hm. We could explain about magic without mentioning critters, but then it looks less like a potentially productive trade relationship and more like 'look, a minority'."

[coeur_de_lion]

"I don't get it. Wouldn't it go the other way?"

[hatchedplan]

"What do you mean?"

[coeur_de_lion]

"If you explain magic but not critters, isn't that the trade part without the minority part, not the other way around?"

[hatchedplan]

"It's trade from, like, me and Isabella personally. Not from this entire other culture. And then when the culture inevitably eventually fails to hide it doesn't have anything useful to offer."

[led_to_water]

[coeur_de_lion]

"Okayyy, wow. First, I'm awesome all by myself, thanks. Second, Emma, stop making that face, you are also awesome. Third, the hell, May, the sole purpose of critter society is not the magic shop."

[hatchedplan]

"Okay, maybe I'm too groggy to make myself clearly understood."

[coeur_de_lion]

"...yeah, okay, fair." Alli shuffles awkwardly. "This should probably wait till you're feeling better. Want more coffee? Food? Go home and go to bed and we can talk later? I dunno."