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

[coeur_de_lion]

"Okay, good," Alli says, then cocks her head. "Wait, teleported? Teleported teleported?"

[hatchedplan]

"Don't get too excited, it's not a vetted spell and nobody else had better try it, it's probably trying to kill me real hard every time I cast it, I'm just magic like that."

[led_to_water]

"Killing you really hard? Are you all right? Magic like what?"

[hatchedplan]

"Yeah, I was gonna figure out some good way to go public but I'm really tired and the story doesn't hold together without unless I construct an elaborate timeline in which I had the opportunity to fly to and from California quick enough to interfere with a kidnapping since I can't mass-produce a safe teleport... 'm a dragon."

[led_to_water]

"What? What? But dragons are extinct!"

[coeur_de_lion]

"Eeeeeenh," Alli makes a buzzer sound. "Population one. That we know of, I guess."

[hatchedplan]

"Two, my parents are both alive."

[coeur_de_lion]

"Right, sorry. Plus at least one without a medallion."

[horsefeathered]

Jenny is still stewing in a mix of guilt and priest-directed rage, but manages a confirming nod.

[led_to_water]

"You guys knew?"

[hatchedplan]

"The only reason to keep it a secret was the concern that there might be somebody somewhere who would start a war over it, but sphinxes actually were extinct and the 'were' is because of how Isabella's mom conjured her up. And I don't think she's going to declare war on me. So I've been gradually rolling out the tidbit and we're going to go properly public at some point."

[led_to_water]

"Isabella's a-" Words fail Emma entirely and she just gapes.

[coeur_de_lion]

Alli pokes Emma in the rump a couple times without much of a reaction, save for a tail swish that looks like a reflex. "Did you break her? Man, May, I think you broke her."

[hatchedplan]

"Isabella's mom doesn't like it when things are extinct. So she tried to make a baby sphinx and a dragon to bring up, but the spell only worked on extinct things so Isabella's an only child."

[led_to_water]

Emma's tail smacks Alli, this time rather more intentionally. Emma herself just stares at May in bemusement. "She, um. Doesn't like extinct things? That's, uh. That's a reason, I guess."

[coeur_de_lion]

"...have you not met Isabella's mom? Cause this would make perfect sense if you have ever spoken to her for more than a minute about global warming, trust me."

[hatchedplan]

"She's very environmentalist."

[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."