[open]

[formersocialite]

Who: Vivian Volkoff and YOU
What: Vivian's having tea in the city.
When: November 25th
Where: At a coffee shop.
Rating: PG.

Tea had always been Vivian's preference to coffee. Possibly a conformation to a stereotype given that she was English, but that didn't matter to her. She had tea with her breakfast at home so why should that change when she was here? Vivian wasn't going to change her routine too much, only tweak it a little to accommodate the environment she was in.

After tending to her horse at the stables, she took a trip into the city, wanting to explore it a bit further and see what she could come across. Vivian remembered Jo telling her not so long ago about the coffee shop there so she decided to check it out for herself. Except not go for the coffee.

Soon, Vivian was seated at a booth by the window, a cup of steaming tea on the table in front of her, accompanied by a rather delicious looking blueberry muffin.

Life was good.

Comments

[gevurah]

It had been two weeks of little sleep and restlessness. Between the lack of a trail to follow with Steph's attempted murder, and now two spies who had been in their midst without anyone noticing or having caught them, these have not been a fun couple of weeks. The ever present eye bags could still be discerned from underneath her heavy eye shadow, as Kate strolled into the coffee shop.

She took out her wallet, while the barista awaited her order.

"Large coffee. Regular." Her head tilted, she peered briefly at the window with all the muffins and croissants. "And I'll take a blueberry muffin to go."

It was then the barista apologized and explained they were finished with that particular muffin for the day, then pointed to Vivian seated in a corner. Obviously, Kate looked over.

[formersocialite]

She was oblivious to anything else going around her at the moment, thinking about what had been going on back home. Vivian had wondered if it was true that time stopped and if you did return to your world, then it would be as if you never left in the first place. It didn't seem possible to her, but then she was in a magical castle which had strange goings on practically every week.

After a slow sip of her tea, Vivian switched her attention to the area, looking around to see if there was anyone she knew. There wasn't, but she did notice a red-haired woman looking in her direction.

She didn't recognise her but Vivian still offered a smile before turning back to her tea again.

[gevurah]

She smiled back slightly, then turned to face the barista and opted for a carrot muffin. He nodded and went to prepare Kate's order while she dished out some cash and waited by the side. After a quick snack, bed was the most appealing option right now. One of Paradisa's few benefits; having too much time on her hands.

She looked back at Vivian however, mostly out of mere curiosity. She was certain she had never seen her before, but sometimes it was hard to tell who was a resident and who was a native.

"I hope the muffin's good," she joked from the counter.

[formersocialite]

The woman's words drew Vivian out of her musings and she blinked a little, wondering if she was addressing her. Which she was, when Vivian's brain kicked into gear again.

"Same here," she agreed, seeing the funny side as she smiled. "What are you having?"

Was it possible that she had taken the muffin that the other woman wanted? It was the last of the blueberry kind and Vivian's favourite. Why else would she say something about in the first place?

[gevurah]

Kate wasn't bothered at all by someone else being the early bird. (She could check back the castle's kitchen later if she really wanted.) Her coffee and muffin ready, she paid the employee and received her cash, facing the other woman properly now.

There weren't many people with that distinctive accent in Paradisa and it was vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn't place it right now. It must have been someone she briefly spoke to a long time ago.

"A regular tall and muffin." She lifted the small bag for emphasis. "This might sound random... but have we met before?"

[formersocialite]

Vivian herself was in the kitchen a few days ago, attempting to bake. The first batch of muffins didn't turn out so well but the second was successful. She had never baked before so it was a trial and error thing. Vivian couldn't resist having something with her tea though, hence the reason for getting the muffin in the first place.

She could now see the other woman more closely, but Vivian didn't recognise her. "Ah, I don't really drink coffee," she replied, indicating to her cup.

Vivian shook her head. "No, I don't believe we have. You might have spoke to me through the journal before, but I'm not sure. Sorry."

[gevurah]

She waved her hand lazily. "Might have been. There are so many conversations done over the journals, I could be mixing you up with someone else."

It wasn't a complete and utter lie. Kate was certain she had spoken to her but with people coming and going in batches, it was a bit of an effort to keep up with everyone. She still hadn't been able to find anything that would help her on Steph's attempted murder.

"Usually residents eat and drink in the kitchen," she remarked with another tiny smile.

is calling this the WildKat ok?

[bro-codebreaker.livejournal.com]

Well, well, well. It so happened to be one of the mornings when the owner was scheduled to work his own shop - what were the odds? Barney was in the back, taking inventory, when he heard the lilt of a familiar British accent at his counter. He finished off the shelf he'd been tallying, then grabbed himself a latte from behind the counter and wandered unobtrusively out onto the floor, wandering the tables "aimlessly".

"Whoa, hey." He grinned, feigning surprise when he reached her table. "What up?"

of course it is! :3

[formersocialite]

Caught up in her own personal thoughts, Vivian hadn't noticed anyone around her for the time being, staring ahead and just musing quietly to herself. She could just have easily wished up for some tea and a muffin in her own room at the castle but there was something about having it like this, in a coffee shop. It gave her a sense of normality, outside the craziness that was the castle itself.

She looked up at the sound of a voice, completely familiar to her. "Hey you," Vivian said with a smile. "Not much. Just having tea and a muffin. Been a while since we spoke."

[bro-codebreaker.livejournal.com]

"Too long, you mean," he replied, pulling out a chair. "So what exciting stuff have I missed out on? You missed my first Host Club. ... Oh, and Ted had some kind of massive emotional fit and I had to help him get his metaphorical balls reattached. So that was fun."

Only, by the eyeroll he's giving, not really.

[formersocialite]

"Definitely too long," she agreed. "Sorry I missed that, maybe I can catch it another time? You did a good thing by helping him though, Barney. Even if it wasn't exactly fun for you."

She thought about what she did. "I went to the Diwali festival at the end of last month. I baked and met some new people. Apart from that, just the usual. Shooting range, going to the bars and looking after my horse."

[bro-codebreaker.livejournal.com]

"You bake? Hey, that's cool. ... Did you know there's a Baking Club? S'where your muffin came from." He pointed to the muffin she was picking at along with her tea.

[formersocialite]

"It was my first time baking," she said, a bit amused by the fact that there was a Baking Club in the first place. "No, I had no idea there was one."

Vivian gestured to his own cup. "What are you drinking?"

[longaevus]

Finding a routine had been difficult for Helen at first - other than James and Nikola, and the clinic, there was no semblance of her life in Paradisa. She'd managed to do it, albeit slowly and with some force on her end but she'd done it. And she'd made certain to stick to it.

Getting back to her routine after waking up to new memories had been less simple; she'd had 113 years of a different kind of life and now had been thrown back into... whatever this had been. Settling back in hadn't been the tricky part but rather organising her new memories with all that had happened in Paradisa was. Coming to the coffee shop had helped, and surprisingly so had their tea - it wasn't too bad (and that was a high compliment).

Her routine had involved had involved aiming to go at least once a week. When Helen had realised that it was Friday and she'd had yet to visit she'd made certain to that morning. Collecting the book that she'd been reading from her desk Helen had headed down early, arriving not all too long after the café had opened (which was sadly a frequent occurrence given her lack of sleep).

Her tea was now long since drank but Helen was still there, enjoying the peace of simply sitting and reading, the quiet chatter in the background and the occasional comings and goings of towns folk and residents. Honestly, you had to wonder why she didn't do this more often.

[formersocialite]

Vivian hadn't brought a book with her, nor any kind of reading material for that matter. She preferred to do it in her room, wanting some peace and quiet to enjoy it properly. Apart from that, it wasn't exactly practical to bring a book to the stables so that was another reason why she didn't have one on her person right now.

Her eyes cast around the room for a few moments, catching sight of a woman who did have a book with her. Vivian didn't recognise her but there was a chance that she may have spoken to her over the journals. She had spoken to more people via the network as opposed to meeting them in person. Which was odd.

She decided that it would be rude of her to interrupt the other woman while she was reading, but Vivian did offer a smile- a polite one at that- as a means of acknowledgement.

[longaevus]

Helen returned her smile, closing her book after finding her tea cup empty after reaching for it. Damn, had she been here that long? Given how far through her book she now was it wasn't hard to believe that it was yes. Taking her book with her Helen ordered another cup of tea, this time taking a seat at the table next to the other woman's table. Helen couldn't ever remember having seeing her before but she was changing that now - she needed to actually meet more people face to face here.

Making no attempt to pick her book back up, Helen gave the other woman a smile again before taking a sip of her tea. She'd never exactly been good at starting conversations, and she refused to go with the stereotypical weather topic when there was nothing to say. So... well, this was a great start to a possible new acquaintance. Good job, Helen.

[formersocialite]

Sometimes, Vivian found it a little difficult to strike up a conversation with someone she didn't know. She felt awkward in social situations. That was evident when she threw the masquerade ball at her home and didn't make any attempt to talk to her guests. Vivian had sat away from the party by herself, enjoying a drink; not exactly the qualities of a good hostess.

The other woman seemed to have acknowledged her in return so perhaps it was time for Vivian to take that first step and say something.

"What were you reading?"

[longaevus]

"La Petite Fadette." Helen moved the book from her lap to the table in case Vivian wanted to take a look (and to stop the chance of it falling to the floor, also).

"Sadly I can't tell you much about it as I've only just started it." But she extended her hand to the woman. "Helen Magnus."

[formersocialite]

"Ah, I haven't heard of that one," Vivian said, eyes scanning briefly over the cover when the other woman set it down on the table.

Taking the offered hand, Vivian shook it politely and smiled. "It's a pleasure, Helen. I'm Vivian Volkoff."

[gunnfire.livejournal.com]

Gunn didn't have any real purpose for being in the city; he had just been out, wandering perhaps a little restlessly. The weather was nice (when wasn't it nice?) and the streets of the city were beautiful (but they always were, weren't they?), so he had resigned himself to walking, hands in his jacket pockets.

Not paying much attention to anything, really, it was sort of a surprise when he saw Vivian sitting in the coffee shop through its window, and he smirked slightly. He was bored out of his mind - there was definitely time to drop in on her for a second, and he made his way over to the building, leaning over the shrubbery beneath the window and rapping his knuckles on the pane of glass to get her attention.

[formersocialite]

The sound of someone knocking on glass drew Vivian out of her thoughts and she looked up to see who it was. A smile formed on her face when she realised it was Gunn and she raised her hand, gesturing for him to come in and join her. The company would be more welcome.

They hadn't really spoken since the time at the festival so it would be a good opportunity for them to both catch up as well as just talk in general. He was fun to hang around with so Vivian wasn't going to object on him stopping by.

[gunnfire.livejournal.com]

He chuckled a little at that, glancing at his watch to check the time - but, hell, it wasn't like he had anywhere to be, was it? With a little shrug, he stepped around the bush and headed for the entrance to the coffee shop, walking to slide into a seat across from her at the booth.

"How British of you," he said with a little grin, gesturing at the muffin and tea.

[formersocialite]

Vivian watched as Gunn left the window and came around the bush towards the entrance. She waved when he entered the coffee shop and smiled as he sat down in the free seat.

"Just living up to the stereotype," she joked, laughing lightly. "But yeah, I do love my tea." Vivian took a sip from her mug before setting it down on the table and settling back against her chair.

"You're looking well. How have you been? Any news with you?"

[gunnfire.livejournal.com]

"News? Not exactly. Just livin' -- same as everyone else, I guess."

When she settles back against her chair, he leans in to swipe her mug of tea, bringing it up to his face and sniffing at it dubiously.

[formersocialite]

"I'm fairly certain that it isn't poisoned," Vivian remarks wryly, watching as he sniffs at her tea. "Just a normal mug of tea."

If it was anyone else, Vivian would have probably protested. "It's good to see you again."