Jeff, God of Biscuits: Saturday afternoon

[advicefrommice.livejournal.com]

Coraline had gotten up early this morning. Dressing in her warmest clothes and her new jacket, she'd gone exploring.

She'd explored the Preserve, not all of it, but enough to assure herself the trees were actually trees. She'd explored the beach and the rocks and walked across the Causeway, peering down into the ocean, and strolled around the carpark, kicking the gravel.

Coraline would never admit it to anyone, but she was making sure the island was attached to the rest of the world, that it wouldn't go all foggy at the edges and disappear into white mist. Satisfied that all was well, she made her slow and considered way through the town until she found the bakery.

Now she was carefully exploring the possibilities inherent in a large sticky almond pastry and a hot chocolate.

She was also keeping a sharp eye out for any gremlins.

[The bakery is open, and apparently quite yummy.]

Comments

[therhimineecat.livejournal.com]

Seregil had been out exploring the town -- always know your surroundings as best you could -- and stopped at JGOB on the way back, lured by the sweets on display.

After some discussion with the shopkeeper, he ended up with a cup of something called hot chocolate and a pastry that had more of this chocolate along with lots of sweet cream.

He smiled at the girl who was drinking something similar. "Are you a student at the school?"

[advicefrommice.livejournal.com]

"I will be on Monday," said Coraline with a smile. "When classes start." Technically it was true; she couldn't be a student without classes, and they hadn't begun yet. "Do you want to sit down?"

[therhimineecat.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," Seregil said, joining her. "I'm Seregil. I'm new here too."

[advicefrommice.livejournal.com]

"I'm Coraline Jones." There was a slight emphasis on the 'line' part of her name. "It's nice to meet you, Seregil," she said, offering her hand to shake. "I've never met anyone named Seregil before."

[therhimineecat.livejournal.com]

"I'm from another dimension," Seregil explained. "Coraline is a beautiful name."

[advicefrommice.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," she said politely, pleased that yet another person had pronounced it properly.

But that wasn't anywhere near as interesting as the other thing he'd said. Another dimension.

Coraline's eyes were bright with interest as she leaned forward, hot chocolate forgotten. "I'm from England, which is only another country. Will you tell me about your dimension?"

[therhimineecat.livejournal.com]

That seemed to be something a lot of people wanted details of to some extent or other. "What do you want to know?" he asked with a polite smile.

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

Billy realized today that it had been far too long since he'd last had doughnuts. So he set out to remedy that. On the way he tried to make up his mind about what kind of doughnut he wanted.

He still hadn't made up his mind, so he perused the selection for a bit. "Chocolate or glazed, chocolate or glazed. Hi." he waved to Coraline.

[advicefrommice.livejournal.com]

Coraline thought about that carefully. She wanted to say everything but knew that would be rude. "How many questions am I allowed to ask?" she asked, then added, "And I'd be happy to answer your questions about this dimension."

It was only fair, after all.

[advicefrommice.livejournal.com]

Coraline waved back politely, and said, "Hello." She'd never seen anyone with an eyepatch before.

Her list of 'things that were new' kept getting longer.

[therhimineecat.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure I can think of plenty to ask," Seregil admitted. "Things are very different where I'm from."

[advicefrommice.livejournal.com]

"It must be difficult getting used to being here," she said sympathetically. "What if you ask a question, then I'll ask a question, and we can take it in turns until," she smiled impishly, "both of us are completely sick of it, we know everything, or the shop runs out of hot chocolate."

[takingthedayoff.livejournal.com]

Food was a universal constant. You needed it to survive and to make sure that your stomach didn't growl loud enough to attract bears and unusual native wildlife. Not that Ferris had met any unusual wildlife yet, but he wasn't keen to any time soon. That meant dealing with his stomach. That meant finding food. The bakery happened to be the first place he found. Convenient, yet delicious.

He entered the bakery and looked around. The girl seemed like a good place to start, or at least a good place to have a conversation. Good conversation was necessary, especially if their Danish collection turned out to be terrible.

"Hi," he said, sitting down without invitation. "I'm Ferris Bueller. What's good here?"

[advicefrommice.livejournal.com]

Coraline looked at him askance, because she hadn't invited him to sit down, but smiled politely. "I'm Coraline."

He did seem cheerful, at least. She could forgive the rudeness. "Probably quite a lot of things," she said. "I've only had an almond pastry and a hot chocolate, but both were very good."

[takingthedayoff.livejournal.com]

"Coraline," he repeated, making sure he got the pronunciation right. "Unusual name." This coming from the boy named Ferris. "I like it," he decided. "I'll be right back." He got up and went to order something from the counter.

[therhimineecat.livejournal.com]

Seregil smiled. "Sounds like a plan. So, first question. Hot chocolate? Is this a common thing?"

[advicefrommice.livejournal.com]

"Hot chocolate is very common," she replied, taking a sip of hers now that she'd been reminded of it. She made a face when it turned out to be cold, and put it down.

"It does need to be hot, though. You can buy cups of it in shops like this one, or you can get it to make at home. Usually you make it by mixing it in milk, but you can get some that you just pour boiling water over. That kind isn't very good."

[advicefrommice.livejournal.com]

"Not to me," she called after him. As far as she was concerned, Ferris was just as unusual a name. "Since I've been Coraline my whole life."

[takingthedayoff.livejournal.com]

"That makes sense," Ferris said, returning with his food. "An almond pastry and a hot chocolate. If you say it's good, that's good enough for me. So you new? Native? Passing through, thought you'd stay a while and didn't end up leaving?"

[therhimineecat.livejournal.com]

"If you're just pouring boiling water over something, best to stick to tea," Seregil agreed. He took another sip. "But this version is pretty good."

[advicefrommice.livejournal.com]

"I'm from England," Coraline said. "My parents sent me here to go to school, so I'll probably stay. I don't think they'd like it if I left."

Not that she wanted to leave such an interesting place. "You're an American," she added. "Are you from here?"

[takingthedayoff.livejournal.com]

"Not from here, but not from anywhere near as interesting as England. Shermer, Illinois. It's a little place to the north of Chicago. Plenty of things to do if you go into the city, but then, we didn't produce bands like Killing Joke and Flesh for Lulu. That gives your home country a definite advantage over mine, even if I still prefer hot dogs to bangers and mash."

[advicefrommice.livejournal.com]

Coraline nodded in complete agreement. "And it's my turn, so--" She considered all the different options carefully, and then asked, "What's the biggest difference between this dimension and yours?"

[advicefrommice.livejournal.com]

"I've never had a proper American hot dog, and I'm not sure anyone says bangers and mash any more. At least not anyone I know." He certainly could talk, Coraline decided. "And your parents sent you here for school?"

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

He decided to get one of each, and some milk. And schedule some extra training time later to work it off.

"Are you one of the new students?"

btw, Ellen Page as Coraline is awesome