The Perk; Late Monday Morning.

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

Charlotte York had finally decided that she had lost another battle. Over ten batches of unsuccessful cookies later, she decided that her stove was evil, it probably had something to do with the island, and she was just going to give it up, pick up some cookies from that lovely pastry shop, and call that good. The disastrous attempts of this morning's attempt, though, had driven her successfully out of her apartment for the moment, into the coffee shop, where she could maybe relax a little in the ambiance and enjoy a nice skinny latte and attempt to read book to distract her from worry over whether or not the cookie bait-and-switch would be notice.

Although she was most likely to just blurt out a confession anyway.


[[ open, of course, for all your coffee needs! ]]

Comments

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

Juli stepped inside what had to be one of her most frequent haunts, unzipping her raincoat as she shook her hair out. It was still cloudy and looked like it would rain more later, so it was best to be prudent.

"Good morning," she said affably, because it was as far as Juli was concerned.

[Playing the SP game due to work mind, so I'll be slow. Woe.]

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

Charlotte, certainly wanting to be friendly and personable on a day like this, as if that would help bring the sunshine out a bit more, glanced up from her book and smiled at the other woman as she came in. "Not much morning left," she commented pleasantly, "but I do hope the rest of it will be good."

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"Not much left, no," Juli conceded. "But it's still too early to say 'good afternoon' instead. Though, I have to admit, it looks like it wants to rain more so your mileage may vary on how good a day that makes it."

Juli liked the rain. It felt alive.

[Lucky you with good weather! It's pouring here! Arg.]

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I like the rain, sometimes," Charlotte said with a slight nod. "As long as it isn't too much, it's kind of nice and relaxing."

Deciding that a conversation was likely to come from this, Charlotte placed a marker inside her book and set it aside before adding, "I'm Charlotte, by the way. I don't believe we've met?"

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

“I’m fond of most variations in the weather,” Juli said, getting a coffee from the counter and stepping over so that they need not talk across the shop. “But moderation is, of course, key.”

She proffered her hand to Charlotte with a light smile. “Dr. Juli Mizrahi,” she responded. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Have you been here long?”

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Not very," Charlotte said, taking the other woman's hand with a shake. "Just a few weeks really, although I think it might even be coming up on a month here shortly. Doctor of what, if you don't mind me asking?"

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"Time does fly here, doesn't it? I don't mind at all." Juli looked slightly amused. "Though I doubt it'll mean anything to you. I specialize in Realian and cybernetic engineering."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Sounds impressive!" Charlotte commented, with a small that showed that she meant it. She had actually been hoping it was something diverting down that road instead of a more medical focused one; last thing she needed was to accidentally blurt something about Trey. "What does a doctor of Realian and cybernetic engineering do on a small island like this?"

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"Teach," Juli said dryly. "It wasn't exactly by choice that I wound up here."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Really?" Charlotte asked, eyes widening slightly as she leaned forward a bit in interest. "What happened?"

Normally, she probably wouldn't have asked, but so many weeks here had her leaving terribly deprived of gossip.

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

She doubted her story would be all that interesting really. It wasn't to her. "Was enroute to Bormeo University, when my transport took a 'wrong-turn' through hyper-space and I wound up here."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Charlotte settled a little more with slightly sinking shoulders. Perhaps not as interesting as she thought, no, especially since it dealt with things that Charlotte Tried Not To Talk About. Still... "So you decided just to get a job teaching here instead of trying to get back?"

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

"Not precisely." Minor irritation in her voice, though not directed at Charlotte. "More rather that I cannot contact anyone back home, and am effectively stranded here."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé was wandering past the Perk when she noticed a familiar face inside, and stopped briefly to smile and hope she wasn't interrupting.

"Charlotte? Congratulations on your gallery's opening."

Since she could say it now as herself (http://community.livejournal.com/fandomtownies/2680065.html?thread=117211905#t117211905) again.

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Oh! Naminé!" Charlotte smiled when she saw the girl, lowering her book as her attention diverted gladly. "Hi! And thank you! I think it's been rather well received. Slow at the moment, but when we start rotating exhibits, it should get interesting. How are you?"

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"I'm well, thank you," Naminé smiled, taking a seat and smoothing out her skirt. "My apologies again for disturbing you at the opening. I thought it would be rude not to say hello. You become accustomed to this town rather quickly. When is the next exhibit planned? The Satoshi Matsuyama is beautiful, I've been meaning to come back and look around again but I'm afraid I've been short on time."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"Oh, don't apologize for something like that," Charlotte said with a wave of her hand, after setting her book aside. "It wasn't a disturbance at all, even if you weren't quite yourself. And I'm still not sure; I have one lined up, but I'm still thinking of when I feel this one's had a good run and when it might be a good time for another opening. With graduation going on for you kids, I don't want to plan one with so much else going on."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"There is that," she laughed. "And after graduation, there will be a rush of new students, and I'd hate to think they'll be missing this exhibit. Of course, they won't know what they're missing, which is often a very good thing around Fandom."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"I might be thinking of matching a new exhibit with the summer semester you have going here," Charlotte said with a slight now. "Ride on the excitement of the new place to pull people in, perhaps. And, now that I think about it, I could postpone the next one I have in mind and try to make the exhibit thematic, to sort of reflect the...err...um...surprising nature of this island..."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"An exhibit of the weird and unusual?" Naminé asked. "This island is rather avant-garde in its own way. Perhaps it's more Dadaist. I keep thinking that Fandom is attempting to make some grand statement about how reality and normality is all in the perception, but I can't quite make it work."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"I'm just firmly going to stay in the school of not thinking about it too much, especially since that seems to be working pretty well for me so far," Charlotte said with an amused smile. "Dadaist could be interesting, though. But just...anything that has a sort of illusion to it, I think. Like the island itself, seems so quaint and quiet, but... A what you see is not necessarily what you get angle."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I like that," Naminé smiled. "Trompe l'oeil, and the like? There's a man who's been doing chalk sidewalk drawings which, at the right angle, look so third-dimensional as to be disorienting, but are simply a mishmash of lines and arcs from any other perspective."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

Charlotte, a slightly beaming smile on her face, just shook her head a little. "You are very well versed on your art, young lady! I have to say, it's very refreshing. That's almost exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about, practically to the T."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé laughed, blushing a little pink. "Thank you. I've had some wonderful classes here. Mr. Rogers teaches Art History, and last semester we went to the National Gallery. They had such lovely books, I wanted to buy all of them and had a terrible time choosing."

[perfectmissyork.livejournal.com]

"I've met Mr. Rogers, yes," Charlotte said, nodding, "and Teddy spoke very highly of him as well. What sort of book did you end up choosing while you were there?"