The Perk; Tuesday Afternoon [ 09/15 ].

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

It might have been just of nervousness that Cal got to the coffee shop early, nervousness over a conglomeration of things from the play to this meeting to building sexually explicit chimeras in class. Of course this whole thing with meeting with Eleanor was under the pretense of newspaper business, but he knew that newspapers would likely be the last thing on his mind, and he felt that racing, dizzying feeling again like maybe he needed to step back and crawl into a hole for a little while, still not ready for this charging dash into human (scratch that, female) contact that his body seemed to rush into with the permission of his lagging, lethargic mind and soul.

Just talk about the newspaper, and he should be fine, right?

Knowing nothing at all about tea, Cal just sat at a table, playing with sugar packets until Eleanor arrived.


[[ up early for great SP justice! Cal's there for a tea-loving redhead, but post is certainly open for all your coffee neeeeeeds ]]

Comments

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"Am I too late?" she smiled at Cal, coming up to the table.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Oh, hey." And there went the mild sugar packet tower, coming crashing down as Cal jumped, just slightly, and then covered it with a smile back. "No, not at all. I think I'm just early. Hi, Eleanor."

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

Was it just her or did he seem a bit nervous for some reason? She took a seat and tilted her head toward the pile of packets. "That seems like a large amount of sugar." And had her eyes been deceiving her or had been trying to build something out of them?

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"That's about how much I put in my coffee," Cal said with a little bit of a sheepish grin. "I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt about tea, but I figured I should have them here just in case."

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"There are those who do prefer their tea sweetened," she smirked lightly. "I myself have just gotten used to doing without."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Well, either way," Cal said, "I haven't gotten anything yet, because I thought I'd leave the tea-getting to the expert."

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

She laughed lightly and glanced over the tea list. "I think I'd like a cup of Earl Grey. And perhaps you might like the vanilla cinnamon roobios?" she suggested. "It sounds as if it would be sweet." And if he truly used that much sugar, he likely had a very powerful sweet-tooth.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Vanilla cinnamon. Like her skin and her hair, both of them flawless, the former of which might be perfect if it actually were flawed, freckled, likes flecks, perhaps, of nutmeg or cocoa.

He was getting lyrical again. He couldn't help it. He smiled at Eleanor.

"That sounds great, actually. Good call."

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

Well, there was one flaw that out of long, nearly subconscious habit she kept usually out of direct sight. The missing pinkie finger of her left hand.

She smiled, practically glowing under the compliment. "Thank you. You'll have to let me know how it is. I've never actually tried that one myself yet."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Well, there's an easy solution to that," Cal offered. "You'll just have to try a sip or two of mine. I mean, you don't have cooties or anything, right?"

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"I suppose I could do that." Then she cocked her head slightly and gave him a curious look. "Cooties? What are those? I would hope I wouldn't have them, I would know wouldn't I?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"I have a feeling you'd ask," Cal said, grinning. "I wasn't sure how far cooties go back. Basically, though, they're kind of like invisible germs that kids attribute to people of the opposite gender when they're, like, five. And then they grow out of it and realize that the opposite gender really isn't that bad."

Cal, meanwhile, had always loved the opposite gender. Well, technically, it was the opposite gender.

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

She laughed lightly. "Though I haven't heard it referred to in that way before, it seems that is something that has not changed over time. There was many a boy that didn't wish to play with me when I was younger simply because I was a girl."

And the fact that she had run about the village as little more than a hoyden had nothing to do with it, really.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"I've never gotten it," Cal said. "I never had problems playing with girls when I was little."

And the fact that he and everyone else actually thought he was a girl had nothing to do with it, really.

"Only one who had cooties was my brother."

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"Was it because he was your brother?" she smirked. The tea was ready and she sipped at hers thoughtfully. "It's good. For what comes in a bag," she remarked.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Well, that," Cal said, nodding a little, "and the fact that he was a cootie face."

He grinned, tilting his head as he watched her reaction to the sip of her tea, before picking up his own. "Not as much of a fan of the bagged stuff?" he asked, tentatively bringing his mug to his lips, blowing on the hot liquid before chancing his own sip.

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

She had to cover her mouth with a hand to prevent tea from spraying out. "Excuse me," she said with a slight chuckle once she'd regained control. How unladylike.

"I'm not used to it in this form," she tugged on the little string. "And I will admit that it does seem to have a weaker flavor than its loose counterpart."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Unladylike, maybe, but it was pretty adorable.

"So you like it strong," Cal said, nodding, and taking another sip of his. "I like this, though. You mostly just taste the cinnamon."

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"I don't know if I would say strong, just... more like actual tea."

Eleanor was totally a tea snob. She could claim it on being British.

"That's good then. Perhaps I shall be able to convert you," he said with a sly smirk.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Not like it'd be that hard," Cal said with a snort. "I don't even really like coffee to begin with."

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"Really? It seems a lot of people here drink coffee as if their lives depended upon it." of which the mun is one

"It's so odd, in a way. When they get coffee they proceed to drown it with loads of cream and sugar as if they can't stand the natural taste of it. Which would beg the question, that if it tasted that bad, why drink it in the first place? Tea, of course is different," she added with a firm nod.

Yes, it was totally different. It was tea.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Of course," Cal said with a grin. "But, I mean, you're talking to a smoker here, too. I know nicotine's bad for me, but I still do it. It's probably the same with coffee. I don't like it; it's too bitter, but I still drink it to wake me up. Although the sugar's probably doing as much work as the caffeine there."

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"That's probably true," she acknowledged. "So, do you really think I should write on how things are different in my time?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Oh, definitely," Cal said, nodding with easy enthusiasm and another sip of his tea. "I mean, well, I'd think it was interesting, and a lot of other people might relate to it, too, even if their situations aren't exactly the same. You know?"

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"There is something to that I suppose." She put down her cup with a little sigh. "I'm just ... I'm not sure that people would actually read it. Much less anything else I write."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"I bet they're more likely to read what you write than some of the drivel I put out," he offered, tilting his head curiously at her.

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I doubt you write drivel. I'm sure you do excellent writing." He was, after all, the editor. Surely that meant he could write something.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Well," Cal shrugged, modestly, though his grin was just a little less so, "writing's kind of what I think I might want to do, but I'm not really sure."

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"Why not? The you not being really sure part, I meant," she clarified.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal shrugged. "I might not be good enough at it to really make a living out of it. It isn't easy actually being a writer and being able to eat at the same time."

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"What would like to write?" she asked, curious.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"That's another problem," Cal's crooked grin was a little soft, "I don't really know that, either. Maybe I'll travel more. Write about what I see..."

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"That sounds like a good idea," she smiled. "I would like to hear about new and distant places."