Cafe Fina, late Thursday afternoon, January 27th

[heromaniac]

Momoko was sitting in the Cafe Fina, poking a spoon at a parfait. She'd tried rifling through the cupboards of the common room, looking for something to eat, but she needed more than just candy and packaged cookies to deal with the two unopened envelopes on the table in front of her. So far, she'd finished three slices of cake, one slice of pie, and two bowls of warm cobbler a la mode.

She pushed at the two envelopes with her parfait spoon, frowning. The results of her National Exams and Police Academy test had both arrived in today's mail. Both marked confidential, both meaning different ways for her life to go. Both reminding her that school ended in just a few months.

Did it mean something if one was a thicker envelope than the other? Hadn't one of Dinah's university letters been thicker? Which one was it; the good news or the bad?

"And what exactly do I think is good news?" Momoko frowned and dug back into her parfait, completely not wanting to open either envelope. She hadn't had nearly enough snacks yet.



[Open, as the cafe is. Feel free to bug her or not!]

Comments

[weldedtomyspine]

Sometimes Momoko was predictable. And when she wasn't in class, her room, or one of the common rooms, one of the first places Jaime checked was Fina.

And once again, it paid off.

"Hey, you," he called as he walked in.

[heromaniac]

Momoko looked up from the almost empty parfait and changed her expression to a grin. "Hey!" She waved her spoon at him. "Join me? Or are you meeting someone?"

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime smiled back and settled into the chair across from her. "Looking for someone, actually."

[heromaniac]

Ah. Then he wouldn't stay long. At least not with her. "Who? I may have seen them; I've been here for a while."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Oh! You might have!"

Jaime bit back a smirk.

"A girl, about your height." Exactly Momoko's height. "She has red hair, a lot like yours." Which was to say: exactly like hers.

[heromaniac]

"There are a few redheads on the island now. Do you not know her name?" Momoko tapped her lips with her spoon, considering the possibilities. Ah!

She cast him a sideways glance. "Or is that why you're looking for her? Hmmmm?"

[weldedtomyspine]

"Oh, I know her name." Jaime waved his hand dismissively as if that wouldn't help in his search. Which, it wouldn't, since he'd already found who he was looking for.

"She likes sweets, so I sort of suspected she might have come through here..." He cocked his head. "Seen anyone?"

[heromaniac]

Momoko chuckled and gave him a look. "I've seen lots of people. It's a cafe? What's her name?"

[weldedtomyspine]

"It's something foreign-sounding..." Jaime pursed his lips.

"Aka... something." Like he didn't remember.

[heromaniac]

"Hmm. That's funny, because 'aka' can mean 'red' in Japa..." Momoko blinked as she put the pieces together, faked a glare, and then tossed a napkin at him. "You are horrible."

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime feigned surprise. "What? How so?"

Like he didn't know.

[heromaniac]

She went back to her parfait cup, scraping the dregs while rolling her eyes. "You weren't looking for anyone, you were describing me and you know it. I can't believe I fell for that." And worried that he may have someone he was actually interested in again.

[weldedtomyspine]

"I was looking for someone," Jaime objected.

"It just happened to be you." That was okay, right?

[heromaniac]

That was more than okay. And her spoon stilled for a moment before she removed the last of the dessert and ate it, setting the cup aside.

"You really were looking for me?" She shouldn't sound so pleased about that, not really. Momoko turned to hide her grin, waving at a Spoon who was clearing another table. She pointed at her empty cup, getting a nod and a thumbs up in return from the cutlery before she turned back to Jaime. "Why were you looking for me?"

[weldedtomyspine]

"Because you weren't in your room?" That totally wasn't the reason.

[heromaniac]

"That's because I've been here. I was hungry for some snacks."

[weldedtomyspine]

"And there aren't any snacks in your room?" Jaime asked pointedly.

[heromaniac]

"Of course there are!" Momoko looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "But I'm down to candy and chips in my room. I wanted something to actually eat."

She raised a hand. "And before you ask, the snacks in the common room totally don't count. Even I can only eat so many stale Oreos and week-old packaged muffins."

[weldedtomyspine]

"And just how much actual food have you had since you go here?"

He rather suspected she'd basically been eating sugar since she'd gotten to the cafe.

[heromaniac]

"Can I count the flour in the cake as grain, and the fruit in the cobbler?"

The friendly waitress Spoon came by to replace Momoko's empty parfait cup with a full one, just then. "Thank you!"

[weldedtomyspine]

"No. And you know it." Jaime eyed the parfait with something sort of like displeasure. That all seemed like a lot, even for Momoko.

[heromaniac]

She saw his expression and groaned. He was being 'not happy' at her and that was totally not fair. "It's not like I've been here for half an hour eating it all. I've been here for ages! Just ask anyone!"

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime glanced over at the Spoon waitress and raised an eyebrow.

[heromaniac]

"She's been here since before my shift!" The Spoon waved her hands, absolving herself of any of it. "And I came on at 2."

"See?" Momoko gave Jaime a smug look and dug her spoon into her parfait.

"Of course," the Spoon just had to continue, "she's only had desserts since then. Want me to check her tab so far?"

Momoko sank into her chair. Taking the parfait with her, of course.

[weldedtomyspine]

"I can guess."

Jaime leaned across the table slightly, looking worried. "What's up?"