The Perk : Thursday Early Afternoon

[thepaledreamer.livejournal.com]

It still felt strange to walk around and not have to worry about looking over her shoulder. She still did since it was an ingrained habit by now but, as each day passed, she felt more and more comfortable with believing what Jaxon had told her about this place. He'd assured her the place was special, that it accepted all people and that she wouldn't have to worry about the NVD, the SVD, the Emim or the Rephaim there. He did say she might uncover a new set of problems but he thought she could deal with those new issues just fine.

Paige was fine with new issues. Definitely fine. The old issues were the ones that she needed to recover from and just the act of making her way into a small coffee shop, ordering something warm and caffeinated before taking a seat without worrying about being dragged off to the Tower or given the NiteKind were enough to start that process.

So far, things were good. Paige hadn't realized how much she needed this reprieve and this retreat away from SciLo until she'd settled into her apartment and bed a few nights ago. Any guilt she'd felt about leaving her friends behind had vanished when she'd fallen asleep and slept through the night for the first time in a long time.

Today was a day for sitting and drinking coffee. She had a few newspapers in front of her that she was browsing through in an attempt to catch up on the things she'd missed for one reason or another. She'd even left her spirit bodyguards behind for the time being. She didn't feel like she needed them.

[Open!]

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[pasunereveuse.livejournal.com]

Celia was out for a brisk walk about town, in an effort to familiarize herself with the area where she'd be living for the foreseeable future. It had been so long since they'd stayed in one place for more than a few weeks that the idea that this was home was absolutely daunting.

She ducked into the coffee shop to warm up for a few moments, and ordered herself some tea. After she was done puzzling at the odd little paper cup and its little paper sleeve (did they not have mugs here?), she belatedly surveyed the other patrons, and realized she did in fact know one of them.

"Good afternoon, Miss Mahoney," she said politely, stopping by Paige's table. She didn't want to disturb her, but it seemed only right to say hello to a teacher outside of the classroom.

[thepaledreamer.livejournal.com]

"Hello, Celia," she said, looking up from the array of newspapers to smile at the girl. "Come in for something warm you up as well? It wasn't winter where I came from. I didn't prepare very well."

[pasunereveuse.livejournal.com]

"I don't know that I've spent this much time out-of-doors in years," Celia admitted. "I forgot what January is really like." Plus this seemed to be excessively cold, compared to how New York had been when she'd left. "Is it at least the same year where you're from?"

She'd traveled a hundred and thirty years in the future. The idea of also finding it to be abruptly winter when expecting summer added a whole new dimension of headachiness to the concept, for Celia.

[thepaledreamer.livejournal.com]

"It is not," Paige said, shaking her head. She didn't know how that happened or how connected Jaxon was just to make it happen but he'd done it. Or, at least, he'd take credit for it.

"As far as I can tell, when I left London, it was the year 2068," she shared, still wide eyed about that. "So, I seem to have ended up in the past. Somehow."

It was clear that she didn't understand it at all.

[pasunereveuse.livejournal.com]

Celia's eyes widened. "Oh, my. If it makes you feel any better, it was 1884 when I left New York. Traveling through time seems almost commonplace here -- though it's not something I've ever heard of happening at home."

Though maybe it did and no one discussed it with those who weren't gifted. Magic had a similar role, there.

[thepaledreamer.livejournal.com]

"1884?" Paige's eyes widened even further. "Your culture shock must be even worse than mine. I'm finding several things familiar, at the very least. How are you adapting?"

Paige couldn't even imagine going that far into the future. Nearly everything had to be different and unfamiliar.

[pasunereveuse.livejournal.com]

"It's not been too bad. Electric lighting seems to have come a long way, at least," Celia remarked with a small smile. "Mostly it's that everyone is so much more open here. With everything."

People back home did not discuss things like people did here. Thanks, Sparkle, for getting that out of the way pretty immediately.

"It must all seem so primitive to you, though," she added thoughtfully.

[thepaledreamer.livejournal.com]

"You'd be surprised," Paige said and finally remembered her manners when she gestured to the open seat at her table. "Feel free to sit, if you'd like."

She, in turn, moved the newspapers out of the way to make some room.

"Where I'm from, you couldn't be open about what you were either," she shared. "So, while the technology and the electricity is slightly dated, the attitudes of people? They seem to have regressed."

[pasunereveuse.livejournal.com]

Celia took the offered seat, settling her skirts around her so they wouldn't wrinkle. "I wonder if that's true for 2014 everywhere, or just this place. No one here seems especially surprised by my abilities, thus far, whereas my father makes his living on shocking people with his." She frowned. "It doesn't sound as though that attitude lasts long, though, if people are still afraid of such things where you're from."

[notvenom.livejournal.com]

The downside (downside?) of only having two classes was that whenever she wasn't dragged back home to deliver some justice into random evildoers was that Anya didn't have much things left to do with her time. She could run until she dropped, in theory, but that didn't seem as fun once you did it a couple times. Hence why the idea of getting coffee and some R & R seemed like a good one when it popped in her head.

It didn't take her long to spot a new face, or at least a new face to her; she could never tell with Fandom. "Hey there," she called out from the bar as she tried to pick something. "Are you a new teacher?" Although she looked kinda young, but then again, Fandom.

[thepaledreamer.livejournal.com]

"Good observation," she complimented, looking up from one of her newspapers. "I've barely been here a week yet. So, I'm the very definition of new."

[notvenom.livejournal.com]

"I haven't really been much around the island as of late, so in a way there's a lot of new people," Anya said. "Are you liking it so far?"

[thepaledreamer.livejournal.com]

"So far," she said, giving the girl a light nod. "It's a different sort of place than I'm used to but yes, I'm enjoying it. No complaints just yet."

[notvenom.livejournal.com]

"That's good to hear," Anya said, smiling. "Sometimes the island seems to have a mind of its own and a predisposition to play pranks on us, but you have probably heard all about that already." They probably needed a sign set somewhere though, to keep all the newbies aware of it.

[thepaledreamer.livejournal.com]

"The first person to greet me was a talking pony," Paige shared with a little laugh. "And I come from a strange place anyway. I don't mind the pranks. They'll probably be a nice change of pace."

[notvenom.livejournal.com]

"Oh, Pinkie Pie," Anya said, her smile growing at the mention of the pony. It wasn't that bad once you got used to her eccentricities. "Glad to hear that. Hopefully you won't get a classroom full of angty teens when everyone starts waking up with the wrong gender again..."

[thepaledreamer.livejournal.com]

"I thought teenagers were angsty by definition," Paige told her, raising an eyebrow. She figured she was allowed to say that about teenagers since she'd just stopped being one. "They seem pretty hardy though. Like they can deal with a simple genderswitch."

No matter how weird that sounded.

[sith_happened]

A week at home with two Force-sensitive children with the stomach flu meant Anakin needed coffee more than he needed anything other than oxygen.

He ordered the biggest black coffee the shop offered and nodded at the unfamiliar face as we waited for them to retrieve the coffee bucket from the back. "New teacher or new to town?" he asked.

[thepaledreamer.livejournal.com]

"Both, actually," she said, looking up at the new arrival. "I'm a new teacher and new to town. Actually, new to the entire country."

The accent might have given that away. "Do I give off the new person glow?"

[sith_happened]

"Yes, but not in a literal way," Anakin said, then tilted his head. "Or is it still too soon for that to be funny for you?"

[thepaledreamer.livejournal.com]

"Actually, I might actually look like I'm glowing though I don't know if you can see it," she said, laughing. "Auras. I can read them and I'm sure I have one which can look like a glow to some."

[sith_happened]

Anakin's lips quirked up. "I didn't want to mention that in case you didn't know you did that," he admitted. "I'm Anakin Skywalker, the dean of students."

[thepaledreamer.livejournal.com]

"I'll live with glowing as long as I don't sparkle," she replied with a snicker. "Paige Mahoney, teacher. Pleasure to meet you, Dean. You've got a bit of a glow as well. Nothing that signals that you're new but it's still there, nonetheless."

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "I'm a Jedi," he explained. "We tap into...whatever it is that you call the power that runs the multiverse--we call it the Force--and use it to help us protect and defend others."

[thepaledreamer.livejournal.com]

"That's...new," Paige admitted, eyes wide. "I haven't heard of the Force. I guess my...comparison would be something called the aether or the Source. It's where most of the people from my world draw their...power, I guess. It's weird to say that since we didn't think of it like that."