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There are a number of all night cafes that Rena frequents. This one is only open till 2 am, but its still a haunt of hers. When Floretta arrives, she's waiting outside, leaning on a wall, reading her phone. "Yo. I don't have the money to buy anything so I was hoping you could buy something so they won't kick me out."
"Are you going to actually eat or drink it?" Floretta walks right toward the door and holds it open for Rena. She's dress in a little black dress with strappy heels, red lipsticks, heavy eyeshadow. "Cuz if not I'll just grab something for myself."
Rena's outfit is nowhere as classy. A pair of black jeans, her "bash the fash" shirt and her beanie. She's unblushed but it fits with the rest of her aesthetic making her look more like an unwell addict than the walking dead. "Nah, not in the mood to puke anything up. Plus I don't think I'll be able to pay you back any time soon. Just don't want to lose a place for getting caught not paying anything." She pauses, scratching at the back of her neck before saying, "Thanks for coming."
"No problem." Floretta stops by the counter to order an over-complicated order of coffee that has the barrister roll their eyes at her and takes about three minutes to make and then hand it to her over the counter. There is money exchanged for it, she sits wherever Rena choses to sit and actually drinks what she got at the counter. (she's blushed as almost always) "Alright, what'd you want to talk about?"
Rena's seat of choice is a couple of faux leather comfy chairs in front of a turned off electric fireplace. She's sitting in her chair with her boots up on a faux marble table. "Just wanted to say, you know, thanks for yesterday. Being good with me about Atalo, I mean."
Floretta drinks about half of the content of her glass and seems to rather appreciate the moment. "No problem" a bit of a pause follow as she retake a sip from her drink. "I'm glad things went the way they did, all things considered."
"Shit sucked," Rena says grumpily, "I don't know what there was to be glad about. I brought you out here to ask you to not tell people about this. How the fuck do you stand to still eat shit? You have a way around the, you know, after effects?"
"Yes it sucked, you're right." Floretta take another drink from it. "When I got blush on, the food stays down, because of my interest in the fortress brand, my blush last 24 hours" She explains that part. "There's a few reasons, some of them aren't really smart to talk about in public, but it helps maintain the illusion."
"Oh, shit, privacy, fuck," Rena says, moving her just too loud voice to a whisper-shout. "Sorry. It only costs one, uh... unit to make it last for a whole day? That's real good. Could you teach me once, uh, we get the place that makes it easier for me to learn? I miss eating shit."
"Sure and if you prefer another er... makeup artist" she says with a bit of an awkward smile at the weird turn the metaphor is taking. "Eyr and I think Daniel are also good with that one. It's the second milestone, I should warn you, it won't be an immediate thing." she nods "First step help you stay awake during your usual resting time while you have the blush."
Rena gives Floretta a look. "No offense, but I don't exactly want to deal with Eyrgjafa's unique brand of horseshit while trying to get taught shit. Least of all if its something I gotta do without sleeping. Fucking Christ. No thank you. How do you stand being with her?"
"So, maybe this is a No Shit Sherlock kind of deal, but you and I aren't exactly approaching this whole thing with the same outlook." Floretta explains, finishing her coffee and seetting it aside on the table with a nonchalant gesture."The things that makes you tick aren't the same as mine. So whatever you find distasteful in her doesn't bother me. That would be my guess."(edited)
"Seems weird to me that you'd miss her being all-" Rena puts on a bad impression of Eyr's accent, "'oh ho ho, I do so love getting into other people's business and trying to fix them like they're broken toys.' That kinda bullshit. Where it feels like you're a charity case to her, you know?
Floretta takes a moment to breathe, like the breath she takes as actually some kind of purposes and then she talks again. "See, I understand why that bothers you and you you'd see her that way. " she leans forward a little bit. "But from my point of view, I'm seeing something else, because I have a much different point of view than yours, not lesser, not better, just different."
"I mean, she's not a bad person or anything. Probably better than most of us and definitely better than me. Just... she's... I dunno. Fuck." Rena moves her legs off of the table and onto her chair, folding into herself. "You two friends or just work buddies? Or I guess you two could be dating, but I hope not after I spent all that time draggin' her."
Floretta smirks and raise an eyebrow there. "Eyrgjafa and I aren't dating, but she is a friend. I'm not blind to people's flaws, even those I appreciate." she drum her fingers ontop of the table. "As for her being better than you? I'm curious what standards you're using to judge that?"
"I mean." Rena gestures at herself. "It's pretty obvious, I think. I'm an abrasive piece of shit who'll never amount to anything, she lives in a nice house in the suburbs with a soccer champ kid. Every important thing I've ever done was either shit in the past I don't like to think about or fuckin' petty shit like breaking a guy's leg for being transphobic. Which I don't regret or nothing. It's just... you can't deny that she's more than that, you know?"
The transphobic leg-breaking gets a fierce grin from Floretta and she offers a fist bump, which, if taken upon, indicate Floretta is no where near the level of punch power that Rena has. "Did she ever tell you how old she is?"
Rena returns the fistbump, careful to not go hard. She's still not used to being this immensely strong instead of just quick and crafty but it probably only comes out a tiny bit too forceful. "You ever need a transphobe kicked to shit, give me a ring. It's practically my specialty. And no, never did."
"Thanks and I'm fifty" She whispers "Eyr is three times as much as me." Floretta fiddle with the empty coffee cup "And I know you're much younger." A beat "The comparison you're making is completely unfair to yourself. How do you think she looked like, a year after getting involved? Probably didn't look as peachy as she does now." Floretta takes a moment to consider and think. "And not all of the bad stuff about her or you or me is necessarily things we had control over either. Some of it, sure, but all of it? I don't think so."
"'Bout half of you. If that," Rena says, trying to talk around the age stuff, "And I was in control of my shit for 5 years. Complete and utter control. No one could make me do jack I didn't want to and every mistake I made then was on me. Same as it is now. When I do something bad, I want everyone to know it was me who fucked up. Me. No one else. And I don't want anyone thinkin' they could have stopped me or changed my mind or nothin'. Every bad thing about me is 'cause of me. The good shit too. Fuck blaming anyone else."
Floretta nods once and seem to take just a little bit of time to consider the implication and the things she understand from Rena now. "It's good to accept that there's a part of your responsibility in how you act. This is not a given for everyone." she leans forward "But if I slap you right now and you punch me back, do you think maybe I had a hand in the broken jaw i'm likely to get?"
Rena rears back away from Floretta, clenching her fists. It takes her a second to realize that this is a hypothetical and not a threat and when she does, she makes a "tch" noise and lowers her guard. "You did, but I'm still the one pulling the trigger. It takes two to tango. Or to box in this case, I guess. No one made me break your face. It was a choice I made and no one else."
"But the fact that you even had a choice to make is my doing. Not yours." Floretta explains "The fact that you chose to run when the spiders were there is yours. But the fact that you had that choice to make is mine. You control the reaction you have, I agree. But the thing you react to is still there, it's still an influence."
Rena thinks on that, with a decidedly grumpy face. "That's..." she starts, before trailing off. "I mean... fuck. Kinda tipping over my world view there, thanks." She stretches out again, propping up her boots on the poor coffee table. "Fuck, dude, I need a nickname for you. What's your last name?"
"Williams." Floretta replies, resting her arms on the table as she waits for Rena to decide on the nickname. Her right hand goes to tug and pull on a strand of her hair.
"You okay there?" Rena asks, softer than Floretta has probably ever seen her. She looks actively concerned and seems to have put her nickname thoughts behind her. Well, mostly behind her, her brain is still whirring away in the background.
"I'm thinking about a lot of things, relating to what we just spoke about." Her finger fiddles more with the hair strand and she doesn't seem to pay it much mind. "And with the rest of the stuff running in my mind it's a little stressful, so..." she realize she's tugging and fiddling with the hair strand and stops. "I start showing stress signs. But yeah I'm okay, It's a thing that'll run on in the background for a bit."
"Just tell me if you wanna stop, okay? Don't want to be the reason you hurt." Rena makes a tutting noise. "Fuck, look at me getting all mushy and shit. Tell anyone I did this and I'm hitting as hard as I can. Can't let people know I got a soft side like this. Fucks up the illusion."
"I won't tell." Floretta holds her hands up in a peace offering, smiling. "And I'm not hurting right now. I just got my brain hamsters running in circles, nothing that doesn't happen on the regular." she ponder for a moment. "I'm good to continue the conversation for a while at least."
"Got it, boss," Rena says, putting her smirk back on. "Shit, I'm going to be honest, the only nickname coming to mind is like... not great. Fuckin' awful, really. One Eyed Willy. That's nothing, right?"
"That feels a little too much like a killer whale or a little too improperly gendered. I just get this weird redneck image in my head about it" Floretta says, casually with a chuckle. "Maybe something related to video games? Or Comics?"
"It's from Goonies," Rena explains, waving her hand. "You read comics?" She pauses, her eyes going wide. "I got it! Ironheart! I knew there was a fictional Williams my brain wasn't getting."
"I have a passing interested in the movies related to them." Floretta admits "But I know you're interested in them directly, so I figure that would be a good suggestion." She grins "And I threw in video games because I very much would like to get into those when I have some free time."
"Never was much for video games, Ironheart. Never had the time before I ran away and then I never had the money. Been debating trying to steal a switch now that I can run faster than a car. Instead of just regular fast." Rena shrugs. "Could probably grab you one too, if you want. And if you ever want comic recs, hit me the fuck up. I have the best taste in all of Philly."
"Hmm, a switch..." She considers for a moment, crossing her legs. "Is that the portable console with the animal crossing game on it?" clearly she at least hangs around people who even casually game. "Once we're done with the restaurant ghost thing, I'll hit you up for those things, okay?" Her eyes light up "Did you read the notice I put up at the academy by the way?"
"I did, yeah. You aren't thinking of keeping the restaurant going, are you?" Rena asks. "And no smashing shit might be hard depending on how light the ghost is. I can punch them, but if it's like punching a balloon, I might shove it through a window or something. Wait, how big is the boat?"
"I'm thinking of using it but in a different light. So to speak. None of the staff or the people involved are blood bound or influenced beyond me convincing them that, maybe there's a smart way to go about dealing with ghosts and being otherwise curious about this sort of things." She explains and it's clear she's about to get verbose as fuck too.
"They cool with me using it as a house? I was kinda hoping to use it as my crash pad but if regular people are gonna use it, probably won't be worth it, you know?" Rena shrugs, but her face sinks a little. "By the way, you have a way to stop all of us from flippin' out when the ghost launches fire at us?"
"Eyrgjafa, me and Daniel are going to be fine on the fire front, but I'm hoping to talk to the ghost, to make it so he lets us in. Because he lets the Staff there under certain conditions, meaning we could probably let him do it." She nods "I'm pretty sure we could do something like that with them there, I mean, it's not like we'll be holding the crucible in the dining room, as I understand it the building is kind of sizeable." Floretta nods "We'll probably hold our stuff deeper into it have a secret entrance, or we'll have quarters elsewhere nearby."
"I wanna be there though. Case negotiations break down. And I think I'm the only of us who can touch 'em. And I don't want y'all to get fucked. But unless you need a bad cop, you probably ought to leave me out of the talkin' part. I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't exactly play well with others," Rena says with a self aware smirk.
Floretta gives Rena a smile there and nod "I was definitely hoping you'd be there for our safety." She explains and nods "I'm not sure if we have anyone with the ability to speak with them other than you, but there might be something that Clara might be able to help with."
"I mean, I can see 'em. I can hit 'em. I don't know if I can talk to 'em. Might surprise you that I never tried. I do know someone who can, but they're just a normal regular joe. Or whatever the gender neutral of Joe is. I don't know shit 'bout the supernatural to be honest," Rena admits, covering up her nerves with bravado.
"Yeah for that expedition, I'd like to keep the average Joes safe." She says with a little chuckle there. "I'll see what happens after I tap Clara for intuition on the whole situation, but maybe Eyrgjafa or the others will find something to deal with that."
"Hope so," Rena says, "I think I'd get us all killed if I was our only talker. Double killed. And yeah, we need to keep the average joes as safe as possible." She stops for a second. "You ever get bugged by how we have to hurt people to live? Like innocent people," she asks, whispering."
"My feelings on that are a little complex to talk around in circle around it." Floretta leans forward and shrug. "I'd love to have that conversation with you, just maybe not here."
"Sometime." Rena nods. "Shit's whack. That's all I know." She sniffs. I probably ought to get going. Have some shit I want to get done before I have to go to sleep. Herbert's not outside anywhere, is he?"
"Nope, he's home sleeping right now and whenever I'm at the academy, he's inside my office with the door closed." Floretta explains "Sometimes he's with me when I visit the public peace place, but I've been checking before entering now, just in case you'd be there."
"You can have him out when I'm not around. It's not like I'm going to flip my shit if I see a trace of dog hair lyin' around. And I try to make a lot of noise when I'm comin' so people know it's me." Rena stands, stretching out her back till it pops. "Thanks for comin' out to meet me. This was a good talk."
"It was a good one yeah, I'll see you later Rena." She waves, apprently deciding to stay behind for the moment.
And with that, Rena gives a lazy wave, sticks her hands in her pockets and heads out into the night.
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