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Outside a coffee shop in northeast Philly are a few benches and outdoor tables for people to enjoy the nice summer weather, or just take a smoke break. Inside a musician is playing and most of the tables are fill, but only a couple of the outside ones have people at them. One of those tables is where Piera is sitting, leaning back against the cafe's front window and bobbing their head slowly to the rhythm of the guitar the singer inside is crooning along to.
A maybe vaguely familiar figure lopes up, hands shoved in the pockets of their hoodie. Their hood is up too, despite the warm evening, and they start to pull a battered pack of cigarettes out of their pocket to light up.
And then do a small double take at Piera, and give them a small upnod. Recognition, but not quite enough to start a conversation yet.
Kay makes her way out of the coffee shop, wearing a red sleeveless, tightly fitted dress, hair sleeked back, carrying a purse with her along with a cup of coffee. She stops for a moment when she notices Piera specifically and approaches them slowly. "Hey? Piera?" She asks, uncertain right away.
Micaela is one of those people having a cigarette at one of the tables while she reads a message on her smartphone's LED screen with thoughtful consideration. She presses the cigarette between her lips and holds it there while she keys in a response, and it makes that tell-tale 'swoosh' sound as it's sent, and then she sets it back down, face down, on the table, inhaling another lungful of the poison and scanning her hazel eyes across the rest of the patrons.
Piera, who is wearing threadbare jeans with knees ripped from use and not for style and an extremely faded Rolling Stones t-shirt a size too big, watches Calamity as they approach. They smile at the upnod and return that by raising a gloved hand and waving, then glancing around at the other tables and making a questioning/inviting gesture toward the bench across the bale from them.
Then they smile at Kay and say, "hey, I thought I recognized you through the window. Kay, right?"
At the invitation, Calamity tugs the hood from their head and wanders over, taking a long drag from their cigarette and blowing the smoke away from Piera. They give Kay a slightly suspicious look over, and eye the other patrons too.
Their gaze stops dead on Micaela, and their pale green eyes go a little wide in surprise. But what's to be done right now, about a mafia princess in K+A territory? Nothing, that's what, and so they sink down onto the bench across from Piera.
--¿Qué onda? --they ask Piera with a ghost of a smile.
"Yes!, How're you? It's been a while!" Kay picks a seat nearby, setting the cup down nearby and the woman looks positively thrilled to see them again. She glance over at Calamity and then to Micaela, both of them getting a little nod in greeting, she gives a little wave to them even.
--Chévere ¿y tú?-- is how Piera responds to Cal, their Venezuelan slang bleeding through. They switch back to English easily enough, like they barely have to think about that any more. "I'm doing alright, Kay. Now that someone is sitting with me who is actually a paying customer I don't even feel bad sitting here taking up a table." They don't seem to recognize Micaela, or even take much notice of her, but they do catch the brief lock of Cal's gaze on her, which means they look that way briefly, curiously. "Kay, this is Calamity. Calamity, Kay," the say to make introductions.
Piera's accent when speaking English is a light Spanish one, for anyone keeping track.
Micaela notices Calamity's gawked reaction, and pulls the corners of her lips up in a slight smile, winking back at them while she drags from her cigarette. But she doesn't seem to do anything other than that, let them know that she's seen them knowing.
As soon as Micaela acknowledges Calamity, their expression changes to something more akin to 'what the fuck are you doing all the way up here???'. But then they drop their gaze, and turn back to Piera. "Ehhh..." they shrug in response to the question, and upnod at Kay before taking another drag on their cigarette. "'Sup?"
"I was just grabbing some coffee on the way back home." Kay explains with just a little shrug and smile. "Pleasure to meet with you Calamity, do you have a preferred nickname or honorifics?" she offer a handshake to them.
She glance back toward the inside of the shop. "Do you want anything Piera?" she offers with a smile.
Micaela just jogs her shoulders at Calamity in a subtle, innocent shrug, certainly interpreted as 'why wouldn't I be here?'
"Someone you know?" Piera asks with another glance at Micaela but not leaving their focus there. "Oh, thanks Kay but I'm good. I don't drink coffee or anything. I just came to listen to the music. This lady's not the best, but live music always makes me feel better."
"Uh. No, just Calamity." Calamity gives Kay a quick handshake, and a smile that's a little too small to be really polite. Suspicious of strangers, this youth. Micaela gets an eyebrow raise - 'you know why' - but then they shake their head at Piera. "Never met her, nah." Which, of course, doesn't actually answer their question fully.
"I should introduce you to Jay, or maybe give you the adress to his own café." Kay says to Piera with a giddy smile "He loves Music too and is one of my closest friend!" Then turn to Calamity and takes a sip of her own coffee. "How do you two know each other?" Her attention only passes momentarily over Micaela when she's brought up, no comment yet.
Micaela takes another drag from her cigarette, eyeing Calamity for a moment further with a look that drips 'mischievous interest', but she only goes back to her phone, then politely thanks a server who brings her a cup of black coffee, smiling beguilingly.
"If he doesn't mind that I hang out and don't order anything," Piera tells Kay with a shrug, not apologetic. They don't have money and they don't need to eat or drink, so they're not great cafe customers. "I'd be interested in the music for sure." They look at Cal, then at Kay, then back at Cal again and shrug. "you alright if I tell her where we met? I don't know how you feel about that. It doesn't matter to me." They glance at Micaela again but otherwise seem like they're going to let the matter drop.
"How d'you know her?" Calamity asks Piera in Spanish. They seem merely curious. "And does she know you're sleepin' rough? Are you still? Met at the Attic," Calamity finishes to Kay in English, switching between the languages with ease. "Queer youth center. How d'you two know each other?"
They look toward Michaela with a shrug that implies she can look all she wants, Calamity's not giving up their secrets.
Kay chuckles and turn to Piera and smiles at them and speak to them in a different language too (Unami) "I can play that game too" then turn her attention back to Calamity "We taught each other a few things a while back, then lost contact for a bit. Also, is the girl in there an awkward Ex or something?"
Micaela sips from her coffee, setting it back down and sending another text message off into digital oblivion while she occasionally glances over at the intersection nearby. If she's aware of the nearby chatter, and she likely is, it ostensibly doesn't draw her interest for these few moments that she appears to be studying the street - or more specifically, the people on the street.
Piera answers Calamity in Spanish, "I think so, and I am, yeah." Then they follow up in English, "we've both been studying Unami together. The language of the Lenape who were here before all the white people showed up," they add. It's true, but it's not really how they met, just something they had in common once they did. They laugh and say to Kay, "almost nobody speaks Unami, that's just unfair."
Calamity doesn't seem to mind the multilingual conversation, but their face twists in disgust at Kay's question. "Oh fuck no," they scoff, easily loud enough for Micaela to hear. But their attention is briefly caught by the woman, and eyes the people she's looking at, too.
"'S pretty cool - you both into languages, or something?" While their attention is partially focused away from Piera and Kay, they still sounds mildly curious.
"Yes, it is, but I don't always play fair either." Then, Kay almost snort at Calamity's reaction and hold up one of her hand as a peace gesture. "Sorry I mentioned it, I misinterpreted the situation." the apologie seems genuine. "I learned Unami because I wanted to connect with my adopted family and I also learned Ge'ez to try and understand more about my birth family." a shrug. "And I'm currently trying to learn more about the Maori language too. It's less a focus or a job than it is a personal interest."
Micaela's attention towards the conversation goes a bit deaf when they start code-switching to and from other non-English and non-Italian languages, but the loud scoff flickers her hazel eyes back over, and she's more amused than anything, then goes right back to doing what she was doing.
"Languages are definitely the thing I nerd out about the most," Piera answers eagerly, since it's a topic they have a a considerable passion for. "English was actually my fourth. What's Ge'ez?" they ask Kay, followed by asking Calamity, "I haven't seen you around the Attic in a bit. How have you been doing? I was a little worried."
"'S fine." Calamity waves a hand at Kay dismissively. "'S a lotta languages to learn, though. Never really been good at that learning shit," they say with a shrug, like they don't consider being bilingual 'good at learning languages'. "'S cool though, I got a lotta friends who speak more'n one language." Another glance at Micaela, this time with slightly narrowed eyes, but whatever she's doing continues to be a mystery.
"Been around. You know. Go back there for the free wifi every once in a while. You still spend time there?"
"Ge'ez is a semitic language, it's now pretty much only used as a liturgical language for a few churches around Ethiopia and Eritrea." Kay explains toward Piera "My parents were specifically in the Beta Israel jewish community." then looks to Calamity nodding to their statement. "I always find it amazing the things I learn when I push to understand a new language."
"I visit sometimes, but I never did spend a ton of time there. I guess I'm supposed to be an adult now, too. As of a couple of weeks ago," Piera admits to Calamity, shrugging vaguely. "I don't know. I hardly ever feel like I actually belong anywhere, ya know?" With a smile at Kay they say, "that explains it, I guess. Thanks. I haven't gotten into the semitic languages yet."
"Learnin' more languages's way down on my list of important shit," Calamity tells Kay with a shrug. "Picked up a few phrases from some'a my friends, but I ain't got time to sit down and study, you know?" They take a drag from their dwindling cigarette, and wince in sympathy when Piera says they're an adult. "Doesn't get any better, promise." Says the youth who can't be all that much older. "An' yeah, I feel that. Still tryin'ta figure out the whole belonging shit, myself."
"Understandable" Kay replies and takes another drink from her cup and then leans back into the seat, looking about curiously. "It takes a long time and it's not really a quick thing either. I pursue those that means something to me when I have time." she run her fingers over the brim of her cup. "I also looked over hebrew and yiddish but none of that stuck yet." a scratch behind her head when the topic turn to belonging. "Yeah that's a complicated one."
Micaela must have caught Calamity glancing over, because she runs her tongue along her top row of teeth and winks back at them with a rakish affectation, dramatized and for-show, indifferent to the consequences or reactions.
With a shrug Piera answers Calamity, "didn't expect it to." If someone is particularly observant they might notice the fact that Piera doesn't seem to be do some of the things that normal people do, but everyone tune's out. Like breathing except when they're talking, or blinking. For people who are familiar with vampires it might seem familiar, although they also don't look like a corpse in the way a vampire who isn't using the Blush usually would. "It doesn't really feel like anything has changed," they continue. "I'm still a..." they catch Micaela's wink and tongue-thing and make a face. "I think that person's trying to mess with you. Are you sure you don't know them?"
Calamity huffs in mild amusement at Piera. "Yeah, doesn't change a lot, 'cept you don't gotta bum cigarettes off your friends anymore 'f you got the cash to buy 'em." A beat. "An' there's no more juvie. 'F they weren't already tryin' you as an adult before."
They roll their eyes at Micaela, clearly not impressed with the display, and shake their head at Piera. "Never met her, like I said."
Piera laughs and tells Cal, "I think she's thirsting for you. Is she your type? You could go say hi," they tease before they scrunch up their nose, then push their glasses back up it with a gloved finger. "I avoid the fuck out of the police, though. I'm not even legal. It would be bad if I got picked up."
Micaela is amused nonetheless, but stows the playful, childish distraction of messing with Calamity in recompense for their open gawking and staring to return her attention to another series of text messages, her cigarette, her coffee, and occasionally, the street and passersby.
"Definitely not my type. Think she might just be a friend of a friend." Another scoff. "I avoid 'em too, doesn't always work." There's a moment of silence, while they look Piera over, and then they switch to Spanish. "You need ID, could prob'ly help you out with it. I know a couple people, could at least point you in the right direction, you know?"
Piera gives Calamity a doubting look, like they don't buy the line about Micaela not being their type at all, but after a moment they just decide to pretend they believe it and shrug. "If you say so." They switch back to Spanish after Kay leaves. "I should get one at some point, but I've managed alright without one for a few years. Might be a good idea to consider it, depending on what they're going to want. I haven't got any money."
"You might be able to get away with a favor, I can make some calls...?" They continue to talk in Spanish. It's not as if it's a particularly uncommon language, but it'll keep at least a few people around from understanding.
Micaela finally finishes her cigarette, expiring it into an ash tray while the final remnants of the smoke wisp out of her mouth, and she starts to ask the server for the check.
"It probably won't hurt to ask?" Piera wrinkles their nose again, even though this always makes their glasses slide down and require pushing up, as it does this time. "Which sounds like famous last words." They glance over at Micaela and say, "I think your ex is leaving finally."
"She...isn't my ex, dude, what the fuck..." Calamity lets out an incredulous laugh, and glances over at Micaela with a slight eye roll. "I'll see what I can do about getting you ID. Need your number, though." They pull out a smartphone in a beat up case.
The check comes, and Micaela, naturally, pays in cash, leaving an excessive tip behind, and lingering a few moments to finish her coffee until she sets it down, the gentle clack of glass against ceramic, and starts to rise. She collects her clutch from the table and begins to leave, arcing her path past Calamity and Piera as she does, smiling down at them both, and dragging her fingernails across the tabletop as she passes by them. And that's all she does, and then -- she's gone, disappeared around the corner and down the street, like she was never there, but for the strange, lingering sensation of being watched.
Piera looks confused for a second, then embarrassed. In fact, they react like someone who might be blushing, but no color comes to their cheeks. Strange! "Oh? I... must have gotten the wrong idea. Not like I know anything about this. I've never actually been on a date." They pull out a fucking flip phone as Micaela is going by and open it up, then stop and blink at Micaela and give Calamity another look. "If she's not, I think she wants to be. Anyway, my number's," and they rattle one off.
Their expression turns thoughtful, when Piera fails to blush, though they don't comment on it. They don't comment on the flip phone, either, and tap Piera's number into theirs before firing off a text back that just says 'Calamity:boom:'.
"Highly doubt she's into me." Their certainty might imply that they were lying about her not being an ex. But who knows? They go to stand. "I should head out - 's nice to see you. I'll let you know 'bout papers an' shit."
Piera spends a few moments replying to the text with 'Piera', which takes longer than it should since they have to type the words on the phone number pad. After that they get up, using their arms to leverage them up more than lifting with their legs, and grab the cane that was leaning against their seat. "Good seeing you," they say. "Keep in touch. I'll be around."
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