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Ellie arrived at this coffee shop half an hour before she was supposed to meet Nevermore, waited with Incognito Presence until she was sure she could find a table where she could sit with her back to a wall and a view of the door, and then ordered a latte. She's sitting at the table of her choice now, cross stitching like she's not watching the door, even though she's seeing everything going on the cafe. She's dressed in black jeans and a plaid shirt, plus Doc Martins.
Nevy walks in at the time determined, looking around with a doubtful expression. When they see Ellie, though, they slap a smile on their face. "Ellie! Hey!"
Ellie waits until the sound of Nevy's voice to look up, when she flashes a bright smile and lets out a delighted squeal as she leaps from her seat, darned near knocking the table over in the process, and drops her cross stitch work on the seat. "Nevermore!" Bouncing strides take her to nevermore, and she's already raising her arms for a hug before she makes herself stop. "Do you do hugs? I think I remember you do hugs."
Nevy, seeing the open arms, just hugs. "Of course I do hugs! Oh, my god, you look great! It's so good to see you!"
Ellie leans into the hug, putting all the warmth and affection into it that, strangely, she never seems to show at cons. "You look great too!" she says as she finally steps back, and she tries to take Nevy's hands as she does. She's that kind of person, or at least doing a good job of pretending she is. "I frakking love that coat," she says. "I can't believe you moved to Philly! Okay, honestly, I don't remember where you were before, but still!"
Nevy scoffs at the idea of looking great, but takes Ellie's hands anyway. "I came from Chicago. I have some family in the area, and another friend moved here not too long ago, so it was in my mind when the time came." They look to the counter. "Here, let me order something real quick. Then I want to catch up!"
"Oh, huh. For some reason I figured you were from somewhere more... brooding!" Ellie jokes, her lips smiling. "I like Chicago, though. I've been a couple of times! The aquarium is really cool." She lets go of Nevy's hands and grins wider. "Yeah, go get your order in, and come sit with me. You can tell me all about your new life here."
Nevy nods, still grinning - though the grin falters a bit when they're turned away, where Ellie shouldn't be able to see their face without the ability of Phenomenal Cosmic Power. Regardless, they go up to the counter, and return after a few moments with a large latte and a double chocolate muffin. "Beware," They intone goofily. "I returrrrrn!"
Ellie is apparently working on her cross stitch when Nevy returns, humming Hayley Kiyoko to herself and not paying attention to what the medium is doing until they arrive at the table. "What'd you get?" she asks, peering at the muffin like she's wondering why she didn't get one of whatever it is.
"Double chocolate muffin," Nevy grins. "Because chocolate, of course."
"DOUBLE chocolate." Ellie looks up at the counter and pulls the corner of her lower lip between her teeth. "I'm really tempted, but I shouldn't. I only got coffee so they wouldn't kick me out, but I'm kinda broke."
"Do you want half?" Nevy says, pushing down their flash of annoyance at not being able to enjoy their treat in its entirely. "I don't mind sharing!"
"Oh, that would be great!" Ellie starts to enthuse, and then she pauses. "If you're sure. I mean, presumably you ordered one because you want one, not just part of one? Honestly, just a bite would make my sweet tooth stop complaining."
"No," Nevy says, "it's fine! Honestly, I shouldn't have this much anyway." They glance down at their size compared to Ellie's sleeker form and shrug. "Should I go get a knife?"
Ellie isn't the most observant person when she's not enhancing that ability magically, and she's not, right now. She's not blind either, though. Or deaf, for that matter. There's a hesitation before she says, "sure!"
Nevy nods, goes to grab the knife, then cuts the muffin into quarters, grabbing one. "So," They say, taking a bite. "Mm. What have you been doing lately? You said you've had more free time lately?"
"Other than this?" Ellie asks, and she holds up the cross stitch. It says 'I can do all things through spite, which strengthens me.' "I keep trying to start a big project, feeling like I'm getting somewhere, and then deciding I hate it and trashing the whole thing. I'm tired of feeling like all my work is disconnected. Commissions, illustrations for books. I took a couple of corporate contracts for some design work and oh my god they're the worst, but they pay, and paying my bills is nice."
Nevy nods. "The dread knell of capitalism calls us all to its terrible service," They say solemnly, following up with another bite of muffin.
Ellie puts her work aside and reaches for one of the muffin quarters."So you said something about a friend living here? What kinda friend are we talking here? Just a friend, or the dating kind?"
Nevy weighs the complexity of backstory and the effort required to tell Ellie. "Just a friend," They say with a chuckle. "His boyfriend is nice." So is his partner, but introducing polyamory into the discussion would complicate matters more than Nevy's prepared to go into here.
Ellie looks, if anything, slightly disappointed that Nevy didn't move here for a significant other or something, but not severely so. "Oh!" she says. "That's too bad. Well, I guess not if you aren't interested, but if you are, then it's too bad. It's good for him and his boyfriend, though," she rambles a bit before suddenly changing the topic. "Oh, your book! Where did you get the idea?"
"Where else?" Nevy says, smiling a bit more honestly as they get into the topic of their art. "Poe. I was thinking about The Fall of the House of Usher, and I really wanted to try to tell that kind of sordid, tragic, doomed romance. Plus, the image of the burning rose really struck me - that's what gave me the idea to incorporate artwork in the poetry."
"Of course!" Ellie responds with a laugh. "It's a cool idea. I love the blending of the two, art and word. I can't write poetry that I don't hate to save my life. I mean, people tell me it's pretty good, but..." she shrugs. "It's hard to get useful, genuine critique sometimes, you know?"
Nevy nods. "I have some beta readers I trust with my life and soul. I was super lucky when I found them."
"How did you wrangle them?" Ellie asks like this is the hot tip she's here for. She even leans forward, eager for the answer. "Sometimes the best feedback I get is from anonymous strangers on the internet, but that comes with all its own pitfalls."
Nevy snickers. "Anonymous strangers on the internet. Or, well, Patreon patrons at the 'Echoes into the void' tier - but I only actually pay attention to the ones who actually have good input. The others... well, they get to feel involved."
Ellie frowns for a moment, like something about that all bothers her but she's deciding not to say it. "Yeah, there's a lot of that, isn't there? People who don't have anything to say, but want to be able to say they had an input?"
"Everyone wants to feel heard," Nevy says. "Giving people a chance to, even if what they're saying isn't useful, can be a kindness." They pause. "You were going to say something, though?"
"It's silly," she says with a shake of her head, and she takes another little bite of the muffin. When she has swallowed she says, "I'm kind of jealous of you."
Nevy blinks. "Of me?"
"Yeah," Ellie says with a flash of an embarrassed smile. "It's complicated. That's how feelings get, don't they?"
Nevy's still trying to process the concept. "I... yeah, I... guess they can be, yeah." Congrats! You short-circuited their brain!
Ellie lets out a quiet laugh and finishes that quarter muffin, then licks crumbs off of her fingers. "You're really talented," she starts to explain. "You seem to have such a solid grasp of who you are, both as an artist and as a person, and I admire that. You make friends everywhere you go, and people adore you. Genuinely adore you! I've seen the way people get excited to run into you again at cons." She laughs. "I was excited to run into you again here, after all."
"People like you, too," Nevermore protests. "You have... how many followers on instagram? And I always see you talking to new people at cons."
"Not as many as yours, but enough. I don't even know who most of those people are, though," Ellie points out with a shrug. "I'm glad they like my work though. Well, the ones who aren't there to talk shit about everything I post, but they're easy to ignore. I pretty much never hear anything from the people at cons outside of cons, though."
Nevy frowns, looking... not quite baffled, but still thrown somewhat. "I... didn't realize. You always seem so..." They grasp for the words.
Ellie just shrugs again as she reaches to pick up her latte. "So...what?" she asks, sounding more actually curious than like there's a challenge in the question.
"So... put together, I guess? I mean, your cosplays are incredible, and you always get so many people stopping by your booths at conventions..."
Nevy blinks, and their eyes widen a touch. A quick flash of guilt passes over their face. "I... didn't realize."
"I can put myself together," Ellie says with a smile. "Painting something up pretty has never been my problem. I just also... I don't know. Well, I know part of it, but--" she stops herself and takes a drink instead, then doesn't finish what she was saying. "I don't really open up well," she admits. "Why would you have?"
Nevy hesitates. "You... reached out to me," They say, attempting a small smile.
"I did," Ellie says with a return of her smile. "I was a little surprised you actually remembered who I was, to be honest with you. Pleasantly surprised, I'll add." She takes a drink of her latte. "You have a talent, don't you? For getting people to open up to you? I don't normally do so quite so easily."
Nevy shrugs one shoulder. "I... I like people." They're looking down at the butter knife the coffeeshop gave them to cut the muffin, toying with it listlessly. They haven't taken any more muffin.
"Good," Ellie says with a laugh. "Me too. I'm just not always good at putting that into practice." She takes another drink before she puts her mug down and leans forward. "Is something wrong? Did I upset you?"
Nevy looks back up and forces a smile. "Huh? Oh... no. No, I was just... thinking about something. I'm... really glad you reached out."
"If you're worried you might offend me, you won't," Ellie responds after a short silence, like she's not really believing the fact that it's nothing.
Nevy shakes their head. "Really. It's not important."
Ellie peers thoughtfully across the table at Nevy. "Ah," she finally says, though she doesn't look like she knows what to do with what she figured out. "It's alright," she says, and after a second she smiles. "Let's put it behind us, okay?"
Nevy again forces another smile. "So," They say. "Are you working on any new projects? Cosplay or otherwise?"
"Spoilers, remember?" Ellie answers with a laugh, which seems genuine enough. Like she really is just putting whatever it was behind her. "I guess I don't mind telling you about the cosplay I'm doing, if you'll still act surprised if you see me in it at a con, okay?"
"Of course!," Nevermore says. "First cosplay response is a sacred rite!"
"In proof that I'm always on the very cutting edge of what's going on in any fandom," Ellie starts explaining a little dramatically. "I'm going to cosplay something from a game that came out like 5 years ago. Did you ever play Transistor? I'm putting together a Red cosplay."
"I don't play many video games these days, but I think I've heard of it - that's the one with the huge electronic final-fantasy sword, right? And the main character hums?"
"Sings, too! The soundtrack is amazing." Ellie makes her phone materialize from nowhere, in the way of people who are currently in their 20s. Not magically, just a lot of practice. "I'll send you a couple of links. That's the game, though. The art in it is so stunning."
Nevy whistles. "Yeah. That light work is great."
"Unfortunately the game's pretty short, but it's so good." Ellie puts the phone away. Away away, not just down on the table. "Sorry. Just one of my favorites. I keep meaning to do a cosplay for it, and then never getting to it. As for actual projects? I was trying to do something more like an installation piece, but I scrapped it a couple of weeks ago. It just wasn't coming together like I wanted. I'm in a bit of a rut, to be honest."
Nevy tilts their head. "Would you like to talk though your ideas?" They offer a lopsided smile. "You said you were looking for feedback...."
Ellie brightens notably at that thought. "I mean, yes? I would, for sure. But it involves color." Her smile turns a little bit devilish. "Are you sure you're not going to, like, start on fire if you're exposed to it?"
"It's a danger I shall simply have to face," Nevermore says gravely.
"Let me see if I can put it into words," Ellie says, and she leans her head back to look up at the ceiling. After a moment she lets out an "uuuuugh" and then flips her head back down to open the bag on the ground next to her and rummage. "I'll try to sketch it. Words suck."
Nevy smirks. "As a poet, I object, but please, go on."
"Okay, I suck at words. It's me that sucks," Ellie replies with a snicker. She takes out a sketch pad and a pencil, flips to a blank page, and starts to sketch quickly. "So, the general idea is that I want to recreate the effect of a prism, but instead of using light, use something else to represent the split colors of the spectrum. So that it looks like a prism, but doesn't actually require the light. Like colored thread, or something?"
Nevy nods. "I think I can picture what you mean. Where have you been running into problems?" They lean over to watch as Ellie sketches.
"Scale," Ellie says. She puts the pad down on the table instead of holding it in her arms. There's a block on a table, and from it are radiating threads. "Anchoring everything. Tension. Getting colors right for the gradients. It's way more complicated than it seems."
Nevy nods. "It sounds like it'd be a lot of work. Where would you be setting it up? That would affect how you could do it, right?"
"I honestly have no idea. In my apartment, at the moment," Ellie says with a laugh. "Like I said, I kind of scrapped the idea for now. It's not like I can really sell it, right? I need to spend some time on things that might actually bring in money, so I can eat."
Nevy nods thoughtfully. "Could you do, like, a prototype version? a little box or something to show gallery owners?"
"Maybe. It might be really hard to convey the magnitude that way, though. It's also not like I just know a bunch of gallery owners I can go pitch it to." Ellie shrugs. "I'm a nobody to all of them."
Nevy shrugs. "I've managed to meet a couple.' They give a little smile. "If there were something to show..."
Ellie stops, then plops her pencil onto the sketch pad and looks up at Nevy. "You just randomly managed to meet a couple? In the short time you've lived here?" She doesn't seem mad. She seems disbelieving.
"Not randomly, really. I mentioned that I'd made a couple friends? Well, some of them knew people who knew... you know, restaurant managers, club owners, that kind of thing. And I've been working my darkness-blighted ass off to impress them." They give a small smile. "I should introduce you to Lux - they're running that new Love Letter artist's group thing. You'll like them."
Ellie sighs and shakes her head, but she does it with a smile. "Honestly, Nevy," she grumble-laughs. "You seriously didn't understand why I was a little jealous of you? You're genuinely impressive."
Nevy blinks. "I... honestly, there's not much to be impressed with? I didn't really do anything to meet them. And the rest, you could do just as well as I could. I've seen some of the stuff you
've done."
"Oh, be quiet and let me admire you," Ellie chides laughingly. "Then introduce me to some of your friends. If you can make some introductions, I can do my best to actually try to convince someone that my idea isn't the worst one ever."
Nevy busies themself pulling out their notebook, flipping through it to one of the back, finding an empty page, carefully tearing it out, rolling that paper into a little tube, then lightly bopping Ellie on the head with it. Seriously, the whole routine probably takes 30 seconds to a minute. "If I'm going to let you admire me," they say archly, "Then you need to stop denigrating yourself. It's a lovely idea."
Ellie seems to sense that something is up, but she sits there and smiles and waits patiently for the whole process of rolling up the tube,and when Nevy reaches over to bop her she leans closer to make it easier to reach. "Deal," she says, offering her hand for a shake.
Nevermore nods, shaking the hand. "Thus is the oath spoken," They intone. "Thus is the pact sealed."
Ellie laughs at the intonation and then takes her hand back, where she pauses a second before saying, "have you ever thought about how handshakes are really weird?"
Nevermore chuckles. "I think I really don't have room to call anything 'weird.' It's just a thing people agree to do."
"Like locking their doors, as if it takes more than like 20 seconds to pick a lock," Ellie says with a solemn nod, like the two things are definitely the same. Just little niceties of social contract. "But of course you have room to call things weird. It takes one to know one, or whatever, right?"
Nevy lifts an eyebrow. "Okay, you sound like Mearc. Do you watch his channel or something?" They smile and bow. "But I appreciate the compliment."
"Who?" Ellie asks. "But you're welcome. It does take one to know one, and I'm weird too."
"If you like lockpicking and security videos, that kind of thing? Look up MarchWalker613 on youtube. He's a friend of mine." They smile fondly.
Ellie writes the name down on the corner of the sketch she had been doing. "I'll have to look at that. I like learning a little bit about everything. Wikipedia is both my favorite thing and my greatest enemy. Well, my productivity's greatest enemy."
Nevy chuckles. "Then definitely don't look up TVTro... you know what? Never mind. I said nothing." They take a sip of their coffee, then pick up some more muffin.
"Bzzzt!" Ellie says as she makes a mouth closing gesture with her hand, when Nevermore starts saying the word. "Don't speak it's name aloud! You don't want to draw its attention."
"What?" Nevy says with an innocent look. "I didn't say anything."
"Keep it that way," Ellie warns. She picks up her coffee cup and finishes it off. "I should probably get going, but this was nice. I mean, aside from a brief awkward bit in the middle, but it happens, right?"
The mention brings the awkward back, for a moment. "Yeah, uh. Yeah. This was nice. We should hang out again."
"I'm glad we agree," Ellie says with a single, overly-emphatic nod. "It's a lot less awkward to ask you to introduce me to your friends if we're also friends." She leans down to start packing her things into her bag, then stands up and slings it onto her shoulder, where she pauses. "If you were going to do a cosplay for your next con, who would you do?"
That brings Nevy pause. "I'd... need to think about it. There aren't a lot of really well known enbies out there I could... really pull off?"
"Think about it! But also, don't worry about whether you can 'pull it off'," Ellie says emphatically. "We can re-imagine things. We can blend characters. We're creative people who can do whatever the hell we want, and I promise you, everyone who matters will think it's awesome. Everyone else is a shithead whose opinion belongs in a garbage can."
Nevy shrugs and smiles gamely, though they seem uncertain. "I'll think about it."
"Trust me. We can make you look badass," Ellie says before she offers Nevy another warm hug, this time in parting instead of greeting. "Stay safe. Try not to trip and fall on any vampire's fangs or anything."
Nevy returns the hug. "You too. Have a good one, all right?"
"I will!" Ellie says as she's walking away. She waves cheerfully over her shoulder and then strides with springing steps out of the coffee shop, where she's gone a few moments later, everyone's minds just forgetting to notice that she's there.
Nevy sits for a while, nursing the coffee and pondering.
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