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Jeremiah Hamilton: It was never too late for breakfast foods, as they say, and the allure of such a delightful meal had called Jeremiah to the diner rather than getting something from his own cafe. The Mastigos was dressed casually in black jeans and a grey shirt with a tri-colored (pink, yellow and blue) snake curled up on the front with a pair of chunky black glasses adding a bit of hipster-ish flare to the ensemble. He perused his phone for the moment as he waited for his order to arrive, humming idly to himself as he did so.
Cecilia Lindström: Morgonlilja enters the wafflehouse accompanied as always by her rook familiar, a Twilight creature with beady, curious eyes and a large, black beak. The little bird spirit is perched on her shoulder, but takes flight as soon as they arrive, perching itself atop the backrest of one of the booths in the back. The Shaman's gaze drifts over to Jeremiah, watches him with polite smile on her lips, raising a hand to offer a friendly wave. She makes her way over towards him, her gait energetic and confident.
"Ah. I don't think I've seen you here before." Her voice is warm, though she speaks with a distinctive, melodious accent. "Would you mind some company?"
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Feel free." Jeremiah said with a smile, making an 'after you' motion to the other side of the booth. "Don't think we've met, no...most folks call me Jay."
Cecilia Lindström: Morgonlilja slides into the booth, seating herself opposite to Jeremiah. She is wearing a beige felt coat, a pair of black, knitted, and a pair of black pants. Large, oval bronze earrings dangle from her earlobes and tattoos are visible on the sides of her head.
"A pleasure to meet you, Jay." She inclines her head in a polite nod. "I am Morgonlilja. Most people just call me Cecilia though. Whichever you prefer."
Jeremiah Hamilton: Jeremiah sported some tattoos of his own, the currently visible set a sleeve covering most of his left forearm. "Good to meet you as well, and noted. You with the consilium, I'm guessing?"
Cecilia Lindström: "I am, although a fairly recent addition to it. I arrived in Philadelphia about two months ago. An interesting place. Cold, but interesting." She winks at Jeremiah, her gaze drawn to the ink on his forearm, studying it quietly for a few moments. Then, her eyes rise, meeting his. "I am an Arrows. And a starving one, at that. You have any recommendation on the food here? I've only really tried the waffles so far."
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Good stuff. Been here about five years myself, after a stint in Los Angeles." He spared the sleeve a brief look as the Thyrsus looked it over before turning back to the woman herself. "The scrambles are pretty good as well, but I usually go for the waffles myself. I've got a bit of a sweet tooth and they usually hit the spot."
Cecilia Lindström: "L.A is one of the places I've always wanted to visit." Morgonlilja drums her fingertips idly against the edge of the table, tilting her head slightly to the side. "Hollywood has a certain... allure. Not that I really have time to binge watch shows like I used to. Game of Thrones was my addiction for a while."
Waffles it was. Today, she orders the American ones: maple syrup, blueberries, and pecan toppings. Once that is taken care of, she focuses her attention on Jeremiah again, flashing him a big grin. "I like your tattoos, by the way. Love the piano motif. It's just not something I have seen before. Can I ask if it means something? Or would I be prying?"
Jeremiah Hamilton: "It's an interesting place, I'll say that. Ended up getting caught up in all the mess behind the stage in the music business there, but was able to pull myself out of it and get my head straight." As Morgonlilja put in her order Jeremiah's was dropped off, the chocolate and bacon infused waffles paired with a cup of coffee that the Mastigos put a notable amount of sugar into before taking a sip and nodding with approval.
"Thanks." He said with a small smile, looking down to the tattoos once again. "I've played piano for most of my life. The flowers were the favorite of a friend of mine who passed just before I got the work done, kind of a memorial for them."
Kayla Sockum: The Portal activates and out comes Kay, a hoodie tied around her waist, a pair of black and red jogging pants and a somewhat loose black t-shirt, her hair tied back into a messy bun, her hands clasped around what seem to be a wallet. She orders before arriving at the table where she notices Jay. "Hey Jay! Who's your friend?"
She leans forward for a quick hug to him and waves quickly to Morgonlilja.
Cecilia Lindström: "All of my tattoos have some meaning to them. Some are just inside jokes shared with friends, or reminders of good days, and bad ones. Some are symbols of the most profound experiences I have had: love, loss, and change." Morgonlilja pulls off her coat and bundles it up in the corner next to herself, leaving her scarf atop with a content sigh. Inside warmth. Food. Company. This was starting to become a pretty decent day.
"So you're a musician, then? That is amazing. I never really had that talent myself, though I did manage to learn a few chords on the guitar and-" Her voice trails off as Kay arrives, beaming a smile at her and giving a wave of her own. "We're more acquaintances than friends, and barely even that. I saw him sitting here and I decided I'd rather not eat alone, so I graciously offered him my delightful company."
She just grins at them.
Jeremiah Hamilton: "I am, yeah. Guitar, piano and vocals mostly, although I do more on the mentoring and producing side these days."
Jeremiah smiled as Kay made her way into the diner, gladly returning the hug. "What she said. This is Morgonlilja, a new arrival to the consilium."
Kayla Sockum: Kay elects to settle on Jay's side of the table. She rest against the table once she's sat down, tapping her fingers on the edge of the table, her eyes narrowed at Morgonlilja for just a split moment. Then her gaze wanders to the door of the kitchen. "Is Morgonlilja your official fancy name or is it your actual name? Is there a title I should use when referring to you?"
"I'm just Kay right now, She and Her at the moment." she offers a handshake to the woman across the table.
Cecilia Lindström: "I would like to think all of my names are my actual name." She flutters her eyelashes at Jay, offering a mischievous smile. "It is a name, often the one I use in more formal settings, and it does resound with... Meaning." Her Shadowname, as it was. "You could call me Cecilia if you want to. Some people find it easier to pronounce. And no, no need for titles. At least not on my part."
"Kay, She and Her." Morgonlilja nods her head lightly, smiling softly at her. "It is a pleasure to meet you. To meet both of you." She reaches across the table to take the offered hand; the Shaman's handshake is confident, her skin warm and soft. "I am still new here. I like it. I mean, screw this winter, and screw this cold, but the city seems nice enough, and the people here are just so hospitable."
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Sirius on my end if we ever need to get formal." Jeremiah nodded, taking a sip of his coffee. "No official positions or the like yet, though."
"You get used to the weather...or pick up enough Forces to be your own little space heater." He replied with a smirk. "The community at large here is pretty solid, yeah. Not as much backstabbing as you see in other places."
Kayla Sockum: "Diamond is my secret nickname." Kay responds, then accepts the plate from the waiter and set it down on the table, a plate of waffle and chocolate, which she immediately proceed to cut down in pieces before eat any of them, then adding little splotch of syrup over some of it.
"It's easier to protect against the winter and cold than one might imagine, but I hear there's a period of adaptation. Might have to ask a proper, crafty moros to knit you a sweater for the occasion." Kay jokes and starts eating, slowly. "And I don't mean me, I suggest asking Hearth, seems more like her speed than the others."
Cecilia Lindström: "I have little interest in ambition, and even less in politics. Some of my friends tease me for being gullible, but, really, I travel to meet new people, to expose myself to new perspectives and thoughts, to discover new experiences." Morgonlilja draws up her shoulders in a light shrug. "I am more interested in the growth of my soul, my compassion, and kindness, than in the growth of my status."
"Well..." She taps an index finger, eyes suddenly glittering with amusement. "I know how to warm myself, when the need arises. And sure, I complain about winter, but the cold reminds me of the winters back home. It is not all bad."
She stabs a fork into her own syrup-dripping waffle, takes a bite off it and starts chewing contently. "I don't believe I have met Hearth yet."
Jeremiah Hamilton: Jeremiah tucked into his own waffles as the two women talked, nodding along here and there. "Not a bad way to go about it. Been trying to do the same myself, make the world around me better in whatever way I can."
"She's another member of our cadre." He motioned between himself and Kay briefly. "Top notch baker, although I don't know if she does knitting or the like...would have to ask."
Kayla Sockum: Kay chuckles lightly and takes another bite. "I've had experiences that helped with the growth of my compassion and kindness around here. They're not always easy to look in the eyes, but they can happen, let you re-shape yourself if you can accept the realities that comes with them." that sounds like a personal experience
"Hearth is a very warm woman and a precious friend, she's into fancy art and can prank you if you're not careful about it. She'll bribe your friend to do it too." she leans forward and whisper. "Her baking is so good."
Cecilia Lindström: "I am starstruck already and I haven't even met her. A prankster and baker." A wide grin spreads across her lips. "Growth is always uncomfortable. It is meant to be. It happens beyond the boundaries of what we are used to."
Morgonlilja falls silent for a moment, chomping into another piece of waffle, her features arranging themselves into a thoughtful expression while she chews. "Just think about how we exercise. We go to the gym. We push our body to its limits. It is sweaty. It is hard. It makes us ache. But through persistence and repetition, we manage to push ourselves to our limits. We make ourselves stronger. It is the same for our souls or our minds to grow. It doesn't happen lying on the couch watching Netflix or drinking at the bar. Right? We must put ourselves in new, unfamiliar situations."
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Here here. I got put through the ringer when I Awoke and basically had to rebuilt myself from the ground up, and I make sure to keep pushing forward rather than settling and resting on what laurels I've gained. It's not always easy, but its worth the effort."
Kayla Sockum: "Well, the Netflix might show you something that might prompt changes. You just have to click on something else than your comfort shows to do it. Which is a good metaphor for what we're saying anyway" Kay eats her food a bit more.
"If you don't mind me asking, what part of the world are you from?" Kay asks, as she did fiddles idly with her fork and knife.
Cecilia Lindström: "Oh, don't get me wrong. I will happily squander ten-fifteen hours just to watch the latest season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Captain Holt is hilarious and I am nurturing a small crush on one of the detectives." Morgonlilja smiles at them again, leaning back in her seat for a moment, crossing one leg over the other and just letting her thoughts wander.
"I am from Sweden," she starts, chewing idly on her bottom lip. "I Awakened there. I was only sixteen years old when I hearkened to the Watchtower's call. Too young to shoulder that kind of responsibility. I became part of Uppsala's Consilium. It is... a place with history. The Pentarchy arrived with Christendom. Fortunately, we do not quite have the same bloody history as this place. Anyway, after I graduated high school, I started travelling. My mentor was not pleased. She wanted me to focus on studying the Arcana, on strengthening my body as well as soul." There is a short pause. "I am a restless person. I want to see the world. Meet people. Learn their customs. Taste their foods. Sleep beneath their stars. So I left. I started travelling."
Jeremiah Hamilton: "I'm always a proponent for forging one's own path and being true to yourself, so I have to applaud you there." Jeremiah said with a smile, raising his coffee cup in a brief salute. "Glad you were able to get out there and see what you wanted to see."
Kayla Sockum: "I awoke at a young age too. But I had a good support system around me." Kay explains, her eyes going unfocused for a moment as memories of the event comes back, nostalgia seems to be the main sentiment here. "It's a lot of expectation to place on someone and I was stubborn in really bad ways too. In ways I only broke down on recently. I feel a little more fluid with everything now."
A gesture of her hand, quiet, her torso changes in the blink of an eye, their shoulders broader by a little, their chest completely flat but for some pectoral definition. No high speech, no flourish. "They and them for now." they say to Morgonlilja's intention, the voice remains unchanged.
Cecilia Lindström: Morgonlilja nods her head lightly, offering Kay a soft, warm smile. "We learn from the things we experience. Growth is uncomfortable, and sometimes it is a struggle, an effort, like a snake shedding its skin, or a larvae emerging from its cocoon. And bad choices isn't the same as bad intentions; the former means we gained a valuable lesson, while the latter means we are starting to lose our way."
There is a sudden beeping from her coat, and she reaches for it, retrieving her phone from one of the pockets. "Alrighty. It seems I'll have to gorge myself on waffles some other time. It was really nice meeting you both!" She left some money on the table, enough to cover her meal and tip.
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Good meeting you as well." Jeremiah smiled, leaning over to give Kay a brief around-the-shoulder hug as they got settled with their new form. "See you around, I imagine."
Kayla Sockum: "See you" She waves to Morgonlilja as she leaves and they return the side hug and smiles warmly. "How're you, Jay?" they poke a bit at the nearby ribs, though they don't insist on tickling.
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Doing pretty good all around. Need to head back to work in a bit, but decided to grab food here instead of at the cafe. How goes on your end?"
Kayla Sockum: "I've been ... struggling with some of my new advancement. Going out in public is a problem lately." they chuckle gently, running their fingers over the edge of the table.
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Oh?" His eyebrow arched at that, a note of concern clear on his features. "What's up?"
Kayla Sockum: "I've pushed my abilities a little beyond what is normal and it's... difficult to process the world through that lens." They explain "It's hard for me to look at a group of people and not immediately figure out the whole dynamic and a crowd and not immediately feel who's in distress or unhappy." they make a gesture of things flying to their face. "It's a lot of information to process at the same time."
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Ah...yeah, I can see that being overwhelming." He slid an arm around Kay's shoulders once again, giving a hug and leaving the arm there this time. "I'm not able to push things that far yet but I know folks who have, and it can take some getting used to."
Kayla Sockum: Kayla leans against his side for a moment, growing quiet and takes a deep breath, a few in a row in fact. They seem to enjoy the quiet moment as they grab some food from their plate, with their fingers. "Hopefully."
Jeremiah Hamilton: "You'll get there, I know it." He gave Kay a soft smile, leaning over to rest his head on their shoulder. "Pushing your boundaries on that level is a good thing, though, like we were talking about before."
Kayla Sockum: "It's also a little bit scary." They chuckle. "But yeah, I was referring to myself earlier when I spoke about the difficulty of changes."
Jeremiah Hamilton: "It always is, never knowing if the ground will still be there after the next step. You have to keep moving forward, though, because staying in that one spot does no one any good." He nodded, sitting back up to take a sip of his coffee. "The change is usually worth it, though. Lord knows I'm happy that I'm not the same man I was a decade ago."
Kayla Sockum: "Yeah, I'm glad I'm not even the same gender as I was when I came in here." They say with a little laugh. "I feel floaty and warm right now."
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Good. We do still need to do a proper shopping run for you at some point, don't we..." He said with a grin. "Not that I don't mind you borrowing my shirts now and again, mind."
Kayla Sockum: "Yes, shopping run seems like a nice distraction!" Kay exclaim with a little clapping of their hand.
Jeremiah Hamilton: "Sounds good. Let me know when and we can go ham with it."
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