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Kayla enters the diner again, wearing a bright yellow dress, large shades covering her eyes, purse dangling off her shoulder, little strappy white heels and she grabs a booth for herself, drops a book on the table and reviews the menu again quickly, after moving the sunglasses to the top of her head. She's humming a song along the way. When people show up through the door, she waves them over, inviting them (active magic)
Accipiter was seated already in one of the booths, reclined but not quite languid, alert but not quite rigid, a strand of dark blonde hair falling against and framing her sharp features, drinking from a cup of black coffee that, by all appearances, had had exactly zero added to it, as the gods truly intended. She tilted her head backwards at the sound of the humming and upticked her chin in Kayla's direction in something akin to a nod of a hello, casual and unintrusive.(edited)
The door's opened and held open by Liezel, and Fox slides under her arm, the little Thyrsus slipping past and into the wafflehouse. "... spent some time with the Guardians earlier today, and so that was nice for him," Fox relates over her shoulder. She's wearing a ratty t-shirt with a raised rainbow fist on it against a cityline with the words THE FIRST PRIDE WAS A RIOT over it. Spotting Kayla and her wave-over, Fox angles in that direction, worn-out sneakers padpadpad against the tile floor. There's a glance sidelong at Accipiter on the way there. Fox does not even pretend at subtlety.
"That's good." Liezel replies simply, nodding as she listens to Fox's story about how the day went earlier. She also glances to Accipiter, eyes widening slightly in recognition. That earns Accipiter a little smile- small but sincere, as most of her smiles are- and a quiet, mechanical wave as she moves in Fox's wake towards Diamond, who gets her own wave and smile. "Hello, Ever. Hello, Kay. Fox, do you know Ever?"
"I need to kick up my pride gear really bad." She comments the moment she sees Fox's t-shirt and gives a thumbs up. "Hey there Liezel, how's everything!" she looks over to Accipiter and smile. "Hey, come over if you want." then looks back to her table "How's everyone? Got any idea what you're going to order?"
Accipiter bobs her head in a companionable nod at Liezel, spreading something close-enough to a smile across her pale-skinned features, which is not for lack of enthusiasm, but for that she has a mouthful of coffee. "Liezel," she returns, raising a hand in long wave. "How's it going with you? Kay, Fox, pleasure," she smiles, accepting the invitation and lifting her coffee mug, sliding out of her booth and slipping towards the other one with serpentine sleekness. "The waffles deliver," she advises, pointing at the menu and letting herself down into the booth.
"I like to make a sandwich out of two waffles, and some bacon, and runny eggs, with syrup on the waffles," Fox confides, as if that's Top Secret Fox Information. "It's sweet-salty-eggy-delicious." She scoots into the booth, taking her backpack off and stuffing it down by her feet. "I didn't know Ever before just now, but I do now!" The smile that she flashes at Accipiter is fox-sharp -- literally, her teeth mark her out as an Orphan of Proteus, if she's a Mage, as they're little sharp fox teeth. "Hello, Ever." Her small, callused hand is extended across the booth to the Guardian.
"Things are... good," Liezel determines after a moment of thought and a not-discrete glance at Fox. "Yes. They're good." She looks to Accipiter too during that conversation, indicating it's an answer for her question as well. "That is a very pleasant combination of breakfast facets, Fox. I approve." She moves to sit down while the others manage introductions.
"Oh, that sound like a particularly potent sandwich, you should definitely trying." She joins Liezel with the approval. "I heard rumors of you being in a Cadre Liezel, so glad to hear about that." She grins then scoots to give people enough space. "Pleasure meeting you, Ever." a nod.
Accipiter extends her hand, movements fine-fingered and adroit, a criminally light touch if ever there was one, and shakes Fox's offered paw hand. The warmth from her coffee cup was stuck to her palm, and the callouses on her hand are only in certain places, like the near-shiny indentation in her palm where she likely holds something metal, weighty, sharp during perhaps some martial practice. "Pleasure's mine. I'm sure I've seen a couple of you around before," she offers once she's released Fox's paw hand, returning it to her coffee mug.
"I'm glad you approve, Elizabeth," Fox answers, glancing up and flashing their bright smile up at her once more. A brief touch to the Arrow's arm once she sits down. "My cadre came home," she sighs contentedly at the concept of cadres being brought up. "But I hadn't heard those rumors." A little sidelong glance. The handshake that Fox gives is warm and mannerly, if her hands are rough from work. "I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I'd seen you, but okay!"
Enter: Leta Abbott - whose loud music announces her appearance before she comes into view. She's slender with messy blonde hair that's been unceremoniously wrangled into a messy ponytail, and sharp features. Tonight, the Mastigos is wearing a floral-print button up with the top button fastened, a high-waisted pencil skirt, a long coat, and ankle boots. Someone must've just finished up at work - and if the formal-ish attire didn't confirm it alone, the laptop bag slung over one shoulder sure does.
She seems unfocused and floaty as she passes by the table full of people she knows on the way towards her usual corner booth...(edited)
"Oh. Yes! With River and with Quinn and with Auntie." She blinks, surprised to realize that she didn't tell Fox beforehand. "I apologize, Fox. It- didn't occur to me that I hadn't brought it up." She frowns quietly. "I did not mean to keep you in the dark."
"You never know," Accipiter nods at Fox with a smile and a friendly wink, returning to her coffee and drinking deeply from it, only observing the interactions that followed, noticing Leta enter in a meandering fashion.
Kay raises her hand in greeting toward Leta smiling to her and scooting further for more potential space. "Oh another new cadre around is fantastic, who are they?" she asks toward Fox then nods toward Liezel "Good combination of folks, you'll go far I'm sure." She raise her eyebrow at Ever's comment.
"Leta Abbott, get your ass over here and sit with us, what the heck." With faux-grumpiness, Fox squints at Anthelion as she passes, and then flags down wait staff to order the waffles, runny eggs, extra-crispy bacon and coffee that she desires. Her attention slides to Liezel, then. "Well, that's good, then. You ought to have a cadre. I forgive you, Elizabeth." She folds her fingers together absently on the table, and curls up the corner of her mouth at Accipiter in a way that she probably thinks looks sly. "I see."
"Not a new cadre, at least not on my part," explains the little Thyrsus. "I have been a member of жар-птица," which sounds like 'zhar-ptista,' with a rather precise St. Petersburg accent, "for ... oh... over a decade. The Firebirds. It's just that I'm a Very Farseeker." As if that explains everything.
Leta stops in her tracks, and plucks the earbud from one ear - blinking as she looks around for the source of the Grumpy Fox. As her unfocused eyes finally land on the familiar face, she breaks into a dopey grin.
Oh, she's high as fuck.
She turns to fetch a spare chair from a nearby table, and drags it over to the head of the booth, and slides into it. She crosses one leg over the opposite knee, and holds her bag in her lap. "Hello," she offers in a neutral tone - tilting her head to the side. "I know... half of you." She does not specify which half, but that's probably easy enough to intuit...
Accipiter turns her head to the side to observe Leta as she takes her seat. "Ever," she introduces minimally, though not without a note of cordiality, extending her hand to shake.
"Hello, again, Leta." She did hear the introduction, after all. She seems distinctly relieved to be openly forgiven by Fox, and looks about at the other familiar and not-faces around the booth. "You seem- to be having a good night," she decides on as a terribly transparent metaphor for "being super baked."
"Hey, I'm Kay." To the intent of Leta, but also toward anyone who'd be interested in knowing how to adress her in public. She set the menu back onto the table, apparently decided what she wants already. "And that's who the Firebirds are, I heard about them in passing a few times now. Good to know." she gives a bright smile toward Fox.
"Oh, Leta, you look fantastically fucked up. Are you stoned?" Of course Fox just says these things. That's what the Fox say. When the coffee arrives, she busies herself putting in enough sugars to make Witchfinder Sergeants proud, as well as some cream. "Kay, Leta, Leta, Kay!" A little smile, and then a sip of coffee. "Currently, it's me and Vasha and Zoya. Maybe others in the near future."
She leans forward, clutching the laptop bag to her chest and gripping Ever's hand - the dopey expression continues. "Abbott," she offers - looking past the other Guardian. Her handshake is firm. "You look beautiful with the, uhh." She releases the handshake and gestures vaguely at the air around Ever's head. "That." Oh, she's... probably not on weed. "Abbott," she says again to Kay.
Leta tugs the second earbud out of her ear, turning to Fox and Liezel. "I am. How kind of you to notice. I decided to try something new this evening, and I've come to the conclusion that I probably should have a babysitter- oh, your teeth are fascinating by the wa- I met Vasha today." Beat. "I cannot tell if he's the most interesting, or just... the worst person I've ever met in my life."
A psychonaut on the path to Pandemonium, indeed.(edited)
"Oh," Accipiter replies, a single syllable response accompanied and punctuated by a single blink. "...Thank you," she follows up a moment later, just before her suspicions are confirmed by Leta's enthusiastic reply to Fox.(edited)
Welp. Leta is absolutely delightful, but she is ricocheting so quickly from thought to thought that Liezel can't keep up. Which... isn't entirely uncommon, and not at all upsetting. She simply pulls her notebook from her satchel and starts to compose some music. Like you do when people with altered states start to attempt the conversational equivalent of the Cannonball Run.
Kay smiles at the sight of the stoned out Magi and she nods a few times her way. "Pleasure meeting you, Abbott." then her attention moves between the others. "Who else are you considering?" She ask, curious to Fox. Then throws a little glance toward Liezel's writing, a warm smile when she recognizes it.
"You... are on psychedelics. Amazing," Fox laughs, taking a swallow of her coffee. And the thing is? She seems to believe that it is in fact amazing. "That must be an experience. And yes, I can trip-sit you if you need it, Leta. If it gets out of hand, we can always purge." Her hand, warmed by the coffee cup, moves to rest gently on Liezel's wrist, a small calming thing. "My teeth are pretty amazing, it's true!"
A pause. "That... is... the most accurate summation of Vasha that I've ever heard. Either the most interesting, or the worst, possibly both." A vague gesture follows, and she explains to Kay, "I think it's very likely that Parhelion will join us, at least for a little while. And ... we're open to others, I think. I tend to end up surrounded by Guardians, and I'm not sure how that works, but it does."
"Thank you, sweet Little Fox. I really appreciate that." Beat. "Supposedly it's only going to get weirder. I'm looking forward to that, because things are already delightful." Leta let's her weary frame slump in the chair, sucking air through her teeth as she shifts her weight. "Possibly both," she confirms with a nod before blinking. "What are we discussing - and who is Parhelion. I feel like I should know Parhelion. For... reasons."(edited)
"Newly Awakened," Accipiter replies after another sip of coffee, gesturing vaguely in what was probably the direction of the Arboretum. "The tree?" she offers, though it's as likely to prompt the wrong thing or nothing as the right inference, given the higher plane of existence that Leta was rocking along.
Liezel pauses and looks up as she's touched, favoring Fox with a smile- this one full-force, a rarity- before she turns back to her writing.
"Yep, she's one of the two that woke up alongside the riot that day." she explains with a bright smile, she get what she ordered, an Ethiopian breakfast and she takes several bites out of it and she looks about curiously, watching people talk and converse.
At being called sweet, Fox blinks a few times, and then smiles a little bit. "Good, I try to do the right thing," she answers, and then absently scratches her cheek. "We're talking about who is likely to join The Firebirds in the near future, if anyone. And Parhelion is Mei's Shadow Name." Beat. "Reasons?"
"Oh!" Leta looks delighted for a moment. "I suppose I do know her, then - and let me tell you, I am fucking tickled." She peers intently at the menu - as if she's trying to read a notecard at the bottom of a well - and ultimately decides to order her old faithful: waffles, hashbrowns, and a black tea. "Oh, just that we're very similar - Parhelion and I." Beat. "What are the Firebirds criteria for joining? What kind of person - or persons - are they looking for?"(edited)
"I need to meet her again at least, get a full conversation with her." She smiles "I had one with the other that woke up with her and now I've read two books about Hebrew and Judaism."
"... why are you tickled?" Fox asks Leta in mild confusion, and then blinks a bunch. "Are you? Oh. I guess that makes sense, that you're very similar... " Spoiler alert: it does not look like Fox understands at all why Leta thinks that she and Mei are similar, at all. "Um. You know, it's been a really long time since we had any new members? It's -- we've always been a family unit. I guess you'd have to not think Vasha is the worst person ever, to begin with. And not be a total fuckup, or if you are, at least be amusing about it, like me." She flashes a bright, sharp-toothed smile. "Oh, the Rabbi? Yeah, he was my apprentice for a bit. And if you've gotten your toes wet about Judaism, you could read ... basically forever. There are enough Jews that can get into Maddy's that we could have a minyan for breaking fast on Yom Kippur in here."
"Similar names, similar professions, similar... personal histories." Leta lists all these things off on her fingers. Honestly she's very adorable, it's uncanny. "Though, when I say that he's the worst - I should probably clarify that I meant it endearingly." Beat. "Not that I'm trying to make a bid for joining your Cadre." Leta looks off towards the kitchen, wanding where her food is with unfocused eyes, and a furrowed brow. "... and I don't think I'm a fuck up, but it's quite hard to tell at the moment."
"That's basically what he said to me. I'm not sure I want to go on and convert, to be honest, it's jumping a lot of steps to me, but it's answered my questions so far." Kay explains toward Fox, her attention does wander to the stoned mage. "Just out of curiosity, I've been wondering, what did you take exactly?" and low and behold, the food seem to be coming their way.
Laughter from Fox, then. "Oh, I see. Yes, you're Anthelion, aren't you? I was wondering how long it was going to take for you to, like, talk about that. But I figured it was for the two of you to discuss." Her eyebrow rises, then. "You're not very subtle at all when you're stoned, Leta." She starts making her sandwich when the food arrives: butter and syrup on the bottom waffle, then eggs, then bacon, then top waffle! "Well, if you do want to convert, I'm glad to talk to you about it. I grew up Jewish. I mean I still am, you don't ever stop being Jewish. Unless you go Messianic, I guess." A vague shrug. And then she takes a big, messy, bite out of her sandwich, leaning forward over her plate. Syrup and egg yolk leak onto the plate, thus the leaning forward. A happy Fox!
"Psilocybin," Anthelion offers matter-of-factly. "Err. Magic mushrooms, I should probably say." Beat. "I think I'm doing pretty well for someone who hasn't tried psychedelics since college - and who hasn't ever taken shrooms specifically." Anthelion reaches for the napkin dispenser, grabbing a handful for herself, and then poking... around her waffles. She'll figure it out eventually. "... I hadn't heard her name prior to this, so I didn't know there was a conversation to be had." Beat. "It probably won't be that awkward," she says - probably more to herself than the table.(edited)
"I'll see what I'll do when I get to that bridge, but thank you for offering that to me, that's very kind of you." Kay says softly, then turn her attention to the answer given by Anthelion. "Oh I should probably try and work that into some of my current studies too, that'd be a pretty nice experience."
"It can be a really nice experience. It's much more chill and much less -- uh... hardcore? Than LSD. Also much shorter. Most of my LSD experiences were between seven and ten hours. It's a commitment. Mushrooms are a couple hours, maybe." Fox offers this between big bites of her erstwhile sandwich. "Much less likely to go down a dark rabbithole, too." A pause. "Leta, what are you doing?"
"I did a lot of things in college - most of them ill-advised, and few that I remember." Beat. "... but this is the first time I've done any delving of this type since my Awakening. I was curious if I'd experience things the same way - or if my studies in Mind would change my outlook or experience." She looks up at Fox, gesturing to her plate. "My waffles won't cooperate. Everything is... roiling at the moment."(edited)
"See I'd be trying to study a bit of Life with it. So much of what I've done so far was about external form of the study. And I found that I learn better when I can feel a change, so I think that might be a good starter." She grins
"Oh, okay. Do you want butter and-slash-or syrup on your waffles?" Rather matter-of-factly, Fox leans over the table, picking up a knife and fork and starting to cut up Leta's waffles for her like she's a toddler. There's no judgment in it, just: the waffles aren't doing what Anthelion wants, and therefore, Fox will help. That's just how it works! "Yeah, I've done that, too. It's interesting to watch the world go by in an altered state, especially with active Life Sight up. Must be neat with Mind, though, yeah Leta?"
"I had Mind up for a little while outside - but I figured I had better not carry that into Maddy's lest I lose my favorite people-watching spot?" Leta is delighted to have assistance, and (perhaps out of character) she relinquishes control almost immediately. "Tell you what - if you teach me Life, I'll teach you Mind - and then next time, you can see what I see, and I'll... see what you see."
She loses her thought somewhere in the home stretch, staring as if Fox was something unearthly and impossible to perceive or describe. You know. Something impossible just... cutting up her waffles for her.
"I helped someone put up a life sense spell up on me recently and I felt a worm die in one of the garden boxes nearby. I cried a little." She pinch her fingers to indicate how much. She scoots a little closer to the edge of the bench, closer to Leta, bringing her food along with her too as she slowly finish her own plate. "Sound like that may require a little bit of space too, if you want to interchange vision."(edited)
More cutting of her waffles, until it's all very neatly cut up. "Leta, can you focus for just a second for me, please? Do you want syrup or butter on your waffles, or both?" Fox asks this in her usual genuine way, but she fixes her gaze on the Mastigos, not getting into the other stuff Anthelion is saying. "Oh, no, as long as we're in proximity, it doesn't require Space."
She laughs - that high, chattering sound. The one that's probably very annoying to a lot of people, but that no one in this setting has ever commented on. "Oh, sorry. Yes - wait. Both, please." Beat. "I could do Space, too - and..." She trails off, staring again as she waits for the trip sitter to finish with her waffles.(edited)
"Seeing from someone else's perspective?" She briefly considers the possible way to reach that. "I suppose that could work with mind too. I was talking about litterally switching between view points in my own head." A shrug and a smile as she continues eating her own meal (I will need to go sleep soon)
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