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There are a couple of people at a table in the back of the converted train car, but it's one of those hours when there just isn't a lot of business in the diner, so Maddy is seated at a table doing what she spends a lot of time doing when she's hanging around: reading. There's a cup of coffee on the table, long empty, and a book in her hands, while she leans against the window wall at the inside of the booth, feet up on the bench.
Moira enters the diner, carrying an armload of books and notebooks. Her attention is laser focused on finding a booth to dump the load on with a thump and clatter as she sighs and slides into one of the seats. Only then does she look around and notice Maddy. “Hey there!” She says with a cheerful wave.
Maddy glances up when Moira comes in, but when the Obrimos doesn't seem to be paying her any mind and finds a seat on her own, she also doesn't interrupt. Not until Moira notices her and offers a greeting, when Maddy smiles and returns the wave back with the same cheer. "Hi again!" she says. "Want some company, or is it study time?"
"It's always study time," Moira says, with the obnoxious cheerfulness of someone who actually enjoys study. "But I wouldn't mind company. Or a cup of coffee if I could" She stacks the books into some semblance of an order and shoves them to one side to clear room on the table.
Maddy scoots her way out of the booth, which is one of those things that only the most talented people can make not look awkward when they've been sitting in it with their legs stretched out across the seat, and picks up their own empty coffee cup. "One cup of coffee coming right up," she says as she goes to get that, and she comes back shortly after with what is, in fact, two cups, since she refilled her own. After putting one in front of Moira, she sits across in the booth. "What's in today's brain upload?" she asks with a look at the books.
Moira pulls her phone out and sets it down near the books and flips a notebook to a mostly empty page. "Fractal mathematics" she says, before taking a sip of coffee. She lets out a long contented sigh. "Ah yes. Coffee..." Her eyes go slightly unfocused as she takes another sip. Then she shakes herself and focuses again. "I got some video and pics of the tree, and I want to see if I can fit that into some of the equations I've been working up."
The coffee at Maddy's is always far better than diner coffee has any right to be, especially considering how cheap it is. The owner being a coffee snob and a Master of Space means that she gets some of the best beans in the world for next to nothing, by going right to the source.
Maddy pulls one leg up so that she can lean on the knee and picks up her own coffee mug. "That's definitely not my subject," she says with a smile. "I'd be lost trying to help you when it comes to mathematics. I did want to thank you for your help on Saturday, though."
There is a reason Moira goes to Maddie's for coffee. Well, multiple reasons, but the coffee is certainly one of them. She enjoys another long sip and then begins scribbling numbers in her notebook.
"It's alright. A lot of people don't get higher level math stuff" She shrugs. "And that's even before you add in," she glances around and then thinks for a moment before saying "...tree stuff, y'know?" Not the most subtle, but it works. "And no problem. It was a huge mess, and I'm never one to turn down trying to help new folk. Especially if it means messing with cops" Her mouth twitches in a sardonic smile. "Don't tell my dad I said that"
"Yeah, I don't think any of understand that as well as we think we do, or wish we did," Maddy answers with quiet laughter. She takes a slow sip of coffee. "Based on watching what happened remotely, I think the speed with which we could respond made a big different to the situation, and part of my being able to get everyone there as quickly as I did was your being on hand with the tablet to pull up pictures. I wanted to be sure you got recognized for that, even if just by me."
"I wouldn't have even known if it'd not been for a news alert," Moira says with a shrug. She fiddles with her coffee mug, with her pencil, her phone, all while not really looking at Maddy. "It was just what I could do to help. Anyone'd prolly have done the same. And you're really good with the portals and stuff so I'm sure you'd have figured something out."
Laughing softly again Maddy responds, "you're allowed to take the compliment, Moira. I'm fairly sure that seconds counted, and it helped." A shift lets her leg slide back down under the table and she leans forward. "It was a good reminder for all of us that as much as so many of us fall back on magic so much of the time, technology can do a lot for us. And you're hearing that from a druid, remember."
Moira's smile is rueful. "I'm not really good at that." She scribbles a few more numbers down, does some figuring, and then crosses them out with a brief scowl. "I've just never really seen them as different I guess. Magic and science. Science is just better understood." Her smile turns slightly mischievous. "Maybe science is just magic that's managed to pierce the Lie"
"I know." Maddy smiles. "I've noticed." She listens when Moira shares her perspective, and nods instead of rejecting it. "Most of those who hold to my Legacy's teachings see modern civilization as a bit of a blight," she admits. "In large part it is. But I don't view that as a necessity, just a failing of the implementation. I'm all for looking for ways to make modern life and technology compatible with sustainability and preservation of the wild places."
"Yea, there's a lot of modern stuff that's shit" Moira agrees, glad to no longer be dealing with awkward complements. "Everything's disposable, even stuff that doesn't need to be." She gives a short laugh and then takes another sip of her coffee. It'd be a sin to let it get cold after all.
"Tech's fine. People make it suck. Then again, that's pretty much everything, right? Like yea, modern civ is a mess, especially when it comes to nature and stuff, but without it, there's a lot of folk that wouldn't be able to survive. But you've got primitivists that are totally fine with throwing those folk under the... the... whatever the 'natural' form of a bus is"
"Exactly." Maddy gestures, carefully, with the cup she's holding. "There's a lot of problems with modern civilization, but they're ones that can be fixed. No need to throw the baby out with the bathwater, as the phrase goes. Greed just gets in the way of a lot of the solutions."
"Greed's the worst" Moira agrees. She flicks through the pictures on her phone, and scribbles down more numbers. "So what do you make of all the tree stuff? And the new folk?"
That gets a laugh. "Where to even start? I'm a Child of the Tree, so obviously everything it does fascinates me. I'm a Master, and it's still so far beyond my understanding that I feel like it's speaking a different mystical language, sometimes. Did it cause these new Awakenings? Or just tell us about them? I wish I knew."
"Yea, it's a Mystery for sure. I love it. It's so unique, but at the same time..." She shakes her head. "I know it sounds kinda crazy, but all things grow to certain patterns, and I just really, really want to figure out the Tree's." She chews her bottom lip, looking slightly worried for a moment. "Not because I'm trying to take away it's beauty or anything. Understanding something doesn't make it less wonderful."
"You're not going to hear me say that sounds crazy, given my Order," Maddy points out with another short swing of her coffee cup. "I've been toying with the idea of going out to walk the Mists and see what its reflection there looks like, if it's there at all. Studying the Tree is part of my life's work." She finishes her coffee. "I should probably get back to some of that work, now that I think about it, which means letting you get back to your studies, too." Scoot, scoot, she heads toward the end of the booth.
"If you do, I'd love to head about it. All information's useful, especially when trying to draw up models." Moira takes another drink of her coffee, and smiles. "Thanks for the chat!"
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