We have this strange obsession / You have the means in your possession

[gotbottle]

Who: Rachel Conway and THE ENTIRE CITY, I guess. If you want.
What: Hanging out at the tea house for tea, conversation, and CR.
Where: The Shrove's Wing.
When: Shundi, from midday until well into the evening.
Notes: Note the time of day if it makes a difference to your thread.
Warnings:

Potential for people Rachel knows to get mashed together like Barbies IT'S FUN SHE ENJOYS IT OKAY.

Working the middle shift is a mixed bag. On the one hand, Rachel's day is pretty much shot for anything else; not long enough before her shift for much in the way of adventures, and while her later evening is free it's not like she has a circle of friends or dates or anyone to go out on the town with after.

But the trade-off in being there for this shift is seeing the customer base turn over, from the people doing lunch to the leisurely afternoon lollygaggers, from those arriving for midafternoon tea to the evening dates. A wide range of people, alone or with company, comes and goes over the course of her shift, and she's happy to wait on or hang out with them all.

She can be found manning the tea bar, or sometimes carrying pots, cups, and food to and from tables. Sometimes she even gets to crash at a table or in a booth for a few, or she gets to go upstairs to wait on someone in one of the private rooms. It's a busy day and there are a lot of people to see.

Comments

[gotbottle]

"Oh, good. I didn't want to have to go out to the alley for a cat anyway." She's laughing now too, all attempts at pretending she was not just being a troll herself abandoned. "Hi, Remy. It's nice to meet you, too. Excuse me for just a minute, okay? I'll get everything together."

She moves down the counter, checking on one patron, picking up a tip left at another seat, and then she starts gathering things. She makes a few quick trips back to where Remy waits, setting down a pot and removing its lid, then bringing over a large glass jar of tea leaves.

"So," she says, glancing up from replacing the lid on the jar and plucking a sand timer from below the counter, "are you new to the city, or have you been here a while?"

[bangyoudead.livejournal.com]

This almost feels normal, just sitting around at some out of the ordinary place, chatting with a waitress and people-watching. Or rather, it's what he thinks normal might feel like; this sort of thing rarely happens at home without the inevitable thrown punch or horrified look. No matter how many people think he's cute, someone always has a sister or a boyfriend who looks at him and recoils.

It's sort of annoying to find a respite in other dimensions.

"New by a few days," he says, watching Rachel work. It's interesting - certainly different than bussing tables, anyway. "You seem pretty at home."

[gotbottle]

There's a faint smile as she pours hot water over the tea to steep it. She recaps the pot and turns the sand timer over, so she knows how long to let the tea sit.

"I've been here..." She frowns, just a little, thinking as she sets the hot water pot back on a burner. "God, three months now? Something like that, at least." She gets a cup and saucer out and gives them a quick glance to make sure they're clean and ready--they are, and they're set in front of Remy.

"I figured out pretty quick I couldn't get back anytime soon--"

She's not really ready to admit that's probably less an anytime soon and more a never, she'll cling to that tiny hope--

"And I wanted to be the hell out of the Valhalla Inn. It's amazing how much motivation you can find to settle in, faced with that."

[bangyoudead.livejournal.com]

He wrinkles his nose. "Weird, innit?" The Inn, he means. "It's kinda nice though, in the intent. And I say that with full appreciation of the fact that it's patronizing as hell. But." He leans on his forearms, head tilted, giving her a much more subdued look. "I been in this situation before. I been bounced all over the goddamn multiverse, and I been in more places than this that everybody says you can't get home from. Everybody goes home. It's where we belong, like it or not. So don't you worry none."

[gotbottle]

Rachel studies his face a moment, considering his words. And then she nods, her gaze dropping. "Thank you. I'll try."

She spares a glance at the timer--still spilling sand into the lower chamber, not time yet--and when her eyes go back to Remy's face her smile is back where it started. "And it is nice, and all. The inn. I think they mean well, it's just, I'd rather be out on my own. And not having to worry about, like, who I'm relying on and what that might cost me down the road." She shrugs a bit. "I'd rather stand on my own two feet."