No Chemistry

Log Info

• Title: No Chemistry

• Emitter: Ravenstongue

• Characters: Ravenstongue, Telamon

• Place: University District - Cheerful Corvid Coffee Shop

• Summary: Ravenstongue and Telamon stop by the coffee shop owned by Ravenstongue's cousin, Adelaide "Addy" Branfeax. While they're there to get coffee and chat, the sorcerous couple are also there information-gathering: they're trying to find out more information about the former lover of Ravenstongue's mother, Nadina Branfeax. Addy also updates them on her disastrous series of dates and looks forward to getting to possibly know Telamon's cousin. The two sorcerers eventually leave the shop, armed with knowledge and bellies full of coffee and sweets.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- Dramatis Personae =--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-    
Ravenstongue         5'0"     99 Lb      Half-Elf          Female    Short half-elf girl with violet eyes and black hair.             
Telamon              5'6"     140 Lb     Half-Elf          Male      A platinum-blond half-sil man with dancing dark eyes
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-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-=-= NPCs of Note =-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-    
Addy Branfeax        5'2"     110 Lb     Half-Elf          Female    Almost a dead-ringer for RT, just with green eyes.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

The Cheerful Corvid Coffee Shop, late afternoon.

It's the quietest part of the day for any coffee shop--right after the lunch rush and the 'I need a pick-me-up' afternoon stragglers, which means it's the perfect time for a certain Adelaide Branfeax to dip in the back and start making her next batch of sweet treats.

She's just finished setting a newly-ready batch of cookies into the display counter at the barista bar when one-half of a pair of half-elves--(does this equal out to a quarter of an elf somehow...?)--walks through the door and gives a wave to her cousin. "Addy!" Cor'lana says with a wave and a cheer--a motion that Pothy copies from her shoulder, which sort of adds to the comedy of the situation. "Do you have more of those cookies I love? The ones that are as big as my hands?"

"Sure do, cuz!" Addy calls back, grinning. "Do you want a mocha to go with that? Where's your beau?"

"Right behind her. She really, really wants one of those cookies." Telamon follows Cor'lana in from the sun outside, dark eyes twinkling. "I think if I'd been any slower she'd have abandoned me and sprinted on ahead." He's dressed casually, with his usual ruffled shirt, trousers, sash, and boots.

"I see things are going well," Tel remarks, his eyes sweeping the shop. It may be quiet now but he takes note of the tip jar, and the dishes Addy hasn't gotten to clean up yet. "Are you going to hire on an extra hand?"

The tip jar is still rather stuffed, as to be expected, and there's plenty of dishes to be cleaned. It looks like the Cheerful Corvid's success has continued.

"Yeah, sure is going well," Addy replies, already fishing out one of the cookies she's just put into her display case. "I actually had someone walk in here yesterday and ask for a job. Nice guy--apparently in addition to being a budding wizard, he's a trained pastry chef, so I think he'll do just fine here. I have him starting soon after his exams are over."

Cor'lana nods a 'yes' to her earlier question of the mocha as she receives the cookie, and so Addy gets to the work of making Telamon's fiancee her chocolate-whipped cream-coffee drink. Cor'lana occasionally has a sweet tooth she likes to indulge in, and this is certainly the place to do so.

"So what brings you two in besides drinks and cookies? And jeez, what a cute outfit you've got on today, Lana. You two on a date or something?" Addy remarks.

This causes Cor'lana to blush and look down at her outfit, which consists of a light blue button-up shirt with puffed sleeves at the wrists and a black jumper dress over it. It's a little more like the style of clothing she used to wear before she really started engaging with her fey ancestry. "Oh, this? I thought it was kind of plain..."

Telamon shakes his head. "Magicians as pastry chefs. What is the 'art' coming to?" He grins, showing his concern is facetious. "Although oddly, I knew a fellow in Ylvaliel who tended bar while he was studying wizardry. Amazing potion-brewer, unsurprisingly."

He slides onto the seat next to Cor'lana, smiling. "It is sort of a date. Recovering from some unpleasantness. Plus, it's fun for both of us to do this sort of thing -- I mean, I did court her, but why should I stop just because she's got my ring?" He shakes his head. "Speaking of dates, how have yours been?"

"Well, I thought it was odd, too, but I guess he helped his mother's baker business as a teenager before finding out he had a little aptitude at magic--that's what he told me, anyway," Addy responds right before she adorns Cor'lana's coffee with a squeeze of cream... And an extra addition of more chocolate syrup on top of said cream. Cor'lana's violet eyes seem to widen in anticipation of her sweet treat.

Then Telamon mentions dates. Addy rolls her eyes and lets out a little groan. "Well... They're nice guys, but we had no chemistry. I think the boys at your little grail meetings or whatever they're called are a little... focused on magic and not on people?"

Cor'lana tries to suppress a snicker as Addy hands her the mocha that she ordered. "That sounds about right," she says. "But they're nice people. They just kicked out a guy who was going on about, you know, 'proper breeding'. Tel punched him."

The fellow half-elf looks at Telamon with a wide grin. "Look at you! Fella, you've earned whatever the hell you want on the house today. And don't complain, either, I'm making plenty of money because of you."

Telamon looks at Cor'lana in mild embarrassment. "You didn't need to tell her... I mean, I don't feel any remorse over it, but... ah, never mind." He makes a face. "Yeah. I found out why he felt confident to talk like that, too. Evidently Master Stiger baited him into it -- I believe his comment was, 'Kelev dug his own grave, I just handed him the shovel'. Although Kelev must be rock-stupid to rant about that sort of thing with three half-sil in the audience."

Tel looks wry. "Stiger plays very, very rough when he doesn't like someone. Not surprising, I guess. But he didn't have a high opinion of Kelev anyways." He picks up his coffee, taking a sip, and smiles at Addy. "You'll never stay in business if you don't take people's money, Adelaide. But on to a more constructive topic: we'd like to ask you about Luthel Peranus."

"Remind me not to get on Stiger's bad side," Cor'lana murmurs. But whatever she might have felt melts away once she has a sip of her sweet treat of a coffee drink, looking so pleased that they came here. "Addy, if I had coffee-making artifice and skill like you do, I'd probably never leave the house."

"Well, thank the gods you don't," Addy says with a little snicker. "Besides, don't forget my cookies. I'd give you the recipe, but you know--I'd probably have to kill you after. Cousin or no cousin."

Then the topic of Luthel Peranus is presented. Addy thinks for a moment until her green eyes light up in recognition. "Yeah. Luthel was one of the two men that Nadina had with her when I met her, plus the lady," she says. "I was a little kid that he didn't know, but he offered me a piggyback ride anyway. Muscular as hell, especially for an elf. I remember he kept looking at Nadina every time she talked--I mean, all of them did, even though Luthel was the 'leader' of the group. I totally didn't get it at the time, but I think she was flirting with all of them."

Cor'lana chokes on her coffee, just a tad, but manages to recover quickly. "Yeah, sounds like mom," she mutters for a moment.

Telamon nods, savoring his own coffee. "I can brew some with a coffeepot, but the kindest thing I can say about it is that it's hot and it helps cure sleepiness. You're definitely better at it than me, Addy." He pauses to munch on a cookie, as he listens.

Once Addy's told her tale, he looks thoughtful. "Did Luthel ever come by after that? We're... well, we're trying to track him down. Tell him about what happened, maybe introduce him to Cor'lana and give him some closure. He was honest to gods in love with Nadina, but..." He shakes his head. "She was too much of a free spirit."

Addy thinks a moment longer. "You know, my dad mentions him every once in a while," she says. "I think he just sort of shows up in Alexandria every couple of years and whisks my dad away to go to a pub. Dad usually has a wicked hangover the next day, which pisses off mom something awful because she's the one who has to take care of him. My guess is they talk about Nadina and whatever they talk about requires getting shitfaced to do it, but that's just me shooting arrows in the dark. I do remember him mentioning he lives in a city in the Mythwood a couple of years ago when he last came down."

Cor'lana narrows her eyes a little. "So he just kind of... shows up out of the blue to get your dad drunk, leaves, and doesn't say a word otherwise?" she asks.

"Yeah, pretty much," Addy says, leaning on the bar as she usually does when she's deep in a conversation. "As I've gotten older, he seems a little quieter. When I first met him as a kid, he was nice and warm--probably because he was in love with Nadina and hoped to be with her. My guess is that your mom disappearing on him probably fucked with his head."

"That's the thing, Addy--we found a ring that he gave my mom when he found her in Rune, where we were hiding from my father," Cor'lana says. "She... turned him down."

Addy frowns. "Jeez. Yeah, he sounds... like he could use knowing you, Lana. At least to let him know what happened."

Telamon listens, and nods somberly. "I think we should find him. Might take a trip to the Mythwood though -- I sent a letter to Algar, but haven't heard back yet." He smiles a bit. "I did mention I'd found a likely lady here in Alexandria that he might get to know. We'll see how it goes."

He looks up at the ceiling. "I guess maybe he's looking for some kind of solace with your father, one of the few other people who'd known Nadina. I suppose I might do the same in his boots." He drains his coffee mug in a single pull. "Damn. Lana, I hope we're not going to hurt Luthel further with this."

"Please, I think I'd love to get to know Algar--I've had enough of sorcerer men for the next five years," Addy bemoans. She turns to all of her dishes, which sit waiting to be washed on a slim metal tray (as dishes tend to), and she says, "I'm gonna go take care of these since I've got a quiet moment. You two keep talking--sounds like you've both got a decision to mull over."

She lifts the tray and walks it into the back, where she tends to washing. Meanwhile, Cor'lana sighs, looking at Telamon over her own cup of coffee, now quite empty. "Yeah. I hope we don't... but at the same time, it might help to know that it's 'over' in some sense, right? That the person you've been carrying a torch for all this time is gone and you're free to move on to someone else--sure, it would be hard. But think about it this way, Tel... Imagine for a moment that I hadn't fallen for you and you'd caught feelings. That'd be torture, right?"

Telamon offers Addy a smile. "I'll point him in your direction." His smile lasts till Addy retreats to the back to wash up the plates and mugs, and then it fades.

He reaches over to take Lana's hand in his, squeezing gently. "Yeah, I know. I... it's the sort of thing you don't want to think about. Ever. But... yeah, you're right. It's going to be rough, though. Judging from what Addy said, he's still carrying the torch; this is going to be an ending, and no matter what it will hurt."

He takes a deep breath. Focusing, as he is wont to do. "Closure. Like we talked about before." He smiles at Lana. "And healing."

It's at this point that Pothy finally speaks up, having been uncharacteristically quiet the whole time. This time, however, he mimics Nadina's voice:

A statement, in fact, that'd been told to Telamon by the echo of Nadina in the last dream walk. "There are no true endings. The world goes on without us but we leave our impact on those who are left behind when we are gone."

"When did she say that?" Cor'lana wonders aloud, side-eyeing Pothy. "I don't remember her telling me that. ...Must have been to someone else."

Oh, how she has no clue. But she looks and smiles at Telamon. "Still, I think that sentiment is true," she says. "I don't want to look at it as an ending. He might be a friend to us--and what was it your dad said to you before? Elves can reinvent themselves many times over the course of a lifetime? We can give him what he needs to reinvent himself and move on, I think. Maybe he's been waiting for the opportunity and all we need to do is give it to him."

Telamon starts to say something, then stops. He'll save it for when they're at home. In the meantime, he reaches over to pet Pothy, stroking the familiar's feathers. "There is that, yes. You're right. We do owe him that much -- for protecting Nadina, for loving her, he deserves to know."

His eyes fill with that calm resolve, as he smiles back at Lana. "He'll probably be stunned to see you, you know. All grown up, when he last saw you as a wee babe." He grins merrily. "It'll be an interesting reunion."

"All grown up and engaged to be married, too," Cor'lana says, snickering. "He will probably have so much whiplash from it all. I mean, imagine if you met a little baby--and then over two decades later, you meet them again and they're all grown and engaged to be married and could have little babies of their own."

She blushes a little, as she tends to when the subject of kids are brush up, and finishes off her mocha. "Not that we're going to right away. We have so much more light to bring into this world first before we can focus on raising little lightbearers, too."

Pothy gladly accepts the pets. He croaks happily, tiny little merps leaving him as his white feathers are stroked.

"No objections to that line of thinking," Tel agrees. "On all counts." He winks at Lana, before passing Pothy a peanut from the bowl. "So I guess our next step is probably to get word from Algar, see if Luthel's in the Mythwood now or if he's en route here. We don't want to go there and then find out we've missed him."

He rubs his chin. "Algar can keep his mouth shut -- honestly, sometimes the problem is getting him to talk -- so we should be able to find him easily without word spreading." He looks at Cor'lana seriously. "I think we should bring the ring along, but he may not want it back."

"Maybe she and Algar will be a good match, then," Cor'lana realizes. "I mean, she can be pretty chatty... Do you think the reason she didn't like the other guys is because they didn't let her talk? I mean, she doesn't exactly have a lot to offer in terms of talking about magic, so maybe they kept changing the topic back to that away from stuff she actually knows and cares about..."

It's at that moment that Addy comes back in the room with a stack of completely clean dishes. "Yeah, you got it right, actually," she says. "A couple of them really insisted on talking about you and your magic, and it was like, 'What the hell? I'm on a date with you, not my cousin. I'm not some sort of off-brand Cor'lana Lúpecyll substitute. I'm me! Addy Branfeax, best barista and pastry chef in the University District."

She puts her hands on her hips and huffs. "Anyway. Yeah, please, I'd love to talk to a man who will let me talk about what I care about rather than stuff I have no experience with and never will... And my recommendation? Bring the ring. He'd probably, at least, like to know you still have it."

Telamon actually winces a bit. "I apologize, Addy. It's... different for Cor'lana and me, since we have, obviously, some shared interests. I... should've considered that they might not be able to connect with you worth a damn. And talking about Cor'lana when they were out with you?" He slaps his hand over his face, dragging it down. "Ye gods..."

"But yes. I'll nudge Algar in this direction. And we'll bring the ring along, just in case." He rubs his chin. "Anything else we should watch for? Has your father mentioned anything about him that might be of note?"

Addy waves off Telamon's concern. "It's whatever, honestly. It was fun to feel like the belle of the ball for a bit--but, well, turned out the ball was kind of a downer. Here's hoping your cousin and I hit it off and he's my charming prince or something." She snickers and shakes her head. "I'm joking. I just want a guy who I like. I don't pretend I'm gonna get anything out of a fairy tale like you two."

She sets the dishes down. "As far as something about him... He's always armed to the teeth. Sword and shield, plus a knife in each boot and knives on his belts. He's always prepared for a fight, and I don't know if it's paranoia or just being ready for everything from a long adventuring career. As far as I know of, he's still adventuring."

Telamon taps his fingers together. "Hmmm. Yeah, a lot of the full-contact adventurers tend to go for 'you never know when you might need it'. So they'll carry a small armory of stabby tools. Probably just the adventurer lifestyle. I'd hate to wind up in the Halls of Waiting, and have to explain I'd died because I'd lost my only sword. Talk about humiliating."

He cocks his head at Addy, and grins. "Hey, you never know. I didn't think I'd wind up in a fairy tale either, and yet -- here I am. Strange things happen every day."

Addy smirks. "Yeah, I doubt it. Nothing much exciting happens to me, and I'm content for it. I'll leave the excitement to you two. Just a quiet life for me and whoever happens to want to share it with me."

She takes Telamon and Cor'lana's mugs, as they're now empty. "Anyway, you two, I don't mean to kick you out, but I do have to close up shop early. One of my twin little sisters found out she's pregnant, and I have to escort her to her checkup as her husband's stuck at work. So, in the interest of successfully becoming an aunt... even if I was hoping I would be the one having the kids first as the oldest sister... I intend on getting her there ASAP."

Cor'lana blinks. "Oh wow! We'll have to drop off a gift of some sort for the baby," she says as she leaves her spot at the bar. "Probably something... practical? Clothes are cute and all, but babies outgrow them so quickly, from what I know."

Telamon hehs. "Trust me, sometimes you want the nothing exciting, Addy. I'm sure your cousin has a few hair-raising tales to tell in time." He gives Lana a grin, eyes twinkling.

Then the news hits and he smoothly slips off the stool as well. "There's a couple options. There's this stuff I saw a while back at the alchemist's shop. It basically keeps babies from getting chafed. Kind of a powder, though there's an ointment as well." He furrows his brow. "Honestly, from what I've heard, sometimes what the parents need most is help. Extra hands. Hence why families should pull together when the child is born, because sleep can be a little hard to find when your little one is feeling ornery."

He gives Addy a meaningful look. "Remember we're family too. If you need anything, let us know."

Addy smiles. "Thanks," she says, "I'll have to recommend you to my sis if she needs... I don't know, magical babysitters? ...That's one hell of a break from adventuring, right?"

Cor'lana laughs a little. "Well, I mean... I guess I wouldn't be opposed?" she says. "It'd be practice, at least..."

There she goes, blushing again. She takes Telamon's hand. "Let's head home. Have a good day, Addy."

Pothy echoes the sentiment, too. "Have a good day, Addy."

"Aww, you too, Pothy. Bye, you two!" Addy calls, before she dips into the back again--presumably to do more closing-up-shop duties.