[Freezair]

[Move to Aldrect when the event ends]

For what must have been the fourth... or fifth... hundred... time, Jordes wondered why she'd agreed to do this.

Was it a temper tantrum? A fit of unscheduled boldness? Another one of those strange whims that occasionally took her, like the time she decided to try eating at every Barakkan restaurant in Aldrect? (The war had put a stop to that, with a number of the restaurants' owners defecting back to the homeland in a fit of patriotism.) Maybe she thought, deep down, she never would've been selected. But her name was called at the end of the day, and now she had to go to a cafe and make nice with someone named Glinda and pretend to be charming and sweet and like this wasn't a total waste of time on either of their parts. She wasn't convinced that it wasn't.

In Stargoyle form, she lazily winged her way to Le Petit Renard. At least this date wouldn't be totally blind. She'd been to this cafe several times before, and the Fenling painted on the window, delicately sipping his cup of coffee, was a familiar sight.

She pressed the door open with a wing and lumbered inside, her tail clacking on the tiles behind her. Glinda... I need to find Glinda...

 ((I apologize for the dog-French. I tried to imagine what the French name for a Fenling might be and everything I wrote sounded dumb, so I just asked Google Translate what "The Little Fox" would be. I... I took Spanish in high school, what do you want of me? ;] ))

[RiDragon]

"This is an outrage!"

Just a few moments ago the cafe had been quiet, unassuming.  Filled with mostly regular patrons dutifully sipping coffees or having small talk with the wait staff.  That was, until the girl in pink came in, with her nose tilted towards the ceiling and scrunched up as if she smelled something foul.  Two lilac tails pompously stuck straight up as she she marched her way through the door, shimmering magenta dress shoes clacking as she went.  She was not trying to come off as vain, though most of the patrons had already labeled her as such.  No, it was simply just how she was taught to walk.  Primped and pampered her entire life, made to act like a doll in a gilded cage, that was her.

The barista at the counter was eager to greet her, smiling a practiced customer service smile.  "Hello ma'm!  Please feel free to order, or you can sit down and someone will get to you-"

"Reservation for Glinda and Jordes, please."  The girl responded curtly, not quite absorbing what the woman had said.

The barista, of course, was taken aback.  "Ma'm..  We don't have reservations here.."

Now, Glinda was the sort to jump to conclusions.  While what the barista truly said was "we don't have reservations."  But what Glinda heard her say was "We didn't take your reservation you shrew!  We decided to ignore it on purpose to ruin your day!"

Which, brings us back to the moment at hand.  Glinda shouting how outrageous this place was, and how dare they refuse to serve her for no good reason, that she had an important meeting to attend to, ect.  With a poor underpaid barista trying to calm everything down.

[That's a cute name!  Also, I'm still working on my writing skills, I actually was really hoping we'd get matched since I admire how you write aha..  ]

[Freezair]

((The name was inspired by a diner in my hometown, which has a cute little fox as its mascot. And thank you~ D'aww   ))

Things were... not as peaceful here as Jordes had expected.

There was a girl making trouble for the baristas who was clearly not one of the usual clientelle. Jordes liked this cafe. It was a working creatures' cafe. The coffee was good, but they didn't expect you to order it in faux Italian. The meals were hearty, and never so fancy that you felt like you were deciding what trends you wanted to align yourself with instead of what you wanted to eat.

Jordes felt like she needed to pay a fee just to look at this girl.

She shook her head to herself. She knew it was uncharitable, but her head was full of grumblings about how she just knew this girl was going to order the trendiest drink on the menu, the one with the pumpkin spice, when she heard the barista drop a name. Something about "We're sorry, Ms. Glinda, but..."

A deep, dark hole opened up Jordes' stomach.

This was her blind date.

[RiDragon]

[Funnily enough there's a cafe by my house with a little fox tail surrounding their name.  I guess cafes and foxes go well together.]

Hands in velvet elbow length gloves slammed down on the table, though they didn't make quite the bang that the girl had wanted.  She huffed in frustration, plump face going red as if she were holding her breath.  

"Listen here!"  She said in a shrill childish voice.  "I have a very important meeting here and I will not sully my family's name by not even having a table ready!  Do you even know who I am?"  Her voice, somehow, had gone to an even higher pitch at the last word.  

She hadn't even wanted to go on this..  what was it?  "Blind Date?"  She had never even heard of such a thing!  She didn't even know who she was even going to meet with!  Maybe that was the point of the "blind" part..?

She could be meeting with anyone, why, it could of even be that odd creature that had just walked in!  What were those things called?  Stargobbles?  She never bothered to pay attention in her private biology lessons.  Why should she?  It wasn't like she ever needed to get a job.

[Freezair]

Jordes didn't want to talk to her.

She really, really, really didn't want to talk to her.

But she had made a Commitment, and there was no getting out of those.

Oh, and her reason for signing up was definitely temporary insanity.

Jordes walked up behind her, claws going click, click, click on the tile floor. "Um... excuse me." Her voice was rather soft; truthfully, she didn't like speaking up too loudly. She cleared her throat--had it felt so raspy a second ago?--and tried again. "E-e-excuse me... are you... Glinda? Um... I'm Jordes, and... you... you don't need to reserve a table here. You just take any one you like..."

[RiDragon]

Glinda's demeanor almost did a complete backflip at the stranger's words, freezing in mid hand gesture, her face flushed pink.  "Sit..  Anywhere?"  She pondered, looking around with wide eyes.  "Why, I've never heard of such a thing.  What a neat little gimmick you have!  You should have told me earlier, I thought I was being turned out!"  She dug into a little coin purse, pulling out a nice chunk of KS.  

"I'll have your filtered mountain sparkling water then, I presume this is enough?  Keep the change."  The barista seemed to be about to tell the girl that she had given too much, or maybe that their sparkling water wasn't from mountains, but decided against it and went to make the drink.

She spun to face who had talked to her, wondering if it was her assigned date.  "Thanks for the infor-"  She stopped herself in confusion, seeing only empty air where she was expecting a person.  Her eyes slowly trailed downward to where the voice had actually came from.  "Oh?  I didn't know you could talk!  Or is that another gimmick this place has?  How interesting!  I'll have to tell daddy about this place, how magical."  She was so consumed in the idea that she hadn't even realized that Jordes was her date.  Why would she?  It's not like she was expecting a Stargoyle.

[Freezair]

Jordes hated the way her mind kept spewing Uncharitable Thoughts. What a spoiled girl. Throws a temper tantrum until she gets what she wants, and the instant she does, she's all sweetness and smiles, not a hint of self-awareness about her behavior. Probably used to begging Mommy or Daddy for things until they cave and then acting perfectly grateful...

But while her mind stewed angrily, her mouth couldn't didn't catch up. "I... of course I can talk... aren't you a Kuhna...?" Her eyes drifted to the tails swishing behind the girl's back. They were Kuhna tails, weren't they? Unless they were some kind of advanced animatronics. Or also unless...

A different kind of shame welled up inside her. "W-w-were we supposed to be humans for this...?"

[RiDragon]

"I never turn into Kuhna form!"  The girl responded, "Daddy says that only the uncouth stay in animal form!  Our family have stayed pure and human for generations."  She seemed proud of this fact, giggling a shrill little giggle that sounded like a set of tiny bells.  She didn't seem to realize she was insulting Jordes, or if she did she didn't care.

Though even Glinda was at least vaguely aware of the awkwardness of the situation as she shifted her weight to her other foot.  "Well, I guess you're my date then?"  She resisted the urge to shrivel up her nose.  "I'm Glinda.  Pronounced GUH-linda.  Don't forget the Guh sound!  It's very important.!"  She did a quick curtsy with her skirt, her first show of politeness the entire evening.

[Freezair]

"Oh. Uh... I'll just... go change then..."

Jordes hated herself as she slunk off towards the bathroom to transform. Don't let her bully you like this. You have every right to use your animal form! You can't fly as a human. And nobody can step on your toes like this. But her brain argued right back on the importance of keeping this genial. It was--again, in ALLCAPS this time--a COMMITMENT, and who knew what kind of ramifications there'd be if she messed this up.

But she did swallow her courage and deliver one last barb as she left: "You should probably hide your tails then... they make it pretty clear you're not human... since being human is so important to you."

With that, she closed the door behind her.

A minute or so later, Jordes re-emerged. She'd made sure to dress her human form nicely for this occasion. She wore a simple but elegantly-fitting black sweater dress, and she had a glittering, gauzy, blue-gold scarf piled elegantly around her neck and pouring down her chest. Her face was round and tan and she had her dark hair pulled back into a soft, shimmery ponytail, but her eyes were the same eerie, piercing gold of her Goghoyle form.

She'd taken one look at herself in the mirror and thought, I look like a mess, but it's better than nothing.

[RiDragon]

"But they make me look 'kawaii!'"  She called after Jordes, horribly screwing up the pronunciation of an odd word she once heard some other girls say.  Though (hopefully) the goghoyle probably didn't hear her as the door shut.  Glinda's face was bright red now.  How was she supposed to distinguish herself from the common folk if she didn't have something to point out just how special and rare she was?  She was part of the Flutter Kuhna family for Goddess' sake!  People had to know!  It wasn't at all because she couldn't control her tails or anything, of course not.  That would be preposterous.

She went to choose where to sit in a huff, other patrons hurriedly getting out of her way in fear of being sued or whatever rich people tended to do to people they didn't like.  She picked a random seat in the corner and flopped down, purposely choosing a spot far from the front of the Cafe.  A member of the waitstaff delivered her drink, though she barely noticed as she was huffing and puffing in her uncomfortable metal chair.

[Freezair]

Jordes saw where Glinda had sat herself. And she hadn't even gotten her order yet. With a sigh, she stood herself back in line to order her food. I don't think I need to ask if she's paying for herself. She looks like she'd be offended if I offered. With a sigh, she ordered a mocha, an omelet, and some ordinary, peasant, non-filtered-water to cool her off afterwards.

She joined Glinda at the table she'd chosen, unsure of what to say. Jordes had never been good at dealing with other people to begin with. It wasn't just a matter of not knowing how to carry on a conversation. Always, her... condition hung over her. What if something happened while she was talking with someone? What if, suddenly, their face wasn't there, and a whole other world hung in front of her, beautiful, tantalizing, totally unreachable, totally disconnected... She blinked and realized she was staring into Glinda's untouched water. She didn't even need one of her apparitions popping up to make her gaze off into space.

[RiDragon]

Glinda tried to give Jordes a dirty look as she walked over, but it seemed like she was barely paying attention.  With a huff, she crossed her legs and took a sip of her water and swished it in her mouth a bit.  Good, it seemed like the place could at least get water right.  She looked back to Jordes, who seemed to be lost in a world of her own.  Clearing her throat a few times, she decided that she'd need to be the one to start the conversation.  Ugh, why did she have to do everything?

"So."  She started, trying to find words as she took another sip of her drink.  "What do people like you eat around here?"

[sorry for being late with my response, work took up a lot of my days.]

[Freezair]

Jordes flinched at the "people like me" comment. Don't say anything. Don't crack. Keep it civil. Keep it civil...

"Oh? I got an omelet... They make good ones here. They make sure to get really good cheeses. The veggies are really fresh... they get as much as they can from the farmers who grow around here. They can't do 100% since they don't have a totally seasonal menu, but I know one farmer who works for them keeps a greenhouse to grow out-of-season things..."

Already the rage was beginning to subside. But that just made her sigh all the more. Someone needs to give this girl a piece of their mind... and it won't be me. As much as she told herself to keep her anger at bay, she knew she didn't have the courage to speak up and defend herself to this little... "brat" was the polite word.

((It's all coo'. I had a busy weekend myself, so don't sweat it.))

[RiDragon]

"An....  Omelet?"  The girl seemed legitimately confused.  "Is that some sort of special dish here?"  She seemed to be calming down a bit, her frustration being replaced with curiosity.  She gently placed her chin on her hands, staring at Jordes with large pink eyes before turning her attention to a small pamphlet on the table that served as a menu.  She browsed through it a bit, wrinkling her eyebrows in thought.

Bacon?  What was that?  She assumed it was something baked, but it was spelled wrong.  It looked like Omelets had eggs in them though.  She had deviled eggs before, but had no idea they could be made so differently.  Oh, she was going to look so very silly in front of her date.  She really had no idea what to order.

[I'm so bad with replies, school stress and stuff, I hope my post isn't too below average ;;]

[Freezair]

[[Dun worry about it. I actually have a cold right now, so I'm a little slow m'self.]]

Jordes's gold eyes opened wide.

"You've... never had an omelet before?" Huh. I suppose money can't buy everything. But to have never even heard of one? "Well, it's sort of like scrambled eggs. Only instead of being all in a big heap, they sort of cook them flat, kind of like a pancake, and fold them over. And there are good things inside..."

And a perfect illustration was on its way. The waiter swung by and deposited Jordes' omelet right in front of her. It was a perfect semicircular pocket, and inside of it were tucked delicious and steamy heaps of mushrooms and Swiss cheese, accented by delicious herbs. Jordes was terrible at making omelets at home. Despite her assurances to Glinda, they really were just scrambled eggs with bits of other things in with the scramble.

"Mmm. I don't know how they make them so perfect... mine always end up kind of broken."