Summary:Celerity, Aiko, and Kory meet at Luke's. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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Celerity has been to Luke's a few times, but never for herself. No, it's always been to pick up a delivery and then take it to someone else. Experiencing the smells, but nothing more, has been driving her crazy. But she's had a busy night and earned both a break and a decent bit of cash. So tonight, a modest-dressed redhead sits at a corner table of Luke's, finally trying the ribs for herself.
…and then she finds that she's out of napkins, and her hands are an utter mess. "Um." She glances around the room; maybe there's another table she can borrow from?
Honey Lemon was also within Luke's, sipping casually on what appears to be a cherry cola. She was lingering in one of the nearby booths to Celerity with a small scattering of open books and variable notebooks pinned open with corners of books. She has tons of napkins in her dispenser by the looks of things as her eyes are studying over those notes so deeply.
Koriand'r has been to Luke's once before, for some party or another. She met someone there who asked for her phone number, which she later found out wasn't for the person asking but was for a friend who the person asking thought was too shy to ask; and it's been a few days with no call, so Koriand'r returns to the scene of the crime to try to track down some answers. She pushes through the door, an alien Amazon in a golden aura of light whose hair seems to end in fire and whose eyes are jade lamps, dressed in an inappropriately small amount of purple latex (or something like it, anyway) studded here and there with green gems. She peers around the bar as she enters, unconsciously mimicking the opening scene of eighty percent of Western movies, though the cheerful smile on her face kind of ruins that comparison. She glances up at the ceiling, confirms it's too low to bother flying, and accepts with good grace that she's stuck walking from patron to patron asking, "Yes, hello. I am looking for someone who was here at a party days ago. Were you here at the party?"
Target acquired. Celerity creeps around to that neighbouring booth and gives Honey Lemon a small, shy smile. "Hi. Um." She wiggles her fingers. "I-Is it okay if I steal a couple of napkins? My table ran out." She doesn't look much towards Honey Lemon's face, attention more taking in the table. That's an impressive array of books.
For a brief moment, the door somehow sounds like those swingy half-doors from old west saloons. Celerity looks about to hear the source of the sound, and her cheeks turn immediately red, but she still greets with a cheerful wave. "Kori! Hi!"
Honey Lemon looks to Celerity with a bright and fond smile as she responds, "Oh sure! Absolutely not a problem at all." Her hands grabbing a bunch out of the dispenser before she just picks up the whole dispenser and heads over to Celerity's table." Someone should truly pay more attention to the back ends of chairs cause Honey Lemon trips, sending the dispenser and the handleful of napkins flying up into the air. With a quick turn of her waist and a grasp of her hands, she catches herself on the table and offers a nervous smile with an acoompanying wince as the napkins rain around her and the dispenser lands with a loud clunk on the table, "Hi I am Aiko."
Koriand'r starts to respond, but then someone fires a napkin dispenser at her. The cannon that shot it seems to have caught itself, so Koriand'r doesn't concern herself with that end of it. She just cups her arms over her belly, making a pocket for the projectile to land in. The impact isn't enough to upset her alien skin, so she makes nothing of it as she drifts through the air, toes barely touching the floor, over to Honey Lemon. "Hello. I believe you dropped this," she offers sympathetically, holding the flimsy tin dispenser out in one hand. Her glow illuminates the metal box in her hand as if it's being held by a very large candle flame.
Sometimes, secret identities can be painful. Anon could surely catch Honey Lemon, and probably all the napkins too. Celerity just has to wince in sympathy and watch as it happens, not least because of the mess still on her hands. Afterwards, though, she helps with clean-up, grabbing napkins — they're what her hands had needed in the first place, so she kills two birds with one stone. "I'm Celerity. Are you okay? Both of you?" She certainly fades into the background compared with the tall, golden alien.
Honey Lemon's cheeks flush brightly as she looks up to Koriand'r, "I am so, so sorry. Are you ok? Maybe I can buy you a drink as an apology?" Her eyes studying over the metal box for a moment but not reaching out to grab it. Soon looking back to Celerity as she slowly rights herself back up, "I think so. I just wish I could get my chi back in balance but moving kinda messed me up." Her gaze looks back to her table as she offers, "I could clean up my work a bit and we could all sit and chat? New gal pals would be lovely" At the mention of gal pals, her eyes look between Kori and Celerity with a bright, welcoming smile.
IS she uninjured? Koriand'r thought so, but Celerity and Honey Lemon seem so worried. With a frown, she looks down at herself, and wafts the tips of her fingers over her belly to be sure. "I am unharmed," she diagnoses, and looks back up at the pair. Hm. A drink would distract from her mission, but perhaps not overly. "I will join you," she declares to Honey Lemon, "but only if you will tell me your name and what this word 'chi' means, friend."
Celerity soon enough has her hands clean and all the loose napkins picked up. Impressively fast, sure, but not incredibly fast. She smiles on finding Kori unhurt — not that she was expecting otherwise. The talk of chi brings a quizzical look to her face, but Kori is already on the case. "S-Sure, that sounds nice. Um, let me just…" She puts the used napkins in the trash and gathers up her own things. Also study material, but just one textbook and one notebook, not nearly as impressive as Aiko's array.
Honey Lemon looks relieved when Kori confirms she is uninjured, "Oh, I am Aiko. And chi is another way to describe your inner energy flow." At Celerity's agreeance, she looks thankful and begins to slowly walk backwards towards her booth as she asks, "So.. what will you ladies be drinking? I am just having soda myself but I not mind getting something strong for either of you."
Koriand'r smiles brightly at Aiko. "Hello, friend Aiko. I am Kory Anders. This is Celerity." She rests a hand on Aiko's shoulder, thumb against Aiko's neck, and leans in to kiss her just once, quickly, warmly (in more than one sense; her skin is one degree shy of uncomfortably hot). Her eyes flutter open as she leans back, and she exclaims, "Ah, qi! The air that infuses a living thing. I comprehend now. Thank you."
With that, she drifts down into one of the available seats as if none of that was weird.
Celerity's blush ramps up when Kory reaches for Aiko. She sees where this is going, albeit only briefly. "Yeah, Kory is friendly," she informs Aiko. And then a second later, realises what that sounds like. "A-And I mean friendly as in friendly! That's not a euphemism! I'm not saying Kory's a—" She realises she has hit bedrock and should stop digging, so she shushes. "J-Just sprite for me, please? I'm not old enough for anything 'strong'." She sets her books down on the table's corner and sits down, her posture like she's trying to take up as little space as possible.
Honey Lemon wasn't expecting to be kissed at all. So she just stand there for a moment to process her first female kiss. "Yes… exactly that, air that infuses a living thing." Soon she is returning to her side of the booth as she gathers up her notepads and textbooks. "Sprite is fine just… not use to being kissed is all. Might.. take a bit of getting use to." She laughs a bit as she looks back to Kory while asking, "And your drink?"
"Hm—? Oh, yes, I am sorry. Um, tea with icing from the Isle of Long, please," Koriand'r orders with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I was processing Japanese. It is an interesting language. Very different from the ones I have learned thus far. Is that what you are studying?" she asks, gesturing to the boks on the table.
Celerity laughs under her breath. "Y-Yeah, just a little. Though um, she has only kissed me the once, so you might not need to get too used to it? R-Right, Kory?" Oh good, her misstep seems to have been forgotten. She tilts her head, picking up on something the alien woman mentioned. "Processing Japanese? Is that part of, um…" She makes vague lip-level gestures.
Honey Lemon offers a shake no of her head as she respodns, "Oh no, I am working on my second doctorate, material engineering. But I am fluent in Japanese." Her hand signalling for the server to come towards them when they have a moment as she looks to Celerity while responding, "Oh? Well then that is fine. Just never kissed a girl before warmer than kissing a guy."
Koriand'r nods in affirmation at Celerity's question, but seems more interested in Honey Lemon's observation, albeit in a disgruntled way. "Yes, the boys on this—er, country, could benefit very much from instruction on how to kiss," she says in the tones of someone agreeing, even though that's technically not what Honey Lemon said. "But I fear that is a lost cause. What are you studying, Celerity?"
Celerity's eyes go wide. "Oh wow, your second doctorate? But you're so young!" She laughs again at the last. "Yeah, Kory's pretty hot." Beat, and then blush. "I mean! …ah, forget it, I mean it both ways." She brings her books closer to herself, until they're in her lap, almost hugged to her chest. "Nothing as impressive as a doctorate. J-Just my first year in environmental studies, and getting some of the general-studies requirements out of the way."
Honey Lemon nods in confirmation before she responds, "Yes my first doctorate is in Molecular Chemistry. And I am not all that young but I did graduate hugh school when I was fourteen." Their drinks are soon arriving at the table with a gentle nod offered to the server. "What brought you to want to persue environmental studies Celerity?" Her gaze then looks to Kory as she responds, "I.. haven't kisses many guys in this country but most of my experiences haven't been unpleasant."
Koriand'r is diplomatic enough to just nod at Aiko's assessment and let the conversation return to Celerity's studies.
"Fourteen!" Celerity stares at Aiko for a moment after that. "Jeez. Wish I could have got out of high school four years ago." The question makes her look a little chagrined. "Um. Th-There are more scholarships in it if you're doing an environmental-studies degree, mostly. And it still uses a lot of math, which is what I'm good at." She fiddles with some of her hair. "I haven't kissed any guys, myself. A-And only the one girl. So I can't really say one way or another."
Honey Lemon laughs a bit before she responds, "It was awkward being in college so young but it wasn't horrible. And nothing wrong with needing a bit of aid in schools. At least you did your research about it." She pauses before she follows up with, "What do you plan to do with the degree once you have it?" Her gaze then looks to Kory as she asks, "So what langauges are you fluent in and are you looking for a tutor in Japanese?"
"Environmental sciences sound like a noble pursuit," Koriand'r observes. Her long, rubberish gloves creak as her fingers close around her tall, narrow glass, and she drinks the bitter brown fluid with gusto. Her eyes roll up at Aiko's question as if she's scanning her memory, and she's quiet a moment before she declares, "I believe I am fluent in English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Tagalog, and Urdu. But I would not know for certain until I met someone who knows a word I do not know. Yourselves?"
Celerity smiles gratefully at Aiko, though the question makes her shrug. "I'm not sure yet. I've found the atmospheric stuff really interesting, but I've been getting better grades in the chemistry. So, either find ways of cleaning the air, or figure out out to deal with soil and water contaminations." She takes a smaller sip of her sprite. Kory's list makes her pause, looking between her and Aiko. "Wait. So… you kissing someone makes you fluent in their language?"
Honey Lemon looks impressed as she responds to Kory, "Wow. That is a lot of languages. I am just fluent in English, Japanese and Spanish myself. Do you try to learn a new language when you discover it?" She looks at Celerity, laughing softly before she responds, "Oh no. It takes practice and study to become fluent in a language. I just grew up with those is all. And if you want any help with chemistry, I would be more than happy to offer to look over anything you might be writing up idea wise when it comes to clean air production."
Koriand'r modestly pretends she thinks Celerity's question was aimed at Aiko and keeps her mouth shut. She sips her alcoholic tea, the flavor reminding her to looks around for… hm, no, she isn't here. Well, she'll just wait and keep an eye open while the other two talk about… something to do with academics, she thinks.
Celerity doesn't let the misunderstanding stand; she shakes her head to Aiko's answer. "Ah, no, I mean Kory. Since—" She looks right at Kory while she speaks. "I mean, you said before you were still processing Japanese, but now you're fluent, right? So… I mean, that's got to be more fun than studying." She smiles at Aiko. "Th-Thank you, I'll keep that in mind. I'll try not to lean on you too much. I need to learn it for myself, you know?"
Honey Lemon ohs curiously as she looks to Kory before she inquires, "Are you able to learn a language through kissing? That would be immensely intriguing to say the least." Her attention then back on Celerity as she responds, "I can just point out whre you may want to relook at things. I won't do your work for you. My professors did the same for me." Her phone alarm then begins to go off which causes a sigh, "And sadly I have to take my leave. I have to do a bit of tutoring first thing in the morning. Maybe we could have a girl's night out sometime? I am still pretty new to the city, as i mentioned earlier, so gal pals would really be wonderful."
Koriand'r smiles widely, impishly. "Oh yes. Kissing is a vital component of the process," she avers much too solemnly.
Celerity squints at Kory… and then starts blushing. "…I think you'd have a blast if you two did start tutoring in Japanese." She coughs. Then pulls her phone from a pocket. "Sure! Gal pals would be great. I'll warn you, I'm usually really busy between work and school, so it may be tough to grab me for a proper 'night out'. But, um, here's my number." She brings it up on her screen.
After the exchange of numbers is given and the tab paid, Aiko is off and out towards her apartment. Leaving Celerity and Kory to chat.
