Summary:Cassie and Posse meet in Cafe Wha and bond over coffee. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It is cold. Not as cold as it could be, thankfully, but it is still chilly enough to need something warm to drink. That's what brings Cassie here today. Bundled up, somewhat, the blonde makes her way to where one places their order, pulling a ten dollar bill out of her pocket once her gloves are removed. "I would like a raspberry white chocolate mocha with extra whipped… thanks." Smiling, she steps to the side so that barista can serve others while she waits.
There's a guitar player performing, keeping the tone light. Cassie can't help but to glance sideward, muttering under her breath as she takes in the musician, "They better not start playing Christmas carols," apparently of the mind that it is still way too early to kick off anything yuletide related.
"Pssh, the malls have already started," comes a dry voice from the young woman's back. Dressed in an earthy winter coat and jeans, she has the dull, far-seeing gaze of someone who's two cups into a morning without feeling either one. Stepping up to the counter after Cassie, she places her own order in well-rehearsed terseness, "Large French vanilla mocha."
Cassandra Sandsmark turns slightly, pivoting from the waist to look at the person who just spoke. Chuckling, she lifts a shoulder, offering the other woman a rueful smile. "And they wonder why people would rather go online to do their shopping." Her cup is brought to her and it is taken in hand, it sipped from as she considers the impeding holidays. "I remember when stores waited for the day after Thanksgiving before starting to put out their Christmas stuff and pumping carols over the sound system. Now? Heck, I saw tinsel on a shelf before Halloween! Who the heck does that?!"
"It's all money-grubbing. They just want a big sales," Ava derides as she steps out of line to wait for her own drink, gloved hands peeking out of her pockets and a cap still snug against her head. "All winter they're saying to spend money, then they wonder why we've got so many poor people."
"Doesn't help that they charge so much for the crap they sell." Cassie lifts the cup to her nose, taking in the sweet scent of the raspberry and white chocolate. Smiling, she takes a careful sip, not wanting to embarrass herself by burning her mouth while talking. "But I guess this is when a lot of companies make the majority of their money…" Shrugging again, she pauses in what she could say on this subject, instead deciding to introduce herself. "Name's Cassie. Nice to meet you."
The older woman watches with half an eye, keeping a little of her gaze towards the barista preparing her own drink. The sharp hiss of the foaming wand draws her attention and silences the white-browed woman for a moment. "Ava," she offers back. Three little letters, one syllable, that's all Cassie gets.
"Ava. I like Ava. Very pretty name." Wait. Did that sound like Cassie's flirting with her? Blushing, she turns her gaze down, grimacing as she does so. "That was pretty forward of me to say that. I am sorry." Clearing her throat, she moves further to the side, side-stepping as she does when she notices there are more people trying to get their drink orders fulfilled. "Do you come here often?"
Ava's brow lifts slightly at the unexpected compliment but she accepts it coolly and with a wisp of a smile at Cassie's discomfort. "First time. Saw it on a map and got curious." she admits, with the touch of a drawl that doesn't quite want to sound out every letter she's using. "It's fine - but aren't I a little old for ya', kid?"
And this is where Cassie wishes she had some way to go invisibile. "No… oh, no. I wasn't coming onto you. I was just…" Being stupidly awkward. Damn. Clearing her throat again, Cassie feels her face growing warmer, that a sign that she's starting to blush harder. "It's just a pretty name, you know?" Holy cow. Why is this so difficult? "So found the place on a map, huh," she asks, deciding now is a good time to change the subject. "Does that mean you're not from here originally?"
Ava's eyes crease with a twinkle of amusement as she laughs in a short, barking manner. "I'd need to see a little ID first anyway. Are you out of school yet?" Cassie gets a reprieve from the older woman's gaze as she diverts it towards the barista again and moves over to collect her own cup, tall and steaming through its frothy milk top. Ava turns back around and walks in three smooth strides to the next counter where stirring spoons and cream are kept. "Further south, North Carolina. You?" she asks with a glance back, willing to give the young woman space again now that she's had her fun.
Cassie rolls her eyes, the crack about her age being the cause for that. "I am nineteen," she points out, laughing. Another drink of coffee has her discovering it's cooled a bit, allowing for her to take a larger sip from the cup than she did at first. "Me? Oh. I am from all over, really. Mom's an archaeologist and I went to a lot of dig sites with her. Spent a lot of time in Greece."
"Did you. What was that like?" Ava prods as she tops off her drink with a little extra milk and blows on it before sipping.
Cassie has to think a moment, not exactly sure how to answer that at first. "Well, it was fun, seeing a lot of the old artifacts and whatnot. But it was hard not growing up with other kids. My mom had me tutored since it is just the two of us and she didn't have anyone for me to live with so I could have a normal childhood." That must be why she's so darn awkward. She pauses for a few before adding, "I wouldn't trade that for anything, though."
"Sounds expensive. I didn't know archaeologists made that kind of money," Ava muses while inclining her head towards an unoccupied booth. "Did ya' see anywhere else?"
"Not really. My mother's field of expertise was Ancient Greece, so that's where we spent the majority of our time when we weren't back here for whatever reason." Cassie blinks once as the musician starts to change gears and plays something rather… festive. "Oh no." Sighing, she puts her left hand against her face while trying her hardest to stifle a groan. "It's too early!"
Ava snickers in reply. "Early for Christmas maybe, but every day's a good day for a party. Let's move to a booth for more jaw-jackin', no need to clog the milk station," she suggests before walking towards the first open booth available, ready to make the decision for both of them.
Cassie nods once in agreement to the suggestion to sit is made, the blonde giving the musician one last semi-glare before following along. She lets Ava sit first, allowing for her to take her choice in seating is claimed beofre doing herself. "So what do you do, Ava? For fun. For a living… whatever?"
The tawny woman slides into the closest of the first booth and makes herself at home, taking a couple sips of her steaming mocha to perk up. As another customer wanders in her eyes glance just for a moment towards the door before returning to Cassie. "Motorcycle riding, shooting range, clubbing," she rattles off mildly. "High-speed stuff when I can find it. I do PCB patrols for a day job and run some site security for the RESCUE complex near the disaster area."
There might be something of a smirk upon hearing Ava's answer. "Well, with how bad traffic can be here in the Big Apple, I don't think you will find much open road unless you go to a track or something." She's lived here long enough to know how much of a PITA traffic can be here. Thinking on the rest, she sips a bit of her drink down, nodding slowly. "Not sure what PCB is, but it sounds important if you are doing patrols."
"Oh yeah, give me 85 anytime," the older woman agrees readily. "But lane-splitting and a good siren helps. Powered Crime Bureau, it's like Code Blue if you remember them; the part of NYPD that handles super-problems. It's a lot shorter to say I shoot people for a living, but really it's a bunch of tazing and restraining."
And that has Cassie's undivided attention. Does that mean Ava's one of the super-powered as well, or is she one of those who are without powers who are willing to risk their lives to do that? "Ah. That! Man, you either got to have some huge huevos to do that or are really foolish to want to do that! I am betting on it being a case of the former." Yes, that's a joke, but it is also a compliment. "How did you get into that?"
Ava smirks at the praise, she can't help it. "They do clank if I walk too fast. Makes locker rooms a lot more fun but if I get too wet down there things start to rust," she jokes, playing along before taking another sip of her mocha. "Do you want how I did it or advice on doing it yourself?"
Cassie considers Ava, trying really hard not to laugh. She instead runs a finger along the bridge of her nose, covering her mouth at the same time in case she does giggle. "Oh. I don't know if I'd have the time needed to dedicate to a job like that," she confesses. "I am going to be a full-time student soon, or so I hope, so will need to keep as much time free for classes and studying. But am curious as to how you started doing that kind of work."
Ava tilts her head faintly to one side and narrows her eyes in knowing amusement. The polite gesture isn't missed. "Well, ya' start by gettin lucky, then you work your * off," she begins bluntly, taking another short sip of her drink. "I joined the Army out of school, got pretty good at that, got blowed up, then got rebuilt." So saying, the tawny woman exposes her left hand and waves it lightly at Cassie, where its all-metal palm and fingers are allowed to catch the light. Ava smiles at it before continuing, evidently proud of the craftsmanship. "I got picked by the CUE part of RESCUE - that's cybernetic rehab stuff, and since all the wiring and computer chips didn't make me bat-** I'm something of a demo unit for them. PCB picked me up as I think a trial run of RESCUE-tech. Most outfits haven't figured out how to handle cyborgs in a big way, so when I'm not doing that I'm with RESCUE's in-house group of rehabilitated first responders and para-military, Overwatch, proving what we can do and helping people in the process."
Huh! Cassie wasn't expecting that. The cybernetic hand is looked at in a way that she can only hope isn't rude. It is difficult, however, and maybe she does gawk at it a bit before she reminds herself to stop and she looks away. "That sounds like you've had a helluva a life," she murmurs, returning to looking at Ava's face. "And it sounds like a lot of work. Yeah, I don't think I'd fit in with the team much." That being because of how she doesn't have implants or anything like that. "Good to know we have you all on our side."
Ava smiles permissively and pulls back her sleeve, exposing a matching wrist and forearm before resting her limb on the table. She's bionic from at least the elbow up. "Getting blowed up is optional - personally I don't recommend it. We've got one lady in a wheelchair that can walk itself and another's perfectly healthy wearing a fancy suit, kind of like Iron Man."
"PCB's a different beast from Overwatch and the other parts of RESCUE. Buuut I spent half my life learning how to soldier so it's nice finding soldier-like work back in CONUS," the cyborg veteran admits casually, then glances back at her arm. "Look all you want. I've had doctors and scientists geek out on me before."
Cassie nods slowly, glancing again at her arm. "I just don't want to be rude, you know? I mean, it's one thing to have a professional staring. It's their job. They're supposed to do that, right? Don't need some regular Joe gawking at you." She does allow herself to stare a tiny bit, though, just for a little bit, andt hen she looks towards the performer, who has somehow managed to get a third of the patrons here to sing along with him in a rousing, folk rendition of 'Here Comes Santa Claus'. Ugh! "I think it'd be a bit hard for me to get blown up," she adds without thinking, forgetting that her own powers are supposed to be something of a secret. "I mean… I don't wind up in a lot of situations where that's a risk, you know?" Hopefully that's a good coverup. Whoooops!
"You musn't have been around here until recently," Ava chuckles while discretely turning her head to face a little more away from the performance so she can focus on their conversation. "And nah, I mean visiting ones, just people in the industry. I can tell your look's more interested than disgusted; look, touch, I don't care. This tech's pretty ing awesome, I'd be rude to keep it all to myself," she jests. "Besides Roni likes when I advertise, brings her more members."
"Been here a while. Just lucky, I suppose." Angling her head to the side, Cassie shakes her head, reaching out to touch Ava's hand. It isn't overly-forward, the manner she does so in. Nope. Just curious. "You are… very nice, Ava. To allow me to be curious about this. It must've sucked, though…" Not sure what to say, she falls quiet, her hand removed from Ava's. "Thank you, by the way." For what? Who knows.
Ava's hand is cool and smooth to the touch. Sculpted into the correct shape, it still lacks the softness of skin or the warmth of a pulse. There's a faint twitch as her fingers adjust themselves against the table before Cassie moves away, and in reply the cyborg smiles. "Yeah, but it sucks a lot less now. Modern medicine's a real miracle." Her green eyes study the young woman for a few moments before her hand comes up and gives a casual one-armed shrug. "If you want to know more, visit the RESCUE campus some time and ask for me. I'm better equipped to show you my full load-out there. Besides the egg-heads make other models that look a lot more natural."
Nodding slowly, thoughtfully, Cassie listens intently, her intrest keeping her attention on her conversation partner solely. "I will definitely come by," she says honestly. It isn't an empty promise made to make someone happy. She means that. She will come to see Ava on the campus. "Is there anytone I need to talk to first, get permission or can I just arrive and stuff?" That's important to know as some orginizations are touchy about having strangers show up unexpectedly.
"Well for that you *will* need your little ID," Ava notes slyly. "Just give me your full name and I can get the paperwork started for a visitor badge."
Cassie pulls a pen out of a pocket in her coat and she grabs a clean napkin from a close-by table, it used to give Ava her information. "Here you go. Thanks!" She's grinning ear to ear, looking as excited as she feels. "I will try to get out there before the holidays."
Ava smiles back as she pulls her sleeve back down and accepts the napkin, reading long enough to commit the contents to memory. "Good luck. Sunday's my free day but the rest of the week works as long as I'm not on alert somewhere. It's a coin toss when those crop up."
"Schedule can be a bear, huh? That's cool. I'll be around." Cassie's drink is finished off and the cup set to the side, put where she can throw it away when she leaves to brave the cold. "I am going to be a bit busy, myself. Got to see if I can still enroll or if I'm screwed until next year, then it's time for the holidays with Mom. Can't skip out of that. Thankfully we got a few weeks before that, but… you know." Shaking her head, Cassie looks down. "It's just the two of us, so I try to be home for the holidays when I can be."
"That's a flight back to Greece?" Ava guesses, smiling in sympathy. "Don't let me interrupt family time. Take that liberty while you can." She lifts the remains of her mocha and tips it as a salute before drinking more. She's almost to the bottom herself. "The weather should be nice this time of year anyway."
No, my mom lives here. In fact, I live with her right now. Looking at moving into the dorms or an apartment of my own, though." Most people Cassie's age would have already fled the nest but not her. Her and her mother are close to each other, after all, and her mother's never tried to push her out of the nest, nor did Cassie ever really feel a need to leave. "So I can still come by soon. I'll try to get in touch with the proper people and see you soon."
"Oh! Well in that case good luck with affordable housing," Ava corrects with a laugh. "Sure, sure. Come as you can." She tilts back her drink one last time and drinks the last of it. Caffeine and conversation have enlivened the tawny officer's emerald eyes, giving them a life and alertness that, while maybe not fully awake, is still much more than they had when she walked in.