A quiet night at the coffee house

[Claire Edmonton]

Claire pauses in her exchange with Michael to turn to the newcomer with a smile, and explain in that Manhattan accent that begged the question of why it was she needed more coffee in the first place, "No, darling, I'm not that young. I am afraid I don't recognize you, and I never forget a girlfriend. And I went to Brearley, actually."

Of all the wonderful implications packed into her rapid, pseudo-caffeinated response, name-dropping her prestigious New York prep school might slip past one not in the know, but when she said girlfriend, she did not mean the same thing Joslyn had.

"But since you are over here, please sit, won't you?"

[Claire Edmonton]

"Thank you," Claire says to the offered coffee, despite the fact that she rather clearly had espresso already. She makes no remark on the redundancy, figuring that sometimes it was better to go with the flow. In this case, she was probably going with the flow of the effect she was having on her audience. She certainly appreciated finding someone else in this town who was both up to her standards and not rude.

"And I'm sure tt's a pleasure to meet you, too, Joslyn," she rattles off with her inherent Manhattan breathy haste, seeking precisely the right amount of eye contact to study her subject a bit but not intrude. "I'm Claire, and this fine gentleman is Michael. He was just telling me about some international research of his, if he feels comfortable sharing?"

She regards him with the confident smile that's finally settled on a particular friendly mood.

[Michael Redfill]

Michael raises an eyebrow at Joslyn's suggestion of bringing more coffee. He knew she knew what he was and only Martha was allowed to bring fucking Kine food to the table as if it provided anything more than a few entertaining minutes in the bathroom later. As she turns her back and leaves for the bar, he sighs and forces Vitae to his innards. Preparing them for the two cups of coffee they are about to receive.

After the girl returns he nods at Claire's introduction and genuinely smiles at her enthusiasm:

"Thank you, but I think you are overestimating my ability to hold attention, Claire. I mean, I know you have an excellent and well-balanced education, so you may be interested, but let's ask our guest if she fancies research before I bore her to death. So, Joslyn. Any passion for things academic? And turning them into money?"

[Claire Edmonton]

Claire laughs, trying to contain the reaction to be not too loud, and sets down the coffee she'd just picked up. "You're quite a breath of fresh air, but it does sound like neither of you wants our current conversation to continue, which means we should find another. What is it that does interest you, Joslyn?"

Anyone who didn't know her better might think her rate of speech indicated she'd been drinking espresso here all day.

[Michael Redfill]

Michael nods at as Joslyn talks about her disinterest in academics:

"That is quite fine. There is nothing more off-putting than people talking in-depth about something you hold no interest in."

The description of her interests gets a surprised smile:

"Baking? Well, that is quite interesting."

For a Kindred, surely.

"My own interests, beside academics and finance, include martial arts, computers and music. Still, I figured you for someone who works with people as a primary kind of employement. A beautiful and suave con-artist, perhaps? Just shows how wrong it is to judge people based on appearances, eh?"

That phrase has a double meaning, of course. Michael can't help but try to predict exactly how long it will take Joslyn to figure out that Claire is one of them.

[Claire Edmonton]

"Politics and baking do sound good, particularly if we keep them apart to avoid cooking up trouble," Claire jokes, clearly amused by the unexpected answer.

"Oh, I also do very boring things professionally. I keep boys from burning their money on stupid bets when fortunes can be grown in a more reasonable manner. It's more nuanced and time consuming than just saying no a lot, but that is my favorite part of the job." She delivers this description of her profession with a speedy disinterest as though setting aside small talk to get down to business, rather amusing contextually.

But she seems to slow down to merely 'very fast' when she waxes about her preferred activities, saying, "I love animals, dogs and horses mostly, I fence, I enjoy strategical challenges in recreation even more than on the job, and I like long walks in beautiful places under the moonlight."

There's another breadcrumb for you, dear.