(The Ardent) Surreptitious Meetings

[Varyx]

Aw. Cute. Looks like Adam has a crush on the barista.

Varyx offered the barista one last smile, then turned around to see July coming into the shop. She stepped away from the counter to allow him to make his order and took a quick glance around the rest of the shop. Mom wasn't here yet, so maybe it was time to wait on introducing herself to the kid. Besides, there was no real reason - yet - to stop him from enjoying himself. The barista was cute, and she seemed to like the attention. Let them have their fun while she checked out the rest of the room.

Heels clicked against the hardwood floors as she walked across the cafe and took a seat. Something by the window, with decent sight-lines to most of the cafe (and definitely to Adam). She'd relax, sip her drink, and keep an eye on Adam while checking out the other patrons for anything notable, in either their behaviour or their auras.

[Wayland]

Hmm. he'd seen Possession before. One of the more truly horrifying training exercises he'd been on had been tracking down a woman who had been possessed by a Ghost who went around yelling abuse at people by the name of Nancy. True story yo. Things went south when someone took offense and slapped the possessed woman... That turned out to be a messy day.

But as far as possessions go, Ghosts tend to appear as a slow moving copy, as if they lag behind, leaving a brief afterglow, kinda like those shitty time dilation movies.... Or The Flash. This though? It looked like it was laid over top, like a filter or somethin'. What disturbed him more than anything, though, was that he didnt recognise it.

He turned to the others, but realised they had already gone inside. Is that like, a Thing? Leave the dude who looks like a drug dealer to stand out side the coffee shop?

Seeing the car roll up and Mrs Rasmussen step out and enter the shop, he follows her in to where July is standing. "Hey, thanks for meeting us here. I'm gonna get me a coffee, can I like, get you one?"

[Varyx]

At July's motion, Varyx stood and approached the nervous-looking woman, offering her a reassuring smile and a hand to shake - though, if the woman didn't take it, she would simply drop the hand back to her side as if nothing had happened. No need to push such a skittish creature into unwanted physical contact, even something so benign.

"You must be Mrs. Rasmussen. I'm Vanessa. It's a pleasure to meet you." Relaxed, cordial, comfortable. Like this was normal, business as usual, and not a meeting to discuss her husband's violence or her son's potential possession. If you can't be confident, pretend to be. And if you can't pretend to be, surround yourself with people who can. There's nothing quite like being near someone who exuded confidence to gain a little confidence yourself. Varyx hoped the gentle certainty in her voice would calm Mrs Rasmussen, if only a little.

July, she thought, had the right approach - let the woman control the situation. Let her take the lead on how to approach her son. The smile stayed pleasant and assured, and she dipped her head once in agreement to July's words. "Whenever you're ready."

[Wayland]

"Black coffee it is." He replied to Mrs Rasmussen, and he turns away to head to the counter. At least she had decent taste in coffee, at least to say that she had no taste in coffee. Just the way he liked it. Strong and hard.

Making his way to the barista at the counter he puts in his order, "Yo, two coffees thanks. Black no sugar." After he handed of cash he stood to the side while his order is made, and considers the situation at hand. Mrd Rasmussen had been start at least to make this meeting a public thing. He'd been on enough first dates to know that women knew to have a first date somewhere public so they can make an "emergency" call if they wanted to bail.

What was the young woman's involvment here though bro? Thats the question that concerned him though.

[Varyx]

Varyx took her seat next to July, so that he was between her and Mrs Rassmusen. As much as she wanted to make the woman comfortable, she clearly wasn't - and she couldn't blame her, either. A new face in a tense situation like this one was never something that encouraged comfort. But it was clear that she found July to be someone solid and trustworthy, or at least moreso than anyone else. Let him act as a barrier, then, between the skittish woman and the new face, though Varyx was careful to sit such that she was not hidden from Mrs Rassmusen's view. For both the sake of eye contact and because little things - like being able to see what the mysterious new woman was doing - might lend her even a tiny bit more comfort. Anything to stop her from bolting before they got the information they needed.

She offered Mrs Rassmusen a smile at the comment that she'd never done this before. "That's alright. Perhaps then, you should simply start however you'd like. However you'd be most comfortable."