The Element(al)s of Coffee

[Mhairi Ankaa]

A nervous anticipation ran through the Wisp. Which was weird, she wasn't going out, and it was just Green, but the Mountain and the Wisp hadn't had a moment where they'd been properly alone...ever! In the year since Mhairi came to Sacramento they'd spoken of course, but that was either during a Coronation or somewhere else surrounded by others. So this was new and weird. And the question whether or not the Earthbones would knock or just appear, slipping from the shadows like the Winter he was...made Mhairi a little antsy, truth be told.

As Mhairi wouldn't know until one or the other happened, she simply settled on tidying up the kitchen as the pot of coffee she promised the Mountain brewed.

[Malcolm Green]

Green does appear. At the door. At the window, his large head peering in.

When he see's Mhairi he gestured towards the door and held up a box of doughnuts.

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Mhairi's look of confusion is replaced with one of understanding as she gives the Mountain an grin and a wave before she makes her way to the door to let Green and the tasty treats he'd brought in.

"Green. Hi. Thanks for coming. And those. Thanks for those too." motioning to the box of doughnuts, offering up her hands if he decides to give them to her to carry into the kitchen. "I definitely wasn't expecting them." in fact, she'd been expecting to reheat some leftovers if either of them wanted anything to eat.

"Coffee's almost done," fell-flames flick over to the pot, seeing the scant few drops still descending, "If you want I can grab you a cup now."

Whatever his answer Mhairi pulls out a mug for her and one for her fellow Elemental.

"So...are you okay?" Mhairi asks, with Green she didn't feel like dancing around issues that might hurt feelings. Both her and Green really understood how awkward it was, and just how blunt they can be. "I mean you sounded weird on the phone." she shrugs, "That might just be how you sound over the phone, but I wanted to ask in case it's not."

[Malcolm Green]

The mug was amusing and wonderful. To an ordinary muggle it might have elicited a comment or a chuckle. The mountain simply stared at it, then sat down. The doughnuts he gave to Mhairi as quickly as he could, lest he crushed them while he sat.

"Uh. Yeah. No. Maybe?" Green uttered. "I tried something and it didn't work. The old wyrm's designs on... the old hotel... are gonna go through now, whatever we do."

There. He had said it. He sighed loudly.

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Doughnuts in hand, the Wisp opens the box to see what kinds there were as she places the box on the table. Flitting over to get some paper towel to use as plates, Mhairi didn't feel like washing a couple of plates over some doughnuts.

Picking an apple fritter for herself, she places it on the paper towel and moves over to the coffee pot fills the two mugs, brings them over then grabs the sugar dish and the milk from the fridge. "Shit." the sugar dish and the milk carton land none to gently, "Like...really. Fuck. I wanted to do something. But I haven't...made any contacts in the city that could help with that...all I really have is some cash...but who am I gonna pay off or bribe or whatever in the face of the lizard's piles of money?"

The Wisp heaves out a sigh as she sits across from the Mountain, a troubled look on her face she adds milk and sugar to her coffee by rote.

[Malcolm Green]

Green appears to like his coffee strong and black.

Anyone else with his news would scoff or laugh depreciatingly. The Elemental does not; he could be talking about the weather.

"Don't worry about it. I was - am - tight with some Union bosses. I tried the old agitate the workforce trick, you know, point out the flaws in their contracts and working conditions. You know what? The old wyrm instructed his pawns to cave basically. You know, give the workers good and fair conditions in the workplace. It worked. Productivity is up. My Union buddies feel good about themselves. And the Four Seasons is as good as lost. Three days! I couldn't even lure him out for a chat."

Only the mountain's eyes glittered.

"We could try and buy out that theme park from under him. That might work - but it wont stop him rolling his pawns into town. You know, sinking his claws into the place. Its a game. He hunts were we gather, buys 'em up and turns them to shit. We melt away and regroup somewhere else. Then he does it again."

Then Green blinked and his head leaned slightly to one side.

"But you didn't invite me here to talk about my plans, right? Whats on your mind?"

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Mhairi didn't understand people who enjoyed their coffee black. The Wisp had to much of a sweet tooth to enjoy coffee without a hefty helping of sugar.

"That's...sort of brilliant....but that means that he wanted the Four Seasons more then he wanted to keep his money." the revelation had a cold lump of dread form. "At least your Union buddies are having a good time of it." Mhairi had mixed feelings over the issue, and she's sure Green was of the same mind.

The Wisp's quite as she sips her coffee. A though gnawing, and twisting within her mind.

"I look different don't I?" the Wyrd twisting, evolving, she wasn't talking about her mien but the magical cure that eliminated her stammer. "When Morgan and me fought him in Monique's dreams...I was still stammering. I was mad. Yelling, but..." Would the Wyrm talk to her now that she was closer to...

"The theme park? I guess it would make us money, and be a great place to gather glamour...but. I got...5k. That's not what I get in and can spend, It's everything I own. How could I possibly use that, that pittance to steal something from a monster that probably wipes his ass with hundred dollar bills?" Mhairi shakes her head and tears off a bit of the apple fritter.

"Honestly? I've been here a year. And we haven't ever really talked. Well, we have, but not one-on-one. So that's why I called you." it really was as simple as that.

She pops the price of the apple fritter into her mouth and chews.

[Malcolm Green]

"Oh." Said the mountain. Whether because he had never the entertained the idea of a social chat or for some other reason was hard to tell by looking at his blank face.

Green shifted in his seat, grimacing as the chair protested his weight. "Well. See. I got the... same. More or less. I don't bother with much furniture. Never in my size anyway. And yeah, I follow the way of Winter. So, like, a house is just a crash space really. And if I want a home I got more than a few Hollows that are way more comfortable."

Now that just slipped out so normal. Was the mountain so strong with the Wyrd that he was starting to see the otherworld as home? He was certainly strong enough.

"Anyway. Its a thing to think about. We got options. You knew that L'aire's been eying off another hotel, right? It has enough character. It would buy us some time, I guess. If we bought it out, somehow, I mean. The wyrm probably thinks we are still fixated on the Four Seasons. Maybe thats his plan, draw us out and crush our will or some shit. That theme park would be pretty tempting to some of us. He doesn't want to kill us. He want's us broken so we'll thank him when he comes."

Green glowered. So he drank his coffee and gave the Nix some space to speak.

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Mhairi sips her coffee, and nibbles on torn pieces of the fritter, thinking. She didn't know if it was because Green was an Elemental or a Winter but with everyone else Mhairi would feel like she had to fill the silence with chatter. Or smiles, or something. Because she was an Elemental and didn't always know when her nature bled through. That's why the Wisp attempted to be up beat, nice and polite at all times.

But Gods and Demons, was that exhausting.

"...I'm thinking of following Terri. In Raiment and general fashion. I talked with Sera, and she seemed pretty adamant that I follow my dreams. Desires. Whatever. Springs. You know?" it seemed disjointed and random, but it was a truth she could offer Green in his own admittance of his multiple Hollows. And that he was more comfortable in the Thorns. "I think I want to start with shoes." A sip. "I've done some hedgespinning for myself. I enjoyed it." A blink, motes of flames escape as her eyes flutter, "The shoes are a mundane idea. Not a Raiment one. But I guess it could be both."

She frowns because the fritter's gone.

"He wants." she says after a long moment, "He wants what he thinks we want. What we love. But...I don't think he understands what all of us have lived through. What we've already given up. That we've moved on and rebuilt." She might have caused the death of her Fetch, but she couldn't reclaim her old life. All that fit caused was a husband to be without a wife, and kids to have no mother. "We've done it once. We can do it again." nodding at the mention that L'aire had been looking around at another hotel. "We might have broken once, but every single one of us pulled ourselves together again. I won't let that lizard break us." she near growled. The crackling of flame heavy in her voice.

"There aren't enough Summers to rally the 'hold to charge the lizard's holdings. The others who might want the Four Seasons, or the Theme Park...could try, like you did. I don't know if they'd fair better or worse. I think...that it would hurt the lizard more if we just ignore him. Move on. He's unimportant....at least on the surface. We know where he sleeps and we're planning on scouting..." Mhairi shrugs, unknowing of what such a trip would grant them. Or what just would happen when they ventured into the flame seared thorns around the Dragon's Spire.

ooc

Mhairi's not a Nix :P

[Malcolm Green]

Green pauses to shovel a doughnut into his maw. Or maybe he wanted to think and used the doughnut as an excuse for silence.

"Sounds like a plan, that. I know her Treetop Fashions kept Terri grounded, like. And later it was, like, a key part of the Quicksilver Gate. Never really liked that place - it was too small, you know. And all spangly and thin and... not strong. Yeah."

Green barked a laugh.

"Yeah! I wish! I reckon he thinks he can buy up the entire city and crowd us out. Muggle's don't work that way. Oh he could buy up huge swathes of the city, invest in the place and make a lot of money (assuming that he'd really understand the meaning of that) but he could never drive us out. We will always find thrive in the cracks. We always have. Well... Thats kind of, Winter's way, yeah?"

He shifted in his seat.

"But seriously? All we need is a house? Shit, we still got Edna's if it came to it. Anyway, point is, we just need a door. Any fucking door, yeah? We can carve out a communal Hollow on the other side. It'd be nice to wrap the door in some place nice, but its not exactly a priority. Well, for me at least."

He thought for a moment.

"Ignoring him... Now that might be a plan. Takes away his power that. He wants to be feared, right? Got no fear if the locals see as little more than bad weather. Now that would fit me. How'd you convince the 'Hold?"