Shannon's eyes widen in pure amazement and the gypsy's question earns her complete, undivided attention. "How did you..." Those pretty blues blink twice before she finally gets it. "Hey! You wait just a second!" The young woman sniffs once and tilts her head inward toward Sasha. "You're hair wasn't that color!"
Zoie walks in from Kiva's. In her hand is the most heavenly type of smell ever. The tea is wafting and it's professional name is: Kitchen Sink. Mainly because she tossed whatever was left brewed into one cup and she's drinking it.
Liane mutters to Cleo, "... t-teach... and..."
Clearly, Sasha wasn't really trying to con poor Shannon. When the Texan recognizes her, Sasha just grins conspiratorily. "I'm just filling in for someone tonight." That's right, a temp job backfilling for a fortune-teller. "Anyway, I love to stay and chat, but my client's waiting outside. Catch you around?"
Whatever Liane says to Cleo seems to give her some comfort. Or maybe she relaxes because the undeserved target of her ire is not actually messing with Shannon and is about to leave.
"What's a tart?" she says. "I always figured they'd taste, you know. Tart. Like yogurt." This is not like yogurt. Cleo takes another bite and chews thoughtfully. "I like this. Hi, Zoie." Her tone is unenthusiastic, but at least it's not so angry anymore.
Zoie beams a rather huge and happy smile at Cleo and Liane as she walks over to them. "Liane.." Her voice greets easily enough before she hops a few more moments. Someone is high on legal go juice (aka coffee or tea). Then she smiles wider to Cleo. "It is like totally awesome to see you again. Are you here on purpose this time?"
"You had me fooled." Shannon says to Sasha while bobbing her head. "I'm sure we'll bump into eachother again." She offers the gypsy a wave of her fingers before turning away. The smell of Zoie's tea draws her attention for a moment and she turns to watch the young woman approach Cleo and Liane.
Liane murmurs something else to Cleo, before giving a small smile. "Th-the c-cream cheese mix gives it a b-bit of a sharp flavor. W-would you like a t-tart, Zoie?" Zack loves tarts. Don't you want to like what Zack likes? "B-but I must admit I m-made them overly s-sweet. A c-craving." Liane slips behind the counter and begins to work the register, totallying up some money and slipping a few bills into the register, with nary a blink of an eye. "I h-have to go soon m-myself. I just c-c-came to get some t-tea leaves: T-terry and I are h-heading to the reservation tonight."
Sasha wiggles her fingers at Shannon and heads for the door. Well, not right away. She does stop by Liane's side and uses a dramatically-spooky voice. "Madame Xanadu see good fortune in your future. Give generously to goths you meet." Obviously she's expecting Liane to recognize her now, judging from her grin. As for angry-angry Cleo, Sasha tilts her head at the kid and makes a silly face, eyes crossed and tongue hanging out. And the recently-arrived Zoie just gets a silent 'whassup?' upnod, before she opens the door to leave. "Ahhh, Mrs. Levensworth, it is time for your good-luck charm!" She can be heard announcing in that Romanian accent as she steps out.
Cleo levels a suspicious look at Liane -- clearly she wants to hear more but now appears to be neither the time nor place. Sasha gets flipped off, almost as an afterthought, as she leaves. She turns back to Zoie. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm... here on purpose. This time." As though arriving places by accident is something that Cleo makes a habit of.
Zoie of course wants a tart. When Zack and Zoie are together, they hivebrain to create ZoieZack, or ZackZoie, when Zoie is feeling gracious. Her eyes light up on food and she bounces more. This of course causes tea to slosh. Then she smiles towards the others. "Am I like totally interrupting your talking. I mean um.. oh.. I um.. you were whispering. I learned that whispering means you don't want people to know. Like that one time someone whispered to me and I was like what do you mean you think you wet yourself? Then I realized they probably didn't want people to know." There is a pause and she looks towards the girl's laps. There is a wave for Sasha and Shannon if she notices.
Shannon looks away from Zoie, Liane, and Cleo after a moment. The blond Texan seems begins to browse the contents of the shop, starting with the herbal remedies section.
You paged Liane with 'But.. I'm ME!'
Long distance to Liane: Zoie demands.
"Also I would go in and change it to suit me. I just hate messing with codestuffs."
Liane just gives Cleo a benevolent-- if touch mischievous-- smile. Sasha's appearance at her side...doesn't quite happen, as Liane steps a touch away, not letting the other woman get too close, and Liane's smile turns half apologetic. "G-g-goodbye, Sasha. Do s-s-say hello to G-gareth for me, if you see him. And C-cleo, you to D-damian and Joel. I sh-should get going back to the r-reservation. I s-suppose I will see you t-tomorrow at work, Zoie." Liane says, with a quick smile in Zoie's direction. "R-radiant Sands?" The native american woman looks up from her spot reading a book on the properties of quartz crystals, and shakes her head. And with a wave, Liane hurries out the door!
Cleo lifts a hand to Liane and Danny as they leave, and then looks helplessly at Zoie. "She's Gareth's friend. I was a giant asshole to her." And then like that she seems to recover. "Oh, well, she fucking deserved it, didn't she. Do you, like... work here or something? Or go to the college?" The way her voice tilts up higher than it should at the end of that sentence indicates that she probably thinks it's unlikely. Shannon gets a glance. "You should like... try some of the pastries next door, they're pretty awesome. Liane, she just left? She makes 'em."
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Zoie gives Cleo a huge smile. It looks like at any moment one of two things are going to happen. Either she's going to launch herself at the girl and snuggle her. Or, she's going to start singing so birds and forest animals appear. Don't hate. You don't know. "Oh Sasha? She's... um.. she's.. well, you see sometimes people are.. um.. well." There is a true pull as Zoie //tries// to say something mean about someone. "Um.. she's not always um.. she can be a bit, um.. well a .. sometimes she's not nice." Yes she settles there and then tries to wiggle a bit more for Cleo. "Yes." Then there is a pause. "Both. I go to college and I work here. Well I mainly work a Kiva. I mean it's where I met Zack you know, only well you know he had to tell me he wasn't my boss when he asked me out at first. I mean sure I could still go out with him and maybe get a raise, but well I'm not like that. That would be wrong, right? So like he just um.. I lost my place, but yes, yes I work here and go to school. What school do you go to?" Liane is given a friendly wave. "See you tomorrow!" Then Shannon is given a huge smile. "Can I help you with anything?"
Shannon is holding up a container of tea leaves when Cleo speaks. She looks over toward the girl and raises an eyebrow, "The one with the tarts makes everything next door? I'll stop by after I'm done here." She sets the container back on the shelf and retrieves a tissue which she uses to stifle a sniffle. Zoie's attention is rewarded with a weak smile. "I'm a bit under the weather. I think it's from playing outside in the cold the past few nights. Got anything to help clear me up?"
Cleo sits through this monologue with a pleasant and blank smile on her face. "Um," she says, when she realizes Zoie has asked her a question. "Van Buren Middle School. That one way down on the east side of Central." Shannon gets an approving nod, and Cleo begins to take backward steps, gesturing toward the door. "I gotta go, I still got groceries to get an' it's getting on time for the store to close."
Zoie blinks at Cleo for a moment. "I'm going to make like Zack take me to dinner or like something, so he can talk with me and stuff. However, we should like totally paintball or bowl or something. You want to come with us? I'd suggest pool or mini golf but he cheats." She giggles in a way that says she's lying. "Well.. be careful okay?" Ah then there is sick Shannon, whom Zoie literally skips over to. Her blonde hair bouncing behind her. "Oh! You poor thing. Well Liane would tell you chicken broth. Do you want me to make you some? Or we have like that cold care blended tea that Katie makes." There is an awkward moment. "I don't know what's in, but it's totally legal.. mostly.. I think."
"Mostly?" The corners of Shannon's smile twitch a touch. "That sounds lovely. Tea would be perfect." She returns her tissue to her pocket and looks over toward the teenager. "I think I live 'round the corner form you, Cleo. Above the pool hall, you know it?"
Cleo pauses, the door half-open and letting all the cold air in. "Sure," she tells Zoie, "that'd be fun," only she says it in a way that implies that it would be the exact opposite of fun. She turns to Shannon. "I'm at the trailer park. I dunno where the pool hall is. Maybe I'll like see you around though, we kind of wind up at the same spots." She ducks out the door, tossing her empty cup of tea on the way, shoving her hands deep in her jacket pockets to keep them warm.
Zoie watches Cleo for a few moments. "Huh.. I wonder if this is what being a big sister would feel like. I mean like they totally have programs like that, but what if i got someone that doesn't like me or I don't like them. Then I would be all like ehhh.. can I trade you in. Oh! Not that I think people should be traded because slavery is bad." She does wave at Cleo as she exits. "I'd pick her though. I think I should adopt her." Then it is back to Shannon. "Well she talks with this Texan accent, which is hot. Well it's hot when Zack calls me darlin'. I mean I get all sighy and my heart gets squishy." She trails off to sigh. One might picture heart bubbles and Zack in them. It's pretty disgusting really. Then she shakes her head. "Right, well then she talks all fast and I only understand some of it. So... mostly legal, but maybe she said for ill eagles... I don't remember. However, it shouldn't kill you if I"m wrong." There is a pause. "I hope."
Shannon's eyes follow Cleo as the girl makes her way out of the shop and she offers the girl a silent nod. With Cleo gone, the blonde Texan can return her attention to Zoie. Shannon's smile shifts into a curved grin as she listens. There's a soft laugh at the mention of a Texan accent being hot and another when Zack's name is brought up. The woman shakes her head in amusement as Zoie finishes and she just shrugs before saying softly, "Can't live unless you're afraid of dying, right? I'll take some."
Zoie rolls her green eyes up towards the cameras for a moment. "Um..." She leans in just a bit. "If you could you know... drink the tea at home and maybe take off the label. I mean, I'm totally sure it is to kill your cold and not kill you but..um... just to you know.. be safe." Cough cough. Then she sees the smile at Zack's name. "OH! You know Zack?" She doesn't seem jealous, in fact, she seems completely happy with this fact. "Isn't he just soooooo adorable? I just wanna like touch him when he's near." A hand flies to her mouth in that innocent sort of way as she gasps. "Oh! Not like how some people would touch people. I mean like just with my hand. Wait.. no.. I mean my hand on his hand not on his.... so how much tea do you want?"
"Just enough to get me over this hump." Shannon says in that groggy Texas drawl. The woman offers a tired nod, "I just met Zack the other night at the Pizza Palace. He was very nice to me, made sure I didn't eat by myself." There is another laugh as she witnesses Zoie's antics and she shakes her head quickly. "I know what you mean, honey. No need to explain." Her shoulders tremble slightly from the after effects of the laughter.
Zoie moves to gather up a brown bag and then another one. She seems to be studying one over the other with far more consideration than it calls for. The first bag is set down and she walks back to the counter. Only then she stops and goes back to exchange bags and ring it up. "It's like ten bucks for this." Suicide is painless right? MASH said so. "OH! Yeah, he's sweet like that." There is a pause. "Did you ask him out?" This seems more curious nature over OMG back off my man or I'll cut a bitch.
Shannon's eyes widen a touch and she shakes her head more fervently now. "Oh no! No, no, no! I'm still getting over my ex-boyfriend." She follows the younger woman to the counter. "Dating..." The woman wrinkles her nose as she speaks, "...not my thing right now. Maybe in a month or three."
Zoie nods her head. "I mean I wouldn't blame you. If I was a girl and I met Zack I'd totally ask him out." There is a frown as she turns that comment around in her mind, but doesn't seem able to place what is wrong with it. Then she frowns at the girl a bit. "Awww.. was it a bad break up? Do you want to go get ice cream and talk about it?"
"I want to erase it from my mind and forget about it." Shannon says quickly before smiling wide. "Actually, it didn't bother me so much. We just had our separate paths to go down." The young woman retrieves a small purse from her canvas satchel and counts out the right number of bills before handing them over. "You and Zack seem cute together."
Zoie takes the cash and then hands over a receipt for it. "Thanks. I mean if we seem cute together, it is all him. I mean, I'm just lucky he even talks to me." She grins to that and is totally sincere in her compliments. "I don't even know how I deserve him to spend time with me." There is a look of concern about the previous boyfriend. "Okay, then we never have to talk about it again." She puts her hand to her mouth. "OH, I just talked about it."
Shannon lets out another laugh that is more full than before and helps her sound less sick. "Don't worry about it. We can't go along fretting over the little things, right?" She takes the receipt and bag, putting both into her canvas satchel. The girl receives another bright smile as Shannon backs toward the door, "Thanks for helping me. Take care?"