Zoie - Kiva Chat

From Masq
Date: Setting:

IC:  11/01/2008
RL: 04/30/2011

Kiva Coffee -- Albuquerque

 Large street-facing windows bring plenty of light into this cozy coffee and tea shop. An expansion of Laura's Herbal Apothecary, it has its own front entrance but shares a large open doorway in the shared wall so people can move easily from space to space. The walls are painted in warm, rich colors, and in one corner of the shop, a kiva-style fireplace adds a classic Southwestern touch. The whole room smells richly of coffee and tea, and the overall atmosphere of the shop is one of cozy relaxation.

 At the back of the shop, a long counter holds a cash register and a variety of clean, shiny equipment used to make the coffee and tea drinks sold here. A barista or two is there waiting to take the orders; they wear simple black aprons to keep clean and sometimes cast hopeful looks at the tip jar. Throughout the room, small tables and chairs provide a place to sit, as do comfy-looking armchairs and a booth tucked away in a nook by the front window. The shared wall between the cafe and the apothecary has a cut-out space where a large fish tank (+view here/fish) rests, surrounded by some displays selling coffee and tea. The tank can be viewed from either the apothecary side or the coffee shop side, often attracting curious viewers.

 A chalkboard menu (+view here/menu) is attached to the wall behind the barista counter, and a glass case set into the counter shows off various cookies and pastries for sale. Small signs perched here and there throughout the room promise free wifi for technologically-inclined visitors.


(Places and +views are available here)

Obvious exits:
Herbal Apothecary <HA>   Employees Only <EO>  Out to Lomas <O>

Cast:
Log:
Morgan, Kingston, Liane, and Liane's NPC carer Danny, are all sitting together at a table near one side of the store. Morgan is foodless, Kingston has a coffee, Danny has closed the (book? Newspaper?) she was reading. Liane has, IIRC, some food with her.

Morgan nods to Liane. "you're always making such lovely stuff."
Newspaper, and Liane's got a muffin and tea!

Ding! Zoie walks in with a bounce to her step as if life is all good for her. "Hey Liane..", the blonde chirps out melodically. Not to be confused with Hey Delilah or Hey Jude. Her smile is gorgeous as she prepares to greet her friend. It is one of the moments that her beauty shines through. Then of course she notes the others and that smile turns shy.

"Z-z-zoie." Liane says with a small smile. Danny gives a nod - because Danny is nigh-always around, Zoie's probably at least seen her more than a few times. "W-would you like to j-join us? You l-look as if you've h-had a nice day."

Kingston smiles. "Yes." he says to Liane as she discusses the menu. "I have to say that this place actually has character of its own which a rarity these days. Well done." Looking up at the new arrival he waves in greeting.

Morgan looks up at Zoie, and waves. "Hi. We met at the Halloween thing, I think? And you met Kingston then as well?"

Zoie turns a bright pink and then sort of hides her face away. "Yeah, we did." She approaches and smiles towards Danny and the others. "I um.. it's good to see you in your clothes." Wait. "I mean not that you were naked. I'm sure you look fine naked." No, that's not right either. "Not that I was picturing you naked." She hmms softly and looks towards Morgan. "You were like totally like you, right?" Then she looks towards Kingston. "I.. um.. I don't remember your costume."

"It's n-n-not my doing." Liane says, though she seems pleased by the compliments anyway. "The ap-p-pothecary is owned b-by Katie K-king," Liane nods towards the fishtanks separating the area, "Who also m-m-makes the s-store's own soaps, l-lotions, and sh-shampoos. Z-zack, her elder b-brother, makes a g-good number of the l-leather armor. I g-generally help out with the t-teas, and since the c-cafe exp-p-pansion, I've b-been r-relegated to c-cooking duties." Liane looks like this is far preferable.

Kingston says, "Well my costume was somewhat less memorable than yours was. I went as the Marquis de Carabas. Leather frock-coat, white billowy shirt, white headband that sort of thing, remember?"

Zoie smiles vibrantly towards Kingston in way of apology. "Oh! I remember the outfit I um... I just didn't know who you were." She blushes a bit more and scoots her chair closer to Liane. "It was really cool, Liane, to meet your husband."

Magic words! Immediately Liane smiles more fully, getting one of those vaguely honeymooner smiles on her face. You totally know the ones. Goopy! "Isn't h-he wonderful?" She gushes, in her own shy way. She hasn't made eye contact with anyone yet, however, and doesn't seem like she plans to. "You sh-should meet him for l-longer. He's q-quite charming, if utterly exasp-p-perating."

Kingston smiles. "Well I'm hoping it's that I failed to introduce myself and not because I'm becoming boring. " he looks to Liane and says, "Oh? Who is your husband?"

Morgan smiles. "I was all sort of .. Celtic Priestess-ish. Or Morgaine Le Fae, to some, I guess." She smiles at Liane's happiness.

Zoie turns more red by the moment. "No no! I mean, I remember you are Kingston because it is like the coolest name ever." She gives an apologetic look towards Morgan, so she won't think Zoie is hitting on Kingston. "I just didn't know who your costume was." Zoie nods her head to that and then giggles. "I would suggest meeting him like on a double date, but my um... guy I was seeing seems to be really busy." Or really not interested.

"T-terrell Greyh-hawk." Liane says, still smiling. Kingston gets a glance, "H-his stage n-name is T-terrell Danb-bury, however. He m-manages an acting t-troupe known as D-dawn's H-harvest." And the eyes turn to Zoie! "Oh! You are s-seeing someone? H-how nice. H-have I met him?"

Kingston beams at Zoie's assessment of his name and sasy, "There, see, pride mended." his tone is joking but extremely good naturedly so. He then looks to Liane and says, "AH, one of the few in Albequerque I have yet to meet." Looking to Morgan he says, "You're slipping"

Morgan shakes her head to Kingston. "I haven't met him either. Liane's keeping him all to herself."

Zoie blushes at Liane this time. "No No... Nooooo.." Zoie chuckles a bit. "We aren't seeing each other. We just um.. went out a few times, but like that was a month or more ago." She shakes her head. "He is a bartender, I'm sure he's moved on already." Then she looks towards the others. "How long have you two been dating?"

"If y-you saw him you w-wouldn't mind k-keeping him to y-yourself either." Liane murmurs, though she's still smiling, looking gushy. Danny rolls her eyes, but seems used to this. "Act-t-tually, he's s-s-simply quite b-busy m-managing the t-troupe and with t-tribal aff-f-fairs." Liane says, before looking with some surprise and a bit of dismay at Kingston and Morgan.

Kingston arches an eyebrow of his own and says, "HAve people assumed we're together? I now feel terminally out of the loop."

Zoie looks confused at the dismay given by Liane. "Don't you want them together?" Then she offers a cheerful smile towards Morgan. She has this one! "It's because you were cuddled up to him at the party the other night and you are showing him around. It's the basic psychology of love and the subtle art of the woman's language. We speak in non-verbal. Which means in showing a man off and being on his arm, it is much like a plummage of mating that..." She slows to a stop. "Wait.. were you being rhetorical? I always mess those up." She smiles then to Kingston. "Aren't you dating? Do you want to date her?"

"Oh n-n-no! I was j-just a b-bit upset I h-hadn't caught on e-earlier. I'm s-still terrible at r-reading people." Liane says with a small sigh. "I'm n-not very good at n-nonverbal myself. N-not that my v-verbal is any better. H-had I known they w-were t-together..." A pause. "I'm n-not quite sure it w-would change things, b-but it would have b-been nice to f-f-figure out." And then Liane is glancing curiously at Kingston for his answer, as if this is all perfectly normal. Clearly Zoie and Liane are long-lost kin of some kind, in the area of social awkwardness.

Morgan blushes slightly, and looks at Kingston. Then back to Zoie. "Uh. No, we're not dating. He's just new to the city, and I wanted to introduce him around."

Kingston laughs and says, "Well if you're both of the same awkward kin you can, evidently together project that awkwardness onto anyone. Good to know for future reference." he raises his drink to his lips and says "As to the latter question I'm hide in a craven fashion behind the argument that I've only known her for a few days so as to not even begin to dance across so loded a faux pas minefield."

Zoie looks a bit interested in the reactions. Her venus green eyes shifting from one to the other and then back again. "So you want to like be my stand in and come to dinner with Liane and Terrell?" It's really not clear if she is asking Morgan or Kingston. She's watching the reactions too.

"I w-would have to ask T-terry about when. He's been so v-very busy lately." Liane fusses, "Th-though we c-could go s-somewhere nice. P-perhaps Casab-b-blanca, or the C-cantina. Or the Golden D-dragon, for chinese." A fancy restaurant, mexican food and chinese. Apparently Liane has broad tastes.

Morgan grins towards Kingston. "Cheat." It's said lightly. As for Zoie's question, she seems to assume it's directed at Kingston.

If all the world is a stage and the people on it actors... here comes another, entering from the wings. Trace wanders in from the shop next-door. For those who know her well enough, they can probably guess that she's come from working at the pawn shop, as she's fairly neat, tidy and clean. She spots the table full of people and heads in that direction.

Zoie doesn't get an answer from Kingston. Awww... Zoie - 0, Rejection - 2. She shifts uncomfortably and then looks towards Trace curiously. There is a shy smile offered for the woman.

Liane doesn't notice Trace quite yet, as Kingston flees from the force of two socially inept females, a nice one with a sense of humor and an amazon. We have hte makings of a hit all-female force here, guys! Danny notices Trace before Liane does, nodding in Trace's direction before tapping the table with a finger, which makes Liane look up and smile brightly. "T-trace!"

Morgan turns as well, and grins broadly. "Trace! Come join us? Liane's made some new muffins." She indicates the seat Kingston vacated.

"Hey... Liane, Danny, Morgan and... uhh..." Trace frowns a little, thinking. "Zoie, right?" She slips down into the offered chair and leans back, lacing her hands behind her head. "Mmm... nice to sit down for a bit."

Zoie gets a phone call and has to take it. Yep.

Liane smiles over at Trace. "h-how are you, Trace? All w-well, I hope, and n-not too tired? P-perhaps I can g-get you a c-coffee." Morgan smiles at Trace. "I'm sure of it." She tilts hr head. "How's Deacon? He looked great on Halloween."

Trace shakes her head at Liane with a smile, "Nah, I'm okay. And things are good," then looks to Morgan. Her smile gets wider, that usual obsessive adoration flickering into her eyes. "He did, didn't he? He's fine."

Liane straightens, and even Danny looks interested. "D-deacon dressed up? Wh-what were you t-two? Oh, d-d-do describe it!"

Morgan smiles at Liane. "Trace dressed up, too." She looks at Trace, "I'll let you do the honours."

"Oh, he was Baron Samedi... top hat and all, so I was a zombie," Trace says to Liane. "But Lucid was getting scared of Deacon, so we started a Thriller dance for him."

"H-how f-fascinating. I do w-w-wish you'd g-gotten pictures. H-have you?" Hope blooms!

Morgan says, "They looked great. Trace makes a fantastic zombie, and Deacon has the Baron Samedi look down pat when he wants to."

"I don't think anyone got pictures," Trace says, shaking her head. "There might be some, we were there for a while. Deacon doesn't really like cameras."

Way to crush a girl's dreams, Trace! Liane does look disappointed. "Ah. I s-suppose that's wh-what I get f-for deciding n-n-not to c-celebrate with everyone. N-next year."

Morgan says, "I think we can convince them to put it on again." Morgan grins. "What do you think, Trace?"

"Probably," Trace says, nodding. She doesn't seem especially convinced, however, and there's a little frown started on her forehead.

"Th-there is no need. I j-just wished to s-see both of you in c-costume. It's n-n-not quite so imp-p-portant. And you are b-both well? B-b-barry still working for you?" Morgan looks at Trace for just a moment, then shrugs and lets that go.