Coffeetalk

Bean Scene Cafe

Bean Scene is a small coffee shop and cafe that caters primarily to a younger crowd. The cafe has always been at least a year late in joining any given fad, and in the past it's been done in western-style, set up as a beatnik hangout, a go-go disco, a fern bar, and once even attempted to cash in on breakdancing. A plaque has recently been placed above the door, and says, "No fad is dead until it appears to Bean Scene".

Case in point, the cafe has a grungy feel to it. A grey brick facade has been placed over the walls, the flooring looking more like a worn down metal grid, complete with old sewer grates every few feet. Tables and chairs set about the cafe are quite casual in appearance, made of metal meant to look rusty and splattered with multi-colored paints. Metal street signs hang from the wall amid images of garage bands. Behind the counter is a black chalkboard displaying the available items and costs.


It's late in the evening, again, and Paige has let herself out of her cage. partly, because she needed coffee, and she was all out at the house, and partly because it's hard to be in the house alone, knowing its unlikely that her absent housemate will be walking in the door anytime soon. It's strange, when you get so used to having someone in your life and they suddenly up and leave…it becomes hard to face the void, to not hope that if you just looked again, they might be there. But tonight, she's voting against the IHOP. That was just tragical enough to have her swear off of pancakes forever. And so, she's settled into a seat at the Bean, papers once again set out on the table, though she did manage to order first. Coffee and a BLT, though the sandwich is only half eaten, and the coffee is getting cold as she works.

—-

Michael's a regular in the Bean Scene, albeit a strange one. He enjoys watching humanity, it's always good for a laugh (even if his recent involvement has dulled that a little) and the smell of coffee's strong and familiar, he steps into the cafe and stops Paige almost immediately, it's not surprising since she's sitting where he usually does his expression is thoughtful for a brief moment as he nods to the woman in greeting, awaiting the response before looking for another seat.

—-

"Hello, Michael, you're out early." Which, well, early for him, late for her, "Come to have a cup of coffee and see the sights?" Whatever's happened the last few days, including their dinner, such as it was, at the country club, it hasn't changed Paige's view of the vampire. And he is what he's always been, pleasant and a good person to talk to, "Was I in your seat?" She makes the leap, given that the cafe, while not empty, does have enough tables, that finding an empty one wouldn't have been difficult. "There's room for you here, if you 'd like."

—-

Taking the seat Michael shakes his head. "It's not my seat, although I am sometimes a creature of habit." He shrugs a shoulder. "As for the time? Well this time of year you need make use of every moment, there are too few of them available to you. And I don't drink coffee, although I am fond of the smell."

—-

"My mother is that way. My father can't live without his coffee, but my mother, well, I won't tell you what she once said it tasted like to her. But she loved the smell, said it reminded her that he was finally home, for a little while." Paige moves to make room for the man, clearing away her papers and setting aside what she's working on for the time being. "I'm not sure if they cary tru blood here, but if they do, would you like one?"

—-

Nodding Michael motions to the counter "I keep my own supply here, strangely enough no one has told me I can't bring drinks from home." There's a wry smile at that. "Maybe they know they're not going to get custom anyway." He shrugs a shoulder. "Coffee has been known to me most of my life, it's familiar which is a God send in these days, there are after all so many new scents."

—-

"I can imagine. Just moving to a different part of the city, it can feel and smell so different, and I'm still in the same time. I can't imagine how much different the world smells to you. And they say that smell is the most profound sense when it comes to memory. The smell of boat fuel, for example, reminds me of my father, my brother. If I go down to the coast, even a whiff of it, and for a moment, it's as if I'm back home, and I almost expect to see them, even though I know that I'm not and I can't. I'll be right back." Paige rises from the table, making her way back to the counter, taking a few minutes to order a refresh on her coffee, as well as a bottle of the supply you keep behind the counter, warmed to the temperature you prefer. Once they're both ready, she's on her way back to the table.

—-

Michael nods to Paige, his expression mildly amused. "Yes, smell is much stronger in me as well. And I have far more memories to tie them to. Yet I tend to find coffee to be strong enough to block out the less pleasant smells of the age, at least a little." He waits until Paige returns before continuing. "Thank you'd been intending to wait for staff." He smiles a little. "I can't remember the last time I smelt anything that made me think of home."

—-

"You'd be surprised what coffee is used to cover up. Something about the chemicals in the smell. Like, when I'm out shopping for perfume, you smell beans to clear the scent of the perfume from your nose. But it's also used to mask the smell of drugs during transport. To mask it from the dogs security uses to search for drug smugglers. Perhaps you could carry a tin with you, smell it when the world becomes too unpleasant. Though, you don't really need to breath, I don't believe?" She pauses, not really knowing one way or the other, just what she's studied, "So I suppose you could just hold your breath, if you didn't have to. And it was no trouble. I was meaning to walk up regardless." At the mention of home, Paige pauses once again, before, "What was your home like? Perhaps we could go on a search for a familiar smell."

—-

Shaking his head Michael smiles. "No, it does no good to try and hide the changes in the world, that's a bad path for my kind." He shrugs at the thought of his home. "My memory of it is vague, I travelled with an army most of my life, so the smells were often less than pleasing, my home however was surrounded by farm lands, although when I was alive most places were surrounded by farm lands or wilderness."

—-

"Perhaps it is a bad path, but I'm fairly certain there are those among your kind that would like for things not to change. I know there are certainly those among my own kind who would wish for that." Paige sets her coffee down, adding sugar and cream to taste, before she retrieves her sandwich. Since he's not going to eat, but also doesn't seem offended by people who do eat in front of him, well, look, she's hungry, alright? "That sounds like my home. Not the farm lands so much, but the wilderness. When it wasn't covered by snow."

—-

"Many of my kind wish for things to return to how they were. It ends poorly." Michael smiles a little before sipping his blood, his eyes not on Paige as she eats. "I have made enough decisions that may hurt me for some time yet." He shrugs a shoulder. "I lived in Italy so there wasn't much snow."

—-

Paige eats as quickly and politely as possible, Michael's purposeful attempt to look anywhere but at her plate not going unnoticed. "And do they try to make things the way they used to be? The younger ones? You seem to have decided to let the world change around you, rather than trying to fight the change." Which, as with humans, is usually how it happens when you get older, "I know it's not my place, but. Is there anything that I can help you with?" And then, a smile, "I've never been to Italy. I've never even been out of the United States and Canada. I grew up in Alaska. Snow, for days."

—-

Shrugging Michael smiles. "You learn to adapt or you die, that is the nature of our existence, most young vampires are aware of that before they're left to their own devices." He shrugs a shoulder. "I hold onto what I can, and accept change where I must." He smiles as he finally looks back to Paige. "I never visited Alaska, maybe I will some day." He smiles a little. "As for helping me… I very much doubt it I have my business in order, and not to offend, I tend to keep other affairs between myself and those they involve." He pauses a moment. "Although I would like to thank you again for your helping Desiree during the incident at the Faire, she was quite upset by it."

—-

"And yet, I am certain there are those who are fighting the changes brought on by the Great Revelation, refusing to adapt." Which is something the man said himself, and it's rather well known, that not all vampires approved of the revelation. A hand waves away the apology, as Paige finishes her sandwich, turning to her coffee, "Oh, I'm not offended in the least. But you should try to get up there, it really is quite beautiful, and during the winter months, the northern most reaches of the state actually does have darkness for months on end, and I imagine that would be quite a boon for you, not having to come in against the sun after just a few hours. And the Northern Lights are truly spectacular." As he thanks her for assisting Desiree however, "She was right to have been upset. Between Oliver and I, I think we were able to do damage control, so that I doubt there would be much fallout from it, but she put herself in a potentially dangerous position. If the wrong person had heard her comment, she might well have been walking around with a target on her back. And I don't think that's something either of us would want. And as I told her when we were at the country club, my powers are not limitless. She has to be the one who thinks to protect herself first."

—-

Nodding Michael seems to give that thought. "There is a reason few vampires live as long as I have, it's one thing to know you must adapt, but to do so constantly, in an ever changing world? It's different to actually do so." He nods. "I do what I can, and Desiree is far from a fool, I honestly don't know what possessed her. Still she seems to have recovered and I've seen no sign that anyone is after her… and I have been watching." He doesn't make the comment on powers.

—-

"And yet they have years to adapt. Much longer than we humans do. I know I've adapted to technology, for example, things that were simply not available to me when I was a child. But perhaps it's the years that are actually a problem. I have to adapt because my time is limited. When you have what amounts to all of the time in the world, I imagine a bit of…'I'll get to it tomorrow' must set in. Tomorrow turns into next week, next week turns into next month, and so on." There's a brief pause, "Do you ever miss it, Michael? Feeling the fastness of time slipping away?" And on a more serious note, "I don't either. I think she's just, she seems to have become very comfortable with you. You're a fixture in her life, not a curiosity, and we become complacent when we become comfortable."

—-

"I don't remember what it's like to feel myself growing older. Or to worry about my death." He seems to hesitate a moment. "Until recently I wouldn't have been able to recall the sensation of having a limited time, that of course has changed." He looks at Paige, he frowns very slightly, his tone thoughtful. "That is how you think she feels? Comfortable? I see." He smiles faintly. "I suppose she has at that, though I'd like to think her feelings on the issue weren't quite so simple."

—-

"I imagine, that that must be one of the many gifts of being one of your kind, and no longer one of mine. You know, that's something that I never have really been able to understand. This idea that vampires and humans are somehow fundamentally different. I mean, of course we are, but, you were human once. You slept and woke as we do, you ate, drank, breathed, thought. Whatever you are now, you were once what I am now. And yet, I get the feeling that many vampires try to pretend that that isn't the case." A hand rises, not hushing, but giving a sort of, 'one moment' gesture, "Oh, I'm certain her feelings aren't. She's said as much to me. But I do think that her letting you into her life, developing a relationship with you, becoming accustomed to your presence, and what comes with that, I think that slip was a result of that. I think she forgot, for a moment, that to me, to Oliver, to the people around her, you are not a constant, that you are not the same person to us that you are to her. She thought nothing of speaking about you, as I might think nothing of speaking about my family, as I just did, where as I would never mention you in conversation to someone else. She was speaking of a friend as she might speak of any friend. Because to her you are that. But to the wrong person, you might be a target, a blood source, something to be investigated, or hunted. And I think, for a moment, she forgot how vulnerable she is."

—-

Michael frowns thinking over the statement. "I believe that it's two pronged, we have different instincts it's true, our emotions in the beginning seem stronger harder to control, with time that changes and we learn to control them. The other factor is time, many vampires watch as all they loved dies, and then they watch as the world continues to change and alter around them while they remain the same. I suspect that would change a human were they to live forever, it makes it more difficult to make those connections." He pauses a moment. "Things are different now though, in the past we were forced to hide, to separate ourselves from the world and become hunters amongst humans, now we're able to interact and take part… I know I have remembered much that I had forgotten, before the Revelation I'd never have formed a relationship with Desiree." He nods. "As for Desiree, I agree, but I think she's learnt that lesson, hopefully with no harm done."

—-

"Then why do you do it? Why do you keep on? I mean, no, you're not going to die a natural death. But you do need to keep yourself alive. You have to eat lest you starve, you have to stay out of the sun, lest you burn. But when everything you've loved is gone, and the world has changed, what do you keep living for? Your kind, I mean, not you specifically. Do you just keep on going because you can? Do you have a genetic or inbred need to keep yourself alive, in the same way that a human will never, in the usual circumstances just let themselves die?" And then, a smile, a nod, "I may not agree with some of the way in which she lives her life, but I am glad that Desiree has you in her life. You seem to give her the things she has been missing. Things she desperately needs. And however she came to that, I can't judge her poorly for it."

—-

Shrugging Michael finishes his trublood. "I knew a man once who lost everything in one quick move, his family, his friends, his home, even his nation. He was left alone and with nothing, he travelled for fifteen years, he had nothing to live for, but he kept living." Michael looks at the table for a moment seeming to consider the question some more. "It's different, I have enjoyed myself, and seen wonders and witnessed history unfold. I thought I had learnt to remain disconnected from humanity, to take pleasure in the world without forming those bonds that would eventually lead to the feelings of loss." He nods to Paige. "I see, but you find her relationship with me distasteful? Or perhaps you suspect my motives? Most people do."

—-

"But it is built into our makeup to keep going, to continue living. You know I once read a scientific paper where the scientist postulated that human beings were nothing more than a vehicle for the continued existence of our DNA, and that's why we feel the need to breed and to continue living, as though the DNA were a virus living inside of us, doing everything it could to stay alive. Mush like they postulate that that's why people who have rabies are afraid of water, because the rabies virus knows that water will kill it, so it makes its host terrified of the thing that would kill it." Paige takes a moment, considering, "I do not find you distasteful as a person, or else I certainly would not speak to you, or associate with you. But I find the idea of being physically or sexually intimate with a vampire very," here Paige pauses, trying to find a politic word, "unpleasant." Though her face says it's more than unpleasant, but she's not using the word she's thinking, "I also do not approve of her having multiple lovers. That is not how I was raised, nor what I believe is right. To me, it is disrespectful of your partner. But then, I have had so few lovers I would not even need a single hand to count them all on, so perhaps my view of the world is incorrect. As for your motives, I have no idea what those are. You are not human, but even if you were, I am no telepath. I cannot look into your mind and see your reasons behind being with her. I can only trust what she tells me. And she tells me your intentions are honourable."

—-

Shrugging Michael considers Paige for a moment. "I see, reasonable points of view. I tell you this, I want only what is best for Desiree." He shrugs a shoulder. "Ah there we hit the crux of the issue, we're not the same species, we think differently… yet that can also be said for any two people… I often wonder if the differences are too great."

—-

"So do I. So I don't think, despite our different views on the situation, that we will be at odds in that." Paige finishes her coffee, having actually gotten to that point before it got cold, which is, quite frankly, not the way she usually works, and sets the cup aside at the far side of the table, on top of the now sandwich-less plate, "I believe that any obstacle can be overcome, if you are willing to work at it. Some are more willing than others. And others, even if the obstacles can't be overcome, a common ground can at least be found. But it takes time and effort."

—-

Nodding Michael smiles as he rises. "True, although the simple truth is that sometimes it's not a matter of can, but /should/. As I said I have Desiree's best interests at heart. I need to accept that may come at cost to myself." He nods his head in what's almost a bow. "Thank you for the conversation, and the frank opinion, it is both refreshing and helpful." He doesn't turn to leave just yet.

—-

"And to her." Which is the key. Desiree is much more…breakable, than the vampire in front of her is. "I always try to be both truthful and honest, sometimes to my detriment. But it was good to see you again, Michael. And don't worry about the bottle, I'll take care of it." Paige remains in her seat, though, she still has some work to do.

—-

Shaking his head Michael smiles faintly. "No, not to her. I shall do everything in my power to see to that." He picks up the bottle anyway as he goes. "No need, I shall get rid of it." With that he again nods his head. "It has been good, I enjoy our conversations." With that he turns and heads for the door.

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