10259/Among the Anti-Social

Among the Anti-Social
Date of Scene:	23 February 2022
Location:	Coffee of DOOM
Synopsis:	Two extreme introverts meet with the ice broken by an adorable mousegirl.
Cast of Characters:	Monet St. Croix, Rachel Roth, Kaida Connolly

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Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix is currently sitting in a back table of Coffee of DOOM. The girl has a small plate of Latverian Cuisine and a mug of hot coffee in front of her. To fit in a bit more and likely not register to the wait staff as much that she had just been sitting there for awhile, she has a biography in front of her of the 'great' leader of Latveria that she would be occasionally be reading.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Normally, Raven keeps her own stock of special-order coffee in the Tower, but as of late, she has been somewhat more interested in the occasional walkabout. Often a shut-in of the most intense variety, Raven considers this a bit of a branching out.

    That is why, though she suspects the coffee will be... Sub-par, Raven has made her way out into the city- not the Titans' city, of course, that's Metropolis. Instead, she's made her way to Manhattan, to a local coffee shop that at least has a proper aesthetic.

    In silence, she strolls her way in, and stops at the counter- taking a moment to slip her hands from her pockets, and glance over the menu, seemingly unable- or unwilling- to order anything for a time.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Raven's presence is somewhat difficult to notice in the place. At least in the normal clientelle, perhaps. Ordinarily she and M would probably never remotely care for one another nor notice the other. But for whatever reason M happens to look up at just the right moment to see Rachel entering, recognize her despite her dour appearance and attire.. And then dip her head over in acknowledgement from her seat.
    M does not get up. Nor does she flag down Rachel. Or make any signs of saying something over to her. Or seem to maneuver to approach her or wave to her. Just a light nod of acknowledgement and perhaps appreciation, though the body language would be rather flat and minimalistic. Presuming Rachel did in fact look her way at the same time, that sort of subtle acknowlegement might rarely enough stand out.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Raven indeed does notice Monet's nod only inasmuch that she is looking in that direction as she enters. She nods back, but Raven is even at her best and most sociable an intensely anti-social creature. Sure, at the moment, she is enjoying the renewed ability to go where she pleases without having to suppress feeling the emotions of everyone around her... But, that said, acknowledging the greeting is the most of her response.

    Instead, she turns her attention to the menu, and considers its offerings. "Coffee. Black." she eventually orders, in some part dreading the stereotypicality of it, but at the same time having grown to enjoy it ever since she took coffee that way as an edgy front during her teenage years.

    It's grown on her.

    Having ordered, she makes her way further into the cafe, slipping a phone from her pocket and starting to dance her fingers calmly upon it, waiting for her coffee.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
How do the two extremely introverted types meet? THere's enough of a look of respect over from M directed at Rachel to not remotely invade her personal space, nor do something as uncouth as actually offer to pay for her coffee or do anything. Rachel gets a low nod of attention as M goes back to her book for just a few moments, going to finish off her coffee and her food. Then the book is collected, and M goes up and over towards the line. Gonig to get some refills and ending up a few people away from Rachel now as the line is somewhat sparse. Either it's a dead time in the place or the goth girl is just having people perhaps not quite wanting to be in her general area.
    M looks at the menu from her own position, silently going to scan to see what she will order this time.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Raven is not normally prone to misunderstandings, or misconceptions. Frankly, such things would typically be impossible. However, right now, her empathic powers are much less honed, and much less powerful- all she knows at the surface level is that this other woman is aware of her.

    In her periphery- something Raven is well trained to pay attention to- she sees her approach and, when Monet doesn't necessarily disappear from the store shortly afterwards, one of Raven's brows raises slightly. She slips her phone back into the pocket of her sweater, and her hands are both sheathed then in those pockets, as her attention turns to Monet.

    "Can I help you?"

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would turn over to Rachel Roth for a moment, quirking a brow as she would be acknowledged and directly referred to. Thist has an expression of confusion over on her face as well over as she would try and evaluate what sort of reason there was for the exchange. There would be a look of confusion on her face that might actually register over to Rachel as possibly one that she might utilize when caught by surprise.
    "Ah, excuse me?" There's a light stammer in her voice of being cauhgt off guard, a rare enough thing and then a cock of her head. "I was just deciding what to order?" Flat footed over there. Why was the half demon talking to her?

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Coffee! Believe it or not, the tiny mouse of power has to have her coffee on a regular basis because she hates sleeping. Sleeping is what one does when one has nothing else to do (and certainly not for something so silly as needing to rest and recharge batteries). So, she knows that the Coffee of DOOOOOOOoooOOOOOOoooOOOOOooooOOOOOOOOM!!! is located nearby.

When she arrives, she's so hungry and wanting for coffee that she bypasses the girl who is apparently staring at the menu and she goes right to (and on to) the counter, laying out a total of nine dollars and seventy four cents and bouncing a couple of times.

"The Winter Blend, large, with four packets of sugar, two french vanilla squirts, and cheery coirdial cake with whip cream!" She declares and for her part, the girl behind the counter blinks only once and then nods a little as she looks at the money on the counter and then at the talking mouse girl in human-esque clothing with a shield on her back and a sword at her hip. It's New York. This is probably normal.

"Hi, Rachel. Hi, person beside Rachel." Kaida says over her shoulder, far more interested at the moment in the movements of the barista and her work than at the situation the other two appear to be lost in.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Rachel remains where she is, one brow raised as she looks on at Kaida's impromptu appearance. She had come here alone, but such a thing is altogether unlikely to remain so. If it's not Donna, it's usually some other Titan. No complaints, really.

    Raven returns her attention to Monet for a moment, and responds quietly- "...Right."- before pulling her phone back out of her pocket and getting back into it, turning away from Monet.

    "Good evening, mouse. Please don't eat your weight in sugar."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The appearance of the mouse girl gets Monet's attention and is a welcome distraction from Rachel. "Ah, thank you. I am Monet St. Croix. A pleasure." Rachel is then given a passive glance. "If you are going to infer negative intent from anyone merely in the area of yourself, I might suggest reevaluating your approach." An attempt by Monet at being diploamtic over in her own sort of blunt way. That probably wouldn't end well. Or perhaps it might work well if Rachel was the type to appreciate directness over in a response from someone.
    "A pleasure to make your acquaintance." This offered down to Kaida.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Moving across the counter with a blur of speed, Kaida is now in front of Rachel and puts her hands on her hips.

"Fine! I'll eat TWICE my weight in sugar!" She grins wider and then spins around to watch the creation of her food before turning back around and looking to Monet before nodding, "I'm Kaida, nice to meet you, Monet!" She then turns her attention back to Rachel and hmms as she looks at her, tilting her head left and then right before she twitches her ear a little again before shrugging and turning her attention back to her food and Rachel's coffee even, sniffing in its direction and realizing it isn't hers. She then glances again to Rachel with a frown.

"Black coffee?! Really? I mean, it fits but like way too well, Rachel." She shakes her head.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    "I'll do that." Raven responds, taking a firm and direct standoffish position that of course makes her just seem like the friendliest person on the planet.

    She's tapping away on her phone for a moment, before offering a sigh to Kaida. "Yeah. Sure. Sounds like a great idea." There is, for a moment, an expression on her features akin to an oddly vacantly neutral despair, as she stares into the middle-distance of her phone. She is, of course, rather silently questioning why her teammates are all like this.

    "Yes. Black coffee. It tastes fine."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Comment exchanged over then as M goes to return her face to it's flat expression and general irritation. well, she had made her statement and the other girl had responded as she felt like. Monet would glance down at Kaida. "I hope that your affairs go well and productively." She would try to put out in a more generic sort of way. She would speak the same to Rachel but the expression on her face has a sense that she gets that it wouldn't be welcomed by Rachel.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
A blink at Rachel and Kaida rolls her eyes before turning to look over at Monet. She blinks at her and then looks at Rachel before she turns around to look at the barista and lets out a long sigh.

"Rachel, are you becoming contagious?" She asks of no one in particular before looking at the approaching cheery confection and starts to bounc a little on her toes, her tail twitching and whipping left and right. She rubs her hands together as it is set before her and then she looks back to Rachel.

"Come on! Have a bite of cherry cheery deliciousness of DOOOOOOOoooOOOOOOoooOOOMMMM!!!" Is it really called that? No, not at all. Does she call it that? Yes. Kaida then looks over at nearby plastic forks, grabbing three and stabbing them into three sides of hte plate and clapping, "Come on old friend and new friend!" She then smiles, "I'll even let one of you carry this to a table for me!" She nods and then her coffee is set down and she leans on it as she looks between the two.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    Raven twitches, slightly, looking up from her phone into the proper middle distance, before directing her attention at Kaida. "No, I am not contageous. She is just politely being quiet, as everyone else should be. The world would be a better place." Raven comments, giving Monet as close to a compliment as is likely to happen.

    "I don't want any. I don't like sugary things. It's too sweet." It's true, quite frankly, the only person that has ever succeeded in getting Raven out to somewhere that serves primarily sweets is Donna, and Raven still objects... A bit.

    "Why do you sound like someone obsessed with Invader Zim? Stop it."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would just look over at Kaida for a moment as she would parse from Rachel that the girl was generally extroverted and this was her default state. Monet could at least accept this and work over with it. "Ah, forgive me, but we met four minutes and twelve seconds ago. While I can appreciate your enthusiasm, I do not believe that we are yet friends of any sort." Her voice would sound (by M's standards at least) very confused.
    Recognizing the compliment (well by Rachel standards, likely) for what it was intended as, Monet's head would incline a couple of centimeters. Just enough to acknowledge it but not make a big deal out of it or call attention to Rachel.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
"First of all, you just admitted to knowing what Invader Zim is, which is hilarious!" Kaida states and nods her head as she points at Rachel, "Second of all, you don't like sweets?!" She points at a second finger and then at a third, "Third of all, we're in Coffee of DOOOOOOOOOM!" She declares and points around, "It's hardly an Invader Zim reference, it's a reference to the place where we are! Further adding to your clear enjoyment of Invader Zim as you thought of it." She nods again before looking to Monet with a blink.

"Proposterous! We have met, I know your name, you know mine. We both know hers and she knows ours!" She nods, "Practically all you need for friendship. The rest is just building upon a foundation." She then sighs, "And is no one going to help the six inch tall mouse girl carry her pastry to a proper table?!" She sighs and grabs up her coffee and huffs as she carries it over her head with leap from the counter to an empty table before zipping back over and carefully picking up her plate, "I mean, it's one thing to be 'Quiet, as everyone should be' but it's another to ignore the clear tinyness of others."

Rachel Roth has posed:
    "Of course I know what Invader Zim is. This cafe practically reeks of someone who hasn't grown out of it." she states, eyes still on her phone. "Are you trying to insinuate that I should somehow feel ashamed at knowing what Invader Zim is?"

    Raven looks, for a moment, to the plate of cake, then to Kaida, and then back to the plate. "If I were to carry it for you, it would undermine the trust I place in you to be able to do things on your own. I trust that you did not order something too large for you to handle."

    She does not address the friendship statement.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would look at Rachel with confusion of someone that had not the slightest clue what 'Ivader Zim' was while hse would look over at the various things culturally brought in from Latveria. Likely with a great number of things represnetative of pictographs of the ruling monarch. Finally she would break her silence.
    "I do not see anything that is referencing anything called 'Zim'. What does.. That have to do with Latveria at all?" She would look very, very confused and lost.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
"Do not worry about it, Monet. Just don't bring up any songs involving doom and everything will be fine!" She nods her head and then carefully leaps down and oh so carefully keeps her food stable as she then walks over ot her chosen table, leaps up gracefully and puts down the plate.

"Oh sure, just because I can do something doesn't mean I don't occasionally want help!" She then picks up her cup carefully and sips at her coffee before picking up a fork full of cheery confection and eating a healthy chunk of it.

Rachel Roth has posed:
    "Don't worry about it." Raven replies to Monet, in a flat tone. "You don't want to know." That said, she makes her way over to where Kaida has attached herself, and sits down, at least for the moment.

    "And just because you want help does not mean you will get it."

    That said, she pauses for a moment, before sipping idly at her coffee and putting her phone back into her pocket. "That said, I do dislike sweets. There's too much sugar. That's the only taste present, sugar. Often, there is the /idea/ of vanilla."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would just shrug over at Rachel and give a nod, "Very well. I am sorry to bother here." Her voice would be a little confused but accepting, moving to take the chance to try and slide to anotehr seat over if hse was allowed to nearby as the two would go to settle - if presesd away she would not.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
"NOt this one!" She declares, "It's actually tart due to the cherry!" She nods her head and takes another bite and mmms as she chows down on it. Despite her size, she seems to quickly be able to consume a normal sized bite and go back for more. She looks over toward Monet with a blink and then smiles.

"You can sit at our table if you want." She nods her head, "I offered you cherry goodness already." She then sits down and looks to Rachel with a smile.

"So, how are you doing today, anyway? I haven't seen you since that incident with the chemicals."