2022-05-10 - Coffee Talk

Alright, it's not a bar, it's a coffee shop, not nearly as fun, but hey, she needs to give her liver a break once in a while. Sitting on the table in front of her is a cup of coffee that is still cooling and a small laptop, though for now, she is staring at the screen and the blinking space where she would normally type.

Charity absolutely loathes sleep. So much that she will put it off as much as humanly possible. Which means she is an aficionado of the coffee bean and worships at its altar. Stepping into the café, she pauses long enough to inhale deeply, letting her nose savor the aroma of brewing java, before heading toward the counter. Still dressed in the jeans and tee she'd been wearing earlier that day, she glances over to see a familiar redhead sitting at a table staring at a screen. Reaching the counter, she orders a large black coffee with six espresso shots and a chocolate chip cookie. While the barista prepares her order, Charity turns around and leans back against the counter and smirks.

"I hear they work better when you type on the keys. Unless you have one of those models that can read your mind."

Looking up at the sudden voice, Willow blinks though smiles, "I'm trying to figure out what to write, but I've been staring at this screen for the last 10 minutes and I can't think of anything." She closes the laptop and slips it away, "I give up for now." She motions to the chair across from her, "care to join me? I will welcome the distraction."

Charity grins and waits until her steaming cup of java is ready. Then she sets the cookie on top of the mug to absorb heat from the steam and walks over to Willow's table. Settling herself, she smiles at the other woman. "We haven't actually met yet. I saw you at the docks the other afternoon and at the Pourhouse today. I'm Charity."

Nodding she smiles again, "yes I remember, that was quite the show this afternoon, wasn't it." She extends her hand for a shake, "Nice to officially meet you Charity, and in case you missed it, my name is Willow Jacobs. I'm one of the newest people to move here."

Charity takes the offered hand, smiling. "Charity Dixon. I was from here. But I left. Now I'm back. You know, apparently like a boomerang." She lifts the cookie off the mug and then takes a sip of the fresh brewed coffee. Lowering the mug, she nods. "Yeah, that was a bit of a show. With the rich brat showing his ass. It's the discussion that cropped up after that's got my curiosity piqued."

She laughs and nods, "No kidding, it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen here, even though I haven't been here for that long." She brings the cup up to her lips for a slow sip, "So what do you do here, in this town?"

"Right now? I work as a waitress at this choke and puke stop out on one oh nine outside of town. I'm trying to get on as an employee of the casino. I figure the tips will be better and the clientele pawing at my hemline will be of a slightly better class of creep. What I'd really like to do is get hired by the dance studio downtown. But, you know, baby steps." She nibbles on a corner of the cookie. While not bad, it's nowhere nearly as good as the ones she had the other day at Una's house.

"What do you do, Willow? And what, if I may be so bold to ask, brought you to Gray Harbor?"

Nodding to that, she leans back, sipping carefully from her hot coffee, "Well, I moved here from New York to collect stories to put into a book." She motions with one hand down to the laptop, "That's what I was trying to do, get some of my thoughts out, but I haven't actually experienced anything that crazy yet, so it's hard to write about. So for now." She shrugs, "I float around town, hope I see something and become a famous author."

"Oh, give it time. I promise the longer you stick around, the more likely you're going to see something that fits oh so neatly in the 'crazy' box. Just hope it isn't the last thing you see." Charity takes another sip. "I saw things as a kid, or think I saw things. After so long, the memories of it all sort of fade. Like a photo left out in the sun too long. Being back, though, I think those recollections are starting to come back. Though, as I told the others, I'm not completely sure I'm going to be happy to have them back." Her grin was lop-sided and she chewed for a moment on the inside of her cheek. "So, the plan is to get a couple of great stories, maybe some first-hand accounts, write the book and leave? Or would you stick around?"

"I started seeing this local guy." She begins, "Plus i like it here." She looks around the cafe, "Its a lot quieter than what I'm used to. The plan was to experience, write and leave, though now." She shakes her head and chews a little on her lip, before finally offering, "I think I might just stick around, though like you said, hopefully, the next thing I see won't be my last." She doesn't look worried though.

Charity raises her mug in a toast. "I'll drink to that. Let's hope we can see trouble before it comes and get the hell out of its way before it runs us over." She smirks and shakes her head. "Though, if what Ravn and the others were saying is true, then getting out of trouble's way may not be in the cards. At least not for me." She takes another bite of the cookie. "As weird as this might sound, considering we've stayed away from here for almost fourteen years, if somethings coming from the Outside and hurting folks, I have to at least help out. After all, this is home. For better or worse."

She raises her mug of coffee in reply to that, "What was Ravn saying? Something about kids getting snatched up?" Leaning back a little in her chair, she gives Charity her undivided attention, "If that's the case, that sounds horrible. I would help if I could, but I'm useless in a fight."

"Some kids were almost abducted. Apparently by an individual from the Outside. According to what I heard said, this dude's been doing this for over a hundred years. When I was younger, we always heard stories of people going missing. And my parents used to say to stay away from the harbor and never go into the woods unless it was a sunny day." Charity laughs derisively. "Which, around here, is a rarity."

"Yes, so I've noticed, I've never cared for the rain to start with, but this is getting a bit ridiculous." She thinks on those words, "Well, what are you planning on doing to keep it from happening again?" She allows herself another slow sip of coffee. "You said that you can't idly stand by, but if these things are non-human.." She shakes her head a little at that.

Charity gives Willow a bit of a silent stare for a moment, as if looking into the other woman. "Plenty of non-human things in the world. Even outside of Gray Harbor. Just a matter of finding out what works." Then she shrugs her shoulders. "You said you're not much good in a fight. But you seem smart. You'd have to be to be a writer. Which means you're probably good at research. You don't have to pick up a gun or know kung-fu to be helpful. Providing important information is just as much a help as a bazooka."

She frowns a little, realizing how her words might have sounded, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by that." Fingers come up to come through her hair, "I often speak before thinking how it will sound." Her coffee drained, she thinks on Charity's next words; can she actually help, "I'll keep my ear open, see if I learn anything that can be helpful."

"Information is probably our best weapon." Charity says, obviously not offended by anything the redhead might have said or implied. "It seemed that Ravn had some information, Nicasia had some stuff he didn't have, and Ava has other knowledge neither of them do. The more we know, the more we can plan. The only thing I heard that I didn't really like was the suggestion to visit the Outside and either get more information or take the fight to this guy. I wasn't sure which they were suggesting."

She nods again, absently, seemingly glad that her words before didn't make Charity mad, that is certainly not the way to make friends. "I'll do what I can." she then adds with a laugh, "Beyond being bate, something tells me my guy wouldn't like that too much." Her coffee gone, she motions to someone for a refill, seems Willow isn't crazy about sleep either.

"No, I can't imagine he would be thrilled about it. Just from a common sense standpoint." Charity still has half a mug, but another swallow puts a dent into that. "So, how was New York? I've always wanted to go, but just never got around to it."

"Well." She hmmms softly, "It's loud, people are always yelling, there is always traffic, though there are parts of it I miss." Fingertips run along the top of her mug in thought, "I miss the shows, I miss the bars. Hell, I even miss Central Park, even though I'm not that much of a park person." She lifts her shoulders a little, "It's one place that is unlike anywhere else I've visited, though it's still nice to get away, see other places; even here, despite the constant rain and high mortality rate."

"And the weird things that show up out of nowhere and eat your face off before slinking back to the depths of the abyss?" Charity nods and drains the rest of her coffee. "I get that. I thought I was gonna stay in Memphis for a while. It was a bigger city than most I'd visited. A lot bigger than Gray Harbor. Good job, great apartment overlooking the river. " She shrugs and polishes off the rest of the cookie. "But que sera sera."

She can't help but laugh at that visual, "Face-eating monsters? Now I've heard everything." Fingers come up to wipe at her face, and nods to that "Then, why did you come back? If your life was that good in Memphis. I've never been there myself, though I've heard it's beautiful."

Charity doesn't answer immediately. Instead, she brushes her fingers along the legs of her jeans and looks out the window of the café at the town on the other side. "Nightmares, actually. About this place. Stuff from my childhood. It seemed the only way to get some actual answers was to come back. Ergo, here I am. Of course, I still don't have any real answers and I'm starting to believe my initial concern, that it was all connected somehow, is correct."

Nightmares, interesting, very interesting. "Well, then I hope you find the answers you are looking for, and that those answers don't end up ending your life." Maybe she is starting to believe, just a little. Draining the rest of her coffee, she rises from her spot, "I hate to drink and run, but I need to be heading home. It was great officially meeting you though." She writes down her cell number on a paper and offers it to Charity, "If you ever want to meet up again. I can always use a friend around this place."

Charity smiles and picks up the paper, folds it in half, and sticks it into the back pocket of her jeans. "Yeah, it was nice meeting you as well. And if you hear anything that sounds semi-believable, err on the side of it being completely believable. And don't go to the harbor alone. Especially at night."

She slips her jacket back on and grins, "I need to make a list of places not to go to alone, at night. Though don't worry, I promise I won't do anything overly stupid." She pays her tab on the way out and then slips back out into the lovely lovely rain.