satibeshara

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Check out more coffee posts at https://ift.tt/29t3V6I

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Not using this blog yet still want a new theme for it. Brown, simple, some visible links, that’s all I ask for.

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logging in after god knows how long to say a secondary/alternate FC for Sati is Randi Nichole Joan

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Beige Winter aesthetic

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Get the look!

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Clever girl. You play with fire because you want to be burnt.

Holly Black, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown (via nastyorchid)

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THIS BLOG IS ON INDEFINITE HIATUS

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"A raffle? You must have INCREDIBLE luck," she said, awed. When he explained all the benefits of it, she said,

"Yeah, I can see why you'd do that, especially if you didn't even need to pay for the boat in the first place, wow. I think my roommates lived on a boat for awhile as a kid, but that's because she's a mermaid, so...sort of natural, I guess. Probably spent more time out of the boat and in the water, I think. Come to that, I'm surprised she isn't doing that now."

Not that Tallulah just lived in the bathtub or anything, she could have legs on land. Which she largely did right now, obviously. Sati immediately wondered if she should have mentioned that, being a supernatural was really Tallulah's own business. She probably wouldn't have much appreciated it if Tallulah had said to somebody hey, Sati's a weresnake. It wasn't that she was hiding it per se, just...it was up to her who she told it too. Maybe she should had said my roomie used to live at sea or something like that, ambiguous-like.

Ash conveniently provided a subject change,

"Really, by accident? I was ready to move out on my own, so I wanted to live somewhere closer to where I worked, turned out there was a low-rent apartment place pretty close by the coffee shop. What about you, how did you become a private eye? That doesn't seem like something they offer college courses in...is it?"

Ash shrugged, oblivious to what his offer made her think of him, “it’s no problem at all, since it’s kind of a reunion for us. I guess we can get some flyers made up for a found kitten along the way.  If it does belong to someone they’re probably missing it already.”

He smiled at all her questions, “solar-powered boats, I won mine in a… raffle,” technically it was an illegal high-stakes poker game, but since Ash legally owned the boat, and as far as he could tell there hadn’t been an repercussions to it he didn’t feel the need to make that distinction. “I think they’re working on self-driving cars, though solar powered would be awesome.”  He nodded, “yeah, it the energy gained in the solar modules in the roof get transferred to batteries, but you need to you can charge the batteries by a land connection too if it’s needed.”

Ash thought about Sati’s question, “the rent, plus not needing to pay electricity and the ease of moving from city to city by boat if I need to when business is slow. What about you? What made you come back here?”

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"That's...really nice", she said, both to his offer of his treat and to paying for half the kitten's med fees. Which came to about forty pounds, so neither ended up with a very large bill. Maybe she'd not get some treat for herself this week but it was worth it. She wondered now how much being a PI paid; was it very nice? Or was this a big sacrifice for him?

It made her a bit anxious about taking advantage of his kindness. It made her a bit anxious he might want something in return. Not that he seemed like that kind of guy or anything but you never knew. She hoped not, he was super nice so far, she would definitely like it to be genuine. And she wasn't a keenly suspicious person so she assumed it was.

She also had to wonder if there was a toilet on the boat, how did that work? Did it all go out to sea or...she decided not to ask that.

"I didn't know there were solar powered boats," she said after everything with the kitten was sorted out,

"That's mad! Maybe solar-power cars aren't as far-off as I thought. What do you do when it rains then? Does it store it up from sunny days?"

As they walked out door, she asked,

"Is the rent why you decided to live there? On the boat I mean, not just that particular harbor."

Ash grinned at Sati’s enthusiasm, he’d missed her a lot after she’d left and hadn’t really found out the reason about why she’d had to go. “Sure, we can go there and catch up, it’ll be my treat though you can get whatever you want.”  Aside from questions about why she and her family had left he wanted to know what she’d been up to where she’d been in the years they’d spent apart.

“We can split it if you like,” Ash offered, “the cost I mean,” he wasn’t sure how much barista’s made but he didn’t think it was a lot and while the kitten seemed healthy he didn’t want Sati to be taken by surprise by any of the bills. “You pay, and I’ll pay you back half,” he clarified. He had saved the kitten, so he felt like it was partly his responsibility now as well.

He grinned, “it’s a really nice boat too, solar powered. The Harbour fees are decent, so it’s not too much of a pain to keep it.  I’ll show it to you whenever you want.” He walked up to the receptionist’s desk with Sati and the kitten and explained what had happened.

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Get the look!

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"Yeah, it's called The Bean Weasel, it's on the intersection of Temple and Trade Street. We could go there after, catch up. I mean, if you want, I just think it's pretty neat to meet again like this, how often does that happen, right?"

Truth was, even if he'd been a stranger, she'd have asked to hang out after. Sati was really, really trying to drive herself to make new friends, build connections, that kind of thing. She was a natural introvert, and that combined with her depression had made her just draw back from everyone and everything for years, and she'd kind of...stopped having any friends at all. And having no friends meant no friends to visit or go anywhere with, and while she didn't always have the energy for that, when she did it was very...lonely...to just stay in. She tried to avoid feeling alone. Time on her own was good, it was great---but only if she wanted it. It was safer for her mental health to have friends.

And, you know, nice.

She stepped inside with the kitten, "Maybe I should do the papers? Since I found him? If it's just things like paying for him?"

Oh shit, could she do that? Was there anything wrong with the kitten? How expensive would it be? Oh god she felt bad wondering about that, good people would pay anything to help a helpless animal, but...

"A boat? Seriously?" she said as she approached the desk, "Your life sounds more and more interesting."

He grinned at her enthusiasm, “that’s great Sati, is it near here? It would great to be able to visit you again.”  He hadn’t realised how much he had missed his childhood friend till her saw her again.  Ash had been surprised and a little hurt to hear they had left, but he couldn’t remember the reason for them going. 

He chuckled when she called him a super-cool PI, “you wouldn’t call it that after all nighter on a stake-out,” he joked. “I live on a boat now,” he said proudly, “still do photography as a hobby, learnt to play the guitar, my parents still have the hotel,” he added as they stopped outside the vets practice.  The walk hadn’t seemed that long at all, and the kitten had started to fall asleep against him. Ash opened the door for her, and gestured for her to go first, “who’s filling out the paperwork for this little furball; me or you?” 

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"Well uh...there is a lot of thrashing, and, um, teeth---"

As if on cue, the shark thrashed just as she said, and Sati drew back to avoid, just as she also said, the teeth. It was a brown shark, between four and five feet, but beyond that there wasn't much in the way of identifying features unless you were an icthyologist. But it wasn't a great white or a hammerhead or...or anything scary like that, and certainly not big enough to eat a person, so she doubted it was a danger to anybody...not once it was back in the water, anyway.

"You just gotta....stay away from the teeth end, but don't pick it up by the tail because then it swings its head around back to get you. What I'm trying to do is push him right in the middle but he's really scared and...did you know sharks have really rough skin? It's like sandpaper, it actually hurts when he moves really fast."

“Hey, Sati…”

Grace trailed off, circling around and approaching the girl slowly, assessing the situation with the slow, calculating movements of a wolf, even in her human form. Admittedly, she was impressed with Sati’s compassion, but unsure of how to go about this.

“Are you sure just pushing it back like this is safe?”

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Even though she was the one to suggest the connection, her eyes still widened as she said,

"Yeah, yeah! I'm ok! I mean, I'm working, I've got a place, pretty good, right?"

It was really not a whole lot to tell, and Sati was always torn between being proud and embarrassed. She was proud she'd managed to do this but also embarrassed that it was an accomplishment for her when it was just the norm and basics for others.

"How about you? I mean besides being a super-cool PI sleuth?"

Ash grimaced as she mentioned the trials of working with as a barista. “And I thought I had bad clients,” he empathised. “I’m actually going through a quiet patch at work, so I thought I’d take the day off and do some normal photography for a change.”

When Sati mentioned his old neighbourhood Ash did a double take, his mind slowly making the connection between the name that had sounded so familiar and where he used to live.  He grinned at her, “no way, not that Sati? Sati Beshara? I haven’t seen you in years,”  he moved in to give her a hug before stopping himself remembering he was still holding a grumpy kitten.

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"Oh, yeah, actually---oh, hey, Grace. Long time no see?"

It was Sati, trying to push a stranded shark back into the water. She'd been taking a walk on the beach--too cold to swim, but nice enough out to enjoy a stroll in the sand--and come across the poor thing. No one else who had thus far passed seemed to have much sympathy for the thing, probably because it wasn't a dolphin.

“Uhm – Do you need help with that?”

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"Oh, yeah, no problem," she took the camera,

"It's nice, are you a photographer?"

Most people just took pictures with phones these days, so she didn't see why else he'd be carrying a proper camera around.

She nodded along to the microchip thing, and then he told her what he did. Nope, not a photographer.

"Oh, that's why the camera! That sounds really neat though! Like those old noir movies. Are you on a case? Right now? Is that why you've got the camera with you? Or, er, can you not tell me that?"

She wouldn't be surprised if there were rules about that.

His name rang a bell too. And a bit more of one than it might have for him, since he gave her his full name and she'd been the older one. And well, it was a name a bit more distinct than John Smith.

"Hey, um, this will sound a little weird, but did you ever used to live on..."

And she rattled off the name of her---their, maybe---old neighborhood.

"I, uh, I'm a barista. Also not as glamorous as it sounds, especially when you have to explain that seasonal drinks are limited to seasons."

Hearing the name sparked a memory in the back of his mind, there had been a girl from years ago who had the same name. Well it was either the same name or something similar, he couldn’t precisely remember which, but her family had moved out of the neighbourhood a long time ago.  “Ashwin Sevani,” he answered her with a smile, “but you can call me Ash.”

“I can show you where the Vet is, it’s not to far from here,” he gestured in the direction they’d be going in with his free hand. “You’ll have to keep holding my camera for me while we walk.” He was going to ask Sati if she wanted to hold the kitten, but her hesitancy to pet it made him wonder if that would be a good idea. 

“A chip is a microchip that has the owners details,” Ash explained. “Vets put it under the pet’s skin, it’s a quick and painless procedure,” he added quickly. “It makes it easier to return pets if they get separated from their owners.” He realised he hadn’t answered Sati’s earlier question, “I’m a Private Detective, it’s not nearly as dangerous as I like to make it sound,” he joked.  The truth was he was wary of taking on cases that could have people coming after his family. “So what about you? What do you do for a living, if you don’t mind me asking?”