spannerboop

[spannerboop]

Apparently decaffing customers was a very common thing.

Ema took a sip of her drink, passive-aggressive suspicion all over her face as she did so. They were both difficult in their own way, and Emalyn wasn’t really sure if that was sarcasm or not. She wouldn’t really be able to tell, with it being iced and all, but she was going to trust Eliane. 

“This is why I have trust issues. I can’t even trust my best friend with coffee. Next I’m going to learn this isn’t even caramel, and I’m actually not totally late for swim practice.” 

      “Oh I’m pretty sure he’ll be on my side,” Eliane said with a grin. Topping off the caramel on the drink, she affected a solemn and pious tone. “Decaffing difficult customers is a sacred tradition amongst we noble baristas. Everyone knows that straw assaulting the person making your drink is grounds for losing your caf. I might be new around here, but the barista bond is strong." 

      She capped the drink off and handed it across the counter. "Of course, seeing as I’m the difficult one in this friendship, I probably made it right for you. Maybe.”

[spannerboop]

Yellow it was. Not that Emalyn had much time to appreciate how good she’d look in it.

Ferra. Yomen.

She had literally just mildly insulted one of the most important in all of Elendel. Where do you even start with someone that important? She just met an actual celebrity. How do you deal? 

Alright. Okay. Play it cool. 

“U-uh, y-yeah! Yeah it’s um, I’ve uh, well I haven’t really worn anything else ever in my life, with Mum designing and all. Well, I mean, I have but--Um, never mind. Emalyn. I’m Emalyn. Lekal.” 

        ❝ One could question the term ‘mutually alone’ but I will let it slide. ❞                    Ferra matched the girl’s chuckle, daring to take a step closer with her  head tilted.          ❝ The yellow suits your natural colors, by the way, since you’re asking            for an opinion.  And I’m Ferra, by the way.  Ferra Yomen.                                       I’m surprised I’ve not seen you here before.  This is                                       one of my favorite shops.  Not many in this city can                                       appreciate the style.  ❞

[spannerboop]

“Decaf me? I wonder what your boss is going to think when I write a ridiculously long and mostly incoherent handwritten complaint about the traumatizing barista abuse I receive from you, and the subsequent economic crash of all caramel and banana bread sales.”

      Focused as she was on making the drink, Eliane didnt see the attack inbound until it was too late. The paper projectile nailed her right between the eyes, causing her to give a little yelp of surprise.  With her hands full of Em’s cup and a bottle of caramel drizzle, she wasn’t exactly in a position to retaliate. 

      “You know,” she said, mock threateningly, holding the drizzle bottle poised over the cup, “one would think that attacking the barista holding the caramel would be a course of action to steer clear of. If you wanted the right amount, that is. You know what we do with problem customers, don’t you? I will decaf you, Emalyn Lekal.”

[spannerboop]

Ema laughed, curling into a make-shift ball to protect herself as the deadly straw wrapper came to deliver her death. It bounced harmlessly onto the floor. “I’m not complaining! I think I like being greeted with marriage proposals.” 

She followed Eliane and leaned over the counter, grinning, “Can’t argue that. I had withdrawal symptoms the last two months. No one can get my fix quite right.” 

She reached over and grabbed a straw, pulling the wrapper down halfway and taking aim at Eliane, blowing through the straw. Wrapper incoming.

      Eliane balled up Em’s straw wrapper and threw it across the table. “Oh shut up, you know what I meant. I think I mentioned that I’m not great at all this friend stuff? But hey, I’m getting better. And you’re helping with that a lot.” 

      She picked up Emalyn’s empty cup and slipped behind the counter. “And you’ll be stuck with me a while if you’re waiting on me to lose my skills. Everyone knows I’m the best barista in Elendel. Possibly in the entire basin!” 

      This new store was smaller than Northern Park had been, a little cozier instead of clean and modern. It didn’t feel like hers yet, but she thought it might get there. The owner was away from the store a lot, but after she’d seen Eliane’s experience, she’d been willing to bring her on in a leadership position. It was just another change, and she’d get used to it soon. A new store, a new life. 

       The same Em, though. And the same egregious amount of caramel.

[spannerboop]

Was she upset? A little. But Emalyn knew herself well enough to know she’d be more upset by the idea of Eliane being cut out of her life completely. 

Despite her best efforts, a shy grin broke out. That was the sappiest friendship proposal she had ever heard in her life. She tried not to laugh, she really did.  This was serious stuff. But...it was just...it belonged in the sappiest romance movie possible. Something like The Journal or Mareover Street. A little giggle broke out, one that she quickly cleared her throat to cover.

“I’m not entirely certain if that was a marriage proposal or not, but...I’d like to keep you around. At least until you forget how to make these.” She lifted her drink up, frowning as she realised it was a lot more empty than she originally thought. 

      “I…” Eliane struggled to find words. She didn’t deserve to have a friend like Emalyn. The longer she spent with the girl, the more she was convinced no one could deserve Emalyn. She was truly unique in all the world.

      “I guess I never was a very good best friend, was I? Keeping secrets, putting your family in danger, disappearing without warning. Em, I just don’t want to hurt you any more. I love you, Em, and  I just want you to be happy. I just want you to be safe. 

      She wrapped her hands around her cup, tapping the sides in a small pattern. Why did it feel selfish to stay friends with Emalyn? Why did she feel like she was being weak by not being able to sever ties? She knew, right now, if something else happened, this was going to be the moment she would regret. The moment she hadn’t walked away. 

      She was going for it anyway.

     “But… I’m here now and you’re a part of my life. After I dropped off the grid, I thought you might only be upset to see me again after all I’d done. I shouldn’t have done that, though. It was wrong, and selfish, and you deserve better. If you’re… not sick of me, I’ll try again. 

      “I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep. I don’t know what my life’s going to look like from here on out. I don’t know that I might not ever have to disappear again, but I will promise you this: I won’t ever try to cut you out again. If you ever decide it’s too dangerous, then I’ll walk away, but for now, I’m here as long as you want me, and I’ll make sure I’m doing everything in my power to keep things that way.”

[spannerboop]

Emalyn grinned. Breaking things? Caramel? This woman was after her own heart. “If you want caramel, you’ve come to the right person. I’m eighty-seven percent certain I’m the main source of depletion in every store.” She nodded her head in the direction they came from, “I’m Emalyn. I’ll take you to the best place in the whole city.”

Malia stared at the girl, trying to follow along her words but  eventually  becoming  completely lost. There were some thingamajigs? And they were related somehow? But actually they weren’t? She did managed to get that they   weren’t   actually  going  anywhere  in  particular though, and laughed.

                                        ❝I can break a lot of things, but I haven’t yet managed                                             to break physics.   But since we have no destination                                             in mind, can I suggest somewhere with coffee? I had                                             my heart set on something way too caramelly for my                                             own good before science interrupted.                                                                                 I’m Malia by the way.❞

[spannerboop]

Ema blinked a few times, trying to process that in a way that didn’t sound like Eliane had planned on leaving her from the beginning.  Maybe she was just reading way too much into it, or maybe she was just so frustrated she couldn’t see a different, more plausible answer. Ugh. She’s usually so much more collected than this. 

She forced herself to calm down, running a hand over her face, “I don’t think you’re grasping this best friend thing very well.” Ema bit at her lower lip, frowning slightly, “I get that you don’t want to hurt me, and I get that being your friend I probably will be, but...” Well, really it’s not like she can be hurt anymore. She already has one dead family member out of the whole thing. It’s not like it can get much worse than that.

Emalyn sighed, sitting back, “It’s dangerous, I get it, and doing secret agent things is your thing. But secret agents need friends too, right? And I need someone to make my diabetes in a cup, right?”

      Eliane found a rising frustration within her, but she thought it was more at the situation in general than it was at herself or Emalyn specifically. She hated that she put people in danger by associating with them, but it was a fact of the life she lived. She hadn’t liked doing this, but it had felt like the right thing to do.

      “I wasn’t just going to drop off the map for no reason, but Dier forced my hand! By the time I came out on the other side, I’d already broken my promise by disappearing and… I thought you might not want to see me again after something like that.”

      She brushed a hand back through her hair. “I thought it might be Harmonysent or something. That I’d never be strong enough to just leave you be for your own good, so Harmony gave me a situation where I had to, for other reasons. I thought it’d be for the best, even if it hurt like hell.”

[spannerboop]

That silence was more than enough for Emalyn to get more aggressive than is probably healthy with her banana bread picking. The answer was enough to make her stop altogether.

Ow. 

Never. That translated to never. And that left her feeling completely empty on the inside. Somehow, that hurt more than everything Eliane had done before combined. 

The fact Eliane thought it was for the greater good made Ema frustrated and angry with the whole situation, and maybe a little lots with Eliane too, “That’s not for you to decide!” Ema exhaled harshly, not even sure where to begin with this, “I think I deserve a little bit of warning if you’re planning on ending us, El. At least something to let me know you’re still alive. Or is that too much?” 

      Eliane dropped her eyes, not quite able to come up with a response to that. She wanted to lie and say she’d been on her way over, or that she’d been planning to soon, but if there was one thing Emalyn deserved, it was the truth.

      The only problem was that the truth was “never” and that was a little difficult to say. She should have realized her guilty silence sounded just as bad, if not worse.

      “I… I thought maybe I had done enough to you, Em.“

[spannerboop]

Emalyn sipped at her diabetes quietly, taking extra effort to not let any emotion show on her face. She supposed potentially being murdered was a good excuse. And she supposed this had to mean Dier was dead, if Eliane was sitting here having coffee without any anxiety. She couldn’t quite hide the sting the mention of Dier left. It’s been months since her father’s death, but it hasn’t really quite ever stopped hurting.

She let her gaze drop, moving to pick at some of the banana bread. It was good Eliane hadn’t done it to protect her, though. That already sent half her resentment away. But Ema also wasn’t stupid. If Eliane was this okay over what happened, then it must have been weeks ago. And if it was weeks ago….

“So, how long until you were going to find me?”

      “Of course,” Eliane said quickly, glad that Emalyn was at least giving her a chance. “It’s right this way. Thanks. And, I’m sorry, again.”

      Eliane wrapped her hands around her cup, as though somehow she might be able to draw strength from the warmth of her coffee alone. The caramel and banana bread had been acquired, in the requested exorbitant quantities.

      This wasn’t going to be easy, and she knew it, but it needed to be done. It would have been best if she and Em had never met up again, she thought, but now that they were here, she’d make the best of it.

      “I want you to know,” she started slowly, not quite able to look her friend in the eye, “that I didn’t have a choice. I know I promised I wasn’t going to disappear again, but this time it was life or death. I wasn’t just trying to keep you out of the loop to try to protect you or anything like that.”

      At first, at least.

      “Dier came after me and the only way to keep him at bay was to go dark. I couldn’t contact anyone, or he’d find me. I know I promised, but it was the only way. If I’d tried to tell you what happened, I’d be dead right now. Or you would be. Or both.”

[spannerboop]

Alright, nice! It was a super nice person. She gave a more heartfelt smile with a little laugh, “That’s exactly what my problem is! I even told myself I should have dragged someone. But um, I saw you were alone, and I’m all alone, and I think that makes us mutually alone, so maybe we can help each other out a little bit?”  

             Peaceful alone time had already been a hard thing to come by before,              but now with her father gone it was damn near impossible.  Ferra had              at least convinced Luthur to wait outside– no one was stupid enough              to instigate anything with her while she was in such a high-end shopping              district.                                  That frame of mind caused her to not realize for an awkwardly                                long time that someone was actually initiating a conversation                                with her.  

              Ferra smiled sweetly, almost uncharacteristically for her, when she realized               it wasn’t employee.  They had been given very specific instructions not to               disturb her unless called upon.  

              She looked between the hangers in the girl’s hands and chuckled, tilting her               head to the side.                                                    ❝ You can’t decide, can you?  That’s exactly why us                                                  girls shouldn’t do this kind of thing alone.  ❞

[spannerboop]

Ema crossed her arms as Eliane’s hand came up, but she managed to bite her tongue long enough for Eliane to say her part. It was a needed talk, and she supposed a coffee shop was a little better than the middle of the walkway. And it’d give her a moment to calm herself down. 

“It better have enough caramel to put your caramel fraps to shame.” She shifted, a small pause, “And come with banana bread.” 

     Eliane winced. She knew she deserved it, but that didn’t make the harsh words or the sudden, sharp glances from passersby any easier to take. She was in the wrong here, and she was the one who needed to make amends, but it was still difficult. She held up a hand gently, as if to help ward off Emalyn’s anger, and tried to make her tone as soothing as possible.

     She really wasn’t much of a Soother though.

     "I owe you an explanation, Em,“ she said carefully. “A lot of explanations. And apologies. Maybe… not in the middle of the street. Look, there’s a coffeeshop nearby. I’ll buy you something with lots of caramel if you’ll hear me out.”

     It was actually the coffeeshop she was thinking about working in. She’d been on her way to check it out when she’d bumped into her unexpected friend.

[spannerboop]

Well, it was good that she was okay. Ema let herself–both of them really– have this moment. “Good,” she said before pulling away. Now she could be angry. “Because What the fuck Eliane?”

Angry as she might be, she did remember they were on a public walkway and she managed to lower her voice,“You said you wouldn’t do it again. You said no more secrets. And then you pull this?” 

     Eliane let out an oof of lost breath as Emalyn crashed into her. Even if her mind was still trying to process what was happening, her arms knew what to do, quickly moving to hold onto Emalyn as tightly as she herself was being held.

     Surely it couldn’t be this easy. Surely it was going to be difficult, and they weren’t just going to hug and make everything go back to normal. There needed to be more, and she had a feeling it would be unpleasant. But for now, well… she’d missed her best friend.

     "I… I think so. Now. I’m sorry, Em. I’m so sorry.“

[spannerboop]

    SHE froze in shock at the sight of the girl standing in the street in front of her. Their eyes met. Emalyn had seen her. 

     Eliane could think of a few people she would rather not have run into in the street, though most were for very different reasons. She’d promised Emalyn she would never disappear without any word again, and here they were, meeting up on the other side of a two-month break in that promise. She’d had good reasons, but she didn’t think they really mattered in the long run. 

     She’d thought of seeking Em out now that it was all finished, trying to explain what had happened and why she’d dropped off the radar. Surely she could talk through everything and make amends, make apologies, make up. Harmony knew she missed spending time with her best friend. Em deserved to know what had happened. She of all people. 

     But then, the image of her brother’s bullet ripping through Emalyn’s father’s head would rise to memory, and she’d tell herself that maybe a clean break was for the best. 

     Why reconnect if all she did was put her friend in danger? Em deserved to have friends who weren’t criminals involved in the underworld. Safe normal people with safe normal lives. Even with Dier dead, that would never be Eliane. It was best to smother what she personally wanted and let Emalyn go for her own good. That’s what she’d decided was the plan to deal with all of this, and she’d hoped that was that. 

     Staring her once-best-friend straight in the face, floundering for words at the unexpected encounter, Eliane was reminded that Harmony’s plans were seldom in line with her own.

Emalyn stared. Of all the  people she’d run into, on this day, the day of her daughter’s wedding  Eliane was the last person she thought she’d see. Several hundred emotions she couldn’t identify ran through her. 

Two months. Two whole bloody months of being absolutely worried sick, and this is how she finds her. A random chance. She was angry, of that she was certain. She would have loved to scream her throat dry.  Eliane had promised not to do this. The first time had only been a couple weeks, and that hurt enough on its own. But this? This was a whole new level. 

So of course she did the only reasonable thing. One moment she stood a few feet away in respect for personal boundaries, the next she had her arms wrapped tightly around her friend, not really certain if Eliane could breathe or not.

“You’re okay.” 

[ spannerboop​ ]

[spannerboop]

 heartlikeiron​

Emalyn stared hard in the mirror between the two articles of clothing in her hands. She could afford both, if she really wanted to, truth be told, but it felt like overkill.  She kept switching between the two shirts, trying to decide which looked better. Her problem was that they both did. She needed a second opinion. Why hadn’t she dragged someone here?

Time to make a new emergency friend.

It was then she caught sight of a woman who seemed more friendly than the usual bunch in these stores. Emalyn decided to try her luck. 

“Um, excuse me, could I maybe bother you for a second? Well probably a little more than a second but uh...if you don’t mind?” She offered a sheepish smile. 

[spannerboop]

It took an embarassingly short time for Malia to lose her breath,  but  that  probably had something to do with how hard she was laughing.

                                                  ❝Where are we going?❞

Where were they going? Emalyn hadn’t thought that far ahead, really. She just wanted to see if it would actually work. She slowed as she realised she really had no destination in mind, and she needed to think of an excuse quickly.

“Well, uh...there’s this thing that’s related to the other thing, that’s kind of in conjecture with the thingamajig, but the thingamajig isn’t all too related to the thing, so really we’re doing the other thing.” She eventually slowed down to a walk through her speech, frowning slightly, “So really, it was all just for science, and you can’t really end science exactly, so there’s no actual destination.” She paused thoughtfully, “Unless you know how to break physics.”

❝For science?❞ Malia managed to ask before being yanked forward.  It seemed best just to go with the girl, especially since she had quite an impressive grip and there was really no other choice.

[spannerboop]

 prxncess-powerful

It’s been awhile since Emalyn has started some trouble. She scoped out for some possible new...friends...There.

Down the street, an unsuspecting Malia stood. Grinning, Emalyn sprinted down the sidewalk, quickly grasping Malia’s hand as she ran by and slowing only slightly, so as not to rip the woman’s arm out of her socket.

“Quick, hold my hand and run! It’s for science!!” 

[spannerboop]

Emalyn's career in cooking was over before it even started. It was a good thing none of these ingrediants were combustable. She tried to make it look at least edible. 

The look of a cornered animal took over her face at the idea of her cooking. Alone. "Uh, um, I, sometimes I, uh, use a toaster?" That shouldn't of came out sounding like a question. She knew she did actually use toasters sometimes. 

       Judging by the scent that was wafting toward her from Ema’s vicinity,      Kalrien could tell the garlic had definitely been overdone. However,      she remained quiet and merely instructed Ema on when to start putting      it on the bread. 

     At least she hadn’t gotten Ema to do the pasta.

     ”Next time, I’m going to teach you how to do the entire thing. Do you       cook often, Ema?” Probably not, seeing how much garlic had gone      into the mixture—or, smelling it, as the case may be. At least all of      the ingredients were entirely inert and there was no possibility for       an explosion. She supposed she should be relieved that Basil hadn’t      seen fit to show up, as well.