Raindrops and Puddles

The rain was pounding down hard.

Outside, she could see trees bending and snapping against the fierce winds, and panicked townspeople and students running through the street for some kind of respite from the storm, some clutching rain-soaked umbrellas, others with nothing to shield themselves with at all. Evelyn had been unlucky enough to be the latter case when the storm suddenly hit, and had been thoroughly drenched to the bone within the minute. The small cafe had been her salvation, but she still shivered in her seat from the cold. Warm dry clothes were back in her dorm, and she was stuck in the middle of town, with her only options being to either sprint back to campus or try and wait it out. It had come so suddenly, she figured that it had to go quickly as well.

Maybe to spite her, the rain hadn't let up at all.

In stark contrast to the chaotic world inside, the cafe was peaceful and quiet, the only sounds being the soft clinking of cups and silverware as the barista worked and soft jazz playing from the corner of the room. The loud driving rain was indistinct from in here, just a far away drumming. A tranquil atmosphere. Growing up in a city, homey, quiet, and cozy cafes and restaurants like this were scarce. And she had it all to herself! If it hadn't been for her soaking school uniform clinging to her skin, you could have called it luck.

Evelyn daintily took up her tea cup and sipped, sighing quietly from the small warmth it gave her. It had been too long since she'd had a good cup of tea, and the taste felt almost novel on her tongue after so long. She idly gazed out the window, where raindrops trickled down in streams and rivulets, blurring her view. This isn't so bad, she reflected. It's nice here. I should get caught in the rain more often.

Depending on her mood, she might want to reconsider that last statement of hers.

Among many of those students who had been left to scurry around helplessly in the storm ran a blonde young man, his hand held pathetically over his head as he sprinted through the rain - making a small jump every now then for temporary cover from the old buildings in the area, not that they provided much protection in this harsh wind and pouring rain. Much like a good number of others in the area; his hair and clothes had quickly become thoroughly soaked and the idea of finding shelter instead of trying to run back to his dorm became an increasingly appealing idea. This paragraph was pointless.

Arriving on the steps of the first place Jason saw, which happened to be the cafe, he sighed; trying to wring the water out of his clothes for a moment before stepping inside. It was with slight annoyance that he noticed then there was a small pool of water in the bottom of his grocery bag. Not willing to open the door again, he dumped the water in a nearby plant, earning the exasperated look of a nearby waitress. Apparently he wasn't the only one who sought retreat here, so he was told, before glancing around and told to have a seat anywhere.

Jace glanced quickly around, getting a half-mindful assessment of the room, before reaching for the first table that seemed unoccupied. Unfortunately, he hadn't even noticed the girl on the other side of the table until he was half-way unto the seat. He felt a sudden urge to jump back up, apologize and move on, but it was too late to turn back now, wasn't it?

Oh well, it could be worse. The place was filled anyways. "Hey there, Snowflake." He said, pulling off his jacket.

Oh. Shit.

Evelyn locked Jace with an unreadable stare as he slid into the seat across from her. Was it even any use to try and question it? At this point, she was hardly surprised. Another moment of peace shattered, what else was new? Besides the new nickname... Snowflake. First "Eve", now this. It was far too cutesy for her liking. Was it sarcastic? Was he mocking her? "Snowflake" had given up trying to guess. Some higher power had it out for her, that was the only thing that was certain. Resigned, she blinked and looked down into her tea, wishing it was alcohol. Did John sell when it was raining, she wondered? If he was willing to loiter around in a snowstorm, maybe this wasn't too different. The man surely was dedicated, if nothing else.

"Hey," she finally responded, looking up from her cup. Evelyn twirled a soaking lock of brown hair with a long skinny finger. Her thoughts drifted back to the Formal. Beata's King looked like a sodden mess. Looking him over made her glad she didn't bother with make-up. Her laziness had spared her from looking like a sad drowned clown. "Get caught in t-the r-rain too...?" Well, duh. That was obvious enough, but if they were stuck together, they might as well make some pointless smalltalk while they were at it...

With a clear look of discomfort, he peeled off his jacket and tossed it onto the seat beside him. He could deal now with his school shirt being a little damp, better than being covered with a dripping slop of thick fabric. Jace hardly had noticed the Winter's stare, instead smiling and waving down the waitress from before and ordering a coffee and some food for himself.
"If you want anything, I'll buy." He'd told Evelyn. That little thing of tea wouldn't last forever. Aside from this trip, he hadn't bought anything huge as of late and his wallet was too thick to be concerned of any bills.

"Shit, is it that obvious?" Jason mused jokingly, rolling back his wet sleeves and giving her a small smile from across the table, though he only actually looked at her face for a split-second. This was a mindful action, for once. The young man ran a hand through his wet hair, "So, what've you been up to lately?" Correct him if he were wrong, but the last time he had seen her, she's been literally stumbling around in the middle of the formal dance - due to a certain spiked punch bowl, most likely, as he'd later found out.

Hmph, how chivalrous. Now that Jace said it, some cake wouldn't go amiss... Maybe she'd take him up on that. Evelyn smiled at his joke and took another sip of tea, not answering right away. She felt oddly calm in his presence for once. The cafe's soothing atmosphere probably had something to do with that. It was hard to get worked up to soft jazz and the smoky fragrance of coffee. Maybe it was the Autumn's natural friendliness as well. Whatever had gone on between them in the past, she had to admit he certainly had a knack for conversation. There was a reason he seemed to be so beloved around the school. Everyone knew Jason Wright, and everybody seemed to love him. Some people were just born lucky, discounting sudden father stabbings.

Evelyn pondered on what exactly she had been up to lately. Just what I normally do, except with a lot more alcohol. Ah, probably not the best thing to tell a Headmaster's son. Instead, the girl just forced a smile as she gently set the cup down again. "N-nothing exciting, I guess." she said, unconsciously following Jace's example and shrugging off the school's wet dark blazer. The rain seemed to be only getting worse outside. It looked like Spring was making up for the wintry past few months. "You?"

Ironic then, wasn't it, how everyone knew and love this young man; and yet he'd somehow ended up sitting to this Winter who couldn't be any more of a complete opposite in near almost every way. These little ironies happened quite a bit, once he stopped to think about it. While she seemed rather content for once, he was still a bit uncomfortable - be it from being soaked from the rain or their awkward history he frequently tried to forget. It wasn't in Jace's nature, though, to let these feelings hinder him in any way.

He kept his gaze trailing around the room, watching that waitress walk around the floor every now and then. He thought for a moment that there had to have been something at least mildly interesting that could've happened to her, but it wasn't worth pushing it. "Aside from taking my claim as Rightful King of the School?" He asked, a crooked smile on his face. Well, he'd gone and paid his Queen to kiss him, as horrible as that sounded. Found some strange cannibals on the East Coast, if that didn't sound too horrible or far-fetched. "Trying to grab as many missions as I can." He said earnestly, pausing when he swore he heard a dim echo of thunder. Looks like they'd be here a while then. "To go sight-seeing, of course. Beata's forests and lakes and beautiful night sky are tiring. You need a fresh breath of smoggy air and dirty alleyways now and then." The Autumn smirked a little at his own words, glancing back up at Evelyn.

Oh? Evelyn couldn't help but smile at that. She hadn't been on a mission since their expedition to Nepal, where Lotte almost got her face ripped open by a yeti and Jason got shot in the stomach. The girl couldn't speak for everyone, but she preferred boring scenic beauty to getting eaten alive by unfathomable Lovecraftian horrors. Though, maybe he had a point. She often pined for home, where the stars never seemed to shine like they did out here and where the grimy inner city was never far away. When she dreamed of it though, in her head it always managed to morph into a snug house in Rosebury, where nobody in the world could bother her...

She absentmindedly traced her finger over the lip of the cup. "And fighting s-snarks and grumpkins t-too?" she teased lightly. "Is t-that what it takes t-to get a v-vacation?" Evelyn had been acclimated to most of Beata's strangeness, but the missions were the thing that still managed to boggle her. Not only were monsters real, people went ahead and volunteered to hunt them. Why this duty had fallen on Beata's students, she couldn't figure out. Maybe there just weren't many gifted adults to take care of it... and maybe there weren't many gifted adults because all of the gifted children were eaten by giant anacondas and worse. That didn't bode well for Jason, but she decided not to bring that up. The boy wasn't the kind to listen to sense.

Jace held back a small laugh, shaking his head and glancing back down at the table. She smiled. That was something he hadn't seen in a long-ass time. "Sometimes, you just have to go to the extremes for a few nights off in a cheap hotel." He joked quietly, seeing the waitress out of the corner of his eye with what was hopefully his order. "Fighting off snarks and grumpkins is the icing on the cake."

He'd been on three missions thus far the past year; the time in Nepal was the only one where he had been seriously injured - and it was no fault of the giant Yeti's, so much as the jackass who had called them there. The Autumn thought back to it every now and then, thinking there were two or three things he wish he could've done differently.
Jace didn't regret going, though, not at all. It was like the saying went. 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.' While he joked about using the missions as an excuse to see the world, it was that train of thought that kept driving him out of the school and straight into the face of danger, like mutant spiders, maniacs, and - soon enough - giant, ungodly worms in the middle of the freezing desert.

"Although," Jace paused, trying to steer away from that subject, since he easily guessed it wouldn't get them anywhere good. "I heard they're letting people travel wherever they want to for spring break. Did you have any places in mind?" Granted, it was only if they'd been at school long enough to earn it academically, or by doing missions, or any combination of the two.

Is that an offer? Evelyn had heard about that too. A vacation to anywhere, with no snarks or grumpkins to worry about. It certainly was tempting... she had hardly traveled in her life before Beata, but it provided a temporary escape, something she sorely needed. Paris, New York, Tokyo, anywhere and everywhere, and as normal tourists instead of some kind of teen supernatural task force. It sounded almost too good to be true. Not too long ago the only way you were allowed out was if you agreed to go and kill a yeti with a bow and arrow. Maybe the school had started wising up.

"Oh, I dunno..." she said with a sigh. "I've, uh... n-never really traveled m-much. I h-have no idea w-where I'd want to go." That, and her doubts and apprehension. What if she did something wrong while overseas? What if her stuff got stolen? What if she got stolen? Maybe she worried too much... her aunt had always said so, and that she was too much like her mother. Evelyn pushed those thoughts away. "But I bet y-you've been lots of places..."

"Have you considered perhaps somewhere a little less cold and wet?" Jace suggested lightly with a small smile. His eyes flickered back to his damp jacket beside him and to the window, with the pouring rain outside. A warm, sunny day seemed to be too much to ask for as of late. It'd be a nice change of pace, for certain. Luckily, he'd been right about his food, and a plate of sweet-looking pastries was set down between them; along with a deep cup of steaming coffee for himself. In the back of his mind he hoped the caffeine would fight off the small, incoming headache of his.

The young man shrugged at her later comment. "Not as much as you probably think," he said. He hadn't been to too many places most of his life simply because there wasn't that many places to go. Sometimes they had gone to New York to visit Brailynn and her family, but for the most part, they'd spent time in Texas - where pretty much the entirety of his mother's family was. "Never been to Hawaii or the Caribbean, or seen the Eiffel Tower - it'd be nice, though." Lord knew they could afford it.

Evelyn grinned. "It's not that d-damp, is it?" Her eyes fell to Jace's plate before flicking out towards the window, suddenly mindful of her own empty belly. She couldn't let herself look at his food too long. It would be unseemly if she were to steal it. "M-more p-places than me, s-still..." she said. When she was around ten, her father took her out sight-seeing to Yellowstone in Wyoming. They were only there for a day before coming home, and that had been her first and last trip out of Montana before her mother packed her off with a ticket to North Dakota. The plane ride had been novel, exciting, and absolutely terrifying. A one-way flight to a whole magical world that most people didn't even know about. It was like something out of a book, and even a year afterwards, at times it still seemed surreal. Not long after touching down she stumbled through Beata's gates with a half-full fish tank clutched tightly in her arms.

A question suddenly sprang to her mind. Maybe not the Caribbean, but he still must have traveled a lot, right? There was a chance that just maybe... "H-h-have..." Her voice died off and any confidence that had been built up quickly evaporated. This was a stupid question. "Um... N-nevermind. Heh..." She averted her eyes and suddenly brought the tea cup to her lips. Stop being stupid.

He glanced out to the window along with her, "I suppose it could be a lot worse?" The young man near-sang sarcasically, unable to wipe the small smirk of his face. He stirred a bit of cream into his coffee and reached for the first pastry he saw, noticing her eyeball it for a moment. The Autumn waited a few seconds for her to make a reach for it, or ask for one anyways, but he realized it probably wouldn't happen. "Help yourself." It was the least he could do for barging into her quiet table.

Jason raised an eyebrow as Evelyn went on as if she were about to ask something, but took a huge backpeddle at the last second. "Have what...?" He started again for her curiously, "You might as well finish now." Jace watched her expectantly across the table as she averted her eyes.

Shit. Evelyn began to play with her hands before suddenly stopping. What do I do with my hands? Anxiety crept up her chest and she began to drum lightly on the table with her fingers.  "W-w-well, it's n-nothing im-important..." She drew her arms to the edge of the table and crossed them, and then after some deliberation, pulled her hands into her lap. The pose still didn't feel quite right. "I, uh... I j-just wanted to ask if y-you'd ever b-been to, um... M-Montana." The girl glanced up at him with a sheepish smile. God, I'm being so awkward... How could he sit there and just talk so naturally? How did he know what to do with his limbs? Her hands were now on either side of her. This is too weird. I look too stiff now. Now her hands were on her knees, with her arms resting on her legs. Damn it, this still isn't good enough. Fuck hands. Why couldn't she be an amputee?

Her gaze wandered over the table as she ran her palms over her legs, until her eyes found the pastries once again. She could feel her stomach rumble lowly just at the sight. Nothing looked more delicious in that moment, but with all her willpower she forced herself to look away. They're not healthy. Or yours. He'd be angry if I stole them. From the corner of her vision she still watched it though, like a wolf might watch its prey. It would be only one though... Evelyn crossed her arms in her lap, then unfolded them, and now they were clutching the edge of the table. Or half. We could share a half, right? He did say to help myself...

The young man took a bite of his little pastry, which ebs has decided is a scone (the tray itself being an assortment of treats), shooting the Winter a curious look. She was getting all worked up over asking whether or not he had been to the next state over? He pondered over why it was big enough to suddenly make her so shy all of a sudden - or, more-so than usual anyways. Was she from there? Jace realized that he didn't know. He knew barely anything about her, as a matter of fact. She owned a fish, played the piano, and - as far as he could tell - she really didn't know her own strength. Everything beyond that was a haze in itself. He felt a tad ashamed of himself.

(edit;; Thinking back on it, I think this is like the second time he's realized this, but shut up - I'm forgetful.)

Either way, "I have been there once - for a mission." Well, it wasn't so much of a mission as it was a pointless search for absolutely nothing. "Some years back, before my folks worked here, it was just me at the school with others - like Kimply." He explained, a grin of embarrassment covering his face. Story time~ Hopefully it'd also give Eve a few moments to get a hold of herself. "There weren't near as many 'snark-sightings' back then, so when they came up it was considered the coolest thing to be chosen to go and hunt them down like a badass." Jace let out a sigh, "One doesn't appear for a couple of months, then suddenly out of nowhere - there's been a sighting of a large creature in Glacier Park, big and furry - like ten feet tall, scaring off the tourists. I didn't really think about it, just jumped on it like there was no tomorrow." It was kind of funny. Out of all the real and scary shit in the world, there remained one thing that stayed nothing but an absolute and silly myth. "Long story short, it was two weeks of hiking and looking for a Bigfoot that was never there. Park was pretty, though." He thought he was being cool and he was younger and shut up.

Jace laughed a little, "I'm guessing you have a lot better experiences with the place?" The blond paused when he caught her staring down the food between them again, quickly flicking away and crossing her arms on her legs. From his point of view, though, it looked like she was grabbing her stomach. Enough of that, he thought. The Autumn reached between them and picked up one of the treats, a spherical cake the size of a dollar coin on a stick. He reached across the table, holding it out to her. "Evelyn," he said, "Eat the cake pop, please."

Evelyn's attention snapped back to Jace as he launched into his story, hunger temporarily forgotten. Glacier National Park, was it? Fuzzy memories of fields of lilacs and towering cedars filled her head. The park was astonishingly beautiful, but it had been years since she last visited. Maybe that could be her vacation spot... it wasn't Japan or Paris, but it was home. Going hiking on a scenic mountain trail was better than sharpening a knife in her dorm all Spring Break, at any rate. Her grades were probably sufficient enough, it was close by, and there was little chance of things going horribly wrong. If not Montana, then there had to be dozens of nearby parks that were similar. The more thought she put into it, the better and better it started to sound.

The girl could hardly hold back her giggle as he finished. Even if monsters were real, there were always still hoaxes, she supposed. It wasn't too hard to imagine a troupe of young kids marching around the park for a few weeks, armed with swords and axes, hunting for Bigfoot. She was sure the park rangers got a kick out of it as well. "I'm af-afraid I d-didn't find him either w-when I was there, i-if that's what y-you're asking..." she jested quietly with a small smile. He sounded almost disappointed that they didn't find the abominable snowman's cousin hiding in the woods somewhere. "W-well, I..."

Suddenly a cake pop was in her face. Evelyn pulled back and tried to wave it away, doing her best to ignore the temptation to just bite it off the stick. Coated in a layer of chocolate and covered with colorful sprinkles. It had been a long time since she last had a cake pop... "Hehe, n-no thanks..." she said with an embarrassed look downwards. I was being that obvious, was I? "I'm, ah, g-good."