[FIN] Tea, Cake and Other Things

[Gwennythe]

The cafeteria was neither any less nor any more busy than usual, though, to Tambrey, it seemed rather spacious and 'empty' yet still 'crowded' with unfamiliar (or slightly familiar) faces of team mates.
What an odd feeling, it was, to stand in line, though, waiting for food.
Her hair was still somewhat wet after swimming, swept back into her usual ponytail though somewhat 'messier' than usual and she'd changed back into her glasses. Off-duty meant no uniform which meant a dark blue top and jeans with sandals; a very usual look for her.
The bag that had contained her swimming stuff had been stowed away on a detour to her room.
She joined the line and cast a look around to see whether or not Aulus had beaten her here (which wouldn't have surprised her after her detour) and, thus, whether she needed to pick up his tea.
'Earl Gray, milk, no sugar.' She mouthed to herself, to remember it.  

[TawnyAngel]

Tam was not the only one who had gone by her room to drop off her swimwear.

Aulus, however, had been greeted by an unruly snake who had thrown all of his socks into the shower, stuffed the plug, and then poured in a large amount of cola. He did not know where the beast had got the cola from and he didn't care either; all he cared about was reining the nuisance in before it tossed his laptop onto the heap and turned the shower on.

He'd succeeded - just - and locked the idiot back in its pokeball, but the whole palaver meant that he headed down a little late and more than a little irate.

Tortie, stalking along beside him, muttered to herself about insubordinate grass types.

When he got into the cafeteria Aulus was pleased to spot Tam still in line, and hurried past the people queuing behind her to join the small woman. If anyone was displeased about him cutting in he didn't notice, and they didn't go out of their way to rectify this.

As he came up beside Tam, Aulus muttered; "Remind me not to call Executives commie bitches in future. What's it looking like on the dessert front? Anything tasty going today?"  

[Gwennythe]

"Uh. You'll need t' be reminded?" Tambrey greeted in return with a jokingly 'surprised' expression. She, of course, certainly didn't mind the line cut.
She gestured at the people in front of her though.
"Y' might have better luck telling me from up there. I've not really glimpsed the counter yet. I /think/ I saw a sign about jam rolly-poly but I kind 'f forgot t' have a proper look before I joined the line..." She admitted sheepishly, before looking down toward Tortie and offering a smile and a wave to the pokémon.
"So," She still addressed Aulus, commenting on the first remark he'd made, "I take it, uh, 'Discord' 's still living up to his name then?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Hu, that sounds nice." He hadn't had jam rolly-poly since... he wasn't sure, but 'ages ago' was a good enough temporal definition he supposed. Peering up ahead he tried to confirm, but he couldn't quite see as yet.

"Yes, he is," Aulus said as he looked back at Tam. "Suffice to say that I nearly lost my laptop, and that all my socks except the ones I'm wearing are covered in Coke, or possibly Pepsi, and so is half the bathroom. Char's cleaning it up though." Thank goodness for Char.

"I'll go get the teas if you'll get cake or whatever it is that's going," he added after a moment. "I'll have whatever you're having, I like most sweet things in the end. Just not jelly, can't stand jelly; it’s like a Muck’s slime trail poured into a mould with sugar and colouring added."  

[Gwennythe]

"That's... descriptive." Tambrey wrinkled her nose; a Muck's slime trail was something she'd come across once or twice, and even had to 'work with' in a university lab. The idea of one being a food item, given what it contained, was rather nauseating. "No wonder y' don't like the infirmary..."
She did try to look sympathetic but it was hard to combine it into the mild shock and puzzlement she felt on hearing of Discord's latest antic; what an utterly bizarre pokémon and such a strange, if effective in inconvenience, 'prank' to pull.
"Uh. Well, socks are easier t' replace and clean than a laptop... Sounds like, maybe, you shouldn't really leave him in your room anymore though." She suggested, though with an edge that seemed to be understanding; she knew that it would be super stressful to carry such a pokémon around.
"At least Char balances out the chaos?"
She tried to peer 'around' the line in front then.
"That sounds good; d'you remember mine? I'll probably just get the 'rolly-poly' if that's what 't is..."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yes," the scarred man scowled, "I thought I'd locked his damn pokeball, but apparently not. I won't be making that mistake again, least I hope I won't. I don't want to explain to Alex how come my laptop got written off by a fizzy drink.

Rolly polly sounds good to me," Aulus went on with a nod, "and Lapsang, right?" He was pretty sure he was right so he headed off to seek out their beverages without waiting for a reply.  

[Gwennythe]

"Maybe he'd have some gadget t' cure such a thing?" She suggested with a smirk; she couldn't imagine what on Earth that could be, but if such a thing existed anywhere it would probably be here and probably belong to Hayes.

She nodded, then, as he recalled her drink choice.
"That's r- Uh. Okay." He was already gone. Well, it was right anyway.
The grunt shuffled, then, left alone in the line; that was a silly feeling, she knew, but it felt kind of lonely and scary simply standing in the line to get food.
That wasn't good; wasn't normal, she suspected.
She tried to push it out of her mind with random thoughts; science, a new song she'd heard since their rescue (which she began to hum without realising), wondering what might have happened in the contest world.
Thus she was completely unprepared and jumped as she found herself confronted with someone asking what she wanted.
After stumbling over her words, then being too quiet, she finally achieved her order, correctly, upon her third attempt at it and, blushing, took quick steps away from the counter to look for Aulus.  

[TawnyAngel]

Having acquired the right kinds of tea (he wondered what civilized person had decided to stock such a wide range?) Aulus made his way to an empty table and sat down. As the general hubbub of the cafeteria washed over him he looked down at the tray he’d carried over. Two cups, well, mugs; plain serviceable white. Two tea bags. A little jug of milk. A bowl of sugar, because he didn’t remember if Tam had said she took it or not. A jug of boiled water to go over the tea. It was all so... normal, and yet alien.

Shaking himself he reached over to stroke Tortie’s head. “Go find Tam, will you girl?” As the dark type he poured the water over his own teabag, watching as the water started to stain.


Tortie wasn’t especially pleased with the idea of leaving her trainer’s side, but it wouldn’t be for long. Giving his elbow a nudge she padded off, sniffing and scanning for the one he called Tam. She was located before too long, having just stepped back from the serving place. Giving a soft huff Tortie stalked towards her, pausing in front of her with a soft; “Solllll,” before jerking her head in the direction of Aulus’ table and setting off back in that direction.  

[Gwennythe]

Sometimes Tambrey wondered such things- mostly not and usually, if so, about who filled up the vending machines (a certain pink bat was kept much more manageable thanks to the presence of those so that person probably deserved a thank you).
Tea was something that she just accepted as being there and should be there; though of course she wasn't ungrateful for it.

Well, that was useful.
"Ah, hi- oh.. kay..."
She smiled at the dark type and then, blinking, as Tortie more or less was immediately off again, tried to hurry after and keep up with the Absol, following her to Aulus' table.
"Thanks." That could have been to either or both of them.  

[TawnyAngel]

“Hi,” Aulus flashed a momentary smile and ruffled Tortie’s mane as she padded over to sit beside him. “Your tea,” he pushed it towards his companion, “there’s milk here, and sugar, couldn’t remember if you wanted them. Oh, and careful of that pot, it’s the hot water.” He felt a bit more relaxed now Tam was here; he’d never really liked being on his own (and yet constantly tried to push people away, because he was ever so smart like that), and that instinct had only grown stronger since... things. When you were on your own, you were being hurt, or hearing somebody else hurt. It was Not Good to say the least.  

[Gwennythe]

"Thanks Tortie." Tam' replied as they approached the table.
"Roly Poly and some custard," She smiled, also much relieved to be at their island of a table rather than stood in the sea of the cafeteria crowd, and announced what she'd brought with her "as per tradition."
She placed each bowl down and pushed Aulus' toward him as he pushed her tea across.
"Thanks." She smiled apologetically then. "Sorry. I don't... really take milk and sugar with this." She held the cup to her lips and inhaled the smoky scent before sipping. "Ah. 'T taste a little odd; thanks f'r thinking of it though."  

[TawnyAngel]

"That's fine," Aulus smiled briefly and made a dismissive gesture, "I should have paid more attention. Thanks, by the way." Tea and dessert. He picked up his cup and blew on the surface; not civilized, but he didn't really care about that just now.

Taking a sip of tea Aulus gave a sigh of contentment, setting it back down and looking over at his companion. He should think of something else to talk about. Humm. "So... what do you tell your family you're doing?"  

[Gwennythe]

"Well, I'm sure someone somewhere might. And it /is/ tea." She tried to make it clear that she thought it was a reasonable assumption to make.
If she /knew/ blowing on tea before drinking wasn't civilized, Tambrey certainly didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. It seemed like she might even have just considered the action completely normal and unremarkable, because she couldn't have missed him doing so as she looked back.
The grunt did pause, mid-sip, however at the question, apparently a little surprised- and gave her answer a moment or two worth of thought as she placed her cup back on the table.

"Er. Well. Um. There's only really Mum t' worry about... And she thinks I got some sort of... job as part of my studies that I just stayed with. Mostly she thinks I'm a junior Pokémon Researcher's Assistant, sort of... 'S been a pretty good way to explain her not being able to visit and gives me an excuse t' say 'm far away..." Tambrey explained, talking slightly quickly to pave over any regret or emotional upset that lay under her excuse.
She had gone to looking at her pudding though, fingertips toying with her spoon handle, before she looked up again.
"How about you?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus looked down into his tea.

He then started to laugh.

After a few moments he managed to stifle his hilarity and looked up with a rueful grin. "Well at first I just said I was off travelling, you know, doing my photography and training my pokemon. I had to come up with a really good excuse for being out of communication for a month though. Was on the phone to my parents. I panicked. I told them I'd joined a secret crime fighting organization and swore them to secrecy." He took a sip of tea. "They believed me, and they now understand why they can't come and see where I live."  

[Gwennythe]

Tambrey looked rather confused for a moment, not quite understanding how whatever he was laughing at was going to be funny, but letting a puzzled, reluctant smile creep up anyway.
It quickly turned into a smirk and a snort of laughter as he explained just what the actual excuse he'd given was.

"Well..." She grinned after a moment "Even if that's not strictly true, we did save the world once."