Monet and Crystal - Out For Coffee

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As they discussed earlier in the week, Monet and Crystal go out for coffee. Yes, it says they were supposed to have coffee together on Wednesday, but they ended up going out today instead. Despite Crystal's initial misgivings about Monet, the two girls manage to hit it off.



The cafe was Modern, all gleaming steel and black tiles, highlighted with patches of white. Monet was overjoyed to see that they still had the espresso machine. Racks of little cakes and biscotti filled the windows and lined the counter, the only part of the cafe that wasn't blindingly modern. Monet sauntered up to the counter rather than waiting for the waiter and ordered a long macchiato and "Oooh. I'll have two of those little tarts, a couple of the mini florentines and two of the almond cresents, too, please."

Either Monet was starving or she had the famed mutant metabolism. Crystal wasn't a big coffee drinker, but she hadn't wanted to say no to Monet's request to accompany her to a coffee house. Crystal glanced at her choices before ordering a tall vanilla latte and one tart.

"These are all together, thank you," Crystal told the cashier, preparing to pay for their order.

"It's okay, I've got them." Monet paid, jumping in before Crystal could. "I'm sorry, I should have asked what sort of cakes you like first." Monet sat at a small table and waited for the cakes and coffees to be brought out.

Well then. Crystal was taken aback but hid it well, joining Monet at the table she had chosen. She looked across the table silently for a few moments, unsure of what she wanted to say. Monet's responses to Jennie has horrified and upset Crystal and for the first time since her arrival at the mansion, she had found herself actually wanting to dislike someone.

Still, Monet had made overtures to be friendly, and it would be quite rude to reject them. As Crystal knew only two well, first impressions were lasting ones, but they were not always an accurate way to measure a person's character.

"Is the mansion the same as you remember it?" Crystal finally settled on as a conversation opener.

"I think it's better, actually. I haven't had my things thrown in the lake this time 'round, no-one has sicced any demons on me and you've got a real cute puppy." Monet paused and smiled at the waiter before offering Crystal a choice of sweets.

"Ooh! And so far, people don't seem to be drama llamas like they were back in the day. 's great. Almost makes up for y'know." She guestured with a cake fork. "Being here."

"Oh," Crystal said, blinking back surprise. "Someone threw your belongings into the lake? That seems rather impolite; it appears that the rudeness at the mansion is not simply something that occured in the last year. As for demons, you are correct; the mansion is currently suffering from a lack of demons." She smiled slightly. "I am glad that you appreciate Lockjaw; my roommate does not." Crystal selected a crescent before continuing. "Most people like being at the mansion and are upset when others do not feel the same way. I belong to the second group."

Monet nodded. "Cain, sorry, Mr Marko threw my things in the lake. They came out all slimy and yicky..." She paused. "I know what you mean. They seem to think everyone wants to share a room and be all buddy buddy with each other or something. Like you have to like people just because you're living with them."

That was a while ago, yes? I do not believe that Mr. Marko would do anything like that now." Crystal took a sip of her drink. "They are a rather... interesting group, yes. You should consider yourself fortunate that you only have to share living space with one another person; five other girls live in my suite."

Monet shuddered. "I'm so sorry. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help. I mean, I've cleaned the bathroom after my ...incident. But let me know if you want me to arrange to have them ...dealt with for you or anything. I reckon I could figure something out."

"Dealt with?" Crystal's hand froze in mid-air, holding the crescent she was about to take a bite of. She took a deep yet unnoticed breath and set the pastry back down. "You are joking, yes? Sometimes I do not understand people's sense of humor."

"Well, yeah." Monet was grinning. "But I know a lot rugby players, who'd be happy to come have a party and annoy them the night before their finals. I can arrange that for sure."

Crystal raised an eyebrow and smiled politely. "Thank you for your offer Monet, but that will not be necessary. Although I would have advance warning and be able to study elsewhere, it is not their fault that I have to share a room with them, and my suitemates have never actually done anything against me. I do my best to ensure that they do not know that I am unhappy with the situation at hand."

Monet pouted. "That's just no fun at all. If you don't mind my asking, how did you end up at the school?"

"I discovered a new aspect of my powers and my and my actions were witnessed by the headmaster's brother. He then convinced me and my family of how wonderful the school was and the next thing I knew I found myself in a world of insanity."

"Oh dear. That must have been awkward. I'm sorry you're stuck here. I really am."

"I admit, the school and the mansion residents are not what I originally expected, but the past nine months have been truly... enlightening," Crystal told Monet. "At this point in time, though, I only have to endure mansion life for less than three months before I can return home. Contrary to popular belief, there is no rule stating that graduates must stay at the mansion, somewhere else in New York, or continuously teleport in and act as if they still live there."

"Well, that's something, at least. And you head home for the holidays, too, right?" Monet took a sip of her coffee. Mmm. Coffee. "I wish someone had explained that to my dad. But no, he was all 'you need to be supervised'. It's honestly not fair!"

"Yes, I return to the palace on vacations and certain weekends and usually travel to other places on other weekends. Who is supervising you?" Crystal asked curiously, stopping herself from looking at Jackson, who had, of course, insisted on going with the two young women.

"You know, I'm not entirely sure. Far as I can tell, Dad reckons that just being at the mansion means I'll be supervised. I think he expects I'll get more powers training and things. Lectures on being 'A Good Person and A Valuable Contributing Member of Society."

"More training in the use of one's abilities is always a benefit." Crystal took another sip of her latte, not quite sure what to say about the "lectures." "I hope you do not mind that I am asking, but... what is your power, or are your powers?"

"No, that's fine. I've got the works, really. Superstrength, invulnerability, telepathy and I can fly. What are your powers, if it's okay to ask?"

That was an interesting array of powers. "Of course you may ask. My power deals with air and the elements of which air is composed, namely oxygen and hydrogen, as the 'new aspect' I mentioned before was the formation of water in the form of a localized rain shower. I can do many things with my abilities, such as create wind, fly, alter air pressure, and change the temperature of the air. I can also start or stop fires."

Monet frowned. "So that means you can manipulate the weather, too, doesn't it?"

"In a way, yes, but not entirely... who knows what I will be able to do in the future, though? At this point in time, my powers are fairly localized... I cannot alter the weather over a large area and my hurricanes are relatively small when compared to natural hurricanes, and I tend to form them from the ground up." Crystal smiled. "I have been working with Ms. Munroe and have learned a great deal from her since yes, our powers are quite similar."

"That's pretty cool. Localised weather manipulation is really useful." Monet toyed with her fork and eyed the mini florentines. How big are your hurricanes?"

"I do not know for certain, as I have never actually measured them, but maybe four meters or so?" She had spent a lot of time working on improving them in the past several months, but still wasn't quite comfortable attempting larger-scale ones that could possibly spin out of control and cause damage.

Monet whistled. That was impressive. "Wow."

"I have been working on my abilities since I was seven, and I have improved a lot by working on my powers with people since my arrival at the mansion," Crystal said, smiling slightly.

Monet nodded. "Fair enough." She swore softly. "Crap. Look, it's getting late. I've got an evening class and if I don't get move on, I'm going to be late."

Crystal nodded. "Shall I have the remaining desserts packaged, then, before you head to class?"

"If you'd like. I'm actually full, myself." Monet gathered up her things. "We really must do coffee again at some point. Bye!"

"Thank you for the coffee and the pastries," Crystal told Monet before, then gave her a polite nod as she walked away. That had been rather interesting, and not at all what she expected. Maybe Monet wasn't as bad as she had thought she was.