Pixie and Namor: Tuesday Afternoon

[x-welshpixie.livejournal.com]

Namor had made it a habit of visiting the Deli-CAT-essen once a week since its opening. Today, Pixie visits Cats' establishment for the first time and helps Namor with his #studyingnotstudying.



The door chimed open and a welcome blast of cool air greeted Pixie as she entered Deli-CAT-essen. It was past the lunch rush and not many other customers were there. She noticed Namor Mazur right away and waved to him as she placed her order. After, she decided to flutter over and talk to the fellow flier. "Hi, how's it going?"

Namor had made it a habit of visiting the Deli-CAT-essen once a week since its opening. He would always order the most expensive thing on the menu with a coffee, sit at the same window table, and occupy the space until he had worked his way through a stack of textbooks. What was curious was that he never seemed to actually touch the food -- except for the one time Catseye caught him doing this and made him eat his sandwich in front of her. Still, today, his sandwich sat untouched as Pixie approached.

Namor moved his eyes from his tablet regretfully and stood out of habit. "Miss Gwynn," his tone was measured and congenial, "I am adequate. And yourself?"

Pixie smiled, oblivious to his cool tone. She was thinking about how very European the scene looked - man at the café, complete with tiny coffee cup. Sandwich looked like a movie prop. No one actually ate anything in restaurant movie scenes - something she'd always found frustrating.

Amused by her own thought process, a small giggle escaped her lips. "Adequate? That's cool. I'm happy whenever the flying weather's good." Even having seen him fly, it was still something of a mystery. "How's the flying?"

Another reflex: he looked out the window. He had quickly learned from being around other flyers that Pixie's question was the same idle smalltalk as "How's the weather?" Still, he was being polite. "Poor. I have found myself... grounded."

Pixie found herself looking out the window too, unsure of what she was looking for, then blushed and turned back as she realized what she was doing. She tended to mirror body movement of people she was trying to impress. "Oh, sorry. Um... do you want to talk about it?"

"I must beg your forgiveness, but I would rather not. I have my own challenges to handle." His polite smile twitched as if he was trying to add some compassion to it that just wouldn't stick. "You could instead distract me from my own self loathing. Sit. Stay."

She took the offered seat and unwrapped her sandwich. "This is going to be so good. I can't believe I haven't visited Cat's deli until today. I mean, I've been trying to save money by making all my own meals, but still." The sandwich was called "Cheshire Cat" on account of the cheese. She took a bite. "Yep, it's good," she announced happily a moment later. "Food's a good distraction. I also like painting. Nothing eats away the time and thoughts of anything else when I'm working on a project. What else do you like to do, besides flying?"

"I read," he replied with the sort of implacable smile one might face on the other side of a job interview, "I used to sail quite often in Attilan, but the weather and distance to port here is a touch prohibitive." He has sat after here, and motioned not to the textbooks but to his tablet when illustrating his hobby. Namor frowned slightly at her sandwich. "Would you like some coffee or tea, Miss Gwynn? Cat has good espresso."

"I imagine books give the same kind of escape to another world, a kind of space where there is no time." She set down her cheese-and-pickle sandwich as she leaned in to see the tablet screen. "Some tea would be fantastic." She had no idea she was so hungry. She glanced over to Namor's sandwich, sitting there all lonely and uneaten.

The young man nodded politely, setting down his tablet next to a small book on the table. The cover was was inlaid with gold filigree, and the title was almost too decorative to read. "I prefer to think of it as being underwater. An place for thought devoid of the distractions present on the busy surface of things." He stood, smiling graciously. "Tea it is, then."

He departed for the cashier briskly, leaving his books and sandwich at Pixie's leisure.

Pixie's gaze lingered on the beautiful image of the sailboat on the tablet, until the screen dimmed, before moving curiously over to the book. With its fancy cover, it looked like one of Amanda's spell books. She dusted her hands off on a napkin and poked a corner of book up, to hand-height. It didn't appear to contain incantations, however, but lines of poetry. She let the cover and pages fall back down gently.

The surface world certainly was full of distractions. Without even really thinking about, she pulled the toothpick and olive from the prop sandwich and decided it was a real sandwich after all. At least the olive tasted like a real Greek olive, yum.

Namor returned a minute later with two cups of tea -- one green, one black -- and a variety of honey and sugar packets. He was momentarily distracted by the out of place book, but just glanced at the tablet was if he couldn't place what was wrong. His eyes never met the sandwich. "I hope I did not keep you waiting too long," he apologized formally. "What do you paint, Miss Gwynn?"

"No worries, I'm just enjoying a lazy afternoon." She ripped the corner off a packet of honey with her nails, scarlet red today with tiny dots and swirls painted in black. "What do I paint? Whatever inspires me to push the paint around on the canvas. I'm not really that good at realistic art, although I improved a lot by taking art classes. I like to use some elements from pop art like cartoon-style drawing, stenciling and the like. I'm inspired by folklore and mythology. I like skulls a lot and bright colors." She squeezed the packet into the cup of green tea. "What kind of art do you enjoy?"

The noble claimed the other cup, tracing its porcelain rim with his finger idly. "I studied Art History for a few semesters from tutors -- Dad wanted me to be well-rounded -- but it was primarily a focus on the Renaissance and Contemporary Art."

"Mum and Dad didn't think art was very practical." She shrugged. "But who doesn't like Renaissance art? Have you ever seen works of the Renaissance masters in person?" she asked brightly.

He stared at her dumbly. "Arts are a foundation for viewing and interpreting History. While they may not help you bake bread more efficiently, they give understanding." The scorn evaporated from his voice as quickly as it had surfaced, and he casually remarked "Oh, yes. We travel a lot."

Of course. Oh, to be brought up in a noble family. Pixie was really enjoying the glimpse into another life, even if she didn't have many experiences she could even remotely relate with the Attilan royal.
"Speaking of bread, do you mind if I eat this sandwich?"

"Sandwich?" He had forgotten. "Go ahead, but you must swear that if Cats confronts you will say that I ate it and I relished it. It was delicious."

"I'll totally cover for you," she said with a smile, not about to question it. With a quirky, happy expression she politely finished the rescued sandwich and the excellent cup of tea, 'helping' the other student pass some time #studyingnotstudying. Moments of peace around campus were sometimes rare; you just had to enjoy them how and when they happened.