Mmm, Coffee

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina took a sip of hot coffee and sighed. She’d gotten to her favorite place before the after lunch rush came in. It was a simple two person table tucked away in the back corner where nobody noticed her. It was raining today, so she felt especially spoiled to be inside and dry while using the laptop the school had given her. It was the one thing she honestly appreciated about Bellefonte. She’d never have been able to afford it on her own, and to have such an item for her own personal use just felt so luxurious to her.


    Luckily, Cool Beans had free wifi and there was an electrical outlet by her table so she didn’t have to worry about her battery. Selina was in heaven, and she didn’t mind staying here until the rain died down, no matter how many minutes or even hours it took. Selina looked up from her computer and scanned the coffee shop, pausing as she thought she saw a woman she recognized. Selina quickly looked away as she realized it was one of the school’s teachers and sat slightly lower in her seat in the hopes that the woman wouldn’t see her.


    She wasn’t doing anything wrong, but she always felt uneasy around teachers and she just wanted to relax and enjoy her coffee.
She didn't know Delilah Kotter very well, but she certainly didn't mind keeping her distance either.

[Delilah Kotter]

Delilah sat near the center of the local Coffee Shop, Cool Beans, in her usual spot. Delilah liked the mood of this place, but she rarely found herself going out to get Coffee, specifically in an area that is usually populated by students; but in rare cases of ultimate stress, Delilah could always find herself at the trusty building-- students there, or not.

Delilah sat in her double-seated table in Cool Beans, occasionally glancing around, only to see very few people sitting around, most of them with their faces in their computer screen. Delilah temporarily brought herself away from the trusty technology that society had so become addicted to, because it would only remind her that she had so many ungraded papers/projects of students, and she would eventually have to enter the grades to give to students.

Despite her stress, Delilah was always an advocate at finding ways to calm herself down, and even the atmosphere of just a small little uncrowded Coffee Shop was always a good way to chill out. As she took a sip of her particular Coffee flavor that the Barista always gave her a dirty look when ordering, she looked around the place once again, and saw Selina Taylor , one of her students that she didn't know that well out of the corner of her eye.

She debated whether or not she wanted to go talk and bother Selina, as she tried to sneak a quick glance at her once again, to make sure that she was ACTUALLY who she thought it was, only leading to awkward eye contact. "Well... I don't want to be rude so I guess I have no choice now that I know she's seen me.. Maybe just a quick hello." thought Delilah to herself, as she smiled, walking over towards the student. 

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina knew that Bellefonte was suspicious for many reasons, and she couldn’t help but think that the teachers had to be in on whatever the school was doing at large. Of course, even on the off chance they weren’t directly involved in the school’s overtly strange policies of capturing runaway students and kidnapping those that refused to come here, they were still complicit with the acts as a whole. Selina could be harsh and judgmental on occasion and that particularly applied to people in authority.


    Not only had she personally had bad experiences, but her mom, though insistent she always be polite to those in power for the sake of not angering them, also held a deeply embedded hatred for those who were above her in society. Selina inherited many things from her mother and she wasn’t ashamed of it, nor did she have any desire to change it. Her anger was much more potent and raw than her mother’s was, as she had yet to be tempered by the wisdom that inevitably came with age.


    Selina saw the woman making her way over to her and almost shrunk further into her seat, but she knew it’d be rude, so instead she smiled at the teacher and hoped that would be enough. Even if Selina was judgmental, she’d still had politeness ingrained into her by her mother. Besides, if she played her part right, the teacher would leave quickly enough. Distant politeness was often boring enough to dissuade even the most persistent people.

[Delilah Kotter]

Delilah pulled up the vacant table at Selina's table she had decided to sit at, and gently placed her Coffee down on the table. It created the illusion that the teacher was going to stay at the table much longer than the student would probably be comfortable with, but that wasn't the plan.

As she sat down and flashed a small smile, she couldn't help but try to visualize the student in her classroom, and eventually when she could relate the picture to Selina in her mind, she could witness some of the student's art pieces. Smiling, Delilah quickly sighed, and looked up at the student after a short awkward period of staring at the table, trying to remember who she was.

"Hey, Selina!" started Delilah, probably way too enthusiastic for a Coffee Shop, also including Delilah's thoughts that brought her down; but in a way, seeing a student out of school was also a great way for Delilah to calm down, especially when it was meeting a student who she particularly didn't know that well. It would be a perfect chance for Delilah to possibly make a new close connection with yet another student, if the student was willing to, of course.

"I hope you don't mind that I came over here, but I was just a bit lonely over there, and I thought I recognized you from one of my classes." continued Delilah, as she glanced at the back of the School Laptop, feeling at peace as the sounds of the outside rain mixed with the slight buzz of the computer, along with the light music played by the shop.

Delilah in a way hoped she didn't seem too needy and "pushed herself" upon an annoyed student; but even if she had, it was far too late now, as she had already engaged in a full conversation.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina had always founds art calming, even if she wasn’t particularly good at it, but nonetheless, she’d made it her prerogative to never attract undue notice from her teachers if she could help it. So when Ms. Klotter set down her coffee and sat down, Selina felt her spirits sink quite a bit. She kept her forced smile though and decided to try everything she could to be distantly pleasant enough to not leave much of an impression. “Hello Ms. Klotter,” Selina said in turn as she closed her computer. It would be fairly rude to pay more attention to the machine than to the woman across from her.


    Selina then nodded to her in acknowledgement, “Yes, I recognized you as well,” she agreed. “How have you been?” she asked with a slightly less than enthusiastic smile. But hey, she was trying. This was far better than most who greeted her got. Selina took another sip of her coffee to help calm her nerves and closed her eyes for a brief second in appreciation for the warmth and flavor. Ok, so caffeine was a weakness. She then turned her attention back to Ms. Klotter, wary and yet temporarily reserving her judgement.


    Finals were coming up, so Selina had been hoping to get in some study time, but she’d also only taken twelve hours this semester, so she didn’t have too much on her plate right now. Procrastination may or may not have influenced her slightly warmer than normal reception of the art teacher, but she wouldn’t analyze her actions too much. Besides, her grades were good enough that she could most likely fail most of her exams and still pass. Not that she would ever do that, but still.

[Delilah Kotter]

Delilah conjured up the best smile she could for the student she could at that current time, and appreciated Selina continuing on with a conversation with Delilah, regardless of whether she wanted to-- or not.

"I've been alright, just grading and exam prep... Normal teacher stuff, I suppose." replied Delilah, taking a large swig of her Coffee. "How have you been, Selina?" asked Delilah, putting on a slightly more enthusiastic smile. In terms of therapeutic ways of calming herself down, Delilah's views, or personal preference could be seen as a bit odd to the general public. While most people would probably prefer just sitting alone eating ice cream and binge-watching old Movies and TV shows in times of sadness or stress, Delilah preferred talking about her feelings about really anything to people.. She preferred to have a friend to eat ice cream with, and not just hog it up by herself.

She understood it was probably a time of extreme stress, especially for Students as Finals Season came creeping up, and in all likelihood, since Delilah did not teach an Academic Class, she would have to help administer state-standardized tests, that require constant administration by faculty. Delilah awaited the student's reply, as she became submerged with the growing smell of Coffee as more students began entering the Coffee House, and Delilah had began to use her judgement of character features to tell if she was wanted there in the situation, or not.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina nodded to Delilah and smiled, “Alright… Things have certainly been interesting lately, that’s for sure,” Selina admitted. Boredom wasn’t truly something she could claim as, even if she wasn’t exactly appreciative of a lot of the things the school did, life was still interesting. Between the camping trip, meeting the students, and now apparently the staff as well, Selina had plenty of things to focus her attention on. Maybe too many. Part of the reason she’d come here was to just relax for a while… even if it was in the middle of exams.


    Selina didn’t mind much though. This teacher probably had more to worry about than she did during finals time as Selina’s classes weren’t all that difficult right now. She’d purposefully made her first year easy in terms of study weight since she’d known that adjusting to a completely different country would take a lot of time and effort. Besides, Selina wasn’t as concerned with graduating in four years as most seemed to be. Yes, she wanted out of this place, but she wasn’t going to kill herself solely for the purpose of graduating “on time” either.


    Selina glanced at Delilah in interest. She had only really interacted with one other woman staffer, and that had gone so badly it could easily be seen as comical. Delilah seemed much more grounded than Charity however, and Selina really did need something, or someone, to help keep her mind off of the things that could bring her down.

[Delilah Kotter]

Delilah couldn't help but slightly smirk at Selina's remark, stating that everything was certainly interesting-- Boy could Delilah relate. Despite at this point of Delilah having her teaching job at Bellefonte for already roughly a year, she never really felt like she put herself out there to communicate with some of her students, or even some particular staff members; until now.

Despite her original drive to become a Teacher to fulfill her cravings of communication, she never had taken her personality to her advantage to make friends, or at least to have people tolerate her. It was always a good feeling when you could just be yourself, and be liked by at least someone.

"I know the feeling," Delilah playfully scoffed as she rolled her eyes, obviously thinking about some events that had gone on that acquired a teacher's attention to prepare. "As long as things don't have you feeling absolutely sad or crazy, I suppose that's good.. Interesting is always good in my opinion." replied Delilah, as she began to think, and eventually came to the conclusion that Selina probably didn't mind the company of her; and even if she did, Delilah saw past it, finally beginning to completely unwind from her stress.

Delilah glanced over at the window momentarily, and watched as the raindrops quickly sped down the glass window pane. In a way, she childishly would look at two of these raindrops, and imagine them as little cars, racing to see which one could fall off of the window the fastest. After eagerly watching the window for a while, Delilah turned back to the student-- hoping she hadn't become immersed in looking outside to the point that could be considered borderline crazy.

"So, are you excited about these Finals coming up?" teasingly asked Delilah, as the aroma of her coffee filled the table, almost providing a calming sensation.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina smiled at Delilah’s response, not honestly having considered what teaching here must be like from a teacher’s perspective. She could be incredibly narrow-minded sometimes, but she was slowly working on improving her judgmental temperament. Selina studied her briefly before responding with a smirk, “I don’t know about always, but I suppose you have a fair point,” she admitted with a slightly wry tone.


    Selina glanced out the same window, not minding the silence in the slightest. She’d never been one for forced small talk, so she just took the break for what it was, though she was slightly startled when she heard Delilah speak once again. She hid her reaction with a well-practiced smile, as it wasn’t unpleasant to hear the woman talk, and let out a more genuine laugh at her question, “Sure, sure. My favorite time of year,” she teased before shrugging and leaning back in her chair, “I actually don’t mind it so much,” she admitted sincerely. “And besides, my load is light this semester so I don’t even have all that much to study for.”


    “Testing has honestly never bothered me, as I’ve always scored well. It’s just the term papers that sometimes get under my skin… Particularly when only given the week of exams to write sixteen pages,” she muttered. Selina still held a grudge against that man, and she probably always would.
 

[Delilah Kotter]

Delilah nodded at the girl as she spoke about her testing, obviously relating it to her previous life experiences.

"Yeah, I know the feeling. I usually had so-so grades throughout my grade history back when I attended Bellefonte as a student, and the Standardized Tests really didn't effect my grade, but maybe helped raise it a few points." smiled Delilah. "And I know what you mean about term papers.. I'm an awful author," continued Delilah, as the rain outside continued to pick up as the minutes passed.

She knew especially this time of year was the most difficult for students, so she tried to reduce her amount of work load on her Art students to prevent some stress, and allow them some flexible times to study for their finals and such. Contemplated in thought, slightly nodding her head to show that she was still alive and in thought after the dialogue exchange, Delilah took another drink of her coffee, and began looking at the raindrops out the window again.

She was glad that the atmosphere of the shop wasn't TOO crowded, and even happier that the place could serve to her as she had originally planned-- it was a place to help her calm down.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina smiled at Delilah and nodded, “My first language is Spanish, so writing term papers in English is just the added bonus,” she offered wryly. “I can speak English pretty well, but writing it is just so… the syntax of it is strange and the weird spellings… It’s more difficult than I’d like it to be, that’s for sure,” she finished as she took another sip of her coffee.


    This really wasn’t so bad. Selina glanced out the window again, watching the people walk by completely unaware of her. There was something… strangely comforting and interesting about seeing people when they couldn’t or wouldn’t see you. Perhaps she was more of a voyeur than she gave herself credit for, but Selina thought people watching from a coffee-shop window was relatively harmless.


    Being this relaxed around a teacher at Bellefonte felt strange to her, but she found nothing threatening about Delilah. Selina actually felt her presence was somewhat calming. The rain was also comforting to Selina. Thunderstorms had always fascinated her, and though this wasn’t a full-blown storm, the sound of the rain was still ataractic. “Do you mind if I ask where you’re from?” she asked, as many of the people at Bellefonte weren’t native to Montana.

[Delilah Kotter]

Delilah slightly widened her eyes in agreeal as Selina spoke about the difficulty of the syntax of the English language. "Let me just say, I'm glad I didn't study to be an English Teacher." joked Delilah. Despite being afraid of possibly upsetting a student whenever she kind of forced an introduction onto them, but usually students decided whether they liked her or not pretty quickly upon meeting her-- and Delilah was beginning to think that Selina may be leaning slightly more on the "liking" side already.

Some students didn't really appreciate Delilah, and thought she was trying "too hard" to be relatable, when in reality she was probably just a teenager who never grew up, but could be harsh and teacher-like when needed. Delilah was drowned in thought about this, which slightly brought down her morale, until she started to notice some changes in Selina's body language which usually meant that a student was probably starting to feel relaxed around her.

Maybe students liked her because she was kind of "optional" in a way, like they didn't HAVE to take art, but most needed a Trainer/Counselor. As she continued to think, she turned over to the student once she realized she asked her a question.

"Oh, not at all," started Delilah. "Well, i'm originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, which is a big-ish city in the South, then I came here to Montana for school, then I lived in Phoenix, Arizona for a bit... and moved back here!" replied Delilah.

"What about you? Where are you from?" asked Delilah, hoping Selina wouldn't mind either.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina smiled and nodded, “It’s one of the more complex languages I’ve studied,” she agreed. French was relatively simple and even German made more sense to her. English had way too many irregularities for her liking. Languages were fascinating, but sometimes more frustrating than she felt they were worth.


    Selina actually liked art though. It was a treasured way of passing down history and of telling stories without having to have had an extensive education. Art, music and dance were things her mom had always made sure Selina was exposed to, and Selina was grateful for it. Selina had always been more interested in the humanities, more so than in math and science, though she had actually liked the chemistry class she’d been forced to take.


    Selina nodded, for though she’d heard of these places, she’d never actually been. Though Nevada was close enough to Arizona she supposed. Selina glanced up at Delilah when she heard the question, “I’m from Santiago in Chile,” she replied. “I moved here for university, as the school in Chile was a bit less… academic in focus,” she offered. Being the dump place for the world’s delinquents was more like it, but she didn’t want to bring that up right now.

[Delilah Kotter]

"Ah." nodded Delilah, fascinated about Selina's history, or getting a glimpse of anyone's history, really. In a way, Delilah was slightly relieved that Selina hadn't asked her about why she moved around from place to place, as that was a time in her life she tried her best to leave behind-- she knew she couldn't forget it though.

Glad to be engaged in an actual conversation, Delilah looked out the window, as the storm had reached what seemed to be it's full potential. As the rain heavily hit the roof and slid down the walls and windows, Delilah realized even if she wanted to leave at this point, it would probably be safest to stay in the building-- so she might as well make the best of her time.

Delilah was fascinated in her coming from out of the country, and nodded as she spoke about Chile being a bit less academic, and kind of figured that the girl probably didn't want to dwell into her pass either.

Delilah took a long sip of her coffee, looking around the Coffee House once again, to try to think of some topics to keep a conversation going.

"I don't think I've ever asked, but I'm kind of interested in this stuff. I read it on your school report when you first came into my class but I don't really remember.. What's your power?" asked Delilah politely, taking another sip of the irresistible coffee.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina sipped her coffee and shrugged, “I can control water. Freeze it, boil it, evaporate it, that kind of thing,” she explained easily. “For instance, I can keep my coffee at just the right temperature without ever having to fear it’ll go cold,” she added with a smile. She didn’t typically use her power to warm up her drinks, but it could be useful on rainy days like today to not have to worry about cold coffee.


    The perks of being a mutant. Selina still wasn’t entirely sure whether or not she was grateful to be able to manipulate water, but it had its uses. Mutant. Such a word. Selina certainly didn’t appreciate it being applied to her in any way, but that was more because she thought it was dehumanizing. She wasn’t entirely sure what she would prefer to be called though.


    “And your power? I can be terribly forgetful sometimes,” she offered with a slightly apologetic smile. She wasn’t entirely sure she remembered ever having seen Delilah use it either. Maybe the woman hadn’t spoken of it for a reason… Selina almost wondered if Delilah would consider her rude for asking, but then surely the teacher wouldn’t have brought it up if she weren’t comfortable talking about it? Selina studied the woman before her in interest, trying to gauge her reaction.