Coffee. Need. Now.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Rich, warm, comforting and satisfying coffee. There was hardly anything better than a good cup of strong coffee. Perhaps sex, maybe even some good foreplay, but even that didn't make her feel quite as comforted as a caramel macchiato from Cool Beans after an early morning of photo shoots. Adrianna's hair was still twisted into a knot and pulled back from her face as it had been for the photoshoot, though she had lucked out on her makeup being natural looking rather than caked on in thick layers. Not that she minded a lot of makeup, it was always kind of fun to see what the artists could come up with.

As Adrianna stood in line, her PINK pullover sleeves pushed up to the elbows, she took a few glances around. Coffee shops were always good places to meet new people. It was like Central Perks in Friends. All of the gang met up there and somehow managed to find someone attractive to hook up with or even run into some old friends from way back when. Coffee shops were the epitome of socializing, and people were generally more friendly once they had their coffee, Adrian falling into that category. 

She was next in line and the barista greeted her by name and with a wide smile. That was what happened when she came in every single day and pretty much the whole crew of Cool Beans knew her exact order, "The usual?" The girl asked Adrian once she approached the counter. Adrianna nodded and they got to work on her drink and warming up her blueberry scone. After paying and thanking the workers, she sought out her usual spot by the window, which was luckily empty as per usual. As she headed towards her spot, someone pushed back her chair right into her, causing her to almost trip and lose both her coffee and her scone.

"Whew. That was way close to being a complete disaster," She said mostly to herself, before she looked up at the person who had backed into her, debating on what she could even say in this situation.

[Blue Gyhardt]

Blue might have worked at another cafe, but that didn’t mean she had to go there on her downtime. If she was gonna walk in there, it might as well be for work - or else a depressing amount of her lifespan would be spent in that little shop. She had nightmares, sometimes. Not terrifying ones, just dreams where she found herself with her barista apron on, again, staring at lines of customers. Blue had to suppress a preemptive shudder just thinking about it.

But starting today, she had two days off. Most of it would be dedicated to studying, something she found much preferable to work. The repetitive nature of it put her mind at ease. She’d been at the cafe for well over an hour before she made up her mind to go on home.

She might nap. She might go feline and nap. There was nothing like sunbathing as a cat; there was a reason why they did it so much. As a cat, Blue could get comfortable on any surface, in any way, curl up, doze off, far above the street where she could watch, and be safe…

The resulting bump startled her out of her daydreams. She’d sent her chair directly into someone’s shin - by complete accident, of course - causing her scone to topple gently on its plate. Blue couldn’t recall ever seeing this stranger before, but that was to be expected. “I’m sorry,” she said, quickly, the first thing to come to mind. “I didn’t see you there. Didn’t spill anything, did I? I can pay.”

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Adrianna probably would have been more upset if her coffee and scone had fallen to the floor, but by some miracle, she kept a firm enough grasp on the two to save them. Her whole body relaxed as she took a deep breath and decided not to go total bitch fit over something small. Of course, she probably would have just chalked it up to a bad day even if she had lost it all. Wouldn't be the first time, especially with the smoothness of her own motions...not. For a dancer and model, she was clumsy as hell any other time in her life.

"Oh hey, no dude. We're good. Not even a drip or crumb lost! Totally happens all the time," She waved dismissively and gave a short laugh. Giving the girl a once over, she decided that she didn't recognize her. She couldn't have been that much off as far as age went, so for Adrian not to know her, it was a little odd. Adrianna knew practically everyone, what their ability was, how it worked, all of the side effects that could become a nuisance if she decided to mimic the ability for any particular reason. Of course she could see the aura around this girl. She was a shifter, specified in felines, something Adrian had come across a time or two, but had never mimicked. She wasn't much of a cat person, definitely preferring dogs. Cassidy was the cat person.

After her assessment of the girl, she figured she should probably not be awkward and actually say something more than just the little small talk chatter she'd offered. "So you went to BA yeah? I mean I'm assuming since your a mutant and whatever," She said it quiet enough to not draw too much attention, still weary of most 'normal' people. It was sort of personal and probably odd since this girl probably had no idea who Adrian was either. "I'm one, just for the record. Mimic and sensor, that's how I know."

[Blue Gyhardt]

Blue looked at her oddly for a moment, her head slightly tilted. Nobody had just guessed that, right off the bat. She wasn’t even accustomed to telling people. Slowly, though, Adrianna’s insight began to make more sense…she’d heard of stranger powers, at least. She smiled.

“I prefer the term ‘gifted’,” she laughed, then extended a hand. “I’m Blue.”

It was more common for Blue not to recognize fellow students of Bellefonte. She had mostly stuck to herself, only encountering a few of her friends each day, insulating herself in the same crowd. Nowadays she hardly spoke to even those. That was fine with her. Blue was the sort who very rarely got lonely.
She wasn’t sure what the criteria was when one mutant met another; she supposed it was like meeting someone from the same weird club you were in. Blue had always been interested in other people’s powers. When she was younger, she kept a notebook full of names and their corresponding abilities. Kind of weird, now, when she thought about it.

“I’ve never met someone who just knew like that,” she went on. “Must be useful. You still go there?”

Adrianna looked about her age, but she could never tell anymore. She glanced down to slide the offending chair back under the table, hoping she wasn’t keeping her from her coffee. As a cat, she thought, she should have handled the situation with a little more grace than that. How clumsy she was in this state.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Gifted, that was a new one. Adrianna had heard every term in the book for what they were called. Freak, mutant, meta, superhuman, but she hardly ever would have thought of gifted would be a way to look at it. She supposed to some it would seem that way, but she'd seen her fair share of people that thought quite the opposite. People who's side effects were like a personal hell to be locked into. Of course, she hardly ever had to deal with truly awful side effects due to her intensive studying of each branch of ability, she knew them inside out.

"Adrianna, but typically I go by Adrian," She balanced her coffee and scone in one hand and shook with the other. The girl's awe at how she'd just known without much effort made Adrianna smirk. She did find it pretty awesome, although the whole aura thing still threw her off. Especially in a place where so many normal people lingered. At work and at her school she hardly ever saw many auras, but when she stayed on campus with her sister, it was like she was looking through 3D glasses, but with so many different colors, it gave her a headache, even if they were dull, faded colors.

Adrian shrugged, "It certainly does have its perks of course, but there are downfalls to every ability. I don't go to BA anymore, I'm actually going to the community college nearby. My twin sister goes there still though. You might know her. At least, if you ever find yourself in the library since she's kinda always there, but yeah." The way she talked sometimes was off-putting to people, if she wasn't rambling, she was filterless and said something horribly offensive.

"How long have you been there? I'm sure we had a class or two together at some point!"

[Blue Gyhardt]

“Me, too,” Blue said, grinning. “Chemistry major, pharmaceutical - stuff.”

There was a chance they had a class or two together. The Bellefonte student base wasn’t all that large - being a mutant was still a fairly rare thing. She thought she would have remembered someone so pretty, though, and so outgoing. “Maybe,” she said. “I spent a lot of time in my head.” There were a lot of things she didn’t remember about high school, not the least of which were faces and names.

“A twin sister!” she said, perking up. She’d only met a few sparse pairs, and only distantly. They’d always interested her. The closest bond any human could have, she remembered reading on some article, somewhere. If she and Nea were twins, maybe they’d understand each other better. Her little sister might actually start cleaning up after herself. “I have one, too. Oh, but she’s normal. And - not a twin, actually. Anyways,” she said, biting her lip. “You come around here often?”

If so, Blue might be seeing her around. She frequented this place each day after class.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

"Sometimes, I wish that I had done that," Adrianna laughed. She didn't remember details of her time at BA, but not for the reason of this other woman. She had been either really really drunk or nursing a hangover that left her with a terrible headache. The only things she remembered from her time in Bellefonte was that she'd been well-liked by many (mostly guys) and she had channeled much of her love for dancing there. On occasion she could remember mornings waking up to Cassie reading and even a face or two that she'd slept with. That was rare though, she didn't do sleepovers like that.

Adrianna smiled at the other girl's excitement when she mentioned Cassidy. It was pretty amazing having a twin, and Adrian knew the two of them often took it for granted. She just had trouble thinking of what it would be like without her second half. They'd been inseparable since birth, not because their parents forced them into the same exact clothes and they didn't do the whole same letter first name thing. They just clicked, meshed together by their differences. "That's cool though! I can't imagine being an only child, it's just weird and probably like really seriously lonely."

The question had Adrian nodding enthusiastically, "Every day practically. Especially when I've got an early morning at work. Coffee is supplied, but God it's awful. I'm a macchiato girl all the way, but they like their coffee watered down and decaf. Gross." She laughed and shrugged. It also helped that this place had killer scones and bagels and pretty much everything under the sun whether she was feeling like a health nut or being horribly bad and ready to work her ass off to burn the rest of the calories. "How about you? You a regular here? It's pretty fantastic."

[Blue Gyhardt]

She had to consider. “Well, the people who work here kinda know me. Sometimes they ask if I want ‘the usual’. Guess I must be a regular,” she replied. “That is, I’m here once a week, at least.” Usually while she was studying for class.

She pushed her chair back in. “Maybe I’ll see you around.” She wondered if that came out alright; she was always second guessing how she said things, whether they were too forward, or not forward enough, or too fast or too slow. She was sure she was doing her ‘weird face’, as her sister called it, which Blue always thought to be a smile, if a little too tight. It was what she did around strangers, sometimes.

“I like cappuccinos, for the record,” she said, then quickly added: “Just kidding.” - Though she wouldn’t be adverse to buying Adrianna something once in a while, just for the company.