Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures

[sparklequeen]

WHO: Ellie and Glimmer
WHERE: Magpie Coffee & Teas/Ellie's apartment
WHEN: July 11th/July 16th
WHAT: Just two friends getting tea/Just two friends having dinner
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Discussion and mem-share of past traumas.

[ The flurry of new arrivals and existing Displaced heading off to New Beijing has calmed down a little, hopefully giving Ellie time to get settled and for Glimmer to figure out a good time for them to go. It's one of her days off and with warm summer weather she opts for a flowing skirt matched with a short-sleeved crop, matching purple and cyan in what might seem too loud a color combination on anyone but the pink-haired young woman.

She's early, of course. For one thing she knows where she's going. For another, she's got nerves going about this visit. Which is weird. That's weird, right? She's just showing a new friend a place to get something nice to drink, maybe making some conversation about where they both come from and how things are going here in New Amsterdam. No big deal. She's done it plenty of times with other friends. So why nervous? She's hovering outside the entrance of the shop, occasionally checking her comm in between fretfully toying with the silver-toned bangles on one wrist. When she finally spots Ellie, she straightens to stand on her tip-toes a little, just to make sure she can be seen, and waves. ]

Hey! Ellie! Over here!

Comments

[notathreat]

[It's been a strange week, but ultimately about as good as can be expected. Shit's going down on the network, which Ellie has stayed well clear of, largely wary of the whole situation. Keeping her mouth shut for the time being has seemed like the smartest thing she could be doing right now, considering how little she actually knows.

Instead she's been putting her energy into learning the city and the other Displaced, and... it's going well. So much better than she would have thought.

Ellie shows up looking just a little tired, but with a smile on her face. This time, her clothes fit her a little bit better. Though there's a knit beanie covering her fuzzy lack of hair, she has a pair of jeans that almost fit, some castoff boots, and a pale-colored henly that shows off the tattoo that covers her right arm from wrist to elbow. She looks almost like she meant to dress like that and didn't fall backwards into some stranger's garage sale and just wear whatever she landed on.

Ellie gives Glimmer a smile as soon as she spots her, her eyes widening as she heads up, her hands in her pockets.]

Wow, you look... really, really nice.

[sparklequeen]

[ Glimmer grind at Ellie, reaches back to awkwardly try to adjust the short pink hair that's still not quite long enough to style. At least it's kind of fluffy again? Ellie's compliment draws a laugh and a small blush. ]

...I guess? I just... Threw on some stuff I had.

[ And stared at a mirror for twenty minutes but shhhh. ]

You look good! C'mon, let's go...

[ She turns and leads the way inside. The young man behind the counter waves and greets Glimmer by name and there's a brief chat before Glimmer's attention can return to Ellie. Its a sleek, comfortable little shop. Cozy by New Amsterdam standards, though it likely comes off as futuristic and streamlined, with tables build into the walls and simple chairs. Glimmer gestures toward the menu. ]

Take your pick! I'm going to have the orange blossom blend.

[notathreat]

If this is you throwing stuff on, court must've been wild.

[Ellie presses her lips together, though, thinking back to Cat -- by far the best "fashion" sense of any of them, mainly because she made a ton of things on her own. Clothes and accessories weren't high on the list of things that Ellie was interested in, but she could appreciate them on someone else.

Ellie automatically opens the door for Glimmer, her left hand still casually in her pocket while she looks around the small, cozy shop. It smells good in here, herbal in a way that makes her almost hungry, wakes her up.

She looks over the menu, looking for anything that sounds familiar, and doesn't find much. Pine needle tea might've filled many no-dinner night on the road, but it's not putting on an appearance here.]

Oh... ah, wow, that dandelion one looks good. Cinnamon and lemon?

[Ellie straightens up, a little awkward.]

Didn't know they made stuff like this.

[sparklequeen]

It was pretty fancy.

[ Glimmer admits that with a laugh. She misses her old clothes, sort of. They were comfortable. They were familiar. These are fine, really. Just... a little odd as far as she was concerned. She smiles over at Ellie seems to struggle with the variety. ]

Ah... what sort of flavors do you like? I can suggest something if you want!

[notathreat]

[Ellie tries to picture Glimmer in a long ballgown, in jewels and a tiara. It comes pretty easily... but she can't picture her out in the woods, climbing through abandoned subway stations with a gun. Just the thought makes her anxious.

Ellie drags her attention back to the selection in front of them.]

Uh, something herbal. Mint teas? Or ginger?

[Those are familiar, but she's curious to try whatever else they've added to even the old standbys.]

[sparklequeen]

[ Mint or ginger. Hm. That doesn't narrow it down a whole lot, but she can figure something out with that! Glimmer plants a hand on one hip and peers at the menu, lost in thought for a moment. ]

There are a couple mint varieties that we have right now, since you know, summer and all. The iced apple mint is super popular right now, pairs up really nicely with the marmalade muffins. We also have this a nice lemon mint and a rosehip mint blends that are both really good iced or brewed.

[ She's dropped into a sort of charming customer service voice, probably out of habit. Sure, she's only been working here a month and a half but she seems to be adapting pretty well. ]

[notathreat]

Okay, one, the iced apple mint sounds awesome right now, so I'd like that, and two:

[Ellie leans in and gives her wide eyes.]

That was super fucking creepy and please don't do that again.

[sparklequeen]

[ Glimmer breaks into a giggle, part nerves, part embarrassment, part genuine amusement at Ellie's reaction. ]

Sorry! Sorry. Problem with going out somewhere you work, I guess. I promise I won't do that to you again. Wanna grab a seat while I order?

[ That said, she turns to get in line for the register, though she does pause to glance back at Ellie, as if ensuring she hasn't scared the other girl off. ]

[notathreat]

[Ellie breaks into a smile as Glimmer laughs, something settling in her heart. It's okay. She'll let herself have this.]

I'm just giving you shit.

[She says it reassuringly, and gives a nod, heading over to find them a table that'll be a little bit out of the way. She's finding that in public, people rarely stare at strangers or make much of them, so she's getting a little bolder, but she still feels much better with her back against the wall and something sharp in her pocket.]

[sparklequeen]

I know, I know!

[ Glimmer orders up some tea as well as something to share in the way of food. Then she follows after Ellie to plop down at the table, drinks in hand. She slides the apple mint over towards Ellie and settles down with own orange blossom blend in front of her. ]

I ordered something to snack on too.

[ Glimmer is all smiles. She's in a great mood today and this outing only seems to cement it in place. ]

So, uh, how are you settling in? I know it can be hard.

[notathreat]

[Did she though? Ellie shakes her head, slightly.

Both of the teas smell incredible, and Ellie reaches out to slide her cup a little closer. She looks a little better than the last time Glimmer saw her, despite being a tiny touch tired.]

Thanks, forgot breakfast.

[Glimmer's smiles are infectious, and Ellie relaxes marginally, settling the fingertips of her good hand on her teacup and breathing it in.]

Actually... yeah. I got my ID together last night, decided to check out the city without an escort this time now that I can get through doors.

[Just casually admitting that you've been aided and abetted in sneaking out of the safehouse, Ellie, NBD.]

I checked out one of the nearby bars, and... accidentally ended up with a job?

[sparklequeen]

Nice! When I showed up they had this like, safehouse or whatever. But it was really just some basement underneath a warehouse and they made us stay there the whole time they were getting us our IDs. You're lucky you got to go out.

[ Glimmer is 100% supportive of sneaking out, thankfully. She picks up her cup of tea and sips at it, then smiles up at one of the employees as food arrives. Set in the middle of the table is a plate of tiny spring rolls, vegetables and probably tofu wrapped in thin rice flour packaging. They're accompanied by peanut dipping sauce. And of course, chopsticks, which Glimmer takes up without much care. ]

A job? Doing what?

[ She casually picks up one of the rolls, dips it into the accompanying sauce and takes a bite as she waits for Ellie to answer. ]

[notathreat]

Ehh, I didn't. Exactly ask.

[But if you don't ask then nobody has a chance to tell you no. Ellie looks curiously at the rolls, and immediately abandons the chopsticks as a lost cause, instead reaching out to pick up a roll with her fingers and dip it lightly in the sauce.

It's good. Really, really good, even if she's not used to the flavor or textures, and she eats the whole roll before answering. (Thankfully, she eats fast. Habit.)]

Security, actually. A couple of the dudes there were being dicks, and I handled it. The owner was ready to throw me out too, but one of the girls on bar told her what happened, and she offered me a job.

[Ellie might be skating over a lot of it.]

First time getting into a fistfight has actually worked out.

[notathreat]

[Ellie sits in her tiny shoebox of an apartment, waiting for Glimmer. It came fully furnished, simple but comfortable, down to the linens on the tiny double bed that's tucked into the corner of one of the two rooms total. The entire studio apartment probably smaller than the garage she had back in Jackson, and the window outside is so much higher, but it's much, much better equipped than anything she's ever had before.

There are housewarming gifts -- a bouquet of marigolds from Rosalie, the girl at the bar working the early shift, and a teakettle from Ruth, Ellie's boss and a goddamn saint of a woman. In the past week she's given her much more than a job; she's found her a place to stay, referred her to a doctor to see about her fingers. Ellie still doesn't know how to take kindness, but she's been in need of it.

An alert comes through on her implant that makes her jump slightly- she'll never get used to the notification. Someone at the door needing to be buzzed in. Ellie buzzes Glimmer through, then gets to her feet, wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans.

She's found sneakers now -- they're not quite the chucks she's so fond of, but they're similar enough in design for her to like them, and they look pretty good paired with the simple dark racerback top. It's still a little too big for her, but it's much cooler, and it's not like Glimmer will care about all the scars showing.

Ellie heads over to the door, pulls it open.]

Hey, c'mon in.

[sparklequeen]

Hey!

[ Glimmer beams at Ellie from her spot in the door way. She'd stopped briefly on the way to pick up dinner--a pair of noodle bowls topped with pickled veggies and a thick 'meaty' mixture assembled from a few other ingredients, along with a spicy sauce. She's still dressed for work in sensible high-waisted trousers in a neutral dark gray, and short-sleeved blouse (pale blue) fastened in the front with buttons. She scoots passed Ellie and deposits dinner on the table before turning back towards Ellie. ]

This place is great! It's so cozy.

[ She looks over Ellie, as if appraising how she's been in the most-of-a-week it's been since Glimmer last saw her. ]

Seems like you're settling in.

[ She gestures back towards the table. ]

C'mon, let's eat. I'm starving. Plus I can fill you in on this surprise.

[notathreat]

Thanks -- holy shit, that smells so good.

[Ellie makes a low noise, locks back up and follows her. The table itself is what would be a coffee table if there were any coffee still accessible, tucked into the corner in front of an overstuffed but comfortable loveseat that Ellie's thrown a blanket across in order to make it look a little more homey.

Ellie slides in first, crossing her legs and reaching for one of the packages to open it up, but she looks up at Glimmer, eyes wide as she takes out her eating utensils -- thank goodness there's a fork.]

Okay, tell me what's up.

[The long-suffering attitude Ellie tries to exude is overshadowed by her curiosity.]

[sparklequeen]

Right? There's this stall outside the station closest to my apartment and they do the best noodles.

[ Glimmer breaks out her own utensils and goes for the chopsticks. The noodles and toppings are given a quick stir and she digs in, slurping up a mouthful of noodles before she answers Ellie. ]

Oh, yeah. This customer came through the other day, and apparently she works at the observatory. I was talking to her about it and she said I should check out this VR program that they've done work on. It's called Stellarium?

[ There's a moment where Glimmer has to think about how to send the link, and then it pops over to Ellie's implant. The little blurb about it calls it 'A premier, free-of-cost educational VR experience' and boasts that the New Amsterdam Observatory, among other institutions, have contributed. "Features include: simulated shuttle launch, a tour of the solar system and the colonies, as well as views of the stars from various points on Earth's surface, overview of humankind's history in space, and much more." It goes on like that. It's an expansive astronomy museum in a neat little VR package. Glimmer takes another bite of her food. ]

...Um. You seemed really interested in space so. I thought maybe you'd like it?

[notathreat]

[Ellie follows Glimmer's lead; getting her appetite back has actually been one of the best things about New Amsterdam, and she's doing better at it every day. The flavor of the noodles is a little nutty, a little spicy, a little pickled and sweet and rich and so, so good.

Ellie manages to swallow one bite before Glimmer launches into what she found, and Ellie opens the file, glancing over it -- and feels her heart tick to a stop, feels short of breath.

It's so, so perfect, and Ellie loves it. She loves it more than words can say.

But the memories are like a fist to the face, and Ellie painfully swallows the noodles, blinking fast to keep back the threat of tears.

Hey. Welcome to Earth.]

Y-Yeah, I'd really-

I'd really like that.

[sparklequeen]

[ Glimmer smiles around a mouthful of dinner. There's a brief moment of hesitation and uncertainty when she realizes that Ellie is fighting back tears, despite the admission that this something that she'd like. Glimmer hesitates, unsure of what to do for a moment. ]

Sorry. I... Are you okay, Ellie?

[notathreat]

[Ellie reaches up to cover her mouth, still fighting back the tears. It's sudden, and it's stupid, it's so fucking stupid, but she misses him. She misses him so much, and she was so utterly unprepared for it to hit like this.]

Yeah. Yeah, I just-

[Ellie sets her box down, reaches up with the heel of her hand to swipe the tears from her eyes. Presses her lips together and just breathes.]

... fuck. Sorry.

[sparklequeen]

[ Glimmer wants to comfort Ellie. Wants to reach and touch her, ask her what's wrong. Of course... with displaced, it's so much different. It's not that simple.

Fortunately, Glimmer has a tool that can make it simpler. She dives into her bag and emerges a moment later with the scarf of all things. The thin, gauzy, summery thing that she had bought after the embrace in that little shop. She flicks it over Ellie's shoulders in a hurried motion and a moment after her hand settles to rub in small circles. ]

Hey, it's okay. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. Take a few breaths.

[ She frowns. ]

Do you want to talk about it? Or is this, like... one of those "it's not that I don't want to tell you, but this would suck to talk about right now" things?

[notathreat]

[It seems so... utterly impossible to explain, and that more than anything is what leaves her unable to open her mouth, to even begin. She doesn't want to subject Glimmer to any of it-

And while she's trying to mentally claw her way out of this pit, Glimmer cuts through it, and the cool, silky scarf flutters down over her, over her head and shoulders, back and arms, not quite cutting out the world but bathing it in a layer of twilight, with Glimmer's hand, warm on her back.

It brings her up from it, snaps her out of it, even if she still feels short of breath. She takes a few deep ones. Slow.

... it wasn't an attack. It wasn't anything close to the barn, or to the episode she'd had while out hunting, or any of the dozens of times before that. Maybe it's because Glimmer was right here to catch her, to head it off. Maybe this is how most people experience grief.

Ellie takes a few more deep breaths. Her skin... tingles, but doesn't hurt. She looks up at Glimmer and wishes she could just... bypass the telling, and just-

Fuck. She actually can.]

... might be easier to show you.

[sparklequeen]

[ Glimmer is sitting there, concerned and worried. Frightened that by trying to do something kind she has in actuality been cruel. She swallows. Seems taken aback by the suggestion, but slowly, she nods. She doesn't know what else to do. This is a big step of trust. Of intimacy. It feels big in a way that she cannot quite quantify. ]

I'm okay with that. If you're sure.

[ She swallows again, food forgotten in the moment. ]

Just. You might get some stuff back from me, okay?

[ She offers out a hand, waiting for Ellie to be the one to feel comfortable and initiate this. She doesn't want to rush or nudge or try and force her friend into this. ]

[notathreat]

[Dina had pressed her so much, so often, just to talk about Joel. Like "getting it out" would help, like he was some kind of food poisoning to purge from her system. Ellie's -- afraid, yes, but... it's more than that, now.

The grief is there, yes -- but a part of her hungers for her memories of him, even if they cause her pain. She's not in a place where she can find the words to tell Glimmer what happened, or why, and especially not how.

But she doesn't need to do that, to make her understand.]

S'fine with me.

[Ellie's voice is a little bit hoarse. She reaches up, pulls the scarf from her head, lets it trickle down to fall weightlessly into her lap, so soft it catches on the roughness of her fingers. She turns her hand palm-up in her lap, and as Glimmer's hand touches hers, Ellie encapsulates the memory, pops it like a bubble.

It flows through them along with that blue glow.

The memory is an impossibly happy one. An overgrown museum, a run-down shuttle capsule in a space exhibit, a museum frozen in time. A ruin now, but still something able to be explored. Ellie herself a good several inches shorter, her voice higher and sweeter, softer. Younger. Excited and so perfectly happy as she climbs inside, and an older man with a hard face and warm brown eyes, sliding in next to her.

His voice as he speaks is obvious in how he loves her, his fingertips on her arm utterly paternal, despite the fact that he and Ellie look nothing alike. Close your eyes.

The cassette tape of shuttle launch is rapturously beautiful, rendered fully ethereal in Ellie's memories, enshrining the simple tape played over her earphones into something beyond measure.

She comes back to Earth with Joel watching her, his dark eyes on her face, his heart in them.

I do okay? he whispers, and that mirrored love bubbles up in Ellie's chest, a warmth and loyalty and devotion and protectiveness and he is so obviously everything to her. Ellie's are you fucking kidding me is cracking at the edges, the smile hurting her cheeks, and when the laughter takes them both, it fills them to bursting.

Ellie slides out of the pod, all gangly legs and smaller, softer hands, thin wrists, to find Joel waiting there for her, holding a lovingly shined metal-and-enamel pin that looks like a rocket ship.

Hey, he says, his voice soft. Welcome to Earth.

The memory dissolves like sea foam, leaving the afterglow of that warmth- and the awful aftertaste of grief. Guilt. Horror.

Ellie slides her hand away before it can climb to a fever pitch.]

[sparklequeen]

[ Glimmer takes a breath and does her best to clear her mind before Ellie reaches out to touch her hand. She's only done this a few times before and each time has been its own experience. There's a low sound from her as the new memory washes over her. It doesn't, perhaps, take as much time in the physical realm for her to experience it as it had for Ellie. It is only a memory, the strongest and most memorable impressions of a thing that has passed, filtered through emotions and bias and experience.

It is an experience, a new memory that is not hers and yet will now be forever imprinted onto the neurons of her brain. A piece of Ellie's world. Overgrown ruins that put her in mind of what remained of the First Ones and there is a flash of her own memory of overgrown ruins across their link. A lingering sense of awe towards a bygone age as her mind forges the connection. More importantly, the emotions. The love. The joy. It's enough to bring tears to her eyes as she finds herself almost overwhelmed by it all. The bitter tang of guilt and grief mingling with all that joy.

Glimmer is crying, tears streaking silently down her cheeks. There is insight here, terrible and wonderful. She only ever knew her mother, but this man had to have been Ellie's father, she thinks and the distressingly familiar emotions around her own mother threaten to surge back across between them. Images of an angelic woman, tall and slender and regal. The bitterness of a final argument, the frustration, the desire to prove her wrong. The sweet joys of cooking together, of shared laughter, warm embraces, the trust placed in her to lead their people against overwhelming odds, a final message--

Glimmer pulls back at almost the same moment Ellie does, unwilling to subject her friend to the inner workings of her own grief, as much as she has done to process it in the year or more since her mother died. She knows those feelings from Ellie intimately, though they are not her own. ]

Ellie--

[ Glimmer grabs awkwardly at the scarf and pulls it up again in a hurried motion. She throws her arms around the other woman and pulls her close, fingers tight, pressing hard enough to hard through the sheer fabric of the scarf. Her first instinct is to comfort, though not to apologize for the gift of the VR package because she can sense that it is welcomed. No, the apology is because Ellie, too, has suffered such a loss and knows the feelings that come with it. She hates that her friend has had to endure it, apparently alone. ]

I'm so sorry.