[Action | January 27th, Morning]

[z_jay]

Food really had a way of drawing people's attention no matter what age they were. A growling stomach would be the first sound made while Eugene peeked out from the trees at this strange town. He didn't remember coming here, he didn't really even remember much of anything from a few minutes ago, a lot of it was fuzzy. But the desire to eat was real.

So he made it to this shop that smelled nice, watched as people came and went and got hot drinks. Hot drinks sounded good right now, it was too cold outside, so he made his way to the counter, ordered a drink, and went back outside with a warm mug to sit at a table.

His feet didn't quite touch the ground when he sat, but that wasn't unusual, he wasn't tall enough yet to have that luxury. In fact, someone might begin to wonder who this kid is that's arrived. His wings look familiar, black with blue tips, dark curly hair, brown eyes... drawn to food.

[OOC: Action and prose are both welcome. Eugene will likely be making his way around the town in small spurts in an effort to keep warm. Feel free to bother him

Comments

[Action]

[complicatedliar]

Loki was at the cafe, in the mood for a fancy coffee. He noticed the boy after picking up his drink; the wings were indeed familiar, and he could envision that face, perhaps a bit older.

Oh dear. Happened to someone again, had it?

He paused by the table. "Good morrow. New, aren't you?"

[Action] argh no kid icons, forgive me

[z_jay]

"... Do you mean 'good morning'?"

...First rule of being a kid, never talk to strangers-- already broken. He ignored it in favor of his curiosity.

Though this guy didn't sound like he was from around here. But here could be anywhere, and he paused for a moment to think. Where was he he had to wonder...

[complicatedliar]

"I suppose that's how you say it now." Loki laughed. "I like my way better."

[z_jay]

"It sounds old fashioned. Good tomorrow doesn't sound right, though."

Maybe this guy was really old if he spoke like that. Or maybe he was dreaming. But he eyed the mug in this man's hands and then looked at him again.

"What are you drinking?"

[complicatedliar]

"I'm rather old fashioned." He tilted the mug slightly. "Latte, I believe it's called. What are you drinking?"

[250mhzwabl]

[Jack's just coming in for a later shift when he spots the kid in the patchy crowd occupying the coffeeshop. The unattended, unfamiliar kid, sneaking furtive glances around himself whenever he has the chance.

Even as generally safe and full of good people as Luceti is, it's a worrying sight, and he strolls up as he's tying on his apron with a little smile and a furrowed brow.]

Why hello there. Can't recall seeing your face in here before.

[z_jay]

[Urk, had he been caught without his parents? He wasn't entirely sure how to proceed when everyone was a stranger, but this stranger didn't seem like he'd kidnap him...

He did smile, though, because this guy sounded different. Nice, but different.]

I haven't been here before.

[Said with all the sage knowledge of a six year old]

[250mhzwabl]

Oho, well then!

[Jack grins right back, swinging around a chair to sit on it backwards while they chat. He can start a few minutes late if it means making sure this kid is going to be ok.]

Welcome to our humble little shop. You're being helped already, I hope?

[z_jay]

I got a drink by myself.

[In fact, at home he was the one doing the pouring at the dinner table. A privilege he was proud of. Oh, wait... this guy had wings, too.]

Why does everyone have wings?

[250mhzwabl]

These? [He looks up over his shoulder, flapping one magpie-patterned limb at the boy in a graceless 'hello.'] Haven't the faintest. They're pretty though, right? What colour did you get?

action

[skaterbrain]

Beat hadn't actually ever met the guy when he was older, so he had no idea who he was now that he was a kid. What caught his attention, though, was the fact that a kid would willingly go to a coffee shop. Beat remembered his time at a coffee shop - it was boring and coffee tasted like ground up water dirt. Blegh.

Rolling to a stop in front of the kid's table, Beat raised an eyebrow and pointed. "Yo little dude, whatchu drinkin?"

action

[z_jay]

The fact he'd been noticed had him clutching his hot chocolate closer to himself, but after a second he reckoned that there wouldn't be any stealing. Maybe sharing, though.

"Hot chocolate. It's cold outside." for which he was genuinely miserable over. It had been so cold outside his wings had shivered.

action

[skaterbrain]

Oh, thank God. Beat relaxed and a grin spread across his face. "Good, 'cause coffee ain't nothin' for kids to have. It's gross as he--" He stopped, remembering he shouldn't be crass around kids. They picked stuff up quickly, after all. "It's gross as balls." There we go.

"So why ain't you got a coat if you're cold?" Because seriously, even he was wearing one and it was usually a battle to get him to wear even a shirt with sleeves at the best of times.

action

[z_jay]

"I dunno where my coat is." which seemed logical, if not inconvenient. It wasn't like he wanted to be wandering around outside like this. But he had gone looking for his parents for a bit and frozen till his nose and ears burned when he came into a warmer place.

"I woke up in the woods. Have I been kidnapped?" he hadn't wanted to ask because he'd for sure get in trouble for it, but this guy seemed like he'd be nice about it...

action

[skaterbrain]

"Well we got spares at All Passions, or there's a regular shop over that way if you don't care none for brands," he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder toward the clothing store. He didn't like seeing kids running around freezing, even if it didn't mesh with his tough guy image. No one was really around to see him doting on the little boy, so no harm no foul or fowl or whatever the saying was.

"...Uh..........." Well, that was an awkward question. Beat rubbed the back of his head and looked away and down and everywhere but the kid. "...Sort...of...? But it ain't really bad - not like they're holdin' us for money or nothin'." Actually, it was worse, but why scare a kid? "Um, the name's Beat, anyway. What 'bout you?"

[Action]

[abjurer]

Max stared down at the kid that had been Eugene. Was Eugene. Would become Eugene? Luceti, finding new and creative ways to mess with linguistics.

The kid stared back.

He was pretty composed for a kid surrounded by weirdness of this level. Or maybe kids were just like that normally. Max didn't really have much experience. And he wasn't sure why Jack had asked him to babysit.

"So uh, Eugene... did Jack feed you before he went out?"

[Action]

[z_jay]

There were enough TV shows and movies that he learned exactly how to deal with the odd and out of the ordinary. Calmly, willing to help, and maybe he'd have fun on the way. But, really, a question like that out of this guy-- he had no idea how to watch kids and even Eugene picked up on it.

He made a face at Max, sort of a very tired really? communicated via expression.

"I can feed myself, you know. I made soup. Are you hungry?"

[Action]

[abjurer]

Great, he was being parented by a seven year old. Or however old he was. "Aren't you a little young to be using the stove?" Max asked sceptically. He hadn't been allowed to use the stove when he'd been that age but admittedly, untrained magic around fire was probably not the best combination.

"No, I'm not hungry. I ate earlier."

[Action]

[z_jay]

"I'm careful, and usually I use the microwave. Jack said it was okay, I made sure to ask permission." plus, he didn't have liabilities with magic to be concerned about. He was about as average and normal as they came, not that he knew about the magic thing.

But he was trying, and Max deserved a little credit, even if Eugene could see right through to his uncomfortable feelings regarding kids. "I'm fine, thanks. I'm bored, though. Let's do something."

[Action]

[abjurer]

"Oh well, if Jack said it was okay..." Max said, still sounding a little wary. He was sure that there was plenty of chaos that could be caused with a microwave. Especially by a smart kid.

He didn't seem ready to blow things up with cooking right there and then at least. "Oh sure! What do you want to do? I think we have video games somewhere?" Which were about twenty years better than anything he had at home from what he'd gathered. "Or I could teach you some magic. Or there's books and stuff."

[action]

[antivanleather]

Adjusting to a younger Eugene is something...new. But. While it is not the Eugene he knows and adores it is still, in essence, Eugene. One he cares for and while he doesn't have much of a lens as to what is and isn't appropriate ('I don't care WHAT they do in your country, Zev, YOU DO NOT give children KNIVES!') he is learning. Slowly.

What does seem appropriate enough is preparing the boy a gift of drinking chocolate- ('NO BRANDY!') and doting on him in a somewhat restrained and distant way. To say he isn't charmed by the boy would be lying. He is. Thoroughly. Kitchen full of the warm aroma of melted chocolate and roasted cinnamon, Zev whips away at the stove. It's not as showy as his usual method, but it's safer. He's afraid of what Jack might yell if he sees him preparing this normally. "Vanilla as well, Eugene?"

[action]

[z_jay]

A nod was Zev's answer, and Eugene was studiously checking out the ingredients and their preparation, having developed his interest in food from a very young age. The roasted cinnamon was the most fun according to him, and he took in a deep breath through his nose to appreciate the smell of it.

"Where did you learn to make this?" there was nothing but genuine curiosity in his question, and it wouldn't be far off to notice it wasn't different at all from that same genuine curiosity he has when he's older. "I've never seen cinnamon in sticks before, just the powder."

More than just his curiosity for food, Eugene couldn't help but watch Zev move, see his focus, the dexterity of his hands and the grace. He understood jealousy, but currently he was to enamored to bother with being jealous of Zevran's skill. And he had weird ears, too.

[action]

[antivanleather]

"In the kitchens of a noble lord where I was employed for some time." No need to bring up the assassin portion of his life, not to little Eugene. While the adult version did not mind so much and accepted it easily- children seemed to ever have a stronger sense of morality. Bad men were bad, good men were good. He would rather not be made into a bad man.

Hands quick and agile slice and scrape the seeds from a vanilla bean, rather than the extract that Jack used on occasion, and he added that to the pot as well. "And where did you think the powder came from?"

[action]

[z_jay]

"I thought it came as a powder," having no context of how else cinnamon was procured, he had been positive that cinnamon was always a powder, sweetened with sugar. The short, brown sticks Zevran had produced made him curious if he was so much like an elf that he ate twigs.

Elves loved nature and all, they hardly ever spent time with humans, at least, according to all the lore he knew of them. So Zevran was, needless to say, odd. But a good odd.

"It smells good already." he stood on tiptoe, eyes focused and following Zevran's hands. "You worked for a king?"

[action]

[antivanleather]

"The powder comes from the sticks once they have been ground finely." He takes a spare stick and sets it in a mortor and pestle, grinding down bit by bit to show him. They needed more ground cinnimon as it was. "See? But when you wish to make tea or steep the flavor in milk or chocolate, you should use the stick. It steeps like a tea might."

It's a little strange sharing this with a young Eugene, but it's a good kind of strange. "I helped put a king on the throne- but it was not that king I worked for, not at the time."