Starring:
Summary: The trio discuss literature, multitasking, and the different paths out of social awkwardness. In the spirit of Noodle Heaven, there is no coffee involved.
Date It Happened: January 20, 2008
I See You Shiver
Common Grounds, Midtown
For someone who doesn't drink a whole lot of caffiene for reasons Rochelle would be happy to explain, Leah spends an awful lot of time in coffee shops. After all, it's a place she can sit and type other than home. Her laptop is out tonight, and she's typing away rapidly at it. She's taken up a good part of a table with a stack of notebooks and a cup of tea (not coffee for her) beside the laptop. Common grounds is busy, but then, that's pretty well it's normal state.
Kory bustles in, bags hanging off her arms like it's a month earlier. She asks hopefully after a certain type of tea, and is told they don't carry it. So she asks for something caffeine free and soothing. She seems a lot more composed than she's been lately; only the eyes give away that there are stll uneases roiling under that mass of curls. She thanks the barista for the tea, tosses a dollar in the tip jar, and adds some raw sugar to the tea. She finds a table and stirs absently, staring off into the distance.
And shortly behind Kory is George, unencumbered save for a cell phone, though that can be burden enough at times. Like now. "Hello? … Whoa, slow down. I sent that to you literally two minutes after the last time you called— you didn't get it?" Leaning wrist against shoulder, he shuffles forward and glances over the selections, with the familiar distracted look of someone who doesn't have full attention devoted to any one thing.
Leah blinks up from her writing to stretch and grab a notebook. In that movement she spots Kory, and the woman gets a bright smile. Good thing her table ended up close by so Leah doesn't have to call all the way across the room. "Kory! Comic lady! It's good to see you!" Yes, it's all very excited. Maybe she didn't actually end up with the decaf.
Kory glances up, and smiles. "Leah! Wolf lady! It's good to see you too," she responds, giving the woman a saucy little wink. "How were your holidays?" She lifts the cardboard teacup in a casual toast to the other woman. She doesn't make mention of it, but she's grateful the author is alone and her hulking cousin isn't present.
"Okay, that should take care of it. Yeah." George finally escapes the phone call, then looks over and waves as well. Hey, he knows those names. And they're not asking him for stuff, bonus! He doesn't speak up right away, though, waiting for the first round of intros to settle down first.
Leah doesn't seem to notice George for now. Her attention is torn between flipping through the notebook she's holding and grinning to Kory. "They were good! I got /really/ drunk on New Years." Which George likely remembers. "How were yours?" She asks, taking a sip from her tea as she finds the right page. "Ah. That's what I needed." She turns back to erase something and change it on the screen.
"Mine were great, too. The Lair's party was its usual success. Got to donate some leftovers to the homeless. that sort of thing. New Year's Eve started of completely hectic, but ended …nicely. Quiet and peaceful." She has a sip of tea. "New year's been busy, but busy is good. Lots of stuff on my plate this year. Good to keep me occupied and out of trouble." Bit late for that, really, but keeping an optimistic outlook makes for a good resolution, doesn't it?
George remembers… some of New Year's, yeah. Enough of it. "Oh, I don't know," he offers to Leah, after settling on a Coke and a ham sandwich, "you managed to stay on your feet the whole time. More than could be said for some people."
Leah blinks over and gives George a big grin. Look! It's New Year's Eve guy! "I did. But mostly thanks to you. Having someone to hold onto when you start to fall is good for staying upright." She insists before Kory gets a smile. "Good! Good busy is nice. Right now I'm working on a short story for a collection before I start the fourth book. Book three, Wolfsbane, is in for another round of editting. Hopefully I'll look over one last copy and then they'll start to print!"
"Ooooh, what do I have to bribe you with for a peep at it before it publishes?" Kory asks. "I read the first two books on the train home over the weekend. They were great - very compelling and better than whatserface's. Collins." She glances to George, and has the good grace to brush. "good to see you without some catastrophe or other unfolding." It seemed for a while anytime George was around, something crazy was happening.
George nods to Kory as he looks for a place to settle down and wait. "Yeah, things have— well, there's still things going on, but they're a little more low-key than large-scale property damage." Crazy indeed. "What did you say the first one was called, again? I should give it a look-see, just need to make some time."
Leah beams over to Kory. "I'm glad you liked them! It's always good to hear nice things about my work. I usually get a few advanced copies before the book comes out. I could angle one your way." She offers before giggling over to George. "Moonlight is the first one. I'm glad there's not much property damage now. That doesn't sound like much fun at all." There's a bit of the usual ditziness to her voice as she talks.
Kory has another sip of tea. "I can't wait, hon. I usually don't read series that are that short for just that reason. The wait is murder!" Kory laughs, and glances over at George. "Yeah, you look like you could use some downtime." She gets up and joins Leah, uninvited. The table seems large enough, and this way they needn't disrupt the rest of the Grounds crowd. "Did you ever find anything in the Lair? I have been out of the loop a teen bit of late."
George is sitting down somewhere nearby, but at a polite distance, not quite so forward as Kory. "People used to put out stories like that a chapter at a time, magazine deals— I never could decide whether that would be better or worse." Swapping the cell phone for a notepad, he scrawls down a couple of quick marks and then puts it away again. "And yeah, it wasn't fun, but fortunately /somebody/ was crazy enough to go in and haul out groggy bodies. Almost makes it worth it."
Leah has no idea what they're talking about so she'll just giggle and talk about what she knows. After all, it's not a horrible thing for people to underestimate her, right? "Well, someday it'll be longer! I've got enough ideas for at least three more books. I think I'll get a contract for them, too. So long as this books sells well. I think a chapter at a time would be hard as an author. At least unless you'd completed the book beforehand. Because sometimes I have to go back and change things in the first few chapters so it's all fluid and stuff." She seems to welcome Kory to the table, shifting the notebooks a bit to make sure has space. The open one is obviously notes on one of her characters.
"A chapter at a time would be even worse," Kory declares, decisively. "I don't know how you do it as it is." She shrugs, though. "I guess I should talk. I am thinking of going back to school, so I can hardly complain about people whose plates are full." She grins at George. "Hey, somebody had to do it, we're just lucky you have no sense of self-preservation. Or you have a guardian angel. Or something."
George glances idly at Leah's notes, but he doesn't know enough to get anything out of them even if he could somehow read that fast. He nods to her, before his attention drifts back over toward Kory. "Me? I was talking about you, I stuck to the larger open areas. Anyway, what're you going back to school for? Thought you were pretty well settled by now."
Leah isn't in a hurry to yank those notebooks away or anything. Instead she's giving Kory a big smile. "Going back to school? That sounds exciting. Well, at least if you're planning to study anything interesting." And her screen gets an occasional look, changing or typing things in.
"Going for my doctorate in psychology," Kory explains. "I just feel like although I do what I enjoy — I'm lucky I can. But my mom's a nurse, and my dad would've wanted me to help people in bigger, more far-reaching ways. Tangible ways." She grins at George. "What, me? All I did was stand on the fire escapes and yell at people to wake up and get out. And nearly broke my ankle doing it!"
Yes, folks, they're competing to see who can be more humble. "Sounds like a good idea," replies George, gesturing idly with his hands. "As long as you don't lose your grounding in the process— that can be hard to hang on to. I know some people who're fighting that now, me included."
Leah looks over to Kory and just grins. "What? You mean you don't think you help people in far reaching ways in the comic store? Because I'm sure there are some teen boys who would tell you that you've saved their lives." She giggles before George gets a grin. "Just keep your feet on the ground, and you'll come out alright."
Kory ducks her head at Leah's kind words. "maybe." She can think of at least one or two guys who would make Leah's words true, yes, but she doesn't admit it. "More the guys save each other by having strength in numbers." At George's remark, Kory laughs, shaking her head at him. "That's no concern for me, hon," she tells him. "I've never been the down to earth sort, so I haven't really got much grounding to speak of now, little say down the road."
George considers that for a second. "No, you probably do, it's just at a different level than most people. Seen that, before, too." Living somewhere with negative elevation leaves you with some odd perspectives. "Never wrapped my own head around it, but I've seen people make it work before."
Leah shrugs over to Kory. "Some of those kids probably aren't like the most popular in high school." She points out, pushing her hair back into place. Then her attention is snagged by her screen, and she loses track of the conversation for a moment in a flurry of typing.
"Well, yeah, that's true. I was there myself when i was their age," Kory confirms; what? She must've gone through one of those blossoming summers, because she doesn't look the type today. "Defense mechanism, really," Kory assures George. "I was a weird kid, and I embraced that, rather than trying to square-hole my round-peg self, y'know?"
George nods to Kory. "Exactly." This time, though, his attention is caught— not so much by the notes scattered around, but by the author herself. "This is that multitasking thing I keep hearing about, isn't it."
Leah finishes a paragraph before she looks up to George. "I'm always thinking at least six things. Makes multitasking easy." She says with a giggle before she looks over to Kory. "I was the opposite, the one no one ever thought would know any of that stuff. Kind of a closet geek."
Kory raises a brow at Leah. "Yeah, that high school politic thing is a pain. That the cool kids have to geek in the closet, or get labeled geeks and be unpopular. I was thinking about incorporating the Lair, though. Comic therapy is good for autistic and shy kids." She grins at George. "I don't know if you could handle our level of multitasking…" She finishes her tea and frowns; it's gotten cold.
"You're probably right about that," replies George, idly working his way through the sandwich from time to time, without really paying all that much attention to it. It's fuel, nothing more. "What's really a pain is that high school politics end up coming right back at you later on, only worse. Good to see you two are weathering it all right so far."
Leah is distracted by that most cliche of things. Her cell phone rings, a peppy little tune. She pulls it out and looks. "Oh, it's my editor. I've got to take this." She opens it and starts to talk quietly while she packs up her things one handed and steps outside. It's all fairly smooth. See, when she's sober, she's much more coordinated.
"Studying psychology makes you realize how much is just some person trying to jostle for position in the world - the type of people who keep high school politicking even into high school are usually people who haven't learned to be happy with who they are." Kory shrugs. "Life is too short to be spent trying to live it under somebody's metaphorical thumb. So I pretty much am who I am — and if people can't cope, they can't cope. The loss may hurt, but not as much as being untrue to myself." She straightens abruptly, and glances at her phone. "Whoops. Last train to White Plains is gonna leave shortly. I better run grab a cab." She bends to give Leah a quick hug. "Don't be a stranger, huh?"
"Yeah, I've probably come across some of the same things," replies George, "only without the exact labels and all." He turns and waves to Leah as she makes her way toward the exit. "Tell Harv I said hi," he calls out.
