s a d p r o s e

"The confidence was cute though." Xander answered with a grin on his face as he cleared up the cards. "And that's a little defeatist don't you think? To give up before you've even tried. The more practice you get in, the better you will find you become." He offered up, holding out the cards to the woman.

"Well as long as it was cute." She huffed with a shake of her head, "You're too cocky for your own good, you know that. The shit eating grin on your face should have been enough of a clue that you were about to hustle me." She tutted. "I was thinking of it being more of self preservation and keeping my financial assets in tact more than being defeatist." She told the other before taking the cards from him, albeit a little cautiously. "Are you just saying that so you can continue to get more free coffee by beating me time and time again?"

"You know, it's pretty poor planning on your part to go up against someone who plays with cards for a living." Xander spoke smoothly, a smirk playing across his features as he picked up his drink, leaning back in his seat now that their little game was done. "I actually feel a little bad for you..."

"Well it's not like we stated our careers right at the beginning, if we had I wouldn't have gone into this with so much confidence." Maeve told the other. "In fact, I wouldn't have gone into it at all." She pointed out. "But fine-... You won, even if the way you did so was a little con artisty of you and I will uphold my end of the bargain and get you your free coffee and cake."

Maeve narrowed her eyes at the other, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared the other down. "Alright. Why does all of this sound like you are the one who's going easy on me." She told the other with a raised brow. "Seriously, I have never been good at anything like this and you know it- so tell me, are you letting me win, Frank?" She asked. "Because if so, there will be consequences."

"Do I know you...?" Raphael spoke in a slow kind of manner, clearly trying to figure out how they had met before, if at all given the informal way that the other had addressed him. "Because I can't remember running into you."

At the others words Maeve looked at the other, her head tilting ever so slightly as she looked him over, his face not sparking any immediate recognition. "I don't know- do you know me?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, curious as to why she seemed familiar to the other. "Well that makes two of us, because I can't seem to remember running into you either. But given the way you're looking at me right now, seems like you've seen me somewhere."

Maeve paused from where she was placing one of the chairs up onto a table when she heard the door open. "Actually was just closing up, but-... I like to think I'm not a mega dick of a person who would say no, you can't stay here and send you back out into that." She commented, pointing to the window where the rain was running down in streams. "Take a seat up at the counter and I'll be right with you." She smiled, moving to turn the sign from open to closed on the door knowing that if anyone needed her they'd come in through the Inn entrance.

"Okay maybe. But anything beyond that and I would lay off, you know that," the brunette gave in with a laugh, but still wanted Maeve to know she respected the other's boundaries when they were firmly placed. "Please, you flatter me far too much, Mae," she insisted fondly, reaching to give her best friend's shoulder a squeeze. "If you're sure. The offer from me doesn't have an expiration date but I also get just wanting to do your own thing," Trin replied with a vague nod. "I'm proud of you for coming to this thing in the first place. The bracelets are a whole other step I'm also proud of you for. I'm sure Connor's proud too."

"I do know that." She confirmed, because Trinity only had her best interests at heart and the little pushes that she gave her sometimes were what she needed. Especially when she got stuck in her head. "I'll keep that in mind, I promise. But maybe not for tonight. Who knows, a couple months down the line I might be asking you to take me out on a town and be my wing woman." She chuckled before feeling a little teary eyed at the others words. "I hope he would be, all I want to do is make him proud."

"Last time I checked he wasn't an alien, even if his looks are quite clearly out of this world." Orion agreed with a grin. "Though I say that, his whole family are genetically blessed so perhaps they are from a different planet." Sometimes it felt that way. "And you know, maybe my lack of generosity is down to the company, not my personality, hm?" He pointed out, booping her lightly on the end of her nose.

"I really hope you haven't used that line on him, because it truly was terrible." She commented with a grimace on her face. "The Lockhart family genes are something that should be studied, I'm surprised that they're not part Veela with how good they all look." Maeve narrowed her eyes at her before she ended up scrunching her nose as the other booped it. "I've known you for quite some time now and I like to think that during that time I've gotten to know you pretty well. And your generosity has never extended like this before in my company, normally you just throw a various amount of insults or innuendos my way."

"Your guess is as good as mine?" Erin offered with a shrug. "Okay, how about I stop with this cup and I make sure to write you a good review to negate any negative ones that might arise if I explode?"

"Great." Maeve commented with a small snort. "Guess I'll just have to keep an eye on you and if anything looks off, or explosive, to intervene." Maeve chuckled before nodding, "I think that is for the best and honestly, if you thought I was going to serve you another cup after you've just told me about the possibility of your heart combusting, then you'd be very wrong."

"Can I have them all to go please." Silas requested as he finished up the order he was making. It was surprising how open it could make a person just by treating them to a drink or food every so often. Silas liked to keep people sweet in his line of work because he knew that it would benefit him in the long run. "Oh, and I'll take a couple of those too actually if you can bag them separately." Because they were something he knew Alessandra enjoyed too.

Maeve started packing up the others order before a small smile came across her face when he added a couple of the pastries that she had been experimenting with. "I may be slightly bias, but you made a very good choice. Never in my life before had I heard or tasted a cruffin, but now, I'm a little obsessed and frankly quite proud of how these turned out."

Erin scoffed. "Fine, fine." She replied, holding her hand out. "But you should know that I'm very good at suppressing the shakes so this isn't an accurate representation of how close my heart is to combustion."

"Well if this isn't a very accurate representation, then how am I supposed to gage your heart combustion levels?" Maeve asked the other. "I mean, I don't exactly want you exploding all over my place. I feel like that would mean a lot of paperwork and clean up for me, plus might put a bit of a black mark on my business."

"Do you read a lot of comics? Because you sound like you read a lot of comics." Leo asked, laughing outright at the woman's words because he both didn't expect them but found them refreshing at the same time. "Oh the list is indescribable at this point but I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I had you on my list of enemies. This is feeling very one sided. Is that a normal problem for you? This one sided thing?" Leo teased, smirking.

"What, just because I throw around the word arch nemesis you think I'm a comic nerd?" Maeve asked the other with a raised brow, "I don't read them, but my cousin does and my fi-... my ex was obsessed with them." She told the other, biting her tongue halfway through her words and feeling a bitter taste in her mouth upon calling Connor an ex. "I don't do well with unrequited feelings, so yeah, I think this might be a problem with me." She frowned. "What do I have to do to get on that list?"

"How many cups of coffee do you think someone can drink before their heart explodes?" Erin asked, before looking down at the mug in her hands. "Asking for a friend."

"And I think that would be my cue to forgo on asking you if you'd like a refill and keeping this coffee pot far out of your reach." Maeve told the other, looking to the others mug and then back to her as she tried to recall how much coffee she had served the other. "Hold your hand out in front of you for a second, guess we'll be able to judge your rate of imminent heart combustion from how much you're shaking."

"Hey, watch the drink." Orion grumbled lightly, though there was a smile on his features as his gaze flickered to the band again. "Yup. I could make jokes here but given the circumstances I'm not going to. He finally agreed to give us a try." Of course, they'd already been close to it, if not practically dating but without the titles but at least now he could gloat without the chance of ended up with egg on his face. "Can I get you a drink? I'm feeling generous."

Maeve couldn't help but narrow her eyes at the other, her head tilting to the side ever so slightly, "Now I'm starting to think that whoever this person is has seduced you into dating them to only go and replace you with a pod person. I mean, what other explanation could there be for you being cordial and generous. Just seems out of character for you so pod person is the only explanation."

"And just what rivalry is that which we supposedly have?" Leo asked with an amused expression on his features as he called the bartender over. "I'm curious as to what damage you think you could do to me."

"Oh you know, the one in which you became my arch nemesis because I found you incredibly infuriating by the fresh produce at the grocery store. A little insulted that you don't keep track of all of this, unless the list is just so large that you're physically incapable of doing so." Maeve pointed out in a teasing manner before continuing. "I've said it once and I'll say it again, you don't know what I'm capable of."

"You know if you really protested, I would respect your wishes," Trinity reminded her, although she felt like sometimes Maeve need a little push from her every now and again. She just wanted to see the woman smile and enjoy herself after everything she'd been through. "I wouldn't be so sure. You're so gorgeous, Mae," she reminded her fondly, reaching to twirl some of the other's hair in between her fingers. "Ah well, if I am I've missed them thus far. Make sure to point them out to me when you see 'em, hmm?" she replied playfully.

"I believe there are levels of my protest that you'd push before respecting my wishes. I know a simple, I'm not really feeling like it would receive some pouting and a little bit of whining." She couldn't help but tease, she knew she didn't need to worry with Trinity when it came to her boundaries because the other woman was very clear of where they lay and when to push and when to not. "Say's the ethereal looking goddess in front of me." Maeve pointed out. "I'll be sure to do so, but my arm might get a little tired by the end of the night from all the pointing I'm going to have to be doing." She smiled. "But really, you don't need to worry about me in terms of looking for someone. The band on my wrist was as big of a step as I was planning on making tonight unless something feels right. At one point I had a pink held in my hand as well as a red, but I'm proud of myself for opening myself up to possibilities."