let them fly, let them soar

In the middle of her studying, Iris heard a knock at the door and there was almost a sigh of relief that came from her. She needed a break and couldn’t bring herself to take one and with her roommate not home at the moment and nobody to drag her out of her vicious cycle of one more question, one more chapter, the knock at the door was appreciated. Picking herself up from her seat, Iris headed quickly to the door and opened it, surprised to see Ren standing there, though any company was a surprise to her.

“Hey, yeah it’s been pretty brutal but…nothing I can’t handle.” She shrugged casually, as if it was no big deal juggling everything she did just to get by. She was curious in what Ren would want to talk to her about, usually they chatted but Iris wouldn’t consider it more than a friendly catching up, conversations that you could have with anyone you were familiar with. Now there was something very specific that she was being singled out to discuss so she leaned against the door frame and listened carefully. Her eyes widened and she smiled as Ren told her the news. “Really? That’s great! I know you’ve been trying for a while now, that’s awesome. I don’t think I’ve seen her around yet, what’s her name?”

Ren wasn’t surprised by the fact that Iris was once again studying. She’s been doing it since the first time she met the girl. She still remembered it, how she was struggling with her bags of groceries and asked for the help of the first person that she could see. Iris did just that and then the two of them spent at least a good 20 minutes chatting before Iris admitted that she was supposed to be studying because she had an extremely hard test the next day. Ren shoed her away immediately, but it was something that happened since then too, so now she always checked to make sure Iris wasn’t right in the middle of her groove. Which right now it seemed like she was, but she decided to make a small exception to her role. She hopefully wouldn’t hold her up too long, though.

“I know I said this a couple of times, but I’m still not sure how you do it, especially with your job next to it.” She felt like she was dying during school while she was finishing up her education (which was kind of funny, how it was such a struggle to her and ended up on the other side of the situation now), but she knew it was nothing compared to the amount of work-load Iris had to deal with.

She had the day shift this week. Even working full time, five (sometimes six) days a week, the hours were constantly changing. Fast food franchises, hey? And with the holiday season, with people leaving town and coming to visit family, the workload was fluctuating and unpredictable. Right now, nearing the last few hours of her day, the place had come to a stand still. That weird period between lunch and dinner, when the sky smudged into purples and oranges and the sun hung low, ready to set. If breakfast and lunch in between was brunch, what the hell did they call lunch and dinner? Snack time? These were the trivial things she thought about, leaning with her elbows digging into the counter. Waiting for a delivery order, or a customer to walk in, or for Noah to spill pizza toppings on the floor out back, so she’d have something to do. So she could kill time before she got to go home, even if she didn’t do much there, either. At least then the time would be her own.

Bailey didn’t usually peek out from behind the front counter or her cash register, but when the door chimed a welcome to a woman and her daughter, Bailey straightened her posture and plastered on a smile. Acted like she was one of the chicks that worked at Rita Mae’s, like she was a waitress and not a fast food worker. Maybe it was time to get a new job. Waitressing was probably more rewarding than this. Busier, too. The newcomers sat down at a table and Bailey walked over, hands swinging by her sides. The mother-daughter duo had a look over their paper menus. After a brief moment of thought, the woman, the mother, gave Bailey a tired smile and placed her order. There was a slight pang of jealousy, for a moment. Bailey’s own smile was tired, but that was from being stuck in Domino’s all day. She craved this, the scene sitting right in front of her: having a child, being worn out by the hard work of parenting. She wanted it more than anything. 

The woman had an accent. European, maybe. Bailey’d never been outside of Louisiana, so it was an uneducated guess, at best. “Are you guys visiting for the holidays? I love your accent. Where are you from?” Bailey said, hands still swinging. She had her own accent. A Southern twang, like the majority of people in town, in the state. Nothing special. Pretty much summed her up. Her smile was genuine, at least! Not customer-service fake friendly. “Take your time! Did you want some drinks to start you off?” Wow, now she really was sounding like a Rita Mae’s girl. “Some cheesy garlic bread, maybe?” ‘Cause her boss would kill her if she didn’t upsell. She was still at work, after all.

Ren was confused for a moment because of the question of whether she was visiting for the holidays or not – she didn’t look that out of place she felt like –, but then the woman complimented her accent and suddenly she understood the assumption. Sometimes she forgot that despite the over more than a decade spent living in the US, she still had her Hungarian accent seeping through everything and anything that she said.

(In Hungarian you were taught to say every single letter of every word out loud. It was so engrained into everyone that when it came to learning another language, it was a struggle to unlearn it. It was a struggle for her during her school years in Austria with German, and it was a struggle with English too, making her pronunciation sound weird and thick. Her accent gotten a lot better over the years since she’s arrived to the US, but it was still there, still present, and probably would be forever.)

“Thank you,” Ren smiled at the waitress. “I’m originally from Hungary, but I’m not actually visiting, I live in town. I’ve been here for a decade now, actually, even longer in the US, despite the fact that it doesn’t feel that long at all. But I guess my accent gives me still away, huh?”

Don’t get Maya wrong, everyday she was eternally thankful to have a good paying job that was steady and kept her grounded. But there were days where she could have easily torn her hair out due to the people she had to encounter through being a receptionist. Sometimes Maya forgets that not everyone was like her, overly compassionate and one to think of the bigger picture. Maya thought of everyone and she did so hopelessly. She thought of every stranger who passed her on the street, she thought of every waiter or waitress who seemed rushed or unhappy, and so on. It was both a curse and a blessing, to think of the bigger picture. But some people just didn’t have that quality. That being said, she’s run into her fair share of shallow minded people over the course of five whole hours this afternoon, all of which who couldn’t be bothered to be even relatively kind towards the small woman at the front desk.

Needless to say, she’s happy to be out on her lunch break and getting something to fill her belly. She was in need of something to drink and eat, which usually always helped to take her mind off things. Once she arrived, Maya had been doing her usual sly people watching as someone had started to speak to her. She’s almost immediately snapped out of her sudden fog, snapping her gaze towards the source. She almost takes too long to answer, going over every possible answer in some rapid way, as if she’s been asked the most detrimental question in the entire universe. “Oh, um, no. I actually haven’t even ordered yet.” That was true, thankfully. Usually Maya would have just lied, taken the beverages that weren’t her own like some stupid little girl, and then waited for the other woman to leave to set them down and just walk out, embarrassed. “You think the person that ordered those up and left or they just got your order totally wrong?” Maya asks with a quiet laugh, brushing a few strands of her dark hair from her face. That’s when she nods over towards the nearest table where a little girl sat, smiling warmly. “Is that your daughter?”

Ren managed to pick a person who didn’t even order yet. She let out a small chuckle and shook her head. “Sorry, did not realize yet. Still, I guess this is up for grabs now, so if it strikes your fancy, I say go for it,” she said, raising the cups in her hands a bit before she put them down to the counter. If anyone was interested, they would come to collect their order sooner or later, she figured, and if not, then it was anyone’s take. “Oh, I really hope it’s the first choice. I ordered a muffin, too, and I’m pretty sure that is the most important part.” She didn’t know Lily that well yet, but she did notice that she didn’t eat anything, she was really articulate about the kind of foods she liked, so if she wanted a blueberry muffin, damn Ren if she wouldn’t get her one.

The question froze Ren for a moment because out of all the questions, all the assumptions, she did not expect anyone to flat out ask if Lily was her daughter. Not really sure why, it was a logical question, a logical assumption, she should have anticipated it, but she didn’t and now she suddenly didn’t know what to reply to it. The truth would have been preferable, but at the same time, it felt like simply saying it would sound strange. She couldn’t explain why, though. It was just a feeling in her chest. “I—well, technically that would be a no. I just—I keep meaning to say I just got her as if she was some kind of object you could get, and that wording is really bad. She came to stay with me not so long ago, I’m fostering her,” she finally got her shit together to reply to the woman’s question properly. "Sorry, apparently I was not prepared for a question like this."

Everyone had their vices, yeah? Kat’s was coffee. Coffee shops. Sure, she could make her cups at home with her own coffee maker, but where was the fun in that? Besides, where else would she get some fancy caramel lattes if not the local shop? Sometimes a woman just had to indulge in sugar and caffeine.

She should probably be slightly shamed that both she and Sheriff were such familiar faces in the shop, even with the ever rotating cast of characters behind the counter. They always had her drink half-finished by the time she got to the counter (she was predictable) and some fancy, dog-friendly treats for Sheriff to share. If she ever wondered why he seemed to whine at her any time she skipped a day, that was probably the reason. The damn dog was spoiled to the point of absurdity. 

The familiarity was one reason why she was so confused when one of the employees handed her…a muffin? Nothing against, she just wasn’t a fan of blueberries, and was…surprised. No, this wasn’t her usual routine, she didn’t like that change. She almost wanted to feed it to Sheriff, like he needed more sugar, when somebody came up to her, offering two coffee cups. Kat held the muffin by the wrapper, trying not to get her bare hands all over someone else’s food. “One of those might be mine?” Kat took one of the cups, and just on sight she could recognize it as hers. Ah, that was better. “I take it this is yours, then? You’re in luck - ten more seconds and it would’ve been a dog treat.”

Technically she could have just bought a new muffin if the one in the woman’s hand got fed to the dogs, and still for a moment Ren’s heart skipped a beat at the thought of the dog eating the pastry and she involuntarily looked over at Lily sitting by the table she left her. The girl was looking around, carefully taking in everything around her and then her eyes landing on her and the woman and Ren could see the moment Lily noticed the dog and her eyes lit up. Ren smiled and for a moment wondered what it must be like to go from foster home to foster home, not sure what kind of place she would get to next. And she really hoped she enjoyed being with her so far.

“Glad that didn't happen, not sure Lily would have appreciated her muffing being eaten,” she smiled and after making sure she didn’t hand over the hot chocolate, the cup and the muffin exchanged hands. “So, um, thanks and have a nice day?” Ren said a bit awkward, not sure what else to say, intending to get back to Lily now, except when she wanted to turn around and head to the table, Lily was already standing next to her.

The twelve-years-old girl was carefully bouncing on her heels in an awkward manner, clearly wanting to say something, Ren just wasn’t sure what – until she noticed that Lily’s gaze kept glancing down at the dog by the woman’s size. “Good day. You have a really pretty looking dog. Can I—would it be okay if I pet your dog?”Lily certainly was polite, and this was a second time in a relatively short time (she had been with her for a short time in general, Ren realized) that she saw her express interest in dogs, so she filed that information away quickly.

V wouldn’t admit it but she had a major sweet tooth, and over the past three years it’d been difficult not to become a regular at S & SC & SS. Her combinations changed every time she was there–hard to, what with the limited amount of combinations and lack of memory for which pairs she’d done–and today’s was a white chocolate mocha with two biscotti’s. 

She was entertained by her group text exchanged, when a soft voice called out. “Is it?” V was always surprised with the fast service. “Y’know what, it sure is. Unless you really need the caffeine first, totally understand and you’re welcome to my order.”

Ren raised her eyebrows at the unsureness of the woman before she then decided that it was her order without even looking at it. She really didn’t mind who took the order as long as the people behind the counter didn’t mix her up so badly that she wouldn’t get hers in the end. But she's been coming here relatively often, it was on her way to the school so whenever she needed some coffee in the morning, she stopped by a cup and she never not gotten what she ordered, so she wasn’t worried about that.

“Are you sure?” she asked, amusement in her voice. “Not that I mind, really, whether its yours or not, you just didn’t sound so sure first. Anyway, I don’t need the caffeine too badly, the important part of my order is the muffin, so you can have this.”

Southby shrugged deeper into his jacket. The department issued wool-collared jacket was probably the warmest article of clothing he owned & yet he still found himself suffering a chill despite being indoors for a handful of minutes already. Stepping back as a woman approached the counter, Southby smiled politely, hands shoved into his pockets. “Oh, uh…” Southby stepped forward when addressed. Truth be told, he hadn’t been paying attention despite staring at the hand-off. “A hot chocolate,” He admitted without an ounce of sheepishness. “Let’s see…” Southby leant forward, turning the cup to look for writing. “Nope. Must be somebody else. I should probably start paying attention though.”

The guy said he ordered hot chocolate and Ren immediately shook her head. If she had hot chocolate in her hands, even if it was somebody else’s order, she wouldn’t have said a word. That might be selfish or rude, but that was the way it was. But she couldn’t say anything because the guy leaned forward to look at the cup itself and once he saw (or didn’t see) what he was looking for, he himself said that it wasn’t his. Ren looked around, but there wasn’t anyone else who seemed to be waiting. “I guess I’ll be leaving this here.” She put the cup down onto the counter. “Have you been waiting for long?”

task #001: happy holidays!

Christmas time and the holidays are different in Hungary than in the US. While she was married, she adopted to her husband’s and his family’s traditions, but once she got a divorce and moved to Morgan City, she decided to keep her own family’s and the Hungarian traditions. This means that her Christmas/holiday schedule in kind of different.

For her Santa Clause comes on December 6th, when he brings presents and chocolate and some fruits. This is usually for children, so Ren doesn’t celebrate this per say other than giving some cute chocolate in the form of Santa Clause to her sister. (She is kind of bummed that Lily didn’t come sooner, she could have introduced this to her, but this year they are only doing Christmas and Ren is hopeful for the next year.) Before Christmas she lights candles for the Advent Sundays, one for the first, two for the second and so on until the last Sunday which is four candles.

Christmas for Ren is not the 25th but the 24th, Christmas Eve. Hungarian Christmas traditions are deeply rooted in Christian traditions, which means that Jesus Christ brings the presents on the eve of the 24th and the rest of the days is for celebration and spending time with family. Which was hard in the first couple of years after her divorce, she felt alone and loney, especially because she didn’t have the kind of money she would have needed to travel home even just for the holidays. So she always asked her parents to call and Skype her for most of it (even with the time difference) and send some traditional Hungarian Christmas foods (that they could actually send over).

Since her parents moved to Morgan City as well, the two of them have been spending the holidays together. And now that Lily is here too, the plan is to have her sister come over for Christmas Eve and the tree of them to hang out and spend it together, and then on the next day Lily and her would go over to her sister, spend some time there and the 26th to spend just the two of them.

Ren felt kind of desperate at this point. She suggested to Lily a couple of hours earlier that they could go out that day. She could show her around the part of the city that Ren was living in, let her get more acquainted with the surroundings, Ren could show her some cool places. It could be a bonding experience of some sort. And it went well at first. Lily was reserved, sure, but she seemed interested and they even stopped to pet a few dogs and then had a long chat about how cute they were. They were baby steps.

But then Lily got hungry and Ren suddenly felt like she ran into a problem. She noticed in the past couple of days that Lily only ate little and that there were a lot of things she preferred not to eat, which was more than okay, but anything she suggested, Lily really didn’t seem to want to eat and she was starting to feel panic-y that she wouldn’t be able to give anything to Lily. Only a few days into fostering and she couldn’t give Lily food she actually liked - how fast of a failure was that exactly? Not to mention it was getting cold and they needed to get inside somewhere warm at least.

So when the Dominos logo appeared in front of them and Lily was reacting to it positively, Ren didn’t even hesitate, she just led the way inside. They took their seats and Lily disappeared behind the menu, which she was still reading when the waitress, she gave her a tired smile. “Hey, I’ll get a pepperoni pizza, and she’s getting...” she looked at Lily who was still looking through the offer. “Sorry, can we get just one more minute?”

Ren left Lily in the living room with the promise that she would be back soon and that she was just outside the door (she might have stopped for a minute and two just looking at Lily getting comfortable on the couch and trying to look for something to watch on Netflix for the two of them) and headed outside of the apartment and knocked on her neighbor’s door. She’s been thinking about talking to Iris since Lily arrived a couple of days ago, tried another time already, only nobody was home, so she hoped she had better luck this time.

“Yes, please. And-- can I-- possibly get a blueberry muffin?”

“Of course, honey. Go get us some seats and I’ll get us the drinks and the muffin,” Ren said with a smile towards Lily, noticing the carefulness in her voice as she asked for the muffin. The social worker told her that she didn’t have good homes before, so Ren shouldn’t be surprised at something like this happening, but once again Ren’s heart sunk a bit. Lily’s been with her for only a few days and she could tell that she was a sweet kid and Ren hoped that she could be a good fit for her.

They were in the Sweet & Simple Coffee & Sweet Shop and Ren headed to the counter to get a hot chocolate and blueberry muffin for Lily and a latte for herself. She ordered, she paid and then she stepped aside to wait for everything she ordered, only when it arrived and the person behind the counter handed her two cups that had nothing she ordered, she frowned. “Umm... excuse me, I don’t think--” She looked around to see if anyone else was waiting. “Sorry, this wasn’t my order, are you waiting for something? Would this be what you ordered?”