A Cup Of Cordialitea [Lili]

[Deleted]

picture yourself in a boat on a river

E

ver welcoming were the doors of the café, inviting you inside like a warm guardian who seeks to protect you from the winter's chill. That was one thing that made it worth the walk. If you were tired from a bout of shopping, unwilling to traverse the snow or already defeated by the onslaught of frigid wind, this was one thing to look forward to; a destination more promising than most others in terms of rejuvenation and security from the cold. Even if it were only temporary.

Heat vented from the interior the moment the Russian walked in, enough to draw from him a breath of relief. It swooped in from all directions to chase out what cold air had followed him inside, prodding at flushed skin to resume its regular flow of blood. Music played softly from above, drowned out by those that would rather be immersed in conversation, meshed in with the sounds of chairs croaking, hot drinks being churned, the bell above the door ringing to announce a customer's arrival or departure. The aromas of chai and kafe and various pastries breathed from behind the counters, so different in comparison to the scents roaming outside that he might as well believe he were somewhere else entirely.

Ivan was not often prompted to meet anyone here at the café, so his visits were mostly of his own accord. He always made sure to come at an early hour, allowing himself enough time to settle and fulfill himself with a warm drink before his shift at work. He approached the counter to order himself a black tea, having never really been partial to coffee, taking the cup with careful hands to cart it over to an available table. He never minded if someone happened to be sitting there already, but friendly banter usually would not get far before the other person ended up leaving.

Today, anyway, the table he chose was empty. He set his tea down and sat with another exhale, pleased to have finally earned a break from Archadia's outside frost. His fingers, stiff and still in the process of regaining their movement, went to pluck the gloves off of his hand and reveal pink fingers. He took this time to glance around him, curious violet passing over faces of strangers and those that looked vaguely familiar. Now, there was another problem with going out in public. He could always tell when two people were mutant and human by the way that they interacted, and a majority of the time those interactions were jovial, so familiar and desirable but seeming to be something that Ivan had trouble reaching. He would catch himself staring at a pair of owner and slave before turning his attention away, face heated and with jealousy burning like a lump in his throat. Envy because he did not yet have a mutant for himself and, tying in with that, impatience. But he knew he could not rush the process. The perfect one would come to him soon.

He swallowed that lump down and returned his focus to his tea. After fixing his scarf to a comfortable position, a hand reached down into his coat pocket to pull out a small unlabeled flask - keeping it low under the table to avoid attracting anyone's notice. Then again, he probably would not care if anyone were to see it. He uncapped the flask and emptied some of its contents - his favorite vodka, needless to say - into the steaming tea before tucking it back away into its pocket. Not only did it improve the flavor of whatever he was drinking, it helped to flush away those feelings of longing.

The cup was lifted to his lips, head tilted back to enjoy a small sip and the gradual warming of his hands. The longer he spent here, the more he began to grow distracted. Rather than having to stare at a barren tabletop, he couldn't help looking around to watch customers as they progressed through their morning routine. 

With Ivan's attention so invested in those around him, his hand made a wrong move in reaching for his cup and ended up tipping it over. Tea went sprawling over the surface of the table, collecting in pools of dark fluid and spilling over the table's edge onto the floor. The Russian stood with a sound of surprise, quick to grab a handful of napkins from a nearby dispenser and try cleaning the mess.

Word Count: 744
Tags: Lili Zwingli
Notes:

by worldie for jen

[Deleted]

Insert inspirational song lyric here.

784

Tags: @jen

"No one is going to attack me inside of a cafe," said Lili to her faithful and admittedly incompetent bodyguard. That was all she had to say to get him to wait outside some several meters away - he even got distracted waiting for her, and would eventually move elsewhere nearby to purchase food and drink from a stand in the park - leaving Lili alone to enjoy herself. Her father's paranoia, she felt, was unfounded but it seemed to run in the family so if it was not him, it was one of the others. Thankfully bodyguards who actually did their jobs were apparently few and far between, for the young woman could not bear to constantly be followed around by someone so obvious. She wasn't sure exactly what went into training men and women for the job, but it was clear that the program left much to be desired if they could be so deterred from stalking their target.

She was nonetheless thankful that this was the case and as the guard turned away from her she gave him a casual wave and slipped into the warm cafe, immediately being assaulted by the fresh smells of coffee and food. She inhaled deeply and enjoyed the sensation that graced her nose. She had only been in this establishment once and passed by it countless other times. Returning to it was something she'd wanted to do for a while but never got the chance to do. Perhaps another reason she enjoyed this particular establishment was how jolly it often felt.

More casual and less businesslike, social and warm and a far cry from the bordered world of politics and business she was so familiar with. Here she found people, much like herself, simply enjoyed the company of the mutants with whom they seemed to have developed rather close bonds - she desired such a thing. Friendships outside the family, assuming they were not political friends introduced to her by loving Vater, were met with a great deal of suspicion and eyes that asked "who are you and what are you plans for getting close to my family?" Being so guarded was debilitating.

He expressed interest in obtaining a mutant exclusively for her, but knowing him his standards would be rather high, especially for one who might be close to his daughter often. Meaning it was highly likely there would not be pleasantly social and be trained simply for protection or business. Sigh, she would one day have to venture into the world of mutant purchasing on her own and explore her options of her own accord. Perhaps then she could determine which would be best for her and subsequently convince her family to approve the purchase. Yes, that would be a good plan, but this silent inner monologue of hers would not continue for much longer. As she entered the cafe and passed a table absently, she felt a splash of liquid cascade down the side of the table and splatter onto her shoes and the vine-patterned hem of her dress, soaking the white fabric with a dark (and very vaguely alcoholic) liquid.

She squeaked instinctively and jumped to the side, for the liquid was only just barely cooled enough to not be scalding but was still warm enough to cause a slight panic. Her first thought was that she had somehow brushed the table and knocked his tea over, this her first words to the man at the table were a resounding, somewhat frantic, "I'm so sorry, did I knock your drink over?!" She held her hands up pathetically, as if wanting to direct them to help but somehow feeling much too guilty to follow through with that plan. Her face lit with distress, she too grabbed a handful of napkins from the table and immediately got to salvaging the table and floor before wiping the liquid away from her shoes and dress. The tea set deeply into the fabric and would be embarrassingly obvious until she could get the dress cleaned. Tea was an aggressive stainer, right? She didn't remember.

It was at that moment when she looked up into the man's face did she realize he was very familiar. She'd never been to an auction, nor had she ever been to the underground alone, but having frequented it often with a parent she was very much acquainted with this particular man. "Oh-- Ah, Mr. Braginsky!"

Shoot, this was graceful.

"It's been a while, sorry we had to meet again like this!" Two months, actually, since the last time she visited. The conditions often made her very uncomfortable so lately she'd been attempting to avoid those visits. "I'll help you--..."

made by MISSO

[Deleted]

with tangerine trees and marmalade skies

I

van dropped those napkins the moment he heard a voice. Not out of clumsiness, but because it had startled him - the voice was certainly feminine, familiar as well; but the Russian had already become so frantic that he did not notice who it belonged to right away. He was biting down on his lip for a moment, hastily grabbing hold of the napkins again to assist her with wiping the table clean. Droplets of hot tea were dripping off of its edge, accumulating the puddles that were now forming at their feet. Ivan made sure to wipe along the side of the table to stop that, even if it might have been far too late.

"Off course not, that was all my mistake," he urged, speaking quickly and hoping to express his apology that way. If anything, he was glad that the woman nor any bystanders weren't scolding him for this. "If I--" Just as that next statement began to rush through, his eyes passed over to notice the pair staring back at him. His heart dropped a little, though he was unsure whether it was or wasn't a good thing that the woman he had just spilled tea on was one that he knew.

"O-oh, Lili," he said in an awkward mirroring of her recognition. His voice had quieted now, cheeks coloring with a flustered onslaught of pink. "Please do not apologise; I am the one to apologise for my bat lock."

Violet eyes lowered to notice where else that tea landed. Now he had ruined a dress that undoubtedly looked lovely on her before. Instinctively - he knew by now that he had to be kinder toward women - his hand reached to pluck a few more clean napkins from the dispenser, lowering them down to help dab at the soaked fabric of Lili's dress. More than likely, that wasn't going to do a thing now that the stain had settled in its stubborn place, but he was panicked and didn't know what else to do. 

He could tell that others around them were looking, watching the fiasco as it panned out. That fact alone ensured that Ivan wasn't going to be relieved from his embarrassment any time soon. He was poorly attempting to mask that with a smile, feeble as it was, which didn't do to draw attention away from his awful blushing. Even if they did have an audience, he made sure to keep his eyes on the task at hand and not acknowledge the presence of any of them.

His free hand then reached to grasp the cup that he considered the root of this entire problem, standing it upright on the surface of his table. Napkins rested there in a pile of soggy brown residue, but at least they had - for the most part - done their job of cleaning.

He then resumed speaking to her in hope of deflating the situation. "Th-thank you for helpink. Even though that jost happent, it is nice to see you again.. bot maybe we shoult talk somwhere else? I-I will let you go back home if you want to change first, ant I am very sorry about your dress."

Of all the ways to run into someone again. He found it more shameful that he wasted the alcohol rather than the tea - he had certainly been hoping to finish that concoction. At least new company should make up for the incident.

Word Count: 571
Tags: Lili Zwingli
Notes:

by worldie for jen

[Deleted]

Oh Ivan, you poor, poor man. His face had been assaulted by an aggressive, furious blush, which he desperately attempted to make with a good-natured smile. Sadly, the smile only emphasized how nervous the unwelcome attention made him. However, he was not alone. Lili herself, disliking the spotlight she was not in, struggled to keep her gaze upon the Russian as he dabbed at the stain on her dress. She could feel the curious stares of the surrounding crowd boring into her head and at that moment she felt like fleeing the scene.

He seemed so willing to take all the blame for it that she felt awful. Regardless of whether or not it was true she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Were she looking where she was going, were she more alert, she might have been able to avoid the spill with ease - maybe. Her reflexes were not exceptional. It was one of her favorite dresses but nothing that could be replaced - or viciously treated with bleach, if the tea staining the flowers didn't turn up painfully obvious. With Ivan pawing helplessly at her stained dress with fists full of napkins she held her hands up for... some reason. She wasn't quite sure what she meant to do with them as she let out a stammered assurance. "N-No! It's fine! No trouble, right? No one got hurt I-- I can handle it."

If anything, his familiar face was welcome. she didn't know him too well, for what purpose would he bother talking to the daughter of a man with whom he spoke of more important things. Oliver got a lot of his information from Ivan, apparently, and so she was more often than not told to entertain herself while daddy handled the important stuff. It was better that it was him spilling the tea than a stranger. At least after the accident was cleared up there was a chance at some pleasant company. Ivan always seemed nice enough. "Ah, the dress is not important, Mr. Braginsky." Though her mother would throw a fit if she were to find out it was ruined. She too liked the dress and loved seeing her daughter wear it. "Home is out of the way, plus it's cold and I'd much rather have a break from traveling out in the chill."

Though the blush on her face was still plain to see, Lili was relieved that soon everyone staring had begun to get bored and went back to their own conversations and meals. Yes, it was over. Now came the awkward consequences of the moments afterward. "I think you've done enough, Mr. Braginsky. Please, don't be so frantic!" She stepped away from the table and held the cloth between a pain of fingers to inspect the damage. The stain was ugly and bark brown, eugh. This was permanent, yup. What a shame.

"Since I'm here... do you mind?" She gestured to the empty seat at his table. "I won't be long, just a warm drink and some lunch, I think."

[Deleted]

somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly

H

e hadn't thought about the awkward moments that were certain to follow. Ivan usually did not feel so self-conscious and flustered while he was in public, and he was trying strongly not to focus on the stares of bystanders and what they must think of him right now. Lili's response to his frantic attempt on handling the situation was the more important matter at hand. The movement of the Russian's hand slowed, and still he could not help looking up to see whether all of those faces had looked away yet. That affirmation was a good enough sign that Ivan could begin calming himself down.

His posture straightened, hands finally retracting to leave the girl's dress alone. That look of panic on his face had extinguished and in its place sat a terribly sheepish smile. The grip on those sopping napkins fumbled as he shifted to set them on the table, violet eyes following to where Lili had gestured. Not bothered that she had opted out of his initial offer, he quickly nodded. "P-please sit then, I woult not mint at all." He took a step back in preparation to reclaim his own seat, checking under his boots that a puddle had not been left behind, before sitting down a second time.

The lingering blush on Ivan's pale face might have said otherwise, but it certainly was time to move on. He pushed his cup to the center of the table where, despite being left with very little liquid inside, it would be safe and out of the way of any recurring accidents. "You can take your time if you woult like. I onderstant not wantink to go back out into colt."

Just then a waiter had, thankfully, stopped by and offered Ivan a refill, to which he agreed. He was much less at ease than he had been moments ago upon his arrival, but he thought it a good idea to settle while Lili was here. He would wait until the woman placed her own order with the waiter, if at all, before speaking to her again - and he took advantage of that short interval to think of what to say next. It was difficult for him to tell whether his kind act had been too forward, or whether he had even done enough to alleviate the stain on her dress. His gaze flickered down to check on the browned floral designs. Poor things. Those little details alone prompted Ivan to remember what he knew about Lili; and that was only very little. He could see bits of her father's features in her own.

Ivan leaned back in his seat, mulling over the few questions that came to mind. "I woult not say it is not important. Clothink can usually be very important to someone, da?" That wasn't any of his business to pry into, but such things never stopped him anyway - especially when they were something to relate to. That and he was going to try desperately to pursue a normal conversation as if that entire fiasco hadn't just happened. "Ant also, you can jost call me Ivan. I see your father sometimes ant it seems he is doink well. Are you okay too?"

Word Count: 536
Tags: Lili Zwingli
Notes:

by worldie for jen

[Deleted]

Lili wasn't sure whether she should feel pity for the man's nervous demeanor, or endeared by it. His attention to detail and the tiniest of spills could put her own family to shame. Both parents were obsessive when it came to the house being clean. Perhaps that's why so many of their mutants were relegated to that duty.

"I am so ready for winter to be over." She says, exasperated. She worked on unraveling her scarf from around her neck before draping it over the back of the chair and sitting. Her poor hands were red from the chill, as was her face. The dryness of the cold bit at her skin and made the air unbearable. The warmth that permeated the establishment was welcome. She paused before speaking again, reveling in the heat.

“Father? Oh, he’s fine. Never been better, I’d say. Then again, I haven’t seen him getting worse, either.” It was complicated. She never really talked to him much anymore. His trying to connect with his daughter was nonexistent. Maybe it was better this way. He was usually a very difficult man to handle, for anyone. The fact he even managed to get along with Francis and even Ivan was hard to believe, as both of them seemed so kind and she had only ever seen her father stern and mean. She could not even imagine how his marriage to Maria was even plausible. A match made in heaven, or an arrangement?

She cleared her throat, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear and looking sheepishly to the side. Her babbling to this man with whom she was only barely acquainted was hardly proper. “He’s been talking to you about mutants, right?”

Oliver likely made it no secret that he planned to get her one of her own. He made it out to be some kind of rite of passage, giving her images of glory that she could not imagine were true. On one hand, however, a mutant might be good company, even if the entire purpose of that mutant being bought was for the purpose of security. His obsessive paranoia for her safety might be the only endearing thing about the man, but it was also his most restrictive quality. To be perfectly frank, she felt smothered by his apparent love for her.

Simply being out on her own like this required a lot of convincing, and even then a fair bit of deception was required to even step outside into freedom. Were he to be aware that his daughter was in the presence of a man he might somewhat trust, perhaps he would be less inclined to panic about today’s disappearance.

The girl was simply trying to live, after all.

[Deleted]

a girl with kaleidoscope eyes

E

asing back into his regular behavior was no trying task, for Ivan was rather well versed in the ability to change and deceive his demeanor. Of course, it was different with the aftermath of embarrassing himself in front of other people, but he felt he would do just fine. She forgave him and seemed more than willing to let it slide behind them.

His eyes lit, amused at her comment toward the dreary winter. It was now easy to note how the outside air had treated her; with the patches of red all over her hands and the similar rosy blooms on her cheeks. The heat of the establishment was already beginning to course through Ivan, allowing his fingers to regain their mobility and his skin to drain back to its pale complexion. It was nice to share this warmth with someone else in need, and he imagined it wouldn't be long before Lili warmed up as well. "I am too," he says quietly in return. "It will be a while before we see all the green ant the blue skies again, bot I will wait."

At least he made it evident that he didn't mind his own babbling in front of others, and hopefully that he didn't mind Lili's own contribution. It was much better than if they were to be sitting there in strange silence. He was aware that they weren't all that familiar with each other, but that was what friendly conversation was for.

So he nodded, and thought perhaps that Lili and her father were not as close as they once might have been. He almost didn't realize that he hadn't exactly brought up the relationship between both of them, and perhaps that turned out to be a good thing.

His thoughts were now directed back to his last encounter with Oliver, and whichever ones before that. Ivan didn't always have strong patience with everyone, but he couldn't ever recall Oliver getting on his nerves. Naturally he took a liking to anyone who supported the idea of mutants as much as he did, though he was always curious as to how other people treated their mutants. Some owners seemed to lack any affection, and that was a daunting thought. "He has," he began in a light voice, expressed with a faint smile. "Mutants ant you too. He seems very confident about it. He wants to haff one for you, is that right? For protection. I am guessink you haff hat somthink like a bodyguart mutant before..?"

Well, that was one way to put a mutant to use. Not the type that Ivan would ever need, of course. That and he preferred mutants who were smaller and weaker than him, anyway - though now that he thought of it, it would be nice to have one who wanted to protect him like that. The waiter returned with his new cup of tea, which Ivan cradled between his palms to drag in closer. Careful this time, even though it was hot against his hands. It exuded steam and smelled delightful, but unfortunately would not hold any alcohol now.

"Oliver seems like someone who woult want to be protectiff, I guess." Oliver nearly reminded him of his own father. Not at all because he was protective, but because he was such a serious and severe-looking parental figure. To avoid bringing that up, Ivan just held his tongue.

Word Count: 567
Tags: Lili Zwingli
Notes:

by worldie for jen

[Deleted]

The first emergence of spring was such a romantic concept. White snow swallowed by gallant and glorious green come to rescue the world from the bleakness of grey skies and sullen, quiet days… how could one not find that kind of imagery at all magical? “I love the change of seasons, but I dislike the cold. If I could just get the leaves changing color, but none of the temperature changes, I think that’d be perfect, no?”

She wanted leaves to die and come back to life immediately after, to see rainbows dot the forests and return a month later with newborn leaves and flowers. An impossible ideal, but one she nonetheless wished was a thing. She much preferred being able to go outside without bundling beyond all sense.

“He’s spoken to me about it, yes. Brought up one for me.” Lili pressed her elbow into the table and leaned her head in her palm, glancing lazily out the large, clear windows that separated the warm interior from the chilled winter outside. Another year had come and gone unimpeded by society or the world. Without warning her thoughts passed by the concerned cries of men and women taken by the most recent threat of apocalypse, which seemed to always focus on the end of the year, for some reason, as if their entire purpose was to ruin holiday spirit. A mere moment passed before she brought her attention back to the man whom she’d taken company with. “He wants a bodyguard, but he wants me to pick out who. It’s some kind of rite of passage, or something of the sort.”

Mutants never had really interested her much, but she wasn’t exactly hateful of them either. In the past Lili found herself questioning the purpose of keeping people imprisoned, but she was always met with the argument of “They’re barely even human to begin with.” With these same words having been repeating since childhood, it was difficult to imagine there being any other answer. “I’d hate to let him down, but he’s so hard to please, sometimes.”

Ivan only had the pleasure of speaking to Oliver when he was at his best. His attitude at home was a much different story. The disparity of politeness between one location and the other was stark. Oliver was a much better actor than people gave him credit for, and Lili often got to see him behind the scenes. Backstage passes, one-hundred percent of the time. At this point Lili realized her impolite posture and straightened up, removing her elbow from the pristine white tablecloth – or, what used to be pristine, which was now instead stained by vodka-tea. The atmosphere in the café was hardly formal but, eh… old habits were hard to kill.

“He’s protective, yes, but it’s hard to figure out if it’s trying to preserve the dynasty, or legitimate concern. Sometimes it seems one or the other, but more often than not it’s a little bit of both.” Of course he’d need someone to follow in his footsteps and of course someone would try to get to her in order to get to him. The Zwinglis were nothing if not generally paranoid people.

[Deleted]

cellophane flowers of yellow and green

I

t felt more like winter was behind him. Its presence stood outside the door like a dog who knew better than to come inside, waiting and feeling too stubborn to turn around and leave. Ivan's time spent in the café would stretch on and serve to remind him as to why he ever came here in the first place. It churned him with both envy and content feelings to see other people enjoying their time here. Warmth was usually the sole company he ended up finding, and that did sort of make up for everything else. Having spontaneously gained company this time around made his visit more worthwhile than usual, and so he was making sure that Lili had all of his attention. He was staring at her without quite meaning to be so off-putting. 

That meant he could keep note of how she reacted to each word, making sure that he hasn't brought up something he shouldn't have. He was aware that her attention briefly strayed to the windows, which he wouldn't have minded doing himself - the outside world was even prettier to look at knowing that its bitter temperature wasn't in range to nab him. "So if he wants you to pick one out, you do not haff choice bot to go ant look at them? Though I know you do not usually spent your time down there with him, from what I see, I guess he does prefer to brink them to you."

He was still treading upon an area he didn't know too well. It hadn't occurred to him to think of Oliver outside of how he usually portrayed himself. Ivan knew fairly well that he was often perceived differently than he would have liked to be, though it was nearly impossible to convince people otherwise. Knowing that experience, the Russian did his best not to assume negative things about acquaintances. 

"I am sorry that seems to trouble you," he added quietly, thoughtful. "It shoult matter more that you are pleast ant not him, if the mutant is meant for you to haff." He wasn't sure whether that was the correct comment to chip in with, but it still had him smiling. In most cases, consolation was not his area of expertise, as much as he'd like to think otherwise.

"Ant it sounts silly to think that someone can be protectiff without really meanink it. I know he likes to get caught op in the idea off mutants, even if he does not think highly off them, bot I woult say he means well if he wants to keep you guardet, da?"

Having allotted enough time for his tea to cool down, he brought it to his lips for a sip. Its warm and soothing feel was just enough to make up for his previous loss. At least now their table smelled faintly of the beverage, albeit less strong than the scent that now wafted from his mug. Once it was placed back down on the white cloth, he continued, more curious and carefully chosen than his last words. "Bot you.. do not seem to be very happy with idea? I onderstant your views most be different from his, bot he seems more eager to buy mutant than you are to keep one."

He paused, focus breaking to sweep a glance around the other patrons. Wondering suddenly whether he was pressing an unhappy subject, his head ducked in a near apologetic way, his smile sheepish. "A-ah.. or we coult talk about other thinks, if you want. Thinks that do make you happy!"

Word Count: 596
Tags: @secretfudgebox
Notes:

by worldie for jen