faderift | all of nature wild & free

Having outted herself as Red Riding Hood, Ruby is pretty satisfied that Cosima will be able to pick which one she is in the tavern, what with the crimson brocade cloak resting over the chair next to her.

She's idly making notes, two flagons of beer in front of her, and fiddles with one of five braided leather bracelets that are big enough to slip further along her forearm when she props her elbow on the table.

When Cosima arrives, she's probably no harder to miss, for all that Ruby's never seen her before. She certainly doesn't blend in. (She's idly imagined whether Sarah would try to pass, in her place. Probably, at least a little. Cosima, though, has neither a talent nor a taste for pretending to be anything other than herself.)

She sits down across from Ruby with a grin. "Whatever happened to a rose stuck in Anna Karenina?"

Ruby looks up sharply, and her mouth quirks with a smile, sunny and easy. A fellow misfit - Enchanted Forest native she may be, but she's currently forsaking layers of dresses for leather and loose shirts.

"Well, I tried, but the closest I could get was a copy of the Chant of Light and that seemed sacrilegious."

Flipping shut the notes, Ruby idly shakes out her wrists. "Nice to meet you in person. Weird how you can have like an internet friend here, huh?"

Cosima laughs, sitting back a little. "Yeah, it's not something I'd have expected. But it's kind of nice? I mean, for all I know, we could be from the same world. Or at least the little town part, the one that has Bowie and The Nanny, could be the same one as mine."

Maybe less so the Little Red Riding Hood part, but she'll take what she can get.

"Does what we're drinking have a name more specific than 'the ale they serve at this tavern?'"

"It does, as a matter of fact. Summer Ale, it's from a brewery in Denerim aaand it kinda reminds me of an IPA," actually. "But my standard for ale is 'not dwarven' and that's served me pretty well."

Her smile is just a little self deprecating. "Hey, it's possible. I don't know for sure, we kind of can't leave town without maybe losing our memories." Apologetic, sort of. "Not a ringing tourism endorsement for Maine, though. 'Where small towns are made to rob people of happiness.'"

"Shit, dude," Cosima says. "I hate to be a cliche, but I can solidly argue that the West Coast, to my knowledge, doesn't include towns that suck out all your happiness." She thinks, then amends: "...L.A., maybe, but at least the weather's good."

She takes a sip of beer, and looks appreciative at the taste.

"If you ever find a way to get out, though, you should definitely visit California." Assuming either of them left Thedas, of course, which Cosima is aggressively assuming will happen, at least for the time being.

Dude. Ruby grins - it's bizarre the little things you miss, and apparently 'dude' was one of them. "Actually, I have it on good authority that there's a soul eating wizard in L.A., so, y'know."

She manages to deliver it straight for all of two seconds before her own smile betrays her.

"I'd love to, honestly. I've been wanting to see more of the world since forever, but I guess the universe interpreted it as 'more worlds,' go figure."

Ruby leans forward, then, and rests her forearms against the table to prop herself up. "Is that where you're from?"

Edited 2016-07-06 09:29 (UTC)

"Yep, born and raised. Though I was actually in Canada directly before here. Go figure."

It's probably Canada's fault, somehow.

"At least I finally had an opportunity to indulge a love of stylish outerwear. Speaking of," she adds, and nods at the cloak, "did you get that here or bring it with you?"

Ruby just sighs, as if that explains it all. Freaking Canada. "That's what happens when you go to Canada, I guess."

She says, as if she doesn't have some vague feeling that maybe Ruby - Ruby-Ruby, not Ruby-Red - might be Canadian. She remembers being enthusiastic for hockey, at any rate, without really knowing why, and she'd taken that to mean that her curse self was meant to be Canadian, or something.

"That is the original hood of fairy tale fame and it came with me." Her tone is a little ridiculous, self mockery wound into the implied grandeur of the thing. "It probably could use a dry cleaning, honestly." Still, she picks it up and holds it out to Cosima, the brocade catching the light. "Are you looking at branching out into the exciting fashion world of historically confusing fantasy?"

Cosima laughs, almost gently. "Well, I mean, I don't know if you heard, but I found myself in a place where magic's suddenly a thing and I'm drinking beer out of a flagon unironically, so." She shrugs. "Also, I'm probably going to need more than one set of clothes, eventually, if only so I don't have to resort to doing laundry naked."

Though that's one way to make new friends.

She takes the offered cloak, giving it a closer look. "It's pretty. Sort of ren faire but like, expensive ren faire that you can only afford if you work there or if you have way too much disposable income."

"No way? Really?" That's shocking. See her face, it is a shocked face. Still, she quirks a brow a little, lifting up her own flagon. "Come on. Like your hipster self isn't loving the flagon."

Yeah, she said it, hipster. She's calling it. Ruby also would have to admit she is an utter hipster herself, in certain ways. You can pry vinyl records from her cold, dead hands. They do sound better.

Still, a shrug. "Honestly, I don't think naked laundry would shock too many people here. Well. Maybe some nobles, but they sound kind of like they're easily scandalised in general."

A little laugh, mostly silent, and she smiles fondly at the hood. "Granny got it from a wizard. It... wizards don't charge money so much as things you can't put a value on, if that makes sense. All magic comes with a price." More soberly, that, before she silences herself with some beer.

"Wow, that..." She was going to say 'sounds ominous,' but it sounded like it was less of a joke than a lot of what Ruby's said, so she settles on, "sounds intense."

"Also," because Cosima can't let it pass outright, "These glasses are prescription, thank you. I do play obscure European board games, but I don't own any mason jars."

It's an out, if Ruby wants to stay on lighter topics, for now.

"It is," she agrees, very easily, before gladly breezing right on past that. She might save that particular gem for a second talk, or at least... further into this one. Children and memories and so on were potentially sensitive topic areas in the context of their being bartering chips, after all.

"Sure they are." Just because she believes her doesn't mean she has to make it sound like she believes her. "And you don't own any mason jars because you just got here. Give yourself time to restock."

With a smile, so very helpful.

It makes Cosima laugh. "You want to try them on and see?" It's more a measure of trust here than it would be at home - she has no idea where she'd replace them if she had to - but it seems so natural in the moment that the glasses are already in her hand.

"Sure." With a laugh and a shake of her head, before she nods to the hood. "You can try on the hood, if you want."

Although, she peers at the glasses suspiciously, before her gaze flickers back to Cosima. "Just how much are these going to blind me?"

"Ah, see how the skepticism vanishes," Cosima says with a grin. "I'm pretty nearsighted, so. Some?"

She'd look at the hood but, well, it's sort of blurry for now.

"Well, wolves and their eyes. All the better to see you with, that whole schtick." A moment of further consideration, before she pops the glasses on, and--

"Jesus." Removes, very quickly removed, before holding them very carefully towards Cosima. "You'll get your certificate of authentication in the mail. Doesn't mean you aren't a hipster."

"Okay, okay." She takes them back with a grin. "Noted. Though I've always thought nerds make bad hipsters; we're too enthusiastic about our area of interest to be any good at detached cool."

A hum, somewhere between sympathetic and musing. "True, I guess. There weren't enough hipsters in Storybrooke for me to really compare notes with."

Ruby shrugs, sips her beer, and attempts to be reassuring. "Although I don't think any hipster is detached cool when it comes to coffee. They are an enigma of inconsistencies."

Her look is mischievous. "What if I don't drink coffee?"

Ruby looks incredulous.

"You're bullshitting."

Surely. Surely nobody actually doesn't drink coffee. What a terrible concept.

"I'm not," she says, laughing. "Tea. I mean, I've tried coffee, I'm not an alien, but I'm not a regular drinker."

A pause, then, "Man, I don't envy you trying to kick a heavy caffeine habit as soon as you arrived, though."

"Tea has its moments," she agrees, and it is the tone of someone who loves tea, really, but whose blood runs closer to espresso. She groans a little, laughing, and rests her head in her hand.

"You can get it here but it's not the same." A singularly tragic moment, and her smile is self mocking, again. "The world is in turmoil, but what about my coffee?"

Her life is hard, and doesn't she know it.

"Given every coffee drinker I know, I'd say the priorities sound about right. But hey, at least there's alcohol?"

Subpar coffee, no weed, but there's always getting drunk on reasonably potable ale if the new reality gets to be too much!

Ruby laughs, raising her stein to knock it against Cosima's. "Here's to long term liver damage, no matter the poison."

Annnnd a pause. "So, I've done the inter-world rodeo before, at least. You seem extremely chill about... all this."

( closed ) Cosima.

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