[jude & hannah: tea]
Hannah was done with work for the day. She left the facility a lot now that she had a room at the tiny and dirty little motel beyond the tracks, and it felt like freedom to her. But today she didn't head back to the motel and to Spot (her cat). Today, she made her way to the little book and coffee shop in the main part of town. She was still dressed from her work shift, with a long purse hanging from her shoulder and bapping against her hip as she walked on high heels that took her from an already-tall 5-9 to taller still.
She looked around, curious if Ren was working but not seeing his dark head bowed behind the counter, and then she turned to regard the tables with blue-eyed curiosity and intelligence projected bright and voracious on her harmless-looking face. She was no rag doll. She was not made of stitchery and filled with fluff, and she didn't look like she'd ever worn patchwork. She was human as human could be as she shifted from one foot to the next and leaned down to scratch one side of her shin as she regarded the crowded room.
Curious, curious, and this was like an adventure. She hadn't met her clockwork boy in person, and she was very interested in what he'd look like. It was kind of like meeting a boy from a book, like Fitzwilliam Darcy stepping from between hallowed pages and straightening his afternoon jacket. This boy, Jude, was the same kind of fictional to Hannah. She knew he didn't tick and tock, no more than she was made of gossamer and lisle. It was an adventure, because she didn't know what she was seeking out as she looked at bowed heads and people gathered.
She knew something strange was going on in town, but it hadn't touched her, and she was unaware of magical occurrences. She was merely curious, and she discounted couples and pairs, families and threesomes. That left an old man with spectacles, a woman who kept looking up guiltily from her novel, and a young man sitting in front of a tea set and flipping through a book.
She decided to approach the latter, and she pulled out the chair opposite him and sat before saying a thing. "Well," she said, "if you're not Jude, then you're just going to have to humor me and pretend you want company for tea, since I'm already sitting. Hi. I'm Hannah."