Re: [jude & hannah: tea]
Hannah was a little slow to notice the listening boy, but she smiled at him when she did notice. She didn't think it was important not to be seen. After all, this was a hallowed library, tea and old books and storytime, and they were both seated upon the same metaphorical rug and listening to the curly-haired librarian read from an invisible book. "I think I want a eulogy that makes people laugh and laugh. If they want to cry after that, it's okay, but I insist they be happy tears and that their smiles leave lines etched on their skin. And I insist those lines grow deep and deep with age and leathered skin and a life lived well after I'm gone." She said that all very dramatically, and she sighed at the passage of time and work and the real world slipping tendrils through the lingering scent of the tea.
But he twisted his tale and spun his yarn, and she lost track of time again (which was fitting). She laughed at the girl's weeping and heaviness, and she sat back satisfied as the girl was put back in her place in time to smack her brother on the back. "I hope it wasn't a really hard smack," she said finally, and she smiled a happy smile at him. "I'm not sure time travel is good. I know! I'm an adventurer, and I should think it's all really wonderful, and I do think it makes a good story, but I think we should stay where we are and live forward." It was a new idea, just born, but it felt right to say the words and spill the thoughts, and she knew it was an idea she would keep.
"Your eyes light up when you're happy," she told him boldly, plainly, and not hiding the fact that he was glittering, and that before had not been. It was a good note, she thought, for an ending. She pushed her chair back, and the legs screeched in protest against the floor. She looked down at them, copper cascading against cheek a moment and a laugh on her lips as she glanced back up at the tick-tock storyteller. "Thank you for the tea and the story. I won't forget you promised me tree-climbing." Here, she stood, and she shifted her bag onto her shoulder and looked down on him from on-high. "Ren is talking about doing something for the holidays here," she said, motioning to the bookstore portion of the cafe. "You should come. I'm coming."
She pushed her chair in, and she smiled at the little boy that had shared the storytime with her, and then she returned her full, cornflower attention to Jude. "It was really nice to meet you, Jude. I like you even better when you're not made of gold."