Esmeralda dances to the rhythm of the tambourine (changewillcome) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-01-31 05:39:00 |
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It seemed that there never was a dull moment. Well no. Things had managed to calm down from the whole Gringoire fiasco and things at the Court of Miracles were (mostly) back to normal. Esmeralda was worried about Grantaire, or more worried than usual, but she kept an eye on him when able. She had also finished her latest dream set which had not gone the way she had expected, instead of dying she had actually survived and even had a child with Phoebus (who named their kid Zephyr though?) and Madellaine had even showed up in them.
As it was before the Court opened, Esmeralda found herself wandering Orange County. There weren’t any dance classes being offered at the moment that interested her and she had already picked up things she needed. No, this was just a random outing. Used to the looks she often got, the young woman had Djali following along who was behaving himself for once. Which was suspicious in its own right, but Esmeralda would take it. The goat had a mind of his own but that never stopped her.
Deciding to go and get some coffee, Esmeralda motioned to Djali to take a seat at one of the outside tables before going inside to place her order. Because travelling around Orange County with a goat was such a normal thing. Then again, Orange County. When was anything normal?
Outside the cafe, Kate was taking a bit of time to sit and drink a cup of coffee. She’d just cut her hours back at the Archery Range, and was going to cut back on her bartending hours, too--to focus her attentions more on herself, her husband, and possibly building up the self defense classes she’d been teaching. Today she was trying to enjoy a little time off. It was boring. Just when she’d put her earbuds in to listen to some music, though, she saw a woman coming toward the cafe with a goat. A goat. Kate watched as the goat took a seat by one of the tables and the woman went into the cafe. That was… strange. She climbed from her chair and moved to a closer table. All the better to eavesdrop, of course.
As she placed her order, all Esmeralda could do was hope that Djali behaved. He had a tendency to pester people, or eat things while they weren’t paying attention. Yet he was still part of her family in his own way and she wouldn’t change him for anything (even if he gave her headaches sometimes). Thankfully there wasn’t a line so it wasn’t like she had to worry about it for too long. So once she was outside, she went and took a seat at the table. Mostly her plan was to people watch at the moment. She interacted with people almost consistently at night when they came to the Court of Miracles, it was nice to take a moment to herself and just breathe.
Kate took another moment just watching, but when she realized the other woman was people-watching, too, Kate decided to say hello. It wasn’t every day she got to see a goat sitting in a cafe! (Even if it was at a table outside!) Kate picked up her coffee, tugged the earbuds out of her ears, and wandered over.
“Hey,” Kate said, smiling in a friendly way. “I’ve never… I mean… is that a goat?”
“Hmm?” Okay, so it wasn’t uncommon that Esmeralda would get questions when Djali followed her around when she was exploring or doing things outside of the Court…. Well, she’d gotten plenty of questions from Clopin when Djali had shown up thanks to the dreams but she was pretty sure he was getting used to the strange things. He had other things to worry about after all.
But it was only momentarily as she smiled in greeting.
“Hi. And yes, he is indeed a goat. Djali?” And on cue, Djali stuck his tongue out before going back to munching on some plant that was next to the table (that explained why he’d gone to this particular table.)
“Wow.” Kate said, breaking into a bright grin at the sight of the goat’s tongue. Then it turned back to the plants… and that was just like a goat, wasn’t it? (Like Kate knew anything about goats.) Forget you guys, I’m eating. Kate chuckled. Softly. “You certainly don’t see that every day. Is he well trained?”
Well, at least Kate didn’t seem to be offended that Djali had stuck his tongue out at her. Then again, Djali could be far less charming if he wanted, or if he thought Esmeralda was at risk. Gringoire hadn’t been the only one the goat had ended up headbutting since his arrival.
“That can be said of the area I believe.” Really, even in Paris, things were far more calm than they were in Orange County. Of course with it’s particularities that wasn’t entirely hard to do either. “As for being well trained, I suppose that depends on who you ask.”
“I never even imagined having a goat as a pet,” Kate said, still staring with amusement and awe at the plant-eating guy. She shrugged her shoulders and gave the woman another smile. “I suppose that’s true. I’ve got a dog named Lucky who’s pretty much my best friend. He can be very well trained at times, and absolutely deaf to commands at others.”
“I have to admit neither did I, but Djali seemed to decide otherwise.” Because of course he did. Then again, pet goats showing up from the dreams. That also made the situation a bit complicated. “Sounds like Djali, despite only having him a few months now, I can’t imagine life without him. And he mostly listens to me while no one else.”
“That’s great.” Kate said, smiling warmly. She took one last look at the goat, and then to its owner. “Really amazing thing to see. Anyway, nice to meet you, Djali.” She said to the goat, then nodded. “I should be getting home to my own dog.” Seeing the goat and her owner made Kate miss Lucky terribly. She gave a wave and turned to head out.
Djali seemed to give Kate a passing glance before going back to the plant he was eating. Which really, was pretty typical of Djali. As for Esmeralda, she just smiled some as Kate mentioned wanting to get back to her own dog.
“Have a nice day.” And as she left, Esmeralda went back to her people watching.