𝒷𝓁𝑜𝓈𝓈𝑜𝓂 ✿ (blossomed) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-06-17 00:40:00 |
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Orange County boasted a variety of coffee shops and according to Leon, coffee was a food group all of its own. It wasn’t uncommon for him to gulp down several cups a day. He wasn’t particularly fancy with what he drank, he didn’t believe in decaf or half-caf (what even was that?!) or any of the other modifications that made baristas sound as though they were speaking an entirely different language. All Leon really cared for was straight black, the darker the better.
The barista at this particular coffee shop this morning seemed relieved when Leon ordered his painfully simple drink. The morning was nearly finished and yet the shop was full to nearly bursting of college students and other university employees, all scrambling to get their caffeine fixes before returning to class.
Leon still had a few hours before he had to meet Isabela. After being handed his coffee he attempted to seek out a spot where he could sit, relax and enjoy his coffee. Nearly every seat was taken and it seemed as though most people were sharing tables. No big deal. With a shrug, Leon approached one of the tables that still had an open seat. A young red-haired woman already sat there and Leon gave her a smile. “’Scuse me,” he said and motioned to the empty chair. “Mind if I sit here?”
A lot of Blossom’s classes didn’t start up until late July, but there were some options in some classes to audit the end of the previous year, especially given her grades at current and her dedication to her studies. It meant that while Blossom had every intention of not just being there and doing class work, she’d already started studying.
It just made sense, to get a feel for the professors and how they taught and what they expected, mostly by learning their style of teaching and the work they gave before it actually counted against her. It was why she was in a coffee shop with books on her little table, making notes in her notebook and sipping on an iced chai latte, even if she wasn’t technically a student yet.
The polite interruption had her taking a moment from her notes, glancing up with an open smile, “Oh, not I don’t mind, feel free.” She even began moving some of her belongings so that there was ample space. “It’s awful packed in here today, right?”
“Thanks,” Leon took the seat. He watched as the girl quickly moved aside some of her things to make room. He didn’t want to take up too much space. Despite having two chairs, the table itself was really suited for one person, and the girl had way more things with her than Leon did. “It really is,” he agreed with her assessment of the amount of people in the shop that morning. “Kinda nuts, isn’t it?” He glanced at her books and notes, “are you student?”
Stacking a few of her notebooks on top of each other, putting some of her pens away and leaving some space for her new company. “I mean at least it shows this place does good coffee?” Sometimes that was just what was needed in a new place, a nice new coffee shop.
“Sort of?” Blossom tried to work that one out, “Like, I’m starting in the fall, but I wanted to get a headstart on things.” Blossom tended to do things earlier than needed, typically what people called a bookworm. “I like being organised.”
Leon raised a brow. He’d taken a several college courses in criminal justice when he’d been living in Denver, but had never actually finished a degree. Traveling all over the country with the ATF had made that a little difficult.
He glanced down at the number of books the girl had neatly stacked at the edge of the table. It seemed like more than a simple ‘head start’. If Leon didn’t know any better he would have thought the girl was actually taking a full course load throughout the summer. “That’s good,” he commented over his coffee cup. “Is it helping?” He asked. “What is it you’re taking?”
“It’s been really informative so far,” the chance to talk about school, even with a stranger who was probably just being polite, it opened Blossom up a hell of a lot. “I just need to narrow down my sciences, I don’t know if I want to go social sciences or not,” she was sure her dad would love if she went into so kind of scientific course, he was a chemistry whiz, but Blossom wanted an expansion on her intellect too.
“I’m already taking elective History and English literature, but I have space for two more with a major, but it’s deciding what to do, y’know?” She liked the look of so many things. “What kinda things do you find interesting?”
It was always interesting to discover what other people’s interests were. What got them excited and talkative. Everyone had at least something they were passionate about. For this girl it seemed as though school itself was exciting for her. Leon smiled as he listened to her, taking a drink from his coffee. “Sounds as though you’ve already got a pretty full schedule,” he said.
Then she turned the conversation back on him, asking what he found interesting. He lowered his cup to the table and tapped his fingers against its side thoughtfully. “Well,” he said. “I took a few criminal justice courses a few years ago. But social sciences are pretty interesting, at least for me, figuring out why people do the things that they do.”
“That’s so true,” Blossom couldn’t help but agree, people were interesting, and figuring out how they made choices and their reasons, it was so fascinating to deal with. The human condition was probably up there with the mysteries of the world as far as interesting subjects went.
“My school mates used to think it was really weird because I really liked those psychological thrillers, y’know, the ones where they delve into the psyche of a killer?” Of course, her sisters thought she was weird too, but they didn’t think it in a mean way like some others. “But I never thought about criminal justice.”
“Why would they think that’s weird?” Leon raised a brow. “There are some great movies out there that do that. Award winning ones. Like...uh...did Silence of the Lambs win an award?” He glanced at the girl across from him. Leon wasn’t sure if she was even old enough to have heard of the movie, much less know whether or not it had won an Oscar or an Academy Award.
Leon set his cup down and dug his phone out of his pocket to look it up himself. “I thought the CJ courses I took were interesting. Then again at the time I was a cop gunning for detective, so I might be a little biased.” He glanced up for a moment. “Do you think you’d like social sciences over natural sciences?” His eyes moved back to his phone. “I wasn’t much good with chemistry or physics when I was in high school.” It wasn’t that Leon didn’t think science was interesting. He actually liked catching the occasional documentary about the cosmos, or nature or whatever. But it when it came to the nitty gritty calculations most sciences had, his eyes tended to glaze over.
“I don’t know if it did, but it should’ve. I mean, the subject of cannibalism is a taboo one, and I do get that it can be a little bit odd, but the sheer gripping way they deal with that psychological desire and Hannibal’s amazing intellect? It’s impressive.” And this, for example, was something that her sisters didn’t really like talking about. “I really like the Netflix stuff that’s out now, where they take a really good look at the criminals and how and why they do things? Mindhunter was so good at explaining all that.”
Of course, coming from a science background, Blossom had always done exceptionally well with intellectual subjects, she took after her dad like that. She might not have his genetics, but she certainly took on a lot of his interests. “I’ve always been good at natural science, my dad is a chemist, so it’s sort of in the family? But social sciences are so objective, you know? I get that many people believe that psychology is a pseudoscience, but I find it absolutely fascinating.”
Taking a large gulp of her drink, having gotten way too into the conversation already, Blossom paused a little for breath. “So you’re a police officer? A detective? That’s impressive.”
A quick google search of Silence of the Lambs resulted in a litany of awards the movie had won back in 1992: an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, best actor, best actress, best director...the list just went on. “Huh. I guess Silence of the Lambs won all of the awards.”
He looked up again and smiled a little sheepishly. “No, I’m not a cop anymore. I’m doing private security now.” Which was sort of true, though Leon wasn’t about to admit that he was doing security for a smuggler. At least he and Isabela both had the same long term goals. More or less.
“As it should have,” Blossom was pretty sure that movies like that weren’t made anymore. “I think it was a pioneer in thriller movies too.” Not that Blossom should’ve been watching movies like that when she was young, it was sort of before her time really, one of those cult classics that she grew up hearing about.
“It’s still impressive, it takes a lot to be an officer I’m sure.” The protect and serve thing, and while the media was full of news about the less than respectable ones, making it all the more harder for those who weren’t like that. “Is private security similar? You’d still need to be really on top of things, right?” It was probably really interesting too.
Leon gave a half shrug. “I’m a little more limited as a ‘rent-a-cop’, but it isn’t as stressful. I still get to help people. Mostly.” He chuckled a little. “It has its moment and it's never dull.” He took a sip of his coffee, his eyes passing over the girl’s books. “What would you like to do when you’re done with school?”
Blossom’s nose scrunched up a little at the ‘rent-a-cop’ comment, she wasn’t sure that’s what she’d call someone who still put their life on the line to watch over something, it seemed like it was down playing the importance, but she didn’t want to launch into some epic rant about protecting and serving and all that. Least of all with someone who actually did it.
“I guess interesting at least means you stay engaged and involved.” There was probably nothing worse than disliking what you had to do every day for a living. “I have no idea,” it was probably pretty obvious that Blossom wasn’t exceptionally decisive about some things. She could choose clothes and hair styles and food in a second, she never flip flopped about that. But something huge like what her outlook on life was going to be? Nope. No clue.
“I used to think I wanted to be like my dad, and be a scientist, although I’ve always loved biology more than chemistry. But then I thought, what if I could help people? I don’t think I could be a doctor, and I’m probably far too tiny to be an officer like you, but something like a conservationist or something? That’d be cool. But then, I could help people by being a lawyer or a judge or even a teacher too.” So many options, and Blossom could narrow them down not one bit.
Leon may not have agreed with Blossom that he was still putting his life on the line working security for Isabela’s private cruises. Granted, there was a bit of risk involved. Put enough liquor into certain people and they have a tendency to get rowdy or aggressive. Plus there was Bela’s other form of income, which added a completely different layer of risk. Leon kept telling himself it was all worth it.
Blossom was right in that the job kept him engaged. Honestly, Leon considered himself lucky he was working at all.
He gave her a little grin. “You were one of those kids who wanted to be everything whenever someone asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up, weren’t you?” He said with a chuckle.
Blossom laughed a little, because Leon wasn’t wrong about that. “Yeah, I wanted to be a vet from when I was really little, but then I found out that sometimes you couldn’t save an animal, and I knew I’d never be cut out for that.” She got upset when butterflies died.
“But I think I know a little better now what I don’t want to do.” Mostly because she knew what she couldn’t do a little better than when she was young and was sure she could do anything. “I guess the best thing to do is take as many classes as interest me and that I can handle and figure it out after that, right?”
“That makes sense,” Leon said with a shrug. “I mean, it’s not like there’s a law out there that says you have to decide what you want to do right now. May as well take advantage of the fact that you have all these classes available to you now.” He eyed her books again as he took a sip of coffee. “Though, you know, it’s probably a good idea to have at least a little fun now and then.” Unless the girl was one of those types who thought studying was a form of fun. Not that there was anything wrong with that, it just struck Leon as boring.
It was then he realized he’d been chatting with the young woman for a few minutes about careers and school and they didn’t even know each other’s names. “My names Leon,” he said, setting his cup down to offer her his hand.
It was sensible, to get a feel for the classes, the content, if she’d want to study just that all her life, or deal with those things day in and day out, that was the best idea really. Play the field, as it were. “I should take a fun class right? So that it’s not all work and never time for other things.” Although finding a ‘fun’ class might take some work.
“Hey Leon,” navigating her stacks of everything, Blossom extended her own hand to take Leon’s, bright smile on her face, “I’m Blossom.” It was nice to know that she could sit down in a cafe somewhere, spend time outside, and meet some new people.
“Uh, yeah, sure,” Leon said. “Or, you know, instead of a class, maybe set aside a day to hang out with your friends. Do something fun that’s not school related?” Leon couldn’t imagine devoting so much time to school. It would have driven him nuts. But he was probably making assumptions here. Blossom seemed happy enough, not overly stressed or anything, just the type of person who really enjoyed learning.
“It’s good to meet you, Blossom,” he said next. “Thanks again for letting me sit at your table.” He looked a little sheepishly at her. “I didn’t mean to take away from your study time or anything.”
Blossom wasn’t exactly the social butterfly that she sometimes pretended to be. Sure, she tried to make friends, but she was exceptionally aware of her intellect and her own ambition and dedication, and how that sometimes came across as something else. But she didn’t really want to admit that if she were being honest, “That could definitely work too,” even if she tried though, she was certain that a few months in few people would consider what Blossom thought of as ‘fun’ to be fun. But the whole point of moving away and going to college was to try something different, right? So maybe…
“Oh, don’t worry about that.” She knew that had someone sat there and just read their paper, she would’ve gotten all the more involved in nothing but her books. And at least talking with someone about this stuff was more social than just reading, “I get wrapped up sometimes, I miss out on things, like meeting people or just having a conversation.” She might not always have her head in her phone like most of her generation, but she wasn’t far off it. “And I have enjoyed our talk, more interesting than the stages of metamorphosis.”
“I’m glad to hear that I’m more interesting than biology.” Leon smiled back at her. There was something about the way Blossom said she sometimes got wrapped up in things and missed out on meeting people and having conversations that struck Leon as kind of sad. Lonely, even. School was important, there was no doubt about that, but it wasn’t everything. With his dreams being what they were these days, he understood what isolation was like, even with a bunch of people around you. Granted the people in his dreams were mostly zombies, but still, the idea was kind of similar. Sort of. “You know, I’m still pretty new in town,” he said. “Still figuring stuff out. If you want, maybe we can hang out again sometime. Talk a bit more or do some exploring. Find some fun stuff to do that doesn't involve your nose in a book?”
As much as Blossom enjoyed learning, liked the science and facts behind things, she couldn’t say she preferred that to making friends. “That… I’d really like that, I’m still finding my feet too.” Trying to make friends, people that didn’t instantly take a dislike to her and her attitude was hard, and Blossom wasn’t about to turn down a chance when someone openly engaged in a conversation and offered some chance at friendship. “I definitely need the help to keep my nose out of these books.” Which wasn’t far from the truth.