Diaval and Toby | Backdated to 6/25/15

[om_changeling]

Diaval and Toby go out for tea and get to know each other better.



Diaval realized once he'd collected Toby to venture into town for proper tea that he had perhaps not set off on the most impressive foot. Yes, he'd dressed neatly in his preferred grays and blacks, and let his hair fall ruffled rather than slicked back, and even loaded the address of the tea house serving English afternoon tea (where the Americans had gotten the idea to call it 'high tea' he hadn't the slightest idea) into his phone.

It was only that taking the bus into town seemed somewhat less than perfectly well-thought-out, but Diaval didn't drive and Toby didn't have the correct license, so public transit was their answer.

They stepped off in the shopping district at Salem Center into a hot but not unbearable summer afternoon. "Where are your lot's rainy days, is what' I'd like to know," Diaval observed, pushing on a pair of sunglasses.

"Across the country in Northern California." Toby grinned. The trip on the bus hadn't bothered her - yeah, okay, she'd kind of hoped Diaval drove, but whatever. She'd been doing mass transit for years. Her outfit...

Okay, it looked good on her. She'd admit that. The black jeans were tighter than she was really used to wearing, and the fitted tee she'd picked up to wear with them was scoop necked, short enough to reveal the top of her jeans, and a pretty silvery-gray color that looked cool with her eyes, which had seemed like a good idea until she'd realized it really didn't matter with her sunglasses on anyway. She'd even bought a pair of black sandals with heels to wear with it.

All in all, though? She sort of felt as if she were playing dress up, and was hoping she didn't look like it.

"Such a bloody large country," Diaval said good-naturedly, starting his way down the sidewalk. "Never understood what you need all that space for. California sounds downright homey, though. Is that where you're from?"

"San Francisco." Toby nodded, then shrugged and grinned. "Not sure what they're doing with the space in the middle. We mostly just tried to ignore it existed."

Diaval said brightly, for him, "Oh, you mean how London feels about the rest of the country, not to speak of the other countries in the Kingdom? Well, it's not all cowboys and stagecoach robberies out there, anyway. They've got, er... Chicago? Right?"

"I've always just kind of assumed it was fictional." Toby grinned. "You know, they made it up as a setting for all those gangster movies, and it became an urban legend."

That brought on a real laugh, if raspy and not wholly unlike a raven's caw, from Diaval. "One of those Hollywood conspiracies? Seems as likely as a lot of people setting up in the middle of nowhere and packing their firearms into violin cases, doesn't it? Here we are," he added, pausing outside a small tea house that looked, from the outside, a bit more fussy than would easily accommodate two black-clad teenagers. Diaval appeared unperturbed about that.

"Whoa. Are you sure they don't have a dress code?" Toby glanced down at her outfit, which she'd thought perfectly respectable for any coffee-shop type place imaginable. Now, she wan't so sure.

"At these prices?" Diaval joked lightly, getting the door and holding it for Toby to step inside. "Here's a trick: you can look however you want as long as you're so polite they can't find a fault with you. We'll wear our best manners, that's all that matters."

Diaval was amused at the American interpretation of English tea, what with the roses on the tablecloths and the lace on the curtains, but the overall effect wasn't terrible. Could use a touch of updating, maybe. He actually was looking forward to speaking to them with his accent and seeing what would happen.

"And here I left mine back in my room," Toby joked. She straightened up as she headed inside, though, figuring confidence might go a ways too. The place looked like something straight out of some kind of Victorian movie, and she bit back and urge to laugh. "They think a lot of themselves, don't they?"

Diaval tried not to chuckle too obviously as they found a cozy table for two, which he gestured at for Toby's approval before taking a seat. "Is this what Americans think the English are like? Cheerio, guv'nor, and all that?"

The tea set offerings were generous, but fit easily on a placard at the table, which Diaval glanced over with growing approval. Everything on the menu looked very proper, at least.

"What, you mean that's not accurate?" Toby managed to stare incredulously for a few seconds, then snorted and grinned. "Seriously, everyone sees Mary Poppins as a kid. No matter what you learn after, it still sticks with you."

With an exaggerated wince, Diaval shook his head. "Oh, bloody hell, is that what I'm up against? Julie Andrews is a national treasure, but that fellow with the overblown Cockney accent is the precise opposite." He offered her the menu placard, which was arranged to allow the customer to choose a tea, a scone, a sandwich, and a collection of cookies for their service. "Anything catch your eye?"

Okay, not just tea, then. Actual tea. Toby eyed the menu curiously, then shrugged and made her selections as much by guesswork as knowledge. "Sure, I'm good. Unless you've got recommendations?"

"Haven't been here before, but I tend to recommend this," Diaval explained, pointing to the English Breakfast version of the tea. For nibbles, Toby could make up her own mind. "It's as near to English tea as you're likely to find. Bit of milk and you'll practically be transported to the Yorkshire countryside."

Toby grinned. "Can't pass up an opportunity at that, can I? Who knows when I'll get another chance for instant virtual Trans-Atlantic transport?"

Diaval smiled in return; not everyone appreciated his off-balance sense of humor. A server not much older than he and Toby appeared soon enough to guide them through the menu, but on hearing Diaval's distinctive accent, kept her tea education to a minimum. In turn, Diaval did his best BBC standard, more crisp and clean than his typical Yorkshire accent. As he'd suggested, his manners were top-shelf.

When the server had departed, Diaval settled back in the chair and looked to Toby for approval.

Toby grinned and nodded. "Impressive. I half expected her to drop into a curtsy as soon as you finished speaking." Which, at least, was better than the askance looks she'd more than half expected, given the way they were dressed, Diaval's scars, and the fact that she still hadn't removed her sunglasses.

Diaval supposed that Toby was making a fashion statement, so he didn't ask. He'd slid his own off to tuck in his shirt pocket. "I've tried telling my family that my accent is my actual superpower over here, but I don't think they quite believe me. Next time, we'll take video to send to them, shouldn't we?"

"Next time?" Toby asked the question before even thinking about it, then grinned crookedly. "I wasn't sure if this was a one time thing or not." She pushed her hand through her hair, giving any onlookers a glance at one pointed ear, then sighed. "Do you care if you're seen with a mutant?" she asked without preamble. "Because the sunglasses are driving me nuts, and I think I just blew cover anyway."

Diaval looked really confused. "I'm seen with a mutant every time I'm seen."

"Hey, I didn't know if you were out or if you were just explaining it off as odd scars," Toby pointed out. She took off her sunglasses and shrugged. "Not everyone's cool with it."

"Mostly, no one asks," Diaval said thoughtfully. "But I did an interview in SHIFT a few months ago, about growing up as a shape-shifter. There was a photo along with it. That's about as out as I've gone, I suppose."

"Hey, more than I've done. But yeah. Hardly anyone asks." She eyed him curiously. "What was it like? I haven't read the issues of SHIFT that came out before I got here."

Diaval smiled, crookedly. "Mostly it was like chatting with my mate Sirius and then filling in whenever he needed a transition. Oh, and getting my hair brushed quite shiny for the pictures. I'm not really a writer, but Sirius has charm to spare, so he lent me some and wrote it all up. After that, I got an awful lot of followers on Instagram, but I forget to post so I'm afraid I left them wanting."

"Insta-" Toby began, then shook her head and smiled crookedly. Social media thing, right. One of these days, she was going to figure out how to do things on her phone other than text and talk, but it was definitely still a work in progress. "Poor disappointed fans. You should probably be ashamed of yourself, keeping them hanging like that." Okay, so maybe she didn't sound as if he should, but still. She was pretty sure that was how it worked. "But no, I meant what was it like, growing up as a shapeshifter?"

Diaval broke into a brief but impish grin to show that he'd mis-answered the question on purpose. That was his version of humor. "Sort of... disjointed, honestly. I went to school as a person each day, then I came home and I was a bird until supper and on the weekends. Neither one seemed quite real while I was the other. They didn't fit together. But I couldn't stop being either."

Toby rolled her eyes and smiled crookedly. Okay, he'd gotten her. Her smile faded, though, and she made a face. "That had to kind of suck. How'd you break the cycle?"

Cocking his head, quite raven-like, he answered, "Oh, that was Aurora, my little sister. She had me figured out, and I don't think she still sees the difference between this me and the bird me. So I guess I started to not see the difference, either."

"And that helped?" The waitress brought over their tea, and Toby picked up the cup and blew at it a little before taking a sip, quite forgetting Diaval's advice about the milk. She grinned a little. "You seem pretty undisjointed now. Or you put on a really good act."

"Oh, hey now, proper English tea," Diaval reminded, holding up the tiny pitcher of milk that came with the tea service. "Can't have your tea without it." He added a dollop to his own cup.

"Anyway, I like to think I'm pretty well adjusted. I'm not one thing or the other, it's just all me."

Toby smiled as she took the pitcher and poured a little of the milk in. "It's good you're cool with it, because all you seems like not a bad thing to be. You family is good with it too, then? You mentioned your sister?"

Diaval nodded, now on to his favorite subject. "Aurora and my mother are back in York, that's our family. When I first started shifting, I would keep an eye on Aurora in my raven shape. Her birth parents weren't... very responsible. One day she followed me home and met Mother, and eventually we were able to adopt her officially.

"Have you got family?" He tucked in to the ham and pear sandwich he'd ordered along with his tea quite contentedly.

"Bio? Just a mom." Toby shrugged and took a bite of her own cucumber and dill sandwich. "I haven't seen her in years, though." She smiled faintly. "No loss. Anyway, the kids I was living with were more family than she was."

"You put together your own." Diaval understood that. "Constructing a new one, out here?"

"Really haven't given it much thought." Toby smiled a little more. "Not sure I ever did it intentionally, ever. I mean, Home was sort of meant to be pseudo-family, but I never really bought into that crap. It just kind of happened anyway." Which meant, what? Julie'd been the sister you were alternately best friends with and fought with, while Dare was the annoying little sister you really didn't want tagging along but were stuck with anyway?

...yeah, actually, that pretty much did sum it up, didn't it? She very carefully didn't think about where Devin fit in. She had a feeling the answer would be way too incestuous for comfort.

Diaval nodded, apparently taking matters of family quite seriously. "It'll do that. School's an odd place to have your family, anyway. So?" He gave a nod toward the tea and treats, interested in her pronouncement.

"You were right, definitely something I should have tried before. I'm sold." Toby smiled, relieved to let the subject of family fade away. "I'm not sure if I'm relieved or disappointed that the tea doesn't actually bubble, though."

"This is proper tea," Diaval explained promptly. "Got to appreciate the original before you try the derivative. Bubble tea has milk and flavoring and odd little gelatin balls in it. Delicious, certainly. But this is tea." He hoped he sounded authoritative enough that Toby wouldn't notice he'd just forgotten the original intent.

"Mmmm." Toby grinned. "So, does that mean we're going to have to come back again? To try the other tea, I mean." It wasn't a bad strategy on his part, and she wouldn't exactly object to another whatever this was.

Yes, of course, that was exactly what he'd meant. Diaval looked briefly relieved. "I'm afraid we will. You shouldn't mind too terribly, though..." He sat back, and glanced down at his attire. "Bubble tea is generally pastel."

Toby's eyebrows rose, her lips quirking. "Please tell me that I don't have to dress to match the tea? I'm really not a pastel kind of person."

"It's not required, of course, but I was considering it," said Diaval, too-solemnly. "Do you think I'm more of a passionfruit or a pistachio?"

"Oh, you're definitely a nut." Toby grinned.

Diaval snorted, then broke into a raspy laugh fairly reminiscent of a bird's caw. "You'll be wanting 'peach' then," he offered slyly.

"Pretty sure I do not qualify as a peach." Toby grinned, eyebrows rising, and she took a sip of her tea. hoping he'd blame the radiating heat for the way her face was warming.

He considered them even at that, and supposed that any further teasing might damage his image as a polite and entertaining date. "Coconut's both a sweet and a nut," Diaval suggested with a smile. "We could meet halfway. Best of both worlds? You might like it on the nutty side."

"I might," Toby conceded. She gave him a skeptical look, though, trying to suppress a smile of her own. "I'm not sure what pastel color coconut relates to, though. Any chance you can help me take a look through my closet to pick out something appropriate?"

Was that forward, or just normal and Diaval didn't realize? He looked a little startled, but decided that playing it deadpan was his best bet. "I don't think I'm allowed in the ladies' wing," he said with comically widened eyes. "Though... I do believe there's no rule about birds visiting."

"Wouldn't want to break the rules or anything." Toby smirked. Okay, so Diaval looked surprised, but he didn't look upset, and he was upping the ante. It was all good. "But if there was anything about birds popping in and out, I definitely missed it. Maybe when we get back?"

"When we get back, we check the rules?" Diaval teased. Now he was definitely out of his depth, he was pretty sure.

"Your call. But given the number of guys wandering the hall on a regular basis? I'm guessing no one would pay much attention to one bird." Toby smiled and took a sip of her tea. "Of course, if you'd rather not chance it? You just have to deal with me wearing totally inappropriate colors out for tea. Pretty sure the world would survive."

Quirking an eyebrow, Diaval eyed her speculatively. That was a challenge, wasn't it? "Best not to risk it. Operation Fashion Raven will commence when you least expect it." He considered. "Operation Fashion Raven probably ought to bring some clothes along, avoid a repeat of last time."

"Only if you want to." Toby grinned a little. "I didn't exactly complain about the view last time."

Diaval gave her a brief and wholly insincere waggle of one finger. "That is definitely against the rules, and Fashion Raven is not that sort of bird." Still, there was a definite thread of pleasure mixed in with his awkward shyness. Toby had paid him a very kind compliment, after all. Just because he wasn't quite ready to bare it all in a girl's dorm room didn't mean he didn't like to be appreciated.

Toby let out a soft snort of amusement, and took another sip of her tea. "So, what kind of a bird is Fashion Raven?" she asked, deliberately changing the subject. "Other than one with awesome taste in tea." The offer was open, but whether he took her up on it later or not, she was having a good time. Dates, apparently, didn't totally suck.