The Corner Cafe | Closed To Nepeta and Feferi

[drawntotheflame]

Kanaya walks in the shop around 8:00 Saturday morning. She has changed and is setting up the chairs when Nepeta comes in. "Hello," she calls.

Kanaya waits until she and Nepeta are both at the counter to broach the matter at hand. She fiddles with the coffee machine, unsure of how to start. Finally, she settles on: "I've been made aware of why the girl in here yesterday was behaving so strangely."

Comments

[lunaquatic]

Feferi's phone buzzed on the table beside her and Feferi winced, snatching it up and muffling the vibrations against her leg as she glanced around the library. When no one was glaring at her she looked at the screen, frowning when it said she had a few texts from an unfamiliar number.

She pressed her thumb against the home button and it smoothly transitioned to the message screen when it recognized her print. Feferi pursed her lips as she read, puzzling over the threes.

Fef gulped when she hit the name. Nepeta. Erifin had mentioned giving her number to Kanaya but she hadn't expected....

Feferi put a hand to her chest, feeling her racing heart and trying to control her breathing as excitement and panic unleashed the floodgates on her adrenal glands. She felt like she could have swum the English channel but instead she jammed her phone into her bag and hurriedly gathered up her papers and books and fled the library, mind racing as she tried to think of how to respond.

She settled on the rim of a fountain in the plaza, spreading her pink skirts around herself on the marble rim as the gentle music of falling water soothed her jangling nerves. Fef took a deep breath and pulled out her phone, reading over the texts again before finally beginning to type a response:

Yes, t)(is is Feferi.
I guess t)(at was pretty remorable...

Fef bit her lip, uncharacteristically timid. It seemed too bizarre to ask if Nepeta remembered meeting her in a dream, but she was dying to know the answer. While she tried to think of a casual way to ask, another question occurred to her.

...W)(y text me after I floundered so badly at t)(e coffee s)(op even if -Erifin gave your coworker my number?? 380

[cattobekittenmerightmeow]

It took a while before a response came, and for that, Nepeta was glad. She and Kanaya opened the shop, and were in the midst of the morning rush when the texts came back. Nep jumped at the first one, and desperately tried to stifle the ones that followed.

When things calmed down, half an hour later, she peeked at her phone, and read the messages.

:33 < well, i was hoping maybe you had answers
:33 < or knew more than i do about things
:(( < im really not purr to be completely honest
:33 < but it must mean something
:33 < this whole situation, i mean, with the dream
she sent the messages rapid fire, and hastily shoved the phone back in her pocket as another customer approached the counter to order.

[lunaquatic]

It took her a while to corral her thoughts sufficiently to respond in any sort of sensible way. Fef had returned to the library after ten minutes of no response but she had had the sense to retreat to a private study room. It wasn't uncommon for people to lock the doors and close the windows and nap in there but she just wanted the freedom to look at her phone without earning the glares of those around her. She might be the daughter of the school sponsor and allowed a considerable amount of leeway academically in terms of skipping GEs and whatnot, but the students treated her as one of their own. Usually she was grateful for the lack of special treatment but sometimes she wished she could send people away as easily as the servants. It was just so convenient to be able to issue orders and have them followed.

So you DO remember it too?
I fin...
I fin it's more t)(an just us t)(at visit t)(at same dream...
Do you remember being t)(ere before?
W)(en I wake up t)(ere it's all purple and I can fly and t)(ere are crab people...
And w)(en I'm t)(ere I remember it from many times before...
And I fin my friend -Erifin )(as been t)(ere too...
T)(at nig)(t I met you I t)(ink )(e saw us...
Glub glub glub t)(is is all so strange!!! )(ave you ever met anyone else from your dreams?? 380

[cattobekittenmerightmeow]

Her pocket buzzed several times, alerting her to the fact Feferi had more to say, so when the next customers took their order and found seats, she left Kanaya to man the counter while she “went to the bathroom”. She leaned against the bathroom door as she tapped away at her phone screen, reading the purple texts twice before responding with her own.

:33 < I’m not really purr
:33 < i don’t remember even my normal dreams furry furequently… but i’ve dreamed of the purrple city befur
:(( < and i know there was someone else i’ve met there befur but i can’t picture their face or who they are beclaws i always furget when i open my eyes
:33 < but i know, whoefur it is, that i’m their furiend beclaws sometimes i remempurr bits and pieces furom the dreams

[lunaquatic]

Sole w)(at you're saying is t)(at t)(ere are probably more people to find out )(ere and in t)(ere?
If only we can remember?
Glub glub glub glub.....

Fef leaned her chair back on two legs as she ran her tongue over her teeth, considering.

I wonder if t)(ere's some way to remember more easily...
T)(ere otter be, rig)(t??
Somefin like lucid dreaming... or sleep talking??
)(mm.....
I fin I s)(ell start keeping a dream journal to write down anyfin I remoraber w)(en I wake up.
T)(at would be --EXCITING if you could find your frond out in the waking world!!!!

[cattobekittenmerightmeow]

:33 < well
:(( < i suppawse so?
:(( < i dont know how many there could pawssibly be though
:(( < dont you think its weird enough that we were both there and are both real life people who were sharing one single dream?
:33 < meowby a dream journal would help
:33 < i dont know how much it would help me if i dont remempurr, but its worth a shot i suppawse
:33 < purrhaps if i met them in the real world i would recognize them? but it's an awfurly big city
:33 < do you think that they would all be furom the city too?

She fiddled with one of her lip rings as she wrote her responses, then slipped her phone back into her pocket to go back out and rejoin Kanaya behind the counter.

[lunaquatic]

W)(ale so far it's you and me and possibly -Erifin and maybe your frond...
I don't remember exactly w)(at else I've seen t)(ere apart from purples... and crab people....
Do you fin the crab people exist out )(ere too??? 380
...Wait do you mean t)(e purple city or t)(e reel city??

Feferi clicked her phone off and set it atop her bag as she got up from the chair and paced the study room, thoughts whirling around in her head. She was tempted to try and fall asleep at once immediately and put her plans into action. Not that it was exactly easy to plan around dreams, but now that she wanted to remember things she was irrationally confident that she would be able to do it easily.

[cattobekittenmerightmeow]

Fifteen minutes later when some loitering customers finally left, Nepeta was left alone with Kanaya once more. In a somewhat stealthy manner Nep slipped the phone out of her pocket and read Feferi’s messages. After looking them over she started her own round of replies.

:33 < i’m talking about the real city
:33 < if i’m furom the city, and you're furom the city, and eridan is furom the city
:33 < then would anyone else furom the dream city also be furom sburb?
:33 < what do you think it means that were dreaming about the city?
:33 < why just us? and pawssibly more than just us, but why not efuryone?
:33 < as fur the residents of the purrple city, i don’t think they're real beclaws i’ve nefur met one and i really don't hope i do

She hit send and set the phone on the counter, and picked up her drink instead. The entire situation was just way too weird to be able to wrap her head around. She fiddled with the plastic lid, bending the close flap back and forth anxiously until it snapped off.

[lunaquatic]

Feferi was taking notes in class when she felt her phone buzz against her chest. She pursed her lips but, given that she had unwisely chosen a seat near the front of the room in an attempt to keep herself awake and focused, she opted to wait until after class to respond to the texts.

Rather than risk someone snooping, she headed into the first bathroom she spotted and ducked in a stall before flipping her phone on and scrolling through the texts before beginning her reponses.

Maybe t)(ey live underwater...
Or underground??
Glub glub glub glub glub...
I don't reely know w)(y t)(is would only be )(appening to us?
T)(ere mast be otters, rig)(t?
Next time you dream of t)(e city, sea if you can count t)(e towers.
I remember t)(ere being ot)(er towers t)(an t)(e one I wake up in and t)(e one I found you in...
Do you fin you're always in t)(e same tower??
I'm not s)(ore if I am or not...
T)(e more I try to remember t)(e murkier it all gets...
GLUB GLUB GLUB GLUB GLUB GLUB!!!!!
Maybe everyone is t)(ere and we just don't remember meeting all of t)(em??
Maybe t)(ere are infinite dream cities in all t)(e colors!!!!!

Feferi hit send on her last excited text and chewed her lip as she stood up and straightened her outfit after tucking her phone away in her bodice again so she could be certain to feel it if it buzzed again.

The unknown always made her hungry so it seemed like the ideal time to wash her hands and head off to get something to eat.