ax_main | Felix & Caduceus - Impromptu Tea Party

Two tall, fair, slender boys with fabulous hair sample some tea, make introductions and pose a few fine questions.

It was late in the chilly morning. After the breakfast crowd, but not quite lunch-late. That made it a good time to occupy the school common use kitchen area without generally disturbing the flow of daily activities, in Caduceus' rather humble opinion. He had some two dozen small packages of varying kinds arranged on the countertops, neat enough so that there wasn't a mess per se and that the labels could be read, but otherwise unfussed about being orderly. Six nondescript cups held a single serving of loose tea leaves in the bottom of each, which had only just begun brewing. Tendrils of steam danced from the surfaces of the living liquid as he steadily poured hot water from a large old-fashioned kettle into the last of these cups.

The very tall, pale, gaunt figure wore a long green knit cardigan open over a loose v-neck tee and hemp pants with sandals. His full-bodied pink hair fell down one shoulder and kept going even as he watched what his hands were about with the almost-boiling hot water. He set the somewhat alleviated kettle safely aside onto the stovetop burner where it had begun its journey towards making excellent tea, looking towards the doorway for some moments before the other could join him. He smiled as they arrived, easy and guileless, his naturally somewhat sleepy expression nonetheless very much attentive for whomever this would turn out to be. "Hey," he said by way of greeting, his voice a soft, husky rumble from deep in his chest. "Hello there."

There in the doorway stood a young man who would have been described as tall, fair, and slender were he not in the presence of one even more so. Sharp cheekbones in a pretty face were accented by a loose tumble of red curls swept to one side, half-obscuring a blue eye that did not at all match the golden amber of his other one. Those eyes were wary, his mouth small and tight, and he held himself with a posture so straight and stern that he might have been carved out of something stony, instead of flesh and bone. If so, then someone had carved his arms around a thick stack of books, and a very colorful paisley shirt for him to wear.

Normally, Felix was nervous around men older than himself, especially if they were taller than he was, but nervous didn't seem to apply when the man he was looking at seemed like the living embodiment of calm. Besides, he had the most beautiful hair that Felix had ever seen. How could he be afraid of someone with pink hair? "Good morning," said Felix crisply, in a sort of half-English, half-not accent with clipped consonants. "I wasn't expecting anyone to be here at this hour. Are... you... you're not a student, are you?"

"Hmm? Oh, no. I'm not a student here." The contrastingly loose-limbed, pink-haired man seemed to give the other part of what had just been said and the person that had said it a profoundly thoughtful moment of his undivided attention. Then he answered with a slow nod, soft smile renewed. "It is a particularly pleasant morning, isn't it? Perfect tea weather. I'm not too particular, being fond of tea, myself..." He glanced back at the steaming cups.

The careful consideration from the other person made Felix smile on instinct. One did like to be noticed. The arms encircling his books relaxed, and he made to set the stack down, nearby but out of the way. "That is quite a lot of tea just for you, if you might like some assistance with it," Felix offered, flowing back into a person instead of a statue now that he felt quite sure he didn't need to be wary of this new stranger.

Immediately on the heels of his observation, a thought occurred to him. "Were you... waiting for me?" Weirder things happened at Xavier's, after all.

"Destiny works in curious ways," came the suggestion. "But I wasn't, ah, lurking in wait of you with hot beverages, no. That would be weird. I'm Mr. Clay. I think the professor might have made an announcement? I'll be operating a cafe on the grounds soon, so..." He gave a gesture in the direction of the cups. "Tea."

Only teachers introduced themselves as "Mr" or "Ms," and this odd gentleman definitely wasn't a teacher. Still, with his deep, slow voice and perpetually half-sleepy demeanor, it came across as sort of charming. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Clay," said Felix politely, stepping up to the counter to look over the packets of tea and the cups that seemed to be just about steeped and ready to drink. His manners were just as precise as his speaking voice, and provided him just as much armor. "My name is Felix Harrowgate, and I prefer strong tea that isn't too fruity. What would you recommend?"

"That's very kind of you to say," Mr. Clay said for the good manners. Perhaps he was out of touch with the ways of teenagers already - in all fairness, perhaps he never had been in touch with them, even when he'd been one himself. But he hadn't necessarily been expecting good manners from the youths at the school. "Let's see... This is a flight of blacks that's already steeping. I don't think you'll want the ceylon or the darjeeling. The lapsang souchong can be a bit overbearing..."

He trailed off and looked between the cups, glancing back at the flame-haired boy before choosing one and offering it for Felix's consideration cradled between both of his long gray hands. The leaves still in the cup had golden tips, and the aroma was delicately creamy. "This one might be for you. Maybe sit with it for another minute."

Felix's hands hesitated when offered the cup, his clear first instinct to find a way to take it without having to touch another person. After a moment's indecision, he opted for cupping one hand underneath the cup, and steadying the steaming lip of it with three careful fingertips, so he would neither spill nor burn himself. When he had the cup under his own power and close enough, the aroma reached him and he blinked in surprise. "Oh, that smells lovely. Like there's cream in it when there isn't."

His attention slid back to the packet nearest where the cup had been, his odd eyes drawn to the words that described it over what his other senses could tell him. As soon as he read it, Felix's smile ticked rueful for a moment. He looked back up at Mr. Clay. "I'm certainly going to say that wrong. How do you pronounce the name?"

Caduceus didn't seem to mind the careful negotiation of the teacup whatsoever, waiting until it was handed off safely to turn and choose a different cup for himself. "I don't speak Chinese either. Without a native speaker around, our earnest attempts will have to do." He re-read the label for the tea in question, then back to Felix to confer. "You-nan Gee-g, maybe?"

Thoughtfully, Felix repeated it back, mimicking Mr. Clay almost perfectly. "I don't think I've had tea from China before. Not to my knowledge, at least. Did you come here to introduce us to new cultures and make us all more well-rounded, Mr. Clay?" he asked, with a very pretty little smile, before lifting the cup up to have a taste.

"Not for that reason, specifically," Mr. Clay's soft slurp from his cup was a casual contrast to Felix's own polished composure. He looked into the cup and his jaw shifted as he savored the flavors in the tea before he eventually finished his reply. "I'm a healer. It sounds like your lives here can be dangerous from time to time... I just happen to bring tea along with me."

From time to time. Felix supposed, on average, that was an accurate statement. His back felt strangely itchy for a moment, and he had to fight not to squirm, and instead taste the tea as carefully as Mr. Clay seemed to be doing. The tea itself was very good, and Felix would probably like to drink it often, but he hadn't ever been taught to evaluate tea and wasn't sure what to say. Perhaps it would be better if he thought about it a minute or two after a few sips. "So you're here to make us all better?" he asked, his smile still inviting, a sweet-seeming child on best behavior before an unknown adult. For now, at least.

Setting aside his cup and gathering up another, Mr. Clay slurped and considered it as he'd done with the first before he answered. He didn't want to give them too much opportunity to oversteep before he'd tasted them. "I hope I can help, in some small way," he gently rephrased.

Felix lifted both brows, watching Mr. Clay pick up another cup. Was he supposed to do the same? Tentatively, he started to put his cup down and waited for the pink-haired man to give him another one. "I don't think it's small. The ability to heal other people is very rare among mutants that we know of. Even my magic doesn't do that."

Caduceus seemed to take longer than most people in choosing his words. He hadn't yet decided what he'd say about healing. But he did observe Felix moving to mirror how he was approaching the cups, and how eager the boy seemed to be flattering and pleasant.

"You don't have to rush on to another cup if you don't want to," Mr. Clay reminded. "If you're enjoying that one. I have to taste most of them to decide which supplier we'll be using. And you're welcome to join me in that, if you would like." He set down his cup, not in any hurry exactly, but certainly being deliberate about picking up another cup.

His expression was warm and he didn't seem to be making any kind of judgment, so much as making a friendly suggestion. "But if you prefer to enjoy what you have already..."

Felix had decided that Mr. Clay should like him. It was what he usually decided with teachers -- except for the Professor, because it didn't matter if he could just look at your thoughts anyway -- and generally it worked. Mr. Clay was a bit hard to read, though he seemed wonderfully kind. Felix thought it best just to be forthright.

"I do like this and I think others would, too, but I love trying new things almost more than anything else. May I?" He gestured to one of the other cups that Mr. Clay had not yet touched. Ensuring himself into Mr. Clay's good graces was one thing, but drinking from someone else's cup was too much.

"Yeah," Mr. Clay agreed readily, not reaching to offer anything how he'd done the first time, so much as stepping back to give Felix access to the brewed tea. "Please, help yourself. If you could tell me how it tastes, and how you like it - that would be great." He had more samples, so he wasn't concerned about missing an opportunity to taste them himself or anything like that. It was useful to have a student's opinion.

Felix picked up another cup and inhaled the aroma, but he was looking up at Mr. Clay while his fingers folded around the cup. "You have a very nice voice," he observed, hoping he sounded sincere about it, and not smarmy, or worse, flirty. One thing he'd learned very quickly was that adults in not-Yorkland did not want him to flirt with them. "And you seem very calm. If you can heal people, why aren't you a doctor, and you sell tea instead? Not that there's anything wrong with that, but, Simon Tam has medical-related powers and he's going to be a doctor. My friend's boyfriend has powers that help him make gadgets and things, and he runs a shop where he makes, well, gadgets and things. But your power isn't related to what you do for work at all."

"Are you sure about that? Tea and herbal remedies have been a part of healing practices for... Gosh. Ages," it was put mildly. Caduceus had another contemplative sip from his cup.

"I wouldn't make a good doctor," he continued after a few moments. "Mr. Tam has a talented mind and ambition to solve the mysteries of how the body operates. He's organized and reassuringly conventional. The best doctors have those qualities, I think." Which was to acknowledge that those were things that Caduceus himself didn't possess, or not in the same way at least. "But I'm satisfied to help people in my own way, where fate has seen fit to place me."

Looking thoughtful again, Felix considered that as he tasted the next cup. At first, his nose wrinkled, but he didn't give his opinion just yet, and he didn't put it down. It tasted like flowers, and Felix hadn't been expecting that, so he wasn't sure what he thought of it yet. "Mmhm. You're right. I forgot about willowbark and pennyroyal, that sort of thing. Modern medicine is so much more, well, clinical." If he'd revealed anything about himself, he didn't appear to notice, and chatted on in a light and friendly way.

"I'm not sure about this one," Felix added, swirling the tea before having another taste. That one confirmed it, and he shook his head. "No, this one's like brushing my teeth with a daisy. I don't recommend it."

"Mmnh. I like the subtle, lemony whiff of a daisy, myself. They're good for salads." Mr. Clay didn't seem to regard anything as unusual in the boy's remark either. But then, he wasn't used to thinking of his own knowledge of herbs and plants as highly unusual. "Maybe not what you're looking for in your tea."

A faint giggle entered Felix's voice when he answered, so charmed was he by Mr. Clay's slow, deep cadence and sleepy soft eyes. "Maybe not. I'm not a rabbit, nibbling flowers and lettuce in the garden. I think of myself as more of an indoor animal." He set down the second cup, and quickly gravitated back to the first, which he'd enjoyed. "What are you going to call your tea shop, Mr. Clay?"

Another cup was set aside, another collected in its place, and a mildly befuddled sort of look crossed Caduceus' long, expressive face. "...I don't know," he confessed. "I'm not much of an entrepreneur. I expect that Mr. Shaw and Mr. Ross might have some ideas."

Felix looked momentarily doubtful. "I don't know. Nolan's company is named after his given name, and Shinobi's father's company is named after their surname. They're both lovely, but I'm not sure they're your best resources for creative business naming."

There came a low rumble of a hum at that, followed by a rather intent swallow of tea. "I don't think that would be right, to name the cafe after a person. It should be a place for everybody here to enjoy without all of that... Baggage of individual ownership hanging over our heads."

Even though Mr. Ross and Mr. Shaw had gone to some trouble to put up money and oversee the launching of the business, they didn't seem especially concerned with putting their names on it or overseeing the day to day details. Maybe because their names were already in use just as Felix had described. Or perhaps the whole project was a lark to them.

"'Baggage of individual ownership?'" Felix repeated, with a light laugh of surprise, but not one of derision. He did very well in his civics classes, and political structures and belief systems were very academically interesting to him insofar as they grounded the symbols and metaphors that people relied upon -- so he had at least a grasp of the basics by now. "Why, Mr. Clay, are you a socialist?"

"...Well," Caduceus drew the word out over the space of maybe five syllables, both sheepish and amused. "I don't consider myself very political. It's not for me to say how things ought to be run. I only meant that the cafe might be more, ah, welcoming, if it wasn't named after a person."

"Mr Clay," said Felix with all the sincerity that a seventeen-year-old who was exceedingly sure of himself could muster, "I have to imagine that any cafe in which you are present would be the most welcoming place in the world."

Not having much experience with reading the motives of teenagers specifically outside of his own siblings, it could be he was an easy mark for a tactical charmer like Felix. But his intuition told Caduceus that the boy wasn't really lying either, or that there was some seed of genuine positivity budding there, even if there was some fertilizer in the metaphorical potting mix. He didn't really think his way through it so much as feel it out, and he was honestly a bit touched.

"Thank you, that's... You're making the school seem very inviting so far," his wide smile was guileless. "Do you prefer Felix, or Mr. Harrowgate?"

Felix's dawning smile practically lit up his entire being, his eyes fairly glittering with delight. "No one has ever called me Mr. Harrowgate," he laughed breathlessly. "But it sounds marvelous. I should be honored if you think I've earned the title."

Caduceus set down his cup lightly. "It is your name," he said in recognition of Mr. Harrowgate's excitement. "Maybe it's different for your teachers? But it seems entirely reasonable to me, if that's what you prefer, to extend you that courtesy. I don't see why not."

"I didn't know I preferred it until I heard you say it," Felix admitted, with a tip of the head intended to be charming. "Everyone's so informal here, you know? Everyone's only ever called me by my first name. I didn't ever think I could ask them to do otherwise. It would seem odd, you know? Taking roll everyday -- Caleb, Shen, TJ, Mr. Harrowgate."

Felix laughed lightly, lowering his cup now that it was nearly empty. The forgotten pile of books nearby now seemed to re-enter his awareness, and he gave them a rueful glance. Though Felix actually quite loved studying and homework, this conversation with Mr. Clay was far more charming than his books.

"I don't mind 'Caduceus,' if that's what the students are used to," he seemed to be determining for himself even as he said it, beginning to collect some of the used teacups to be washed. "It seemed best to start with more manners, rather than less, figure things out from there."

"Caduceus," Felix repeated carefully, thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Well, perhaps for others, but for me I think I'd rather call you Mr. Clay. They both suit you very well, but that is how you introduced yourself to me and it has made an indelible impression upon my memory," he added with a smile.

"Mr. Clay, I think I had better get back to my homework. Would you excuse me?"

"I would," Mr. Clay confirmed, stacking tea cups. "Thank you for sharing your opinions on the tea. And the rest. What a pleasure, Mr. Harrowgate," he turned to smile at Felix as he went.

Giving Mr. Clay the bow that Felix thought he had earned was impossible with his arms full of books, so Felix only smiled, and inclined his head politely as he had been taught. "The pleasure is at least equally mine," he promised, taking his leave with a far sunnier disposition than when he had come.