calming coffee

Brooklyn had made her way to Ellington Village early in the morning to explore. She was new to the town and wanted to get a feel for it; more over, she wanted to see how different it was from New York or London. The fact that it wasn't as over crowded at any busy city gave her comfort and made her smile.

After she ordered herself a cup of coffee, Brooklyn made her way towards a window in the cafe near the front. Her eyes glanced at he door every time it opened and then looked back out the window, hoping she wasn't dreaming and the over crowded streets wouldn't return.

Aragorn had went out for a jog that morning, taking his usual route around the town. His messy hair was wind blown and he had a bit of sweat running down his brow. He wore a simple pair of jogging shorts and a wife beater that fit tight despite being a size bigger than he needed. He'd been hired on after his graduation from college to be a chemistry teacher at Pemberton. He supposed it was alright, though he didn't much like the kids.

He bounced in front of the door to the cafe, shaking out his limbs before opening the door and heading to the register, ordering his favorite cup of hot chocolate. Even though it wasn't the time of year for them, he would drink it any time. In all of his time in the world, hot chocolate was always the thing that cheered him up.

Brooklyn's eyes caught onto a running form as he lips turned into a small smile and her cheeks blushed. The guy was probably around her age but she shook her head from those thoughts, telling herself not to feel something so stupid considering she would probably never see him again. When her eyes moved to another person, they glanced back at the the opening door to see the same guy.

Slinking down in her seat, Brooke took a sip of her coffee and looked at the magazine that contained the latest guitar bodies. Her eyes glancing back to the other once every few seconds.

Aragorn thanked the cashier and turned around, looking for a table. His gaze flicked across the room, taking in all the taken seats as he produced a sigh. This was going to be maddening. He'd been around long enough that the people of this town had grown used to his presence and they all knew that he came in here every morning after his jog. He couldn't help but find himself irritated by their ignorance.

The young adult looked over at the new woman in a booth all by her lonesome. He had never seen her before, so she was obviously new to town otherwise he would have met her. He took his hot chocolate into his hand and traveled the short distance to where she sat, a dashing smile slipping onto his face.

"Would you mind if I joined you, my lady?" He asked in his fairly obvious British accent.

Brooke tensed a little as a smiled appeared on her lips and nodded at the young man came over to her. She could feel her cheeks turn to a dark red and tried to look some where else rather than him.

She wasn't like this... at all. She was always confident and outspoken and nothing... nothing like her current self. Brooke but her cup on the table and reached down to her pants were she wiped off her clammy hands. She thought they were clammy. Trying to muster a confident smile, the nervous young woman felt embarrassed and tried her best to cover it up.

Brooklyn was more than certain her face was a beat red color when he called her 'my lady' as she nodded politely.

"Yeah, sure," she rambled slightly. "Take a seat."

Aragorn bowed very slightly and slid into the booth in front of her, taking a sip from his hot chocolate once he'd settled in. He smiled kindly at her and held out a hand for her to shake, "You're not from around here. I'd like to introduce myself. I am Aragorn Hawthorn, and you are?"

He was trying to be elegant, more than he usually was in the presence of a beautiful woman such as she. There were few mortals that were this beautiful and without flaws, she'd managed to be one of them. At least he assumed.

Taking his hand, she shook it. Brooke felt hotter than usual, felt like her hands were clammy which resulted in her handshake to be a lot less firmer and didn't last very long. Her hand quickly found her way to her jeans and wiped off any invisible sweat on it. Her mind was only over reacting to it, she wasn't really sweating at all.

"Not from around here, yeah," she nodded as her hands returned to her mug. "I've come from New York to teach Music class in Pemberton. My friend Indra sort of asked me to come and teach," Brooke babbled slightly. Whatever God blood she had in her veins seemed to not favor her one bit. This human side, the one her mother inherited to her, was taking over.

"Oh? You are a teacher as well? That's wonderful!" Aragorn grinned brightly, eyes twinkling as he watched her. She was very human, he found, and it was quiet interesting to meet others that he had not ever met before, which would be the purpose of meeting them. He ignored that her hands were clammy, quite calm despite the beauty of the woman sitting in front of him.

He raised his eyebrows high, "And a music teacher at that." He smiled charmingly, "I teach Chemistry." He quirked his head a bit, "New York. It sounds very English, though I know it is American. What is it like there? Is it different from this place?"

Though he was a very knowledgeable person, Aragorn was completely clueless when it came to anywhere outside of the town and Pemberton High's campus. The world was not with him in the sense that he had never went outside of Ellington.

"Yeah, I'm a music teacher," she smiled enthusiastically. "I can only hope they're not terrible kids and that they'll enjoy my class. I know most people love music, and I've met people who despise music, but despite that, not many actually take their time to actually learn notes and all that." Brooke was too passionate about music, something her mother usually didn't understand. But she was daughter of Apollo, God of Music, therefore it only came naturally.

"Chemistry has never been my forte," she admitted shyly. "When I took the class, I managed to pass with a C minus but it was only because the professor took pity on me."

"New York is far from English," Brooke quickly said as she began to talk about the city she loved. "England is amazing, don't get me wrong but New York is just something so different. It never sleeps and you always have something to do. It would be a crime if you stayed at home, claiming you had absolutely nothing to do," she said in a few short breaths. "Sorry, I'm probably just boring you about it all.

"Ellington is nice though," Brooke admitted as she wrapped her fingers around her coffee mug and brought it up to her lips for a drink. She let her the bitter taste go down her throat, loving it. "It's quite and I don't know. Maybe if I get tired of teaching and go back to New York, I'd come back here to retire."

Aragorn laughed and nodded, "Music has always been a class that the children have loved. They may actually pay attention because they have such a beautiful teacher." He wasn't shy at all after the compliment, feeling that to be embarrassed about being honest as a man was, well, very stupid.

He took a deep drink of his hot chocolate and nodded very slowly, swallowing and shrugging, "Well, it's not really a very interesting class. I enjoy teaching it, I honestly do, but it wasn't my strongest suit during my time as a student." He had to admit to himself that he had faults, otherwise he would be an arrogant and lonely man. He looked her over, "You are very different from the other outsiders I have met, almost like you belong here. Tell me, are you a 'creature' as well? Or were you hired because you have a marvelous gift for music as a human?"

Gorn frowned, "Retire? Retiring is for the old and tired. You are young and... very youthful it seems. Surely retirement is a long ways into the future?" He felt he had jumped to conclusions so soon about the other in front of him. He didn't want to offend her in any way, "But yes... It is nice here. I barely know of anywhere else outside of this town so I've grown rather fond of it. But New York sounds... new."

"Thanks," she stuttered as her already red cheeks flushed even more. Brooke internally scolded herself as she felt like she had no control over her own body when her blood would rush up to her cheeks with control. "You're not so bad yourself," she smiled politely as she returned his compliment, "Handsome if you ask me."

"So what made you change your mind then?" Brooke asked, starting to feel a little more comfortable with his prescience. "You did say you weren't really good at it, so what changed?"

Brooke gave a one shoulder shrug at his question, "Creature, you could say I suppose. I'm a demi-god. My father is Apollo and my mom's a regular human. What about you? Are you a creature too?" The young woman knew about what Ellington contained but she had never known for people to be very open about it. In New York, it was like being a 'creature' was a secret and a crime. "So my marvelous gift for music is because of my father," she added as she gave a slight chuckle.

"Oh, I don't mean right now," she quickly interjected. "Trust me, I'm far from retiring and even if I'd love to the idea of retiring one day, I don't think I could leave the music business if I wanted to." Brooke nodded at his comment of the village, "It is and it's quaint and different from New York. Even if you walked a few miles away from the main thing, it's still not the same like this place.

"And hilariously enough, New York is far from new," Brooke laughed. "Some parts of it are pretty old yet very beautiful."

"Thank you very much," Aragorn smiled, dipping his head to hide his faint blush. Though he had called her beautiful, he had not expected a compliment as well. They were rare in this little town, and he wasn't quite so used to them as others might be. He'd been around far too long.

He raised his eyebrows high and shrugged again, "I'm fond of science. Though I wasn't good at it, I loved it. Even if it was boring. I grew into it, like new shoes I suppose." He tried to find a good metaphor for it but, of course, he had none other than new shoes. He settled his gaze on the table with a slight smirk of shame, "I also have to be a teacher to be a coach. So ya know, I'm in it for the sports."

Gorn leaned forward as his eyebrows rose. He licked his lips as his brow creased in the center in a lovely frown, "Wait... you're a demi-god? That's... fucking amazing! And excuse my French, really. I've never met another." He grinned, "I am the son of Poseidon and a human mother. I like my water, I suppose."

"Good," He smiled. "Retirement is not in your future then. Though I'm no seer." He stretched his shoulders as they grew uncomfortable, sitting in one place for too long. He motioned to the room around them, "I know everyone here. Assuming that I am imagining New York the correct way, I wouldn't be able to do that there, would I?"

Her smile slowly turned into a subtle grin as he tried to hide his slight blush; but with her keen eye, she had been able to quickly catch it. It boosted her confidence, none the less, making her laugh because how different Aragorn has proven to be in quite a small amount of time. He was different, other than for obvious reasons, because men in New York didn't blush. Men in New York were mostly nothing but sleaze balls - well, the one's she had stumbled upon during those nights out with her friends.

"Science fiction is about as good as I get in science," Brooke confessed with a happy smile that then turned into a playful frown, "Which I'm sure doesn't really substitute for being such a failure at any types of real science but it's something I suppose." She shrugged, beginning to reminisce those trips her friends and her had gone through to go to a few conventions. "Sports! I'm good at... swimming. Yeah, swimming and I was an avid triathlon competitor in open competitions," Brooke mentioned. "Never actually won but it was for charity so, that was fun. Sorry, hope it doesn't make it seem like I'm bragging," she said with a sheepish smile.

The surprised expression took over her face, her eyes widening slightly and clutching onto her cup at his confession of never meeting another demi-god and she voiced this. Brooke laughed quietly at his like for water, "Aren't you supposed to though? Poseidon is your father, after all." Her voice lowered slightly at her next question, "Have you ever met him in person?"

She noticed his uncomfortable position and as she was about to ask him if he was alright, he looked around the room. Brooke shook her head with a frown. "Sadly no. If you're very out going, you'd probably see a familiar face or something but most of the time, it's just sheer luck," she said as she sipped from the coffee. "You should go visit one time or another, I'd volunteer to give your and your girlfriend a tour," she offered. She assumed the girlfriend part, because believing that a man as handsome as him would have a girlfriend.

"Science Fiction is a marvelous subject. I can't help but fascinate myself with it," Aragorn said, feeling rather odd as he said it in such an old fashioned way. He wasn't that old, he'd only been alive twenty-seven years... right? He quickly ignored his worry over his age, figuring that if he wasn't graying then he wasn't old.

"You could substitute it, since you aren't actually taking the class." He laughed, shaking his head and taking a deep chug of Hot chocolate. He listened as she talked about sports, nodding as she did. She was an interesting character to talk to, certainly. He raised an eyebrow when she apologised, "Hey no worries, one who is talented should be allowed to tell people that they are."

He laughed in agreement as she spoke of his love of water. And then, she asked about his father. He grimaced and shook his head very slowly, eyebrows clenching together, "I wish I could. I might be able to learn what to do with this ridiculous ability to control water. I can't really do anything with it, it's just there. I'm like the Aquaman of demi-gods, the most disliked of the super heroes. Have you met yours?"

"Well, I'm not a lucky person," He smiled as he continued. "Though what person is?" He nodded, "I'd love to go." He blinked when she said girlfriend, a little laugh bursting from his lips. It was embarrassing to have that high pitched laugh come from him, but it showed that he had some mortality within him. He shook his head this time, "I, uh, don't have a girlfriend."

"It is, although a lot of people tend to find it weird," she said, thinking of her mother. Brooke's mother hated anything that had to do with science fiction. Star Wars hadn't been in her vocabulary until she had reached the age of eighteen and she had sauntered off to college. Of course, her mother and her were almost complete opposites but that never stopped her mom from letting her achieve what Brooke wanted to do with her life. She was always supportive in whatever decisions she did as long as it didn't involve bullying, drugs and binge drinking. "What kind of Scifi do you like?" She asked him.

"Good," she laughed along with him, "because if trust me, if I were you student, I'd be the worst one you'd ever have. It wouldn't matter if I took all tutorial classes and what not. I'd still be terrible." The twenty some year old woman nodded, agreeing. "True but sometimes when one says it too much, can come across bragging."

"Ever thought about making balls of water and throwing them to people's faces?" She joked, "You can definitely do that to your students if they try to sleep and you want to wake them up." Looking away, stiffing her laugh, Brooke had to agree, "Aquaman is pretty lame. He can't do anything if he's out of the water, what good is he then? But hey, I'm sure you're pretty like." Smiling softly she looked at him with a serious glint in her eyes, "I'm sure you're not lame."

With a one shoulder shrug, Brooke crossed her lean legs and placed the coffee mug on the table. Her hand's fingers folded together, her eyebrows knitting together as she thought hard. "I think I did once," she said quietly. "But I think I was a kid. Not much older than three or four. I couldn't be too sure though because it could have been one of my mom's old boyfriends."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she quickly stuttered out as her cheeks turned into a dark blush. "I just assumed, terribly sorry, really. I just, you're just so handsome so I just thought that you'd have a girlfriend so..." she had rambled on but quickly stopped her self the moment when felt she had said it enough. Brooke cleared her throat, embarrassed as she straightened her back, "Sorry."

"Ehh," Aragorn began thoughtfully. "Lord of the Rings, if that's not obvious. And continuing from there we go on to Star Wars, Harry Potter, Hunger Games." He looked around and then pointed in the direction of Pemberton's campus, "This one would be my favorite."

He laughed, "That would be hilarious, I've never thought about that." He shook his head, "Students would get a load of that." He let his smile reappear at its widest yet, grateful and happy. "Thanks for that, I'd rather not be lame."

"It sounds like our mums have a lot in common." He felt nastolgic as he thought about his mother, missing her greatly. He'd not seen anything of her since she'd dropped off Airiana. He sighed and shook his head, still smiling faintly, "Probably could've met my dad, though I doubt I'd remember it. Last time I checked, I've never met a kind man that was anywhere near my mum."

He laughed and shook his head, waving her apologies off, "No don't worry about. Thank you, for calling me handsome. And for even considering that I have a girlfriend. The only girl friends I have are not really into me romantically speaking."