I'm turning over a new leaf this fall

LOCATION Juice stop, Aston
DATE 30th of September 2021
TIME early afternoon around 15.
WEATHER a bit grey and gloomy
ATTIRE Link
TOPIC FOR @Tien xx
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He had been here for a six whole days, gotten the children he had helped flee the states settled. So, now he was free to explore the country and overall figure out just how much of his family that had found roots in this town. He had already met Cassian, which had surprised both of them, and he had met Cassian's girlfriend as well. See, he already looked forward to meet up with them again and catch more up. Charles just walked around, still adjusting to this extreme autumn weather compared to the summer warmth temperatures back in New York. Gaia was grey and gloomy, but nothing that could take the smile off his face. Charles had stopped on his little stroll and asked a stranger where he could get the best cup of coffee, and he had been gestured to 'Juice Stop', and he looked inside, seeing how the owners had started decorating with pumpkins and Halloween like items, making it feel almost like home. He stood outside reading some of the signs, they made him smile with the small quotes and terrible ghost puns, like: Trick or treat yo' self and Pumpkin spice and chill. He looked up as he shook his head a little bit laughing to himself. His eyes caught an angel not far from him, "it's brilliant huh?" He looked back at the signs reading another one, "And then they lived apple-y ever after," he chuckled tenderly at himself.

ATTIRE: Full outfit

The weather was certainly getting gloomy, and it didn’t really help on Tien’s mood. Sure, she had found her methods to keep her eyes open and her chin high. In the pocket of her leather jacket, she carried both a small ball she could squeeze and a Rubik's cube if she really needed to focus on something else. One pocket contained a pack of smokes, which yet hadn’t been opened – but it was there. It had been the first pack of cigarettes she had bought since spring. She knew very well herself that it had been awfully stupid to buy them when she didn’t smoke anymore, and she hated the taste and smell of them.
Most of her somewhat unruly hair short hair had been hidden underneath a black beanie and all the old scars with many stories had been covered with a long sleeved fitted black top and loose black and white horizontal striped trousers. On her back hung a bag with very few books from when she had attended class for once. Classes were still difficult since Judas could roam the halls.
Tien was biting her slightly dry bottom lip, with both her hands in her jacket’s pockets, one of the hands holding around the ball. She kept her green eyes up and a slightly forced smile, hoping that people wouldn’t try and stop her to talk to her – she was just going to get her latte at the Juice Stop and rest for a bit. Alone.
Someone stood outside the shop and looked at the signs. Like a mantra, she thought; please don’t talk to me. But he did. She frown a little, “’Scuse me?” she said with a slight giggle not really knowing what he talked about. She saw where he was looking again and quickly figured that it must be the puns on the signs. She left a short snort, almost as a chuckle, “Oh yeah,” she said. She had read most of them through the years. They simply just reused the puns. And they lived apple-y ever after. She rolled her eyes of the quote. “It’s funny how no one ever does that, am I right?” she chuckled a little trying to keep her smile. Her hand squeezed the ball quite hard. “Are you just hunting for puns or are you going to get some?” she exhaled moving closer to the entrance of the café.

He pointed to the sign as she seemed surprised that he even talked to her, to be fair, you could find Charles talk to the butterflies he walked by. "Well, I've just spent two weeks reading fairy tales to kids, they love this sorta thing," he chuckled a bit to himself replying to her clearly dismissing the whole fairy tale vibe the pun had. But his words were true though, sitting on ship, hidden while having twelve kids from the age to two till twelve, it was one hell of a job, so stories had kept the time going. Who knew, maybe she had just gotten out of a relationship, maybe she just hated fairy tales, or puns - who were he to judge? Are you just hunting for puns or are you going to get some? Charlie's eyes moved back from the signs to the angel that moved closer to the doors. "As much as I love a good pun hunt, I'm in extreme need of coffee," he almost laughed moving from the signs closer to the door, and opened it for her. "So, you from around here? Any orders here you should stay clear from, or is everything as good as it smells?" He asked taking a deeper breath in, the taste of fresh brewed coffee was always something that brought him in a good mood. Unlike most demons, he didn't care about if he was being nice to an angel, he didn't care if she would hate him for being what he was - many people did, but he was way past being insecure when it came to how others saw him. He just couldn't care less. "Charles," he held his hand out, just being friendly, it was up to her if she would take the hand or not.

Tien nodded slightly as he explained that he had been reading fairytales for kids the last two weeks. It sure was a nice thing to do and she understood why kids loved those stories. She had done so herself, and she had been foolish to think her life would have that kind of ending time and time again. She didn’t want to believe that stuff so easily again. She wished to be realistic, though she always had a hart time doing just that. She was such a dreamer.
He needed coffee. He didn’t look like one who needed coffee the way he smiled and seemed to never have had a bad day in his life. She envied the energy. She nodded towards the entrance, only to find him open the door for her, “Thanks,” she said with a small shy nod. She looked over her shoulder as she had entered and allowed herself to wait for him. He seemed to be new in town and she already had a feeling that she wasn’t going to get rid of him easily. She wasn’t going to be able to enjoy her coffee in peace. The way he almost tasted the coffee with taking a deep breath in made her smile a small, reserved smile. How the hell could he be so sweet with all of that… Demonic energy, though his moral compass seemed to be quite good, almost too good. “Yeah, well the only thing I would stay clear from is their Sugar Bomb, because it’s basically sugar, with a splash of coffee and marshmallows,” she said, already slightly more glad, though her hand was still tight around the ball, “For this season I usually prefer a pumpkin spice latte, but I don’t really know if that’s your style” she said and eyed him up and down once. To be fair, if one looked at her right now, it might not even be what people would expect her to drink.
He presented himself, followed by his hand. Slight panic spread in her chest. She didn’t want to let go of her ball. Instead of letting go, she took the hand which had been in the pocket with the smokes and let her palm hit the back of his hand, to let the back of her hand hit his palm shortly after, and then fold her hand into a fist for a final fistbumb. It was really weird, and it was fist when she had folded her fist that she realized it. “Fuck, eh…” She furrowed her brows looking at their hands, before she looked up at him, “Tien,” she said blinking a little confused over her own action. What had been the worst? To give him a real handshake and let go of her ball or to make up her own handshake just like that?

It was odd most people saw him as being too good, as if good came easy to him, but it didn't, not always. It hadn't always, but it was a choice he had made to be the best version of himself. He couldn't help but pull a smile as she mentioned she should stay clear of the Sugar Bomb - too much sugar would kill you, that it what you heard anyways. Or maybe it was just a saying. Charles nodded as a sign of him understanding, and listening to her recommendation. "Pumpkin spice latte is a must in Fall," he pointed out with a softer chuckle. It was perhaps his best friend back home who had gotten him obsessed with that, but he also didn't mind. It wasn't many guys who liked to spice up their coffee orders, but life was too short to just stick with black bitter coffee now wasn't it? "Usually I go to Starbucks with a friend of mine, but I will try get one here - see if it can pass the taste test," he talked mostly to himself, but also to her. Then again, he got the vibe that she would rather he just left her alone, which he respected.

Then he presented himself, which was to be said, an experience. The palm hit the back of his hand, making him frown a bit, turning it into a whole handshake situation that had him slightly confused as he pressed his brows a bit together. She however, looked just as confused as well. He gently took his hand down and nodded a bit, not wanting her to lose her face over the encounter. "So, pumpkin spice latte it is," he gave her a soft nod.

She pulled on the tiniest smile as he said that pumpkin spice latte was a must in the fall. Most people of the other sex wanted nothing but a black coffee. It was crazy, but seemingly, this guy had dared himself to try spicing things up and realized just how good things were with the extra syrups and alike. She nodded a bit, “Indeed is,” she agreed. As he mentioned Starbucks a frown appeared, “Starbucks won’t stand a chance,” she said confidentially. Shortly she relieved the pressure on the ball, taking a greater breath in before she squeezed it again.

Embarrassed, that was one of the many emotions that Tien felt as she made a handshake with this… Charles. He took his hand down, only making her feel way odder. She looked down and repositioned a strand of the short hair behind her ear as he mentioned which latte it was going to be. She sank a lump in her throat and nodded, “Yeah,” she said, and not letting her eyes look at him she turned to go and order her latte. With a simple beep she had paid for her beverage. Everything she needed was in the opposite pocket than the stress ball. Before putting her card back into her pocket, she scratched her forehead a little. She had still felt embarrassed about the handshake. As soon as they stood and waited for their beverages, she turned towards him. “I’m really sorry about all that,” she took the hand, she had used to greet him with, out of her pocket to make a few odd gestures, just to describe whatever she had tried to do earlier, “handshake thing,” she said and pulled on a little grimace before she put her hand back in her pocket again. “I guess I was just off guard,” she chuckled nervously. It was incredible what being with Judas had done to her, and just about how much Sebastian had ’fixed’ in approximately two months. She had gained trust, only to lose most of it again. She had stayed clean-ish. The most important thing for her was that she knew that she was able to trust people. That they didn’t expect something in return or wanted to hurt her if something wasn’t done right.

He gave her a small smile as she paid for her order, doing the same afterwards, ordering a chocolate chip cookie as well. Putting his card in the cover of his phone. Smiling at the barista, before turning his eyes back to the young angel, as she apologized, for the handshake, making a small half smile curl up on his lips. "Hey, I'm not judging," he replied while putting a hand on his chest. He didn't know her, if she wasn't good with strangers  - very few people were, and he had a great deal of experience with talking to strangers over the years. Always with the hands in her pockets, it made her come off as more closed off and slightly insecure. But it was her battle not his, it was also just his impression.

Charles took a slightly deeper breath in and looked around, looking at all the autumn decorations. The smell of pumpkin spice from scented lights, it made everything so cozy. He broke his cookie in half, and handed half of it to her, if she wanted to have some. Charles was eager to find some more of his siblings, he had learned Oliver worked at the academy. So, he was thinking about finding him, ask if he could help him find their mother. Charles hadn't been able to find a clue on her for over eight years. It was even longer time that sometimes went by before he spoke to his siblings, even though he tried. "Any other good recommendations I should know about while I stay here?" he asked just as their orders were served over the counter.

He said he was not judging, which made her scrunch her nose in slight disbelief. “If you say so,” she said, though there was some sweet sarcasm in it, almost as if she was warming up to him. With both hands in her pockets, she pulled her jacket at little closer in front of her, almost as if she was freezing, but truth was that she just wished to hide herself away, even though she wanted to be present. She was somewhat insecure, but when she actually opened up, she was actually quite confident. She had worked on that, more or less. Sebastian had made her work on that.

She noticed how he broke his cookie in half, and when he handed one half to her she looked up at him, doubting for a second before she took it, “Thank you,” she spoke softly and pulled on a slightly sad smile. To her, people in Aston were mean people, and she could be that herself too, so receiving this kind of kindness was just so… Unusual. But she appreciated it way too much. She looked from her half of the cookie in her hands up at him as he asked about recommendations. She furrowed her brows a little while I stay here.
Oh yes, that was correct, he was just on holiday or something here. She licked her lips thoughtfully while she grabbed her latte with the hand which was more or less free. “I would recommend that if you got any family here you tell them to move somewhere else,” she said and let her tongue run over her teeth, her eyes on her coffee. She took a deeper breath in frowning of what she had just said. What an odd thing to say to a stranger. “I’m sorry, I just don’t really like,” without thinking about it, she took her right hand out of her pocket, still holding the stress ball, and circled it around to resemble Aston, “Aston and all it brings,” she said pulling or a dissatisfied smile. As soon as she realized she had pulled up her stress ball she quickly put her hand into her pocket again.

She didn't like the city. He understood why up to a point, he had been here before, never really got other than a dramatic start. This time, hunters and a bloody battle field had been left for him when he arrived. Terror and horror was usually what followed this city, especially Aston, the main reason why he had moved the kids to Grounds of Lily. Hoping they had a better chance there than back in orphanage in New York where the angels tried to hunt them down. He chuckled a bit, even by knowing that she wasn't joking. "I have a lot of family here actually, but don't worry - they can take care of themselves, that's at least how the stories go," he gave her a warm smile. Yes, his family was here, at least his two of his brothers to his knowledge - and his father he had yet to meet. But his main focus was finding his mother, but maybe his father could help. "It's okay though, not to like the city. I will agree it can be quite - morbid and dark some places, but not all bad of them are bad," he didn't know her story, but he knew that there was a balance. "I'm meeting up with some family I haven't seen in quite some time, so that's me," he chuckled a little. No, she didn't need to know his entire story, and she hadn't asked.

Tien raised her brows a little wondering why he then asked for recommendations. Couldn’t his family give him some? Or maybe he was actually just trying to befriend her? He assured her that his family knew how to take care of themselves, which calmed her just a bit. “That’s how the story go?” she chuckled a little nervously, not really knowing what he meant by it.
She licked her lips a little as he said it was okay not to like the city. She didn’t feel like it was okay because it literally meant that she would probably feel better somewhere else, and she didn’t want that much distance to people she knew. She still wanted them close. She pressed her lips a little together as he mentioned how the city could be morbid and dark. In her mind, she couldn’t resist to think about how traumatic the city could be too. She took a sip of her coffee. So many weird things were happening. It was drama all over and if it wasn’t that it would most likely kill you. Oh, there had been so many people who had died at the hospital the other day… It had been so tragic. She looked at him as he explained that he was meeting up with some family, “That sounds nice – I think,” she frowned a little, both because she didn’t really know how her relationship with her family was at the moment and she didn’t know how his relationship was with his family. “How come you haven’t seen them for a while?” she allowed herself to ask.

It was nice. He hoped. He knew his father was in town, which perhaps was the scariest part of being here, a person who didn't know, and therefor had no idea what his thoughts would be about him. "Well, I live in New York - and my mother went missing eight years ago," he replied honestly with a small shrug, as he took a sip of his coffee. "I've never met my father, even though I know who he is. But we kind of made a promise we wouldn't tell him, so we would do it together one day - when we both were ready, it's a longer story," he confessed with a smaller chuckle. "I try to keep in touch, but you know - life has a way of making things difficult time to time, but I'm closer with my uncle," Charles added with a warmer smile. It had been easy back in the day to get the orphans to the hospital for a check up, when you had family who worked there.  Even if it was a rather corrupted system. It did sound like a train-wreck of the story, and one could argue why he could be so spirited. Then again, Charles cared less about what strangers thought of him. "That was the long story short, but it's alright," he breathed out and took another sip of the latte, tasting the slight cinnamon flavor on the foam that he softly licked off his lips. "You close with your siblings? If you have any siblings."

Tien furrowed her brows a little and took a sip of her coffee while listening. It sounded quite bad that his mother had been missing for so long. How could it be? The way he shrugged almost made it seem like it was no biggie, which complicated her emotions a little. Tien couldn’t even go a day without thinking about how her mother was doing in heaven, but maybe it was also because she just needed to pray for her for her to appear. He had never met his father. Cool, they almost had something in common – daddy issues, or that was what she thought in her mind – not that she meant it. She licked her lips thoughtfully as he said it was a longer story. She was interested. She nodded a bit as he explained that he was closer with his uncle. “Seems a little complicated, but I hope I’ll be worth your time to meet your father,” she said pulling on a smile before she looked at her coffee biting her bottom lip a bot.

“No,” she replied as he asked about her siblings. She furrowed her brows as she realized what she might have said. “Or… I mean I got siblings,” she said and felt how her throat felt dry. She licked her teeth a bit before she looked up at him. “I just pushed them away,” she said and pulled on a sad smile. A deep sigh left her. She scratched her eyebrow a little. “God, how awful am I?” she mumbled rhetorically to herself. She took another deep breath and finally folded both her hands around her cup – with no stress ball. “Sorry ‘bout that,” she said and looked away from her cup and up at him. “I have just been a dick to my family the last four years and,” she took a deeper breath in yet again. “I got into a lot of problems and when my family tried to help me to get out of it, I simply gave them the middle finger and told them I was doing fantastic,” she licked her lips. “Besides from that, my family is absolute drama,” she said and rolled her eyes – she was actually opening up; “Like the two youngest were kidnapped, my oldest brother was shot by his crazy girlfriend, I got into an abusive relationship, my little sister fell, my little brother got kidnapped by my father however weird that may sound, my older sister simply disappeared out of our lives when she went for her dream career, and-” she stopped for a moment, “My mother was killed… But… She’s alive anyway and my father is just gone,” she furrowed her brows a little thinking about all the massive drama she had just shared – even about herself, “Yeah, sorry. Like I said, absolute drama,” she said and redirected her hair behind her ear. “I just blame the city, and I’m not even sure it would’ve been different if we lived somewhere else,” she breathed out. Why was he so easy to talk to?

Charles hoped so too, that his father could live up to the stories his mother had told him over the years. It was a lot to live up to, but Charles was also old enough to know that stories were told from the perspective of the other person - and no one looked at you the complete same. Her reply made him press his brows a bit together, taking a bite of the leftover cookie, as she said she pushed her siblings away. Well, he wasn't going to ask why, it wasn't his problem. Then she started mumbling out on how awful she was for saying that, making him narrow his eyes just a little bit while still nervously chewing the bite of the cookie he had taken. Then she apologized and he was about to say it was no problem, but then she kept talking. She talked about how she had been awful to her family over the last four years, that was rather specific. Charles took another sip of his coffee, letting her talk because clearly, the girl had a lot on her chest. She kept on adding logs to the firewood. In the end it sounded like some crazy tv show, and a part of him waited for a second to tell him she was kidding - but he also knew it was unlikely she would. Charles was used to people confiding in him, then again he also usually dealt with people who had a rough go.

Yeah, sorry. Like I said, absolute drama, Charles nodded a bit as he took a deeper breath in. That was a big mouthful, and he didn't really know what to say. They just stood there close to the counter, it wasn't really a place to stand and talk about things that were so private. "It sure sounds like it," he breathed out again. "Do you want to sit down?" He asked and pointed over by a free table by the corner. It was easy to blame a city, a country or even a person, when things seemed like absolute hell. He had been there before. Everyone had a chapter they weren't proud to read out loud.

He didn’t even interrupt her massive waterfall of words. She pulled a distracted smile as he agreed that it sounded like a lot, she looked over at him as he asked if she wanted to sit down. Was he going to sit down with her? “Uh, yeah,” she said calmly as she noticed where he pointed to and followed him towards the place. Her feelings were all over the place and she felt like she left them at the counter.

Tien sat down by the table with a little sigh. She took a bigger mouthful of her coffee. “You need an applause for this, you know that, right?” she said and licked the coffee off her bottom lip. “But, yeah, to sum up, I’m not that close to my family, though I wish I was,” she resumed. Her nails had gotten longer and looked overall better than ever. They were visible as she hold the cup and with one of her hands took a bite of the half of the cookie, he had given her. “How come you’re so accommodating and friendly?” she wondered and lifted the cookie up a bit, hinting at both talking to her so randomly and offering half a cookie.

Charles chuckled softly as he sat down. He didn’t believe he deserved an applause, being kind wasn’t something he felt like needed to be praised. Sadly, most people had forgotten what it meant to show simple kindness over the years. He took a slightly deeper breath in before giving her a warmer smile by the mention of her wishing she was closer with her siblings. Charles tasted on a question and was just about to let words leave his lips as she was way faster than him. He looked down for a moment at the table, before grabbing his latte again, lifting it a little bit. “In a world where everything costs money, it’s important to hold on to the things that are free. And kindness is free,” he replied before taking another sip of the drink. It wasn’t something that came easy to him always, it was so easy to feel alienated, not many people agreed in these modern times. But Charles had learned he had the choice to know how he waned to feel, and how he wanted to make others feel. So, perhaps this was what finding peace with oneself actually looked like. “If you wish to be close to your siblings, why don’t you do something about it then?” He asked and narrowed his eyes a little bit curiously.

It was blunt of him to ask, but she had said so herself. She wished that she was closer with them. It sounded like she regretted having pushed them away, but perhaps she could come to the realization that you sometimes had to be the one making the first step in order to make any progress. But from what she had just thrown at him of information, she was a filled with traumatic events, and he wasn’t to say what she should do or say in her life - mainly the reason why he just asked instead of telling her it could be an idea.

Everything had a price. Yes, she knew that. Kindness was free, but so was violence, hugs, words, and spending time with one and another. Many things were free, and no one actually took a step back and appreciated what they had and hadn’t. There was so many things you could get for free and take with open arms, and then there was things which was very free, but you didn’t want at all. Getting sick, being hit, dying.

She nodded a bit for his reply, because she had no real comment, except that she was completely amazed by how he could continue to be so kind. She was an anxious angel with a whole lot of trauma and problems that tagged along to that trauma. All of this was almost like signs that was written so clearly on her for everyone to see, she believed, because whenever she looked at him, she couldn’t see ‘oh, he had been in an abusive relationship’ or ‘he was in the middle of a rehabilitation’. She could only see the kindness that beamed from his face and posture.
Why didn’t Tien do anything about the relationship with her family? She looked at her latte thinking for a bit, biting her cheek gently. Well, she felt like she tried, occasionally at least. But whenever she got close enough, she felt like she was too close to blow something up. At least that was what had happened when Kemuel had gotten home. Things had been going so well, and then suddenly… And she didn’t know how to react when things were getting out of hand. She panicked, screamed, and shouted because she couldn’t contain it. She had too much on her own plate to manage their problems too. It was too difficult, too complex, and too much work. But even though she couldn’t be there for them, they were always there for her, after all, it had only been a couple of days ago since she disturbed Kemuel’s sleep to ask if she could sleep next to him. “I try,” she replied a little hoarse and took a sip of her latte. She looked up at him, still biting her cheek a bit. She shrugged and shook her head a bit. She felt like this was maybe a bit too difficult to talk about. She looked down at her cup again, taking a deeper breath in, before she breathed out and looked to  the side. “What was it you worked with?” she asked, even though her eyes weren’t on him. She tried to change the topic so she could collect herself a bit.

She tried. Everyone tried at this point didn't they, it was just how life worked, both with tragedy and blessings. Charles took a deeper breath in as he looked at her, clearly not feeling comfortable talking about the matter - which was also why he didn't ask or say anything after that. He didn't wish to overwhelm her now that he actually had succeeded in getting her to talk to him without her looking like she wanted to snap his neck. Charles licked his little a little bit as she asked what he worked with. "I'm a social worker, or at least some kind. I help kids - and when I don't do that, I paint - I'm an artist," he leaned back in his seat letting his fingers tab on the counter almost like a piano, but only for a second. "But I have an organisation that helps orphans, kids who has been left behind, is mistreated or simply feels like they have no home," he added with a warmer smile. It was a tough job, and not in the average of what normal social workers did - then again, the normal social worker couldn't help the supernatural kids the way he could.

"What about you? What do you do?" He asked curious about what she did, if she worked, studied or just what she perhaps wanted to do in the future. The opportunitets had only grown larger over the years, almost impossible to make a choice. Charles had taken on art after his mother, which was also a reason why he was so passionate about holding onto it.

She nodded slowly trying to focus on what he said to her. Social worker. Helped kids. Artist. The last thing make her pull in the corner of her mouth in a little satisfied crooked smile. She liked art and liked to paint herself, but she wasn’t sure that was the kind of artist he meant he was. As he moved in his seat, her blue eyes glided up to look at him. She was almost hypnotized by how he moved his fingers in a rhythmic motion, but instead of talking about his art, he spoke about the actual work. She clenched her jaw a little as he elaborated how his worked was. “You sound like such a good man,” she mumbled and licked her lips looking down at her coffee. It was incredible how there was all of these stigmas about how a demon should be, and he simply didn’t follow any of them. He sounded like such a good guy handling other peoples’ problems.

Her eyes turned up to look at him and shortly after her face followed suit. “Well, I study at the academy here,” she said quite lowly. Clearly it wasn’t the biggest interest for her, but who could blame her when Judas was roaming the halls? “I don’t really work,” she pressed her lips together and moved them to the side thinking. “I actually don’t know what I do anymore,” she confessed. Before she met Judas, she had singing, painting and yoga. She went to church and was all in all just a very innocent girl. With Judas in her perspective, everything had been about drinking, getting high and partying. And now she had nothing. She couldn’t possibly say she liked doing Rubik’s cubes and playing games on her phone, it was way too boring. It had no flavor. Besides from that, rehab wasn’t really something you said to strangers that you went to, that wasn’t really their business unless they offered something she had been addicted to.

He chuckled a bit by her choice of words, he sounded like a good man. One would think that men learned about being good over time, but no, unfortunate it wasn't easy to learn. He was always wondered why things hadn't changed much in that area over the years, honestly sometimes he couldn't tell if it were better now or worse - maybe a line in between. "Yeah we are a rare species," he managed to reply to the statement with a slightly sad smile, not putting to much into it. He didn't take offence into being called a good guy, why would he. Some would because they were afraid of being too soft or too good, but honestly, Charles didn't care what other people thought were too much.

The demon listened in to when the angel replied to his question, what she was doing. Charles had heard about the academy, mostly from Oliver - but that seemed like so long ago. She mentioned not knowing what she did anymore. He had been there, just watching life pass him as if everything were pointless. Not knowing what role he were to play in this long game. "It's a part of life, sometimes it takes a little while before we figure out what we are meant to be doing," he took a sip of the latte, before letting his eyes fall on her again. "You like art?" He then asked curiously, he had just told that he was an artist - so at least the question didn't seem too out of the blue.

Tien pulled a little smile as Charles agreed with her that good men was a rare species. She even gave him a slight chuckle. She looked towards him as he said it was a part of life, and that things took time, she nodded a bit and kept sipping at her drink. Her eyes turned up to him as he asked another question. She pulled a cheeky smile and looked down at her cup as she put it down. “Yeah,” she exhaled and with a little whip of the head she got some hair out of the way. “I have been painting,” she responded and her eyes looked away for a moment thinking, only for a moment, “I used to sing when I was younger,” she said nodding and looking back at him. “I wanted to make my own lyrics and all that,” she elaborated, “I’m also interested in the art of cooking,” she chuckled. Some didn’t believe that cooking was an art, but rather about skill – she believed it was both, and if you had both, you could get a long way.

She had dragged the conversation out to a whole lot of things and frowned for a moment, “Do you paint something specifically?” she wondered lessening her frown looking at him with kinder eyes.

Painting was Charles' favorite form of art, and formerly used the alias Noel Silver for his paintings back when he was creating a name for himself. Charles didn't believe you could outgrow being creative or expressing yourself, but he knew people sometimes felt like it was a waste of time, and sadly doubted their own abilities, to a point where they couldn't even strike a brush across a cavas without overanalyzing every single movement. But she mentioned she used to sing, wanted to write her own lyrics. Liked cooking. Charles liked his lips a little bit and nodded, interested in the conversation. She asked if he painted something specifically, making him take a deeper breath in. "I paint what ever I feel like really, but mostly I like to capture what I see and let others see the world from my eyes, even if it is just for a few seconds," he explained with a warmer smile. To him that was the beauty of every art form, taking something and show it the way you were seeing the world, there was something terrifyingly beautiful about that. Expressing who you were one of the most empowering things you could allow yourself to do.

"Have you ever thought about taking up some of your old hobbies, maybe making them not hobbies?" Charles wondered. He knew it was hard to make it in the art world, even harder as the years went by, and everyone expected each individual to be a super computer. It was sad to see how the world had evolved, despite all the things you could do now, some of the greatest and most important features were forgotten in the process.

He seemed to be interested when she explained what she found joy in, and she couldn’t really help put pull a sly smile as he explained what he liked to paint.  Whatever he felt like. It sounded so relieving. She nodded a bit, “That sounds really amazing,” she replied. As he asked about her taking up an old hobby and make it not a hobby she frowned a little and tiled her head a bit. “Like a profession?” She raised her brows while thinking about it. She definitely hadn’t thought about that before. “No… I… I haven’t thought about that,” she said and scratched her cheek a little. “Of course, it would be amazing if I could live by doing something I love to create to the core of my heart, but-” she licked her lips and looked into his eyes for the conversation, “I don’t think people want’s to hear or see my miserable chain of thoughts,” she chuckled a little before she looked down at her cup. “I don’t… I don’t really know,” she was clearly trying to mend and bend the thought of doing something creative in her mind. “Were you successful with your paintings?” she wondered. It wasn’t because she wanted to change the subject, but actually because she wondered how she could get her work out and how well it could go.