Cafe Conversations (Juliette)

 “What’s your go to order for a hot day Xavier?” I ask as we stand in line waiting to order drinks at a local cafe near the gates of the city. Daggerfall in the late spring can either be beautiful or a rainy, dreary, and not very pleasant mess. “It depends on what I’m feeling…but either iced coffee or an affogato.” Oh that sounds delicious, and refreshing, though the crash later might not be fun, it would be a nice burst of energy in the moment. I don’t often drink coffee during the warmer months, but Xavier dragged me out of the house today as it’s one of the nicest days we’ve had in weeks, and that includes a mandatory trip to the nearest cafe for treats. The coffee shop is perhaps the businest I’ve ever seen it, though I don’t frequent this particular location often as it’s a bit out of the way when considering my usual routine, and the line just seems to be getting longer and longer as we stand, moving slowly as the workers take orders for customers on their way to run errands or take a day trip somewhere in or out of the city. Xavier orders ahead of me, getting his usual, a house affogato which seems to be a twist on the more classic version of the ice cream and coffee hybrid. Having still not decided my order, I come to the conclusion a few seconds before stepping up to the counter to take inspiration from him and get a more classic version of his order. One paid for the two of us stand off to the side, waiting. “So, what did you get?” He asks, also munching on a pastry he’d bought to make up for lack of eating breakfast. “What you got, minus the theatrics.” In response he nods with a mouthful of pastry and once having swallowed asks where the royalty is for my taking inspiration from him jokingly. The two of us converse quietly as we wait, and it does take an awful long time all things considered. Xaviers order comes out first, and he goes to wait outside to avoid further crowding the cafe, leaving me to wait for another ten minutes before mine is finally made, and it’s only made because a young woman next to me had to remind the woman behind the counter about it as her order was late, but I had been waiting for significantly longer, she pointed out. In the end, it was made, however, and stepping outside into the sunshine and warmth I find Xavier sitting on a bench waiting for me. “Took you long enough.” He jokes as I walk over, redoing his ponytail as he greets me “Ah well I would have been quicker if they hadn’t forgotten my order.” Now that I think about it…people tend to forget my orders with some frequency, huh.

 With drinks in hand the two of us decide to stop at a little hole in the wall place for lunch, grabbing sandwiches, and heading back toward the center of the city. “Do we know if anyone else is around?” I ask, as we are now at the perfect place to go nearly any direction. Xavier thinks for a moment before sticking a finger in the air and almost seeming to jump slightly “Issy’s back!” he remembers, I wonder if Lucien is with her, if one assassin goes somewhere, usually the other isn’t far behind, especially if it’s not work related. The two of us set off to find her then, and luckily it’s not a far walk at all, we find her, and Lucien, as well as Baurus, sitting outside a cafe off the main market district. “Hellooooo Issy! Home for a bit?” Xavier says walking up to the table and she nods, apparently Jauffre practically demanded she and Baurus take some time to themselves, and what better place to spend a vacation than going home to a city full of good food and high culture, she’ll be in Daggerfall for a couple of weeks before returning to Cyrodiil barring any unforeseen circumstances with Baurus spending some time in Sentenial next week. “We were thinking of doing something today but not sure what, we’ve been trying to think for the past ten minutes.” Issy points out, gesturing to herself, Baurus, and Lucien. “Want to go down to the water?” I ask the trio who look at each other and discuss quietly before agreeing, that sounds like a wonderful idea.

After stopping at our respective residences to gather the necessary things such as towels we set off, exiting the city by one of the side gates and walking down to a sandy beach-like area not far from the docks. It’s far away enough that it’s safe to swim and not in danger of the port, but not as crowded as it is further down the coastline. Laying down towels and removing shoes to avoid getting sand in them as much as possible we set up and go to wade in the water, Xavier and I bringing our lunches with us to eat them there. “Ah that’s cold!” Xavier exclaims at first, stepping into the water. “If you think that’s cold, try swimming anywhere in Skyrim.” Lucien responds, setting down his things and seemingly shivering for a second at the sheer thought. Baurus doesn’t seem to mind the water, going in fully after a couple of minutes to warm up. “How are you not cold?” Issy asks him as she stands next to me, only ankle deep in the waters of the Iliac Bay “I spend all my time at Cloud Ruler Temple, I’m used to cold weather, and sometimes cold water when Jauffre decides to turn off the hot water in order to get me to hurry up when I’m washing off!” That is an amusing mental image but I think I would personally be very upset if that happened to me. “Damn, I got sand in my sandwich…” Xavier mutters after a gust of wind blows around the sand. “Not so bad, just a little crunchy that’s all…and look, now you have a literal sand-wich.” Lucien jokes, patting Xavier on the back lightly before deciding to go climb on some rocks with  Issy. Taking a deep breath I sigh, this is nice, it’s very nice, actually, I think to myself. It is perhaps the nicest time I’ve had in quite awhile, and it seems that Issy shares my sentiment as I overhear her laughing, and that is a rare sound from someone usually so serious. We stay there for a couple of hours until the sun begins to set, swimming, wading, climbing, chatting, and playing. We even found a discarded ball, and while I ended up with a rather nasty sunburn despite my attempts at protection, it was overall a wonderful experience. “Dinner?” Xavier asks me as we walk back toward the gate “I’m up for dinner.” Issy replies and there's agreement from the rest of the group, so we decide to find a place to eat, settling on a restaurant not far from the cafe that Xavier and I visited earlier in the day. After a filling meal and more conversation we all head our separate ways for the night, Xavier and I going one direction, with Baurus going another, and Issy and Lucien walking a different way to both Baurus and Xavier and I. “Well, that was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.” I tell Xavier as we walk under the stars and he agrees, we should really do that more often when the weather is nice out. I make a mental note of it to do so as we move into the warmer summer months, and eventually bid him goodnight as he continues on his way home, as we’ve reached where I have to go, I’ll see him tomorrow for coffee again and to discuss some plans for journal articles we’ve got in the works. Getting ready for bed is a bit of a struggle with my rather unfortunate sunburn, but I manage, and quickly fall asleep from the exhaustion settling in after a pleasant day of cafe conversations and impromptu adventures. It was truly the best day I’ve had in a long while.