thedarkfieldslogs | Tea for Two

Tea for Two

WHO: Fell and Jingyi Yun
WHEN: 1/4
WHERE: Café du Paradis, North Side
WHAT: Geeking out over old manuscripts
WARNINGS: pretension

Fell is happily presiding over his table, set near the corner of the café right under the windows where the sun could stream in. There was tea and eclairs of course, and peitit fours and chocolate croissants and all manner of baked goodies that would make anyone salivate. There was also, courtesy of the restaurant, little bowls of rose water and cloths to wipe dirty fingers on, as well as a little side table set up for perusal of manuscripts. He was well prepared for excitement, but also disappointment.

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Jingyi knows who Mr. Fell is. She's seen him at the Dragon's Den, where he's known for being rather liberal with his wallet. She's served him before, but she very much doubts he'll recognize her. When she's working at the Den she's in bright red silks and gold jewelry, revealing quite a bit of skin and with quite a bit of makeup. When she is outside of the Den she wears simple suits in muted colors, buttoned up to her throat, and barely any makeup. It's night and day, quite literally.

She enters the café with a bag slung over her shoulder. She sees Fell and makes her way over to him. Once her eyes fall on the spread laid out in front of the man she raises her eyebrows in surprise.

"Wow," she says. She looks up and gives Mr. Fell a smile and offers a hand.

"I'm Jingyi. It's nice to meet you."

"Yes. It is a little much isn't it? I get a bit excited with visitors. And oh, no thank you, my dear. Though I am very pleased to meet you." He touches his forehead in a salute rather than take her hand, miming tipping a hat and then gestures.

"Please, sit. Business later, treats first. I always find the potential works up quite an appetite, don't you? Now do you care for tea? Or coffee? Please get anything to your taste." She will also find one of the waitstaff holding out the chair for her.

"And tell me all about yourself."

"Wow," she says again, glancing at the waiter as she sits. "Coffee, please." The waiter nods and disappears.

She looks at everything in front of her and is honestly kind of gobsmacked. She knew Mr. Fell was the sort to do things like this, but still, she's never been on the receiving end of his attention, and it is quite jarring.

"Um...I'm a doctor. Of Chinese medicine, primarily."

"Oh yes, I remember." He pours himself a bit of tea and stirs in a few lumps of sugar. "Do you find it satisfies? Is it your goal? Your life's ambition?"

She raises her eyebrows. "Not one for small talk, I see."

The waiter returns with her coffee and she thanks him, then takes a sip. It's really good coffee.

"I'd say my life's ambition is to be the best doctor I can be, yes," she says. And it's true. It's also probably impossible. As calm and impassive as she is sitting there, inside her heart is breaking as she puts into words the dream she's had ever since she was a child, the dream that is dying, suffocated by the hell that is her life.

"Difficult to do in this town." He frowned. "Difficult to do anywhere really, though good on you. Doctors are thin on the ground in certain places. Well, doctors you can trust. I've been thinking up opening a charity hospital but that is so much work and, of course, I am easily duped as you may well imagine. Here, have an eclair, do, they are divine." He tried one himself and hummed at it before tapping his lips with a napkin.

"As for small talk, well if that's your preference I can talk the humdrum like no one's business. Did you hear that rain last night? Practically sleet!"

Jingyi takes an eclair, and takes a bite, humming as well. It really is very good. She laughs a little when he talks about the rain, and swallows her bite, dabbing her lips with a napkin as well.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to disparage your big talk. You just went straight for a big question and it threw me off a little." She reaches for her coffee. "You should open a hospital," she remarks as she lifts the cup to her lips. "This city could use one. Especially one that will take people who can't pay."

She sips her coffee.

"Yes, I'll have to won't I..." He produced a little white book from his coat pocket and flipped through it until he got to a new page. "I'll have to get doctors that can donate their time of course since they would even break Croesus. Of course that is going to be a chore in and of itself. It would require more galas -- you would be amazed how expensive it is to guilt someone into something, don't you find." Already it was exhausting but one did what one must.

"But don't mind me. Here I am being rude." He smiled and put the book away. "Tell me about yourself. Do you have any hobbies?"

Jingyi notes the little white book with some interest and a little amusement. It seems fitting that he would have a little white book instead of a little black book. She can't help a small, quietly rueful laugh when he mentions the expense of guilting people. "I guess it depends on what has worth to the person you're guilting," she comments. Money wouldn't have gotten Jingyi in the position she's in, but the safety of her brother did.

She finishes the eclair and sips her coffee, then sits back and sighs, considering his question. "I enjoy reading," she says. "Sometimes I like to go uptown and just walk around. But to be honest, I don't have a lot of free time. In addition to my work, I have familial obligations."

"Oh yes, I know of those. Too well." Family obligations at any rate. "But I suppose we ought to be grateful we have them. Some go through life alone." Though he often felt alone, there was no one to blame for that but himself.

"Ah well, I enjoy reading as well, which is likely obvious, and collecting. Do you mind showing me a peek of what you've bought? I won't do a formal inspection while the tea things are out but I am burning with curiosity."

She gives a slight smile at his comment about not having to go through life alone. She feels very much alone most of the time, with her mother less and less cognizant and her brother showing up at their door less and less frequently. Ted has been a godsend, but even then there is much of her life he cannot know, where she is still very much alone.

Not that she lets any of this on.

"Sure," she answers. She very carefully washes her hands, then reaches into the bag she brought and withdraws the item, a stitch bound book with blue cloth-covered boards and a gold stamp of Chinese characters on the cover. She handles it with almost reverent care, as it is one of her father's oldest books.

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Tea for Two

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