family meet and greet (hyper)

@"hyperhurricane"

Jaya Mallard / Virtue

Recently, things had been going swimmingly for Jaya.

It was a long and hard process, but eventually she learned so many things . For once she felt like the Virtue family might actually start counting as a family to her, and not just something that she was forced into. The change was drastic - from there being one person in there that she liked and a lot of people she hated, now there were two people in there she could without shame or hesitation declare love for, and at least now her hate had simmered down to just mild animosity and grudging respect.

So when she sat there at the corner seat of Everything Nice, she justifiably felt sort of on cloud nine. Or it could simply have been a mix of her mild leftover hangover from last night and the sweet mocha. Whatever the case, she felt great. Elated, even. It was a very unusal feeling, and for a brief moment she feared her elation, knowing that she'd probably have less control over herself than usual with how giddy she was.

Really, the only thing that could possibly have made the current situation better was company and maybe a little bit of light alcohol.

She scanned around, sipping the last remnants of her mocha, a bit sloppily. Her absentmindedness removed cleaning up from her thought processes and her concerns. And then something brought her sensibilities back to the land of the living.

"Wait. Is that..? Why didn't he tell me he was going to be here?"

Jaya saw a solitary person in another table reading, seemingly engrossed. An all too familiar-looking person. There was a bit of something off, but that didn't cross her mind. In fact, before anything could cross her mind, she'd already stood up and made her way across.

"Hey Terrance - it's weird to see you without your glasses."

Again, before she could process her own words, she leaned in and planted a kiss on "Terrance's" lips, her eyes wide shut and her arms thrown around his shoulders. Internally, she knew he wouldn't like it, and she also knew that she didn't particularly care. "Love" was weird that way.

She opened her eyes with a smug grin and began to talk rapidly, but slowed down with each word uttered as her brain caught up and realized her mistake. Even her smug grin deflated and deflated to a less smug and more embarrassed grin. "I like what you were drinking, it tastes good and oh my God you're not Terrance I am so sorry I thought you were my brother -"

Okay, fuck.

There wasn't much for her to do now except figure out a way to defuse the situation. She sat down at the table, fixed her hair and said, "Okay, that was weird on both our parts and I'm sorry for that; how about we start over and I get you another drink and we talk so I can both apologize and make it that I didn't kiss a total stranger cause you won't be a stranger then?"

@"hyperhurricane"

Jaya Mallard / Virtue

At least the guy didn't freak out. That was a good thing. His own composure made Maya a bit more relaxed herself, and she found the situation amusing once the panic subsided. She'd done worse anyway.

"Sorry about that. Thought you were my brother. You two look very similar." It was weird how natural she could say that - in the past she could barely even call him anything decent, much less attempt to so publicly display her affection. "If I'd known you wouldn't freak out though I would've taken more advantage of the moment." Maya turned for a bit, calling the attention of the waitstaff and said, "Hey, I'll have a large whatever he just had."

She sat in silence for a while, squinting a bit. His resemblance to Terrance was just uncanny, and it made her want to display even more affection. That wouldn't be fair though. If she was going to be affectionate she wanted to do it because she liked the person and not because he looked similar to Terrance.

The order came in and Maya nodded with a smile before turning to face the guy. "I sorta both want to say 'I wish we coulda met in a better way' and not. I'm Jaya, and, um, you are?"

@"hyperhurricane"

"Not a lot of people think of me as a charmer, and I'm pretty sure you don't either," Jaya said, laughing. She took a sip, followed by another, and another. It went down good, and she got a fourth of it down before she stopped. "I don't know, you look pretty close to him, except I like his face better. And he has cute glasses. Tastes better too, which is probably not something I should be saying to someone I just met, but hey - I think what I think. Trust me, if I could keep what I think in check, I would be in a better but more boring place."

She took another drink and looked at what Giovanni was reading, and didn't particularly recognize it, so she paid it little attention. Maybe if conversation stalled, she'd bring it up. He seemed to be a nice person - or at least nice enough to pretend civility. That was good enough for her.

He hadn't brought up anything about her having mentioned that her comparisons were to her brother either, which was nice.

She chuckled as well at his introduction. In her experience, politeness was rare. Not that that was a bad thing or anything - she'd dabbled in being mean and rude herself - it was just too common to be especially fun. "Nah, it's okay. I'm fine with being offended. I'm surprisingly okay with a lot of things. And if you were the person I thought you were at first, I'd have a more spectacular greeting."

"Although... signorina? Can't say I've heard that used before."

@"hyperhurricane"

Jaya Mallard / Virtue

"...not nearly as close as I'd like. I get where he's coming from, and I get that liking him the way I do probably breaks a lot of rules, but like I said, I think what I think. Also applies to everything else. I feel what I feel, I like who I like, and I do who or what I do." Jaya took another sip, downing her coffee to half its contents. She could notice that he didn't particularly seem to hold much interest, but then again, she didn't care. "A bit weird that I'm talking

Her elbows went on the table and she leaned in close with a bit of an expectant, cloying grin. It was fine for her to keep talking - once she learned to accept the way she felt, admission was easy. Especially since she never really was one to feel shame; living on the streets tended to beat that out of a person.

However, she wanted to know more. About this person who was surprisingly physically similar to Terrance in a way that made her think of various things, not all of which were appropriate. He was sitting there, all mysterious and silent, making her all curious and inquisitive. "Enough about me and my probably inappropriate family situation. Tell me more about you. Anything - and then I'll figure out how to pry from there."