A Cup of Cheer? {Megara}

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight took another deep breath, extending her hand and attempting to exhale away all her stress and fears. There was the whole C.A.U.S. meeting, which she was planning on having here, and something about an upcoming barbecue and such. Not to mention that the suits were starting to get suspicious about how Twilight wasn't actively doing any job or engaged in the normal studies. What money she did earn she was getting from doing quick tutoring sessions, and she knew that wouldn't be enough to last long.

Still, she needed to eat and drink, and the latter was a great way to relax. She'd already heard about the Hattery's good brews, and she figured that drink would help perk her up magnificently. So she'd come, placed her order, and handed over a few coins. Twilight then stood slightly off to the side of the counter, flipping through her notebook and frowning as she reviewed the notes. Just when she was getting to a particularly difficult part, she heard someone else coming in, and while Twilight couldn't be completely certain, it definitely sounded like that someone was in a bad mood.

The violet-haired girl turned to watch the other girl storm in for a bit. Without thinking twice about it, Twilight turned to the counter, dropping a small handful of coins onto the counter. "I'll pay for her drink," she offered, jerking her head toward the girl who was heading for the counter. She leaned forward slightly, whispering: "She looks like she need it."

A quick smile was exchanged and Twilight shuffled a little more to the side, suddenly incredibly interested in her own pad. Her drink would be coming up any moment, but she did want to see how the other girl reacted to the serving...

[Megara Argyris]

With each passing day Meg grew more and more confused and irritated. If she was going to be stuck here forever, or this was some elaborate scheme of Hades' make, or she'd actually failed for the last time and her soul had been given to death, or whatever, she would really appreciate it if someone just let her know. When she was working for the god of the underworld, at least she had a sense of solidarity. She knew her place and what was required of her. It sucked, yeah, and she hated it, but at least she knew what to expect. Now she was lost in some kind of nightmarish cloud of uncertainty. Meg needed to know what to expect. She had to plan for it and figure how to control her actions and emotions accordingly. She couldn't do that here. Here there was some strange device around every corner that she couldn't even put a name to. Here there were pirates and roommates and people with green hair. Even worse, she'd met a man who wholeheartedly believed in happy endings. Why should he have hope when it would just end up crushed eventually? Why should he even enjoy life when it was so fleeting and dark? Perhaps Meg was just bitter that not everyone's lives were as harsh and broken as her own, but thats not the point. The point is Hades hasn't contacted her and there's this awful welling up sensation that her heart keeps producing which either means she's having some sort of heart attack (unlikely), or that dreadful disease of hope has begun to claw at any foothold it can find inside her. *breath* Hope was not good. She'd rather crush it before it took hold then allow herself to feel it and be let down. This could not continue.

With a belligerent demeanor, Meg stormed into the tea shop without any better reason beside for the fact that she just didn't want to be at home. Meg didn't exactly want to be social either, but being stuck in a house with a roommate who tried to cook her things was worse than going out in public where most people took one look at her sour expression and left her alone. She kind of radiated abrasiveness like a toxin. Most people took the hint...and then there was this purple haired chick...

Purple was Meg's favorite color, yet this girl was already on the right path to ruining that for her. She felt pitied by the way she ordered a drink for her. Like this girl had seen her and thought she had had a rough day rather than a rough existence. Like a nice cup of tea could fix everything. Meg closed her deep purple eyes and rubbed her temple. She should have just stayed at home.

What I need, kid... Meg began, opening her eyes to offer the girl a glare. Is for someone to explain to me why the hell I'm here. Not. she articulated carefully as the woman behind the counter set down her cup. A cup of tea. she said aggressively as she shoved the drink away. I mean, if she was going to be offered any sort of beverage, it could have at least been some kind of wine.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight had thought that she'd whispered that last bit low enough to not be noticed, and that she'd been somewhat surreptitious in the whole ordering of the drink thing. Apparently Twilight was not nearly as... artful as she had thought, for the other girl had figured out even before placing the order that Twilight had paid for (she wouldn't have dreamed of ordering), let alone after it. The demand made Twilight blink her now wide violet eyes. She glanced back at the barrista manning the counter, but she looked about as confused as Twilight felt.

"You're here because you're a victim of reality displacement, a VRD," she explained, enunciating each word clearly. "You were plucked from your other world, wherever that was," apparently a place filled with grumpy people, though Twilight certainly wasn't about to say that, "and you were deposited here instead. As for what's doing it or if there's a motive behind it, well," Twilight shrugged, "nobody's telling."

One of the servers behind her made a polite noise to get Twilight's attention, and she turned, her smile quick. She reached for her own drink, a hot tea mixture that was dangerously close to being coffee, and thanked the server. She took a sip before turning, looking back at Megara, an expression very close to pity crossing her features.

[Megara Argyris]

Had Meg not been blinded by her irrational spike in anger, she might have realized that this purple haired chick had only offered to pay for drink and the beverage set down near her was actually intended for the man walking up to the counter behind her. Meg had just assumed and seen what she wanted in order to further her sour mood, like always. The man cautiously picked up his slightly spilled tea and hurried off while trying desperately to ignore Meg's frightening stare. Great. Now she looked like an idiot. At least the woman behind the counter had seemed to think better of asking her for an order as her and the purple chick shared a confused look. Meg had seen too many secret dealings involving money and other things in her time to not become hyper aware of the symptoms when they arose. So these weren't quite sinister dealings, but she'd heard the clinking of coins on the table and did her best to read her lips as she whispered. It would seem Meg had learned a few skills in the Underworld, or perhaps just gained a few more curses. Meg's mind was drawn to agree with the latter, but, more important was what the girl with the undesired kindness answered in response to Meg's spiteful words.

Meg hadn't be expecting to actually get a straight answer. The staff had told her something similar when she had arrived, but to hear her describe is as being 'plucked' and 'deposited' made it sound more purposeful than otherwise. Meg had yet do decided if that made a difference to her, what she knew to be important to her was weather it was Hades' doing or weather he could get to ehr or not. She'd spent the past week or so convincing herself to not believe for a second she could be free from his tyranny no matter where she landed, but she'd never been out of contact with him for more than twelve hours. Something wasn't right. Either he could not contact her or drag her back to his dark and damp lair, or he had thrown her here himself and this place was really some kind of carefully constructed prison cell. She had tried to believe latter for a while to keep hope at bay, but that green haired guy and his soul kept coming to mind. Any kind of prison Hades' could make would have to involve soulless beings; either because they were dead, or because he owned them. What then? Was she supposed to just let herself think she was free for a while and enjoy this like a vacation? What does that even mean?

Meg looked up just intime to meet another pair of purple eyes with the white wisp of a soul lurking behind them. The other girl's were a lighter shade but Meg had never met anyone outside her own family to have purple eyes. Perhaps she should have felt comforted by there gaze, but instead the look bordering pity made her jaw tighten.

Don't look at me like that, Kid. she said, kinder than she could have been, but still with a warning sort of tone. After a pause, Meg turned to look at the wall behind the counter. Do you know who.... Meg gritted ehr teeth slightly, his name was fear. He used to appear every time she said his name aloud. ...Hades... is? She said at last, trying to hide her array of confusing emotions over the fact that he hadn't burst into the place in a flurry of blue flames. She needed to get to the bottom of this. Living in this gray area between hope and dispair was far worse than one or the other.

[Twilight Sparkle]

There was a lot of thinking going on over there. Twilight couldn't read minds, so she hadn't a clue what the other girl's thoughts pertained, but she could certainly see when someone had gotten lost in a train of thoughts. The unicorn was well used to waiting out such moments; she had them all the time herself. Plus, she had a drink to politely sip while she waited. She kept her eyes locked too, her eager mind as fascinated as ever. What kind of world had this girl come from that had left her so jaded? It had to be nearly the exact opposite of Twilight's own world, and that was a fascinating enough idea in and of itself. also more research and data, but the sheer personal outweighed that for the moment.

Twilight's intense study made it easy for her to take in the tightened jaw, and Twilight's own eyes widened slightly. Her body tensed, bracing for another onslaught of some kind, but what came had a decidedly lighter tone than expected. Twilight shrugged off the suggestion; no harm, no foul, as it was, and took another sip of her drink.

Then, surprisingly, came a question. Twilight stared at Meg while she asked, then kept staring for a few seconds after, blinking. several thoughts ran through her head, which she tilted to the side as if to dislodge some of the loose thoughts. "Well," she began, "I think I heard the term used in connection with Tartarus... which is where most of the monsters come from, but I don't know if that's what you're looking for?" she couldn't help but phrase the last bit as a question, leveling her gaze at the other girl again.

[Megara Argyris]

Meg stared at her hands as they fidgeted uneasily, despite her best efforts, and blinked rapidly in her habitual way of warding off unwanted emotions. She was feeling very vulnerable to be asking such questions because it put her in the lower position of the conversation as far as she was concerned. It was much safer to pretend to have all the answers and find some crafty way of figuring them out if you didn't really. Meg was in a pickle, however, given that she'd rather now try to seduce the answers out of this girl and, anyway, she had the feeling it wouldn't go over too well. It would be nice if she had more effective ways of persuasion, but her life had left her with limited tricks and without many answers. If she was going to solve the current labyrinth of lies she might have to be a bit less abrasive and a bit more open. She almost physically shuttered at the thought, but at least she was talking to a female. It was easier somehow to glance over and see her own purple eyes reflected in someone else's. She'd only known her mother to have eyes like that. She was a brave woman.

Megara suddenly took a quick breath and sigh as the violet girl answered her question. That wasn't really what Meg was looking for, but it was better than nothing. Her confusion over the topic was promising, but Meg's suspicion refused to die out completely. It occurred to ehr that this girl could produce nothing but the purest truth and Meg would still struggle to believe her. It's not fair really, to anyone involved. How was she supposed to decide weather or not this was all part of Hades' plan if she couldn't trust anyone around her? The girl had a soul, Meg could see that, but that didn't mean she was always truthful. What good was an interrogation without a way to prove it's validity? It's torture, pure torture to have a heart so guarded it won't allow any room for trust.

Can you prove to me that you're telling the truth? Meg said, biting her cheek and casting Twilight a sour glance. You've never had contact with the Lord of the Underworld? Meg said, sarcastically dramatizing Hades' grand title.

[Twilight Sparkle]

The question and sour glance made Twilight blink in shock again. She really wasn't surprised by now: this whole conversation had been a bit... odd. This time, however, she felt a small burst of anger at the question, and it made her features tighten and her voice come up perhaps a little shorter than it would have otherwise: "I don't think anypony can really prove they're telling the truth, unless, you know, you put them under a truth spell or something," she frowned. She was pretty sure that she actually knew a spell like that, but it wouldn't do her any good in her current condition. she drummed her fingers around the edge of the cup, considering. Before she could continue, however, Megara had continued:

"Lord of the underworld?" repeated Twilight, unable to keep the confusion out of her tone. "I don't--I don't think I've ever really heard of anyone commanding the underworld..." her brow furrowed as she tried to remember. she had done some research on myths and such, mostly to help out Helena, and she seemed to vaguely recall there supposedly being a being in charge of the Underworld, which was probably the same as Tartarus in some places. It was all a little head spinning, though.

Still, Twilight felt that, for some reason, she should at least try: "I take it Hades is the... lord of the underworld?' that still sounded really weird. "So, uh, do you work for him or something? Did he maybe curse you...? Because I'm pretty sure we're out of the range of most magics and odd stuff like that..."

[Megara Argyris]

Of course she couldn't prove that she was telling the truth, what was Meg thinking? What was she going to do, swear on her life? Meg had met way to many dead people to be convinced life was a valuable thing to swear on. Meg was barely alive herself; just kind of a soulless carcass that resented her past, her present, and her future. She lived because Hades' willed it and because, well, no matter how hard she tried to bury it, a tiny glimmer of hope still burned in her heart. To even admit it for a second made her stomach feel like it was filled with lava that might erupt through her throat and onto some poor bystander. This pony might not be able to prove her truthfulness, but she didn't want to vomit on her. Anyway Meg probably wouldn't have been able to fully believe her even if....wait...

Pony?

Did she just call herself a pony?

Meg's head suddenly jerked in Twilights direction, her face somewhere between suspicious and 'are you kidding me right now?' Meg had seen all sorts of things back home, but why would this chick call herself a pony if she so clearly was not? That was fishy on so many levels. Was it a slip in her master plan, or a deliberate hint? Was Meg giving this girl way too much credit? Probably. Ugh what was she doing? It was probably just a stupid mistake, right? I mean why would anyone call themselves a pony? Maybe the language was different around here. Anyway, she kept talking and she sounded pretty confused about this whole underworld business. She was trying to piece together something she seemed to have no idea about and then she started asking the questions. Great. It always seemed to get to this point eventually. All she wanted to know was if this girl..pony...whatever...was involved in a plot with Hades and now she wanted to know all about Meg's own relation to him. She'd better get back on top of this conversation and fast. Meg waiting until she'd finished and then even a few moments past to make sure she was done with her confused ramble. She then leaned back and quirked an eyebrow lazily as if all her internal turmoil didn't exist.

Pony?

[Twilight Sparkle]

For not the first time, and not likely the last, Twilight found herself facing down somepony who was wrestling with deep thoughts. In fact, it looked like Megara was about to be pinned by those very thoughts, and Twilight was half-considering sneaking off while the other girl was stunned. She'd done her good duty, bought the drink and all. Plus, she wasn't sure that she was really helping the other girl in the slightest. If anything, it seemed like the conversation kept confusing Megara further. The current state certainly supported that assertion.

"Right, pony," repeated Twilight. Her cheeks flushed slightly and she took a quick sip of her drink, as though having a wet mouth would somehow make explaining easier. "I, uh, used to be a unicorn. We all lived in this place called Equestria, and, well, everypony there was... well, a pony. Except for Spike, who was a dragon, and a few cows and donkeys and such..." Twilight trailed off, realizing for a moment that she'd started rambling. Again. She took a deep breath, swinging her eyes forward to meet Meg's again. "So I still sometimes call... people ponies. I'm getting better though; I've been here a while."

Too long, in Twilight's estimation. Though it wasn't exactly horrible here or anything, she was seriously considered about what was happening back home. Her friends had to be worried sick, especially since Rainbow Dash was apparently here as well. Twilight missed them horribly, even with the current friends. She found herself getting caught up in the thoughts, her fingers absently rubbing along her cup while she chewed absently on her lips.

[Megara Argyris]

Meg pressed a few fingers to her lips and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at this 'pony girl.' If Meg hadn't seen a few pegasus...es...pegasi? Whatever. If she hadn't seen a few flying horses back home she might have considered this girl a complete maniac and left the tea house imminently. There were flying horses back home, however, unicorns too and legends told of dragons as well, though they weren't always titled that way. Meg had not, however, heard of many ponies that turned into humans. There were shape shifters, sure, Pain and Panic could change into unicorns. She could be some kind of horse nymph maybe, but their situation wasn't like what this girl was describing. She was making it sound like it was not her wish to change and she wasn't free to change back. The way she made it sound like she was once just a unicorn and now was just a human. Who would do that? Freaking why would someone do that? It didn't make sense that Hades would go through all the trouble of either changing this pony into a person or implanting false memories in her of being a pony in the past. Which means...Hades might not have any idea where she was or how to get to her.

Oh gods there it is again. Hope making her feel like she'd eaten a delicious bowl full of live bug stew. Ugh.

Fine. Meg said after a long pause to deliberate. Okay Pinto. Meg said, leaning back and folding her arms. I'll have that drink now She drawled, hoping they had something here that was stronger than tea. She didn't like being pitied or being given things, but now she was making the choices so a drink would be okay. Maybe her hand would stop having tremors and her heart would take up a steadier beat if she got something in her body.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight recognized that flaring of hope. Mostly because she'd spent most of the last few years learning to look for it in people. The unicorn-girl's own face lit up slightly at the expression. Had she finally reached Megara? Had she finally given some sort of answer that would help brighten the other girl's day? Twilight nearly felt like bursting into song (which, given her origins, wouldn't have been entirely out of character). In fact, had she not been fairly convinced that wouldn't go over well with this particular girl, she probably would have.

Instead, she closed her mouth into a smile that clearly wanted to be a large, beaming one, nodding a few times at the other girl. "Right," she said, turning in an almost too crisp fashion to nod at the barista, who had been mostly waiting, since it was rather slow. Twilight gave said worker a short nod, then turned to look back at Meg. The smile melted into a more bashful expression, and the unicorn-girl gestured with the hand still holding her own drink. "Uh, I sort of already paid for it. So you just have to order whatever you want," she paused, looked down at her own drink, then looked back at Meg, smiling a little unevenly, "The, uh, cappuccino's nice," another pause, slightly awkward, "that's not this," she held up her drink. "This is, uh, the mint tea," another awkward pause. "I needed to relax."

Gee, you think?

[Megara Argyris]

Right, Meg might have gotten upset when the pony girl turned to her and confessed to already paying for it, but that ship had sailed. At least Meg had a better understanding as to what had happened when she had shown up. This girl may not have ordered the drink, but she had paid for it. That explained the sound of coins clinking on the counter. Meg could find plenty of ways to hate getting things bought for her, but she'd already spent the majority of this conversation in a distinctly sour place and she'd just received some possibly good news. She deserved a minor celebration and miss pinto might have deserved a little bit of an ease up. Anyway, Meg was broke. She had been instructed that she needed a job and finally conceded to signing up for one, though she hadn't yet shown up for training. Annoying as it was, she figured she was going to have to if she was actually going to be here for a while. With her current, slightly less cloudy mood, Meg even thought that might not be too bad.

Meg hadn't felt alright in an extremely long time and, although she hadn't quite made it there yet, she felt closer to it than he had in years. She wanted to scold herself as a reminder that nothing was certain, but hope had attached itself to ehr heart like a potentially fatal disease and threatened to spred throughout her bloodstream. She made a point to keep her breathing steady, though the shadow of an echo of a smile might have appeared on her lips. Meg smiled, but it was usually out of contempt or brought on by some dark form of amusement. She tiny little grin was different, more genuine and closer to something brought on by happiness than anything else. Ugh this was ridiculous and disgusting. Just order your damn drink Meg.

To her surprise, a breathy laugh escaped Meg's lungs upon Twilight's conclusion. She closed ehr mouth quickly after and moved her jaw back and forth slightly as if she were testing the way a laugh like that tasted.

You need to relax. Meg said to cover up for the strange outburst shortly before. After a pause Meg looked up at the menu posted above the counter. Meg hadn't heard of almost everything up there. Coffee, cappuccino...She'd had none of it in Thebes. She had heard of camomile, which some of the richer folks drank. It was supposed to be therapeutic or something. Meg was pretty confident that she could use as much therapy as she could get, even if she'd never ask for it. In this case, however, she'd make an exception.

Camomile she said plainly, leaning forward and resting her head on a hand. So she might be free for a while....what was she even supposed to do?

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight again found herself studying the girl closely. The unicorn-girl had already provided as much an explanation of this whole thing as she possibly could; things were most definitely in Meg's court for now. Which left Twilight again looking for answers in a face that was only willing to half-reveal anything. Twilight let her fingers continue to drum along the cup, and she had the resist the urge to start fidgeting. Something deep was definitely going on there. Could Twilight really ask about it? Could she not?

A laugh? That nearly made Twilight jump. It certainly made her head snap up, her eyes again locking upon Meg. The comment about relaxing that soon followed made Twilight chuckle nervously before taking too large of a sip of her own tea. Twilight at least took some solace in the fact that Meg had already turned to order; she probably hadn't noticed Twilight's flub.

"Camomile?" repeated Twilight, unable to keep quite all the surprise from her tone. "I, uh, expected you to order something with a little more... kick," her eyes flicked to the menu. There was a slightly awkward pause while the barista went to fulfill the order. Said barista did give Twilight a look that was half an apology and half a condemnation. After the few seconds, however, Twilight had to blurt:

"So, uh, what's bothering you? Anything I can do to help?" worth a shot, right? Twilight couldn't help it, really, though part of her was seriously considering just taking her tea and wandering off. Wasn't like she didn't have enough on her plate already...

[Megara Argyris]

A little more kick? Meg didn't bother looking up or reacting to the comment, but she was a bit confused. Was there someone on the menu she missed with alcohol in it? Perhaps all those things she couldn't read up there were fancy forms of wine. If that was the case, Meg was kicking herself for not ordering something of that nature. She could use a good drink right about now, after all, she was sort of celebrating. Still Meg didn't feel comfortable asking about the other drinks feeling that it would make her look stupid. Anyway she had already ordered her tea so she'd just have to grin and bare it. Well, not grin, but certainly bare it. Meg was feeling pretty good, but her whole outlook on life couldn't be changed with any sort of good news in the world. Meg closed her eyes for a moment and focused on forcing her heart rate to settle. Although she was careful not to show it, Meg was often dangerously on edge. She was just about to sigh when Twilight suddenly seemed to burst with a few questions she had obviously been holding in for a while.

Meg did end up sighing, but for a different reason than she had perviously intended. Various different vicious retorts raced across Meg's mind as a reflex against Twilight's offer for help. She swallowed them, however, feeling a lot more okay with the pony girl's presence than before. Had she been a male, Meg probably wouldn't have hesitated with some kind of venomous string of words, but Twilight had the advantage of being, in fact, female. She didn't seem completely stupid, either, though she should have known better than to push her hospitality after Meg's irritated speech at the beginning of their conversation. Her cheery nature still irked Meg, but with her mood tilting toward the more chill end of her range, She thought better of letting the comment get under her skin. Instead, the brunette slowly turned her head to cast the ex pony a warning look.

It's nothing I can't handle, kid. She explained.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight's joy fell as she heard the comment. She wasn't dense enough to take Meg solely at her word; there was definitely something deeper going on there. Which was why Twilight ended up biting her lip and nervously fidgeting for a few moments. Should she try and pry it out of Meg? Was that really what either of them needed? Twilight hadn't even really cared about other people's problems and feelings before coming to Ponyville, and while she'd certainly adapted, it still often felt like a stretch. Especially here, with things so... different. She took a deep breath, as if hoping that she'd suck in an answer.

Not surprisingly, it didn't help.

"Well, uh," Twilight managed. She bit her lip again. She took a sip of her tea. It was starting to go cold. another fidget. "So... first time in the Hattery?" might as well move on to the small talk. Twilight drummed her fingers along the drink cup and looked around. "Looks nice. I'm checking places out, want to have a meeting and all." Another slightly nervous laugh, followed by a sip. This was why Twilight didn't like talking to new people: way too awkward way too often.