Just Wanted A Drink | Open

All Rhys really wanted to get was a nice cup of tea. It had been so long since he had a real nice one and someone told him this was the place to get it.

They forgot to mention the frilly pink chairs and the confetti raining from the sky.

Trying to maintain his proud appearance, Rhys picked up his tea, which was in a thankfully plain cup, and started spooning sugar into it. Just as he was finishing with his fifth spoonful, another confetti rain started to fall. His mouth twitched with a frown as he brought the cup into his mouth.

"Never. Again," He said under his breath. Tea caused him too much trouble.

Aria stepped into the tea shop, a smile tugging at her lips. The place was certainly colorful, and the blonde still liked colors. Ordering a cup of tea at the counter, she turned towards the rest of the shop. A faint laugh escaped from her as she noticed the boy seated at one of the tables. She went over to him.

"You look out of place," the girl remarked, mismatched eyes sparkling with amusement. "I could sit across from you, if you'd like. Then you can blame me for being here and therefore preserve your manly pride."

Aria had seen the boy around, of course, at school. She was also certain his name was Rhys, though she hadn't actually met him, herself. The girl tilted her head to one side, an amused smile threatening her lips as she awaited his response.

Rhys looked up at the blonde, shook the confetti from his hair, then smiled and gestured to the seat next to him.

"Please," he grinned, placing his cup, "Sit down. I look lika loser,"

Rhys noticed her miscolored eyes and suddenly remembered her name was Ariel or Aria. He spooned a bit more sugar into his cup, smiling fondly.

Aria sat, taking a sip of her tea to hide her persisting amusement.

"I wouldn't say... loser," she said thoughtfully. "Extremely uncomfortable and mildly disconcerted, maybe. Loser, no. Though, I must say the hair confetti is a unique touch."

Rhys leaned against the table, resting his head in his hand. He brushed some more confetti out of his hair, grinning. With the other hand he picked up his cup and took a large gulp.

"Thank you," he smiled, "Where's your little buddy, Arsen? He did leave you all alone?" Rhys was teasing her now, hoping to get some information on Arsen.

"Most welcome," Aria returned smugly.

Her cup paused midway to her mouth. Setting it back on the table, she turned to look at him in utter confusion.

"Who?" she asked.

Rhys gave er a strange glance to check if she was serious.

"The tall, dark fellow you hang out with? The demon?" he asked, leaning closer to her, "You okay?"

Aria's brow furrowed, images flashing through her mind as she tried to identify just whom he was speaking about.

Several tall figures... wrong, wrong, wrong - they all had names. Demon. Djinn's face loomed in the front of her mind, crimson eyes glaring down at her. Wholly in her mind, Aria focused on those eyes, the demon eyes, but no other face would present itself. There was something... at the corner of her mind...

Aria turned her head, as though the figure was at the edge of her vision instead of just in her head, but it was gone.

"I..." she shook her head slowly. "My uncle - he found me over the break. He was able to restore my memory, from before I lost it, but some of my more recent memories were affected, damaged or lost. This Arsen... he's someone I should know?"

Rhys shook his head, willing to drop the subject. He picked up his tea, smiling over the rim. She seemed dazed and confused, but also cute in a child sort of way. Rhys thought that was extremely horrible to leave such a "puppy" child alone.

Someone might try to hurt her.

"You seemed important to him," he mused, taking a rather feminine sip, "I thought he had a thing for you. I guess not though,"

Aria shook off her confusion. "Guess not," she remarked with a shrug. "If we were close, I hardly think I'd have forgotten him. I mean, I remember you, and we never actually spoke before today.

"Wonder who else I've forgotten?" the blonde murmured aloud, taking a sip of her own tea.

"So. Apart from confetti with your tea, are you glad to be back to school?" Aria asked. "It's Rhys... Haines, isn't it?"

Rhys sighed and rolled his shoulders carelessly. "I hate school. Rhys Haines hates school," he said, his tone protraiting that he found school to be boring to an extreme.

His cup was empty, but he was too lazy to get another, so he simply twirled the cup around in his hands.

"It's..Ariel? No, Aria," she said, nodding, "I dunno your last name,"

"Too easy?" Aria guessed. "Some of the subjects are rather rudimentary." A statement made ironic due to the fact that it came from a girl who didn't know what 'boiling' was a few months before.

"Aria," she confirmed. "I didn't really have a surname before, though, unofficially it was 'Black', because Karma adopted me. It's Kennet, though. I... remember that, now. I'm Aria Kennet."

"Extremely easy," Rhys agreed. School was just a place where they taught you how to repeat information and spells, not learn about the world.

He raised an eyebrow at Karma's name, but stayed quiet. Karma adopted her? He'd have to ask about that; Karma seemed to have a thing for taking in people like pets. "Kennet is a nice last name,"

"I suppose it is," Aria said. "I've never really thought about it." To the contrary, Aria had thought about it quite a lot. Enough to know that 'Kennet' told the world precisely what she was, were a person clever enough to piece it together.

Another phantom at the edge of her vision, and still no one was there. The blonde frowned. So familiar, yet so foreign... Surely, this 'demon' Rhys mentioned would have to be the half-demon Djinn had given her strict instructions to stay away from.

But why? If they had known each other before, why should she avoid him, now?

Aria sighed, knowing she would let the matter rest. It could hardly be worth looking into after all. A hand came up to rub at her left shoulder. Djinn didn't like being questioned - especially by the likes of her.

"I hate when things are withheld from me," she said, seemingly out of the blue. "I hate... not knowing everything I should. One makes more mistakes when they can't see the whole picture."

And at the moment, Aria's memories - her true memories - seemed riddled with holes.

Rhys watched to girl with blank eyes, nodding. He really didn't care what she was saying, but this odd lack of memory was interesting.

"I understand, I guess," he said softly.

"I am prattling," Aria stated wryly. "I apologize. I've always been told I talk too much."


But who had said that?

Shrugging slightly, Aria turned her attention to sipping at her tea.

Rhys shook his head, looking up at her. He studied each eye closely, then half smiled. Once you got over the two colored eyes thing, she was actually quite pretty. He leaned back and ran a hand through his hair.

"I like when people talk," he replied, "Then I don't have to." He gestured for her to continue. "Talk, talk; I'm actually interested in this,"

Aria gave a knowing smirk. "It's not that interesting," she contradicted. "I forgot a person and my uncle is a dick who likes to keep things from me. Makes for a rather dull story, I'd say." She smiled; mostly pleased with any opportunity she had to malign Djinn... even if he did scare the hell out of her. Her side ached just thinking about it.

"Since you apparently don't like to talk, I suppose playing twenty questions is out?" Aria teased. She shrugged. "I'm not very good at that game, anyway."

Rhys grinned, wolfish as he eyed her up and down. "Oh, you're interesting," he said, "God, girls are weird. I give you a compliment and then you object it." he sighed, "At least you guys are nice to look at,"

Rhys took a sugar packet and dropping the whole thing into his mouth, "I'll play,"

"You were complimenting me?" Aria asked, clearly surprised. "Sorry. It's just..." She trailed off, though she continued silently, I'm just a construct. I'm not even important - how could I be interesting?

"I guess I'm not used to compliments," she said lamely, though it was true enough. Jet had complimented her, but... She blinked. More blankness; a figure dancing beyond the periphery of her recollection. She couldn't quite -

"Ah!" Aria pressed the heel of her hand against her temple as a sharp pain shot through her head. She drew in a deep breath. Just stop thinking about... it. It's not important. Here. Now... "Sorry," she apologized a bit sheepishly.

"Alright," the blonde said, "I know your name and house and year, already, so how about your favorite subject?"

Rhys snorted, shaking his head.

"Oh please, you must get compliments a lot. I mean, half of the guys in school wanna bang you," He shrugged as if this wasn't inappropriate to say.

He paused to think about his favorite subject. Most of the times he would just lie and say potions, but now... he didn't feel like lying. The thought made his stomach feel... heavy and...not good.

"I don't have one," he replied.

Aria laughed. "Then, what? Did they all just decide to avoid me last term?" she asked with an amused grin.

"Fair enough. My favorite is Potions, though, I enjoy reading about everything in my free time. My goal is to read at least half of the library before I leave school." She said it jokingly, but she was serious; there was so much information to be gleaned there.

"Your turn."

Rhys shook his head, grinning.

"Your little friend scared them away," he joked, "It's okay though; most guys just wanna touch your chest,"

Rhys twirled his cup for a second, then shrugged. He wouldn't ask about school; that was boring.

"How's home for you?"

She wrinkled her nose. That was a rather odd thing to want to do, in Aria's estimation. The girl frowned down at herself. They were just flesh. It must be one of those social behaviors she hadn't picked up on, yet.

"I don't really have a home," Aria answered, then added. "I mean, I did before, obviously. It's just me and my uncle, now, and... Well, I suppose school is home, now. What about your home?"

As he responded, Aria pondered her next question, so that when it was her turn, she gave an impish smirk and inquired, "Do you want to touch my chest?"

Rhys sat quietly for a moment, trying to think what home was to him. It certainly wasn't the oraphanage; he left that place a while ago. Maybe it was Ty's couch.

"School is my home too, I guess," He decided, looking away casually.

"Yes. Absolutely," He said, a bit too quickly. He leaned on the table, looking her in her eyes, "Sweetie, I'll be honest; I would totally sleep with you,"