TO: Is it a bird? Yes, and Tall Glass of Water
-You free next thurs? xx
FROM: Tall Glass of Water
-We are scheduled to be at an undisclosed location, I'm sorry. Why do you ask?
FROM: Is it a bird? Yes
-No sorry on secret mission x
T): Is it a bird? Yes
-Kk xx
TO: Tall Glass of Water
-I spent this month's rent on tickets 2 go see sleeping beauty down broadway and i need a friend. Can probs just sell ticket and actualy afford rent now tho
FROM: Tall Glass of Water
-I'm sure we can find rent money elsewhere. Is there nobody else you can ask? How about one of the people at the coffee shop?
TO: Tall Glass of Water
-Dont think the pretentious lit majors will enjoy my company lmao
FROM: Tall Glass of Water
-There must be somebody in there.
Eva looked up from her phone and swept the near empty café for signs of intelligent, non-beanie-wearing life. The only other person in there was a girl who came in quite a lot now, and tended to sit in the corner and talk to herself. That wasn't the only thing odd about her: at present, she was wearing a flapper dress, flowery tights, cowboy boots and a neon 1980s shell jacket. Fingers tapping away on her phone screen, she relayed the information to Vision.
FROM: Tall Glass of Water
She sounds just your type. Have fun :)
Her shift was practically over anyway; she pulled off her apron and approached the girl- Alvie was the name she used, Eva remembered- while trying, and failing, not to be awkward. Alvie was sat like she normally was, chin on her hands with her elbows on her knees, talking slightly too quietly to be heard. Whether it was into one of those hands-free earpieces or just to herself, Eva didn't know - but still, she had been in much, much weirder company.
"Um," she said, "uh, hi. Alvie, right?"
She looked up, her eyes refocusing a little. "Hey," she said, a little warily but not enough to put Eva off. If she could blag her way into the Plastics of her high school, she could do this.
"So," she said, scratching the back of her neck. "You're in here kind of a lot, now. And I like you a lot better than all the normal lit major assholes."
Alvie's head tilted to one side. "Are you asking me out?" she asked, sounding rather flattered.
"What?" Eva panicked. "No! I mean, yes, but not like that. I, um, have two tickets to go see Sleeping Beauty down broadway tomorrow and all two of my friends dropped out on me and I was wondering… do you want the other one?" God, I need more friends.
"The Bourne ballet one?" Alvie asked, and Eva was more than a little surprised that she knew it.
"Yeah."
Alvie stood up, just a little taller than Eva. Despite that, her presence was not a threatening one, and although she looked to be in her mid-twenties Eva did not feel as though she were the younger of the two.
"You're asking a complete stranger to go with you," she said.
"I doubt you're a serial killer," Eva shrugged.
Alvie's face screwed up a little. "You never know," she said, "but yeah, I'll come with you."
%
"Vampire fairies!" Alvie yelled excitedly, as Eva dragged her out of the packed theatre.
"It was really good!" she said, heart still thumping to the pace of the score, "and-"
"Gay vampire fairies!"
"-the music was really well performed, I've never actually heard Tchaikovsky live before-"
"Renaissance gay vampire fairies!"
"Renaissance gay vampire fairies," Eva agreed, as they crossed the road into a bar opposite. Alvie, it seemed, was very easily excited. "You want a drink?"
"I'll pay," said Alvie, calming down a bit. "Least I can do."
"Oh, you don't have to," Eva said automatically, internally rejoicing.
"It's fine. A bottle of beer and-"
"Just orange juice for me, thanks." She was still- although reluctantly- teetotal.
"Spoilsport." Al pulled her wallet out of her coat pocket and paid the bargirl, who told them she would bring the drinks over, before pulling Eva over to a table. "So how long've you been in New York?"
"About four years, now," Eva told her, "I moved up here to do my degree, and get away from my nightmare parents."
"Dude, tell me about it." She reached across the table and patted her hand. "It gets better once they die, I promise."
"Uh… thanks, I guess. What about you?"
"Nearly a year ago, now," she told her, taking her bottle from the waitress.
"Why'd you move?"
"I'm... hmmm... on the run," she told Eva in a conspirational voice, who just laughed.
"If you say so." She liked Alvie; she was odd, but funny to be around. Plus, as the evening wore on, her wallet seemed to be endless- and Eva could use a friend like that. So she ended up taking her back to her poky apartment, since, after all, there were some weird people in New York and did you good to know where they were.
"Eva," Alvie said urgently, "your cat is giving me a death stare."
"She does that," Eva said, "her name's Rachel Carson."
"But she's going to kill me!"
"I promise you she isn't," Eva laughed, handing her a mug of tea. "She's about as violent as… something not very violent."
"A sponge?" Alvie suggested. "Nobody ever got killed by a sponge, I bet."
"Sure," Eva shrugged, "a sponge." She picked up Rachel Carson and hugged the struggling animal to her chest. "A fat, lazy sponge. I take it you're not a cat person."
"Yech," Alvie replied, pulling a tabby-patterned hair from her sleeve, "no way. No offense, though."
"None taken. You're from New Orleans, right?" she asked, going by the accent, and Alvie nodded. "What's it like?"
"Noisy. I ain't been back for years, though," she said with a trace of sadness, before brightening again immediately. This chick is weird as hell, Eva thought, I must be a magnet for crazy. Still, she's cute. "And is that a Texan accent I detect?"
"Yup. Born and raised Austinite," she told her, "you'd like it there, it's all very… odd."
"Why does that mean I'd like it?" Alvie asked, brown eyes wide.
"… No reason. Say, you like horror movies?"
"Are there any with spaceships in?"
"Um..."
"Aliens?"
"Well," said Eva, "there's Alien, I guess. And Aliens."
Alvie's face cracked into a grin so wide it almost reached her ears on either side. "Perfect!"
A/N If you want to know more about Alvie, I'd recommend reading Finding Bucky. She'll crop up in this from time to time as a supporting character, but her own story's going to stay in FB, so don't worry. Additionally - the Bourne Sleeping Beauty is real and very good, so if there's a version of it online somewhere you should absolutely watch it. Also also, double update because we broke 500 (!) and I feel like it.