2015.09.26 - White Wine at Afternoon Tea

*Ravenna and Darius arrive separately at Rowanwood House to see Nessa. She and Lockie invite them in for tea.*

Rowanwood, San Francisco

Ravenna would have called ahead before coming over with her basket full of wine. She knows it is important to expand her brand in the city and getting a local bed and breakfast as one of their client's isn't going to hurt business at all. Besides, meeting Nessa piqued Ravenna's interest so she wanted to see her again. She's dressed casually with a long broomstick skirt and a peasent shirt and she's tamed her hair behind her neck. Putting on a smile she polietly knocks on th edoor.

A few moments pass before the door opens to reveal Nessa standing there, dressed casually in a house dress that might have been the height of fashion in the nineteen thirties, an apron tied neatly on over it, with her hair swept up into a series of intricate braids. She brightens, seeing Ravenna, and says, "Oh, hello! Welcome, and come in! Lovely to see you, dear! I'm sorry for making you wait--I was just taking a pie out of the oven."

The front doors of the joint is opening just as Darius is walking up, and Nessa is welcoming Ravenna. Timing can sometimes be just so spectacular when you pay no attention to it whatsoever. He is wearing his usual ironic t-shirt, distressed jeans, but also a light zip-up sweatshirt against the chill from the wind, though he doesn't seem to mind that much. "Excuse me, is this Rowanwood House?" he inquires softly, and knocks a little on the doorframe. Not stepping inside, just yet. He looks around a little, trying to be certain that he has the right place. From his pocket, he produces a piece of paper, and double checks that as well. The paper matches with what he'd seen on approach, but he likes to be certain.

"I know how fickle a pie can be, do not worry about keeping me waiting." Ravenna says with a smile as she shifts the basket from one arm to the other. "May I come in?" She lingers around the threshold of the door, not wanting to enter an old house such as this with out a proper invite. She's about to inquire further when Darius walks up, and takes a step to the side so Nessa can greet the new guest.

Lockie Mitchell wanders down the stairs from his room pulling on a t-shirt with a local school's team mascot on it, he's not sure what school, what team it is or where he got it but it was there so thats what he's wearing, as he walks forwards from the stairs he spots that Nessa has guests, who might be normal people, "Oh, sorry, should I go back up stairs?", this may be a business meeting of some kind afterall, maybe new tennatns even.

Nessa ushers Ravenna inside, assuring her, "Of course, of course! Come in, please!" And then Lockie's arriving, and she waves a hand at him, laughing, "No, dear! Come and meet our guests." Looking to Ravenna, she says, "This is Lockie, one of my wards." And then she turns to Darius, who's just arrived, and offers him a warm smile. "Why, it certainly is, dear. I'm Nessa Du Valle, proprietress," she says, extending her hand in the palm-down way of a lady's more old-fashioned handshake. "What may I do for you?"

Taking the offered hand, Darius being a teenager has no clue what to do with it, so gives it a little gentle shake. "I'm Darius Tyson, high school student," he introduces himself, obviously a little awkward about meeting with strangers in front of strangers. He clearly doesn't mean to mock, when he parrots the response, but to reply in kind, and looks at the other two, a bit wide-eyed, then answers the question, vaguely, "I'd heard from some friends that we might have something in common, and seeing as you're the only person they ever mentioned, I thought I'd look you up, now that I'm in the right state.." he goes on, knowing that he is being vague.

Having being formally invited in Ravenna walks into the main hall and takes a look a the grand room around her. "Your house is absolutely stunning, I can see why this is a popular place. I'm a little jealous." That smile is still on her face and when Lockie comes down she gives him a wave. "Nice to meet you, are you new to the city as well?" She'll let Nessa continue with the introduction while she waits.

Lockie Mitchell shakes his head, "I was born in England but I've been in San Francisco for a few years, new to here though", he clearly hasn't been in the city long enough to lose his English accent at least, he looks over at Darius, wandering from his babbling if he might also be a witch, shrugging he looks at what Ravenna is carrying, "Nice, you the legendary wine fairy?"

Nessa leads Darius inside, closing the door after him, and says, "Well! Lockie, this is Ravenna, a local vintner who's been good enough to bring by some of her family's wine." Then she looks to Darius again, still smiling, and says, "I suppose now we all know one another. Would you all care to come into the kitchen for a cup of tea?" She lightly loops one arm through Lockie's, leading him that way, and murmurs to him gently, "Manners, dear. Just do your best."

Taken in gently as he is, Darius doesn't see the least bit of reason not to just go with the flow and find out what the good woman has to say. He might learn something. Sliding his hands into his pockets, he follows along and looks at the feet of the duo who seem to live here to give him guidance on whether to take off his shoes and follows suit. He gets the impression that he should respect the rules of the house and walks along in their wake. Walking beside Ravenna a moment later, he introduces himself again, "Darius," the tall teenager, entirely lanky, big shoulders and big hands.

"Wine fairy, that's one way to put it." Ravenna says with a smirk as she gestures toward the basket under her arm. She follows the others into the kitchen looking around the room and standing in the spot that is furthest from all the appliances that her magic might interfear with. Nodding her head to the tall teenager she returns the greeting. "Ravenna, nice to meet you Darius."

Lockie Mitchell nods nods as he's lead ahead, "Yes, sorry", once they get to the kitchen he tries to help out by locating cups for Nessa can complete her offer of tea, though this is once hell of a kitchen so it takes him a few attempts, though he makes sure not to use his magic to do it, he eyes the taller teen trying to make up his mind about something.

Nessa gives Lockie a grateful smile as he sets about getting the tea things together, and she sort of waves at the stove, which springs to life with a small flame at one burner, apparently on its own. She fills the kettle and puts it on to heat, then takes a plate of cookies from the counter and sets it on the table. "The tea will be just a moment," she says apologetically, "But please do feel free to have something to eat. I also have scones from this morning, if you prefer them, and I'm *sure* I could scare up a sandwich or two if you like." She laughs lightly, gesturing toward the table, "And of course, do sit down!"

"You too." This directed to Ravenna, Darius follows Nessa into the kitchen. Taking a seat at the table, he doesn't seem to have the least bit of trouble in partaking of offered hospitality, and snacks on the offered cookies. "These are very good, thank you ma'am," he says once he has finished chewing, but doesn't ask after any of the other offered food. Just waits and watches. He doesn't want to intrude, and he realizes he might have to wait for other business before he inserts his over-grown feet into this dance.

Ravenna quietly watches as Nessa busies herself around the ktichen and how things seem to coem to life for her. When she is invited to sit down and the offer of food she shakes her head. "I had lunch before I came over, I'm not hungry just yet, but thank you for the offer." She does however sit down, still keeping away from any vital appliances as she does. "I brought over a wide varities of what we offer at our vineyards, feel free to try them at your leisure and let me know if any of them are to your liking."

Lockie Mitchell has only been here a few day but thats more than long enough to know Nessa cannot be beaten when it comes to cooking, so once the tea cups are assembled in place he nabs one of the cookies and gives Nessa a thumbs up not wanting to speak with his mouth full, being instructed to sit down he sits next to Darius and looks over at what Ravenna has, he doesn't know a whole lot about wine, he was usually kept away from the alcohol at parties at his home.

Actually, as lone looks around the kitchen, one is likely to notice: Nothing here appears to work via modern technology. Even the sink has a pump handle rather than knobs to turn, and (for those who can tell) there's no electricity running through the room at all. The kettle boils quite quickly, and soon enough she's filling a teapot, which she then sets down on its tray upon the table before sitting down to join the others. "That will be ready in just a few moments," she indicates, and already the smell of some sort of tea--green with hints of fruit and honey--wafts from within. "So!" she says brightly. "How lovely to have you both here. I simply adore having guests, and I imagine Lockie is pleased to see another face closer to his own age."

"Thanks, for the cookies," Darius replies and folds his hands on the table in front of him, he still doesn't know what to say, and somehow feels like everything is hinging on how Nessa chooses to handle things. "Do you live here, Lockie?" he asks of the other teenager, feeling that a bit of attempt at conversation might be the natural thing here. "I'm Darius, by the way," he introduces himself for the third time in ten minutes.

Ravenna relaxes once she sees that there is little chance of her frying things in the kitchen, and she folds her hands on the table. "Well you have plenty of room here to entertain, I know I would definatly want to have as many people over if I had a place like this. Sadly, I just have an apartment and little reason to entertain." She'll let the younger lads get acquainted while they all wait for tea.

Lockie Mitchell swallows the cookie, "Sorry manners, Lockie Mitchell", he offers a hand to shake, "Yeah I do, only lately though, I've got something of a condition Nessa very kindly offered to help me with, and suggested it would be for the best that I stayed here while she does", he leaves out the part where said condition is him being something of a recovering soulless sociopath, is there such thing as Murderer's annonomous?

"Lockie's dealing with some spiritual matters," Nessa explains placidly, "and I happen to have some expertise, as do some of my other tenants, so we're... I suppose you might say 'life-coaching' him through the difficulties." She quirks an eyebrow. "He also needs a proper legal guardian until he's eighteen, a matter that I'm looking into taking care of." Then, smiling at Ravenna, she says, "I see you brought over some of your family's wines. Perhaps after we've had tea you'd like to let us sample them?" She apparently has no compunction against the younger set having a taste, based on what she says. Turning again to Darius, she asks, "I... suspect... you might care to speak a bit later in private, dear?"

A reasonably well-mannered young man, Darius doesn't inquire after the condition, just nods his head at the explanation. His hands still between him and the cookies, he looks at them occasionally, but seems to be holding off on taking any more, just now. He smiles a little at Ravenna when Nessa suggests she might share the wine with the lot of them, he certainly doesn't mind. Alcohol is alcohol, though he has no real particular taste for wine. It's just one of many ways to get a little buzz, though that usually requires a good deal of the stuff. "That'd be nice, ma'am," he answers Nessa and seems inclined to accept the whole matter of spiritual matters and said difficulties without question or comment. The way he casually accepts things is probably an indication he isn't normal, but in which way he isn't normal would be anyone's guess. "My mom likes tea, but I've never acquired the taste. She's an orthodontist, ya know, and that just tends to mean that she just wants me to stop drinking anything that might stain my teeth, which is everything, these days," he explains, trying to relate a little to the whole ceremony. "Are you all from around here? I'm from Minnesota," he adds.

"Ah, I am sure you are in good hands then, I hope you are able to find what you are looking for." When the wine is brought back up she nods her head. "I brought a fair selection from what I have on hand, we have a few other wines that are still aging that I hope will be bottled in the next few months." Though as Nessa suggests that they all try the wine she smirks. "Oh I was much younger than them when I started sampling the wine, I have no qualms about it." It's not like she's funding a kegger.

Lockie Mitchell shakes his head at Darius and bites back a sarcastic comment (he has a bloody English accent) but Nessa would prefur he was polite so he slaps a smile on his face, "I'm from London originally", he looks over at the wine, he's willing to try it but the question to be asked is, should someone like him risk lowering his inhibitions?

"Originally," Nessa remarks distantly, "I'm from a little village in France, but--well! That was back in the stone age, of course." Though, despite this fact, she certainly bears no hint of a French accent or other obvious qualities. She smiles mildly, then reaches out to take the teapot and begin pouring. "Does everyone want a cup?" she asks, glancing around the table. And at Ravenna's answer, she laughs lightly. "Lockie," she says with a smile, "Could you go over to the crystal cabinet and fetch a few glasses?" Because, after all, a few sips of wine is hardly anything she sees cause to make issue of.

"I see, London and France, I remember a rhyme about this," Darius quips and smirks a little, and extends a hand out to take another cookie which he savors between bites. The whole matter of the stone-age, once again, doesn't phase him, because half his family has stories like that, and they're not even all that strange as things go. They make a certain degree of sense. "I'd like to live in europe sometime, though I half think the allure might just be some uh.. what's the word? Romantic ideal. Like, I imagine it's all fancy food and nude beaches, but in reality, it has stinky alleys like everywhere else," he remarks with a smile and seems to want to get up to help, but since Nessa didn't ask, he remains seated, enjoying the cookie between bits of conversation.

"That sounds like a facinating story, perhaps after we have gotten further into a bottle of wine. I grew up in Nappa, but I did travel a fair amount when I was about your age." Or whatever the supposed age is. "I will take a cup, thank you, just a touch of sugar for me." As the glasses are called for she begisn to fish around in the basket, pulling out a bottle of white wine and setting it on the table. She even brought her own corkscrew and deftly removes it from the bottle. "We should give it a few minutes to breath before we sample it."

Lockie Mitchell nods and gets up to grab the glasses when told, honestly he'd rather do it telekineticly cause they look expensive but he's unsure just how much these people know, putting down the glasses he looks at Darius, "South of France and Spain have nude beaches and if I'm not mistaken theres also at least one here in San Francisco".

Chuckling softly at Darius' point, Nessa says, "True enough, that. Of course, most places have their charms, too. This city, for instance, is quite a breath of fresh air at times--at least, when it's not all people in designer suits barking into their mobile telephones." A soft clucking of her tongue accompanies that last. She gives a nod at Ravenna's words. "Just as well," Nessa says approvingly, "as that gives us time to enjoy our tea." She adds one small spoon of sugar for Ravenna before passing her the cup and saucer, and she pours a cup for Lockie, then herself, as well, clearly amused by his banter. "Nude beaches. My, my," she murmurs.

"What are you, a nude beach tour guide when you aren't here? If it weren't for the internet, I'd be taking notes," Darius jokes and smiles a little. Eyeing the crystal, he nods in approval, though he has no idea as to the slightest bit of indication of what it is or how much its worth, it's just nice looking to him. "I'm living in Beacon Hills now, and it's pretty nice, but San Francisco has a charm to it. I think it's the hills. Anyway, what kind of tea is this, ma'am? My mom always makes green tea, I don't think she drinks any other kind, but like I said, it isn't my cup of.. tea."

While all chare a laugh at this, the tea is shared, and soon enough the wine will follow--and, perhaps, over drinks and conversation, some new friendships may be born.