Casual Cafe Conversations (Dated) (Private)

Nov 12
Afternoon

Jacov entered the establishment, that Ida had spoken of. It was a quaint little cafe. One just right for serving tea or reading a book. Jacov seated himself in a 2 person booth, and looked around. There seemed to be both Griffon and Pony waiters and neither seemed to mind the other. It was a perfect example of how harsh times brought together the harshest of enemies. And to prove his point, a pony took his order. "Earl Gray" he said calmly.

Ida follows Jacov into the cafe. She was here already before and so it isn't a surprise for her that the waiters are griffons and ponies. She takes a seat in the booth and as the waitress takes their order Ida orders a black coffee. "A simple coffee for a simple griffon" she says to Jacov with a smile. As they wait for their order she tries to start a conversation. "So, already got plans for the paper?"

Jacov nodded and chuckled at her comment. He heard her next one and he provided a thoughtful answer. "Plenty. For example. What do you see when you look at this Cafe?" He asked curiously, enunciated it so he was sure it sounded like an actual question, not a rhetorical one.

Ida looks around the cafe and she immediately knows what he was alluding to. Ponies and griffons working together in such a harmony is rare in these times. "Well, I see ponies and griffons working together and?" she says.

Jacov makes a sweeping motion. "And my point, Ida. It was actually what I was working on beforehand, while I was still a cultural analyst. There has been a deep long divide between these two species. However, in 4 short years this establishment was raised with the purpose of getting by in this city. Maybe even to become the best cafe in Manehattan." he said, and turned back to Ida.

"Now, consider the implications this particualar cafe sets. Two species who have come to despise each other over the course of a war. What kind of...shall we say, moral standard does this trend show?" he asks, and adds. "That was the bulk of my research."

Ida shrugs."I guess more acceptance between those two races?" She isn't really the griffon who thinks a lot about social changes in culture. She likes more to be in her laboratory or read a book about the local plants.

Jacov nods thoughtfully. "Thats one possibility. However, I have a more...abrasive theory. One which has gotten me into trouble quite a bit." he says with a sigh. "Perhaps this is only the beggining of something...bigger." he said dramatically pausing for effect.

"Maybe...just maybe...they aren't working together because they can, and want to, but because they feel the need to." he speaks softly with this words. "Maybe, there is a new divide..." he says, pondering her reaction.

The waitress arrives at the booth with their order. "Thank you." Ida says with a polite smile and takes a sip, before she even puts the mug on the table."Ah, good as always." she says and looks to Jacov. "A new divide? Like they feel to do it, so they can make good for what they or their race did during the war?" She taps her mug and thinks for a moment. "I don't know. This cafe seems to be a very rare exception. Overall there is still a lot of hate and distrust between ponies and griffons. Especially in the 'lower classes'. We both wouldn't survive long, if we would visit the eastern district after curfew." She takes another sip and waits for Jacov's answer.

Jacov gains a sparkle in his eye. He takes his Tea and thanks the waitress. "Exactly. This IS the lower classes, Ida. While some sense of forgiveness or guilt-ridden sense of righteousness might play a part, I don't think its the big picture. As you have so cleverly noted the lower classes tend to be more on a negative connotation towards the other. However, that pattern is slowly changing. I am of the belief, that the new divide wont be racial, but financial!" he said ecstatically while keeping his voice low.

"The rich get richer, while the poor become more poor. That's why I was taken away from my project. If I shed light on the issue, the wealthy will become nervous, and the poor might start taking a liking to my ideas. Society is slowly changing towards a different future. One where ponies and griffons work together to fight, what they feel as, a common enemy. As you may be well aware, despite the war, griffon citizens aren't doing very well for themselves. Not to the state of ponies, though they share some common ground. And it's that ground that my research attempts to find. Or rather did. The entire things a pipe dream now..." he says staring at a nearby window.

Ida takes another sip and also looks out of the window. A new divide caused by financial problems is something she could understand. Everyone needs something to eat and would even push their mistrust away for that. Ida didn't study those social things so she has to trust on Jacov's research, but his observations match with the relationship between her and her assistant Stellar. It started as a work relationship, but now it's something more. They're friends now.
After a while she looks back to Jacov. "Let me guess. You want to spoil things for the rich wiht your paper and help the poor? Griffons as well as ponies?"

Jacov sighed. "If only it was that easy...Despite Feliks word that I'd have ultimate free speech that wont get back to the Tsar, I fear him more than I trust him. I can't just state it plainly. It'd need to be subtle. Or maybe even non-existent on the issue. I don't want to alter the path that people set for themselves. That'd be unscholaraly. However, my theory has its rights to be heard. So long as it doesnt get back to the higher ups.." he says.

He ponders this for a moment and chuckles. "Perhaps put a code inside my words. Now that would be pure genious..." he says, with another chuckle, dismissing it as slightly crazy.

Ida nods and for a short moment she watches the ponies and griffons how they fulfill their everyday tasks. She looks back to Jacov. "There's always a catch, if you get paid by the government. They fear the power of a united lower class and to be honest I fear it,too. You can't really control a wild mob and it can quickly end in something worse than we have now. For example anarchy. Even if I can't deny that Feliks did a lot wrong I kinda like this system. I don't have to fear that raging ponies will destroy my home and I can concentrate on my work." She makes a pause and looks out of the window again, not sure how Jacov will react to this.

Jacov nodded. It was natural to fear the unknown. Especially a radical idea like this. "I don't blame you. Many Middle to Upper class citizens don't see it. They don't want to. All my years was spent getting into that lower class. And I've seen great skepticism. Undoubtedly such a change probably won't occur unless a dramatic group takes force, or something of that nature. As with all things it will have it's ups and downs. Who's to say that this isn't the ravings of a mad griffon, eh?" he says with a chuckle. He turns back to Ida. "How about you? Are you excited for your trip?" he says changing the subject.

Ida chuckles. "There is no doubt that Feliks is somehow crazy. Why else should he send me into the Evergreen forest with an unlimited founding? Don't get me wrong. I could burst with joy. I bet there are hundred or thousand of new plants I could discover, but I'll only believe it when I'm there. I mean for what reason would Feliks send me there? I doubt that he's interested in some new flowers for his garden." She takes another sip from her coffee and her voice changes into a more depressed one. "I fear that he wants to use my knowledge about medical plants in a negative way." She makes a pause and looks into her mug.

Jacov nodded. It made sense. "What if you simply find drugs that are helpful?" he asked, mostly naive to the drug scene. "I mean..you can report that you simply aren't finding poisonous or harmful drugs in the everfree. Maybe he'd be crazy enough to believe it?" he said with a shrug.

Ida's chuckle gets more sarcastic. "Do you really belief he would send me there without a baby sitter, who will send him reports about everything I find? And I don't think that the Everfree forest will be such a lovely forest without any poisonous plants." She sighs. "At least he doesn't know how many deadly combinations of plants I found around Manehattan."

Jacov raised an eyebrow. "In Manehattan you say? Sounds rather incrdible." he says, and takes a sip of his Earl Grey. "Care to elaborate?"

Ida nods and smiles. "I don't want to bore you to death, but in the right combination almost everything can be turned into something harmful. So I can't see a reason that he wants to send me to the Everfree, if everything he would need for poisons is here. Except he doesn't know it and that's likely, I guess." She shrugs and empties her coffee with another sip. "Back to your paper. I thought about it and if you really want to say your own opinion without censorship you need to distribute it on a more private way. Like directly giving it to the ponies in the eastern district." Ida knows that this method is very risky, but it's the only way she can see right now, how Jacov can bypass the Tsar and Feliks.

Jacov shrugs. "If I tried that theres no guarantee that word won't reach the Tsar. Or Feliks. Unless ,of course, I wrote it under a pen name. That wouldn't be too difficult, but disgusing my writing style might be a challenge. With well known works like mine, Im certain at least a few my style very thoroughly." he says. "An interesting idea to say, nonetheless...Sometimes I wish I could go back to the Aeyri Capital. They would always be good for bouncing ideas off of them. Now that its under lock down I have heard literally nothing from it.." he says with a sigh.

Ida sighs. "I miss the times,too." she says and looks at her watch. "Oh shoot, already that late? I hope you don't mind, if I take my medicine now." She rummages around her little bag she carried with her and takes out a case for syringes. She wraps a rubber band tightly around her foreleg and finds a vein. "Don't worry it's nothing terrible, just something to get rid of my stress and avoid any panic attacks." she says and injects the syringe. "I'll bet you think now I'm some crazy drug addicted griffon, right?" she says with a chuckle.

Jacov chuckled. "I think if we all took some stress repressing drugs the world might be a better place. That being said, I'm not one for drugs myself. Find they make me a bit loopy." He muses. "You could make a killing on the drug market though with that, if it was cheap enough."

Ida slowly shakes her head as she puts the empty syringe back into the case. "I could never exploit those poor litte things, who got drug addicted in some way. But I fear that someone could find out that I can make drugs and is going to break in my house or even worse try to kidnap me!" She quickly shakes her head to get rid of these thoughts. "What I'm talking about. Who would try to kidnap a griffon?" Ida takes a deep breath and smiles at Jacov. "I think the medicine starts to operate now."

Jacov chuckles slightly. "No wonder you need that medication. You must be quite the worry wart." he muses,and takes another sip of his tea. He found her tendency to worry cute, in a strange way.

"I guess it's the combination of stress and a sliiight drug addiction that makes me to a worry wart." Ida says and shrugs. "Do you have somthing that worries you?"

Jacov nods. "Sometimes. My family...If I'll ever see them again. We had our bouts, like most of our kind do, but I still miss them. Haven't heard from them in a while..." he says with a sigh. "If I only knew what was going on, I might be comforted. But Im completely in the dark. And then sometimes I worry that I wont see them again." he says, taking another sip and growing quiet.

Ida pust her talon on Jacov's talon and smiles. "I bet they're fine. They're still in the Griffon Kingdom, right? And what place would be safer than the Kingdom at the moment? Not this place, I can tell you." She makes a little pause and then chuckles. "Who is the worry wart now?"

Jacov smiles. "Only when the subject is brought up. I know I'll likely see them again someday. Just some thoughts I have when I'm lonely or have nothing to do." He says with a chuckle. He grows nervous as she touches his talon. He hadn't exactly been intimate with somegriffon before. And hadn't exactly got the chance to be intimate with someone while researching. He decided to let whatever happened happened.

Ida can see that she makes Jacov nervous and quickly pulls her talon back to her mug. "Oh, sorry. I hope I didn't bring you in an awkward situation. If you only sit in your laboratory most of the time you forget easily how social interactions work and I'm certainly not good at estimating a situation like this.So I would like to apologise, if I made you feel uncomfortable." she says with a slight blush on her cheeks.

Jacov chuckled. "It was..um..alright. I didn't mind it really." he says stepping over his words carefully, as if navigating a mine field. "I know this is silly to say, but you remind me of my family a bit. Intelligent, and capable. Like most Aeyrie I suppose." he says with a slight smirk.

He did enjoy her company quite a bit. However, expressing feelings or emotions in debates or in science is taboo. And Jacov was anything if Scientific and Analytically.

Ida smiles. "Oh thank you. I can only say the same about you. I'm just surprised that you're not surrounded by griffoness. At least by Aeyrie griffoness. I mean such a famous writer and smart griffon like you would be adored in the Kingdom." Ida can't really believe what she's doing right now. She's flirting with another griffon! "It seems my subconscious mind made me flirt, because I somehow like to be near Jacov." Ida thinks and slightly smiles. She looks up to Jacov again. "I also really like to talk to another smart griffon like you and bounce ideas off. I really missed that after I left the Kingdom."

Jacov smiles back. "Indeed. Intelligent griffons are somewhat of a Rarity in Manehattan. However, it's something Im somewhat used to. I've had to go and observe cultures, so being away from my Family never bothered me. I used to schedule a month or two to return home. And I haven't been able to do that as of late." He says with a sigh.

"And what is stopping you? I mean the newspaper didn't start yet and so you would have some free time, right?" Ida asks.

Jacov sighs. "Damn lockdown on the Aeyrie Kingdom. The Tsar has some special projects he's having them work on. No ones allowed in or out. Only Aeryie important to the Tsars or Feliks plans abroad are allowed to be outside the main city. The rest stay there. I have absolutely no clue what goes on." he says.

"We've always resented the Tsars for taking us and limiting us. However there are lines to be had." he added, and air of distaste for the Tsarist Kingdom.

"Oh?" Ida says and raises an eyebrow "I thought a popular griffon like you could at least visit his family in the city. I never really tried to get back into the city after I got deployed here. My mother passed away even before the war started and my relationship to my father was never that strong, that I feel the urge to visit him. He loves his stones and I love my plants. We just hadn't much in common." Ida sighs. "And still it seems the old griffon still affects my life. At least it's the only reason I see why the Kingdom still sends 'artifacts' to me, even if that isn't even my field of research."

Jacov shrugs. "Its the Kingdoms. What can you do? Bureaucracy is the highest form of idiocy, my father use to say." he said with a sly smile. "I get books from time to time. Not even cultural books, unless you consider Vampgriffons cultural. Always hated those kinds of books." he said with a shiver.

Ida chuckles. "Well, from time to time I really like to read a non-scientific book, but vampgriffons just aren't really my thing. Well, I think bureaucracy gives us some regulation. In a bad way, but also in a good way. Without a proper system we would just float around in life like seeds floating around in the air." She looks out of the window and sighs. "Sorry, my poetic side just took over and it's not like I'm even good at it."

"No, I found it rather lovely.." he comments before coughing. "And I agree we need regulation. Sometimes it can have a stranglehold on getting things done though." he muses. He had missed such ideological discussions with his Aeryie brotheers. It felt good really, almost relaxing.

As the two griffons were talking, a young griffon soldier walked into the café. A crisp new uniform fitting his frame, he cleared his voice, and began to speak.

"Jacov Chillfeathers? Ida Fjölnir?" His voice was surprisingly gravelly, as if he had inhaled toxic chemicals at some point in his career."Are you here?"

Just as Ida wants to say something she gets interrupted by another griffon voice calling their names. She peeks her head out of the booth and is kinda surprised as she sees the young griffon. She expected a much older griffon with such a voice. Ida pulls her head back into the booth and looks at Jacov with a slightly confused look. "It's a griffon solider asking our names. I wonder what he wants."

Jacov stands up, slightly irritated by the intrusion. "Well, only one way to find out.." he says. He raises his talon. "Yes, um, we're over here." he said pointing to his booth and sitting back down as he approached.

The soldier heard the two griffins he was seeking, and approached their table.

"Greetings civilians. I've been ordered to transmit a message from the Commander. Your appointment with him will be taking place two hours after sunset. I've been told to accompany you until then."

Giving a bow of his head, he introduced himself.

"I am Sergeant Staghaus, and an aide to the good Commander."

Ida stands up and makes a little bow as she is used to, due to her relation to the military."I'm Ida Fjölnir and that is Jacov Chillfeathers." As she realizes that the soldier will probably know that she starts to chuckle. "But I assume you already know that." she says and sits down again. "Please take a seat. I would like to know a bit more about the meeting."

"Yes, perhaps you could shed some light on it." said Jacov curious. He wondered if this guard had any information to shed on it, and possibly make a bit more sense of it.

The guard sat down, and gave a smile.

"Unfortunately, I do not know what the meeting is about. I'm a soldier, nothing more. However, I am sure you will find out for yourselves what the good Commander has to say."

Giving a hacking cough, he composed himself.

Ida nods and says. "I guessed so. I just hope it's about our projects. I can't wait to explore the Everfree forest." Ida knows that the casual conversation is now over since a soldier is here, who probably will tell Feliks everything about potential rebellious thoughts. "Well, since you have to stay with us till the meeting I assume that Jacov and I have to stay together as well till then?"

"Yes, I think we can find ways to idle the time until then." said Jacov, who suddenly thought of several things he'd rather be doing at this point and time. However, he knew as well as Ida did that griffons outside the Aeryie didn't take well to most of their thoughts. So he kept is beak shut on the matter, until they could discuss it again.

The soldier nodded at Jacov's words. "I know a nice, out-of-the-way griffonic pub a little bit down the street. Interested?"

Ida shrugs lightly. "Well, since it seems I have to cancle my plans for today, I could need something to pass the time." she says and looks to Jacov with a wink "And I bet you can make some interesting studies in there,Jacov."

Jacov chuckles. "Ive hade my fair share of celebratory drinks. I might hold off tonight though." He says, nodding his head.

The soldier gave a smile to the two civilians that appeared genuine. "So, is it settled then?"