Summary: Coffee time used to be a private moment for Sandalphon.
Keyword is used to.
Tea and Coffee
Posted: 23/10/2018
Status: Dropped
Coffee time used to be a private moment for Sandalphon. It was a time where he could relax away from the boisterous crew of the Grandcypher and enjoy a nice cup of coffee made with Lucifer’s —their beans.
Keyword is ” used to ” .
Just like every one of his “personal moments”, it quickly became a very unfortunately public thing. It’s not that he dislikes the other crew members, but they’re all so very tiring to be with sometimes. The crew is full of excitable, talkative, or just plain strange individuals who, while they usually have good hearts, end up being very loud if allowed to interact with each other. He just wishes they’d allow him some alone time from time to time.
Though he guesses this was unavoidable considering who the captains of this crew are.
However, like many things, he has learned to live with it. (The day he admits that, sometimes, he does actually enjoy their time together, is the day islands shall stop floating and fall down into the Crimson Horizon — not because of him this time.)
So now, he is sitting at what used to be an empty table, various people sitting to his left, right, and in front of him. Nobody is talking to him (or at least, those who are know they won’t be getting any answers today, and are instead talking at him) and he finds himself reading another book, non-fiction this time. It is an encyclopedia containing many species of birds; the page he’s currently on shows a small bird with very familiar wings. A sparrow.
Sandalphon wonders why Lucifer decided to give him those wings, so unusual compared to the usual pure white wings angels have. He supposes this will be one of many questions he will keep for when Lucifer comes back…whenever this could be.
To his left sits Io, who appears to be trying to copy Rosetta’s posture as they chat side-by-side over some tea. Io’s imitation being awkward at best, Rosetta gives her some tips on how to hold herself properly and how to hold her cup as elegantly as possible for a kid like her.
“Now now, that’s too stiff. You don’t want to hurt your back, dear.”
“Ugh, being a lady is so difficult,” says Io as she proceeds to slump while letting out a defeated sigh, which only makes Rosetta laugh.
Sandalphon’s opinion of Rosetta is pretty good, all things considered. They both respect each other, and get along well enough the few times they do interact together. And she thankfully hasn’t tried to mother him too much, something he will always be infinitely thankful for. Being fussed over makes him quite uncomfortable, especially coming from someone younger…though he’ll have to admit she probably has a lot more life experience than him, what with how long he spent in isolation in the garden, the lab, and then Pandemonium.
Io, on the other hand… To be honest, Sandalphon’s relationship with the young Io is…complicated. She’s not necessarily a bad kid, and her intentions are good, but the girl has a tendency to hit right where it hurts…violently, and while her tough love sometimes works, she hasn’t quite mastered the art that is the combination of tact and good timing, so it often ends up hurting much more instead. Sandalphon is no weakling by any means, but he admits that on bad days, he tends to avoid talking to her. He’d rather not take his grief and anger out on a child just because she pushed all the wrong buttons while trying to help.
Today is…a not-so-bad day, so he tolerates Io getting in his personal space to look at what he’s reading.
“You like birds, Sandalphon?”
“They’re okay. I just took the first book I found,” he answers as he slowly pushes her away and back into her own chair.
“Hmm. And this isn’t boring you?” She says as she leans closer again to look at the page he’s on : the feeding habits of the sparrow. “Oh hey this one looks like you.”
“Our only common trait is our wings.”
“Eh. Draw angry eyebrows on it and it’s you—ow”
“Don’t draw on books,” he says as she rubs her forehead, which he just flicked.
“Spoilsports.”
“Thug.”
“Hey! I’m a lady, not a thug!”
“Ladies don’t damage books.”
They squabble like that for a little while, getting some amused looks from the other people present, until both their cups are empty and she goes to play with Lyria on deck. By then, most people have left save a few. He goes to wash his cup, soon joined by Rosetta who brings both hers and Io’s.
“You two fight like siblings, it’s cute.”
He quirks an eyebrow at her comment.
“I don’t know how siblings act, but I doubt it,” he says as they both wash their respective cups in the sink, “How would you even know anyway? We’re not exactly made to have families.”
She smiles cryptically.
“I may not have experienced it exactly, but I’ve certainly seen it.”
He has nothing to say to that other than a doubtful “if you says so” so they keep going in companionable silence.
Author's note: I feel like this ends too abruptly but I'm not sure how else I could end this haha welp