(D2, EM, Maize Cafe) Hangover Square

[Marlowe Phillips]

"I understand." All too well. I took out one of my cards and wrote my room number on it, before handing it to her. "If things don't work out, come find me. Regardless, come by this evening. I'm going to try to gather the others together so we can all meet each other."

[Tiffani Noelle]

Tiffani takes the card and looks it over, using her eidetic memory to store the information in her brain as though it were a computer file. In fact, she had already done the same thing with this whole encounter given that Marlowe was the first genuinely friendly person she had interacted with for days and hundreds of miles. She then tucked the card into an inside jacket pocket. In the meantime the food had arrived and she wasted no time. She obviously ate like someone who hasn't eaten a real meal for a rather long time, almost inhaling the food rather than eating it.

"So you talk about gathering the others - how many of us are there in this town? Sometimes I thought I caught a glimpse of someone that looked ... you know ... more like one of us, but I never got close enough to know for sure, and I didn't want to stalk them all over Maize. It's not like we're the most trusting people, not even of each other."

She shoveled a fork-ful of pancakes into her mouth. "Americans eat huge breakfasts compared to we Brits, you know. If I ever get home, I might try and change that ..."

[Marlowe Phillips]

"I don't know." I admitted after sampling my eggs. "As far as I am aware, there isn't a freehold nearby. I don't think any of us live here. But, you're the fourth I've seen. That's enough to be suspicious."

[Tiffani Noelle]

"Four, huh?" The sausage links went next followed by half the orange juice in one long chug. "That's more than I saw in Bismarck when I was inducted into the Autumn Court. I'm not sure what to think of that." Considering she damn near fainted the first time she saw another Changeling. Tiffani expected to return to a nice, normal world minus magical and fantastical people and creatures. She thought that the Hedge was like a barrier between the mortal world and the world of the fey - but then again, she had gotten through the Hedge, hadn't she? So why couldn't fey?

But she never ever expected to see the kinds of people she began seeing after her eviction from Arcadia. It was only then when she began to slowly realize that the fey had unalterably changed her in ways she was still trying to understand.

"So what about you? Are you in any of the courts? I don't belong to a freehold anywhere. I mean, I've been walking, hitching, and talking my way south ever since. Because ... I don't know. I'd like to go home to England, but all of those solitary days spent on the road has made me think - maybe I shouldn't. I'm afraid my disappearance would've devastated my parents so I don't know what I'd find when I got there. And how the bloody hell do I explain the fact that I haven't aged a day since December of 1985? It's why I don't use my surname anymore. It's just Tiffani Noelle. I don't think I'm a Lawson anymore."

She drops off her talking at that point and looks a bit embarrassed. "Sorry ... sorry. I've been holding these thoughts in my head for so long now I just wanted to tell someone - even though I'm sure you don't care all that much. It's not as if you really know me. So, about being in a court ...?"

[Marlowe Phillips]

"Winter." I answered. "I'm not a part of s freehold, either. But, there's a few I visit regularly. I can help you figure things out. At the least, I can help you reach people who can help. Adjusting to the return can be pretty difficult."

[Tiffani Noelle]

Tiffani was well sated with that breakfast - she could have probably eaten another egg or, perhaps another pancake, but she didn't wish to appear to be taking advantage of Marlowe. So, she began to eat little scraps of bacon left on her plate.

"Is there a freehold around here somewhere? To tell the truth, I kind of want to spend time in a city. This place pretty much did me in for small towns for awhile. Doesn't have to be a big city like New York or Chicago - though for myself, I thought about hiking to Houston. If we were further east, I'd go to Miami, but that's too far to walk from here. And Brownsville is too ... well, it's not big enough. Plus its not near anything else and that makes me a little nervous."

"Can I ask ... what do you plan on doing once you leave Maize?"

[Marlowe Phillips]

"Kansas City." I answered. "It's the closest real city and the only place where I'm certain there's a freehold. From there, probably Chicago, unless I get called elsewhere. You're welcome to come along."

[Tiffani Noelle]

"Kansas City, huh?" Tiffani reached into her mind, her eidetic memory spreading a map of the USA across an imaginary table where her mind's eye could see where they were in relation to Kansas City. "Hmm, it's a generous offer ... but I dunnae. I mean, Kansas City is kinda out of my way, and Chicago is in the complete opposite direction."

She leans in on her elbows, her curly mass of golden hair obscuring her hands almost down to the table. "See, thing is, if I do this right, I'll have just enough money to get me south as far as Dallas or Houston - somewhere warm. Because once I get there ... I dunnae. I mean, I could end up sleeping outside, if you know what I mean, and I can't do that with these torential winters. I won't last a week - and shelters, eh, sometimes it's safer to risk the subzero temperatures."

Then she leaned back and drank the last swallow of coffee; she grimaced a little since it had gotten cold. "Anyway, are you really sure you want a near-penniless girl following you around? I mean, I'll be frank and say that, yes, I could use the company - I'm sick of being alone all the time - but ... well ... I dunnae."

[Marlowe Phillips]

I mulled it over in my head. I knew why I wanted to look out for her, but I wasn't sure I wanted to explain it. She wasn't Bonnie, but she was a lost girl.

"I could take you further south. I have a contact I want to check on in Kansas City. After that, though, I'm sure there are a few cases I could look into in Texas."

[Tiffani Noelle]

Tiffani waited patiently as the waitress refilled her coffee cup, remaining silent as people often do when restaurant staff strayed too close to a private conversation. She cast a quick, almost conspiratorial glance over each of her shoulders as if she was expecting a huntsman to show up at any moment.

"I guess I should think about it," she finally said in a pensive tone. It would be obvious to Marlowe that she was taking the decision extremely seriously, her stormy grey eyes never resting on any one thing for more than a second or two. "I mean, to be honest, I'll probably say yes. But ... and don't take this the wrong way ... but I really don't know you ... or what your intentions are. Ever since I was little I was warned never to accept an offer that was too good to be true - and this - seems a little too good to be true. Breakfast is one thing ... but ...."

She gives Marlowe a rather apologetic look, her head tilted slightly to one side in a gesture she did not mean to be as cute as it was. "Yeah, I hope you aren't insulted - I would say the same of anyone who made the same offer. But ... it looks like we might be in Maize for a little while with all this weirdness going on. Maybe we can hook up once in awhile?"