Owner	Pose
Nerina Rosso	Christmas morning rises bright and sunny across the New York skyline. In the cheaper, underheated apartments, it shines on cool cotton furniture and icy linoleum, spreading a little festive warmth as it slowly douses the light of Christmas trees and balcony decorations. One young woman is watching the sunrise from the warmth of a couch, bundled in a cocoon of bedsheets and blankets that's covered in a mess of body-length blonde hair like a human enchilada. Bleary-eyed and smelling faintly of cigarette smoke, Nerina left her bedroom at some point during the night.     Standing proud and straight for all its trunk is worth, a squat, half-height plastic fir tree is the new center of the apartment on the floor nearby, with two gift-wrapped boxes tucked underneath it.
Sarah Rainmaker	Sarah has been up and promptly dived into the shower to warm up a little bit before getting dressed. She steps out of her room, dressed in jeans, a slightly natty sweater, and a serape of wool over her shoulders to warm her up a bit. "Merry Christmas..." she murmurs, smiling as she sees you in your little nest, then moves to the kitchen. "Coffee or cocoa this morning?"
Nerina Rosso	Ocean-blue eyes poke out of the blanket roll as Sarah enters the room and stare for a moment like an owl in a knothole. "Yes please," the Italian replies. "Cocoa with milk and espresso."
Sarah Rainmaker	"Do I look like I have an expresso maker?" Sarah says wryly. "I can add coffee, is that okay?" She starts pulling out mugs and starts the kettle after filling it, flicking on the stove. "How long have you been up, also?"
Nerina Rosso	Nerina disappears into her burrito to check her watch. "Two or three hours," is the muffled reply before her head pokes back out and the Italian grudgingly rolls herself off the couch to stand, a little tower of puffy cotton comforter and sheets with a blonde top. "I'll make it," she concludes while waddling into the kitchen and unwrapping herself enough to wear the bedsheets more like a shawl.
Sarah Rainmaker	Sarah raises a brow, but steps back to let you do just that. "I have some sweet rolls for us...figure something simple was best." she says, moving to the fridge to pull out a plate covered with foil and unwrapping it, then setting out a pair of plates, then a small vegetable and fruit plate with celery, snap peas, pineapple and watermelon chunks, then silverware as she sets everything out, leaving the morning drinks to you.
Nerina Rosso	"Sweet rolls will be good with this," Nerina considers as she turns the stove to low and moves the kettle off, replacing it with an empty pot before reaching into the fridge for milk. "Have you had milk coffee before, senz'acqua?"
Sarah Rainmaker	"Mmm, not recently..." the tall Amerindian admits. "But willing to try it to wake up and such." She eyes the mass of blankets. "Are you still cold?" she asks, with a note of concern in her voice.
Nerina Rosso	Dwarfed by her partner in the kitchen, Nerina works one-handed around her blanket-shawl to add milk to the pot and drop in a scoop of coffee grounds. "Not so cold," she dismisses. "I like being hot."
Sarah Rainmaker	"Mm, I need to find you a nice alpaca wool outfit or something. Or a good flanel one for at night." Sarah says, having prepared everything and moving around to the other side of the counter to give you more room to work. "I'm really glad you're not out in that...I can feel it, it's a pretty strong blizzard. Probably half a foot at least of snow."
Nerina Rosso	Nerina keeps her attention on the pot, giving it a little shake to spread the grounds throughout the milk while letting the coil burner do its job. Hers is the slow step in breakfast.     "What is that like - feeling the weather?" she asks, glancing back to Sarah.
Sarah Rainmaker	Sarah considers. "It's like...a current around you, where there's little....hmm. Like...grains of rice you can feel as it passes you. They can be hard, like when it's hail, or softer when they're rain or snow. It's a combination of things. Water, air, cool, hot...though the last two are part of the air. Driving it. Warm air blows everywhere, it has energy, cold pulls in on itself. And where they meet, they swirl, back and forth." She wrinkles her nose. "I can sometimes feel when a current is man-made...steam exhaust from a facility, for example. Water rushing in sewers underground. It's harder to feel it when it's not in the open air though. And it's not...natural, it's...channelled. Different."
Nerina Rosso	The water sprite turns back to the pot and adds more milk before shaking in cocoa powder straight from the container. She pokes a slender finger into the light-brown mix to stir it around, then brings it up to her lips for a taste.     "Do I feel natural?" she asks while shaking in more cocoa.
Sarah Rainmaker	"...yes." Sarah says after a moment. "You don't feel...artificially channeled, anyway, if that makes sense." She smiles a bit. "You're pretty unique feeling honestly."
Nerina Rosso	"And now?" Nerina asks as she takes another taste and adds more cocoa. Under the layers of cotton, there's a subtle wobbling of water freed of its solid form but not bid to flow anywhere; the sprite's turned liquid below the neck but otherwise held her position before the stove.
Sarah Rainmaker	Sarah hmmms. "...more natural, but with a warmth to it. Like..." She ponders. "LIke if you were pulling a really warm snuggling blanket around yourself but it was made of water...I mean, if I could drape you like a blanket, that is. But very...pure."
Nerina Rosso	"Si, as best I can see I turn into acqua pura," Nerina affirms as she resolidifies and turns off the stove. Sliding over both drinking glasses, she lifts the pot and carefully pours the dark brown and chocolaty drinks she's made.     "I don't understand how, but none of this makes any sense - so who cares?" Leaving just a little chocolate milk in the pot with the grounds, the young blonde walks around the bar and sets down Sarah's drink, then her own. "I haven't woken up yet, so I don't think I ever will," she adds before shimmying up into her seat.
Sarah Rainmaker	"Mmm, woken up? You think it's like a dream, or a nightmare?" Sarah says thoughfully. "Very Descartes of you." She accepts her mug and starts nibbling on her roll, after a long sip of the steaming liquid. "Mmmm...."
Nerina Rosso	The brew is rich and creamy with a tinge of coffee bitterness enhancing the strong chocolate flavor. It's not restaurant quality - the cream isn't so smooth and the coffee's too strong and unsweetened for a classic American hot cocoa - but it's a drink, and no doubt one loaded with caffeine. The nymph prefers a strong cup.     Nerina blows on her cup before taking a sip of her own and sighing, her shoulders reflexively dropping a little as the hot ichor works its way through her. "If not a nightmare, what else would you call it?" she asks idly with the word Sarah taught her before.
Sarah Rainmaker	Sarah mmms. "This is good stuff.." she murmurs, sipping from her cup, then glancing over. "Reality." Sarah says simply. "It's the way things are. It's why I'm not much on people who try to convince themselves that everything will somehow be fine, or that there's some power out there judging evil and punishing it, and rewarding good. We're the only ones who determine what our reality will be.' She shrugs her shoulders. "It's better to think of it that way...because then you have control over it. Then, you have a chance of changing it. However remote."
Nerina Rosso	Nerina snorts quietly as she picks up her sweet roll and nibbles at the edge. "What are you doing lecturing me?" she murmurs, shaking her head.     "Call it reality; we still have control over nothing. When I was little, reality wasn't people who can turn into water or control weather. From that, this does sound more like a bad dream... a very long one."
Sarah Rainmaker	Sarah mmms. "You don't know that." she says simply. "There have always been stories of people with incredible powers. People just thought they were myths before. Now...we know they're not." She shrugs her shoulders, then says with faint annoyance. "And I'm not lecturing you, you asked me." She snags the last of her roll, popping it in her mouth, then carrying the plate over to the sink to rinse it off.
Nerina Rosso	The naiad goes quiet at that and turns her attention back to her drink as a somber pale falls over her eyes. She's taking her time with her own sweet roll, making the small treat last.
Sarah Rainmaker	Sarah snags her mug, wandering over to sit on the couch, setting the mug on the scarred end table at the end as she gives you a moment. And herself a moment, for that matter. "Sorry." she mutters after a moment, sipping from her mug again.
Nerina Rosso	A slender hand reaches up to wave the comment off. "Stupid dreams," Nerina replies, and leaves it at that.
Sarah Rainmaker	Sarah mmms, then pulls her legs up crosslegged under her. She leans back, watching you as you finish, but otherwise stays quiet, her eyes going a bit distant.
Nerina Rosso	The young blonde sips her way through her drink and nibbles her way through her sweet roll, savoring the quiet despite having a glut of it before Sarah woke up. As she's almost finished, Nerina glances towards one of the little boxes nearby.     "I left you something under the tree," she notes.
Sarah Rainmaker	Sarah comes back to herself, glancing over, then smiles. "...I noticed. I did for you too." she says, leaning over to snag the two boxes, then holds out one to you. It's small, about a foot long, maybe half that wide. Blue paper with a white ribbon. Very water themed.
Nerina Rosso	Sarah's own box is about half the size, equal in width but square, and sheathed in red festive wrappings with little mistletoe prints that's wrapped tightly and precisely around its edges. It's light, and makes a faint rustling noise as its contents shift when lifted.     Tipping back her glass, Nerina finishes her cocoa coffee and pops the last of her roll into her mouth before turning to accept the present. The slender naiad looks just a bit squirrel-like with one cheek bulged with food. There's a pause as she swallows while inspecting the box. A smile forces itself onto her face and Nerina blinks twice.
Sarah Rainmaker	Sarah hmmms. "Do we open together? On three?" she suggests, a bit playfully as she glances over at you. "Or would you like to go first?" She rests the box in her lap, her fingers tugging lightly at the paper, tracing it.
Nerina Rosso	Nerina looks back up with a touch of surprise showing on her normally stoic features and nods to the idea. "On three."     "One..." The naiad's attention returns to the gift in her hands. "Two..." Her index finger brushes a creased edge and a nub of tape.
Sarah Rainmaker	"Three...." Sarah says, then rips off the paper a bit like a ten year old, stripping it off, to see what's underneath!
Nerina Rosso	Nerina does the same, tearing open the end and splitting the ocean-like wrapping apart to get at the box inside. Sarah's own package is simple beneath the paper; a reused box perhaps that's branded from Belk. Inside is a token padding of torn newspaper around a small wooden hoop that's strung with cord in an intricate web and tied with beaded strings that dangle a few inches down like a colorful beard. Small bits of turquoise are tucked into the needlework with an especially large piece in the center.
Sarah Rainmaker	Inside Nerina's box is a very comfy-looking alpaca wool cap, a long flopping one that has room to stuff her hair under if she chooses, and a matching set of gloves and scarve that look quite warm. They don't quite match in color...it looks like she assembled them as close as she could get though. Sarah holds up the dreamcatcher, smiling a bit at it as she lets it spin lightly. "Ah...for dreams and nightmares, hmm?" she murmurs, peering over."
Nerina Rosso	"You have a lot... Quello e un 'asabikeshiinh', yes?" Nerina asks back, traveling through three languages and an imperfect but intelligible attempt at Apache. As she opens her own box and gets to its contents, the water sprite all-but melts. A smile plasters itself stubbornly on her face as the young nymph pulls out the warm garments and tries them all on at once - first the thick cap, then shrugging off her blanket covering to wrap on the scarf and stuff her hands in the gloves. As ever, the blonde was wearing her grey hoodie and sweatpants underneath.
Sarah Rainmaker	Sarah grins big at the attempt to say the word, the nods. "Thank you." She scoots over a bit on the couch, then offers an arm for a hug. If you wish, anyway. "And I hope those work well for you...they're good and warm...if you're determined to be outside in this weather, they should keep you toasty."
Nerina Rosso	Nerina looks down at the bronze young woman and the edge of her smile twitches, cracking a bit before she sets her now empty box on the coffee table and drops onto the couch with Sarah, wrapping two puffy, mittened hands around the her back and pinning the scarf between them.