[center][h2]Valerie Mal0[/h2][sup]Nice and early.[/sup]
[sup]Scene featuring [color=008F11]Valerie[/color] [@Lady Selune] and [color=f3dde5]Jessamine Leud[/color] [@Hekazu][/sup][/center]

Promises of everything being fine or not, Jess wasn’t so certain about the chance of her bad case of early morning trying to have her just bundle up on the street and have a nap being that conducive to actually proceeding with the plans they had had. Especially given the silly idea was not sounding quite as silly in her head as it should. She had crossed four of her arms across her abdomen, kept one occupied in rubbing her head and trying to shake the sleeping sands from her eyes, while the last just hung limply at her side, bouncing as her exoskeleton covered legs clicked against the ground on each stiff step. All in all, her posture was anything but presentable. And she was out in public. Not a good combination to be going through, she knew, but didn’t have the energy to fight that bed head.

[color=f3dde5]“You know Valerie sweetheart…”[/color] she opened again, them finally making it to the street of the Morning Star Cafe was on, most of those that had gathered outside the cafe earlier already having made it in by now and thus not there to see the disheveled mess of a seamstress in the company of her hacker friend, [color=f3dde5]“I don’t think I can go in there looking like a fungus took over my brain and started shambling me across the streets”[/color], she let out a chuckle that had no heart behind it and turned to look her friend in the eyes that she could catch from her slumped over walking, the weave of her arms opening up to let more and more of them to just be jostled about by her steps. [color=f3dde5]“You got anything to perk me up or do I just need to slap my face enough?”[/color]

The biggest problem with rousing Jess was that caffeine- the typical method of waking anyone and anything up, had… Less than pleasant effects on the spider-woman’s physiology. Furry hands rubbing furry chin, Valerie would think for a little while, before finally remembering something. Digging around in an abandoned side-pocket of her laptop carry case, she would pull out a small sachet and hand it over.

[color=008F11]“Energy sachet. Caffeine-free. Tastes like chalk mixed with straight syrup, but it’ll wake you up, that much is for sure.”[/color] She shuddered to think how unhealthy they were, but at the same time she herself had used them and the therianthrope could say from first-hand-experience that they would do more than just perk one up.

Jess picked the packet up in two of her hands, stopping in her tracks and reaching for the packet with a third from the other side, holding it in front of her face. Her red eyes squinted as she tried to read the diminutive text on the wrapper detailing some of the things that were in it, until she finally managed to draw enough focus to see the details. Bless her eyes, still actually working despite it being a little bright here in the morning sun! But once she got the process over with, she let go with the last hand to join the party and offered the packet back towards her friend and shook her head.

[color=f3dde5]“Little too much, little too much… I’ll have to pick up a decaf and get some sugar in. That should do it. I’ll just have to fake it ‘til I make it until then, as much as faking it and posing is so unlike me. But so is waking up in the morning, so let’s go for the full house or nah?”[/color] she refused in what might constitute in her mind as polite and rubbed her face with three hands, focus mostly on her right eye and the left side in a little more general manner.

As she stood up straighter now, she had managed to make scarce with the frown that had had ‘end my suffering’ written all over it in favour of a more neutral expression, had her back straight and instead of letting her hands hang limp she got a bit of angle to each of them like one might see in one of those Far Eastern dances. Not much she could do about her squinting though. [color=f3dde5]“Let’s get this over with before I lose focus”[/color], the corner of her mouth opened just a bit as she mumbled in Valerie’s direction.

Wow, the seamstress… Really… Didn’t deal with mornings well. Shrugging at her words, Valerie would hold up a paw and then plant it atop Jess’ head, following it up with more pats once the first one was accepted. Hey- it always cheered her up, why wouldn’t it work for someone else?

[color=008F11]“It’ll be fine, we’ll get some sugar into you and then it’ll all be better.”[/color] Taking the packet back, she would tuck it away into the same pocket it had come from, and then walk ahead of her friend, opening the door to the coffee shop and offering a wave to those already inside. [color=008F11]“Hello folks!”[/color] She would say, smiling, before quickly hurrying her way to the till, indicating with her hand for Jess to grab a table for the pair.

The headpats were allowed to happen. It was less accepting them and more on not just having the energy to try and reject them, but they weren’t a bad attempt at solving the problem as by the third Jessamine’s frown had turned upside down and she broke into laughter. [color=f3dde5]“Oh you’ve got something the wrong way around, silly”[/color], she chastised, in a very loose sense of the word, her companion and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, ruffling her fur at the base of the skull with another hand. It hadn’t been the most obvious method of getting more life into Jess, but it had worked out if nothing else.

A faint hint of the smile remained even when she stepped inside Morning Star with her friend and gave a quick look around, using her six arms to greet as many of the people she knew simultaneously without saying a word to bother them. Valerie had handled the announcement of their arrival already, so all she had to do was smile and wave. Which suited her state just fine, one might add. The flame at the register had chosen their more feminine look on this fine day, as much as any morning could in the spider hybrid’s mind be called fine, and she had to concede that she was happy with that. A preference one might have a hard time explaining to anyone. But one she was aware of.

She neglected to make it to the counter herself, and instead took the opportunity to delegate the task to the friendly E-Cryptid. A hand descended on Valerie’s shoulder, and Jess leaned in to be able to share her order without speaking up too much. Her smile fell off now, focus being in talking instead, but it wasn’t like it was important after the initial greetings. [color=f3dde5]“Get me a medium decaf, an ice water and something as sweet as they come. I’ll pay you back as always. And you’ll get extra scratches on top, okay?”[/color] she tried brokering a deal, already eyeing for a nice table to sit at where she wouldn’t be too far from people but far enough to allow for private conversation if a client did pop up.

[color=008F11]“You got it,”[/color] she would nod, before heading to the counter and blurting out the full order in one long sentence. [color=008F11]“Twochelseabunsonezillionaire’sshortbreadonedecafflatteonedoubleespressoandapitcheroftapwaterplease.”[/color] Panting a little bit afterwards, she would then explain herself a bit slower, pay with a wave of her hand (her card details were stored inside herself! Convenient!) and retrieve the various baked and brewed goods, placing them down before the spider and herself.

[color=008F11]“One shortbread and decaff for you, one double or me, one and a half buns for me, half for you, and water to be shared. Good?”[/color] It seemed to be. [color=008F11]“Scratches.”[/color] That was all she would add.

Jess had sat down for a moment and spent her time staring at the table surface, wondering how good of a pillow the wood would make but fighting against the urge to test the idea even with her arms in between for a little more softness. Thankfully this was stopped by the arrival of her friend, the breakdown of their order and demand for the promised reward. Jess puffed through her nose, a smirk flashing briefly on her face as she considered the very open demand of affection, but she would reach on over with a hand on one side to rub Valerie behind her ear, another for her shoulder and neck at the opposing side and lastly one just at the top of her head. [color=f3dde5]“You got it”[/color], she nodded, letting the scratching last a minute just like this and then shifting it to the other ear, under Valerie’s jaw and a soft tap between her eyes. “Now let me try and be less dead”, she mentioned as she finished, another few hands reaching for the shortbread and coffee. Of course, she needn’t stop the scratching, but she wouldn’t focus as intently.