The Nettle Tea Chronicles

Cassandra

Cass didn't usually leave bed very quickly most mornings. Her alarm would go off and she would snooze it once or twice most mornings, then even continue to lay there and browse her phone for a bit before she finally gathered the energy to actually move.

When her phone alarm went off on Tuesday morning, she was up and out of bed in record time. Despite sleeping fairly well, as soon as her eyes were open, Cass was feeling like she was staring down the barrel of a gun.

Zoe had spent some time the previous night after the raid meet up drilling her on what to expect from her family. And more than that, Zoe's genuine worry that Cass was going to get absolutely bombarded with questions and attention had put her a little on edge.

It wasn't really anything as overt as Zoe saying "You should be worried," but her actions said it for her. Cass had watched Zoe sit or stand through awkward and hellish situations at work with nothing but a stone-faced, bland expression. That she was freaking out over Cass meeting her parents had set Cass' own worry off.

They had set plans for Zoe to come pick Cass up from her apartment around noon. They'd drop by a deli and bakery that Zoe's family often frequented to pick up a few treats for the New Year's celebrations, then head over early as requested.

With Cass getting up at 8, that gave her four hours to get herself prepared - plenty of time. While she was worried about the meeting, there was no need to rush. She took her time with her shower and other morning bathroom routines, making sure she was about as presentable as she could be.

It had been a while since her last hair cut, so she had a bunch of split ends in her hair, but that was fine. She took a little extra time to get the sides of her dark blonde hair up into two nice looking braids. With her hair down around the bottom of her shoulder blades, there was enough once it was braided to even pin around a nice bun. The style reminded her of a particular character, even though it wasn't exactly the same. She left her own hair much looser, trying to give it a more casual look.

Zoe had warned her not to go overboard and end up dressing too fancy, because it was likely that her family would be fairly casual about it all. Aside from the expected interrogation, anyway.

To that end, she also went light on the make up, which was her normal style anyway. A little foundation just to smooth things out and a very slight smokey eye. She set a bit of lip gloss aside for later, that she'd throw in her bag to take with her in case she wanted to use it closer to arrival.

Beyond that, she picked out a clean but fairly simple outfit; a nice dark gray sweater that was reminiscent of a cable knit. It looked a little on the classier side, but also immensely cozy. She picked out a simple black skirt to go with it, that draped to her ankles and similarly looked to be made out of a warm, soft material.

Honestly, she was quite satisfied with her cozy but classy look. Warm socks went on under it all, and she planned to wear a nice pair of boots.

She ended up being all ready to go by 10, which gave her two hours to try to relax, which didn't go over particularly well. She was nervous, which was a novel feeling for Cass. After the whole situation with her family that led to the massive explosion and fallout that came after, she had become somewhat…numb to relationships.

That wasn't to say she didn't like people or something like that - her relationship with Zoe was proof enough of that - but she had largely become uncaring of what people generally thought of her. She was nice and friendly with people at work and in her life in general, but if they didn't like her, she just moved on.

This was the first time in a long time that Cass felt like she genuinely cared about the first impression she was about to make, and it was pushing an unexpected amount of anxiety onto her.

With a sigh aimed at no one in particular, she snatched a cold bottle of water from her fridge and retreated to her bed. She had two hours or so, and would do her best to while those hours away without having a panic attack.

When Zoe did finally arrive, Cass was quick to greet her at the door. They hugged, giving each other a solid squeeze, which made Cass feel a little bit better. That was good.

"So, are you ready to go?" Zoe asked when they parted, looking Cass up and down.

"Unless you tell me I need to change." Cass said, and then gave herself a little spin in place.

Zoe hemmed and hawed for a moment, fingertip to her chin. "I think you look great. Personal taste says I'd prefer your hair down, but that's just me."

"Got a thing for long hair?" Cass asked, filing that mental note away for later.

"Hmm. Honestly, I'm not sure." Zoe laughed as Cass gathered her bag. "I think there are specific styles that I like. Long, loose hair is one. But I also really like a good bob cut. Or a ponytail."

"Oh yeah?" Cass cast her mind back to how she did up her hair that morning, considering what to do with it. "One sec, then."

Once she had her bag on her shoulder, she reached for the back of her head, and unpinned the braids from where they had been secured around the bun. Once they fell to the sides and she untied the bun as well, she shook out her hair a bit.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Wait, you didn't have to - Oh, you're not undoing the braids."

"No, I'm not." Cass laughed as she combed her fingers through her loose hair. "They took a while, and I got them cinched in pretty tightly for once."

"Yeah, I was going to say they looked like they took a while. Came out great, too…Oh, I like that…" Zoe muttered as Cass carefully gathered her hair up for a ponytail.

She had three hair ties at the ready to make sure it wouldn't move much once it was in place. She left her bangs as they were, but pulled the two side braids back into the sides of the tail and tied them there. Then she snatched a little bit of fabric from her bag that she occasionally used to tie up her hair at work to make a nice little bow to cover the mess of hair ties.

In the end, Cass was left with braids running along each side of her head, back through the bow with the rest of her hair, and down as part of the tail.

"Oh yeah?" Cass asked with a grin as she resettled her bag.

"Yup. Damn, sometimes I wish I had longer hair." Zoe said, toying with her shoulder length waves. "It's too short to do anything fun with it, but it's unmanageably frizzy when it gets too long."

"If you want to grow it out, I can straighten it for you sometimes." Cass said. "I haven't had to straighten mine much recently because it's long enough to weigh itself down, but I do have a pretty expensive straightening iron. I wouldn't mind getting to use it."

"That…sounds enticing." Zoe said as Cass locked up and they moved toward her car. "Out of curiosity, what kind of hair styles do you like?"

"Dunno. I think it's more about how it looks on the person in question. I feel like I generally would say I'm not a fan of pixie cuts, but some women really do look great with them. So…" Cass shrugged as she slid into the passenger seat."

"Fair enough."

"So, where's this bakery we're going to?" Cass asked when Zoe opened the driver's door.

"It's closer to my parents' place up in White Plains."

"Oh. White Plains Road is, like, just a few streets over."

"I know, I saw that too. It made me chuckle."

"I assume they're actually out in White Plains, then, not on the Road?"

"Right."

"I guess you did say a half hour away." Cass said, remembering that message that she somehow managed to miss, the night Zoe came flying over from her parents' house.

"I did." Zoe chuckled, with a little smile that made Cass think Zoe was remembering it too.

To Zoe's credit, Cass was impressed with her driving. It took real guts to drive through New York's streets safely, even outside of Manhattan, and Zoe was clearly a pro at it. Cass may not have had a car, but she did have a license, having taken the driving test before she moved out East, and she kept up her license after she officially moved states, as well. But driving in the city was something she avoided doing.

It didn't help that most drivers, whether it was for genuine taxi companies or ride-share ones, drove like absolute maniacs. Altogether it added up to an overwhelming feeling of "Yeah, I'll take the subway," even if the subway had its own massive host of problems.

Sometimes Cass wondered why she stayed in the city at all. And then she'd walk to a corner store deli and get a ludicrously good sandwich and forget all about leaving.

The conversation in the car was light and easy as they talked about their prep and ideas for the PvP event, then about the shows they were each watching. Then Zoe turned on her car's radio and they sang along with some songs from Zoe's phone, skipping any they didn't both know the words to. Zoe's music collection was very eclectic, which surprised Cass a bit. The rock and emo music she had expected. The showtunes and songs from a certain animated movie company, less so.

It hardly mattered, though; they sang at the top of their lungs all the same.

When they arrived at the deli, Cass smiled. It was a smaller building, across the street from a strip mall with a tiny parking lot. It looked like the sort of place that was the quintessential local spot that anyone not in the know would miss - especially with the grocery store in the mall across the street.

"Did you want to come in? My mom just placed an order, so I just need to give them our name." Zoe said as she unbuckled.

"Yeah, I'll come in. You might need a hand, right?"

Zoe's eyes drifted up and away. "Possibly."

Cass wasn't sure what Zoe's look was for as she climbed out of the car, but it didn't take very long to figure it out.

"Zoe!" The older Italian lady behind the counter greeted her as soon as she was through the door.

"Hey Miss -"

"Oh, and who is this?" the woman interrupted Zoe the instant Cass crossed the threshold behind her and the door swung closed with the chime of a bell tied to the top.

Zoe shot an apologetic look behind her to Cass before responding, "This is my girlfriend, Cassandra."

The woman grinned widely. "Is that right? You know, I saw an order come through for your mother yesterday, so I was wondering who'd be coming through to pick it up. It's not a huge family dinner order, so I thought it might just be River like usual, but it's good to see you! But if you've got your girlfriend in tow, I should throw in a little extra, shouldn't I? Hang on…"

The woman moved behind the counter like a whirlwind, snatching up a few things that were scattered behind the counter and adding them to a box that looked like it had been used to deliver some of their ingredients. "Oh, right, Tony!" She yelled, stepping back toward what Cass assumed was the kitchen. "You should come say hello! Zoe is here!"

And all at once, she was gone. Zoe turned back to Cass with a wry smile on her face. "Sorry about this. I guess we should consider it a trial run for later, yeah?"

Zoe looked mildly uncomfortable, which bugged Cass - there was zero reason for that look on her face. So, Cass stepped up beside Zoe confidently and slung an arm around the woman's waist. "No need to apologize." With a bit of a shit-eating grin, Cass leaned in close near Zoe's ear, which made the shorter woman jump. "I liked it when you called me your girlfriend." She whispered.

And then Cass laughed brightly when she moved back upright, able to see Zoe's flustered and slightly pink expression.