Making friends had never been too terribly hard for the young woman. She's always been told, by both her family and her teachers in school, that she was quite the social butterfly ever eager to stand hello to someone she'd never seen before and ever willing to talk about anything and everything that they would muse her with. There had been a time or two back when her grandparents had been alive that they'd cautioned Beylani's mother and father to watch the outgoing girl for fear that one day someone might just try and snatch her up. Ah, but that her been her grandparents. Just as her parents had loved her unconditionally, so had they, often spoiling the little blue-eyed blonde with new toys and treats but perhaps that was all because she was her grandparents' only grandchild - on both her mother and father's side. While all her aunts and uncle were plenty old enough to have children of their own, none of them had seen fit to bring into this world a new life as of yet but when that day came that she had a little cousin (if ever), one could be quite certain that Lani would dote upon the child just as much as her family had doted unto her. If there was one thing that was no in scarce amount, it was the love and devotion that everyone in her small yet close-knit family openly and effortlessly offered to one another and even thought beyond the blood ties. Sure, being family mean sharing the same ancestry, but that was only one type of family. Family also meant those who had into their lives that trying to think of a world around that someone - or someones- could nearly bring on a physical ache to the body. At one point, when the young woman had once had a small handful of friends she'd come to be so very close it, she'd felt that ache in her heart and soul trying to even just fathom a time in her future where she might be without them. Back then, when life seemed so much simpler despite some of the taunting and jeering she had endured in her school years of life, she'd been certain that those special people then would continue to be special people for into the future. They would grow old together and laugh about the mischief they found themselves in as youngsters, they would exchange stories of their children or grandchildren and all the pride that they felt in watching their own creations blossom and grow into something beautiful. Little did she know then that she would be so easily forgotten by those who she had once love as family.

How she yearned to know that feeling she hasn't felt in far too long, the easiness of laughter with someone close to her. Yes, she had her mother and father no farther from her than a few simple touches upon that sensitive smartphone screen, and she knew that if she asked them they would be here in no less than a half day's time, but she wanted something more. There was denying that she loved those afternoon brunches with her mother or those novice lessons on woodcarving and artistry from her father in the wood shop so many of his skilled works had come from at the commissioned request of local Willowhaven folks, but perhaps the one thing she just could not obtain from the closeness in the relationship she had with her parents was the sense of kinship and understanding that could only ever be found in a pure and genuine friendship. She yearned for one that would stand the tests for time, one that no number of silly arguments or quarreling could ever drive a gaping distance into. She did not falter in her belief that the friendships she'd had in the past were real, but they had been a small flame easily snuffed out by no more than a softly whispering breeze. She hoped one day to find another that held in their own hearts a yearning much like her own, not just some passing fancy easily put aside and never revisited. She wondered if perhaps it was her... if maybe her openness or her radiant kindness was just too much for others. It shouldn't be, right? After all, this world needed more love and kindness in it she thought.

Baby blues watch the man lower himself comfortably into the chair across the table from her, placing his coffee cup upon the polished mahogany surface, emerald green gaze shifting to study the room around them. She nearly tilts her head curiously to one side as she studies him almost intently though she is quick to avert her gaze back to the outside world for a moment. She didn't want to seem rude, how would that help her to make friends? Better yet, she doubted he would be comfortable beneath such an intrigued gaze. After a fleeting glance to the streets outside, she turns back to the man, his own smile lifting those chiseled features in a friendly manner as his accented words are ushered kindly towards her. It is enough to cause her own smile to grow as she gives him a gentle the nod in reply. She is eager to learn more about this Killian Carrick, and with the way that he had looked around them almost in the same wonderment that she had upon her first time in this small yet busy café, she felt relatively confident that he was just as new to this big city life in Sacrosanct as she was. That, or maybe this was simply his first time here in Inner Sanctum. After all, there were so many places here within this concrete jungle that she was sure this could not be the only coffee shop to be found amongst the countless streets and shopping centers. She had yet to explore many of them yet herself, but there was something about him that just seemed to be drinking in the very atmosphere here and it made her wonder - something she was almosf always doing.

She takes another blissful sip of her still warm caramel macchiato, the only thing she'd ordered from the menu here on her feet trips and knowing that she should try something new next time she visited Inner Sanctum, it is as she lowers her own paper cup to the table's smooth surface that those smooth tenors tones enter into the calm air between herself and Killian. She offers him another sweet smile as she contemplates her reply, taking a moment to look around at the paintings and knick knacks before her baby blue eyes settle gently upon his friendly face once again."Honestly I think it's a little bit of everything. There wasn't anything quite like this back in my hometown, but it was always a rural place with mostly farmer's markets. Willowhaven isn't necessarily a place that attracts many tourists", she says with a subtle note of laughter in her sterling voice though there is an undeniable fondness as she spoke of her hometown where her entire family remained (except her uncle, but then again no one really knew where he was)."What about you? Are you new to Sacrosanct, or have you just not been to this side of the city?", she inquires curiously, thinking that such a subject was perfectly befitting a situation in which two strangers had the chance to become something more. Killian lifts the cup back up to his lips, his expression seeming to reflect one of contentment and satisfaction as he place the coffee back in its original place, his next string of words matching perfectly the express that had warmed his features. The young woman nods in eager agreement as she takes another drink of her own crafted beverage."It's definitely delicious. Much better than the coffee that I brew for myself in the mornings", she says in playful yet honest reply. She had never been much of a fussy person when it came to coffee - except that cheap diner coffee that just somehow seemed bitter and weak all in the same taste - but there was no comparing the coffee here to that which she often prepares back at Riverdale. That being said, she also new it to be unwise to spend money so carelessly, especially when she had yet to secure a job before she started attempting to build her reputation as a photographer. The Irishman (or so she was guessing by his accented) then takes the piece for pound cake in his hand, offering a piece of the baked good to the blue-eyed blonde. Touched by his gesture all the same, she gives a small shake of her head, causing loose blonde curls with milk chocolate undertones to brush across her shoulders."That's very kind of you Killian, but I've already eaten if it's any consolation to you. So please, don't mind me", she says in gentle decline to his invitation and encouragement for him not to starve on her behalf. She had no problems with sharing the cake with the man, it was truly and simply that she was not in the least bit hungry and she was perfectly happy to watch as he indulged. Next time, she would have to try a piece. She knew their muffins here to be especially moist and rich from the last time she was here when she'd stopped by for a quick coffee and snack while on her way to her favorite place in all of Sacrosanct, but she wasn't quite up for feeling fuller than she needed to be.