savethecitydesu | Hark, the smells of coffee beckons to thee!

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Hark, the smells of coffee beckons to thee!

WHO: Niko, Takeo (open, feel free to make threads and hop)
WHAT: Just another day at work
WHERE: Transcend Coffee
WHEN: Afternoon

He'd probably get tired of the smell at some point. For the moment, the smell alone was good for a caffeine fix until he could find time to sneak a cup for himself.

It was routine at this point: dumping his bag and guitar in the back, writing down his shift time and catching up on note tag, avoiding being swept up in their Boss' antics, and sweeping his hair up in a neat, short pony-tail. Same old, same old...

Transcend, being the hipster artsy place it was, was currently having a special of buy a cake slice, get a little flag art work pointing out of it. The art was all donated, varying from intricate landscapes to abstract who knows what to crude stick figures to suggestive topics that were decidedly inappropriate for younger customers and saved for the late night crowd. Having been pestered to add on to the pile, Niko'd folded a mini-airplane and put it in crash fall into a piece of dark chocolate.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yes, please. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Turns out that some boy wanted to get his girlfriend to wake up so they could sneak out, and somehow our phone numbers got mixed up. I spent the whole night wondering who was sending me SMSs and asking if I had 'my tight jeans on' and if I was 'as hot about this as he was.'"

He breathed deep, finishing the process of removing coffee.

"For what it's worth I replied with 'oh baby you have no idea'. Didn't want to break them two apart." A pause. "Just-- um, walk very slowly with that latte. Thanks."

Must. Not. Give. In.

Especially since she had another mouthful of cake. If she started laughing now, she'd either spray cake everywhere or choke and die and neither outcome was the least bit desirable.

Besides, she still had homework to do and those textbooks weren't going to read themselves. Kaori quickly wolfed down the remainder of her cake and began drinking her mocha in earnest.

A small commotion came from outside about then. Laughter and merriment.

A few people were trotting out the street, some of them holding a large and very colorful sign. Of course, in the come and go of customers entering the cafe, you could peek out the door and see a sign:

Regional Frisbee Thrower Rally

"Hey, young man, look out!" a voice from outside called in, just as a flying disc slipped inside, at just the right moment for it to smack Takeo on the back of the head, sending him face first onto the counter.

LAUGHTER REFERENCE

Kaori sputtered when the frisbee connected with Takeo's head, spitting out some of her mocha. She burst into laughter, unable to restrain herself anymore. Oh, this was fantastic. She couldn't make this up if she tried. Tears were springing to her eyes and she doubled over holding her stomach but the laughter continued.

After about half a minute, it dwindled into noises halfway between a giggle and a hiccup that lasted a few moments longer before finally fading into silence. Her grin afterward was a lot more wholesome than one would expect after the previous, slightly crazed outburst of mirth.

And so when Niko turned around with the latte (this time a cutesy-/klutzy-moe-dog adorning it), the first thing he saw was the teen's face smacking into the counter.

Unlike Kousaki - who had broken into a full out ojou laugh - Niko looked less amused and more stunned (if not exasperated). Did this guy have a freakin' chaos magnet? Third thing already-

Niko put the latte down in front of the guy with care. He asked (even if the answer seemed pretty damn obvious), "You alright?"

Edited 2013-03-21 00:43 (UTC)

"Not specially..." said Takeo, who got up from the counter in a display of angelic grace. You needed something angelic in you not to swear like a sailor, and you needed grace to simultaneously wipe the blood AND pretend to be laying down a napkin as a coaster at the same time. "Thanks for your concern. I seem to be having a bad stroke of luck lately. I suppose the quantum gods must be mad..."

He sipped his coffee, and found it relieving. "Oh. This is nice... really hits the spot. Thank you--" he said, before revealing he had every sign of a building case of PTSD when he jumped (but thankfully didn't spill a drop of coffee), at the sound of a loud voice in the room.

"Dude, did you just put it in the guitar case?!" asked a boy who wasn't there just a moment before. Did he walk in during the commotion? He was sitting on one of the stools by the counter, and wore clothes that were slightly out of date, in term of children's clothing, by about 6 years or two Super Sentai generations, given the designs on them. He looked scruffy.

"I know I told you that you didn't need to take care of it, but who leaves a flower in a guitar case?"

Edited 2013-03-23 10:31 (UTC)

"Right," Niko said dryly to the guy. "More like a trauma congo of bad-"

And then that kid was suddenly there out of nowhere. "When the fu-" scratch that, kid had to have walked in during the commotion. The other train of thought quickly caught up though. "Wasn't just going to walk around with it and how the fuck would you even know it was in there?"

"Because creepy kid," the boy replied. "Holy crap! Put it out under your counter, hide it in the bathroom-- wait," he shook his head, "no, not in the bathroom. Just who does that? Where's all the, the-- you know," he waved his hand, seeming flustered, "kind gestures and 'oh maybe that weird kid was onto something let me just put this in the window sill' or do you live in a closet?"

He paused.

"Can I have a cup of milk?"

Edited 2013-03-23 23:39 (UTC)

"That's not an answer," Niko replied shortly, eyes narrowed. "I'd forgotten it was in there until you brought it up. How the fuck would you know where it was?"

The sudden shift snapped Niko back to where he was. He breathed, clenching and unclenching his hand. Even if it was the last thing on his mind at the moment... He said, tone more 'normal', "Yeah. Coming right up."

He grabbed a cup with flowers adorning it this time.

Edited 2013-03-24 00:10 (UTC)

"Gods. You even forgot? It's like you got no empathy at all, jerk," the boy mumbled, prior to staring at the cup offered to him.

His demeanor changed abruptly, and from his bratty remarks he suddenly looked demure, gaping slightly at the cup.

"Oh, oh-- um, thanks," he said, when the cup was brought up to him, putting his hands around it and staring into the liquid, with a tiny bit of color on his cheeks. "Well, I guess it's... okay. Though you should treat it better, but it's better if you carry it with you, I suppose. Safer for you."

"It's a plant," Niko replied, remembering his surroundings enough not to add 'not like it's going to come out and beat the shit out of me in my sleep for not paying it respect'.

The abrupt shift got a direct stare and the thought '...Weird'. After a beat, he said, "...Leave it at home or carry it around, which is it?"

"It will do its job either way. The protection is personal," the boy said, only to look down quietly. "But if you carry it around, well, I can--" a pause, "nevermind. Just try treating it gently, jerk."

Once the conversation seemingly ended, the boy, like most kids, was distracted and began to look for stimuly. So he slowly turned his eyes over to one of the boys down the counter.

"Huh..."

He looked up at Niko, talking more privately. "You know this guy? Any idea why he got cursed?"

"Right. Got it." Niko rolled his eyes. "Tch. Not like it hasn't complained yet."

Niko was cleaning up some of the canisters when he heard Toshio's next question. It got a skeptic look that read 'really?'. However, he replied, keeping his voice low, "Just a customer. And no. Wouldn't know why anyone'd want to 'curse' the guy, let alone a high schooler."

Edited 2013-03-24 09:37 (UTC)

"Oh, well. He'll live I guess," Toshio said, sipping his milk a bit more. "If I was in my garden, I could help. If I was asked. Probably," he mused.

His eyes then focused on something other than Niko. Not him, but empty space right next to him.

"Yeah," he said, with a sense of airy authority. "Don't toy with him for your job, got it?" Pause. "I don't care. Now let me enjoy my milk."

Edited 2013-03-24 09:45 (UTC)

"You could 'probably' fix a bad streak of luck?"

There was the reference to the garden again. Not like Niko'd been able to forget the place but he'd done a good job brushing it firmly into the 'freak incident/don't care' pile. It'd been weird as fuck, and so was Toshio the Creepy Boy Wonder.

Kinda like right now, when Toshio was talking to the space beside Niko. After a beat, "....What're you going on about?"

"I'm talking about the demon that was about to trip you into messing up and hurting that guy, which, from the huge coffee stain on him, I'm going to guess isn't the first time.There you go, question answered," he said, in a voice too quiet for Takeo to hear. He drank a little more milk before adding, "You know, back in the day they used to put good luck charms, or just some salt on the doorway, to keep those things out. But I guess that's just not how it goes no more, huh? Grow some rosemary or something."

He breathed deep, and added. "And yes, 'probably.' Depends on the bad luck. It's not my thing. I just do flowers. Can I have a little more milk? Don't worry, I got money."

Edited 2013-03-25 14:51 (UTC)

"....Right." Niko, aside from being the master of 'does not gave a shit', was also master of getting more skepticism across with one word than most people managed with anything else. He snorted and waved his hand dismissively. "Wouldn't work out. Got a black hand for that stuff."

Niko refilled his cup with skim this time (still to the brim though). It was more dull curiosity than anything else when he asked, "Long as it's something flowers can do, you can do it?"

Toshio took his milk, and once more seemed slightly subdued in his bratty moods by it. Mild-mannered, he brought it to his mouth, mouthing a soft 'thanks' before sipping a bit. When he nodded, looking up at Niko, he seemed less brash than usual. Hesitant to be disbelieved in. "More... or less. But I know the basics of how things work, it's just... I don't have a lot of power outside flowers."

He then looked over at Takeo and Kaori. The girl in particular got her attention. She didn't have magic... but... "That girl, over there. I think I saw some girl with a magazine that had her on it?"

"You're a kid. Wouldn't expect you to have power over much," Niko said. After a beat, feeling awkward, "Flowers is something I guess."

Niko followed Toshio's look to Kousaki. "Maybe? Blond, curled hair isn't common." She looked pretty enough for that at least. He shrugged. "She could probably answer that."

Edited 2013-03-26 02:55 (UTC)

"Huh. I think I'll go ask her then," Toshio said, entirely blunt as kids are wont to be. He hopped off from the stool-- not without dropping a hefty amount of money on the counter, more than two cups of milk should entail (by at least three or four cups of milk), and walked up to Kaori.

"So, what's your deal?"

By that point, Kaori had finished her mocha and cake and was in the midst of procrastinating further by browsing GLIMMER fansites on her cell phone's web browser. She was in the process of anonymously trolling the comments on an interview with Yui, her former sub-captain and new replacement, when some kid she hadn't seen come in and didn't know approached her with a question.

"Huh? What do you mean?" She asked, still texting.

Oh he didn't like being ignored. He breathed deep.

"I mean, what's with you? I know I've seen you someplace before... Are you an idol, or a performer? You seem pretty young for it..." he said. "Is that why you have this attitude?"

"If you think this is 'attitude' and I'm too young to be an idol, you have a lot to learn about the world, kid."

She hit send on her text then snapped her phone shut, finally looking at him. Her expression softened ever so slightly upon actually giving him her full attention.

"But no, I'm not an idol. Used to be but I'm not anymore. So you probably saw me on TV or in a magazine. Do you listen to girl bands?"

Because every little boy wanted to publicly admit they were into pig-tailed girls singing and dancing in taffeta and ruffles.

"No, miss. I'm a homeless orphan who lives in a park, and I just see whatever I see on a magazine and I wonder what everyone else is listening to, since I can't afford to go record shopping for girl bands, or boy bands, or bands."

He made a face of exaggerate sadness, but then recovered his usual, neutral look, to arch his brows a little. "Thanks for looking at me when I talk. That's awfully polite. You should do it more often. So, ex-idol huh? Were you an actress or a singer or just... idol in that plastic-headdress Kyuri-Kyuri style? You know, Poom Poom Wai Wai Wai'? Which is kinda both actress and singer, when I think about it..." he said, eyes turning heavenwards thoughtfully.

Edited 2013-03-28 09:02 (UTC)

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