[Open/Mingle] Morning at the coffee shop

[grandvision]

Russ leaned back in his seat and took a long sip of his coffee, but it did nothing to stifle his yawn. Ah, the exciting life of a newspaper reporter -- just sitting around, waiting for his interview subject to arrive. He tapped his fingers idly on the table and whiled away the time by listening to the conversations around him.

Maybe he'd catch something interesting.

Comments

[blackshadow]

Etienne wasn't sure why it never occurred to him before that he could have breakfast if he wanted to, much less that he could actually go out and have someone make it for him. Money was never a concern of his...

It was just another weird thing that was all he could think about now. His latte had been cooling on the table at this point and his scone went untouched next to it while he sat in his chair trying to wrap his head around something that, really, shouldn't have been a big deal to him. It wasn't of any consequence to anything but the local economy, but it still tugged at him.

Pointlessly. Maybe just to distract himself, he leaned forward in his seat towards Russ. At the moment, he was one of the closest people that looked the least busy and the most bored, and that was enough of a reason for Etienne to bother him now.

"Slow service?" he asked curiously.

[grandvision]

"Hm?" Russ turned his head in the direction of the voice. He'd had enough practice that he almost looks Etienne straight in the eyes. Only the blankness gave him away. "Ah, no. I'm meeting someone. Supposedly." He gave the young man a wry grin. "I'm afraid I might have been stood up."

[blackshadow]

That blankness was a little unsettling until he realized the other man wasn't actually looking at him. He wasn't used to that look, but he tried to look Russ in the eye still.

"Really?" he answered, his voice a little strained. "They might have slept in... Breakfast dates aren't that popular."

[grandvision]

"A little rude, don't you think? Scheduling a breakfast interview when you don't plan on showing up?"

Roy noticed the strain in Etienne's voice, and arched his eyebrow. Was blindness really that unsettling?

[blackshadow]

Only when he wasn't expecting it, but Etienne wasn't sure if Russ was giving him that look to punctuate his question or if he was being disrespectful.

For his own sake, he took it as the former. "Yeah," he answered somewhat hastily. "There's probably a reason for it, though... A lot could have happened between when you scheduled it and now."

[grandvision]

Russ sighed loudly. "I suppose you're right. I can wait another fifteen minutes."

And then, feeling strangely amiable, he held out his hand. "I haven't introduced myself. Russ Tarpan."

[blackshadow]

It took a moment before Etienne took Russ's hand and gave it a firm shake. "Etienne Lister," he replied easily with a smile. Guess he wasn't mad at him after all... That alone put Etienne at ease. "So who are you waiting for? You said you were here for an interview, right?"

[grandvision]

Good, a firm grip. Russ never could stand a weak handshake.

"Oh, just a young woman who says she has an interesting story for me," he said. "She said she couldn't explain over the phone." He smiled indulgently. "She sounded like a bit of a conspiracy nut, but you can only report on so many traffic accidents and gardening competitions."

[blackshadow]

Sounds like desperation, he thought. Not that there was much going on in the area anyway. "I guess it'll be more interesting than hearing the same story again and again even if it doesn't pan out..." Etienne agreed.

Right after saying that, though, a thought suddenly came to him. "What did you think of the storm we just had?" Actually, asking that sounded like he was just trying to make small talk again, so he quickly added, "Didn't it seem kind of off?"

[negativegate]

Over the past several days, everything had been getting weirder. Mariella had failed to bring home eggs for the first time, and it was like it had completely shut down her parents. They wouldn't buy eggs themselves. They wouldn't even cook without them, just kept bugging her to go out and buy more as if they couldn't move on with their lives without having an egg breakfast. Things had just continued like that whenever she broke routine, and it was like...


"Like everyone's a robot or something," she groaned out loud. She didn't even care that she was in a coffee shop and there were other people around; she just heaved a sigh and flopped back in her chair, throwing her hands back--and brushing whoever was sitting behind her.

[grandvision]

"Ouch!" Russ rubbed the back of his head and turned to scowl at whoever thwacked him. "Excuse me!"

Some morning he was having. He was exhausted; his subject was late, and now he was getting whacked on the head by strangers.

[negativegate]

Mariella jumped and twisted around in her seat, but scowled right back in response. "What? Y-you were in the way, all right?" The words came out of her mouth automatically, even though she knew it was childish...she hadn't meant it. Somehow, she decided that meant she didn't need to apologize.

[grandvision]

He had years of practice in scowling at people he couldn't see, and he turned the full force of it on Mariella. "Miss, I believe the words you're looking for are 'I'm sorry.'"

[negativegate]

"Hmph!" She snorted loudly, and noticed something in his gaze a little off, but was way more focused on her annoyance. "Who do you think I am?"

...Wait, what was she saying? They were total strangers--of course he wouldn't know who she was. She didn't even know why, even for just a moment, she almost expected that he would.

Face flushing, she quickly tried to cover it up and sputtered, "N-nevermind... Sorry, I guess..."

[grandvision]

He just arched an eyebrow at his question, amused despite himself. What a ridiculous question.

"Apology accepted," he told her. "If you tell me your name."

It wasn't a come-on (heavens no, she's far too young); just a gentle tease.

[negativegate]

"What?" She had her suspicions, but she did ask him that stupid question, so... "It's Mariella."

She wasn't sure if he could tell she was looking at him in expectation of his own name, so she prompted, "And you?"

[grandvision]

He leaned back, resting his arm across the back of his chair. "Russ. Nice to know who you are, Mariella."

[windupgadget]

Shiki could easily empathize with Russ's exhaustion, had she noticed. She was pretty exhausted herself, being up most the night and getting an extra early start on the day, allowing for an uncharacteristic morning walk.

She just couldn't sleep. Ever since she was called to work on a neighbor's grandfather clock yesterday afternoon, she had been distracted. Or rather, she'd been distracted since the pleased customer loaned her a brown cord, to tie her tools back together when the leather holder snapped open, just as she was leaving. There was nothing special about it, but she hadn't put it aside yet.

She was twirling it in her fingers even now, as she peeked into the coffee shop and slowly came inside, like the sight was something utterly shocking.

"What else is open this early..." It was jarring she didn't know. Sure, she might not walk by or know every shop, but she had no examples, not one. The fact she had never walked out on the street this early once, as far back as she could remember...

[grandvision]

Russ stood in line for his third cup of coffee; he was going to go broke waiting for his source. He caught the sound of uncertain footsteps. There was a surge of hope, until he heard the voice -- a girl. Most certainly not the man he was waiting for.

"Not much, I'm afraid," he said conversationally. Something seemed off about her, and with nothing better to do, he decided to indulge his curiosity.

[windupgadget]

Shiki jolted a bit at actually getting an answer, mouthing soundlessly a second before replying. "Oh, thanks. I haven't really looked..." And, that must be obvious. But it would be rude to say nothing.

Still, she easily noticed the curious look she was getting, in the state she was in, and returned it with a question of her own. "Sorry but, are you new in town?" Or was she even more unaware than she thought? There weren't that many people living around here.

[grandvision]

He snorted a little. New in town. He felt like he had been trapped here for years. "You don't read the newspaper, do you?" he asked dryly.

[windupgadget]

"I... read over dinner every day." Grant it, she rarely looks at the front page or anything but the crossword and game section and doesn't even finish that most nights, but. Besides that-

"-why do you ask?"

[grandvision]

"Because if you were a regular reader of page two, you wouldn't have asked," he said, and held out his hand. "Russ Tarpan. Boy reporter. At your service, miss...?"

[windupgadget]

...busted. You would think lit class would have taught her the failings of skimming her reading.

But she grimaces her way through the point and takes the hand for a weak shake. "Fujiwara Shiki, I keep a shop in town.

-does that mean you cover local news?" Surely she's noted the local paper layout that much.

[grandvision]

"Such as it is," Russ said. Very little of interest ever happened in this town. It made his job very boring -- one of the reasons why, even though his interview was late, he continued to wait. At least there was the hope of something interesting.

"What sort of shop do you run?"