[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

[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."

[negativegate]

"It's not like knowing someone's name means you know anything else about them," she responded, most of her moodiness faded by now.

[grandvision]

"An excellent point. Is there anything else I should know about you?"

[negativegate]

"What are you, an investigator?" It'd be nice if he worked for a college or something and could get her in...but like that was ever going to happen.

[grandvision]

"Close," he said. "I'm an investigative reporter. Russ Tarpan. I take it you don't read read the paper."

[negativegate]

"Huh..." She hadn't even expected to be close. "No, it never looked interesting. Is there anything around here worth reporting?"

[grandvision]

Russ sighed. "Very little, I'm afraid. But it means I don't have to work too hard." It made his life boring, but war had been enough interesting for one lifetime.

[negativegate]

"Then I'm surprised you work at all." She couldn't think of anything newsworthy besides the weather, and even that wasn't something she cared about. All someone had to do was look outside.

[grandvision]

"Don't tell my boss that," Russ said dryly. "I do have bills to pay."

[negativegate]

"Does that even pay the bills?" She asked it with a little bit of snark, a little bit of genuine curiosity.

[grandvision]

"I can afford to sit here and drink coffee clearly."

[negativegate]

"That doesn't mean you have any sense with money." Not that Mariella was one to talk, really, sitting here drinking an expensive latte when she was supposed to saving up.

[grandvision]

Russ laughed outright. "Are you normally this blunt with the people you assault?"

[negativegate]

She flushed a little when he laughed, but snorted right back. "Hmph! You call that an assault?"