[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

[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?"

[windupgadget]

"It's a clock shop. The one near the road out of town?"

It was a by-habit answer, since she knew few noticed the place by actually shopping; most knew the Cuckoo Call as a faceless shopfront or a number in the yellow pages. But he asked, and shared his profession.

Looking at the cup in his hand, she followed up uncertainly with "I'm not holding you up, am I?"

[grandvision]

"There's a shop there?" Russ had never been in that part of town, though he couldn't think of a reason why. It wasn't like it was that far away. "I'll have to stop by sometime."

At her question, he gently moved his cane across the floor. "Has the line moved at all?" he asked.

[windupgadget]

"Yep, just along with the others there. It's called the Cuckoo Call."

And, she wasn't used to talking up her place in person, so it was a near relief to let it go, looking back to the counter.

"A couple people, but somebody else might come in soon.. Do you want me to grab something while I'm up there?"

[grandvision]

"I can order my own coffee, thank you," Russ said peevishly. He was blind, not helpless.

[windupgadget]

"-yeah, I just meant. Since I'm going up either way."

No use, really. She'd stumbled herself into a stiff silence. And let it hang awkward before restarting.

"I'll just go order then."

[grandvision]

A tight smile. "Be my guest," he said, with a grand gesture. Three cups of coffee was more than he should be having, anyway. Perhaps it was time for him to cut his losses after all.

[windupgadget]

-well that didn't go well.

But she opted for a mumbled 'thanks' and heading for the line over digging a deeper hole for herself. Besides, she did need to get moving. Her shop was set to open in an hour.

So she'll only give Russ a second glance once she's passing by with a drink in hand, sniffing at it questionably.