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Post by Jaymie Elderton on Oct 30, 2009 22:48:37 GMT -5
The store was full of soft fluffy couches and low-slung tables, which themselves were filled with college hipsters and their computers. One young man in particular sat on a corner couch; with his long blond hair, angelic looks, and the strange and colorful things he'd done to a simple t-shirt and jeans, he managed to stand out even among a crowd of people going out of their way to stand out. Barely, though; from the backpack saving the seat beside him, he was still clearly a college student, here for the free WiFi and an overpriced raspberry mocha-blueberry bran muffin breakfast combo.
Currently, he was ignoring the TV in the corner by the counter to watch a different station on a fancy-looking, decal-covered netbook balanced on his knees. Jaymie was in his element- or one of them, anyway. Once Aura got here, they were likely to go find a more exciting one.
If anyone had been watching the window- and of course no one was- they might have noticed the crowd of rabbits hippety-hopping down the street. A few of them tackled a freshman to the ground and stole his bagel before continuing on.
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Post by Hitomi Gilespi on Oct 30, 2009 23:36:05 GMT -5
Hitomi leaned on the counter, running her fingers through her long black hair. Though the shop was full to the brim with students from the local university, the line had been suspiciously void of customers for the past hour, not counting the occasional latte order and the very possibly stoned young man who kept buying biscottis and asking rather peculiar questions about the pastries. It was a Saturday morning, after all. The breakfast rush didn't usually hit until about one in the afternoon.
Someone gave her a firm shove, and tossed a rag and a bottle of some sort of cleaning supply -- something pink in a spray bottle that smelled awful, she never paid enough attention to care what it was -- toward her. She glanced up into the scowling face of the cashier and self-designated assistant manager: her brother. She didn't bother waiting for the demands for her to "make herself useful"; she could probably guess word for word what he was going to say.
Hitomi rolled her eyes and snatched the cleaning supplies, grudgingly heading toward the nearest table. This was precisely why she hated working on her aunt's day off.
"Excuse me," she murmured, barely glancing at the young man on the sofa. "Think you could grab your drink for just a second so I could get the table?"
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Post by Jaymie Elderton on Oct 31, 2009 0:02:22 GMT -5
It took Jaymie a second to notice someone was actually talking to him; he hit pause and pulled off his earbuds.
It took another second to move his eyes up to her face. "Sorry, what?" he asked with a slightly dazed smile. "I thought I heard something about buying you a drink, but I didn't catch what kind."
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Post by Hitomi Gilespi on Oct 31, 2009 0:37:23 GMT -5
Hitomi paused, laughing quietly and pushing her hair out of her face. He was certainly cute, and he seemed nice enough.
"Anything that doesn't come from here," she replied, smirking. "Making lattes all day can ruin coffee for you. My name's Hitomi, by the way."
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Post by Jaymie Elderton on Oct 31, 2009 1:25:14 GMT -5
"Ahh," he replied, saving his work and closing the laptop without looking away from Hitomi. "I can imagine. Name's Jaymie, nice to meet you; I know a great smoothie place, if you'd like that? Or whatever you're into, I don't have much better to do today."
A small part of his brain noted that he was supposed to meet Aura here, but the rest of him noted that that was what texts were for, and if she did show up... Not that he didn't want to meet her, but she had a tendency, around girls he was flirting with, of either giving them the impression he was taken or stealing them for herself.
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Post by Hitomi Gilespi on Oct 31, 2009 2:01:10 GMT -5
She hesitated a bit, glancing back at her brother. She was technically scheduled until two today... but Hitoshi could probably call in Rudy a few hours early, provided he could wake him up, or even one of the other part timers. Besides, it wasn't terribly busy, and Hitoshi was just as capable at making drinks as the next person. He could manage.
"Smoothies sound great," she replied. "If you'll give me a minute, I'll go let my manager know I'm leaving early."
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Post by Jaymie Elderton on Oct 31, 2009 3:08:21 GMT -5
Jaymie watched her leave, his smile becoming a pointy grin. She seemed sweet and a little irresponsible, not to mention that she was beautiful; all good qualities in his eyes. He quickly packed up his laptop, ate the last bite of his muffin, and got up to toss his trash. Standing in front of the trash can by the front door, he whipped out his cell phone and began texting Aura to tell her what happened.
The ground shook, and his cell phone fell out of his hands. Jaymie swore under his breath and bent down to grab it- what was that? An earthquake?
The crash had apparently hit the 'send' button. Crap. As he hit buttons to send Aura another message, a very large furry leg came down directly in front of the coffeeshop, then lifted back up into the sky; the impact shook the cell phone out of his hands again.
He glanced at Hitomi, talking to (arguing with, from what he could see) a boy who looked very much like her. Fuck the phone. He stood up, slipped it back into his pocket and looked casual.
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Post by Hitomi Gilespi on Oct 31, 2009 3:44:02 GMT -5
Hitomi rolled her eyes, balling up the apron and throwing it under the counter. "I know," she pleaded, "but you could always call in Alex or Sophie-- oof!" Hitomi felt the shop quake violently, gripping onto the counter to keep herself from falling. "What was that?"
The second crash sent her toppling into her brother. She groaned. "Are we on a fault line or something?"
Before her brother could say anything else, she brushed past him and back toward Jaymie. He could tell himself whatever he wanted, but she had just as much authority here as he did. "What the heck was that?" she muttered, shouldering her bag.
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Post by Jaymie Elderton on Oct 31, 2009 14:49:07 GMT -5
Jaymie shrugged. "No idea. Probably nothing important." He stepped towards the door and opened it for her. "Ready? It's pretty close, so we can walk if you want."
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Post by Hitomi Gilespi on Oct 31, 2009 16:42:05 GMT -5
Hitomi nodded, heading toward the door. "Walking is fine with me, though we should probably keep an eye out. It kind of sounds like there's some construction going on nearby or something." Hitomi glanced out the windows and wrinkled her nose.
"If you're ready, then?" She took a few steps forward and opened the door.
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Post by Jaymie Elderton on Nov 2, 2009 18:25:37 GMT -5
The outside world was full of blinking lights, large buildings, shining things, terrible things, the occasional frightened man in a rabbit costume (three of them) but mostly sidewalks and cars and people until there was the smoothie place.
The smoothie place was a towering five-story smoothie palace that advertised growing its own fruit in on-site hydroponic gardens, personal nutrition consultations, and lounges for rent. More importantly, you could get a smoothie the size of a movie popcorn for five bucks if you could finish it in one sitting, or a small for three.
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Post by Hitomi Gilespi on Nov 2, 2009 19:57:09 GMT -5
The inside of the smoothie palace, after passing through the very large revolving doors, was a shiny chrome foyer. The building split into several separate towers, complete with winding spiral staircases; the entire place was lit up with the sunlight streaming through the glass walls and large skylights. Although this kept the fruit growing at natural temperatures, it did have the unfortunate consequence of making it nearly unbearably warm for any customer not dressed for a tropical paradise.
The entire building was alive with the sounds of tropical birds and stranger things, though no one -- apart from possibly the employees -- could ever be certain whether it was simply a mood enhancing effect or actual tropical animals roaming the smoothie shop.
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Post by Jaymie Elderton on Nov 2, 2009 20:40:38 GMT -5
There were counters in each corner, and skylifts so the employees could gather fruit, make smoothies, and deliver them to the farthest corners of the complex in a reasonable amount of time. At least one floor audible from here was apparently doing a play; it was likely A Streetcar Named Desire, not that Jaymie had any idea.
He paused beside the pseudoholographic/touchscreen menu board and looked at Hitomi. "Any idea what you'd like? I presume I'm paying for both of us, unless you insist."
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