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 Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 5:14 pm
Theresa Killingworth eyed the clock with a glare that read either "tick any faster and you'll fry" or "don't move a milimeter". It was hard to tell with her. She sighed and shoved her neat stacks of paper to the side, standing up with the clock hit the new hour. It was still fairly early in the morning, but the hallways were already beginning to fill with boys and teachers. She stepped out from behind her desk and to the coffee maker, giving it a special glare reserved only for this moment.
Theresa wasn't exactly the rising chef of the city. She managed to get the machine to work, but oddly enough the round bowl seemed to remain full most the day. Perhaps people just forgot to grab a cup.
The scent of roasted beans rose in the air as she began fiddling with the bag. Okay, so her coffee wasn't exactly inviting. But hey, at least it tasted different every time.
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Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 6:36 pm
"You taking bribes for that stuff?" Jaimie paused in the doorway to watch the coffee percolate, way too tired to give a damn how it tasted, just so long as it didn't eat a hole in his stomach lining fast enough for him to notice.
As if his normal nights weren't costing him enough sleep, he'd started having nightmares, and was limping along on barely any sleep.
He still wasn't used to not seeing Ursula's red head (or more importantly to most of the red-blooded boys in Hillworth... her cleavage...)
Killingworth's niece (was that how they were related? He couldn't remember through the fog in his head.) was still an new sight, and he didn't know her from Eve... but by god... she had COFFEE.
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Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 6:50 pm
The intruder on her morning ritual earned a raised eyebrow, but Theresa was pleased that her coffee was being called upon. She grabbed one of the styrofoam cups off the tiny stacked tower and poured a cup when the gurgling had stopped.
She almost added a disclaimer, something to the effects of "we assume no liability" or "try at your own risk", but decided against insulting herself and instead handed the cup over in silence, watching with morbid anticipation. Well, maybe a little warning: "It might be a bit hot."
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Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 7:16 pm
Jaimie took the cup from her with something of the zeal with which a starved man might take a side of beef, blew on it twice, and came pretty close to tossing it directly into his stomach, from the speed at which he attempted to consume the hot brew.
This of course while a valiant attempt to kill either the taste... or maybe just his tastebuds... could have gone a bit better, and he coughed and grimaced, slapping the door frame with his free hand.
"Yup!" He wheezed after a moment. "That's hot!"
It was also a remarkably lousy cup of coffee, but that was ok. He was pretty sure his taste-buds had only had a few seconds to recoil from the taste before they'd been blasted into oblivion from the heat. At least he wouldn't get a tongue infection. (Could you do that anyway?) since the wound had clearly been cauterized.
"Thanks, I appreciate it." Taste aside, he really did. He was going to need all the help he could get limping through the day. "How are you adjusting to playing secretary?" He added, conversationally. It seemed like the polite thing to do for his caffeine toting savior. Anyway he was nosy curious. "Tough dealing with all of us hardened criminal types?" He added, jokingly, trying his best to be witty and disarming.
Tallulah might disagree but he didn't see it as cheating if you were looking for information.
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Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 7:32 pm
She frowned while watching him hazardously down the cup. Sure she was ignorant to most people having those things called emotions, but she seemed keen on creating a cup of coffee that people wouldn't choke over (and potentially kill before pulling their starseed; such a waste).
"I've already adjusted." Theresa spoke plainly, "I have low interaction with the students here, but I'm sure it wouldn't be hard in dealing with such types."
Belatedly remembering she was supposed to try and not alienate every human to walk on the earth she gave a sigh and attempted at the whole conversation thing, "You can say if you don't like the coffee." Apparently she had a one track mind.
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Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 7:44 pm
....Ok... so... that was a very weird conversation opener. Sort of Officer Spock, with more enjoyable face. Was he just that off his game or was she really that odd?
"Oh... sorry. You're going to want to ask me about coffee when I've gotten more than an hour or two of sleep." He grimaced apologetically. "I mean I haven't keeled over dead or anything so it's got that going for it. And as long as it's not secretly decaf... then it's pretty much perfect right now."
He was considering asking if she knew how to change the filter on the machine, but he was -reasonably- sure he would completely ham-hand the gesture, which as the nearest source of wake-up-juice... was an unthinkable sin.
"So you're really related to Killingworth? No offense intended, you're just a lot easier on the eyes."
Ok so that sounded like a bad pickup line. Brilliant. Next was what? 'Hey baby what's your sign'? Goddamn nightmares. "I mean I guess there's some resemblance."
That was pure manure. Unless you counted their speech patterns. Subtract the spicy coating of cuss words and Killingworth could be just as dismissive... or maybe he could. It was hard to imagine Killingworth talking WITHOUT swearing. It was like imagining... like imagining ... he wasn't actually sure. Something incredibly improbable.
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Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 8:15 pm
Luckily (or perhaps unluckily?) for the boy, Theresa was completely oblivious to any cheese factor. In fact, she was ignorant to any possible attempts beyond a 'salutations'. She could only assume herself to be easier on the eyes because the General King had a tendency to yell. Or would that mean easier on the ears? Well, the student did look fairly tired, so perhaps he had just mushed his words. "Indeed. His niece. Just visiting for a while to help out."
Which prompted Theresa, not one to shy from curiosity, to nod towards the bags under his eyes, "You look terrible. Not sleeping well?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 4:44 pm
"Does that mean the old Secretary is coming back?" This was a matter of curiosity, since he had to admit, if there had been any reason given for her departure, he must have had his head down on his desk taking a quick nap. "...Uh yeah. Long nights trying to keep up with everything."
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Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 10:14 pm
She gave a shrug to his question. The "old secretary" did have a dark kingdom to rule and being newlywed and all probably didn't help the schedule much. How much did the redhead flaunt her wedded status? Theresa couldn't recall having paid attention, and since the boy didn't seem to know, she couldn't assume it to be common knowledge around the school. She decided to not mention it for now.
"Is school.. that hard? Here, I mean." Her question came out slowly, the last bit amended so she didn't sound too alien. She had no memories of a life at school, so the only thing she knew about it was students traveling the halls, complaining about one thing or another.
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Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 1:51 pm
"Only if you're trying to concentrate." He forced a flipant smile, trying to cover for his late hours. "Probably be easier to study in the middle of a dance club, since at least in a dance club I wouldn't be wondering if I need to go check and see if someone was trying to drown my roommate in the bathroom again. "Otherwise it probably wouldn't be that bad, for what it is."
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 1:27 am
Surprised, Theresa arched a brow, "You can't drown in the bathroom, the sinks are too shallow." Obviously the other source of water hadn't occurred to her.
"Though can't say that I've learned much on dance clubs. I imagine trying to study whilst dancing wouldn't be the best of methods." She tapped the edge of a new cup before pouring in more coffee to sip her creation. Oddly enough she wasn't a fan of coffee, but it was intriguing enough to give it a few sips each time she made it.
Nova was just as bad as she was at making coffee. Theresa gave herself a smug smile, then wondered how it was that most boys asked about Ursula's whereabouts and not about Nova's. Something or other about low cut shirts, she had heard in the hallways? Figuring it was beyond her logic, Theresa cast the thought aside to give a sneer at the coffee.
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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:23 am
"It's not the sink they keep dunking him in, and uh, No. Dance clubs really aren't designed for study. "...Not a big fan of coffee? Or just not a terribly big fan of -that- coffee? I can't imagine they're exactly springing for Apollos."
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Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 9:26 pm
"It must be faulty beans." Theresa abruptly stated with conviction, setting the cup down with an accusatory stare.
"You drink coffee." Not a question. "I need beans. Good ones. Where do they come from?" She was about ready to haul the poor boy by his collar and drag him to every store within three miles to force him to point out decent coffee, ignoring that it was still school hours, "I've tried adding nutmeg, and cinnamon, and milk, and water, I've tried white powers and black powders," she was obviously going light on the details, "But it's the beans."
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Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 6:54 pm
"There's people in a lot of different countries that grow coffee beans." He blinked in surprise, not expecting to launch into an in depth discourse on coffee. "Arabica beans are supposed to be the best. You also need clean water, a clean coffee pot, and clean filters. Any old coffee the teachers leave burnt into the bottom of the pot is going to make it taste like road tar."
Well, he imagined road tar tasted about as pleasant. "It also goes stale after a while if it's been ground. How old is the stuff they've been giving you to brew with?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 7:01 pm
"Oh, I don't know." She knelt down and opened the cabinet, "There's several bags here. No idea what they're for, but they have beans pictured on the front. These it?"
Theresa couldn't say that she was familiar with any of the strange names he had listed off, but made sure to make note of them. She got paid for doing her job, but she never had a need for the money. She couldn't cook well so her food was the cheapest, quickest thing to get, and she rarely used water or electricity at home so bills were a minimum. Of course, without an identity she never bothered getting a bank, so her cash sat in a box under her bed. Perhaps now she might think about buying something with it, even though she wasn't all that into coffee.
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