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 Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:53 pm
There were secrets to Destiny City, ones that had nothing to do with ancient wars from the stars. Smaller, safer secrets, like the fact that a kind word and a well-blended drink could get someone just about anywhere they wanted to be in the urban core. Zachary liked to think of it as a black market exchange between himself and the sporty-looking barista from Shufflepucks, who would sometimes visit the Mockingbird after hours and order a drink or two with her friends. There was an unacknowledged agreement that she always added an extra shot of espresso to start his day off right, and he in kind would hook her up with an extra shot of rum to end hers on a good note.
"Hey there, 'Last of the Mojitos'," Zachary grinned familiarly, leaning forward on the counter as he hailed the pony-tailed woman from behind her Italian Press.
The barista scrunched up her nose in response. "Excuse me?"
"You know," he continued, "You get a 'Last of the Mojitos' on Thursdays, with your friends 'Bridget Jones' Daiquiri' and 'The Old Man And The Seagrams'." Honestly, did he look so different with the lights on? Maybe she just didn't recognize him without the suave slicked back hair, so for emphasis he ran his hair through his curly mop of red bangs, hoping that would jog her memory.
"I--uh...yeah, can I make you a drink?" She held a marker to a paper cup, her posture stiff and her expression mildly concerned.
Zachary faltered, pulling himself up from the counter. "Yeah, just a Red-Eye with a pump of chocolate--wait, do you really not remember me?" He leaned back in his stance, tucking his hands as he glanced around. "But I--we shared thoughts on Aldous Huxley, like, last week. I thought we were cool,"
"It's the Bird, I share thoughts on classic dystopia with anyone," she responded, her voice deadpan as she handed him his drink. "Anything else you need?"
Zachary paused, then lowered his shoulders, fumbling around for his wallet. "Nah, that's good." With flustered hands he pulled two fives and slid them across the counter, reaching for his drink in exchange. "Ah, um, keep the change. And uh, I'm sorry about the mix-up." Before the barista had the chance to say anything, Zachary took a big gulp of his drink and spun for the door, power-walking as fast as possible from the situation he'd just created for himself. Only when he left the doors of the establishment did he bother to choke on the hot coffee, gasping for air as he probed his mouth to assess the damage of his burnt tongue.
"Shiiiiiiit, that burns," Zachary winced to himself, retreating to the corner of shame that was the furthermost outside table, where he could nurse both his scalded mouth and his wounded pride. As a distraction, he pulled a case-less Cyborg phone from his pocket and began to thumb through the contacts, wondering who he could text to share his most recent flirtation fail, but after a while he just set the phone down on the opposite side of the glass-top table, staring out blankly into the afternoon where he could properly brood. The mid-afternoon sounds of the city were, at least, enough to give him the pause needed to collect his thoughts before he went on his shift.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid," became the man's mantra, muttering to himself from under the lip of his drink.
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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 8:50 pm
Ash loved coffee shops. They invariably had free wifi, which drew a crowd that was both tech-savvy and highly caffeinated... two things the Burmilla cat adored. Jittery people were hilarious and far less likely to be paying attention to where their fancy new phones were. Pastries and various yummy things also had a tendency to be in abundance, which meant a cute pair of big eyes could fill a tummy pretty quickly... a boon when you were something of a failure in the long-time cat-tradition of hunting.
It wasn't that Ash was against hunting, she mused as she padded between the out door tables, her slender tail arching above her back. It was that it was so much easier to just look cute at people... and cleaner too. No scuffling about in the dirt or exerting herself in the chase, mussing up her pristine silver fur.
The cat's tail brushed against legs as she passed, but none of those who's attention she caught were interesting enough to stop for. At least... until she spotted a young man off by himself, apparently muttering about something or other. That was okay... whatever took his mind off the lovely little bit of something sitting unattended on his table.
Green eyes assessed the situation. Obviously, here was a neglectful owner. That poor phone... unused, lonely... so new it should squeak. Just imagining the wonderful heights she could take it to set her heart aflutter and Ash slunk closer, eyeing the red-head as she set herself up under the table. Carefully, stretching up on her hind legs, the silver cat reached to peek one small paw over the edge of the table and patted about, searching until the pads landed on the prize. Grinning, Ash pawed at the phone, inching it closer and closer to the edge and her greedy grasp.
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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:18 pm
Zachary liked cats. Mostly in a 'I watch cat videos and look at cat memes online' kind of way, but the thought still applied. As a stray cat wandered throughout the tables, the man found himself watching idly, his thoughts still on his ruined chances with the cute barista indoors. "Ughhh," he groaned, putting his head in his hands. Would he have been better off playing the aloof badass, just so she felt like he wasn't interested? Women were just so complicated.
He heard a scuffle from close by, and lifted his head just in time to see a single grey paw reaching for his phone. At first he squinted in disbelief, tilting his head, and then when the paw began scraping at his phone he began to lean forward in his seat, muttering, "What the hell?"
Turning down to look under his table, he locked eyes with the mischevious animal, his mouth wrought with mild concern. "Uhh, no, kitty cat," he said slowly, reaching for his phone with an overhead arm. "That's not yours, you can't play with it."
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 5:01 pm
Oops... busted.
Green eyes met orange ones through a haze of purple and Ash blinked lazily as she stood poised, her prey under under her questing paw. She stared back at him as he reached for his phone and pulled her paw to move it closer to the edge of the table, avoiding his hand.
What? I'm not doing anything. I'm just a pretty kitty, don't mind me. She tried to say through her big, innocent eyes, a cat smile on her round little face. Focus on me and not the phone. There is no phooooneee... Nothing to see here...
The moment it reached the edge, she broke eye contact to jump up and close both paws around the phone, pulling off the table as she fell backwards onto her haunches. Victory soared through the guardian as she clamped her mouth down around the tech and she rolled to her paws, making a break for it... right at the man, taking a dive between his feet and the legs of the chair. Her tail flagged over her back, curling as little paws skittered against the tile.
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Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 7:24 pm
Zachary paused for a moment, blinking in abject confusion. Had that cat just--
"--the ******** tried to sweep his arms under the table before the little beast could get away, but his efforts were in vain, causing him only to crash forward into the table with a pained grunt. It took him a moment to untangle himself from the dainty cafe table and chair, and by that point the cat was halfway down the boulevard.
Not to mention his coffee had been spilled in the process. Great.
"Did anyone just see that?" he asked in exasperation to a bewildered crowd, his hands tripping up as he tried to fit his glasses across the bridge of his nose. The air hanging devoid of responses, the only thing could do was sigh. "No one? Really? Okayyy." And with a resolute huff, he began to take chase, trying to keep his sight on the fuzzy shape as it darted down the street.
"Just ********. Cat's got my--phone," the man muttered between breaths. Seriously, why didn't this weird s**t happen to anyone else?
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Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:51 pm
It took the human man far too long to get moving and Ash was confident in her head start as she loped down the sidewalk. She could hear some commotion going on behind her, but with the phone clutched firmly in her mouth, there was no need to look back.
Silly boy. Cats are clever creatures. You'll have to be quicker than that to get one on me.
The wall of shops to her left opened up and Ash took a sharp turn into a walk way between two of them, her tail curving over her back. She'd slowed to a trot at this point and when the walkway opened up into a courtyard behind the buildings, she took a quick look around before selecting a stone bench by a little decorative fountain to rest on.
The falling water made a lovely background noise as the silver cat jumped up onto the bench, setting the phone down delicately between her paws.
"Oooo, look at you, you beautiful thing..." She cooed as she fiddled with it, working to get past the unlock screen. "Talk to Mama..."
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