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 Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 7:40 pm
Espresso Eddie's is a cramped little coffee shop in what passes for a Delmor downtown. Fire code allows only fifteen people inside at the time, yet there's seating for twenty. There's also an outdoor patio with very uncomfortable metal chairs. The place is filled with claustrophobic Delmor charm, with pictures of local celebrities and landmarks doting the walls. The coffee is pretty damn good, too.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 7:28 pm
<<< Previous The ride had gone surprisingly well. Her swerving was down to a minimum, and she kept her balance well enough not to draw attention to herself. She pulled up to the coffee shop and locked it down right in the middle of a wide parking space. Pocketing the keys, she hopped off and headed inside. "Don't worry about walkin' 'round this part o' town at night. This is Rhet territory." she commented, unsollicited and with no real context. If he couldn't keep up with her train of thought, that seemed to be his concern. As soon as she marched into the shop, the atmosphere became much more subdued than its usual bustle. She flashed the world a smile before stepping back to look at the extensive menu. She zoned out; her hand flew to her chin as her head cocked to the side. For once, she was actually quiet for an extended period of time.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 7:37 pm
 ((Enter from Delmor Unity High School: Home of the Delmor Donkeys!))"Haha, do not worry. Even if I knew that there were territories around here I think I could hold my own against some street brawlers," Matt said getting off the bike, his eyes wide. Her driving had been ungodly scary. He had sped up his perception of time just so he wouldn't have to live through her driving. It was very difficult to predict where she was going and Matt thought she was going to hit a couple cars. Matt followed Mary into the cafe with his hands in his pockets. He glanced over the menu but decided in the end not too get anyone. He wasn't a fan of coffee or pretty much anything breakfast related.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:03 pm
Mariana stood swaying in deep focus for at least a minute. Having decided upon something, she snapped back to attention and strolled up to the counter. She leaned onto the counter, hovering in the poor barista's personal space. "One coffee, please," she politely requested, a devious smile playing on the corners of her lips. The barista's expression became a smoothly-mixed solution of discomfort and annoyance, smothered in a thick layer of bubbly duty. "What kind of coffee, ma'am?" the poor girl asked. The only reply was, "YOU know... COFFEE." This completely stumped the barista; after a moment's hesitation, she began rattling a list of their selections. "Well, uh... um, we have espresso, mocha, chai, latte--" "TELL YOU WHAT..." Mariana put both hands on the counter and performed a surprisingly graceful front-flip. Her heavy body, proving quite nimble, landed with a heavy thud on the server's side of the bar. The shop girl turned stark white, her visage lent from a startled doe. Under her breath, she began to stammer, "Y--you can't..." She didn't dare finish her sentence. Grinning from ear to ear, she leaned over the frightened thing and said, "What do YOU call coffee?" The girl backed away and began fixing some unknown concoction, pulling out all the stops to prepare a fancy, expensive cup of coffee. A male floor manager came up behind her, stately stating, "Ma'am, I'm afraid you can't be back here." Maia's expression soured. She turned to the mousy gentleman and gave him the evil eye. "I'm afraid I am. Sorry to be an inconVENIENCE, but I want to WATCH." She paced forward a bit. "Izzat okay with you, Mr..." she glanced down at the tag before deliberately mispronouncing, "Smitt?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 7:04 am
With eyes and mouth wide open Matt watched Mary flip over the counter and start yelling at people like she owned the place. Goddamn I feel sorry for that counter girl, he thought to himself. With a shake of his head Matt's expression turned back to normal. He went over to one of the tables near the counter and sat down pondering to himself what the hell he had gotten himself into. Maybe I should go help out that poor girl the thought was juggled back and forth in his head, Would disassociating my self with "Bloody Mary" be a good thing or a bad thing right now, she did mention something about a gang and I wouldn't want to be on the bad side of that, plus it will definitely come in handy to know someone, I guess I'll stick with her for now.
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Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:53 am
Having left the employees speechless, she took her drink and paid for it. She eyed a tip jar placed prominently on the counter space next to the aluminum napkin holder. Taking a few bills out of her pocket, she stuck her hand in the jar. While dropping the tip money, a quick flick of the wrist replaced it with a larger bill and concealed it in the palm of her hand. She pressed the petty cash against the cup as she brought her drink back to the table. She was fairly confident that she had fooled the workers, but she couldn't shake the feeling that someone might've seen her, even in that fraction of a second. She drew the steaming cup up to her lips, averting her eyes. She walked over to the table Matt had selected and sat down. It dawned on her that he might not have understood the purpose of that outburst. She gestured wildly with her drink as she preached, "Y'see, the best way to find out what a person's about is to see how they view things. That girl over there was programmed to do things a particular way. Info in, product out. But when I asked what she'd drink, I got this." She put the coffee down on the table and slid it across to him. It stopped directly in front of him. "Take a sip o' that, an' you tell me what you think o' the girl." Putting her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her hands, she leaned in with an intent expression.
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Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 1:46 pm
Matt took a sip of the coffee and made a disgusted expression. "It tastes like coffee. Which I have to say I'm not a fan of," he replied setting the cup on the table and sliding it back to Mary. He had intended for it to end up right in front of Mary but he slid it short and a good bit too the left. "But honestly why do you want to know her? And why do it in such an aggressive way? Maybe if you had stayed on your side of the counter and not yelled, she would have been more calm and gotten you a drink that she actually liked instead of trying too guess what you like." he continued shrugging, "I think your asking too much of strangers."
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Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 4:01 pm
"That's just the thing, though, innit? You be all calm and quaint-like, an' she's not gonna give you the same response. She'd have time to think. Give 'er that, an' she'll either make something that she likes but says nothin' 'bout her, or she'd try to sell me the mos' expensive thing on the menu. Put PRESSURE on her, though, an' THAT'S when you learn stuff. It's when she can't think--she has to BE. Say it's like this: you wanna find out if someone'll steal if they need to. You don' just ask them--they're GONNA tell you they won't. But put a gun to their head, an' they may be singin' a different tune. It's not about what a person portrays to the outside world, yanno. The best way to judge a man is by how they act when they can't be pretty an' they gotta be REAL. Lookit this." Mariana tipped the cup carefully so the top was more visible. "This girl had maybe thirty seconds to make me happy, an' in those thirty seconds she made a work of art! The whipped cream's a perfect swirl, an' the caramel hits all the ridges nice an' even. She's meticulous, an' you can tell she's had practice. She's got some creativity--any ordinary bum could make somethin' all Jackson Pollocky. But she ain't an artist; an artist'll take their time with it even if their life's on the line. She's a bit nervous, maybe even a pushover, but she works great under pressure. Kinda girl I'd like to have as a wingman." Mariana yanked the straw out of the drink and started sipping the hot liquid straight from the cup. Her eyes fixed on Matt, watching his expression and body language closely.
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Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 5:04 pm
"Haha, you've got a nice insight into life, even if I don't agree with it. But whatever, to each their own," Matt replied after taking a few seconds too think of a retort. "Honestly I wouldn't think someone like you," he continued gesturing at all the chains on her, "would be so philosophical. Not that that's a bad thing, it's just kinda abnormal." This chick has a wierd view on life, she seems not too trust anyone as they present themselves, the thought passed through Matt's mind but was quickly gone. "So really, how can you like coffee, it tastes so terrible and I can't imagine it's very good for you," he asked putting his hands behind his head and leaning back. Matt hated talking about deep subjects, its not that he wasn't good at it, he just found it tends too put people in the wrong mood.
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Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 5:53 pm
On the outside, the same cheeky grin was plastered on her face. On the inside, though, she was blushing a bit. She secretly liked being complimented, and when being flattered like she felt she was... "I don't really care for it myself, but you can't get good tea in a backwater town like this. Imports are expensive, so I stick with coffee. Enough cream an' sugar an' it won't taste like coffee anymore." She shrugged. The conversation started to die down a bit, and she had nearly finished downing her coffee. She leaned back in her chair and kicked her feet up on the public-property table. This gave her a good angle to surreptitiously size up Matt. Hmm... maybe, she thought to herself. But what's this guy all about? I'll have to put this guy to the test. But how...?Mariana used the lull in the conversation as an excuse to start up some small talk. She cocked her head to the side coyly, trying her best to look interested. "So, kid, what do you like to do for fun?" she queried.
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Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 7:30 pm
"Kid? Ha, you think your my superior. Right now I'm thinkin' we're equals. But to get back to your original question, I fence. It's a really good way to express some emotions. You know the ones people tend to bottle up. But beyond keeping me sane it's just fun to work out all the subtleties and mess with your opponents mind," Matt replied in a slow manner remembering some past event, he smiled a little bit, then his faced returned back to normal. He leaned back in his chair faintly mirroring Mary's movements except he didn't prop his legs up on the table. "How about you, do anything fun other than mess with counter girls and form small rebellions against school employees?" he questioned, the edges of his mouth turning up in a tiny smirk, letting forth a little laugh, just so she would know that he was just kidding around.
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:02 am
Okay, this kid's gettin' cocky, she thought, feeling dejected and annoyed. An' here I thought he might've had potential. Well, let's take 'im down a couple pegs an' see if he's still mouthy."Listen, smart guy. You keep talkin' like that an' we're gonna start havin' problems. Every dog chews the furniture ONCE, but they ALL learn soon enough." She scowled at Matt, giving him her best death-glare. Without warning, her face erupted in a wicked grimace. "So, you think you can be my equal, huh? Never met a man yet who could keep up with me. If ya think ya got what it takes, then let's see you in action, then. C'mon, we're gonna go paint the town red." Mariana hopped up from her chair and kicked it in. She left her cup and a couple napkins on the table before turning to leave. She stopped half-way to the door. Without turning, she commanded, "Oh... and clean up your trash." She headed out the door, tucking the bill she had palmed from the tip jar into her right hip pocket. As she saddled up on her bike, she gave Matt an utterly devious look and winked at him playfully. The bike slowly began to pull away from the store... Next>>>
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 9:40 am
As Mary headed for the door Matt mumbled to himself, "There we go." He swiped up the trash that Mary had left on the table and headed for the door. There was a trash can to the left of it and Matt pushed the trash into it. He wasn't gonna let the world be covered in trash so that he could keep his alpha male attitude. He pushed the door open just fast enough to see Mary pull away. "Ugh, what a pain," he said out loud, slowing down his perception of time. The bike slowed down to a crawl and the sound it emitted dragged on and on. The bike started to accelerate and drive down the street while Matt started too break into what would be a sprint to anyone else. When she went around the first turn she wasn't that much farther ahead of Matt so he took the turn. Then she traveled down a straight in the street getting farther and farther ahead of Matt. Taking another turn, Matt followed and started to make the turn. When he got around it he took his time examining the details of the area. He just barely caught the tail of her bike making another turn. Thank god bikes are so loud, Matt was able to follow her by sound alone. The slowed down perception really helped because he had a long time to determine what direction the sound was coming from. Even a couple of times Matt was able to go through alleys and gain some distance. ((Exit to Dusinane Funerary Home))
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 7:44 pm
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Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:03 pm
< < Previously on the Razor Grass Fields of Mirrodin Cael returned to the little booth where his bag lay holding a bottle of soda, a hot chocolate and a chocolate chip cookie. A small nose peaked out of his bag to sniff at the aproaching aroma. Sitting down, Cael opened the flap of his shoulder bag to let out the teady bear currently calling it home. It sat on the bench between Cael and the wall. Cael realized that one he started asking it questions in the crowded coffee shop that the people around him were going to think he was insane but he didn't care. If he had been a cat he would have been dead years ago. "so what are you?" he asked as he handed the creature the cookie.  biggrin LOO40KCICbh9M:https://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg279/Saiyan_Princess/Card%20Captor%20Sakura/ks28.jpg" style='float:right' /> The furball took the cookie and started to devour it with gusto. "I told you. The Guardian Beast of the Book. The name is Keruberos." "Yeah I caught that when you said it last time," Cael replied. "That still doesnt explain what you are or why you spend your life guarding a book or why you were hiding under a tree." After pause he added "Or why it only takes a cookie to make you submit to a captor." "What can I say," Keruberos asked retorically between bites, "I like cookies. And you wouldn't know what I am since I, like that book, am not of this world." Keruberos stopped eating and looked down solemly. "I'm not even supposed to be here. My master Clow- I mean Thaelin Lore wrote the Alchemy Index to be an encyclopedia of all things alchemical to be a reference for later generations. Those that survived the war that is. I was charged with the task of guarding the book so that it would survive the war and be a guiding light for the rebuilders. When the two great armies crossed into the Void, the space between worlds, the book and I were carried with them.... and left behind. After the rift was closed I sat in the Void waiting for something to happen. I slept for hundereds of years. When I finally woke up, I was in that there forest. All alone... with that book. The last great testiment of my master." Keruberos smiled and looked up at Cael. "And now you are the hope." The cookie now done, he stood and pounded his small chest with his tiny fist and declared, "I, Keruberos, will embark on the jounrey that is teaching all of my master's alchemical knowedge to you.... um..." his face fell, "I didn't catch your name..." "Um... Cael." "Cael? What kind of name is that?" "It's my name!" Cael fumed at the top of his voice. "What kind of name is Keruberos?" "Alright, alright. Just call me Kero. Anyway, it is now my job to teach you, I now dub you Apprentice Alchemist." Kero beamed. "So you are a Master Alchemist then?" Kero's face fell yet again. "Well no, but the book knows everything. I will help you to read it." The annoyance of having his name made fun of for the umpteenth time wearing off, Cael's eyes brightened at the thought of learning a lost art of another world. For someone who enjoyed aquiering knowledge so much, this was like a dream come true. It just hadn't hit him before now. "So tell me about this book. You said it came from another world. Tell me about that world. What is it like? You said there was a war. What was the war about? Who won? What is the world like now in the aftermath? What-" "Oi! Oi! Not so many questions so fast. Learning is a process. This book isn't a game show contestant and niether am I. So slow it down. And noone wins in a war. Plus they're usually over something stupid anyway..." Kero trailed off and then snapped out of it after a second. "But that's another tale for another day. All this talk of the past, why such an interest in things that are gone? We should totally go out and have some fun! Look! a Concert tonight. We should totally go out and celebrate your new apprenticeship." Kero smiled, "and eat lots of cookies!" Cael went quiet. "Yeah, I guess. The music will take my mind off of being in a new town with only a teddy bear as a friend. I got to go home first though." "Oi! Guardian Beast! Get it right." "Whatever, just get in the bag." "Fine but be genteler this time. And can we have more cookies when we get to your house?" "Sure, that might get me in a good mood for the music." Cael let himself smile a little as they left.
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Reply
Cait and Jay had excitedly passed notes back and forth in their respective language classes and before they knew it the period was over. Likewise, the day finished more quickly than they might have liked. They hung out at the school office doing odd jobs for a few hours, which was more tiring than the two imagined. To relax, they headed out to Espresso Eddie's after school for some coffee. The day was beautiful, and it was an excellent time for a walk. 
