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 Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 7:03 pm
Quinn hated cleanup phases. The cafe seemed to ebb and flow; one half hour there was a rush, the next half hour he had to clean. It was more fun when he was serving. There were still some customers, but he had served them all and now he was cleaning. And cleaning. And cleaning. For the next wave.
"'Ey, Queen, couldja gimme onnadem 'spresso floaters?" A frail looking teenager pushed out of the back room, and Quinn nodded.
"Yes," he said, through his teeth, "Sir." Quinn hated being bossed around by that little ******** of a manager. He ate Quinn's invention on a regular basis, and still wouldn't let him put it on the menu until it became more popular. "I've sold twenty more, just today," he added, just to see.
"Yeah, yeah, you keep workin', Queen." Quinn shoved the drink in the kid's face, and the boy walked off, tossing the keys to Quinn.
He was gonna be on lock up duty.
He was supposed to get off two hours before closing.
"s**t." He went back to cleaning.
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 11:34 pm
It was a little out of the way, but after dipping through enough blockades to get her to the mall and back, Tepin was feeling generous. Rather than coming empty handed (as she was prone to avoiding), she would pick some coffee up before darting to the hospital for her daily check in.
Because, quite honestly, she wanted coffee. Mixcoatl would, naturally, whole-heartedly agree. And if she were to stop by with her own cup and none for them… Well, that was downright rude.
The bell jingled overhead as she juggled her bags, dipping into her back pocket for her wallet as she managed to stumble forward. It seemed like she was constantly juggling things, these days. But life was hectic as it was, and fitting back into her place had proved a lot more difficult in lieu of recent events.
After getting about halfway up to the counter, her eyes finally registered just who it was behind there. They narrowed in contempt mere seconds after that realization.
“I need a large coffee, as black as you have it; two large hot cocoas, one of those with caramel in it, and a root beer.”
She was all business, shuffling through her wallet with the most uninvolved face that she could muster.
You’re lucky that I am ignoring you, you useless sack of crap. I ought to spill this coffee on your ugly face.
“And a cardboard cup holder.”
As if he were already taking to long, she shook out her long curls and looked around impatiently.
But then again… She really did want to get the hell out of dodge.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:05 pm
Quinn didn't look up from what he was doing. He hated it when customers decided they could order when he wasn't paying attention. "Are you sure I couldn't interest you in an Espresso Float? It's our newest item, not even on the menu, think iced coffee, but better. Smalls are 2.56, Mediums are 3.72 and larges are 5.35 after tax." He paused, and looked up.
Oh.
"Sure." He turned around and pulled four cups off of the stack. He stuck one under the coffee maker, hit the button, moved down to the hot chocolate machine, set one under it, hit the button, and set the other one beside it for when the first one was done. He set the fourth cup down on the counter in front of her.
"Fountain drinks are filled over there," he motioned to the dispenser, and heard the hot chocolate beep. He switched out the cups, hit the button again, and took the first one to the counter to give it a shot of caramel. He added a lid, then another to the coffee, and deftly added small cardboard covers over each of them for carrying, unfolding a carrier. The second coffee finished, and he shoved that one in the carrier as well, setting it in front of her.
"Put your wallet away, I got it. And stop looking like you're busy; you're just going to the hospital, right?"
Quinn paused.
"I mean, you wouldn't be getting four for you, Vale, and Sydni, and you wouldn't have gotten a large for a kid. Especially not Sydni. So, Murphy's probably there with Vale." He smoothed his bandanna down with one hand.
"Thanks for visiting the Igloo," He muttered, "I hope we made your day eski-more fun."
He hated that slogan.
It was stupid.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 7:19 pm
She scowled at him deeper. Oh course she wanted what she had ordered-- otherwise she wouldn’t have ordered it. Furthermore; his float made no sense! The ice cream would just melt and turn your delicious coffee into a lukewarm mess of disgusting.
When the sound of the cup snapped her out of her state of deep loathing, she couldn’t help but be pleased for the chance to get away from the man behind the counter, even for a moment. The cup let out muted thumps of pain as the ice bombarded it, before finally getting to settle as the girl filled it with the dispenser’s sweet root beer. (Of course, this did take several moments of waiting for the foam to go down so she could fill it entirely. Damn the foam for keeping her in this horrible place!)
“Oh, excuse me. I forgot you didn’t consider the health of your friends to be important.” Her words were daggers, aiming strait at him. If it were up to Tepin, Vale would be laying in that hospital right next to Seamus. And lo and behold-- It was the man before her that had even put Valeriu in such a pitiful state.
“You’re doing a great job of giving him what I can’t, by the way. Pain, misery, rage, and anguish-- All those things! He has them now!” The drinks were scooped up quite unceremoniously. The other hand slamming a ten onto the counter; she didn’t take pity. “So, thanks, really. It’s great. Just great.”
Having to worry daily that something would get in his blind spot, or that there were internal damage, or that the paralysis might spread… it was great. It was really something.
Turning, she shouldered the door open, listening in contempt as the bell jingled overhead.
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Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 4:59 pm
Quinn sighed. "It's not that I don't consider his health to be important, it's that you aren't exactly needed to shoot him up with pain meds. Seamus is fine without you there, for a few minutes." He rolled his eyes.
He slammed his hands down on the table. "Look, you're ******** dating him, alright, so quit being a b***h. We were having a perfectly good day until his god started attacking me. So if you want to blame someone, blame Tezcatlipoca." He glared down at the table, raising his voice as she walked out. "I didn't even know I could do that. It's more power than I have ever had before. And I didn't know it would happen. I'm sorry."
He picked up the ten, then jumped over the now-empty counter and jogged outside, to catch up to her.
"Take it." He held it out to her. "Give it to Seamus, if you don't want to keep it. And tell him that I thought about it, and finally understand the aliens."
He faltered.
"You sure you can't stay just to drink yours? These cups are really good for holding heat for a while."
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Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 6:13 pm
Her glare of pure loathing centered in on him. As much as she did not want to make a scene-- This was just too much.
As unfathomable as it would have been to be attacked by Tezcalipoca, a God incarnate, Tepin still held reservations. She had heard Vale’s retelling of events; and if it were a contest over who she trusted, the outcome was obvious. Quinn had simply and inexcusably thrown himself where he did not belong, as he was so prone to doing.
Even now, the evidence of this habit was far too obvious. He had spent time with Seamus as well?
“I don’t want it!” Her hand slapped at it, releasing the bill to fluttered down to the sidewalk below. “I don’t want you. No one does! You’re not part of this-- You’re just some selfish child trying to get attention from Valeriu, and when that doesn’t work, you latch onto the next best thing!”
It was infuriating how he always found some way to be crammed into her sphere of existence.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:26 pm
Quinn almost took a step back at her glare. He choked. Slowly, his mind kicked into gear, and he clenched his teeth. He looked down at the money, and frowned.
"That was a perfectly good ten." He brought his eyes back up to her. "Fine, Then. You have fun." He stepped back, and pushed at the door.
"In the house that isn't yours. Eating food you didn't pay for." He shrugged.
"Say what you want about me, but in the end, you're just a leech." He pushed the door all the way open.
"Get a job, quit relying solely on Valeriu, and then try talking down to me."
He started walking in.
"Right now, you're just a smartass punk." And let the door swing shut behind him.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:41 pm
Her mouth was agape-- How did that-- What-- That wasn’t even relevant! The day she had grown she had gone to Vale, asking him to be allowed to work-- and the second the word ‘work’ had left her mouth, he had vehemently rejected her; girl children, no matter how old, did not work.
This was not an issue of self-sufficiency-- How could he even-- What?! He was grabbing at straws, that much was clear.
Though those straws were thin and bent. How long had Quinn been living at his mother’s mercy? He had been working a few weeks, at most, and yet he felt he had the right to lecture her over something like this?
Unbelievable. That final straw had been broken.
Her things were unceremoniously dropped on the side of the building, her knuckles pale as she clutched the backpack she had been using as a make-shift purse. The door jingled once more, this time more violently, as the fuming child stool, silhouetted against the door frame.
“You know what-- Quinn?” Her eyes shone with a rage she had never felt so strongly before, “I’m tired of this. I’m tired of your crap!”
It wasn’t ever going to stop. Whether Valeriu made up his mind or not. That was just the nature of things when it came to Quinn.
“So we might as well play this Game now-- before you have to destroy anyone else’s lives.”
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:20 pm
Quinn's back was turned to Tepin, but he heard the door jingle. No one had been nearby. He spun around to look at her, and his eyes narrowed.
"No, Tepin. I'm not going to fight you. Even if I won, all I'd get is more people angry at me. And in case you haven't noticed, I'm the only one on this shift because my punk of a manager doesn't ever stay when he's supposed to. So, just go, alright?" He walked back behind the counter.
"And I don't believe I've 'destroyed' anyone's lives. As far as I can tell, you and Vale are quite happy together. So quit while you're ahead, alright? You won. Get over it."
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Taichou rolled 1 6-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-6)
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:54 pm
“You seemed to have no problem frying Vale-- or didn’t it occur to you that that might make him angry?!”
He was. More than he would let her see. Being handicapped in such a way put his very life in danger, and Quinn seemed to hold no remorse over his actions at all. No, he was too busy moping about his job (Which apparently earned him such high regard) as he tried to evoke her pity.
Infuriating.
“If that’s how it is, and if that’s how you feel, then there’s clearly no reason for you to interact with him at all.” Her hands clutched the bag tightly, fingers feeling the mixture of metal and plastic that was her only defense through the thick material.
This wasn’t about losing or winning. Not at all. This was about Valeriu’s happiness and Quinn’s selfishness, and the inability of those two things to be combined. No matter how long the game lasted, they would keep working in cycles, and Valeriu would be the one to suffer from it.
There was too much evidence to prove it. While before, it had been tears in the bathtub, the abuse had now become so far that it was physical.
For Valeriu’s well being, she needed to stop it.
It was then that she left the bag drop to the ground, now holding in her hands Andrei Jaklovzsky’s first gun. Any trained eye would realize it was a match to many of the mafia’s first issue guns, which many of the youths (And some of the more stubborn elders) still used today.
While useful in the hands of a professional, the guns proved all too fatal. However, in the hands of an amateur, they were as dangerous to the user as they were the target. She wasn’t sure what she did wrong-- She didn’t know! But the gun had popped, and shook, and there was a bang from seemingly nowhere--
That was, until she couldn’t breath-- she tossed the gun down, only to realize just how hot her hands were. Panting, staring down, she realized her mistake: down, smoldering against the floors, was a harmless pen. Even… Even despite bringing her gun for safety, such a fatal mistake--
The pen had gotten stuck in the barrel, thus clogging it and causing the barrel of the gun to explode in order to release the pressure. She was an idiot-- a complete idiot! In order to reduce the time it took her to get to her weapon, she had kept it in a pocket inside the bag, rather than the secure and locked case. That small mistake had been enough to cause an explosion which had split the barrel of her pistol and caused minor burns along the palms of her hand, and flecks of burnt material to land on her face.
But… This wasn’t over. Even unarmed… She’d think of something.
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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:24 pm
Quinn, who had winced and attempted to dodge backwards soon as he heard the gun being fired, opened his eyes slowly. He saw the burns on her hands, and he frowned, deeply.
"God, Tepin. Chill out. I didn't zap him on purpose-- I was trying to hit Tezcatlipoca. And he's alive. There's no use killing yourself over it." He refused to attack her back. It would cause more problems than it was worth. He held onto the counter, however, and prepared his hand to hit the emergency button under the counter. (It was the city, and crime was a problem. The owner was exceptionally paranoid.)
"Look, people probably heard that. You could get in big trouble for firing a gun in here. If you leave now, I'll break a blender and tell them I accidentally dropped it. Your anger at me isn't worth getting put in jail, is it? That would hurt Vale more than anything, I think. And, at this rate, you're just going to hurt yourself more than me. So please. Just leave."
He broke eye contact with her, and his eyes shifted nervously around the room. No matter how armed she was, she still felt like a kid. He didn't want to fight her.
"Fine. You know what, you win. I won't try to talk to Vale any more. I'll stay away from him. Just get out of this Cafe, please, before I call the police."
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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 1:37 am
So long as he was alive? That was how Quinn thought. So long as someone was alive, it didn’t matter what you did to them. Somehow, they would bounce back to normal, completely unscathed and willing to forget the entire matter?
Quinn needed to wake up. If Valeriu being alive was enough, then he obviously did not treasure the boy.
But some of his words did hold power, as little as she wanted to admit it.
Her eyes, brimming with tears and hatred, were plastered on him, even as she retrieved the beloved Jaklovzsky weapon. She did need to escape-- there would be people around. But the thoughts had left her so quickly… It was as if she had seen red. There was nothing there but defeating the enemy that stood before her-- Whether she was armed or not.
She would have clawed his throat out with her bare hands, if given the chance. Regardless of the wounds she would have gotten, she would have paid them back tenfold.
There was one final, tear-filled glare, before she turned, her hair whirling in a mess behind her.
The bell chimed in it’s cheerful way, even as she tore from the café as quickly as she could.
But this was not over. She knew that well enough. It wasn’t about winning, or losing, or any of that nonsense.
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