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Prompt 13 (Winter Rainbow): Winter weather is usually fairly predictable–clouds, rain, snow, and a sunny day if you’re lucky. It’s unwise to predict anything in Destiny City, though. Lately, there’s been an uptick in unnatural rainbows. The sky almost regularly seems to be covered with some sort of pastel shimmer. The clouds have a rainbow sheen to them during all weather, and more than once you can even make out a rainbow from just the moon’s beams. Scientists claim there are just many water crystals in the air–and that checks out. During the frequent snows, it’s common to observe soft rainbow snowflakes that catch the light like tiny suncatchers. Even fallen snow seems to have an iridescent sheen to it. It’s not a common occurrence, but it’s happening often enough that you're likely to see it at least once this season.
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He didn’t have a grand amount of time. So many things were going on, especially this close to the holiday since everyone wanted to make sure they were clear for the extended holiday. No hanging projects, no extended meetings, no concerns, no worries. It made the time between Christmas and New Years slow and easy but the run up to it was always rather batty. So why exactly was he standing there, leaning against the side of a building? Because he was waiting for Annalise to come out of her store of course.
Quinn had been able to finagle a few hours to grab a cup of coffee, or a muffin, with the young woman. A time to give them both a moment to breathe before diving back into the insanity of work. It hadn’t been easy but he wanted to make sure he made the time. It was the least he could do since he suspected that, other than crowbarring time in, he would be too busy to spend any significant amount of time with her. Which would be a significant shame.
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Between the onslaught of holiday orders and running the finances on the back end of things, Anna was in her element. Her employees marveled at the way she just didn't seem the least bit stressed despite the fact that they had a couple of customers come in looking to obtain one of her more unique designs for a price that it was not worth. Having to explain plenty of times that no, she does not price match with Sears, Kay Jewelers, OR any other jewelry chain was exhausting. That didn't mean that she wouldn't offer a discount to those she really thought worthy, like this young engaged couple that had been together for almost fifteen years [the tail end of middle school, through highschool, and finally during college], which was nothing short of a marvel these days.
So yes she sold them a custom wedding and engagement set with 50% off.
Her phone dinged and she pulled it out to check, eyes widening when she saw what time it was. “Kaden I'm off for a bit of a break, watch the floor?” Kaden was her manager when she was not around so she knew she could trust him not to let the place burn to the ground. “Absolutely! Have fun Ms. Williams~” Kaden wasn't the only employee on the floor so with that settled, she switched out her pumps for some more comfortable flats, tossed on her jacket, grabbed her purse and made her way out the door. She sent a verbal message to Quinn from her smartwatch, almost walking into the man since he was literally right before her. “O-Oh! I am so sorry Quinn, I lost track of time. Are you still okay to go for coffee?” She tried not to pay any mind to her grinning employees while she could feel their knowing stares at the back of her head.
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Quinn held out his hands when it seemed like Annalise was about to run right into him, once it was clear that she was neither going to trip, fall, or otherwise hurt herself he easily changed his stance into one where he leaned in to place a chase kiss on her cheek. “You're good, I just got here by myself.” Not quite true but not horribly far off either. “Yup, I don’t have as much time as I would love too but it's enough to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate with you.” He shifted to her side, standing between her and the street, and offered his arm. “Shall we? I figured since we are both so busy the nearest coffee shop was the best idea, unless you have another cafe you would rather run to.”
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Responding with a chaste kiss of her own, Anna happily linked arms with Quinn, “There is the cafe around the corner. As long as it's not Starbucks I'm perfectly okay going anywhere.” leaning her head against his arm, Anna walked with him to the nearest place, which was a smaller mom and pop shop that was well liked with the locals.
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Quinn nodded and walked with her around the corner. The cafe that they meandered to was cute, a real cafe and not a chain store like Starbucks. He too leaned more towards smaller businesses rather than ones like McDonalds and Starbucks, ironic considering his company but still. It was always better to try to go with the little guys in his opinion. They typically had better products and would fight much harder than the conglomerates. Once there Quinn held the door open for Annalise before following her inside. “It's perfect,” He murmured to her even as he surveyed their surroundings. “Do you know what you would like? I can order for us if you want to find a seat.” He would take a little bit to decide for himself anyway.
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Stepping into the cafe, feeling the warmth on her face, and the overall delightful smell was amazing! Anna immediately said banana nut muffin with a warm caramel macchiato, taking her seat by one of the windows. During her relaxing, she took some pictures of the cafe that didn't include people in them, choosing some cozy filters and setting one particular pic that she liked as her new lockscreen. There was some commotion going on but she decided to wait for Quinn to come back with their order before getting up to investigate.
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Simple enough! With her order, and a quick note on his phone since he didn’t want to screw it up, Quinn stepped up to the counter and placed their order. He was going simple with a cinnamon roll and hot chocolate, hoping the sugar rush would help him push through the rest of the paperwork laden day. It wasn’t until he was on the way back to Annalise laden with a tray of their orders that the general change of chatter had him concerned…. Well more curious than concerned. There was no yelling or shouting or anything that indicated something scary, more like general ‘oh look’ and ‘it's pretty’, and even a ‘I can’t believe it's real!’. It's that last one that really had Quinn raising a brow. When someone said something like that in this city it normally meant that some magical shenanigans were afoot. Even in the daylight hours things could go sideways, although he really hoped that wouldn’t be the case this time.
After placing their tray down at the table Annalise had picked for them, Quinn moved to the window to see if he could spot what the others, now crowding around the windows at the front of the store, could see. “What do you think they are seeing?” He asked quietly, not spotting anything on the street that would elicit such reactions. It was a normal day afterall.
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Now that he was back, Anna looked at Quinn with a frown, “Not sure….We could go out and look?” She was rather curious herself, all things considered. Instead of waiting for an answer, she stood up and grabbed his hand, leading him gently through the doors to see what everyone else could see outside the window. The sight that greeted her was not something that she was prepared for. “Ohhhhh! This is beautiful! Can you see the colors?” Anna looked at Quinn with a bright smile, fishing for her phone. Rainbows were so rare and to see one during the winter made the phenomenon even more so. She could see other people stopping in their walks to take pictures as well, pointing with amazement.
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Quinn shrugged and followed along when Annalise started to tug him through the door to get a better look. He didn’t have the heart to warn her that it might not be a good idea. Couldn’t think of a good enough excuse to nudge her back inside where it was at least theoretically safer. Instead he did his best to keep his head on a swivel and his eyes peeled for possible danger. This city really was batty sometimes. But even his vigilance couldn’t stand up to the sight that was over their heads.
The nearly clear sky had a beautiful, if pastel, rainbow arching over it. A kind of pastel shimmer almost. “Wow,” He said quietly. It was quite awe inspiring… and he was rather curious to know what exactly was causing it. It hadn’t rained so it wasn’t that, no snow either, so why was there such a mystical sight? Just what kind of magic was going on right then? “It's almost too impossible to believe.” Then again this was Destiny City, where anything was possible if the right, or wrong, kind of forces collided.
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