Breakfast of Champions

[Mhairi Ankaa]

"Coffe.Coffe.Coffe.Coffe.Coffe.Coffe." is Mhairi's mantra. Bleary eyed, and yawning into a hand as she opened the door. The welcome smells of breakfast, and the general diner sounds wash over her.

Squinting trying to make the work take focus. Just because she always knew when and where she was did not mean she was a morning person. Someone, when she first arrived in town told her about Mel's Kitchen when she walked into them acting as a mimic to her state now.

They told her about the very caffeinated coffee. She knew it would become her morning addiction.

Mhairi had plans to just wait in the looong line until her shuffling steps made it to the counter but to her sleep fogged eyed, and addled mind she saw licks of fire.

'There...should not be open smokey fires. Mhairi thinks rubbing at her eye, shouldering her bag more securely. 'Wait that....make...no-wait...'

"Keith?" Mhairi asks, hoping it was the Summer she shared ice cream with, and not an open smokey fire.

That would be bad. They wouldn't let her have any coffee.

Equipment.

Mom's tarot cards always in her pocket, her pocket knife, safely in pocket, and her favorite lock picking tools are in her bag.

[Swami M]

The folks at Edna's had recommended Mel's for a good hearty breakfast. And, supposedly, the best coffee in town. He'll need all the boost he can get for another day of job hunting... The Great Recession had officially ended years ago, even before he went Away, but job prospects for unskilled young people are still grim. That's what Alex is now. His previous education and jobs have officially never happened. The package of documents from Bob's friend included a GED certificate along with the driver's license and social security card. And that was it. If Alex wants a career more mundane (and lucrative) than "fairyland gangbanger" or "Hedge ninja" he'll have to go back to college, and likely grad school too. Reliving the college years is supposed to be a staple middle aged fantasy, but the prospect only fills him with a nameless dread. Renewed (and nearly eternal?) youth has turned out to be not quite as much fun as it sounds.

Right now the priority is finding a job of any kind. He's been looking for the same kind of shitty retail jobs he did back when he was a kid for the first time, in high school and college. But in the intervening years those jobs have begun to take themselves much more seriously. There were personality tests, simulated customer interactions, the dreaded group interview and pretty much anything else imaginable for stroking the egos of HR weasels and making assistant managers young enough to be his children think they were the fucking Dalai Lama. "If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?" That's easy... a rosebush that drinks blood and eats people... At the end of a very trying day, Alex was almost ready to give an honest answer... The only thing that made it bearable was the steady trickle of Glamour from all of the other applicants who had had enough of being treated like pre-schoolers...

Now it's time for Round Two. But first, coffee. And he can smell the bacon from here... As he approaches the entrance Alex notices that there is something very unusual about one of the cars in the lot. It is a literal horseless carriage... That belongs to one of Us? Hopefully not one of Them... For a moment Alex considers passing Mel's by. But that would be pretty weak for an aspiring Summer street soldier, if that's what Ramona and company really expect him to be... He doubts that there's about to be a comic book-style throwdown with some Fae supervillain in a random greasy spoon (at least he sure hopes not), but this is still something out of the ordinary, and checking on it and reporting back is actually something useful he can do while still unsworn. As he walks inside he keeps his hands in his jacket pockets, hiding the thorns emerging from his knuckles. He looks around and immediately sees the smoldering man, who must have entered the diner only moments before him. It's clear that some of the hot grease and cooking scents are actually coming from him... But otherwise he appears to be an ordinary Changeling. At least as ordinary as anyone like them can be. Alex inwardly sighs in relief as he approaches, letting his thorns retract. I wonder if this guy is new too... As he gets closer he feels the tingle of another Mantle from somewhere further ahead in line. He wonders if this is some kind of Freehold hangout he hasn't heard of yet...

Stuff

Alex is carrying keys, a wallet, a cellphone and a pocket knife in his pockets.
He has a messenger bag with several pens, a couple of notebooks, some pamphlets and documents from earlier interviews and a paperback novel in case he has to spend much time waiting.
He's dressed "business casual" with a light jacket. He's also wearing a wristwatch and his rose necklace.

[Mhairi Ankaa]

"The Coffee." she says like that's a full and complete answer, but she doesn't see anything wrong with her answer, and nods sagely like she'd offered some great wisdom. Her nose twitches, and she blinks, once, twice before she hand is drawn back toward her mouth as she yawns. "Uh-the coffeest coffee that ever coffeed." she gives the Summer another bleary blink, and whispers. "Plus some sugar."

She feels the head and humidity of another Summer mantle behind her, but still no tug of the Freehold Pledge. She turns, and see green.green.green. Mhairi looks down at her dripping quicksilver fingernails, suddenly worried that she might set the woodblood alight.

"I-uhh-I'm Mhairi Ankaa." she brings her drippy fingers in front of her mouth curling them like fangs, "'nd I'm uhhh 'verry, verry scwry." she growls out over her own yawning voice. It was not at all scary. But it should do to tell him that she's an Autumn Courtier. She hasn't had enough coffee (or any) to function enough for right now. She drops her hands, but her fell-flame gaze is already trying to find the eye of someone who worked here.

When she does, she claps her hands together and gives the waiter her best 'puppy dog pout' "The coffeest coffee that you ever did coffee." she pleads.

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2016-02-19 01:15:54		Mhairi rolls 4 to Gimme Coffee [ Manip(2) + Persuasion(1) + 1 SL(2)] (10 Again)		2, 10, 7, 2, 8		2 successes

Then she then shuffles over to a booth. Drawing the provided sugar close. The one good thing about being without caffeine was that she was too moody to be self conscious. She opens her mouth to ask Keith-only to blink, realizing that the other two didn't follow her. She gave them a bleary glare and slumped in her seat.

The thoughts of her soon to be here coffee managing to keep her awake - barley.

[Swami M]

Alex orders the extra-strong coffee. He'll need to be medicated to get through this day, which is only getting more complicated by the second...

Once he has his cup he heads over to the table where the smoking man and the woman with the... unusual... hands have settled in. The guy looks pretty tense... Alex still hasn't gotten used to the constant hint of violence behind so many Changeling meetings. It's like living in one of those old Westerns where everybody in the saloon keeps his hand near his sixgun.

He makes sure to keep his free hand open and at his side as he approaches. "Hello. I'm Alex. Did you guys arrive in that cool ride outside?" Small talk has never been his strong suit...

[Evelynn East]

gear

Evelynn arrives with her tools, a jacket, a phone, a few hard candies in her pocket, a notepad and pencil, her messenger bag, and her clunker of a car

Evelynn got most of the way to the counter in the restaurant before she so much as looked up from her notebook enough to spot that not everyone in the room was human. It was Mhairi who drew her attention - she was a hard woman to miss, after all - and with Mhairi she spotted Keith, and another man, one she didn't recognize, sitting with them. She grinned, offering the group a wave, and ordered herself a coffee before heading over to the table.

On the way, she noticed, once again, that the new guy didn't have the Freehold Pledge either. So, new. But this time, she wasn't approaching him alone, and at least Mhairi was pledged, so that made her feel a little less weird about walking up to a stranger than she had with Keith.

"Hi guys!" she chirped brightly, coming to stand at the end of the table. She wasn't going to sit unless she was invited - maybe they were all here together as friends or something. She wasn't going to interrupt. She turned her attention to the new guy and held out her hand. "I'm Evelynn. You're new in town too?"