Starbucks Mingle

[Mobius]

Taking a generous sip, Mobius is pleased at the sweetness of the 'secret' drink. "Brain Freeze?" she asks, clarifying. "Don't worry, I've never had it." Perhaps just another side effect of her enchanted ways, though she had never experienced it as a child either.

Time Tested. She took a moment to revel to herself at the coincidence of the name, might be the perfect place for her. "I'll have to check it out, for sure." Another sip before handing the drink back. "It's pretty good, doesn't beat the classic though." she says, shaking her mocha in her other hand. She takes a moment to google the store on her Iphone.

Looking to Kaze, she considers his question, "Cost is one thing, I'm pretty cheap when it comes to the big stuff. I'll buy 100 books, or take-out and stuff." she laughs. "But either way, I'm used to the big city life now, public transport works pretty well. I didn't see you as the truck type though, Case. Seems like you'd be more at home on a motorcycle." She teases.

"You can't shop online for books!" she replies to Shodan, pretending to scold him. Though it wasn't just books she was looking to buy at the moment. "It's the same as tech, you wanna touch it, hold it, try it out."

[Spark]

Spark raised an eyebrow at Kaze, "That sounds like a story worth hearing, in a more private setting sometime."

His next response is to Shodan who had a lot more to say evidently, "The Impossible is just things that haven't happened yet, wouldn't mind getting to that point so long as we avoid a 'Cyberpunk' situation where massive corporations still exist alongside that advancement."

Spark glanced over to Mobius, "While I understand the sentiment, E-readers and audible have made books a lot more accessible. You can have entire libraries in the palm of your hand. I mean I prefer a book you can hold too, but for a lot of people having a large collection of books just isn't feasible."

[Star]

It's amazing to imagine anyone would need to study this over-sized chinchilla. So earnest and harmless, albeit with a light case of nerves that makes his eyes widen briefly when someone gestures too quickly or raises their voice as if he's waiting to have his books knocked out of his hands or lunch tray upended. This heart is clearly on the sleeve without guile or secrets.

"Convenient."

And there's surprise, of course. Like, did he not just hear him cite the where's where of bookstores? Local alert, yo. Of course the quirks haven't slowed either. Still watching? Watch those elegant fingers oh-so-carefully remove the straw and lid from the drink, as if the rule of Cooties were still in play and he didn't want his lips touching where Mobius' had.

"It's not the same as accessible. Convenient is the word you want," he blinked at Spark. "People who listen to books or read them on tablets don't spend the same amount of time or thought on what they're reading. It's like an electric shaver and nice Merkur 34C. Sure, both are going to shave you..."

Is nine o'clock shadow here really talking about shaving?

"...But one is a process. A process and much better."

  You Can Trust Star With Your Sister's Virginity

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-10-03 13:06:19		Star rolls 8 to the most harmless chinchilla (Manipulation + Subterfuge) (10 Again)		6, 8, 4, 8, 2, 10, 5, 7, 8		4 successes

[Kaze]

"Yeah, it was like that." Kaze agrees with Shodan without elaborating, though he visibly shudders at the memory.

"Oh, that's my girlfriend, she's the one with the motorcycle." Kaze chuckles. "A truck is perfect for me. If you have a truck, and let everyone know, then they tend to remember you when they are moving into their place or need help with something big. It's kind of an icebreaker, you know? 'I have a truck'." He smiles. "So, not that it's any of my business, but are you from somewhere in the country? I grew up in L.A., so I didn't really ever get much experience with nature except for parks and jogging trails."

Kaze nods to Spark, "Yeah, maybe around a bonfire some night; it's a good ghost story." He says soberly.

Kaze listens, interested without commenting on the opinions of paper versus digital and ordering online versus in person.

[Star]

"And ritualization is the word you're looking for. The only thing being mythicized is your dismissal of fact -- or the suggestion that the means aren't causal to outcome."

He grinned and leaned forward, rolling the straw around long fingers.

"Are we going to have our very own 'Good Will Hunting' moment? How exciting. I'm excited. Because Don't Do That. Don't use big fancy words trying to sound smart. Don't throw around buzzword phrases to make yourself sound like an expert. And don't, don't, don't pick fights just to impress the girl. Sure, she's awfully pretty in the dispassionate damaged goods sort of way that would normally send my little heart a-flutter but I'm happily... spiritually entwined." Not married. Because the deal is the deal.

The straw disappeared by degrees; folded, rolled, and folded again until those marvelous digits had tucked one end in the other and formed a square. Rotate it, yo. That's a Diamond. Those blue green eyes were the deep murk of see waves under a grey sky, but laughing, knowing how hard Shodan had just been studying him and tossing it back in his face.

Come closer. As close as you like.

"Don't pick fights to impress the guys, either."

He placed a finger into the center of the straw polygon and spun it in a lazy circle. Maybe it's a square.

[Spark]

"..." Spark looked Star up and down again, despite all the time he spent with his sister and the studying he's done afterwards he had a hard time getting a feel on this person and that set him on edge. Because he was trying to be unreadable, or was just naturally good at it. Which disturbed the mage, still he couldn't hold his tongue when the man actually tried to make them seem like the Aggressors.

"...Okay one, rude, two no one here was picking a fight till you started 'correcting' us. So...knock it off or stop, please."

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-10-06 01:26:57		Spark rolls 6 to Read Star's emotional state (wits + Empathy + Specialty: Emotions) (10 Again)		7, 2, 10, 4, 3, 10, 3, 7		2 successes

[Mobius]

"Whoaaa." Mobius replies to Kaze. "You gotta introduce me to her. Think she'd take me for a ride?" Eyes wide with the thought of cruising the streets on a motorcycle. She had ridden a dirt-bike, once, back home but this had to be different. She then smiled at Kaze's explanation for owning a truck. Most people would think of being the go to guy for moving and big lifts as a burden. "I grew up in small town Colorado. Highest city in the US, they say. We had a Subway though, so that's something." She meant the sandwich place, not the public transport, but she didn't specify. "I came to California for school."

Before long, a friendly dialogue had turned into an argument over who was or wasn't a pedant. Of course, Mobius didn't commit to her opinions enough to throw herself into that fire line. Star complimented and then disparaged her within the same breath. Damaged goods? She was less than impressed, even if he was arguing for her side. "Hey hey," she interjected as cheerfully as she could, "Let's relax. You guys are upsetting the coffee." she joked, pulling her cup close to her and reassuring it lovingly.

[Kaze]

Kaze starts to say something to object at the stranger's disparaging description of Mobius and support her, but then she speaks up for herself, so he decides she might not appreciate it if he took it upon himself to defend her.

"Hey, who doesn't take some damage in this life, huh?" Kaze says chuckling.

Then more seriously, "I don't know what you mean really, but that 'spiritually entwined' thing sounds a little sad, like maybe you lost someone. I'm sorry for your loss if you did; I lost my family when I was younger and that left a mark." Kaze says, offering empathy rather than sympathy.

Kaze laughs at Mobius' enthusiastic entreaty to ask his girlfriend for a ride on her motorbike! "Oh, you've met her! She's the head of the local, 'archery club'." He says. "I think that's a great idea, too. She's all business and really professional, but I think if you asked her, she would probably enjoy giving you a ride." he says encouragingly. "