At a Coffeeshop [Open]

[Leopold]

Not every day was a mission day. Leopold was still looking for a job; he wasn’t sure what kind he’d be able to take here. He wanted something that would give him a steady flow of income. But right now, he was enjoying himself. It was something he liked to do a lot online – roleplaying. He was an avid Star Trek fan, and was running a ship-based simmulation.

The waiter poured him some more coffee, and Leopold decided it was time to do something useful, and so he turned his Firefox tab to the local news, and began to look through to see if any incidents had occurred. He was looking for signs that they might have been caused by Sarah, but he didn’t really find anything of interest.

He knew that karaoke night would be soon. He had, in fact, invited some of his friends.

[Rox]

"What's up, Buttercup?" Rox asked nonchalantly. She didn't even wait for a response before pulling out a chair, tuning it backwards, and straddling the seat. She rested her arms on top of the back rest and stared at Leopold. She was curious to see how he would react to the new nickname she had just invented for him.

"So what's the deal? Something going on here?" Rox had been surprised that she got invited to come here, so she was a bit suspicious about the lack of 'business.' She didn't talk to Leo much, and as far as Rox could tell, he didn't think much more highly of her than most of the others did. But she had been invited, so maybe she was wrong.

Rox mentally shrugged the thought off. It didn't really matter. At least not to her. Anyway, she would probably find out eventually if they worked on the same team for long enough.

[Leopold]

“What’s up, buttercup?” Leopold smiled in amusement as he heard Rox speaking, and looked over at her. She was certainly an interesting person, and despite her personality, the rather docile boy enjoyed her company. He just hoped she wouldn’t keep calling him that. “Buttercup” sounded really feminine. “What’s the deal? Something going on here?” Rox asked suspiciously.

“Karaoke,” Leopold replied. “I assumed it would be a great chance for us to all to do something fun and normal for once. Do you like to sing?” Bree, who worked there and was also the daughter of the coffee shop’s owner, came by and poured more coffee into Leopold’s cup.

“Would you like anything?” she asked Rox, her paper pad in hand to write down whatever Rox ordered, if anything.

[Rox]

Rox instantly cringed at the mention of the word karaoke. Sure, there was probably a time in her life where she wouldn't have minded getting up on stage and singing in front of a bunch of strangers, but that ship had sailed. But what was probably worse was the thought of listening to other people sing karaoke. If Rox remembered correctly, she herself had a decent enough voice, but if TV had taught her anything it was that most people looked like fools behind that microphone. At least in her opinion, anyway.

"Hold on a second," Rox said partially to the waitress and partially to Leo. She even held her pointer finger up to emphasize her request. Then, ignoring the waitress with everything but her pointer, Rox focussed her attention on Leo. "Karaoke? You brought me here to sing karaoke?" Rox let out a semi-amused scoff. "You seriously thought I, Rox, would want to get up and sing in front of everybody? Heh, yeah, that sounds like me alright," she commented sarcastically with a smirk on her face.

Then, turning to the waitress she asked, "So do you got any booze at this place, or is it just coffee? Cause I think I'm gonna need it." At the very least, she figured it might be fun to watch some of her other team members make fools of themselves. Besides, it wasn't as if she had any other big plans at the moment.

[Leopold]

She cringed, and Leopold was disappointed; he’d been looking forward to enjoying a night of karaoke with them. Then her demeanor changed to amusement, leaving Leopold confused as to whether or not she really did want to do karaoke. Then Rox started asking about beer; Leopold never really drank beer himself.

The waitress, Miranda, grabbed a beer menu, and handed it to her. “We have Spaten Octoberfest and Guinness on special today,” she told Rox. They had a lot of variety when it came to beer at the coffeeshop. “I’m going to need to see some ID, though.”

[Rox]

Rox glanced over the beer menu for only a couple seconds before saying, "Guinness sounds good. Want to split a pitcher, Leo- Wait. Are you aren't even twenty-one yet, are you?" Rox wasn't 100% positive, but was fairly sure that her assumption was correct. "Better just make that a bottle." Rox showed her I.D. and waited for the waitress to go get her drink.

Then she realized something. "Huh. Want to know something weird? I'm twenty-two years old, but this is the first time I've purchased alcohol. Legally anyway. This is kind of a milestone occasion, don't ya think?" Unfortunately for Rox, she had spent her twenty-first birthday staring at a hospital room ceiling, where every once and a while a cluster of birthday balloons would drift into the corner of her vision. Not a pleasant memory.

Rox took a swig of the ice cold beer as soon as it arrived.

[Leopold]

Leopold couldn't help but feel envious of her. He sort of wanted to lie...but if they found out he would be in trouble, and he certainly didn't want that. He listened as she told him about how this would be her first drink. "Totally. That's pretty awesome."

He watched as she took a swig of the thick, dark beer. He smiled. "So, how is it?" he asked Rox. As stated before, he hadn't had beer yet, and was only 18. He was definitely curious...and hoped someday that he'd get a chance.

[Rox]

"It's alright. I've tasted better. I think. It was quite a while ago, so it's hard to be sure." Rox tapped her fingers impatiently on the tabletop since she couldn't think of anything else worth saying. She glanced around the coffee shop again to see if anyone else had arrived yet.

"I thought you said other people were supposed to be here. This wasn't some sort of trick date or something, was it? 'Cause no offense, but I'm not interested." Rox really doubted Leopold would actually do something like that, so she was half joking.

"Whatever," she mumbled. "Also, didn't you say we were here for karaoke? Get up there and sing something already." She was only trying to egg him on, but hoped he would do it anyway. She could use a good laugh.

[Leopold]

“No,” Leopold chuckled. “It wasn’t a trick date. Though I did invite others – I wonder where they could be...” She suggested getting up there and singing. He shook his head. “I can sing alright, but they haven’t set it up yet.” He realised he was pretty hungry. It was around dinnertime, anyway. “Want to order a pizza?” They had small pizzas – enough for two people – for a pretty reasonable price.

He turned his attention to the computer. He’d gotten a new post in his roleplay thread, which he started posting to. He had another browser window open; he’d been looking for a job in town. Though he had a good feeling of what he wanted to do. The manager at the coffeeshop had said he was looking for new waiters. Since he’d gotten so he hung out here quite a bit he supposed it would be a great way to earn some cash.

“I might get a job here at the Fret,” he said. The name of the shop was the Second Fret, but people had shortened it to the Fret. Leopold himself could be considered a “Frequent Fretter.”

[Rox]

The way Leo asked if they should order a pizza implied that they would split the cost. Rox mentally sighed. She would have preferred if Leo payed for all of it, but her stomach was feeling pretty empty at the moment so she wasn't about to refuse. But before Rox completely thought out her response, Leo informed her that he would likely get a job here at the Second Fret.

"You want to work here, at a place that does karaoke? Does that mean you can get us a discount on the pizza? I vote for pepperoni and mushroom by the way. But seriously, of all places, why would you work here?" Not that she should talk since she worked at a bowling alley.

"Ahhh, I get it. You got a crush on waitress, don't ya?" Rox wasn't serious, but nonetheless she waited to see his reaction in order to see if it might actually be true.

[Leopold]

"Why not?" he replied. "They do more than karaoke. They've got shows too, and they could use an extra hand." Then she suggested he had a crush on the waitress. Leopold chuckled, shaking his head. He didn't really have a crush on anyone since he'd been taking from his home...though she seemed to be joking.

"No, I just don't feel accomplished without a job," he replied. He was about to mention SPECTER suggesting they work with animals but held his tongue; he was in a public place after all. He wasn't so used to all of this secrecy. "And it's likely I'd get discounts. I'd have to ask. And pepperoni and mushrooms sounds pretty delicious." Though his preference was spinach and garlic, which they didn't have here; he'd have to get one from the grocery store sometime. He ordered the pizza for them.

"I wonder where the others are. I guess they decided not to come. Though I'm glad you're here." He hoped to become friends with the group; they would be working as a team after all.

[Rox]

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that they aren't coming. If they were, then they would probably be here by now." Rox took another casual sip of her beer. "Their loss, I guess."

Rox sat quietly for a while until a question occurred to her. "So... Since those other guys didn't show, I suppose it's safe to talk about them, eh? Be honest, what do you think of everyone else so far?" Rox planned on holding off her own opinions until Leo gave his. Although Rox had never tried too hard to cover up her true opinions in the first place. Mostly.