Mamoru Nakamura [Ichigo Kurosaki] (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
15minuteslate) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
savetheearth2013-07-16 12:25 am
15minuteslate) wrote in savetheearth2013-07-16 12:25 am
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Who: Vanessa and Mamoru
What: Vanessa and Mamoru getting along like a house on fire. By which I mean, she's stealing from the tip jar again because he was an ass to her, and the Tom and Jerry shenanigans are rudely interrupted by a Vermini attack.
Where: Starbucks.
When: July 16
It had been one hell of a shift. First there had been "make sure the cappuccino's not too dry but not wet either" girl (who really wanted it bone dry, she brought it back if it wasn't) and then there had to be at least five people who forgot that they'd wanted their drinks iced until they'd already been made, and he'd just finished off someone who'd apparently been sent to get coffee for an army. An army that wanted dirty chais and iced lattes and everything else under the sun.
Half an hour. That was it. Then he could ditch this place and go blow off some steam somewhere else before that class...
Mamoru had his back to the register, cleaning out the coffee urns with a wet rag. He glanced back at the front every few minutes, but really wasn't paying all that much attention.
What: Vanessa and Mamoru getting along like a house on fire. By which I mean, she's stealing from the tip jar again because he was an ass to her, and the Tom and Jerry shenanigans are rudely interrupted by a Vermini attack.
Where: Starbucks.
When: July 16
It had been one hell of a shift. First there had been "make sure the cappuccino's not too dry but not wet either" girl (who really wanted it bone dry, she brought it back if it wasn't) and then there had to be at least five people who forgot that they'd wanted their drinks iced until they'd already been made, and he'd just finished off someone who'd apparently been sent to get coffee for an army. An army that wanted dirty chais and iced lattes and everything else under the sun.
Half an hour. That was it. Then he could ditch this place and go blow off some steam somewhere else before that class...
Mamoru had his back to the register, cleaning out the coffee urns with a wet rag. He glanced back at the front every few minutes, but really wasn't paying all that much attention.
no subject
She timed her entrance with somebody leaving the place and waited until his back was turned and he was engrossed in his cleaning before she made her move.
Unfortunately for Mamoru, the first indication he was likely to get that something had even happened would be when he glanced back and saw the amount in the tip jar severely reduced.
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No.
No, he knew what it was. His eyes narrowed, and he stared around the cafe: was she still here, or was he too late?
Because there was obviously only one person it could be.
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Normally, he would have already been too late. Vanessa didn't like to hang around the scene of a crime, but this one time she wanted him to know exactly what had just happened. Stupid? Maybe, but she had run into plenty of guys who she felt she had to worry about getting violent when she stole from them. This guy was not one.
So there she was, leaning against the counter opposite the tip jar and not a dollar of it visible anywhere.
"Lose something?" She grinned a little.
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Oh, he was mad now. This was the last goddamn straw -- it wasn't even that he particularly needed the extra $25 a week, but she'd admitted it: she didn't, either. No, she was just doing this to fuck with him.
And that was...
...well, it made him mad, but was it really worth getting into a fight over?
"Oh, come on. Don't you have anything better to do? Like finding an actual job, maybe?"
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Normally, that dig about getting an "actual job" would have irritated her but at the moment she was in a little too good a mood to let it bother her. Instead, she tilted her head, blinking a little in obvious feigned innocence.
Hey, just because they both knew what she was doing here didn't mean she was going to admit to it right here.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I just came in here to get some coffee." And pay for it with his own tips.
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"Well, I've got news for you. You've just been refused service, Miss Sandiego. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
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"Is that the attitude you give all the customers in here? No wonder you can't fill up a tip jar." She folded her arms, that smirk quickly giving way to a frown.
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Mamoru leaned in closer, bracing his hands on the counter, voice low.
"Listen up, Robin Hood, you've got ten seconds to haul ass out of here, or I let that cop outside know that our tip jar just got swiped."
He didn't see the large, strange-looking bird swoop past the window to his right.
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She was just about to call him out when she caught a flicker of motion to her left, and turned her head toward it.
"What was that?"
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Spoken like a true idiot.
Behind him, the bird flew at the window, hitting it with a thunk.. For a moment, the human hands it had instead of talons were clearly visible.
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"Shit!" She had a pretty good idea what was coming next and pure instinct spurred her into motion. Without even thinking, she reached across the table to grab Mamoru by the Starbucks shirt and hauled back as hard as she could.
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"What the f--"
A sharp-beaked bird the size of a chicken cut him off with an attack, pecking and grasping at his face with its beak and hand-feet. Mamoru, still shocked, hadn't moved past the "cover your face with your arms and pray" phase yet. He hadn't even gotten to his feet.
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For a second, she stared as the bird-thing dove down onto Mamoru and began pecking and clawing at him. Then her eyes flickered up to the door, where a few customers were already making their retreat. This was her chance, she had a clear run at a getaway right there, all she had to do was take it. She could already here the wingbeats of other creatures through the broken window, she wasn't going to get a second shot.
And all it would take was to leave Starbucks Guy to his fate.
She was on her feet in a second, snatching one of those dessert shelves off the counter, scattering little packaged pastries all across the floor. With a sharp, primal yell she swung as hard as she could, batting the bird-creature across the room.
Unfortunately, that move left her wide open for the second bird-thing that came barreling in to slam into the back of her neck. Improvised weapon clattering to the floor, Vanessa stumbled forward, clawing at the hand-talons trying to get around her neck with one hand and trying to keep the other between her face and the sharp beak.
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He could think about why all this was happening -- and the fact that Vanessa had stayed to knock that thing off of him -- later. For now, there were one, two...six birds, all crows and rooks and ravens, all with hands for feet.
"Are you all right?" he asked, trying to get an idea of how hurt Vanessa was. They hadn't gotten her eyes or anything, had they...?
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She recovered quickly, touching her face and wincing when her fingertips came back bloody from a nasty cut on her cheek that matched the several on the back of her hand and arm. Fortunately, it looked like her eyes were well and intact.
"I'm okay." She said, quickly moving to stand beside Mamoru and face down the bird-creatures. Personal grudges could wait for now.
"Okay." She said slowly, counting the creatures they were up against. At least now the birds didn't have the advantage of surprise. "Please tell me you guys have a shotgun behind the counter."
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...they did have knives, though, he remembered. Bread knives. Not the sturdiest, but long and sharp. One of them was lying on the back counter.
"Listen. There's knives behind the counter. Take one and get out of here."
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Knives were good though. Really, anything long and sturdy would be fine, sharp was a bonus. Birds were fragile, right?
"If either of us runs now, they'll chase us and try again. We're better off in here where they can't fly worth crap." Her eyes flickered toward the counter, then toward the birds. She took a long breath. Fuck, this was going to be stupid. "I'm going for it."
As if on cue, the birds launched forward in their next attack the same moment she darted toward the counter, her eyes on that bread knife even as she tried to duck around outstretched hand-talons.
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Like when she lunged for the knife. Two of the birds had been stunned, but there were four left, and all of them were flying right at her. Mamoru leapt into the way, eyes narrowed against beaks and claws, and seized one bird in each hand, getting one by the wing and one by the leg. He swung them around and slammed them into the counter, and they went limp. Mamoru wasn't sure if they were stunned or dead, and didn't care. He turned around, looking for the two left, and for Vanessa -- had she managed to grab the knife?
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Just as her fingers touched it, one of the birds circled back and tangled both claws into her hair, yanking hard. Surprised, Vanessa gave a cry and lost her balance, hitting the ground again and sending the knife skittering across the floor with the stupid bird still on her.
"Get. The hell--off!" She snarled and grabbed the bird off her head, climbing to her knees and slamming the creature into the wall behind the counter. Once. Twice. Three times until she was sure she felt hollow bones crumble in her hand.
She let the new carcass drop, fighting down a moment of revulsion and searched around for the knife. The other one was already coming in for another strike. Where the hell had it gone? Damnit, she needed that--
A beat. The world faded out for a moment, leaving her drifting. Then it cleared and her fingers closed around a handle.
There!
She dashed up to her feet, swinging the knife at the diving bird. She had expected the serrated blade to catch, maybe not even cut at all but instead, the weapon sliced through the bird like butter. The creature gave a feeble squawk and bounced off her stomach before hitting the ground and fluttering once more before going still in a spreading pool of blood.
That was... unexpected. She glanced down at the knife and blinked, staring at the long, curved blade of polished, razor-edged volcanic glass. This... this was not a bread knife. She was no weapons expert but she knew a blade meant for killing when she saw it.
"What the hell...?"
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That definitely wasn't there a moment ago. Is that something from that life we're getting things from...?
"Well, uh," he began, clearing his throat awkwardly. "That's all of them. For now."
The Starbucks was empty, broken glass and pastries and bird blood scattered across the floor.
"...we should go. Before the police show up."
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Her stomach heaved.
"Oh, fuck!" She staggered back away from the counter, raising her hand to her mouth and stopping just in time when she found it smeared with the remains of the bird she had gone all Hulk on.
Now Vanessa was not a squeamish person but this was just too much. Fucking hell it was on her! She may have let out a small shriek of disgust at the discovery and whirled around to grab the first thing she could find to wipe the bird guts off her hand. Which, as luck would have it, was Mamoru's apron.
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"Great, way to make me look like an axe murderer! This won't be conspicuous at all," he groaned.
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Oh, god, it was under her fingernails!
"I'm the one who's going to come out of here looking like a murderer anyway. So stop complaining." She muttered, still focused on her hand.
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"I'll come up with something." Now this knife was a problem. She might be able to explain away some blood on her clothes but that was a little too conspicuous.
She tossed a glance around the cafe before spotting an abandoned laptop bag that the owner had left behind while still securing their computer and headed straight for it, unzipping it and shoving the knife inside. That would do.