You Reject My Advances and Desperate Pleas [February 14]

[dead_black_eyes]

WHO: Lazarus Lawliet and YOU
WHEN: That loviest of days, February 14, pretty much all day
WHERE: Espresso Yourself
WHAT: Someone higher up on the management ladder saw an ironic valentine and thought it would be awesome if baristas handed out hand-made ones to customers on V-Day. As the shop's resident "writer," L was given some scissors and a magazine and tasked with this. The result... well. Tag this, if you really want to see the result.
WARNINGS: L would rather be detectiving. L's grasps on irony, humor, romance, and valentines are also tenuous at best, especially together. This could get dark.



Since hiring L, Espresso Yourself had been a very accommodating employer. Equal opportunity and largely catering to college-aged hipsters, their customer base and employees consisted predominantly of Millennials, and every stereotype had softly saturated much of the shop's attitude toward the generation. L had enjoyed leaning on crutches in the past, finding ways to pardon himself from the ordeals of living life and interacting with other human beings. He had used and abused diagnoses and disadvantages for this purpose, but Espresso Yourself, as a business, seemed determined not only to accommodate his needs, but to boost his self-esteem by making him feel important and necessary.

A young woman in a higher management position had beckoned him aside the day before, offering him an "important project" to keep such a "talented writer" busy. Following his most recent echoes, L thought he knew what actually comprised an "important project," but it had been awhile since his last echo, and it was beginning to frustrate him. He'd been a child-saver, a detective, and he'd been very good at what he did, and every day another pulse didn't occur was a day he was being denied and held hostage by his own life.

Excitedly, the woman had handed him a stack of magazines, some glue, some construction paper, and a pair of blunted safety scissors, explaining the project. Her over-bright eyes and too-wide smile told L that she knew about him, and had therefore dismissed him on an unforgivable level. The condescension was newly unacceptable to a man who knew that his preincarnation had been great, and he resolved to make the project uniquely his own.

Behind the counter, he has a stack of them next to the cash register. They resemble ransom notes more than valentines, but at least his standard look of utter contempt is dialed back a bit. You might actually feel like you can approach the counter today.

Comments

lmk if action's ok

[centurian]

[ Gerald's running a little late to work today. But, like hell he's going to run late to work and not get his morning coffee.

Still, he's going to try and be as friendly as possible when he places his order, paying no attention to the... random notes behind the counter.

Hey, he's getting used to weird crap in this city. ]

Mind if I get a large caramel macchiato?

[beyondrebirthday]

[For the first time since learning about L's work, BB heads over after class to check it out. It's not that he actually celebrates Valentine's - losing his family, becoming more and more disinterested in making friends, and never experiencing love outside of his favorite shoujo manga, it did nothing for him at all - but he can tolerate it as an excuse to buy special sweets.

The place seems fairly quiet. The few hipsters sticking around seemed like they were the bitter type. Though, he wonders if he should apply to this type.]

Heh hehn. Not much of a date spot is it? [he's saying it mostly to himself, but his self-talk isn't always the best contained. He gets a few glares, which he ignores on his way to the counter.]

Hi there.

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura considered this valentines day a success. No new idiot girls attempting to "woo" him with idiot gifts, no one asked him out on a date, and he had managed to dodge his idiot fan club without getting in trouble.

For once, it had been quiet.

Thank god. If he would have realized punching someone in the face would have gotten people off his back, he would have done it much sooner...

He pushed open the door to the coffee shop, not paying attention to who was behind the counter as he reached for his wallet. "Green tea. No sugar."

[belphe]

The java kiosk at the plaza was, ordinarily, Belle's go-to for her daily iced mocha. However, with the usual barista out on maternity leave, and the position being temporarily filled by a foul-tempered teen who had made her dislike of Belle's choice of career abundantly clear, she found her options in need of a shift.

Expresso Yourself was, sadly, the most convenient establishment to stop in at on her way to work, and so she did, hoping that there might be more than Lazarus manning the counter.

[occasus]

[ Caffiene is the nectar of the gods, especially if you're hungover. Hungover, and ready to splurge on something that's not from a gas station. He's got dark circles around his eyes and a smoke behind his ear, making him look the picture of a college kid despite not actually being in any higher education in any way, shape or form. But more importantly, Kei's zombie-like shambling has found Espresso Yourself.

...Wow, that name. Just. wow. He'd roll his eyes at the name if it hadn't hurt to breathe let alone move. ]

Coffee. [ Good job. ] Uh--Large. A gallon if possible.

[comparative_insanity]

[Well, here comes someone who is a stark contrast of Lazarus' mental state, all bright smiles and bubbly excitement - clearly someone who loves everything about Valentine's day and everything that comes with it this year. Previously he hasn't been so much on the bitter Single's Awareness Day side of it so much as the cynical Hopefully I Will Get Laid side, but this year he's actually feeling romantic and doesn't know how to deal with the unfamiliar overflow of it. Hence being more than usually quite obnoxious.

And of course he's here to get breakfast for him and his Valentine. Of course.]

I want, let's see... a large chocolate and mint iced latte with lots of cream, and... ah, some kind of black tea, no milk or sugar, probably something like English-y. [Wow, helpful.] And two of those salmon bagels, and... oh, those heart cookies over there look like death on a plate, I'll have four.