005: Snow Angel [Action/Anon Text]

[redsnowangel]

[Action: Cat's Eye Cafe]

[What a couple of months. Since Falan disappeared, Zelos had been trying to distract himself with work at the Cat's Eye Cafe and for the most part avoiding the communicators.

This Monday afternoon found him serving drinks and snacks, taking orders as usual. He was on a roll, and his pleasant smalltalk and flirtatious charm seemed to please the customers, at least.

It was only when he went on his afternoon break that he noticed it had begun to snow. Damn. Maybe he should call in sick tomorrow if it didn't let up?]

[OOC: Coworkers/customers/anything goes :)]

[Anon Text]



[That evening, Zelos tried to hurry back from the cafe as quickly as he could. The light snow had crept into Everglade as well, and right now he wanted nothing more than to get inside somewhere warm. Stupid weather.

Perhaps the best option right now would just be to find somewhere to stay in a city that wasn't full of snow? With the work he'd been doing, he had more than enough cash to stay at an inn for a couple of days in another city. So, he sent a text out - keeping it anonymous so his housemates wouldn't pick up on his lie.]

Been snowed out the house. Any cities snow-free right now?

Comments

text;

[hashtagged]

Attleton's cloudy. #Weather

anon text;

[redsnowangel]

Can work with cloudy. Thanks.

#Weather??

text;

[hashtagged]

Np.
It's a hashtag. Helps group messages together! #Welcome2theNet

anon text;

[redsnowangel]

[There's a bit of a delay in reply as Zelos huried towards Attleton. Once safely out the snow of Genessia and Everglade, he stopped to reply again. What is this strange symbol thing??]

A hashtag, huh? Looks kinda odd to me.

text;

[hashtagged]

It's normal for me.
I'm an avid tweeter.

anon text;

[redsnowangel]

...Tweeter? What's that?

text;

[hashtagged]

Twitter user.

anon text;

[redsnowangel]

[...Yeah, this was flying completely over Zelos' head. Right now, he really wasn't in the mood to deal with this, and he got the feeling she didn't want to deal with his questions either.]

Right. Guessing it's a different world thing.

You based in Attleton then?

text;

[hashtagged]

Seems like there's no twitter here.
I switch it up to wherever the weather is better bc I work outside.

action;

[behindthefakesmile]

[Fai should really be getting use to his workers working more than they should be. It happened to one and when he had finally decided to bother Zelos he did so with a smile from behind the counter.]

Something bothering you? Or are you working more for the money?

action;

[redsnowangel]

[Fai did seem to keep attracting these sorts, didn't he? Truth be told, Zelos enjoyed working for him - Fai kept an easygoing, pleasant atmosphere and didn't mind lighthearted banter with the rest of the staff. It kept work fun.

Although Zelos tried to mask his feelings as best he could, being asked outright if something was wrong took him by surprise.]

Hm? Aw, are you worried about me? I'm touched~

[He put up his usual fake smile, but something in the back of mind wondered if he could see through that? He wasn't going to get his hopes up.]

action;

[behindthefakesmile]

[He gave a small smile. He was good at seeing if he can pick up on things, but he figured he could always be wrong.]

Of course I am, wouldn't you be worried about your own workers?

[Considering Fai himself puts up his own fake smiles he could tell the difference, but he won't mention it unless he gets too worried.]

action;

[redsnowangel]

True, true. Guess it'd be pretty bad for business if we weren't working as well as we should be, right?

[The fact that Zelos was avoiding answering the first question at all probably indicated there might be something bothering him more than anything else.]

action;

[behindthefakesmile]

Exactly~

[Fai had soon moved to get an order ready to send out. Al the while he was still talking.]

You never did answer if something was bothering you.

action;

[redsnowangel]

[That was pretty efficient. Zelos was impressed.]

Weeell, you know, kinda wishing I brought a bigger coat with me. Looks really chilly out there, huh?

[Not entirely the truth, but not entirely a lie either. It wasn't the cold that bothered him, per se, but the damn snow.]

action;

[behindthefakesmile]

It is. I wish I had my coat. It was really warm.

[He still didn't manage to get that back yet. Even here he would be unable to anyway.]

action;

[redsnowangel]

Oh yeah? Guessing it was pretty special to you?

[Why else would he be pining after that one, and not just replace it with any other coat here? He'd passed by plenty of shops that sold winter wear since he got here.

As he spoke, Zelos took another glance out the window. Nope, that weather wasn't clearing up anytime soon.]

...So...think I might be coming down with something.

[Hopefully, he could make that sound as casual and unremarkable as possible. At least a cold would be a better excuse to hide in bed...but he soon realised a flaw in this plan.

At the moment, work was keeping him from thinking about everything else that was going on. But working would require going out in the snow. If he wanted to avoid the snow, he'd have to avoid work. Which would mean those thoughts he was trying to avoid would catch up on him.]

action

[caelum_melody]

[Haruka would wait until he was in the back for a second before giving him a shifty look. She had been a work-aholic from the start- desperately trying to support herself and wanting to buy a new car as well as a bigger apartment to fit the girls and her------ Zelos on the other hand? Hadn't worked this much since she'd known him.]

Something up?

[She questioned casually, though her position was clearly to keep him from going back out to flirt with table 5]

action

[redsnowangel]

[Haruka was certainly a familiar face, considering how she worked on almost every single shift he took. It stunned him a little how hard she was working, but figured that she either really enjoyed it, or had something big in mind. Being the sort who could count the people he looked out for on one hand, however, never cared enough to ask either way.

Once he'd gotten into the back room, he gave a faintly annoyed sigh. Hopefully the snow that had started falling wouldn't settle. Maybe it'd warm up before he had to leave.

He hadn't expected Haruka to come after him, so once she spoke up he started a little in surprise, glancing over his shoulder.]

Yo.

I'm good, I'm good~ [Filthy, filthy lies. Best put on the whiny voice.] Just wish I'd brought a bigger coat with me, it's got really cold out all of a sudden.

action

[caelum_melody]

[Haruka was half surprised at herself- she didn't usually make a move to be overtly caring - but he was taking her shifts this way. And her customers. While she wondered if he had yet figured out she was female- she never let up on the flirt war if she could help it. Still- he seemed to be working a lot more and that was not normal- whatever the reason. Haruka usually kept to herself, content to let people deal with their own problems- she always had been. But this was getting ridiculous...at least by her standards. Maybe the loneliness was really getting to her...]

So you're working this much because its cold outside?

Re: action

[redsnowangel]

[By now, Zelos had probably worked out Haruka's gender, but was happily playing the role of the naive fool. He didn't want her to know he'd realised yet.

Besides, flirt-war was war. Regardless of if his opponent was male or female.]

Yup, pretty much.

[He tried to laugh it off. It'd be easier on him if she assumed it was a stupid reason like that.]

action

[caelum_melody]

[game on- Haruka didn't care either.]

You've got to be joking.

[She grimaced then shrugged]

Look, stop steeling my shifts- thats cheating.

[she of course keeps this about competition....but it was her round about way of telling him she wasn't an idiot- though she really didn't know him well enough to tell exactly what it was]

action

[redsnowangel]

[Zelos, of course, was convinced he'd win. Clearly this was the only reason Haruka was complaining, right?]

What's wrong? Worried I'll take all the lovely hunnies for myself?

[He gave her an amused little smirk. Could she see through him? He wasn't sure just yet.]

action

[caelum_melody]

[She nodded softly, knowing it wasn't her business- and from the looks of it....he would be okay, for now... So she just smirked and put a hand on her hip]

Yeah with that mopey face you'll get the whole town to successfully run away from this shop....

[She was humble after all- but still confident in her abilities]

That includes my customers, so I could hardly stand by and watch quietly. You get that charming smile back on your face- keep it there- and provide me with the competition to at least keep things semi interesting. I depend on you to keep me amused so dont let me down alright?

[She took a couple of cup and turned back towards the door]

action

[redsnowangel]

[Wait. Was she actually worried about him? That was...weird. Really weird. And it had taken Zelos until now for that idea to finally sink in. Back home, people never took the effort to see if he was actually okay, behind the mask he put up. Here was a different world of course, but it was something he saw as universal; that people genuinely didn't give a damn about him and that's all he deserved.]

Aw come on, if I pull off the pout in just the right way, that's gonna make their little hearts melt so I get the biggest tips. I mean, cute hunnies always have a soft spot for a sensitive guy, right?

[He chuckled cooly, before flashing her his best grin, and a friendly wink for good measure. Whether this was real concern or not...he appreciated it.]

Looks like I'll have to up my game a bit, then. Wouldn't want you getting bored with me.

...Thanks.