2014-07-03 - A Coffee A Day

Warm Hands Cafe - New York City

The sign atop the door sets the tone with a pair of blue mittens holding a steaming mug and the elegantly written words: "Warm Hands Cafe". The place is done in warm colors and those that have coffee to stay actually get it in real, thick, chocolate colored mugs with images of red mittens on them. The clean mugs are stacked atop the back counter near the two registers for quick access as well as set for a pretty design. The small, round tables have real table clothes on them, but intelligently also a chocolate color much like the mugs themselves, as do the benches along the walls. The floor is a dark cream tile and the walls a warm, almost dark barn red. Pictures of kittens with mittens, snow scenes of children with mittens building snowmen and other such decorative themes adorn the walls of the cafe. The windows are small and high to permit sunlight in during the day but not allow people to spy inside the shop. During warm weather, the patio area to the one side of the shop is opened so people can enjoy the sunlight or the false lights of the city at night. The patio is enclosed by a tall, chocolate colored wooden fence to permit privacy just like inside. There is a gate inserted in the back ally wall of the fence with an 'Exit' sign, and a sign which reads: 'For Emergencies Only'. Finally, white string lights are alight at night along the ceiling edges inside and the fence tops, the false lights kept dim to provide a more intimate feel to the place. The menu includes all sorts of coffees, cappuccinos (flavored and otherwise), teas, muffins, cookies, pastries, bistros, flavor sticks (peppermint, chocolate, mint, etc), crackers (including British ones) and of course sandwiches. It is a popular place to snack and have lunch, and during rush hours have plenty of to-go orders. The attendants all wear uniforms: a red polo shirt to match the paint on the walls, warm chocolate colored pants, and back shoes. Accessories are welcomed to spice things ups, the ladies often wearing a colored scarf and the men flashy belts.

Oh, it was early. Far too early. Peter had roughly an hour and a half since the photo shoot had been pushed back. But it was early. Oh so early. So sipipng at a cup of coffee and trying to wake up to ready himself for nine hours of taking photographs for the Bugle's fashion section.

Looking uncomfortable, Nico the asian witch comes in the door. That's not a judgement, she's an asian girl who has the word "WITCH" emblazoned across her white t-shirt in big bold black letters. She does however look exhausted and uncomfortable as she walks to the desk and asks where the bathroom is.

When informed that the bathroom is only for paying customers, she starts fishing in her pockets for loose change and generally coming up with pocket lint. The desk clerk narrows his eyes at her annoyed for wasting his time. She keeps digging though.

"WOULD YOU LIKE ANYTHING ELSE, SIR?"

The voice rings out from behind the counter of the Warm Hands Cafe -- belonging to you a young man probably in his late teens or so, nervously addressing the customer standing in front of him. The customer in question is a tall man in a dapper suit, carrying a cane in one hand. He has dark, curly-ish hair and wears a pair of circular, dark sunglasses on his face. The people standing behind him in the queue sort of... wince, or grimace, at the youth's somewhat loud question, while a few others smirk and resist the urge to giggle.

Some succeed.

The blind man (for he is blind), leans back as if away from a loudspeaker and snorts a chuckle as he reaches for his wallet and places cash on the counter. "I'm quite alright, son," he tells the youth in an accent that sounds lightly European. "It's only my eyes, not my ears. Thank you." After paying, the man steps away from the counter -- cane in one hand, coffee in the other -- and begins what appears to be a very precarious safari through bustling people, moving legs and nudging elbows. Upon hearing a nearby girl ask for the bathroom, he raises his voice and replies:

"Of course. It's behind me and to your left. Just follow the scent of organic soap..." He smiles.

Alas, poor Peter. He remembers NIco - not many girls can swear as well as explode so profusely in such a way. Oh, she's with the hat girl. And now Peter definitely maintains his mental association as he triest o stumble a bit more down in his pockets then. While wincing over at the very loud and booming voice of the waiter trying to be very helpful then. Peter shoots the man a sympathetic glance and then mentally groans at his own sort of not helping.

Nico pulls a dollar out of her pocket, and a handful of silver. She puts it on the counter and says, "Keep the change, I don't want coffee I just need to pee already." Her voice sounds decidedly teenage annoyance; nobody can really pull off that condescending tone toward all adults quite like you can at that age. And with that, she vanishes in the direction of the scent of organic soap, throwing a "Thank you!" back at the blind man with completely the opposite tone of voice.

The door slamming is audible all the way through the shop, as the clerk sticks the money that Nico put on the counter into his own pocket instead of the till. Nobody's looking after all. A waitress does come by Peter's table however with refills if he wants one.

The Doctor 'hmphs' in sympathy for the girl.

Then his lips form a thin line.

Turning his head but not his body, Cross appears as if he is going to reprimand the clerk -- then he thinks better of it, lets out a breath, and starts walking. He has scarcely gone a few steps when his cane strikes the ankle of someone sitting at a table. "I -- oh dear." He angles his face toward the owner of said ankle:

Peter Parker.

"I apologise," he tells the young fellow. "I swear this thing has a mind of its own."

Peter's attention is more over on Nico then, but given that the Doctor otherwise isn't any sort of threat, his Spider-Sense doesn't trigger then over as Doctor Cross goes to walk along then and the cane hooks accidentally about hisankle. Peter goes to let out a yelp then, even as his arms spalid up and out and his somewhat lukewarm coffee went flying, ending up splattering him over on the face then as it went drirbbling down, "That's one way to wake up.."

Time passes for a girl in the latrine faster than it does for those outside. Still, Nico spends her time well. She pulls the scarf out of her little bag and looks at it, then up at where Oscorp Tower would be in her mind's eye, and she checks her watch. She does, in fact, use the toilet given the state of her nerves. Nearly throws up actually.

The little lady carefully places the scarf back into the bag and gathers her nerves together, to peek out the doorway and see if anyone is watching. She then comes out the door trying to look as if nothing is going on and everything is normal.

Cross stands stock-still, trying not to wince as he hears Parker trip, fall, faceplant... followed by the telltale 'splish' of lukewarm coffee landing all over him.

"Mmmmph!"

Lowering his visage, he hooks his cane under his left arm, passes his coffee into his left hand, and holds out his right to the young man. "I... I don't know what to say!" he exclaims dryly, giving a little shake of his head as he appears to stare at the floor. "I'm mortified."

He turns his head to the side just a little, to direct his voice at the waitress -- who is trying hard not to stare, not to laugh...and not to stare more, with marginal success. "Would you mind fetching this poor fellow another drink -- my treat. My apology, rather." He reaches for his wallet again.

Peter Parker shakes his head, "Nah, it's okay, really.." WIth otherwise the somewhat cheap flannel shirt he had on now soaked otherwise with lukewarm coffee, the waitress too busy laughing at him to be of much help then as Peter went to dab away over at it with the Doctor "Thanks, and.."

Then the doors slammed open.

"HAH! Some things don't change Puny Parker!"

Then, flash of Flash Thompson's cell phone, "This is definitely' goin' up on the Facebook wall." Accursed technology.

The girl with the witch t-shirt and the corset comes out of the washroom, almost glad for the diversion as she heads to the window and slips as quietly as she can into a window seat. She leans over, peeking through the blinds that are pulled right now to protect the customers from the evening sun, and stays there looking as calm as she can manage.

It's really not very calm, but it's also a very minor background issue compared to the arrival of Mr. Thompson to the cafe. He does draw the eye. Nico for her part seems...distracted, and mumbles "come on, come on..." quietly but very worriedly.

Two things pull at Doctor Cross' attention then, as he lowers his hand and nods to the waitress to let Parker have his way.

On one side, he hears the sneer (it's hard not to) in Flash Thompson's voice, and it elicits a reproachful frown from him. One the other side, he catches the anxiety in the whisper of 'come on, come on...' which has him tilting his head just enough to better hear.

"A friend of yours?" he asks Parker with a raised eyebrow. The doctor lifts his coffee to his own lips and has a sip.

Peter Parker watches over at the girl in the corset and blinks then, and before he can say anything over to Nico, he's got Flash setting down over next ot him, "So, what brings you over here Parker?" Flash's tone is cheerful and teasing but not belligerent. He also ogles Nico then, before turning over to Doctor Cross, "Yo, Flash Thompson. Star quarterback for ESU."

Peter let out a groan, glancing over at NIco, "Uhm, you okay?"

The first thing that Flash gets to see, with the amazing sense for being ogles of the teenaged girl, is the middle finger she raises in his direction. That's the only attention Flash gets from the goth chick though, she doesn't even look up from the window for him.

When Peter asks his question though the tone of concern gets her attention just a little. "Yeahfine," she mumbles, too fast, and clutches the little bag to her chest a little bit. "Sorry, I'll go, enjoy your coffee spill." She gets up, heading for the door with worry openly on her face.

"Flash Thompson..." Cross muses verbally. "Star quarterback." Then he snorts faintly. "No wonder I haven't heard of him." He addresses Parker with his words, not Thompson -- on purpose. "Pieter Cross," he says a moment later to the young man so recently baptized by coffee. "Physician...retired." He goes to say something else, but pauses with his mouth open, until he motions with the arm holding his cane toward the exit.

"Your... friend? sounds worried, Mr... Parker? Maybe you should go see what is wrong. I'm sure Mr. Thompson won't mind."

Peter Parker glances over at the girl, "Uhm, we haven't met, she just seems really nervous. So if you can keep Flash entertained, sure." Giving a timid wave over at Nico, he went over to approach her, "Err, you all right? You look like Doctor Doom is about to parade down main street." Probably worse.

Flash glances over, "This is the part where she's gonna dump something over on his head. And didn't know Parker was over into Goth Girls." Flash went over to amuse himself, then taking a chug of Peter's just fresh coffee.

Nico Minoru reacts quite noticeably to the mention of Doctor Doom. "Where?!" she mildly freaks out a bit, actually looking out the door. She closes her eyes a moment, resetting to zero, and says, "It's nothing thanks mister, go back to your life and your bad friend stealing your coffee, alright?"

Nico actually turns to look Peter right in the eyes, an honest expression on her face for once, and says, "I appreciate the fact that you want to help. Yes I look like I'm in trouble. Don't. Just don't, okay? It's over your head and danger is very real, no matter what the comic books tell you."

She actually looks like adding that it's over hers too, but she opens the door and goes out with a 'thanks though' called back through the doorway as she vanishes into the evening, heading across the street towards Oscorp where there seems to be a small group of businessmen gathering.

"My mistake; I apologise," Cross replies to Peter for his assumption regarding the nervous young woman. To Flash, he merely shrugs and sips more of his own coffee. "I don't hear any upended coffee-cups," he remarks blandly... as his attention is really on the girl. As the frown on the doctor's face begins a change from 'reproving' to 'curious', he unhooks his cane and turns in the direction of the door.

"I hope the rest of your day is better, Mr. Parker," he tells the youth, then he makes his way outside. As he reaches the door, Cross idly taps the side of his sunglasses, appearing to itch near his eye, and triggers a scan across the lower light-spectra, hoping to spot the girl.

Successful or not, he picks a direction and starts walking.

A doctor could never resist a person in distress, anyway.

There was a half whimper over from Peter, "Look, sure you're all right?" Glancing around over then and rubbing "Look I've had to room with Flash and everything. Have you ever tried to cross the freeway or anything when traffic is coming in? Sure it might be dead but those bicycle messengers are dangerous." But still, waiting for his Spider-Sense to go off. Watching Nico run off before looking at Doctor and Flash, "WE should go after her."

Flash went to glance at Doctor Cross, "Well, dunno. Anyways, take care man. Nice meeting you." Flash gives a wave, still going to sip over at the coffee then while whistling cheerfully and enjoying the coffee.

The girl vanishes into the group of businessmen who grab her and vanish into Oscorp without another word. Oddly, she doesn't fight them as if she were expecting something of the sort to happen, and that's it. She's just gone into the tall glass and steel building; could be anywhere in moments, or on another planet. The businessmen all seemed very similar to each other; this was definitely a planned pickup.

END TRANSMISSION