In for a penny (open)

It was raining. The weather report said that it would be partly cloudy with a small chance of rain throughout the day. Well, they goofed. It wasn't just kind of raining, it was actually raining. And best of all, she had left her umbrella at home because there wasn't supposed to be so much rain. And in the off chance that there would be, she would be inside at work right? Not so much.

She had an early day today, planned for an all day workday like normal. Alice didn't mind the extra hours, it helped pay the bills. So here she was now running through the rain, coat pulled over her head, still dressed in her uniform trying to find a place to wait out the rain. Waiting at a cross walk, she took a whiff of the air, her mind filled with the names of each scent as they mixed with each other and wafted gently through the air around her. Nobody realized just how much they were missing, but maybe she mused, that was also a good thing.

Her stomach growled alittle. It was hungry, probably due to working at one of the local restaurants. For a gluttonous demon, preparing and serving food was utter torture. If not for her little pendant, she'd have a hard time restraining herself. When she could cross, she followed one scent in particular which eventually led her to a cozy little cafe she'd been too a couple of times recently. It was quiet, and hidden among the more popular places and was usually overlooked. And that was fine with her.

Alice also liked the coffee they made, much better then other places she'd been too... which were also crowded alot. Made her uncomfortable just waiting in line. At any rate, she ducked inside and headed for her favorite seat. But once she looked up, she saw someone else sitting there...

...And this person happened to be Michael, a white haired boy sitting with his nice, hot cup of coffee and a slice of apple pie. He seemed to be covered in a sort of white, shining energy; a protection shield he had made to keep himself dry when he was out in the rain earlier. As he was walking however, he had come across this particular cafe and was enjoying it's pie, when he noticed a girl had approached his seat. He look up at her, having just taken a bite of pie, and after eating it blinked once. Why was this girl staring at him? "Um...can I help you?" he asked. He didn't speak with a kind of attitude that implied she was bothering him, rather he was just curious why she looked at him the way she did. Had he done something wrong? Did she think he was cute? Did she want something? He didn't know.

She should have expected someone would have been in her seat, it wasn't like she had it on reservation or anything. But there were other places to sit apart from this one that a person could have picked. That was one reason why she liked this spot, it wasn't always occupied. Alice noticed the strange white glow emanating from him, obvious a metahuman. Alice was briefly distracted by the smell of pie before she managed to reply. "Hi... you're in my favorite seat," she stated more then anything.

This was alittle awkward. After a moment of thought she followed up with, "May I join you then?" she asked politely. It was obvious that she didn't want to be at any other table besides this one. But she was too polite to ask him to leave when he had gotten there first.

Michael blinked as the girl said that he was in her favorite seat. She must come here regularly. "Oh..." he said, looking at the table he was at. "I didn't realize this spot was anything special. Though I guess it does have a nice street view." he said, looking out the window.

He then looked back to Alice, and after a moment gave her a smile. "Yeah sure, you can sit here. I mean hey, if there's an empty seat then why wouldn't you be able to? I don't mind your company, as long as you don't mind mine." ^^ He hoped his presence wouldn't bother her too much. He gathered that this cafe was a nice place to relax and he wondered if that was why she came here. As a place to relax with a cup of coffee or whatever er favorite thing to order was. If so, he hoped he wouldn't hinder that relaxation.

"Thanks," Alice said throwing her coat over the back of a chair and finding a seat. She couldn't help but notice a weird smell emanating from him that she knew she'd smelled before, but the name escaped her. He didn't smell normal at all. "I'm Alice by the way," Alice introduced herself.

Michael smiled at her, offering his hand to shake as he returned the introduction. "I'm Michael. Nice to meet you." He noticed he still had his shield up, which he realized might distract from conversation. "One moment, let me get rid of this." he said, before soon dissipating the shield. The glow faded and vanished and he grinned to her. "There, that's better. No need to leave that up I suppose now that I'm out of the rain. So then, you come here often?" he asked as he picked up his coffee to take a sip.

Alice looked at Michael's hand timidly. It was evident, that the idea of shaking it made her uncomfortable for some reason. But she didn't like being rude either. So she was thankful by the change of topic. "Recently yes. It's usually always on the way from one of my jobs. I like it. It's never too busy here, and I can come here to relax on my break or after work," she replied, alittle nervous. She didn't talk to people much.

"What about you?" she asked curiously.

Michael made a mental note of her hesitance to shake his hand and apparent timidity. Michael assumed she must be more introverted and didn't usually talk to strangers, which he could understand. He made a mental note to keep that in mind. In response to her question, Michael quietly laughed a little and looked to the rest of the cafe. "I just came in to get a hot cup of coffee and warm up. I've never been here before and came in to get out of the rain. I mean I know it's cold and everything, but I didn't expect it to rain until later and didn't dress for that." He looked back to her, seeing her coat still wet after her run through the shower outside, and laughed again. "I take it you weren't planning on being caught in the rain either, huh?" ^^

Alice blushed on reflex and lowered her gaze for a moment. "Y-yes. The weatherman said that there would only be a small chance of rain throughout the day," Alice replied. It was true, she hadn't planned on it raining this hard. He seemed nice, and that made it harder for her to talk to him. Besides the being handsome part. Oh! And she felt embarrassed that she was still in her work uniform and smelled like fast food! Speaking of food, she remembered that she was hungry after a friendly reminder from her bottomless pit of a stomach. That didn't make her feel any less embarrassed.

"H-have you tried the food here?" Alice said in a slightly higher pitch then she meant, trying to pass off her stomach growling. "I mean- all they serve besides coffee is baked goods. But they make everything fresh," Alice added in a more normal pitch.

Michael nodded in agreement to her reply, but noticed her embarrassment. However he pretended not to, and again came to the conclusion that she must be a more sensitive introvert. In response to her question he looked down at the half eaten apple pie in front of them. "Well I haven't really had anything other than this, but it's pretty good and I'm sure everything else they have is too." He then took a bite from his pie before asking in an attempt to make conversation, "So what do you normally get when you come here?"

It was at this point that he noticed she had not gotten any food yet. "Um...speaking of which, are you going to get anything?" He chuckled softly before adding, "I mean, I almost feel bad just sitting here and eating in front of you like this." ^^;

"Oh, right. Yeah, I was," Alice said when he asked about if she was going to get anything. It had just been moved to the back of her mind once she saw him sitting at her favorite table. "And to answer your question, I usually get a cappuccino and a doughnut. I like the ones with the cream or jelly filling the most," she added, getting the attention of a passing waitress.

That problem would be solved soon. Her stomach still growled impatiently. "So... um, do you live around here?" she asked, trying to make conversation.

Michael nodded at her response. He might have to try those sometime. He listened to her question and responded, "Well..not exactly close to here. I live in an apartment complex several blocks away." He took another bite of pie before asking, "What about you?"

"O-oh. Yeah, I don't really make enough money to afford my own place, so I've sort of been living out of hotels for the last couple of months," Alice replied thinking back for a moment. This implied that she did have her own place, or atleast had roommates in the past. Which obviously didn't work out in some form or another. Alice finally got her order, taking a moment to breathe in the aroma before taking a sip of her cappuccino.

Michael listened as Alice said she had been living in hotels, and wondered if that was actually more expensive than getting an apartment. "..I see" he said simply, taking another bite of pie. He wondered if there was something he might be able to do to assist her, but couldn't think of much at the time. He pondered on that, and as he did so watched as she took a drink of her coffee.

In an attempt to make conversation, and also learn more about the girl and her situation, he asked; "So where do you work? If you don't mind my asking."

Alice set her cup down for a moment to reply, "I work at a few places. Today, it was the pizza parlor down the block. Supposedly, the original Teen Titans used to go there alot. And that was one reason why I decided to work there," Alice replied, wondering what ever happened to them. "Then there's Burger Town... and then there's T.G.I Fridays," Alice counted off the names of her current jobs.

"Where do you work?" she asked curiously, taking a bite out of her doughnut.