2019-08-30 - More Like Ben FranklInk

The inside of Espresso Yourself thrums with activity this morning, patrons coming in and out to grab their orders to go, while other settle down at tables and fill the air with the quiet sounds of their conversations. Geoff finds himself sitting alone at his table, a coffee cup set before him while the bulk of his attention is spent on scrolling something on his phone.

Abby wanders in and heads for the counter to order a drink. But before she makes it that far, she peppers her route with morning cheer. "Hello." Apparently a couple of faces, at least, are familiar, but even strangers at least get a smile, and the barista gets a, "Hi. Good morning, how are you." Then she places her order, coffee with all kinds of unhealthy stuff in it. Unhealthier than the coffee, even. She checks her phone too, humming while she waits, eyes darting around to search the tables.

Geoff seems faintly taken aback by the random smile thrown his way, and offers one /and/ a dip of his head to the woman. The seating situation in the coffee shop is grim as it seems the only available seats are at tables that are at least partially occupied. Turning back to his phone he sends off another quick text before placing it face down on the table and grabbing up his coffee to sip from.

Abby taps away a quick text, then tucks her phone away and hums, leaning an elbow against the counter. Then she leans forward, eyeing one of the display cases, hesitates, chews her lip, and eventually points to a brownie. By the time her coffee arrives, she has a brownie too. She definitely needs a table. So off she goes through the coffee shop, searching for a place, a quest that eventually brings her to Geoff's table. "Hi! I'm sorry, is this seat taken? I think /everyone/ came here for coffee this morning," she says with a bright, friendly smile, nose crinkling in an apologetic wince.

Geoff shakes his head at that question and gestures to the empty seats, "Nope, go ahead and have a seat, be my guest." glancing about at the other busy tables he frowns "It really does seem like everyone just decided to descend on this place like a plague of locusts all at once." pulling his phone so it isn't in the way he offers with an easy going grin "The name's Geoff by the way, figure if we're going to be table buddies we might as well be friendly, yeah?"

Abby sets down her brownie and coffee and slides herself into a seat with a small sigh. Up closer, she has dark circles under her eyes, but the amiable warmth remains unabated, nearly sunny. "I know. It's usually not this full. Not that I come here very often at this hour, I suppose," she remarks with a quick glance both ways, then carefully raises her coffee for a sip and hums. "Nice to meet you, Geoff! I'm Abby. And I definitely agree. I'm in favor of friendliness in general, I suppose."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Abby, and you're right I haven't seen it this full before." Geoff says with an easy going grin "Had a bit of a headache this morning, thought coffee would solve it, and bam everyone just appears after I sit down." He shakes his head ruefully at this, as if very much wishing it would be pose peaceful. His voice is gruff, but its the sort of gruffness that seems to be naturally at home there "I take friendliness on a case by case baseness, I only have so much to give out after all." this culminates in a playful wink which prompts him to actually study his table mate. Perhaps a bit rude, if intended in good nature he asks "You doing okay chica, you look a bit tired."

After the first sip, Abby takes a second one. Longer, enjoying her coffee-like beverage. This one ends in a sigh and a small smile, and she turns her attention to the brownie, raising it to her mouth for an eager little bite. "Hmmm," she nods, offering a sympathetic look across the table at the mention of a headache. "No one's being too loud, at least?" Her gaze drifts across the coffee shop, pausing as she wiggles her fingers in a wave at another patron. Returning to Geoff, she smiles and shrugs, "Oh, just a little bit. I had a busy shift last night. I could've slept in, though."

Geoff says rather dryly "They're all being too loud, but figure I'll finish coffee first." one hand coming to rub at his brow as if in the vain hope it'll make the headache retreat "Yeah figured I could have slept in, but the best option sometimes is to get out of bed and put your fee to the street." arching an eyebrow he asks "So what sort of field are you in if you're having shifts like that?"

"Well, you know what they say, loudness is in the ear of the be- listener," Abby says with a slightly too big smile. Maybe she's just a morning person, late shifts or not. She munches on her brownie and rests her jaw on the heel of her hand for a moment, casting her gaze out towards the nearest window for a moment. "I'm a nurse over at Addington Memorial," she answers the question with a small smile, fingers raised to cover a tiny yawn. "What do you do?"

Geoff runs his fingers back through his hair with a rather open yawn before it is once again time to drink some of his coffee "Well at least I know if I end up in the hospital they've got cute nurses." and another yawn "Oh I own the tattoo shop down on Elm, Pens and Needles. Though I guess the more non hipster coffee shop appropriate answer is that I'm an artist." He does seem to have a slew of tattoos that peak out from beneath the sleeves of his black t-shirt.

Abby presses her lips tighter together to avoid the cascade of yawn contagion, though she clearly wants to. Instead, she has a little more brownie. She subtly rolls her eyes at the compliment, smiling between two bites of brownie. "They do! I'm sure you'll get to meet them some day. Hopefully not so soon, of course. I mean, I wouldn't go and hurt myself just for a trip to the ER. Gosh, that would be a reallyexpensive dating service," she comments with a grin, eyebrows rising at the mention of the tattoo shop. "Oh, that's nice. I just have the one and it's tiny. And sure, you just work with... a different kind of medium, I suppose. Or a different canvas, anyway."

Geoff snorts at that seeming amused by the deflection and nodding his head "Yeah, I think I'll just stay away from that dating service. I tend to like not getting injured." at the mention of her tattoo he grins and asks "What kind of ink did you get done?" his expression shifting to be a touch more mischievous as he teases "Already I can tell you're the type of person whose got a memento mori piece. Something dark and macabre to remind you that death is inevitable, yeah?"

"You don't /have/ to get injured. You could just fake it," Abby suggests, a finger tapping lightly on the edge of her coffee cup while she ponders the scenario, lowering her voice to add, "Probably not the best first impression, though." Then she straightens slightly in her chair, pushing back her shoulders and rolling her neck, biting back a giggle into a grunt at the mention of her hypothetically dark and macabre piece. "Or maybe I have a pot leaf on the small of my back." She doesn't. She's not that good a liar.

Geoff dips his head and nods along with the suggestion of faking it "Yes I'll just fake back pain or something and throw money at it to meet the nurses." he laughs and shakes his head "Aside from getting on a government watch list for suspected junkies, I think I'll have to pass on it. I already get annoyed enough at work when people don't get that boundry that we're there to work, not flirt with them. Not to mention I imagine that hospital smell is the best way to kill any sparks." finally fishing off his coffee he sets it to the side "Hmmm, the pot leaf is a strong contender there. Or just coming out of left field, maybe you got a tattoo of Thumper from bambi on your hip."

"There are some regulars who just come in because they're lonely, as far as I can tell, but I don't think the odds of finding a date that way are very good, no," Abby has to admit with a slight defeated slump to her shoulders as Geoff casts doubt on her brilliant plan. She keeps going through her brownie, slow but steady, one small bite at a time. She keeps an eyebrow up high and her lips crooked into an amused grin as she listens to Geoff's suggestions. "Oh, that's getting closer. Kind of. Not really. You know, sadly I wasn't old enough to get dark, macabretattoos while I was going through my goth phase. Unless I got them in the back of someone's trailer, probably along with at least two strains of hepatitis."

Geoff brings a hand to his heart "Ouch, it sounds like you're dissing the the tattoos I do in the back of my trailer." The offense clearly feigned as his eyes still shine bright with amusement. With a chuckle he says "So with work eating up your time, and flirting there being clearly a bad idea. Where do you go and find your dates?" Though clearly he's been thinking through all of this about what sort of tat Abby might have "Okay let's I'm betting you either got something floral or a bird. Am I close?"

Abby raises a hand in a gesture of appeasement. "Not at all! I'm sure all the equipment you use in the back of your trailer is sterile and complies with every regulation. Not so much my cousin's." She grimaces. The question regarding her dates merits another small, amused smile and a shake of her head. "Oh, lately I find all my dates in the wondrous land of make-believe. That's about it." Then she takes a sip of coffee, finishing with a quick nod and a sharper arch to her eyebrows, smile going wider. "Mmhmm! It's one of those two."

"Okay so I'm gonna guess you've got a floral piece because the first thing you went to for joking was also a plant." Geoff reasons in his best gruff Sherlock Holmes impression "Maybe a small flower on the inside of an ankle?" his fingers now lightly drumming on the tabletop and that faint look of pain from his headache now gone. "As for what I got at home, yeah I use the shop autoclave to sterilize anything I use. Gotta keep everything up to standard....Not that I do shit at home. Just the occasional customer who'd feel more comfortable paying extra for a house visit."

Abby keeps a serious, attentive face while Geoff demonstrates his powers of deduction, though the corners of her mouth start to twitch. "Oh, that's a very interesting line of reasoning," she nods in approval, but breaks into a grin and shrugs. "I'm afraid it's a bird, though," she says, sounding almost genuinely apologetic for ruining the Sherlock Holmes bit. "And it's not on my ankle. It's much better hidden. But that was pretty close!" She points out from above her cup of coffee, shaking her head. "Right, I'd expect someone who owns an actual shop would care about that sort of thing."

Geoff sighs and hangs his head in defeat "Damn, but at least I had it narrowed down pretty good to start with ." leaning back in his chair he grows a bit more serious "Yeah I've seen what happens when you give tattoos in bad conditions with unsanitary tools. It's not pretty and can ruin someone's life. Not about to go do that." tapping right near his heart he says "I've got my own bird tattoo here, got it ages back but still one of my absolute favorites since it has meaning behind it, you know."

"You did! I was very impressed," Abby hastily assures Geoff while she finishes her brownie. "I suppose our lines of work have that in common, don't they? We both have to be careful about the needles we poke people with," she remarks with a smile, eyes widening slightly. Her gaze drops to the place on Geoff's chest where he taps at the mention of the bird, and nods her head in understanding. "Mine has a meaning, kind of. Well, it did at the time, when I got it. Now I guess it's mostly a reminder. And it's pretty. That counts for something too, right? And it's a kind of a bad pun, too."

"Yeah you've got to care about your clients, even if they suck sometimes. It's why I have a policy of I don't do initials or names...Unless its of their kids in which case I don't mind sticking them with a reminder they had a kid. Too easy for stuff to change." Geoff explains with a wry sort of smile "There are so many bad ideas out there that half my job seems like it is just to remind people 'hey this won't translate well to ink, or are you sure you want to get a tattoo, there? That'll be a grand." winking playfully he shares in a whisper "I just crank up my prices when I think something is a bad idea or I don't want to do it. If they're that dedicated then sure, we can go ahead. As far as your tattoo goes, being a pun and thinking it's pretty as well as a reminder is a great reason. It's part of you, so you should enjoy it."

Abby peers at Geoff over her cup of coffee and nods, but after a second holds up a finger. "What if it's - I don't know, BF, for Benjamin Franklin?" Done with the brownie, she still has her caffeinated beverage to sip on, and does so while she listens, smirking slightly at the price hike for bad ideas. "I see some terrible ones at work. So I suppose that's probably a good thing... though if they still get it and end up regretting it later, they'll have extra regrets for how much they paid for it." She sounds like she's sorry for these hypothetical customers, then brightens up, "And I do enjoy it. It's not a bad reminder. And it's also a reminder that things change, but that's not a bad thing."

Geoff says with a completely straight face "If someone can look me in the eye without breaking and tell me they want to get BF for Ben Franklin on them, then I'll do it and offer to throw in a GW for George Washington for Free." reaching into his back pocket he pulls out a wallet and a business card to set on the table "I've got to run but if you ever want to grab coffee again, hit me up. It was nice to meet you, Abby." and with that he's standing with a low groan "I think I'm gonna see if I can't find a food truck somewhere...Preferably tacos."