2019-09-01 - Juggling Coffee

It's morning out, pleasant if a touch heavy in the air, and that means the coffee shop is a perfect place to be to people watch. Dylan has taken up a perch near the window so he can watch not just those who come and go inside, but through the large window as well. A half full cup of tea is set out before him, though the bulk of attention rests on his sketchpad. Fingers curl about a pencil, a pencil that remains quite still. Out he stares, either lost in some thought, or blocked on just what he wants to capture today.

Looking a bit like she might have just rolled out of bed, almost, Nicole walks towards the coffee shop at a leisurely pace. Running a hand through tousled, wavy hair, she stops when she sees Dylan in the window. Letting her hair fall, she smiles and waves and continues inside.

"Hey, Dylan, right? Good morning." She pauses then looks about the place. Holding up a finger, she murmurs. "Coffee... I need coffee. I'll be back." Her eyes on the menu as she approaches the counter and waits for a barista, her teeth nibble a bit at her lower lip as she tries to make a choice. When the server arrives, there is a tired smile given before, "Good morning. I'll have... a Cappuccino... mm.. no... a latte. Wait, it's too hot already... iced coffee with a touch of cream and... a blueberry muffin."

While waiting for her order, she turns around, back leaning against the corner as she crosses her arms comfortably. She's not working today, so her wardrobe is vastly different. She wears a gauzy tunic with a floral design that replicates that of some European embroidery and a paid of denim shorts with tan leather sandals upon her feet.

Dylan's own is quite similar to what she saw before, all in the avenue of, 'Starving Artist Style'. Brown Cargo pants that are well worn but still servicable, slip on sneakers. He didn't even bother to try and salvage this grey t-shirt, one streak of acrylic green paint striped down in one slash, with a brilliant orange crossing over it. It's all well and long ago dried, at least, so he isn't making a mess.

"Dylan. Rink." He coos out towards Nicole with a broad, pearly white smile flashed towards her as the blonde recalls his name, clearly answering to both. His brilliant blue gaze followers her if she goes across, and it's enough attention that he can catch that order. Amusement dances across those features, crinkling up the corners of his eyes, and around that sketching pencil is flipped once to be recaptured, and finally it hits the parchment as some idea finally glimmers to life inside of him to capture.

Collecting her order with a thank you, a smile, and a tip left in the jar, Nicole heads over to find a seat, choosing a small table close enough to Dylan to be able to hold a conversation. Upnodding him she asks, "Rink? Like... ice rink? That's an interesting nickname." Her shoulder shrugs a couple small times. "I don't really have any interesting nicknames." Putting her coffee and plate with the muffin on the table just-so, she reaches up to twist her hair together and pull it over one shoulder, keeping it mostly out of her face for the time being. Lifting the iced coffee, her lips pucker before settling around the straw. Nicole closes her eyes slowly as she draws up the liquid caffeinated heaven, as if it is the best thing she's tasted ever. "Mmmm," she hums with satisfaction before setting the cup down again and licking her lips. "I feel like I might need to mainline that to stay awake today... " She grins. "How are you?"

It's a series of blinks cast towards Nicole when she sits down at a table close to, but not his. Those exagerated expressions offer up a look of wided eyed wonder, his head making large gestures to turn and crane to look at a seat at his table, then her, back and fourth before he finally chimes in, "Close!" Both eyebrows arch upwards to see if she has another guess to wager about the source of it, and at her own admission of a lack of nicknames, he offers up, "Hair fairy!" Just like that drawing he had left behind. The pencil works slowly but steadily, turned upon its side for shading now and then, even as a twitch of his nose comes, features scrunching up at that question of his state of being. "Surviving. Pleasant." A third word doesn't come, but that attentive gaze fixates right upon the woman, clearly wondering what her own answer to how she is.

Nicole follows his gaze looking back and forth to her then the seat at his own table. "Well I... didn't want to invite myself," she says with a crooked smile. Holding her hand out, palm up and out to indicate that seat, she asks, "may I?" She doesn't stand, not just yet, not until he gives her permission. She's polite like that... sometimes. At least with people she doesn't know well. "Hmmmm... roller skating rink? Uh... hockey? I think my knowledge on rinks is limited." She chuckles a little with that, shaking her head a little which knocks her hair back from her shoulder to lay loose against her back. "Maybe you can change that." There's another smile and a small wink.

"Hair fairy. I like it! I hung up the drawing too. You are a fantastic artist." Pause. "I might have said that in the shop..." A bit of red brushes across her upper cheeks, just the slightest hint. "Pleasant... pleasant is good." She falls silent a moment, looking at him as he studies her. "Oh! Me? I'm good! Way too tired this morning, hence... coffee. But I am good. Lazy." That crooked grin appears again, lifting the left side of her lips higher, causing a small dimple and a crinkle to the corner of her eye.

When she asks, Dylan puts on a rather serious face, his free hand lifting to tap a finger at his chin as he ponders it over. Finally, he gives a deep, large nod. "Yes." It's at roller skating rink that the hand extends a finger up for her to pause, a look of amusement and delight in those features as he reaches down beneath him, fishing out a different sketchpad from the messenger bag by his feet. He flips through it, until finally he pauses at one drawing, sliding it across to her. "Lazy good," Dylan mashes those two together, as if they should go hand in hand with one another. "From here?" He inquires, before he returns to whatever it is he is working on.

That sketch she is shown? It's clearly of a skating rink, at least in the background, but the focus is on the comically oversized skating shoe, large enough to hold a swaddled baby inside of it. It's crying, of course. While the whole thing is good? It isn't /great/, clearly something he had done earlier in life rather than more recent.

Playfully rolling her eyes as Dylan oh-so-seriously ponders the question, Nicole rises when he finally says yes. She lifts her plate and cup and moves on over, resettling across from him then pinching off a bite of her blueberry muffin before plopping it into her mouth. She watches him as he reaches into his messenger bag, seeming to find joy in the excitement he shows. After it is slid closer, she leans over to inspect it, chin tilted forward a bit. A crinkle of a line appears on her forehead and she studies it, seeming a bit perplexed. Brown eyes lifting to look across to him, she asks, "um... were you born at a skating rink?" The lilt in her voice might indicate she thinks that is probably far from the answer, but her eyes search his to see how close she might be.

A broader smile comes from him at that guess, and it hits the mark apparently as his fingers reach over to reclaim that sketchpad, stowing it away once more into the bag from which it was produced. Two fingers lift up in indication of how many, "weeks early." His eyes flutter closed, one shoulder lifting up into a nonchalant gesture, as if this is just the way the world works. "Nickname stuck." Out his tongue sticks in a look of concentration as his blue eyes drop down to what he is working on, features scrunching a bit as he tries to flesh out a few details just to his liking, and that question of his own is repeated towards her that was surely just lost while she was pondering the meaning of that picture she had been shown. "From here?"

There is a giggle that arises from Nicole, though a quiet one. "Two weeks early. I suppose roller skating that late into pregnancy could easily cause that to happen. Cute. Very cute." She watches him as he returns his focus on what he is currently working on, her own eyes dropping towards it out of nosy curiosity. Brushing her hair behind her ear with one fingertip. "Oh!" She says, realizing she had missed his question earlier when he repeats it now. "Yeah. I lived here most of my life. Knocked about the country for a few years after school. I guess sometimes though... even if you couldn't wait to escape before, home is... home, in a sense. A comfort, even if just in the place. You know?" Another glance towards his sketchpad. "What are you working on now?"

A rather sensible nod comes from Dylan at the thoughts of the dangers of roller skating, but his focus slips from that and to her own story. "Knocked? Where?" He inquires, utilizing her own wording to emphasize his curiosity about where all she traveled to. "Home," He concurs, eyes lifting to look around and through the window, indicating his own thoughts about the place, regardless of just what the area might be like. Out his tongue comes to stick at her, holding the sketchpad protectively close to his chest when she tries to sneak a peak, but it's a playful gesture, for the moment she asks? She'll be shown.

It's still rough, so many details to be filled in. But it's of her, a whimsical, pondering look on her features as her eyes are up lifted and to the side, lips scrunched up to blow out a breath that has caused a few tendrils of her hair to flutter upwards. She's juggling different coffee orders, and each of them has been personified. There is the latte, it's straw arms crossed, it's face angry and steam coming out of the top. The iced coffee is of course cool, like the thing might have just smoked a joint. A couple of more drinks have been roughed out, but not yet filled in.

"Traveled." She smiles and shrugs. "All over really. Mostly this side of the country; Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Utah, California, Nevada, and Arizona. You grew up here too?" Dark but lively eyes, growing livelier the more coffee she drinks, watch him and Nicole laughs as he sticks out his tongue and protects his sketchpad. Holding her hands up in mock surrender, she says, "sorry. I am too nosy for my own good. Part of the job criteria, I guess. Get people talking... "

But then he is showing it to her and again she tilts her chin forward as her gaze roams the page. When realization hits that it is her in the sketch, she laughs again, smiling at him. "I love it. I love how you take the every day world and make it... well, make me looka t it a bit differently. Do all your sketches hold this sort of tongue in cheek humor? Do you work in other mediums as well?"

"Here. Always," He speaks about his own lack of travel. Dylan lets her look it over as long as she wants, and a cheeky smile comes from him, "People talking," He ponders this for a second, before he teases, "Hasn't worked." On him, but then, he doesn't seem to say much at all to anyone, does he. That first pad is put down upon the table, the pencil set ontop of it, and once more he rummages around in that messenger bag, which seems to have about six more of those books for holding his various art.

"Painting. Digital." His mouth opens, other types clearly to be had, but he's already at two words, and so they aren't shared. This time. She's passed that pad, encouraged to flip through it. It's of the college, specifically the art and historical buildings. It starts with a true to life drawings of them, down to the details. Then they become more surreal: such as the building appearing like a giant, dark monster, whose door mouth is eating the students coming into it. It goes fantastical, stylized like a fairy tale castle. Others have it overgrown and ruined, and a few? A few are more about the people, seeming to capture emotions, such as a starcrossed couple in love, another who is clearly sad and crying, another ecstatic, likely at some grade he just received.

"You should go out and see the world. Or at least parts of it. Some of it is amazing... other parts..." Shrugging she sneers a little. "Eh... utter shitholes. But, I suppose even those are interesting in their own way." He teases her and she shakes her head with a brief chuff of a laugh. "I suppose not, in a way... yet, look at all I have learned about you today. You were born at a roller skating rink a couple of weeks early, probably cute as a button. You seem to sketch, like, non stop." She took note of his mentioned other mediums. "And apparently paint as well? And digital? Like... digital art.. graphics type stuff? And!" She exclaims before adding, "you have the most contagious smile."

Nicole is careful to wipe her hands clean before she takes the pad offered. She takes her time looking from sketch to sketch, tilting her head sometimes, her eyes sweeping over the lines and arches, everything. She closes it, then looks at him, clearly in awe. Eyebrows raised, she states simply, "you are amazing

"You should go out and see the world. Or at least parts of it. Some of it is amazing... other parts..." Shrugging she sneers a little. "Eh... utter shitholes. But, I suppose even those are interesting in their own way." He teases her and she shakes her head with a brief chuff of a laugh. "I suppose not, in a way... yet, look at all I have learned about you today. You were born at a roller skating rink a couple of weeks early, probably cute as a button. You seem to sketch, like, non stop." She took note of his mentioned other mediums. "And apparently paint as well? And digital? Like... digital art.. graphics type stuff? And!" She exclaims before adding, "you have the most contagious smile."

Nicole is careful to wipe her hands clean before she takes the pad offered. She takes her time looking from sketch to sketch, tilting her head sometimes, her eyes sweeping over the lines and arches, everything. She closes it, then looks at him, clearly in awe. Eyebrows raised, she states simply, "you are amazing."

"Starving artist," Dylan offers up as a means to explain his own lack of travel, a rueful smile curling upon the corners of his mouth. He listens as she ticks off the things she's learned, a twinkle of mischief on those features. "Yes. Sculpting," Too, apparently, as a tack to what else he might do. It's when she mentions being cute as a button that his eyes flutter in sheer innocence, cooing out, "Still am." Once it is closed, he takes the pad and tucks it back away into his messenger bag, carefully stowed away just like the last one. "Thank you," Up his chin lifts, watching her carefully, before he finally concludes, "Lovely smile." Up his cup of tea is plucked, finishing off the last of it before he murmurs, "Hobbies?"

"Mm... yeah," Nicole says with a bite of muffin in her mouth. She washes it down with another sip of iced coffee, mixing it after as the ice melt has created a bit of water separation. Swishing her straw in a circle in the cup, then placing it between her lips to very gently blow bubbles in the drink, she sets it down. "When I left, I had a little bit of money. Mostly, I just waitressed or found other small jobs when I needed cash. Wasn't easy, for sure... but worth it, mostly."

"Sculpting too? That's even... entirely in a different realm!" Her own smile growing so that her teeth flash brightly, she nods. "Still are, and thank you. Um.. for me? Well... photography, mainly. I am not especially good at it, but, I enjoy it. Like listening to music, reading... Recently got into like, plants and gardens. It's been a trial and error effort, but, it was something to try. You? Other than all the art ever, that is."

"Talking presents," Difficulties. It's that sheepish smile again, and one can only imagine just what sorts of things he could manage to do to help ends meet were he traveling. "Work. School," It seems to be enough to keep him busy, at least as far as his own 'hobbies' go, and his head tips well to the side at an angle as she talks of her interests. "Music?" it's an inquiry into what type, clearly a love of this as well for the man. It's the mention of plants and gardening that has his featuers crinkling up, not in distaste of it, but a look of pouting sorrow, clearly a man without a green thumb to his name.

It's then that his pocket starts to vibrate, or more specifically the phone in it, a silent alarm setting off. Witha tug he pulls it free to give a dour look towards the thing, before with a press of a finger it is shut off.

Nicole nods at his sheepish smile. "I suppose so," she agrees. Though, she hasn't figured out yet why he does not talk much and of course, she is too polite to ask. "Oh, where do you work?" She's polite, but still inquisitive. "Yeah... I love music, really. All kinds, depending on my mood. Do you play, like your friends?" One can assume she means the others in the Salon the other day.

Silent alarms with vibration settings are never QUITE silent, and so she does indeed hear the buzzing. Her eyes glance briefly towards the noise as he pulls the phone out of his pocket. "Ah.. no more coffee time?" She takes a guess at what the alarm might mean. "Well, I am glad to have run into you, cutie. Maybe I'll see you around or something. You know where to find me." She flashes that brilliant smile at him again, hands curling around the cool cup that holds what is left of her iced coffee.

"Sell online," Art, presumably, commissions and the like, just enough to make ends meet given his current attire. That phone is tucked back away into Dylan's pocket, before a warm, bright and airy laugh comes tumbling out from him at the thought of him playing. His head shakes vigorously to deny it, "Nope. Can't," It's far too much to explain in just two words, and it is her mention of no coffee time that has him nodding with a sorrowful look, a puff of breath let out as a sigh. "See soon," One hand loops around his bag to pull the strap up and over his shoulder as he begins to stand, and his other hand curls into point first to Nicole, and then to his hair with a playful wink, "Only one," He coos out in a promise.

Brown eyes follow him as he rises and she smiles. "Better be," she winks playfully. Nodding, she adds, "see you soon, Rink. Have a good day."