2019-09-04 - Nerve Soothing

Lilith is initially back in the office when Corey comes in, which means a plain-faced young gal with dark rim big hipster glasses and dyed black hair is seated behind the counter. And when she recognizes the guy as the one that came through bringing groceries up to the loft a couple weeks or so prior, she clicks her tongue a few times at him like she's pitying the guy. After stealing a glance back at the office, (presumably to ensure Lilith doesn't hear) she tells him, "How brave are you feeling? She's super snippy and buzzing around like a wasp."

The girl seems a little too apathetic and lazy to feel one way or another about it, herself, but she also seems a little perked up by the gossip of saying it and anticipating getting to hear any fireworks.

Arriving when he said he would, with a backpack slung over one shoulder, Corey flashes a lazy smile at the dark-haired chick behind the counter. "It's good, babe," he promises, ducking around to head back, assuming she doesn't try to stop him. "Lils, your knight in tarnished armour has arrived," he calls, so she knows he's about to invade her office space.

The girl, who seems to be named Katy, as Lilith is immediately yelling in response to Corey's notation of arrival aloud, "Katy-- go on break and stop riding the goddamn timeclock for overtime by skipping lunch. You think I'm made of money to keep paying you extra because you operate on a snail level?" Then she's popping out of the office to meet up with the guy as he comes back, looking at him with a quirk of her lips, suddenly, because she notes quite visibly that he has a backpack. She ticks her head to the office doors and seems okay with leaving the counter unattended directly with the girl grumbling and packing up some things to comply.

When they get into the actual office, it's clear why. She has a laptop set up monitoring the shop floor with surveillance and door notifications and there seems to be alternate camera views she can click to, as well. There's also an enormous pretty professional level safe against the wall across from the desk. A little extreme for a pawn shop? Maybe. She does deal with a lot of cash. A beaten in leather couch is across from her desk and shelving setup and there's back door access that's open to let air in and... she might have been out there smoking, because she smells like a cigarette menthol when she's breezing in front of him with movement.

"What'd you bring me?"

"Swear to god, babe, you only love me for my cooking," Corey faux-grumbles as he notes that look, quirk of the lips and her greeting. He has that lazy, pleased grin of his on, though, and takes no time at all to get to the point, unshouldering his bag and opening it, pulling out a tub containing a dozen strawberries dipped in milk chocolate.

These get set down on a counter within her reach, and from anyone else they could be interpreted as a romantic gesture; from him, not so much. "How long will your girl be gone, babe?" he asks softly.

"You cut berries and dipped them, I don't think that's cooking, that's prepwork. So maybe I like you for your bright, fruity and sweet ideas." Lilith tells Corey as she immediately breaks into the container on the desk and eyes the laptop speculatively with the shop view. After making a noise in her throat of delight about what's inside the lidded tub, she picks one up to immediately bite from, "This is seduction level sweet, that's why people sell them totally overpriced on holidays."

After chewing, she contemplates answer to the guy and reaches her other hand out to his shirt to tug at and arrange it some, probably needlessly, "About thirty, fourty-five minutes. She's supposed to take an hour, but she never does because she's a timeclock jockey." She's wearing a dark charcoal hued semi-denim shirt dress, herself, with sleeves cuffed up to forearms, a little belt with dangling silver chain at one hip to cinch it, and a pair of silver lacing sandals, hair pulled up hastily in a clip with twist like she got hot while outside and slammed it up that way, cosmetics for the work day accenting and light, "Why, do you want to break lightbulbs behind the dumpster? I have some of the fun, long tube ones that shatter nice."

"I cut berries and I dipped them yesterday," Corey corrects, though he seems entirely pleased with how they're received. "Today, I made spicy lamb tagine, but if you don't want that.." he trails off, glancing down to his bag, which is still upright enough to be concealing something else inside it. "You allergic to anything?" he checks - sure he's asked before, but it's always good to be sure.

Then, while her hands are occupied holding strawberry and rearranging his shirt, he steps in close, looping his fingers through her beltloops and tilting down for a chocolatey kiss. "Dumpster is also totally out, babe. But you've got plenty of wall space, and a couch that is giving me ideas."

"Offices turn you on, huh. 'cause I'm a professional businesswoman. I get it." Lilith tells Corey as she tips her face up into the drop down of his face for kissing back, tinged with berry and chocolate. Her arms draw up for looping around his neck and she mentions, "Not scared to touch me impromptu now, maybe a good sign I'm not super scary in your brain. But... " One of her hands takes a turn to tickle and pet at the short hairs at the nape of his neck, "With the way I'm all amped up inside, I might accidentally break something trying to let it all out. Probably not you, to be fair."

"We could smoke weed, though, because I need to calm the hell down a little and maybe that'd be tactically good, too." Lilith makes the suggestion while tipping her face up to eye Corey while he's in close, a touch speculative there for a moment before her lips pull with slant of partial, but genuine smile, "Something to occupy while she's out. Plus it will make the fancy thing you brought that you cooked twice as amazing and the chocolate berries automatically become mouthsex in that case. But real talk-- you're seriously okay with... my potential for accidents?"

"Never particularly been turned on by offices, just the woman in this one is pretty hot," Corey replies with an equally crooked smile, resting his forehead against hers briefly, shivering a little bit as she tickles along his hairline. He tugs a little on her beltloops again, mostly just because he can. "You managed not to break anything last time. Besides, I hear you're shit hot at fixing stuff," he points out, though doesn't push further than that.

"Weed would be a decent second choice, he then allows, booping his nosetip against hers before straightening, letting go his hold on her dress. "I'm not okay okay, but I can deal. I've broken a rib just sneezing before, so I figure accidents happen, and sometimes they're more painful, but I'll deal."

"I'm good at fixing things, yes. In fact, sometimes I'm so good at it, it really kind of ticks into me when I do the big fixes that... I work miracles. And that, at least, feels good unlike some of the other things that come from... mm." Lilith tells Corey before tipping her face, body making a little push forward with roll into the tug at her belt loops to feel the solidity of his nearby body. Her chin tips up to catch the boop-nose motion with tick of pressure before she steps back when he releases to go get into a desk drawer.

After some rummaging, she pulls out a rolled joint from a vintage silver cigarette case that probably came into the shop at one point or another that she kept for herself. Then she wanders to lean with her back in one side of the open back door frame. She doesn't even bother with a lighter, it's kind of like the beer bottles-- for her claims about being a little out of control, she's got precision to a tee when it comes to these tiny things that would take concentration for others to pinpoint so specifically without overpowering. The tip of the joint flares up with spark and flame before she puffs to draw and side-eyes Corey. On exhaling a plume of smoke, she says, "Rib, huh. That's where Byron got crushed. Six of them. How'd you manage it with a sneeze? Extreme talent?"

"Well, Howard the Ducklamp is still working just fine, but if he breaks, I know who to talk to," the chef replies with another of those lazy grins, watching her head across to the desk, dropping into a loose sprawl on the couch while she sparks up. His gaze focuses on the joint when it appears she does so without a lighter, brows raising somewhat, though he doesn't ask the obvious question. He didn't see any hazy shimmer around her, but then again he wasn't particularly paying attention either at that moment.

Extending a hand up to request the blunt, he murmurs, "Just with force and at the wrong angle. It's apparently not uncommon." Certainly, he doesn't seem concerned by it. "You've practiced that little fire trick a lot, huh?"

"Oh." Lilith doesn't even really realize she's done it until after Corey asks, some things just innate to her at this point in life, kind of like popping bottles. Apparently when things are utility, they're far less concerning for her, and mindless sometimes, to boot. After another quick draw of smoke and a push of loose hair back behind an ear, she holds the joint out to eye for a moment with speculation before she takes some steps to bring it over to company, eyes flitting in brief to the laptop. It's during the week and late afternoon, so really, it's not a shop hopping time anyway and the door alert comes to chime in the back office too.

"Yeah, I... used to play with little things a lot when I was first learning they were cropping up. I mean, I was always inclined to take things apart and put them back together from little, but things like beer bottles, little sparks to control for utility to start the stove burner, stuff like that, it... I don't know. Habit." After passing it over, she drops into a sideways sit on Corey's lap while he's sprawled and they share the weed smoke, her eyes starting to haze a touch from the back to back hits. It seems to take some of that standing tension or subtle kinetic energy out of her, "How do you play with it to fine tune?"

The pair of them hang out, smoke weed, calm Lilith down a few degrees with good company and pot smoke and those delicious berries and chocolate and the fancy lamb dish he's brought. Eventually Katy comes back to work the counter, but she can't make certain loans or appraisals because of lack of experience and dollar amount limits, so Lilith has to go tend to that anyway and Corey has his own things to do.

But sometimes, little visits like this are a pretty big outlet, in truth, for Lilith. It anchors her to something human outside of the chaos of her life that feels very not human sometimes. So when he amiably goes in his good-natured way, she kind of watches him go with consideration of that.