2020-04-23 - Early Morning Brew

It's Early morning and the little bell rings as a man who looks like he either slept hard, or didn't sleep at all comes through it. He heads to the counter and orders, wearing his standard suspenders and a GHFD T-shirt get up. Lucas has obviously just finished an all nighter at the station.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for... caffeine. It's early in the morning and Espresso Yourself has been open for about an hour already, because people need their wake-up juice before they head into work in Gray Harbor. It's bustling in the coffee shop, with many patrons sitting to enjoy their brew and a pastry, and others filtering through the line for to go orders. Della and Russ are handling counter orders while the owner is settled at a table with her laptop.

Eleanor is dressed in jeans and a pale pink blouse with her glasses perched on her nose, and her hair knotted in a loose bun at the nape of her neck. She taps away at her keyboard, filling out purchase orders for her suppliers.

Della hands over Lucas' order to him, waving off any payment. Family doesn't spend money here, unless it's in the form of a tip,

Lucas puts his money in the tip jar, collects his peppermint hot chocolate, and then walks over and sit down across from Ellie where she is working.

Ellie has a latte at her elbow which she reaches for without looking at it, mouse clicking with her other hand. As her brother approaches, she finally glances up and gives him a bright smile. There is a recent addition on her ring finger. It's a white gold band in the shape of leaves and branches, holding an uncut, unpolished sapphire. It was August's grandmother's engagement ring.

"Hey little bro. How was your shift? You look tired," she notes to her sibling, sipping from her latte and giving Lucas a focused looking over for any injuries. It's her usual greeting, making sure nothing hurt him during his work day.

Lucas leans back in his chair and nods, "It's been a long night, I think I am going to head home when I finish this and just pass out for like a week." He nods toward her hand, "That's a pretty piece of bling." He picks up his cup and takes a nice long drag off of it. "Though it seems whatever you did has become contagious, we got weddings breaking out everywhere."

Eleanor chuckles at that, and she gazes fondly at the ring, running her fingers over the rough-looking, natural stone. "August and I are trend setters I guess. Though our engagement wasn't entirely to plan. I kind of messed up his planned proposal by proposing first." She looks amused at that. "Who else is getting married?" she asks curiously, shutting down her laptop.

Lucas hmms, "I had heard of a couple different ones, the one that first jumps to mine is my ex, Katy, She and Jonathan are finally doing it. " He shakes his head, "I am very happy for them, apparently the Addington girls are all getting together to go dress shopping later, which is my idea of a nightmare, and leads me to want to hide in my apartment till the storm is over"

"Katy?" Eleanor wrinkles her nose a little bit. She never really approved of him dating that Addington girl, but since the two remained friends, she tries to keep her mouth shut. "Well give her my congratulations." She barks a loud laugh at the idea of her brother going dress shopping with a posse of posh Addington girls. "Yeah, I'd hide from that too. Unless Hyacinth was there." Because Hya is her favorite Addington, maybe the only one she genuinely likes.

Lucas shakes his head, "Erin, Atli, and Katy were the ones making plans together." He chuckles softly, "It's been kind of a wild week, I got a concussion, went on a date, met more of your conspiracy theorist friends", attended a bar-b-q in the woods" He shakes his head touching it slightly. "So how have you been, anything /else/ exciting going on?"

Ellie nods her head to each of his listed things, but when he's done she pulls up short. "Wait, a date? With who? And which of my friends did you get to meet?" She blinks at him, sipping her latte and watching him over the rim of the cup with those keen green eyes of hers.

As to the other question, she shrugs a little. She knows he doesn't really believe in all the Veil stuff, and she tries to shelter him from it as best she can. "Not much. Went to Portland to get August a new vehicle, had dinner with his parents."

Lucas Shrugs and sips his cocoa "You know Katy totally buys into the whole weird mumbo jumbo thing, Atli seems to think she has healing hands now, and there was some red head in here last week ranting about burning down the houses on spruce street because of a giant bug infestation." He shakes his head, "there sure are some nutjobs in this town"

Eleanor looks amused. "Well I don't think I call any of those people my friends. For starters they're at least a decade younger than I am. I was out of college and running this place before they were in high school, Lucas. But it sounds like they are very aware of things in this town." She has tried to impress the Glimmer stuff on him before, but in the last few years she's backed off, letting him remain blissfully ignorant. It's just a matter of time though, before he gets sucked into something he can't reason away.

"Who was the date with?" No he's not avoiding that question that easily.

Lucas take a long, overly long in fact, pull on his cocoa, before sighing and putting it down, "Just a girl, a pretty one, really nice too...I am not sure if you know her" He tries not to look at his sisters face, "She's not really in your... " he waves "generation...?"

That gets a brow arch from Eleanor and she sets her coffee down to fold her hands on the table and give her brother the look. He knows the one. She gets it from their mom. "Lucas Lake, don't you try and pull that BS on me. Who was it?"

Atli breezes into the coffee shop modeling a pastel pink bow tied blouse and polka-dot skirt. Her flats are black to match the skirts circles, and her curled hair doesn't have a strand out of place. She heads toward the counter and then stops upon seeing the Lakes, prancing towards them in her bouncy and sunshine driven manner. "Good day Ms. Eleanor!" She says waving. "How are you feeling? How's August? Terribly sorry about the parties outcome the other day!" Alti gives Lucas a sweet smile, but waits for Eleanor's response.

Saved by the Devil....or something like that. Lucas rises from his seat opposite Eleanor when Atli approaches, "Hi Sunny! " His face lights up seeing her. He avoids the question his sister asks, and yet at the same time, given how well she knows him, also answers it.

Eleanor watches the exchange and finds her question answered for her. Her brow furrows with worry. The social divide between their family and the wealthy founders is massive. She worries about how he'd be treated among them, especially by Margaret, the old hag.

Delia comes over, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. "Ellie, delivery guy at the back with our paper products. Needs you to sign for it and such." She gives Lucas a warm smile before heading back to the counter.

She forces a smile for Atli, "We're all doing great, thank you Ms. Addington. Excuse me, have to get some work done. Della, get Atli here something to drink on the house." She sweeps up her laptop and coffee as she rises. She shoulder bumps Lucas in passing and walks to the door marked 'employees only', vanishing through it.

Atli blinks crystal blue eyes in surprise at Eleanor's departure, pausing before standing on her tip toes and calling out a belated 'Thank you' with the woman's disappearance. She turns to Lucas, nervous energy clear on her expression. "Did I umm, do something wrong?" The employee looks at Atli expectantly at the idea of an order, so she hold up a finger to Lucas and walks to order a non-fat half sweet vanilla latte. A twenty dollar bill is put into the tip jar.

Waiting on her beverage Atli returns over to him. "No but really..."

Lucas is shoulder checked, he reacts as if he was hit by someone twice his sisters size, either he is over exaggerating like a little kid, or his sister knows just how to bump him to get the most out of her small frame. He waits a moment as Atli places her order before replying by stepping up to her and kissing her on the cheek, "No she is just busy, " He watches Ellie slip out, "When work calls she dives into it, it's just how she is." He shakes his head, "Want to join me?"

Atli remains rigid as she is kissed on the cheek, clearly focused on the encounter, lips down turned. "I can just go really, I didn't even know you were here. The place just makes lovely coffee." Stopping her over-explanatory comments she eyes him seriously. The concept of someone not liking her that she deemed not as the dregs of humanity was eating her up inside. James Hecker was one thing, Eleanor Lake...entirely another. Atli had done her best to be entirely polite and charming...

Lucas puts his finger on her chin, softly guiding her to look at him, "Sunny...you are welcome here, no one here hates you, Ellie really is just busy, she wasn't trying to be rude." He sighs, "Besides if you refused to come back, what am I going to do? I mean I could never see my sister again..." He winks.

Her gaze softens to insecure sadness, blinking thick lashes over doe eyes. Atli nods gently in understanding, not shaking his finger from her face. His words draw a half smile from her that does not entirely meet her eyes. Her coffee order is called, but she is not want to retrieve it and break his physical reassurances, instead saying. "I will join you after I retrieve my order."

Lucas smiles and nods, he reaches out and puts a hand on each shoulder, squeezing lightly like a reassuring mini-hug then releases her and heads back to the table, picking up his own drink and taking a swig.

Atli watches him walk away, now fully smiling, but uncertainty still in her eyes. Turning on her heel she walks to the counter and graciously thanks the barista when she in handed her latte. Carefully enough to not disturb the design work atop in, Atli rejoins Lucas and sets the cup on the table. She takes a seat a respectable distance from him rather than resting her shoulder to his.

He leans back and looks her over appraisingly "You do always have the best fashion sense" he nods to her outfit and shakes his head, before taking another sip of his beverage and sighing, "So what is wrong? And How can I fix it?"

Atli's laughter rings out at his compliment, a hand waving dismissively. "You are entirely too kind." She replies, as though she did not in fact stand in front of the mirror trying on six outfits a day before deciding what to wear. She places the mug in her hands and takes a diminutive sip, closing her eyes in ecstasy. Well-prepared hot caffeinated beverages were on Atli's list of the top best things in the world. "No, no, nothings wrong. Just stressed. I put in an offer on a house." She is entirely lying with most of what passes her lips. Many things were wrong, included but not limited to a fireball burn on her chest.

"Really? That's Awesome!" He smiles brightly, "I am sure it's beautiful, and knowing you likely historically significant as well. If you need an extra hand with anything you know you can call me right?" He smiles, "Anything I can do to help with the stress?"

Blonde curls cascade excitedly with Atli's enthusiastic nods of agreement. "It's over a century old, waterfront property off of Bayside. That puts it very near work and some other great neighbors. The only challenge is that due to the fact I wanted an older property near water containing salt it needs a lot of love in order to be livable. I will most certainly call you until you are driven crazy helping with fireplaces, several bedrooms, and foyer entrances. It is quite lovely, but almost too big...I just wanted the option for roots and the possibility of a family without it feeling small. My mother is redecorating so I thought a space of my own would be best."

If you wanted Atli to absolutely not shut up, put her on a topic of passion. Even with mild complaints she is nothing but positive in tone about the new project.

Lucas smiles, "Wow that's really close to my work, just a block or so off. " Its almost like when they built the new fire station they actively moved it closer to Addington house or something "I could even get a couple of my buddies to come by for a work day if you want. I have a few favors owed me" He smiles and leans in a little, savoring the passion in her voice.

Placing the mug back on the table, Atli clasps her hands together excitedly. "Oh! You really mean that!? It would be most helpful!" Positive social currency was actually number four on Atli's list of favorite things, directly above well-prepared hot caffeinated beverages. The likelihood of fire station being moved to the benefit of town founders family home was something the man would have to confirm with Hyacinth, but was also very likely indeed. She looks to him as though he had hung the sun in the sky on a cloudless day, the feat both dangerous and impressive.

He smiles, "Of course I do, hell get them some beer and bar-b-que and we can likely get a couple days work out of them, make a party of it, give you a chance to meet some of my friends." Better the sun then more clear sky lightning fires after all.

Atli's head tilts in horrified consideration of beer and bar-b-que in her home as a party. Then again it was unlikely that some fireman would be satisfied with champagne and finger sandwiches. Finding an acceptable balance between their two worlds was going to be quite an interesting balancing act for someone who listened to classical music regularly and did not understand compromise. It was very clear that at least with Lucas however, she was trying. Perhaps craft beers and bar-b-que sandwiches with a fruit platter? How ironic that the fireman sat in such approximation to someone one disappointment away from becoming the source of a clear sky fire.

Lucas grins as he watches the various thoughts running through her head, not sure what most of them are, but he can guess one or two, he reaches out with one hand to rest on one of hers, "You can cater it from the firehouse, support a local business at the same time," He winks at her.

Oh thank God! This made everything entirely okay. He had found a loophole in the mess accumulating in her brain. “That’s an entirely wonderful idea Lucas!” Atli beams at him. Supporting local business entirely negated the faux paux of unrefined food. This was what she was telling herself anyway. “You haven’t told me much about what has been transpiring in your own life Mr. secretive!” She says in a fake accusatory tone.

Lucas raises an eyebrow, "Mr. Secretive now? I was unaware I was actively hiding anything from you Sunny, why don't you just ask me what you want to know" He smiles

Sipping more deeply from her latte she crosses her legs one over the other, facing him more directly. "I suppose I am not entirely sure what or how to ask really." She laughs and ponders her cup, before looking into his eyes again. "I still primarily have this construct of how you were, and I don't want to let that overshadow who you are now if that makes any sense. How's your job? Do you like it?" This felt almost like a shallow version of things she wanted to continue with, but Atli had found asking people their future financial plans and how they felt about the idea of religion were terrible places to start in dating.

Lucas grins big, "I love it, you know my dad was a fire fighter here, and it's all I ever wanted to be. There is a … tranquility? about helping people, being there for them on their worse days, and literally pulling them from the jaws of death sometimes. I don't know does that sound like a power trip? It's not that I am interested in power as much as having the power to do something about things around me. Sometimes it seems like the world is inevitable and nothing we can do will ever make it better, and then you do one little thing to make the world better and you don't have to stress over all those things you can't do quite as much...I 'm sorry I sound like a blathering idiot don't I?"

He may not care about an aspect of power, but it was definitely something Atli found generally attractive. A winning smile spreads across her face at his enticing and compassionate answer. Throwing in the idea of familial tradition, a legacy even...how could she not be impressed? She shakes her platinum ringlets in disagreement. "Not at all! That is an entirely noble pursuit which takes a lot of courage to follow through with. I doubt you could ever sound anything less than poetic." She moves several locks behind her ear and watches him with admiration, obviously wanting him to continue.

Lucas nods slowly, "It.. it take a lot of hard work, training, dedication, a lot of people think we get called out to a fire once in a blue moon and sit around doing nothing the rest of the time except posing for calendars and the like but we have to train, like paramedic training, and training on finding our way around blind, breaking down doors, scaling walls, its an art just to fall the right way to make sure you don't hurt yourself or someone you are carrying. And then there is night duty, you know the fire station is never empty right? Like someone is always there, day or night. If a call comes in at 3am we have to be already awake and on site or else we are going to be there too late to do anything and to help anyone. Its a lot of stress" he takes another big drink of his peppermint hot chocolate.

“I can’t even imagine!” Atli says, looking on in awe. She had no way to fully comprehend the danger and skill involved. Sure if you did something wrong with a carpentry tool you could lose a finger or injure yourself, but you were fairly unlikely to be responsible for anyone else’s safety.

“You handle such a heavy responsibility very admirably. I would be a wreck!” With how high strung Atli is, she would in fact likely snap like a piano wire. “Do you at least have proper thread count sheets and a foam bed topper? What about food? I can’t believe I entirely neglected the idea that you are expected to live there part time!”

"I honestly am not sure what the proper threat count of a sheet is, is it like 20? " He smiles and shakes his head, "We have plenty of ramen and pizza, if we are feeling particularly ambitious we will make a pot of chili. Honestly we / do / play a lot of cards, mostly to pass the time and keep us awake on long shifts, and we go through a terrifying amount of coffee"

The pale blonde freezes, for a moment it looks like she may have ceased all function. A split second later, it almost looks like she may require a fainting couch. “Ummm...” Atli closes here horrified eyes and tries to slow her breath. She speaks in a very controlled tone, eyes still shut, as though trying to block out pieces of what Lucas had said.

“I will be at the firehouse by the end of the day with some fresh hospitality standard sheets to make the beds. The farmers market will now be delivering some meals once a week containing fresh produce. I’m sure you will become use to the base standard of six hundred tread count cotton.” It seemed the biggest threat to the lives of GHFD was their quality of life at the station. The only things to not offend her were the idea of coffee and card games.

Lucas blinks a few moments, "I...am sure you don't have to....I mean....Sunny, you can't fix everything wrong with the world. But I love that you want to try"

A very typical quality of Atli is that she entirely ignores the things she doesn’t want to hear, or rather simply pretends not to hear them. In the exact same overly controlled tone she opens her eyes, repeating her words in summary. “I will be by the firehouse by the end of the day.” She smiles at him willfully. This is in fact probably the only thing he had seen her take such a strong stance on in recent times, another indication of her mostly attempting compromise. The sheets though, were non-negotiable.

Lucas chuckles softly, and taps her hand, "I am not going to stop you, though I am sure it can wait a day, sleeping in the sheets we have hasn't killed me yet, it is unlikely to kill me doing it one more night. Get your supplies together, make a plan, and I am sure the Fire Department will be incredibly grateful for any donation you want to make, you could even come by and take a tour first so you know what we might need?"

Atli shakes her head and rises to her feet. “No I’ll just come by later, I’m certain I have a good idea of what needs to be done”. She looks about for where she might easiest leave her half finished coffee for staff of the establishment. “Maybe if I leave you will get some more time with your sister.” She smiles but her words don’t have a lot of warmth to them. “I’ll see you in a bit!” Atli blows a kiss in his direction.

"Honestly I am goimg home and taking a nap I have another all nighter tonight. " He rises and stretches " But it was great seeing you" he leans over and gives her another peck on the cheek " dont worry bout Ellie she will come around , its impossible for anyone to truly dislike you long "