[Projects 2 and 3] Open and Closed!

[evowhisperer]

Who: Blaise, Cesar, and you!

Where: Marty's Gourmet Soda shop, Gateway City

When: Soda shop: Within a few days of the 16th, give or take.

What: Cesar and Blaise meet in person for the first time!

Warnings: Talk about Ryu (and all sex-discussion related warnings)

Status: Open! Blaise and Cesar's thread is closed.

 Marty's Gourmet Soda shop is a warm, pleasantly crowded affair. The counters are heavy wood, the stools are the sort that attach to the floor and rotate back and forth. Cheerful big-band music plays over tinny corner-speakers, and a young cashier behind the counter taps away at a cash register that might be older than he is. 'Stu' reads his nametag. He's a handsome young man, and whenever Stu smiles a girl by the door sighs happily.

 

Stu isn't paying attention just now, since he's leaning forward over the counter to squint at the cellphone presented to him.

 

"A, uh... Oh! Sure, sir, one Exprezzy Espresso, coming right up!" He straightens and rattles off a price, scrawling letters on the side of a cup.

 

Cesar takes the phone back and fishes out change, passing it across the counter. Cha-ding! Coins are handed over. Cesar pockets the change and backs out of the way, already reimmersed in his phone.

 

He won't look up until his name is called.

 

"Fizzy coffee! Cesar S!"

-----------------------------------------------

Who: Tony, Cesar, and you!

Where: Cesar's apartment, Gateway City

When: A few days after their text conversation.

What: Cesar and Tony meet for a suspense-ridden intercourse of science.

Warnings: Needles, what is essentially a low-key version of unregulated human testing. Also, underaged drinking and drunk shennanigans.

Status: Closed

It's another door with another number on it. This time the hallway outside has rows of doors on both sides of the walkway, and potted plants stand as greetings by several welcome-mats along the way. Cesar's door has no plant, but it does have a welcome mat. It has no words--just a generic pattern.

It's quiet. A pair of children can be heard playing in the distance, and a tabby cat cleans itself by a door some apartments away. There's no smells or sounds from the apartment, this time.

Comments

[oncedevil]

A new apartment building, just as nondescript as the last. Idly Tony wonders if this is another way Cesar keeps his head low, or if he just doesn't notice these things. He makes his way down the hallway, eyes flicking between the door numbers and his phone until he comes to a stop at the one with the patterned door mat.

Seemed to be the place. Briefly he leans an ear closer to the door, curious to see if Cesar's actually home or not, before lifting his hand to knock.

He's looking a little more worn these days. Tired. His health is fine physically, but the world turning up on its head doesn't always go over well without leaving a few scars behind.

Marty's Gourmet Soda Shop

[sparklingscarlet]

Blaise is off in his own world as he waits his turn in line to place an order. He's humming to himself as he thinks about his latest exploration, something worth celebrating with his favourite treat - a soda.

He places the order for Watermelon Punch soda, pays the man in exact change, drops a few extra dollars in the TIPS jar, and eagerly runs to the pickup counter to wait for his order.

He sits there, not really paying anyone any mind. It is kind of lonely to share a victory soda by yourself, though, isn't it? As he thinks, he sees a man come up to pick up his order of Fizzy Coffee. As he looks up at him, his mouth drops for a moment, unsure of what to say.

He'd seen this guy on his first day of checking out the Network. What do you say to a guy that you didn't listen to after he was giving a warning?

"U-uhm... Hi?" is all he manages to say. And he gives a kind of nervous smile with it.

Closed - Drinking and making bad decisions, later that evening

[oncedevil]

[Truth be told, it probably wasn't the beer alone, but a few other things that followed after. Some unfortunate choices had happened, culminating in a challenge of sort. How much can a devil's metabolism take?

Quite a bit, as it turns out! But he's not completely immune to the effects of alcohol, they just take a bit more time to catch up to him. Still it wasn't quite enough to be satisfied with. But Cesar's stores were depressingly low.]

Come on, let's go find somewhere. I hear bars are pretty neat. Let's try one out.

[If they let him work as a bouncer at a strip club surely they'll let him drink, right?]