Kaye Pravett (gray_kaye) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2009-06-16 09:40:00 |
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Entry tags: | #group scene, 2009-06-05 |
Kaye comes to town
Who: Kaye, Tayne and Annie
Where: Sunny’s Diner
When: Just after lunchtime
What: Kaye arrives in town and goes to the diner to find Annie.
Kaye was, to put it mildly, stressed. She didn’t fly well at the best of times, what with planes being a big metal box full of people that she was trapped in for x number of hours, but the fact she was travelling alone and worrying about Harri the entire trip, the fairly short flight had felt like hours. Still with her luggage claimed, watch adjusted and girlfriend checked in with she could finally get away from the hoards of people milling around the airport and head to town. Making her way to the taxi rank, she was relieved by the distinct lack of people waiting and got into a cab without too much fuss. Pulling some paper from her bag, she checked the address of where she was heading then spoke to the driver. “Sunny’s Diner, Scarlet Oak please,” she asked, sounding slightly distracted.
The driver tried to chat with Kaye as they made their way to the township but she was too caught up in her thoughts though the words ‘vampire bar’ and ‘freaks’ certainly registered with her and she frowned a little, the Light of May clearly wasn’t going down well with this individual. Looking down at the paper in her hands, Kaye’s thoughts turned away from Harri and on to the woman she was heading to see. Kaye had been incredibly upset when her brother and his wife got divorced, Annie being like the sister she never had growing up, and while she hadn’t understood the older woman’s decision, the two had remained in touch. In fact Annie had been the one to recommend Scarlet Oak as a place to live when Louise was offered her job at the university.
Sighing to herself, Kaye looked out the window and chewed her bottom lip. Annie didn’t know she was coming and as much as she might be glad to have her former sister-in-law turn up unexpected for a visit, Kaye doubted she’d be thrilled to talk about Harri. But Kaye had promised her mother she would find her brother and now she was in Michigan, Annie was the first port of call. She had no idea if Annie even knew Harri was in Scarlet Oaks but she could at least help Kaye decide where to start looking.
The taxi suddenly pulled to an abrupt stop, jolting the witch out of her thoughts. Resisting the urge to glower at the driver, Kaye pulled a few bills from her purse and handed them to him. “Keep the change,” she said as she got out of the car, tugging her suitcase after her. Sure it was lousy tip but hey, karma’s a bitch that way. The driver muttered something that Kaye was fairly sure was unpleasant and drove off, leaving her staring at the welcoming building in front of her. A genuine smile crossed her face as she entered the diner and perched on a stool at the counter and stayed there as she caught the attention of the guy working there.
“Can I get a coffee please,” she asked, pulling her purse on to her lap. “Oh and I'm looking for Annie, is she around?”
Tayne had been relegated to working behind the counter for a few minutes as one of the servers took a break and the demands for lunch orders had slowed down. It wasn't his favorite place to work, but it was better than being shunted out onto the floor itself, he supposed. Why they had to pick today to stick him out here, though, when he had a hangover and a poor attitude, he had no idea. Bright side, he kept telling himself. If you're working counter, you can't think about Johan. It wasn't working very well.
So the smile he gave the woman who came to sit in front of him and asked for coffee was a little wan, but at least it was there. "Coffee comin' right up." He walked the few feet he needed to go to get to the coffeemaker and mugs, looking over his shoulder as the lady asked after his boss. He didn't recognize her; she wasn't a regular, so how did she know Annie? "Annie's around in the back," he answered as he poured. "I think she might be on break. Half the diner's on break right now," he added with a slightly better half-smile.
Kaye fiddled with the sugar dispenser as her coffee was poured, returning the serving guy's smile. Sure it had been a rough morning and the afternoon was likely to suck but for now there was caffeine so she was going to make the most of it. She nodded in understanding as Annie's whereabouts were explained and glanced at her wrist watch. She wasn't in a hurry, as it was fairly unlikely Harri was going to go anywhere new - wherever he might me. "Ah, well I can wait," she replied, slipping an errant strand of hair behind her ear.
Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since before her flight, and she cast her eyes around for a menu. "I might get something to eat, what do you recommend?" she asked, oblivious to the fact she should probably explain why she was looking for Annie.
"Well, if I get bumped back to the kitchen in the next fifteen minutes or so, I make a mean fried chicken," Tayne said after a moment of thought, setting the coffee in front of her. He peered back through the window into the kitchen at who was there, now. "If not, I'll suggest the baked potato and today's soup, a cream of onion." Turning back to the woman, he tried for another smile and added, "But the sandwiches and burgers are pretty much always good."
Accepting the coffee gratefully, Kaye dumped a generous amount of sugar in it then took a long sip. A small hum of contentment went through her, then she cupped the mug between her hands. "You have no idea how much I needed that, thank you bringer of coffee," Kaye said, raising the mug in a toast of sorts. She bit her thumb nail thoughtfully as she contemplated the suggested food and unconsciously frowned a little. "It all sounds good but I think I'll go for...the soup, oh and a side of fries." If she was going to get emotional later, which was a fair bet, she wanted something substantial inside her.
That made Tayne smile, for real, finally. He understood the love of and need for coffee, even if it wasn't really early. "You're very welcome," he told her, then backed off a little to let her decide, wishing he had some more coffee. He hadn't been in all that long, just since noon, and he felt like he'd hardly slept.
"Soup and fries," he repeated when she was ready. "That's an easy one, then." He grinned, a bit lop-sidedly, and said, "You want me to go back and try and find Annie, or are you good to wait a bit while you eat?"
Grinning behind her mug at seeing a genuine smile from Coffee Guy, who's real name she would definitely ask for, Kaye felt some of the tension of her morning seep away and with food on the horizon, her mood looked to get better - at least temporarily. At his question, Kaye looked towards the back of the diner and hmmed to herself for a moment. "Erm, I suppose you could let her know I'm here, there's no need for her to hurry though if I'm going to eat." She went back to sipping her drink before realising Coffee Guy might need a name to tell Annie as opposed to 'strange lady who possibly likes coffee too much' and mentally slapped her forehead.
"Tell her it's Kaye," she added blushing slightly, wishing not for the first time that people were a simple to deal with as computers.
Chuckling, Tayne said, "Nice to meet you, Kaye. In case you care, I'm Tayne." He tipped an imaginary hat to her and grinned. She seemed a nice enough gal, if apparently absent-minded. "I'll let her know you're here--" Once he tracked her down. She might be back in the office.... "--and get that soup started for ya, all right?"
So Coffee Guy -- no Tayne she corrected herself --- was better at the social etiquette thing than Kaye was, not that that was a bad thing by any scope of the imagination. If everyone dealt with people like Kaye then...well she wasn't sure what it would be like but she was certain it wouldn't be good. "Thank you Tayne," she said, smiling with faint embarrassment. "It's nice meeting you too."
With another nod, Tayne disappeared back into the kitchen. He let the cook subbing in for him, while he subbed out for the counter-server, know to heat and spice up some of the cream of onion soup, then headed into the back in search of his boss.
***
Annie had finally settled in to start her accounting, having put it off for too many weeks. The only thing that was finished substantially was payroll; if she didn't get to that, she'd have a bit of a revolt on her hands. Unfortunately, they were a bit short-handed out front, but the lunch rush was done, the diner would be closing before too long, and she wanted to be out of the place for the weekend, what with the full moon. She'd changed the hours temporarily to close early Friday and Saturday, so if she could get this done now, everyone could have a light work weekend.
She already had her papers arranged in order across her desk, and the calculator had tape flowing when Tayne came into the office. Tucking hair behind her ear, she smiled up at her favorite cook. "Is everything okay, Tayne? I know it's a bit tight out there...if you need a hand, I can wait on this."
"As much as I'm sure you'd love to put that off until later," Tayne said with a grin, despite his aching head, "that's not why I'm back here. There's a woman up front who says she'd like to talk to you, whenever you get the chance. I just set her up with a late lunch, so you know, whenever the paperwork gets too overwhelming...." He gave her a pointed but at the same time sympathetic smile, teasing her.
Annie found herself smiling back, glad that Tayne was looking slightly more chipper. He'd been down about something since he arrived, but she knew better than to pry. "Fear not, numbers shall never get the better of me," she answered, with amused melodrama. "I'll beat them into submission yet. Anyway, did she say what she wanted?" Her tone changed into simple curiosity then, her gaze dropping back down to her work. "I wasn't expecting anyone for an appointment. And I don't think I need to hire at the moment, either." If the woman was eating, Annie had a little bit of time to finish this before she came out.
"She didn't, and I probably should've asked," Tayne admitted, making a face at himself. He'd been pretty absent-minded, himself, apparently. He blamed Johan. --No, that wasn't fair, it wasn't Johan's fault. "Oh, but she did say her name was Kaye? Do you know any Kayes?"