Shelby Thomas (leaven) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2016-08-26 00:12:00 |
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Entry tags: | # 2019 [08] august, demi rafferty, shelby thomas |
Who: Shelby Thomas and Demi Rafferty
Where: The Doughnut Hole
What: Shelby meets a fellow manager of an Austin establishment.
When: 8/8/19, 10:45AM
Boy, there had been a few things that Shelby had forgotten about working in a doughnut shop, the biggest one - being on your feet all morning did a number! But it had been nice to be able to feel like she was a part of Austin officially. It was no Boston, but it had it’s charm. Like a jewel that just needed a little polishing to shine again. And she couldn’t have asked for a better reception. She’d been texting her Gram all morning with counter updates, and just a few minutes earlier she’d shooed Shelby away to take a break. But Shelby really thought it was because she didn’t want her hogging all the customer conversations. The small staff break room kind of reminded Shelby of a prison cell when she was so buzzed up on adrenaline, so she stayed in the front and dropped into the nearest empty chair. The table beside her was occupied by one of the prettiest women she’d seen that morning. Shelby also remembered her because she had a bird tattoo on her arm that was one of the most gorgeous things she’d ever seen. “Did you like it?” she asked the woman brightly, with a wave towards the empty wax paper on the table. After checking (and double checking) to make sure that The Bar would be alright without her for a short while, Demi had ducked over to the new doughnut shop. Even if the cake-y treat hadn't held a special place in her heart now, a smile creeping onto her features whenever she thought about the odd symbol they were in her relationship with Isaac, she still would have come. Baked goods were rare in this world and should be taken advantage of whenever possible. At least that was Demi’s opinion. She had just finished her purchase when the pretty blonde woman a table over addressed her. “I loved it,” Demi answered honestly, shifting in her chair to better face the other woman. “Are you doing a customer survey?” She inquired, fairly certain she had seen her behind the counter earlier. “Because I’ll write a glowing review if you'd like.” All said with a friendly smile while her dark eyes appraised the other woman. “Just super curious, actually,” Shelby replied with a bright smile and a little laugh. “But if you want to jot something down I could start a customer testimonial board.” Or at the very least pass it along to her grandmother, who hadn’t had a chance to step out from the kitchen and chat with their new customers. “It’s nerve wracking opening a new business. We didn’t know what Austin was going to be like either.” She propped an elbow on the edge of her table and rested her chin on one hand. “But so far so good!” Admittedly, she’d been more positive about the endeavor than her Gram, who was prone to more realistic expectations. Probably because she’d been doing the doughnut business thing longer than Shelby had been alive. “It doesn’t hurt the ego to hear positive feedback either, even if I didn’t have a hand in anything but the drink.” She thought she’d made the other woman’s drink anyway. It was all a bit of a blur. The woman’s bright smile really was contagious and Demi found that her own friendly smile was still in place. Curiousity was a thing she could more than understand, after all she had been told more than once she had a fair bit of her own coursing through her. “I will definitely jot something down before I leave,” she replied. “And I’m not just praising the place because you’re the only doughnut shop in Austin.” Demi added as she wanted to be certain that the woman knew she wasn’t just making a fuss because they were the only shop in town. “God, I would have hated to be a newcomer starting a business here.” Austin was not for the faint of heart and starting a business was scary enough without the added fun of zombies. Demi glances around the shop. “So far it seems as if you had nothing to worry about, though,” she remarked, pleased to see so many people out and supporting another local business. “Well, as a very picky coffee drinker I must say the drink was fantastic,” Demi added with a genuine smile. “Sometime you should let me repay the favor and make you a drink at the bar.” It never hurt to slip a little bit of low key advertising into a conversation, right? Shelby appreciated the commiseration about starting a new business, but she thought it worked in their favor too that Austin wasn’t already bustling, with plenty of places that were established. She left it with Demi’s statement though. And she smiled at the continued praise; then her face lit up with recognition. “You’re the one with the bar! The not Coyote Ugly one,” she exclaimed. “I wouldn’t even know what to order, I couldn’t drink before things went bad, and I was kind of a goody two-shoes in high school.” Shelby scrunched her nose like she was waiting for judgment on that. But drinking would have interfered with training and school, and all the life goals that she’d had. The smile that had been on Demi’s face turned into a pleased grin as she nodded. “That would be me!” she answered as she studied the other woman. Demi couldn’t place exactly how old she might be, but it was clear that if she hadn’t been legal to drink before the outbreak happened then she couldn’t possibly be older than twenty-three. “Well, nobody will fault you for not knowing what kind of drink to order,” Demi started. “I think though I would suggest a mojito, but really any one of my bartenders should be able to help you pick out a suitable starter drink,” she paused.“Just don’t let them talk you into moonshine. At least not until you know how well you hold your liquor.” “Moonshine?” Shelby repeated, curious. She hadn’t thought that was a real thing outside of the small hollows in the south. “The for real kind?” Austin was full of surprises - including bootleggers, apparently. That hadn’t been in the information. Or her grandmother hadn’t shared it with her. She didn’t really know. “Is that even legal?” It had to be, otherwise they couldn’t sell it, right? Demi had to laugh softly at the surprise in the other woman’s tone. “Near as I can tell it’s legal now,” she answered first, before she added. “And it’s definitely the for real kind.” She took a pause to weigh whether or not she wanted to mention more beyond that. “Bishop, the man who makes it, grew up in some small town in Kentucky and the whole making moonshine thing was a family business, he has a whole still out at the Dog Park.” Demi wouldn’t assume that the woman would know much about the Hellhounds, but if she asked Demi wouldn’t skirt around talking about them. “Oh my god, here we’ve been talking for a little while now and I haven’t even given you my name,” She pulled a face, holding her hand out to the other woman. “I’m Demi, and I can already tell you I'm totally going to be a regular,” she paused. “But I don’t expect you to do the same at the bar.” Said with a easy smile and a soft laugh. Shaking the hand that was offered, Shelby responded, “You can expect to see me a little bit, though.” Then she tapped her own nametag. “I’m Shelby, in case you hadn’t read it yet.” She hadn’t actually thought Demi was rude, it had actually slipped her mind that they’d gotten that far into chatting without exchanging names. It happened sometimes. “Good, I would be disappointed if you didn’t stop by at least once,” Demi replied, her eyes shifting to the nametag before meeting Shelby’s gaze again. “I had, but it doesn’t hurt to have it confirmed. I mean for all I knew you could have been wearing some random nametag or something,” she had friends in high school who used to do that when working at the local grocery store, but Demi had to think Shelby was probably more mature than that. “So, this Bishop, he’s the same one in charge of the motorcycle gang?” Her details were pretty spotty, but she thought she had that right, at least. “I heard someone say he looks like a legit viking, with a mohawk and skull tattoos.” Her nose wrinkled automatically, not because she thought any of that was distasteful, but she couldn’t understand why someone would tattoo their skull. “He must be pretty busy if he’s doing that and the leader thing.” Demi didn’t even begin to question where it was Shelby might have heard about the MC’s president and former Chaplain, word got around Austin and it wasn’t like the Hellhounds were a lowkey group of guys. “Yeah, Bishop is their president now,” she confirmed with a nod. “And oh my god does he ever. God knows why he chose the look, but I think it’s sort of his trademark now.” Demi did have to wonder though with the Hellhounds going straight if Bishop and some of the others might change their looks, but so far she hadn’t bothered asking. “Trust me, you’ll know him the minute he walks through those doors.” She pointed off towards the main entrance as she spoke, and Shelby turned her head to follow the movement, like maybe he might appear just because he’d been mentioned. “And I would say he probably is,” Demi agreed. “But who in Austin can say they aren’t busy? I feel like everyone’s had their hands full since the government reclaimed it.” Although with Shelby being a new face to town she probably felt it less than those who had been living in Austin for years. Chewing her lip for a minute, Shelby nodded hesitantly in agreement. “There’s a lot of work involved in building something back up, I think.” It wasn’t that she forgot many of the residents had lived through much harsher times in Texas, but she hadn’t, so it always felt weird trying to put herself in their shoes. Demi took a sip of her drink before she replied, “There is. Especially when a place was in shambles like Austin was.” she knew a lot of that had to do with the very men she was loyal to. But, they had changed now, or most of them had, so at least they were trying to clean up the very mess they had created. “I try to keep out of all the politics, honestly. So I can shrug and smile sweetly when a customer tries to draw me into those very serious conversations.” Shelby punctuated with a wink and a little smirk, because she had the feeling that Demi might appreciate that kind of sneakiness. “That I have to say is a very good idea,” Demi remarked with a small smile. It was nice to meet someone who wasn’t looking to form opinions on the people of Austin, both those on the right side of the law and those that had lived on the wrong for awhile. “Leave the politics to the people in the Capitol.” Finding that maybe a change in subject was in order, Demi studied Shelby for a long moment before she asked, “How are you liking Austin so far?” The million dollar question. Or the one dollar, depending on how a person looked at it. It wasn’t the first time Shelby had heard it; she expected most newcomers heard it more than once, because they were new and because Austin was still a city trying to put itself back together. “It’s not so bad, actually,” Shelby replied. “Different than what I’m used to. There aren’t any cornfields, like Iowa. I like that I’ll be able to continue my college courses.” She shrugs a little, and smiled again. Demi smiled softly at Shelby’s reply, pleased to hear a newcomer speak more highly of Austin than most of them did. “No one place is the same as another,” she remarked before taking another sip of her coffee. “Or at least that’s what I’ve learned in my limited travels. Granted all of that was before the outbreak happened.” And felt like a lifetime ago in all honesty. “It seems like everyone is trying to make it better, though, so I don’t think it’ll be long before it doesn’t look any different than the cities that weren’t hit so hard,” Shelby responded, thinking out loud. “Now they are,” Demi said, knowing that it was likely Shelby had heard about the Hellhounds and the chaos that had once been Austin. “I lived here before everything went down and I can’t say it feels the same, but it’s getting there, if that makes sense?” she glanced down at her watch then and noticed the time. “Oh god, I’m not keeping you from getting back to work am I?” Twisting in her chair, Shelby checked the wall clock when Demi asked if she was keeping her and made a face. She wasn’t quite at the end of her break, but close enough that she knew she should probably wrap up their conversation. “I have a couple minutes still, but I should probably get back,” she replied. “Being the the boss kind of cancels out any perks I’d get from being the owners grandkid.” But making sure she set a good example for her employees wasn’t usually that difficult, even if it was sometimes weird that they were all older than she was. Standing she straightened her apron out and gave Demi one last smile. “It was really nice to meet you!” Demi had begun to gather her things as Shelby spoke, knowing that much like the other woman, it was probably about time she return to The Bar to see how her staff was doing. “Being the boss means you have to set an example,” Demi remarked with a knowing sort of smile, from one boss to another. “It was really nice to meet you too,” she said as she stood up, sliding the strap of her bag up onto her shoulder as she prepared to leave. “And nice to find out you make a cup of coffee that is nearly good enough to die for.” Laughing, Shelby gestured with her hands and responded, “Oh no! Don’t do that! Dying is bad publicity.” Then she noticed one of the staff at the counter motioning for her. “But it looks like that’s my cue. Come back any time!” |