Peter Pan is living an awfully big adventure (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} startotheright) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} valarlogs,@ 2016-01-14 22:12:00 |
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What: Tas has sticky fingers
Where: Peter's coffee shop
When: Recently
Rating: G
Status: Complete
Peter was incredibly thankful that the holidays were finally over. Not only did he really not care much about the season since he never really had a family to spend it with, but the coffee shop had been slammed the last couple weeks. And when he went in to open the store this morning he realized no one was creepily waiting outside for him and he did a bit of a happy dance in the back of the store. The kids were back at school and adults were back at work, which meant that he would be able to get some things done around the shop.
The day moved along at a clip and soon enough Peter knew it was getting close to time for him to leave. But, he still had some time to make it through and he handed over the last drink he made to the customer at the end of the bar with a smile. There was a bit of friendly banter between the two of them and he parted ways with that customer with a smile. At least people seemed happier now that the stress of the holidays was over. He made his way over to the front and watched the peculiar boy standing there. Sharp eyes noticed the little knickknack things at the front going into his pockets. It wasn’t every little thing and there was a beat or two between it, but Peter stepped up to him and cleared his throat, “Hi.”
Tas really liked coffee shops. They were a great place to people watch and to meet new people, and even if things got boring, some of them had all sorts of neat knickknacks around for Tas to admire. And despite the fact that Tas had every intention of putting them all back on the shelves where he had found them, some of the more interesting ones just happened to fall from the shelves to his pockets without his knowledge.
So when the guy who had been behind the counter approached him, Tas thought nothing of it. Other than the fact that he wanted to talk. “Hello!” Tas said, turning toward the boy and offering his hand for a handshake. “How are you?”
The normalcy of the conversation gave Peter pause and her pursed his lips together briefly. Did this guy really not notice that he was sticking things into his pockets? Most shoplifters tended to sweat a little bit the moment they were approached, but this guy was reaching out for a handshake. Unsure of what to do Peter decided to just roll with it and give the guy a chance before he left the store to empty out his pockets. So, with a small smile he reached out and returned the handshake, “Hello, I’m good. Albeit surprised because no one really does handshakes around here when I come greet them.”
That part was most certainly true. Peter could not even if he had ever been given a handshake. There had been handshakes later in the transaction, especially with some of the disabled people that came into the store that he had become friends with, but never right off the bat.
“They don’t? Well, that’s just rude,” Tas said. “My mom always told me that when you make new friends, you should greet them with a handshake.” He didn’t normally shake the hands of cashiers or people employees, but this fellow had come all the way from behind the counter to greet him, so the least he could do was offer a handshake. “I’m Tasslehoff Burrfoot, but my friends call me Tas.”
“That is pretty good advice that your mom gave you. It’s a nice way to greet people. And it is nice to meet you Tas,” he filed away the fact that this boy had a strange name. It wasn’t something you heard every day and sometimes he thought his own name was strange, “I’m Peter Pan. So, what can I do for you today, Tas? Are you in the mood for a hot or cold beverage?” Maybe he wouldn’t give him long to empty his pockets, but at least he would be polite about it.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Peter,” Tas said cheerfully. Tas hadn’t really been planning on buying any drinks - a lot of the time people just left free ones up on the counter. There weren’t any up right now though, and Tas was getting tired of waiting. “I would love a mocha!” Tas said cheerfully.
“I can definitely do that for you. Let me go back around so I can ring you up. What size?” Peter commented with an easy smile as he made his way to go back around to the counter and head to the register. He grabbed the sharpie out of his apron pocket and prepared to write on whatever size cup that Tas wouldn’t want.
Tas went digging in his pocket to see how much change he had on him when he brushed up against something that felt a bit like a figurine. He pulled it out of his pocket to look at it. He wasn’t entirely sure how it got there, but it looked cool enough so he put it back into his pocket and pulled out a handful of change. “I think a medium would be fine,” he said cheerfully, putting the change on the counter.
“Perfect. Let me fill this out for you,” Peter scribbled on the cup and spelled out Tasslehoff and actually wrote it properly because you couldn’t make a name like that look even sillier. He punched in the order on the computer, announced the total, and grabbed the change that Tas had put on the counter. He was able to give him back a couple pennies and handed it over, “Alrighty, here’s your change. Give me just a couple minutes and I’ll have your drink ready for you.”
Seeing his own name written on his cup made Tasslehoff wonder if maybe the drink he’d had the other day that had ‘David’ written on it might have been for someone named David after all. Or maybe David had changed his mind and that’s why he had left it on the counter.
“Do you like making coffee all day?” Tas asked as Peter started to make his drink. “I feel like it would probably get boring after a while. But I guess you get to meet all sorts of interesting people! I think if I had a job, I’d want something where I could talk to people all day.” Not that Tas really wanted a job. He got to meet all sorts of interesting people anyway and he wasn’t stuck sitting behind a counter all day either. “I bet you must have all sorts of interesting stories though about people buying coffee!”
It was most definitely made for a guy named David. And hopefully David hadn’t run off to the bathroom while Tas took his drink and then discovered his drink gone when he came back. But it did happen when people forgot their drinks at the end of the counter despite the barista yelling their name aloud.
“I don’t mind it. You’re definitely correct about meeting interesting people. We get a lot of regulars that come in, so you start to learn about their lives a little bit. And you don’t have a job? What do you end up doing all day?” Peter was quite curious about what someone around his age would be doing all day, besides school, but he wasn’t quite sure if Tas was the type to go to college or not.
If Tas ever went to college, there was a good chance that Raistlin would (probably correctly) assume that Tas had been replaced with pod people. “Well, I guess I kind of have a job. I draw maps sometimes for people. But that’s really something I do more when I want to. Mostly I like to look around and explore and meet new people. Like you, Peter!”
“Ah, so you get to spend your leisure doing things you like. That’s quite nice,” Peter finished up the drink and walked it over to the counter, “I’m glad you like to meet new people. You can always hang out around here if you’re ever bored. Just make sure you put what’s in your pockets back on the counter before you leave, yeah?”
“I will! I’d be happy to come by and talk to you whenever you’re free!” Tas said. He liked Peter, and hoped that he’d have lots of opportunities to talk to him. He blinked when Peter mentioned what was in his pockets, and he emptied them on the counter. There were a couple of figurines from the coffee shop, a nice, smooth stone that Tas had picked up because he liked the feel of it, a rather pretty hawk’s feather and a smooshed up flower that he eyed sadly for a moment. “Oh, are these yours?” he asked. “You’re lucky I found them. It would have been sad had you lost them!”
“These few are, but you can keep the rest,” Peter reached over to grab the few items that he knew were from the coffee shop and smiled over at Tas, “I certainly don’t want to take your rock, feather, and flower away from you. The rest I’ll put back so we can sell them to someone. But I hope you enjoy your mocha and I hope you come by a few more times.” He almost wanted to tell the guy to leave his sticky fingers at the door, but he didn’t think Tas truly did it intentionally.
Tas put the rest of his