Who: Coin Martin and Claudia Lloyd. When: Saturday afternoon. Where: Romy's Diner What: Coin and Claudia cross paths. No bloodshed included. Yet.
Coin yawned a little as the lights came up and the ending credits of Star Trek raced up the big screen in front of him. From all around he heard the sounds of shuffling feet and not so hushed voices. There were some kids who had obviously been stirred to excitement by the movie. And as Coin got up to leave he walked pass a couple of guys with Spock ears talk about how this was the fifth time they had watched it and how they could just always watch the whole movie again. On his part, Coin didn't see the point of watching spaceships get blown up again and again. But the movie was good enough that he would be getting the DVD when it came out. Tossing his bag of popcorn into the first bin he came across, Coin glanced towards the box office and then at his watch. Did he have time to watch Terminator? In the end Coin decided that he didn't actually feel like watching even more things go crash and boom and bang....so he would save it for another day.
Judging from the hour he could pick up some groceries before heading back to the base. The last time he had done the laundry, Coin had noticed that they were running out of fabric softener. Or at least running out of the one he liked to use. He'd head to Wal-mart. That place was always fun to go to. He could walk around and get the movie out of his head. There was a part of Coin that wanted to talk in the way Spock did. Oh the woes of watching movies.
Taking a short cut, Coin's nose told him that he was coming up on Romy's Diner. He would be passing the diner's backdoor soon and could already catch certain scents. The food at Romy's was always delicious but the scene that greeted Coin wasn't pleasant at all. Two men looked to be having a heated argument by the backdoor. Coin's first instinct was to turn right around and take off. But that would have looked really weird and it was really too late now."
"Look man," The younger of the two males was speaking, spitting out the words through gritted teeth. He was right in the older man's face. "I can't take it anymore. All she does it pull out one fucking comment after another and she can't keep her mouth shut."
Coin was close enough to hear another voice join the argument. This one was distinctively female and the speaker was out of sight. "Your hygiene levels are worse then a swine's, Eugine. I'm only calling it like I see it." The voice carried it's weight in gold of smugness and then the girl started to make piggy noises. The boy's face went red. "Shut up you cock-juggling thunder cunt!" The curse words made Coin wince and he could see that the older man was wincing as well. Said man looked to be in charge but was just ineffective as the situation escalated.
The girl was saying, "Oooo that would hurt. Except that you copied it from a Blade movie. Now I can add unoriginality to your list of shortcomings." That seemed to the be the boy's breaking point. He pulled off his apron and was throwing it into the diner, at, Coin assumed, the girl. There was a ringing, "I quit!" and then Coin had to flatten himself against the alley wall to stop himself from getting trampled on. His gaze though lingered at the man who was left and it seemed that there would be another ugly argument.
"Excuse me..." Coin found himself butting in and stepping forward before he could actually stop himself or realize what he was doing. "If...you're short on staff..I could help. I know how to cook." This time the girl who had spoken did poke her head out of the backdoor. Looking at her Coin didn't think that such glares existed outside of Stargate. But it seemed that they did. He actually took a step back as she stared at him. But Coin was spared from any of her verbal barbs.
"Lloyd. Just go and peel the potatoes. You've done enough damage today." The older man hadn't gotten a lot in during the argument but it looked as if he was inserting his authority now. Coin drew himself up and put on a hopeful look as he man turned to him. "I can cook, sir." He said, using the term sir instinctively. It was something out of habit anyway. "And I know this is strange but...maybe you can give me a trail run today. And...you don't have to hire me if you don't like the way I work. You don't even have to pay me. But I just want to help out." From somewhere inside, Coin thought he heard the girl call him an idiot. He didn't reply, used to not raising to the bait either. Instead he looked at the other man as he was assessed and then smiled as he was handed the apron.
Coin didn't know why he had gotten himself into this...but it had happened. And he certainly knew how to cook.