2025-01-29 - Donuts and Surprises?

Its right about lunch time on a Wednesday and the weather is perfect. The donut shop is slightly crowded with most customers getting their treats to go, leaving some seating available to sit and enjoy.

Here stands Shirley in line, her black cat ears up and perky as she already knows exactly what she is planning to order once it is her turn in line. Her long fluffy black tail is upright and happily swaying back and forth. She is all satin, lace, and ruffles today with her outfit, a long sleeve lolita like dress that falls to a few inches above her knees complete with petticoat. Black fishnets on her legs that disappear into high heels combat boots, it helps her appear to be 5'5", giving her a whole five inches to not feel as short.

Does Kellin want to be here? That's a emphatic no. Did he promise to buy donuts from this specific place on the birthday of his crew members. Yes. This Kellin is kicking the ass of past Kellin. But as grumpy as he may be, he is a kind soul, so despite his distaste for crowds he enters the shop, leaning heavily on his cane as he queues up in the line. He has a list of the donuts that everyone wants.

His uniform, dress shirt, under a blue sweater with patches on the shoulder marking him as a ferry captain, is matched with khaki trousers and tennis shoes. His mismatched eyes, one brown, the other a stony gray, with a slight bluish miasma covering the whole eye, look from the board to the list. The cat woman in line in front of him is no shock. Cat ears and a tail, fake or not, is pretty normal compared to some of the things that can be seen lately.

And who should be sitting there but Josh! He's wearing plain grey sweatpants, an LA Kings T-shirt, white Adidas runners, and an unbuttoned, fleece-lined denim jacket. He's at a pretty big table seated by himself. In front of him are SIX little cartons of milk and an entire box of donuts, with the lid flipped open. Two of the donuts are gone. A third--a strawberry frosted with sprinkles--is being heartily consumed by Josh. He seems to be enjoying the hell out of that donut right now.

When Kellin enters Josh instantly perks. "Kel!" Josh calls out. He stands up from his seat really quickly, hitting the donut box. It almost tumbles to the floor but he catches it and sets it back on the table. He looks at Kellin with a burgeoning grin and wide eyes. "Oh shit! That was close!" His cheeks are ruddy, his eyes are reddish, and pupils slightly dilated. Our boy is high.

It is now Shirley's turn in line! She happily skips up to the counter and requests, "A half dozen of the marshmallow cream with the cookie crumbs topping please and a coffee with a lot of milk and sugar, add a lot of marshmallows to it please." She swipes her card to pay for it, then she steps aside just to catch Josh calling out Kellin who looks less than amused to be here. Her hand lifts up to hide her giggling. She knows someone with the munchies when she sees them.

Another opening of the door, another little bell-jingle announcing a new customer. This time, it's a young man with sandy hair damp from exertion and dark, wraparound sport sunglasses. Even without the shorts, the Nikes, or the sweaty, faded green hoodie with the old high-school lettering on the front, it's no great leap of logic to deduce he's been out for a morning run.

Airpods firmly ensconced in his ears, the jogger is humming to himself as he slides into his place at the end of the line behind... a girl with distinct feline qualities, and a guy he's pretty sure he's seen captaining a ferry more than once. There's another dude packing in what might be a baker's dozen all by himself over there? Just another morning in the Spellbound Isles. Brandon O'Donnell hasn't seen it all, but lately he's seen plenty.

The heaving sigh when he name is called out by Josh pretty much says it all. Kellin is all RAF as he hands the list to the clerk behind the counter "Here." his tone is brusque but not unkind. Looking at Josh another sigh is let out, "And two large coffees, one light and sweet, and one black with three sugars." The clerk has probably seen it all themselves so its a stifled eye roll followed by a "No problem." as the order is rung up.

"You know you could have just got them delivered." he says to Josh in his standard grumpy tone. The giggling followed by the door opening and Brandon coming in has Kel's focus moving to one, than the other "Just...well I was going to say ignore, but he makes that impossible..." and even more so considering his condition. "It's going to be one those days, isn't it?"

"Oh man, they deliver this stuff?" Josh says, mystified by the thought. He walks closer to where Kellin is ordering, leaving his haul unguarded on the table. He grins at the older man. "Bro your hair is so dope this morning," he says. Then the brash little shit reaches up like he owns the place and grasps a lock of Kellin's hair and runs his fingers down it once before retracting his hand. He looks down at his fingers curiously after he does that. Josh doesn't smell like weed so he must have taken a gummy (or two) today already.

He leans a little closer to Kellin and murmurs, "Do you see a girl in line with pink hair and a cat tail? Is she real? Do you see her?" Josh's gaze flits momentarily over toward Shirley, then back to Kellin. Josh is now peering very seriously at Kellin, like he just asked a government official if UFOs are real.

Shirley invites herself into the conversation as she comments, "I dunno, I think it is going to be a great day personally. It has an amazing start so far." A bright and dazzling smile is given as she picks up her coffee and her box of a half dozen. She doesn't skip now that she has coffee but she does plop herself down across from where Josh was sitting at his large table, placing her coffee and box on the table as she says, "I'm Shirley, but most call me Tini since the recognize me from work and that is my name there since I am short and I'm a bartender. For pun reasons."

She curiously looks over Brandon briefly but notices the earbuds and decides to not be rude. She looks to Josh then watches as he abandons the table, curiously peeking in his donut box to see what all it was he orders cause curiosity and the cat. She teases Josh, "Do you want me to be a figment of your imagination? I could really trip you up." A slightly mischievous grin curls her lips before she sips on her coffee as she continues to lightly swish her tail.

Kellin's order is in so Brandon's up, stepping to the counter as the ferryman is handled with aplomb by the staff, who indeed seem to take every last thing in stride. Are the clerks here that jaded?

Probably.

For his part, Brandon removes one of his earbuds-- the right one-- and gives the clerk a winning, energetic smile. Oh, no. He's one of those people. Runner's high and he's more than happy to share that amazing feeling with you. "Let's get that nitro cold foam sweet cream thing," he says, placing the vague order with more vigor than it probably deserves. Of course, the clerk translates into the actual drink, and the sometime-singer holds his phone out for the quick payment ping, idly turning to observe the goings-on-- more curious by the moment-- over near the now-empty table.

"There is a whole economy based on take out and delivery." Kellin replies to Josh in that tone that one used for curious children. He has young niece and nephew so he uses it a lot when visiting his family. When his hair is caressed Kel doesn't flinch away from Josh, he just reaches out to gingerly grip the young man's arm and move him a step back. "It's just hair, everyone has some, somewhere." sure sometimes it isn't on their head, but still.

The question has Kel's gaze scanning the shop, resting on said pink-haired woman the briefest of seconds before moving on "See a what now?" he looks over to Brandon "Do you see a pink haired woman with a cat tail?" Yep, he's going to be that person today.

When Kellin seems to have no idea what he's talking about and the cat girl talks to him, Josh is totally freaked. "I gotta...I gotta go," he says. With a worried expression on his face, Josh beelines to the door and departs the store, leaving his milk and donuts on the table.

Shirley's ears droop as she seems to freak out Josh, her tails moves to wrap around her waist and hug it to herself. She moves to sit down where she set her things and where Joshua left his things. She softly mentions, "I didn't mean to scare him. i was just going to show him I could change what animal I mimic is all. I always have my cat stuff but I can switch it too. I was going to go bunny." A weak shrug of her shoulders is given as she slowly opens her donut box, grabbing one of them and taking a large bite.

Addressed directly, Brandon's eyebrows raise as he registers a moment of surprise. The question from Kellin almost seems to come as a relief. "Umm... yeah," he admits, glancing sidelong at Shirley. Yep. Cat ears. Tail. All there. Classic Spellbound.

"You totally did," Brandon tells the ferryman, then adds with a hint of sympathy for Shirley, "but hey, my girlfriend turns into a dolphin for her day job. I can... well, I can do stuff too." He shrugs his broad shoulders, a gesture of puzzled acceptance. "At this point, it kind of is what it is, right? As long as vampires don't start popping up at night, I think we're all cool."

Judging by the surprised look that comes to Kellin's face, he was not expecting such a response from the young man, "Josh.." he calls out after him worriedly. He is in no condition to go chasing after him, considering he is disabled, and Josh runs for a hobby. The two coffees he ordered is set out the counter and he sighs "Guess I have two drinks now." something he isn't particularly happy about considering how it happened.

"Hopefully he doesn't get lost. Or texts someone so he doesn't." as Shirley blames herself he shakes his head at him "It's not your fault. He's relatively new and doesn't get off Crescent often. He's not quite used to it all. At least he didn't turn into a bear." he takes the drinks and moves to the table that Shirley now occupies "Maybe next time, when he isn't under the influence you can do the bunny."

"Well there are people that have fangs, does that count?" not to mention a few werewolf looking employees. It's a true fairy tale around here.

Shirley looks to Brandon as she says playfully shushes him, "Careful! If you speak it too loud the park will make it happen!" A few moments of pause, "But that is cool she turns into a dolphin." Her hands wrapping around her coffee cup then to sip on the caffeinated elixir.

She looks up at Kellin as she utters, "I guess so. It is a lot to adjust to, I just adapt fast, I guess?" She shrugs her shoulders softly. She laughs softly as he comments about the fangs and just takes another bite of her donut.

"Well, my roommate has horns and retractable claws," Brandon admits out loud, chuckling to himself, "and I healed a shoulder dislocation overnight. I've been telling people that between the two of us, we make one Wolverine. Bring on the bloodsuckers, right?" He bobs his head, ducks his shoulders and shuffles his feet in a halfhearted bob-and-weave, accepting his drink from the smirking clerk en route to their table, though he doesn't sit down.

"Brandon," he introduces himself, holding the last name back. "You're the ferryman," he nods to Kellin, then adds to Shirley, "And you're... not." Still energetic, still bouncing on the balls of his feet. It's morning! The world's awake! Time to get moving!

"I'm coming up on six years here, so I have had plenty of time to adapt." After learning that magic is real, a sudden case of heterochromia and wings, small enough to hide under clothing at the moment, is nothing when you can do magic.

Brandon's joke about Wolverine has Kellin huffing in amusement "Well I know who to hide behind during the vampire uprising." though he isn't sure if adamantine claws would be as effective as a wooden stake.

"Well not the Charon no, as much as I would love getting a gold piece from each passenger, management frowns on the crew taking tips." Kellin knows his mythology "Kellin." he offer his name as he sets the two coffees down to close the box of donuts that was left behind.

Shirley laughs softly before she introduces herself to Brandon, "You can just call me Shirley, I work at Tales and Tails bar as a bartender and go by Tini when I am all the clock." She looks to Kellin then, "Jeepers, that is a long time." She looks back to Brandon as she asks, "Who is your roommate? I am rather curious to meet them now. I'll admit."

The mythological references Kellin brings to the table don't pass Brandon by. Seems that prep-school, selective-college liberal-arts education was good for something after all. "If you ask me, management should totally make it part of your comp plan," he tells the ferry captain with a sly grin. "I just got back from a ski trip on the 'mainland' and I'll tell you what, coming back kinda felt like crossing the River Styx."

A little bit surprised that he remembered enough mythology to make that reference, Brandon laughs and adds to Shirley's more prosaic question, "And my roommate's a DJ at the tiki bar." Taking a quick sip from his nitro-sweet-cream-cold-brew-thing and licking his lip absently. Cold foam. Not bad. "DJ Escape. He's got sets Thursday through Sunday."

"Anyway, look-- I gotta run. Not literally. Just finished that." Caffeinated much? Backing out the door with his drink in hand. "Got a song to finish. Nice meeting you guys!" Then he sets his back against the glass, spins out the door and is off down the street at a brisk walk.