Is it the Fates? (Martin)

[Penelope Hernandéz]

DATE: Friday, March 30'th
TIME 1 pm
WEATHER Cloudless with a warming sun, but a slightly cool breeze

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Walking down the streets of the Art District, Penelope Hernandés had a small concentrated wrinkle on her little nose, as she observed every art exhibit from the windows. Which one was fascinating and original which one was boring, cliché and seen before? She pulled out a small notebook and a pen as she passed yet another building and wrote down dull, seen before, not interesting. Why was it so hard for her to find something interesting for her and her dad’s night out next weekend? Penni sighed and looked around for somewhere to get a drink, her long black ponytail whipping around along her head, smacking her a bit in the face in the process. Penni felt how the frustration build inside of her, first she hadn’t been able to find anything good for her and her father to go to and now she couldn’t even find a Starbucks? Had the world gone under while she had been busy with her study?

She turned around a little and gave up on finding somewhere on her own, ‘Well Phoebes, time to be a woman.’ she thought to herself and put on her most adorable smile, walking up to a guy. “Excuse me sir?” she said and poked lightly on his shoulder, before making a small little perky jump, having her golden earrings move ”Yes?” he asked looking up and down at the tanned Latina ”How can I help you miss?” He asked a little more smiling after having taken in her looks. You have to be a dimwit not to notice the man’s look and Penelope tried to shrug off the creeping chill that went down her spine. “I was just wondering if you’d be so kind and tell me, where I can go to get something to drink?” she said, just as perky and smiley as before, thanking the Gods that she had decided to wear her long sleeved black shirt with holes to reveal her shoulders that didn’t reveal any cleavage, classy black gloves on her hands and a pair of long light blue jeans with a pair of black boots that went up to her knees to follow. At least she didn’t seem more challenging than she had to as a rich, good looking, and fashionable girl.

The man stepped a bit closer and seemed to sway worryingly with a smug smile ”Why yes miss, I will be that nice, indeed.” He said and stepped so close that he practically leaned against her shoulder and her lifted up her arm and wrapped his fingers creepily around her wrist. Penni swallowed something, not really knowing what to do; should she scream, kick or wait to see what he was doing? Being the classy girl her dad had raised her to be, Phoebe decided to simply wait and see what happened. The man placed his other and on her waist and slowly turned her around, so that her back was pressed against his chest and she closed her eyes, wishing this wasn’t happening. ”If you stopped being so scared that I was gonna molest you, and opened your eyes, you’d see I am pointing your hand at a coffee shop” The man whispered into her ear and then let go of her with a chuckle. Penelope felt how her heart felt like it was beating so fast that it’d jump out of her chest and opened her eyes, looking at a store named ‘Hidden Café’. She felt a blush creep up into her cheeks, leaving them hot and very possibly red and she turned around to apologize, but the guy was already gone. “Damn…” She said to herself, standing for a minute in shock over the experience, before shrugging it off and walking towards the shop.

As she closed in on the coffee shop, Penelope was intrigued by its charming looks and how it was so far from any Starbucks she had ever seen; it seemed to have much more class. She looked through the windows and smiled at the elegant looks of it, amazed at how much she already liked it, even before she had set a food in it. Taking in the exterior looks of it once again before walking inside, Penni noticed a small sign in the window saying ‘Help Needed’ and a crazy idea sprung into the girl’s head; She should get a job there. Determined at getting a job at the cute place, ready to show the world that Penelope Hernandez was more than just daddy’s little rich girl, she opened the door and stepped into the store, enjoying the smell of coffee that hit her. She dogged into her purse to find a box of tic tac’s and popped a few into her mouth before walked up to the desk, “Hello? My name is Penelope Hernandez and I’d like to apply for the job.” She spoke out loudly, waiting for someone to show up.

((Day added by Stupidity.))

[Martin Hanet]

Martin was standing in the back of the store with half a bagel hanging out of his mouth. The taste of warm blueberries and butter on the bagel was delicious and it was just enough to keep him satisfied until he closed down for the day. He was running the store alone so far, and the hours were narrow, but he really didn't have anything else to do. He could sit around at home, or he could run this store. He liked this idea better.

He was trying to figure out what order to put the coffees in. It wasn't as simple as one might think. He was going back and forth between alphabetical and by flavor. There were several nut flavors, vanilla flavors, chocolate flavors, and then there were the fruit flavored coffees. He was running into the problem of flavors like Raspberry Chocolate. It was looking like alphabetical was going to win out. He was only thinking about this because he was bored.

“Hello? My name is Penelope Hernandez and I’d like to apply for the job.” a girl's voice called out. He sprung up and bit his bagel off leaving the rest of it on a plate in the back. He quickly chewed it up and washed it down with a swig of coffee before heading out to see who was intending to apply.

He rounded the corner of from the back of the shop and found himself a counter space away from a very beautiful brunette girl. He was momentarily shocked by how pretty she was. "So you want to apply?" He would be happy to interview her, but from the looks of what she was wearing she was a rich girl with the idea that she should get a job to prove something. It didn't look good to him. He would give her a chance anyways. What could it hurt? He needed the help no matter what.

"If you'll come over here we talk." He walked to the end of the counter with all the coffee mugs, it was the end that was closest to the chairs in the corner. They could talk in comfort there. He grabbed his coffee cup and topped it off with some Highlander Grogg flavored coffee. "Grab yourself a cup. You might as well try out the product if you want to work here."

He placed a mug with a picture of pomegranates etched into it onto the counter. All of his mugs had various things etched into them. Mostly having to do with Zodiac symbols or things of importance from Greek Mythology. His mug had a black helmet on it. He walked over to the sitting area and opened a drawer from the corner table and took out a pen and pad of paper. He sat the paper against his leg as he propped one leg on the other. He waited for her to sit down before asking his first question.

"Do you have any experience working with coffee?"

[Penelope Hernandéz]

Rounding the corner from what she assumed was the back of the shop, stepped a very handsome young man. He was tall, looked to be a little older than herself, had gorgeous piercing blue eyes and his skin seemed suitable tanned. It took Penni a minute to remember why she was in the coffee shop, but for some reason it seemed like he too had needed a minute to gather his thoughts, which pleased the girl quite a bit. She smiled at him with her confidence showing brightly “Hi.” She said and nodded at his question “Yeah, I’d love to apply for the job.” She answered him.

Penelope walked after him taking in all of the charm at the coffee shop and she smiled to herself, it seemed so warm and welcoming. Almost like it was calling her to tell her she was where she needed to be for now. “Thank you.” She said and grabbed herself a mug and poured regular black coffee into it with a smile “I do love what you’ve done to the place. Seems so filled with… mystery. In a good way.” She said in the lack of other words. She usually didn’t like not having the words in her power, but for some reason, it seemed okay when she talked about this place.

She sat down across from the guy and noticed the helmet on the mug “What an unusual motive for a mug. Is there a story behind it?” she asked, not really aware of the fact that she had started to small talk with the guy, which she really didn’t intend to do, but it just came so natural to her. She looked into his eyes as he grabbed a piece of paper and made herself comfortable, crossing her legs under the table “Well, first I might introduce myself. I’m Penelope Hernandéz, but you can call me Penni or Phoebe, which ever suits your boat.” She said and didn’t remove her light glance from his eyes “I honestly don’t have any experience working with coffee, but I have made a lot of it through the time, a lot of different varies of it and I’m quick to learn.” She said, thinking it was best to be honest with the guy.

[Martin Hanet]

"I do like to keep a bit of mystery around this place. Keeps the right people coming and the wrong people going." He sipped his coffee and then placed it back on the table in front of him, the middle of the table held a small bowl of chocolate covered coffee beans. He jotted down some things as she told him her name and some information.

"Penni, nice name, I'm Martin, Martin Hanet." He started to doodle in the notebook rather than take notes. "I'm not worried about if you've made coffee in a professional setting before. Making it at home is actually harder than making it here. We measure out the beans to a specific decimal point, grind the beans, then put it into the brewer. Simple as that. Mostly what I'm looking for it what kind of personality you have. The most important part of being a Barrista is having the skill to engage the customers and know what they want even if they don't know themselves."

He the took a note of her comment on the mugs. "Now, you have already engaged me in conversation, and I like how bold you were when entering. These are good signs. As for the mugs, they each hold a symbol of a mythical being. Mostly Greek, however there are some Egyptian and Norse symbols mixed in." He looked down at his mug and smiled. "Coffee shops are mystical places themselves. The mugs seem attracted to people who are most connected with the symbols."

He traced the Helmet with his finger. "Mine is the symbol of Hades, god of the underworld in Greek mythology. He and I have some things in common. Yours, well yours is Hades's wife. She ate six pomegranate seeds after she was captured by him while she was picking flowers and is forced to spend half the year living in the underworld as his queen."

He picked up the chocolate covered coffee beans. "Want some?"