tramitem_log | February Open Post

Entry tags:

February Open Post

Who: Ellie and YOU
What: Shenanigans, both heart-flavored and otherwise
When: February 8th-28th
Where: Around New York - see prompts
Warnings: None yet, will label comments if any arise

2/08-2/14: The Plot Option
Ellie, notorious snacker that she is, is exceedingly pleased when she finds the little box of hearts next to where she keeps her handbag. She thinks that maybe it was one of the boys being either cheeky or sweet, and doesn't think anything of it, shaking a little heart out into her palm. It proclaims her to be AWESOME, and that gets a grin out of her before she pops it into her mouth.

By the time she makes her way to the street, she thinks she's Mary Tyler Moore starring in Singing In The Rain with a touch of Rent. She hooks her hand to lampposts and swings around them with wild abandon, tossing her head a little as she walks down the street for that Maximum Hair moment.

When she reaches the tube - er, subway station, she strikes a Charlie's Angels pose on the escalator and proceeds to try to join one of the buskers in their set, appropriating a trashbin as a drum... and then, once the train arrives, proceeds to try to recreate the film version of "Santa Fe".

Thankfully, this is New York and most people just ignore her.

By the time she gets to work, the candy is wearing off, but she has just enough sugar rush left to push both double doors open with gusto and beam at all in attendance at the corner Starbucks:

"Alright, everyone, let's brew this."

Naturally, anyone who runs into her during ANY of this is welcome to point out how ridiculous she's being.
((OOC: Or, if you like, she can run into you under the effect of another heart. There's a whole week to play with and she's not going to eat just one of these.))

2/15-2/20: The Barista Option
Candy-induced embarrassment aside, Ellie has become one hell of a barista since arriving in New York: she's always loved making or giving things to people, so customizing people's drinks seems a natural extension, even if it doesn't use her most marketable skills. When she sees a face she recognizes in queue, she'll wave happily, then give them her brightest, non-customer-service smile when they reach the counter.

"Hey you!" Then she lowers her voice conspiratorily. "Givin' you my discount, don't tell, yeah? I can see if I can grab a break if you want to chat for a mo."

2/20-2/28: The Shops Option
Ellie's been saving up her tips since Christmas, and now that she doesn't have to save for gifts, she's treating herself with a whirl around some of New York's shops ... from the posh to the eclectic to thrift. Any fellow shoppers will find her happily perusing racks and shelves, occasionally picking up a fuzzy sweater or a country-farmhouse-style knick knack, turning them around in her hands and forever having the internal debate.

"What d'you think?"

Wildcard
Have we plotted something else, or do you have your own idea? Go for it! She's also got some brand-new memories for getting back, so if you want one of those to intrude on a thread I'm all for it.

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It was a simple prank. Ellie kept leaving those nasty chalky hearts out for him so when she wasn't looking he put one in her mashed potatoes. It had Daydream written upon it's face and if that just so happened to trigger a memory... well, it's not like he had thought they were anything other than benign sweets.

"Oh, yes, darling, you need to take a break!" Now that Yotsuyu knew where Ellie was peddling coffee, she made a point to get her dose here--and buttering up her boss with his own eventual cups never hurt anything either, right?

Someone had had one of those hearts herself, earlier ("CLOUD NINE")--and the box was in her purse, as Yotsuyu's sweet tooth was enormous, and she likely was going to have more in short order!

"I shall have my usual, if you don't mind?" That was a diabetes-inducing white chocolate mocha with an extra few pumps of something. "Raspberry today, if you don't mind?" Besides, she tipped well.

He swings by the Starbucks because someone forgot their lunch and being moderately unemployed and mostly useless, he might as well contribute in some small measure to the people that he cares about. Still he gives her one look as she bounces behind the counter and states, flatly:

"You ate the bloody candy, didn't you."

When she puts a forkful of potatoes in her mouth and is met with a crunch, she makes a horrified face. They were fine when she mashed them just before supper.

"What --"

Then the sweetness comes through, and she knows who exactly is to blame. She manages to swallow the potato and keep the candy tucked in the pocket of her cheek, and is about to berate Anthony for what he's done, when she goes still, staring off into the middle distance.

She's running with Alec, at night, through what looks like a marina. Boats and ships of all sizes surround them, some shrinkwrapped and weatherproofed. There's the sound of footsteps somewhere ahead of her, just barely audible over the sound of the surf and the pounding of her own heart. Then Alec goes down, clutching at his chest, and she panics. Nonononono not here not now we've got to CATCH HIM we're so close-- As she rushes to Alec's side, there's no response.

Ellie jolts out of the memory just as the sirens begin to close in - backup she'd called for, no doubt - and tears immediately come to her eyes. "Oh no," she says quietly, and nearly chokes on the candy still dissolving in her mouth. She spits it out into her napkin almost as an afterthought. "God, no."

"Don't mind either at all, love," Ellie beams, fixing up the sugar rush in a cup with her usual efficiency and care. "Luce, I'm gonna take break, f'that's arrigh'?"

Her shift leader gives her a dismissive but cheerful wave, and once Yotsuyu has paid for her discounted mocha, Ellie slips out from behind the counter. "Here, let's sit by the window. How've you been?"

"Y'know me," she says brightly. "You put it in front of me, I'll eat it. Come for a cuppa, have you? - Oh! Oh, is that my lunch? You're such a sweetheart, Alec."

"Well stop. It's not good for you. Or anyone. Piss off." He hands the bag over. "Anything else you want to badger me about while I'm here?"

King of subtly he was already snickering when Ellie chomped down on that candy and the surprise of that registered on her face. Any minute now she was going to say his name in that mom voice and he was just going to collapse in laughter. Any... minute... now... Anthony leaned a little closer when her face blanked, initially worried the candy might have slipped and was now choking her, but she never did cough. Ellie just stared straight ahead like she was seeing something that he couldn't.

"Shit!"

The prank had backfired and Anthony went into full first aid mode by dropping to her side.

"What is it? Break a tooth?? They aren't that hard are they?"

"No," she said faintly, having trouble finding her voice. "Alec."

All she could see was the afterimage of his stricken face as he collapsed on the wet pavement, and tears filled her eyes.

"I saw Alec ... he ..."

She slid sideways in her chair to lean against his chest, wrapping her arms tight around his waist. "He went down. It was ... I don't know if he ..."

The last candy she'd popped had been slowly wearing off, and Alec's mood dealt it the killing blow. Her lips parted a bit in dismay as she took the bag from him, and the hurt at his tone converted quickly to defense.

"Who pissed in your cereal this morning? We sell sandwiches, you know. I wasn't going to starve. If it was such a chore and you didn't want to see me, you could've stayed home."

"What? Just now...?"

Anthony's hand dropped down to stroke Ellie's head even as he turned slightly to check all the doorway and the long hall beyond just in case Alec had dropped right here in the flat. But, it was empty of anything but a small pile of discarded newspaper.

"Was this a memory?"

She nodded against his chest, sniffling.

"Yeah. ... Damn it, Anthony, if - if that's how he -" She choked on the word she didn't want to say. "I can't tell him. But I almost feel like I need to, so he doesn't here..."

A few weeks after walking out on her relationship and moving into her parents' basement (truly, she is Living The Dream), Harleen began to realize she had nothing to decorate her new-old apartment. All the nice things had been her fiance's and had stayed at the nice apartment with him.

In fact, even some of her nicer outfits had been picked out to impress his parents and had nothing to do with her own tastes. Yes, she was certainly due for a little retail therapy after recent events.

Harley glances at the woman addressing her, and does a double take at the tchotchke being offered for review.

"I think, uh. I think I can't tell if that's a cow or a pig."

"It's not!"

He reacted without really thinking because it was too horrible to think about. Alec wouldn't have died. He was too damn stubborn... Though those little annoying voices in the back of the mind did say it would explain how he had ended up born into a new life.

"Don't even think about it!"

"Okay, so it's not just me," Ellie giggled. "You'd think a place woth these sort of price tags would spring for sculptors who knew the difference, yeah?"

She paused, indicating one of the articles of clothing Harleen was carrying. "Oo, what a pretty color! I bet that looks absolutely stunning on you."

Ellie flinched a little, but couldn't blame him for the outburst. He'd been expecting a prank, probably some silly antics... not this. Neither of them had expected this.

"Sorry, I just ... you know how I worry. For Godsakes, it's why I came here in the first place..."

Still shaken, she gave him a reassuring squeeze for both their sakes. "What do we even do?"

Harleen tilted her head to give the ... the cig? The Pow? The whatever a bemused look of consideration. "They were probably counting on New Yorkers never having seen either one in person."

She glanced down at the pieces draped over her arm, a vivid hot pink topping the pile. She'd just sort of grabbed whatever caught her eye to try on for fun, but she was already having doubts about that one.

"You think so? I don't know, it's a lot flashier than anything I normally get and I have no idea where I'd even wear it. But it is on sale, so." She nodded toward the clearance racks. The upcoming change of seasons always meant a fresh wave of discounts on old stock. "There's practically a whole rack of these really fuzzy sweaters that I'm seriously thinking about getting in every color. Like, eighty percent off! They're totally shapeless but soooo soft."

It was the worst feeling in the world to make her cry and then to have that question asked when there were no easy answers for it. It's not like he could just snap his fingers and make everything fine again. If mum were here she would know the perfect thing to say, something like...

"Grab him by the ear and force him to take better care of himself."

Only Mum would probably have been more diplomatic... And there would have been cookies.

"Oh, I can't complain. Boss goes about his business and leaves me to do what I do best." Which means she didn't have to stand on precedent with the man, either.

"How's the life here been treating you? No one you want to spill a cup on lately?" It's one thing for a barista to do that; far would it be for Yotsuyu to encourage Ellie to do something to lose her own gainful employment. However, she'd take positive delight in being a hellcat to someone mistreating those employed here, were there need.

"I hate this whole sweet nonsense. It's bad enough it effects us like this to begin with but then you and people like you don't see anything wrong with it and indulge wholesale without thinking of the bloody consequences because what's the worst that could happen? We don't know, do we? But some of us don't care. And fine."

He takes the lunch bag back, takes out the sandwich and takes a big bite out of it just to spite her. It's peanut butter, jelly and marshmallow with bananas in and he loathes every bite but he chokes it down anyway.

"He squirms too much for me to keep a hold," she replied, only half joking. "After all, I was supposed to look after him back there and he ran all the way back across the pond on me, didn't he?"

She snuggles him a little bit - again, for both their benefits - then leans back in her chair. "... What happened, anyway? Last time? Was it ... did it have to do with any of this Different stuff? He won't talk to me about it. No surprise there."

"Sounds lovely, really." She grinned. The shift manager here was hardly the same, though she was letting Ellie get away with a few more Breaks With Friends now that she saw how often people were becoming repeat customers due to her outgoing manner and the way Ellie treated regulars.

"Not lately - though I suppose the fact that Anthony pulled a rather good one over on the last terrible customer may have something to do with it." She winked. "If anyone else starts tarting up, though, you'll be the first to know."

"Oh, now really, what good is that even going to do you." She gives him a level stare and watches him choke down her sandwich. "Now you'll just have to eat the rest, won't you?"

She understands that he's concerned, but all things considered, this isn't the sort of day she wants to have after last night's dinner, nor the sort of interaction that makes her feel particularly better.

"You could stand to eat something with protein in it, anyway. Potassium. Strengthens weak muscles." She reaches out and pokes his chest. "You don't want to be here, take my sandwich and have a walk in the fresh air. Probably better for you than raising your blood pressure nattering on at me anyway, innit?"

"That's a bit silly, isn't it." She snickered, though she found the other woman's logic perfectly sound. When Harleen directed her attention toward the sweater rack, Ellie's eyes lit up and she immediately abandoned the hybrid tchotchke to its former resting place on the shelf.

"Ooooo, how did I miss that? Those look absolutely heavenly. I could curl up and read a whole book in one go. But yeah, that pink - it's funny, isn't it? How you wouldn't think of a color for yourself but then someone could point it out. I was like that with orange. Hated it, but then a mate bought me this neon orange anorak and the next thing I knew I was drownin' in compliments."

Alec was slippery... It was one of his best and worst traits, good for getting out of bad situations but terrible for self preservation. Anthony was grateful for the extra snuggle and stood there several long minutes even after Ellie had sat back in her chair. It was a tough question and one he eventually decided needed to be addressed while sitting backwards in a chair and using the headrest for a chin perch.

"It's been a lot, all the Different stuff. I think he had just had enough of it. He... took off, ended up riding around on the subway for half the night until I found him. And all that did was push him right over the edge..."

Anthony fairly growled as he recalled that terrible night.

"Sent him right to hospital."

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February Open Post

Wildcard

Wildcard (combining Barista and Hearts!)

2/12

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Shops, near the end of the month

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