A Downward Spiral Just A Pirouette - 2430-2-4

[Failyn]

Failyn was bored. Very very bored. Today was excruciatingly bored. Already, a couple of the workers had been sent home for lack of anything to do. Failyn would have even gone to Iod, begging to be allowed to help in the restraunt, but it was slow all around. Where WAS everyone? She stared out the door/window/opening thing, willing people to come in.

It was like there was some mass decision to not come in today. Was someone not telling them something? Maybe there was a bomb threat, and everyone out in the hallway were all agents from opposing teams, secretly working for opposite purposes - one to find secret files, set off the bomb, and run, and one side to hide the files, keep the bomb from detonating, and take out the other side. Those two people talking in the hallway could totally be on opposite sides, both pretending that they don't know the other person knows that they know they are enemies. That would explain the tense air around them. (There was no tense air, they were perfectly friendly. But an imagination can do wonders.)

Yes, that's how bored Failyn was. She was imagining bomb threats. She had even scrubbed the floors (she had finally gotten the hang of mopping...sort of...) and wiped the counter. There were no dishes to do....Ugh....She was going to fall alseep here.

[Saphira]

Failyn had stuck in Saphira's mind for the rest of the day after their meeting. The girl had seemed a bit all over the place, but most notably she stuck out quite a bit over the fact that she was another Winged interested in working in with the humans. Most of their kind were more content to deal with the humans in trade and education, but few were as interested as Saphira in truly integrating themselves into the Human world and really working alongside them. The idea that another of her kind was so excited about joining in working at the spaceport was enough to have Saphira more curious as to the outcome of Failyn's first day.

There was a closer cafe to her office when she needed to stop somewhere for a quick bite to eat, but today was a specific check-up, so she decided to make her way to the Traveller's Rest instead. She entered the cafe, glancing around. It was certainly a quiet day, as it seemed there was no one even in the cafe save for the bored looking Winged girl hanging out at the counter.

"Things going well?" she asked as she wandered up to her.

[Failyn]

"Things going well?" someone asked. Failyn suddenly realized that someone had walked up to the front desk without her noticing...which was odd, since she had been staring at the opening. She must have been REALLY out of it...Not that you could blame her, it was a boring da-!!!!! It wasn't just SOMEONE, the person standing in front of Failyn was SAPHIRA! Failyn broke out in a giant smile.

"Hi Saphira!!!!!!" This TOTALLY made the boring day worth it. Saphira had come to visit her! Well, that's what Failyn thought, anyway. After all, she hadn't come in before, so she didn't eat here regularly. (Apparently it didn't occur to Failyn that Saphira might just want to eat there THAT DAY...) Saphira had been the one to show her to her job (she couldn't have made it without Saphira's help, kind of like Iod) and now she was checking up on her. And....IOD!! They should totally meet - they'd get along fabulously, Failyn was sure.

"Iod!!!" Failyn called through the kitchen. "Come here real quick! It's reallyreally important!!" Failyn turned back to Saphira. "You have to meet Iod!"

[Iod]

Iod was in the middle of his afternoon banter with the chefs when he heard Failyn yell his name. He paused mid-sentence, yelling back to her, "Yeah, I'm coming!" before turning back to the chef and finishing his insult, "-so ugly that the only way she could get a dogfish to play with her was to tie a steak around her neck!"

"Fik you, talking about my mother like that!" The cook said, throwing a plate at Iod's head. Iod ducked, laughing and thrust his fists into the air, knowing with certainty that he'd won once again. Mother jokes may have been slow-blows, but Iod was always willing to play dirty in order to win.

He came out through the swinging doors, glancing around the mostly empty cafe. Looked like it was a dead day on this side too. What a bummer, "Hey Birdie, what's up?" His eyes briefly fell on the smoking winged chick with the blue feathers, "Who's the chickadee; hot older sister, hot friend, or random hot customer?"

[Failyn]

Failyn turned and smiled at Iod as he came in. "Iod! You took too long. I said it was really REALLY important, remember?" To Failyn, Iod meeting Saphira was about as important as one of the customers being on fire or something, and in that case Iod WOULD have taken too long. She just didn't realize that no one else would give the same weight of meaning to two people meeting as a customer being on fire. "Also, she's a hot friend." Failyn didn't even have to LEARN to just go with whatever Iod said. It was already in her personality to go with the flow. If that's how he wanted to descibe her, she certainly had no problem with it. As far as she could see, it wasn't actually insulting, so why not? "Iod, this is my friend Saphira - she helped me find this place so I could get the job. Saphira, this is my sort-boss Iod. He taught me how to do the job."

Saphira messed with her necklace, suddenly a little anxious. (Her clothes weren't stictly regulation. But she didn't know that - she had kind of accidentally spaced out when Derrick was mentioning that specific detail. What if they didn't like eachother? There was no reason for them not to, but what if? It would be tragic.

But then she smiled, reassured. Of course they would like eachother. There was no reason not to.

Suddenly Failyn remembered that Saphira had come in as a customer. Oops. "Oh, I'm sorry! Saphira, did you actually want something to eat or drink? I recommend the cheesecake, it's delicious!" If Iod knew how much cheesecake she snuck away (the cooks had taken an odd liking to her) she'd probably never hear the end of it one way or another. He seemed to be able to take anything and bug people about it for forever. And the cheesecake thing wouldn't even be a challenge...

[Saphira]

Well, she'd kept the job. That was a start. And she certainly looked excited to see Saphira walk in. That could only mean that she was absolutely bored out of her mind, or she really was just an excitable person. Maybe a little of both. She lifted an eyebrow as the boy wandered over, inquiring as to which "hot" relation she was to Failyn. She was a little confused, but sometimes human slang tended to do that to her, even after all those years of working among them. Failyn either seemed to know what he meant, or was just going with it, so she decided to let it pass.

"Nice to meet you Iod," she smiled, holding her hand out for a handshake. Out of most of the possible first encounter greetings, Humans liked that sort of greeting best, it seemed. She glanced at Failyn. "Oh, I'm not here to eat. I just wanted to see how your new job was treating you. You made it here okay the other day?"

[Iod]

“Woman, you know you can’t rush me. I was in the middle of insulting Oren’s mother. Now that’s really really important,” Iod joked to Failyn. She wasn’t wearing her uniform, but there really wasn’t much of a uniform on the café side of things. So long as you looked nice, it was nice. Servers in the restaurant were expected to wear the uniform, but in the more casual café, only name tags were really required, “Though you keep bringing in friends like here and maybe I’ll come running quicker.”

Saphira offered a hand and Iod shook it, grinning at the bluejay, “Despite what Failyn said, I’m not a manager or anything. I work next door at the restaurant, and I like to hassle all the cute new employees,” He lent against the counter, giving Saphira the once-over. She was dressed nice, the sort of nice that usually meant she got paid well to just talk, “And you should have the cheesecake. It’s the best thing in this joint. Right Failyn?” Iod kept his face innocent, as if he didn’t know anything.

[Failyn]

See? They were getting along spectacularly! (The fact that they had exchanged civil greetings was apparently "spectacular.) Failyn was practically bouncing up and down with excitement. As it was, she couldn't stand still, and her hands kept finding stuff to do, like play with her necklace and tap he counter. She would touch her hair, but since she served food that wasn't allowed.

"You made it here okay the other day?" Saphira asked her.

"Oh yeah! I did, thanks to you." Failyn smiled brightly, both in thanks to Saphira and in happiness with the general situation. "You were a HUGE help!" she added greatfully. The only thing that put a small damper on Failyn's mood was that Saphira didn't want to try any food. But she perked right back up when Iod repeated her request that Saphira try something.

“And you should have the cheesecake. It’s the best thing in this joint. Right Failyn?” It was a good thing one of the other girls had turned off the music already. If there were music playing, Failyn might start dancing with excitement and joy and energy. It briefly occurred to her that she probably looked like a little child, all wriggly and easily pleased. But that didn't bother her.

"Yes!! See? Iod said you should try the cheesecake. That means it MUST be true!" Okay...that wasn't STRICTLY true. The world would be a frightening place if everything Iod said was true. But Failyn was going to ignore that for now. "It'll be on me!!" And, before Saphira could turn her down again, she darted back into the kitchen to grab it.

[Saphira]

Saphira couldn't possibly figure out why insulting someone's mother was so important, unless there was some sort of inside joke she was missing. At any rate, his further comment seemed to be of a complimenting nature, so she assumed he wasn't a total jerk to everyone, at least. She just responded to the comment with an awkward smile, not entirely sure what else to say. That is, until he suggested she have some cheesecake.

"I probably shouldn't. I have to do so much flying later, and cheesecake is so he--" and Failyn was already gone, running off to retrieve her some cheesecake. She frowned, but only for a second. "Oh. I guess I'll have some cheesecake then..." She glanced back at Iod, who was still grinning at her. She cleared her throat, feeling awkward. "Uhm... so... have you worked here long?"

[Iod]

“About three years. I’m on that side though,” He jerked his thumb towards the restaurant, “Derrick hired me when I was sixteen to be a bus boy and I’ve been wasting my time here ever since. It’s pretty great, the tips are decent and there’s nowhere else in the spaceport that would let me say the things I do to customers and not fire me.”

Iod didn’t mention the real reason he was at the spaceport. Telling people about his vengeance quest wasn’t something he did, especially not to people who he’d just met. Iod preferred when people thought he was just some jerk meroctopus who enjoyed humans. His enjoyment of humans was just there to excuse why he was constantly keeping an eye on who was coming and going, hoping maybe to catch a glimpse of the guys who had destroyed Iod’s life.

“What about you? What the heck does somebody like you do all day besides look pretty?” Iod leaned against the counter, “Or is that part of your job? ‘cause I could get behind that.”

[Failyn]

Failyn, having secured some cheesecake, skipped back into the cafe, just in time to hear Iod say "I could get behind that."

"Get behind what?" she asked while setting the cheesecake in front of Saphira. Failyn smiled at her. "Compliments of our wonderful cooks."

Failyn saw something move out of the corner of her eye, and her gaze flashed over to the doorway, attention completely gone from the two she was talking with. There was no one there - someone had probably just walked past. But her mind re-focused on the spies, bomb thing. The two she had imagined to be opposite teams were gone. She speculated that maybe the bomb was about to be planted, and that whatever she had seen was the people running to get away.

It DID occur to her that if there was a bomb, she should be attempting to leave, but a deeper part of her gently reminded this was only going down in her head. Turning her attention away from her thoughts, she turned back to Iod and Saphira, still a little lost in her own head (more than normal, anyway).

[Iod]

"I could behind that behind," Iod grinned, eager to see exactly how much he could get away with. Failyn was a bit too spacey for some of Iod's more straight-forward comments, but Saphira seemed to be a bit more on the level. Now the question was if she could take a joke, or if he'd end up with a slap for his troubles. It wouldn't be the first time he'd gotten smacked. Or the first time some girl had thought he was funny.

Iod sat up on the counter, running his mouth like he was getting paid to. Which, in a way, he was since he was still technically on the clock, "The cook's are a bunch of inbred assholes with seagulls and brine shrimp for ancestors, but they can make a mean cheesecake. It's like some sort of miracle of nature. They can barely string two coherent sentences together but man can they cook. And you should hear what their mothers will do for a couple of sand-dollars."

[Saphira]

He'd been working here for three years and had lasted that long? Saphira couldn't help but want to meet this Derrick, whose first priority was clearly not customer service. Did it fall under her jurisdiction to look into that? She made a mental note to do some research later.

Failyn returned with a plate of cheesecake, which Saphira took from her out of courtesy. It did happen to look quite delicious. Maybe she'd have a few bites...

Her gaze snapped back to Iod after his latest comment. That one wasn't over her Winged head. He was certainly beginning to irritate her, and she couldn't help but wonder how many other customers he likely drove away. It was a good thing there were other cafes and restaurants on the Space Port, or she'd likely have angry tourists on her hands on a daily basis.

She let the comment slide as she decided to take his word for it and take a bite of cheesecake. It was certainly tasty, though her mind began to mull over his constant usage of sea terms. How many people used that many... oh.

"You're a Mer, aren't you?" she decided to put out there. If he was continuing to be obnoxiously blunt, then a simple question from her shouldn't be too abrasive for him, she decided.

[Iod]

Iod grinned. He was starting to get her goat. Good. She was super cute when she was getting angry, "Got it in one, chickadee!" Iod swung his legs, "Mertopus to be exact! I've got all them extra arms for extra loving," He waggled his eyebrows, since if you were going to be over the top, you might as be as over the top as possible.

He gestured to Failyn, still talking to Saphira, promptly getting as ridiculous as he could, "Me and Birdie are building some real interspecies bridges over here. It's the touching tale of a boy and girl from two different worlds, brought together by cheesecake and the best boss in the spaceport. I'm going to sell the right to the Network and get a movie made. That Petranek chick can play Birdie, and if they can't find anyone magnificent enough to play me, I'll just play myself."

[Failyn]

When Failyn finally tuned back in, Iod was rambling on about making some movie based on their friendship and ending with, "and if they can't find anyone magnificent enough to play me, I'll just play myself." With a sudden burst of humor, a reply sprang to her lips.

"Oh, finding someone as 'magnificent' as you won't be the problem. It'll be trying to find someone with as awful hair. I mean really, does a baby griffon cut your hair or something?" Baby griffons didn't have the attention span to do anything...if it tried to cut someone's hair they'd end up with ten different hairstyles in one cut. Failyn smiled at Saphira. "You can just ignore him. He thinks he's funny."