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Strokes of Genius: Thursday [1/13]

Today was a day for ~~posting late because non-fake work ate her~~ music. Cally had purchased a small pair of speakers to connect to her datapad, and now she was dusting off shelves and adding new price labels to the beat of Auron's Top 40. Think techno-jazz-funk with a hint of computer generation, boosted a thousand years into the future ~~as someone from 1979 might imagine it~~.

Now if only there weren't a Saint Bernard flopped in the aisle beside the register, trying to sing along.

Strokes of Genius was open and... enthusiastic, if not in tune.

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"I have a job!" proclaimed Dolf, as he rushed in with two actually-weather-appropriate hot chocolates. He had money now, so he could afford them.

... Well, they were all he could afford, but still!

Of course, his rushing-in strategy stopped halfway through as he halted suddenly upon seeing the dog, and took two steps back. "...and hot chocolate."

On the plus side, his sudden entrance cut short Sonata in D Minor For Saint Bernard -- at least for the moment.

"You do? Nana, come here."

That command worked about as well as expected. Perhaps slightly better, actually; she shifted an inch, then rolled her eyes and flopped again.

"Where? The job; I can see the hot chocolate."

--
[OMG ded from up at crack-of-dawnitude. If I have not dragged myself awake again in a few hours, I will hail you from the land of SP in the morning.]

Dolf smiled a little nervously at the dog, edging towards the... side, non-bedogged bits of the store so he could at least attempt to reach Cally with the drinks. "Turtle and Canary," he said, "The place with all the things--"

Dog equaled English fail.

"--and the guy in the funny dress."

[[ ahahaha you say that like I was capable of anything after school forced me to stay up until fuck late o' clock. ]]

"The general shop." Close, Cally. Close. "...There's a man in a dress?"

"And a hat," Dolf said, helpfully. "I don't think he really likes working in the store."

To put it mildly.

"Oh, the ..." Cally sketched the general shape of a flattened-out cone above her head. "That hat? I thought he was the owner; I wonder why he'd buy a place if he doesn't want to work there."

She also wondered... well. There were messages left last week. But if he wasn't going to say anything about them, then....

If there were any messages she'd gotten, Dolf was blissfully unaware of them right now. "I have no idea," he admitted, shrugging his shoulders. He very gingerly perched against the counter, sending another troubled glance at the dog. "But he gave me the job and then he ran away very, very fast. Then I talked to Apu for a while about his rights."

Yeah, Shunsui was going to love that.

Nana chose that moment to take up her opera career again; Cally sighed and tapped the datapad to turn the music off, before reaching for one of the hot chocolate cups.

"Thank you," she said, with a lift of it towards Dolf, then, "His rights? Which rights?"

"Shunsui was pushing him around," Dolf said, with a little shrug. "And he is not getting paid enough. He should be treated better, I think."

He shot the dog a difficult look. Did she really...?

She really gave one last sad little howl, then looked over at Cally like she'd just kicked a puppy instead of just turning off her accompaniment.

"So you're forming a labor union?" she asked, amused, but also a bit impressed that he'd take up for someone he barely knew.

"I just told him he should find one," Dolf groused, though his eyes weren't leaving that dog. "He could be doing much better, you know. Even in America!"

That dog gave him a look that quite plainly translated in any language as Why do you all hate and abuse me so, then flopped her muzzle down on her paws.

"I suppose I can assume you're not going to let the boss push you around, then."

"I like working," he retorted (because that had been pulled into question, really, Dolf.), "but no, I won't let him push me. There is just work that should be done and I'm supposed to sell people things, so that's what I'll do. Not mop things and get shouted at."

"I don't mind mopping things if the place needs it." Which might have something to do with bringing a four-legged assistant to work through the snow more days than not. "But luckily getting shouted at isn't in the job description here. Which does make me wonder if anyone would ever get hired if it was."

Yes. Baldrick.

Dolf snorted softly. He was starting to contemplate making the leap, as it were, to avoid the dog so he could get to Cally. "Some people who really needed money, maybe," he said. "Though on the upside, I will now start to earn money. Maybe that means I'll be able to fly home sometime."

That shouldn't produce a frown, so Cally pushed away the muscle twitch that tried to make one. "To stay?" she asked, so very very casually that she might have been asking to fetch some tulips?

"To find my parents," he amended, shrugging helplessly. "I... maybe you can come with me? If you can. It's really nice, I promise, it's not-- like America, but it's nice."

... don't blush, Dolf. Don't-- oh, there we go.

"Oh!" Yes, way to maintain the casualness, Cally. "Oh. I..." Thought he should blush more often, but that was the passingest of passing thoughts. "I would like that."

"Good," Dolf said, nodding quickly. "Good. Though, before that..."

Something something something.

"Before that you'd have to work a while to earn that much money?"

Just in case you wondered if she was lying about not being able to read minds.

"...No."

He gave her a difficult look. And squirmed. Maybe a little.

"Maybe we should... go somewhere else... first...?"

Someone save him from himself.

Well, it wasn't going to be Nana, who cracked one eye open at him, huffed, then went back to pretending to sleep. Or really sleeping. Who could tell?

"Somewhere else like...?"

"Somewhere to, uh..." Blush harder, Dolf! "...eat? Not now, when I have my next-- money!"

Flail, also.

"I have money; we could go somewhere to eat now. Well, once my shift..."

Now that cracked-open dog eye was trained on her. There was even a Dear God, how did I get saddled with such stupid two-footed types sigh. Or perhaps Cally was just imagining that.

"You mean go out together. On a, ah...date?"

Hopefully the amount of red on Dolf's face provided an adequate answer, because the next thing out of his mouth took about a minute.

"If... if you want."

"As long as it's not on the other side of a snowy mountain range..." It could be classified as a cruel streak, but it was never applied without a smile. "...I think that sounds lovely."

"I wasn't planning to go away from the island!" he flailed in the five seconds it took him to register the smile. "...Um. Sometime next week? Somewhere you like." He was usually better than this. Why was he flailing?!

Because he was a big Dutch dork? Just a shot in the dark.

"I like the coffee shop, but I suppose that's not appropriate for an actual meal. What about ..what's it called - Taste of Thai? I've never been there, but I like to try new things."

Edited 2011-01-16 18:48 (UTC)

"I like Thais food," Dolf volunteered, inexplicably grateful that she had taken point on that one. "So we'll have Thais food on, uh-- Friday?"

"Friday is good. I have no classes that day, though I'm planning to visit the club fair."

"...We have a club fair?"

Dolf really htto pay more attention to things that weren't equal rights for cheap labour.

"Right."

"You should come. You could start a...something club." All right, so the something might be problematic. "Something you like to do that others enjoy as well? Or perhaps there'll already be one to join."

"I keep hoping for a football club," Dolf admitted. "I've just been playing with Triela and she thought she could do it on heels."

"On...heels?" Cally glanced down at her own feet a bit confusedly. "I don't know much about the game, but don't you kick with your toes?"

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Strokes of Genius: Thursday [1/13]

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