[Visual| The Clock Shop - Speares]

[smecker]

"Goooood morning, fellow inmates."

Paul tap-taps the little screen, exhales cigarette smoke towards it. He thinks he's got the right settings for 'city-wide broadcast' but only experimenting will tell.

"There's still, what, a fucking foot of snow on some of the sidewalks? Just the right conditions to go shoppingThe view of his face vanishes as

Comments

[ voice ]

[fudgingkillyou]

Where the hell are you getting your coffee from? [ dean usually... steals his, but hell, at least it tastes decent. like skeevy diner coffee, sorta-- so not all the great, but at least it's not recycled snot. ]

[ voice ]

[smecker]

A voice emanates from the tablet shortly after he 'hangs up'; Paul glances at it, then taps the voice button back.

"The hatches for the most part. Not that I've found any cafes here where it really tastes much different. Why, do you have a secret stash of Grade A Columbian Roast?"

Paul is a) a coffee snob and b) probably exaggerating the taste somewhat as one does.

[ voice ]

[fudgingkillyou]

[ dude, dean has no idea what the difference is between columbian roast and whatever else there is out there. then again, dean's a human garbage disposal, so his tastes are pretty crap. ]

Nah, guess it's just that my senses aren't so easily offended, Your Majesty. [ ... dean. ] You tried asking the extras for better quality crap?

[ voice ]

[smecker]

Paul snorts.

"Or that you have no taste and wouldn't know decent coffee if it bit your ass. One of the two. Did you just ask if I've 'tried asking the Extras for better'? Yes, actually, and the conversation goes something like-

"'Hello sir may I help you?' - 'Yes, I'd like something that tastes better than this.' - 'Small, medium, or large, sir?' - 'I don't care about the size, does it taste any better?' - 'Would you liked whipped cream on that sir?' - 'No, I don't want any goddamned whipped cream, do you have different blends' - 'Two-forty-nine sir' - 'Holy christ are you processing anything I am saying or is your script so fucking limited you can't intelligently respond to a complaint about this synthesized liquid scum you have the balls to call coffee?' - 'Is this order to go, sir'?"

Paul is a bit disturbingly good at doing the 'falsetto' half of that conversation.

[visual]

[justaddmarbles]

Glitch paused in the midst of consuming a grilled cheese sandwich (it was excellent comfort food, and given how his poor head had been playing up lately he'd take all the comfort he could get) to listen to Paul's message. Immediately he could think of only one appropriate response:

"Good!" he declared, perhaps a bit brusquely. "With you officially out of business we won't have any more competition." Pause. "I'll probably stop by and grab a few things for parts anyway."

[visual]

[smecker]

Paul arched a brow at Glitch's... rather mercenary answer there, but gave the man a thumbs-up via the tablet screen. Hell, for all he knew maybe there had been some really stiff business rivalry going on there.

"Sounds like a plan, although I should warn you that as an FBI agent I have in the past assisted the Antitrust Division of the D.O.J. with cases against monopolies."

Losing Glitch: one of Paul's amusing Taxon hobbies!

[visual]

[justaddmarbles]

Nice try, Paul, but Glitch is also skilled at tossing out incomprehensible acronyms and important-sounding credentials.

"And as realm's engineer I invented the TDESPHTL," he replied with a grin. "And I designed a machine that altered the path of the suns, so...yes, I'll be stopping by for parts."

Re: [visual]

[smecker]

"Say that first one again, I feel anything with that few vowels qualifies as a Russian guy coughing. Anyway, yeah, sure, come on by for parts."

He pursed his lip slightly, regarding Glitch. Other man seemed weirdly... forward today, definitely a change from the stammering he'd seen before. Oh well. Like he'd known the guy long enough to pass categorical judgments on his character. He probably just had good days and bad days.

Paul wasn't mentally addressing the 'path of suns' stuff. It went into the growing Taxon box of 'weird shit I don't actively think about'.

[voice]

[lionofolympus]

I do think that shopping isn't quite on my agenda.

I am, however, skilled at garbage removal. If you don't sell anything.

[voice]

[smecker]

"No? I'm sure you could use an automatic nutcracker, whoever you are." Beat. "Nutcracker doll, of course."

The voice on the other end of the line sounds... husky. Like it belongs to the sort of guy who is instantly selected out of a lineup as the one to check for a history of violence.

"Well, in any case, I may keep you in mind for the garbage removal, Mister....?"

[voice]

[lionofolympus]

Hercules. As in The.

[You can almost hear the grin]

I did once clean an entire stable as one of my labors.

[Actually, he didn't do that one. But he doesn't share that part.]

Re: [voice]

[smecker]

"......the.... Hercules."

There is a silence; Paul is rubbing at his forehead. Then muttered, low--

"Of course you are. Of course. Why should there not be a Hercules. Why should I even fucking be surprised. Fucking. Fuck. Fucking Hercules."

A throat clearing, and more loudly, "I've always swung more towards Apollo myself."

[Visual]

[beenthroughhell]

[Someone leaving a shop behind was familiar, even if her situation was a little different. Still, she said,]

Doughnuts are a good plan. Maybe I should try that.

[Visual]

[smecker]

Paul nodded at the young woman; he didn't know her yet, so play nice-ish.

"Doughnuts are always a good plan. Especially with this many cops around. You have a shop of your own, miss?"

[Visual] - yay for formatting fail above

[beenthroughhell]

"I do, in Wilde. I opened it with a friend before he went home." It's not falsely bright, but losing Ethan was also an old hurt at this point, and she'd lost many other people since. Talking about it is fine.

"I wanted mine, though. Do you know what sort of things you'd like to fill your shop with, once the watches are gone?"

Re: [Visual] - yay for formatting fail above

[smecker]

Paul shrugs, propping his elbows on the counter and looking down at the little screen.

"I'm not really.... a shop-keeper by inclination. I may turn the downstairs space into a sort of work area, depending on if I can get some of the equipment I want." No use saying 'I wanna make a homebrewed crime lab!' to someone he barely knew.

An amusing thought struck him though and he snorted. "I could sell music-- got about 2000 songs with me in digital media format. Don't really need a lot of shop space for that, though."

[audio]

[smecker]

Not exactly what I was trained for.

I'd offer to sell you a nutcracker, but you clearly have no need of such.

Re: [audio]

[smecker]

You are one.