Cuppa Coffee at Starschmucks

[siryn]

Wow, last night was...rough. Well, not that it was the first time for Siryn - and most likely not the last. The 'drinking problem' started prevailing in more ways than one, yet Terry herself stubbornly denied the already obvious fact. She kept telling herself everything was under control - she liked to think it was.

It is, Terry thought to herself, pushing the doors of Starbucks open. Why the hell did she come here? The coffee was ridiculously over-priced, not to mention the flocks of giggly mall girls irritated Terry to death, but the aftermath drinking headache was pounding down on her head like never before, and she desperately needed a first aid kid - a cup of coffee. Of course, Terry could've settled with the cheap diner crap, but why spoil the feeling of New York?

Terry walked up to the counter and was immediately approached by one of the baristas (oh, how she hated that word - stupid American slang) - a young man with a smile that could kill a diabetic person within a five mile range.

"Welcome to Starbucks Coffee Houses, may I take your order, lovely?" He said in a quick manner as if it was a recited poem, adding the word 'lovely' in an especially snotty tone, as if he was the most irresistible man on the face of this planet. Again, why did Siryn come here? She should immediately scream his ears off on the spot.

"Uh, give me a...." Terry ran her eyes across the menu. What the bloody hell? Tall? Grande? Venti? Fucking Americans are outta their feckin' minds. "... a tall espresso." God, this is beyond stupid.

[Toni Craft]

Toni streches her head to the side and massages her neck. A loud audible crack seems to echo down the sidewalk as her vertebrae snap.

"Ah the joy of iron bones!" She utters to herself as crosses the street. New York was truly wonderous place, but it was becoming tiresome quickly. It was time to head back to the mansion.

Toni brushes past a few other pedestrians and walks past a bustling Starbucks on the way to the bus stop. Her legs halt and she turns around to glance back at the infamous coffee shop. She then looks down the avenue. Sure enough, 200 feet away, on the opposite side of the street, there's another Starbucks.

"Jeez. They weren't kidding about the overabundance of the damn things." She says aloud. "What I would have given to have bought some stocks in that company ten years ago."

"Lady, you're talking to yourself." A teen states as he walks by.

"Sure am, kiddo." Toni shoots back, unfazed. She looks back up at the closer Starbucks and smacks her lips. "Ah, what the hell. I might as well give this overpriced sludge a chance."

She walks up the few steps and pulls open the door. A small little bell jingles in response.

"How quaint." Toni shoves her hands in her pockets and finds her place in line. Another patron walks through the door, sending a gentle breeze through the otherwise coffee-saturated air. Her red hair blows about in response.

Toni scans the menu board and sticks out her tongue. "It's like a friggin' alien language in here!" She says, much louder than anyone expected. She ignores the stares. "Caramel Macchiato?! What the hell is that?!" Again, people stare.

A young, red-headed woman in front of her gives her order to the sickeningly sweet coffee boy: "Uh, give me a....a tall espresso." Irish, if Toni wasn't mistaken, and she sounded familiar. She also didn't seem too pleased with the uber-american coffee shop.

The coffee boy sent the order and looked past the Irish woman to Toni, "And what can I get you, ma'am?"

"She get's 'lovely' and I get 'ma'am', lucky me." She mutters, stepping forward. Toni scans through the menu board again and gives the -- what were they called? Baristas? -- a pleading look. "Okay there, sweet pea, if I could make any sense of this damn place, I'd just order a plain ol'coffee. But I can't, so I'll go with the one thing I recognize: 2 Steamed Milks--" She looks around, trying to find a size guide. "What ever your smallest size is."

"Tall." Mr. Baristas says as he punches in her order on the cash register.

"Yes, I know I'm tall. Thanks for noticing." Toni says nonchalantly. Actually, she was tall. 6'1'' to be exact. The Aaron-Carter-clone-for-a-Starbucks-lackey hesitates before laughing lightly.

"That'll be $4.28, ma'am."

"Ah, over-priced beverages. Truly the american way." She hands him a five dollar bill and tells him to keep the change. Toni stands aside and lets the next customer be served. She glances around the coffee shop before coming to the young woman next to her. "Hey, I knew that Irish drawl sounded familiar. How's she goin', Terry?" She asks the shorter redhead.

[siryn]

"Here you go" Said Mr. America 2006 slash the barista, pushing the espresso towards Terry. Hmm, he slipped some kind of note under the cup - probably the bill. Terry glanced down at it while handing him a fiver.What the bloody hell? A phone number? Siryn looked up at the lad and was immediatelly greeted with a wink. Oh Jaysus.

"Fuck off, ya feckin' bombay shitehawk!" Terry threw back the phone number at the boy, making the entire line turn their heads at the scene. Heh, he didn't seem so macho now - in fact, he was blushing like a school girl. Serves him right, the feckin' arsebandit.

Terry was about to move away to find herself a table to sit, when she heard a familiar voice call her. Ah, Toni - how could you not recognize the voice of this tall lady here?

"Ah'm fine Toni, just lookin' fer a decent cuppa coffee, though it's hard t' get one with all those sky pilots tryin' t' pull one ouva ya." Terry said, literally looking up Toni, even though she was quite tall herself. "How have ya been, lassie?"

[Toni Craft]

Toni grins to herself as she notices the coffee boy's note underneath Terry's coffee. This wasn't going to be good. She knew the Irish redhead had quite the temper, when she wanted to.

Sure enough--

"Fuck off, ya feckin' bombay shitehawk!" The little piece of paper went flying back at the baristas. Terry takes her espresso and storms off, leaving Toni amongst the crowd of startled patrons and employees.

"Sorry, cutie, guess you're not her type. My drinks done yet?" She said, leaning on the counter. The model-like server blushes furiously before rushing away from the register. "Whoops. Uh, hun?" Toni asks a blond Starbucks employee. "Are those mine?" She points to two abandoned, steaming cups.

"Jacob! You can't leave me here like this!" The young girl yells towards the back room as she hands Toni her drinks.

"Don't worry about it, he'll feel better in a bit. Thanks." She takes her drinks and happily heads over to Terry, who has found herself a table.

"Ah'm fine Toni, just lookin' fer a decent cuppa coffee, though it's hard t' get one with all those sky pilots tryin' t' pull one ouva ya." Toni laughs lightly and takes a seat across from Terry.

"At least you got a phone number. I got called ma'am!" She snaps the top off her first cup and brings it up to her lips.

"How have ya been, lassie?"

"Oh you know, same old, same old. Kids keep flyin' around and tossing the sodium into the sink whenever I'm not looking. Next thing you know, I'm rinsing a beaker out and BLAM! there goes the lab's drainage system." Toni grins and tips her cup up and literally downs the near-boiling milk in one go. She sighs and sets the empty glass down. An older couple a few tables away gawk at her, but she says no attention. "What 'bout you Terry? What are you doin' in this grand ol'representation of prime american culture? Besides destroying male egos, of course."

[siryn]

"Eh, ya know I'm very cranky in the mornin' if ah don't get me cuppa coffee straight away. In Ireland, we'd cut the crap an get to the point without any piss talk. That's Yankee Land fer ya." Terry responded with a cheeky smile, taking a seat down and flicking the top off of the Starbucks cup.

"What 'bout you Terry? What are you doin' in this grand ol'representation of prime american culture? Besides destroying male egos, of course."

Terry allowed a grin to spread across her rosy lips, taking a sip of the five dollar espresso. Well, it wasn't that bad - though nothing can league up to the good ol' Irish coffee. "Well, I didn't t' Amerca for nothin' ya know! Gotta taste the over-priced goods."

[Toni Craft]

"Eh, ya know I'm very cranky in the mornin' if ah don't get me cuppa coffee straight away. In Ireland, we'd cut the crap an get to the point without any piss talk. That's Yankee Land fer ya."

Toni smiles and stares down at her second cup of milk. "I hear ya, Terry. We Italians---don't listen to the red hair. It lies---are exactly the same. Have you seen Matty in the morning? He's like fuckin' Godzilla; stomping around, occasionally crushing a poor soul beneath those clompin' feet of his. Everyonce and a while, if you're lucky, you'll get to see him face off against the toaster before he opts to just radiating his own toast." She grins.

"Well, I didn't t' Amerca for nothin' ya know! Gotta taste the over-priced goods." Toni snorts at that.

"You have to love our belligerent use of capitalism." Toni's political views were usually kept under wraps, but occasionally, they came out. "I say we all move to Canada. If not for their political system then for the cheap drugs, a younger legal drinking age, and stronger booze." The second glass goes bottoms-up and in a matter of seconds, it's emptied.

[siryn]

"I hear ya, Terry. We Italians---don't listen to the red hair. It lies---are exactly the same. Have you seen Matty in the morning? He's like fuckin' Godzilla; stomping around, occasionally crushing a poor soul beneath those clompin' feet of his. Everyonce and a while, if you're lucky, you'll get to see him face off against the toaster before he opts to just radiating his own toast."

Terry smiled at that, sipping down on the coffee and enjoying the warm stream running down her throat. Really, people were placed into two categories - those who are a stumbling mess without their morning coffee, and those who don't give a damn about it. Terry was placed into the first category - if she was left in the wilderness with a cup, coffee beans and water, she'd grind the beans with her fingers and warm the water with her voice.

"I say we all move to Canada. If not for their political system then for the cheap drugs, a younger legal drinking age, and stronger booze."[/i]

"And cheers t' that, Toni" Siryn smiled, lifting her cup in a toasting gesture. Booze was one of Terry's weaknesses, so that would be a good reason to move to Canada - then again, why bother? She could get all the alcohol she wanted right here, and you didn't even have to hand in a fake ID.

[Magneto]

Magneto sat sort of toward the back of the coffee house, dressed in a pair of old brown slacks and a white button up shirt with a rather old and ratty looking second hand coat and baseball cap. Not the usual look for such an educated and philosophical mutant such as himself, but when one was the most wanted mutant 'terrorist' on the planet, well, you had to improvise and learn how to change your look when you chose to go out in public for a cup of coffee....or on a recruiting mission if not both. His ice blue eyes drifted across the room, looking at one pathetic homo sapien to the next, each one sipping on some jacked up coffee discussing their minor little problems and trying to act all important and sophisticated. Erik himself was nursing a 'tall' coffee....just plain of course (and what a chore getting it 'plain' was). The reaction to drop the entire building on that little girl running the counter was hard to fight, especially when she gave him that look when he insisted on just a 'regular' coffee.

He crossed his right leg over his left, sipping his coffee in short intervals, watching those coming and going, but when Toni walked in, something drew his attention to her and it just wasn't her big mouth and attitude (although that did help just a bit). He furrowed his brow a bit as she continued to make a scene of sorts and then at the way she carried on with the young red headed girl she had 'ran' into. "Charming," he muttered to himself just as he raised his 'tall' cup and took another sip of his rather mundane $4.00 coffee.

Erik lowered his cup and took a breath, the strong scent of 'coffee' (or at least that's what the girl behind the counter kept calling this mud in a cup) filling his nostrils. Toni and Siryn continued their little discussions, a word here or there breaking through all the noise of the room but none of it worth Erik's attention, no...what pulled at him was that familiar 'feel' of cold, hard metal. Having absolute control of magnetism gave one a sort of feel for everything it was affected by and just in the same way that Erik could feel Logan when he was around, he could feel that same pull from Toni. "Now 'that' is interesting," he muttered to himself again, only this time with a smile as he increased the magnetic force around Toni, but just enough to make her sluggish....that is, if his assumption was correct.

[Toni Craft]

"And cheers t' that, Toni" Terry lifts her cup of coffee up and Toni grins as she knocks her empty one against it.

"Honestly though, the canucks've got a good thing going." Just as Toni starts to drop her cup, she feels an odd tug in her muscles. Nothing overly controlling, just a soft restraint. Kind of like battling the wind on a blustery day. It wasn't anything she couldn't handle, but it did catch her attention. "You feel that?"

Terry probably didn't. Just didn't get enough sleep last night, she reasons, muscles are sore.

She keeps coming up with excuses as she wiggles her stiff fingers. No...nothing like this before has ever happened...

Slowly and distantly she scans the coffee shop. Mostly old folks speckled with the odd teenager and eccentric college student. The the old guy in the ball-cap catches her attention for a moment, but she drops it. Meh...whatever. It'll go away in a minute.

"So what else is new with you, Terry?" Toni tries valiantly not to look distracted by the lethargic responses throughout her whole body. She manages to pull it off to a reasonable extent, but her eyes keep darting out into the coffee-rich crowd, watching to see if anyone made any obvious movements.

[siryn]

"You feel that?"[/b]

"Feel what?" Terry inquired, taking another sip of her 'ultra-cool' Starbucks coffee. "If yer talkin' 'bout this sucky undertaste, then yeah." She said and placed the now empty cup on the side, yet upon seeing Toni's somewhat worried grimace, Terry could tell that her fellow red-head wasn't talking about that, and you didn't even have to be a mind-reader to notice it.

"So what else is new with you, Terry?"

The question was said in a rather layed back manner, yet Siryn could see that Fortress wasn't paying attention. Her eyes were wandering across the crowded coffee shop, searching for something. Or someone.

"Well, ah slit me throat yesterday and mah head rolled away somewhere. Did you see where it went?" Terry asked in an equally off-handed manner, testing to see if Toni's participating in their conversation.

[Magneto]

Magneto watched Toni carefully, keeping just enough magnetic force on her to distract her from what was really going on around her. The way she looked about just about the time he focused his attention on her only proved his theory...well, to an extent anyway. Erik still wasn't sure just what her mutant ability was or why she would have so much metal residing in her body. Perhaps like the Wolverine, she too possessed some sort of metal skeletal structure or she very could well be something kin to that Russian lad who had that interesting ability to turn his body into steel. Either way, Erik would find out, whether it be through conversation or through other delicate means, those of a blue nature.

Toni made eye contact with him briefly and for a moment, Erik thought himself found out, but when she shrugged her shoulders and resumed her search around the coffee house, the old man chuckled and took another sip of his coffee. His attention drifted to Siryn, albeit briefly as he speculated as to if she was also a mutant. Judging by the way she and Toni spoke and carried on, they knew each other, either fairly well or just casually and that meant that she too was more than likely a mutant. Magneto had come across all kinds in his day and he knew all too well that there was nothing more dangerous than a mutant whose power and ability was unknown, so he held his hand a while longer, still toying with Toni and seeing where all this went.

[Toni Craft]

Toni still can't figure out where that damn tug is coming from, but she sure as hell doesn't like it. It's like a series of weights had attached themselves to each of her limbs, pulling them down.

"Well, ah slit me throat yesterday and mah head rolled away somewhere. Did you see where it went?"

"Ah...wha?" Toni's head snaps back to look at Terry before she tilts her head to the side. "Sorry 'bout that. Got distracted for a second. I'm feelin' kind of strange." She shakes her hand, the action coming off to be a strenuous motion, and looks back up to Terry. "Felt like I pissed off Bobby again. Last time he froze my feet to the floor and left me there for a couple of hours." The brief memory of Bobby's angry expression makes her grin impishly. "Probably nothin' to worry about though, just kinda stiff. I'll take a hot bath or something when I get home." She shrugs it off casually (though the action requires more strength that usual).

Toni takes the moment to look around again, but comes up with nothing. She resolves to intertwining her fingers and placing them on the table to avoid her fidgeting.

"But, uh, yeah. Head fell off? Happened to me once. Found it underneath the bed all covered in dust buffalos. Took me a week to get the stuff out of my hair." She manages a smile, hoping to convince Terry that she isn't being ignored.

[Magneto]

"Remarkable," Magneto muttered to himself once more as he picked up on the insane amount or iron which seemed to make up Toni's body. What he detected went far beyond just a skeleton, it seemed her body was producing and using the iron on scale which was ten times greater than your average homo sapien. The old man could fell the pull and sway of the metal against the magnetic field he manipulated around Toni and even when he closed his eyes, he could still make out her faint body image, much the same way infrared picks up body heat.

Uncrossing his legs and standing a bit slower than need be (for show and all, after all, Erik was an old man), Erik casually strolled over to the table where Toni and Siryn were sitting, his coffee cup in his left hand, almost empty. Recruitment never ceased and any mutant Erik could bring about to his the cause only bode well for mutant kind (or at least he thought so). "Mind if an old man joins you two young ladies?," he asked Toni as he released the magnetic pull over her, leaving her as normal as possible. He tilted his head down somewhat and glanced to Siryn, flashing her a smile before letting his gaze fall back to Toni.

[Toni Craft]

The stiffness in her body hasn't subsided. Actually, to a point, it's gotten worse. But it still isn't that bad. At least Toni can still move. She tries, albeit distractedly, to continue her conversation with Terry, but occasionally she finds herself zoning out and testing her muscles ever so subtly.

But then she's pulled away from the conversation again when the old man in the baseball cap approaches them, his coffee in hand. Oddly enough, at the same time, her body is released from the odd dampening effect, and Toni nearly jumps off the table as she tenses her legs to check. In her surprise she temporarily forgets about the man and is more concerned with her freed body.

But when the old man arrives at the table, Toni glances up and finally sees his face.

It takes everything she has not to make any noticeable reactions.

Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.

Well...certainly explains that funny feeling....

Toni's no idiot, and she's been at the Institute long enough to instantly recognize 'Human enemy #1.'

Of all people to run into, it had to be the one that could pretty much do whatever he wanted to her (Okay, no. Don't think about that. *shudder*).

"Mind if an old man joins you two young ladies?" Okay, that only came off as mildly creepy. But for the most part, Erik Lehnsherr doesn't seem to recognize either Terry or herself, which boded incredible well for both of them, especially Toni. Maybe they'd be able to get by unscathed.

Though, he seems to be paying much more attention to her. Aw nuts...lemme guys, his metal-sense is tingling. Like a giant magnet would ever pass up the chance to stick itself to a chunk of iron (again, stop it with the disturbing thoughts. They're not healthy).

Right...time to just play it cool, and maybe he'll be like the rash you got last week and go away on his own.

"By all means, pull up a chair." Refusing him would probably just send up a bunch of red flags and make the situation even more stressful. "We were just discussing the digestive track of the West African Green Tree Ant, in case you have any input you'd like to share." Please please please don't let this be one of those times that my reputation has preceded me...

[Magneto]

Erik caught a brief glimpse of something in Toni's eye and the slight change in her posture as he addressed her, but if there really was anything there, the woman covered it up quickly as she recovered from his abrupt intrusion. He really hadn't thought about how one lone old man approaching two apparently single females, both of whom were so much younger than him, might look, after all, one such as him simply didn't give thought to things like that.

Tapping a finger against his cup as he nodded to Toni, grabbing a chair from behind him, smiling all the while, he positioned himself between the two females, setting his cup down on the table. He crossed his legs again and rested his hands in his lap, looking down and straight ahead at the coffee cup on the table. Toni's question was designed to discourage him from sitting, no doubt about that, too bad for her he was far too educated to be bothered by such things. Erik Lehnsherr was a co-founder of Xavier's School and served as deputy headmaster for years, teaching the very ones who now taught a whole new generation.

"Well my dear," he said with that slow know it all tone of his and that sweet sarcastic smile he had perfected over the years, "Honey and other invertebrates.....nothing special there really," he began as he quirked his eyebrows, glancing at Toni with upturned eyes, "but the green tree ant is from Australia....not West Africa," he said letting her know she was found out and that a whole new direction would have to be found if she wanted to rid herself of him.