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wicked-aria · 8 years ago

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Petra - Coffee Shops are Liminal Spaces

He was there again, and it was seriously messing with her day. Again. Petra scowled at her laptop screen, and shifted in the hard wooden seat of the coffee shop. Who gave him permission to exist during her lunch break? Seriously? She had to talk to someone about that, because he was a distraction while she tried to get even more work done.

Not that she had a problem with workaholic-ism. Not at all. That would be patently ridiculous, but Stefan had insisted she get out of the lab - and that was a perfect time to do some independant research on compounds.

And here was this asshole with his stupid trendy undercut (and platinum hair! Really. Some people would just do anything to be trendy wouldn't they) and his stupid laugh. Petra knew she'd already griped at Astrid enough about his existence in the last week. But this was just too much.

Her coffee was getting cold and who gave him permission to be so handsome? She was supposed to be the highlight of this coffee shop's day, dammit.

"Stupid glare," she muttered, just in case anyone was listening, and moved her laptop to face the other way on the table, switching seats so her back was to the bastard. Better. Much better and she hadn't looked insane in the process. A quick adjustment of her screen, and she resumed reading a study that had been completed over in Germany last year regarding the conversion of plastic bottles into renewable energy. Two fingers - perfectly manicured nails included, thank you - scrolled down on the trackpad as she got invested in her research. She shifted, grabbing her now-cold coffee to sip and-

"Are you fucking serious." She scowls at her screen.

Maybe she said that a touch loud. Oh fucking well, because that stupid asshole was now reflected in her screen thanks to her inversion extension making the screen dark. His stupid face, in all its glory, reflected right on top of work.

The cafe grew quiet for a minute, like everyone was watching her for an outburst. Well she wouldn't give it to them, dammit!

Stefan would just have to deal with her getting back to work a little early. She couldn't focus with this type of environment.

The laptop didn't appreciate the way she slammed the lid closed, shoved it into her bag, and went up to the counter for another coffee, this one to go. Ignoring the way she was so aware of the grey-haired prick over her shoulder the entire time. This was her coffee shop and she would make sure he knew that before he started getting cozy with Neya, the sweet barista.

---

Stefan was smiling at his phone when she arrived back at the lab. Something about that didn't seem fair - her lunch break had been ruined, what gave him the right-

But it was that gentle, adoring smile that she'd caught him with before, and there wasn't a touch of consternation to it, which meant that he was reading a text from Joel and not from Carina. She decided not to crash on his good mood, because she was just so nice and such a romantic. "Hey Professor. Sorry, I'm coming back early. Lunch sucked."

Stefan startled easily. She'd almost imagine him as a mouse or something, with the wide eyes blinking at her, the way he nearly fumbled his phone. It was a wonder, really, that his phone was still in one piece. Maybe it wasn't - whatever Joel did for a living, it paid well, and maybe Stefan was just going through a steady stream of repairs. She could imagine that. "Petra! Hi, how was- wait, what happened? What's wrong?"

And this was why she liked working with him. Just like that, instant Dad mode that was endearing and not really annoying. "Oh, nothing big. Just some self-centered jerk at the coffee shop I like." A roll of her shoulders. Briefly, she wondered if maybe it was unfair of her to characterize a stranger she'd never spoken to like that but - well, really. Noone asked him to be stupidly distracting.

Stefan blinked and frowned worriedly, coming over. "Is everything okay? He didn't say-"

"Nope. Nothing to get worked up over, really," she smiled quickly. Not about to own up to exactly what hadn't happened. Stupid handsome guy anyway.

"Maybe you could talk to the owner, though. If it becomes a problem, anyway..."

"Yeah. Maybe..." Or maybe she could just change her lunch hour. Surely he wouldn't be there at all hours and-

---

He had inconsistent lunch hours. Just her luck.

For the past two weeks, it's been a fifty-fifty shot that he'd be at the cafe for at least a portion of her lunch break. She was over it, and Stefan seemed to be getting a kick out of it once he'd gotten to the root of the issue.

(Which had, basically, been when he'd asked for specifics of what this gentleman at the cafe had actually done or said.

Silence had reigned for a moment while she tried to think.

Stefan had, bless his heart, waited patiently.

"Well he has this really stupid laugh when he's chumming it up with Neya. Neya of all people!" A traitor to the cause! That had been a grevious insult indeed.

"....So he hasn't actually done anything?"

"His existence is enough. He's stupidly handsome. The type of handsome that gets away with shit. I don't trust him."

"Okay, Petra." Stefan had said, and left it alone, but she wasn't so blind that she couldn't see the amusement in the corners of his lips.)

She wasn't about to surrender the only coffee shop that had managed to understand her when she asked for just the right amount of sugar though. She wouldn't let that bastard win, dammit.

The apartment downstairs from her had obviously messed up dinner, whatever dinner was supposed to be for them. She got home at about six, to an apartment full of smoke and the smell of burnt fish. Fan-freaking-tastic.

She knew which apartment, too! They were always burning shit, and she almost wanted to tell building management about it, but that was too much energy by the time she got home, so she huffed and strode into the living room. The blinds rattled as they opened, and the window took her throwing her whole weight into it in order to open, but open it did, and the smoke started lazily drifting out of her space.

If anyone asked, life was fantastic.

Her phone rang in her bag, and she went over to it. The particular rock song playing was Astrid - probably something to do with the latest juicy gossip she had text her at lunch. Good, some gossip that she could wrap herself up in and get her mind off annoying petty things like a guy with silver eyes.

Silver eyes - what a ridiculous thing to even exist.

"Did she really tell you that?" Astrid's voice comes in crystal clear when she answers, and Petra tries really hard to not laugh at her friend's eagerness.

"Yeah, she said she's still getting her life together after getting out of a bad relationship. So you know - she's not on the market, but it's not exactly like Neya's off-market either. You should get back in there sometime. She's asked about you."

"....She has?" Love - okay, okay, crushes - made people weird. She would have laughed if anyone ever had suggested that Astrid was capable of sounding so timid.

“She has, promise. I mean, not everyday, so you're good, our sweet little pink-haired barista isn't some stalker, but she gets this little smile and asks about you if it's a slow day and – son of a fat fucking bitch.” Her tone fell flat as a rock.

“What??” Clearly, Astrid had been startled by the change in tone.

“Son of a bitch! I won't even believe-” Petra's eyes had wandered to the window and of all the fucking indignities-

The city of Atlantis was a metropolis. Petra had grown up cradled in its smog-ensconced arms and creepy, adult-focused billboards and storefronts, and it hadn't been a surprise when the apartment she leased out was a short alley-way width's away from the next apartment building over. It hadn't even bothered her that the other apartment's window was equal height and width from hers, to the point of being able to reach across the alleyway and shake hands with a neighbor, 12 floors up from the ground. Whatever, these things happen and the apartment across the way had been empty the whole 9 months she'd lived here.

Not anymore, and maybe he'd moved in a few weeks ago – she didn't make a habit of opening her windows very often, liking the freedom to dress – or undress – however she liked in the safety of her home.

“Pet? Hello?” Her childhood friend tried to catch her attention through the phone.

The walls in the other apartment had been painted a quiet green color and there was artwork up, and – clearly someone had been living there for a few weeks in fact. And clearly someone else liked wearing – or not – whatever they liked in their apartment.

“This prick is trying to ruin my life, I swear, Astrid, I don't know what I've done to deserve this.” Petra informs her friend. She patted herself on the back for sounding so calm, and reasonable too. So few people would, faced with this level of shit from the universe.

“....Coffee shop guy? He's still bugging you? That was at noon-” Astrid started, a frown clear in her voice. There was the no-nonsense girl she'd gone to school with.

“And he's living in the apartment building next to mine!” Petra doesn't bother hiding her scandalized tone. This was too. Damn. Far, Universe.

“....No way.” Astrid scoffed. “It just looks like him, definitely.”

“How many assholes have that haircut?” Oh fuck, was he built, too. He'd obviously just finished a shower, hair hanging limp and damp over one side of his skull. Clearly, someone had trouble remembering that they'd opened their blinds for the rest of the world to stare into their home. What a self-absorbed-

“...I guess. You're not going to do anything, are you, because-”

“I'll finish talking about Neya in a bit, okay? Or text her, lemme know it how goes, bye!” She tossed the phone on the couch, not bothering to actually hang up – Astrid would take care of that, and she went over to the window.

The jerk was definitely some type of bodybuilder or something because his abs had abs and there was a sharp V-cut disappearing below the belt of too-tight pants. His existence was flying in the face of some ancient rule. Definitely. She set her jaw and went searching through her apartment, finally finding some river-pebbles she had bought for an aquarium she'd never set up. She leaned out her window and tossed one at his window.

Nothing.

Another one, then, and it pinged satisfyingly against the window, before clattering down to the street below.

The coffee-shop-jerk looked up from toweling off his hair. Looked around – as if the sound could come from anywhere but the window, obviously – and then spotted her mid-throw of a third pebble.

There was a moment where he stared like he wasn't sure what he was seeing. Great, handsome and slow on the uptake. Truly, his existence flew in the face of everything just in the world.

Then the guy opened his window. “Hi?” He said uncertainly. Like he wasn't sure where this was going.

Well. If she was honest.

Well, maybe she hadn't thought this through.

She took too long to think of anything witty to say – demanding he put a shirt on didn't have a whole lot of pep to it and besides-

“....Can I help you?” The guy tried again.

“....I just didn't know if you realized your curtains were wide open. There might be creepers watching.” She finally said. Wrong thing to say. Oh, was Stefan rubbing off on her now?

He blinked. Offered a lop-sided grin. “I think I can handle it. But.... thanks?”

“...Sure.” She frowned and didn't move from the window.

“You're from the coffee shop, right? Curtain Call Coffee?” The guy asked after a moment.

Well, with her bright purple hair, clearly she hadn't been missed either. “Nope. Must be thinking of someone else.” She said deadpanned. Maybe if she aimed just right she could nail him in his stupid perfect face. Would that be assault?

“Clearly. Well, damn. I was actually trying to work up the courage to talk to that girl. It would have felt-” he was self-censoring. She could practically see him grab some words back mid-air. Curiousity stirred in the back of her brain, wondering what those words would be if they escaped. He had a nice voice. Another unfair strike against him. “Would have felt pretty lucky, finding out I'm neighbors with her too.”

“World's not that small,” she quipped. Patted herself on the back for that one. No, the world wasn't that small, but clearly, a fan of pretty unlikely odds.

“....My name's Dyllan. Pretty old-school of you, throwing rocks at a window.” He grinned.

“Don't get used to it.” She commented mildly. “Petra. Definitely not the girl that takes lunch breaks at Curtain Call.”

“Clearly not.” Dyllan said agreeably, folding his arms on his window sill. Watching her curiously. “Which is a shame, I'd ask that girl if I could buy her coffee sometime, and maybe share a lunch break sometime.”

“....Well, that's definitely a shame.” She set the rest of her pebbles on the outside window sill. She wouldn't do this again. This wasn't the sort of mess she got into. She hated rom-coms and this was reeking like one. “Because I mean, I definitely won't be at Curtain Call at noon tomorrow.”

What was she doing?

Dyllan brightened. She, for a moment, thought of a particularly energetic puppy. What a weird image. “Well, I.... won't look for you. I guess.”

He was still stupid and definitely too handsome to exist. Maybe Astrid needed to check on her sanity. Or would Stefan be a better judge...

“Sounds like a plan.” She pushed away from the window.

“Hey!” The new neighbor waved at her, stopping her. Petra paused, watching him. After a moment... “Are you burning something in there? That's a lot of smoke,” he said. Sounding concerned.

“Downstairs neighbor flunked out of culinary school. Put on a shirt.” She said and left the window before she could say anything else stupid.

---

Lunch was two coffees with just enough sugar in them, a pastry cut in half, and a lot of snark.

---

Petra put a little terracota planter full of river-pebbles on her windowsill two weeks later, and had a new contact at the top of her contact list. Dyllan was weird – mysterious about work and his past, but charming and eager like he hadn't had someone to talk to for a while now – and what was Petra but a kind-hearted soul, available for talking when she wasn't working.

She definitely wouldn't take him out on a date or anything.

At least not for another month. Gotta make the masses want it, first.

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soaker87 · 7 years ago

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Some Thoughts on Recently Finished Anime

A few shows haven’t quite wrapped up yet, but I just wanted to rant briefly about the ones that did.

Possible spoilers for Sakura Quest, Sakurada Reset, Saiyuki Reload Blast, Netsuzou Trap, Isekai Shokudou, Monster Hunter Stories, Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun

Sakura Quest:

I really liked the ending. Ended up kind of bittersweet, but less of a blow than I thought it could have been. I found the show, overall, to be pretty hit or miss. But when it hit, it really hit. It could actually come off as painfully relateable a lot of the time. I don’t always care for series that are too grounded in reality and hit so close to home, but it certainly does give me a lot of sympathy for the various characters and what they’re going through. Sanae and Ririko’s arcs in particular had this effect on me. The issue being, other times the show was actually kind of boring. There were a few episodes where I was just zoning out so much that I was just letting it play in the background and reading something else on another tab. While I think there are many shows where 13 episodes is just too little, and they need a second cour, I actually wonder if Sakura Quest would have benefited from being a 1-cour series. But on the other hand, then it might have felt too rushed and pointless. I did like how we got to explore all the characters, besides just the main girls. Erika’s arc was actually one of my favorites, and I liked how even characters like the bus driver got some importance.

Since the show is considered a spiritual successor to Shirobako, I kind of feel obliged to compare the two. Shirobako was definitely better, and more consistently engaging. Of course, I think that has a lot to do with Shirobako’s subject matter, which was producing anime. For people who are really into anime, it’s fascinating. Where Sakura Quest had a much more niche focus on the tourism industry. And also fell a lot more into slice-of-life. Nonetheless, I did find Sakura Quest pretty interesting

Sakurada Reset

Oh boy. This show. There were actually times I was calling it Glasslip 2.0 or a slightly-improved Charlotte, neither of which is a complement. But honestly, it’s much better than either Glasslip or Charlotte. It just has a lot of issues. I think I was drawn to this show at first because it was just so mysterious. I’m really a sucker for shows with that kind of atmosphere. I thought it might even be a full-on mystery solving anime. Part of the problem is, I’m not even sure if the show itself knew what it wanted to be. It did have some mystery solving aspects to it. It was also a story about super-powered people (and the actual dangers of it). It was a romance story. I also think they wanted to make Kei the type of character like Lelouch or Light who is super talented and smart and can resolve any complicated situation. And... it was just plain senseless at times. Don’t even ask me what was going on all the time. But, I liked Souma, and I liked that in the end, she kinda, sorta won (except not really). Even the ending was trippy. But oh well. I mostly finished this because I like to complete things. I don’t entirely regret watching this. I enjoyed the romantic bits and there were some cool twists in the second half, even though some of them were resolved way too fast (like when Haruki got reset back to before she met Kei, complete with her hair growing long again. That was a real curveball that I thought was going to be a much bigger issue than it was. But it did get me excited for the next episode)

Saiyuki Reload Blast

I watched this on a whim because I’m a huge Toshihiko Seki fan, and I’ve never touched the Saiyuki franchise prior. I was surprised to find that I was enjoying it a lot. Especially the past-life arc. I love reincarnation plots, and it was really fascinating. Also made me start shipping Goku x Sanzo like burning. So I ended up actually marathoning all of the previous seasons of Saiyuki (except the movie because I could only find it dubbed, though I didn’t look too hard). I actually had no trouble following the plot despite jumping in during the fourth season, but it was nice to see what happened before (despite that there was a ton of filler in the older seasons, from what I’ve read). And ultimately the plot still hasn’t gotten anywhere in over 100 episodes. I’m not sure it’s ever going to get anywhere. XD Although at least it’s made progress, having Nataku kind of remember Goku again in the last episode. And Dokugakuji’s dead. That was plain cruel. Actually, I wish we got to see the rest of the Kougaiji party in Blast. Despite that she seems to be an unpopular character, I actually really loved Lirin. She was super cute. But she only is shown for a split second in this season in a memory. Oh well. Also, Sharak Sanzo is incredibly cool, and I’m glad she didn’t die. I was kind of expecting it because she was so cool.

Netsuzou Trap

I expected this show to be super trashy and bad, so I was actually pleasantly surprised with it. I mean, I like watching trashy bad stuff sometimes for kicks, which is why I picked it up. But I actually found the plot pretty unique and the characters interesting. The episodes were short, but the pacing felt just right. And the payoff in the last episode was just plain sweet. I feel a bit bad for Takeda, though. He was a legitimately sweet guy. But at least he still seems to be on friendly terms with Yuma.

Isekai Shokudou

I like food-porn shows, but this one turned out kind of disappointing to me. In the beginning, it grabbed me, with the inventive concept. But I feel like it could have done more to not become so repetitive. It was just a different person coming to the restaurant each episode and being impressed by the amazing food that exists in the human world. Kind of nice how they would explain about the lives and cultures of the otherworldly beings, but it also made the show feel something like a documentary at times. It wasn’t a horrible show by any means, just a lackluster one that could have done a better job with the great premise it had.

Monster Hunter Stories

I’m counting this because while the show is going to continue for who knows how long, it did wrap up its first “season“. I know this show was listed as 48 episodes from the start, until it was renewed. Oddly, it isn’t even having a season two. Just outright continuing right where it left off, with the finale of the last episode starting off the second arc. I really did enjoy the first show, and in a way I think they should have ended it. I do think they can do some neat things from where they left off, having a team of Riders now, including Cheval. Although I’m not sure why I should care about Nariki, and I’m hoping Ayuria doesn’t stay stuck in the role of damsel in distress for too long. She was one of my favorites in the first season. I see they have a more traditional team of villains now. I’m already calling the blonde guy switching sides, because he looks all angsty in the OP and he’s in such a prominent spot in the new key visual. Well, I’ll have to wait and see.

Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun

This was definitely one of my highlights for the season. Being largely slice-of-life, the finale wasn’t so much a finale, but still a good episode. I’ve never been too big a sports anime fan. I picked this one up for Michiko Neya. But fortunately, it’s not really a sports anime. It’s just a comedy anime centered around the members of a soccer team (and their classmates). All of the characters were actually pretty great, and overall, the most memorable episode to me is going to be the manga one, which was just plain brilliant. I do wonder if it’s commentary on the writers part about the annoyance of executive meddling and trying to please the fanbase. But it was funny.

Since I mentioned picking it up for Michiko Neya (who is tragically under-cast these days) Miwa was a fantastic character who was cute and awesome and fun to watch. I still love that she’s actually an otaku. But Moka gives her a run for her money in being best girl, because she’s a stalker with a spiked baseball bat.

I’m super open for this to get a season 2. I’m not sure how popular it was, but it was too much fun.

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