borederline psychotic, the spelling is deliberate

[James Luskal]

Warm liquid filled his mouth, the cardboard cup releasing the bounty of caffeine through a tiny opening in a plastic lid. It tasted of cigarette smoke and milk, blended together. He found it repulsive but it was warm, it had energy and it satisfied his brand new addiction. Out in the street not much escaped his lack of notice. Occasionally he would drift back into a focused state and scan around, but there was rarely anything even remotely interesting. Such was life outside of the forces, nothing to do but sit and look for a new job. So far no buzz from his phone but he was hopeful, after all, his resume spoke pretty well, and all the references on it were, conveniently, him. The ability to put on a good accent or speak in a female tone, merely a fun habit, nothing more.

'I wish there was anything I could do to speed up the process.

James was settling into his new life quite well, despite boredom, he had even managed to find himself somewhere to live, which is why he really needed that job, the rent wasn’t going to pay itself and the government weren't likely to give him any more money than they were, bloody democracy, always so conveniently overlooking the minorities. Well, some things never change. He was fairly sure however that his current position was about to, somehow. Retrieving his phone from his jacket he placed it down on the tabletop and watched it, awaiting the familiar jingle that accompanied new calls.

[Cowan Wilson]

ooc: I am not sure how to interact. :S

Cowan walked into the Gloria Jeans coffee shop with his new purchase, a 1TB external harddrive, and made his way straight to the counter.

'Could I please have a tall flat-white?'

'I am sorry. We only have small, medium, and large.'

'What do you think a tall is, a completely different set of sizes? Large!' Projected into the head of the woman that served him. He didn't mean to get angry, but he needed his coffee now.

Without another word he waited for the team behind the counter to produce his coffee. He was glad that she got the hint. As he waited, he quietly scanned the room.

[James Luskal]

The entrance of a man, clutching an item that didn't in the slightest interest James, unless it suddenly exploded, entered the little cafe. He observed the new addiction to the room from a strategic point of view. If something happened, would this guy cause him issues. Not likely was his conclusion and he went back to watching his phone.

'Could I please have a tall flat-white?'

'I am sorry. We only have small, medium, and large.'

James grunted in amusement. It never ceased to amaze him how stupid some people could be, or how impossibly traditional they could be about their size names. The cup in front of him was now empty, and he was considering going and getting another, but the taste wasn't worth it. Touching it lightly with his finger the cup suddenly flattened as if gravity had been amplified tenfold for the little cup. Which of course it had.

'To get more caffeine or not to, hmm.'

Standing he approached the counter just as his phone buzzed. He almost launched himself back to the table, but managed to stop the reflex in its path. He did however notice that he was slowly moving upward, as if he didn't have any weight. A feeling of dread struck him and he dropped the couple of inches in a second. bending to pick up the mobile he reached out just as it stopped.

'God damn it! Stupid stupid gravity. Keep a damned hold of yourself James Luskal!'

He turned to the other man, the new arrival and, shaking his head said "That's just the way isn't it, finally get the call you're waiting for and they hang up. He didn't know why he spoke to the man, but he was getting sick of having no one to talk to.

[Cowan Wilson]

Did that man suddenly shrink a few inches? I wouldn't blame gravity though, he could have just bent over a little.

'I have never had that problem before. But, don't you hate it when people don't realise a tall is just a large by a different name?' Not sure if the man had found him amusing, or the woman across the counter. The incident had annoyed him more than the one at McDonalds, "We don't have tomato sauce on any of our burgers, sir." Can't people see that some things have more than one title, he said to himself.

Cowan craddled the hard-drive as he stood waiting for his coffee. He just remembered that he didn't verbally answer the woman, and hoped no-one noticed. A little uneased he began to scan the room for anyone that would have gained suspection.

'You're new to town?' Physically looking around the room, he could recognise almost everyone in the store.

"Here you go, sir. Your tall flat white," his trian of thought was interrupted.

'Oh thanks.' Picking up the cup he looked for a place to seat.

[Matt Davidson]

Almost trembling with suppressed anger and rage, Judie walked into Gloria Jeans, almost throwing off sparks. Waltzing around two men in line for coffee, she froze for a moment when she heard the girl behind the counter ask, in that tone that end on a high note which made every statement sound like a question.

'I am sorry. We only have small, medium, and large.'

Judie's eye twitched. Looking at her boss, Cindy, the current senior who Judie would be relieving, coughed slightly, then bustled into the back room to top the milk up.

Waiting for the resultant coffee to be done, Judie smiled evilly at the girl, Liv, who wheeled and jumped to find Judie there.

"Woah, hi." She said.

Judie smiled, flickered her fingers and froze the room. Picking up a magazine, she slapped the girl around the head with it, then replaced the magazine and unfroze the place.

"Ow!" The girl whined, grabbing the top of her head. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Judie asked innocently.

"Um, nothing. I something wrong?"

Judie's eyes narrowed. "You recall the last order? A 'tall' flat white?"

Liv looked confused. "Yes, but we don't have talls..."

"You recall back to your training day, when I told you other names for sizes for coffee?"

"Um..." The girl looked puzzled. "Small, medium, large..." She looked at Judie quizzically."

"You'll find 'tall' was on that list, if you had been listening instead of checking out the cute blonde boy's butt working next door." Judie almost hissed.

Liv brightened up. "Who, Matt? Yeah, he's so cute." She sighed.

The room froze again, followed by another solid 'whack'. When it unfroze, a squeal of pain sounded out, while Judie went into the back room, to chase Cindy out.

Bloody kids and their bloody hormones with their bloody memories. Damn bimbo. She thought to herself.

[James Luskal]

'I have never had that problem before. But, don't you hate it when people don't realise a tall is just a large by a different name?'
James nodded, going back to observing the area. He did indeed find ignorance that littlest bit annoying, but he wasn't the brightest spark himself. People seemed to know each other within the small shop, or at least weren't surprised to see other people. he mused on the familiarity formed between coffee shop regulars, and wondered how he could harness that, what information he could draw out of someone with the careful subtlety born of recon training. He thought on that as well, he had failed recon training, or had come close.
'What next then?'
A woman commanding an air of respect entered from the back of the small cafe. However as she did the man spoke again.
'You're new to town?'
James considered the best course of action a simple answer, nothing to complex, he wasn't familiar with this fellow. "Yes." However as he answered something remarkable happened. Everybody in the room froze. There was only one sound, a heavy thwap, like someone being hit by a magazine. The room started again and a whine of pain could be heard. James turned towards the noise. The authoritative woman was speaking with the girl the man had just complained about.
'What on Earth?'
He continued to watch them, an animated conversation. Something about cup sizes. So the other was not the only one that noticed. Again the room froze, and this time he watched the woman hit the girl. This time the squeal of pain was quite loud as the other woman moved toward the back. "Excuse me." He walked past the man and after the woman, wondering what had happened as she seemed the only one not to be affected by the freezing. The door to the back room was just beginning to swing shut as he stuck his foot in, and pushing through, a bemused looking girl walking out, the door closing against her complaints. "Care to explain to me what happened out there? You seemed the only other person not to have been... unaffected."
'Could it be? That she, like me could have some... gifts.

[Cowan Wilson]

"Excuse me," the new person had said.

'No problem,' it looked to Cowan that he may have known the woman that marched past them to the back room. 'I will just be sitting down.' The man had seems slightly dazed, Old friend?

Cowan moved a seat out from a table and sat down, placed his hard-drive on the table and began to drink the caffine beveridge. It would not be long until he could enjoy the sweeter, and slightly more dense sugar-rich coffee at the bottom of the coffee cup. Physcially and mentally scanned the room as he waited. When he looked into the back room Cowan had overheard a small amount of speech from the conversation between the woman and the man he had met, "... unaffected"

Since people typically think on what they say, before they say it, he could construct a good idea of what their conversation would entitle. He would just have to use his telepathy to intecept their thoughts, and hopefully their conversation.

Strange, Cowan thought to himself. These are similiar to the way a few of the children at the school have been thinking. Gifted? A pit of nerves hit him. I think I need to leave, head back home, find what's going on. This town is doesn't seem the same as it was when I grew up here. He no longer felt the the need to complete his small intelligence mission. Picking up his coffee as he stood, Cowan began to make his way to the front of the store.

"Good Bye!" Cowan realised at the moment he sent the message to the man that he had unintentionally sent a telepathic message, he paused. F - - -... This guy is going to think he is hearing voices.

Nearly out of the door, he realised that he had left his hard-drive and went back to collect his purchase from the table.

[Matt Davidson]

Somehow looking down her nose at the man who was so rudely intruding on the restricted area of the video shop, Judie narrowed her eyes, her forehead creasing into a frown.

"Kindly remove your foot." She said acidicly, her phrasing polite, her voice not. "You're not allowed in this area."

"Care to explain to me what happened out there? You seemed the only other person not to have been... unaffected."

Looking at the man who had to be jabout ten or so years younger than herself, Judie quirked an eyebrow. Lifting her hands, she froze the room again, noting the fly in there which had stopped moving. Realising he hadn't stopped, she waved her hands again, setting the fly back in motion.

"You're a witch and you didn't know?" Judie asked incredulously, her voice expressing her disbelief. "Either your abilities are very weak, you're very slow or you don't have a family to help piece things together. Either way, I have no time for this. Marcus!"

A few seconds later, a mass of white lights coelsced behind Judie, forming into the shape of a man in his mid thirties. Looking world weary and stressed, he glared at the back of Judie's head.

"Yes Judie?"

"Newbie witch, got to this age without a Whitelighter. I'm not gonna deal with him, so whoever his Whitelighter is, kick them in the ass." Judie summed up, pushing past Marcus and deeper into the store, doing whatever she was meaning to do.
Left alone with the boy, Marcus cocked his head. "James, right? Your movements have been watched closely for a while. How're you finding it in Goulburn?"

[Cowan Wilson]

Cowan turned his body to see that the woman had came back into the coffee store. Just as he was about to turn back to the direction he was walking, wham. He had collided with a table and his coffee was thrown from his hand. The contents spread across only a small area, Cowan had only just reached the sweat, denser, sugar-rich coffee at the bottom.

As he tried to pull himself up from where he had fell, the table fell too. The noise had spread through the store and nearly all customers looked as a member of staff came to assist.

'Argh. I should have seen where I was going.' he checked that his hard-drive was ok. It was fine. Up and standing, he then checked that he was ok and clean.

'I wish you all wouldn't look over just for your own entertainment.' The message was clear, though passive, sent telepathically to the costumers within the store. He was embarrassed from having attracted so much attention.

'Thank you, for your help.' he had not noticed who had assisted him, yet.