Debut - OTA

[tech_geek]

Boredom and Jake Jensen didn't mix well. Kinda like nitrogen triiodide and an unsteady hand--Big fucking boom. As a kid it had gotten him into a lot of trouble. As an adult? Pretty much the exact same thing. Boredom was what had made his eight-year-old self build a parabolic antenna/radio out of kitchen appliances to contact aliens with, his ten-year-old self dig up his backyard in search of dinosaur bones, and his sixteen-year-old-self hack the FBI database. Boredom was what had deconstructed a missile just to see what made it tick, had changed Cougar’s records to say he’d had all his training at a secret Jedi stronghold, and had taken apart a General’s car for the spare parts needed to make a high-powered laser death ray. And that was just to name a few things.

Jensen was someone who always needed to be doing something, so it didn’t take much for boredom to kick in. All it took was a spare minute or two where he was alone with nothing to do. He’d get twitchy, restless. The ideas would start coming and then one of them would stick. It would nag and tempt. He’d know it wasn’t something he should be doing. He’d know the idea could get him into trouble, but the lure of it, the promise of figuring out how something worked, of creating something, of taking something broken and making it whole again, of accomplishing something instead of being such a monumental fuck-up would be too much to say no to. So he wouldn’t.

Unfortunately, right now, Jensen was at work. Most days it wasn’t so bad. The coffee shop usually had a steady flow of customers, so it was difficult to get well and truly bored. But today was a slow day. Maybe it was the weather, the rain was coming down so hard it looked like a sheet of water, or maybe it was just shit luck. He supposed he shouldn’t complain. Of all the places he could be, London wasn’t the worst. He could have ended up ass-deep in the Hindu Kush without an internet connection--Now that would have sucked.

Comments

[oftherivers]

"Something with not too much sugar," she replied, quirking a grin in amusement at his antics. He struck her as a very large puppy--possibly with no idea of either how cute he was, or how... larger-than-life. She liked him immediately, which was rare since her more suspicious nature had begun to surface, recently. "And a great deal of caffeine. What can you recommend?"

[tech_geek]

Jensen twisted to look at the menu behind him with an exaggerated ‘hmm’. “Hoooow about this week’s flavored coffee with a double shot of espresso?” he asked, looking back at the customer.

[oftherivers]

"I'll try it," Elizabeth said agreeably, enjoying the show he was putting on for her. "And know who to thank when it's fabulous, I think.

"Have you been a barista long?" Possibly she was judging a book by its cover but, well. He hardly looked the type.

[tech_geek]

“You got it,” Jensen replied, picking up a cup and then grabbing a Sharpie out of his apron pocket. “Not long. I got the job after I moved here.” A grin as he joked, “First time at slinging coffee. Can’t even tell, can you? Name for the order?”

[oftherivers]

"Elizabeth," she said. She could imagine what people must've said to him when he asked that question, names like 'Genghis Khan' and 'Dorian Gray' and various prank call lines. "I know, not very original to give you my actual name, but since you're required to give me yours..."

[tech_geek]

Jensen chuckled as he scribbled Elizabeth’s name on the cup, “I appreciate it. Not that Batman isn’t funny after the fiftieth time.”

Pocketing the Sharpie, Jensen turned around to start on the order. “So, Elizabeth. I don’t think I’ve seen you in here before,” he said as he worked, glancing over his shoulder at her.

[oftherivers]

"I don't usually come in--the rain drove me here. I was either destined to meet an interesting American, or destined to have an excellent cup of coffee," she decided, a slight, playful smile tugging at her lips. "Only time will tell which."

[tech_geek]

Turning back around, Jensen pulled a face like he’d just witnessed someone wipe out spectacularly, “The former didn’t turn out so well, so fingers crossed for the latter.” He offered the cup of coffee out to Elizabeth.

[oftherivers]

"Modest, too," Elizabeth said with a laugh, accepting the coffee. "How very charming you are, Jensen. I feel positively refreshed."

She inhaled the scent of the coffee deeply and let her long eyelashes flutter closed, enjoying it. Her sense of smell had always been a particular source of enjoyment for her. Not quite as much as her sense of touch, but then, that was to be expected.

[tech_geek]

"Refreshing. That's not one I've been called before," Jensen joked with a grin, watching as Elizabeth took a whiff of the hot coffee. "Let me know if you like it. We have these customer cards. You write down the coffee you like on a card, so we can keep track of it for you."