[[Hello, everyone! I haven't started one of these in a VERY long time. Like, years. Like, seven years. So let's see if I still got it. And just to note, my character is Lorin Greene, a human. But if you wanna bring in quad or anthro, that's fine. HAVE FUN. (I'm not the best with commas, sorry!) SETTING: generic large city]]

Lorin Greene, having just cleaned up from work, stepped out of his apartment and towards his neighborhood's cafe and coffee shop. He checked his steel analogue watch and quickened his pace. He was out of coffee, his fridge was empty, and he just got paid. A big, hungry man needed a big, caffeine filled meal. Large cities at this time of year blew chilly and, where trees sprung out of the concrete grid, red. A lovely time of the year, early October. School children carried their backpacks, at once toiling and excited. Halloween and candy! Midterms and homework. Backpacks like heavy boredom behind them and eyes lit and excited for the road ahead. Well, they were young, Lorin thought, and their adventuring minds were appropriate. He couldn't remember how many days kids got off for fall break, if any. When he was that age, thirteen to seventeen, he'd probably been fighting, wasting money, wasting time in the best ways. But then, he'd grown up in a very small town. Lorin Greene was now closer to thirty than twenty. He came from Anglo-Saxon stock. The big limbed, barrel chested stock that had never been aristocracy in the Old World. Indeed, he did not look very refined. His hair couldn't be called either brown nor blonde, but his eyes were certainly green. He stood on the tall side of average, with a very muscular chest, neck and arms. His occupation demanded it. The Powers that Be molded his face with high cheekbones, a straight nose, and a broad jaw which needed to be shaved every morning; by six in the evening it became like sandpaper. His dark brow overhung naturally cheerful, inquisitive green eyes.
At the entrance to the cafe, he held the door open for a woman with a baby in a stroller and two small children. The two youngsters dawdled in the door, babbling about a picture on the glass window until Lorin shooed them inside with a false grumpy voice that all children naturally accept as playful.

Other than the woman and her children, there were not many people yet at the cafe. Lorin swept a big hand through his messy hair. He was wearing his only pair of blue jeans which weren't stained, although his leather, steel-toed work boots were stained and burned and half melted on the bottom. His sweater... Well, it was alright. A little frayed at the cuffs and the neck, and a little hole down by the hem... But, he thought as he ruffled his hair again, not so bad, overall. Out of his pocket, Lorin took a small account book. It was a little funny, seeing such a big, broad man hunched over such a small notebook, the pencil dwarfed in his broad palm. He didn't notice the peculiarity, himself. He just wanted to have something to do while he sat, waiting for a waiter or waitress and maybe someone to talk to. Why not do a little work on finances to pass the time?

((Hey, I hope you don't mind if I just jump in? I'm going to be playing Lysander Katsaros, a Greek boy who works at the coffee shop.))

Lysander was your average college student and had recently taken up a job at the local coffee shop. He hadn't wanted to get a job and he didn't care much for coffee, either, but his father had insisted that it would be good for him to get some experience in the workplace and start earning some money for himself. So, reluctantly, he applied for the only job that was both tolerable and available around this time of year. His interview was the day before and today was his first day on the job. And he wasn't looking forward to it.

Usually, Lysander was quite outgoing and loved social situations but his mood had turned sour as soon as he'd stepped out of the front door. It was too cold for his liking. Lysander Katsaros came from a Greek family, his skin tone made that much obvious, and actually spent most of his childhood over there before they moved and now he was wearing a similar number of layers as somebody visiting the arctic would - a t-shirt with a hoodie then another jacket over the top, then a scarf was draped around his neck and, inside his boots, he wore two pairs of socks - and it wasn't even winter yet.

Lysander had been made to shed the layers when he turned up to work, however, and put on an apron instead. And that's what he'd been wearing for a few hours. Well, at least the colour of the apron worked for him. Sadly, he'd already earned himself a nickname among the staff, though. 'Lily' was the nickname that they'd decided on as soon as he'd introduced himself. Why? Because he'd been asked to tie his dark, curled hair behind his head by one of the senior employees and they'd called him 'Miss Katsaros'. It didn't help, either, that he wasn't the most masculine of people. He wasn't muscular, not that he actually cared, and he had an almost feminine frame. Also, he preferred a clean-shaven look. So, determined not to let the nickname get to him, he wrote it on his name-tag to get a few laughs from the staff and, hopefully, make himself likable in their eyes. And it worked for the most part until he had to clear it up with a few customers that, no, he wasn't a girl and his name wasn't 'Lily' but 'Lysander'. It just got annoying after a while but it wasn't like he could change it now.

The Greek boy made sure to go to each table in turn, taking his time with each customer to make sure that he'd got the order right. His father had also told him, before he left, that he should remember to smile because that scowl that he wore most of the time didn't suit him in the least and would make him seem more approachable to customers and most of the customers he went to didn't seem to see the way his smile never reached his eyes, so it was fine by him. Lysander had just given a cup of coffee to another customer then stood up and glanced around for anybody who may wanted their order to be taken. Then his warm, brown eyes landed on a large, somewhat intimidating man who was leaning over a notebook that looked far too small for him. Lysander found himself biting back laughter and, for the first time, gave a genuine smile as he walked over with his notepad and pen in hand. He stepped over to the table and cleared his throat, hoping to get the attention of the giant of a man. If not, he'd just move on to the next table.

((I'll be jumping in too. I'll be Jason Williams, your average man thats been working at the coffee shop for a lil too long))

Jason Williams pulled his brown hair back into a short ponytail, and pushed his bangs behind his ears. He tied his ratty apron around his waist, it served to dull down the dress shirt and pants he was wearing underneath. “Okay my lil' coffee beans! Daddy's home!' he shouted to the employees.

Jason had worked at the coffee shop for as long as anyone could remember. No one was exactly sure when he started, and no one was sure if he would ever quit. He was private in that regard, he didn't talk about his life outside the coffee shop. Somewhere in his time working there he had become a supervisor. Which to him meant talking to all the employees while they were working, and doing minimal work himself. Occasionally shouting a “Get back to work!” or “Mop the floors!” for jest, he was a pretty lax supervisor.

For a 24 year old who worked in a coffee shop full time, he was in decent shape. At about 6'1'' He wasn't too skinny, and he wasn't too muscular. He was perfectly average. His eyes were an average hazel colour, and his other facial features were average as well. He took real pride in his 'mane', as he put it, which he was currently trying to grow out long. He experimented with his hair a lot, but whatever he did it always looked beautiful. As for his facial hair, it was usually clean-shaven.

Jason poured himself a latte, and began “supervising”. Which today meant checking out the customers. “Ouu,” he said to himself, leaning against the counter, “Lily found a cutie”. It was in his nature ogle at anything that moved. He took a moment to admire the well built man hunched over a small book.

Lorin looked up when the waiter stepped up to him. He offered a polite smile and waited for an introduction and a few specials, or whatever the standard was at this place. When he heard none, he stumbled just a bit. Lorin, it was evident, wasn't entirely comfortable with those surface, casual acquaintances one meets in day-to-day interaction. "Uh, hello-" His green eyes darted to the nametag, and for a brief moment he wondered at the woman's chest. When he looked back to her(?) face, his confusion became evident. "Coffee," He said lowly. "Regular, I guess. I didn't- I forgot-" He'd forgotten to even glance at the menu! Lorin reached for it, but hesitated. If he looked now, he would feel foolish, making the waiter wait even more. "A bagel too, I guess. Cream cheese?"

((Do you mind if I jump in also? I'll be playing a girl named Amber Rose))

Amber was walking down the street looking up and down at the newspaper that she had in her hand trying not to run into anyone. She had been looking for an apartment for about 2 hours now and was starting to run out of options. But nothing seemed to be fitting her, either the rent was too much, it was run down or it had noisy neighbors above it. She just happened to be looking up when she spotted the cafe from the corner of her eyes. Deciding it was about time for a small break she headed inside. She looked around and spotted a table off in the back corner where no one was at so, she walked over to it and sat down. She sighed as she put her head down on the table.

"Maybe I shouldn't have ran out here so fast." she said to herself, "I should have listened to my mom and made plans, even an apartment before I came out here."

If he hadn't been about to burst out laughing, of course, he would have introduced himself but he didn't trust his voice at all. He knew that if he opened his mouth he'd probably start laughing, and, so, just kept biting on his bottom lip until the laughter died down and he took a deep breath to compose himself. The Greek boy nodded and wrote down the man's order quickly, a light flush dusting his tanned cheeks from the sheer effort it took not to laugh before then. It could be mistaken for a blush but he hoped that wasn't the case. "So, that's a regular coffee and a bagel with cream cheese?" He repeated the order, glancing down at the larger than average customer with a smile. If he thought that Lysander was female, well, that illusion would have been shattered as soon as he spoke up. His voice was somewhat cheerful, mainly due to the accent, and slightly lower pitched than what would be expected of a female. Lysander took a moment to glance around the shop again, much like a cat stalking it's prey, then he saw that somebody had just walked in. A girl. He'd go to her when he was done with this order because he was feeling oddly nice, almost sociable. Just seeing this customer brightened his mood, apparently. "The name's Lysander, by the way, if you decide you want to complain about me to the supervisor. He's that guy over there." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at Jason, then turned to look at said supervisor with an innocent smile and a waggle of his fingers.

"Oh! Ha, okay!" If the voice surprised him, he didn't show it. Transvestites and transgendered people didn't bother him in the least, though! But then he heard the other's name and realized all his assumptions had been wrong. Another polite smile. "No reason to complain. But, you know, add a turkey sandwich to that, huh? I'll take the bagel home or something." Or, more likely, eat both.

((Short one! Sorry, it was a busy day. Just had to shove something out. :'D ))

After a few minutes Amber raised her head up and looked around the cafe. When she realized that there was more than just one or two people sitting around her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed all of the people sitting around when she walked back to the table that she was currently sitting out. "I can't believe that I said all that at loud!" she said to herself, "Crab I just did it again, the people in this town are going to think i'm from the luny ben and I haven't even found an apartment to live in yet!"

Lysander turned back to the customer and added the sandwich to the list before pushing his pen back into the rings that held the paper of his notebook together, "Got it. I'll be back with your order in a little while. Though, you'd be surprised. I've had people threatening to complain, mainly teenage guys, when they found out that I'm not actually female. They said it was 'false-advertising'. I say it's 'having a laugh with colleagues'." Lysander chuckled softly and turned on his heel, "If you need me then don't hesitate to call me over, okay?"

The Greek then turned to glance at the girl who was talking to herself and flashed a grin, "Honestly, miss, you're not the first person to come in talking to themselves. True, that usually happens first thing in the morning but it's not uncommon. You have nothing to worry about."