BAM! ~~ Cup o' Joe Jim?

[gypsy hawkins<3]

&& every day starts here, starts now...

It was early. No one was ever up this early, yet the cafe opened this early. Gypsy had just finished wiping down a counter that had some spilled coffee on it. She sat behind the counter with a newspaper now. Her eyes skimmed over Savannah's most recent article. As witchey as that young woman was, she could write like God had forced the knowledge down her throat or something. Plus, Savannah was one of TGC's main customers. When it wasn't her in the cafe grabbing a cup of coffee, it was her assistant over at that news office of hers. Gypsy pitied Savannah's assistant and knew the young girl was over-worked.

Gyps had a cup of coffee before her then. Of course, her's was mixed with at least two types of chocolate, milk, and raspberry flavoring. When it came to Starbucks style coffee, Gypsy knew how to pull it off. She knew Devyn was somewhere in the back making eggs and Gyps took in the smell with a sigh. It felt almost the same as it did back when her mom owned the place. She and Dev would sit at the counter and sip hot cocoa in the morning before school as their mom was back in the kitchen making up some quick food before they had to leave. Gypsy laughed at the memory, they were good times to be sure.

She sighed and let the newspaper fall to the counter-top. She'd had enough of Savannah Fletcher's wild words for one day. Surely there's be a few Thirteeners with something to say about it in about an hour or so. That was when she spotted him. Was he new in town? Maybe he just hadn't come in the cafe often. Gypsy sighed and watched him as he strolled past the cafe windows. She knew pretty much everyone else in town.

[James Bamford]

Jim was walking towards town to get an idea of its layout for future intelligence gathering missions, and to find the quickest escape routes in case of an attack by the opposition. Thinking that this was his job, and he could not allow himself to get distracted by anything along comes this café he had missed on his first reconnaissance run through the town. He spotted a young woman of about 20 standing behind the counter flipping through some sort of magazine or newspaper with her head down and eyes focused on the paper before her. After spotting an Open sign on the door Jim decided to grab a cup of coffee before he continued on to the rest of the town.

As Jim pulled open the door, he observed a sign above the door exclaiming “The Gypsy Café”, and shakes his head, wondering who would name a café in such a ridiculous manner. As soon as he’d pulled the door barely halfway, the smell of eggs wafted to his nose. As he stepped in the door, he noticed the girl behind the counter was giving him a somewhat odd look, when he realized he was still wearing his business suit. Somewhat embarrassed, Jim ruffles his suit and shoulders as he walks towards the bar, wondering who this girl might be.

Jim pulls a stool away from the bar and prepares to sit down when he decided to introduce himself. “Howdy ma’am, my names James Bamford, I’m a recent transplant to Dovington from Allendale, Michigan”. He thought to himself, why's a girl like this still in Dovington, pretty soon it's going to turn into some sort of warzone. Judging by her odd stare, Jim still wondered if he had caught the girl off-guard he waited to hear her response.

[gypsy hawkins<3]

Gypsy continued to stare, blatantly interested in his whereabouts. Who walked into her cafe in that kind of suit with such a serious look about their face? Maybe he was a new Thirteener. That was her best guess. He did look much too out of place in Dovington though. Sure, people wore suits, but they weren't anything fancy. Only Savannah Fletcher wasted money on a nice suit. Gypsy stifled a laugh as he entered. He looked at her lovely sign as if it was stained with something and she knew he wasn't from here at all. No one ever looked at her cafe sign like the name didn't fit or it was weird or anything. Everyone in town knew the place was practically sacred cause Gwen had owned it and named it after Gypsy herself! Gyps watched his grand entrance, knowing he'd think of her as a freak from that moment forward yet never quite caring about what others thought of her.

"Uhmm, howdy Bamford. I'm Gypsy Hawkins. I can tell you're new in town. Just a heads up, you may want to dress a tad more casual. People will assume you're either extremely wealthy or a Thirteener. It doesn't really matter if you're either but it's a real tip off for an Opposition member to target you. This old cafe's been through enough and doesn't need any more trouble." She offered. Despite such a mildly serious and highly judgmental tone, Gypsy wore her customer welcoming smile.

"So, what can I get ya?" She asked and pulled a menu out from a little shelf beneath the counter. She set it in front of the new guys in town. "And I'm also around as a tour guide. I mean, this town's not so hard to figure out, but working in a cafe means you get to know everyone." She winked jokingly. Gypsy was used to being more up front with her customers. Did it show? She treated them all like old friends. Some city folk found it annoying because they were used to a very professional environment. All the people in town loved it though. Gypsy was a lot like Gwen and they liked that little reminder of their old friend.

[James Bamford]

Immediately taken aback at this young woman’s blunt suggestion, Jim stood there in bewilderment. Wondering, maybe she does belong in Dovington with that sort of attitude. It took him a short time to regain his composure, hoping his being startled didn’t show on his face. Regaining his old set-in attitude, he replied to her statement, “Thank you kindly for the suggestion ma’am, but I’m neither, I’m just used to dressing in professional attire when I’m working. I’ll take your suggestion into consideration the next time I go out shopping. I’ve no idea what you’re talking about with these thirteeners and opposition ma’am, I’m new here, so if you’re talking about local gangs or something of that sort, I’m fresh out of the loop”. Thinking to himself, this would be the best method of gathering some quick information from a local source before moving on to the town, maybe a couple of rumors would come in handy later.

Quickly doing a run through of the days chores in his head, Jim barely noticed she was asking him something as she placed a menu in front of him. Assuming she asked him what he‘d like he responded with, “I guess I’ll take a cup of coffee, black, and a plate of whatever I’m smelling, eggs I believe? If you could throw a slab of ham, and two pieces of bacon on there as well, I’d be mighty obliged.”

Not hearing what Gypsy had said, Jim asked, “Ma’am, do you mind if I take a glance at the paper there?” Pointing to the newspaper lying there on the counter-top in front of Gypsy. Hoping to himself that he might be able to glean some sort of new information from the local paper, and discuss it over his breakfast.

When he looked up after pointing at the paper, Jim did a double take, realizing he hadn’t paid any real attention to the woman who stood before him standing behind the counter. She was standing around 5’ 3-7”, had brown hair and brown eyes that seemed to look deeply at him, like there was something else. Maybe he’d misjudged this town when he first got here, he was starting to rethink his first assumptions.