Julius Alpin Torin Kinnaird

“Oh, good to know,” Grace said with a grin, “Though I have to admit, I really don’t think I even have ten friends.” She was generally too crass to attract too many people at once, if she were being honest with herself. “That might be a bad idea, yeah,” Grace laughed, eyes crinkling at the corners as she grinned. “Murdering a cop probably isn’t the safest bet.” She tapped her bicep, not even bothering to flex. “I’m trained to fight off murderers, you know.” She was mostly joking, but she definitely knew she could handle herself in a fight, should it come down to it. “Also, pretty sure that’s exactly what a murderer would say, but you know. I’ll let it slide.”

“Oh shit”, he said slapping his hand over his mouth. “Good that I didn’t spill the beans of my wonderful criminal mastermind plan.” He was joking, no surprise there, especially even though his hand was hiding his smile, but his eyes were laughing. Now that he knew Grace was actually a cop Julius was pretty sure she would really easily whoop his ass if needed. Julius made a mental note not to end up in Grace’s bad side, because he definitely didn’t want to get in trouble. He chuckled, lowered his hand from his mouth and just grinned. “Jokes aside, I’d probably be the worst criminal ever.”

“I honestly don’t know,” Katie laughed, “I like to think so? I mean, we did alright without it all those years ago.” She had faith in humanity, though she probably shouldn’t have. “Oh no,” she groaned, making a face, “Cauliflower? I’m afraid we can’t be friends.” She let loose a long, shuddering sigh, placing her hand over her heart. “It was nice knowing you, really,” she teased, shooting him a wink. “Nah though, just as long as you don’t make me eat the stuff, we’re good.” She wrinkled her nose, making a face. “No thank you on cauliflower. Or broccoli for that matter. I’m more a carrot type of girl.” Nodding her agreement, Katie had to say she understood the sentiment. “I get that. My phone is full of pictures of my kid.” She paused, brows pulling together in a frown. She really needed to watch herself, that slip up was happening more and more often. “My friend’s niece, rather. We live together and Beck lives with us too. She’s not mine though.” It just…felt like it a lot of the time. “But if I didn’t have that I think most of it would be sunrise and like…pretty pictures. Just pictures of pretty things.” Katie was a simple girl. With a grin, Katie surged onto her tiptoes, laughing as she led the way to the restaurant. 

“The kids nowadays doesn’t even know how to use a landline phone. So I have my doubts what would happen if they wouldn’t have internet or smart phones”, he chuckled. Most likely they would learn to live with that, but it certainly wouldn’t be easy. Julius burst into a laugh at Katie’s comment over cauliflower. “As long as you aren’t a broccoli lover”, he commented, because that was definitely a vegetable he still hadn’t learned to enjoy. “But think it this way: If your food has cauliflower, you can just toss it on my plate and not feel bad for leaving food on your plate.” Julius’ brow raised a bit at the mention of a kid, but mostly because the name sounded really familiar. “Beck? As in Beckett?” It could be just a child with the same name, but since he had just met Tyler and Beckett a while ago, and since Beckett called him ‘mr. Mail’ it was hard not to remember the child.

“Good deal,” she said with a firm nod of her head. She was looking forward to it. Grace considered herself an introvert, but sometimes she genuinely enjoyed going out with a fun group of people. “Ah, awesome,” she said with a grin. “It won’t be too many people. Maybe one or two. My sister, maybe, or this girl I’m seeing.” She wasn’t quite sure what to call Alyssa yet, so she stuttered a bit over her words. Frowning, she shook it off. “Damn straight though. Making new friends is kind of the best? It’ll be good, I think. I haven’t really hung out with anyone new for a good while.”

Julius’ grin only got wider and he nodded his head firmly. “Even if you’d bring ten, I’m sure none of us would mind that.” He did notice how she stumbled a bit with mentioning the possible girlfriend, but Julius decided not to mention it. It wasn’t his place to question people about their girlfriends or boyfriends. Especially when he didn’t even have anyone himself. “Well, then this plan of a meet up is even better! You get to hang out with people and make new friends. And I promise I’m not going to invite you to some industrial area to murder you”, he laughed. Julius definitely was the least murderer-y person ever, but good to mention it anyway!

Much like her companion, Tyler was exceptionally hungry, and the second the food was down on the table, she was chowing down. It was exactly what she had been in the mood for and it was pretty clear by the expression on her face that she was enjoying every second of it. Beckett, as well, was focused on her meal, chewing quietly and for once that day not talking as they ate. Grinning with her mouth full, Tyler flashed a thumbs up back at Julius, nodding her head along with it. It was definitely a winner. It didn’t take long for the sandwich and coffee to disappear and Tyler leaned back with a contented smile. “Okay, this was a good choice. You need anything else before we take off, J?”

The sandwich was gone quickly, over half of the coffee as well, but with the rest of his coffee Julius took it slow. He wanted to enjoy the taste, although half a cup of coffee didn’t really last for long for him, which made him pout a bit. “More coffee”, he finally said with a grin. “I’ll take it as a take-away so we can walk while I pour that one down as well. You want something?” he asked pointing towards the counter with his thumb as he got up from his seat to get the coffee to go.

“Don’t worry, I wrote it for you,” she joked, her smile growing as she spoke. “No, you’re not alone. I could drink coffee all day if I wanted. It became a comfort drink for me, which probably not healthy at all,” Beth made a face as she thought about it. “I was a nurse for a year or so, but I wanted to be a midwife since I was a child, so I finished schooling for it. I definitely have moments where I regret my choices, but I love my job. Worth it when there’s a little baby in your arms.”

It was hard not to laugh at the counter-comment, so Julius just burst into a louder laugh. “Good one”, he said with a wide grin, still chuckling at the joke. Once he got his laughter under control again he thought about the coffee situation for a bit and then shrugged. “Probably it’ll just make your stomach into the stomach of steel.” Julius frowned a bit as he learned about being a midwife had been a dream job for Beth even as a child. “Wait. So when you heard the talk about bees and flowers you went straight away to the thought that yes, you want to be the one who welcomes the babies to the world when you’re big?”

“Oh, without a doubt,” Katie said with a snort, “I know I wouldn’t. I think people would adapt, ultimately, but man. It’d be a long, harsh adjustment period.” She vaguely remembered learning about the dewey decimal system in school, but Katie couldn’t recall the specifics. With a small, soft smile, Katie nodded her head. “Yeah…the beach is pretty great. I grew up actually in Pensacola, which is really close to the beach. I wasn’t a huge beach kid though. I only really started appreciating it when I got older.” Maybe one day she’d take Julius’s words to heart and take a trip down to the beach really early in the morning. “Okay, be honest,” she chuckled, “How many sunrise pics do you have on your phone though?” Groaning, Katie nodded her head, nearly drooling at the image in her mind. “I’m into it. Maybe we’ll hit up IHOP. They’ve got the best pancakes.”

“I’m not sure would people even be able to handle it”, he chuckled. Luckily it looked like people wouldn’t have to deal with internet-less life since all the signs showed they were only going forward with technology. ”I wasn’t huge beach lover as a kid either, but guess something happened as I grew up and instead of being a bit ‘meh’ about beaches I ended up loving them. Just like how I hated cauliflower when I was a kid and now I actually really like it.” There were multiple other foods as well that Julius had disliked when he was younger, but ended up really liking as he got older. Humans were interesting things for sure. Julius started to laugh at the question. “I could say.. hmm.. if I’d have a pet my phone would be full of pet pics. But since I don’t have a pet..” he grinned. He had a lot of sunrise pictures and pictures of nature in general. Maybe he should get an actual camera and start taking photos with that instead of filling his phone with pictures. “IHOP it is then!”

Grace grinned, genuine excitement sparking across her expression. “You’re on,” she laughed, entering in her name and number into his phone. “I’ll have to work it around my schedule, I work a fair few night shifts but…I’ve been with the department a while, so I’ll have some leeway.” She could at least trade shifts with one of the newbies. They’d normally do anything to be liked. “Would it be cool if I brought maybe one person with me?” Her thoughts went to Alyssa, but if that wasn’t her thing, she’d see if Sage, or Danica or River wanted to tag along.

“I’m sure we’ll figure out a fitting day”, he assured. After all, he and his friends hanged out quite often so surely there would come a day when Grace would be able to join them. Julius took his phone back, wrote a quick message to Grace’s number so she’ll have his number as well and then put the phone back in his pocket. “Of course! The more the merrier”, he said with a wide smile. “Besides, who doesn’t like making new friends?”

“They totally might, not sure. I usually always just get the same thing, a basic egg sandwich,” Tyler shrugged, hoping they’d have what the man wanted. She put their orders in, the food coming out shortly later, along with a bunch of coffee that they could take to their table. “Dope. Okay. This looks fantastic and I’m starving. Here, Beck, you come chill here and eat your food okay, champ?” She patted on the seat, watching as her niece clambered on up to start eating. “Yours okay, J?”

“Egg sandwich suits me just as well”, he said with a nod, because at this point he’d be happy with any kind of food and coffee. “Awesome. Thanks, Ty”, he said with a smile once their order arrived, making a mental note to pay their coffee and other food next time. First thing Julius did was drink some of his coffee and right after that he bit into his sandwich. He hadn’t even realised how hungry he actually was until now that he was eating. He gave Tyler double thumbs up, not wanting to speak with mouth full of food so Beck wouldn’t learn bad manners from him. Then he pointed at Tyler’s sandwich, then at her, and then turned a thumb up and then down raising his brow, clearly asking what’s her opinion on her own food.

“Yes, because if anything, I’ll give her to you to wear off the sugar high. I know what comes out of those muffins,” Beth smiled as she adjusted Naomi. “It is. Trust me, I won’t let you down with the coffee. I love my coffee and I rely on the coffee. They make sugar free hot chocolate, too, so I let Nay have that when it’s cold out.” Pointing to the place with her free hand, Beth looked over as he spoke of his job. “I’m a midwife, so I’m basically ready at all times to help a baby pop out into the real world.”

“Oh, I didn’t know I wrote that kind of contract”, he laughed. Surely he liked kids and he wouldn’t mind being a babysitter. But he wasn’t certain would he be able to handle a sugar high alone. “Good to know I’m not alone with my coffee addiction.” Luckily the only addiction Julius had was coffee, that was something you could actually handle in your life. Julius looked towards the direction where Beth pointed and he nodded his head. “Sounds like a plan.” He started to walk towards the cafe, walking next to Beth. “Oh, wow. That’s nice. I could never do any kind of doctor jobs. When I was a kid I thought it’d be cool, but when I learned what actually would be included in all kind of doctor stuff I was like nnnnope.”

“So done, let’s do it,” Tyler agreed, warmly, glad to have the company. Much as she liked spending time with her niece, sometimes it was kind of nice to have an adult around to help out. Beckett was practically buzzing with excitement as she switched from Tyler’s leg over to Julius’s leg, holding on tightly as he started to walk. Fortunately, it was only a short distance over to the cafe and Tyler navigated them there with no trouble at all. “Breakfast is on me, what are you in the mood for?”

Julius made sure Beckett would have a good grip on his leg before he started to walk. His walking surely was wonky now since he had to keep one leg straight because of the child. So basically it looked like Julius had a wooden leg or something. But it was fun for sure, hopefully to Beckett as well. When Tyler asked about what he’d like to eat, it didn’t take many seconds for Julius to answer. “BTS, if they just have those. And a lot of coffee.”

“It’s incredible. Dangerous and busy, I don’t get a lot of time to myself, but worth every second of it,” he agreed, warmly, his smile cocking at his lips in a fond manner. The job was demanding and he was often at risk because of the nature of it, but it was all something Alexander had learned to accept and embrace about the career path. There was little else he could see himself doing with his life and he doubted anything else could even remotely measure up. 

“I bet it is.” At one point Julius had thought about becoming a vet, but he never was that good in school he could’ve done that, so he had left that idea behind. “Do you just work with the animals or do you do the tour guide sort of things as well?” Julius had no idea how the jobs at Disney worked in general. He hadn’t even thought about what kind of jobs you truly could have there. Surely he had visited there few times, but mostly he had paid attention to those who worked at the stores and restaurants or at the rides, but he had no idea what all you could actually do there.

“Dude no,” Katie laughed, holding up a hand, “I totally get that. I have stuff like that too. Like…formations and stuff?” She rapped her knuckles against her temple. “It’s like a steel trap for that stuff.” She could recite the runs and passes she was supposed to make in her sleep, pretty sure. “Man, google is a lifesaver,” she chuckled, “I use it more than I like to admit, honestly. I don’t know how people got by without it.” She did know, books were a thing, but still. The internet, and especially that search engine just made things so much easier. “Exactly,” Katie laughed, “I think not having as many people out and about makes them the best hours. That, and I like the early morning too. I don’t often get up that early, but when I do it’s just…I really like watching all the colors as the sun rises, you know?” Laughing, Katie nodded her head. “Probably. They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all.” She stifled a yawn in the crook of her arm, jerking a thumb over her shoulder. “How do you feel about pancakes?”

Julius laughed and nodded his head in agreement. It was sort of a good thing to hear others had extremely random information stocked in their heads. “I’m rather sure nowadays people wouldn’t be able to leave google behind anymore. Especially the younger folk.” Julius was sure at some point people forget places like libraries even exist because they can just google everything. “Especially the beach at the silent hours is the best. You can just sit there all alone and get lost in your thoughts. But I won’t fight you about the sunrise, because I get to see sunrise probably more often than others do and it never stops being a beautiful one.” Julius actually took a short break every time the sun was rising and the tallest buildings started to turn pink and orange. It never made him be late from doing his work, besides, it was just few minutes and no one even noticed if he took a break of two or three minutes. “Pancakes sounds heavenly right now. A lot of coffee and piles of pancakes. Yes.”

A smiled formed on her face when the man gave the idea, nodding her head. “That’s a genius idea. Especially for those who would be dealing with all the sugar that’s in the coco muffin,” she let out a small laugh as she looked at her daughter, the child playing with Beth’s shirt. “They have seen me pretty scattered, so I think I’m just happy they still let me in, but their bakery is amazing. I’ve never had such good muffins in my life.” The brunette started to walk with him, keeping the child on her hip. “I don’t think you mentioned what you did for a living?” Her chocolate eyes looked over at the man tilting her head. 

“Yup. This way I will avoid all the sugar and so does the nugget”, he said with a wide grin. Not that he truly did get a sugar high nowadays, but his inner child surely would. “The more you talk about this place the more I start to like it. Tho their coffee better be as good as you make their baked goods sound.” He was a total coffeeholic and to get his day truly started he really would need good coffee to wake up. “I’m a mailman. So early mornings six days a week is my deal. What about you?”

“Oh, no kidding?” she asked, genuinely surprised. “See, I can nap. I don’t do it very often, but I can. I can just nap when I’m bored,” she said with a snort. She’d done it before. Long stretches of time with nothing to do made Grace check out. “Ah, no kidding?” Grace asked, laughing, “See, I swear, people treat me like a pariah for not liking the stuff. My sister drinks it all the time and just…yuck. I can drink it if I have to, but god I just…don’t like the stuff. Don’t like the smell either. Apparently I need to hang out with your friends.” She nodded in understanding though, running a hand over her face. “Oof, no kidding right? I don’t miss the college days. I pulled so many all nighters. I never needed coffee though. I guess I just kind of naturally have high energy.”

“You definitely have the napping talent then”, he chuckled and then just grinned. “I’m sure my friends wouldn’t mind having a new friend around. Hey, actually”, Julius pulled his phone out and offered it towards Grace. “Give me your number and I’ll call you or send a message when we’re hanging out so you can join if you have the time.” Julius always liked making new friends and he was sure Grace was a good nut and they would have fun. Surely they just met, but Julius also met a lot of people because of his job and he was quite sure he was pretty skilled with knowing who was a good person and who wasn’t.

Hanging off of Tyler’s leg, Beckett nodded eagerly, completely approving of the idea to hang out and play mini golf with the mailman. He was one of her favorite people, after all. “It’s the best! I’m really good, I can teach you,” Beckett promised him, meriting a soft grin from Tyler. “Sounds like a plan to me. The little shop around the corner here is actually really good for that. The coffee is great and they make really good breakfast sandwiches?”

Julius grinned and ruffled the kid’s hair. “Then it’s a deal!” His gaze returned back to Tyler. “That sounds like a perfect thing. Lets head over there.” He looked back down to Beckett. “Okay, step on my shoe and hold on tight, we are about to move!” Yes, he was going to start walking with a child wrapped around his leg for sure.

“I’d say the proabilities are high in my case since I’m quite new in town. I mean, I’ve been here almost three months but I still get lost so I don’t venture to many places.” Jo admited with a chuckle. “Julius, like Julius Caesar. I like it. Nice to meet you, too.” She smiled, and slowly turned around and began walking. Generally, Josephine walked fast and with long strides to get things done in less time but since she had company now, she settled for a quiet pace which was good for a change. “So, you mentioned you’re a mailman, didn’t you? Been working for a long time in Orlando?”

“Three months?” he repeated and then grinned a bit. “Have you liked it here so far?” And then he started to laugh. “Yeah, like Julius Caesar. I just have nothing to do with him. But it’s nice to meet you too.” Julius started to walk as well, pondering would this ice cream place be the one he knew about or was it something he had missed so far. “I’ve been living here about two years, so pretty much two years of mail duty. Time to time I’ve been thinking of doing something else, but I actually like delivering mail, so I’m not sure am I going to change jobs in the next few years.”

“Always on the move, yeah? What do you do for work, then?” he asked, with interest. His own job kept him more or less chained to his office, so it did feel nice to get out on the weekends and actually push it with his exercise routine. He made some effort during the week, but nothing like he did on the weekends. “My job is pretty demanding, but not physically, fortunately.”

Julius chuckled. “I’m a mailman. So early mornings for six days a week is my deal.” He definitely walked a lot every day and there was no chance to really wear skinny jeans because his legs just didn’t fit in those -- too much muscle from all the walking. “I just need to remember my routes and where to deliver stuff, that’s most of the things I need to demand from myself.” He grinned a bit and then eyed at the man in front of him, trying to think what his job possibly was. “Okay, I don’t think I’d be able to guess what’s your job, so.. what do you do for a living?”