from the darkness comes the light

[ ➢ ] i feel like you'd enjoy seeing me with a faceful of snow much more than your worried text lets on lol

[ ➢ ] but i'm fine. i'm inside and i'm in good company which is probably the best one could hope for with weather like this.

[ ➢ ] hello yeji, i'm inside and ayden's with me, don't worry. sadly i'm not at work so there's no coffee but we'll make sure to stay warm. agapi runs quite hot with her thick fur so luckily i can use her for warmth as well.

[ ➢ ] worried i'd pull your type of shit and go die for a few days?

first meeting: currently accepting

loren lifts his gaze up to the person asking, only for his expression to brighten with recognition when it’s makaela coming into his view. “when it’s you asking?” he inquires, his smile already turning playful. “always. it’s the chair i use to stretch my legs on when they get tired of being folded.”

which is a load of bullshit, of course, but he can’t help joking around with her, which is proven when he slides a bit better into his own seat and motions a hand towards his lap. “this one’s free, though,” he offers, with an almost shiteating grin, eyes bright and posture completely relaxed.

first meeting: currently accepting

loren’s gaze moves up from his phone to the person speaking, before moving down to look at the seat in question. then his eyes briefly flicker over the rest of the coffeeshop. finding it so busy that there are literally almost no seats left, he immediately turns a beaming smile to the stranger.

“not at all,” he says, motioning for her to go ahead. “feel free to take it!” whether that is literally by her picking it up and bringing it to whichever table her friends are sitting at or whether that is by her joining him at the table doesn’t really make a difference to him. though if it’s the latter, he’ll be happy enough to strike up a conversation.

mpxlucienne​:

(...) Lucienne opened her had toward a staff member, asking them to toss her a clean rag. Kneeling down, she raised the male’s foot, gently afixing the rag around the shoe so it would not carry any mess to her floors. “No need for apologies. Unfortunately, this oil can be tricky to get out without leaving stains.” She looks up at him, finally releasing his foot. She soon stood back up before him. With a simple flick of her wrist, she motions for him to follow. 

“I have some cleaner in my office. Let me take care of it.”

the store worker is very matter-of-fact about the whole thing, immediately motioning for someone to throw her a rag. he’s about to take it from her to clean his shoe when she kneels down to do it herself and he’s a little baffled for the first few moments. still, when she seems to want him to lift his foot, he does, and when she ties the cloth around it he just looks down at his foot in utter bafflement for a while.

he only snaps out of it when he suddenly locks eyes with the store worker, who’s on her knees in front of him peering up. “uh,” he manages to get up, only for her to get up before he can say anything else. he automatically takes a step backwards, and then breathes out a little smile of amusement when she simply motions for him to follow.

with @mpyeji 

he’s juggling a few coffee orders when ayden gets up and leaves the store, so all he can do is give his friend a quick wave on his way out before he needs both hands to properly do his work. his eyes, however, are not necessarily required anymore in order to fill the cups, his hands already doing the work on autopilot. which is how he finds himself gazing after ayden for a little while longer, watching the way the japanese demigod pushes open the door and walks out.

he also catches the way ayden briefly pauses to greet his sister, but then eventually they part ways again and loren only realises he’s been staring - wistfully gazing? - at ayden’s retreating back when it goes entirely out of view and his eyes snap back to his work. he quickly adds the right amount of extras to each cup, slips a lid on top and deposits them on the counter for the one who ordered them to take.

“here you are,” he says warmly, smiling at them with his perfected customer service smile. “enjoy them and have a nice day!” he briefly watches the customer walk away, to make sure they’ve got a good hold on the three cups and won’t drop any, before he turns his gaze to the next person in line -- which turns out to be yeji, who’d apparently been on her way into the flower mill, he’d missed that while admiring her brother, apparently.

first meeting: currently accepting

loren is very gifted in the ways of hiding his true emotions behind neutral facial expressions or friendly smiles, holding a poker face like some of the best gamblers around. he makes absolutely zero percent use of this skill when his boss asks him that question, the smile starting to break through on his face automatically.

“yes ma’m,” he teases, trying for a firm tone though he doesn’t stop grinning at all. in fact, the expression only worsens as he meets angela’s gaze, his shiteating grin more than enough proof of how untrue his next words are. “i haven’t just heard you talk to yourself, boss.”

lifting a hand to salute her playfully, he then relaxes his entire stance as he passes her by to head towards the extra packages of coffee beans like he originally intended to. when he steps back past her to head into the coffee shop, he briefly pauses while he can still make eye contact. “completely unrelated to what we were just talking about, should i tell the others to steer clear from the pantry for half an hour or so? it sounded like you were on a very important call...”

Grocery Store Madness

(...) In a rush, a demigod knocked over a large container of cooking oil, and as it coated the aisle, Lucienne was there just in time as a demigod stumbled over the mess. Catching them from falling, the demigoddess muttered a small curse under her breath as she helped to get them standing back. It was with one gaze that her staffed hurried to try and clean up the mess. 

“I’m going to make sure that idiot pays. Are you fine? Do you need help?”

he’d just been doing some casual grocery shopping, trying to get his cupboards filled to make it through the week, when suddenly a flood of cooking oil had spread across the store aisle. now if agapi had been with him, she would have no doubt warned him about it, but dogs aren’t allowed in supermarkets and so she is faithfully waiting for him outside. which means that when he’s just about to faceplant right into the oil flood of doom, there’s hands steadying him and pulling him back from such a horrid fate.

“oh dear,” he says when he’s standing straight again, realising the foot he’d stepped into the oil with was still slippery, but on the other he stood solidly. turning to face his rescuer, he sends her a grateful smile, taking in the entire situation and then checking he didn’t throw anything out of his basket trying to catch himself.

with @mpxsakuya continued from here:

Sakuya had lingered outside of the performing arts center. Her beloved daughter's favorite group was performing, and she had considered going in to either find merch to send home or to try and watch the concert. However, by the sights of the fans going in the door, the goddess was not sure she would fit in, between the growing cherry blossom lingering by her form and her pink and white kimono. But at the other's sudden invite, Sakuya reconsidered.

Turning to face the demigod, the goddess reached up, slipping her fingers along the top of his head. Small cherry blossoms lingered on the male's hair, and she grinned contently. "That is so sweet of you, little orchid."  Moving her hands back before her, she tilted her head back to the entrance of the performing arts center. "Though, I'd hate to be an inconvenience."

loren is a little bit surprised when the first response to his offer is the woman lifting a hand and running fingers over his head, but a little less so when he lifts his hand and finds his crown adorned with what feels like flower petals. he immediately starts to smile, always soft to people who have a touch of nature within them, courtesy of his real father’s wife.

“you wouldn’t be an inconvenience,” he reassures the woman, immediately offering her his arm. “i was supposed to come here with a friend, but i have clearly been ditched, so i have the ticket leftover and i would appreciate it to not have to do this by myself. a performance is always nicer to enjoy together.”

he shows her his brightest smile, reminding himself that he has to make sure to check his own look in a window or his phone camera soon, because he’s definitely curious what kind of flowers would grace him. would they be cherry blossoms like hers or something different?

first meeting: currently accepting

he’s been struggling for the past five minutes with the tower of boxes in his arms trying to get them all safely from the delivery truck outside into the flower mill and then settled behind the bar. except he only made it inside before they started slipping dangerously. he managed to move them around so that the top box wouldn’t fall, but now he’s been sort of stuck standing with one leg half lifted and his arms carefully balancing because any movement in any direction will send the box slipping again.

first meeting: currently accepting

loren’s eyes haven’t fully lifted to the stranger’s face or he’s already smiling, something warm and reassuring that gains a hint of a smirk when their eyes meet.

“not particularly, no,” he admits, easily letting his eyes go over the lady by his side. she seems young, though not so young that he should be worried about it. it helps as well that they’re currently in a bar where he doesn’t think anyone under the legal drinking age is allowed to enter anyway.