Slicing Tomatoes (Open! Please join!)

[Skipper van Bruggen]

You got one foot out the door
And choking on the other...

Uncle Tom's shop was one of his favourite places to be, after the lake. Skipper loved the calmness in the old store and although he sometimes got a little frustrated with the people who came in, he was fine with that. The shop was a little dark- Skipper had been telling his uncle to put in more windows for years- but the dark was actually kind of nice. It gave the shop a kind of cold feeling, damp and musky in a good way. Especially on the hot summer days in Ellesmere. Skipper had jumped at the offer his uncle had presented him that morning. His uncle had decided to take a two-day trip to a place a few miles away from Ellesmere, and he wanted Skipper to take charge of the whole shop. Skipper had felt honoured, proud that his uncle trusted him so much.

The shop had been fairly quiet all morning. Skipper had taken advantage of that. When he had come that morning, he had lugged his old portable CD player along with him, and now when he could see no customers coming through the door, he had the volume turned up and loud, playing an old Green Day CD at the present moment. It was nearing lunch time, and Skipper was hungry. Uncle Tom's General Store was renown for its toasted sandwiches. They weren't that special, but since nowhere else in Ellesmere had them, they made a steady trade.

Skipper opened the drawer underneath the counter he had been leaning on and pulled out one of the loaves of bread he had made fresh that morning. He sliced off four slices, and put the rest away. In the refrigerator at the back, he found cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, ham, and chili sauce. Being careful with the rather sharp knife, he cut off ingredients. One of the tomatoes squirted juice everywhere, leaving a nice trail down Skipper's white apron. He laughed at himself, his head still bopping to Green Day.

Always think you're something more
Is just around the corner.

~Lifehouse, Halfway Gone[/right]

[Sera Veronica Poole]

Sera was walking down the high street, unable to find anything with which to occupy herself, as college wasn't open that day and her waitressing hours were later in the evening. It was around lunch time, and she was feeling rather hungry. She was actually supposed to be going to the angel headquarters to enquire about the letter she'd recieved, saying that she had to find a partner soon. SHe found thins quite strange, as she was only 21 and wasn't quite sure about taking a partner yet.
Passing Tom's Store, Sera slowed as she heard some kind of rock music seeping from underneath the door: it was obviously being played quite loudly inside. Remembering that she'd had a delicious toasted sandwhich there before, Sera welcomed the distraction from her worries about finding an angelic partner, and opened the door.
The bell jingled as she entered, and Sera looked around for Tom, who she knew vaguely well (as in sucha small town as Ellesmere most people knew each other). Not seeing him, she walked up to the counter, calling a "hello?" over the blaring music, which she now recognised as Green Day. It wasn't really her preffered music genre, but it was okay.

[Skipper van Bruggen]

You got one foot out the door
And choking on the other...

As he waited for his sandwich to toast, Skipper hopped up onto the stool behind the counter and started to play an air guitar, shaking his head back and forth like he was some major rock star. It was nice to have fantasies, although Skipper had never picked up an electric guitar in his life and he was quite content to be living in Ellesmere for all of his life.

He started as the bell rung, surprisingly loud despite the weather, and nearly fell off his stool. Dropping his imaginary guitar, his arms spun windmills in the air and fell off the stool, landing on his butt with a thump. He scratched his head, a little embarrassed as the cool light came in through the door. He had landed only a few milimeters from the CD player and the music was now blaring in his ears. He fumbled around with his hand, accidentally hitting the rewind switch and causing the song to play backwards. Finally, he found the stop button, and slowly stood up, rubbing his head, to see who had come in and hoping he hadn't embarrassed himself too much.

A girl was peering at the counter, and Skipper's cheeks coloured a little. His hair was in a disarray and his apron was still sprayed with red. He smiled awkwardly at the girl, trying to remember her name- she had been in three years ahead of him in high school, but he couldn't remember what she worked as now. "Hello," he muttered, leaning his elbows on the shiny grey counter and pushing his feet back. "Welcome to Tom's store, how can I help you?" His blush was slowly creeping up to his hairline, as he felt more embarrassed. "How are you today?"

Always think you're something more
Is just around the corner.

~Lifehouse, Halfway Gone[/right]

[Sera Veronica Poole]

Sera stepped up to the counter, wondering where Tom was. She had seen this boy before, but she couldn't remember where - possibly at High School? There seemed to be some memory in the recesses of her mind that told her that she'd found his name strange when she'd heard it before, but she couldn't for the life of her remember what his name was. And why was he here? She had a vague notion that he may have been related to Tom in some way, but couldn't really recall.
"Hi, uh..." she trailed off, seeing a red stain on the front of the boy's apron, still glistening wetly.
"Oh my god!" Sera cried, eyes widening. "Is that blood?! Are you hurt?" She scrabbled in her black satchel that she had slung over her shoulder, scrabbling for her mobile, "shall I call an ambulance?"

[Skipper van Bruggen]

You got one foot out the door
And choking on the other...

Skipper's eyes followed the girl as she came forward to the counter, and he ran a shy hand through his mop of hair. She started off with a simple greeting, but then trailed off, and he realized in relief that she didn't appear to recognize him at all. A little disappointing, since Skipper had a bit of a swollen head, but it made him feel better since he couldn't remember her name either. And he usually had a fairly good memory for names too! "We went to high school together, I think," he observed, tilting his head to the side and drumming his fingertips on the counter. "You graduated when I was a freshman." He trailed off, wanting her to say her name first, or to ask what his was; he didn't like to be the first to ask.

Alarm rushed through him as she suddenly let out an exclamation, and his easy smile disappeared from his face. "Huh- what?" he asked. Giving no explanation for her actions, she suddenly started rummaging in her backpack and he watched in alarm. Skipper cast his eyes down and over himself, taking a moment to notice that he still had tomato juice running over him. "Oh!" he exclaimed, a little relief. "That's just..." He made wild hand gestures, miming one hand with a knife, chopping the other hand, which was supposed to be a tomato. "You know, juice..." For some reason, he had gone brain-dead and couldn't remember what he was intending to say. "Don't call an ambulance!" Skipper's eyes grew in alarm; what would his uncle say if he came back to the police? "I'll get in so much trouble!" He probably wouldn't, but as he knew very well that he wasn't supposed to use the CD player, he was feeling a little more guilty than normal.

Always think you're something more
Is just around the corner.

~Lifehouse, Halfway Gone
{{ooc:// Oops, didn't see this reply DX And by the way, awesome english person, Canadians have 4 years of highschool- 1 is freshman, 2 is sophomore, 3 is junior, 4 is senior. If you didn't know. }}[/right]

[Sera Veronica Poole]

((Ahaha, thankyou very much, I did not know that at all It is very useful))


Sera dropped her mobile back into her handbag, letting out a sigh of relief. She was extremely greatful that she hadn't had to call an ambulance - although she knew that doctors were only trying to save people's lives, she found them rather creepy and didn't feel comfortable aroudn them at all. Now she looked at it, actually, it was pretty obvious that the stain was tomato juice: it wasn't nearly dark enough in colour to be blood. She'd just over-reacted. Oops.

"Thank God for that!" she said, leaning against the counter to catch her breath from all the rummaging. "Yeah...I... Freshman? You looked familiar...?"

She couldn't recall his name at all, which was quite embarassing, really. She hoped he couldn't remember hers.

[Skipper van Bruggen]

Even if I lose the game, I'm all in...

Skipper snickered to himself, thinking that tomato juice would be a good thing to use on Halloween. "Wow, I can't believe you actually fell for that," he said, his tone a little scornful, but not meaning to be mean. "Yeah. Not gonna be hitting the dust anytime soon."

He noted her words, and assumed that she couldn't remember his name- looked familiar... He extended his hand over the counter, but then realized it was still covered in tomato juice so he pulled it back and rinsed his hands in the sink just under the counter. "Hello again then," he said, above the pouring of the tap. The water felt good, cold and airy, just as he loved water to be. "I'm Skipper van Bruggen." He pronounced his last name with a slight Dutch accent, making the 'g's an 'h' noise, as he had grown up hearing his parents pronouncing it.

"Anyway," he said, finally taking his hands out from the water and wiping them on a soft hand towel that was hanging over the cupboard's door. "Welcome to Tom's store. How may I help you?" He grinned, leaning forward on the counter again. He was getting good at the serving thing; he hadn't even offended an old lady when she had come in that morning to buy some cat food. The store was easy to maintain, with only a few long well-stocked isles. Most customers were easy to serve, finding what they wanted, and all Skipper really had to do was make the sandwiches and other food that customers ordered.

I'm all in tonight, yeah I'm all in, I'm all in for life.

~Lifehouse, All In[/right]

[Sera Veronica Poole]

Sera smiled politely, "And I'm Sera."

She thought for a moment, trying to remember what she had come into the shop for. Jeez, she hated it when that happened: the entire train of tohught was obliterated! Yes... she was meant to be at the angel headquarters. So how had she ended up in here?

Realising she must look pretty stuipd, she checked her watch and saw that it was about lunch-time. She remembered that she'd had a really nice toasted sandwich in the store before. In fact, she remembered having that thought - that must be why she was in here!

"I'd like a toasted sandwich, please!" she said, almost laughing at her stupidity in forgetting something so simple.

[Skipper van Bruggen]

Even if I lose the game, I'm all in...

"Sera," repeated Skipper firmly, as if he had known that all along. He nodded his head at her and smiled. Life was a lot easier when he knew the people with whom he was interacting. He waited as Sera took her good time in thinking about what she wanted, and drummed his long fingers on the counter, trying not to be impatient. Finally, a lightbulb seemed to go on in her brain and he rolled his eyes, a little bit amused.

"A toasted sandwich, okay!" he agreed, remembering that he had his own still in the toaster oven. His mouth twitched, and he walked away from her to open the oven. There was a slight smell of burnt sandwich in the air, but to his relief, the sandwich looked beautiful, toasty brown and golden. "What d'ya want on your sandwich?" he asked, stuffing his own in his mouth and taking a bite of the hot gooey cheese and the roasted tomatoes. Beautiful, if he didn't say so himself. "There's cheese, bacon, tomato, lettuce, ham... whatever you want!" Skipper walked back over to Sera and smiled at her, wiping the cheese from the corner of his mouth.

I'm all in tonight, yeah I'm all in, I'm all in for life.

~Lifehouse, All In[/right]

[Sera Veronica Poole]

"Uhmm..." So many choices! Sera had always failed to make descisions. "I guess I'll have... cheese and bacon, please," she decided, giggling a little at Skipper's messy eating. Realising she hadn't yet aske {i}why[/i] Skipper was in Tom's store instead of Tom, seh wondered if he'd be quite as good at making toasties.

"So, why are you herre today?" she asked.