decaffeinated & discouraged -- scarlet

[LOGAN IAN ELLIS]

EJ was really taking her time today, wasn't she? The corners of his lips turned down. Gingerly, his finger tips picked up the cellular device before him. He clicked the screen lock off, swiped in its code, and allowed his mouth to fall into a full blown frown. Nothing. Ellis sighed. He could never understand why he still felt the blow of disappointment that came along with no one contacting him. No one ever contacted him. No one besides Marco, EJ, or his mother. More often then not, it was his mother. It was actually thanks to her that the Scotsman had found himself seated outside a coffee shop in downtown on this sunny afternoon. The inevitability of spending it alone in the confines of his house seemed all too dismal when compared to their most recent conversation. No matter how hard his mother pushed, he refused to purchase that LifeAlert system she was so adamant about getting him.

Shaking his head, he clicked the screen off and haphazardly tossed the phone back onto the table. He could remember a time when sitting alone like this used to give him terrible anxiety. With one fluid motion, he scooped up the coffee cup before him and pressed it up to his lips to take a swig. It was only after years of broken dates and being stood up that this kind of immunity to loneliness developed. Granted, it wasn't what he would have preferred. In Ellis' ideal world, his life would be filled with friends. With love. Then again, in an ideal world, Ellis would have also been a secret agent for SHIELD, his facial hair would grow in evenly, and all women would speak in British accents. It was a tragedy, but he was a realist. The frown on his face cut deeper into his features, the man setting down his cup before picking his phone back up again in an attempt to look busy. It wasn't at all what he had ordered, but he knew he'd never work up the courage to say something.

OOC:|| I apologize for my post. I realize this doesn't really leave much for initial interaction, but I figured since it was in fast play it'd work itself out at a fast tempo. Let me know if you want me to change anything.

[SCARLET OPHELIA GARLAND]

Scarlet wasn’t the least bit happy, she was on the phone with client. As if it wasn’t bad enough that she despised her job, but dealing with clients was the worst part. She was already exhausted from spending her whole morning showing houses. Now she had James Brighton on the phone telling her he wasn’t so sure about taking the leap of buying a house, with a silent expression of her disgust, she rolled her eyes fighting every urge to let out a scoff. Instead she took a breath as she stopped in front of the coffee house “I hear you James I do, it’s a big step, but this house is you and it’s not going to wait forever, do you really want someone else living in your house?” she couldn’t help but wrinkle her brows and pout in a mocking way. She checked herself in the window, she wore black from head to toe, a black vest over a black poke-a-dot shirt which was loosely tucked into a high waisted pencil skirt, which she ended with seemed stockings and a pair of black pumps. Uh oh her Gothic roots were showing.

A smile spread across her lips as James voice began to tell her what she wanted to hear, “great, you won’t regret it, I’ll file the papers tonight, good bye James” she nodded hanging up her phone, allowing herself to smirk at her accomplishment. James Brighton was one of those eternal bachelors a house wasn’t for him, he just wanted to sleep with her and he’d made a mistake because of it, but Scarlet wouldn’t let him off so easily. She’d lose her compensation, if he wanted to sell in a couple weeks she’d be happy to help him do it. She walked into the shop and ordered her coffee as she dropped her cell phone into her brief case. “ Mocha blended coffee with chocolate chips and whipped cream… please” the boy gave her a face and she smiled annoyed at him. After paying for her coffee, she smoothed her skirt and grabbed her blended coffee from the counter.

She headed out to the shady outdoor patio when she felt some one shove past her knocking her shoulder causing some of her coffee to spill out onto some random guys table “Fuck you! That was my whipped cream, you twat!” she yelled after the guy, she disliked losing some of her beloved whipped cream, but she liked the rudeness of him not apologizing even less. Muttering curse words to herself she dug tissues out of her brief case. Looking at the man in front of her she said apologetically as she mopped up the carnage of whipped cream and coffee on his table “sorry”, she was half apologizing for her outburst and half for her coffee falling on his table.

[/blockquote]

[LOGAN IAN ELLIS]

You, twat. Ellis was on his third round of inspecting his phone's features when she had happened. While a minute part of him was grateful for the fact that he no longer had to pretend to read messages, a much larger part of him had been completely caught off guard and frightened. Instinctively, he slid his seat back, hands covering the stomach of his five dollar t-shirt in some sort of mach attempt to protect himself. His mouth opened then closed, words refusing to come to him as his blue eyes inspected the mess on the table. The amount of times he had done this himself had to be some where in the hundreds by now. It wasn't a big deal. Following the stain to the hand that hurriedly cleaned it up, the man soon found himself face to face with owner of the once whipped cream covered beverage. It was a woman. An attractive woman. And this was now a completely huge deal.

With out much thought, he stood up, mouth opened as if to speak before uttering some sound that resembled the phrase "its fine." He let his phone drop onto his chair before reproaching the table. "No, it's fine," he managed, this time speaking clearly before trying to help the woman by swatting the liquid off the side. This was done with a bare hand of course, Ellis not exactly taking the time to think it through until his grasp was soaked and sticky with cream and coffee. It wasn't until most of it was drained onto the cement that he had stopped and realized, subtly shaking his hand to get it off. He watched as a chunk of cream skit onto the ground before lifting his head once more to look at her. "I'm sorry about your whipped cream." He frowned, then smiled at her as if to show his remorse. It was nice to have some one else spill something for a change.

[SCARLET OPHELIA GARLAND]

Scarlet had half expected the man to glare at her with insurmountable disgust, but instead he was helping her… rather counter productively in her neat and organized mind. However the sheer fact that he was attempting to help and not being a raging asshole like some people, kept her from holding it against him. Most aspects over her life her highly planned and she was normally a very un-clumsy person, in fact she’d been celebrated on her poise and balance on many occasions. However five in heels and a six foot testosterone filled mass tended to throw poise out the window. Tossing her tissue away she dug through her brief case once more for some wipes too many people thought she was a mother due to the amount of cleaning and disinfecting supplies she carried with her on a daily basis. Course, she didn’t, she just liked being prepared. She gave the table a quick wipe down and then offered a clean one to the man in front of her, meaning she waved it at him, as she tossed the soiled wipe into the nearby trash. He was attractive from what she could tell, though she always found beards distracting, they provoked an urge to pet them. Something that was highly inappropriate when it came to strangers.

Knitting her brows at him as he gave his condolences she said simply “it’s not your fault”. It wasn’t, but she realized the common convention was to thank someone for their condolences and he may take her as rude if she didn’t conform “but thanks” she added abruptly she looked at her drink “there’s still some left” she said mostly to herself shaking melted splotches of whipped cream from her shoe. If there was anything in the world the girl hated more than anything, it would be feeling frail and the throbbing in her offended shoulder and the spilling of her frosty drink made her feel just that. Brute force was something even the most put together people couldn’t predict. Not that she was particularly put together, but she put a lot of work into appearing to be. Another convention occurred to her as she dropped her wipes back into her bag – the introduction. Extending her hand to the man she spoke with as much dignity as she could muster in her currently mortified state “Scarlet, Scarlet Garland”, she allowed a smirk to form on her lips. She didn’t often smile cheerfully unless prompted to by something genuinely amusing.

[/blockquote]

[LOGAN IAN ELLIS]

She was right, of course. It wasn't his fault. If he were any more logically based, he would have known this all ready. The statement, how ever, did nothing to help the fact that the color was rising in Ellis' face out of embarrassment. Becoming awkwardly aware of every part of his body, he did his best to feign a confident smile as she pulled more wipes from her bag. Napkins. Then wipes. She was so prepared for this and he was just...so...well, not. By the time he had noticed her offer for one to clean himself off, his hands had all ready been wiped on the thighs of his Levi jeans. His color increased. She must have thought he was a savage or something by now. He never realized the repercussions that came along with living alone until moments like this.

Masking his shame, he gave curt nod for 'thanks' and plucked it from her grasp. "Scarlet," he repeated softly, pulling his eyes from his hands to rest on her face as if putting it to memory. He liked that name. It was actually a candidate for the name of the protagonist from his first novel. He couldn't say that though, could he. It sounded too cheesy, too pretentious. Women didn't like pretentious, corny bastards - did they? Maybe they actually did. This conversation was all ready an uphill battle. Ellis bit his bottom lip and looked back to his hands. It was with this action that he reverted back to his usual mistakes with talking to women. He word vomited. "Scarlet, I like that name. A lot. It's got a very sultry kind of connotation to it. Makes me think of...well, sensuous things. Like satin or velvet or..."

Using the wipe as a means to detail his hands, he continued with out much hesitation, hoping to ride his luck out until he ran out of steam. "...or Scarlet Johansson. Shame about those nude photos of her leaking on the web. Sort of. It's got to be mortifying..." His heart began to race. He was off topic and his confidence was beginning to wain in correlation with the length of his muttering. "And that's not very sensuous of course but I mean she's absolutely gorgeous and," he looked up at Scarlet quickly, "well you're obviously gorgeous as well and...yes." The wall had been hit. Feeling the complete torturous sting of embarrassment once more, he paused and contemplated how to finish off strong before having to watch her walk away. "Ellis," he coupled a weak smile with his hand sliding into her own, "Logan Ellis."

[SCARLET OPHELIA GARLAND]

Scarlet scrunched her nose as she noticed he’d wiped his hand on his jeans, he was obviously one of those “manly man” types. Grisly men, the ones who grow their beards out and do things with their hands that most people would use some kind of tool for. They confused her, her father had been a man that didn’t know what manual labor meant quite honestly, who preferred not to get his hands dirty, in the literal sense anyway. He had no problems shooting someone dead if they crossed him. That was the kind of man Scarlet was used to, prissy, violent oxymorons. She feigned a smile as he accepted her wipe anyway. It wasn’t that she was being critical of him, no, that was not her intention, but Letty often found it difficult to control her facial expressions while in a bad mood. Honestly he probably thought she was a stuck up bitch and honestly she really didn’t care much. After all it was the popular opinion she couldn’t blame him for it.

Raising her eyebrows at the man as he began to speak about the connotations of her name she wondered if he was joking and trying to be so utterly ridiculous. Then he continued and she realized he was actually just lost. Allowing her hand to drop back down to her side she whispered “ really satin” under her breath, it wasn’t something he was meant to respond to or even hear, but she felt compelled to say it anyway. Laughing lightly more at him than with him, but yet not in a malicious way. His frazzled babbling was endearing and new to her. She usually ran into smooth talkers that used every line in the book to try to sleep with her, oddly though Scarlet didn’t get the feeling that the man was trying to “pick her up” even though he was talking about sensuality and nude photos, maybe it was the fact that he’d involved another woman and was praising her for her beauty.

His next comment got her to smile quite genuinely which was rare. Scarlet had often heard that she was hot or sexy, but most men were afraid that words like gorgeous made them seem too eager and corny. Or something along those lines, Scarlet was not an expert on men’s minds, simply their anatomy. She realized he was finally going to accept her hand and she gave it back to him. “ooh, very James Bond” she teased “nice to meet you Logan Ellis”, she sat herself down at the table he was previously occupying and sipped some of her beverage. She’d caused him a certain amount of grief and actually felt bad for it. Deciding she be on her best behavior, she crossed her legs very lady like and played with the ends of her ponytail in an absent minded way as she asked thoughtfully “are you waiting for someone Logan Ellis?”

[/blockquote]

[LOGAN IAN ELLIS]

Bond. James Bond. His face lit up as soon as his name had left her lips. It wasn't a secret that Ellis was the type of man to live vicariously through works of art - namely movies and books. James Bond was one of his favorites. Actually, he was more appropriately called one of his idols. Bond encompassed everything Ellis wasn't, and as such, everything he strived to be. And while the man hadn't intentionally meant to reference the spy in his introduction to Scarlet, it brought about an unprecedented amount of confidence that he had, that it had worked - and more importantly, that she had picked up on it. After all, it was a well known fact that the way to a man's heart was to nonchalantly reference his favorite movie series. Or well, maybe that was just Logan. He had named his dog Dr. No, after all.

"No," he answered, watching her take a seat at his table and take a sip. This was the wrong answer of course - he was waiting for some one. The distraction of having an attractive woman seat herself beside him to converse was enough to keep him from realizing his mistake until it was all too late. Quickly, he amended himself, raising a hand to touch the back of his neck as she began to play with her own ponytail. "Yes. I mean, yes I am but, no it doesn't really...um," he trailed off. Where was EJ anyway? He hadn't exactly gotten a confirmation text back from her yet saying she was coming. Then again, she hadn't said she wasn't. She was never the type to just leave him dry. Maybe she'd show up and see him talking to Scarlet. Ellis forced himself to shrug off the childish excitement that came along with that sentence. What was he, six again?

"I just needed the afternoon out of the office, I guess," he stated, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jeans and peering around quickly. That sentence sounded much more mature and acceptable then the real answer of I'm here because my mother reminded me that I'll die alone some day. There was another small shrug, before the man became self aware at how awkward standing was now that Scarlet was seated. "So, uh, what about you?" he asked coolly, attempting his best at conversation as he sat back down into his chair, stood up again to grab his cell phone off of it, then settled once more. "Are you waiting for some one, Scarlet Garland? Or do you just come here to attack innocent bystanders with your chocolate chipped coffee beverages?"

[SCARLET OPHELIA GARLAND]

Meeting Logan for the first time, Scarlet had no idea what affect her comment would have on him. She didn’t know he spent his days lounging in his pool with a beer in his hand. No, to her he was a perfectly normal guy without a care in the world. Well, a perfectly normal guy with a slight rambling problem, but Scarlet was a woman of few words, so allowing him to take up the majority of the conversation was fine with her. Course that could get annoying after years of knowing someone. Growing up the girl’s idols had always been criminals, her father was her idol for many years, the way he could talk his way out of anything was amazing to her and she’d been rather infatuated with a character named the Joker in a cartoon series, pretending he was just some mad aimless idiot when all his crimes took far too much planning to be conjured by a madman. It wasn’t until years later that her favorite tv series growing up was based on a comic book series.

Raising her eyebrow at him as he seemed to struggle with her question, she smirked lightly as she sipped her beverage. She was the kind of girl who knew she was attractive, but would never assume that her looks would induce nervousness or causing someone to have trouble forming words. So, she simply assumed that Logan was just awkward. She wasn’t vain enough to think her looks had anything to do with it, even if they did have some effect on the man’s behavior. She nodded “what do you do?” she was hoping it wasn’t something like mail room work at some large corporation, people who were passionate about their jobs could go on for hours about their boring method of sorting mail. This was all very out of character for her, normally she wouldn’t have sat down with some strange man that she’d just met and furthermore, she normally wouldn’t have engaged in any sort of conversation other than the initial apology. It’s not that she wasn’t kind she just wasn’t all that social after being forced to be social at her job all day.

She couldn’t help but snicker at his words “well that’s my job as a comic book villain” she threw back before feigning a defensive stance “let’s not forget I’m the victim here” anyone who knew her wouldn’t know that had to be a joke, Scarlet would never seriously admit she was a victim of anything. She'd kept a steady smirk on her lips to keep everything light hearted, she knew her humor wasn't always picked up by strangers and sometimes they needed a bit of help. Smiling a genuine smile – another uncharacteristic thing for her – she shook her head “In all honesty though I was just going to sit here and read a book of something until I have to reenter hell for an evening open house party” it was blindingly obvious in her words and her tone that Scarlet was not a happy realtor, course she’d never told him she was, she just assumed that realtors were the only profession that had open houses.

[/blockquote]

[LOGAN IAN ELLIS]

What did he do? It was a simple question. He knew it was a simple question, yet the back of his throat told him otherwise. Feeling his heart relocate itself in his esophagus, the man took a second to tediously go over an adequate response. First and foremost, Ellis wrote. He loved to write. He lived to write. But the harsh reality couldn't be ignored that 90% of his writing process was spent with his face pressed against the keyboard with his hands behind his head. He procrastinated; that was more like it. He couldn't say that now, could he. The second option was to answer with the most obvious answer. He taught. Sitting in front of a room of thirty students and pointing at vocabulary words hardly constituted as doing anything, though. Long ago were the days where he had actually poured an ounce of passion into his lesson plans.

Still unsure of his answer, yet petrified of taking too long to respond, Ellis settled on the next thing that came to mind: "Stuff." He nodded as if to solidify his answer before giving a weak smile to mask his shame. The color began to rise in his cheeks. "Literature stuff, mainly," he added hurriedly. His ability to blunder around like a fool in conversation never ceased to amaze him. It was time to go back to Plan A & B. "I'm a writer," his eyes tore away from Scarlet as he scooped up his cup of coffee and held it in hand, "An author, actually." He took a swig, enjoying the heat between his lips in comparison to the temperature of his cheeks. Women found that attractive right? Brooding caffeine fueled writers? Pulling the cup from his mouth, he continued to hold it between his hands as if trying to find something to hold on to as he continued. "I teach, too. High School English."

Re-situating himself in his seat, he gave a genuine laugh at her villain comment. While she might have been joking, she certainly had the dimensions of a comic book character. Flawless complexion, thick pouty lips, piercing eyes. He braved the chance to run his eyes over her figure in admiration before darting back to his far less attractive coffee cup. It was a cunningly villianistic trait to try and get him to sympathize for her as if she was the victim. He couldn't help but fully smiling before responding to her. "Open house? I didn't know they had those at night. I bet the h'orderves are delicious though. Much better then those bland family friendly fruit platters of the day. Risque wine and cheese. Much sexier. I'd be all over that in a second." Resisting the urge to shake his head in shame of his lame joke, he forced a raised brow and kept hold of his smile.

[SCARLET OPHELIA GARLAND]

She didn’t quite enjoy admitting that she was a dumpy old realtor, but from her attire she thought people would likely assume she was a secretary before any of the more high powered jobs. For some reason people thought because she was attractive she must be some naughty, skanky secretary. Scarlet didn’t understand it, she knew she was attractive, but she never considered herself to be some sex kitten, Jessica Rabbit type. Yes, this may have meant that like most girls she underestimated her looks, but unfortunately it was a common and stubborn affliction. However, Scarlet didn’t let her underestimation of her own looks hinder her confidence, she knew she could do just about anything she put her mind to, she was smart, capable and had plenty of physical assets as well. To put it simply she knew she wasn’t ugly and there for didn’t constantly worry if her hips looked fat in her skirt.

Scarlet knitted her brows as he answered stuff, but slowly began to straighten out as he continued “a writer huh?” she smiled as he continued, nodding she allowed her voice to adopt an impressed tone “a published writer” she sipped some of her beverage before asking “anything I would know?” a devilish grin appeared on her lips “I should have you know twilight isn’t my scene” she was teasing him, she could guess from his appearance he wasn’t writing love stories about sparkly vampires. Though, people did have an element of surprise to them, but she figured Twilight was probably a running joke of sorts with authors. Her eyebrow raised as he said he also taught “Damn, my high school English teacher was a sixty year old balding man with a hankering for hitting on the pretty students”

Shrugging she spoke with humor “Guess it’s true what they say, American’s have it better” he smiled at Logan, she wasn’t sure if she cloaked her complement too much, but wasn’t too concerned about it. She laughed lightly at his comment, shaking her head she said “not really, it’s rather dull” she rolled her eyes, some realtors loved their jobs they’d get all excited, screeching and dancing with every sale or even the possibility of a sale. “evening open houses give clients the feeling that they could have hip and demure cocktail parties… it’s like putting cookies in the oven to make it easier to imagine a building as a home” Yes, it was manipulative, but that was the sales industry for you and there was no question that Scarlet was top of sales in her department.

[/blockquote]

[LOGAN IAN ELLIS]

Would she know his novels? His brows pinched together as he glanced away for a moment, ignoring the lump that formed in the back of his throat. No. She couldn't have. Ellis had all ready painted her as a woman of good tastes with her accent and her coy speech patterns. There was no way she would stoop so low as to read something so menial as one of his poorly written "masterpieces." He assured himself of it. While he truly didn't think so lowly of his own works, it was a lot easier of a thought to comprehend then the possibility of having Scarlet read his books. They were so...revealing and the themes had come from a time in his life long gone. While the glory of having your words published always sported a confident ring, his phobia and self-loathing always made it a double edged sword. Having her read it was the figurative equivalent of standing before her in the nude. He hadn't had that sort of confidence in years.

"It's exactly like Twilight," he answered, giving a nod and pulling his gaze back to rest on hers. Maybe one day he'd have the courage to talk to her about his novel, but not today. He'd still have to find the courage to ask for her number first, didn't he. "Well, nearly. Not quite. I didn't make my Adonis vampiric lover glitter. That was the selling point apparently," he mocked a frown and took a swig from the coffee cup still in his hand, "Silly me, putting substance into my writing." Ellis placed the drink back down on the table, a genuine smiling breaking through at her compliment. Was it a compliment? He pressed his finger tip on the edge of the plastic lid, flicking it like a child as the color rose in his cheeks. It was definitely a compliment. "Lucky teacher," he stated. The attempt at smoothly returning a complimentary statement fell short how ever, and the man took to frowning once more. There was pause before he worked up the courage to huslte an explanation, "Not because of the pretty ones, I mean. I mean because you were there. And you're pretty. Which I take back, because you were in High School so. The teacher wasn't...I don't know. Nevermind."

He stopped fiddling with his cup, picked it up, felt uncomfortable then placed it back down again; the color in his cheeks had doubled. The topic of conversation needed to change. Now. "Why are you a realtor?" The question was blurted more then spoken, Ellis attempting to escape fire by delving into something a little more interesting - Scarlet. He didn't think of how intrusive the question was or that there was a possibility that she might tell him to piss off. She didn't seem very happy with her career choice. She had an accent so she obviously wasn't from around these parts. Certainly it wasn't her dream to move to America and pick up a job in Capeside, Mass as a realtor - especially if she didn't enjoy hip and demure cocktail parties. Call him old fashion, but he never enjoyed seeing a beautiful woman in distress.

[SCARLET OPHELIA GARLAND]

Scarlet found someone with passion to be quite intriguing, she herself hadn’t ever found something she couldn’t live without. That was how she saw passion, something you needed to do to be happy. She wasn’t a very happy person and she figured it had something to do with her lack of passion. She lacked that something to live for. Though, she wasn’t suicidal by any means, she was simply living a lack luster life. After all she missed out on the full effect of college, which was the place that most people supposedly found themselves. Scarlet knew who she was, she just simply didn’t know what she wanted. Those who did fascinated her, Logan had published a book so that must’ve meant that he knew exactly what he wanted. Though now she really wanted to read his masterpiece to see if it was worth publishing in the first place. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the nicest way of thinking, but she couldn’t help it being a big fan a literature herself.

She pursed her lips and allowed on of her eye brows to leap up and then return to its rightful place just above her eye. “fantastic” she said knowingly, even if she didn’t, he could very well have written a novel exactly like twilight without the sparkling factor. She smiled when he commented on the glitter though and make a pouty face “that’s too bad I’d be more likely to read it, vampires burst into flame in the sun, not some sparkly diamond none sense” she shook her head, she’d always loved vampires, werewolves and all things of that folk lore nature, but in recent years she felt they’d been defiled by ridiculous women writing about exceptions to the rule convincing every girl they could be too. It was disgusting really, who needed a man to make them happy, Scarlet was more than happy using them as her play things, she never had to pick their dirty socks off the bed every morning like those girls waiting to be the exception.

They never leave their wives for you, they never marry you if they don’t want to get married and they sure as hell won’t stop being a dick because of you. Girls were so cocky really, so many of them thought they were so amazing they were worth changing for. In all actuality you shouldn’t want to change someone, elevate them sure, but people were who they were and the only person someone should change for is themselves. She made a tisking sound at the man before and shook her head “you should know better” she said in reply to his comment about substance in his writing. As he began to dig himself in to what some may perceive as a very large hole Scarlet allowed herself to smile “thank you” she said simply with a small nod implying to him that she’d gotten the complement in his jumbled mess of a dialogue. Then came a question Scarlet wasn’t prepared for, it was a fair question she hadn’t exactly covered her disliking for her job, which in hindsight seemed like a bad move.

The truth was Scarlet was running from something, that was why she became a realtor – to make ends meet. She didn’t want to go back to her parents and unfortunately that meant she couldn’t really go back to Ireland either. Her parents would give her a boat load of grief if they knew she was in the country. Though, she wasn’t known for telling the truth and didn’t feel she really could in this situation, instead she decided to make a joke out of it “That fresh paint smell is a real turn on” she laughed. She liked the smell, but it wasn’t an aphrodisiac for her. She shrugged "it pays the bills" she said simply.

ooc:// i'm sorry it's a mammoth, when i don't try to write alot i do, when i try i can't write a sentance. -head desk-

[/blockquote]

[LOGAN IAN ELLIS]

Thank you. He could feel the color in his cheeks settle at a deep rouge. Good. At least she got the message. Ellis always had a fear that people didn't understand him. Actually, it wasn't so much of a fear as it was a legitimate problem. Between all of his stammering, muttering, and terrible habits of exploring tangents, getting a clear picture of what the Scotsman had to say was a difficult task. He had always had such an irrational problem with anxiety when it came to conversation. The irony that he made his living forming words for entertainment wasn't going unnoticed. Every time the man sat down in front of his computer screen to begin on his next novel, he swore he could feel a little part of him die. There had to be something wrong with him. This wasn't normal. Was it? Scarlet must have really hated her job if she preferred sitting here and talking to him over going to work. That was for sure.

"Really, now..." Picking his eyes up from the table to look at her, he raised a brow in interest. It was obvious that Scarlet was a very attractive woman. She was so attractive in fact that Ellis had began to think that this was nothing more then a dream. A beautiful foreign woman running into him at Starbucks and joining him for coffee? Unreal. He placed his hand around his drink but kept it in place, ignoring the sensation that ran across his skin as she mentioned her "turn on" (even if she was joking). He usually avoided thinking of those sorts of things when talking to women: turns ons, aphrodisiacs, etc. It was not only distracting, but it just felt so...dishonest. This wasn't to say that he was celibate; in fact, he'd prefer the complete opposite if it were his choice. There was just a time and place for those things. Getting to know a woman for the first time wasn't that place.

He shook his head. "I knew there was something wrong with you," he said jokingly after running his tongue along his bottom lip, "There had to be. I was laying money on the fact that you were looking for a green card or had severely repressed emotional damage. But olfactophilia for drying paint? I guess that'll do it too." Ellis lifted his cup, took a sip and then smiled. He was obviously making a light hearted joke about how completely out of his league Scarlet was and how the image she painted was far too good to be true. Deep within it how ever was some truth - after all, if there wasn't something wrong with her, why would she talk to him? Pushing the thought from his mind, he carried on with conversation, figuring it was best if he savored this interaction until he inevitably found a way to screw this whole thing up. "I guess a better question to ask is what you want to do for a living, if money wasn't an issue."

OOC:|| No worries. That's the story of every RPers life pretty much.

[SCARLET OPHELIA GARLAND]

Scarlet wasn’t the type to sit down and start a chat with people unless she thought it could somehow benefit her business to appear very social. However there was something about the bumbling mess of a man in front of her that she found intriguing and it wasn’t just the beard and her strange compulsion either. It was a repressed compulsion, but a compulsion none the less. The man seemed to have a problem taking complements from Scarlet on account of the fact that his cheeks began to increasingly flood with more and more color as she continued to pay them to him. Funny enough the girl that often took ages for someone to grow on her had decided she like Logan Ellis in the first few moments of talking to him, he was interesting whether he knew it or not and Scarlet couldn’t dislike someone who didn’t fall into the typical boring person category. Not that she didn’t like people, it’d be more accurate to say she tended to look at them with what she considered a healthy dose of distain.

Shrugging as he told her he knew she was flawed she took a sip of her coffee “it’s gotta happen sometime” she said in a deadpan tone. Most found it difficult to tell that Scarlet was joking without a drum roll and a cymbal crash, but Logan seemed to be following her humor fairly well. In her mind that was another point in his corner, not that they were playing against each other, but rather he was playing against her perception of mankind. An epic battle indeed, it was probably a good thing he didn’t know that. She laughed at his original guesses “well now that you mention it I am in need of green card” she teased, she was on a roll of saying things that would make him uncomfortable wasn’t she, talking about turn ons and marriage in the first thirty or so minutes of meeting the poor guy.

Squirming a little under the weight of his next question she shrugged, it sounded so pathetic to say she didn’t know what she wanted to do yet at the age of twenty six. She decided to handle as she handle most uncomfortable and embarrassing topics “i'd be a super hero, that’s what rich people do isn’t it” she smiled and sipped her coffee, she wasn’t really afraid of him judging her, but he did seem like he might be the type to start rattling off things she could like doing trying to be helpful, even if he wasn’t actually the type to do so. “So, high school huh?” she said trying to change the subject “any students doodling your name on their notebooks?” she had a teacher she was massively infatuated with in college the little bit that she did, she didn’t doodle in name on her notebooks mind you, but crushing on teachers wasn’t completely foreign to her and Logan was an attractive and sweet mannered guy, so why not. If there were he probably was oblivious to it, but it changed the subject.

ooc:// thanks that makes me feel better lol

[/blockquote]

[LOGAN IAN ELLIS]

Green card? "I can help with that..." he muttered to himself, hopefully low enough so that it was under his breath and completely inaudible. She was obviously joking. So was he. Pretty much. His mind moved on: Super hero? He nodded his head and gave the idea some consideration. If he had his choice, he'd definitely do so. Then again, it would mean he would have to revamp his entire personality, morale, and motivation. It was a nice thought. Ellis wasn't one to burst her bubble, but she didn't seem altruistic enough to pull that roll off either. She had too much of a cold, calculating exterior with an undefined attraction that could make any man interested. He smiled to himself. Catwoman. Scarlet was more of a Selena then a hero. Was it odd that he found that infinitely more attractive then a standard one-two-punch type of hero? His half smile faded as the thought of her in a leather cat suit traipsing around the city came to mind. Focus, Logan. She deserved much better then that crap. No woman liked Batman.

The smile was back again on his face. Granted, his paranoia assumed that she changed subjects so quickly because he had struck a nerve. How ever, the novelty of having some one ask him questions about his life was something still foreign to Ellis and was able to be enjoyed. "Yep, High School," he stated, nodding lightly and squeezing the cup between his hands. "It's not my first choice, to be honest...it gets the job done though." Giving a small shrug, he continued, ceasing his nodding and allowing himself to open up a bit more. "No one really wants to admit that they're going on thirty and still in High School, you know?" An awkward laugh followed that statement; he was fairly certain his mother had just said the same exact sentence to him on the phone just hours before. "I thought I could just live off of being a writer but...life happens. You lose your will to create. Suddenly your only muse is to write about how to battle awkward interactions with irrationally amorous freshmen and their army of hormones. I keep getting weird notes on my car."