Carina Lara (Barista, submissive, 20)

Carina ties her green apron behind her back and breathed out a long, slow breath. The best thing about working at Moondollars was the free coffee, she thinks. She's just going to have to mess up someone's order so she could drink it herself. Her boss won't mind. She does a quick inspection of her hair, pulling her long, brown ponytail through her uniform hat, then inspects the day's schedule. Just her and Guanyin, her manager, for now, since Lucy is off soon. That's good, and since it's Sunday it should be a quiet morning. Guanyin won't recognize Carina's hangover for what it is, either.

She checked the clock, not leaving the "breakroom" (read: storage) until the moment it turned 9:00. She pushes the door open the second the clock ticks over, going up to the cash register, and clocking in. She walked past Lucy and gave her a high five, as if passing the torch. "Morning Yin," she says, checking the orders. A Plain Earl Gray is first, which is perfect. She starts a black coffee instead, says her standard "oops, wrong order" and gets the tea going, placing the coffee under the counter so customers can't see her drink.

"Good morning Carina," Guanyin says, making sure to eye the coffee with skepticism. The tiny woman can barely see over the counter, and has beautiful long, dark hair, which Carina thinks of as her best feature. Carina's type tends to skew to the more imposing for both girls and guys, but she could certainly acknowledge that Yin is very pretty even though she appears meek. That isn't to say she actually is. Yin can get damn scary when she wants to be, reminding Carina of a honey badger with absolutely zero fear taking on something much bigger than itself. She has to admit, those times turn her on a little.

Tea done, Carina announces the name and hands it over. The customer exits the store, leaving it empty except for Yin and Carina. She ducks under the counter to drink her coffee, savoring the feeling of that scalding, bitter nectar of the gods, giving her life. She takes over at the register while Yin begins an inventory. It doesn't take long before a man walks in, looking exactly Carina's type. He's tall and strong, probably late 20s, with well fitted clothes showing off his figure in that kind of way that says far more about his body than his fashion choice. Someone who either puts a lot of effort into how he dresses, or can pay someone to do it for him. A dress shirt, vest, and slacks, and a blond haircut that probably cost more than Carina would make this week.

"Hi, what's your name," she says, leaning against the counter. He raises an eyebrow, smirking, and she realizes she jumped the gun. "Uh, for your order, I mean. What can I get you and what's the name I should... put... on... the... cup..." She feels her face go hot.

The man takes a quick glance at Carina's nametag, his eyes hovering on her not so impressive chest just long enough that she noticed, but not long enough to be rude. "I'm Marco. It's nice to meet you." His smile lit up the room. "Had a long shift?" he asked.

"Just started, unfortunately." Carina leaned forward, arms on the counter. "You look nice and dressed up, though. Hope you don't have to work today."

He chuckles like she just said a private joke. "No, I'm long retired. I'm on my way to meet up with an old friend and thought I should look my best."

"It's working," she says before she can stop herself.

"Thank you very much! You just made my morning." He seems to consider something, then checks for a line behind him. Still empty. His expression shifts to one of curiosity. "Say, Carina, I have a few questions for you. You don't mind."

Carina blinks at that, but he's right. The store's empty, he's hot, and it will help pass some time. "Uh, okay. Shoot." She straightens up. Something in his tone makes this feel less like a chat, and more like an interview, or at least with the formality of one.

"To start with, what are you doing with your life?"

The question should strike her as offensive, but it doesn't. She's heard that question from a lot of people by now, and this is the only time she doesn't sense any judgement in it. "Well... right now I'm working here. Aside from that, I'm still figuring things out."

"Are you having trouble figuring things out? A little aimless?"

"You could say that, yeah. I'm thinking about going back to school but I don't know what I want to do. I'm clearly not going to be an astronaut, as much as that's going to disappoint twelve-year-old me," she chuckles.

"Don't be so sure, I think you're going to have the potential to do whatever you set your mind to. Is there a man in your life?" he asks.

"Not for a long while. No woman in my life either, but that's more recent."

"Bi huh?" he asks.

She looks for that familiar twinkle in his eye and finds it. Normally she'd be annoyed at the bi chasers, but she can't find herself minding the question. "I call myself pan, but basically yeah."

"Alright, are you close with family? Have many close friends?"

"Well, I've got a brother that I'm living with, but we don't see each other much. I avoid my parents as much as I can, these days." She shifts her weight, considering. "Friends though... I have a couple work friends and I still see some high school friends now and then."

"So not much. Would I be correct in saying you don't have much going on?"

"I have hobbies," she says, defensively, thinking about the jewelry making kit she hasn't touched in months that she was hoping to turn into an Etsy business.

"Sure," he says, his face softening. "That's all I needed to know. Oh, I guess I never actually put an order in. Can I just get a latte to go?"

"No problem," she says, surprised, takes his money and makes his order. She thinks about his odd, personal questions, wondering what that was about.

When she hands him his order, he passes over what appears to be a business card. "Here, I think you could use this," he says, then walks out.

Yes! The hot guy gave her his number! She turns the card over, though, and what's written on it doesn't seem to be what she expects. Instead, it has an odd assortment of characters she's never seen before, and something about them compels her to keep looking them over and over. She begins to notice patterns in the characters, convinced that it actually is some sort of alphabet. The more her eyes scan the page, back and forth, and back and forth, the fainter the letters appear to be. After several minutes, they're gone and she's left with a blank card.

Carina blinks a few times, seeing spots. That was odd. She looks up sharply, realizing that she can hear Guanyin saying her name.