[Chuubo's] Fortitude: The Glass-Maker's Dragon IC

[Tengu_temp]

Natalia doesn't know what to do. She shields her eyes, too composed to look away or give into her fight or flight instinct - but the radiance hurts her, it burns right into her heart! But the side effect of burning is that it helps you feel a little bit more warm.
"It's not as simple as you make it sound..." Gently but firmly, Natalia pushes Jasper away. She doesn't like close physical contact much. "But... I will manage. Thank you."
She doesn't smile. Seeing Natalia smile is like seeing fish walk on land. But her face softens a tiny bit.

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I'm touched.

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This will only end in pain.

[The_Snark]

"He built a machine that grants wishes?" Miramie exclaims. "That's…"

Baffling. She recognizes Chuubo from her dreams, knows that a shard of the glass dragon - a part of her old memories and her power - is lodged somewhere within his spirit or his body. It's not surprising that there's something strange going on there there. It'd actually be more surprising if there weren't! The dragon was her greatest - was Melanie Malakh's greatest work, hers and Hideo Hayashi's: a creature born of two worlds, the art and magic of a Hayashi imbued with the cold power and purpose of the Bleak Academy. Of course it has magic left over.

But wishes? That's about as far from the Bleak Academy's philosophy as you can get.

"... pretty amazing," she finishes weakly. "Um. It really works?"

[Sanguine]

Leonardo is visibly distraught over the topic of conversation drifting away from his genius and back to Chuubo. "The Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine Mk. I was a cardboard box that Chuubo would use as a prop when we, he, he!, would play pretend. I've heard rumors that he has created a Mk. II, but I wouldn't get your hopes up, Chuubo will always let you down."

[Terraoblivion]

Jasper let Natalia push her away like that, lowering her arms and returning to a more properly human stance on the ground. "I understand that it doesn't come quickly or easily...Just, don't give up, okay?"

[Tengu_temp]

"Don't worry. I can't afford to give up. Ever." Natalia nods slightly, looking focused and determined. A light dramatic breeze might've appeared, depending on the weather's sense of the moment. But then the atmosphere winds down when Leonardo's words grab her attention again.
"You two are childhood friends, then. Are you sure his machine doesn't work, though? This place is strange; if you can generate electricity from hope, maybe you can make a working wish engine from cardboard, too."

[Sanguine]

That was it, Leonardo could not stand it anymore, calling Chuubo and him friends! Slamming his hands into the table Leonardo yells. "I have no friends! Especially not Chuubo! He is a worm, an insect, a sheep! No! That's insulting to sheep!" After taking a deep breath to calm down Leonardo looked around the table and said sadly. "I don't even know what I'm doing here." And then he walked away.

[Tengu_temp]

Natalia watches Leonardo storm off with a first neutral, then focused expression, as if trying to comprehend his motives.
"Tsundere.", she finally says mysteriously. Again.

[Crinias]

And so Leonardo left, much to everyone’s surprise. He had, after all, little time to spare on others. It certainly wasn’t that he was in denial or anything of the sort, that much was certain. It was odd, to watch him go while at the same time feeling that there was some sort of purpose and light in the world.

All in all, it had been an interesting week, one of many meetings and beginnings.

---------
Later that day, on Horizon, a beam of light shot up into the sky from an empty house down the street where a perfectly ordinary boy lived.

End of Book 1, Chapter 1
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Book 1, Chapter 2
The second week of Spring

As the sun rose over Fortitude the next day, a creeping feeling overcame the group of friends (and Leonardo) as they walked around their usual meeting spots, as though something was subtly different. Fortitude is usually very spacious in general due to the easy-going, relaxed nature of people, but today it seemed as though a slightly larger amount of people than usual were out and about, talking to each other in small groups and generally appearing to be amused or confused at something.

There was no clear reason for this behavior that anyone could tell. So when the group passed near Sunrise Street they all came to a strange sight: The Queen’s Café coffee shop, which had before been a proud average coffee shop, seemed to have changed its exterior décor noticeably: its colors had lightened up strangely, and to the right of their sign, next to the coffee logo, there appeared to be logos of both an ice cream cone and a dish of some sort.

In front of the café, if indeed it could be called that, there was a portly, worried man in perhaps his early thirties, pacing back and forth. A notice seemed to be placed on a window, stating the need of help.
"Augh, this is terrible! Where am I going to find at least two, or possibly three, temporal replacement workers for my shop? Woe upon me!"

Spoiler: OOC

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Sanguine, your Intention regarding research of the weather succeeds effectively, although I feel I should have posted the results earlier. My sense of timing isn’t very good at times, I fear.

Anyway, Sunday is here, and with it a new chapter. All your Will refreshes, and you all recover 1 MP up to your maximum.

I’m going to assume you’re either walking together in a group or are individually heading towards a prearranged spot – although I don’t know where Leonardo may be. As usual, if you think you'd probably be elsewhere, just say so.

Spoiler: Leonardo's Investigation

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It had turned out to be a useful week for Leonardo. It had been cumbersome to go through many journals of storm records, some of which were vague at some points regarding dates (or in one case, hampered by the fact that it was also the writer’s personal journal), and then having to correlate them to historical events, but he had persisted and made some progress.

His findings led to the logical guess that many important historical events in Town were accompanied by a sudden influx unusual weather and storms (Outside or otherwise), usually before the event, but in some cases after them. According to one of Alexandrel Celdinar’s assistants and scribes, Jade Irinka’s arrival to Town at the end of its Fourth Hour was preceded by a great number of storms that were dispelled by her coming; other miscellaneous events that took place after that could be identified to have happened over one hundred and fifty-one years ago, fifty-seven years ago… it’s not a particularly long list, but it’s not very interesting, either.

The final two entries catch Leonardo’s attention: sixteen years ago and eight years ago. Eight years ago would naturally have been Jade Irinka’s death and the subsequent expansion (creation?) of the Outside. But sixteen years ago… Leonardo’s investigation and recollection of old stories lead him to believe that that date would correlate to the brief appearance of the so-called glass dragon.

Clearly it was important, and warranted further investigation. Whatever relation there was between the Outside stirring, himself, and the glass dragon, he would require more information.

[Terraoblivion]

Thankfully for the woman, a young, cheerful and quite unemployed sun goddess was passing by just as she was calling out for help. She was also still wearing her incredibly high class and just as incredibly anachronistic clothes too.

Moving over to the man, Jasper gave her a big, bright smile. "I can help out! I just need some food or some of those...what is it they're called?" She looked uncertain for a bit, before her smile brightened again. "Oh, right, cash."

[Tengu_temp]

Suddenly someone speaks up behind the desperate shop owner.
"Please calm down, everything will be okay. What exactly happened? I should find a way to help."
Natalia emerges from a narrow alley between two buildings. For once she looks like she's in her element; helping those in need is what the Prodigy does.

[Crinias]

Upon hearing Jasper’s words, the man stops pacing, and he turns towards her, his face brightening up.

"You really would help me out? I-" He then turns suddenly towards Natalia, surprised. "Oh! I’m sorry; it’s been a tense morning for me."

The man takes a moment to take a deep breath, and then begins to explain himself. He seems a bit less nervous in the presence of Jasper and Natalia, but he clearly seems concerned.

"My name is Peter Bauers, and I am the manager of this, er, café. My problem is quite simple, really. One of my employees had to suddenly leave the job to, ah, go help a family member in need, and another one spontaneously decided to pursue his dreams and become a sailor and adventurer," he says, not very convincingly. "Due to that, and a very recent change in our shop’s infrastructure, we’re understaffed. I’m… I’m the only one left." A rather odd choice of words, you think.
"I cannot run this business on my own, not in its current state, and I really can’t close the shop–"

He seems to be overcome by something for a moment, turning rigid and glassy-eyed. "I must keep selling our products."

The moment ends just as quickly as it appeared, and he returns to a normal expression. He then clasps his hands together and goes straight to the point, practically imploring: "If you or any of your friends would be willing to work part-time at my store for a few days, I would be immensely grateful – I’ll compensate you for it, of course. What do you say?"

[Tengu_temp]

"Is that everything? No other problems?" Natalia has to make sure. The manager's explanation sounds really weird and, honestly, kind of worrying. She doesn't hesitate at all with her decision, though; she might be busy with her own stuff already, but she will always find time and energy to help those in need. Worst case scenario, she will just cut some of her school time. Or sleep time.
"...I can help. I don't know what this work requires, but I'm sure I can do it."

[Terraoblivion]

That was really worrying. Perhaps it was normal for humans, but in that case humans needed support to function well. "Don't worry, you can." Jasper smiled comfortingly at him, looking over the café. It had changed, hadn't it? Perhaps that was what left him understaffed. "I'll help and Natalia will too and she's awesome at stuff, so I'm sure she can do a better job than anybody else."

[Crinias]

Peter sighs deeply in relief. He clasps his hands together in gratitude and bows his head slightly at both of the girls.

" I’m glad you accept! I was worried for moment there. I wouldn't worry about other problems. Most of the work isn't very demanding, but it requires constant minor assistance – serving customers, cleaning, preparing the food, handling accounts… Most of it involves general maintenance, but it’s not something a single person can do by themselves without working themselves to death. Oh, but I’m getting carried away. Please, come in. "

Peter takes down the notice requesting help from the window and leads Natalia and Jasper into the café.

It is the very image of the interior of an average coffee shop, they both think as they enter; they note the familiar shape of a coffee shop counter, fit with a small window for viewing pastries, and a small cash register; there’s a smaller nearby counter for adding sugars and creams to the offered drink, as well. Everything appears to be in order until they notice that there is, inexplicably, an ice cream parlor not too far from the coffee counter. Next to the parlor is a smaller counter, with a menu of different types of teriyaki hanging nearby.

Jasper is pretty certain that these last two structures weren't there last week, but well, there’s probably a human explanation behind that. Probably.

Peter goes behind the counter and starts putting things in place, cleaning things and doing some general maintenance, his back turned to the girls, perhaps oblivious at the state of his shop. Muttering a brief apology for the delay, he then goes into a room in the back briefly and returns with a pair of black shirts and green aprons.
"We can re-open the shop in a few hours, if you don’t object. It shouldn't take long to show you the basics of this place. "

[Sanguine]

Meanwhile in Horizon a troubled young man stood outside the home of a completely ordinary young boy, paralyzed by indecision.

Why am I even here? I can't stand Chuubo, he's plain, boring, ordinary. We couldn't be more different. We aren't friends, not anymore. I don't have any friends. Not since Chuubo.

"This is a waste of time," Leonardo sighed. Turning around to go home Leonardo found himself face to face with a perfectly ordinary boy. "Of course," Leonardo sighed, "hi Chuubo."

[Crinias]

Standing just a few feet away from Leonardo, wearing School’s uniform (complete with the tie, even though it’s a Sunday) with a great smile upon his face, is Chuubo.

"Leonardo! Hey, it’s been ages since I last saw you!" Chuubo’s excitement is truly wondrous. Leonardo can tell immediately that he hasn’t changed a bit, not in any important sense, anyway. His goofy sense of what to wear on any occasion, his simple nature… his sheer honesty in speaking aloud his mind, it’s all there, unchanged. It's as grating as it is refreshing.

"Whatever happened to you? Oh," he says, his face lighting up with realization, "You've gotten taller!"
It's true, Leonardo realizes. Chuubo seems smaller, and it's probably not just because Leonardo is superior to him (although that probably contributes to his perspective). No, it's easy to tell just by looking at Chuubo, that Leonardo is the one that has changed.

And he has, hasn't he?

Just by looking between him and Chuubo, who is just standing there, right next to that red-haired freckled boy, it's easy to see their inherent differences, making one wonder how they could ever be fri-

It is then that Leonardo notices Seizhi. He can't help but stare a bit. Seizhi stares back, looking slightly worried.

Chuubo seems to be struck with even more realization. "Oh, right! Leonardo, meet Seizhi. Seizhi, Leonardo."
"Hi," says Seizhi shyly.

[Terraoblivion]

Humans sure worked fast, adding two entirely new segments to the café just like that. She did question the wisdom of doing so if you were all alone without spirits or other people to help you, though. It seemed like a lot of work to run between the three of them to take the orders for different customers. Except if he could also make extra arms somehow.

"I can start immediately. Just tell me what to do and where to go to do it!" Peter's concerns about whether she could start quickly enough was brushed aside by an excessively cheery smile.

[Tengu_temp]

"No objections. I have a lot of experience with ice cream." Natalia nods sharply and lifts a clenched fist with a serious expression, as if this was a matter of life and death. But she really is determined to help, and also find out just what exactly happened in this place. There's something the owner is not telling them.
"Or ice, at least. Cream, less so."

[Crinias]

Music

Peter smiles at the girls’ energy, though a bit confused at Natalia’s words.

He starts off by explaining the general locations of everything in the shop: where supplies for what goods can be found in what shelves, the kitchen area and appropriate utensils, cleaning supplies and the like. Both the girls note that there appear to be some stairs heading towards a basement near the back of the shop, and a ladder that goes up to the roof.

The actual instructions on how to run the shop are brief and to the point; though they lack finesse, Peter clearly conveys how to adequately manage the equipment, including the cash register and the espresso machine. He notes that most of the products don’t require much preparation in their making, and that if anything terribly complicated comes up, he’ll take over without much fuss.

Every now and then he stops and emphasizes the need for efficiency and serving the customer’s every need. Beyond technical skills, Peter says, it is more important to satisfy the customer.

Why, the other week a rather rude customer came by and caused a minor stir; that sort of event is most undesirable, because it could easily turn away potentially regular customers. If a properly comfortable environment cannot be maintained, practically all of the appeal of eating at a coffee shop is lost.

"So remember to greet the customers as warmly and friendly as possible," says Peter, "for it may well decide the future of this establishment." For a moment he looks uncomfortable and looks away. "Particularly considering our new stock of supplies…"
_________
With little fanfare a few hours pass by, and the café is open to the public.

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Pardon the delay, the past two days have been hectic.

The music, mostly there to set the mood, is from perhaps the most Pastoral series I've been graced to ever see: A Yokohama Shopping Trip.

I'm also late on this, but Tengu, the, uh, implications of the last line of your post are heavy enough that I'm currently wincing. This is unacceptable, so please take this XP to comfort Natalia a bit.

[Tengu_temp]

Natalia soaks in all the info necessary to do the job pretty much instantly. For the Prodigy, such things are trivial! But something else might turn out to be more difficult...
"Warmly and friendly... I will try." She's not good at being warm and friendly. Cool and distant, or brooding and suffering, or awkward and quiet are completely different matters, and it seems Natalia is the last of those right now.
I can punch bears into submission, I can solve integrals in my head. I can do this, this is nothing in comparison...! It's just a pleasant time-waster on the side... No. It's not a waste of time. If it was, I wouldn't be doing this. Peter really needs the help...
She tries to give herself motivation inside her help, but it's not going very well and just makes her look like something is bothering her. So she tries to change the topic.
"What is the new stock?"

[Terraoblivion]

Oh, god, human food was so complicated to make. She'd always kinda thought that other than fried stuff, you just kinda took the ingredients away and they became food somehow. Initially she'd thought it was spirits, but then she'd learned that the lower world was very deficient in spirits and the ones that were there weren't very helpful and after that she hadn't really thought much about the matter.

As Natalia was looking all awkward, she found Jasper standing next to her with a small supportive smile. "I'm here to help you, okay? Just leave the more difficult customers to me if you're not sure what to do. And, uh, I'm not sure how all the machines work, so perhaps I can deal with the customers while you handle the food."

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Taking an XP for the retroactive speculation/learning about human food production works.

[Crinias]

Peter is a bit startled at Natalia’s question. "Oh, right, our new stock of products! Give me a moment."

Peter goes to the back of the shop and pulls out from a corner filled with recyclable trash what appears to be a big and empty white cardboard box. Both the girls can see with ease that nearby there are a large amount of similar boxes. Upon the box’s side is an illustration of an animesque, silly-looking coiled snake, holding an ice cream cone with its tail. It is evidently a supply box for materials to make ice cream.

It all makes perfect sense now, you think. It continues to make sense when Peter takes out a similar box that was clearly used to store chickens, judging by the illustration of the same snake chasing chickens with a napkin around its neck. As Peter pulls out yet another box (this time depicting the snake somehow holding a fishing rod while sitting in a harbor) he explains, somewhat reluctantly, that all these products have only recently been introduced to the shop.

The new stock is… ice cream and teriyaki. Not a new brand of them or something, but the actual existence of ice cream and teriyaki as products sold in this café is new. It makes sense.


...No wait a minute it doesn't.


Part of Natalia wants to instinctively refuse this. She wants to truly, desperately, say that there can’t be such a sudden change in trends in the coffee-shop marketplace, or perhaps make a graph indicating how the economy of Fortitude wouldn't allow that, or ask where even would the products come from, or a thousand other things (Like, how could a snake wear a napkin without it sliding off? Weird!), but another part of her feels oddly calm. It feels natural that a coffee shop in Fortitude would sell ice cream and teriyaki. This contradiction feels deeply suspicious.

Something is wrong with the world, and somewhere out there, someone knows what caused this.

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Hmm, with Halloween and all I guess it’s been a slow week. I think we should wrap up this scene shortly if no one else is going to join in. Truthfully, I think I may have shot myself in the foot by not making Chuubo wish for something more exciting. Thoughts?

[Tengu_temp]

"That should be efficient. At least as long as there are not enough customers that we both have to..." Natalia's answer to Jasper floats away, as she's distracted by something that she completely didn't expect. Natalia stares at the boxes of merchandise with a shocked expression.
This cannot be... Is that logo just a coincidence? It has to be, right? But it would all make sense... This could be why they manage to get those goods similarily out of thin air. Could the one who supplies them be...
She crosses her arms, regaining her cool again. She looks determined as she says quietly, to herself:
"I will have to investigate this."

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Claiming 1 XP for Snake on the Rooftops for trying to fid a possible connection to the snake. Also, I'll make this scene a Shared Action with Jasper.

Natalia will do some investigating over the next few days. I'll spend 4 Will to help with that.

[Sanguine]

Leonardo studied Seizhi intently as Chuubo introduced him. There was something about him that seemed off. He just seemed to fit with Chuubo in some inexplicable way. Like he was made to be Chuubo's best friend, not at all like Leonardo. Not that he was jealous of course, that would be utterly preposterous.

Still scrutinizing the poor young man Leonardo says. "Hello, Seizhi was it? I suppose I'm supposed to say nice to meet you, or something to that effect anyway."

[Crinias]

Seizhi looks appropriately nervous under Leonardo's scrutiny. "Ah! Yes!" he says in surprise to his question, before catching himself. He then continues, a bit sheepishly. "I mean... if that's alright with you."

Chuubo places his hand on Seizhi's shoulder. "Don't worry. Leo's a really nice guy, he just doesn't look it. But Leo," he says, turning to Leonardo, somewhat curiously, "What are you doing around here anyway? I didn't think you lived in Horizon."

[Sanguine]

"Uhm, well, yes, that..." Leonardo turns a bright shade of crimson as he stammers on, Seizhi completely forgotten in his embarrassment. "I came to see you. Kind of. You know, I'm not really sure what I am doing here."

[Crinias]

Chuubo looks only a bit confused, an idle finger scratching his cheek.

"Oh. Well... in that case, would you like to, uh, hang out a while?"

[Sanguine]

That was the million dollar question. Did he want to hang out with Chuubo? Chuubo was dull, and unspeakably plain. But Leonardo had come here for a reason, even if he wasn't entirely sure what it was. Maybe, just maybe spending time with Chuubo would somehow help him sort through his own inner turmoil. Or it could bore him to death. With a shrug Leonardo sighs. "Well, I suppose I don't have anything better to do."

Spoiler: OOC

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I'm going to declare a Shared Action for Hanging out with Chuubo. I also think we can end this scene now. A montage post of Leo, Seizhi, and Chuubo hanging out might be good, but I'll leave that up to the HG.

[Crinias]

Horizon
Upon Leonardo’s answer Chuubo grins widely in delight.

The day passes slowly. Chuubo manages to rope him into accompanying them to Fortitude for the next few days, briefly stating some business regarding having to learn the ways of Fortitude. Discussions are had, reluctant agreements made.

They walk through Fortitude together, talking about simplicities, eating in food stands wherever they can. It seems kind of odd to Leonardo that there are some shops around selling ice cream and teriyaki, like he can’t quite put his finger on it. Perhaps he had other things in his mind, and that’s why he didn’t make the obvious connection.

Overall it’s a bit of a bizarre sight, seeing an ordinary kid and his worried-looking friend hanging out with a mad scientist. It’s not too bad, though perhaps a bit dull. No machines of any sort breach their conversations, and no comparisons of any sort are made.

Things go slightly different the next day, and the latter half of the day is spent in Chuubo’s house. Video games are played and comic books discussed. Upon the latter subject Leonardo’s pocket swears softly. The subsequent explanation for it raises some questions.

Perhaps it was a coincidence that Chuubo of all people would be suffering from such a strange phenomenon as Outside dust seeping into his room, despite living in Horizon. Or maybe it was the perfect opportunity to stalk him be with him see if there was any relation between him and the Outside stirring.

Fortitude
The day passes slowly in the coffee shop. Between great cooking and serving of food, the café does pretty well. Most infuriatingly, no-one seemed to find the new selection of goods particularly strange, and nearly all who came in had one of the two.

For the Child of the Sun, it’s a great opportunity to learn more about the lower world, and the nebulous entity called economy. For the Prodigy, it’s a mix of creating food and not showing suspicion upon her face. Peter pays them as well as full time employees, and assures them that he’ll obtain some regular staff by Wednesday.

By night Natalia begins to investigate the shop’s resources discreetly and with great energy. Examining the boxes yields some results. She realizes that there is no company’s name upon the boxes, so it’s virtually impossible to trace via their producers, if any. The illustrated snake on the boxes draws her attention though, and she realizes with some surprise that it’s not a python like Typhon supposedly is – it’s a different type of snake. More mysteries, she thinks. Still, this snake could have connections to hers.

Later, Natalia finds out that it’s not just Peter’s shop which has undergone a change; practically all coffee shops in Fortitude that she can find are suddenly selling ice cream and teriyaki, offering it with kind smiles and few staff members. It’s… disturbing. Upon being questioned, all members in charge of their respective shops state that they recall obtaining it from a recent shipment, but seem confused if pressed further.

Judging by how the boxes seemed to be handled this story seems to make some sense; they were carried around from somewhere. However, upon investigating the docks the next day (both before School and after work), she finds that there are no traces of any unusual transactions involving the new goods to be found. A dead-end.


On Tuesday, an ordinary boy, his best friend and a mad scientist entered the Queen’s Café.

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And the scenes end. I think I went a bit too heavy on the description and info-dumping here, but oh well. I'm skipping to Tuesday, if no-one minds. Gotta space out the scenes in the week.

For Leonardo, that was pretty laid-back, so pick up a point of Something to Deal With.
For Natalia, it's just a reassurance that Town won't stop being irrational, so she gets a point of It Never Stops! (I already said it in the OOC thread but I think it's better to re-empathize it here)

Don't forget to write it down on your sheets and take +1 MP.

[Terraoblivion]

The day held a record number of examples of wrong change, no change and employees staring blankly at the money before remembering about what they were and why they got them, all courtesy of Jasper. Nothing critical happened, of course, Fortitude people were quick to point out problems and help sorting things out, but it was ultimately embarrassing and very weird. And while she did learn about how the whole thing worked in practice, the point of the exercise still eluded her. Why didn't people just give others what they needed, instead of mucking around with bits of metal in the process? It just seemed so inefficient.

She didn't miss that Natalia was up to something, but the Russian seemed busy and not terribly inclined to explain what was up with the logos. Probably some mysterious lower world or outside world thing anyway. There was plenty of work to focus on anyway.

And so it was that the Child of the Sun saw the mad scientist enter the store together with some other kids that she didn't quite recognize. Breaking into a beaming smile, she waved to him from behind the counter.