Allyssa was literally counting down the minutes until she was finished work. Twenty-two more to go. It had been a long stressful week, and she was ready for it to be over. Sure, coffee was important, and for Ruger convenience of being able to buy coffee while out, Allyssa one that meant people had to actually work at the various coffee shops in the city. But that didn't mean she wanted to be behind the counter in this particular shop any longer.

Twenty more minutes. A caramel latte, a coffee, cafe mocha...The drinks she was making never seeming to end. The line of people never seeming to end, more people entering, having become a blur of faces hours ago.

Fifteen minutes...

One of the important things for people with physical mutations that are, uh, pronounced, is to get checked on food. For Luke this was an early and important step in acclimating to the whole 'mutant gene' thing. Everyone knows dogs can't eat chocolate or grapes or whatever, and it didn't take a geneticist to see the connection for Luke. He'd spent a couple days on nothing but water anxiously awaiting test results when he first arrived at the school. That had not helped his mood at the time, let's just say, but luckily the news was mostly good.

As far as spontaneous poisoning risk, Luke was pretty much fine. He'd still needed to make some diet changes; junk food was now a very selective luxury, and anything with tons of salt and/or sugar had a good chance of making him sick in many fun ways he'd rather not dwell on. He needed like, 3000 or more calories daily, too, so he ate a lot throughout the day to keep going. Hence, he tried to carry a 'snack fund' when he went out, especially for running.

Which was why he was glad to notice the cafe/coffee shop along today's route. Since he got bored going the same way every time, he found new layouts for his outings every so often, but sometimes that meant going somewhere less accommodating to him. The dirty looks were one thing, sure, but he did like having pit stops.

Stopping in front of the store, Luke did a quick stretch and yawned before walking in. He'd probably head back soon, it'd been a while and he was pretty sure he had a couple of school assignments left for the week.

The place was surprisingly crowded, which was kind of weird. Was it lunch hour or something? It smelled really good, at least; coffee was fine for him if it was black, but he liked it that way anyway. Aroma or whatever. He stepped a little forward. He kind of wanted a pastry, but like a plain something. Ah, whatever, he could just-

...Woah.

Luke's vision dimmed as a sudden rush of fatigue hit him and he almost fell over on the spot. Doubled over, hands on his knees, he took a few deep breaths and stood back up. His head was foggy, and he felt like his face was full of cotton. What was happening?

...People were staring. He gave a weak, sheepish grin and mumbled an apology-like phrase. He leaned semi-casually against a nearby table and tried to focus. It didn't look like someone was doing anything to him, but that wasn't a great indicator.

Maaan, this was the exact opposite effect he wanted from a coffee shop.

Allyssa had 10 minutes to go when she noticed that the background noise in the shop, the tone that was being used by the customers had changed. Actually looking past the edge of the counter, properly at the customers for the first time in hours, Allyssa caught sight of a surprising person standing hunched over near the counter she was working behind.

No, not just a person, but a mutant that looked like a real live werewolf. A werewolf who was definitely within the 8 feet that she seemed to affect mutants powers. Allyssa frowned as she looked across the counter for another moment before turning back to the cappuccino she was in the middle of making.

As she set the take out cup on the counter for a ‘Michelle’, Allyssa took another glance over at the mutant who had wandered close to her. Though he seemed to be standing up straight once more, he did not appear to be in much better shape than he had previously. ”You’re probably going to want to back up a bit,” Allyssa called over. She didn’t know why, but she seemed to affect mutants, and it didn’t look like this guy was in too good of shape being this close to her.

Oh, the girl at the counter said something. It sounded weirdly quiet, but Luke was pretty sure she was saying to move back? Worth a shot. Ugh...

Woah. Luke felt the sudden resurgence of his normal bodily state like being electrocuted. He actually winced at the sensation, though it was more unexpected than really unpleasant. And the sound and smells coming back were like walking out of a tunnel, geez. He grimaced.

Tentatively rotating his neck and shoulders (seemed okay) Luke took a look back into the shop, remaining outside the door. Definitely fine now, but what the heck started that...thing? The girl at the register, looked only a little older than him, didn't exactly look like she was about to attack, but it definitely stood to reason that she knew what was going on there.

Maybe she had a life-draining mutation? Maybe, yeah, could be an involuntary radius or something. But wait, why only him when there were tons of people in here and closer than he'd been? Maybe it affected mutants differently, or stronger or something. Whatever. Luke's ear flicked, an unconscious tic that came up when he relaxed sometimes and annoyed the crap outta him. He wasn't about to start prying into her life or anything. Whatever happened didn't mess anything up in the long run, so he could just move on now.

...Wait, how would he order anything if he couldn't get up to the register? That was a problem. He could always go somewhere else, but now that he was here, it'd be a pain to wander off, especially since he might not find another shop on the way.

"Uh, sorry, I'm fine now but..." Luke raised his head to try and see the register from the outside. "Can I...order from over here or...something?"

Allyssa saw the guy back up after she suggested it, and he looked like he was doing better almost immediately. What had she done to him that had caused such a reaction? At least it didn't seem to have any lasting effects.

But Allyssa still had drinks to make and… Wait, she had lost count of how many minutes she had left in her shift. A quick glance up at the clock as she waited for some milk to stream told her that she was down to 5 minutes. Finally. Though those last 5 minutes always felt so much longer.

Handing over the stink that she had just finished making, Allyssa saw that the mutant was still standing outside, both out of the shop and her field.

Then Allyssa heard the man speak again, and she just looked out at him for moment. ”Oh, um, I'm done in,” Allyssa paused to look at the clock again. ”Three minutes, if you wanted to wait…”

"Okay, I can do that!"

That was kind of lame. It wasn't a big deal or anything, really, not like Luke needed coffee, right here, right now. His life wasn't being endangered by this (probably). But the principle of the matter annoyed him. Whatever her effect on him was, it was inconvenient.

Luke folded his arms and leaned his back against the side of the building between the window and the door. He was used to it, really. Having a really out-there mutation meant he had a lot of stuff to deal with that even the others didn't. He tried to take it in stride; by this point, Luke pretty much knew that letting it bother him accomplished exactly nothing. If this was just how God wanted his life to be, he could manage fine.

Didn't mean it didn't bother him at all, though. Antsy movement made him bounce on his the heels of his feet, and he found his eyes restlessly scanning the street. Luke wasn't so good at not moving for a while, and when he got hungry it got worse.

He didn't have a phone on him--his running outfit had limited pocket room that was usually limited to his home keys and a little cash--so while he couldn't possibly be waiting for long, he didn't have much to distract himself.

The barista was probably watching the clock too. Did her power inconvenience her? Without knowing what exactly she did, hard to say. He kind of wanted to talk to her, just say hi maybe. From a distance, though. Kind of awkward.

Another look toward the door a minute later, Allyssa saw that the mutant was standing outside the shop, leaning against the wall. So he was listening to her suggestion, waiting until she finished her shift in two minutes.

Two minutes that seemed to take forever. Literally. But finally someone came to take over her spot, and Allyssa made her escape into the back of the shop. She knew that it wouldn’t take long for her to move far enough that the mutant could come in and get his coffee.

Still, even though Allyssa knew that she was far enough away that the mutant could comfortably enter the shop the moment she stepped into the back, she still took her time getting her things ready to leave. She hadn’t exactly been paying attention to how long it was taking to get through the line, so she wanted to make sure she wasn’t walking back out front while he was waiting for his drink.

Ten minutes later, coat on and bag over her shoulder, Allyssa stepped back out front, ready to head home.

After however long a time went by the barista left into a back room, so Luke felt good enough about actually making his order now.

Five minutes later, Luke gave a friendly nod to the replacement, who for her part seemed unruffled by his presence. At the very least, he had plenty of time to check what they had here, so he was quick to make his order, medium hot coffee (black), two plain krullers and a glazed doughnut, just for a treat.

Two minutes later, he walked back out, took a careful sip of the coffee (not too hot, though maybe he'd wait a moment) and stepped out the door. Just as he did, though, Luke glanced back and noticed the girl had exited the backroom.

He paused, and started back the way he came from, slowly making his way back home.

Allyssa had thought that ten minutes would have been enough time for the mutant to have ordered and left, yet as she made her way back out to the front of the store, she saw that he was just leaving. Surely her replacement wasn’t that slow making drinks, was she?

Or maybe he was wondering what it was she had done to him, Allyssa thought as she saw him pause just outside the door. That was possible, she had had a number of mutants ask her that in the past, some not nearly as nicely as others. So out the door she went, turning in the direction that the werewolf had gone, though making sure not to get too close. ”I am sorry about that!” Allyssa called the ten or twelve feet down the sidewalk that separated them at that point.

Hmm? Oh, there she was.

Luke turned around took another swig of coffee, slightly better this time, maybe another couple minutes. He nodded to her and gave a friendly smile. Well, what passed for one for him, but he'd found people were pretty good at learning to read his expressions quickly which was pretty reassuring!

"It's fine, it happens." He paused. "Well, not usually but you know what I mean, right?" Luke had to squint into the sun a little from where he was standing, but he didn't know how close was too close, and walking away would be kind of rude.

"I take it you can't turn it off? Like, what it is that you do." Luke rubbed the knuckle of his doughnut-bag-clutching-hand in his eye, blinking a little. "That must be hard. Well, I guess I can say it is hard, since, same boat, kinda."

Hmm, maybe not too far there, buddy. "I dunno, we all have stuff to deal with, right?" He shrugged. "But yeah, I'm alright, no harm no foul."

"I'm Luke, by the way. Nice to meet you." He almost instinctively stepped forward, but stopped before he moved. He smiled sheepishly, internally cursing himself. That was not the most respectful action given she was trying to apologize for the situation that had arisen the last time he took that particular action.

Smooth.

When the mutant turned and spoke, Allyssa laughed. ”I know what you mean,” Allyssa replied, taking a step closer, but not getting close enough to him that he would have his mutation turned off on him again.

Then he continued speaking, and Allyssa shook her head. ”No, I can’t. Can’t even tell that I’m doing anything until something happens like with you. It doesn’t feel like I’m doing anything at all.”

Allyssa shrugged. It really didn’t feel like she was doing anything. She hadn’t even known she did anything to mutants until two years earlier on campus when a mutant started yelling at her. But she smiled when the mutant introduced himself. ”I’m Allyssa,” she replied, though there was still what would normally be an awkward amount of space between them. ”It’s nice to meet you. I hope it didn’t hurt or anything. You know, when you were closer.

"That kinda sucks."

It might have seemed weird that Luke was so sympathetic to her. The whole her-life-sapping-him aside, you might think that Luke has it worse, since his circumstances affect his everyday. But like, at least he had pretty well-defined limits and effects on his daily life? Luke was used it it, kinda. But not knowing what was going to happen around you seemed pretty stressful.

Luke scratched the back of his head, gently oscillating his claws through his back-of-head fur. He was getting a little restless now; long pauses during his run always made him antsy. "Nah, I'm alright. All aces now." He gave a goofy grin.

Luke was quiet for a moment, shifting in place a little. "It's fine, though, I'll just need to watch my step now." He chuckled, not wanting to seem serious. "It was nice talking, Allyssa. I might be by here again, I'll say hi if you're here!"

Rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck, Luke took a long drink of his now-palatable coffee and started up his jog again, pausing to give one last wave towards Allyssa as he left.

Allyssa nodded, a bit relieved, that it hadn’t hurt when she had stopped his mutation from working. Because even though she couldn’t control it, couldn’t even feel it, Allyssa didn’t want something she did to hurt people. ”Well, I’m glad you’re alright,” Allyssa said. And she was.

Then he said that he’d say hi if he saw her next time he was here. Allyssa was a little surprised by that, but she smiled over at him anyway. ”At least it won’t be a complete surprise next time you're here,” she said. At the very least, he’ll have an idea of what to expect the next time he stopped by. ”But yeah, I’ll make sure to say hi next time you stop by. And I’ll head in the back if it’s too much next time.”

But then he was giving her a wave, so Allyssa returned the wave, and as the man started jogging away, Allyssa turned in the other direction to head home.