free wifi - dinah

[GERARD MISHA MERRITT]

It was lunch, finally, and Misha wasn't swamped with orders. That was a little bit weird, considering that a lot of people found that pizza was good to buy for their meals about this time, when the night craze for pizza wasn't occurring, and when they had enough time to stop by and order something. He checked his watch again, frowning a bit- indeed, it was five minutes past noon. His watch wasn't off, he had just gotten it fixed the other day. Misha trusted his watchmaker, he was the one who created the faces of the crew of the Enterprise from the Next Generation (original over new, but Picard over Kirk, that was Misha's golden rule for Star Trek) as the numbers. Technically, it was Data past Jean-Luc, but when he had tried to make his employees use the characters of the show as time, they had politely declined the offer. Their loss.

Misha looked at the door with a sigh. His employees were busy in the kitchen, cleaning and finishing the last few orders. A lot of them were off today, and a sudden rush of gratitude rushed through him at that. Less people clogging up his shop, which meant that they could be a little bit more efficient. They didn't necessarily need efficiency when business was low, but it was still nice to be able to move through the pizzeria without bumping over ten people and tripping over his cat.

Speaking of which, where was Domino? Usually the orange creature was sprawled on his side on the cash register, purring loudly as his tail knocked over an action figure or the business cards present. Misha resisted an affectionate eye-roll as there was a loud thud and Domino was suddenly rubbing against his legs fondly. He'd have to vacuum later, to his disgust, judging from the way the cat was shedding.

He moved to the table, where a laptop lay, all of the wires on the sides connected to other devices. Misha winced a little at the messy sight, prodding one of the blinking ones. The screen suddenly brightened and let out a loud beep, and he retracted his hand. Misha leaned in and typed in a tentative command, fingers poking at the keys gingerly (it had sparked up on his hands the last time he had tried typing). Domino jumped up onto the table, and the man reluctantly shoved him back down. He didn't need a cat messing with his electronics right now. The computer let out a soft beep as a "Continue" button appeared.

Misha wracked his mind for whatever he had been trying to do before remembering; some college kid had wanted him to trace the IP address of a player on some game who had "wronged him", and mess around with his account a little. Misha wasn't going to ask any questions, really, it was harmless enough, and a little extra cash to pay rent didn't do anything terrible. The other devices attached were just charging from the computer, they were strictly unnecessary. Misha just thought they looked cool.

He hit the "continue" button just as the bell at the front of the store rung. Domino jumped back on the table as Misha was distracted, leaning around his computer to look at the customer. "Welcome?" he called out, hoping it was actually a customer.

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words; 566
muse; Star Trek is on the mind.
outfit; black t-shirt, shorts.
credits; zie @ CAUTION!
lyrics by fun.!

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[DINAH EVELYN DONALD]

WHEN YOU'RE AT THE END OF THE ROAD
AND YOU LOST ALL SENSE OF CONTROL

AND YOUR THOUGHTS HAVE TAKEN THEIR TOLL
WHEN YOUR MIND BREAKS THE SPIRIT OF YOUR SOUL

Life was always a trade off for Dinah. Take food, for instance. Eating alone at home ensured that she was both at home and alone, but then she had to cook for herself, and that always met with mixed success. Often, she'd get so caught up in some project or another that she'd forget about the meal entirely, or the other times, she'd live on TV dinners and mac and cheese from the box. But those sorts of things only got her too far. On the other hand, there were restaurants, which came with a certain forced social aspect that always made her feel slightly nervous. It wasn't that she minded eating alone, even dining out, but if the place was too crowded, it made her anxious and that made it almost impossible to eat. But sometimes a change was nice, and in lieu of actually learning how to cook, dining out seemed the only option.

Which is why Dinah particularly liked places with a take out option. If the place was too crowded, she could get her food to go, and escape with it back to the safety of her home or office. If, on the other hand, the place was nearly empty -- as the pizzeria was as she walked inside -- she could perhaps linger a bit, or at least not feel the need to run off quite so quickly.

There was still a certain level of anxiety that came with any required social interaction, but this seemed manageable, so after lingering a brief moment in the doorway, wavering in her resolve to stay or go, she plunged in, stepping fully inside and letting the door swing shut behind her. She gave a nervous laugh to herself and then cut it abruptly short as a man called out in welcome. "I, uh, yeah. I mean, thank you," she replied quickly, her words falling over one another.

She twisted on her heel like she was half prepared to head right back out the door, but then promptly untwisted herself and took a few more steps inside. Taking in her surroundings, she found herself slightly confused. "Do you work here, or, um... or are you a friendly customer?" she wondered, since the man was at a table but had been so quick to call out in greeting. "Because I tried to order from a customer before and it did not go well..."

She trailed off, her story no doubt having more to it, but she'd become distracted by the sight of his set up. "If you are a customer, you came well prepared. Oh God, I should have done that," she realized. Dinner alone would be much more tolerable if she'd thought to bring along all of her various toys and gizmos. But then, part of the reason of getting out in the first place had been to get away from all that. Now Dinah was kind of regretting that decision.

[GERARD MISHA MERRITT]

Misha let out a laugh at the confused and mildly uncomfortable tone in the woman's voice. That was the tone that most people tended to use with him, whether they were socially awkward or popular or whatever, the voice of someone who wasn't quite sure if he was a lunatic or just plain weird. As far as Misha knew, he was just plain weird to the "normal" populace. He wasn't legitimately crazy, he had gone through testing for that when he was nine. He chalked it up to that the school wanted to know why he talked about the "joys of Mother Nature" and went on a spiel about smoking. Yeah. They didn't like it when I talked...

"You're welcome for greeting you!" he said cheerfully, leaning around the computer again to take in the woman curiously. She didn't seem too old, maybe about college age, with dark hair and brown eyes. Misha slid his chair back, careful to not disconnect any of the wires in his computer. The program was still running, and he wasn't too worried about it failing. The WiFi was pretty good where he was, and the coding was good for it, as well.

Domino took his chance to swat at some of the gizmos on the table, but Misha didn't notice. "Nah, I get it! Customers sometimes have cool stuff, though. I bought..." he rushed over to the register and picked up a Doctor Who action figure of a Dalek and displayed it. "This, and a bunch of the posters. Customers don't generally have pizza on them, though- Oh, that's what you asked!" Misha gave her an apologetic look. "I'm Misha, the owner."

He tilted his head a little. The woman seemed a little bit distressed that she didn't have anything. He could empathize with that; Misha always had one or two pet projects running even in the middle of the day when he was frantically running back and forth in the kitchens. College had been an entire series of coding jobs, one after another, and he had gotten some pretty cool stuff out of it. "If you need to borrow something, I probably have eight of it. Not to brag, or something," he was quick to add, shrugging a bit and gesturing at the mess of electronics on the table. Domino was still playing with what appeared to be something powering one of the fans in the room.

"But you were here to get food!" Misha suddenly remembered, smacking himself in the forehead before moving behind the register. "Haven't seen you around here, before. Our specials are currently calzones, and I have cheese and veggie pizza around here that's easy to get to, if you need something fast."

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words; 470
muse; forcing it a bit
outfit; black t-shirt, shorts
credits; zie @ CAUTION!
lyrics by fun.!

[/center]

[DINAH EVELYN DONALD]

WHEN YOU'RE AT THE END OF THE ROAD
AND YOU LOST ALL SENSE OF CONTROL

AND YOUR THOUGHTS HAVE TAKEN THEIR TOLL
WHEN YOUR MIND BREAKS THE SPIRIT OF YOUR SOUL

Dinah stared at the man for a long moment, and then, rather abruptly, broke into a smile, pleased that he seemed both friendly and approachable and not the least bit bothered by her own awkwardness. It gave her enough confidence to step further into the shop, now bringing her fully inside and not lingering near the door like she might at any moment take flight at any loud noise or unexpected event.

Her awkwardness and discomfort were still there beneath the surface, but really had nothing to do with him and everything to do with being in an unfamiliar social situation. This was why she usually preferred to stick to places she knew, where she had her order memorized and was familiar with busy times and lulls and any tricky questions they might ask -- like what sort of dipping sauce or if she wanted cheese on it -- so that she could plan her answers ahead of time. But so far she was glad she'd taken the chance on wandering into an unknown environment.

She gave a little laugh as he replied to her thanks, a short, staccato chuckle, but genuine enough. She still wasn't entirely sure whether or not he worked here, but as he got up and headed to the counter, she drifted in that direction as well, stopping somewhat abruptly when he picked up an action figure. She blinked and then canted her head to one side before smiling again. "It's nice," she replied. "Very... Dalek-y. Do customers usually bring things like that?" she couldn't help but wonder.

At least now that she knew for sure that he worked here, she could relax a little and not worry about the uncertainty in that regard. "It's, uh, it's nice to meet you, Mischa the owner. I'm Dinah, the, um, the customer," she replied. Anyone else would have meant that as a joke, but she just sort of went with it with a straight-face. "Or I guess I will be a customer, since I'm not sure if I count as one yet, not having bought anything..." That would soon be rectified though, so she figured it was still close enough to count.

Her mind went back to trying to decide what to order so that she didn't completely embarrass herself when the time came, but then Mischa brought up his electronics again and her line of thought was promptly derailed. She looked over at his set up and noticed the cat for the first time. "Oh, is that- Are they... cat-friendly?" she wondered, hoping the feline couldn't damage the devices. "Oh, and I don't think you're bragging," she assured Mischa, turning back to him. "I've got lots at- at home too, but I didn't bring... I have my phone and a few small... But nothing I'm actually working on right now, so it would be more about, uh, finding something to do with what I have to pass the time than being productive, you know?" She could always play around on her phone or tinker with one of the other small devices she had on her, but that wasn't really the same as bringing a laptop along.

"Oh right. Um. My order," she replied as the proprietor headed behind the register and she drifted up to the counter. "I don't know. I've never ordered here before. Obviously, since I've never been here before. Not that you necessarily keep track of everyone who comes and goes, but... Um." She cut herself off and tried to get her thoughts focussed on figuring out what to order. "I guess what you said. The, uh, the calzone. With, uh... Well, what do you recommend?" Sometimes that trick worked when she got completely stuck on what to ask for. Let someone else make a suggestion and then seize upon it so long as it didn't sound completely inedible.

[GERARD MISHA MERRITT]

The woman seemed fairly timid to him. Well, not necessarily timid, but not particularly enjoying of situations involving people, and a bit wary of them. Misha gave her a big smile in response to her own smile, and was happy to see that she had moved away from the door. He wanted to make sure that she knew that he wasn't an unfriendly person- anything but. His skills with people were legendary, he was sure of it, even if some people just gave him glazed smiles and nodded when he tried to strike up conversation with them, and someone had told him that they could see fear in one man's face.

Misha was confused by that; he wasn't that terrifying. He had almost perfected an evil laugh (years of video games and Youtube tutorials had ensured that) and he supposed that an obsession with BBC shows would do something to you, but he didn't think that just talking to people would scare them off.

Maybe it was because I brought up the possibility of a zombie apocalypse, he thought, sighing a little. People do hate the idea of the undead rising. The pizza-man promised himself that he wouldn't bring up zombies to this young woman. He didn't want to make her nervous or jealous of his zombie plan (because, let's be honest, Misha's zombie plan was the best zombie plan).

He put down the Dalek, but said "Exterminate" very softly under his breath. It had become a bit of a habit with him. At least he hadn't run over to the fan to get a legitimate sounding Dalek voice, he thought optimistically. That had definitely scared a few people off, and he could understand that. Daleks could be pretty scary. "Unfortunately, no. I'd love it if I could have a mini army of Daleks on the register, though. It would be awesome," Misha said excitedly, rubbing his hands together.

Dinah introduced herself, and Misha nodded, smiling. "I'd hoped that you were a customer, that's why a lot of people are here!" he paused, then, a sudden thought passing through his head. "Well, some people admire my Dalek. I had this lady run into the store once because she saw it. Domino flipped out," he confided, eyes wide. That had been a somewhat traumatizing experience for all parties involved. He'd had to pry the figurine out of the woman's hand, and he had to gently coax Domino out from under the cash register with some bacon. That was not a good day.

Misha took the time to glance over at his heap of beeping metal because Dinah mentioned if it was cat-friendly. Domino already had his paw wrapped around in wires, and was sniffing at them as if he wanted to eat them. Misha took off, arms flapping a bit as he tried to extricate the cat without unplugging anything. Of course, as soon as he got free, Domino spat at his savior and plunked himself down by Dinah's feet, purring loudly. "Stupid cat," he muttered fondly, and turned his attention back to the woman, remembering that he was trying not to scare her off.

"Oh, yeah, I get it. I'm, er-" he remembered that hacking into World of Warcraft accounts wasn't exactly considered a good thing to be doing, and so he backpedaled rapidly. "Just, you know, messing around. Sims, stuff like that." Misha laughed a bit awkwardly, scratching at the back of his head.

"I keep track of a lot of people," he said happily, oblivious to her mental disarray. "Not in a creepy fashion, of course. I know my regulars. As for recommendations, I'd have to say that while all pizza and pizza-related things are created equal, I like the baked breadsticks with marinara sauce."

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words; 654
muse; yay for tangents?
outfit; black t-shirt, shorts
credits; zie @ CAUTION!
lyrics by fun.!

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[DINAH EVELYN DONALD]

WHEN YOU'RE AT THE END OF THE ROAD
AND YOU LOST ALL SENSE OF CONTROL

AND YOUR THOUGHTS HAVE TAKEN THEIR TOLL
WHEN YOUR MIND BREAKS THE SPIRIT OF YOUR SOUL

Dinah definitely did better in smaller groups. She hated crowds. If there had been more people in the shop, she certainly would have just taken something to go, or perhaps gone right back out without even trying to place an order. There were too many variables when you were trying a new place, and she didn't want someone behind her in line if it took her some time to make up her mind. Or what if she somehow ordered the wrong thing and everyone in the line could hear? Then again, if there had been people coming and going, she would have been forced out of the doorway a lot more quickly, but since she did finally step fully into the shop, that was all a bit moot.

Whatever other people thought of him, Mischa on his own was far less terrifying than a store full of customers. Even if she was having a bit of trouble keeping up with him sometimes -- and what an ironic turnabout that was -- Dinah tended to just assume it was her own lack of understanding and nothing to do with him. From what she could see, he seemed an extremely friendly and open proprietor willing to indulge her in some conversation and even offer advice on what to order. She was reasonably confident he wouldn't get impatient if she didn't immediately know what she wanted, and since she wouldn't know what it cost, she couldn't have exact change ready to go either.

"Uh, sorry?" she said as she thought she heard him whisper something, only to immediately think maybe she was just hearing things. "Did you- I thought I heard... Never mind, it was nothing," she added quickly without even waiting for him to answer.

She cleared her throat and then gave another stab at this conversation thing. "You could charge people in, uh, in Daleks. If you're the owner, you can charge anything you want. I think. There might be some tax considerations, granted. And I'm not sure how many people carry Daleks on their person, but it would... help with building your army, anyway." She nodded towards the lone Dalek who was in need of company. "If I had one, I'd add it to the collection, but I haven't, so I can't."

She glanced back towards the door then, like she was worried someone might come bursting in to grab the Dalek while the was standing there. Dinah didn't think she'd care for that much at all. "I'm with Domino. I don't think I'd like that... Domino is, uh... the cat?" she guessed, as she watched Mischa rush over to try to detangle the feline from sensitive equipment, and then looked down at her feet as the cat wound up near her purring. "Is he, um, customer-friendly?" You were supposed to ask before petting someone else's cat, she thought. Or was that their dog? Either way, it couldn't hurt, especially since Dinah had mixed success at best with most animals.

"Sims..." she echoed as she looked back over to the computer. "That's a lot of machinery for Sims," she observed, not intending to be nosy but really just noting the strangeness of it. "I play that sometimes, but I'm usually busy with... other stuff. Or nothing. Nothing important, really. I should play more Sims," she went on quickly, not really intending to steer the conversation around to what she did for a living.

She turned back to Mischa then, listening seriously to the recommendations. "Yes, I'll have that," she seized upon it decisively. It sounded good and it saved her from having to weigh the pros and cons of various things on the menu. She wasn't sure if breadsticks were a great meal in and of themselves, but they'd do all right. It wasn't like she was planning to live on them, and goodness knew she'd had far less healthy meals in her life.

[GERARD MISHA MERRITT]

"Maybe it was the cat? he said in response to her question. He was ignoring the fact that it was probably because he had muttered "exterminate" because of the Daleks, but Domino did tend to make a lot of noise. Besides, he hadn't actually meant for her to hear it, so if he could just pass it off as anything else, it would be fine. Play it cool, Misha, play it cool.

Blue eyes widened and then brightened as he grinned. "Sweet burritos, that would be a great idea! I could announce one day a year 'Dalek Day' and then to get pizza, they'd have to pay me in a Dalek. I could get people to, like, draw Daleks or buy figurines, or dress up as Daleks- this is going to be fantastic." Misha was already bubbling with a bit too much exuberance at the idea, never mind the fact that if he didn't write it down, he'd probably forget it by the next day. He never had the greatest memory for little things, but if it involved sci-fi, he actually did have a decent chance of remembering it. Misha's life revolved around pizza and science fiction, at this point, so it was a valid point.

Misha's thoughts of the girl rose a bit, and he smiled fully at her again. "Yeah, he's fine to pet! He's a little bit- he's a lot affectionate, so he might purr enough to move nearby chairs." he laughed. The computer and its program weren't changed at all by the cat's interference, to Misha's relief. He worked a plug back into its precarious position so it didn't fall off the table, and stared at the rat's nest of wires. He usually didn't let his cords get like this, but apparently he had been lax lately.

"Sims is good," he agreed. "Most of this stuff is just charging other electronics, and I do a bit of... er, coding, in my spare time." Coding was a safe term, right? Misha knew that it was key for hacking (so many negative connotations! He preferred to think of it as his civil duty to stop villains), but that didn't mean that Dinah needed to know that. He wanted return customers, and she seemed nice.

"Anything else? I can throw in a piece of pizza and a soda for two more bucks," Misha said, pausing as he looked up.

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words; 415
muse; - - -
outfit; black t-shirt, shorts
credits; zie @ CAUTION!
lyrics by fun.!

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[DINAH EVELYN DONALD]

WHEN YOU'RE AT THE END OF THE ROAD
AND YOU LOST ALL SENSE OF CONTROL

AND YOUR THOUGHTS HAVE TAKEN THEIR TOLL
WHEN YOUR MIND BREAKS THE SPIRIT OF YOUR SOUL

Dinah looked down at the cat, frowning thoughtfully but then nodding. That explanation made about as much sense as anything she could think of. It hadn't really sounded like the type of noise a cat would make, but then, what the heck did she really know about cats? "Oh. Yeah. Maybe," she agreed with a slight shrug. It beat the alternative of her hearing things that weren't there to be heard, anyway.

Looking back up from the feline, she smiled with bemusement as Mischa began going on with his plans for Dalek Day. "Glad I could... help," she replied in that slightly uncertain tone. She didn't want to take credit for what was mainly his idea, but then, she had been the one to suggest having people pay with Daleks in the first place. Had she helped? She hoped so, or else she would look rather full of herself. But there was no helping that. "I'm not sure I could do much justice at drawing one, but I could bring one of those, uh, doll things," she went on, gesturing towards the action figure, not realizing what a grievous error it was to call such a thing a doll. "I mean, if I know about it in advance and... I come here on that day. Although I'm sure your stuff is good enough that I'll remember to come back here again, but I suppose there's no guaranteeing it would happen to be that day." She finally had to pause for breath and to let her thoughts catch up to her mouth.

As Mischa confirmed the cat was pet-able, Dinah dropped into a crouch so that she could reach out a tentative hand towards the animal, glad for an excuse to stop that particular ramble. "I'll try not to cause an earthquake," she promised, looking up with a faint smile, before returning her attention to the cat and risking running a hand down over its back.

"I, um, I find those... bulldog clips work well for keeping wires straight," she offered as she looked over again and noticed Mischa dealing with his tangle of wires. "You know the, uh, the black ones with the little metal tongs on the end?" The hand that wasn't petting the cat drew an almost keyhole-like shape in the air. "I clip them on the edge of the desk and you can run the wires through the tong part and it... keeps them all straight. Uh, not that you asked," she realized, hoping that she'd been more helpful than offensive. "To be fair, I'm not sure if even that would stand up to a cat." She wasn't going to hold the tangled wires against him at any rate. "Did you know that they're actually more likely to get tangled than not? Statistically speaking? The wires, I mean. Not cats. I don't think cats get tangled."

Cutting herself off forcefully again, she straightened back up and dusted her hands together to knock off any stray fur she'd picked up from Domino. "I... do some coding myself," she admitted, in case her ramble hadn't made that clear enough. "And yes. Pizza and soda. That sounds good. I'll go with that." He probably could have recommended pretty much anything and she'd agree to it, but pizza and soda did make her breadsticks sound like more of a proper meal.

[GERARD MISHA MERRITT]

Misha laughed a little. "Thank you for being helpful!" She seemed uncertain enough that he wanted to encourage her a little. Misha honestly liked people, despite his tendencies towards scaring people away with his exuberance and wildly situationally inappropriate quips (not to mention the ever so slight obsession with pizza he had. What could he say, he liked his job!), and Dinah seemed like a genuinely nice person. There was a thorough lack of that type of person in the world, Misha thought decisively. He wanted to make sure that she knew that was a good thing without terrifying her too much.

"Ooh, please do bring figurines!" he said, bouncing up and down lightly on the balls of his feet. "There'll be flyers and coupons and Dalek cosplayers and maybe the occasional Doctor cosplay..." Misha stopped to contemplate if he could hook anyone into dressing up as the Doctor for the day. They could have an entire mini "battle" and there would be a lot of pizza. "If it happens, you won't miss it!" he finished brightly, smiling at Dinah. If there was one thing Misha was definitely good at, it was spreading the word about things. Okay, so maybe he had introduced a virus into someone's computer that had spawned mass spam emails for the pizzeria while he sat there innocently, but it had gotten him good business and everyone was happy because of the pizza, right?

Misha trod the moral gray area almost as well as Batman, he thought proudly.

Domino let out a few loud rumbles, rubbing his head against her palm before flopping to the ground and rolling over. Misha rolled his eyes a little. He swore that his cat, if human, would be a real lady-killer. He was all over everyone, and most of the people (who didn't hate or were terrified or were allergic of cats) loved Domino back. He's my little advertising charm, he thought to himself.

Dinah gestured vaguely while she talked, and Misha realized what she was saying, beginning to nod profusely. "O-oh! Those little clippy things! I get you!" he said. A bit of a sheepish grin came onto his face as he scratched his head. "I always lose them, though, and then I need them. I think Domi eats them or something. That's still helpful, though!" he was quick to say, smile changing to something more joyous. "Some cats get tangled. It ends in a cat-astrophe!" Misha giggled at his own bad pun.

"Oh, really?" he asked, temporary awkwardness replaced with curiosity. "That's cool! Any projects you're working on? Oh, by the way, is Coke good, or? I have Sprite, ginger ale?" Misha started ringing her up.

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words; 472
muse; - - -
outfit; black t-shirt, shorts
credits; zie @ CAUTION!
lyrics by fun.!

[/center]

[DINAH EVELYN DONALD]

WHEN YOU'RE AT THE END OF THE ROAD
AND YOU LOST ALL SENSE OF CONTROL

AND YOUR THOUGHTS HAVE TAKEN THEIR TOLL
WHEN YOUR MIND BREAKS THE SPIRIT OF YOUR SOUL

Dinah smiled, her relief rather obvious as Mischa confirmed that she had, indeed, been helpful rather than taking credit for something she didn't do. "You're welcome," she replied simply, leaving it at that but still smiling vaguely to herself.

She looked back up a bit sharply as Mischa actually bounced in excitement, but relaxed in the next moment as she realized that was all it was. Training had given her good reflexes, but coupled with some paranoia, it ended up with her always feeling and being a bit jumpy. "Oh, right. Figurines. I will... I'll do so," she promised with a nod, making a mental note she for one wasn't likely to forget. She wasn't entirely sure where to find such things, but it couldn't be much harder than a few quick Google searches, she hoped. She couldn't imagine how people functioned before everything, all this knowledge, was there at the touch of a button. "That... sounds like quite the, uh, vibrant crowd," she went on as he began painting a mental picture of all these people in costumes. It made her slightly hesitant, truth be told. She hated crowds. Still, it might be worth stopping by just briefly if it ever did come together; how many chances in life would she have to see something like Dalek Day?

The thought might have panicked her more, but the cat did have something of a calming effect, or at least kept her distracted enough to stop her thoughts from running completely away from her. Overthinking things was a terrible trait, but all she could do was overthink how much she shouldn't overthink things. It was a downward spiral. But Domino helped, bringing a smile to Dinah's lips as she reached out slowly to rub the exposed stomach, ready to pull her hand back if the cat showed the slightest sign of not liking it, but at least willing to take the chance now.

Looking back up from the cat, she nodded emphatically as Mischa seemed to grasp what she meant with her vague gestures and descriptions. If she'd had one on her it would have been so much easier, but for some reason, she hadn't thought to carry a bulldog clip with her when she popped out for food. More fool her. "That... I don't know if those are good for cats to eat," she couldn't help but note, frowning down at Domino, not quite sure whether she was telling the man or his pet. "But, uh. Yes, they're more useful if you, um, you don't lose them. It's hard to use them otherwise. Or I'd imagine it would be anyway. I don't lose things very often," she admitted, more like this was somehow a weakness than bragging about it.

She offered a twisted half-smile at his terrible pun, actually finding it amusing. She liked puns. "And cats and cords together are just..." She paused for a long moment but couldn't think of a terribly good pun herself. "... Well, a recipe for disaster, anyway."

The double-barrelled questioning gave her slight pause as she had to decide which question to answer first. She opted for the easier one, even though he'd asked it second. "Uhh... Sprite is good. Coke is- Caffeine makes me jittery." She didn't need her nerves any more on edge right now. "And I'm... Uh. Testing a security system?" That seemed a diplomatic way to put it. She obviously couldn't go into too much detail anyway. And to be honest, she'd learned not to ask too many questions about what she was doing and why. She'd been told to find a back way into someone's system and so that was what she was doing.

[GERARD MISHA MERRITT]

Misha didn't notice her flinch, or even that anything was vaguely off with Dinah. He was too busy plotting out "Dalek Day" in his head. It really was a good idea, especially for his business. A lot of his customers, both at the pizzeria itself and for his tech skills, were interested in sci-fi and the like, and so having a day like this would probably increase sales. It would also help that it might attract some media attention due to its oddities (Dalek Day, some of the papers would jump all over that) and that was basically free advertising and good cred. Misha leaned over and picked up a set of Post it notes (in the shape of a pizza, of course) and a pen from the register, starting to scribble down some of the plans.

He doubted that the turn-out would be as spectacular as he wanted- Misha was picturing something akin to Comic Con, which was a little bit inconceivable- but still, to get the ability to hang around cool people and sell pizza? It was a win-win for everyone. "You should definitely stop by!" he said with a friendly smile. "You get free pizza." Misha stuck the sticky note to the cash register when he was down scribbling on it, and turned his attention back to Dinah.

"I don't think that it's very good for cats to eat them, either, but Domino gets cranky when I take things away from him," Misha said, shrugging both of his shoulders and widening his eyes a little. It was true; for all of the orange cat's charms, he could also be a vicious beast that attacked feet in the night. Misha's toes and the soles of his feet bore testimony to that with a few nasty scratches. Still, the pizza-man wouldn't give the cat up for anything.

He smiled at Dinah when she said that she didn't lose anything. "I lose a lot," he said, seemingly unconcerned about this. "My mom used to say that it was Mother Nature's way of telling you that you didn't need the object anymore." He felt his lips twitch a little at that. While Misha did admit that he was superstitious about some things, and he did wear his mother's Wicca coven ring around his neck (some people got very angry if they saw it because of common misconceptions of the practicers, and it was one of the last mementos he had of his mother), some of the things that she had told him, he didn't believe in the slightest.

Misha nodded at her telling him that cats and cords were disasters. "I'm happy that Domi doesn't get hurt whenever he tries to chew on them." he sent the cat a stern glance that soon degraded into a laugh.

"I've discovered that if I drink caffeine or no, I'm still at high risk for jitters. Security systems? Cool! I do mostly... IT stuff, yeah."

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words; 509
muse; - - -
outfit; black t-shirt, shorts
credits; zie @ CAUTION!
lyrics by fun.!

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[DINAH EVELYN DONALD]

WHEN YOU'RE AT THE END OF THE ROAD
AND YOU LOST ALL SENSE OF CONTROL

AND YOUR THOUGHTS HAVE TAKEN THEIR TOLL
WHEN YOUR MIND BREAKS THE SPIRIT OF YOUR SOUL

"Yes, well, maybe," Dinah replied, beginning to wonder if coming to Dalek Day was such a good idea for her to attend after all. But maybe it would be good for her to at least pop by and see, since she had inadvertently contributed towards its creation. Both of them were probably now imagining much larger crowds than would actually turn out, but for Dinah, it wasn't a dream but a nightmare. "I do like free pizza. Not that I'm, uh, I'm against paying for it, of course. Obviously." Since she was paying for it right now, she figured that would go without saying, but then thought perhaps she should say something in case he took it as her angling for free food. She would never be so presumptuous, but it was hard sometimes not to overthink these things.

She tried to stop picturing this place now crammed with people and so instead turned her attention to the cat. The cat which apparently liked to eat things that it shouldn't. "Then I suppose there isn't all that much you can do about it," she granted, when Mischa pointed out how hard it was to take things away from the animal. "And if no real... harm has come to him yet, I guess he, um, knows what he's doing? I'm not really familiar with cats, but basic Darwinism would suggest they... uh. Must have some survival instinct." She looked down at the feline again, hoping that was true.

She wasn't quite sure how to take Mischa's admission of losing a lot of things. He didn't seem upset about it, so sympathy didn't exactly seem appropriate. In the end she just wound up smiling sort of vaguely and shrugging her shoulders. She certainly wouldn't hold it against him if he lost things. She'd probably be a little better off if she wasn't so uptight and precise about where everything went herself. "I guess I, um... I'm just not finished with any of my things yet. If that's what Mother Nature is trying to tell you. Although I'm not entirely sure why Mother Nature would care too much about my things and whether or not I have them," she had to admit.

Again she found herself hit with two different statements at once and was once more at a loss as to which to address first. This time, she opted to take them in order. "Oh. Yes, well. Jitters do, uh, do happen anyway. Like when I'm nervous or," she broke off with a little awkward laugh, making a vague sort of gesture around her. "In a new place. But caffeine makes it worse," she added quickly. "And, yes, security systems and... Well, mostly that. It's a bit hard to explain. But I like numbers and logic an math so it... worked out that way. Ones and zeroes, you know. IT and pizza is a, uh, interesting combination. But I think maybe it makes some sense." She wasn't entirely sure, but she could feel some sort of link between the two. At least he would never have to go hungry during all night coding sessions, if he had them.

[GERARD MISHA MERRITT]

Misha inclined his head at her words, giving her a friendly smile. Dinah seemed to be the type of person who was constantly backtracking to make sure that she wasn't offending anyone. It was a little bit heartwarming, really- Misha was used to people who muscled their ways in the world, people who expected to get what they wanted when they wanted it. It was one of the fallacies of being a businessman, people weren't always the most polite. Misha didn't really recognize it too much, he didn't mind, but to see Dinah's personality? It was a nice contrast. She was quiet and polite and a bit too shy. Misha was reminded of Deanna Troi from Star Trek, which made him smile a bit more. If Dinah was a character, she could totally be the psychic. Misha fancied himself a bit of a McCoy, or maybe a Scotty, but he kept that to himself. "Hey, I always like it when people pay," he joked.

He shrugged a little, looking at the cat fondly. Domino had a mind of his own, and he really liked finding things to eat (things mostly being spare parts, some breadstick chunks, a few action figures...) that were never particularly good things to eat. Misha worried a little about him, but Domi generally seemed to be okay, so he didn't stress too much. "Yeah, if he's okay, he's okay." he voiced this thought. Dinah talked about Darwinism, bringing another easy smile to his face. "I think Domi's supposed to be more of a Dar-LOSE than a Dar-WIN, but he's survived for long enough."

It was true that Misha lost a lot of what he owned. It wasn't lost as much as he put it down and promptly forgot where he put it, and he was usually able to find it later- later being anywhere from ten minutes to a year later. He had just found some old textbooks that he had from college that he had lost a few days prior. It wasn't as if he needed them anymore, but it was still nice to find them. Nostalgia, and all. "Mother Nature is mysterious but omnipotent," Misha said, shrugging as he quoted his mother again. "I dunno if it's true or what, but I kind of like the idea. Circular, you know?" Misha grinned a little as he indulged the more "mystic" side. Playing lots of video games with such themes and having lived all sorts of places as a child reinforced that, and he wasn't above quoting profound bits of wisdom to customers.

"I'm always a bit jittery, so coffee doesn't affect me as much as it could," Misha laughed. He always had a little bit too much energy, so the added caffeine from various drinks such as coffee and tea never exactly sat well with other people. He was fine when he was practically bouncing off the walls, he thought his productivity skyrocketed, but other people... not so much. Misha was apparently an intimidating figure when he was talking fast about complicated coding and pizza to complete strangers. "Oh, no, I understand, totally! HTML and binary, as soon as I say that, usually, most people get this weird glazed look on their face. Pizza's easy." he said, blinking a little. "If you're ever having a late night with your security systems, try pizza."

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words; 577
muse; Sorry this was so late!
outfit; black t-shirt, shorts.
credits; zie @ CAUTION!
lyrics by fun.!

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