[Jaden Wolf]

Shikiya

No one knew why this café was so particularly special. There were theories, of course: the most popular being that it was a site where ley lines intersected - the café had been aptly named the Nexus for this reason. It was a place where those with special marks on their skins came to try and meet their fated partner.

There weren't a lot of people in the world with soul marks, percentage-wise, but enough that it was an accepted part of romance culture. Not all marks had to mean romantic connections, but those were so few in number they tended to fly under the radar. Regardless, those who wished to find their soul match in a world with far too many blank skins found themselves drawn to these "nexuses." The statistic probability of meeting your match in such a place was actually quite high.

Something about the location, scientists claimed, made the soul bond more apparent. While you might miss the weak impulses elsewhere, it was pretty much impossible to ignore your match in a nexus. Hence, the popularity of the café.

[Jaden Wolf]

Not all the customers were soul bonded, of course. As with any establishment, there was a variety of customers outside of the demographic. Even among the staff was a mix of those with soul marks and those without. There were even two people on staff who had already found their mark. For hiring purposes though, it seemed the manager and the owner had a preference for un-bonded staff. It was important, after all, to have staff that represented the purpose of the place. At any rate, it was the un-bonded who directly worked with customers.

This is what bothered Shikiya the most.

No matter what shift he worked, nor which job he took on, he was hounded by customers. It was his curse (as far as he was concerned) to be pretty. He wasn't even a handsome sort of pretty, but a beauty that was feminine in features and yet somehow distinctly male. Nothing he did could mar this beauty, much to his chagrin. He never coiffed or styled his hair in any way; it was a messy bunch of soft and fluffy curls that looked as though he'd just rolled out of bed, cut barely short enough to keep it out of his eyes. His uniform was simple and there wasn't anything else he could do but put it on as sloppily as he possibly could.

Nothing helped. There wasn't anything he could do about his smooth and fair skin, nor his long lashes and full lips. He never took care of his body; he ate whatever he liked, rarely exercised, and showered only enough to deal with body odour. Still, nothing helped.

[Jaden Wolf]

He could only glare at the patrons when they flirted openly with him. Many of them - too many - determined to be his soulmate. At this point, he felt he was liable to stab his actual soulmate if he showed up.

If he weren't in debt (socially speaking) to the Nexus's owner, Shikiya would have quit long ago. Actually, scratch that - he never would have taken the job in the first place. So many people fawned over him because they liked his looks, particularly men. Not that he had a problem with men, he was gayer than the rainbow painted on the wall. The problem was that far too many tried to convince him to be with them in whatever way they wished - sometimes by force.

And then he came here, where the entire point of the place was to find your fated person. People literally had permission to flirt with him and he had to, within reason, accept it. That didn't stop him from being generally disagreeable though.

[Jaden Wolf]

This particular group of assholes customers decided that rush hour was the perfect time to demand Shikiya's attention. Despite the workload, this shift was his favourite. The tendency for customers to fawn over him at the register was deemed too troublesome for the busiest time of day. Ergo, he was assigned to more menial jobs - usually in the back.

This time, however, the floor staff was short a member and he was forced to step out and attend the tables. Go figure that there would be a brash group of college kids taking advantage of the setting to be far more bold than society permitted.

In fact, just as he passed their table with a load of empty mugs on his tray, one idiot smacked him on the ass. Shikiya wheeled on him. Customer service be damned, he didn't have to take that.

[Jaden Wolf]

"Excuse me?" he demanded. He knew that his aggression would be completely lost in his naturally soft appearance but damn if he didn't try. The group practically leered at him - the ones paying attention anyway. Another man leaned forward. "We were just talking about you."

"Were you now?" he narrowed his eyes. He knew where this was going.

"Yeah, babe," spoke up another, "ain't you one of the un-bonded?"

He was required to answer, unfortunately. It was a soulmark café. "Yes," he made out through gritted teeth. The two men jostled their friends, including the ass-slapper, who leaned in closer. "Were you on the menu? Because you're one fine dish."

Shikiya was honestly baffled by the bold declaration. "Seriously? What era did you crawl out of?" So many people wanted their soul mark to be some pick up line, but that had to be one of the worst attempts he'd heard. He scoffed and tried to move away but someone grabbed his wrist, nearly upsetting the tray. He just barely managed to right it before the mugs could topple, glaring at the offender ineffectively.

[Jaden Wolf]

"Look," he started, only to be cut off by a hand tugging him closer by his pants.

"Hey, we're soulmarked customers," cooed the ass-slapper. "You have to talk to us until we know if you're our soulmate or not."

He didn't actually have to stand there and talk to them when he was working, but he could tell from the tone these guys weren't taking 'no' as an answer. He scowled uselessly and slapped away the hand on his pants.

"Wasn't sure what I would be doing tonight," piped up another guy toward the end of the table, "but now I think it could be you."