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Lie To Me [P]

Postby crow » 07/28/2017 1:49 AM

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It was a warm, sunny Saturday morning, and the only thing Tanner could think was, This blows.

"... So of course I tell him, we have to have it! How could we not? It's the very height of fashion, you know, and I pride myself on keeping ahead of the curve on all the things that matter." A woman in her fifties, with heavy perfume and a fortune's worth of botox, had him by the arm. He shook her loose for the twelfth time, and for the thirteenth time she grabbed his arm, again, as if nothing had happened.

They couldn't have made for a more incongruous picture: her in her dress and hat and pearls, clutching a purse, a ridiculous little dog nestled inside of it who was currently baring its teeth at anyone who so much as looked at it; him with bedhead in a t-shirt proclaiming a rude slogan, which did nothing to hide any of his many, many tattoos. He wasn't smiling, he wasn't listening, and he wasn't so much as pretending that he wanted to be here, with her. And yet, here they were.

Somewhere along the way, her topic had changed. "And you know how they are, darling, just unbearable once they think they have your attention," she was saying. A muscle beneath his eye twitched. It was too early in the morning for murder. Normally he would have just caused a scene the minute things got too troublesome for his liking, but this was the wife of one of his father's business partners, and much as he hated to admit it, he'd been on some thin ice lately. He could care less about what happened to their business deal, but his father had other ways of putting a leash on him. He knew from experience that he wouldn't like it if he gave his father cause to use them.

They reached the counter. The woman began at once to rattle off an incredibly complicated drink order. Tanner sighed and imagined in spiteful detail how it would feel to take her hat and feed it to her dog, who was currently occupied with chewing on the strap of the purse.

It was going to be a long day.
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Re: Lie To Me [P]

Postby Skylark » 07/30/2017 5:00 AM

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It was already a long day.

There was a special circle in hell designed for managers who scheduled students who're supposed to be cramming for exams to open god-damned coffee shops. There had to be, otherwise Oliver might as well give the fuck up and go live out his life growing weed in the basement like the drop-outs back home. As he started out in utter dismay at the morning rush bustling towards the shop, all he could do was thank his lucky stars that he hadn't been schedule to open and work the damn place by himself today. (Yes. Yes that had happened before.)

Downside was that the person currently working the register was his manager. Bright side was he wasn't working the register.

Somehow, Oliver managed not to wince (too obviously) as he overheard a long, drawn-out, complicated order being aimed at said managed and quickly handed his way. He took in a deep breath, staring at the cup waiting for him in no small amount of horror as he finished up the drinks he was currently blending together. Oliver glanced at the pair at the register only once, grateful that at least one of them wasn't clearly overcompensating for a lack of personality with complicated drink orders (not that they weren't both overcompensating for something, jesus christ), before getting to work. Considering that this drink required about twice the number of steps as their most complicated on-menu items, he was not fucking appreciating the tapping foot and clearly impatient old lady stare that was being directed at him while he tried to put together flavors that ought not be put together.

Maybe it was that stare that did him in. Maybe it was just general stress, or the 1.9 hours of sleep he'd gotten the night before, or maybe their machines were so fucking old it was a miracle they hadn't exploded years ago.  Whatever the reason was, nothing would change the fact that, while Oliver was attempting to make this old bat's drink, somehow all he accomplished was spilling a half gallon of milk all over the counter and spraying steaming cream directly at her blouse, miraculously missing the guy she had in an apparent death grip.

Fuck.

There was approximately 2.4 seconds (he counted them) of utter silence before the noise started. The lady was ranting and raving, his manager was bursting a blood vessel between yelling at him and trying to kiss her ass, and there he was, in the fucking middle of it, dripping dairy products and contemplating the pros/cons of throwing himself at the nearest window and hoping for the best.

"This is the last time I hire a good-for-nothing student who can't even handle making one drink!"

Ok, wait, rewind. What the fuck?

"Hey! This is the first time I've spilled anything since I started!" Oliver finally spoke up for himself, straightening up to his full 5'6'' (not that it did him much good), a manic sort of gleam in his eyes only found in the very angry and very, very exhausted. It was especially manic considering that he was both. "And I told you last week that the machines needed more than just a good cleaning! It's been falling apart for months! I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner! We shouldn't even be doing simple drinks with this shit, much less that abomination of processed milk she ordered!"

The satisfaction at yelling at his boss only lasted the time it too for "YOU'RE FIRED!" to be shouted and/or spat in his face. Oliver shrunk back, somewhat, before realizing that being spectacularly fired in the middle of morning rush meant that he could just leave the copious amounts of liquid products decorating the counters, floors, and customers for his boss to clean him. And not him. That knowledge alone was enough for him to squared his shoulders, roll his eyes, throw his soaking apron in his manager's red face, and saunter out of the coffee shop as if he shoes weren't making pathetic squish-squelch noised with every step he took.

Fuck today. He was going home, he was going to take a shower, and then he was going to sleep until his afternoon lecture.
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Make you come alive
I can take you higher
What this is, forgot?
I must now remind you
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Let It Rock
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Re: Lie To Me [P]

Postby crow » 09/16/2017 6:40 PM

Whatever turn Tanner had expected his day to take, this definitely wasn't it. For a moment it was all he could do to look on in stunned silence as the disaster unfolded in front of him, in slow motion: the guy working the machines spilling the drink across the counter; and the jet of steamed milk blasting the woman--- Mrs Heisenberg? Steinsberg?--- right in the chest.

To her credit, she only screamed once. Unfortunately, as soon as she was done screaming, she began laying into the poor sap who had been responsible; and any loss in noise on her part was promptly made up by her dog going absolutely insane.

Just when Tanner didn't think it could get any worse, a guy who was probably the manager came in and started yelling at the poor sap at the machines. Tanner looked on as the manager fired the barista, and then as the former barista walked out of the shop.

"Damn," he said, whistling low.

If there was one good thing that happened though, it was that the woman--- seriously, what was her name?--- was distracted enough now that she didn't notice when Tanner slipped his arm out of hers, and wandered out the door himself.

Free at last, he stretched, feeling the warmth of the sun on his back. The day was young. He didn't have any classes he felt like going to that day. What did he want to do...?

Well, he'd figure something out. He picked a direction and started walking.

-----------------


"Dad?"

It was hard to hear anything over the music at the club. Which was sort of the point. Tanner could have stepped out, but he didn't. It was better if he had an excuse for why he couldn't hear what his father said, and letting him know that his son was wasting his time in this kind of place was bound to piss him off too. Two birds with one stone, and all that.

He smiled languidly at the harsh, indistinct sound of the voice coming from his phone. "Sorry, what?" he said, too loud. "I can't hear you! Call me back later, okay?"

He was about to hang up when he did hear something, and his blood immediately ran cold. He stopped moving, standing still and wide-eyed in the crowd of gyrating bodies. "What?" he said.

"You'll be starting preparations for marriage, Tanner," said his father. "You've fooled around long enough. Since you won't take school seriously, I'm taking matters into my own hands."

"Wait---"

"I expect you to attend these dates, Tanner. Am I understood?" His father's voice had gone cold and dispassionate. "If you can't behave yourself, I'll be forced to cut off your support."

At those words, Tanner ground his teeth. He was being leashed. "Am I understood?" said his father. Without waiting for an answer, he went on. "Next Saturday, at 10 AM, you will come to brunch with me. That is all." With that, he hung up.

Tanner was left staring at his phone, half dumbfounded, and half... he didn't even know. It was hard to think. It was hard to think about anything.

Sighing, he ran his hands through his hair. Shit. He had to do something about this... but what?
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Re: Lie To Me [P]

Postby Skylark » 10/08/2017 8:29 PM

This week? This week had left much to be desired. After getting fired on Saturday, Oliver had shown up to the wrong room for a require weekend class discussion group (fuck his groupmates' work-until-you-die attitude and lack of part time jobs, seriously). He spent half an hour getting angry text messages until he'd finally found the right building and the right room. On Monday, he stopped by the mail room to pick up a package and found a bill for some additional services that the college had apparently forgotten to include in his previous bill, which he'd barely managed to pay. The rest of the week was spent going from class to class to dropping of his resume to every available business to study groups to even more class before collapsing in a haze of exhaustion and impending dread every night.

He was down to his last six-pack of ramen noodles. He hadn't gotten a meal plan this semester because he thought he'd save money by cooking his own shitty food. At this point, he could barely remember what a vegetable looks like, much less tastes like. He thinks he might end up going into a coma from malnourishment and then dying dying and then dropping out, but not necessarily in that order.

It was in this state of desperation that Oliver still, someone, managed to drag his caracas to his Friday afternoon class. Instead of sitting near the front and vaguely in the middle as he typically prefers to do, this time he sat more near the back and by the door so that he could work over his resume for the hundredth time while vaguely listening to the lecture in relative peace. At this point, his education was becoming much less of a priority than finding a fucking job because at least a job had the chance of feeding him before his carefully rationed ramen and stolen free pizzas from the Italian club's weekly social ran out.

Too bad he seemed to forget that he was now sitting in the burn-out don't-give-a-fuck section of the room. Was that guy in front of him seriously streaming badly cut straight porn in class?? Talk about disgustingly distracting. Ugh. The sad thing was, he was too exhausted to find the willpower to move, even with that shit playing in front of him.

So much for the best years of his fucking life.
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Because when I arrive
I, I'll bring the fire
Make you come alive
I can take you higher
What this is, forgot?
I must now remind you
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
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Re: Lie To Me [P]

Postby crow » 10/09/2017 1:46 AM

"Ciri," said Tanner, lying flopped-over on the ground in his room, "you're my only hope."

"I think you mean 'only ho'," said Ciri from the speakers of Tanner's laptop, unhelpfully. He was full-screened in a call, though he was looking at another screen and typing away, rather than making eye contact with the camera. Last time Tanner had seen him, he was running a three-machine set-up, though Tanner thought it might be four now. It was hard to tell, with how cluttered Ciri's desk was. "Besides, why are you asking me? This sounds like a job for one of your sex friends."

"They're sex friends for a reason," said Tanner. "They're great, but I don't want to have to talk to them."

"Wow, harsh."

"I'm serious." Rolling over, Tanner stared balefully at the screen. "He said he was going to cut me off."

"Yeah? Then why not just go to a date?"

Tanner blew at his bangs. "And give my dad the satisfaction? Come on, you've met him. You know I can't do that."

"I sat with him at your house for maybe ten minutes once when we were fifteen," Ciri pointed out.

Rolling his eyes, Tanner said, "It's my dad. Ten minutes is enough time to form an impression."

"He seemed nice," said Ciri.

"Ten minutes is not enough time to form an impression," Tanner amended. "Ugh, nevermind. You're no use."

"Glad I could help," said Ciri. "Let me know how it goes. If you don't want 'em, I have some friends who are dying for girlfriends, and---" Ciri's voice cut off abruptly as Tanner closed the app. If it had been anyone else, he might have been concerned that they'd get offended, but he and Ciri had known each other long enough for that to be a non-issue.

Not that Ciri's feelings were the biggest thing on his mind right now anyway. With a groan, he dragged himself onto the couch, which was a more comfortable place for lying around in despair. The first brunch was this weekend, and he couldn't think of a worse way to be spending his time than being baby-sat at some dress-up doll playdate with his dad, and whatever bland heiress he'd picked out.

Ugh. He'd think about it in the morning.




Morning found him dragging his ass to class. Normally he would have been content to skip, especially for a morning class, and especially when he had more reason than usual to be pissed at his old man. But no, Tanner had a plan. He wasn't here to study. He was here to scout.

To that end, he burst into his classroom fifteen minutes late and, mindless of the stares from the other students and the prof, dumped his bag into a chair at the back of the room before taking the seat behind it. He kicked his feet up onto the desk, rocked his chair back, and said nothing. After a moment's pause, the prof continued lecturing, and Tanner tuned her out with the ease of long practice.

Now he just had to find a likely-looking candidate to proposition for his plan.
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Re: Lie To Me [P]

Postby Skylark » 10/09/2017 2:02 AM

He would have never admitted it, but Oliver nearly jumped entirely out of his seat when the otherwise comforting monotone of the professor up front was interrupted by the loud, crashing arrival of a walking disaster also known as one of the local burn-outs. His shock quickly morphed into a glare that could sear skin and send puppies running for cover as said burn-out had the fucking audacity to sit next to him when he had clearly chosen this seat because of how out of the way it was from literally every other person in the room.

Eventually, the professor seemed to get over the burn-out's entrance. Fuck, some of the students hadn't even noticed and continued watching their porn or reading their porn, whichever floated their boat. But Oliver just had to sit there and quietly burn a hole in the side of the asshole's head with his glare for a solid few more seconds before turning back to his actual important work of trying to find a job so he didn't starve to death.

Ugh. As long as the guy didn't talk to him, he'd probably be fine. He just had to get through this one lecture and then he was never sitting in this section of the room again.
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Because when I arrive
I, I'll bring the fire
Make you come alive
I can take you higher
What this is, forgot?
I must now remind you
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
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Re: Lie To Me [P]

Postby crow » 10/10/2017 4:48 AM

It didn't immediately occur to Tanner to look beside him. When he finally did, he did a slight double-take. He hadn't expected to see anyone he recognized, much less from the coffee shop disaster last weekend. Hadn't he gotten fired?

The gears in Tanner's head were turning.

He gave the guy another once-over. He was cute enough--- Tanner's mother might buy the idea that Tanner chose him for reasons other than wanting to get under his dad's skin. And Tanner figured, if he was going to do this, it might as well be with a guy, just to go the extra mile to cause a scandal.

"Hey," he said. "You still looking for a job?
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Re: Lie To Me [P]

Postby Skylark » 10/14/2017 1:01 PM

He froze. Oliver had busied himself trying to figure out where or not he could include excessive google searches as research expertise when someone straight up talked to him. There was only one person close enough to talk to him without having to shout across an isle or rows of seats. Oliver did not want to talk to his one person, especially when he was clearly prying into his personal business way more than he should be, especially when they have never spoken before ever.

Slowly, Oliver looked at the seat next to him, face carefully blank except for the slightest twitch the suggested utter disbelief that this guy was talking to him. He looked the guy up and down, very slowly and very obviously, before replying in complete deadpan, "I'm not interested in selling drugs for you."
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Because when I arrive
I, I'll bring the fire
Make you come alive
I can take you higher
What this is, forgot?
I must now remind you
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
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Re: Lie To Me [P]

Postby crow » 10/14/2017 10:20 PM

Tanner laughed, not fazed in the least. Hell, between this and the incident at the coffee shop, he might have really lucked into something here, as far as scandals to fob onto his dad went. "Good guess, not quite," he said. "But I'll take that as a yes."

It was just the problem of pitching what he wanted the guy to do. Which was, he admitted, a little out there... But hey, worth a shot, right? And he had to do something if he wanted any hope of getting out of this whole arranged marriage deal. "Look, I need someone to be my... fake date for tomorrow. Just the one-off, all you have to do is come, there'll be a fancy brunch and everything. I can pay you five hundred up front, and more when it's finished. Bonus if you can find a way to throw up on my dad." He flashed the guy his best, most winsome smile. Not that it would help, probably, but then it'd be easier to play off as a joke if he said no.
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Re: Lie To Me [P]

Postby Skylark » 10/15/2017 12:00 AM

Oliver rolled his eyes obnoxiously when the burnout just laughed at him. He still didn't quite get why the guy was even talking to him to begin with, it's not like he could have a legitimate job proposal of any kind to float by him. He'd seen this one around school rarely, if ever, so he wasn't even the kinda guy who got guilty every now and then and pretended to be a good student for a while only to go back to bad habits. He was one of the ones who didn't give a flying crap and Oliver was never in the mood to entertain that type.

...Then again. If this was a burnout with a lot of money to throw around...

"Alright. Let's pretend I was considering whatever the hell it is you're propositioning me for. Number one, how do I know you're good for the money? Number two, why the hell would I be interested in being paraded around in front of your no-doubt homophobic father where I'll probably be publicly embarrassed by the both of you just so you can get the last of your teenaged rebellion out of your system before you settle down with some rich airhead, have 2.5 children, and have an affair with your secretary before dying of a heart attack at 40?" Okay so. Maybe he was going a little off the deep end at the moment. There was still over half an hour of lecture to go. Maybe he wasn't going to make it after all. Fuck.
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Because when I arrive
I, I'll bring the fire
Make you come alive
I can take you higher
What this is, forgot?
I must now remind you
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
Let It Rock
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