White Out | Honeypot
event starter for @mpxkiki
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It was a typical day of the week. A lecture in the morning and now a longer lunch break that he decided to spend at Honeypot for the first time. He likes to try new things, places or food. The table was full of open books, sheets of notes and a cup of coffee.
Even before the first snow fell, Nefertem could smell it in the air through the cold glass of the window right next to him. He didn’t bother to look up and kept concentrating on his study, since snow wasn’t unusual at this time of the year.
It was only when the first guests of Honeypot were rushing to the windows to look outside and even though he didn’t understand their mumbling, he could hear the anxiety in their voice, that he paid attention to the weather.
“Ah..” Nef stood up from his seat and also looked out of the window. “…which weather god is going crazy now?”
🌿
She had her eyes on the window for the majority of her shift. If we’re being utterly honest, she had them on the skies since early on in the morning when she was leaving her other job at Minx and heading for Honeypot. Typically, she worked later in the day since Dakota preferred to set up the restaurant for opening by prepping things for the menu and stocking up things they had run low on. Today, however, was atypical because he was at home stocking up not the work kitchen but the one in his new house. Kiki envied him- especially now as she watched the snow go from light to heavy to blinding.
11:30a.m
People are either making their way in or hurried making their way back out to get home. Kiki fires off a text to Dakota asking if he wanted an early closure before he would be in later on today.
11:34a.m
{From: D}: Wait ‘til around 1-ish. If it’s still looking pretty bad go ahead and lock it up. Is everyone safe? Lights and all that still going?
{From: Kihara B}: All good but it’s cold out there. I don’t think you should come out here. Got a gut feeling.
{From: D}: I never ignore a woman’s intuition. I’ll stay in but call me if you need anything or it gets worse than you think the staff can handle. Cut shifts early if needed- better safe than sorry.
{From: Kihara B}: Heard! Tell Alex I said hey.
{From: D}: What makes you think he’s here?
{From: Kihara B}: What would make me think he’s not?
{From: D}: Touché, B, touché.
By noon there’s nearly no one inside Honeypot aside from its staff who now mingle among the last four or so customers. Kiki breezes by each table, refilling warm drinks and offering up warmer plates to ward away the chill of uncertainty. Outside it’s not letting up and those that brave the weather mill by in cars and clothes decorated in the frost of bad weather’s embrace.
Dakota had effectively posted a notice on Honeypot’s social media stating that the restaurant could act as a warm spot to gather for those out around town if they couldn’t make it home. This didn’t stop him from texting Kiki to let her know that they would worry over the expenses of food and drinks later on— those that were inside needed to be kept there for their own safety.
By two in the afternoon the only thing that greeted anyone looking out the window was an icy wall of unforgiving white. The total opposite of the inky and vast darkness, an ever-stretching infinity of brightness makes the facade of calm a little difficult for Kiki to manage. But she does.
When the council issued warning to shelter-in-place comes, Kiki is already distributing hot chocolate to all the people inside and has sealed off the doors, locking them in and the cold out. Guests and workers peer out into the snow as though it will offer any answers and it’s a voice beside her that breaks her own staring.
‘Which weather god is going crazy now?’
She laughs a bit and sets down a mug for the guest, a newer face in town to her and says, “Who knows? It’s likely a man with his Calvin’s in a twist over nothing though.” Steam lifts from the mug and she supplies further, “Kihara, but call me Kiki. I’ve seen you around but it’s the first time I’ve seen you plop down with us for a long minute like this. What’s your name?”
The laugh of the waitress beside him lets Nef look away from the weather outside the restaurant and while he is listening to her, he can forget about the situation for a moment.
“Nathan.” is his short answer to her question. A charming smile is showing up on his lips as he continues speaking.
“It’s nice to meet you, Kiki. I walked past this place a few times and since my next lecture is late in the afternoon, I thought it would be a good oportunity to spend my lunch break here before heading back to university.”
The weather catches his attention again when it seems to get even worser than before, he shrugs lightly as lines of worry take shape on his forehead. “At least we won’t run out of food...” is what he said, but actually he is more worried about the smells he is not able to stand when being together in one room with other people for too long.
As a god he is not really vulnerable to the cold and he’d definitely prefer to spend this blizzard alone at home, but he is not willing to give up his new role.
“Rushing home now would not be the best idea, would it?...” He jokes with a still worried facial expression.
