American Food ((Open))

[Chiara "Romana" Vargas]

Every day, Chiara walked past the Bagel Shop. Every day, she wondered what the hell a bagel was.

Having lived in two Latin countries, she was not exposed to any of these "bagels". She ate fruit for breakfast, and spent the afternoons covered in flour from the pasta dough. She can remember the way any kitchen she'd worked in smelled, and they all smelled the same. Thyme, and basil, and sage and olive oil. She had no idea what to call the smell from that came from the bagel shop. Like a bakery, but less sweet. It made her curious... but she also hated it. Damn bagel place, being all mysterious and shit! Why can't they just serve calamari and peppers like a normal store?

One day, she found herself walking past the door absolutely starving. The smell of baking bread, and the mystique of the shop drew her in before she could remember that she had pizza in the icebox back at her apartment.

To her later embarrassment, she found herself buying a plain, butter bagel. It looked like a child's toy, thick, shiny and somewhat squishy. It confused her that it was food. She came to the conclusion that Americans were batshit insane, and went to go look for a table.

None were empty.

Sitting down at a taken table as far away from the other occupant as she could manage, she began to poke at her food nervously.

[Yao Wang]

Yao looked over at the girl who had sat across from him. She was poking at her bagel like it was a bomb about to explode. He bit back a small chuckle and said quietly,"Although it looks inedible I promise you it's taste adequate, aru." He, himself, had just had one and it was rather disappointing. No meat on the inside, no sauces to dip it in. All it tasted like was grease and poorly made brick-bread.

Oh how Yao desperately wished for some true Chinese food. Not the greased up shit that the Chinese passed as food. It was only made like that to satisfy the Americans he was sure. Taking a sip of his watery tea he said softly under his breath,"American food is shit, aru."

Putting the Styrofoam cup down he said out loud,"So what rings you here, aru? To america I mean."

[Chiara "Romana" Vargas]

Chiara looked up in surprise when she realized she was being addressed. She stared blankly at the Chinese man who was older than her, but no where near "old". She couldn't understand him very well through the accent, but after a minute she realized he was talking about how bagels were edible. He didn't seem to be very serious about that opinion.

Warily, she bit into the bagel. It tasted like greasy piece of bread. Not necessarily bad, but like it had been dipped in whorish olive oil. She scrunched her nose in disgust.

"Are you sure I can eat this?" She mumbled to herself, thinking aloud. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the offending yeast product. She contemplated the ways she could get rid of such an... American food. Maybe a game of football?

The man's next question snapped her from her thoughts. It took her a moment to understand what he had said, before she replied, cautiously, with; "I ran away. And you?"

[Madeleine Williams]

It'd been a while since Madeleine had first gotten the job here, the Bagel Shop which served any kind of bagels you could name, but only bagels. It served tea, milk, and other basic beverages as well, but bagels were the only edible foot item on the menu. Of course you could get it with cream cheese, but it was to put on the bagel. Maybe the delicious taste of the cream cheese would distract a new costumer from the questionable bagel they may or may not like when they bit into it. Madeleine use to be a very big fan of bagels, she'd eat them in the morning then head off to work or just take a stroll down the street when she wasn't working, but being around the food or a little over a year made her lose interest, it was all she saw and all she ever smelled, she wondered why people even bought them. But she supposed it was because it was quick to eat on the go, and convenient.

Madeleine had seen some rather curious looking people enter and leave throughout the year, she was certain some of them were off to go do no good, but it was never her to ask strangers questions, so she just smiled politely and took their orders, and besides she wasn't suppose to judge a book by their cover! She knew that well enough, hell she'd enjoyed some great books that hadn't looked interesting at first glance-- but that was getting her astray, she simply just had seen many different faces throughout her days. She could even remember the ones who came to the bagel shop every day or close to everyday.

It was a rather busy day today, the tables were crowded with people so that meant strangers had to sit with strangers, but finally it had started to slow down, people were still inside but new costumers were beginning to seize in coming, so the Canadian let out a small sigh and leaned against the counter, her violet eyes traveling over to a couple of people sitting at a table. They didn't look American at all, one looked Asian and the other looked Spanish? Italian? Madeleine couldn't tell, but either way she knew neither of them were American, if she was more like her brother she would have marched over and start a conversation with them, but she wasn't like them, she was shy and just an observer so she stayed in her spot. 'I wonder where exactly they're from, though...' she kept her thoughts to herself, lifting up her cup of coffee and sipping it, not the best coffee in the world but it'd keep her awake until she was off the clock.

[elizabethkirkland]

Elizabeth walked passed the door a few that day. She wasn't entirely sure what she wanted. Okay that's an understatement, she had no bloody clue. Finally she decided to open the doors and enter the bagel shop.

Upon entering, she was greeted with the delicious, to her opinion, scent of cooked dough. She ordered one bagel and yes one coffee. Normally, she hated the drink, and preferred tea, but right now she needed energy. Dealing with a lot of people is draining after all.

When she received her bagel and coffee, she retreated to a table near the back. Iys the perfect place to observe her surroundings, in a noncreepy way. After all, Elizabeth Kirkland planned on making a name for herself as an author.

Biting into her bagel, and feeling the cream cheese squeeze, Lizzie, figured it wasn't too bad. Not that she'd ever admit this, but these bagels were better made than what she could've made. Again,she would never tell this to anyone. Even her family. But they already know. After a few bouts of food poisoning and/or use of the heimlich manuver,her family learned to not let her cook anymore.

[Chiara "Romana" Vargas]

((Gonna try to tie us all together... Tell me if I fail xD))

While waiting for the man she happened to be sitting near to reply to her for the longest time, Chiara couldn't help but feel the eyes of others on her as she poked cautiously at her bagel.

Scanning the shop with openly nasty eyes, she nearly missed a shadowy blonde standing in the corner, looking at her over a cup of coffee. It was not an intrusive stare, but more of a dreamy "Hello, person in my staring spot..". Regardless of the stare's innocence, it pissed Chiara off. Looking the girl in the eyes, she snarled a bit. She hated people who had nothing better to do than simply watch others. Especially when she was the one being watched. The idea of someone looking at her movements made her mafia-heightened senses shudder. She took her eyes off the young woman to blink, and then completely lost sight of her. Scowling further at the mystery, she continued staring the collective of the bagel shop down, still feeling unknown eyes on her.

Once she decided it was either her imagination, or the girl she saw earlier but couldn't find in the disturbingly deep shadows behind the bagel counter, the door was thrown open; and another small blond woman entered the shop. What was with America and blond women?

The new woman only had Chiara's attention due to her novelty. Once she walked out of Chiara's sight, she no longer gave the woman a thought. It wasn't her business what the hell she did, as long as Chiara didn't catch her staring at her.

Boredly turning her head away from the other occupants and her questionable food, she stared down the Asian gentleman next to her. He was taking his sweet time responding, and it was starting to irritate her. She leaned her head against her hand with narrowed eyes, deciding he had about five minutes before she snapped at him.

[elizabethkirkland]

((sorry for writing a starter sounding post! I'll also try to tie it together, or at least add something...))

Elizabeth noticed that some other women caught her staring off into space. She diverted her eyes after a small delay, which seemed to still annoy the Italian looking woman. Looking, at a new spot she inwardly scolded herself. 'I need to stop staring,' she thought.

When she finished her bagel she stood up to throw her plate and drink away. She pushed her screeching chair in and walked over to the garbage can. However, she didn't see the pool of liquid on the floor, undoubtedly knocked over by some child or a clumsy adult. Before she knew it, Lizzie was on the floor watching her trash arc in the air. She could already see it descending but she couldn't figure out who the target was.

[Chiara "Romana" Vargas]

Chiara's jaw dropped in complete shock. She looked around the whole shop. There was various smirks and gasps; but one young woman was sprawled on the ground looking quite guilty.

No. Fuckin'. Way.

She blinked several times, trying to figure out if that had really just happened. There were crumbs down her shirt, a smear of cream cheese through her hair, and all of her was damp with lukewarm tea. Apparently it had.

That bitch had better start praying. She thought, her face more twisted into a snarl than it had been in weeks.

As Chiara stood, her chair screeched back as she stalked over to where the girl was lying. She had evidently tripped in some brat's spilled apple juice a few meters away. That was no excuse. She should have seen it. Or at least arrange for her tray full of flying table scraps landed in someone's hair. This was unacceptable.

Chiara squatted down, pulling the woman by the hair to look into her eyes. She absolutely was furious. "You have five minutes to convince me not to kill you," she hissed. This did not call for foul language. It called for using the knife she kept hidden in her boot. Ruining her blouse was serious shit.

[elizabethkirkland]

'B-bloody hell! What am I supposed to do?!' Elizabeth mentally panicked. How could she possibly get out of this? Lizzie at least wanted to be relatively unharmed. From the way this woman was acting Elizabeth assumed that she'd probably have some scratches. Hopefully. If she was lucky...

"I-I didn't mean to. It was an accident I swear. Some bloody fit spilt their drink and I didn't see it!" she stuttered. Lizzie mentally cursed her stutter. She couldn't believe that she was scared enough to stutter. She prided herself on not being afraid but this woman seriously intimidated her.

She quickly grabbed a few napkins and hastily shoved them in the infuriated woman's hands. Elizabeth took a few steadying breaths before continuing to explain, "I'm so sorry really, but I didn't mean to do this. Look how about I find a way to make his up to you? Maybe I can clean your shirt? Buy you a new one? I don't know what do you want?"

Elizabeth bit her lip as she waited for the snarling woman to answer back. She hoped it would be something like washing her shirt or even buying a replacement. Lizzie was scared that the woman might actually want to take out her weapon of choice and place it to her head. She silently prayed to any and every higher power that could possibly exist. Even the fairies.

[Chiara "Romana" Vargas]

This bitch doesn't shut up! Chiara thought, her scowl deepening. Was she really that scary on her own, or did her reputation precede her? The latter would make her day. However, she couldn't understand a word the woman said. It must have been the heavy accent. Chiara had no idea where she was from, but where ever it was, they talked fast and weird.

She was about to reach into her boot, and give this lady a new haircut, but then she noticed where she was. In a public place, at ten in the morning, surrounded by potential witnesses. There was no doubt she'd get caught for just threatening this girl, nonetheless hurt her. No one in the shop seemed to be panicking, and she was thankful just for that.

Angry that she couldn't hurt the woman, she pushed her away, and clutched the napkins in her fist. "Do not worry about it. It is fine," she nearly growled, dabbing at the cooling stain on her stomach. Yes, the blouse was ruined. But she wasn't going to jail, or being hanged. So, it was good enough.