♄ Zhou Li Chen ♄
◂ Location ➵ Charlie's Cafe | Mentions ➵ Elowyia and Tema (Susan)▸
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◂ Location ➵ Charlie's Cafe | Mentions ➵ Elowyia and Tema (Susan)▸
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Leo smiled at Tema as she made the kind offer, thrilled to see that someone else liked giving out free food. That meant less money getting taken off of his paycheck. Leo often gave out freebies to friends, but it was also protocol to give a free replacement if someone dropped their drink or meal. Most cafes didn't do that, but Charlie's personally catered to the needs of its customers, which is what made Leo fall in love with the place. When he was younger, he had dropped a whole tray full of food that was meant for him, Bruno, and Max, and they had given him an extra of everything with no charge. Within days, Leo was standing at the counter with a large smile and a filled out application he somehow pulled out of the air. Even to this day, no one knows how he got it.
He turned his attention back to Elowyia as she began talking, smiling softly with amusement as she stumbled over her words, the woman being clearly on the shy side. He gave her a small nudge, which looked a little comical considering their gaping size difference. "Anything for a friend." He hummed, giving her his lopsided smile; his real one. And he meant what he said. He barely knew the girl, but she was sweet, and Leo felt himself caring for her more than he should. Usually if a customer got spilled on, he'd offer them some paper towels or send them to wash themselves off. After all, he was the cashier, not their mom. He followed Elowyia's pointing finger to the display, nodding as he saw the muffins. "Those are really good. Susan doesn't do much baking, but she always insists on making these ones." He stopped and put his hands on his hips, lifting one to point at the display before putting it back down. "Did you know Mirabelle bakes our chocolate chip cookies? I can bake them about as well as her, but there's just something about her cookies. You can taste the love, they taste just like home! Or the one you should have had, anyways." He started off talking passionately, but seemed to wilt a bit at the end. Nonetheless, he threw up a smile, moving around the counter at Tema's nod.
He opened up the display and grabbed a few, putting them in a bag. "Just pay for the first one, the rest are on me." He said, putting them down on the counter. Since Tema just put the money down, Leo took it and opened the cash register, not feeling bothered to announce her total; she could look a the receipt, if she wished. "Hold on, hun." He called to Elowyia. "I'll get those socks." He turned around and disappeared into the back, walking through the kitchen to knock on the office door. At a call from inside, he opened the door, peeking in to see Susan at the desk, reading through some papers. "Sorry, just getting socks." He said quietly, scuttling over to the closet to search for a pair. He turned over the socks before settling for the smallest pair. Most of them were specifically brought for Susan and Leo. Perhaps a part-timer had left this smaller pair. Leo waved bye to Susan and left quickly before she could question his choice of such a small pair, which surely were't for him. Leo couldn't even fit them on his hands, but his were just uncharacteristically big. He made his way back to the counter, briefly wondering when he would be able to get back to baking. "Catch." He said, tossing the socks to Elowyia. As he did so, he looked over her head, his eyes on the busy street. "Hey, the hunt's starting." He muttered, crossing his arms and leaning on the display as he watched the busy activity in the streets. Now that he thought about it, it'd certainly be more fun to be outside in the woods rather than the small kitchen. Leo always had trouble with cramped spaces d to his large size.

