[hr][i][h1][color=FFD700]Asuma Obokata[/color].[/h1][/i][sub][/sub][hr]
[i][u]Greencrest Heights, White Coast.[/u][/i]

The smell of coffee and freshly made pastries clung in the air, the breeze was mild, and the sun seemed to breathed some extra colour into the autumn leaves which littered the ground. It was a beautiful morning for this time of year, and Asuma was happy to soak up some sunlight (rather literally) as he made his way to ’Thanks a Latte’ to pick-up his phone. It was his day off work, but he couldn’t spend another 48-hours without his phone. Besides, he didn’t actually mind a coffee every now and then when he wasn’t the one making it. 

“Hey! Watch it!” came a sudden yell from an irate, balding, middle-aged man as he was nearly taken off his feet by a couple of passing skaters. Not willing to give chase, the suited man merely waved his brief case around in anger, as if the small leather container would somehow put the fear of god into them. Asuma, who was walking in the opposite direction, simply just smirked at the spectacle and gave no notice as the aforementioned skaters zoomed past himself. Skaters were a fairly common site around Greencrest and the White Coast in general, yet a growing number of people seemed to be viewing them as a nuisance. Asuma was not one of these people. Although he’d never so much as stepped foot on a board, he found them interesting to watch. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t see any skaters around when he was living back up in Alaska so it was still a relatively new thing to him. 

“They’re almost as bad as those damn meta-humans!” Someone else added, causing Asuma’s mood to suddenly drop. Rather than get himself into a confrontation, Asuma simply clenched his fists inside his pockets and carried on with an exacerbated sigh. It seemed that he couldn’t go one day in this city without hearing some anti-metahuman sentiment. Although it was something he’d learned to expect, it certainly wasn’t something he could accept. Feeling like most of the people around you hated you or were scared of you because the way you were born – it was isolating and devastating. Sure metahumans were dangerous, but then so were regular humans. 

Casting his frustration aside, Asuma increased his pace to the ever-nearing coffee shop, reaching the glass door just as his co-worker Jennifer strolled out. He gave her a smile and a little wave but she didn’t appear to notice him, much to his embarrassment. For a moment he stood in the doorway and looked back to her, his eyes looking to the back of her blonde hair before briefly trailing down to her shapely bottom. He certainly thought she was attractive, but had only shared a few words with her due to them being on completely different shift patterns. He wondered whether their boss intentionally avoided having two metahumans on the same shift – it’d certainly make sense to given the tensions at the moment. Rather than standing there and staring at her like a creep, Asuma continued inside and was instantly greeted by cheeky grin. “Hey, what’s up Rexx?” Asuma said with a little nod as he approached the counter. 

“It’s all goo-“ Rexx started before immediately being cut-off by their boss, Kenny. 

“Asuma! Get behind the counter, I need you to work!” he ordered without so much as a hint of humour in his tone. Kenny was a stocky, roundish man in his late forties. His grey hair was badly receding and what was left was somewhat messy and untamed. Despite expecting the highest standards of cleanliness and discipline from his staff, Kenny’s clothing was often the dirtiest, often with various coffee stains and mysterious marks. He certainly wasn’t a bad guy - he was very tolerant, he paid a fair wage, and he was understanding of personal problems – but he was definitely a grumpy individual. Rexx always commented that he looked like a bulldog eating a wasp. 

“[i]haha[/i] good one, but I’m fine enjoying my day off.” Replied Asuma jovially, desperately hoping that Kenny was just being deadpan. 

“I’m not joking. Jennifer's had to leave early so I’m short on staff. Get back here.” Kenny barked as he began scrambling for something under the counter. 

“But I-“ Assuma only got two words into his objection before he was hit in the face by an apron. He made no attempt to remove it, and instead just stood there defeated for a few seconds. “Uuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… it’s not fair.” he moaned as he began walking round the counter, the brown apron still wrapped round his head. The low pitched wailing was loud enough to catch the attention of a couple of customers, who only briefly turned their heads before going back to their coffees and phones. 

“If it makes you feel better, you’re welcome to come with me and a couple of mates to the Harvest Festival after work?” Rexx offered as he was preparing the next customers drink. 

“Sure. Maybe I’ll finally get drunk enough to quit this job…”