“Great?” Enfys offered, and Gem nodded exuberantly, lips pinched in a tight line as he hummed.
“Mhm, so… great.”
“Gem?” Rusty said, and several small eyes swiveled in his direction.
“Yes, Rus?” he asked, large eyes locked on the Lepid.
“Are you gonna let me take her order?”
“Of course,” he said, another deranged grin slashing across his face. “There’s nothing in this dimension I want more than that, so I’ll just get out of your way.” He gestured vaguely toward the espresso machine. “I’ll be right over there. And you two will be here while Rusty takes your order. Purposely and voluntarily.”
Enfys nodded slowly, her proboscis dancing along her small teeth. “Great.”
Another manic titter from Gem. “So great.”
“I thought you were going on your break,” Rusty asked, and Gem’s hand on his shoulder tightened again, nearly making him wince.
“I have to clean the espresso machine first.”
“But you just cleaned it,” Rusty said, and the look Gem leveled on him sent a genuine thrill of terror through his veins.
“Then I guess I missed a part.” Gem pinched the notch in his ear. Firmly. “So I’m gonna go take care of that right now. Is that a problem?”
“No,” Rusty whispered, and Gem patted the top of his head before he turned on his heels and stalked back to the espresso machine.
Oliver scrambled out of the way in alarm, taking refuge against the back counter. He exchanged a look of bewilderment with Rusty, who could only manage a slight shake of his head and a half-shrug in return. He had no idea what had gotten the Araknis pissed off, but he wasn’t going to get in his way. Gem could be scary when he wanted to be.
“Uh, so that’s Gem,” Rusty said, and Enfys pressed several fingers of her upper right hand to her mouth. “He’s normally really friendly.”
With a cock of her head, she watched Gem grab the portafilter, carry it to the trash can, then practically beat the thing against the lip of plastic. “I’ll take your word for it.”
“No, really. He is. Usually,” Rusty said as Gem shook a piece of metal free from the machine and banged it against the counter. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”
“I think he was just marking his territory,” she said as she propped herself on her lower elbows.
Rusty blinked. “What?”
Confused herself, she studied him a moment before understanding dawned. “Oh, gods, you poor, oblivious thing.” She placed a hand on hiswrist, like she was comforting someone after a great loss, and something clattered violently from Rusty’s right, making him jump.
Gem had cleaned that damn espresso machine every day for six years, and Rusty had never once heard him make this amount of noise while doing it.
“Anyway,” Rusty said, moving his hand out from under the Lepid’s. “What can I get for you?”
Enfys placed her order—sans drink, which Rusty figured was probably a good idea—and he pulled out his wallet and shoved enough bills into the register to cover it. More metallic rattling from Gem grated on Rusty’s ears, but he ignored it as best he could.
“You heading home or do you have another business meeting?” Rusty asked to pass the time as the kitchen worked on Enfys’s food.
“Oh, I’m—”
The coffee grinder spurred to life, cutting her off, and she waited until it fell silent before she tried again.
“I’m off—”
Once again, the coffee grinder clattered, and as one, she and Rusty slowly turned toward Gem. All eight of his eyes were locked on Enfys, and with an overtly guileless smile, he said, “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I interrupt you?”
The moment she opened her mouth to respond, he engaged the coffee grinder a third time.
“Gem!” Rusty barked, and the Araknis shifted the attention of one eye to him.
