14983/Being Respectful

Being Respectful
Date of Scene:	22 May 2023
Location:	Local Starbucsk #372.
Synopsis:	Cain meets Karen at a Starbucks. He's very respectful.
Cast of Characters:	Cain Marko, Karen Starr

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Cain Marko has posed:
Monday morning, everybodies favorite day and time. Wait, no. The opposite of that. After a restful night of not sleeping and wandering around the city, Cain Marko has made his way to Starbucks. Which one? Who knows. There's so many. Why is he going somewhere like this? Again, who knows. The towering, currently seven foot tall redhead is in normal clothes at the moment. A red tee and jeans. Big boots on his feet. Since it all actually fits him, more or less, they're probably not store bought. His sheer size and bulk make some other customers instinctively avoid him. The face like a generic movie thug doesn't help.

He's waiting in line currently, absently tapping his foot. He's not actually impatient or anything. But the person in front of him still seems to be hurrying up his ordering. Cain is staring at the menu, trying to figure out what some of the listed things actually are. Maybe checking if they have any decent donuts here. They're not as good as when he was younger, too small and too expensive. Rabble rabble, technically an old man.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen is not a Monday person. Or a morning person. Really, neither. She SHOULD be at work by now. But she was up stupidly late dealing with some clone problems, and even Kryptonians need to sleep. She walks in and ends up just behind Cain, and can't help but look at the broad back in front of him. That's a big, BIG guy. She's impressed, honestly. You don't see a lot of seven-foot-tall guys, and when you do, they're usually basketball lean, not super muscular. For her part, she's dressed for work, which means a white silk blouse and a grey pantsuit over it. Like Cain, probably not off the rack, because she can't exactly buy most things off the rack either.

    Starbucks doesn't usually do donuts. More into little pastries and confections, generally undersized and overpriced. But she can't see them at the moment, because of the wall-of-back in front of her. So she leans a bit off to Cain's side to try to look around, the blonde hair of that bob cut possibly showing up in his peripheral vision.

Cain Marko has posed:
     He's vaguely aware that somebody came up behind him, but doesn't care enough to look at first. He eventually notices a bit of blonde in the corner of his eye, and he glances her way briefly. Then he does a double take because, well. She's obviously very attractive. A thick brow perking. Then his eyes wander from her face and... uh. Well. He acts like probably most guys she sees every day act, at least until they remember she can see them. His eyes glued on her impressively tailored blouse. "Holy hell." The words are absently muttered to himself. Then he gives himself a shake. Probably unlike a lot of guys who are faced with that confident aura and honestly kind of intimidating attractiveness, he actually talks to her. "Hey. Good morning. Mondays, right?" His voice is a deep, rumbly bass. Not melodic or velvety or anything. Just low. He tries to raise his eyes to her face, to be respectful or whatever they call it these days. But he's never had the best impulse control, and his eyes keep on dipping back down to peek at her... tailoring.

Karen Starr has posed:
    She's honestly impressed at the start. Not with the look, but because he actually had the stones to talk to her. Most guys don't. Her eyes narrow just a touch as his eyes drop down, but only a touch. Honestly, she's used to it. And even in a fully buttoned blouse with a suit jacket over her torso, it's not like she can HIDE. So she manages to bite it back, and instead, there's only a little annoyance in her tone. "Mondays are never good." Of course, given the topic, it could be with the monday morning, too. The annoyance, that is. Since he's checking her out, she doesn't mind commenting "You are possibly the biggest guy I have seen in New York." Even among the super community, that's a big, big dude.

Cain Marko has posed:
     He eventually manages to maintain his gaze at above chest level, at least for longer periods of time. Maximum effort. If he notices the annoyance in her voice it doesn't seem to phase him. He nods his head. "Yeah. Even if you're not heading to work." The comment about his size makes him smile some at the tall but still much shorter blonde. "Yeah, I get told that a lot." He lightly scratches the side of his nose with a finger. Then he responds, "And you're the..." He wants to say something like 'Tallest woman I've seen'. But it's not really true. So with his tact and social finesse he finishes with, "Bustiest woman I think I've ever met." He stops for a few seconds. Then he adds, "Sorry. Sort of slipped out. I'm sure you got tired of that sorta thing from guys a long time ago." He looks her over again. Man, even her... assets aside, she is remarkably beautiful. "So, uh. You some sort of actress or model or somethin? If so I don't know what you've been in, sorry. My name is Cain, by the way." Then he offered a big hand to her for a shake, before moving up to place his order at the counter. He ends up getting.... multiple large coffees, and a high-stacked platefull of pastries. It comes to a lot.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen blinks. She actually blinks. Yes, she's used to guys checking her out. But there's almost always a guilt to it, or a subtlety. Not just literally bringing up the size of her chest in public. And at least he has the good tact to apologize right after. She laughs at the comment about her being an actress. "Are you kidding? Hollywood is allergic to breasts. They think a B cup is busty." She'll take his offered hand, and shakes it. It's a good, honest shake, not a dainty one. "Karen. Karen Starr. And I'm actually a businesswoman. CEO over at Starrware. It's a high-end R&D think tank." she explains.

As for his order, that's A LOT. But he's big. It's got to take a lot of calories to fuel it. She puts in her own order; a simpler caramel latte and one of those overpriced pastries.

Cain Marko has posed:
     Cain gives her a startled glance after she describes her business position. "Huh. Really? That's something." He looks from her to the various tables around the place then adds, "Wanna join me?" He gives her a broad grin. "I already showed my hand in thinking you're attractive, so figure I might as well ask." Whether she takes him up on it or not, he makes his way over to one of the larger tables. Pulling out the chair, he eyes it for a moment before carefully sitting in it. Once he determines it's not going to just collapse under his weight, he grunts a little then turns his attention back to her. "I guess you must be in the news a lot or something. Pretty sure I've seen you before somewhere." Why does he keep thinking that her hair should be black? Weird. While he's a bit further away from her, he checks out her legs as well.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Her legs are covered with the legs of the pantsuit. Though she has good hips and a nice bottom; the suit can't hide that. She shrugs her shoulders slightly, and then moves over to sit at the table with him, setting her little saucer and cup down. Definitely a blonde. Blue eyes, blonde hair. No dark roots. "Possible? I mean, you run into the weirdest people in New York." She tries to think if she might have run into him in her hero identity, but she's pretty sure she would have remembered a guy this big. "How about you? Wrestler?" He CLEARLY keeps in shape, so she figures it has to be something related to his size and mass. "Football?"

Cain Marko has posed:
     The giant mercenary leans back in his seat. "Oh, I do private security for folks. When they need some extra muscle to keep somewhere or somebody safe. You know. Pays pretty good. Though not CEO good." It might be silly, but he suddenly wonders if she's a metahuman. It seems like all female metahumans are absurdly attractive. Though she could just be a normal tall, curvy, nearly visually perfect young CEO.... that's a strange thought to have. "I haven't played football since college." He grins over at her. "I bet you were a cheerleader or something back when you went to school." It was hard to imagine somebody better built for it after all.

Karen Starr has posed:
    "You must make good money." She acknowledges. "Just looking at you is probably enough to scare off anyone from even thinking about trouble." As for being a cheerleader...well, she was in her twenties by the time she got to Earth, so no cheerleading. But she doesn't mind lying to maintain her secret identity. "A little bit. Just high school stuff. Then off to college and a business degree." She considers a moment, and takes a bite of her pastry, and a sip of her latte. "Got a business card?" She can think of some cases where it would help to have a visually dissuasive bodyguard.

Cain Marko has posed:
     Cain smiles a bit. "Good enough. I'm a simple guy. Don't need to buy boats and paintings and stuff. So I get by." Football playing, and cheerleading, were very different when he was in school! You wouldn't have seen any girls wearing pants like her for instance. Then a server shows up with his food and drinks, and he picks up a pastry, popping it while into his mouth. He chews a few times, then pauses at the question from her. Huh. He's not actually a bodyguard. He, you know. Hurts people and steals things. But... nothing that says he couldn't do that sort of work, right? "Sure. You know, if you want my number you can just ask. I get lotsa ladies curious about a guy my size." He winks at the blonde Kryptonian, not that he knows what she is, and produces a card from somewhere. It's pretty simple. His name, his number. No mention of what he actually does. He slides it over the table to her.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen looks amused. "You know, I get lots of guys curious about a woman /my/ size." She echoes back with a slightly amused smirk. She takes the card, and slides it into her purse. By now, of course, she's mostly finished her pastry, and so she pops the last bite in her mouth, before standing and taking her latte. "It was nice to meet you, Cain. If I have any work for you, I'll give you a call. Or maybe I'll just call you anyway." She's not She-Hulk as far as the sleeping around, but he's got this weird combo of rough-around-the-edge and honest. "Keep an eye on your phone." If nothing else, maybe she'll text him her number.