That evening, Lukas was doing his job making coffee when an annoying scent came in. One of the girls behind the counter looked to Lukas. "Hey I know you're on prep but can you take over for us? That slime ball keeps trying to badly flirt with all us girls." One of the other girls nodded.

 "Yeah, he started about 3 months ago. We thought he had a girlfriend and then he started flirting with us instead of just getting his to go coffees..." Mel had mentioned Cain had met her family about 3 or 4 months prior.

"Sure." He starts to take over and pauses a moment. Better to be safe... "Hey, could I please have a small coffee later for switching?"

"Sure thing. I'll give you mine."

Lukas smiles. "Oh, and for a cookie, I'll tell you later how to get him to stop flirting with you..." He turns back to the counter with a much more fake smile.

Cain came up and looked to Lukas and scoffed. "Great, you work here too? Where's Betty? I wanted to say hello..." He peeked around Lukas a bit.

"Welcome to Earthen Cups, home of the best artisanal coffee in the state. What can our caffeine artists make for you today, Sir?"

He sighed. "Fine, gimme a Supernio half caf, 3 shots of mocha, 3 of caramel, room for 3 creams, and 2 sugar.

"Certainly." Lukas puts in his order. "That will be $7.95." He slammed the money down and went to wait. He flopped in one of the chairs looking annoyed. When his order was ready, Lukas made sure to be the one to hand it over. "Here's your drink, Sir. Enjoy." He was going to leave it at that, knew that ignoring who the jerk is and treating him like every other customer would probably really annoy him. Still.... he couldn't resist. "I'm surprised you're well off enough to be a regular here even though you can't afford to pay your own bills... You really should pay that mortgage before your house is foreclosed..."

He glared at him. “The mortgage was paid this month thanks. And what I spend my money on isn’t your concern.”

"Oh, I know. I was there when she wrote the check.... But soon enough she's going to stop covering for you. You can't expect someone to not eventually move on when you're the one who rejected her. It was impossible for her to leave you, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to get over you after you're the one who leaves..."

“Humph. We are selling the place. I'm not worried.”

"Not if it forecloses before it sells. Then it belongs to the owner of the loan.... I highly suggest you pay next month's mortgage. At this rate, she's not going to be able to afford doing it by herself for much longer."

“Foreclosure can take months... you can’t force anything”

"Oh, for sure, a lowly coffee shop employee like me can't do anything, but... there's no guarantee that your loan holder won't use their legal rights to rush the process if they aren't getting their money quick enough. I've heard of banks forcing families out of their homes within only one or two months of missing payments..."

“Unless you made her check disappear...”

"Well, now, that's an idea.... You really are dumb to be suggesting things I can do to cause your downfall..."

“Then I’ll have witnessed you threatened me.”

"Oh? And when did I threaten you? Sure I called you dumb for giving ideas to someone you have probably figured out doesn't like you, but I never even implied I would stoop to such stupid levels as to take that suggestion... No one is going to believe that I threatened you."

He glared again and left. A few people who didn’t like him clapped.

"So... about that cookie for information...."

She grinned and handed over 3. “You chased him out, you get extra.”

Lukas accepts them gratefully. "Okay, so it's really simple. Guy's a huge racist, kicked his fiancee out because he found out she's got some orc and goblin in her family tree. In other words, if he keeps bothering you and you start dropping hints you've got any race he finds lesser in your bloodline, he should lose interest. Orc and goblin are both obviously on his list, he likes human and elves though so don't use those."

She nodded. “Got it but... goblin? He’s gonna die soon then isn’t he?”

"Not unless he tries to get in contact with her... She's a small enough percentage that there should be ways to... sidestep certain instincts. She finds out next week if it worked."

“Sounds good... hope she does ok. So... he really had a girl this whole time?”

"Wedding was already planned and paid for, all by her of course, though a lot of it was in his name. He met her family around three or four months ago and when she tried to make up for him getting more distant, he kicked her out. Still making her pay all his bills too."

“..... so why isn’t she killing him again? He is scum...” she sighed. “Well back to work. You gonna let her know what happend?”

"Nope. She said the less she thinks about him, the more likely what she did will work. He deserves to live to suffer through what comes from his poor choices."

She nodded. “Alright. You must be really sweet on her to do all this.”

"Nah, it's just in my best interest for her to stay mentally and emotionally healthy." He turns to the coworker. "I'm guessing you probably already figured out what I am by now....? If so, you can likely figure out why."

“I wasn’t gonna say anything. Seemed rude. And it’s not that uncommon. The coffee shop other side of town has a minor demon that runs the express machine.”

"Yeah, coffee shops are surprisingly happy places and the coffee does a good job covering the remaining scents... Less temptation to make bigger deals."

“Well still glad we have you. The rush is about to hit. We better get moving...”  Lukas nods and gets back to work. The rest of his shift passes without incident.