[mingle log] Working In Paradise

[kokuyoyo]

Who: Anyone visiting or working at the Lazarus Bell Cafe
What: The Cafe's grand opening!
When: December 1
Where: Lazarus Bell Cafe

After a month of carefully preparing everything, the cafe is finally having its grand opening! And since it's a Saturday, that means it's fully staffed and hopping.

Whatever the weather might be like outside, it's perfectly arm and toasty inside of the cafe itself... Although some people on the outside dining areas might like that chill. Or perhaps they're simply looking for a table that's not filled to the brim. Either way, it does't matter. After all, the menu has been updated for the winter season!

There are all sorts of things available for customers: peppermint hot chocolate, elderberry-ginger tea, and turmeric-black tea brew, among other things. Of course, there's also the old favorites that are being brought from the demo cafe that happened during the Flower Festival, so don't worry! You're still free to buy that lavender cake you like so much.

Of course, for the people working during all this, it might not be as easy but hey....

Comments

[hachitaro]

Taro hates working. He really, truly does. Still, he's managed to drag himself out of bed and to the Cafe, because if nothing else it'll give him a lot more people to meet.

A

Taro can be found flitting from table to table, taking orders and running them to the kitchen. He's quick, and he's got a charming smile, even keeping it when there's a customer or two who has a complain.

Of course, maybe a customer - or coworker - doesn't like how lightly he seems to be taking some of the complaints, but at least he's getting things done...

B

... Of course, Taro only has so much patience. And, for that matter, so much energy. Sometimes a guy just needs to crash.

It would probably be better if he's not napping on top of some of the much-needed supplies, though. How is he comfortable like that? It's a mystery.

B

[kokuyoyo]

On one hand, it's not as if Chikusa isn't sympathetic. He, too, would like to just crumple on the floor and go to sleep forever. It'd be nice. He could ignore work that way.

But on the other hand....

Enjoy that foot nudging into you, Taro. "I need those..." Yeah. He's not bothering sleep as a manager, he's doing it for his own primary job.

[hachitaro]

Taro cracks an eye open and looks at Chikusa. "Muh."

He rolls over onto the floor. This is Fine. "I didn't think there'd be so many people here today..."

[kokuyoyo]

"It'll slow." It better fucking slow. "But first time openings..." Or something like that.

For the time being, Chikusa just allows this since it makes stepping on Taro easier. "There's an actual staff room on the second floor."

B

[lovelledup]

Gladion found Chikusa falling asleep in random places when they were setting this place up, and now he's gone back to the storage area and finds Taro asleep on top of the stacks of utensil boxes he was going to go open. Sleeping on top of boxes of forks really cannot be comfortable... but that's beside the point. He sighs with exasperation.

"Not you too."

[hachitaro]

Taro looks up at Gladion, stretching. "What? ... I'm tired."

[lovelledup]

He gives him a frustrated look. "So is everyone."

A

[de_light]

At least one of his patrons is both very familiar and unlikely to complain about much of anything under the circumstances. He's actually impressed at how well things are running, considering he's been aware of some of the setup and how much work the students put in. He smiles back when Kei gets to his order.

"An elderberry-ginger tea and a piece of the lavender cake, please."

[hachitaro]

Oh. Great. He keeps a smile plastered on his face as he writes down the order. "Of course. Would you like anything else with that, or should I go and take this order back for you now?"

[de_light]

He can tell Kei isn't entirely happy to see him. And he's not really surprised by that, all things considered. The way there's only the slightest shift in his expression and he keeps the smile is... commendable for a waiter, probably.

"That's all for now."

A

[megacurious]

[After hearing the cafe's grand opening, he can't help but visit it not only to try out their menu but also meet up some familiar and new faces in the process. If someone approaches after he took a seat, he gave a small smile on his way to greet him.]

Hello. Do you happen to have a green tea?

[hachitaro]

[Ah. He smiles a little bit at Sycamore.]

We do. Would you like anything with your tea today?

[megacurious]

[He would try a pastry or a meal. But for now, a calming tea would be good. But just in case...]

Croissant if you have some.

[kokuyoyo]

A - On The Clock

Chikusa has wisely decided that he's not the type to be out and about serving people. Even if he does his best to go along with what he recalls of Ciro's memories and mannerisms, he's still going to inevitably be too blunt with someone or another. And all that constant smiling? Shoot him, please.

So instead, any other workers can find him in the kitchen with his short hair pulled back and an apron tied around his neck and waist. Despite how sleepy looking he seems to be at any given time- in fact, he still looks like he's half asleep right now- Chikusa still apparently keeping up surprisingly well with all the orders that are coming in.

Still, he could use a hand.... Or are you here just to come give him more orders to whip up?

B - Break time

Even though it's entering the winter season, Chikusa can still be found outside slumped back into a chair and his long legs stretched out before him. The apron is nowhere to be found; no one can recognize him as an employee to be bothered this way. His fingers are curled around a warm mug of something or other, but he's not drinking it right away. Instead, slowly, he blows out some warm breath of his own and watches as it disperses.

It doesn't seem like he's doing anything right now...

C - Clean Up

It's been a successful day, probably. At least, Chikusa hopes so, if only to keep this ruse running for a nice long while. Since he's technically the manage of this place, it's up to him to help close out before night can fall and curfew can take place.

Still, while it's close to closing.... Is that another person coming through the doors? Is that one lingering for too long?

Excuse the.... very focused if dull eyed stare that's coming your way as the teenager over there helps clean the counters...

D - Wildcard

[As the manager, Chikusa can also be bothered if someone is having issues, so feel free to harass him at any given point in time. Also, other workers are free to bother him in the back room. If ANY of this doesn't appeal, feel free to approach me with anything and I'll usually go along with it!]

A

[lovelledup]

Gladion started off trying to be a server. Not because he wanted to but because they needed one. Now? He'll be lucky if he doesn't yell at someone or punch them or something and he has thankfully found someone else to switch positions with. Though now that he's finished with the immediate task that person had been working on, he finds himself at a loss for what to do next.

"Do you need help back here?"

[kokuyoyo]

"Yes." There's the dull cracking noise of an egg hitting the edge of a counter top. "But I don't want anything to get messed up..." This isn't a point of professional pride for Chikusa or anything. Honestly, he could care less what his so-called customers think. However, if he ruins something, that just means he'll have to make it all over again.... Effort. Annoying, annoying effort.

Still, as he prepares some things, he at least glances over in Gladion's direction. "....Could you do simple things?"

[lovelledup]

Given his mood, he has to try not to bristle at the implication that he would mess something up. He knows Chikusa doesn't mean it that way, but it's a sort of thing he heard too many times from Skull grunts being all high and mighty about how he wasn't one of them. He just nods to the question.

"When I lived alone," he catches himself there and adds, "before this place," to clarify he's talking about the real memories and not the fake life, "I used to cook for myself. I don't know how you're making everything here, but I can handle it." As long as he knows what he's supposed to be doing, he'll be fine.

[singlefaith]

A. Ran's strength is in her cooking and baking skills, so she's taken over the cake and cookie-making for the moment. Both seem to be flying out the door, so it's mostly been all she can do to keep up, letting Chikusa handle the regular cooking.

She can probably be found in the back area of the kitchen where she can spread out, away from the prep area for the rest of the food so that there's no cross-contamination. She's busy, hands tapping an egg there, dashing flour into a measuring cup (though seeming assured enough not to look at it too carefully), working the mixer.

She actually seems to be enjoying herself, though -- there's a small smile that hasn't quite left, and you might occasionally catch her humming. There are smudges of flour all over her, including on her nose.

Catch her at a busy moment, or when it's starting to calm down a little.

B. With all the work that's gone into getting the cafe ready functionally, not as much effort has gone into the decor yet, and that's something that Ran intends to change. Camped out at a table in the corner, Ran is busy cutting snowflakes for the windows in different colors of paper -- white and silver, blues and purples. A boxed tangle of lights -- mostly white -- sit on the seat across from her.

A

[transient_specter]

Makoto's strengths are neither in cooking nor in serving people, so he's been mostly working on hauling things around. For the moment though he... has nothing to haul, so he wanders over to Ran's area. His hands are at least clean - he'd had that drilled into his head, to wash his hands any time he was in the kitchen and not the storeroom - which is good because he immediately puts his hands on the table where she's working, looking at what she's doing with curiosity.

... He knows she's baking something, but what exactly it is, he's not sure.

[singlefaith]

Ran's just finishing up some spiced molasses cookies as he comes over, polishing off the last bit of glaze by drizzling it over the cookies. She glances up as she senses another presence near the table, her smile immediate as she recognizes who it is. "Makoto-san."

"You can try one if you want -- the glaze just hasn't set yet."

B

[mirrors_wish]

Yui has been working on tea orders for the past couple of hours, and now that she's finally on her break, she sees the hard work Ran's doing.

"Oh, that looks great!"

[singlefaith]

Ran glances up mid-cut and smiles. "I thought it might make it feel more festive. And home-like."

A mental sweatdrop and a nod towards the box of lights. "I'm not looking forward to untangling those, though. I thought we could hang them from the midpoint of the ceiling to the corners and it would be pretty, but I'm not sure when anyone last tried to untangle them."

[fourstars]

Kyle hadn't been sleeping well in the last few days. Between the headaches, and the cryptic clues on his phone, he was a bit on edge lately, and unsure what to do about it. The orange app was at the forefront of his mind, especially given the weird name he typed into it. Nevermind the fact that he had no control over himself at the time, or that the clues had started the moment that app installed itself.

Just what kind of name was 'Gohan Son' in the first place, anyway?

It sounded so dumb, it had to be fake. But then, he typed it, so where did he come up with it? Did he just type random words into his phone, without thinking about it? Or was there something else at work? It was frustrating to think about, especially given he didn't want to deal with it. But every day he ignored it, it only further picked away at him.

That was part of why he was outside, walking along the sidewalk. He usually preferred being indoors, but today he just... didn't feel like it. Maybe some fresh air would help. That's what people usually said, right? Then again, he was getting pretty hungry, so... maybe he should have some lunch.

He walked into the cafe, on impulse. The first place he saw when he looked up, which looked to be pretty busy. As such, he slid over to the first open table he could find, quickly sitting down. He'd order some food eventually, but... maybe he could wait until the place cleared out a bit.

[singlefaith]

They've all had to default back to their personas here throughout the day with the stream of customers coming through -- which means remembering two sets of names and making sure not to slip at the very least. For Ran, it means eliminating the honorifics as well, fighting the ingrained urge to tack them on and trying to resist the inner voice that fusses at her for being at best intimate, and at worst, completely rude. Sometimes she finds herself biting off the syllables, trying to pretend that nothing happened.

At least it's a little easier with people she's never known by any other name -- as it is with Kyle, who her memories of life here tell her she's lived next door to for almost as long as she can remember. Menu and tray in hand, she heads in his direction with a smile . . .

And stops short, eyes widening, when she sees the symbol over his head.

Kyle is Unawakened. Unawakened, and close to becoming Awakened, granted that he can gain enough dissonance with his memories of this place and Awaken his Persona. Ran can feel the anxiety sit like a cold, leaden pit in her stomach . . . though she can't deny it's better to be Awakened, the process of it . . .

Her duty to the Unawakened is clear, though: Help create that dissonance if she can -- help Awaken if she needs to. She does her best to pull her smile back, resuming her path back in that direction. Hopefully he didn't see.

"Mm, can I get you anything?"

Never mind that she's still holding onto the menu.

[secretmakesawoman]

[After watching this cafe project progress, "Christina" was looking forward to seeing the finished result. Despite the weekend rush, she makes her way into the cafe, determined to see how the first day goes.]

[Once she finds a seat, she settles in and watches the crowd. Anyone she recognizes, staff or visitors, will get a smile and wave.]