This thread is permanently archived
(Setting) G&K CafeBar
| >Being a relatively small cafe, it only features a couple of tables and a counter. Sleepy mafioso guard sits sipping his coffee in the corner near the exit.
>Behind the counter stands the young woman in chocolate apron over black suit. Her waist long, chestnut color hair was put in a ponytail. Soft smile on her face made her deep, green eyes seem even deeper.
>Her fingers occasionaly graze over the thin scar on her left temple, preparing the order for the lilim in front of her.
| >A charming addition to the cafe interior, a young girl in the waitress uniform is washing dishes in the kitchen corner, stealing glances at the owner chatting with the lilim guest. Her bright red eyes shine in the hall's twilight, and shoulder blade length, fluffy blond hair is tied into tail with a big green ribbon.
| >>582754
> Fox continues from where he left off, the music still playing in the background that brought him back to New Philly
"America is a weird place! Like, I was first deployed there and it's where I grew up, but it's still super weird to me"
| >John walks in to the cafe, wearing sunglasses, quietly taking a seat at one of the tables.
>His usually clean suit now has a noticeable upgrade. A bullet proof vest.
| >Another John appears with albeit orange hue, walking over to the normal John.
>Hopefully Boonie and Minerva followed...
| >>583034
"This… reminds me of home."
> Minerva's attention was immediately taken by the decor of the cafe. It's as though John knows what she needs right now: a mind off from the issue.
| >>582772
"Your Mint Crème Iced Coffee, mr. Ayanami." — >Mina finally puts Fox's order in front of him,
— "What do you mean by weird? I guess I could say the same about Glitch, but I have a strong feeling our city is just... weird in general." — >The bartender woman says with a bit of sadness in her voice.
| >>582862 >>583034 >>583036 >>583120
>The waitress girl manifests herself by their table, four menu books, signature of the cafe, in her hands, which she immediately lands on the table. It is anyone's guess when did she make her way all the way from the kitchen corner to the table, and at what point did she pick up the menus.
"Welcome to G&K." — >The red-eyed blonde says, making a step back from the table to give the customers some room — and immediately vanishing.
| >>583120
"Home, hm?"
> Bonnie tips her head in interest.
>>583128
"She.. She was lovely. Wasn't she, John?
| >>583127
> Fox takes a few sips from his drink, looking very happy once he's done.
"sugoi! Thanks! Anyway, maybe I just think it's weird since I never got to see much in America besides the Lab of my caretaker and the few districts in downtown that allowed Lilim to work in... are you okay? You seem down?"
| >>583165
>Mina smiles and shakes her head slightly.
"No, I'm alright. It's just, well, you know how this city is. Sometimes I, myself, am not sure whether I love it or hate it."
| >>583168
"Oh right, hasn't your bloodline been in Glitch City for a while? I guess you would know this city better than I ever could. In that sense... souka... gomen."
>He rubs the back of his nervously, feeling as though he said something that might not be socially okay for the converesation
| >>583131
"Scary is the word I'd use. Who else do you know that sneaky?"
>John says, but it takes you a second to realise which one. The hologram John dissipates in to a small drone, which flys in to John's arm, and John takes off his sunglasses.
>>583120
"I know, the owner is pretty nice aswell. Your mom would love the real paper menus they use here."
>John picks one of the menus up browsing it
| >>583186
"She loves papers, but more for the strange tablets. What would you call them, John? An… epitaph? No, never mind."
> Minerva mimicked John, taking the menu despite having no idea what any of the menu items would mean to her.
| >>583187
"I really hope you don't mean gravestones... Anyway, what are you going to get, kiddo?"
>John raises an eyebrow to Minerva's question. She really is just like her mom...
| >>583186 >>583187
>The menu books in question are nothing short of a work of art. Squeaky clean leather covers hide within pages made of natural paper. Every item on the menu is written by hand with careful and tasteful pensmanship to every letter — and thus every menu is slightly different.
>The contents of the menus are divided into four categories: hot meals, cold meals, salads and drink.
| >Interestingly enough, "Alcohol" page has a note at the bottom, saying that only two alcoholic drinks are to be served to a person per day.
| >>583177
>Mina simply smiles in responce, her hand slowly reaching towards Fox and landing on his head.
"Don't worry about it. Mina is a big girl now, she's gonna be okay."
| >>583186
"Maybe that Elliott, gal. Otherwise, no."
> She sighs, leaning against the counter and contemplating the
| >>583193
"I hear the hot chocholate is good here... Speaking of, what's Elliott up to these days?"
| >>583194
"Oo~ That's a good choice."
> She looks to John more prominently.
"She seems.. Fine? Last I talked to her she was prepping for surgery at her own house."
| >>583195
"Oh that's fair enou- what? Why is she getting surgery?"
>John puts down the menu, confused about sudden surgery.
| >>583196
"Has she not been social since we were gone?"
> Bonnie looks concerned.
"She's getting one of those chips, like an extension for god knows whatever the consumer wants. Their was a thread, even.. They're taking cookies."
| >>583192
> Fox immediately perks up and smiles wide. There’s an odd pulse under Mina’s hand, almost as if he had ears matching his namesake. He feels at ease
“You’re right! Thank you Mina-san, for the drink!! It’s so good”
> Fox takes another drink, letting the mint soothe him
“Oh! That reminds me, how have things been here lately?”
| >>583200
>Mina pulls her hand back to lean on it:
"Well, if you're talking about the cafe, recently we have been getting more customers than usual. To be expected of the Central District, I guess, but honestly — I prefer when it's quiet here. Besides, less customers means better service." — >She winked,
— "I doubt we could be talking like this with a cafe full of people. This is why I liked our place in Downtown."
| >The musicbox in the corner clicks and switches the song, now playing "All Along the Watchtower".
| >>583201
“Oh yeah. I like people a lot but sometimes it’s just nice to have some quiet with good friends. But maybe this will mean better things later on. I haven’t gotten any jobs from the Family, so I can only guess that it’s a good thing”
| >>583189
"I will take… a hot chocolate. These confuses me to no end, and I rather have something I know well."
> Minerva declares as she puts down the menu.
| >>583204
"The Family is, well..." — >Mina grabs a random glass to polish with a towel,
— "With the situation in Downtown being what it is, we had to slow down a little. Triads are probably jumping with joy right now. But this is our city. We will find the way. Eventually. In the mean time, doubles?" — >She puts on her usual smile.
| >>583208
“Sure! Why not!!”
> Fox finishes his drink and flashes a giant grin, ready for the next drink
| >>583206
"Svetlana, 2 hot chochlates and what will you have Bonnie?"
>John turns to Minerva, pulling out the US coin from before.
"So I didn't really understand what this coin is, you said it was significant?"
| >>583224
"Another Hot chocolate."
> She watches the conversation off, scrolling the matrix in the back of her head whilst doing so.
| >>583224
"Ah! That is a piece of Perusna. Indeed, I think it is. My eye could discern it, definitely!"
> Minerva answered giddily. Her eye was reacting to the mere sight of the coin, particularly, one of her right — which glows in a similar way to Uni's.
"It's the piece that attracts Freedom! Or takes it. I was never veritable remembering Mother's words."
| >>583227
"Huh. You also mentioned some other names in the bar? are they family?"
>John twirls the coin in his hands, playing with it.
| >>583224 >>583225
"Three hot chocolates for this table." — >Svetlana's voice comes from behind Bonnie's shoulder. It takes her exactly the amount of time it takes a normal person to turn around, to manifest herself in the kitchen corner and start working on the order.
| >>583209
>While Svetlana keeps up her usual antics, Mina gets to making Fox his second iced coffee.
| >>583229
"Name? I… don't recall."
> Minerva tries to remember, though even without second-guessing, one can see she is not the best in memorising anything.
"—But Perusna is Mother's throne! No, she is proud of it. It has, uhm, everything. It has everything she never wanted too!"
| >>583235
"So why did your mom give me a piece of the throne..."
>John keeps pondering the thought...
"What about other pieces?"
| >>583237
"S-Sorry for an interruption, but.. If that coin coming from Uni is special, is.. Perhaps, is the one she gave to Kaz worth anything?"
> Bonnie pipes up, curious as to making additions to the mystery.
| >>583239
"And yet there are piece around? And what do you mean acended?"
>John only becomes prepetually confused...
>>583254
"Wait, when did Uni give Kaz the coin?"
>John's anxious fiddling of the coin stops.
| >>583256
"Not that one, another one. A gold on, that glowed n' stuff. I've got a picture..."
> Johns phone buzzes in his pocket, sent straight from her memory bank.
| >>583257
"I… remember a gold coin. It's a coin Mother trusts dearly!"
> Minerva adds before turning to John.
>>583256
"Ascended! We become mortal once we ascend. From an, uhm… creatures of time. Our thrones are destroyed and we are granted a mortal body. A human!"
> She exposits. Although much of her tone is natural, there is a strange oddity to her story.
"—Mother is one! I am one now too!"
| >>583273
>John looks mildly confused...
"So you deliberately wanted to become mortal?"
>He pulls out his phone, looking at the photo.
"I'll send it up to the lab for 3d processing, so that we can make..."
>A miniscule drone pops out again, and surrounds itself in a holographic coin, netting John 2 coins, a real one, and a holographic one.
"A copy. What use do they have apart from lighting your eyes?"
| >>583288
"I can see—… one is newer than the other!"
> Her answer is trivial, to the point where it disappoints.
> However, as her eye glows, the real coin began heating — as though something is transferring heat into it. The embossed letters on the coin form a distinct shape, though there isn't much to make out of it aside from being scribbles and doodles of time.
"Being a mortal is great! We get to see air and, uhm… eat food! Yes. Real food."
| >>583291
>The coin burns John's hand, as it gets too hot, and he tosses it to his other, metal hand.
"Ouch, ah, agh."
>He shakes it around, clearly burnt by the coin.
"I mean, being mortal is a debatable positive or negative."
| >>583295
"That's why they belittled Mother for ascending."
> Minerva tries to gesture John to hand the coin over, seemingly not aware of the heat generated by the interaction between her eye and the coin itself.
| >>583297
"They? You and your mom have more mysteries than stars..."
>John sighs, flicking the coin over to Minerva.
"Don't think too hard about the coin and important things. Remember, we came here to relax."
| >>583323
"They as in, Mother's family!"
> After receiving the coin, Minerva was more than surprised about the heat she received. She tosses the coin up, making it land on the floor.
"Guh—… it's hot, John."
| >>583288
>The image is of the gold coin resting on the coffee table, albeit not the easiest image to see, but the center remains lit, just as described.
| >>583231
> Fox does his best to focus on Mina’s work. He’s not sure quite how any of it works so it fascinates him. He even records some of it to view later to see if he can recreate it at home.
| >>583336
"Didn't you hear me wince?"
>John remarks snidely, with a smile.
>>583369
"I'm going to meed some more pictures of the coin, or even the coin itself. It seems to be a good idea to collect them all."
| >>583501
"I can get Kaz to give it, He keeps it on him, usually."
> She stands to pick up the coin, handing it back to John.
| >>583507
"Good, we might be able to figure out a fews things with them."
>John says so, but he really is grasping at straws.
| >>583501
"Collecting all of Perusna's piece would be impossible. Indeed! Sometimes they float down here, taken by Mother, or be ejected to entire infinites. I like your goal, John, so I'll support it nonetheless!"
> Minerva adds, which does seem to be a wish breaker to the plan — but her attempts at shedding light may have given a few clues; one of which is what she has said.
| >>583718
"I don't plan on collecting them all, I just want to figure out what is going on."
>John sighs, thinking on what Minerva said.
"Speaking of floating down, after some hot chochlate, who wants to go reverse sky diving?"
>John says a brand new sentence.
| >>583727
"W-What?"
> Bonnie leans against the counter, Looking between the others.
"Is.. Is that a good idea?"
| >>583768
"Unless you are Aikawa, then you should be fine."
>John smirks in memory of what happened.
"It'll be fun, I promise."
| >>583727
"Reverse sky diving! With advanced weapon of mass destruction!"
> Minerva said. Her voice sounds too excited for someone that said the word 'weapon of mass destruction' — but she might be oddly oblivious as to what the word meant.
| >>583768 >>583867 >>583869
"Three 'Avalons' for the gentleman and the ladies." — >Svetlana's voice chimes into the conversation, as she lands three quite large cups on the table, steaming enough to create a small cloud on the table — the cups themselves standing inside of it like three foggy castles.
"Do enjoy." — >Waitress's incorporeal voice comes from nowhere in particular, as she is no longer visible anywhere around the table.
| >>583886
"Thank you Svetlana."
>John says to the air, knowing Svetlana is alreay gone, and takes a sip.
| >>583409
>By the time Mina smiles and places your iced coffee in front of you, you completely give up on the idea. Most of the ingredients the Springfield uses come in identical bottles with no markings, which she takes apparently by memory instead of navigating any system of notes. On top of that, her movements are fast and precise, like a clockwork — fast enough to be difficult to keep track of even for a Lilim.
"My eyes are up here." — >She says teasingly.
| >>583890
"Where did she—"
> Minerva couldn't react as fast as John, as proven by her look-around trying to find the waitress.
"I didn't know this city practices witchcraft, John!"
| >>584248
"Maybe it's both? Training for withcraft."
> Bonnie chuckles, taking a sip. Her eyes flicker vividly, representing another message from Kazuki.
| >>584248 >>584254
"It's most definitely witchcraft!"
> Minerva doesn't seem to dislike being patted. If anything, she finds it to be a custom of this land — seeing that she accepts it honorably.
| >>584254 >>584265
"Oh come on you two, have you never heard the phrase? Any sufficiently advanced technology can seem like magic to the untrained eye. Let me show you."
>John strains his left hand, lifting Bonnie's cup of hot chocolate, without touching it.
| >>584268
"That is witchcraft!"
> Minerva… most definitely didn't get the phrase correctly, that or she is trained to associate such technology as 'magic' herself.
| >>584269
"Nope."
>A hologram moves from under the cup to hold it like a coaster, as the light projecting from John's hand becomes visible.
"Hardlight projections. Super taxing on the power supply, so I can't keep it up any longer for today."
>John sets the cup down, and turns off the projector.
| >>584270
"Lightman's Witchcraft!"
> Minerva, by this point, is fully eluded. Her understanding of technology has skewed to the point where projection is a witchcraft to her.
| "Minerva..."
>John sighs. She's only a child after all, he can't expect her to know what 'hardlight' is.
| >>584273
"No wonder Mother finds the city intriguing. It has many magic she might not know. Or maybe she has? She ascended many eons ago, after all."
> Minerva says. Her excitement rises whenever she mentions her Mother, yet having met little of her, she has no strong recollection for her Mother.
| >>584275
"Trust me, some 'magic', you don't want to see"
>John shudders at the thought of Vitalife...
"So, you finished your drinks?"
| >A short girl walks into the bar, blonde hair tied into a braid which is draped upon her left side. Her segmented fingertips and the apertures in her eyes indicate her Lilimness. She is dressed in a short dress, with a scarf, a seemingly odd weather fashion choice. She approaches the counter...
"Excuse me, can I get a small cappuccino?"
| >>584312
> Hearing that, Minerva began gulping the drink — only to be greeted by the great difference in temperature of her mouth and the drink. She tries her best to fake an 'all good reaction', but there is only so much she was able to do before her pale-skinned face shows the heat.
| >>584343
"That was a little more than a burn... Could we get her some water?"
> Bonnie finishes her drink slowly, watching Minerva's struggle.
| >>583891
> Fox blushes slightly, followed by an analog click, like an old recorder shutting off abruptly
"Oh! Sorry! I just wanted to see what you were doing better. It looks so complicated to me. You memorized everything there? I can't even see labels from where I'm sitting. Do you have something that helps you??"
> His eyes are wide with genuine curiosity
| >>584343 >>584375
> Minerva furiously shakes her head. As she gulps down the burning drink, she makes the slightest attempt at smiling. Visible or not, there was a degree of burn down her throat.
"'M f'nee!"
> Her tongue does its best to articulate her words, despite coming off as near gibberish.
| >>584493
> Bonnie chuckles to herself the situation, setting her cup down.
"John, Kaz sent another on through. The coin is at the apartments, if we want to go get it sometime, he's sounding like he isn't going to be back for awhile."
| >>584501
"Yeah, no worries, Kaz should be heading up to the command ship, as we will be too."
>John has a mischievous smile on his face... Just what could be be planning?
| >>584512
"Whatever you say, John..."
> She rolls her eyes with a smile.
"Are we going to get her any water?"
|
| >>584524
>By the time John finishes his sentence he notices three glasses of water sitting on their table. Were they always there? Did they appear at some point? If so, then when? Thinking on it only gives headaches.
| >>584460
"I practice a lot." — >Springfield gives a vague answer coupled with a wink, before turning to the girl >>584328 that just walked in:
"Welcome to G&K! Would you like some specific flavoring?"
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| >Recently relocated to an ever smaller and easier-to-miss alley, five minutes away from the Central District main street, is a G&K CafeBar. Small, warm, quiet haven, with old-school, 1960-th themed wooden furniture and yellow gas lamps.
>Being known to a few chosen to begin with, it would take some luck to stumble upon it now.
>It is now one of only a few places in the city you can consistently meet Springfield family members, given the situation in Downtown.