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Post by hanekoma on Feb 11, 2011 9:30:31 GMT -5
Lights blazed and music started up in quick secession just moments before the sign on the door was flipped around to read 'Open'. It had taken a couple of days, but an old run down shop was now a snazzy, up-to-date, fun looking cafe of sorts. Comfortable chairs and tables, a television on the wall that currently wasn't picking up signal, and a bar. All of it set to Mr. Hanekoma's own artwork, which was stunning to say the least.
"Well, this place looks even better than my old one," Mr. H said to himself, smiling to himself as he pushed his shades back onto his nose and stepped behind the counter, producing a pot full of fresh coffee, ready to be poured into cups and served and all that fun stuff. But... judging from the lack of other stores open and the lack of people on the streets right now, it looked like he wouldn't be getting any customers for a little while. He stuck the pot back where he'd had it before and drew out a flat. portable computer with an art program opened, a unique design in the works visible on the screen. "Hrm..." |
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Post by Lightning Farron on Feb 11, 2011 10:51:42 GMT -5
 Your face is scarred with age,
you're 23 but how can that be?
You're still hooked on cellophane,
killing time with gin and lime.
The streets of Rabanastre in the early morning, before the shops opened and the crowd emerged from Lowtown - as that was where most of the rowdy ones still resided - were empty and cool, yet to be baked by the desert sun. The cobblestones echoed the click of her boots as she took the familiar path down the east side of the city, past the marketplace and towards the throughfare square in between all of the gates leaving the city.
Only one shop's door was open, one that hadn't been previously. The wreck of a place that had been in the middle of remodeling when she first arrived seemed to be open for business now, and if she wasn't mistaken...
Lightning sniffed. Coffee.
She hadn't had a good cup in Maker knew how long, as it seemed to be an invention that people not from Cocoon either didn't know about or could live without. She was neither. Having lasted four months without a pick-me-up in the morning was complete and utter hell, and she intended to have a cup of bliss if it was available.
Although the shop was still quite empty - as she'd passed maybe two people total on the trip down from the Sandsea - it smelled new and the decorations resembled that of an Internet cafe in Cocoon. And the music, somewhere around coffeehouse just like she remembered. Spraypaint artwork of the kind that she hadn't seen since 'quitting' the Guardian Corps lined the walls, and she found herself thrown back to a time when she was a young woman, stopping in for coffee before her shift every morning.
Quaint.
The guy at the counter looked middle-aged, but not old. Apparently time had treated him well, and the shades that he wore indoors fit him - so the eye-roll they normally would have elicited had she been in a worse mood was very slow, if ever, in coming.
"Nice place," she commented, leaning on the counter with her right arm. "Twelve-ounce mocha, if you serve it."
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Post by hanekoma on Feb 11, 2011 12:21:16 GMT -5
Mr. Hanekoma looked up from his work when the bell affixed to the door rang. A customer! Now that was different; pink hair. Not too common, but hey, he'd seen weirder colors for hair, especially while he'd been renovating his little coffee shop in the middle of nowhere. He flipped the cover back onto his computer's screen and started right to work on the woman's coffee. He'd been a bit afraid no one here would be in the mood for it, but hey, he didn't mind being wrong.
"Sure thing, boss, just a sec," He replied, not taking very long to get everything together and slide the thick styrofoam cup down the bar to her, lid and straw already attached. Now this felt familiar; he hadn't fixed someone a cup a' joe in a good while since he got here. Felt good to be getting back to work, and this spot was all his to do whatever with. He wasn't quite finished with the shop; he had an upper floor to add and spruce up, after all. Mr. Hanekoma smiled at the woman who had come in, stretching a little. "You're my first customer, so that one's on the house. So how do you like what I've done with the place? Not bad after the dump it was when I bought it, eh?"
Then it hit him; manners.
He always forgot that part; always introduce yourself to somebody before you decide to chat with them about something. Oh well, he'd get the hang of it sooner or later. "Whoops, must've dropped my manners somewhere. Sanae Hanekoma, nice to meet you; just call me Mr. H." |
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Post by Lightning Farron on Feb 11, 2011 14:16:09 GMT -5
She was halfway through digging for her gil wallet before he cut her off.
"You're my first customer, so that one's on the house. So how do you like what I've done with the place? Not bad after the dump it was when I bought it, eh?"
"Thanks," she said, lifting the cup by its cardboard insulator. "It's very nice," she allowed, grudgingly. "Missed a coffee shop - haven't seen one in a long time."
"Whoops, must've dropped my manners somewhere. Sanae Hanekoma, nice to meet you; just call me Mr. H."
"Lightning." Taking a sip of her scalding - perfect - mocha in between sentences, she nodded at him in thanks. "Pleasure. Best coffee I've had in awhile."
Caffeine had a tendency to loosen her tongue, and she had nowhere else to go, plus the barista seemed chatty and polite enough. So she took a seat at the table closest to the counter, sparing a glance at the blank TV. "Where're you from, Sanae - Mr. H?"
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Post by hanekoma on Feb 11, 2011 14:31:48 GMT -5
"Hah, thanks boss; I do my best," Mr. H replied, flipping his computer screen open again and returning to work on his design. He was listening, of course, in case she needed something else, and caught her question to him. Wanted to know where he was from, huh? Everyone else he'd spoken to had never heard of Shibuya, Tokyo, so he doubted she'd recognize the name either. Regardless, he answered.
"Little place called Shibuya in Tokyo. Ran a coffee shop there, too, but I think I'll expand a bit now that I've got a place with more room. Maybe sell some clothes or something in the upstairs when I get it renovated, I dunno," Mr. H replied, shrugging nonchalantly. He was working on an outfit design now, actually. "How 'bout yourself, Light? Where you from?" |
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Post by Lightning Farron on Feb 15, 2011 19:49:59 GMT -5
"Little place called Shibuya in Tokyo. Ran a coffee shop there, too, but I think I'll expand a bit now that I've got a place with more room. Maybe sell some clothes or something in the upstairs when I get it renovated, I dunno."
"You design?" Lightning asked, recrossing her legs as she took another draught. Shame she couldn't live here - this little coffee shop was already starting to grow on her. "Man of many talents."
She hadn't heard of Shibuya, but from the way he said it, she sensed he probably already knew that. The fan spinning overhead disturbed a strand of her hair out of its usual spot to dangle about, and she grimaced at it under the rim of her styrofoam cup.
"How 'bout yourself, Light? Where you from?"
"You-" Deciding not to remark on it, she sat back and took her cup with her, leaning against the back of the chair. "A beach town called Bodhum, in a floating continent by the name of Cocoon. They say it's far north of here, the way the world seems to be laid out now."
"What's Tokyo like? Can't say I've heard of it"
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Post by hanekoma on Feb 27, 2011 11:12:08 GMT -5
"I figured not. Different worlds and all that fun confusion. Tokyo's a big city, lots of tall buildings and businesses around in most parts. Shibuya's the shopping district, so you can find a lot more shops in that part particularly than some of the others," Mr. Hanekoma answered, shrugging.
"But just imagine your usual big city, and that's Tokyo in a nutshell. I ran a coffee shop there, too, but then it was more of a side job. Nothing to really do about my other one here," He finished with a laugh. He wasn't complaining; gave him time to work on his designing.
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Post by Lightning Farron on Feb 27, 2011 11:24:11 GMT -5
Lightning took another draught of her mocha as Hanekoma spoke, crossing her ankles underneath her seat. Tokyo sounded very... busy. A little like Eden, but not really. It was more similar to -
"Palumpolum."
That's what the closest example she could think of was. The port city did sound a lot like this Tokyo..
"A side job? What else did you do then?" Distinctly aware that she was prying, Lightning leaned back a little and offered an olive branch. "You don't need to answer."
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Post by hanekoma on Feb 27, 2011 11:44:18 GMT -5
"Well, to be honest, the whole thing is extremely confusing if I explained it all, so here's the broad strokes. Basically, I'm something like an administrator," Mr. Hanekoma said bluntly. No penalty for saying that; if he went out and said how deep his job actually went, then he'd get in trouble. "Not really like deciding who does what, just sort of watching over things. Make sure everything's balancing out right and all that. I'd get in trouble if I went much deeper with it, really. So how 'bout you, Light; what's your job? I'm going to guess something with peacekeeping or something like that?"
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Post by Lightning Farron on Feb 27, 2011 13:20:13 GMT -5
"Well, to be honest, the whole thing is extremely confusing if I explained it all, so here's the broad strokes. Basically, I'm something like an administrator. Not really like deciding who does what, just sort of watching over things. Make sure everything's balancing out right and all that. I'd get in trouble if I went much deeper with it, really. So how 'bout you, Light; what's your job? I'm going to guess something with peacekeeping or something like that?"
"Cryptic," she offered by way of an answer, but nodding in understanding. So a referee kind of guy. That made sense. His coffee wasn't bad for being a side job, though, she had to admit. Warming her hands on the styrofoam, she answered his query.
"Yeah. Well, I was. I was a cop, a government soldier. Then some crap happened and I became an enemy of the state, so that kind of went to hell."
Let him ask if he wanted to. If he didn't, that was also fine. No reason to be dodgy in a place like this, and he was kind of pulling on her more talkative side anyway. Freaking baristas.
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Post by hanekoma on Feb 27, 2011 13:24:55 GMT -5
"Yeah, not too hard to get on the government's bad side. Be in the wrong place at the wrong time and suddenly you're accused of mass murder. Some places all that has to happen is someone higher up not like you and you're suddenly an enemy of the state. Not talking about Tokyo, though; place a little across the ocean was like that," Mr. Hanekoma replied, shrugging when she commented on him being cryptic. Well, to be fair, he WAS being cryptic, so she was exactly right.
"Yeah, I considered a job in law enforcement for a little while. And this is not related at all, but I swear I've seen someone who looked exactly like you on a video store window; you sure you're not a model or something?"
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Post by Lightning Farron on Feb 27, 2011 14:07:40 GMT -5
"Yeah, not too hard to get on the government's bad side. Be in the wrong place at the wrong time and suddenly you're accused of mass murder. Some places all that has to happen is someone higher up not like you and you're suddenly an enemy of the state. Not talking about Tokyo, though; place a little across the ocean was like that. Yeah, I considered a job in law enforcement for a little while."
"Exactly like that." Lightning nodded. Though it wasn't just a case of wrong place or wrong angry people, she had actually gotten branded as a monster for reasons like to those. But that was immaterial, really, as the end result was the same.
"And this is not related at all, but I swear I've seen someone who looked exactly like you on a video store window; you sure you're not a model or something?"
"Huh?" Lightning blinked, looking at Hanekoma with a strange expression. "No, not a model. Not sure who it might have been... what kind of video store was it?"
At least, nothing she remembered doing. There had been a few suspicious holes in her memory since she had woken up, some that had been glossed over with time, but still the events that she 'remembered' didn't seem entirely right. This might be a clue to one of them.
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