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Post by moroiiangel on Feb 14, 2007 2:28:51 GMT -5
SettingIn the 21st Century, many teenagers live for coffee or caffeine in any form. To cater to these our many struggling studying students, a coffee shop (that was super cool awesome and fun) was opened near a campus. These are the stories of the people who worked and drank there. InfoI figured this would be a wonderful way of getting people into the stride of RPing... plus, when we can't go for coffee, we can always come here. I don't know the name of the coffee shop yet. Someone is welcome to help me there. What I do know, is that the coffee shop will only be allowed 4 staff members right now, of which my character is one. That means everyone else is a customer, but you are welcome to be good friends with the coffee shop staff. Also, people could be hired if we become too busy. For anyone who plans on being staff, the coffee shop colours are blue and green. Staff uniforms are choice pants, T-shirt of either blue or green nature, and a blue apron. ~_~_~_~ Ronnie stood, broom in hand, staring at the door of the darkened coffee shop. It was a dark day, a rain storm was brewing. Tonight was either going to be very busy for the shop, or very quiet. And because the local band was having a live preformance tonight, she figured that meant it was going to be packed. It was only 3 o'clock; the kids would be trickling in for another few hours. The band wasn't starting until 6:30, so she had some time to prepare. Tossing the broom aside into its usual spot, she called into the back. "Hey! Are you ready back there? I need some help moving tables around while we've still got an empty shop!"
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Post by pleadingvirtue on Feb 14, 2007 3:02:57 GMT -5
Silently, Helena slunk through the door of the coffee shop. She was startled by the bell that chimed to announce her arrival. She scowled blackly, hoping that no one had noticed her. She crept to an empty table and pulled out her worn notebook, optimistic (if she could ever be such a thing) that no one would bother her. She wanted to write her thoughts down before she would be forced to approach the barista to make her drink order. The shop was still empty, and the afternoon outside was as clouded as the thoughts that crowded in her brain. She wondered to herself what was happening with the other employees the barista seemed to be calling. She was afraid of being outnumbered. She was afraid they would all look at her and wait for her to do something. That was the problem with cutting out of school early to get the good table. Helena quietly spied on the strange girl, and waited.
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Post by zemalia on Feb 14, 2007 10:14:10 GMT -5
Tianne fumbled for her cell phone as she tried to cross the busy street. She could hear the warning sound from the crossing sign that said she only had about five seconds before she was run over. Over that noise, her cell phone ring tone was going crazy, chiming a tune from one of her favourite anime. Not only did she look like a complete and total loser, but she was about to be roadkill.
"Hello?" She narrowly avoided a taxi hitting her as she came up to the sidewalk. "What do you mean you can't make it?" She put her cellphone on her shoulder so she could look through her bag again. "Uh huh.. okay... Yeah I know where it is." She wrote down a phone number. "You owe me big time for this one." She clicked her phone shut and cursed under her breath.
There went her plans for her clubbing tonight. She was supposed to meet up with a couple of guys and have a good time, but instead she was stuck covering for one of her old band buddies. This was not her day. Tianne stuffed the pen she had grabbed back into her disorganized bag and sighed. She would have to go to her apartment and grab her guitar and change into something a little less.. formal. She had a job interview that didn't go so well about half an hour ago.
Grabbing her cell phone, she dialed the number. It rang twice before someone picked up the phone. "Uh, hi. Is this La Vie Boheme Coffee House?"
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Post by moroiiangel on Feb 14, 2007 10:22:19 GMT -5
"Yes, this is La Vie Boheme. What can I help you with?"
Ronnie was frustrated. She tried to keep her voice steady, while she waited for a response and for her help to come out of the back. They were (hopefully) organizing the boxes for recycling, but she needed their help out front moving tables. She couldn't move them all by herself. She tucked the phone between her chin and shoulder and began trying to tie it back without dropping the phone or making herself lop-sided.
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Post by zemalia on Feb 14, 2007 10:31:18 GMT -5
"Yes, I'm calling about the band that you had scheduled to play tonight, Explosive Tofu. The drummer came down with something nasty so they won't be able to make it tonight. They called me and asked if I can fill in. I've played there before, you guys should have me on file. Its Tianne."
She crossed another street during her brief conversation, which felt more like a lecture than anything else. She could see her apartment already, which was good. It looked like it was about to rain, and the last thing she needed was her new suit all soaked and ruined.
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Post by moroiiangel on Feb 14, 2007 10:45:57 GMT -5
"Ah yes, of course." Ronnie tried to keep the grimace on her face from touching her voice. That band was drawing in a big crowd and they were cancelling. And now, who was going to have to pick up the slack? Her. "I remember you. We'll be happy to have you back again. Please get here as soon as possible. Is there anything you need me to set up for you?"
Wrenching her neck over her shoulder, she saw the back hallway was still empty. Where the heck were they?
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Post by pleadingvirtue on Feb 14, 2007 11:51:29 GMT -5
Helena continued to ponder the girl from behind her shaggy bangs. Perhaps the other employees were dead. That kind of thing has happened before, Helena was sure of it. Finally, after much soul-searching and interior struggle, Helena rose to speak to the impatient employee. As much as she hated to admit it, her compassion had won out. She cleared her throat to get the girl's attention. Even though they were the only two in the shop, Helena was practiced at being unnoticed.
"Would you like some help?" She asked, nervously sweeping her hair out of her eyes.
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Post by Tenshanhan on Feb 14, 2007 13:41:10 GMT -5
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Hold your God da..." Zack began as he walked brusquely out of the back, then held his tongue as he saw a customer had entered the shop without his noticing. Looking quickly from Ronnie on the phone to the new customer, Zack stepped up to the counter to give aid to his manager. Sighing inwardly to himself at the start of another long day, he threw on a plastic smile and called out into the darkened shop.
"Hey, you over there! Welcome to La Vie Boheme... Want somethin' to drink?"
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Post by pleadingvirtue on Feb 14, 2007 23:16:19 GMT -5
Helena panicked. It was one thing to deal with the female behind the counter, but a male was a completely different story. She dipped her head so that her hair was hiding her face again, and drew in a long breath. She scratched nervously at her wrists. Slowly she raised her eyes to meet his, and then quickly looked away. His fake smile made her feel extremely foolish. She gestured to the girl.
"I think she needs your help first." Helena scurried back to the table, her heart pounding in her ears.
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Post by moroiiangel on Feb 14, 2007 23:36:43 GMT -5
Ronnie rolled her eyes at Zack and sighed deeply. That poor girl obviously had a complex, and Zack's confused face was amusing to see after her shamed retreat to her table. Ronnie motioned towards the tables, while trying to communicate with her eyes that she was still on the phone. After a few confused looks from Zack, Ronnie frowned and pressed the phone to her collar bone.
"Fix the tables. They need to be lined up facing the stage area."
The stage area was a little circular raised peice of floor beside the door. It was about enough room for two guitarists on stools, or the drum set of a band. There were 9 tables in a variety of squares and circles, all set up in a grid pattern about the room. They all needed to be shifted to one side.
"I'm sorry," Ronnie told the phone, having lifted it back to her ear, "You were saying?"
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Post by Tenshanhan on Feb 14, 2007 23:55:13 GMT -5
Zack raised an eyebrow as the strange girl went scurrying back off to her table. Rolling his eyes and sighing, he wondered what he'd done to make the poor girl run off. Not that he cared, but scaring customers was generally bad when one preferred to keep their job. Oh well, to each their own, he thought... At least that one wasn't yelling at him about their coffee, or their biscotti, or some other trivial detail that he simply could not be bothered to take an interest in.
Zack turned slowly and tried to figure out what exactly it was that Ronnie wanted. She motioned towards the tables, then motioned with her eyes that she was on the phone. Tables, phone. Table, phone. Phone, tables, just to mix it up. Yes, he could see that she was on the phone. Yes, he could see that they had tables. Very conductive of the whole "cafe" atmosphere, having tables. What in God's name did she want him to... Oh. Move them. Well, that made a hell of a lot more sense. Luckily, he preferred the relatively simple job of moving tables to having to deal with strange customers anyway. Shaking his head and letting loose his third sigh in as many minutes, he walked off to comply with his manager's demands.
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Post by zemalia on Feb 15, 2007 13:22:55 GMT -5
"I'll be there in an hour. I just need to stop at my place to grab a couple of things. I don't need anything for the set-up, just a stool." She stopped, then added, "And I'll see if I can bring a singer along." She snapped her phone shut, ending the call.
Tianne unlocked the door to her apartment and dropped her bag as soon as she got in. Out of habit, she locked the door behind her and took her shoes off. Then she headed for the kitchen.
Her apartment wasn't exactly the nicest in the city, but there are times in which she thought that her place wasn't so bad. There wasn't any mold or rats, the colours weren't too bad, and at least she had a couple of windows. Sure, it could have been better, but it could have also been much, much worse.
She opened the fridge and poured herself a glass of orange juice. She needed something to keep her going a little longer and it was probably better to get some coffee at the gig, rather than attempt to make some herself; the old coffee machine made liquid that looked more as if it was car liquid than it was coffee. Finishing the glass, Tianne put it in the sink and reminded herself that she needed to do the dishes when she got home tonight. Just as she was about the leave the kitchen, she found something slightly out of place on the table.
A single white rose and a note was on the table. Slowly, carefully, Tianne moved the rose aside so she could read the note.
Look, things just aren't working out between us. I know we had planned to go out tonight, but I'm doing something else. I'll call you later to hand over my key. Hope there's no hard feelings, Jake.
She crumpled the note and tossed it fiercly into her garbage can, along with the rose. Nice way to top off a particularly nasty day. Tianne stormed off to her room, changed in a hurry, put on some drastic make-up (consisting mostly of heavy eye mascara and liner) and grabbed her guitar case. As she was putting on her rainjacket she stopped for a moment to think. The rose she had tossed away didn't deserve that. Everything should live.
Tianne hesitated as she went to the kitchen to pull the rose out of the trash. She cleaned it off, cut its stem properly, and put it into a vase near the window. The next moment, the door shut hard, making a couple of flower petals fall from the same vase. However, the petals were from flowers that looked like they had been there for some time.
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Post by pleadingvirtue on Feb 15, 2007 17:40:37 GMT -5
Helena sat panting at her little table. She prayed to herself that this was not one of the tables that needed to be moved. In one quick motion, she flipped open her notebook and pulled the pen out of the binding. She found herself a blank page, and began to write:
OMG OMG! There are too many boys in the world, and at the same time, not enough. Boy in the coffee shop: Scary! Must regain composure. Must not let boy see. Could this day get any worse? Every day is the worst day of my life. Death would be a change of pace. Still nervous. Must prepare for next coffee retrieval attempt. OMG!
She set her pen down on the page, and watched the girl hang up the phone. The boy had begun to move the tables. Helena scooted her chair closer to the wall, and practiced brooding.
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Post by moroiiangel on Feb 15, 2007 23:33:42 GMT -5
"Thank you. Bye."
Ronnie shook her head at the phone as she put it back onto the holder. Then she marched over to Zack and began shoving tables around with him. She wasn't a huge fan of the physical labour, but she was a fan of getting things over with and not thinking about them any more. So she quickly shifted tables around, keeping an eye on the clock. Kids should start arriving soon, classes were letting out about now, and that meant swarms headed for the coffee shop.
Retreating from the tables to let Zack finish his work, she grabbed a silver sharpie and one of the peices of black construction paper she kept on hand. "Welcome to La Vie Boheme. Live show at 6:30. Please do not move the tables." Ronnie held up the card and looked at it. Good enough. Walking over to the front door to hang it up, she said,
"If you want a coffee or anything, let me know. We're not that busy." Ronnie smiled as warmly as she could, which wasn't so warm, but genuine enough, at the sad little case with the notebook. Walking back to the counter, she muttered to Zack. "Stop scaring the customers." She smiled and gave him a wink, and sashayed her way over to the speaker system, turning on the radio for some background noise.
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Post by Tenshanhan on Feb 15, 2007 23:52:24 GMT -5
Zack turned with a scowl and prepared a witty retort to Ronnie's comment about his alleged customer scaring, but caught the wink and smile. He held his tongue and even smiled a bit. Then, in the most overly cheery tone he could take, he said, with a slight hint of sarcasm
"Well, if I can't be serving customers, is there anything else you'd like me to do?"
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Post by moroiiangel on Feb 16, 2007 0:41:04 GMT -5
"I didn't say stop serving them, I said stop scaring them. But now that you mention it, you could start preping the bar for the flood I'm sure we'll have soon."
She has slid back behind the cash counter, and was sorting the money in the till, neurotically spinning all the money to face one direction. When's my favourite barista showing up?" She asked Zack, deliberately poking fun. She was talking about the third employee, who was chronically late but was due for this evening.
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Post by Tenshanhan on Feb 16, 2007 2:37:41 GMT -5
"Well I thought he was already here, but apparently I haven't been putting out enough for your tastes... So, consequently, hell if I know. It better be soon though..."
With this, Zack complied and began preping the bar, feeling bored and fairly useless. He preferred the hustle-and-bustle of the evenings to the prep work that came with the mid-day. Being busy was a much better alternative to being bored... Or so he had heard. Frankly, he had yet to agree.
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Post by rabidusfossor on Feb 16, 2007 12:36:04 GMT -5
Better didn't come in a more comforting form then a warm cup of tea. That was the biggest draw Tolando had to La Vie. He walked in out of the rain and shook his head to remove the wet braids from his face. He was wet from head to toe but he didn't mind. He like the rain. He walked over to the counter and leaned his elbows on the counter, looking Ronnie in the eyes. "Afternoon, sweetie. How is my one and only today?" he toyed playfully, "I hope the weather isn't giving you trouble." Tolando smirked and straightened, his posture indicating he wanted the usual; a comeback and a pot of Earl Grey.
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Post by moroiiangel on Feb 16, 2007 14:03:13 GMT -5
Perfect, Ronnie smiled at the customer and sighed inwardly. She turned for the pot, starting to dump the loose-leaf into the strainer.
"The weather isn't the trouble. You sticking around for the show tonight?" Ronnie smiled her polite-to-the-customers smile, and poured hot water into the tea pot. She turned back to Toledo with two cups in hand.
"Which one?"
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Post by rabidusfossor on Feb 16, 2007 17:03:35 GMT -5
Tolando smiled and acceted the cup in the woman's left hand. "'Course. I got nothing better to do. Who is that band tonight?" He took a sip and sat in a stool at the counter. The tea was hot, just the way he liked it. He took a look around while Ronnie answered him to take note of who was about. Some regulars and Zack. He turned back to face Ronnie, still grinning.
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