the voidtrecker cafe is now open? ☕ a november catch-all!

[adregem]

Who: Roland Crane x OTA!
Where: Various places, specifically/primarily: the Kitchen and the Gym.
When: Spanning most of early Imagination, from Imagination 1-12 (pre-mission weeks).
What: Join the train's resident president as he explores various degrees of hobby-making, training, and whatever else comes between work and sleep.
Warnings: Self-indulgent Barista!Roland as the primary prompt. No apologies given!!!


01 - good to the last drop?
It's your sense of smell that's engaged first. Walk upstairs unto the second floor of the Kitchen, and it's impossible to miss. Its wafting aroma may even reach below the floor, enticing you to come up out of curiosity. For those who come from Earth in particular, it's a smell that feels fond and nostalgic, invoking busy work days and people-watching by busy tables.

Almost true to the designated name of the month, there is an invitation to be swept away by the roast of coffee beans stirring the imagination. The air around here is unbelievably fragrant, almost sweet. And the amateur roast master for as long as supplies last is a dutiful figure - Roland Crane, in a simple polo shirt and an apron tied to his waist, standing behind the steel counter with an open crate of supplies from his recent purchase at the store. The communal coffee maker is there too, but his spread is more meticulous this time around. Two bags of coffee beans labeled 'hazelnut creme' and 'dark arabica' to one side, with batches already ground up. The portable grinder is small, but it matches the moka pot for espresso. Hot water already reaching the boil, with bottles lined up like they're ready for service: a couple of syrup selections, bottles of milk, cream, sugar, then finally the hero of the month: honey in various containers.

He's reading a book from the counter, head tilted down, but don't let that stop you from approaching. He's got something brewing, in more ways than one. In fact, as soon as he notices you, he'll offer a small smile, abandoning the task of reading altogether as he goes for his tools. Cups and mugs within reach, but he'll pretend to write something on them with his pen. An inside joke that may or may not connect, but he commits to the immersion anyway:

"Hey, welcome back. Don't worry, I remember you. And what you ordered last time. Heh."

Kick back. Relax. Have a cuppa of honey and coffee and let Roland the barista hear your tales of woe. Or joy? Whatever you're willing to share. He'll listen. He's got the experience, trust him.

(The tip jar to the very end of his work station is absolutely fake.)



02 - a moving target.
[ At the Gym, some time before mission information goes up and Roland heads straight into his usual business mode, you will find him with his pistol. But for those who have seen him in action already, there's something decidedly different this time around. The gun in his hand, although already more futuristic and magical in its design, is looking more spruced up. An extra barrel that makes it bulky, and the muzzle shaped odd. There's something there that was not there before.

And the only time you will see this for yourself is when he takes a deep breath...and aims at the makeshift targets from a distance. They're staggered, purposely left in random formations. When Roland shoots, his left hand holding the trigger, the usual sound of a gun firing filling the car...Until it stops and suddenly a grappling hook comes out instead. A weird combination, but it fires just as fast as the bullets and there's a struggle to reach the farthest dummy.

Unfortunately, it doesn't quite catch. And so Roland retracts it back, the fiber cable making a sharp whizzing sound as it returns to the gun. ]

[ He sighs. ] This is going to take some getting used to before I even think about making new moves.

[ Approach him here, for training, and he'll be a happy partner. ] Say, got something small I can use to try and grab with my new toy, here? I promise I won't break it. [ Roland nods, jokingly but also, how could he lie to you with such an earnest face? ]



03 - Wildcard!
[ For anything else you may want to do! Am on Discord < Titallenial#7701 > for plotting ideas. Am always open, and will follow your lead! ]

Comments

coffee!

[myblueskies]

"I never ordered coffee before." Romeo looks confused but he's also grinning. Because this is so cool! Roland has everything you need to make coffee and it smells so tasty in here! Even though actually Romeo isn't a big fan of the taste of coffee. He likes the smell though, it smells like home. Like Elfnein's temple. Elfnein drinks coffee so much that the smell permeates almost every memory he has and makes him feel safe.

"I'm glad you remember me though, mister Roland!"

[adregem]

Was Romeo old enough to drink coffee...?

Nevertheless, Roland smiles at him and shakes his head, though he does get to work and starts brewing something up for him just in case. He has the perfect recipe for someone like Romeo, who seems to be quite sprightly and friendly whenever they meet. He also won't bother to explain the joke there either, how could he with Romeo's genuine enthusiasm?

"I think it'd be hard to forget you, Romeo." The moka pot is already boiling, espresso mixed with water, diluted in preparation. "Even though you've never had coffee, do you want to try a recipe from my new book? I used to have it often, where I came from."

[myblueskies]

Romeo smiles at that, though people often didn't have a choice in forgetting things. After all miss Minako had forgotten him even though they had been good friends once!

"I would like that a lot sir!" He grinned, "Did you used to make coffee a lot before you came to the train?"

[adregem]

He shakes his head good-naturedly.

"Nope. I used to order a lot of coffee, but I've never been behind the counter making it for other people." Until now. It's the perfect intersection between what he knows and loves, and what he's exploring while the train's given them a significant amount of downtime. He starts heating up milk while the coffee pot begins to steam.

"So you've got to tell me if I made you a bad brew, all right?" Roland smiles, fully intending to balance this one out with not as much coffee as there would be milk and honey for Romeo's tastes. Hopefully.

[myblueskies]

"Okay sir! I bet you made it really good though." He grinned, "If you need any help I know how to make coffee!"

But it looks like Roland is doing it just right! "Who did you used to order coffee off? Did you have a coffee making person where you came from? Or did you buy it in a cafe?"

They had those in Japan, but Romeo had never been to one.

[adregem]

Roland absolutely brightens up upon hearing that, jogging his memory. He pauses whatever it is he's doing - which right now, is mixing in the whipped milk and cream to accompany the recipe - to give Romeo a wide-eyed look. Or at least, as wide-eyed as Roland can be.

"Say, I forgot all about that! You did mention you knew how to make coffee...eight different ways, right?" Back then, with the network post he made for supplies and helping each other be prepared for missions. His hands are wiped on his apron, then both rest on his hips with a smile on his face.

"Where I worked, I had someone to help me get coffee whenever I needed it. So yeah, a coffee making person." But that's not what's tickled his fancy! "Romeo, why don't you join me here? Behind the counter? Teach me. I'd love to learn from you."

[myblueskies]

He had never heard of a job just for making coffee for a person before, but it sounded like a very important one!

He happily skipped around to the other side of the counter with a huge grin, looking more closely at the set up Roland has created.

It really was cool! "I can teach you, mister Roland! Though it looks like you know lots and lots already!"

[adregem]

"Not at all, Romeo. I'm just reading off of a book and making things up as I go along." He scoots over to the side to grant Romeo some space, but remembers this can't be complete without something else. "...Give me a minute. I'll be right back."

Roland walks back down to the first floor of the Kitchen car and in a few moments, jogs up the steps and holds in his hands as he approaches, two animal printed aprons, courtesy of their dear Spider Seamstress. He smiles.

"Can't work without our uniforms. Which one?"

[myblueskies]

Learning from a book was a good way to learn though. Romeo took a moment to explore all the things on the counter as Roland went to fetch something. He looked up when he returned and grinned.

"Those are so fun! I like the dog one!" They were very cute aprons!

[adregem]

He hands him the dog apron, though it may be a bit too big for him at the moment, but it's something easily adjustable anyway. Roland returns to Romeo's side and pushes the recipe book towards him, where an otherworldly recipe of Frothy Coffee lays dog-eared for his reference. There are already notes annotated on the sides of the page, in pen.

"I've been using this as the base of my experiment. Do you wanna try it?" It looked like it had a lot of milk and honey in it, elaborate as its served in a porcelain cup from the sketch on the picture. "Then maybe you could experiment with me, teach me a couple of ways you'd serve this in another way?"

[myblueskies]

It was pretty huge on him but he folded it up and wrapped the rope around him until it was small enough.

He looked at the recipe, looking at the picture and the ingredients as well as what Roland had written in the side.

"Yes please! I'd like to try it and then we can find ways to make it even more tasty!"

[adregem]

Said recipe comes straight from the kitchens of Evermore itself, but has enough ingredients from the kit he ordered to improvise using non-local ingredients: the honey in abundance, the rich milk, and the quality coffee. It seemed almost like a dessert from the picture, but it could definitely wake someone up!

"Let me get to making you one, then. Hope you like it. I had this often back home." Roland starts the process, first with the ground up beans he had prepped in advance, then heating up the water and milk. He glances at Romeo with a small smile. "So, where'd you learn how to make coffee eight different ways?"

[myblueskies]

Romeo grinned and nodded as he watched Roland beginning to make the coffee, watching closely so he could learn how to make this special coffee that Roland liked so much!

"In the heavens. There was another shinki who I met called Jakob and he had lots of big opinions about what shinki should know and making coffee was one of those!" He grinned, "He was a very strict teacher but I learned a lot, about making food as well as coffee."

[adregem]

"In the heavens...?"

If there was any line that could stop Roland in his tracks, that would be it. Whatever he's doing now - a simple task of transferring fragrant ground beans to the moka pot - pauses for a slight. Alfredo, who introduced himself to Roland as Romeo's friend, was already dead back home. Did that mean Romeo too...was...?

"Sorry, I'm a little slow today Romeo." Roland says lightly, his expression steady with a smile that could only be described as encouraging. "What's a shinki? And what do you mean...in the heavens?"

[myblueskies]

"Oh! Sorry sir!" Romeo grinned at him, he forgot who he had told and who knew and who didn't. It wasn't a secret it was just something lots of people didn't know about.

"A shinki is a dead spirit who is a weapon for a god. So I died and then I went to the heavens and worked for Elfnein but then after lots of months we came here instead. I came here first but then Elfnein came too so that was good! But the heavens was where we lived before, Elfnein had a temple and it was a library and full of lots and lots of books! The heavens is where all the gods and their shinki live!"

He thought that summed it all up.

[adregem]

"...I see."

So, he didn't hear that incorrectly after all.

Alfredo had died in his own world, and it seems Romeo was not so lucky either. Roland is not made of stone. This is precisely the type of thing his heart beats for, in shared sympathy, or sorrow that comes in spades. The feeling washes over him, naturally. It's not something he'll ever show immediately, not out loud either, but he feels it regardless. Romeo was so young, all of them still kids.

Yet, what can he do? What's done is done. From what Romeo tells him, he too, has been granted chances of second, third lives. No, this was not deserving of any pity or sadness; Romeo was here now, no matter what that meant. Making the most out of what has been granted him. Roland respects that greatly. Elfnein as well, though they only just met. Roland had no idea he was speaking to a god. And served her coffee, too. What a collection of characters he has met on the Voidtrecker...

He doesn't want his further silence to bother Romeo, so Roland offers him a smile and masks that revelation with warmth instead. "You...You've had an adventure and a half, Romeo. I never knew." That much at least, was genuine. He further diffuses things by giving him a spatula to stir, and showing him the jars of honey, amber colored and in varying consistencies.

"Let's make a cup of coffee Jakob will be happy with, yeah? And Elfnein too."

[myblueskies]

Romeo looked up at him after a few moments, wondering if what he had said had made Roland sad, or even mad. He hoped not. It was a bit sad to think about people dying but it was alright if they were shinki, because they still got to be around and make friends and have lots of fun.

He nodded, "It has been a big adventure! I've made lots and lots of friends!" And that was the best kind of adventure, in his eyes.

He took the spatula and looked at the different honey. "Yes! We will make the best coffee there has ever been on the train! Which honey do you think is best?"

[adregem]

And isn't that the silver lining that Roland always forgets? Meeting kids like Romeo always remind his rather jaded perspective at times that the light never really goes away. He nods at him, and decides that he will do his best to help look out for this friendly boy as best he can too.

Still too many children on this train, too many for it to make sense -

"That's quite a declaration there. I hope we can live up to it." Roland smiles, offering him a lineup of honey in different shades of deep amber. Some runny, some thick and syrupy. "Wanna taste every single one to try first? The recipe calls for a thinner kind, but if we're making the best coffee that's ever been on the train, then we've got to think outside the box."

[myblueskies]

"I think tasting every kind is a great idea, mister Roland!"

Because then they would know exactly what would be the best for the coffee! And if they got just the right honey then they would make the best coffee! It was a big declaration, but he was very sure that with teamwork they were sure to succeed!

"Have you tried any of them already?"

[adregem]

"Not by themselves, no. Do you think it's a good idea?" He asks it rhetorically, but also he's never heard of honey tasting straight from the pot. It feels like something out of a children's storybook, so it gets him to light up a bit.

"I can't imagine how to tell if one honey tastes better than the other."

[myblueskies]

"I think it would be fun!" He's never had honey on its own before, but he is sure it is yummy.

"I don't know either, I can't think of how honey would taste different..."

But he is always open to trying new things!

[adregem]

"Guess we're finding out together." Roland takes a bunch of teaspoons and lines up as much of the jars as he can. "Can you help me open them up?"

Then, he places two teaspoons next to each choice for their use. "Heh. I hope we don't get sugar rush. But I'm ready for a burst of energy." Roland gestures a hand to the first jar, allowing Romeo first dibs.

[myblueskies]

"Yes sir!" He makes quick work of jar opening, only struggling with one of them but even then it is soon done with a look of concentration and a gritting of his teeth.

"Um I think we should try the normal honey first, so we can compare the rest properly!"

[adregem]

"Do you think the normal honey is the lighter or darker colored ones, Romeo?" Because he's not well-versed in this to know what the difference was, but is enjoying the exploration with Romeo's innocence. In fact, Roland is taking this very, very seriously, studying the jars closest to him up to eye level.

"In my world, we used to eat honey with toast." He doesn't know why he offers this, but it felt right to do so. Whether it's out of being comfortable with Romeo or not, or if he's even talking about Earth or Evermore, it didn't matter. It comes to him easily, so he doesn't stop it.

[myblueskies]

"I don't know... I think we gotta read the lables." He does so, peering at them and reading each slowly. He's still listening though!

"That sounds really yummy! I like toast! It's really easy to make and really yummy!"

He picks out a jar, it's in the medium of colours. "This one just says honey!"