Valestars Coffee (Open)

(Saturday week three.)

Roy sat in a large chain coffee shop, sipping at a surprisingly good cup of mocha. The decor was soothing, paintings on the wall, large windows in front. The chairs and booths were comfortable, and there was even live music. They were playing some very mellow jazz-soul.


Roy himself was wearing a black short sleeved shirt, brown jacket, blue denim pants, his journeyman's boots, and a pair of reading glasses as he skimmed over a light novel he was reading. He was thoroughly enjoying his day, so far. He was just sitting, reading, and enjoying coffee. Now that his father was traveling again and plying his trade as a doctor to places that weren't villages that traded in hides and meat, so with a steady income once more, he provided Roy with a weekly stipend.

Naturally, Roy spent it all on books, food, and coffee. He would need to buy some new clothing next week, though. He reached behind him and scratched his back, making sure his spear was neatly folded and in place on his back still, underneath his jacket. It was good to be sure it was still there, and it was also good to be discreet about carrying a weapon in town. Armored boots were one thing, he just explained he was a student at Beacon and didn't have any other shoes. If anything happened, he would be ready. He had heard horror stories of robberies in Vale, but also other stories.

Things could apparently get rough even in town.

He sipped his mocha, smiling to himself. Today was a good day.

Hitomi walked into the coffee shop dressed like usual save for the long, black jacket. The weather would be turning soon, she felt, so she decided now would be a good time to break it in. She wasn't wearing her gloves, however, and instead now relied on Oathbreaker to keep her safe. She noted what kind of music that was playing, using it in an attempt to discern what kind of people usually lounged around the place.

Despite her 'career', she had never actually been to the place. She didn't really see the need to as there were better shops around. Well, this is interesting...I suppose. Walking up to the counter, she ordered something low in caffeine. Today was supposed to be a low-energy day, after all, and she didn't want to spoil it with a coffee of unknown quality. Upon her receiving her cup, she would give out a friendly "Thank you!" and a nice smile.

Turning around, she examined the shop again, trying to find someone who seemed worth talking to. She eyes darted to one particular fellow who was simply reading a book. Hmm, why is that guy wearing armored boots? A hunter perhaps? This should be good. She walked up to the man's table. "Excuse me, would you mind if I joined you?"

Well, that was certainly a way to wrack Roy's nerves. The women of the Blitzchach tribe had always treated him either indifferently or outright badly, and so he was somewhat...scared of women. Especially attractive ones. But he managed to not show it outwardly, this wasn't the (Now destroyed) village. Life wuold be different here, he hoped. And he knew how to defend himself, now. But that was most probably a concern he held out of simple paranoia. He had been so absorbed in his book that he jumped slightly when she spoke to him, but that wasn't necessarily his fear of women showing. That was just someone who was startled. Right?


"Uh, s-sure, go ahead."

Way to play it cool, jumpy..., he thought to himself as he closed his book. Slipping it, and then his reading glasses, into his pocket, he focused on the newcomer. She probably wouldn't bite, she wasn't a kid, but that time the girl had bitten his arm while he was trying to pick up a book was traumatic. The thin young man managed to keep outward signs of fear to a minimum. He sipped his mocha, and lowered it to the table. His hands were shaking slightly, but other than that, he was fine. Outwardly. It was strange. When conducting a buisiness transaction such as buying food or something, he could deal with just about anyone, but in a casual context he just couldn't function very well.

He let out a mental sigh, not letting any noise escape his lips for a brief moment, before stating his name.

"Roy, pleasure to m-meet you."

You're stuttering too. Stupid, stupid, stupid...I doubt she's gonna whack you over the head with a fish or something, he thought to himself once more. If someone could hear his inner monologue, they might be concerned for his mental well-being at this point.

A bit of a nervous one, are we? Hitomi took a quick glance at Roy's shaking hand before looking at him again with curious eyes, though she did her best not to show it. He didn't seem like the type. I really need to work on my profiling. "Thank you." She smiled before gently sitting down onto the chair, making sure not to disturb her drink too much. "Izumi. A pleasure to meet you as well." She blew on the surface of her drink carefully before taking a sip of it. Not bad I suppose. Now let us begin, shall we? She lowered the cup from her lips, licking away any remains of coffee from them in the process. "So, do you come here often?" So cliche it's actually painful, but it must be done. Hitomi gently swirled her coffee cup around with one hand. She usually didn't try to dig into people like this, though why not start now rather than later? The experience would surely pay for itself at some point.

The door to the coffee shop bursts open, and a somewhat tall man steps in, rifle on his back, with heavy gauntlets covering his forearms. He puffs his chest out and sets his arms on his waists in a classic hero pose. His booming voice overtakes the sound of the live music playing inside. "NATHAN IS HERE!"

A moment after announcing himself, he reaches into a pocket on his pants and presses a button. Applause. A recording of a roaring applause begins playing, the sound coming from his pants. As the sound dies down Nathan lowers his arms, and looks around the shop at the various patrons, mostly just staring silently  at him. He grins, nodding a few times to himself, pleased with his entrance, and walks over to the empty table next to Hitomi and Roy.

Sniffling once, he pulls out three things from his pockets. His scroll, a potato... and a potato peeler, setting them on the table. Without opening the scroll, he begins peeling the potato, letting the remains lay on the table. He speaks aloud, but to nobody in particular, as he is alone at his table. "How could they do this to me!? I was doing a great job! They really are gonna miss out on my expertise!"

Rina walked unsteadily through the coffee shop, shaking hands holding a cup of coffee in her hands as she made her way to a table. She had always wanted to try coffee - a magical liquid that wakes you up, gives you energy and tastes good? What more could one want in life? But she hadn't counted on there being so many people in a coffee shop! And most of them were looking at her with a look of dislike. What had she done to them? All she wanted to do was buying a cup of coffee, but due to her clearly exposed cat ears signifying her Faunus heritage, people look at her differently. She could swear the one that served the coffee looked reluctant to do so. Is this what Faunus had to face every day?

As she walked past a particularly cruel looking human, who she swore was glaring at her, she felt herself being shoved by the human, who laughed, "Hah! Get down on the ground, furball, like the animal you are!" before walking out the door, along with his other, laughing friends. Others laughed at her too, but Rina was too preoccupied with wincing at the pain of the coffee spilling all over her to do much about it. Not that she could do anything about it.

Looking up, she noticed a man peeling a potato while talking to himself - at least he didn't seem to be laughing at her. It would probably be best for her to leave though, go back to the Academy and get cleaned up. Hopefully they had showers. She picked up the empty cup, staring at it for a few seconds, sadness in her eyes. Maybe she should've just bought the powered kind.

Looking up at the laughter, Nathan sees a Faunus girl on the floor. Wow. Doesn't she know that you're supposed to sit in chairs, not on the floor!? Wait! This is an excellent opportunity! Nathan stands, with excitement in his eyes. "Hey guys! Wait a second! Let me throw you out the door! Its fun I promise!"

The last guy walking out the door stops and looking at Nathan, who is walking toward him after having set down his potato and peeler on his table. Being much shorter than Nathan, he wasn't particularly interested in Nathan's plan, so he walks out the door quickly, catching up to his friends. Nathan reaches the door, but frowns as they are all across the street already. "There has to be a better way to show people how fun getting thrown out a window is. Ah, well."

Turning around, Nathan suddenly finds a small faunus under his foot, as he smashes into the ground face first after tripping over her. Apparently, he was so excited about the opportunity to expel someone out a window, he forgot about her existence. A potato escaped from a pocket on his jacket, and rolled away from him, stopping upon hitting the foot of Roy. He grumbles, but doesn't say anything coherent. He hit his face fairly hard, after all.

At times, Roy's kind heart could overcome his fear of women. And the spectacle in front of him now was one of those times. His hands steadied, nd at the treatment of the Faunus girl his demeanor darkened. He should have stood up. He should have done something, but everything happened quickly and he had been paralyzed by his fear of Izumi.

He let out a sigh, and jumped slightly when the man's potato was propelled against his boot. Of course he was used to that kind of thing. He had been lost in thought, for a few scant moments, after hearing Izumi's question. His voice steadied, and he stood. When he was angry, he either became cold, or enraged. Today it was a cold fury that seeped through his veins like ice.

"I've only been in town a week. Now if you'll excuse me, a situation must be rectified."

He walked over to the Faunus girl, and produced a few napkins from his pocket. Unfortunately, it was the best he could do at the moment, aside from replace her coffee.

"Excuse me, Miss? Let's get that cup refilled."

He held out the napkins and smiled reassuringly. If one thing pissed him off, it was racism towards the Faunus. His father was a faunus rights activist, despite being human. Roy had been raised to treat everyone equally, no matter the shape of their ears. Or tails. Or whatever.

"I'll pay, it was horrible how they treated you, and I'm sorry I didn't step in sooner. My name is Roy."

Rina was about to reply to the kind man's offer (Probably with a lot of stuttering and shyness, though.) when she felt someone tripping over her. Having anyone trip over her was fairly rare - her tinyness doesn't leave much to trip over. But apparently this guy did, knocking Rina completely to the ground, instead of her half-sitting posture. She recovered quickly, with a quiet, "Eek!", scurrying under the nearby table, instinctively hiding.

The real world had definitely turned out to be a lot scarier than she had expected. Too scary. She should probably just hide at the Academy. But the Academy was scary too. The forest maybe? The forest was pretty empty of people. But Grimm. Scary.

Holding her knees up to her head, Rina buried her face in the top her knees in a futile attempt to keep her self hidden. The real world was definitely too dangerous for her. Too dangerous, scary and mean. If only she could just return to the orphanage - at least there she knew what kind of scary and mean she would be subjected to every day.

Looking around on the ground for a few moments, Nathan spots the cause of his fall scurry away to the safety of a table. "Sorry, I forgot you were there!" His giant smile seems reasonably sincere, and he stands up, dusting himself off. He suddenly stops, however, realizing that something is missing from one of his pockets. He immediately begins scanning the ground, apparently looking for something.

"Ah! Found it. Nothing to worry about, everyone!" Nathan walks over to the table Rina is under, and grabs her arms, lifting her out and setting her down on top of the table. He emerges from under the table again with the potato he dropped earlier, and dusts it off on his jacket, before pocketing it inside the jacket. Upon looking at Rina, he says, "Oh! Sorry." Before grabbing her again and placing her back under the table in her original position.

As he stands, he looks around and starts making his way back to his table. "Can't afford to let these things to go waste with the price of potatoes rising in the past few months!"

Well then. I guess I won't be getting anything out of him. Hitomi watched the scene unfold and was somewhat amused by it. I suppose these are the type of people that come here, ha. She took another sip of her coffee, still testing its quality. Though I do wonder why a little girl would be here by herself unless that oaf of a man is actually her father. I would actually feel bad for her if that were the case. Maybe. She smiled and continued to watch the fiasco in front of her.

Roy blinked. Once, twice, three times.


This kind of thing was something he was used to, too. Insanity. He was in his element once more. The one sane man in an insane situation. Although a sane man probably wouldn't be wearing dust powered rocket boots to a coffee shop. He laughed at the antic going on, right before the young girl was picked up and moved. Then he raised a palm to his face.

"Oh boy. I see life's not going to be much different here...."

He walked up to the counter and bought the biggest cup of whatever sounded the most kid friendly in the coffees section, since the girl had bought coffee earlier, and then he walked over to her with the Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl flavored coffee. He crouched in front of the table, and held out the coffee.

"It's alright. If anyone here tries to hurt you, I'll protect you."

He smiled reassuringly. Trying to coax her out from under the table with the coffee would hopefully work.

Surprisingly, Rina didn't panic when she was picked up and put on the table - She was far too terrified to have time to panic. What was going to happen? Was she going to be slapped? Thrown out the window? Laughed at? Soaked with water? She had experienced all of them before, so was prepared for any sort of attack. Well, not exactly prepared. Mentally prepared, more like.

Surprisingly though, the man simply picked up a potato, pocketed it and then put her back down under the table. Well she had never experienced that before.

Back under the table, she continued hugging her knees, rocking back and forth to try and calm down. There were still too many people watching, and she could see other people in the shop laughing at her. She closed her eyes to shut out the others, and as a result didn't see Roy offering the coffee, and her focus was such that she didn't hear him either.

Rina definitely wasn't liking the world outside the orphanage so far.

Luan half opened half body-checked the door open when he arrived at the coffee shop. He smirked as he saw all the coffee related things near the counter. Despite his age he had never had coffee before (Just what he needed more energy) so he was rather excited at the idea of getting some although he still didnt like being without Sol the two were both busy so he had to do it alone. He made his way inside and sat at an empty table deciding what to have first. He had brough plenty of lien and he planned on getting most of the menu.

Franklin entered the coffee shop in his normal, overdressed, attire. However as he walked in he had something he usually never could get, a sense of relaxation. 'Finally. A place to relax, look over the pirate contracts, and maybe, just maybe, have a decent cup of coffee.' He sat down at a table near one of the windows and opened up his scroll. 'Let's see....Ship check......arms deal...under the table but check....' He went on checking down the list until he stopped at the seventh box. 'Prison breakout...that's gonna have to be soon.' Frank put down his scroll and walked up to the counter to buy his coffee before he would continue the contracts.

Having returned to skinning the potato, he finishes the task, and quickly consumes it. Observing the others coming in briefly, he opens up his scroll, and sends a message to someone. "Man, I'm going to be here forever. Maybe I will get something to drink." Standing up, he walks over to the counter and orders a generic coffee, waiting nearby to pick it up.

Roy was fed up with the laughing. Fed up with the blatant disregard for another living being's...well....well being. It was sickening, and he stood up straight for a moment, and shot a glare full of enough daggers to slay an Ursa at the men who were laughing. Despite his slight frame, they actually shut up and went about their coffee. Still, he decided at that moment that he had to get her out of there. It went against every fiber of his being to pick a girl up and tote her out of a coffee shop. Girls tended to be quite mean to him. But she looked scared, and vulnerable, and it was terrible.

So he scooped her up in one arm, and then picked up the coffee he bought her with his free hand, and proceeded to leave. Getting the door open with both arms full was a bit challenging, but at least he didn't drop her or the coffee she would likely enjoy in a safer environment. The girl was light, and he managed to get her out easily enough.

Then he realized how suspicious this looked, and sat her on her feet about three feet and to the left of the entrance.

"A-are you alright? Sorry, I was just trying to get you away from them."


Roy, you're an idiot. I know I'm an idiot, little voice in my head.

Rainer entered the coffee shop. He wore a serious face. He held a crumpled flyer in his hand, and scanned the coffee shop. He sees a muscular man wearing cargo pants ordering coffee, a man with two different eye colors, a female faunus being carried and then set down by a blond man, and a woman observing the scene unfold. He could care less at what was happening, because he was here for business.

Rainer unwrinkled the flyer looking at it once more. He nodded his head in approval and walked up to the counter and slammed the flyer on the counter. Still wearing a serious face. "I was in the area and found this flyer outside your shop. I just wanted to know if it was true or not." He stared intensely at the person working behind the counter. The person behind the counter gave a nod saying that they did. Rainer's face quickly changed to a big smile and shouted. "I would like to have a mega chocolate drizzled triple decker ice cream sundae please!" he then proceeded to take a seat next to Hitomi. He then took out a carton of strawberry milk out of his pocket and drank it.

"H-Huh? Wha?" Rina said, looking around at her surroundings in confusion. Where was she? Hadn't she been cowering under a table before? She remembered being picked up and then just zoning out for a bit. So apparently this man had carried her here? Away from all the scary people? Well... This had been the man that seemed to be nice.

"U-Umm... T-Thanks..." She said in a quiet voice, grateful. She would have to prepare better when going to populated places next time. Blinking, she looked at the cup of coffee in the man's hand, vaguely remembering him offering it to her. Was it some kind of trap? Maybe it had laxatives in it or something, that had happened to her once.

Despite her worries though, she still stared at it - she hadn't gotten to drink the one she bought, and coffee was looking very appealing, if only because she had never tried anything like it before.

More and more people seemed to be entering the area. One could say more than expected. Clearly there are way too many people in here, now. It would probably be best if I got go- It was at that moment when a man took up a seat next to her. She wasn't sure how she felt about this. Or perhaps she did and was feigning ignorance. Well then...I suppose it would be rude to leave at this very moment. She sighed and took a sip of her coffee, the cup nearing complete emptiness. "Uh, why hello there..."

Roy smiled nervously, though it was still a reassuring smile in its own way. Roy had his own problems, and now helping this girl...well..."helping", made him look suspicious. He would probably be visited by the authorities or something, which he didn't relish. That could be extremely awkward. He held out the coffee to her, smiling.

Aw, isn't that cute, she's just as afraid of you as you are of her. Shut up, Me. Goddamn I sound crazy in my head.


Roy smiled, holding out the coffee.

"THAT SOUNDS AMAZING. I WANT TWO!" Nathan's annoyingly loud voice echos from his table, after he hears someone order what may be the best thing ever made. Walking back up to the counter, he notices several signs advertising it. "How did I not see these before? Probably because that little faunus girl was blocking my view. But the crisis has been resolved!" Taking his two sundaes to the same table as Rainer, he sits down next to them, setting both of the sundaes down in front of him. Taking a giant spoonful of deliciousness into his mouth, he doesn't really wait to finish before speaking. "I have to say, I'm glad you showed up! I almost didn't notice these existed! This is amazing."

Surprised by the outburst next to him caused by Nathan, Franklin almost dropped his coffee as he was picking it up from the counter. 'Jesus...some people just don't understand the concept of indoor voices do they...' He thought to himself as he sat back down at his table. before he sat down and returned to his scroll he caught a quick glance of a man sitting at another tables with very signature tentacles on his back. 'No...no...no...no. Why does he keep showing up everywhere...' He thought to himself as he tried to ignore the man and move on with his checklist, he was now down to the Pharaoh operation.

Rainer gulped down the strawberry milk. He was so excited to experience the magical treat. As his order came out. He quickly went to retrieve the massive desert. Rainer returned to his seat with the sundae, and proceeded to devour the sweet treat.

He turned after hearing a females voice right next to him. Without wiping his face he reponded "Hello." He looks at her and at his sundae, and he comes up with the assumption that she wants his sundae. "I know that this sundae looks very delicious, but you're going to have get your own." He was right about to start eating again, but he thought to himself. A treat like this should be shared with everyone. "But, you can try some if you want." He gave the women the second spoon he had, as he ate the sundae with the other.

Rainer continued to eat his sundae when the man wearing cargo pants sat at his table putting down two mega chocolate drizzled triple decker ice cream sundaes on the table. The man thanked Rainer for the sundaes. A fellow desert lover Rainer thought. "I knua roigh. I wah waangerring aroun ha tawn wen I foun ha hower.(I know right. I was wondering around town when I found the flyer)" he said with a mouthful of ice cream.