my heart's a battleground ( OPEN )

[aguidingkey]

WHO: Aqua and OPEN
WHAT: Aqua's figuring out this barista thing and exploring on off days
WHERE: The Expresso and around
WHEN: Early July
WARNINGS: None for now, will update as needed


Coffeeshop; working days

When Aqua had given thought to helping out around the city and earning her keep, this was not at all what she'd had in mind.

Someone in charge must have thought she needed experience in something mundane and every-day, signing her up for a job at a local coffeeshop. She had considered not going, for half a second, but in the end she knew she needed some kind of income other than whatever stipend the city was giving her and really this is experience she lacks. Maybe it's time to try something completely new. Thankfully, it's only part time work.

So here she is after Dualis Days have wrapped up, learning how to pull a shot of espresso and make a basic coffee or latte. It's a lot to learn and she feels pretty out of her element, but she's doing her best. Anyone who comes into the shop will be greeted with a smile.

"Hi. I'm Aqua. Can I help you?"

Exploring; off days

On the days when she isn't working, Aqua has taken to walking around the city to try to get her bearings. Surprisingly, this was a whole lot easier in the Iteration world. That one at least didn't move around, in her experience. Sure, people got randomly teleported out to other locations at seemingly-random times, but at least the locations didn't change, well, location.

On her first day of exploring, she makes a mental map of everything she comes across. The second day... that mental map gets shattered. Every day after that, she rewrites her map, taking note of where she goes and how she gets there, but every day something seems to change.

Thank goodness the dorms never seem to move. But getting to the coffeeshop on her working days just got a lot harder.

At some point during her wandering, she can be found standing at a corner of a couple of buildings, with one hand at her chin as she frowns thoughtfully down the street. "I thought that curved the other way yesterday. It's like everything just keeps moving..."

Comments

Coffee Shop

[aleifr]

She'll see a familiar face on the other side of the counter, looming head and shoulders above the rest of the mid-morning crowd. Aleifr greets her with a curt nod and while he doesn't quite smile, there's some warmth in his eyes - a sort of friendly recognition.

"Aqua."

He looks ... tired. There's a slight stoop to his shoulders that wasn't there before, and he's got faint bags under his eyes.

[aguidingkey]

Her eyes focus on the person in front of her and recognition crosses her face for a brief moment before concern takes its place. Normally, she would want to know what's wrong and try to fix it, but... now she's working and she has to do a different sort of job. Maybe she can combine them.

"Are you all right? Can I get you a drink or something to eat?"

[aleifr]

"Just tired."

Understating the matter, maybe, but he's trying to settle some of her concern.

"Hear coffee's good for it, but ..." A vague gesture at the menu board behind her. "Don't know what the fuck most of this is."

[aguidingkey]

Aqua glances at the menu board as he gestures, her smile a little bit apologetic when she looks back at him. "I don't know what all of them are yet. Do you know if you like something strongly flavored, coffee or tea? I think some of these are stronger than others and all of the ones under the 'Espresso' column are very strong."

She might have tried a couple on her first day so she would learn some by taste. They were not what she was expecting. The place has some normal lattes and mochas and espresso drinks, along with a few various teas. It also has some very weird combinations and she isn't quite sure what to make of all of them yet.

[aleifr]

She's got nothing to apologize for. She's ... she isn't quite as new at this as he is, but more than enough for him to understand.

"Strong will do."

He's plenty fucking tired. Might as well see if the stuff is as potent as everyone says.

"Espresso, then." He decides, before quickly adding, "Plain, please."

The other items under the 'espresso' header are still opaque for him, and he'd rather stick to trying one unfamiliar thing at the moment.

[aguidingkey]

"Plain espresso" puzzles her for a minute before she realizes there's actually a drink that's straight espresso. The price isn't too bad, either, and while she waits for him to get the proper payment amount out, she makes his drink. Luckily, it isn't hard and soon enough, she has it ready for him.

"You'll have to tell me how it tastes. You're welcome to take a seat somewhere if you want to enjoy it here."

And maybe she'll get a chance to come over to talk to him if things stay quiet. She could go clean tables off and talk to him a little bit.

[aleifr]

"Thanks." He nods, rummaging through his pockets for a moment before giving her payment and accepting his drink in kind. He sniffs the brown liquid at the bottom of the cup and his nose crinkles from the bitter scent. It's like the latte Steph had given him, but stronger, without the underlying sweetness of cream and sugar.

From the scent alone, he can tell that he's probably not going to enjoy it, but he's not here for pleasure. He nods again, offers Aqua what might be charitably described as a smile, and goes to find a seat ... something that's a might difficult when you're as big as he is. He dips his head low to avoid the dangling fronds of the various plants that clutter the place and settles into a seat that's entirely too small for him.

It probably looks a little comical, really. A giant sat at an ordinary man's table, with a cup that might as well be a thimble between his fingers.

His guess was right. Tastes fucking awful, but hopefully it does it's job by the time Aqua makes her way over. At present, only the bred-in caution he feels when surrounded by strangers is keeping him from dozing.

Exploring

[firacrux]

Like Aqua, Seifer enjoyed himself a good bit of exploring. His shifts started early and thus ended earlier in the afternoon, leaving him ample time to explore the city after a thorough shower or two and on days off. The routes gave him an opportunity to learn the layout of the city, but not the time to stop and really take it in like he desired. That and... well the things moving around really did make memorizing his route a nightmare. At least they provided a fresh update every morning, the waste collection dispatch was on top of things.

One such afternoon he spotted the familiar bright blue hair of his roommate, which in this place stands out a lot less than it did back in the Iteration. This was great news! Because he'd just come back from getting his free mod put in, and was honestly really excited to try it out and show her. "Hey, Aqua!" He called, picking up his stride to make his way toward her. "You look lost. What's up?" He'd not heard all of her muttering to herself.

[aguidingkey]

This new world has given Aqua and Seifer more chances to get to know each other. Given their shared experiences back in the Iteration world, Aqua has found herself appreciating his company, no matter how grouchy that company might come at times. He's not a bad person and he isn't setting off her darkness sense. Not like Vanitas used to. So, she turns at the sound of his voice and manages a small smile.

"I thought this road went the other way," she explains, glancing over her shoulder. "It's like it changed overnight. I can't even make a decent map of the city because it seems to keep changing."

It reminds her of the realm of darkness and that does not give her any good feelings.

[firacrux]

It was a good thing that, despite sharing a few distinct differences in world outlook, overall they got along quite well being as they found themselves sharing a dorm. It also helped a lot that they had shared time in the Iteration together, even aided each other in some of those final conflicts in protecting those who couldn't fight. In fact, Seifer would go so far as to call them friends. She didn't take his shit, and he appreciated that about her. Seifer knew he could be difficult to get along with, so anyone who could put up with him was impressive to start with.

It also helped that they similarly shared poor sleeping habits, so he'd switched his extremely late night/early morning tea ritual he used to have with Rinoa to Aqua, as they could probably both use the calm down time in the dark hours while they tried to cope with their own minds tearing them apart. Conversations for another time, because today was about exploring, and the spiffy new tattoo on his arm he was sporting, still wrapped in the protective plastic to let it heal.

"It probably did," He agrees, following her gaze. "I swear the routes change every time, even if it's to places I've been before." This place was weird. Impossible to memorize the layout.

"Feels like livin' in a fever dream." Or under Sorceress influence, which he didn't really want to mention right now.

[aguidingkey]

They haven't talked about the details buried in their nightmares yet, but Aqua has a feeling it's only a matter of time. Few people had really known her back in the Iteration, given that she wasn't there all that long; fewer still knew the details of what she'd really been through. But given the nightmares that have been cropping up again and again, it probably won't be long before the truth comes out with Seifer.

And she finds that she doesn't mind that idea. He isn't a bad person that she can tell and he doesn't set off her senses. Maybe the two of them have more understanding between them than they might have thought.

"It really does," she agrees, glancing around. It's like living in the realm of darkness again and that sends an invisible shiver down her spine. "It's almost like... we've fallen into the realm of darkness and this world was already there. Except there are people here and there wouldn't be any natives if that were true."

[firacrux]

It probably was. A conversation Seifer wasn't exactly looking forward to, even if he was dreadfully curious about what could torment someone as seemingly strong-willed and unbreakable as Aqua. Had to be pretty bad to have her up with him nearly every morning.

Perhaps they did. One day they might get around to talk about it and find out.

He frowned at her comment, the words giving him pause. "Funny you should say that," He muttered, looking around. "But I don't think anyone here is native. They're all brought here, like us." And if that were the case, was it not possible to be a world of darkness like she suggested? Although everyone still seemed pretty lively and normal to him, not mindless dark slaves or anything.

[aguidingkey]

"That's true," she muses thoughtfully. "I guess I'm just used to worlds that usually have natives. But you're right. Between this world and the Iteration world, I don't think we've run into any real natives at all."

Which brings up its own questions beyond what they were told when they woke up.

"So I guess that means this world might be in the realm of darkness."

She isn't honestly sure she's convinced of that possibility. Things are different. Then again, there's really no telling and that realm could have countless miles and worlds in it. Aqua's travels only barely scratched the surface.

What she does know is that she doesn't want to be stuck in the realm of darkness again and she doesn't know if she could survive it a second time.

[skyward_eyes]

If she thinks it's confusing on the streets, she should try it from the rooftops. Not that Nida's gone up to those too too much just yet. But he is here, just exiting a shop behind Aqua as she makes the observation. And he recognizes that shade of blue and steps up beside her.

"You're probably right. My job back home meant I had to know how to navigate cities very well. From the ground and from the sky. This place is... complicated. I miss the village for its relative static form."

[aguidingkey]

The rooftops are generally too high for her to jump to, even with Doubleflight working here. That seems more like something Ven would rather do.

She turns at the sound of the familiar voice, glad to see Nida again. "The village did have that to its advantage. Even if we were pulled to some seemingly-random location, at least the general locations didn't change. We could still get back to where we wanted to be with relative ease. Here... everything seems to change. There are only a few places that don't seem to move around, but I can't tell if that's really true or if I keep getting turned around every time I try to look."

[skyward_eyes]

“Have you used the phone,” Nida suggested, pulling his own out for an example. Just loads up the maps app and it at least shows where they are. “It’s also sorta unreliable. Honestly, I’m a tough frustrated. The garage I work at was here yesterday.”

How did people even find businesses to keep them functional? There was clearly some weird dimensional magic going on here. Because of course his brain went o magic. It was he frame of reference he had.

[aguidingkey]

The phone seems to have a little bit of a chance to be accurate, but even that seems like too much to ask. Aqua takes hers out and frowns at it.

"I don't know how helpful this will be," she admits. "Though the coffee shop I work at has been fairly stable for now."

Now that she's said this, it'll probably change next time she has to go in.

"I was looking around to see if I could get my bearings, but maybe I should try to see if any of the changes have a pattern."

[skyward_eyes]

"Oh Aqua, you shouldn't have said that. It's going to move now," Nida laments. Jinxing is the worst thing you can do. Oh, he just feels so bad.

Still, she's thinking her way around the problem and Nida applauds that. AS for him? Well, he's stopped caring. Those last days at the village sort of killed a lot of his 'give a fuck'.

[aguidingkey]

Aqua winces a bit. She probably did just jinx it. "Well, if I did, I'll let you know where it ends up." That might be the best way to look at it. If it moves, she might find a way to keep track of it. Or try to, anyway.

"Were you trying to find a particular place today? I'm just wandering around right now."

So they could walk and talk, if he wants.

Coffee? Yes please

[helpdesk_hero]

Like David could ever figure out how to live without caffeine. Especially when he's doing a lot of things at once. This place that he's found is definitely not his normal style, but it's something, and he's been up all night reviewing more than a few things. He heads up to the counter and...

Aqua?

"Hey," he says with a smile. "The most powerful thing you've got."

[aguidingkey]

Aqua has started to fall into a routine of sorts with this job of hers, but that sometimes means she doesn't notice who is standing there until after they start talking. So when this person starts talking, she realizes that she actually knows him. A smile graces her face.

"David. Hi." She likes him well enough. They had made a good team during the bombing and he doesn't set off her senses. "Do you want an espresso drink with something else in it or just straight?"

[helpdesk_hero]

"If the espresso is the strongest you've got, give me a double. And put it in something chocolatey?"

What? He likes flavor with his massive dosages of caffeine. His eyes flicker over the menu, and he smiles at the options.

"And a bran muffin?"

[aguidingkey]

"Sure. We can do that."

Sounds like a mocha with a double shot of espresso, if Aqua has her drinks straight. She rings the order up, grabbing a muffin for him and placing it in a bag on the counter. Letting him get the currency out to pay, she gets started on his drink.

"I haven't actually tried a lot of these drinks yet," she admits as she tries to remember how to make this one. "You'll have to tell me how you like it."

[helpdesk_hero]

"I'm sure it will be fine, Aqua," David smiles, even as he's already pulling out the muffin to take a small bite. As he does so his eyes cast about the place once more, and he tries not to let the decor... bother him.

"It doesn't make you feel strange, the way this place is made up? Forests should be, I don't know, outside?"

[aguidingkey]

Aqua glances around a little. "I think it's mostly decoration. Nothing seems to be real." It's not really bothering her, honestly, but a lot of that can be attributed to how much attention she has to pay to her job rather than the decor.

"Here you go," she says when she has his drink ready, handing it over. "You're welcome to sit at one of the tables, if you'd like to stay."