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Saturday, 5:45 am, overcast

Somewhere, on a relatively quiet street in Tokyo's Meguro City, there is a cafe. At first glance, it may seem like your average spot for sweets and drinks. But take a closer look - notice the little hole in the bottom of the door? The sketchy patterns along the base of the bamboo fence? The aroma of fresh grass and Nepata cataria? This is a haven for the neighborhood's many local cats as much as it is for its people. It occupies a little corner of the street huddled with potted plants and bamboo patio furniture. The air is humid with an after-rain aroma, sweetened by the blooms of hydrangeas skirting the red brick of the cafe. The frosted window glass shines like mica; it's spotlessly clean, just like everything else inside (including the litter boxes - cleverly disguised as potted plants - which have been picked through just this morning). The menu board standees have been freshly painted.

1637954870850.png


The cafe consists of a front room, a parlor, and a back room. The front room is the social space where customers can order and sit at the counter, set up at one of the tables and watch the passersby from the windows, or share their adoption stories on the message board. The open room to the side is the parlor, separated by a chique wooden gate, where the numerous resident cats live their days. The parlor is designed as a cat sanctuary, with shelves and rope-wrapped trees, a hanging bridge across the ceiling, tunnels and hidey-holes galore, with full view to the street corner outside via large bay windows. The parlor shares a door with the back room. This multipurpose space allows the cafe's residents to retire to their kennels, and the staff to their lounge. It functions as storage, workspace, and rest area. The coffee shop-cat sanctuary hybrid has just finished remodeling, redecorating and rehiring. A large hand-painted cloth banner hangs above the entance.

Cats Au Lait
Grand Reopening!


 
1637955212089.pngOyama Gento

The General Manager isn't one of the new hires. Apart from working on a nearby university's custodial team, he's been at the cafe as a major work horse for a while, and he arrived at four-thirty today to prepare for the reopening. The other hires will be joining soon for the unlock at six (five to five fifty-five is strictly for the cats). In the week leading up to the reopening, the new hires have all been trained in their respective roles and had some brief moments to get to know each other, but today will be the real first day.

Oyama puffs out a breath and adjusts his nametag. It's a plain white oval which reads his family name, plus a small strawberry sticker courtesy of Owner. He rubs a hand along the back of his neck. She still isn't here, even on a day like today. It isn't out of character for her, and Oyama has prepared expecting as much. He's already taken care of the residents (Owner's words for the cats who live at the cafe): the lively orange tabby, Taro, watches the birds from a cushioned bay window seat while the round splotchy cat, Bonbon, swats a mousey across the parlor floor. A few residents are still sleeping, eating or with their humans. The other major chores have been completed.

Now, the only thing left to do is wait for the arrival of the other hires, get through introductions, and open for day one. Oyama presses his lips together and gives Taro a scratch on the noggin. He hopes everything will run as smoothly as Owner is late.
 

Koga Kiyoshi

Kiyo stifled a yawn with the back of his hand, then used the same one to comb through his tousled locks. It was early and he wasn't necessarily a morning person, but the early bird gets the worm or so they say. "The late bird gets a good night sleep..." His thoughts were followed by a subtle chuckle. The hardworking 19 year old had been lucky enough to snag morning shifts at the new cat cafe, and he was far more excited than what showed on his face. Kiyo adored cats; Big cats, tiny cats, fluffy cats, hairless cats, young and old cats. However, because of his mother's allergies and the number of chaos-causing children already at home, a pet was out of the question. He had always patted and played with the strays around their neighborhood, but now that he had so many duties he hadn't been able to indulge in the fluffy calm they brought. Now he had the perfect excuse, and felt positively giddy.

Rounding a corner, Kiyo caught himself in the reflection of a window and realized he had forgotten to take out one of his ear piercings. He slipped his fingers out of his gloves and fumbled around with it, tucking it into his pocket. It wouldn't be good to show up on the first day of work looking too much like a hooligan. Well, until he was able to feel out the vibe of the place. He did have a good feeling about it - there were far too few establishments that could so boldly claim to be LGBTQ+ friendly even in this day and age and, while he wasn't particularly out (he couldn't have his mother worrying), he concept of being able to freely express himself in more ways of one made his heart tighten.

He rounded another corner, somewhat lost in thought, and realized that his destination had been reached. Even empty, the cafe looked cozy. The hazy glow of an overcast morning highlighted the warm waiting within. Pushing inside the door, he tipped his head curiously and looked around the front area. "Hello?" He called out quietly. "I'm... here for the opening. Er- for my... shift." He let the door close behind him and tucked his gloves into his pocket, shifting his book bag to the other shoulder.

Location: Cats Au Lait
Mood: Eager, shy, and a little sleepy
Interactions: Oyama ( DipDapTheSlap DipDapTheSlap )




 
Last edited:
  • mood
    โ tired โž

    location
    cats au lait

    interactions
    open
    TANAKA MOMO
    Momo, simply put, did not want to be here.

    Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration--out of all the jobs she had applied for, this was the one that seemed the most fun, and maybe she was a little excited to get to pet some cats at work. But excited wasn't even a word in Momo's vocabularly; She didn't express emotions like that. So, while a small part of her was beaming on the inside, her expression was just as tired and annoyed as always. It was best to maintain that expression, if she didn't want to give the other workers the wrong idea about her. Heaven forbid they started to think she was actually cheerful.

    Momo might've been faking her annoyance at the prospect of going to work, but she definitely wasn't faking her tiredness. She was pretty exhausted, having stayed up the night before to work on a paper. Now that she was here, she had to stifle a yawn before stepping in the door.

    "Hey," she said, and that was all the introduction she gave. She quickly brushed off the other two employees who were there and went to clock in. No need to get too chatty unless it was required of her, right?
    coded by reveriee.
 

MINAMI FUYUKI

Mornings are simply, awful. The heaviness of the lack of sleep from the night before weighed her down. Fuyuki can't even go back to sleep due to the single glowing sunbeam seeping through her curtains and shining right into her face. Stifling a groan, she bid goodbye to her warm, snug bed. Dragging herself out of the comfortable abode that was her bed, she walked to the other side of the room, the source of the shining sunlight disturbing her precious sleep. She began to pull the fabric covering the majority of the bright sunlight that was hanging in front of the broad windows as she pondered on why there were ten alarms waking her up this early in the morning. It's not like she has any work to do todaโ€”wait.

The cat cafe down the street is reopening today. It's an awesome awesome place that fuyuki loves since there are so many adorable cats!!! Sucks that her apartment complex doesn't allow pets, she would have become a cat hoarder. Excitedly running into the bathroom as the mirror reflects her messy hair and eye bags as she splashed the cold water onto her face in an attempt to fully wake up. She decided to get some breakfast at the delightful cafe since her house only has a bunch of kales left anyways... awkward. And here comes the hard part, choosing what to wear and wishing the son of the bitch she was last night picked already so she doesn't have to go through this mental torture today. Throwing on a flowy, long sleeve pastel pink dress, that fit more on the longer side, from the back of her closet and a random pair of shoes that probably fits the outfit, aaaand she was ready for the day.

After approximately ten minutes of walking down the street, she finally reached the destination point, the awesome cat cafe. Apparently, someone was here already, whose also waiting for the cafe to open. The stranger had dope hair that's for sure. "Hey hey, are you more of a tea person or a coffee person?" Fuck, that wasn't what she wanted to say. While brainstorming about what she wanted to buy, she also wanted to talk to the stranger with the cool hair and well ... started the conversation with the most random thing ever. Whatever, maybe that'll help her choose.

mood : head in hands, i'm an idiot.
interactions : ayumu ( bambino bambino )
location : cafe entrance.


TEMPLATE ยฉ BOKEH
 
The music blasting from the cellphone was great way to wake up. Blythe needed some really high energy music to be ready for the wake up routine. A young person dancing in front of the mirror as they get their hair brushed out.
They slammed the brush onto the counter, bobbing their head to the beat of the music, giving a little spin as they exited the small bathroom. As the young person made their way into the main sitting area, they did a little dance as they found their cat laid out of the couch.

โ€œCordelia! Time to go! Letโ€™s get your sweater on, come on.โ€
The cat screamed.
โ€œNo excuses, you need the sweater as extra padding for your sternum. Now come on!โ€
Blythe grabbed the two-legged cat before she could run away, placing her under an arm like the cat were naught but an American football.

The human then dug around in the little box of cat sweaters in the corner for something clean. She pulled out a purple tube with a big blue felt rose attached to it, and seemed to deem it appropriate to force over her catโ€™s head.

The cat firmly dressed, the person wandered off to get her shoes and clothes on, before bundling the cat into her carrier, and taking off out the front door. She wandered down the walkway outside of her apartment, down the stairs, greeting her elderly neighbor with an appropriate bow, before mounting her cat carrier to her motorbike and taking off for work.

____________________________________________

โ€œGood morning!โ€ The young person greeted in Japanese to the people in the cafe, pulling her earbuds out of her ears as she carried in her purse and cat carrier.
โ€œI hope you all are ready for Cordie, she is apparently feeling especially loud today.โ€

Blythe tugged the cat carrier open and almost immediately the cat inside threw her head back and screamed upon jumping out of the carrier onto the table. The squeal lasted for several seconds before Blythe reached over and closed the catโ€™s mouth.
โ€œEnough screaming, go find something else to do.โ€

The kitty-rex then bunny hopped away as Blythe picked up the carrier and moved it back to the staff area to wait out the rest of the day.

Cordie bunny hopped her way over to the front window, using the convenient ramp to get up there easily, where she proceeded to stare at the people whom were already gathering outside the cafe.

DipDapTheSlap DipDapTheSlap queanbean queanbean bambino bambino akeno akeno
 
Oyama Gento

The GM exhales a sigh of relief as the new hires - and even an early customer or two - begin showing up. Overall, he's impressed with what Owner has managed to pull together, despite her frequent unreliability. The hiring flyer she'd posted around the city had been a brilliant way of attracting the locals who were familiar with this part of Meguro City and its many strays. After that, interviews had all gone well and they set up to begin with a crew of young, albeit less-than-fresh-faced staff. Oyama isn't a morning person in the sense that he likes being awake so early, but rather in the sense that he does what needs to be done. He can tell that the arrival time is a bit out of their comfort zone.

First is Koga, the barista with the goth aesthetic. Oyama had been hesitant at first, but Owner appreciated his unique look - and it had become quickly apparent that Koga was far more reliable than her, so he was an easy hire. Owner had a soft-spot for people who were often ostracized under normal social norms. It was why she insisted that the cafe be LGBT-friendly in the first place. Just to prove the point, she and Oyama had hung up a small string of pride flags for each of their employees above the main counter. As Koga enters, it seems he's slightly nervous, so Oyama makes his way to the register where he clockes-in Koga and hands him a badge (name and pronouns) with a simple "Welcome in, you're in the right spot. First one, too." Oyama briefly wonders if he should've forced a smile to distract from his resting bitch face, but figures it might come off as fake. Well, can't all be friendly faces, he thought.


Next is Tanaka, another barista, with owlish glasses and a surly demeanor. Oyama appreciates her serious attitude as she clocks herself in with a simple greeting. He nods in return and hands her a badge as well. It seems he'll have to adjust the staff members' hours to accommodate everyone with different schedules. Being a custodian at a university himself, Oyama understands the priority of one's studies over one's job. It seems as though Tanaka may have been adhering to those priorities the night before. Perhaps he can put her behind the counter to reduce customer interactions and give her a chance to wake up.

After that comes Irons, the cafe's craftsperson and general helper (he isn't sure whether to call the foreign exchange student by her family or her given name, so he defaults to family). She'd been a shoe-in after presenting and designing accessible furniture for the cats and customers. Her motivation seems to stem partly from her own cat, Cordelia, the little kangaroo-cat in the sweater (Oyama nearly died when he saw it). Her strong personality shows as soon as she arrives, greeting the group confidently; even her cat is assertive. Like the others, she's clocked-in and as Oyama hands her the badge he notices the she/they pronouns. He makes a note to ask which one is preferable. "Good to see you," he says, "and Cordelia, too."

The GM hasn't forgotten about the customers outside: the two both look like idols to him, but he can't be sure. Because of the early unlock he's anticipating only a few, so it's safe to get started right away. He makes his way to the counter and pulls out an armful of cloth.

"Well, it ain't getting any earlier. Probably just going to be me today since Owner's...not here." He hands an apron to each of the staff, including one for himself. As he ties it around his waist he makes a note to order larger sizes. "Eh...you've all been trained in your roles, so you should know what you're doing, but don't hesitate to ask for help. I'll be making sure everything goes smoothly today and you all have what you need." He glances at the cat-clock hanging above the door. Ten minutes until unlock. "Cats have all been taken care of this morning, so the focus will be customers. Make sure food and drinks stay in the front room if anyone wants to visit the parlor." As he speaks, he makes one last trip behind the counter and produces a tray of three drinks. "Owner insists we start fresh, so...here," he hands one to each of the staff. "Matcha latte; Koga you're on register...chai latte; I'll have you take a look at the kennels in back today and see how we can make them more comfortable...cinnamon latte; I took a guess at yours, Tanaka, if you want something else feel free to make it since you're on coffee station." As he sets down the tray he rubs a hand along his neck once more out of habit. "We've got some time before unlock, so...feel free to mingle. Oh, and there's stickers in the lounge if you want to decorate your badge. Now I'm gonna go call the owner and see where the hell she is." With all that out of the way, Oyama makes his way to the back room, already digging his phone out of its pocket and punching in the numbers.

queanbean queanbean bambino bambino akeno akeno explosiveKitten explosiveKitten
 

Koga Kiyoshi

"Good morning... good morning..." He greeted as each of his new coworkers followed him in, almost choking on his breath when he saw the adorable little hobbling feline in a sweater, of all things. It reminded him of some of the old ladies' kitties at the retirement home his mother worked at. Seeing their knitted clothes made his heart warm. Not too early, not too late. Just right. He let out a long sigh of relief and tuned in to reality just in time to receive his name tag and drink, taking it graciously with both hands and a subtle bow. Was it really alright to drink on the job like that? Assuming that it must be because it was given to him, Koga took a small sip. His face stayed stoic but his eyes glittered just a bit more than usual - it was delicious. Upon receiving his assignment for the morning, he padded over to the counter and set his drink behind the register, then looked up at the door.

There were two customers lingering already - when had they gotten there? Either way, hearing Oyama-san's comment on passing time drew him back out from behind his post. "Good morning, welcome. You can come inside now. Thank you for waiting." A whoosh of chilly morning air ruffled his locks and made him wrinkle his nose. Hopefully they wouldn't be annoyed at being made to wait. "Uhm, if you know what you'd like then I can help you up front, otherwise please enjoy the areas of the cafe." Koga's manner of speaking was almost excessively polite and gentle. He held the door until they had entered and then crossed the room quickly back to the register, just in case.

Location: Cats Au Lait
Mood: Nervous, excited
Interactions: Oyama ( DipDapTheSlap DipDapTheSlap ) Blythe ( explosiveKitten explosiveKitten )
Minami ( akeno akeno ) Tanaka/Ayumu ( bambino bambino )



 
Hasegawa "Yuu" Yuto
IMG_1230.jpg

The blaring of his alarm woke him up, just before 5:30. Rubbing his eyes, and almost regretting waking himself up this soon, Yuto sat up in his bed and turned off the alarm. "Mmm... gonna be a long day today," he told himself as he lifted himself out of the bed and limped towards the bathroom to get a quick shower in. After the shower, he combed his hair a little bit, just to get it out of his eyes, as he strapped his prosthetic leg on, making sure to cover it with his jeans.

These preparations only took 10 minutes, so Yuto took out his notebook and began studying his class notes from last week, scribbling some additional things in the margins. Satisfied with the notes, he put the book into his backpack and hefted it over his shoulder. Upon leaving his dormitory, he grabbed his bicycle and began riding in no particular direction. He'd set his alarm early for a reason... he wanted to go out and explore the city a bit more before classes start, he didn't really have that opportunity normally.

Sooner than later, Yuto recognized the buildings around him, and realized this was where his favorite coffee shop had been. The Cats au Lait, if he remembered correctly. He didn't know what was better about it, the food and drink, or the cats. He almost regretted not returning to the shop after his accident, but at least he was back now. Leaving his bike at a nearby stand, he entered the shop just as the clock was striking 6.

"Hello?" Yuto greeted as he entered the coffee shop. "I'm not sure any of you will recognize me, but I'm back." Perusing the menu, he eventually decided on a chai tea, as he stroked the ears of one of the residents. He gently picked up the feline and sat down with it in a nearby booth.

The atmosphere was refreshing, and he sat back in the booth, taking it all in. The smells, the sounds, everything radiated bliss. He wanted to stay here as long as he could. Fortunately for him, his first class wasn't until 9. "I've almost forgotten how wonderful this place is," Yuto smiled and whispered to himself as he continued to pet the cat.
 

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