T42 - Sunday - Steampunk

[hernando_fuentes]

{Opened by req.}

The store was still stylized in steampunk; if anything, it had doubled down. The tables now had starched linens on them, each hosting a three-tiered tray containing delicate sandwiches cut into diamonds, puff pastries filled with cold salads and warm baked centers, frosted petite fours, gilded chocolate balls, and miniature battenberg cakes.

A train of ceramic teapots lined the counter. It seemed the store wanted people to take their time today.

The sign rattled impatiently. Hernando went to read it.

SPECIALS
Afternoon tea: Bottomless pot of tea for two & tray of sumptuous snacks £9


He walked the sign out to the sidewalk and set it up. The outside seating had changed as well, all of it white-enameled iron.

When he went back inside, he found that more of the quokka had gotten into the spirit of the thing. One had a wee monocle, another was wearing a pink straw hat with a confection of ribbons and plastic fruit around the band. Dave was still wearing his top hat.

Shaking his head, Hernando took his place behind the counter. Something twinkled at him. When he looked, he found a gleaming metal name tag with his name engraved across it. Smiling, he attached it to his vest and patted the counter fondly.

{Open!}

Comments

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan made his way to the shop for a morning spot of tea. Along the way, he spotted Zack and placed him as a familiar comrade.

"Good morning, Zack. How are you this fine day?"

[puppy_fair]

Zack glanced up from where he'd been pondering the specials sign today. The afternoon tea had seemed promising, but he hardly needed tea for two, after all. He smiled brightly as he placed Kaidan's face, and then bowed his head a little in greeting.

"I'm doing quite well, thank you," he replied. "As a matter of fact, you might just be the very person I was waiting for."

He gestured with one hand, thick leather gloves masking the view of and barely muffling the sound of the mechanical parts of his fingers clicking into place, toward the sign.

"Tea?"

[spectre_alenko]

"Tea would be lovely, thank you," Kaidan said courteously, following him inside, "How have you been? I haven't seen you lately."

[puppy_fair]

"I've been..." Zack paused for a moment. "I've been as well as can be expected, I suppose. Normally a few sleepless nights don't get to me, but it's been difficult to just gear down, this week." He huffed out a little laugh. Some light automaton humor, there. "I suppose the lack of action is getting to me. Or the waiting to see if it remains that way. And yourself?"

[spectre_alenko]

"About the same. It's been.. a really bad week," Kaidan admitted, "Which has lead me to need a quantity of caffeinated bev that I normally don't imbibe in, lest it continue the sleepless nights." He smiled, a little wanly, "It does lead to more productive days, however."

[puppy_fair]

"Oh?" Zack's own smile was somewhere on the tired side of sympathetic, today. "Well, it's good to know one of us has been making some use of himself, then."

He nodded to the gentleman at the counter, and placed an order for the afternoon tea before moving to take a seat at one of the tables.

"Have you been keeping busy with anything of any import, by any chance?"

[spectre_alenko]

"No, I'm afraid it's all been desk work and dispatches for me. Boring stuff." He took a seat, "I did try to convince the Colonel that this island needs at least one battlement, but you know how things go once they go up the chain of command."

[puppy_fair]

Zack made a little 'tsh' sound between his teeth, shaking his head.

"If you ever do hear back, I imagine it'll either be a solid refusal on the grounds of not enough resources to spare, or it'll be a request that you put one together yourself with... not enough resources to spare," he noted. "You'd almost be better off just going ahead and doing it without anybody's say-so. It'd get done in half the time and they likely wouldn't notice anyway."

[spectre_alenko]

Hernando brought them the pot of tea. Kaidan gave him a polite nod and a small smile. Hernando gave them both a look of bemusement and went back behind the counter.

Kaidan poured them both a cup and shot Zack a sly glance, "Mm. Thought along those lines my ownself."

[puppy_fair]

Zack smiled as he reached out, gingerly, to take the tiny teacup in his hands. It would be easier, he supposed, if he were to remove those gloves, but he couldn't help but feel exposed without them.

A little like he did while not in uniform, the way he generally went around these days.

"And if you were to happen to keep thinking along those lines," Zack noted, carefully raising the cup to his mouth, "would you be in need of somebody with a strong back and a stronger work ethic to assist, by any chance?"

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan, uncouth as he was, put two cubes of sugar in his and stirred. "Someone like that would be quite an asset, were I to do anything of the sort," he allowed. His mouth twitched as he suppressed a smile. Zack had a very strong work ethic, he remembered, and an even stronger heart. It was unlikely he would leave a friend to do something like this alone.

[puppy_fair]

"Well," Zack noted, sipping his tea, considering it for a moment, and then adding just a splash of milk, "I might happen to know a man in need of something to keep himself busy, even on late nights. After all, he doesn't seem to be sleeping much, these days."

[spectre_alenko]

"I'm sure if you had your man stop by the shop of an evening, I could find a way to put him to work," Kaidan mused from behind the rim of his teacup. "Perhaps having something to do would help fatigue him enough for some proper rest."

[puppy_fair]

Zack smiled, took another sip of his tea, and then nodded in satisfaction.

"Yes, I believe I shall have to do exactly that," he agreed. "He would be most thankful for the opportunity to be doing some good again. The last few years for him have been... sparse."

And, if he was being entirely honest, a good many of the years before those last few, as well.

[spectre_alenko]

"That's unfortunate," Kaidan said with a small frown. He was perplexed why Zack would have lacked things to do. The man was a good worker and an even better person. Who would think he'd lack things to do?

"And how are Miss Iris and Girl?"

[puppy_fair]

Zack smiled warmly at the mention of his two favorite ladies.

"Both doing quite well," he replied. "Girl is as much a blessing to me today as the day I first met her, and Miss Iris... well, besides being faintly exasperated with the reliablility of her fellow professor, I believe she has been keeping busy. Plenty of work to be done, teaching and running a business, after all."

[spectre_alenko]

"She's sharing a class?" Kaidan's eyebrows rose, "Last we spoke, she and I, she mentioned she sometimes has a little trouble sharing. I'm glad to hear she and Girl are well."

[puppy_fair]

Zack ducked his head faintly, trying to hide his laugh behind his teacup.

"She had mentioned that you'd said something about her sharing Silly," he noted. "I don't think Silly exactly wants to be shared, but he is a good little bird all the same."

[spectre_alenko]

"It came up because she said you shared Girl and asked if she should share Silly with you. I mentioned it would only be fair," Kaidan sipped his tea, "I believe I was trying to make a pun about your, and eventually perhaps her, last name."

[puppy_fair]

Okay, that earned a laugh that was right out in the open, and Zack had to set down his teacup for a moment so as not to spill.

... You'd think he would have heard more puns like that one through his lifetime, but apparently not.

"We haven't even talked about names yet," he admitted, a little sheepishly. "Only, I suppose we also sort of did. She had used mine on Girl's adoption papers. Imagine the grinding the gears in my head had to do in order to process that when I stumbled across them."

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan grinned across the table at Zack. He had a great laugh.

"It might be worth having that discussion," Kaidan teased, "'Iris Fair' sounds like an endearment. She might like it, she might punch people over it. Probably something to discover before she does the latter." He sipped his tea, "It would be an accurate endearment. Your lady shines like the sun. You're a lucky man."

[puppy_fair]

"Sometiems I catch myself wondering how in the world I managed to end up exactly this lucky," he admitted, smiling fondly down at his tea. "It's no wonder she shines like the sun. She's moved the Earth entire for me before."

[spectre_alenko]

"Karma, I expect," Kaidan said sagely, sipping his tea, "The good kind." It's not like Zack wouldn't do the same for.. practically anyone.

[puppy_fair]

It was true. The reason he'd needed a rescue was because he'd spent a year just flat-out refusing to give up on a friend who was little more than dead weight while he was on the run, after all.

"Karma," Zack echoed. "Well, if that's the case, I suppose I had best keep doing whatever it is I was doing. A person doesn't build up karma like that every day."

[white_oleander]

Yesterday's painting had gone well, but it hadn't been quite enough for Astrid to itch that persistent scratch. She'd gathered her things, intending to perhaps try a different spot to catch the now-familiar landscape of the island, but she thought perhaps she should treat herself to a little tea and perhaps even splurge for one of the delectable little treats the shop had on display. It didn't take long for her to confirm that, yes, the treats looked as tempting as ever.

Dipping a small curtsy, Astrid smiled easily when she approached the counter. There might be quite a bit different about her today, but there was still a part of her who could muster up the memory of sharing experiences of Mexico with Hernando, so the place would now always remind her fondly of her wilder years growing up there with her adventuring poetess mother.

"Good morning," she greeted. "I trust you are well today?"

[hernando_fuentes]

"Good morning," Hernando greeted her, "I am indeed very well, thank you for asking. And yourself?"

He was still bemused by the entire weekend. It seemed to encompass everyone he'd met and he still wasn't sure if it was a normal 'first Saturday of the month' event or not.