T42 - Monday 6am-6pm [won't be here Thurs]

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando was thankful Kaidan had spent the night and been there in the morning to help deal with the emotional hangover from the weekend.

The shop seemed to be attempting to help as well. When he entered in the morning, there were already piles of pastries set out. Far more than the store usually carried. Rosalie or Simon must have stopped by because there was a multi-tier tray of cupcakes as well. At least Hernando hoped they had stopped by and that the store hadn't started replicating the cupcakes. He didn't think it would. The store seemed to like Rosalie and her kids.

The sign rattled. Hernando investigated.

SPECIALS
Need to eat your feelings after the weekend?
All pastries BOGO.
Complimentary 1st mug of tea with purchase!


He huffed a small laugh and hung the sign in the window. When he returned to the counter, a steaming mug of tea was waiting for him. "Thank you," he murmured with a fond pat on the counter.

Description of shop is here.

[Open early because of the animal sacrifice with pie this week.]

Comments

[sharp_man]

Midmorning, Hannibal was stopping by in his usual three-piece suit, carrying a thermal bag. He smiled when he saw Hernando. "Mr. Fuentes, how are you this morning?"

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando smiled warmly at Hannibal. "Dr. Lecter, good morning. I am as well as I can be today. How are you?"

[sharp_man]

"Very well-fed, albeit on arcade food," Hannibal said, smirking. He lifted the thermal bag. "I thought I might return the favor, with a bit more flavor," he explained.

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando laughed softly, "Thank you. I am sure I prefer whatever you have brought to the cardboard and grease that was the pizza yesterday. Though it seemed delightful at the time."

His stomach still hurt at the thought of all that grease, Hannibal.

"Would you like some tea?"

[sharp_man]

"Thank you; that would be lovely," Hannibal said. "Do you have Keemun?" He chuckled. "While I certainly would not prefer such foods, I do appreciate the sentiment, and did even at the time. However."

He unpacked dishes from his bag, explaining as he went. "Home-cured, thick-cut bacon, baguette, and brouillade de truffes - eggs with black truffle." He smiled. "Ordinarily, I would have brought coffee, but I thought it best not to insult your shop."

[hernando_fuentes]

"I do have Keemun. Do you prefer Mao Feng or Hao Ya?" Hernando asked. He brightened a little at having a customer who would appreciate the difference between the earlier picked leaves and the later.

"That sounds wonderful," Hernando responded to the positively decadent sounding food. "Please; the coffee in my shop is an insult to coffee."

He said it fondly, patting the counter while he did. "It tries but it truly is a tea shop."

[sharp_man]

"You have both?" Hannibal was delighted. "Hao Ya, please. And while I often prefer coffee myself, there is nothing wrong with doing tea well," he reassured the shop.

He plated the food and slid it over to Hernando, along with a fork and napkin.

[hernando_fuentes]

"I do," Hernando confirmed. He set about steeping the tea for Hannibal. For this guest, he did not use a fiber bag but instead used a ceramic steeper that sat just inside the rim of the mug.

He traded the mug back to Hannibal.

"That smells delicious," he said while eying the food with evident pleasure.

[sharp_man]

"Thank you." Hannibal gave him a little bow as he took the mug and breathed in the scent of it. "As does this."

He looked at Hernando. "So, you have finally gotten your own share of the island's whimsy."

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando nodded back at him with a small smile.

There was a pause before he took a bite. His eyes closed so he could savor it. The truffle was sublime.

After his bite had cleared did he say, "This is most excellent, Dr. Lecter. Thank you!"

A minute later, he added, "I was here the weekend the electric lights turned to gas. The shop insisted I dress for the occasion but my mind and body were my own. Then there was the.. the shadow. A friend, inside." One shoulder lifted microscopically. "Now this. This morning was not perhaps my best but for the whole I cannot truly complain. I was not an unhappy child and I had a friend to ensure I did not become one this weekend."

At the time he had not understood what it meant for so many of the children to look so dazed. As an adult he understood far too well.

[sharp_man]

Hannibal nodded. "You're quite welcome. It can be different, watching others experience it, and experiencing it yourself. I'm pleased it wasn't too traumatic. You did seem happy. And very enthusiastic about food."

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando nodded agreement. It had been very different to experience it himself but he preferred it to the shadow.

"I come from a family who were very food oriented," Hernando said with a small smile, "Welcome! Have some food! Are you upset? Here, have some food. Celebration? We'll bring some food." He raised a hand in an open-palm shrug, "It is a universal thing. Everyone must eat, drink, no?"

[sharp_man]

Hannibal chuckled. "Yes. And I certainly understand the impulse." And often took advantage of it. "Now, at any rate. It was a bit of a mystery to me as a child that age, I'm afraid. But appreciated nonetheless."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan knew he probably shouldn't. Maybe shouldn't? He had no idea where he stood with Hernando (they had a holiday invite?) and he wasn't completely in his right headspace today and mostly he wanted to just stay home and hide under the covers and not come out, but those were the days when he knew he needed to the most, or he never would.

There was a vaguely haunted look about him when he walked in to the shop today, anyway, shoulders bunched, eyes down.

What he wanted was a drink. But it wasn't Tuesday and anyway, Kitty knew not to let him lean that hard into that particular urge. And he wasn't feeling up for the trek to the mainland, so...

"Whatever cupcake's good, please," he muttered. "I'll just grab two and be out of your hair."

[hernando_fuentes]

Kanan looked like he felt. Probably for much the same reason.

"You will sit and have tea with your cupcakes," Hernando said quietly. It was more an offer than insistence but there was an amount of that as well. "Something warm."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan glanced up at that, stood there silently for a moment before deciding he didn't have enough fight in him today to say no, and lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug.

"Probably won't be warm by the time I'm done," he noted. Which was about as close to an, 'okay, but I'll just be here picking at those cupcakes for the next three hours' as he was going to get.

[hernando_fuentes]

"Then I will bring you one that tastes just as good cold," Hernando said simply. He set about making Kanan a mug of tea.

He had sort of guessed that Kanan would be picking at the cupcakes. It didn't look as though he had any appetite to speak of.

A strawberry cupcake joined a blueberry cupcake on a plate. They along with the tea were slid across the counter to Kanan without further comment.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan just nodded, gave a mumbled 'thanks,' and pulled out his wallet, pulling out... some amount of money, it was almost certainly too much and the handful of random bills and coin probably included an Imperial credit chip or two, and just kind of left it on the counter before picking up the tea and the plate and making his way off to find the darkest, quietest corner to pretend he didn't exist in.

[hernando_fuentes]

That's fine. Hernando could make change. He gave the Imperial credit chips a curious glance before returning Kanan's change to his table.

This wasn't a day for talking. This was a day for existing. Or pretending not to exist, in Kanan's case.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan barely noticed the change ending up on his table. He stared at it for a good ten minutes, just sort of processing that it was there, and then, finally, he nodded, rested his elbows on the tabletop, buried his hands in his hair, and sat there with his head down for a good hour before even making any motions to drink his tea or touch his cupcakes.

He was good here. This was as good a place to not exist as anywhere.

[hernando_fuentes]

Nudge!

Nudge!

Hernando might be leaving you alone. Dave was a furry little jerk and his grumpy quokka face was going to poke you in the leg until you noticed him.

[uncertain_dume]

... Why was something poking him in the leg?

Kanan's brow furrowed after a few more nudges before finally, grudgingly, he leaned over to look.

...

And he blinked.

[hernando_fuentes]

Dave blinked right back up at him. Whut?

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan stared for a few more moments, and then shook his head a little.

"I don't have anything for you, buddy," he mumbled. "Cupcakes probably aren't any good for... whatever you are."

[hernando_fuentes]

Dave's face got even grumpier. Look, fool, humans were good for exactly two things: food and scritches. He had a whole bowl of food on the other side of the room.

He nudged Kanan's leg a little more insistently.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan considered the little guy on the floor for a few moments more, and then sighed, scooted his chair back a little, and gestured to his lap.

"Come on, then."

[hernando_fuentes]

Well finally! Give the bipedal hairy ape a carrot he got the message!

Dave hopped up into the lap and immediately nudged his fat little quokka face into Kanan's hand.

[uncertain_dume]

And Kanan, maybe a little bit bemused, started to scratch the little guy behind the ears. Maybe a little absently, but hey, if there was one thing being the galaxy's shittiest Jedi was good for, it was at least knowing where to scratch an animal to make it happy.

... And okay, it was kind of nice for him, too.

[hernando_fuentes]

Dave made a little soft grinding noise with his teeth. These scritches were acceptable.

His head tilted a little to put the scritches where he wanted them.

[uncertain_dume]

And Kanan followed the tilt of his head for a moment before, after a few more minutes, he closed his eyes and reached out through the Force, just kind of gently letting Dave know he was whatever the little guy needed, right then.

Just let him know where to do the scratching, buddy. He had this.

[hernando_fuentes]

Dave is old and mostly sore and tired but right now the air outside is cold and too dry while the air inside is warm and too dry so he is itchy all over.

He has claws and can scratch himself but why should he when there is a convenient human right here who wasn't doing anything else?

A human who seemed cold and like he could use a warm soft weight sitting on him to anchor him to the world for awhile. Dave would bite him before admitting that.

Dave knew sad when he saw it. He'd been around a very long time and he'd seen it many times before.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan opened his eyes, looked down at the little guy, and then nodded, just a little, something almost like a smile quirking at the corner of his mouth.

Yeah, he could live with that.

He'd just settle in, reach down with both hands, and scratch right in around the ruff behind Dave's chin, then let that scratching wander down over the quokka's back. There wasn't much he could do for 'too dry' besides maybe suggesting Hernando set up a humidifier in here - and hell, maybe he would - but 'itchy,' he could handle.

And the rest...

Well, that could be their little secret.

[hernando_fuentes]

Dave hunkered into the scritching.

He might have even momentarily flashed a happy quokka face up at the human.

He'd bite before admitting that too.

[uncertain_dume]

... Yeah, if Kanan started to come here more frequently from now on, it was going to entirely be Dave's fault.

They could be grumpy tired curmudgeons together over here in the corner of 'bah.'