bakerstreet | Caffeinate me

☕THE CAFE MEME☕

The weather is getting cold and what's better for batting off that chill than a nice hot beverage in a place with comfy chairs and a barista who knows your favourite combo?

☕PROMPTS☕

1) Customer. You spent ages choosing your drink, lining up for it and now there are no more tables. Great. As a result, you have to look for somewhere to sit while balancing that tray laden with your drink of choice and tasty pastry in your hands. Looks like you've got no other choice than to ask that person with the spare seat at their table.

2) Barista. An employee of this fine establishment, if nothing else, knows how to brew coffee. We hope. Maybe you're the best barista in the world. Or maybe you barely know how the machine works and instead make up for it by coming up with hilarious names on people's paper cups. Either way, you work here and go through the daily grind.

3) Student. It's no secret that students congregate in droves towards coffee shops for a combination of free wifi and caffeine. Whether in a group or on your own, the laptops and papers are out in full force. Whether any work is actually getting done is another question.

4) Early Morning Rush. It's first thing and you're crabby. All you want is your coffee and you will kick, punch and claw your way for that cup of black gold. And it looks like you're not the only one feeling this way. Are you going to let that person stealthily cut in front of you?!

5) Not A Coffee Person. Maybe you just want to try coffee for the first time. Or you're a tea drinker who is rethinking their views on coffee. You're canvassing for opinions, and that can range from outright asking other customers to hovering over tables to monopolizing the barista for a good 5 minutes, holding up the line.

6) Coffee Date. Asking people out to a coffee is the easiest thing in the world. Or is it? Whether it's with a friend or something more romantic, a coffee date is a good opportunity to connect with people and talk about whatever comes to mind.

7) Late Nights. The evening sky is dark and there's hardly anybody left in the coffee shop. Closing time is not for a while yet, but a stillness has settled over everyone. It's that time of night where anything can happen.

8) Free For All. Or if all else fails, just make your own scenario!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Today is the first time Nightmarionne has ever stepped foot inside of the coffee shop. Given his nature as a nightmare animatronic, he doesn’t really need to drink coffee unlike his organic creator. Yet, he couldn’t help but be intrigued about what exactly makes it so appealing to humans in general.

As he steps inside, the nightmarish puppet notices the stares he's being given from the other customers. But he ignores them and walks up to the barista herself to ask for the available options.]

Wh-What is on t-the menu-u to-today?

[What in the deranged Ultron nonsense is this fresh hell??

MJ can only stand stock still as she stares at the... customer, apparently? She can sense the anxious rustle of both customers and staff as they await some inevitable attack, but once she's over her initial shock, she just assumes that someone is already preemptively livestreaming or calling the police, and so all she can really do is take the order and be ready to duck if something hits the fan.

For now, she points towards the menu board above her head with an only slightly shaky finger, though it comes to mind that maybe whatever this is can't read.]

Um... c- coffee? And, uh, variations of coffee. Espresso, cappuccino, lattes.... [She waves an arm broadly at the display case behind her.] Doughnuts.

[If this happened within an isolated location like an abandoned pizzeria or a chamber posing as a bedroom, then she might be at risk of an inevitable attack. Fortunately for her, Nightmarionne had enough sense to not cause such a stir out in the middle of broad daylight.

As she points towards the menu board, the monstrous puppet observes it for a minute before he gave his order.]

I-In that ca-case, an es-espresso w-would just be en-enough f-for me.

[Where would the drink even go? MJ wills herself to maintain eye contact, rather than give in to her curiosity and try to figure out the physiology of an... android(?) drinking an espresso. Instead, she manages a tight version of her customer service smile and tries to pretend that this is just another day at the office.]

To go? Or, uh... to stay?

[She really doesn't want to offer the option to stay, her fingers already itching to grab for the small espresso to-go cups, but she also doesn't want this guy(??) to get offended at the notion of being rushed out.]

[That’s what he’s trying to figure out for himself. Luckily for her, Nightmarionne doesn’t really have an interest in sticking around the shop.]

I am o-only here for the dr-drink that you-ou humans li-like to co-consume every-y once in a wh-while.

[Okay, great, only here for the drink, not as a bloody first step towards total annihilation of the human race. MJ can live with that.]

One espresso, coming right up.

[She can't move quickly enough to the espresso machine, grabbing a to-go cup and trying not to look like she's hiding behind the large apparatus that's currently making grinding sounds before offering up a steaming serving of the dark liquid. Once it's done, she slaps a lid on it and forces herself to move back to her original spot, slipping a cardboard coffee sleeve over the cup before sliding it over to him.]

Careful, it's hot.

[And she doesn't want that taking him by surprise and setting him off. Also, she's not bothering to ring him up, because uh... she doesn't see anyplace for a wallet and doesn't want to stare closely enough to change that.]

[Nightmarionne takes the espresso with his left hand. The heat doesn’t really bother him, unless its like hot enough to melt him into pieces. Then again, heat of that caliber would also roast a human alive.]

H-Here’s the mo-money in c-case y-you're wondering...

[He uses his right hand to place a couple of pennies and a $10 dollar down on the counter. Keep in mind that the money in question has a horrid scent, as if it had been dug up straight from the garbage bin.]

[Look, she doesn't know where that money came from, in any sense of the phrase. She doesn't want to touch it. So though she looks down at it for a moment and debates the merit of processing the transaction, she looks back up at him with that same strained smile.]

On the house. Consider it a free sample, since you've never tried it before.

V-Very well... Now I be-believe it is t-time to de-depart.

[Nightmarionne then turns around and walks over to the entrance of the coffee shop with the espresso on hand.]

[Most of the customers trail him with their phones even if they still can't bring themselves to move, and MJ finds herself breathing out a soft sigh of relief. All things considered, that could have gone way worse and probably won't be the weirdest thing she'll see in her lifetime. Even so, she shakes her head and looks over at the co-worker closest to her.]

And on that note, I'm going on break.

[It's not as though anyone can stop her after the one she'd just taken for the team.]

Caffeinate me

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