[OPEN] Ghosts and Coffee

[einherjarista]

Who: Signe + OPEN
What: Signe works on opening a new coffee shop, ghosts a Fight Club meeting
When: July 14-21
Where: Keystone Rise, Keystone Station common room + kitchens, grassy area outside the station
Warnings: nothing really sorry


[ July 14th - Keystone Rise ]

[ This day finds Signe at the gym! Or more precisely, perusing the various rooms set aside for gym usage. There's more than one - one of them seems to serve as some sort of dance studio, one's a sparring area, and then there's actual exercise equipment in others. One is completely empty - presumably for more equipment once it gets in. But Signe has other ideas.

So instead, people hitting the gym (or honestly just walking by outside - glass outer walls - will find her measuring the room's dimensions, searching for electrical outlets, and basically examining all sorts of stuff.

Once she's done, she hangs a sign on the wall of this particular room, which reads simply RESERVED.

Feel free to run into her during this. ]


[ July 15-21 - Keystone Station kitchens + common room ]

[ An industrial coffee brewer is set up in one of the Keystone Station kitchens for now - it seems to have more traffic, and Signe is nice, so even though she lives in the Rise herself, she's set this up there.

Every morning, despite the early hour, Signe can be found in the kitchen using the brewer to make three airpots of coffee - two "House Blend" and one Decaf. While the coffee is brewing, she usually seen tapping away at some phone game. The observant might notice that it looks like a.... radar?

Once the airpots are brewed, she brings them into the common room, sets up some paper cups near them... and puts up a sign next to the cups.

HELP WANTED:
Baristas, Construction
See Signe.

After that, she kind of sinks into a couch and watches. Get a feel for the people, their coffee tastes, and to see if anybody bites the bait. ]


[ July 21st - Fighting Club (grassy area outside of the Station) ]

[ While the Fight Club is getting started, people still arriving, one might see a slip of a woman swinging by in a... black tunic? She has a gleaming silver spear lazily slung over a shoulder.

But it's more likely that one won't see her at all, because in Einherjar form, she's all but invisible unless the person observing can see ghosts, or has some other close connection with death.

Signe spends her time observing people as they begin to spar, especially to those with esoteric styles, weapons, or abilities. After finding a mark, she observes them closely for about a minute, and then.... begins to copy their movements. If they use a weapon, her spear shifts like a liquid until it settles into a new shape, the shape of the weapon they're using.

Movements, footwork, strikes, guards, even magical abilities are flawlessly copied. Hopefully, Signe half-believes, with nobody the wiser to it.

Half-believes, because there seems to be a higher number of spiritually sensitive than normal. Come prove her right. ]

Comments

July 21st

[redmeguca]

Hey, nice spear.

[Yeah, this girl? All her spiritual energy is concentrated in one spot.]

You any good with it? I could use a workout.

[einherjarista]

I dabble. [ She idly twirls the spear around as she says this. But her focus, and her eyes, are intensely focused on Kyoko's gem.

She shouldn't be surprised by somebody noticing her by this point, but with a soul as... odd... as this girl's, Signe is doubly un-surprised. ]

[redmeguca]

Hey, don't you know it's polite to look at someone when you're talking to them? My name's Sakura Kyoko. That's Eastern order, by the way. Now, are you just going to stare-

[A flash of red light, and Kyoko is holding a spear of her own.]

Or are you gonna live up to this place's name?

[einherjarista]

...Signe Vågsnes.

Tell me, do you know what a "shinigami" is?

[ She... copies Kyoko's pose, obviously ready. ]

[redmeguca]

A Japanese death god, right? What's that got to do with anything?

[Kyoko starts moving, looking for an opening.]

[einherjarista]

....That's basically what I am. [ Signe figured she'd get better mileage out of that then explaining what an Einherjar is. ]

Reflect, Sølv Speil. [ Signe maintains Kyoko's pose, but her spear shifts, forming into an exact copy of Kyoko's, except entirely in the same reflective silver color as Signe's original spear. ]

[redmeguca]

Having seen this place a bit, I'm not really surprised. Kamen Rider himself could show up and I wouldn't bat an eye at this point.

[Kyoko thrusts her spear, still at a significant distance, and it segments several times to reach Signe]

[einherjarista]

[ Signe twirls her spear, at a distance where it can't block. But, like Kyoko's, it segments. Using it move like a whip, Signe bats the oncoming thrust aside before clack pulling the spear back together and then lunging forward. ]

I have some questions about the state of your soul.

[ She's faster than she looks, and moves in for a normal spear thrust. Toward Kyoko's soul gem. ]

[redmeguca]

[Kyoko quickly moves her spear in Signe's spear's way, a panicked expression on her face.]

Stop!

[There's an undercurrent of magic in Kyoko's voice, compelling Signe to follow her directions.]

[einherjarista]

[ Signe pulls back before Kyoko's spear even meets her own to deflect it. It's pretty clear that this is of her own doing, though, not Kyoko's command. ]

So you know what I am. [ Twirls the spear, rests it on her shoulder as she takes a couple more steps back. ] How about what you are?

[redmeguca]

What the hell?! I won't be able to answer any questions about my soul if you fucking destroy it!

[Kyoko steps back, a wall of metal links separating them.]

I'm a god damn Magical Girl, and my soul got pulled out of my body by an alien for convenience's sake! And if my Soul Gem breaks, I fucking die!

[einherjarista]

[ Hmmm, so that's how this one is. ]

So your entire soul is in that gem. [ Not sure if she likes that. ] But you're still... alive?

[ She also takes a moment to look over that wall of metal links. She could copy that, probably, but getting past it is another matter. ]

July 15, morning, coffee

[thecompletionofthings]

"Coffee."

Harriet seems to waft in on waves of scent, her eyes slitted against the light. Did she walk here from Keystone Rise that way? Can't have. Not only that, but she hasn't showered and she's clearly in yesterday's clothes.

"'s good," she mutters after the first cup, "got any--no, wait, no questions. Should there be half and half to splash in it, maybe one brown sugar, it would be even better. Ha."

Obviously she remembers her last conversation with Signe clearly despite the hour.

[einherjarista]

. . . . . .

"Did you sleep in those clothes? Actually, did you sleep?" No creamer or sugar yet, she demands answers.

[thecompletionofthings]

"Answers'll cost you, and I don't mean in creamer. One for one, credit on future questions. Or, y'know, we can cut the bullshit and agree to owe each other nothing."

[einherjarista]

Signe values not being asked questions too much.

She slides over some creamer and sugar. Just regular, no brown. Not yet.

[thecompletionofthings]

Harriet dumps the half-and-half in her second cup of coffee. "Yes, I slept in these clothes, and yes, I slept. If you want details, brown sugar and another question credit."

[einherjarista]

"I didn't press because I absolutely do not accept question credits." She pauses. "And also I don't have brown sugar. They don't have packets in the kitchen, only bulk. If you want me to get some of that presentable for consumption, that'll cost you."

[thecompletionofthings]

Harriet sets her coffee cup down, undrunk. "Fuck. You. Worst barista ever."

She turns to walk out.

[einherjarista]

She's not a barista at the moment, just a friendly lady who brews coffee for her neighbors.

"It's in the cabinets. Somewhere."

[thecompletionofthings]

"You're so annoying, you make me want to open a competing coffee shop just to drive you out of business," Harriet says​, pausing in the doorway without turning around, "but my imagination reels at the thought of how boring and pointless that would be in real life. So…have fun getting people to trade their souls for coffee, or whatever the fuck your damage is. I'll brew my own."

[einherjarista]

"Uh." Pause. "Okay?"

[thecompletionofthings]

"Now see," Harriet says, turning to face Signe again, "if I were as big an asshole as you, I'd treat that as a question because it had a rising inflection. Meaning you'd owe me a payment of my choice. But I am a civilized human being."

One cup of coffee may not have been enough for Harriet to approach the day with joy in her heart and a spring in her step.

[einherjarista]

"You're the one who made that up, not me." Just kind of. Staring blankly at her. "I just meant like. Big questions. I'm really not supposed to be talking about that stuff with mortals."

There's a long, awkward pause.

"I'll get brown sugar next time if that makes you feel better."

July 17th

[hurt_comforting]

[...Merry winces, a little, at the smell. It's the smell of coffee proper, though, not burnt espresso, so she wanders in anyhow.]

I see you made it out too. Hello there.

...I don't suppose you'd like any pastries to serve with your coffee?