Coffee and Conversation

Station Square was home to many coffee shops, some small, some big, and some medium sized. This particular coffee shop was not the biggest, but it was quite popular. With its squashy armchairs and comfy couches, many were in this particular shop to escape the autumn chill, including one Ryan Neumann, who happened to be sitting on one of the couches sipping a vanilla latte and munching on a blueberry muffin. This particular couch also happened to have a coffee table in front of it, with a couple of the famous squashy armchairs arranged around the table as well. Simply sitting in comfortable silence and pulling out his phone, Ryan noticed someone else walking around, perhaps looking for a seat? “These seats over here are free, by the way!” he said to whoever it might be, not looking up from his phone, but his tone of voice quite friendly.

Samantha was no stranger to cafes, they were good places to just relax whenever you want, have a snack, and talk to people! Like this German Shepherd with a very odd aura who just offered her a seat!

"Oh! Thank you, darling!" She says as she takes a seat, now enjoying some freshly made coffee cake.

"How's the donut, Toth?" A fire salamander in the cafe said to a young looking human kid.

"It's g-good. H-how's your hot chocolate?" The kid said to the mobian.

"It's great! Though I wish they didn't forget the whipped cream." The fire salamander said as he took a sip of his drink.

"Wish?" The kid said as he clasped his hands together in front of his chest. A small flash came from under the lid of the mobian's cup. "T-There you go!"

As the fire salamander swallowed the drink, he tasted the sugary, creamy flavor of whipped cream in the drink.

"Hey thanks buddy!"

"A-Anything for you Aaron!"

The two then walked over to a table with two others sitting around it. The fire salamander then asked,

"Excuse me, but are these seats taken?"

An armadillo, decidedly wearing a long-sleeve-jacketed suit, entered into the coffee shop. The fabric was enough to cover his arms, but the blue-shelled fellow hoped that the general hustle and bustle of the café would be enough to cover up the mechanical sounds that were unavoidable with his unique... difference.

The clockwork arms were something that had their use, but it made rolling over in bed incredibly uncomfortable. A coffee would be much appreciated, but having entered in and gotten a nostril full of the ground beans, he decided an iced chocolate should serve much better.

"One chocolate please, iced, and large." He said, passing by the counter and flicking a single ring into the tips jar to be joined by its cousins later if the table service was quality enough.

It was prepared quick enough, which earnt another ring in the jar. He never came out in public, and so had plenty of savings to give out when he did. Today was not an exception. Although he was far from loaded. The armadillo took a seat near a collection of other mobians, who he couldn't tell if they were together on a pre-determined gathering or if they were simply a shamble of figures coming together.

It may not be the biggest coffee shop, but this fairly popular café was getting quite crowded this cool, Autumn afternoon.
This was very well noted by a fairly pale, scrawny man who took off his hat as he entered, and especially by the younger and much shorter Mobian mink, who among all the people came off as fairly timid. Their eyes darted around the room uncomfortably, pouting a little.
He then felt the taller man rest a hand on their back, kneeling on their level and taking a deep breath.

"Take it in, Florence, we're here to relax, don't worry about anyone else~" The older man said, his voice deep, and fairly smooth. They gave off a dark and dangerous aura in general, yet the mink seemed comforted by his presence and touch, and soon took a deep breath through their nostrils. They still made very little noise, the breath being rough - more like a quiet wheeze. Gladly, the smell of coffee seemed to calm the young man down, and he smiles softly.
"That's the spirit, kid." His friend says, before standing back up straight and walking to the counter.
The younger of the two simply pointed up at the menu above the counter around what he wanted, and the older man could tell fairly easily and just went ahead to order himself one as well. Then, after receiving their frappes, the older man paid and even gave a nice tip in the jar, before the two wandered over to a corner to find a place to sit.

The pale man heard Ryan's call, and looked to his friend. Though they seemed unsure at first, eventually they nodded their head.

"'Ey, thank you." He said to the man on his phone, before letting the mink sit in the chair proper with Ryan and Samantha, and simply grabbing a nearby chair from another table to pull it beside Florence and sit down beside him, backwards in the chair. Though he was older, he had a kinda... delinquent air about him.

Ryan looks up and smiles, putting away his phone. "You're welcome, although I was just letting you know..." he trailed off as the mink and other man also expressed their thanks at him offering them seats. "...Yeah, no problem!"

When two others showed up, asking if the seats were open, he simply nodded and slid over to the end of the couch, the couch being big enough for three people to sit on it with a comfortable space between them. "You can sit here if ya want!" he said, as nice as ever. He noticed the blue armadillo(?) sit down nearby, but made no note of it, as it was a café and a lot of people were coming and going. Taking a rather big bite of his muffin, he simply sat there and chewed with content.

Many people walked in, some of which also had interesting auras, but nothing to really confront, well, except the one that showed her a seat, but he seemed chill.

She certainly wanted to talk to the Shephard or the odd child with the fire salamander, but she feels as if these conversations would escalate, and people are here to relax...

She'll just have to make note of them for now.

"Thank you sir!" Said the fire salamander as he and the young boy sat down.

"Y-Yes, thank you s-sir." The boy stuttered quietly.

After taking a sip of his drink, the fire salamander said,

"Nice to meet you guys. I'm Aaron, and this is my friend Toth."

"H-Hello there everyone." Toth said nervously as he gave a small wave to the group. He slid along the couch a bit closer to Aaron.

"He's a little shy, but he's very nice!" Aaron said as he wrapped an arm around the child. "So what are your names?"

While it wasn't the Armadillo's conversation to listen in on, the more he sat there with ice cup resting against his gloved hand, the more he picked up on the idea that maybe it was just a random gathering. Couldn't hurt to join in on the socializations... could it? Might be a risk honestly, given that he hadn't spoken to another member of Mobanity in a long time, but it was about time he break that tradition.

He picked himself and the large iced chocolate in his hands and moved over to the other table, swinging around a chair with no small amount of etiquette to sit next to the fire salamander. The Armadillo noted that the salamander had fine taste in casual attire, something he could appreciate. His long suit jacket sleeves covered his arms, and a pair of fine white gloves his hands as he sat the gently frothed iced chocolate on the table where everyone else's drinks were sitting.

"I hope I'm no stranger to your gathering?" He asked politely

As new figures came into the picture, the older man looked to his mink companion, who looked at all of them curiously, as if studying them. 
Sizing them up for... something. 
The human pouts, worried that he was bothered by something, but doesn't call attention to it. 
Not yet at least. 

He looks over to the young woman - something felt a little strange about her, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it yet. 
As the salamander and their companion Toth spoke up, he figures small talk might help break the ice between his friend and the others. If the old man showed he wasn't bothered by them, the kid might loosen up a tiny bit. 

"Nice to meet you two. The name's Morgan, and my friend here is Florence." He looks to Florence beside him, who almost shrunk into the couch sheepishly as his name was mentioned. Morgan rested a hand on their shoulder, and smiled softly. 
He really cared about them, and wanted them to be relaxed and happy. 

Florence takes a sip of his coffee drink as the armadillo comes up to ask if they too can join.

"And my name's Ryan!" said Ryan, smile still on his face. He simply shrugged at the armadillo's inquiry. "I don't think anyone would object..." He couldn't help but think the armadillo was a bit overdressed for a place like this, but he mentally shrugged and took another sip of his coffee. You never know the kind of characters you'd get in a coffee shop! Now Morgan, who had just introduced himself, had a vibe Ryan didn't like. Maybe it was his time as a cop, or maybe he was just being to quick to judge, but Ryan just didn't feel right about the man. He'd ignore the feeling for now.

"Why hello, darling!" she says with a smile towards the "young boy"
"My name is Samantha, it's nice to meet you all."

Samantha makes note of all of the arrival's names, as well as notices the look she was getting from the sole human in the room.

"Did you want to ask me something?"

Aaron looked over to Florence that hadn't said much. He took note that the mobian seemed quite shy, much like his friend Toth. He wanted to get to know them, but Aaron was slightly intimidated by their taller human partner, Morgan.

"So, any of you guys live here in Station Square? Or are you just passing through?" Aaron asked the group. "Toth and I have an apartment not too far from here."

The Armadillo offered a warm smile to the German Shephard as he took a seat in amongst the group of hodge podge mobian and human folk alike. The presence of Humans made him... uncomfortable... to say he was nervous would be too much, he never got nervous, nor did discomfort ever mean he was in a position to leave, but it was unusual for him to be spending time around the much taller, and less much less hairy mammalians. 

He did indeed enjoy the fashion trend the Salamander had brought into the cafe, and felt himself respectfully obliged to answer the question directed at the rest of the group; which he had only just joined. The Armadillo hoped he didn't come across as rude or surprising to suddenly interject.

"Why yes actually, I do in fact live here in Station Square. My apartment is a little further across town than any of the local suburbs, but the best coffee shops are around here." He raised his iced chocolate a small amount to indicate to the bar. "Blue, by the way. My name is Blue." The final introduction was more directed to the entire collection of individuals before him, rather than just in response to the salamander.

"What's brought all of you here together this fine, albeit chilly morning?"

Morgan immediately looked away from her, muttering just loud enough for her to hear, "Oh, nothing, sorry about that ma'am." and trying to refrain from staring at anyone else as questions prop up.

"My friend and I are from Spagonia, but I'm here with my band to play at the Station Square Park this coming Saturday." Morgan answers Aaron, before turning to Blue. "Nothing much, just enjoying some coffee."
Florence nods with a cute smile on his young face, before drinking some more. The young man really seemed to like his coffee.

Ryan took a sip of his coffee happily. “I don’t think that there’s any particular reason, just that everyone wanted a coffee and these seats were open!” He said with a shrug, clearly showing that he was one of those people who were quite optimistic. He shrugged again at the question of where he lived, grinning and taking a sip of his coffee before answering. “I was born here in Station, but I live in Lakeside. It’s a small town, about two hours from here. If you like beach parties, car and rock festivals, and a really big lake, that’s where you wanna go!” He said smiling. “Although if you do go, be ready to have chats about the stock market with people rich enough to buy their own island and an army to defend it.” Rolling his eyes, he sighed. “They’re kinda annoying. Really good at volleyball, though...” Trailing off, he shrugged again and sipped his coffee.

“You’re in a band, Morgan? What kind of music do you play?” Ryan asked, smiling over at him, clearly interested. “You seem like a rocker, to be honest.” Ryan’s eyes moved to look at Florence, with a small questioning look in his eyes that seemed to be asking why Morgan was hanging about with a seemingly young kid, before settling his eyes back on to Morgan to await his answer.

Whoa! Everyone in here were from such interesting places! Spagonia and Lakeside included!
This certainly got Samantha excited.

"Ooh, I'm from Spagonia too actually! though I kinda live everywhere with how much I travel!" Samantha giggles.

"I kind of just came here because I saw it and wanted a snack, honestly-" "Did you say band?"
Her attention was immediately grabbed by Morgan, intrigued by this new information.

"Oooh! You play in a band? What kind of music do you play?" Aaron didn't even know there was an event going on at Station Square park this Saturday.


"Also, what instrument do you play in the band?"

Morgan was unsurprisingly glad to have gotten everyone's attention with the mention of his band, though he was surely interested in what Samantha and Ryan said too. 
He takes a sip of his drink and smiles, before answering some questions. 
"You'd be correct in that assumption, Ryan. I'm the lead singer of the band, but I also play guitar. We go by 'Team Plunder', nowadays." He looks to Florence, who seemed to be giving him a sidewards glance with a hint of concern. "My friend here also occasionally plays keyboard."
This didn't ease the young man's concerns, but he figured now wouldn't be the best time to try and communicate the issue with Morgan letting the name slip. Morgan was a little too confident in the moment... 

Florence noticed Ryan giving them questioning look for a split second before he looked away as Morgan answered. 
Morgan could sense how uncomfortable the young man was getting, and was doing his best already to help without drawing too much more attention. After placing a hand on Florence's back and shooting a small smile at him, he looks to Ryan. 
"Lakeside? Never heard of it - sounds fun though, maybe I should look into that place."

“Nice! Rock is kinda my thing.” Taking a sip of his coffee once more, he tilted his head at the name of Morgan’s band, a small, thoughtful look in his face. “Team Plunder, huh? Well, it’s certainly not the craziest band name I’ve ever heard... It’s got a nice ring to it! Might check out that show you mentioned.” Happily taking a bite of his muffin, Ryan smiled at Florence. “Keyboard, huh? Pretty cool... I can’t play any instruments...”

Nodding at Morgan, Ryan smiled before saying “Yeah, it’s a pretty cool place. Popular Spring Break destination too, from what I’ve heard. Of course, finding a place to stay for a few days can be pretty hard during the tourist seasons... you know how it goes.” Taking a sip of his drink thoughtfully, he smirked slightly. “I remember this one time a few years ago where a major band was playing and people were sleeping in tents on the beach because all the hotels and inns were full. Band was awesome though, so I’m sure it was worth it for them.”

Samantha was enjoying the conversation going on, and the band talk was certainly interesting, but a slight beeping was heard from her direction.

Pulling out a phone, Samantha seemed disappointed as she mutters.
"Seriously? That was now?"


She sighs before getting up from her seat.

"Sorry, everyone, I just remembered I was supposed to be doing something, have a good time!"

And with that, she hastily leaves.

Aaron takes another drink of his hot chocolate, though now it's more of a lukewarm chocolate. He then waves a hand to Samantha as she leaves.

"Oh, bye Miss Samantha. It was nice to meet you!" Aaron then turns to Morgan and says, "I don't know for sure what I have to do on Saturday, but if we have time, Toth and I will try to come and watch you guys play!"

"Y-Yeah. Sounds like f-f-fun." Toth mumbled a small smile spreading across his face.

The dapper armadillo had been happily observing the small talk in silence, having not much to add on the topic of music. His view of the matter was always very narrow; in order to satisfy the small character, music had to be very specific. He was hardly an entrepreneur of the genre. But it was conversation, and if he had been, he would have enjoyed it all the same, so sitting in silence was not any harm to him.

But when it came time for him to respond, it was all too unfortunate that the rather lovely hedgehog had to leave on her way, "See ya Samantha." He said very calmly with a rather... clockwork wave of his arm.

He hoped he would, she seemed very kindly. Dare he say; motherly. Which was a trait that the armadillo hadn't seen in a person since well.. since he was a child. And that was a lot longer ago than he'd like to admit.

"You know, I'm not too much on rock music, but I can respect people who put their time into making it. If you ever need a drink or some refreshments midway through, or at the end of a gig I'd be glad to stick around and shout you something." Blue offered.

He enjoyed this little bit of attention he was getting a lot more than Florence, who was almost finished with their drink and about ready to let Morgan know they want to leave. As Samantha left, Morgan gave a lazed, two finger salute while Florence face a small, cute wave.
"Sorry to see you go, ma'am. Hope everything's alright and that we meet again." He was still rather curious, and he still wanted to come off as polite, however forced it might have come off at this point.

He looks to the others and simply nods, saying "Cool, cool..." before turning to Blue.
"I'd definitely appreciate that, thank you."

Ryan smiled at Samantha as she left, giving a small wave. He then looked to Morgan and smiled slightly. “I’ll definitely check out the show in the park. Might not bring you a drink, but if you’re good I’ll pass your name on to a few guys I know who sign on bands for music festivals, if ya like!” Ryan said, offering this with a smile and taking a sip of his coffee.

Ryan then had a thoughtful expression on his face, and he tilted his head as he thought about something rather hard. “Come to think of it, Lakeside’s got the annual rock festival coming up. I’m one of the organizers for it, so I’ll see if I can get you on the list!” Ryan said giving a small smile to Florence as well.

Ryan finished up his coffee and ordered another from a passing waitress, sighing as he looked at his phone and the enormous amount of notifications popping up (the phone vibrating as every single one popped up). “I’ll deal with those later...” he muttered, turning off his phone as he did so. “Er, sorry about that.”