Books, Coffee and Socializing [CJ][OPEN]

[Phoebe Minola]

Phoebe sat behind the coffee bar counter with a glazed expression. She'd just finished cataloging this week's new book arrivals for Hisako-san. Just... so... many... numbers. She felt that if she laid eyes on another ISBN number today, she would scream. Kyle had let her hide behind the counter while she tried to earn three hours of her life back while nibbling on a lemon-blueberry muffin.

She absently remembered that she'd told CJ he could come by the bookstore whenever he felt like it, but he hadn't shown up so far. She wondered whether he'd forgotten or got himself in any trouble. She had, after all, directed him to some relatively safe places in the outskirts to go practicing. Maybe she ought to call him to check... but then she realized she was fretting. She wasn't really in any better condition herself. The last few days had taken a lot out of her, what with her Persona shifting and the crap that went down to instigate that.

Her last venture to the outskirts hadn't ended as well as she'd have liked either. She rubbed her back. She sometimes forgot how hard Shadows could hit!

She heard the shuffle of feet from the outside and stood up, still holding her muffin. Kyle had gone to fetch a fresh batch of sandwiches from the storage room in the back so she was all alone at the coffee bar.

[CJ Jackson (TechChris)]

Feebs works here, eh? I like it.

CJ walked into the bookstore/coffee shop with his tablet in one hand and a book in the other. The tablet had a map of Mosaic City, downloaded before he arrived in the city, which he used to get around. He pocketed the tablet and looked at the book. It was one of the novels he had on his desk that he bought in the local shops but hadn't finished. It was about a wartime journalist in the future, and written by a writer he'd never heard of. He usually stuck with writers he had heard of, but he was in a funk at the time, and incredibly lazy, so he picked this one up at random. That was a decision he did not regret.

I think I'll look for more of this guy's books here... He writes some fun stuff.

He spotted Phoebe behind the coffee bar counter and walked up to her. It had been a rough few days for her, and that business with her Persona changing... He wanted to talk to her about it, but she didn't look like she was ready to talk yet. Idle chitchat would have to do.

"Hey, Feebs!" he greeted her, smiling kindly, "How's work? Does the store have any books by..." he checked the book, "Dan Abnett? This is a pretty fun read, by the way."

[Phoebe Minola]

She smiled tiredly at CJ. It was good to see a friendly face, particularly after the near-disaster in the outskirts. Really, it was a good thing he'd been there She chomped down the last bit of her muffin and wiped her hands on her apron.

"Hi CJ," she said. "Welcome to Shakespeare & Co. best bookstore in Mosaic. Work's pretty good. Just been busy cataloging ISBNs all day long. Stick around, Kyle's gonna come in from the storage any minute now and make you some great coffee."

She eyeballed the book he showed her. "Dan Abnett, eh? he's popular with the sci-fi crowd. Let's see..."

She wandered out of the coffee bar and went to the shelf of books on display for the visitors of the cafe section of the bookstore. She mused the books there for a moment with pursed lips thoughtfully and finally selected one. She returned to the bar and handed it to him. "Hop on a stool and give this a look. 'Triumff: Her Majesty's Hero'. It's gaslamp fantasy. Sci-fi, magic, steampunk - the works. I hear it's pretty entertaining. What else can I get ya?"

[CJ Jackson (TechChris)]

Coffee... Those were the magic words for CJ. Coffee is the one thing that gets him through the day. His day doesn't begin without a cup of java.

"Sure, I'd love some coffee!" he said, a little over-excitedly, "You wouldn't happen to have Cypriot coffee, would you? Or Turkish coffee, they're basically the same thing."

He sat on a stool and took the book from Phoebe's hands. It looked like it would be even more fun to read than the book he already had. First, though, he had to finish Embedded.

"Looks fun! I'll read it as soon as I finish this one. Left off on a bloody cliffhanger, too."

[Phoebe Minola]

She beamed at him. Turkish coffee! The staple of the eastern Mediterrenean. She wasn't sure how Cypriot coffee compared to it but she could definitely make Turkish. Normally, Kyle handled coffees but she'd never seen him make eastern-style coffees so it was best she deal with that. After all, she'd grown up brewing Turkish coffee for her parents, who managed to keep some Greek delicacies in the house even in the middle of Ohio.

"Sure, we got Turkish. I'll make you one now. How do you take it, βαρύ γλυκό?" she said, digging up the coffee pot that she'd bought online for the shop, before the perimeter dropped.

Brewing Turkish coffee is a delicate business. It's not the variety that makes the coffee 'Turkish', it's the preparation method. You can get it wrong at the drop of a hat. She put the small pot on the burner, opened the specially ground powdered coffee and measured out a precise spoon-full. The coffee took its time to sink to the bottom, blooming into a deep, aromatic brown mix and the slow heat started to work its magic. A ring of foam started to grow around the inner rim of the pot, the heat licking at the outside. The ring grew and swelled, almost like the rising of a tide. Eventually the ring of foam grew to the point where it covered the whole surface of the coffee, signaling that it was nearly done. This was the best part of the coffee; Greeks refer to it as καϊμάκι even though it has little to do with the ice-cream or dessert of the same name. It does, however, share the same sense of richness and taste.

She poured the coffee in a small mug (it was an espresso mug, since they'd never managed to get the Turkish coffee mugs imported and Phoebe hadn't yet found any sold in Mosaic) and served it with a little round cinnamon biscuit the bookstore served with all coffees.

"Whew! Haven't made one of these in a while. Sure brings back memories," she chuckled.

[CJ Jackson (TechChris)]

"No, I'd rather have it μέτριο," he said, smiling, "Coffee ain't coffee if it tastes like sugar."

While waiting for the coffee to brew, CJ went back to reading Dan Abnett's Embedded. He really enjoyed Falk, the protagonist, as a character. He could relate with him in many ways. Both were journalists tired of their jobs, of life itself, looking for that one thing that would make their jobs worth it again, the scoop of the century. Biggest difference was that Falk was old and decrepit, and CJ had his whole life ahead of him. Falk was also far more careless than CJ, with several health problems that are his own damn fault, and some that are occupational hazards. As an example, reduced bone density, the book explained, is one of the hazards of being a journalist in the stars. But the fact that Falk fractured his already weakened hip by, as he put it, "engaging in vigorous and empty sex that [he] was too old for anyway" was pretty much his own stupid mistake. What made him even more endearing was his ingenuity, how quickly he managed to get a grasp of the world around him, and how well he could bluff. CJ couldn't help but grin at how Falk explained why the soldier he was mentally embedded into (hence the book's title) could suddenly speak Russian, a language of the enemy, when the soldier's buddies caught him. It was an artful bluff.

He closed the book when Phoebe brought him the cup of coffee. He was somewhat crestfallen when he saw the espresso cup and cinnamon biscuit, but quite pleased when he saw that Phoebe had gotten the καϊμάκι right. He thanked her and proceeded to sip the hot coffee in a properly Cypriot way. He exhaled contentedly when the cup was empty. He didn't touch the biscuit... yet.

"It's been a long time. You did a really good job with this, Feebs! Almost as good as my mom's, to be honest. I could never make one this good. Word of advice, though... Turkish and Cypriot coffees are never served with biscuits. You only serve them with a tall glass of water. That would've made this more authentic."

[Phoebe Minola]

She chuckled. "You sound like my dad," she said. "That's how he takes his coffee. Man... I miss my family. I haven't spoken to them since the perimeter dropped. They must be having some epic nervous breakdowns by now."

That was an understatement. Her parents and family were likely so frantic about this they were probably completely losing it. No doubt it was like the same for all families who had relatives trapped in the city. She couldn't begin to imagine how that must've been for all those people. She always tried not to think about it because then she inevitably went to thinking about what the outside world was doing. What did they think had happened to Mosaic? Had the story of the perimeter reached the outside? Did they buy it? Was nobody even trying to get in contact with the city?

She shook her head a little bit to disperse those thoughts. That's why she tried to keep them away. If she didn't she'd lose her mind.

"Oh I know, love," she explained. "It's the same in Greece. But you look like you needed food," she added with a smirk.