[D2, MA] Cafe shift (open)

[Bee Haw]

Bea reported to Elite Chai for her afternoon shift.

She had a packed serving of chili and of cornbread with butter and honey for work friend Xing.

She was also paying particular attention to the Elite Chai brand. Which cups the veggie smoothies were sold in. How the logo was displayed on the cups. The recipes. The colors of the drinks.

She asked customers who ordered each smoothie what they liked most about it. She kept a mental list of adjectives. Tasty. Delicious. Refreshing. A treat. Nutritious. Creamy. Sweet.

[Dapper Dog]

Xing-Shen was working hard ignoring customers.

[Gauss]

Raul strapped on the green apron, smoothed his hair back a little, fastened the second button on his shirt, and swallowed some mouth wash to get that freshness out. Elite Chai was sponsoring this show, so you had to make them look good. Part of selling a product was recognizing that you are a part of the sale.

Maintaining yourself was key, so you always had to look good. Part of it was also knowing about the product you were selling, and his knowledge of making coffee and tea was inserting a pod into a machine, pushing a button, and letting it pour into a cup. So, either he was going to find out about his hidden potential as batista or this was going to a disaster.

As he came out from the back office, he smiled at the blonde girl he saw around the campus and the party last night as he looked on at the customer's.

"I'll take who's next." He put on that fake smile as the next customer approached.

[Bee Haw]

"Thanks," she said with a friendly grin.

While he handled a customer, she went over to Xing. "Hey there. I brought you that treat I promised! American chili and cornbread with butter and honey." Two leftover dishes. "Enjoy! You'll want to heat it up."

When there was a break between customers she added to the young man: "I'm Bea. Bea Hawkins. From Oklahoma in the US of A. A contestant, but not a student. How about you?"

He could see that she was an earnest hard worker. She remembered some of the customers names. She kept the cafe as clean as she could.

[Dapper Dog]

Xing-Shen was surprised they actually did what they said. She accepted the food and mumbled thanks before heating it up and listening to them talk. She was fine with listening while she waited to eat.

Free food.

Nice.

[Gauss]

When there was a break between customers she added to the young man: "I'm Bea. Bea Hawkins. From Oklahoma in the US of A. A contestant, but not a student. How about you?"

He turned to her after serving the last customer, who he was sure was given something drinkable, if not ascetically pleasing. Didn't matter, it was still chai tea; it would do the intended job. "Hola, chica." He waved. "Raul Mitchel, from Miami. Contestant and student. Got to say you've got a real knack for this line of work." Motioning to Xing, "Friend of yours? Love some cornbread; get that and some black bean soup and it's like I'm back eating with Ita again."

[Bee Haw]

"Nice to meet you, Raul. Thanks! I like to try hard. To make customers happy."

"If you like cornbread, I have a treat for you! There's cornbread with butter and honey - plenty to share - in the fridge at Academy House. And plenty of home-cooked chili."

"I put a note on the fridge so folks would know to help themselves."

"What are you studying at the University?"

[Gauss]

His face got excited. "Ahhh...gonna be jamar esta de pinga noche after this is done, best believe. Thanks, chicha. Have to return the favor sometime now. " He kept his smile up. "Ya well, remedial classes for now. I...didn't immediately go to college after high school, so got to catch up with everyone. Decided to train and join the ELF right after instead. So, took the chance coming here decided, might as well, take a few courses, get into mechanical engineering a little. Figure, maybe if I don't win this thing, I have options when I'm done fighting in the ring. At least, that's what mami told me I should do after I told her I got in and threatened to beat me with her sandal if I didn't do it..." His eyes widened at that and laughed a little. "Even after facing people twice my size, I've yet to meet a who can scare me as much as her."

[Dapper Dog]

*DING*

She took the food out and started eating. It was palatable, possibly good. She just ate while they chatted.

Cowgirl would handle the customers.

[Bee Haw]

His face got excited. "Ahhh...gonna be jamar esta de pinga noche after this is done, best believe. Thanks, chicha. Have to return the favor sometime now. " He kept his smile up. "Ya well, remedial classes for now. I...didn't immediately go to college after high school, so got to catch up with everyone. Decided to train and join the ELF right after instead. So, took the chance coming here decided, might as well, take a few courses, get into mechanical engineering a little. Figure, maybe if I don't win this thing, I have options when I'm done fighting in the ring. At least, that's what mami told me I should do after I told her I got in and threatened to beat me with her sandal if I didn't do it..." His eyes widened at that and laughed a little. "Even after facing people twice my size, I've yet to meet a who can scare me as much as her."

She looked intrigued.

"Remedial classes? I didn't know there was ... like a support ramp for folks who barely made it through high school. Or, sorry, maybe you were terrific in high school and it's not the sort of ramp I'd need. What kind of classes did you have to take?"

"Oh yeah, I'd die before disappointing my mama. It's a big pressure thinking she might be watching all of this one day. Every word I say, or at least that gets included." He got it. She smiled.

"Mechanical engineering sounds like a lot. Impressive. You are learning to build stuff? Like bridges? Buildings? Ah, I wish you'd been there last night. There was a fight between gangs. A woman working with one of the gangs, Steel Mosha, set off a bomb. It set a building on fire, and put it at risk of collapse. I found every person. We were able to save every one. But we didn't know how to save the building. You would have known what to do!"

[Gauss]

"Nah, it's more like I hadn't done math in a few years, so when I tested in, I had forgotten everything I learnt about algebra. Solving for x hardly comes up when you are punching people. So, have to start with the basics again. I was thinking of working with cars, building engines, things like that. My powers give me some insight into how propulsion works, so figure, go work with that."

He chuckles a little at her mom. "Good that she cares enough to smack you over the head a little for acting up. So, no wild parties for you in this competition, at least while the cameras are on." His face turned a bit more somber as she talked about last night.

"I heard about that, though not entirely sure I could have helped with that building; I could smash it down, just can't control my magnetism that well. I can mainly just manipulate magnetic and biomagnetic fields by touching. But hey, good on you saving people. Buildings can be rebuilt, items can be rebought, but life can't be restored, y'know."

[Bee Haw]

She nodded. He was college material. Just took a break to fight.

"Do you have a favorite kind of car? A dream car?"

And then she laughed. "There were never going to be wild parties for me. I don't drink or do drugs. Not even caffeine." She stared sadly at the instruments of body pollution here at the cafe.

"I'm Mormon."

She smiled at his compliment to saving people. "Yeah, people's lives come first. For sure."

[Dapper Dog]

"I like cars," she mumbled as she doom scrolled.

[Gauss]

He nods his head. "Always liked muscle cars. Got a Mustang at home that I bought wih my winnings
that I like working on in my spare time. Gonna try to figure out how to get my powers working on it to improve the speed. Maybe make it like a maglev like I can do, make it go super fast and not burn resources. Not there yet, though."

He nodded along as she spoke about her faith.

"Ahh, no wonder you are not in classes. Hard to imagine someone in college not drinking gallons of caffeine a day. Damn, not even a soda, though. Well, caffeine free ones I guess. Well, no worries from me. Raised Catholic, so I can respect you following all that. Still don't eat meat on Friday."

His eye titled towards the mostly silent girl eating that cornbread. "Eh, maybe I can take you for a ride sometime." He paused and looked at Bea. "That was meant to be more platonic than it sounded."

[Bee Haw]

She smiled, and turned to Xing.

"Do you have a favorite car? A dream car of your own?"

"I'd pick my horse back home every time. If I could choose how to travel."

That was kind of him to attribute lack of caffeine, rather than lack of smarts, to her lack of enrollment.

"Not even caffeine free! I should add - some folks do - there is variation in the community. But my family and local host families have always kept it strict. And I figure I can be a good role model for kids watching. Whatever your beliefs, it's okay to be different. Stick up for who you are, and the right people won't mind a bit."

[Dapper Dog]

"I built my car, well I restored it," she said as she doom scrolled on her phone.

[Bee Haw]

"Oh that's great! That must have been an interesting project. What kind of car is it?"

[Dapper Dog]

"Shelby Mustang, it was just sitting on my uncle's farm," she said. "not sure on the year, it's old though."

[Bee Haw]

"Oh! Did you grow up on a farm, too? I grew up on a ranch, but it's similar. A good wholesome rural place. Land. Family. Nature and quiet."

[Dapper Dog]

"Not really, but my uncle had a farm," she admitted. "It got terrible mobile service."