a catch-all for the next two weeks

[lasthugs]

WHO: Cass and YOU
WHERE: at the café, mostly, but also around;
WHEN: the latter half of November (11/15 ~ 11/30)
WHAT: Tadashi's disappeared and life is lonely, but life must go on. Also, Thanksgiving.
WARNINGS: will get marked in the threads

[A - open prompt; at the café]
[Hours at the café go the same as usual. The same coffee, the same snacks (although she does add things here and there to match the season and to have something new to serve), music playing softly in the background, and Cass moving around busily with her other employees. They're slightly short-handed with Kaneki and Tadashi not around, but that doesn't mean business has to slow down. She appreciates the business, to be honest.

And Cass smiles brightly as ever as she turns around at the bells on the door announcing the arrival of a new customer, calling a cheerful,] Welcome! I'll be with you in just a second.

[Regular customers get friendly chatter as always. There's still leftover pumpkin spice if you want some, yes. Are they preparing for Christmas? Of course! But not immediately. For those of you who want a place to study, the upstairs loft provides a nice, quiet place with plenty of tables and armchairs to sit at.]

[B - mostly open; around thanksgiving (a delivery)]
[Are you a friend of Cass, Hiro, or Tadashi? If you're a family friend, then a few days before Thanksgiving she's coming around with an assortment of pies. A knock on your door, a ring of the doorbell, and she smiles at whoever opens up for her and holds up the basket full of them.]

I thought I'd make some, for the holiday. Would you like some for you and your housemates?

[C - wild card! choose your own adventure, or a plotted out thread]

Comments

A-nighttime

[rassera]

[Tadashi was gone, sure, but that didn't mean that Kaneda had to stop looking. His trips to Heropa were usually few an far in between, but nowadays he makes sure to stop by at least once to check up on the Lucky Cat Cafe. Not even for food, just to make sure Hiro's still there. He owed that to Tadashi at least--he'd want his hero to look after his little brother when he couldn't.

At least it made it feel like he was doing something. But checking on Hiro included checking on Aunt Cass too, who seemed to hide her worry behind her work. As a barista and hostess, she was chipper and upbeat as always, but as the days dragged into nights, when Kaneda stopped by, he could tell that it was wearing on her. He knew that feeling--he'd felt it when Ken had disappeared. And it never got any easier. So this time, as he walks into the Lucky Cat Cafe, he does the routine of checking up on Hiro before heading back down and taking a seat at the 'bar'.]

Oi, Oba-chan!

[He smiles, tilting his head towards her.]

Do you ever take a break?

[lasthugs]

Hmm?

[Cass is behind the counter, wiping down the surface as business slows down for the night. It's too late to start cooking any new coffee now, and there aren't as many people ordering food. Which is good, because nights never have as many people working, and especially with Tadashi and Kaneki gone and Hiro needing his space, Cass works the café alone most nights. Even if she appreciated the distraction the traffic of customers brought, the time to breathe was important, too. And it gives her moments like these, to pause and look up so she can chat with the boy who's been dropping by more and more lately.

Without the boy even asking, she has his favorite drink whipped up in a minute and is setting it down in front of him.]

Sometimes I do. But I like working, so not too much. Why?

[rassera]

[Aunt Cass always knew just what to make him when he stopped by. Every time it was always something. Japanese comfort food. Takeout was fine, he ate it almost religiously, but there's something to be said for actual Japanese cuisine. Apart from Lucky Cat Cafe, he'd only found one place, and even then it was hard to find on a good day. Cass was a master at it, from cooking udon to matcha green tea (his favourite). Guess that's what happens when you live with Tadashi and Hiro.

Speaking of, there it is, as he instinctively takes the cup in his hands.]

Likes working...listen to ya! [He smiles, her answer not even upsetting in the least, but she's not exempt from his teasing.] Now that's dedication.

[lasthugs]

[It's easy to forget just looking at her appearance, but Cass is probably more well acquainted with Japanese culture than half the people here. She spoke to Kaneda in the language regularly, and there was never a cultural cue she missed. Growing up in San Fransokyo does that to you. And today, she had greeted him with a cheerful "irasshai" too.

She's back to cleaning some cups behind the counter while he talks, smiling at his comment. She's not exempt from his teasing, but she takes it all in good stride and with good humor.]

Of course it is! It's not just a job for me. I wanted to run a cafe for a long time, even long before Tadashi was born. My cafe is what your bike is to you!

[rassera]

[It was easy to forget, honestly, and every time she broke out in Japanese (cues and everything), he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, impressed. It's reminiscent for him, more welcoming than any hug could provide. Not that he didn't accept those.

He follows her along the 'bar' area of the cafe, leaning over the counter as he sips his tea, his expression immediately relaxing once it goes down. You could always tell when someone had their favourite drink, and Kaneda's no different.]

So it's like...a part of you?

[He guesses that made sense. A building had a person's specific flair to it just like his bike did. And this place screamed Cass.]

[lasthugs]

[There it is. That's the look. Cass relaxes when she sees Kaneda relax, too, taking note to remember how she made that one. Slowly, but surely, she's rebuilding her mental database of how to make everyone's drinks and foods just right.

And as she straightens to put away those cups, she smiles widely at him. He gets it.]

It's an extension of me, [she tells him.] Raising those boys... I couldn't understand everything they were going through. I'm sure there were times when they felt like they couldn't come to me. But if it was the café, if it was our home... I like to think that it was somewhere they always felt they could come home to.

[rassera]

[Kaneda watches her, noting just how naturally she puts those cups away, the way she feels completely in her element here. Because she gets it--she's right. This cafe is like an extension of herself, just like his bike was to him. It came as naturally as breathing.

He takes a sip of his tea, the taste and warmth spreading throughout his body.]

A place they always felt safe, huh?

[lasthugs]

That's right.

[Were you hungry, Kaneda? She hopes so. Because as soon as the cups are away, she reaches for the rice cooker that's always kept behind the counter. There's a bigger one back in the kitchen, but this one's kept here for things like this. She scoops out some still-steaming rice into a bowl and sprinkles some salt on it, pouring water into another and getting to work. Very quickly, there's a plate of two large rice balls being placed in front of him, complete with some tsukemono placed on the side.]

We're really far away from home, you know? Everybody here is, and in a lot of the cities, people don't like us imPorts very much. But here... I'd like it if this is somewhere people like them, and you, can come to to seek somewhere warm and a good meal, you know? [Somewhere to feel safe.]

[rassera]

[More like when ISN'T he hungry. His eyes widen at the rice cooker, watching her scoop some out of it (did she know he was coming?) and start to pack them into rice balls. What COULDN'T this woman do? His eyes watch, as if studying her method a moment before they're ushered in front of him.

Looking at them.

And wasting no time in starting to dig in]

...

A safe place. Somewhere that when--if--shit goes down, we'll have somewhere.

[lasthugs]

[Thatta boy. She wouldn't hesitate to say it if it came up; watching people eat like that, so eagerly and as if advertising the fact that food was energy, gave her energy, too. Hiro had been so lethargic after his brother's death, and his brother the same after his parents died, too. And Cass had nearly stopped eating as well, but watching all the people at her café eat there and shove so much food at her, sharing with her their energy and kindness, and watching the boys finally start to eat as they came out of their void.. she couldn't compare that happiness to anything.

She almost reaches over to ruffle Kaneda's hair, but she holds off. For now.]

That's exactly right. This place is for you guys. For all of us. Even 'heroes' need a place to come home to, you know? As long as this place is open, there will always be somewhere.

[rassera]

[That,and the fact that the food was familiar, and...secretly, deep down, better than back home. It's a new kind of energy too. Like when you've had chocolate, but then find the best, smoothest chocolate you could ever find. That's what Cass's cooking was.

It made the dark memories of Neo Tokyo a little brighter.]

Home.

[A strange word, even for him. But it's one that keeps getting shoved at him. The door kept open for him when he hesitated. It was hard to consider something like that for him. A children's home, even, was temporary. That's all they were.

Could this place be permanent? Cass's words certainly seemed confident.]

Consider me sold, this is great! How'd you even make it TASTE this good?

[It's called 'good ingredients', Kaneda.]

[lasthugs]

I'm picky about what I put in my patron's stomachs, of course! I picked and chose the best ingredients I could get my hands on.

[If she was going to make something, she was going to make it good. It was both a matter of her pride and of the fact that there was nothing more disheartening than food that wasn't good, especially if she was going to go as far as try to call this home for people. Kids needed to eat and grow from what they ate, and she'd be damned if she were feeding them anything less than the best.]

And a lot of practice, too. It's the biggest thing you can do when you have someone you want to feed good food to.

[rassera]

...

[That makes him think for a moment, about the time Ken came home and he made the Tamagoyaki. It wasn't the best at the time, lumpy and rough around the edges from letting it sit in the pan too long, but Ken had loved it. He saw tears running down his cheek for god's sake. If that didn't put a satisfying feeling in his heart, he didn't know what did.]

Can you teach me?

[It's quick, and it almost sounds like it escaped his brain before he could even process it.]

[lasthugs]

[If Cass is surprised by the request she doesn't show it. She's walked out from behind the counter to clear up a couple tables, wiping it down after collecting the empty dishes, moving back behind the counter to place them in the sink. She stands her tray up on its side, folding her hands over it and resting her chin on top to lean forward, smiling softly at him.]

Is there someone at home you want to make happy, Kaneda?