Maid Cafe: The Bacon Episode

Maid Cafe: The Bacon Episode
Date of Scene:	16 February 2013
Location:	Traverse Town
Synopsis:	The Shard Seekers and Valkyri put up a Maid Cafe for gaining some coin - for charity
Cast of Characters:	Eva Galvan, Bacon-kun, Rei Seatlan, Fara Senrietta, Bacon-chan, Mercade Alexander, Tifa Lockhart, Terra Branford, Sarisa, Girlgamesh, Sammy Colt, Avira, Maira, Vespa, Sora, Hati, Lumeria, Minerva, Angantyr Vespar, Navya, Emi Dennou, Margaux Fleury, Raine Arland, Solva Ulfang

---

Eva Galvan has posed:
The swish of skirts, the chime of little bells, and the heady aroma of sizzling bacon: these herald the grand opening of the One Day Maid Cafe, which has taken over a vacant storefront in Traverse Town for the noble purpose of raising spirits, raising funds, and dressing up the whole cast of VALKYRI and the Shard Seekers as maids.

Within the ornate and inviting doors lie tables neatly draped in white tablecloths, delicate little menus printed with 'BACON' and 'TEA' in almost challengingly bold type, and of course, a diverse crew of amateur maids (though some more experienced than others). At each table also appears to be a printed booklet with images of the maids, to facilitate individual requests, should there be any. The staff are hard at work, waiting and clearing tables and moving in and out of the kitchen, some assigned to stand by the door or outside to attract customers.

There is quite the bustle, if perhaps primarily due to the utter confusion of the citizenry, but each maid seems to have found their role.

Though not making herself prominent, presiding as a hostess to lead guests to their tables is Eva Galvan, the beauty mark by her blue eyes drawing one's gaze to their perennial look of mild amusement. Refined and self-possessed, she curtseys to new arrivals, her smile almost sly. "Welcome, Masters and Mistresses, to the One Day Maid Cafe." She seems quite comfortable in her frilly dress and dark stockings, or at least is happy to pretend to be such.

Privately, she wonders why no one has requested her.

Rei Seatlan has posed:
One of the maids is cheerfully bouncing and skipping along the entrance. Particularly, this maid is skipping alog Ivo as she presides herself as the hostess. 'Rei', the leader of the Shard Seekers, is wearng a blue petticoat with the white apron infront.

Rei Seatlan has posed:
"Ooooooiiiiiiii!!" She starts twirling around, shooting a hand to the sky.

"Welcome masters~! To the maid cafe!" Left leg, thrust hand. Tilt head over and bring both hands to her cheeks with a bright flush. "We will do our best to serve you!"

Then, she binks, "Oh! Right!"

Bowing, 'Rei' beams, "Welcome, masters!"

Bacon-chan has posed:
"Oh no, there is no way you are getting me to wear a Maid Uniform again!"

Skoll tilts his head up as he's talking to Ivo, trying to look imposing. The youth crosses his arms. "You may have managed to get me to wear one last time, but there's just no chance that I will wear one again."

"You just stay away from me."

"I would never wear that thing in my life."

"Never."

"I'm not doing this."

"It's just not going to happen Ivo..."

"There's just no way I am ever going to be wearing a..."


<< !! GILLIGAN CUT TO THE NEXT DAY !! >>


"Maid Uniform..."

"I... hate you /so much/ right now..." Skoll's tail is all bristled up, and he is giving Ivo the deathstare while holding a frying pan in one hand and a spatula in the other. He's dressed up in a rather extravagant black maid dress from an era long past, with a white apron in front of it. The slightly lengthy miniskirt hides the top half of his upper legs, and has white frills at the edges.

Someone figured it'd be funny to add a Sigil at the back of the uniform. Which is basically THIS:

http://tinyurl.com/baconchan

The worst part is that with his hair combed -- which took about a day of work -- and put into a pony tail... Skoll actually looks like a rather attractive flat chested girl. He's waving the fryingpan at Ivo for a moment as he announces that the cafe opens, and then quickly hides it behind his head. Between his teeth, he whispers to him again; "Hate you... so... much..." Before he turns around and trods off towards the kitchen, his 'slender tail' wagging slowly as he tries to do his best to stay up straight on /heels/.

Navya has posed:
Navya did not want to be a maid.

She left home because she wanted adventure, and adventure does /not/ include cleaning up. Fortunately, she had it explained to her that the purpose of a maid cafe was not, in fact, to clean the cafe, which is a load off her mind, because Navya is approximately awful at cleaning things. Generally she just tends to break them instead.

Navya has one advantage over about half the maids, and that is that she is actually a girl and thus only feels moderately silly in the proper outfit instead of /very/ silly. Hers is red. She likes red, even if it is probably not any kind of traditional maid colour.

She also rivals Reize for sheer energy, though hers is oriented a little differently: "Hey! Come on in! We've got tea and bacon!" Some things never change.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart has volunteered to help out with the one day maid event. Hey, its for a good cause after all. And its not like she's not used to doing this kind of work.

Although she's not used to wearing these clothes... her dress is somewhat frilly, in black with a white apron over it. The dress leaves the shoulders bared, but still covers the arms with some kinds of loose half-sleeves, which also bares most of the forearms and hands. She's wearing the customary stockings as well, in white, along with the black shoes, which might attract attention to her strong legs doing so ( something like this http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/306/199730kaichouwamaidsama.jpg )

Anyway, she's moving between the tables, nothing that special for her, although its usually as a barmaid, not as a 'maid' only. But still, she's playing the part with all of her charms, smiling brightly as she carries the drinks on a platter, perfectly balancing it with one hand.

She shakes her head at Eva and Rei around her though. How did this happen exactly, she wonders. Was it a bet that they lost? She might have to ask later. Right now, she has people to serve, bowing couteously "How may I serve you, Master?"

Avira has posed:
Hey, it SEEMED like a good idea at the time! But in retrospect, Avira is actually seriously regretting agreeing to this. At the very least, it seems the rest of VALKYRI was alright with the prospect. In fact, Avira is likely the person that seems to object to it the most in her little group-and those objections have gone unvoiced.

She's been steeling herself the whole day, her eyes harsh and cold as she greets each patron in turn with a carefully controlled voice. With each welcome, she seems to deadly serious to be working here, especially alongside the likes of "Rei."

Complicating the matters, amongst her skirts and ruffles, the leather belt to which her weapon is attached is still present, pinning the spine just beneath the large black and white bow at the small of her back.

"Please. Do come in." Avira deadpans, the look in her eyes betraying the fact that she's slowly dying on the inside.

Sora has posed:
Sora missed the ambush-guys-to-be-maids-night in the Shard Sheekers HQ.

He has never been happier.

Sora shows up at the front door, bouncing slightly in his clown shoes as he peers at Rei. Nope, no clue. Can't confuse Avira, though - Sora gives her a friendly nod as he slips into the cafe. "Whhhhhoa."

Emi Dennou has posed:
EARLIER

Peta says, "Grrr... This better be worth the payoff...."
"Doesn't matter, you owe us one, Pete...A." One of the Beagle Girls says. "We're going to infiltrate their maid cafe and then rob all th eriches for ourselves! Heh heh heh, it is foolproof!"

The Dennous are fulfilling various roles around the Maid Cafe. They have, in fact, all come though Omi is predictably being a Tsunmaid whereas most of the others are being Reimaids, and then of course Umi is a Cheery Maid who goes out of her ways to happily help the other customers. Peta and the Beagle Boys are in horrible disguises (that nonetheless work) and Peta is gleefully working a man in the corner who seems absolutely infatuated. "Mmhmm, Mmmhmm, oh stooop." Peta says. "You're going to make me all ablush!"

Emi is (probably) actually female as well and she looks towards NAvya, then Reize, then rubs the back of her neck, then says, "...Uncertain if we can do this...with such energy..." Emi says.

Umi elbows her in the side. "Maybe that hunk PING will come by huh?? THe Network teases.

"...Nhhnmm..." Emi replies.

Vespa has posed:
"This is like living in one of Reize dreams..", Vespa say to herself looking around at all the other girls dressed in maid outfits, and one or two guys.. She doesn't look happy to be here. At. All.

"How did I ever get roped into this?", she remebers now the rest of her group the VALKRI, she still not sure how she became a member of that, asked her she coudn't say no. They said she be pefect for this,and she does wear a maid outfit all the time. She takes a deep breath putting on a smile.

"H-hello there Masters! Welcome to the cafe! We go tea and bacon! Yes Bacon." Doesn't anyone know how to cook??

Girlgamesh has posed:
This is a Charity Maid Cafe. It is a cafe that puts all its proceeds to charity. It is a cafe being run for charity. It is a cafe to which money will be donated, which will then go to charity. This charity will probably be something like 'give money to orphans' or 'give money to people who lost their worlds' or 'give money to sick kids with diseases that ordinary people can't pronounce but should feel bad about anyway'. That's what charity cafes generally do, after all. They give money to people who TOTALLY DO NOT DESERVE IT. Who cares about orphans? Seriously. They just take up space and cry and smell bad and starve to death. How is that worth money? Who pays for that? Suckers, that's who.

Suckers are the best form of money. Ever.

Nobody ever told Gilgamesh that the charity couldn't be 'The Gilgamesh Foundation For Getting Gilgamesh Stuff.' Nobody ever said WHICH SPECIFIC CHARITY it was for, after all. But that left Gilgamesh with a problem! Gilgamesh was, after all, a twelve-foot-tall grey man in a red cloak, backed by a giant green dog. That was kind of distinctive! How could he CUNNINGLY INFILTRATE this HIGH-SECURITY SHARD SEEKERS MONEYMAKING OPERATION, run entirely by attractive women who are ABSOLUTELY NOT IN ANY WAY MEN IN DRESSES AT ALL? Hmmm!

This was a four-drink brain teaser, which of course actually meant that Gilgamesh would pretend like four drinks actually affected his impossible, insane nonsense biology, then say what he was going to do anyway, loudly, to a bunch of people who really didn't care. Which he did. And they still didn't care. At all. He even said 'Eureka', and he was pretty proud of that, because 'Eureka' is a great word to say over and over and over until it loses literally all meaning. He'd said it a few times, just to see if they were paying attention, but of course they weren't, so.

ANYWAY THAT ALL HAPPENED LIKE AN HOUR AGO.

YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT. ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS THIS PART RIGHT HERE. I, THE OMNISCIENT NARRATOR VOICE, HAVE HIGHLIGHTED THIS PART RIGHT HERE SO YOU KNOW THIS IS WHERE THE IMPORTANT STUFF IS.

In the middle of the cafe is a maid that no one remembers hiring. She is five feet tall, because short women are cute; she has white hair and grey skin, white eyes, and a covered face, lending an air of mystery to her. Her outfit is a juxtaposition of a real (bright red) maid suit, polka-dotted wool socks for that 'crazy hipster girl' appeal, polka-dot panties that nobody can see, and a low-cut cleavage window despite having a covered face.

Also, /real cleavage/.

In her arms is an adorable, astoundingly dour green puppy dog of some unnameable breed, whom you would SWEAR is scowling at the entire affair.

"Hiiiiiiiiiii~! Is everybody all PUMPED UP? Because I know I am!" Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.

This is the part where you get brain bleach as you remember that /Gilgamesh is a shapeshifter/.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Pete glowers at Girlgamesh once the man he's flirting with starts peering over lustfully at Girlgamesh.

Emi raises a small digital camera and snaps a picture of Girlgamesh.

Fara Senrietta has posed:
Clack clack clack comes the tapping of heels as the beautiful Burmecian maid Fara Senrietta moves beside her fellow maids. Where many have chosen to wear traditional black maid outfits, the ratling has adorned herself in overwhelming amounts of white and pink. Crossing her hands in front of herself as Ivo welcomes the first of the guests, the prim and proper Burmecian Maidess dips into a low and practiced curtsey.

"Welcome Masters and Mistresses. It shall be my utmost pleasure to serve thee. Lord bless, oh honored ones." Comes the welcoming, warm voice of the ratling as she peers about. Inwardly, Faruja is shivering. He's in a dress, welcoming a bunch of people to a cafe! He'll be the laughing stock of the Church! His mind whirls back to how he ended up here.

--Three Hours Earlier-- A robed woman steps into the building rented for the Cafe. Beside her, two white mages carry bundles of clothing. One Templar is soon faced with a trio of grins. "...Lady Inquisitor?" The woman grins, adjusting her glasses as light shines off of it. She chuckles ominously, shadows looming over Faruja as he's backed into a corner. "...M'Lady?"

"Oh, my dear boy, time to get you ready for your new duties~ Hold him down, girls~" Throughout the building, Faruja's screams can be heard as he is transformed into a pink and white travesty.

--Now--

Fara's smile remains, even as she tries not to think of the shards of her dignity quite neatly broken on the floor. People step in that she /knows/. A blush colors her white fur, looking away bashfully as she awaits someone to seat, and tries not to stare too much at the bouncing Girlgamesh maid.

Maira has posed:
"I feel pretty, oh so pretty! I feel pretty, and witty and gaaaaaaay...."

Boy, you're not the only one.

Maira is ready to serve the first customers, holding a tray with a teapot and cups arranged all nicely next to plates of perfectly cooked bacon. She is wearing her maid costume happily it would seem (thus the singing). She's drowning in ruffles, ribbon and lace! The bodice of her outfit is filled out perfectly, the filling? Ample, smooth and creamy skin, so beautifully rounded--AHEM.

Maira walks by Avira and smiles brightly to her. "Eee Avira you look so cute!" she says as she passes, moving past Ivo, er, Eva, shoots him a warm smile before she scurries off to serve some customers!

Maira looks to Girlgamesh and replies with a winning smile. "Yeah! Lets do this! WOOHOO!"

Lumeria has posed:
Of course the maid cafe is missing one thing. Actual customers. Besides Lumeria wouldn't be caught dead in maid clothing. She's used to having people wait on here after all. Of course she wasn't expecting to see this many maids inside, even if half them are in drag.

Hati has posed:
Somewhere in the background of all this, a certain white gargoyle is dutifully donned in a made outfit, one that keeps accidentally riding up now and again as her tail pushes the skirt around. Embarassed, Zia seems to be contented with cleaning dishes and staying out of the limelight. Her ears are tucked down, set with an eternal blush locked on her features.

As for Hati, well... as much as she might hang around with the members of VALKYRI at times, she isn't an official member, and thus she is immune to the need to dress up in such costumes. Instead, she's actually among those who have grouped outside to get a look at the event, watching with a bemused look on her features. Let's see, besides all the various members of the Shard Seekers and VALKYRI, there is a certain Burmecian, as well as her brother who have been roped into this mess. This is going to be fun.

As she steps up to the host(ess), "If you find a way to get Skoll to do a musical number, I'll donate a couple hundred." She notes in a stage-whisper. "As for requests... I'd love to be served by Fara." Oh curses, Hati must have already heard the nickname. The wolf snickers wickedly.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Okay, so, he had to bite.

This place opening up is just something he had to look into. Mercade peers at the giant TEA and BACON signs, and he perhaps makes the biggest mistake of, oh... The last week or so, and steps into the place.

He looks over the array of maids before him in shock, many of them familiar, some less so (though where has he heard that greeting before?), as well as a certain Keyblade Wielder that he has somehow missed finding so far. "... Sora?"

HE pauses, and looks over the positively maid-infested place. there has to be what, TWENTY FIVE maids in here or somethi- Suddenly, he stops, looking directly at Avira as if his mind was trying to process her somehow wearing something that... girly.

He swallows, slowly, and looks aside at 'Eva' in confusion. "So... uh... How does this place... work, exactly? I've never seen anything like it."

Navya has posed:
Navya looks, briefly, at Gilgamesh. OK, Girlgamesh. Navya doesn't recognize him because she's not that good at this. Then at Tifa. Then at Maira.

Her expression momentarily shifts to something a bit closer to a scowl before she goes back to grinning (mostly authentically) and waving at people.

Her tail won't stay still. It makes her skirt move weirdly. Maybe she's on edge with all the people?

Leida has posed:
Today is a special day. A day that has been long in planning, born from a wild whim that gripped one of the Shard Seeker's illustrious leaders. The One Day Maid Cafe as it has come to be called is a rather bizarre sight even amid the usual bustle of mis-matched travelers from various worlds that constantly drift through Traverse Town.

When Ivo had explained to the young Japanese princess what exactly the western concept of a maid was she had been fairly excited. Getting to wear a pretty frilly dress was something she has never experienced before and cooking and cleaning was most of what she did around the base anyways so it seemed like a natural activity for her to excel at and she was always on the look out for ways to make herself a useful member of the group.

However, despite her obviously qualifications, there was a far more insidious purpose behind Ivo's inclusion of the somewhat plain looking young girl in the roster. While she was certainly able to be cute and helpful, her ability to fill out the uniform, so to speak, was rather lacking. Nor was her timid personality all that optimal for serving a variety of strangers wandering in off the street.

Instead of finding a lacy black maid outfit waiting for her in the back room, poor Leida came face to face with her horrible destiny. She stared at it for a long time, not quite comprehending what it was she was looking at until Ivo assisted her into the outfit and turned a mirror upon her. She had never wanted to shrivel up and die so much in her life.

However, her honor was at stake here! Leida has promised to aid in any way and by the spirits she was going to cling to the last shreds of dignity she has left even if in doing so she discards them at the same time. It was a paradox really. A paradox made of bacon.

Out in front of the repurposed building a figure stands beside the large sign indicating their one-day charity event. People stop to stare at this figure, some politely coughing and moving on, while others outright burst into laughter. Upon first, second, and third glance (it's really hard to just look once), the figure does not somehow change shape into something less ridiculous. As much as she might wish otherwise, Leida stands in the street completely encapsulated in a large mascot suit that looks like a giant strip of bacon.

"Um... please, come in to visit our wonderful cafe! We have an amazing variety of tea a-and naturally... bacon!" The look on her face is all smiles as she tries to entice passerbys into the store with waving arms and comical gestures but it's clear to anyone looking close enough that she's on the brink of crazed laughter at the sheer stupidity of situation.

Margaux Fleury has posed:
Marguerite de Fleury audibly groaned when the remnants of the Death Corps agreed that this was their best opportunity to speak with the leaders of both the Shardseekers and VALKRI. Some of the other members of the Death Corps loudly groaned in return when it was Margaux who was picked to be their envoy. It seems that this was a day of dreams being crushed left and right.

And so, Marguerite was here as commanded. The fencer was dressed head to toe in her leather and wool travelling gear that consisted of knee-high boots, blue and gold striped trousers, a fancy coat of plates, long leather gloves, a long blue scarf, and a swordbelt with a rapier. The dancer supresses any internal turmoil and expresses a jovial smile as she approaches the One-Day Maid Cafe.

"Um hello," greets the redhead simply to the group of normal and slightly abnormal maids. Okay...maybe they all are slightly abnormal to be honest. "Please be so kind to direct me to the leader of either the Shardseekers or VALKYRI. I wish to speak with either of them." Margaux says with a particularly nasally pronounciation to her vowels. It seems that she thinks the direct approach is best as the less time she spent here....the better.

Minerva has posed:
Minerva had thought about the maid cafe and thought it would be amazing she didn't realise that some people would be ahem helping who wouldn't be part of VALKYRI, she'd thought TRON might end up playing the bulter or something. Still here she was done up like the hired help and she was going to have a fun with it. She at least seemed to be well ready and in a good mood. She might even make use of her abilities to make things easier like with the drinks being chilled and such. She's in a standard french maid outfiot and is already working making sure tables are clearn or just about anything else.

Minerva has posed:
Minerva had thought about the maid cafe and thought it would be amazing she didn't realise that some people would be ahem helping who wouldn't be part of VALKYRI, she'd thought TRON might end up playing the bulter or something. Still here she was done up like the hired help and she was going to have a fun with it. She at least seemed to be well ready and in a good mood. She might even make use of her abilities to make things easier like with the drinks being chilled and such. She's in a standard french maid outfiot and is already working making sure tables are clearn or just about anything else, that might ruin the first impression of the customers.

Girlgamesh has posed:
Gilgamesh is in this for money. (S)he is absolutely apathetic to things like 'moralty' or 'shame' or 'common decency'. (S)he is completely willing to throw all of you under a bus to steal muny that would probably be going to something lame and undeserving anyway. Give your money to Gilgamesh! Gilgamesh is the only woman in this room who matters, because Gilgamesh is the sexiest woman in the room!

...excuse me. I think I just threw up in my mouth a bit. Do I really have to read this? It's inappropriate! This is a children's game, for Walt's sake! I mean, really. There's strange things, and disturbing things, but this is strange *and* disturbing, and I won't read it!

No, I refuse. You can't pay me enough to read...how much? ...hm, well, alright.

Ahem.

Gilgamesh tosses tiny puppy Enkidu up into the air. Tiny Puppy Enkidu goes flying, that same absolutely dour look on his face shifting from slow apathy to a look of absolute horror. A look of terror, a dawning realization that his night is about to be ruined literally forever and ever and ever and ever and ever, as he goes falling, falling, falling-

Bounce. Bounce.

"Ta-Daaaaaaaa~," Gilgamesh chirps, bouncing on her heels before she bows. Low. Enkidu comes tumbling out, shudderng and shaking, and possibly sniffling a little bit. The puppy wobbles for a moment, stands up, and wanders into a corner, sitting down to wrap its forepaws around its legs, eyes wide and horrified, as though it has just witnessed something terrible.

"For my next trick...pay close attention, okay?! Nothing up my shirt..."

Sigh. My life as a narrator is one of torment. Lovecraft inspectors have /nothing/ on this job...!

"Ta-da08:40, 17 February 2013 (CST)~~! Instant sword!"

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr typically would eschew such embarrasing events, but...

Well, okay, he wanted to actually see certain people in a dress without having to be forced into it, or well, lighting themselves on fire. Angantyr could not help but come, if not to 'aid' Avira beat out the Shard Seekers in getting more money...but also because he is apparently a masochist. We'll go with that, sure.

Angantyr walks by the Bacon Mascot, and he looks down at the poor young girl, staring at her with that stare that the Dark Knight can inflict on others. That serious deadpan stare, that stare that almost makes certain people wince with the threat of his disapproval. "You forgot your sword." he says, and walks inside. "Never forget it, even while dressed as such."

Walking into the cafe itself he just stares at everything. Everything. He pauses, trying to figure out who is probably a girl and who is not a girl. For a brief moment, a few people are easily spotted...a few more genuinely confuse him. He at least knows there are TWO who he can rely on.

"I have come seeking service, just like at home!" he boldly declares, his voice easily ringing through the establishment, demanding attention. Before he reaches into elsewhere...and drops a solid gold brick onto the counter. "I will only accept the service of a woman."

He looks at Girlgamesh. He just stares for a long moment, he turns away, taking a few moments to apply memory loss to himself.

"Service. Now."

Solva Ulfang has posed:
@emit It doesn't take long for the cafe to start filling with a certain... watermouthing scent... of bacon. Remember how people were saying that there was tea and bacon? Well, they got the bacon down alright. It's one of those days that all Americans are reminded why they love bacon so much. It reminds both Shard Seekers and Valkyri why they miss Skoll - who has been wandering for such a long time now.

It's the smell. The smell that always entered their houses when Skoll was around. That delicious smell of fried bacon, spiced with the werewolf's own 11 secret spices. The werewolf at least is in his element in the kitchen. There's a bunch of little tickets hanging in front of Skoll, and he's preparing a good amount of food ahead of time.


---------
THE MENU!

Bacon
Bacon Weave
Bacon Salad
Filet Mignon wrapped in Bacon
Bacon flavored icecream
Bacon flavored shaved ice
Bacon Milkshake
Bacon Tea
Bacon Cookies
Chocolate covered Bacon

And...
Tea
--------

The werewolf actually hears the sound of his sister, so he comes and steps out into the room as people start flowing in, and stares at his sister with a moment, before moving one hand. He points two eyes at his own, then at her, then back at his own, and back to her again. /I am watching you/! Clearly, he doesn't think he's going to be doing any darn music numbers.

Navya has posed:
Navya becomes progressively more irritated at Gilgamesh and /doesn't even know why/.

Rei Seatlan has posed:
Let it be known that Reize had to play his part as the spunky little maid. It took a lot of mental preparation for this, but god, did he manage to do it. Sure, it is going to be pretty awkward. If Shiki and Lenn were here, it would be... difficult to explain this to them.

Nevertheless, the flat-chested maid has plenty of spunk.

Only to be rivaled by Navya.

Her eyes cut towards the gria, that twinkle of rivalry forming.

MAID BATTLE!



Sora's arrival, however, is met with a cheerful smile. "Sooorrra~, welcome to the Maid Cafe!" She spins around, lifting a hand into the air.

"Remember everyone, all fundings and proceedings are going for the aid of the refugee organization Hearts Intwined and providing aid to the citizens of Fluorgis!"

And then, there is a five foot tall maid with white hair and gray skin near the area. Rei squints her eyes, scratching her head. ...She doesn't remember this maid being bout. Squinting.

Rei turns to face Eva, "Oii, where's Leida? She is naturally fitting for he job."

--- Camera pans to poor Leida as the bacon mascot.

Back to Rei, he rubs her chin.

Adventurers are passing by every once in a while. Many of them that know Reize, well. All of the adventurers from Fluorgis collectively look at Rei. "..."

One of the other clan members says, "...She's kinda cute."

Meanwhile, Rei hears a voice calling for the leader of the Shard Seekers and VALKYRI. "Ooooiiii!" Rei calls out to the dancer. A hand rests to her chest, "I'm the co-leader of the Shard Seekers along with Eva and..." A hand gestures to Avira, "Avira is the leader of VALKYRI!"

Girlgamesh's performance, however, earns this response:

D:

Vespa has posed:
Vespa walks over to a table. "W-w-hat can I get you Masters?", she says giving a smile "No, we don't have that just tea and bacon. "Three tea it is!", she bows off to get them thought on the way there one of the gives Vespa a light slap in the butt! She erks and grumbles to herself doing to best to ingore it.

"This is all for a good cause..", she says silently to herself. She watches "Girlgamesh" peformace..

"This is going to be one of those nights..."

Eva Galvan has posed:
Well, the mystery of Eva's lack of popularity is unfathomable, but that doesn't seem to stop her from enjoying herself. "That's the spirit, chief...tess," she self-corrects, smile broadening at Rei. It just goes to show they've got good crews. Almost everyone eventually relented-- er, was willing to help. Admittedly, sometimes they seem to have more maids than customers, but even at worst that just leads to more opportunities for amusement. Like Avira's expression. He could look at that forever.

At least, forever until Maira bounces past, Eva's gaze sliiiiding away from her rival to her rival's best friend, that amused smile abruptly smothered by a careful poker face. But Eva can't help responding to Maira's smile with one of her own, watching as Maira scurries off to join that mysterious new babe. Focus, lady knight, focus.

Just in time for some customers. Eva assumes her self-possessed smile again and curtseys to Hati, only to nearly break composure and sputter at the werewolf's suggestion. Valiantly, she endures. "We endeavor to please, Mistress," is her amused reply, eyes dancing. "Ah, Fara, one of our most popular maids. You are in luck! She is available right now. Fara, darling!" Eva calls out to Fara Senrietta. What are friends for?

Mercade's arrival only improves Eva's mood, the hostess barely suppressing a grin. "Why, Master," her, let's call it husky, voice replies in a mild tone, "do not concern yourself with the specifics. Allow us to serve you, and relinquish your cares unto us. In fact, I have just the maid in mind for you. Avira!" she calls sweetly, before leaning toward Mercade conspiratorally. "If you order the photo calendar now," Eva explains quietly, "it's half-off." And who could be in the photo calendar?

Margaux's arrival elicits another curtsey from the attentive Eva, and the question brings a serene smile to her face. "I am afraid the leader of VALKYRI may be... momentarily occupied..." At least, if Eva has anything to say about it. "...but the leader of the Shard Seekers is right here, if it please you, Mistress." And she gestures toward the spirited Rei. --Oh, she's on it already.

Rei Seatlan has posed:
With the gold bar eyed, Rei calls out, "Avira! It looks like he'll be requiring your services!"

Though, she looks at Girlgamesh, this time the tone is uncertain. "..Or maybe she can be of service as well..." Pause. Sweatdrop. "...I think."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart sweatdrops a bit at the puppy tossing show and bouncing... and then sword showing.

... Wait, what sword was that? She wasn't at the right angle to see it.

...

Ptobably for the best too.

She hips bumps Reize as she walks past him, just to get his attention "You're supposed to call them Masters and Mistresses, that's what a maid is about." Even the strong barmaid plays the part after all.

She moves toward Skoll at the kitchen area "I got two orders for bacon salad, and someone that asks if its Kosher." She doesn't know what that means. Just relaying the question.

Avira has posed:
DYING ON THE INSIDE.

Not even the thought of charity is cheering Avira up right now! Though at least she seems to be masking her misery well enough. Her surliness at least contrasts nicely with all the cheerful, cheerful CHEERFUL maids bouncing around. Including that Maira that bounces by. "..um...thanks.." she mumbles, her gaze gradually drawn by 'Girlgamesh.' "Who...who on earth is that?" she blurts out.

"It feels like we've had more maids than..custo...mer..s..." Avira is, nonetheless, watching the door as they do get a few people. Sora of all people. As was the 'custom', she bows to him as he steps inside, but her greeting is stolen away before she can say anything! Not that she especially minds but...

Just as she looks up, she takes notice of two things:
- Mercade
- Angantyr

Avira pales a little. It isn't that either of them haven't seen her in a maid outfit. They were both present for the Baron incident! This particular version is a little less modest than what she was forced into in Baron.

Oh NO, someone is shouting about her and pointing her out!! Hopefully Girlgamesh's performance will immediately override any possible attention to-yeah Avira scurries away immediately.

She zips over to Eva and Mercade, giving him a poisonous look before- "Wait-" she looks over at Rei incredulously.

"You mean serve both of them at the same time?!"

Fara Senrietta has posed:
Fara may be a maid, but she's still a man. Her single eye watches a tail keep tilting up a skirt on a certain Gargess. That little moment of happiness amidst all ofthe inner embarrassment is interrupted as he hears a familiar voice. It can't be. No. She's not here. Between watching Girlgamesh produce that sword, and the realization that thepink mass of frills that is Fara Senrietta is about to serve one Hati the wolfess, a look of utter horror dawns on her face.

Gulp. Clack clack clack. Eva calls her up. A single pink claw is raised. "Coming Miss Eva!"

Walking up to Hati, the ratling makes a low curtsey to the wolfess. Her entire face is lit up with red. "Welcome home Mistress. How may I serve you?" her hands go to the front of her dress, front lifted just a touch, the back threatening the same thanks to her swaying tail. Tremble. Tremble. Someone looks /horrified/.

Lumeria has posed:
Lumeria looks at the menu, "I'm pretty sure cafes serve more than tea and bacon." She eye-rolls a bit. "How exactly do you plan to make any money?" Was she the one with an ounce of common senses around here? "But since I'm thirsty, I'll humor you for the moment. Get me some tea...without bacon in it." She makes sure to clarify that.

Maira has posed:
Maira serves some of the people from Traverse who know her, smiling, jovial, and giving everyone an eye-full every time she leans over. Her customers appear to be happy, and will likely tip generously.

Maira turns with an empty platter, noting more customers coming in, some of which she recognizes! "Mercade!" she calls, waving to him--though to no one's surprise ever, he is staring at Avira. Maira giggles. "We'll get Avira for you <3" she says, and yes, somehow the heart makes it's way very obviously into the sentence, with a sparkling cartoon heart that appears magically then disperses into glitter!

Then Angantyr arrives, apparently being all grumpy and demanding, to which Maira can only giggle for some reason. It is likely due to mild /insanity/.

Maira bounces over toward Angantyr and leaps upward (cause she has to) to give him a quick hug before leading him to a table. The hug gets some jealous glances. They want hugs too! "This waaaaay!" she sings, leading him to a nice table. "Ah....who do you want to serve you?" she asks with wide amber eyes. She's pretty sure he'll say Avira--OH WELL.

Sora has posed:
Leader of the Shard Seekers. Co-leader.

Sora's head whips around to 'Rei' so fast that it would give him whiplash if he didn't comically overbalance himself as he puts two and two together. "Oh my god." He whispers, before Angantyr makes his big entrance and gets Maira'd, and Avira gets Mercade'd.

Sora sinks into a chair at a empty table, holding his head in his hands.

Navya has posed:
Navya is generally pretty cheerful. It makes her a good counterbalance for Avira.

Of course right now she's not so much, but that just sort of happens. Gilgamesh just picks up an occasional glower. And Rei, too... she narrows her eyes. Yeah, she saw that.

Watching the crowd go by, Navya watches Avira go over to the front counter. And with gold! Navya steps up after her, curious more than anything else. She still must not have really gotten the message as to how she's supposed to be acting, so she falls back on her defaults. "Anything I can help with?" she asks, heading toward the cluster.

The cluster with the gold, see. She likes gold.

Solva Ulfang has posed:
"Bacon salad! Alright..." Skoll nods his head at Tifa and follows her back into the kitchen area, trying to hide the slight blush that'd come to his face when he'd finally noticed Avira inside of the 'cafe' area. He quickly sets to making a bacon weave, glazing it into a bowl shape, shredding some bacon into the bacon weave, then sprinkling it with bacon bits, tossing the bowl a few times, then putting in some bacon croutons. It's probably the only thing that doesn't /actually/ have real bacon in it.

The werewolf turns around and hands the order of two bacon salads to Tifa. "Sure, totes Kosher!" What the heck is Kosher!?

Hati has posed:
The sight of the magically appearing 'sword' from Gilgamesh only has the wolf staring for a moment, blinking as she stops mid-way to her appointed table. "What is seen, cannot be unseen." She murmurs to herself, and then rubs at her eyes before flopping unceremoniously into a seat. With her brother peeking out at her, Hati manages to lift her phone just in time to snap a series of still images of him doing the 'watching you' motion. Snickering to herself, the younger werewolf offers him a thumbs up, and then a wink.

When her chosen server arrives, the wolf just breaks into a smirk, letting her eyes rove up and down, obviously barely containing laughter. "You know, I'd heard about this, but I never thought I'd believe it." She muses, but decides that rather than calling him out on it directly, she'll play along for now. "You can start by putting in an order for one of those filets. Tell my brother it's for me, he'll know how to cook it. Oh, and some tea, too. The normal kind, not the bacon."

"Oh, and if you want an extra tip, wiggle that tail as you go." Ahh Hati, never one to miss a chance for vague sexual harassment. Poor mouse. With her order set, she lets her eyes rove over some of the others, bemused. This was worth the price of admission just for all the ackwardness.

Terra Branford has posed:
Terra enters the maid cafe with a shoulder-hunched diffidence typical of her, but exaggerated by the circumstances. She'd heard some of her acquaintences would be here--Ivo, Reize, Maira--and she wants to be supportive. Even though she doesn't really like what's on the menu. Bacon, that is.

Slipping aside stealthily and seating herself alone, Terra feigns examining the menu until she realizes that no one will really believe that, since there are only two items on it. Then she notices Maira seat Angantyr, and realized she screwed this up. Kefka never exactly took her to restaurants, and she hasn't been to one yet while travelling. It's safe to say that this restaurant is going to permanently distort her idea of what a normal restaurant is like.

Slipping out of her seat, Terra waits where Angangtyr had. He obviously knew what he was doing, all she has to do is imitate him. "L-listen, I am seeking service," she says in her version of a bold voice, which is a bit reedy. She recites what she heard. "Just like at home. I will... only accept the service of a woman?" She doesn't understand why that's part of the ritual, but Angantyr must know what he's doing. "Um, service now. Please. When you have time, I'm not in a hurry." She customizes it a bit.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi rubs at her cheek lightly. She slinks a little closer to Navya. She ... sh ethinks this is a safer place. She takes a few more photos for Max, not--however--hitting Navya with the camera yet. She doesn't want to get her in a scowly disposition after all ... no wait, it's Max--Emi raises the camera anyway, waits for it and... SNAPSHOT. Navya glowering at Gilgamesh. AChieved.

"Navya, correct...?" Emi asks. "It is good to see of you again. The Network is pleased to be your coworker." She nods slowly, looking about as Umi starts shouting 'Kosher' repeatedly. Maybe they need to find someone to tend to? There's ... Hati, maybe? She looks towards lumeria, but she seems to already have a maid. Hmm.

Hmmm.

Oh there's someone. She nods to Navya. "We will tend to that one." Whether she meas we as an 'I' or we as in she and Navya, well that's up to her.

She approaches Sora and curtseys to her, a neutral bland expression on her face.

"The Network says hello. Ah, the Maid Network? Yes. In any event, how may we be of service to you this evening?"

"Get more customers...!" The Beagle Girls hiss at Pete.

"How..? That Girlgamesh is stealing all the good ones...!"

Vespa has posed:
Vepsa skillfully navigates around the rest of the maids and customers holding the tray in one hands, not spilling one drop! She sets the teas on the table. "Anything else I Can get you Masters? No I don't do hugs. I know the other maid did it to that customer. I don't do hugs.", the customers look quite dissapointed. Vepsa not getting any tips tonight.

"Three bacon icecreams? Coming right up masters!", she goes back to get the order and get slapped in the on rear. Again. She starting to look irriated... "All for the money..", she mutters going to get the orders..

Avira has posed:
"Yes actually." Avira says to Navya, "You and Maira should get Angantyr. You are both real girls. He needs real girls to serve him." She glances over to Eva. And Rei. And Fara. While Fara did turn out very nicely, well...

Avira clutches her fist, a firm look in her eyes, "I made a promise tonight. I will serve to my fullest, no matter to who!"

Departing, Avira navigates her way back to Eva and Mercade and takes in a breath. "My apologies for that...interruption." she deadpans. "I am ready to serve you, Master."

Bacon-chan has posed:
Leida is so caught up in her routine that she hardly notices the approach of the glowering dark knight. Her mind is kind off somewhere else right now because focusing too much on the horrible misfortune heaped upon her at this moment might cause her overwhelming desire to commit ritual seppuku and stop shaming her ancestors to actually manifest. That is until he is right beside her when she turns to address the next wave of people on the street.

Peering up at Angantyr through the small portal provided for her face, the princess has nothing to offer his chastisement besides a weak pitiful stare, her lower lip trembling as she tries to hold back the flood of tears. Not even a drop of sympathy for her situation. That's cold.

She watches him march into the cafe and announce his presence in the usual boisterous manner, allowing a soft sigh to escape afterwards as her shoulders slump forward dejectedly. No respect, no respect at all. And then the weight of the top-heavy costume takes over and she finds herself teetering forwards. Too late, her arms pinwheel wildly at the air to try and reverse the flow but her slender frame is no match for the massive bacon suit and Leida inexorably crashes over onto the street, faceplanting without a shred of grace left.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
All right. So this is going to how it's going to be, is it? All right. "I don't know, it would be kind of unfair to make one maid do double duty when there's so many choices." Mercade says. "However, if they both have the same preference... They will need to settle things. It'd be only fair ihat the one who would offer more would be the one." He walks over to his own table, across from Angantyr. The battle lines are being drawn. In a maid cafe. Redolent with bacon and tea. The tension crackles in the air as Mercade pulls out...

A bag of Munny. It's not insignificant, but... Mercade hefts it, and sets it down on the table. "I don't know if I can..." He rummages around in his coat, and then pauses, pulling out a Necklace, with a small folded paper. Mercade stops and stares a the necklace for a moment, a radiant sapphire in a pearl inlay inset, with diamond accents along a spiral golden chain. Mercade looks over ot the small paper, and glances in it for a moment. And odd look crosses his face, before he just shoves the paper away, and sets it down on the table. "All right. I think this should be able to match the offering." Mercade says, his eyes level with Ang's.

He looks over at Avira, and tilts his head slightly. "Are you sure, Avira?"

Sammy Colt has posed:
What a day. After all the meetings, arguments and finally, decision to go ahead with outsourcing some 'heroes', Sammy's a little more than frustrated. Traverse town where was those goody-goodies, the Shard Seekers had their HQ and wouldn't you know it? Sammy pulled the short straw, again.

That game had to be rigged. Even so, duty was duty and one must swear by the straw he picked.

So, then, why is the Shard Seeker HQ empty?

The Turk presses his head against the glass, trying to look inside before noticing, nay, hearing, NAY, feeling something wrong with the universe. His nostrils sniff the air for a moment as the smell of heavenly bacon passes by his nostrils.

The Turk pulls away from the window before looking towards the direction of the Maid cafe. The nostrils flare again and Sammy's mouth holds back the drool. Something smelled absolutely like it needed to be investigated... For ShinRa... Yes. That's the ticket.

Making his way to the front in an aroma-lifted state, Sammy examines the sign outside the cafe. Bacon and Tea...

He had been cut off of bacon for a while because of the whole 'eating six packs in one sitting', the one sitting being the big Turk cook-out a few months back...

He missed bac-Wait... Is that Reize in a maid outfit?

Sammy remains outside the cafe whole his eyes scan the insides, noticing all the... cross-dressed maids.

"Ah.. wha... Hunh?" He says in a completely lost manner as he mindlessly stumbles towards the door, not sure what to make of the situation.

Solva Ulfang has posed:
When Vespa comes into the kitchen, it seems Skoll has noticed that she's received a... slap on the rear. He is holding a black device for her. "If they slap you again, use this." He tells her, playing the big brother at the moment. He presses a button, and there's loud 'zapping' sounds at the end. It's a tazer. "I juiced it up a little with a lightning materia a while back." He notes, and drops it into her hands. "Now, you said three bacon icecreams right?"

The werewolf makes it to the freezer and takes out two tubs of vanilla icecream. He then warms up two metalic extra-rounded spoons and grabs some of the icecream onto this flat stone platter, and then sprinkles some bacon into the ice, and begins to mix it using the big spoons. Apparently Skoll trained at Cold Stone icecream. It's not long before the order is done, and Vespa receives three bowls of bacon icecream.

Margaux Fleury has posed:
Margaux de Fleury is easily overwhelmed by all the eccentric individuals present. It seems that everyone really went all out for this charitable event. Would the Corpse Brigade do such a thing if it meant saving their cause? The mental image of the Wiegraf in a maid's outfit causes Margaux's mind to perhaps be scarred forever.

When 'Rei' points out -who- the leaders and co-leaders of the two mercenary-ish organizations are, Margaux does her best to maintain her poker face. This would just have to be another performance, that's all. "All -three- of the leaders dressed up for this? " Margaux had anticipated that was atleast someone dressed normally that she could speak too. "That...is....very....admireable that the leadership would be so devoted to their cause to participate wholeheartedly." Again, maid-Wiegraf haunts her every thought.

The redheaded dancer clears her throat. "Perhaps, I shall return another time, no?" But, she can't. Margaux already failed to get any real attention from SS when she participated in the defense of their city and it seems that VALKYRI's leader is preoccupied with her own battle of sorts. "Or, maybe I will ask for some service." What does Margaux need most right now? "A bottle of wine and a glass to drink it with, please. And quickly." She directes with a look in between Rei and Eva, the co-leaders of the Shardseekers.

Girlgamesh has posed:
~Money money money~

Girlgamesh is vaguely aware that Navya is staring at her(?), but that's okay. Navya is just jealous, probably. Girlgamesh moves over to Angantyr, beaming up at him. Sort of. Her(?) face is covered, after all, from the nose down...but she certainly looks...what's this word? All the wannabe Japanese use it...ah, right! /Genki/. She looks very GENKI, as she stands there in front of Angantyr, her hands going for the gold bar to...to put it away, yeah! To store it. For safety. Safely. Then she starts rocking back and forth in front of Angantyr cheerfully. "How may I serve you, super-awesome rich master guy with lots of money to give to charity?"

"I am VERY capable. At serving people, I mean. I, Gi-...iiiiiiiiiirrrrrrlga, am the best at serving people in the whole worlds! My maid expertise is known the whole world over!"

Vespa has posed:
Vespa takes the taster testing it out first. It lights up. "Thank you.", she says to the werewolf. "This is way more sublte than using my Axe", she says grinning a bit. She pockets the taser taking the tray of ice cream again skilling working her way thought the throng of maids and customers to her table.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart brings back the salads to the table "Thanks Solva~" She chimes cheerfully. Part of the 'play' is also not giving away everyone around, even if most of them are not really girls. Gotta how exactly that went through at their HQs though.

"Guys, let's do a maid cafe!"
"Yeah!"
"And we'll serve bacon!"
"YEAHHHH!"
"And all guys will dress as girls!"
"YEEEA-what?"
"Too late, motion passed"
"Damnit!"

Well that's what she can imagine anyway. She moves back to the table with the order, checking in with the other table "Yes, the cook said 'totes kosher'."

"I'll take 3!"

Rei Seatlan has posed:
Hipbump'd!

"ACK! Sorry, sorry!" Maid Rei sweatdrops towards Tifa, forgetting the whole customs and courtesies of being a maid. "Uhh.. Master and Mistreses..!" She sweatdrops, trying to be a proper maid for the day.

And of course, Rei glances towards Avira, "Sure!" However, it is the glance owards Navya, those eyes light ablaze. However, she quickly turns Sora, who is broken. "Uhh... Sora?" She looks worried at him.

...Until Terra!

"Ooooiii, on my way!"

As she approaches Terra, "Terra!" She skips over towards the woman, "Glad to see that you made it!" And then, his eyes turn towards the dancer once more, "Of course, mistresss! i'll be glad to serve ---..."

Rei sees Leida's... spectacle.

"Leida!" She calls out towards Eva, "Eva, help the lady, I'll tend to Bacon-chan!" The maid quickly sprints, holding the dress up. As she arrives outside, she kneels besides the crashing girl. "Are you alright?!"

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr looks right at Girlgamesh.

"No, And you put that back on the counter." he says as Maira secures him in a hug and already starts to drag him off. Avira's pretty cold...

And the lady tries to mimic what he said, exactly. Angantyr pauses... "She's with me." thumbing at Terra, and walks with Maira towards a booth. But then...

Mercade drops the dough down, causes Angantyr to look at him oddly, for a moment there is a look in his eyes, a glint...a dangerous one that Avira has seen before. Maira too. That look, that LOOK that has predated EVERY SINGLE TIME Angantyr has brutally destroyed someone.

That is all of the warning they get before he...

Nods only once towards Mercade, "I see adventuring has been fruitful to you as well." he says, with a sort of calm and polite tone. "Maira, get us and the young lady here tea and a plate of bacon." he says, with a rather...calm expression.

Navya has posed:
Navya is a lot more smiley the rest of the time. Really! Honestly, the hardest part about taking a picture of her is getting one that doesn't have a wing or something in the way; Navya's dress is not entirely made for someone who has a pair of wings and they tend to stick out at odd angles when they catch on the edge of the scooped back.

Navya isn't entirely sure if she's supposed to listen to Emi or Avira in this situation. She looks momentarily perplexed. Fortunately, she has something she is absolutely sure of a moment later. "Hey! Put that down," she hisses at Gi(r)lgamesh. "You're not the safe box! Or I'll make you put it back!"

Her tail flicks as she looks at Maira again, then Emi. Then Angantyr, who she doesn't know but knows Avira does. She tries to curtsey. It looks kind of awkward. At least she is an actual girl. But it looks like Maira's got it handled, and Navya's spirits fall slightly. Not chosen again!

Fara Senrietta has posed:
The little Burmecian maid wimpers as she's examined, turning her head away bashfully like a perfectly innocent little maid. She's even flushing as she takes the wolfess' order. She's being laughed at! Oh Faram, someone help her!

A low curtsey, and Fara puts on her most charming, obedient smile. "I would be honor to serve thee, oh beautiful Mistress! Come, let me seat you so that ye may be made comfortable."

As she turns around, she pauses. Two ears fold back. Holding her hands in front of her, she starts forward to a seat. One leg, then the other, in slow, measured, steps towards the table. That tail of hers wiggles and waggles all the way. Someone really wants that tip!

Reaching out, Fara grasps the chair. Pulling it out, she curtsies once more. "Please sit, if you desire, oh lovely Mistress. I shall be right back with thy order." She starts off towards the kitchen, pink tail-tip flicking behind her as she tries not to die of embarrassment.

"Miss Solva! Mistress Hati desires a bacon fillet, she said that you would know how best to prepare it! Tea as well plea...ahh!"

It always gets worse. Not quite used to walking in heels, one of her shoes catches on the floor. Trip! A loud squeak exits Fara's muzzle as she goes tumbling! Out of a natural desire to right herself, up flips her tail, as she falls. Flipt. /Up/ goes the skirt in plain view of the wolfess he's serving.

Someone's really gone all out for this maid thing. Frills and pink are clearly viewable to Hati before the now utterly red maiden rushes to cover her rear end and get to her feet.

Maira has posed:
Quite possibly being used in a battle she probably should never have gotten involved in, Maira nods to Angantyr and looks toward the young lady he refers to. Oh! "Terra! Oh it is nice to see you again! Yes yes, I will get the tea and bacon! Be right baaaack," she sings, then leans down to whisper to Angan, "be good!"

After Maira has seated Angantyr and goes off and about her business, there are many interruptions and asks for hugs now that she's started something. Well, alright. Maira likes hugs. She will hug! She almost suffocates a twelve year old boy who hasn't quite gotten his growth spurt yet, but certainly has something to brag about, basically forever.

Maira makes her way over toward Sammy, welcoming him with the customary bow with the addition of an enthusiastic skip toward him. "Welcome to the One Day Maid cafe! All for charity! I can lead you to a seat--I can serve you too if you'd like, uh, master?" she says, passing by Ivo. Master? that's kind of weird, but apparently part of it? Okay, whatever! "Iv--Evaaaa, we have another guest!" she says, leading Sammy if he will follow.

Solva Ulfang has posed:
"You're welcome hun." Skoll answers Vespa in the softest voice he can manage, nodding at the girl before turning towards Tifa's table. Oh yes, he heard that 'I'll take three' from afar. Those cute wolfie ears are good for something. And he quickly sets to preparing the salad, and catches the call for a plate of bacon. Wait, was that Angantyr? The moment he has finished those bacon salad, the werewolf is smirking as he prepares the 'bacon plate'.

Bacon, bacon, more bacon... interweaving some bacon to lay the bacon onto. Sprinkle it with some bacon pieces. And when he's done, he picks up a bottle of BBQ sauce and writes onto the bacon: 'Gargess'. The youth then waits for Maira to come and pick up the bacon plate.

Gilgamesh has posed:
Navya mutters something to her(?). Girlgamesh looks a little annoyed, but she sets the bar back down. No point in trying to steal from-

And then Ang turns her down! That will NOT STAND!

"Oh, what, I'm not GOOD enough for you?" Now Girlgamesh has rapidly STOPPED being Girlgamesh; she's quickly transforming, in a most tremendously horrifying way, expanding and contracting and shifting in places. Those socks are just not holding up under the strain of a five-foot-five girl transforming into a huge grey man; nor is that skirt, not anymore. It's sort of...tattered. In rapid order, a huge, grey-skinned man in very little clothing (but very roomy polkadot panties) is standing inf ront of Ang, looking down at him, insulted. "I'm not PRETTY enough for you? Me, Gilgamesh? Do you think I'm ugly, is that it? Do you think that Gilgamesh, King of Heroes, is an unappealing woman? That the Master Swordsman is not as beautiful as a well-forged blade and as bouncy as a really great set of-"

And then suddenly Gilgamesh becomes aware that he is back to being /Gilgamesh/, and not *Girlgamesh*, and he swallows.

"Oops," says the giant, mostly naked man.

Enkidu is also back to full size, though he's still shuddering in the corner in horror.

Minerva has posed:
Minerva is just well lurking about helpign people who are not so imporant however as she finishes up with one oter he comes over to poor, Sora and glancing back at the chaos around her and looks back to the young man. "Are you all right Sora? You seem ... to be not feeling so well." She's taking everything in stride but not everyone might do so. Also she does however try to not think of Girlgamesh.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart always pities Enkidu, and when she sees Gilgamesh appear... Well... she'll let the others handle the money handler... She's carrying a bowl of bacon bits to Enkidu in the corner, and petting his head comfortingly c.c

Sora has posed:
"I'm fine." Sora says to Rei(ze), even as he gets, er... Maid Network'd.

"Ah, just... tea, right? That's what you're serving, tea and bacon stuff? Just tea, please." Sora sighs.

Avira has posed:
It's true. Angantyr has likely never seen Avira this cold before!

But that icy facade melts for a few moments as she sees Mercade put down a significant amount of money either equalling or rivaling the gold bar that Angantyr just slapped down as payment. "M..mercade..." Then she sees Angantyr's reaction.

Her eyes grow cold again and she stares him down, catching that glint. Those hard eyes betray a /knowing/ of Angantyr. A certain conversation they had in private. Should he be going back on his word right now-oh, well then. He's fine.

Avira finally relaxes and turns to Mercade. "So, Master Alexander, what may I get you? We have-" she rattles off the menu, which she has taken the pains of memorizing.

Suddenly, Gilgamesh.

"YOU!!!!" The ice of her soul melts immediately. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, GILGAMESH!? -excuse me for a second, Master Alexander."

Avira withdraws the Spine, which she obviously kept on her for good reason. Good reasons like this. "OUT!" she shouts, chasing after the mostly naked Gilgamesh. "OUT!!!"

Vespa has posed:
"Here are your bacon icecreams Masters!", Vespa says giving the customers a smile. "Anything else I can get out Masters?", ugh she not sure how much more she can do this... "No I'm no doing hugs, or kisses. That's not on the menu.. If you want anything else FROM THE MENU ask okay?", she smiles going off to sever other customers, she get slapped on the rear, again.

Seh turns around. "You get some specal extra sevrice Master!"", she whips out the taster "DIE", there a loud scream as she socks the pevert.

"ANYONE ELSE WANT SOME EXTRA SEVRICE!?!"

Raine Arland has posed:
Raine had heard about this so called charity cafe involving maids or some such. That didn't really impress him. Rather, it was one part morbid curiosity, one part BURNING MANLY DESIRE to take part in bacon related food stuffs...Or something to that effect in any case.

In any case, he steps through the doors of the cafe, hands stuff into his pants pockets. 'Kid, are you sure about this thing? I'm getting a baaaaaaad vibe already' A voice in his head echoed to him. "Yeah well, I'm curious. I want to see just what geniuses thought it'd be grand to run a maid cafe for charity now."

Upon saying that, he raised a hand for attention, waiting to be seated. 'Don't say I didn't warn you now. I can sense these things!' The voice in his mind echoed again. "Yeah, sure, sure." Not listening. Nope.

Sarisa has posed:
From outside, ominiously, "If I, Princess Sarisa of Tycoon, don't get my KNIGHT, SER GILGAMESH, in /CLOTHED FORM WITH BLADE/, out here RIGHT NOW to PROTECT ME, then my KNIGHT is going to REGRET his STUPIDITY."

There is a stalking noise of heels on the ground going away. Gilgamesh has duly been warned to GTFO and go find his pirate princess.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr pauses as he looks at Gilgamesh.

"Put the <GOOSEHONK>ing money on the table and run." he says, praying to god...praying to whatever GOD Faruja prays to that he doesn't go...super Gilgamesh again.

And then Avira was on it. "Oh huh, I keep forgetting you all actually have weapons." he says, and simply looks back to Terra, "Angantyr." he offers.

And then looks at Vespa. "...That was a pretty mean right hook. Well done."

Bacon-chan has posed:
The princess doesn't move when she hits the pavement, merely laying face-down with her arms stretched out above her head. Even if she wanted to get up the heavy suit keeps her pretty well weighed down but right now she's perfectly fine just lying here in the gutter. Alone. Forsaken. Maybe someone will have pity on her and come give her a merciful end.

The sound of her name being called fills her with hope in this regards. Leida struggles briefly, flopping back and forth like a beached fish as she tries to get the damnably flat costume to turn over onto its backside without much success. However, she recognizes the voice and immediately gives up with a sigh. Reize is far too nice to put her out of her misery.

Instead she goes back to laying there like a rug, or a doormat as the case might be, and mutters up at him. "I-I am fine. Just resting a bit is all, ah hahaha ha ha..."

Emi Dennou has posed:
"Very well..." Emi says, staring into Sora's eyes.

She just keeps doing this. Another Dennou eventually brings over a tea. She sets it down and starts staring at Sora too. And then another Dennou comes over and suddenly three Dennous are staring at Sora, right into his eyes. Emi nods once, and then spins on a heel to return to Navya while the other two continue staring at Sora.

Peta says, "Yoohooo~" with a waved arm for Angantyr.

"Navya." Emi says as she approaches her. "Still having trouble finding someone? Then this one has a suggestion...if there are not enough customers, then the trick is--likely--to start servicing other maids."

She nods once. "IT is only efficient that way."

Solva Ulfang has posed:
Ah, Skoll can already hear the fangirl squeels as Faruja makes his order and then ends up faceplanting onto the floor, flipping up his skirt. Skoll quickly raises his hand to his shoulder-height and taps over on those high heels of his own, and then kneels down before him - covering part of Faruja's snout with the miniskirt for just a moment. "You okay, comrade?" Skoll asks him, moving a hand out to the mouse. He's blushing - but he's not blushing because of Faruja - but because of the comment that Hati suggested he knows how he likes her meat -- embarassing and reminding him that she /knows/ this is him.

And so, 'Solva Ulfang' carefully draws Faruja up against 'her' chest, for a moment, before standing and taking one of his hands to help him up all the way. "Are you alright, brave mouse?" 'she' asks him, leaning in towards him to check for damages. He looked okay. 'Solva' pats 'her' hands past Faruja's skirt to flip it back down, and then turns around. That's when he notices Gilgamesh behind Faruja... He winces... and cringes... and turns around. "Think good thoughts... bacon... bacon... bacon..."

And so he turns to quickly sear some filet mignon, baking in record time. Well, it really /has/ to be 'record time'. He's making it /blue/ for gods sake. Every second counts in searing that. Bacon is soon wrapped around it, and he sticks a little flag in it to keep the bacon stuck on one side, before handing this plate to Faruja.

Gilgamesh has posed:
You can just play Yakkity Sax for the next five minutes as Gilgamesh runs around and around and around the cafe, evading Avira in a most effective way. "W-what did I do?! I was just giving money to charity! The charity of me, Gilgamesh! C-come on, is it really all that bad?"

He dances through food plates, runs across tables, and is generally disruptive for the next two minutes before he explodes out the door at Sarisa's call, likely leaving Raine with the mental image of a mostly-naked Gilgamesh quickly growing clothing out of nowhere around a pair of polka-dot panties rushing by him, followed by a huge green dog that looks like it's sobbing about...god only knows what.

Gilgamesh has left the building.

Navya has posed:
Navya puts /her/ hand on the gold bar to make sure it doesn't wander off.

mmm, gold, how she missed it

But she isn't going to pocket it either. Especially not with Gilgamesh twisting, doing something - Navya's first reaction is to hit it with her hammer, but she doesn't /have/ her hammer, which means she has to use something else instead.

Which is why, about two seconds later, Navya picks up an entire potted plant (it's fake) and rests it against her shoulder. "I can't believe that it was /you/!! Get out! Like she said. Or I'm gonna carry you out!"

Worst maid.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr looks towards Peta, "Turn right back around." He says, with that tone that threatens to send his teeth back to him. One at a time.

Sammy Colt has posed:
Okay, so... What's Sammy supposed to do? I mean, this is a golden opportunity to get dirt on the Shard Seekers and all, but... that's just... weird, isn't it? Guys dressing as Mai-Hello? Sammy's mind snaps to a semi-lucid state as Maira speaks to him.

"Oh, uhm. I was just. Uh..." Well, he's a little distracted by Maira's attire, obviously.. Or was that because some semi-naked man just passed by him.

There's an endless confusion running through Sammy's head. Maybe it's from the bacon fumes? The Turk blinks twice as he makes a note to ask Rhia to work double-time on that memory-wiper ShinRa had opted for. He'd need it just to be able to sleep without shuddering after that.

Deciding it best to NOT be near naked-running man, Sammy follows after Maid-Maira, but gives a bit of a clearing of his throat as some princess' voice rings through the cafe, demanding a knight of some sort.

"Do you serve coffe?" He asks, putting his hands in his pockets as he is lead to a booth right beside Sora's. "Because I think I'm in some kind of nightmare." He says with a sigh. It wasn't the first time his dreams had gone straight passed weird and into 'strangeland'.

Avira has posed:
Good news! Avira has gotten pretty good at parkour! She is right on Gilgamesh's grey heels, vaulting over patrons and tables alike, in her pursuit of the master swordsman.

Bad news! Maid outfits are not very conductive to being concealing during parkour.

Sort of okay news: Avira at least doesn't notice just how much panty she flashes before she finally seems to chase Gilgamesh out the door. Well, semi-chase Gilgamesh out the door, as he seems to leave after being called off by a mysterious voice.

Calming, she sheathes the Spine and hurries back over to Mercade, bowing deeply. "My sincerest apologies for that interruption, Master Alexander. Did you decide on an order?"

Navya has posed:
When Gilgamesh leaves, Navya lowers the fake tree. Actually, she puts the whole thing down, very carefully. "I guess that would be efficient," Navya says, "but I don't have any money or anything, which is why I'm /doing/ this in the first place."

She's still kind of red-faced. It's hard to tell if it's because she's angry, embarassed, both, or something else.

Vespa has posed:
Vepsa looks more relaxed now. "Thank you", she says to Ang. "I feel much better now.", she pockts the taser. She thankfully missed the naked Gilgamesh. The table she was serving quickly pay for there meal two of them carrying there now uncousous friend out. No tip.

"She goes over to another table. "What can I get you masters?", the pair look quite terrifed of Vespa...

Hati has posed:
Oh, the wolf is certainly keeping an eye on the twitches of that tail that moves in front of her as she's lead around to a seat. It's impossible not to just smirk most of the time, especially with the way that everyone is acting up the parts that they are playing. She'd certainly have to ask Faruja a thing or two about all this later, but perhaps it's just for a good cause. It doesn't stop her from enjoying the humor of it, though.

A humor that turns to horror at the sight of Girlgamesh. Stare. Hati covers her mouth, suddenly feeling herself at a loss for appetite. Right, look anywhere but over there. She turns back just in time to see Faruja take that tumble. Normally, she might have been concerned for his sake, but really, the split second it takes to see what's underneath has her covering her mouth for an entirely different reason, this time to contain laughter as she quickly, stealthily snaps a celphone photo. The joys of someone always having a camera. Oh, and one of 'Solva' helping 'Fara' up, too.

Quickly, she tucks the celphone back into her pocket, doing her best to look innocent, and genuinely failing, because... well, she isn't. The smell of bacon, and other cooking meats twitches her nose, making her close her eyes and just enjoy the scent of it.

Terra Branford has posed:
Terra smiles as Rei approaches her, feeling that she managed to successfully navigate the unfamiliar social context. She blanches, though, when she realizes Rei apparently knows her. "I had some trouble finding it," she hedges, examining Rei closely.

REIZE?!

Terra gesticulates mutely. Nothing in her life has prepared her for this. Fortunately, Rei rushes off to deal with something before Terra can decide if she likes it or not. Unfortunately, she's still mute with shock when Angantyr claims she's with him, and her vague gestures do not dissuade anyone.

"Hi, Maira," she manages to croak, to the woman who helped her so much in the desert with her skillful and thoughtful use of magic. Though Terra hadn't been aware, Maira had been a little jealous of Terra's looks last time. This new outfit of Maira's demonstrates that there's at least one way in which she has no reason to be jealous of the slim, girlishly built Terra, and Terra notices.

With no other option, she follows Angantyr submissively and seats herself. She doesn't even get a chance to object to bacon being ordered. She's meditating on her Maira-jealousy while staring vaguely downwards when Angantyr interrupts. "Oh! I am sorry. My name is Terra. How-do-you-do?"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade looks over to Avira as she melts for a moment. "Avira..." He pauses, and then he sees that Glint. A detective learns how to read people. He knows what it means when people twitch certain ways, where they might be going for hidden weapons, when violence builds in the air, thick and red as blood.

And then the nods. Mercade nods back. "Thank you." He says to Angantyr, and sits down himself. "Sometimes, I surprise myself,"

He returns his attention to Avira, and opens his mouth to prepare to place an order when -

GILGAMESH'D. Mercade cringes at the appearance of the strange shapeshifting thief. Especially one in such... clothing. Avira, however, gets more active than he's seen her all evening. And he's totally in favor of Avira enjoying herself. Maybe she'll chill out a bit.

And then Avira does her thing. Mercade looks away as she engages in parkour. He knews how that dress is going to move. When the acrobatics are done and Avira gets back, Mercade smiles. As expected, she seems much happier. "Thank you, Avira. I'll have the bacon with a bacon salad, and some tea. No bacon in the tea."

Sora has posed:
If Sora even /nominally/ notices any of Avira's panty shots, he doesn't let it show.

Kairi would be proud.

However, getting stared at by at least two of the Maid Network is disconcerting. He blinks at them. "..." Oh, right, charity. Sora fumbles around in his pocket, then pulls out a decent-sized bag of munny, pushing it neatly across the table towards them. "For charity!" He says, proudly. He gets a lot of munny from heartless killing. It's a thing.

Eva Galvan has posed:
Eva's work here is done.

Like, seriously, just making this happen was more than enough. The hostess watches the chaos unfold around her and smiles contentedly. Now all she needs to do is get Solva singing, and as far as she's concerned, mission complete.

Naturally, as she's thinking this, tensions threaten to rise between Mercade and Angantyr regarding Avira and Maira, Leida falls over in front of the store, Terra is operating by imitiation, and a little boy over there looks to be having a mental breakdown. But Rei is on it, innocently fixing all of the problems Eva has indirectly caused as per their usual relationship, leaving her with a redheaded dancer. "Ah, Rei..." Naturally, he's off to help their adorable mascot Bacon-chan back to her feet. Idly, Eva reflects on the viability of Bacon-chan memorabilia. "Yes, of course, Mistress," is what Eva says to Margaux, curtseying gracefully. Eva has managed a level of elegance and refinement that suggests the type of feminity she most admires. She imagines this makes for an appealing synthesis.

It's really more of an uncanny valley effect.

"Please, allow me to serve you." She'd like to speak to Terra more, having grown interested in the half-esper after their adventure in the desert, but duty calls. Eva leads Margaux to a neat table and serenely seats her. "There is only tea on the menu, but of course," she says, leaning in to speak more quietly, "we endeavor to serve." Whereupon she leaves and soon returns with an unmarked bottle, serving ruby liquid from it into a fluted glass. Where did the wine come from? Did this place use to be a store or something?

PREVIOUSLY

"Someone's going to need this by the end of the day," Ivo reflects aloud as he puts a bottle of wine into one of the side cupboard.

NOW

Maira calls out to her about Sammy's arrival, and Eva looks over with a smile, faltering slightly when she sees just /how/ many people are lined up for Maira Hugs. He should have got his while the getting was good. "Ah, could you take care of this one, Maira darling?" she replies, before turning back to her current customer. "We are all devoted, Mistress, leader and member alike," she says at last, a belated reply while Margaux settles in. "Thus we are suited for service." Do her eyes look amused as she says this? "And what has brought you to our humble establishment?" The dancer seemed to have hesitated before entering. Eva gets the sense she has some reason for being here beyond the entertainment value.

Entertainment value which increases as the mysterious and fetching Girlgamesh visibly-- reverts. Eva stares, features inscrutable, which allows her to look cooler than most people do while her brain is going, 'What. What. What.' And then Avira solves the problem.

"Huh," Eva murmurs. "Sometimes violence /is/ the answer."

She has her cellphone out for some reason.

"Not quite enough for another calendar," she adds mysteriously.

Five of eight Avira panty flashes, captured.

Someone has to compensate for Mercade's decency, after all.

Rei Seatlan has posed:
Reize cannot help but to eye poor Leida when she finds herself in the situation where she seems... miserable. Kneeling over to her, the boy brings his hands over towards her shoulders to help her up from the ground. "Now, let's get you up! We can't have you looking down lke that!"

She smiles, offering a bright smile.

"Hey... how about we switch costumes?" Pause. "I think you will do us proud as one of the maids!"

...Perhaps give her some of her dignity back. Not quite a princess-level, but better than her current situation.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart shakes her head as Gilgamesh makes an exit, and returns to her work at the tables. To their dismay, it seems every customer can tell its Reize and Ivo as well, so that'll be interesting conversations in the morning, she is sure of that.

But for now, have to handle the customers, bowing elegantly as she greets them with the proper 'master' or 'mistress'. She doesn't have to use those terms normally, but its for the good cause. Who wouldn't like to have an obedient Tifa anyway?

At least, those that would hope they wouldn't get on the receiving end of her steel-toed boots.

She moves to the kitchen counter "Uhm, could I get a tea for myself too? I am getting thirsty handling everyone, and I'm not sure my stomach can handle the bacon right now." She's been surrounded by the smell for quite a while now. She's pretty sure she's going to have the smell stuck to her until she showers too. Bacon-Tifa, think that would sell?

Raine Arland has posed:
"....Dude." Raine mumbled, sidestepped as a /giant naked man and a green dog/ come barreling past him and back out into the streets of Traverse Town. Did he really just see that right now? A chuckle began to emanate within his mind and then a voice spoke up. 'I told you so-'

"No. Shut up." Raine grumbled, turning right back around and stalking into the streets of Traverse Town, intent of save his sanity before it was lost to the darkness of this obviously evil place forever. "I had to be curious, why in the world did I have to be curious..." He mumbled to himself over and over and over while rubbing his temples, staving off a headache. Meanwhile the voice in his head just laughed at his expense all the way.

Vespa has posed:
"One bacon toast with bacon butter and extra bacon with bacon on the side with bacon?", Vespa looks a bit confused as she taks the order

"And for you sir Bacon cofffe topped with bacon cream and bacon salad but hold the salad and extra bacon?", seems somone really likes bacon.. "Coming right up Masters!"

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi looks down at Navya's tail, then up to Navya, then down to her tail again. Every aspect of her being tells her to grab that tail just to see what it feels like, but she knows that's a bad idea. She must resist! SHE MUST. She breathes out and says, "This...is a charity event. We do not think we are getting paid? The Network supposes we could stiff the charity." She doesn't even assign any value judgement based on that despite the obvious value judgement inherent in the words.

The two on Sora are too busy taking money from Sora to look at Avira's underwear. Once taken they say, "Thank you," simultaneously and go back to looking at him.

Umi however lets out a wooping noise and shouts, "Cute undies, Avi--MMPHHHHH!!!"

The MMMMPHHHH is Omi grabbing Umi by the mouth and neck via the crook of her arm, in a position to just snap Umi's neck with nary a word.

Maira has posed:
Maira seats Sammy, giving him an apologetic and sympathetic smile. "It is kind of crazy, isn't it? Just try to relax though and know the money is for a good cause! And that several of the 'maids' lost a bet," she replies with a wink. "As for coffee, I'll check! I have a couple more customers, but I'll try to be speedy!" she tells him, then skips off toward the kitchen. "Sko--I mean--Ugh I don't remember what you were calling yourself, but do we have any coffee? Oh, good! A cup of coffee, and I need another plate of bacon and a pot of tea, two cups!"

Then she turns toward Faruja, who is looking out of sorts, and without a word just hugs him tightly. "Cheer up Faruja!"

Now, new tray in hand and a song on her tongue, Maira moves back out into the dining room, going back to Angantyr and Terra's table first. She places down the tray (yes, there is leaning involved in this), pours the tea, and places the bacon down. "Here you go! I hope you are enjoying yourselves so far. Terra, I'm glad to see you! I bet we could talk so much about magic. I live here in Traverse, you should come visit if you will be in town for a bit, alright?"

Maira looks back to Angantyr and flashes him a bright smile. He hadn't assaulted anyone yet! She's so proud.

When Avira is done chasing Gilgamesh out (she just can't even think about that now, too busy!) she gives her friend a quick and affectionate hug before she moves back to Sammy's table with his coffee. "I like your suit! Reminds me of something from home," she comments as she pours the coffee.

Avira has posed:
Avira certainly is a bit happier now-that little chase got her blood pumping! Though part of her now wishes she was off hunting a mark right now. On the other hand, well, Mercade is here.

She smiles back at him, blissfully unaware of Ivo's lewdery. "Right away. I will be back in a moment~"

Turning away, she weaves her way through the tables to the kitchen. "Oh miss chef~" she calls out, leaning over to not-Skoll. "One bacon with a bacon salad. And some tea. No bacon in the tea."

Avira looks over her shoulder suddenly at Umi. "...wait, what?"

Fara Senrietta has posed:
The little mouseling sniffles upon the floor, an ear perking as she hears a picture go off. Oh Faram. No. A chorus of follow-up shots as several others do the same. There's even a sphere being made of the shenanigans within the area.

A skirt covers her muzzle, and Fara looks up. Trying to ignore the fangirl squees in the background, the soft arms of Solva draws her against the other 'girl's chest. Gently, the ratling's arms wrap about Solva's chest, shivering in embarrassment as she buries her head within the ruffles of the wolf's maid uniform.

"*sniffle*...Yes...*sniffle*...they...they all /saw/! My, my honor is /soiled/ forever! Oh, how will I live with the shame of their eyes upon me, Solva!?" Comes the 'distraught' maiden. Somewhere, the Inquisitor is proud of the rat's acting skills. Inwardly, Faruja just watches as the remains of his pride poof into nothingness.

A cute, girly little "Eep!" escapes her muzzle as a hand helps her skirt back down, blush rising further. More squees and snapshots as she begins to untangle herself and move for the bacon. She glances over...

Fara's jaw /drops/ at the transformed, mostly naked Gilgamesh. A /scream/ erupts from her muzzle, and she very nearly faints against Solva.

"....Oh Faram, my mind! It /bends/ from this horror!"

Give her a minute, Hati. Some things damage the soul. Then Maira comes up and hugs him. Soft...warm...cough! Fara gladly returns it, happy to have a distraction, and a friend. Sniffle. "...It was /horrible/ Maira! Oh, what is a Maiden to do?"

The plate is taken, and with slow steps, she gently walks over to place the plate of bacon and tea before Hati.

Smile. A bashful blush. "Here you are, honored Mistress. May I get you anything else? Sugar? Cream perhaps?"

All the while, Fara's tips pile up, thanks to her mishap. Wardrobe malfunctions are money makers.

Solva Ulfang has posed:
Oh, but unlike Sora, Skoll notices that pantyshot. The werewolf is just turning around to accept one of the orders coming in when she falls. His eyes widen, and he quickly tilts his head back and puts his fingers at the bridge of his nose. There's a loud inhaling sniffing sound, before he turns away shyly, a blush on his face. "... it was black." He whispers to himself, before trudging off towards the counter and preparing the desired items. He just hopes he made enough bacon. But with two refridgerators full of bacon. Let's just hope none of those picking up a order heard him say that... LIKE TIFA!

His heart skips, in fear she might have heard him state the color of Avira's panties. He ends up leaning against the counter as Tifa comes in muttering about bacon. "Of course. One moment." He quickly grabs a nice big cup, and pours her some nice non-bacon tea, and then moves to open a door that leads to the back yard. "Take a breather out there if you need it." He tells her, gently giving her the cup of tea and smiles at her like a rather... well... gentleman-like-girl? It's kind of a weird situation he is in.

And then Vespa has to come with her order, and Skoll gives her a /look/... and then crosses his arms. "Tell them, no substitutions. You can't just go substituting bacon shreds with bacon-weave! Do you have any idea how much that bacon costs? Tell them no - no substitutions. If they don't understand my culinary brilliance, then too bad for them."

That's around the time he moves to take the coffee-pot off of the stove and pours in a cup for Maira. "It's actually for the folk working today, to keep their energy. But if someone really has to have coffee..." He hands it to Maira. "And... just Skoll will work. Ivo forced the name 'Solva' on me."

And to make matters worse, Avira comes in. Skoll immediately starts blushing red, and stammers a bit. "Ah, ehh... tea, black~EHH, I MEAN BACON! BACON! I SAID BACON!" Skoll turns around and his tail kind of just 'poofs up' rather adorably, and gets to work frantically on the order Avira just made.

Navya has posed:
"We /aren't/," Navya says with a sigh, "which is why I'm not just paying instead of dressing up! I would totally pay so I didn't have to. I don't even like cleaning! But I'm not going to cheat either. That's not the paravir way!" Navya thumps her chest, as if to prove it.

Yeah, she doesn't entirely get the purpose of the maid cafe, really. Though she's starting to get the idea. Sometimes she's a little thick, though. (Okay, most of the time.) She's mostly gotten over Gilgamesh, for now. Rest assured she will be mad at him again later.

Navya hears Umi. She very deliberately makes her tail point straight down to avoid wardrobe malfunctions on /her/ part. She doesn't want anyone looking at /hers/ (and this is why she never normally wears dresses)! It's not really the way it points normally, though.

Bacon-chan has posed:
Leida's face is somewhat scuffed up as she is rolled over to face the young maid leader of her clan. Seeing Reize in a frilly dress almost cheers her up but his suggestion that they swap clothes makes her balk. "Wh-what?! But... I... that wouldn't be...!"

She trails off as a realization hits her. Someone is offering to take this horrible vile weight off her shoulders and she's /arguing/ with them. The girl promptly shuts her mouth with an audible click of teeth and stares up at him intently. "You... you would do that for me?" Leida's eyes are huge and cute right now, as if trying to further entice Reize to step in and take this misery away despite him already offering to do so. She must ensure there is no reason for him to back out!

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr smiles at Maira, he is at least being civil...and he frowns for a moment as he looks right at Eva. RIGHT. At. Him.

There is that dangerous glint again, but...he says nothing, at least, openly.

Instead, Terra distracts him and he nods to her. "Good to meet you." he says, with a nod to her, "You looked like a fish out of water, so I thought you might need some help." he says, "Are there no resturants where you are from?" he asks, politely. There are lots of world...

And then the bacon plate is delivered. He looks at it for a moment, narrowing his eyes, "He spelled the word that isn't even a word wrong." he says, just loud enough for Skoll to hear it, "Inform him if he is going to try and mock me, do so intelligently in the future. THERE WILL BE NO TIP!" he says, "Except for you only Maira." he softens immediately.

Yes, he is looking at that clevage. Not even hiding it a little bit. He's human, damn it!

Sammy Colt has posed:
"Crazy's one way to put it." Sammy says to himself as Maira walks away. Though, to be honest, with his face in his hands as he wonders exactly how much sleep he's missed out on since China, his eyes seem a little fixed on Maira's figure as she walks away.

*Snapping fingers noise in Sammy's head* Hey! Pay attention, find your mark!

Sammy blinks twice and stiffles a yawn. He needed to find that Reize-maid and talk to her... him... it... Whatever.

As his eyes scan about, Maira returns and Sammy instinctivly leans back into the booth, trying to act like he wasn't doing anything - standard Turk protocol, you know.

"Thanks. I, uh, like your uniform. It's... " (Don't say bouncy) "..." (Don't say bouncy!) "..." (DON'T SAY BOUNCY) "Nice." (Nailed it.). Sammy lets his awkward silence hang for a moment as the coffee is poured. The small man takes a moment to watch Maira fill it up before he gives her a smile and reaches into his pocket, extracting a sack o' munny and putting it on the table.

"So, I was wondering, how much would I have to give to 'charity' - " He probably doesn't know what that word means... Fundraiser would make more sense to him. "for a favour?" He finishes the sentence, probably not aware that it might sound like he was making a pass at Maira.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart fortunatly didn't hear Solva's comment, otherwise she'd wonder. Not that hers are black, or that she knows what Solva would be talking about anyway, but hey.

She smiles "Oh, thanks, I'm okay, but I will need to wash the smell out of my skin once I'm done here." She takes the tea cup and sips from it, letting out a content 'ahhh' sound at it. She was parched.

She wonders "... so you really like Bacon?" She asks the chef, but otherwise not disturbing the 'happy time' with Avira either. Well, its nice that people have targets for their affection (or infatuation?) at least.

Vespa has posed:
Vespa heads back to the kitchen. She looks at Skoll. "Do you want the taser back now? I don't think anyone else will touch me tonight..", she looks at her notepad. "And can I get One bacon toast with bacon butter and extra bacon with bacon on the side with bacon? and One bacon toast with bacon butter and extra bacon with bacon on the side with bacon? Someone really likes bacon..

Fara Senrietta has posed:
Ear-perk. Fara turns as he hears a choice set of words from Sammy. That single eye goes wide. A low, dainty squeak of anger rises. Light appears around her hand, and from the light, she pulls out a weapon of great power and destruction!

"Nay! Do not despoil the honor of a fellow maiden! Maiden Maira, I shall protect thee!"

The great weapon shines! A deft throw! What shining weapon of holiness shall be thrust towards Sammy?

Fara Senrietta uses Throw Holy Feather Duster.

Avira has posed:
"We have black tea?" Avira asks, sounding confused, before realization dawns upon her and Skoll suddenly flounders all over himself. The dressed-up VALKYRI stands there, her face pale. How did he know the color!?

Who else looked?! AHHH THIS IS TERRIBLE. EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE.

"H-hurry up!" Avira demands, flustered.

Sora has posed:
Sora sips his tea.

After like, five minutes, he finally asks, carefully, "Are you just going to stare at me?"

Hati has posed:
While Faruja is distracted with his near faint at the sight of Girlgamesh, Hati decides to work the crowd. Her voice can be heard encouraging some of the 'fangirls' to donate, even ones who haven't gotten through the line yet for their chance to be served at the cafe. Some fine gentlemen in a top hat donates his headgear to the cause and soon enough it's overflowing with donations of munny. There's even a trio of girls who all call out in unison, in slightly off-key voices, "We love you Fara!" Followed by a gruff, male voice chiming in: "Yeah."

By the time that the mouse actually returns with her food, Hati just nudges the hat in his direction, smirking slightly. "Seems like you're a popular mouse." She notes, looking from the already gathered donations, to the fangirls (and boys) lined up behind the table. "Shame I can't keep you all to myself. But maybe you could do me one more little thing?" She holds her fingers close together.

The wolf waits until he's done defending the honor of the 'fellow maiden', taking the moment to test the food with a look of bliss on her features. Once Feather Duster is thrown, she looks back at Fara, clearing her throat, and doing a 'come hither' gesture, as if trying to lead the mouse in closer. Uh oh.

Rei Seatlan has posed:
Once Leida is scuffed up, Reize attempts to straighten her out and he looks her over once more. And then her reaction to him recommending that they swap clothes earns a smile. She is always that way, knowing that she is usually the type to turn back help.

However, as she finally lets it sink in, Reize can see her huge, cute eyes draw him in.

...Arg. This also does not help that Reize has a weakness to cute faces. It shows when the cheeks turn red and his hands move to the back of his head. "Yeah! Let's do this!" He reaches his hand over towards Leida to drag her off.

OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE!
Final Kingdom Omake!
Chibi Lily: What are you doing?
Chibi Ivo: Watch. *grabs Reize's antenna hair and turns it to the side*
Chibi Reize: *gives access to the Blitzball channel*
Chibi Terra, Leida, and Sora: Ooohh..
Chibi Lily: Ooh! Let me try! *turns antenna*
Chibi Reize: *Suddenly, 300*
Chibi Faruja: *knocks everyone over* Yeeeeeeeesss! *pause* Err.. my apologies.

Emi Dennou has posed:
"What's a paravir?" Emi asks. "Are you a paravir? The Network has not heard that term before."

"Mppphh!" Umi wiggles free enough to say. "I was just trying to say your under--UNFFGGHH.." Omi tightens her hold and Umi goes limp in her arms. Omi nods once to Avira and slowly drags Umi's body over to one of the storage rooms.

Emi shakes her head slowly. She would like to be helpful here, but it's a difficult job and she doesn't want a comomtion. Hmm.

"The Dark Knight is offering a job..." She tells Navya. "Ivo's cellphone." She looks to her. "...Could you obtain that with discretion? We have to wipe it. We will split payment with you for the case."

"...Acceptable? The Network inquires."

Meanwhile the two on Sora. One of them asks, "Would you like something else? The Network inquires."

"Yes, we're baically here to stare at you."

Margaux Fleury has posed:
The very idea of people willingly acting as maids and being wholeheartedly subservient to complete strangers is something that Margaux does not want to think about too hard. It does not help that such maid cosplay reminds the woman bitterly of the Death Corps own war against the nobility who uses people in such a way. She also does not want to think about why they chose such outfits (especially the men in the room,, but they could have quite possibly never seen an actual maid before. In counterpoint, Maid-Wiegraf.

The dancer looks as if she just tasted something bitter which causes Margaux to nearly miss what Eva said to her. The wacky hijinks and chases going elsewhere also contibute to Margaux's confusion and bewilderment. "Yes, of course. I forget that what defines a 'cafe' is now up for debate." She says in response to her request for some wine. "And please, " Some Munny is taken out for reinforcement. "Save your act for the other patrons as I, as you have already guessed, did not come here to be serviced by..." Blue eyes train on Eva for a moment. "...such -lovely- mademoiselles."

It really took a lot of Margaux to say that with a straight face.

"I am Marguerite de Fleury and have come here on behalf of the Death Corps." The dancer motions to herself now. "I was to make contact with the leaders of either the Shardseekers or this VALKYRI to ask for their help." Margaux now offers her most winning smile towards Eva. "Of course, I would not want to intrude on your....charity too much with such dire talk, but perhaps I could atleast arrange a meeting when everyone is dressed a little less...festively."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr, after hearing Sammy's words slowly leans his head towards him.

This time, the look was not a glint...

It was pure murder, pure unadultarited murder. He doesn't speak, but for once Farauja and he are on the same page... but then Fara produces a feather duster...and this causes Ang to just put his head into his hands.

Solva Ulfang has posed:
"Yeah, meat in general. I'm a werewolf after all." Skoll explains to Tifa. "So it kind of comes with the teritory." He keeps talking while listening to Vespa's order, and giving her the thumb-ups with one hand, and shaking the frying-pan with the other. "Can do, miss Vespa." He calls back to her. "Can you grab the bacon butter from the fridge for me?" And then to Tifa, not moments after; "And Tifa, mind if you grab some of the bacon from that cabinet over there and stick them into the toaster?" It seems that enough folk are asking for bacon-related items that he needs to get a bit of help on his cooking.

And then Avira has to go pale and tell him to hurry up, and the werewolf just flusters up himself. "H... hurrying! Hurrying!" He tells her! Shake the bacon. Pour the bacon, add a new plate, clean the plate with a napkin, give to server, and when he's just about to give Avira her plate, and walks forwards, he ends up /snapping/ one of his heels just as he hears Angantyr call back to him - making him wince - and then he starts falling right on forwards towards Avira. Oh no....

Skoll just braces for impact. That plate is likely to go in the air.

SOMEONE SAVE THE AIRBORNE BACON!

Minerva has posed:
Minerva is seeing Sora's helped she'll walzt away to find someone else to help or prehaps to just watch the chaos but yes those darn maid otufit are ahem certainly on the fanservicey side today. It's really part of the draw for the charity run. Minerva doesn't mind but still? The sanity points some are losing from some of the others in this maddnes.

Maira has posed:
Angantyr is being...uncommonly attentive. While she knows she shouldn't actually think too much of it, she can't help but blush, her cheeks turning rosey and the air around her becoming noticeably warmer.

Returning to Sammy, she places the bag on munny in her apron with a bright smile. Those pockets are getting overly full. She's going to have to start finding new places to stuff money--That thought, yes, probably.

Maira's eyebrows rise as he asks how much a favor would cost. Being the innocent she is, she doesn't interpret it at all sexually--thus the death glare from Angantyr and Faruja's super threatening feather duster get curious looks from Maid Maira. "Uhhh..." she says, then gives Faruja a 'you are endangering my tips!' look before turning back to Sammy. "What favor? Do you need something else?"

Terra Branford has posed:
Terra blinks at Angantyr. "Oh, there are restaurants in my world. I've just never been to any." Unless standing in the smoking ruins of a building counts as being in it. "They're very, ah..." Terra's politeness kicks in, "energetic, huh?"

As the food arrives, Maira's bending at the waist makes Terra's lips pucker and take a journey to the extreme right side of her mouth in a bit of immature resentment. She looks away, but there's still something in the corner of her eye, /swaying/. Like the world itself hates her.

Terra likes Maira, though, or most of Maira. She can happily talk to her even if it means, cruelly, that she needs to look at the maid while she's moving plates around. "Really? You'd let me visit?" Talking about magic! "Sure! I would love to do that. You're a great mage."

Plates are falling, dusters flying, hate and love and frills everywhere. Terra looks down at her bacon. She can't even eat it. Picking up her tea, she sips. Too hot, needs cooling. She considers trying to do it with magic, but fine work like that was never her forte.

"Maids have a hard job," she observes.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
The feather duster is actually caught out of the air, a hand clasping around the handle and stopping it midflight, inches from Sammy's face. The barmaid, now a more complete look with a feather duster in hand, walks over to Fara, hand on her hips...

And then reaches to pinch Fara's nose "Maids DO NOT toss their tools at the masters, no matter the circunstances. It is NOT the maid's place to question what the masters are doing, as long as they aren't hurting anyone. You're thinking too much into the choice of words here."

Yup, Tifa has been taken her role seriously it seems, and not letting 'Fara' ruin it for all of the masters present either. "He hasn't touched her, so still your hand."

And then she hands Fara the duster back, and 'sways' back toward the turk... it only takes an instant for her to go back into 'maid' mode it seems, as she smiles and curtsies "Pardon the impudence of my colleague, if I may be of any service to you, you only need to ask, master."

Sora has posed:
"Give me one moment..."

Sora's finely tuned PROTAGANIST TROUBLE SENSES go on alert. He's up on his feet and into the kitchen in a matter of seconds, eyeballing the airborn bacon and the Skoll/Avira pile. He grabs the plate out of the air - and then the TRIANGLE BUTTON is pushed for:

REACTION: SAVE THE BACON.

Sora comically darts around the group as he collects the bacon, but his clown shoes provide a detriment, and he falls forward into the main room. The plate goes flying into the air again... only to land right in front of Mercade, bacon intact.

Sora, however, goes flying right into his pair of maid Dennous. There may be some extra contact. "Waugh!"

Avira has posed:
Avira holds out her hands, ready to accept the plate so hastily prepared by Skoll. Her face is still bright red as the full embarassment of her earlier stunt to chase Gilgamesh out finally dawns upon her. What had she done?! But...but it was so much fun. She loved the thrill of the chase! Rushing after Gilgamesh over and under every obstacle-

Oh there's a werewolf falling onto her.

The tiny, scarred woman yelps suddenly as she goes pitching backwards and lands flat on her back. With a groan, she starts to squirm. "Oh no, the bacon! The bacon is going to-"

Avira peers around. There is no fallen bacon. She flips herself onto her belly and looks out into the cafe proper. "It...got to Mercade...? Whew."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr nods once to Terra. "I see. Well, this is rather untraditional. Some resturants you just go to a counter and order your food, and they give it to you...others you have to wait to be seated, like this establishment, and you get a menue and some time to order. The second require you to tip...unless the service is not up to par." he says calmly, "Not tipping is a grave offense, and will get your food spit in." he nods once.

"Oh you are a mage?" Angantyr asks, "I am a Dark Knight myself...if it wasn't bloody obvious." he offers, "You must have been cloistered then, if you've never been to a resturant." he takes a guess, trying to figure out Terra.

"Yes. Yes it is. This is why you should tip Maira." he offers, with a nod, "She is a good girl." and then he grins at Maira blushes.

Sammy Colt has posed:
Sammy looks down at Maira as a duster stops inches from his head, which disappears as Sammy looks towards it. He could of sworn there was some kind of thing coming towrds him, like a glowing light. Damn being exhausted plays tricks on a person's mind!

Maira asks what kind of favour Sammy's asking about and Sammy clears his throat. He pauses to hear a small commotion happening between a black-haired maid and a mouse-maid... A one-eyed mouse maid. Oh, beautiful, it's the rat-man that kicked his hiding can over a while back.

Whatever she was giving him what for, Sammy was sure he/she/it deserved it.

"Right, uh, the favour. Well, you see, I need some heroes to deal with a heartless infestation at one of my company's reactors that somehow got lost in the Great Wall of China." He states, like he was simply asking someont to fetch him his slippes.

Then Tifa comes and offers her own services. Sammy smiles and pulls out another little sack of munny, tipping Ms. Lockheart merely because she pinched the nose of that annoying templar.

"As I was explaining to the lovely Ms. here, I need some help with emptying my reactor of a lot of unwanted guests." He states, again probably not giving the best sounding tone - considering he's trying to act 'cool', like Reno.

Bacon-chan has posed:
Leida puts up no fuss when she is lead off towards one of the back rooms. She is, infact, more relieved than she has ever been in recent memory to know that her nightmare is over. The fact that Reize has decided to throw himself at the mercy of Ivo's nefarious plan sort of makes her feel bad but not enough so that she's going to refuse the offer.

The two of them disappear for a few minutes as the exchange goes down. Leida heaves a sigh of relief as the upper half of the costume is pulled away, her slender body and long hair soaked with sweat. It's really hot inside those costumes! The girl fans herself with both hands for a few moments and allows the flow of air over her skin to cool her down.

It is after a few moments of this that she notices Reize is staring at her. She turns to face him with a confused expression, hands quickly going up to smooth down her hair self-consciously. "U-um... what is it, Reize-san? Do I have something on my face?" The boy shakes his head, coughing as he politely looks away and points at her torso. Leida slowly peers down and finally realises her mistake. The costume was too tight-fitting to wear a shirt underneath.

Back out in the main room, the sound of a girlish shriek followed by dull thud can be heard as the building shakes from some unknown impact.

A few minutes later, Leida emerges from the kitchen wearing the maid outfit formerly adorning the young Seeker leader's body, her face still bright red. She's taken the time to comb down her messy hair and put on a little frilly lace barrette salvaged from the various maid supplies gathered for this event as well as a big bow which is tied about her waist like a sash. The princess steps out just in time to see the flying bacon crisis but all she can do is gasp while others leap to the rescue.

Solva Ulfang has posed:
Skoll ends up kind of 'frozen' on top of Avira for a little, his hands on either side of her and his head at the side of her chest. But when he rears up to look at where the bacon went off to, relieved that it make it to Mercade, and then looks down... that's when he just freezes up. His head goes from mildly red, to red, to TOMATO - as he is in that move-style 'almost kissing range' where the inevitability is just... basically there.

Yet he manages to save himself the embarassment, and slowly pulls away from her, looking away shyly. "Y.. yeah, glad it got to Mercade okay." He whispers, then takes the damaged high-heel shoe off along with the other, and gets up before offering a hand to Avira, offering to help her get up. "Sorry." He mewls shyly, and just kind of /awkwardly stands there/ for a good few moments.

He then glances back to Mercade. HOW DID THAT PLATE GET THERE!? If only he'd seen! He would have hugged his /new hero/.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart keeps her charming smile, although she's not sure that she understands what Sammy is talking about. But!

"... So you wish for laxatives, master?" She offers up, trying to keep her voice low enough not to disturb the other patrons with the thoughts of this..

Fara Senrietta has posed:
That blush may just be permanent on Fara's features as she hears the fangirls (and boys) calling out to her. She even gives a little, bashful wave...then a blown kiss their way! As she turns about to address Hati, there's even a tail waggle. Two girls and a guy faint on the spot, sporting nosebleeds.

The hat is taken with a barely hidden grin, both ears waggling. "Mistress, you have been most generous and helpful! Anything! Anything at all that you would desire! I am here to please and serve thee." An extra flick of her pink tailtip is given for emphasis. A maiden's honor and duty is to serve! She shall not fail her Faram given task in maidendom!

The little mouseling shrinks under the weight of tip-endangerment from Maira. Squeak! Comes Fara's voice as her nose is gripped, several laughs sounding out, her knees knocking together and her tail curling beneath her legs. She looks on in /shame/ as she's lambasted by Tifa.

When she's let go, feather duster in a frilly pocket, she curtsies low to Tifa.

"Yes, Mistress Tifa...I...I am /shamed/! My honor is forever tainted! I must make amends..." 'She' turns to the crowd. A slow, nervous smile.

"Please...patient Masters and Mistresses, help me repent in service to you all!"

A cleared throat, and Fara turns back to Hati. Blink. That classic come hither motion. Slowly, oh so slowly, Fara leans in close to Hati. "Yes, Mistress? How may I be of service?"

Navya has posed:
"I'm going to be a parivir!" Navya is pretty firm about that. "They're awesome, they're amazing bodyguards who use magic swords and fight evil!! But I'm not one right now or anything. I'm just going to be someday."

Emi offers her a job. Navya hesitates, standing up on tiptoes (and yes, she has forgotten about keeping her tail down). "I guess I can get the cell phone. I don't really know how, though. Maybe I'll just ask!"

And that declared, Navya strides directly toward Eva/Ivo. Given she's dressed up as a maid, this does not mean a customer is coming and thus translate directly into profit. But she does slow down a little bit so she can see where Ivo puts the cell phone.

Hmmmm.

Vespa has posed:
Vespa pockets the taser. "Thank you.", she goes to the fride and gets the bacon butter. She puts it on the conuter, she ahs and skolls falls over onto Avaria and bacon goes flying! But it saved by Sora. She quietly sneaks out of the kitchen. She sighs to herself feeling a bit lonely all of the sudden. Oh well, more 'Masters' that need service!

Maira has posed:
Ohh...Faruja thought the man was propositioning her! Now it makes sense. Oh, goodness! No wonder he got all up in arms (feather dusters).

She smiles lightly in appreciation of the sentiment to Faruja, then turns her attention back to Sammy, her smile still warm--At least until he starts talking.

Company. Reactor. These words come together in her mind and she realizes where she has seen that style suit before--just a glimpse, but...

Maira is not very good at hiding her feelings, and for a moment she looks terrified. Oh come now Maira! He's one guy from Shinra, not the boogeyman! And he needs a job done--a job that pays, a job that Avira would probably want to take. But...but Shinra...

Maira gulps. "Well, I'm in VALKYRI, we are available for such things but...I will have to ask our leader, okay?" she says, refilling his coffee before she retreats.

Luckily, Maira doesn't hear Tifa, cause she might have fallen over!

Back to Angantyr and Terra, looking a little flustered and bewildered. When Terra speaks though, Maira's smile returns in almost full force, her head nodding with enthusiasm. "Of course! I would be wonderful to have someone else to talk about magic with! You seem really nice Miss Terra," she replies. For a long moment Maira is eyeing a seat. Goodness, she's getting tired! It is tempting to just sit for a while...alas!

"Alriiiight can I get either of you anything else?"

Hati has posed:
Since it's clear that Faruja has some 'repentance' to take care of, and she can't just monopolize his attention all evening, Hati continues to make her little motion until the mouse is right up close. then, she leans in and whispers something into his ear, and offers up a kiss on the cheek. Which promptly has another two fan-girls fainting behind the pair.

This taken care of, the wolf just smiles to herself, "I think you've served me more than well. Don't you worry yourself. I'll be sure to leave a big donation in your name." She inclines her head, seeming to offer this as his 'release' to go deal with other customers.

As for her brother, well... Hati can be seen snapping one more photo with her camera, and then well... she fades to the background to eat her meal, and then eventually wander off, snickering madly.

Emi Dennou has posed:
The Dennous turn to continue staring at Sora as he starts reaction commanding even as he bounces about like a maniac, saving bacon from truly dire fates. Sora flies towards the Dennous at such speed that he actually crashes into the two of them, sending both tumbling to the ground with him on top of them. Wait--did Imi just actually drag Sora down with her? It's a mystery.

Imi recovers quickly, even with Sora's hand on her chest (his other happens to be perfectly situated on Ami's). She looks up into Sora's eyes and says, "I see... you truly are the main character, Sora. Only someone such as yourself would be able to get both of us down like this at the same time. Very well,"

She presses one of her hands against the back of Sora's head and cranes her head up, lips heading for his and--

GOOFY ADVICE HOUR!

"Gawrsh folks! Hello again! This is another edition of good idea, and bad idea! Here's a good idea--paying attention to where you're going! And being wary of slippery surfaces!" He tosses a banana peel on the ground and says, "Hey Donald, can you come in here with your eyes closed, Hayuck!"

"Why sure goofy, wak--" Donald walks in and then walks past Goofy towards the banana peel, "Say what are we doing WAAAAAAAAAAAAK WAK WAK WAK WAK WAK WAK WAK!!!" *CRASHTHUDSMASH*

"Now that's what happens, shyucks! I feel a bit bad, but... Mickey! How about you do the same?"

Mickey walks in, eyes open and says, "Sorry, no can do goof! It always pays to pay attention!"

"Sure thing, Mickey!" Goofy looks towards the camera. "And now you know!"

Emi nods along to Navya's description. "Mmhmm. Mmhmm..." She nods slowly. "That's fine, if that works." Emi smiles after her and then promptly acts nonchalant.

Sammy Colt has posed:
"That's a funny way to call heroes. I guess if that's your 'thing'." Sammy says, giving air quotes to 'thing'. "I was hoping to hire the Shard Seekers, or some other hero company to go to China and clear out the Mako reactor in the Great Wall. " He says with a shrug. "There's an infestation of heartless. -" He's cut off by the apology of Fara-maid, to which he can only smile to and give a one-shot chuckle. "- And, uh..." He turns back, his eyes glancing at the bodies of the two women before raising to their faces. He's got red cheeks, but he's doing a damn good job of staying professional about the whole situation. (Eyes on target!) his mind screams as he takes a sip of coffee and puts it down. Too soon to sip on the hot liquid without damage. The boy puts the coffee cup down and raises his eyes to the two maids now standing before him. (What would Reno do?) There's a mental pause as Sammy pictures Reno with the girls on his lap, laughing. (Nevermind. Act like Rude)

"Sorry. Hot coffee." He says, now realizing that Maira had taken off. "... Weren't there two of you?" He asks before rubbing his temples, "Nevermind. Look. If you think you guys can handle taking out a horde of heartless, give my guys a call and we'll set up a payment." He states, placing a small business card of sorts on the table, one that has an animated chibi Sammy posing proudly.

The name of the company is obviously a front and Tifa's probably seen that suit before. "For now, I'm gonna take this coffee to go, but here..." He says, pulling a larger sack of munny on the table for Tifa, "I hope this covers the cost of the cup" Obviously Sammy's bad with munny, the bag could probably buy fifty cups.

Sammy stands up, with the cup o' coffee and gives Tifa a nod as he makes his way towards the door, now realizing that this was in fact reality. He'll need many hours of Dance Dance Retribution to get this out of his head.

Avira has posed:
Avira stares up at Skoll for a long moment before he manages to get up. Right away, Avira's hand goes down to her skirt to pull it down as far as possible so she can remain decent while lying there. The free hand reaches up to take the offered hand from Skoll.

Pulling herself up, Avira glances away, flustered. "Just be careful in those heels, alright Skoll?" she laughs a little, reaching up to ruffle his hair playfully. "I'll help myself to the tea~"

She steps past him and procures some tea before finally escaping the kitchen. Grinning lightly, she finally returns to Mercade's table and sets the tea down. "My apologies for the delay."

She bows. "Will there be anything else, Master Alexander?"

Eva Galvan has posed:
Eva is faithfully serving Margaux to the best of her hostess abilities when she senses a dangerous gaze upon her, blinking and turning to see an unfamiliar knight glowering at him next to a smiling Maira. The hostess's amused smile fades, features turning distant as she regards Angantyr -- until her eyebrow twitches as his shamelessly obvious checking out of Maira. Damn it, Eva was trying to be /subtle/ about it; who does this guy think he is? Wait, is /he/ making Maira blush? That's Eva's job! Er, Ivo's job. ...This situation is a little disadvantageous.

Furthermore, Eva's current customer demands her attention, as she seems to have slightly more serious intentions than most, so unfortunately the hostess misses Fara's valiant and righteous assault upon Sammy. Oh, and Margaux is being flattering, too! "The Death Corps? How grim." Rather than sounding flippant, Eva sounds more like she's being self-deprecating about her own current absurd straits, posture shifting away toward her idea of feminine grace and all at once looking a lot more like, uh, Ivo. He's saving the act, as requested. ...It was fun, though. "It's an honor, Lady de Fleury," he continues, more seriously. "I hope you'll forgive the inconvenient circumstances." The dancer's charming smile is met with one of Eva's own, this time affable rather than faux-serene. "I am sure both VALKYRI and we would be glad to speak with you about the matters for which you require our assistance. We are not always costumed, I assure you." Though festivity is somewhat par for the course.

Cue Sora zipping around the room, perfecting the bacon collection minigame. Eva promptly snaps more photos with her cellphone, and then, unaware that Navya is watching, slips it back into its holding place: 'her' bodice.

"The bacon is more popular than I anticipated," Eva remarks, her good-natured smile more Ivo-like than her previous performance after interacting with Margaux. But this causes a customer who has been temporarily ignored in all the ruckus, seated at a nearby table, to look over with a baleful eye. 'Not with me,' the convenient NPC mutters. '/I/ don't understand why this is all about bacon. What's so great about bacon?'

There's a brief and terrible silence. But Eva does not look dismayed. Rather, her smile seems to grow, her gaze drifting toward the kitchen, before she represses it, carefully assuming her elegant posture from before. She may not qualify for Maira Hugs as the hostess rather than the customer, and she may not be the most-requested maid, but Eva can still make a little more magic happen.

o/~ "Why bacon, you ask? What a query, my Master!"

After all, Mistress Hati had a request.

o/~ "Is this succulent scent not answer enough?"

Eva steps forward, twirling her skirts with a pleasant smile, as her, okay let's just admit that it's mannish, voice begins to sing out, piercing the din.

o/~ "Countless reasons I could offer, but t'would be faster..."

And she raises her arms high, striking a pose.

o/~ "To sing of how bacon's got the right stuff!"

Because, let's face it, that's all we were missing at this point.

o/~ "Crispy, crackling, glistening fat!
A savory taste which melts on your tongue
Its aroma will set your stomach to rumbling at
The hope that you'll eat while the day is still young!"

Eva learned out to dance at formal court balls, so she sweeps between the tables with a sort of refinement not quite appropriate to her lively improvised tune. As she moves past customers and fellow maids alike, she makes her way in the direction of the kitchen.

o/~ "Bacon! With bacon before you, the world is so bright
Its virtues are infin't, too many to list
I could go into detail on each scrumptuous bite
But I think at this point, you get the giiiist--"

Whereupon he pauses, leaning fetchingly against a wall, and bats her eyelashes at the hard-working kitchen slave Skoll-- er, what did Eva force her to call herself, again?

"But perhaps Solva can add a nice little twist?"

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart takes the card and the monny, putting it away in pockets "I am afraid master that it is the wrong time to request services for anything else than food and drinks, as this is a charity event. But I would invite you to visit the Shard Seekers or the VALKIRI offices after the event or tomorrow for that kind of business." She answers as straightlaced as possible, given the circunstances. She's not even part of either group. And she has to wonder why the Turk came and offered work instead of asking for food. Maybe that turk really isn't all that bright.

"I will try to relay the message of your desired contracting nonetheless." She offers with a smile still, and then brings him a refill of his bacon-flavored coffee. Slipping near Maira, she slips her the tip she got, a finger to her own lips to hush Maira about it. Well, even maids can look for one another after all.

Sora has posed:
Sora blinks as he lands firmly on top of both Imi and Ami. "Oh my /goodness/, I'm sorry Imi, but --" He hastily goes to remove his hands from their (precarious?) positions on their chests, even as he blinks at her words. "G-get both of you down?"

Sora blinks a few more times, but then his voice goes oddly flat.

Main character first kiss goes too: Imi Dennou.

"Mph?"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade waits patiently. The chaos around him is just a... strange thing that he watches, growing distracted from the ongoing absence of Avira. Finally, there is a shout as a bacon order goes flying! Mercade braces for impact, but Sora goes flying past with the save! "Thanks, Sora!" Man, he's gotten a lot more... dynamic... than he remembered. He munches on bacon idly, wondering what's keeping Avira... And ah, there she is! with the tea, too! He looks over and takes a sip of the tea. Aaaaah, hot tea, just the thing to cut bacon.

Mercade thinks for a moment as Avira apologizes. "Don't worry Avira, it's been rather... entertaining tonight." He gestues over to the other chaos over there. Yeah. That chaos. He then nods to Avira. "I did have something else for you." He pulls out a piece of paper, folded, and he slides it over to Avira so she can look at it.

Bacon-kun has posed:
The thud leaves the building shuddering from a very painful impact. Those few moment pass...

Reize is stumbling out of the backroom, clearing away.

IT IS BACON-KUN!

And he looks beaten up. "Hehehee..." The boy staggers around, trying to remember how many fingers a person has.

"I am Bacon-kuuuunnnnnn!!!" The boy passes everyone, wobbling out and around...
And the boy hears the song.

"o/` And bacon has that taste, that you won't forget...
With just one biiiitee, your mouth will siiiiiiiiinnnnngggg!!!! o/`"

The boy hops onto a table.

"o/` Bacon, it's bacon, its unforgettable!
Bacon, it's bacon, it taste good as sin!
It's bacon, oh bacon, you cannot forget!
It's bacon, it's bacon, it will be in historrrryyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! o/`"

..Reize falls off of the table.

"ACK!"

And about to land onto Margaux's lap.

Sammy Colt has posed:
As Sammy makes his way to the entrance, there's a song of Bacon in the air. Perhaps the entire cafe is entranced, all but Sammy. The poor boy is not sure what's real anymore. Flying lights, busty babes paying him attention, Reize in a maid's outfit. Truly, this entire world was topsy-turvy.

The door closes behind him, the score of the bacon ballade dimming as Sammy gives himself a shake of the head before taking another strong sip of coffee.

He bites back the bitter taste of bacon coffee and open his eyes. Nope. Still awake - and hearing the bacon song. Traverse Town was truly terrifying sometimes.

Deciding it best to save what's left of his sanity, Colt examines the coffee, tips it over on its side to pour it out on the floor and heads back to base.

They probably spiked it anyhow. He takes a look back inside the Cafe to see Reize in a different outfit, standing on a table and singing.

"... I think I'm gonna need a catscan." He says to himself as he flips open his communicator to set up an appointment.

Fara Senrietta has posed:
Ear-perk. Words float into the ratling's ear. They flitter through her brain, the implications slowly dawning on her just as soft lips touch her cheek. Not a single part of her /isn't/ red, and a slow drip comes from her nose. She's forced to absently take out a pink handkerchief, held to her nose daintily.

The little maiden ratling can't even form words for a moment, her muzzle open just slightly. Gulp. Tail twitch. There's mention of a large donation.

A curtsey is given, and she takes up the hat. "It...it was my utmost pleasure! Th...thank ye for thy donation!" Pause. Pauuuse.

"May you return once more, that this lowely maiden may serve the Mistress again!" Those heels have her retreating at a rapid pace towards the customers. Too rapid. Trip! Flash!

Cue more squeals and being helped up by a pack of fangirls and fanboys, all swooning over Fara. Her eye only remains on a wolfess, however, as she leads them all to their seat, properly getting down to her maidly business!

This of course means putting in lovely background vocals to the bacon song, much like a backup rap singer, with frills instead of urban beat.

Avira has posed:
Finally, a genuine smile graces Avira's face. "Yeah, it is kind of chaotic." Ivo is singing a bacon song. Reize is joining in while wearing a bacon suit. Avira suddenly bites her lip and starts to sweat. She might be struggling to not join in the singing.

"I'm glad." She says carefully to Mercade, "You've been entertained. I-" she sees that piece of paper being slid over to her across the table. "What's this...?"

Now she's sufficiently distracted from the bacon song for a few minutes, unable to hold off looking at the paper.

Minerva has posed:
Minerva is just stoppping at the bacon song the monkg turned maid stares n awe at the bacon song. "...Do people truely got that mad for pork?" Pork isn't the biggest thing after all it's not exactly the most safe thing to eat in her world. Then she thinks about the last time she had bacon and feels like an idiot. Sjhe tehn just starts laughing as Reize falls she can't help it, she's almost in stiches at this point.

Vespa has posed:
@emit Vespa makes her way back onto the floor. "All I can smell is grease. It's going to take forever to get the smell out.", she blink at Reize jumps on the table and starts singing. About Bacon. "I need a drink. Of course it's Bacon beer. Why am i not surpised?"

Navya has posed:
Navya manages to see where Eva stashes the phone. Now, on one hand, that's a good thing. Navya has no problem with stealing it from there because that's not a girl and thus it's perfectly okay to grab. It's just that... she's not sure she /can/.

And then... a song.

Navya can carry a tune, but is awful with the lyrics, which is a distinct drawback in some worlds. She can't figure out what the hell Eva is going to sing before he sings it. But she comes up behind him anyway, harmonizing (admittedly with la-la-la) and acting as a chorus. This works until Eva leans against a wall and Navya walks /into/ the wall trying to stay behind him.

Thump. "Ow!" Navya yelps, staggering toward Eva. But then she sees her opportunity. He's leaning against the wall. There will never be a better time than now. Does she dare? Is she just gonna go for it?

Hell yeah. Eva's a guy. There's nothing there to grab. "Yoink!" She needs to get the phone, because... hmm. Maybe she should have asked about why first. What if this is a bad idea? What if it's /villainous/?? Surely a dark knight would never hire someone to perform villainous acts on their behalf!

Terra Branford has posed:
Terra follows along raptly at Angantyr's description. He may be unaware of how difficult a task it is to educate her on this, however. Her lack of context makes the little information she has all the more dangerous. "I see, so this is an unsual cafe." She can believe that pretty easily. "And, ah... what's it like to be a Dark Knight? It sounds scary." And a little evil.

Terra smiles sunnily at Maira when she returns, not bent over this time. "I'd love to hear about your specialties... I don't get to talk about magic much, so I have a lot of ideas for topics." This somewhat childlike statement may give a glimpse into how Terra think about social interaction. Ideas for Topics.

And now it's time for a song. Terra sips her tea. She doesn't care how hot it is, she needs a distraction. She doesn't want to look too closely at the various male maids, either. She finds them a little too interesting.

"Oh, do you want to sit?" she invites Maira. She doesn't know waitresses don't generally do that.

Solva Ulfang has posed:
"N.. no no, not the hai~"

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"~r..."

Skoll's hair ends up breaking the little tie that has kept it into a neat ponytail, and it ends up becoming that mane-like mess again. A bit matted down, but still... it's wild and unkempt. The youth nods while blushing at her. "I'll he careful." He whispers...

And then someone asks a question nobody should ever ask.

/What's so great about Bacon/

An incredible rage suddenly comes up within Skoll, like a Faramite being told that their god is false! His right eye twitches. And then Eva begins to sing. His eyes go wide. He knows where this is going! No no no no! Shit! He tries to ignore him, making some more bacon in his fryingpan... and just happens to look around just as Eva bats 'her' eyelashes at him. He mouths something to Eva.

'/I will kill you in your sleep/'

And so Solva walks out into the opening holding that fryingpan, twirling once with a plate and that frying-pan and puts the plate before the man.

o/~ "A beautiful thing, this bacon can be
from miles away, people will hear its plea
for its so delicious, and sure-ly
everyone hears it; please - eat meeee!" o/~

Solva twirls once, scooping the bacon onto the man's plate and then taping the hard bottom on the back of 'her' hand, giving him a death-glare in case he's not going to eat the delicious meat!

o/~ "And ..." o/~

This is when a big fat cat with a chef hat wanders in. "MEAT!?"

Suddenly, in off-tune;

o/~ "I'm delirious, I'm deserving,
I'm desiring delicious meat.
Doot doot dee-deet.
Yeah, meat. Meat!
Uh huh. Singing about meat.
Oh, yeah." o/~

This results in the large cat - who sounded suspiciously like Elvis - being hit over the head by Solva's fryingpan for CRITICAL DAMAGE, for interupting 'her' song.

"Ahem, where was I? Oh yes!"

o/~ "You must always ask for bacon,
it'll even help you befriend a kraken!
and if your bacon is suddenly taken
you must make sure it is never forsaken" o/~

o/~ "For bacon is the greatest
haven't you heard the latest!?
transformed into a beautiful beast?
don't worry, bacon will help you be released!" o/~

"Take it away Eva!"

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"I'm Leaving." Angantyr announces as the singing starts.

He litterally stands up and walks for the door.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Avira walks off with the note for a few moments. Mercade looks nervous. Maira... You better be right about this.

And then she comes back, leans in and whispers in his ear. Mercade smiles, and nods back to Avira. "How about you go ahead and enjoy yourself and take your time. Do whatever you feel like, Avira." He gets back to his bacon entrees and his tea as well. The bacon /is/ good.

Margaux Fleury has posed:
The Death Corps was a rather grim name, but calling themselves the Corpse Brigade was not much better. And yet, she was sure that a fair number of their members would be very interested to hear Margaux give her report on her visit there. The ongoing shenanigans are considered when Eva explains they do not always dress like this. Eh, somehow she thinks Eva to be a liar since everyone put some time and effort in their costumes....and acts. If she had not fought alongside the Shard Seekers only a night ago, she would have truly believed that to be the truth.

The obsession with bacon was somewhat worrying too.

And then out comes a singing 'Bacon-kun'.

My god.

Oh wait, he's coming RIGHT FOR HER?!

The seated Margaux can do little to dodge out of the way of the falling bacon boy as he falls onto her lap. "Oof, you are heavier than you look!" Margaux says gently to Bacon-kun as she attempts to help him off her lap with haste. Sadly, she thinks that were would be others here who would have enjoyed this little fall that much more. For Margaux, this is merely embarassing, but the dancer is practiced enough in her art to appear totally cool as a cucmber with this turn of events.

She does unsheath her rapier and saber off the top of the wine bottle in short order. The blade dancer fills her glass up completely before taking a hearty swig from it. Her rapier is sheathed once more and her glass is soon refilled. The singing Eva gets a curt nod for her service and Margaux leaves a few coins on her table for her. She would have given a bigger tip, but the Death Corps needed every coin they could get. And without further adieu, Margaux de Fleury looks to leave this cafe as quickly as she can.

Leida has posed:
Leida, now the newest maid in the crew, steps tenatively out of the kitchen into the raging battlefield that is the cafe. Customers continue to flood in despite, or perhaps because of, the lack of a giant flailing piece of bacon to usher them into the shop. Bacon is flying, panties are flashing, Sora's becoming a man, and now Ivo is singing.

The princess just stares in abject lack of comprehension at the scene unfolding infront of her. Chaos. Utter chaos is the only words she has to describe this. It might have been safer out front in the costume. And then Reize comes staggering in and immediately launches into the fray, boldly joining the impromptu song almost like they'd rehearsed it. Upon momentary reflection, that wouldn't surprise her in the least.

Sighing to herself, Leida rubs her temple and stalks over to the nearest table where a group of men sit without food or drinks before them. Clearing her throat, the girl bows to them, offering her cutest smile and does her best to imitate the other women - minus Eva. Singing is not in her contract.

"U-um... how can I... serve you, masters?" At this point she's not even sure they're listening what with all of the stuff going on around the room.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi isn't a dark knight and is totally trustworthy! Of course she ... never did explain now did she? And annoyingly, Emi notices that Angantyr is already leaving. She snaps a text over to ANg before hiding the cellphone away again.

Imi and Ami are a bit busy, however. Ami is just looking askance, not really caring about her position but clearly waiting for an opportunity to get back on her feet. An opportunity that isn't coming because

MUSHUUUUU. Imi pulls back from her kiss eventually and just lies there for a few moments before saying, "Oh, we should get up now, yes? The Network has run out of data at this point." She slides back, intending to get up on her feet. Ami continues to lie there and stare.

Eva Galvan has posed:
Eva continues striking that sassy pose while leaning against the wall, clearly waiting with bated breath for maid-Skoll to finish going through the pre-established Stages of Denial -- I Won't Do It, I Definitely Won't Do It, I'm Never Going to Do It, and I Hate You Ivo -- before picking up the next verse, and doesn't seem to notice as Navya thumps against the wall behind her. Eva is busy standing here and staring at Solva until she caves. And cave she does. Eva doesn't even bother to stay in character at this point, grinning hugely as Rei -- er, Bacon-kun now -- falls off a table mid-performance and Solva launches into epic verse after verse. The hostess is visibly delighted.

Not only that, but the Dark Knight seems to be retreating in the face of Eva's magnificent performance. Ha ha ha, now only Eva can look at Maira's cleavage! Well, Eva and the rest of the customers. Still, it's a minor victory upon the battlefield of love, and all it cost was every remaining fragment of Eva's dignity. A small price to pay! Quietly immensely pleased with herself, Eva begins preparing her own next verse as Navya creeps up--

"Kyaah~"

No one should ever have to hear Ivo cry out like that.

Someone is clearly trying to get frisky! Twisting away, Eva bumps into Navya, who still has her hand stuck down Eva's bodice, and in a sign that the hostess has clearly been hanging around Reize for far too long, trips and tumbles to the ground, quite possibly bringing the would-be paravir with him, er, her, or whatever at this point. Solva calls out for assistance, but Eva can only look up in a daze. "Ah..." she mumbles weakly. "...I need a hug... where's Maira..." Oh, be a man. Maid. Man-maid.

Ah, there she is. Gaze settling on the blonde mage, Eva reaches out dramatically, with a weak, trembling hand. "I can't... go on... Maira, only you can extol the glories of bacon... ugh." And then Eva's arm slumps, and she lies where she is, eyes closing, emitting one final sigh.

Actually, she ran out of rhymes.

Sora has posed:
Sora hastily makes his way back to his chair, practically running towards it. It's safe in his chair. There are no Imi's to smooch him there. None at all! So he clears his throat. "I'm sorry."

Maira has posed:
Maira looks to Tifa as she slips some of the munny in her pocket, and returns the wink. A little Shinra money for a couple of women who have known their shadow won't go amiss. She should use a new pair of--well a lot of things probably! Maybe she'd by VALKYRI HQ a rice cooker!

As Terra invites Maira to sit, she does so. If just for a moment. Her feet are so sore! She wiggles them inside her heels, wincing a little. "These shoes sure do hurt after a while...Oh! I don't get to talk about magic often either, especially not with an obviously talented mage. My specialty is generally fire,I'm really attuned to it--" Suddenly, song! Bacon song! Maira turns, enthralled, to find that Ivo has broken into /song/! Maira couldn't look more delighted! Reize joins! And Navya! Oh goodness oh goodness! Maira gets with the special effects, conjuring several lights of different colors to float around above the singers--which she then rapidly joins. She won't let you down Ivo!

"Must....sing...." she tells Terra, then she's up again and rushing out to join them.

While the other voices thus far have been male, Maira comes in with the perfect soprano accompaniment.

~/o "There is no other the food that gives my heart wings, the crispy deliciousness makes my heart sing! I have known starvation, I have missed many a meal, so please ladies and gentlemen hear my appeal!"

~/o "Don't take your bacon for granted, don't waist a crumb or I will be slanted toward saaaaadneeeess!" her voice rings, drawing out the note. Sparkles appear out of nowhere.

~/o "Enjoy our bacon and tea, and please of please give generously for the hungryyyyyy!"

TADA!!!

Maira twirls, giggles, then skips over to Ivo and throws her arms around him, laughing brightly.

Bacon-kun has posed:
Bacon-kun, or rather, Reize in a giant bacon costume met right onto poor Margaux. It was the bonding that she would have never wanted to do with the young boy. ...Or anyone. Poor woman. Nevertheless, Reize is in good spirits.

The boy glances towards the maids, smiling at the fact.

It is a good day.

The large bacon costumed boy is waddling towards Terra, grinning at her. "Glad you could make it! Sorry that I couldn't chat with you, I had to take care of an important matter."


The Maid Cafe has patrons from different walks of life. Many of them are residents of Traverse Town, others are refugees from Manhattan, and others are even adventurers and citizens from Fluorgis. Despite of the hard times that they have been facing, it is he simple act of comradery and enjoyment of the atmosphere that puts a smile to their faces. The combined forces of the ensemble is met with applause from the patrons.

Solva Ulfang has posed:
And this is around the time that Skoll realizes just how much he's embarassed himself, walks along Ivo and Maira, waits for the girl to hug him, and then CONKS 'Eva' over the head with it. Revenge is his - before he walks back into the kitchen to go back to making bacon. Because really, that's what this is all about... makin' the bacon.

Aaand Skoll is probably going to stay in that kitchen and not come out for a long... long... long time. Embarassed to death.

Avira has posed:
"Oh Mercade, I'd /love/ to, really." Avira sighs, dropping the whole 'master' bit for a second. "But I made a promise to be here. An agreement between two adventuring troupes. I am a woman of my word and I will fulfil this promise...no matter how humiliating it might be."

She sighs, perhaps a little too dramatically, and slides the paper into her bodice.

Then Maira joins the singing. Then Skoll. Then Anagantyr gets up and leaves.

For once, she's speechless. She has nothing to sing to that. What rhymes with 'bacon' anyway?

Navya has posed:
Eva hits the high note.

Navya didn't realize that it was so easy to keep /stuff/ in there. She actually has to rummage around a bit. Navya doesn't entirely realize what it looks like she's doing, either... at least until Eva practically falls on top of her.

Navya yanks her hand out like it was on fire. Hopefully she's got the cell phone. She's pretty sure she's got something but she's not entirely sure, and honestly she doesn't want to stick around and check; with her hand balled up, she shoves anything she's grabbed inside her apron pocket. She'll check later to see if she successfully liberated the cell phone with pictures on it.

"Sorry!" she says, with her face bright red, as Eva slumps. She didn't... knock him out, did she? He needs a hug? He can get /that/ from somewhere else.

Navya tries to slide out from under Eva without waking him up again. This would be a lot easier if she was okay with just picking him up!

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart keeps handling all of the other customers, at least those assigned to her, as she tries not to pay too much attention to the singing squad...

She just hopes its not going tos care away the customers at this point. Its charity after all!

Fara Senrietta has posed:
Fara claps for the trio. Truly, it was a brilliant display of the joys of bacon. Suddenly, she's hungry. Giving a curtsey to the clients she's been serving, narrowly avoiding a tail-swat, she heads back to the kitchen with a certain wolf. Shoo!

A smile sits on Faruja's muzzle. A hand digs into the garter belt for his stockings. Out comes a flask. Opening it up, he takes a long drag. It's then that he offers it over to Skoll. "Here you are, Lady 'Solva'. Drink up. 'Tis in your best interests." Yes, get the cook drunk. He'll need it.

Emi Dennou has posed:
The two Dennous with Sora stand themselves up.

"No, this one is sorry." Ami bows her head. "Nice to meet you, Sora. If you need anything else..." She grabs Imi's hand. "...Please enjoy yourself and do not worry too much, The Network drags this troublemaker away."

"Byyeee..." Imi waves as she's pulled off, likely shortly to be dumped in storage with Umi.

Pete covers his ears as Eva's shriek. "Ghhk...this ain't worth it... We gotta get outta here!" The beagle boys exeunt with Pete.

Terra Branford has posed:
Angantyr flees without explaining a Dark Knight's life. He is the smart one. Terra still has Maira, though, and she is about to settle into magic talk like a cat into a sunbeam, when Bacon draws her away. "Ah, good luck?" she suggests. She's not positive she wants Maira to do what she's about to do more effectively.

The song drives Terra to down her tea as an alcoholic might down whiskey: for strength, for numbness. It doesn't really help. She ends up hiding her face in her arms, and so when Reize greets her, her head snaps up. "Oh, hi! Ah, that's all right. I could tell how busy you were doing..." She searches for a word. "Your job." She looks him up and down. "You were dressed differently before."

Terra has the rare ability to look at someone in all seriousness while they wear a bacon costume. So many things are strange to her that she simply can't say with confidence that this is weird, and so she acts as though it were normal.

Eva Galvan has posed:
Eva slowly opens one eye as Maira begins to sing, before smiling and rising to a sitting position. She realizes belatedly that she should check to see who put their hand down her bodice in the first place, and she glances over her shoulder curiously, but Navya is sliding away with her ill-gotten gain. Unaware that anything has been taken from her, Eva raises and watches with a grin as Maira performs, only to blink with pleasant surprise as -- Maira Hug!

Ahh, soft.

Eva sighs contentedly. It was all worth it. Somehow, she managed to pull this off without any disasters befalling her or suffering any ill fates--

*CLONK*

Whereupon Solva's frying pan connects with the back of Eva's head and she slumps forward, poleaxed, sliding down Maira's front while still in the fire mage's embrace.

LATER

Navya examines what she has procured from Eva's bodice. It is not a cell phone: it is what appears to be a memory sphere. The recording it projects is first what appears to be an old movie of Avira in a maid outfit unhappily dusting around a castle. But that video is eventually cut off, only to display what appears to be an outdoor bath somewhere entirely different, as seen through what appears to be a gap in wooden stakes. Some young women, lightly clad at best, can be seen and heard chatting with each other as they undress.

"Lily, don't run next to the water!"

"Wooow, Lenn! Every time I see them, they get bigger!!"

"Ah, n-no... don't touch them, please..."

Despite the audio of others speaking, the recording focuses almost entirely on a scarred poised blonde and a redhead with a dragon-like tail, but both of them are mostly obscured by steam. "Tsk," a male voice quietly grunts with frustration. This causes the scarred blonde's gaze to snap up warily, as the redhead glances over with a curious smirk. "Oh, sh--" The recording cuts off.

Strange.

Navya has posed:
Navya got something. She isn't entirely sure what it is; she'll check it out later.

She might have some .../comments/ then.

But right now she's darting off so that she can check out what she's got in private. After that, well, she'll look for Emi. This place is full - they won't miss her if she vanishes for a couple minutes...

Sora has posed:
"Bye?" Sora asks, faintly, before he drowns his sorrows in tea.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi will have her MISSION...GLANCING SUCCESS? meeting with Navya later, she finishes up her work before sneaking out as well to have this moment of confederacy with Navya and will, naturally, pay her somewhat for her work but as this wasn't the objective, well, hopefully it amkes up for things a little bit!?

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"Yeah, I switched with Leida because she... was not doing too well with the current outfit! I have to make sure that my friends are taken care of!"

Never the type to leave a friend with a frowny face, Reize is moving over towards the suffering Sora. A hand is brought to Sora's hand and he tugs him to join himself and Terra.

"Cheer up! All is for a good cause! The Maid Cafe has brought everyone together!" He grins at Terra and Sora, "And putting smiles on the people's face is what's important!"

Terra Branford has posed:
Terra doesn't want to let Reize down. She smiles, bright and wide, and nods. But her eye twitches a little.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart picks up a cup of tea and goes to sit Reize and Terra as the customers start to trickle down "I rather see you in that suit than in that dress, mind you Reize." She shakes her head "What made you do this anyway?" She has to wonder. All she can imagine is a bet gone wronng.

Reize Seatlan has posed:
"The Shard Seekers and VALKYRI went competed against each other for the Desert Rose, a rare artifact that shows up every hundred years. ..But we both essentially decided that.. we all won/lost, so we all wear the maid outfit. Then, we figured we can do something god for the people." Reize notes, "Hence, we decided to do this."