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Midday crept upon Snowdin stealthily given the thick cloud layer that had gathered over the frosted city, diffusing the daystar’s light behind such obscuring cover that was threatening to gift the ground with more of the endless powder from which the villa got its namesake. After the hustle and bustle of the weekend, Monday found downtown to be a much quieter affair, though that didn’t mean there weren’t still people out and about conducting their business before the snow began to really fall in earnest. At present it was intermittent at best, often carried down on the occasional gust that ran between the buildings, tugging insistently upon protective clothing or finding its way through all the layers to chill monsters who might have less of a cold tolerance than others. Members of the Royal Guard could be seen roaming the more commercial district of the town to keep the peace and deter nefarious behavior, but in the aftermath of Friday night things seemed much calmer, like the Underground was getting back to business as usual once more.

Speaking of business, Espresso Yourself was already abuzz with its lunchtime crowd. Some patrons opted to brave the outside patio that wrapped around the front of the building, giving a great view of the people moving to and fro through the shops and other venues that snuggled together. Many more were inside, though there were still plenty of tables free for incoming customers as well as a handful of spots at the front bar to watch the baristas at work on various drink orders. The usual soft music played incidentally over the speakers, the crackle of the hearth and the low hum of conversation lending warmth to the open space that beckoned people inward to partake in it.

Having been here since the shop opened early this morning, Haldor had already taken his midday meal before the lunch rush began in earnest, and was now floating wherever he was needed, be it to assist customers or to direct his employees to various tasks such as bussing tables or keeping the washrooms clean. There was a young, petite, silvery-blue feline monster working the front counter for the moment, her large jade eyes quite expressive as she assisted incoming traffic with their orders, whether they were for dine in or take out, thereafter directing them appropriately with a purring, chipper voice. She was wearing dark jeans and a pale cream top, a black apron with the business logo embroidered on it making her readily identifiable as an employee. An elegantly written nametag on the opposite side as the logo proclaimed her to be Yanezi.

After exploring a bit of Snowdin and getting to know the locales, Yuki walked into the coffee shop, bowing politely at Haldor. "Konnichiwa." the Kitsune greeted the earth elemental. She approached, pulling out her bag of gold, ordering a Caramel Macchiato and a sandwich, although she had great difficulty pronouncing "Macchiato".

The door aggressively swung open, the pane shaking as another customer came in. Cliff rubbed the sides of his eyes with him thumb and index finger, trying to be more gentle as he closed the door behind him. "Sheesh, I hate Mondays," he grumbled under his breath, his voice gruff as if he had just woken up. But he had been up since 7am despite last night, rewiring a resident's house in Snowdin. And as he would usual do when working there, he would stop at Espresso Yourself for lunch. He hadn't been in a while, having to help fix up a lot of homes in Waterfall due to those quakes, so it was kind of nice to return.

The opossum staggered into the line, boots scuffing the floor lazily. He rolled back his shoulders as he contemplated what his stomach desired. At the counter, he sounded lazy as he talked, " I'll have a Mocha and a club sandwich." He slammed the gold on the counter. " Keep the change. "

As he got his order he sauntered to a table and dropped into a seat, running a hand across the top of his head. All morning he felt sluggish and had a headache, and not just from the weight of his boots or the tools around his belt. As usual, he downed too many into the early hours of the morning. Did he regret it? No; it took his mind of Elle when he didn't want her to be on it.

Cliff's attention diverted over to the cheery fire elemental, literally lighting up the entire place except for his personal bubble. He would often be amazed at how everyone could be so happy, that in his better days he was like that too. Maybe those years ago he would have brought up a conversation with her, but he was in the now and could only hide the curiosity in his gaze.

It would be hard to miss the spunky fire elemental’s entrance unless you were missing multiple key senses, and being of sound senses the young Yanezi was certainly keenly aware when Fia sashayed into the cafe with her usual vim and vigor. It prompted a smile that looked slightly vampiric as her sharp bicuspids peeked over her lips, jade eyes bright with enjoyment of the show being put on. She helped a few other customers who came to the counter before the perky filament did, but when the chipper monster made her way over to the front counter to place her order, the feline was grinning in such a way that her sharp teeth gleamed in the soft light. “Oh, same old, same old, Fia; just getting ready to go the University.” A chuckle. “Gotta figure out what I’m going to major in though.” Those slitted eyes brightened at the mention of the show. “Oh my gosh, yaassss~” she purred, her tail swishing behind her as she leaned on the counter with her elbows quite casually. “I’d love to get my claws on something like that. No idea what I’d wear it with, but it’d look sooooo good with my eyes, don’t you think?” For emphasis she batted them at Fia before purring a light giggle as the woman remembered that she was working and had stuff to do. “One positively volcanic coffee coming right up!” she assured cheerfully, letting money change hands as appropriate and smiling her thanks for the tip.

Haldor was floating about the cafe ensuring various patrons were comfortable and taken care of, even chatting briefly with a few to catch up on how they were doing and the like. It was clear that the business owner regarded many of his regulars like family. He did look to the front when the entry bell rang, so saw Yukite enter and offered her an acknowledging nod to her bow, though he was much too far away to hear her greeting.

Yanezi, on the other hand, working the front counter during the midday rush, certainly was close enough. It wasn’t difficult to recognize the kitsune from the descriptions that had run around the staff as kitchen gossip either. Her expression shifted subtly as her smile became a little less genuine, pupils narrowing as her claws came out to idly stroke the countertop. “Konnici-- Ooooh, you must watch a lot of those cartoons, huh?” Her expression turned a bit less polite too, though her ears still faced forward. “It’s funny, because from what I’d heard the humans that make them have some pretty great manners in their society, but it seems like you haven’t picked any of that up. Shame; reflects poorly on them too, I think.” Her tail twitched lightly from one side to the other as she looked at the multi-tailed fox with eyes clearly boring into the woman. “I mean, how would they feel having someone who treats a person assisting them so callously -- like they were just an object instead of a being with feelings and sentience -- acting like they were part of that culture? I know if it were me, I’d be pretty upset.” Her slender shoulders rolled in a light shrug as she spread her hands helplessly before ringing up the socially inept monster. “Fortunately for me, I’m part of this amazing society of monsters Underground, so I’m pretty lucky to have such a fabulous culture to represent and be a part of. Definitely something I’ll take with me whenever we get to the Surface, since being a genuinely nice person translates no matter what your culture.” She told the creature her total and made a point to slide the currency across the counter rather than put it directly into the other’s palm, giving her a table number so she’d go away and probably just sulk some more if what the rumors said had any basis.

Of course the very next customer, the feline was back to her usual, polite and welcoming self, as if that had never happened. It was certainly a welcome change of pace when Luis came over, earning a brighter smile from Yanezi. “That last piece was extra spicy, Lou,” she asserted cheerfully, even as she added the item to his day’s tab and passed the order over to the nearest free barista. “I loved it. If you like really spicy performances you should totally come down on Thursdays when we do slam poetry. It’s really amazing what some monsters manage to do with voice and passion alone!” She grinned at him but didn’t keep him when he went to go back and attempt to join the equally perky performer. The gravitation between the pair certainly didn’t go unnoticed by the observant kitten, but she simply smiled a little wider as she went back to her business.

Ears swiveled front and center as the opossum barged in unceremoniously, eyes narrowing with a brief alertness in case she were to need to rouse one of the guards who frequented the cafe or roamed the downtown district routinely. Since he tried to close the door more gently behind him, Yanezi relaxed, retracting her claws and offering him a smile that may have been slightly less warm than given Luis or Fia, but certainly not to the point of being impolite. “One cafe mocha and a club sandwich,” she repeated back for the sake of confirmation and accuracy before giving him his total. The extra change went into the tip jar as was customary, the electrician given his table number so he could find someplace to plant himself comfortably until his order arrived, which didn’t take long as the kitchen was in full swing for lunch rush.

“Something tells me today is going to be an adventure,” Yanezi mused quietly to herself with a little head shake before the door tinkled again and she turned her once again smiling focus to the next guest.

Cliff didn't intend to appear as a threat; he was just expressing how he felt today. He would only ever mess with somebody if he felt threatened enough to not play dead. Even then he wouldn't lay a finger on them before it happened; blame it on his instinct. Others blamed it on his 'drunk nature'. Oh please, he knew the limits he could take and that only ever happened in his teens. Just because he smelt like it didn't mean his atomic structure was made of alcohol. He just made sure he'd drink enough to keep some spirits in him, to make him actually do something with his life.

As the fire elemental waved he was kind of surprised that she did, and with such a brilliant smile. Usually he could see disgust or fear when people smiled at him, how the emotion glassed over their eyes and faked their smiles. So in response to this phenomena, he rose a hand a lazily waved back.

“Ooooooo! The university! You’re really going to love it there! I wasn’t a student but I made regular trips there for some volunteer work. One time, after I got to know the campus well enough, I even pretended to be one of those yellow-shirt-wearing-Orientation-tour-guides. They’re a ball to hang out with, so much positive energy! I felt right at home ehehehe~” Fia chimed whilst quietly clapping her hands together with excitement; a few more sparks flew off of her hands and fizzled out to nothing just before they reached the counter.

“Oh I betcha, you’d rock that headpiece girl!” she agreed eagerly before making an amused, dismissive noise and insisted, “Pfft, giiiirl just wear it with whatever and wherever you want! Oh Bunsen Burners knows that I would! Who cares what anyone else would think! It’ll look really amaaaaazing on you – matching your eyes and all~”
 

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After receiving the lazy wave back, Fia got the impression that the monster preferred his own space and after one last friendly smile she redirected her attention to the winged one sitting in front of her. She soon giggled at Luis’ comment, “Well you certainly did more than enough justice to it, I really think you helped perk up a fair number of monsters in here already!” she replied with a coy smile before moving her violin from off of the table and placed it across her lap, “Glad to hear that you’ve been doing well, and I certainly have! I was able to catch up with some of my brothers and sisters this morning – I love them all so much! Since I was near Snowdin and craving a mean Vulkinian Coffee to satisfy my inner-fat-flame, I thought it was worth dropping by!”

Whilst her cheery presence didn’t dwindle away, something about his wording did prompt a sense of empathy within the flamed monster and she didn’t need him to elaborate further. It then urged her to calmly slide her hand across the table and gently placed it atop of his forearm. Her touch was warm and bright pink flames danced between their skins without causing any harm; to which she hoped it could offer at least some comfort, “Figuring out such things often need time.” Fia said softly.

Judging by the subtlety of the delivery, the fire elemental got the impression it wasn’t a topic to linger on, so naturally she continued with the conversation he was steering towards and it certainly earned a raised curious brow – whilst also slowly removing her hand from his arm.
“Work, huh? What do you do?” she began, her tone gradually picking back up to the slightly higher octave she used earlier. Fia was slightly hesitant at first before she then asked, “And what rumours? About what?”
’If he didn’t want to talk about that then surely he wouldn’t bring it up?’

“Oooh so I’m a Fun Elemental now? I thought I was a Joy Elemental? Either way, I can’t say that you’re wrong though, I can be pretty fun to be around once you get to know me more~” she cooed with a never fading, brilliant smile just as one of the employees had approached their table and set her coffee down before they left to quickly attend to other responsibilities they had.

Just when she would have thought her smile didn’t get any brighter, it certainly did the moment she received the coffee and a few excited crackles resonated from her flaming ‘hair’. Fia then swiftly picked up the coffee and downed eager sips from the tall mug, “Hmm since our last meeting I’ve helped throw a party for a group of Icecaps last night – have you seen how adorable they are? They have such tiny feet ehehehe! I mostly helped with putting up decorations and gave a small, complimentary fireworks show for them towards the end of the night – it was a Sweet Sixteenth and they wanted something special that the birthday girl wasn’t used to seeing. It was a bit of a work out but totally worth seeing the look on her face!”

Ever attentive to the entry chime -- unless he was on one of the other two levels or back in the kitchen where it couldn’t be heard -- Haldor was prompt to notice the Lesser Dog’s entrance, waving to the familiar guardswoman from where he was presently meandering among tables in his establishment. Yanezi knew what the off duty protector would need, having been working for him for a few years now, so he wasn’t overly concerned about intervening with their interaction.

The opossum’s entrance may have been a little rowdy, but the earth elemental had seen far more unruly ones in his time, so he simply kept a brief eye on the newcomer initially before returning to his floating about the patrons, taking the time to engage with various regulars to ensure they were comfortable and had all that they needed. Of course consistent quality from his baristas and cooks was equally important, and checking those orders was something he did habitually as well.

It wasn’t long before one of the runners brought Cliff both his club sandwich and his coffee. The cafe mocha was served in a wide-mouthed white mug, a cute design drawn on the top by the barista that looked like winged or feathered hearts. The sandwich was well and generously made with plenty of meats, creamy sliced cheese, fresh lettuce and tomato, along with sides of mustard and mayo for dressing however the eater might wish. There was also a generous side of popato chisps and a crisp pickle spear to make it a filling meal overall. It was certainly a picture of deliciousness, and the young waitress offered Cliff a genuine smile as she dropped it off, taking his table number. “Enjoy!” she bade him cheerily before zipping off, presumably with many more orders to deliver.

While the Lesser Dog guard might not have seen any of the familiar faces of the most well known members of the Snowdin Canine Unit among the cafe’s patrons, there were certainly other canine-type monsters present among those guests, soaking up the atmosphere just as contently as the off duty guard herself was. There were a few guards there, obviously on break for lunch, and occasionally one or two could be seen through the large window panes wrapping around the front of the building, walking their patrol routes to keep the Underground safe.

With Luis having finished his performance and Fia making such an entrance, the craggy countanced owner made his way over to their table to offer them a friendly smile, his golden topaz eyes glittering with warmth. “T’was an stoat performance as aye, Luis; ye hae mah cheers.” Gaze shifted to the fire elemental. “An' yer presence livens up th' place as aye, m’dear. dae lit me ken if Ah can gie ye anythin', aw reit?” Not one to linger overlong with any one guest or table, he was was soon in motion again -- something that almost seemed counter to his earthy nature to those unfamiliar with the man -- and took an opportunity to check in with the kitchen staff for a few, just to ensure everything was continuing to go smoothly with the heart of the house.

Luis' order arrived within mere minutes. T'was but one of the several benefits to being a regular customer at this point. "Thank you~" He smiled to the member of staff that had delivered the inordinately sweetened drink; a true antithesis to the bitterness of coffee. Though at the same time; the syrup was in no way sickeningly sweet. It also had a mystical visual property that first gave the beverage a warm dim glow, and either when it was held up towards a light or if a light was to be shone through it, a miniature aurora borealis of similarly heated colours. The winged monster bowed slightly to Haldor as the man approached. "Not a problem my good man." Luis waved as Haldor moved along to continue his duties.

"Heh~ I'm glad I could do even a fraction of that really." Luis mused as he slowly surveyed the café, smiling at those that had chosen to come along on this day of all days to create-- unbeknownst to them-- a unique experience or series of events. "Life is such a wonderful, precious thing. Every day is a treasure." He spoke familiar words as he turned back to Fia. "Thats good! You've got quite a few siblings besides Ember then? I wonder what its like--" Luis scratched the back of his neck, sounding somewhat embarrassed. "-- I've always been curious, since I'm an only child." He shrugged and took a sip of his hot chocolate, sparkles shimmering off of his face as he did.

The iridescent emerald hues of Luis' hair cycled like a wave all of a sudden when Fia reached out to comfort him. Strangely, he wasn't exactly taken aback nor did he recoil in any way. Sure, he was stunned, but in a good way. The small flecks of pink flame that touched him-- or any that even got near him-- would be given a moment of extra brightness before fizzling out. Luis' gaze traveled from Fia's hand on his arm to her lime green eyes, his own sky blue eyes showing her an unspoken yet heartfelt sense of gratitude. "Yeah, you're right." His lips slowly curled into a smile, which then became a grin. "Goodness knows I've got a lot of time on my hands, though." Luis took another sip of his drink after Fia let him be, the same reaction occurring as before. "W-well, besides when I'm at work that is. I'm front of house for the natural history museum in Waterfall as well as a tour guide for special exhibitions. I'm there three days a week, sometimes four if I need to cover for someone. Great atmosphere, you should totally come along sometime~"

As for the rumors, Luis first rested his chin on one hand, holding his mug in the other casually. "See thats the thing, I'm not really all that sure? I was in Gravelshire recently, and people there have been talking about strange noises in the walls and sightings of something that had one arm longer than the other. Just this morning when I visited a friend in Woodland, she told me that she saw a 'funny looking thing' out the corner of her eye for a second that she could've sworn had a hole in it? When we tried to look for it we heard a whistling sound and whatever it was probably gone? Its all bizarre." He shrugged, evidently unsure of what to think. "Nobody seems to have been hurt, so thats nice~!"

Luis' contemplative expression softened as he smiled once more, and there was a bit of extra pep in his tone now. "Oh? I meant that you were quite fun to be around too, even if we've only recently met I feel like I can say that without a shadow of a doubt. Now that you mention it, I did say that kinda thing so-- perhaps you're a bit of both?" He smirked a little, stroking his chin for a second. "Nah, call it a hunch, but I think you're more than just a bit of both?" Internally, Luis was wondering why he blurted out these kinds of things-- unsure of what string of logic lead him to them, but at the same time he saw nothing wrong with any of it, so he didn't question himself.

Besides, his conversational partner had a fun story to tell, so of course he would listen! "Indeed, I know of them; one of my colleagues is an Icecap in fact." Luis nodded and allowed Fia to continue her story to the end. "Hmhmhm. Like I said. You embody fun and joy; you just confirmed that fact." With another quick sip of his drink, Luis reached into one of his pockets from which he brought out the business card Fia gave him the other day. "In regards to that, I've given it some thought-- and I was meaning to call you after I was done here actually-- I'm totally down with being the resident pianist for your business." He said once again intrigued with the extra flair Fia's number had on this specific card.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Marver enter and make her way to the counter. 'Oh? Cobalt's sister...? Wouldn't she still be grounded by now?' While it was odd to see the young dragon out on her own, in the end, it was nothing but a passing thought. Anyone that brought harm to her would have Cobalt breathing down their neck and Lucian holding them in a headlock.