Wing City Café: A Dying Legend (RPA Class Roleplay)

Game Master(s): LynIsMe & Kurokiku

Setting: In an old, rundown corner of Wing City lies what used to be considered one of the metropolis’s best-kept secrets: the Wing City Café. The establishment caters to a diverse clientele of Wing City citizens, from high-powered lawyers who need a place to relax and become anonymous, to families with children, couples, the retired, and even the occasional drifter. The friendly, welcoming staff and delicious menu have kept the place running for more than 20 years.

Sadly, things haven’t been going so well recently. You can see it if you look: the slight strain evident in the shoulders of the cheerful barista, the way those shingles that fell off the roof a couple weeks ago haven’t been replaced, the chipping in the dark red paint of the building’s façade. Most of the regulars know: the place is slowly going under, no matter how hard the staff fights to keep it afloat. A number of them have been coming by more frequently, trying to squeeze a last bit of enjoyment out of the old fixture in their lives that may not be there much longer.

Genre: Realistic, Modern

Character Skeleton:

Code: Select all

[center][size=130]Name[/size][/center]
[b]Appearance:[/b] [i]Character description goes here.[/i] [right][img]Real%Photo%Here[/img][/right]
[b]Age:[/b] (Preferably sixteen or older.)
[b]Occupation:[/b] (Anything you so choose, excluding Cafe employees.)

[b]Time in Cafe:[/b] (Anywhere from a few months, to several years.)

[b]Personality:[/b]: [i](Describe the characters personality, should be at least three sentences.)[/i]

[b]History:[/b] [i](Describe the characters history, or backstory, should be at least four sentences.)[/i]

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This Roleplay is being used as a teaching tool for the current RPA Mentor Lead Classes, and should only be posted in by (1) Mentors participating in the class, and (2) Users who have signed up for the class, via the Announcement Thread.

Characters for this roleplay should be posted in the Wing City Café Character Thread, while posts should be posted in this thread.

The Wing City Café was an old place, one of those places that grandparents had taken their kids to when they were still just parents. Now, they took their grandkids, too. It looked like it, at least from the outside. The building itself was freestanding, sandwiched between a used bookshop and a record store, and if that wasn’t enough to convince a passerby that the district had seen better days, maybe the shingles that occasionally fell from the roof would suffice.

Still, the red brick exterior was clean, and seemed to wear its age like a mark of pride, a badge of courage in the face of shiny, state-of-the-art adversity. The hunter-green paint on the quaint shutters peeled slightly, but in a way that gave it character more than begged to be put out of its misery. The building may not have shined, it may not have shouted a welcome to its denizens, but it endured stoically and with steady tenacity trials which so many younger, edgier businesses could not. She could sympathize.

Val wasn’t really sure how much longer it would be able to, truthfully. Loath as she was to admit it, the waitress feared that she may soon find herself swimming in the tide of the unemployed. Do I even remember how to interview anymore? she wondered, shaking her head slightly. Sighing, she raked a hand through short auburn hair and pulled her handbag from the passenger side of her car. Quietly closing the old Toyota, she depressed the button on one of those auto-lock pads and walked off once the characteristic beep had reached her ears.

The door was unlocked; Val expected that both Konaha- there was a mouthful for you- and Manny were in already, prepping the pastries and other baked goods for the morning rush-by as busy twenty- and thirty-somethings dropped in for breakfast and more importantly some coffee on the way to work. Afternoons were nicer- slower. You could chat to people in the afternoon and not get someone giving you one of those haughty ‘just-get-my-order’ looks or trying to speak to you whilst simultaneously yammering away at someone on the other end of a phone. She’d worked here for so long now, but sometimes the things city folk tended to find acceptable still caused Val to frown.

The small bell on the entrance chimed as Val slipped in, heading in a beeline for the employee room in the back, stowing her purse and grabbing her green apron from a coat hook. Tying it off, she washed her hands and moved into the kitchens. She’d need to do a little prep herself, of course, but then they’d open the doors and the business day would truly be underway.

Maude whistled as he made his way to the Wing City Cafe, his favorite place of eatery and people. He smiled as he opened the door, the classic metal bell giving it's familiar jingle.

He sat down at his favorite table, the large man looking seemingly out of place. Tattoos, scars, and tight black shirts, it seemed, fit in better at a bar. But it was no matter to Maude. He could care less of what others thought. Besides, he had been coming to the Cafe long enough to be considered a "regular". He doubted they wouldn't offer their service because of his look.

He continued to smile as his little ghost-girl twirled around in the sunlight, dancing a dance that only he could see.

Grace's feet felt foreign slipping into a pair of sensible, black heels, especially at this ungodly time of the morning. She was far more used to the plush cushioning of her worn down sneakers. One of the best things about working in radio was not giving a damn about what you looked like as you stepped into the studio. Hell, Grace has been known to come to work donning the same T-shirt and sweatpants she slept in the night before. Today, however, was a special day. Today she was to meet with a couple of SiriusXM bigwigs to negotiate moving her show onto satellite. While her fans were already calling her "the Black Lesbian Howard Stern" in jest, taking this deal would bring her one step closer to that reality.

A longing sigh dribbled off Grace's tired lip as she slipped into a tightly fitted gray jacket. She leaned over the bathroom counter and quickly wafted her fingers through the short off-black waves before glancing at her watch and rushing out of her apartment and into her sedan.

Her car ride was uncommonly quiet. Normally, she would be prepping for the show by listening to the news or laughing with a childhood friend from Nigeria over the phone. The radio was off. The phone was on silent. She drove with her hands clutching the wheel firmly and her forehead wrinkled with concentration as she played every possible scenario of the meeting in her mind.

Wing City Cafe was closely approaching with each second. Grace contemplated completely passing the building by but something compelled her to turn into their parking lot. Perhaps it was a craving for something hot and sweet to calm her nerves. She had a few minutes to spare and decided stopping in could do no harm.

Grace took long, sturdy strides to the entrance and pushed her way through the front doors with a wide-toothed grin stamped beneath her nose.