[damian]

It was a rainy night which opened up into a rainy day, the gentle pitter patter stirring him from slumber. Rubbing at his eye he noted that the forecast said that it’d be this way for the next few days. Shrugging his shoulders all this did was remind him of the time he spent in new york city. A constant rainy yet full of life city. Much like Tokoyo he could draw many a parallel between them.

Full of hard working people that just want to live their lives and get as much comfort as possible. The thought of this made him smile warmly as he made his way downstairs, noting that he’d need to keep most of the business inside today. Adjusting some of the tables to give more room and stick maybe… two? Three tables outside with the patio shutter drawn first and foremost to give folks dry cover. The plants that needed the most water set in areas where the rain would feed into them well enough while the drier ones were set closer to the entry and inside.

He was a little late to getting to the baked goods today but that was fine, he’d just stir up some more tea and probably put out a few more menus encouraging pre-packaged goods for until he was ready and able. The whirring of the cameras caught his attention and he’d have to get a ladder to start paying attention to one that wasn’t exactly moving as he’d like. Fiddling with it a bit while he waited for customers.

It was a lazy day, then again most of his days were lazy. He wasn’t here to make money, he was here to have people enjoy themselves. The music in the background set a soft and gentle tone; there wasn’t much over the radio that he particularly enjoyed anymore so it was all from pre-recorded instances and places he had been.

The gentle call of birds, the stirring of rainforest mixed in with the gentle voice of a man that had long since passed. He’d sit on the ladder and exhale softly as it was like dopamine pumped through the air into his ears. The gentle string instruments reminding him of the few times he had run into performers in france.

”Mm.. Wonder if they still play..”

[facade]

---

| Aiden Markusson | @aidm_cto
Location: Tokyo, Japan. | Current Status: All-nighter backlash, caffeine time.
Now Playing: Toby Fox - It's Raining Somewhere Else

---

After spending the entire night working, Aiden had been somewhat relieved to see that it was still raining when he opened the shutters in his office. He didn't need to look at the time to know it was almost exactly 09:00, merely look outside at the crowd of salarymen trickling into the few office buildings (including the one he currently occupied) scattered around the busy commercial district, flanked by tourists and otakus trying to get into various hobby stores and arcades at opening time. "Makes America look like France." A yawn escaped his mouth briefly, prompting Aiden to stand up from his computer chair and stretch. "Time for a break~" He leaned over the desk, saving his work and closing down the PC, before stepping out of his office for the first time in 8 hours wearing a plain lower face mask. He briefly greeted the few of his employees who had already made it up to ProjectYou's office, turning to one of them. "I'll be out of office, email me if needed. All of this morning's work has been emailed to team leaders." Descending the stairs, Aiden walked out through the lobby and on to the rainy street. He moved with the pack of commuters, arriving at a metro station, and took the first train out of the Akihabara district entirely.

On days like this, Aiden took the rare opportunity to explore the city he'd be calling home for the forseeable future. After picking his random direction and ascending back onto the street from the metro, he walked for a while along the streets of the world's most populous city. Despite what he knew of Japan's abysmally little ethnic diversity, the diversity in appearance brought on by the Advent of Quirks never ceased to astound him. It felt like about every third person he passed was visibly mutant, and a significant number bore traits of nonhuman animals or altered body shapes. 'All this, and I'm the weird one for being gaijin?' His thoughts rang out, unspoken, as Aiden reached a sign that caught his eye. A tea shop, from the looks of things. "The Bovine... what?" He pulled out his phone, looking up the kanji of the sign in case he had misread, but sure enough its validity was confirmed. What an odd name for a tea shop. "Well I have to, now." He entered, looking around at the well-crafted scenery and hearing the divine mix of rainfall on concrete/glass and soft music. Aiden took down the hood of his simple black hoodie, but did not remove his 'hygeine' mask as he sat down and read one of the menus. When was the last time he ate? Must've been the previous evening, right? Once he had a decent idea of what he was getting, Aiden looked around once more for the store's owner, finding someone who probably fit that bill sat on a ladder below a CCTV camera. "Good morning. Technical issues?"

[damian]

The lack of customers at this point of time wasn’t really worrying to him, so he just hummed away and kept on fussing with the camera from time to time. Knowing it was the motor he would just eventually turn away when he heard the jingle of the door. His deep purple eyes were gifted with the appearance of a man who… Well. He presumed man that was wearing some kind of mask. It wasn’t something that he saw very often but he knew that some people needed them for one reason or another.

A flick of his ear and slight adjustment of his tail brought him off of his ladder just as the ‘first’ customer of the day asked him about the technical issues. Or rather greeted him and then asked about it. The smile that damian had was warm, inviting and gentle. Not too wide, not too small. The sort of tempered smile that was easily the sort that could deflect worries if needed but here? It was the sort that showed that he was very relaxed and easy going.

”Unfortunately yes, motors in it must be broken.”

Given that most of the security was from the last owner and that owner had skimped out on a lot of things left… Well a lot to be desired. Wiping his hands off with a cloth he’d step over, the soft clicking of his hooves on the floor brought attention to his movement and further attention to his mutations no doubt.

”But yes! Good morning. Do you need some time to look over menus or do you have a preferred drink or meal in mind?”

Meal was being generous, most of his food was stuff that went with tea. But if someone wanted he could easily get them something delivered here if he didn’t have it. 30 minute wait or something with ExcessEats and all that.

[facade]

---

| Aiden Markusson | @aidm_cto
Location: Tokyo, Japan. | Current Status: All-nighter backlash, coffee time.
Now Playing: Shady Cicada - Tabula Rasa

---

As Damian came down to greet him, Aiden simply watched, analysing. He didn't seem the type to hide much, more the type to wear his heart on his sleeve, as most mutants such as him tended to be (or so Aiden had observed). His favourite kind of people. He found himself studying the details of the shop owner's form, where the manifestations of his Quirk ended and where his considerable attractiveness began. As Aiden had trained himself to do, he scanned with his eyes and focus, not head movements. He was brought back to focus by Damian speaking up. "I've got my order, but it's a little uncertain. I'd like a triple shot espresso if you have coffee in, otherwise just a green tea will be fine for now. Do you have any of the danish pastries in at the moment? I realise the European pastries probably aren't the most popular here, unfortunately. If not, I'll take whatever you recommend. No allergies." He'd seen the menu briefly, but knew shops such as this were often plagued by supply line issues and ingredient shortages.
Moving his eyes and attention back to the camera, he studied it for a couple of seconds before speaking again. "Seems pretty standard for the area... I could probably take a look at it for you. I happen to be an electrical engineer, and security cameras are something of a specialty of mine." He took a laptop out of his messenger bag, the back covered in a few western pop culture and anime stickers, along with one prominent one showing the symbol of New York University.

[damian]

”of course, we’ve got a pot already ready and going if you like it black. If not well? It’ll just be a few minute wait at worst sir. Mmm? Danish pastries? That we do. We’ve got a little bit of everything.”

The gentle nature that damian exuded came with being flexible too; the pastries would be easy enough and the expresso even more so. He practically seemed to glide along, his hooves clacking softly against the floor. An ear flicked and he’d eye the other. He seemed a techy sort no?

”If you’d so like to Sir; I wouldn’t be opposed if that’s your area of expertise.”

The smile he had on his face was anything but fake; his steps took him to behind the bar. Behind it where the magic would happen. The other’s order was one of simplicity. An arrangement of danishes and the expresso followed on a platter. Briskly placed on the table that Aiden had sat his things at.

”Much of the stuff in this shop are left over from the last owner, still getting everything fixed into place you know? Mmm. Went to NYU?”

Damian’s eyes sparkled a little bit, he had been there once upon a time and he relished the cities ambience compared to all the other cities that he had visited. If he had picked a different city it would have been there, maybe paris and… Well he was pretty sure the other countries would have loved to have him.

”Ah! I forgot to introduce myself again. My name is Damian. I own and run The Bovine.”

He’d give a curt and polite bow; his smile widened and his tail flicked to one side. Brushing slightly to fix an ajar chair that he had bumped into earlier. Damian wasn’t clumsy so much as someone who tended to make sure his customers had the right of way.

[facade]

---

| Aiden Markusson | @aidm_cto
Location: Tokyo, Japan. | Current Status: All-nighter backlash, coffee time.
Now Playing: Hudson Mohawke - Watch Dogs Theme

---

[Establishing Connection...]
[Connected to network 'Bovine_Security']
[Connected to device 'Camera_2']
Aiden, fully focused on his laptop for a couple minutes, hacks into the CCTV network of the building and takes manual control of the problematic camera. He took a moment to manually move it around, testing the range of motion and checking for any specific faults. He quickly encounters an error brought up by the system and traces this to both the motors of the camera and the software dealing with automatic movement. Aiden shuts off the camera and gets up, moving over to the stepladder with a screwdriver and insulated gloves from his bag. He unscrews a panel on the camera's casing and inspects the hardware inside. While he's doing this, Aiden sees movement out of the corner of his eye and looks over to see Damian delivering his order. "Thanks, almost done up here..." He tinkers around some more, unplugging and cleaning a couple wires and their connectors/ports. Then, he fully turns around to face Damian when he comments on his university. Briefly, he switches to speaking in English rather than the semi-fluent Japanese he defaulted to in Tokyo. "Yeah, graduated last year. Grew up in New York. You ever been?" While not a particularly patriotic person, Aiden's hometown(s) held a special place in his heart and he was always happy to talk about them. "So you are a westerner, go figure. Nice to meet you, I'm Aiden."

[damian]

Damian watched the young man for a few moments; focusing more on his order than trying to crowd in too much. With the order set where Aiden had been setting he’d fold his arms to watch again. There was curiosity in his features; he needed to know what was wrong so he could keep an eye out for it in the other cameras given that they were all around the same year.

”What was the problem anyways?”

With the swap to english following shortly after damian didn’t have any trouble switching either. At the question if he had ever been to new york all damian could really remember of the place was the statue of liberty, the rehaul of a few skyscrapers and a graveyard that his parents were quite insistent him visiting before going off on his ‘adventure’ as they called it.

”Few months at best? New york wasn’t exactly known for its tea. Neither is Texas, Grew up there. Lots of what you’d expect and less of what you’d figure.”

Damian snorted softly at the idea and leaned lightly, making sure that the order was all right. He always double and triple checked his work; the customer was always the focus over anything else. Aidens introduction was easy and friendly but his comment about being a westerner earned a chuckle from damian.

”That obvious huh?”

Maybe it was the way he dressed or the way he talked even in japanese that gave him away even if he was fluent in it. There were some verbal ticks you really could never get rid of...