forum A Romance Made In “Phantasy” (OxO with Whisper)

Started November 11, 2020 by @CasiCasino group

tune

@Whisper-Is-Almost-Safe
‘Elloooooooo~
yes, the Café’s name is “Phantasy”

Ah, ok! We’ll begin tonight then!

Right, so…
Since I think we both have an idea as to how this is gonna work, should I just start immediately?

Yeah, go ahead! Though I may leave soon, I’m not feeling well tonight…

It’s alright, I can wait.

It’s been exactly four months, twenty seven days, and three hours since the first time the Phantasy Café was open. And although it was a pretty new face in the realm of bars and cafés, it gained a lot of attention, especially by those who wanted a change of pace. The place was run by three individuals; two of which were brothers, while the other was a friend of the older brother.

Because of the gain in interest, the place needed more people. Hence why the poster recruiting a new member has been put up. For people who often visit the place would know that the younger brother and the friend work together as the servers while the older brother works alone as the chef and bartender, per se. It’s been a week and a day since the poster was up and still, no one applied to the job. Not a single one.

Link was trudging down the street with her backpack, eyes to the concrete. Then she smelled something amazing. Much better than fast food… She looked up and she was in front of a cafe. She sighed as her stomach rumbled and ached, about to move on when she spotted the poster in the window. She thought about all the applications to jobs she had been rejected from and hesitated. But… If she didn’t give it a shot, she’d never know. She walked into the restaurant, and looked around, hoisting her backpack higher on her back.

The older brother, andrew (Our Supreme Lord and Overseer), was the only one present at that time. He turned when the bell by the door rang and smiled up at the ‘customer’.
“Good evening. Please have a seat this way miss,” the smile he had on his lips were genuine and warm as he gestured to the empty table by the window. “I’ll be with you in a minute,”

Link put up a hand. “Oh, no, I’m not here for food. I don’t have any money… I came in here about the job posting in your window? Are you still taking applicants?” Then her stomach grumbled again, and her face flushed, but otherwise ignored it.

The man had paused for a moment before laughing softly.
“Please have a seat first. We’ll talk it out. I’ll get you something to eat— for free, that is,” with that, the man went to the back and came back out soon with a folder and plate of savory pie. There were three small pies on the plate; one of chicken curry, one of tuna and parsley, and one of mixed vegetable. “So… may I have your name?” He sat across from her, smiling at her all the same.

The poor woman sat down hesitantly and waited patiently. When the man, she supposed the owner, came back with food. Link looked at the plate of food worriedly and didn’t touch any of it, worried that it came with a catch. When the man asked her name, she responded, “Link Friberg.” She was wary of his constant smile. Life obviously hadn’t treated her kindly from the distrust and wariness in her eyes.

He immediately noticed how the girl didn’t touch a single piece of the small pies. He smiled softly, writing her name down on the paper he had.
“Your age?” he asked before nudging the plate of food towards her. “You’re hungry, I can see that. Please eat some and don’t worry, you don’t have to pay a single cent,”

“20. Turning 21 in two months.” She looked at the food as the man nudged it towards her and encouraged her to eat. She looked at him distrustfully but finally her hunger swayed her and she slowly began to eat, her struggle not to wolf it down in huge bites faintly showing in her tense posture. She internally choked back tears as she ate.

“Right… uh… gender and sexual preference?” He asked before looking back up at her and noticing her tense posture and uncomfortable expression. He set the documents to the side and reached forward, hesitantly but gently caressing her cheek. “Are you alright? You look like you’re feeling unwell…”

Link jumped when he touched her, jolting back and cowering a bit. “I-I’m fine…” She had a look of unbridled fear in her eyes for a split sec after he touched her before she regained awareness of what her reality was. Then she softly answered, “It’s illegal to ask someone’s gender identity and sexual preference for an interview or application… I’m not offended, I just thought you should know…” She took a deep breath, “But I suppose I don’t really care for myself… I identify as female or non-binary on different days. And I’m a demiromantic/sexual Bi.”

“Noted…” he turned back to the papers before picking them up and taking a note of her gender and sexual preference outside where the context boxes were. It was as if he wanted to know that himself. The fact that she jumped back a bit when he touched her was a bit surprising to him, not because she resisted his touch— that was to be expected— but because of how scared she looked. “Have you had experience working as a chef or sous chef before?” He continued with the ‘interview’ which… in reality, was more like a question and answer kind of conversation.

She looked up with her grey-bordering-silver eyes from her food she was trying to focus on at the moment to calm herself down and said softly, “I help out a lot at my soup kitchen if that counts… If you want something on record, I’m afraid I don’t have anything.” She stayed hunched over her food, scraping her plate clean too soon for her liking, hiding her sudden feeling of emptiness behind the bangs of her shaggy, boy’s cut of her dark brown hair.

The man nodded and took note of her statement. He then looked back up at her and set the documents down, not bothering to take note of her answer for the next question.
“Why do you want to work here?”

“Because I need work, and you were hiring. Because all the other applications I’ve sent to many different places have rejected me without an interview.” She sighed and folded her hands in her lap, which she stared at, figured he’d just reject her or something. Honestly, this was the most attention she’d gotten for an application, but she figured he had other candidates that were more worthy of the position.

andrew (Our Supreme Lord and Overseer), upon hearing that, nodded with a small sigh through his nose. Eventually, he got up from his seat and went to get Link a glass of cold water. “Well, Link… I’m sorry to say but—“ he set the glass down with a small smile “—all things considered, you won’t be jobless from tomorrow on. However, because the job we’re looking for is a chef or… rather, a sous chef and a drinks brewer, you’ll have to get used to working in the kitchen. Go on, drink up, I’ll show you around,”

Link shrunk a bit at his initial sigh and waited patiently as he left, unsure of whether or not he wanted her to leave. When he came back with water for her, she very quietly thanked him and sipped it, drooping at his first comment, figuring she would have not gotten the job. But when he continued, she paused and looked up, eyes wide. “W-wait, you’re seriously giving me the job?” She quickly started to drink now, extremely thirsty.

“Of course! We need as much help as we can get and you seem to be fairly experienced as far as I’m concerned,” he mentioned as he took her empty glass and walked back behind the counter. “We don’t have all day so… let’s see what we can do today, alright?” He smiled warmly at her, chuckling some.

Link nodded and hoisted her backpack back onto her shoulder. “Is there somewhere safe I can put my bag, please?” She asked as she followed, not smiling, but seeming happier and lighter than before. She had a job at last!!