dearest ☀ shop prep

[arcy]

Izuku honest to god didn't know how much Syamine he had. This is kind of problematic, in all honesty. He'd participated in .. maybe three weekly tasks? But he doesn't know how many points he'd earned or even if he'd managed to do them. He wasn't the most .. coherent, sometimes. Even to himself. This was, of course, Izuku's own fault. He'd been sleeping at least a little lately, because he was still sick and if he didn't sleep some of it off and got even more sick, who'd there be to take care of everybody? He'd already caused enough damage with the ten days he'd been unconscious and worrying his clanmates. He couldn't -- put himself at risk anymore than necessary, at least 'till there was somebody else who would be capable of taking over his duties. .. This is kind of what leads to this. He'd been considering opening a shop for a few weeks, but Izuku had never been able to figure out quite what he wanted to do. He wasn't .. good .. at anything, really. He was just .. himself. Then he gets it.
The idea comes to him when he's treating somebody, of course. Well, not treating them, just giving them a dose of herbal tea. They'd complimented him on his ability to make it, and, well, it escalated. A tea shop. Wasn't that quite the idea? But, well, people here seemed to like tea. And having a shop would keep him more confined to camp, so he didn't restlessly wander as often. Though -- it'd be problematic when he was low on herbs. But, inspired by the feline he'd seen doing it earlier, tundra herb teas were pretty good. And he'd gotten some NPC to go out and collect some more earlier. But a tea shop wasn't any good if it just had tea. So he'd tried to figure out how to make snacks and pastries again. Just -- biscuits and sides. Sweets. I mean .. it was hard to figure out, but Izuku had a make-shift oven. He had a lot of make-shift things, actually. They weren't as good as the stuff when he was human, but it was enough.
Anyways, today, Izuku can be found inside of a shop. He'd spent most of the night prepping the inside. He had to do decoration now, though. In the meantime, tea was boiling, too. He had to test out the best flavor combos, see? .. And figure out how to make coffee. That'd be a thing, too. It's not a coffee shop, though, and Izuku hated coffee. It was tea. Tea. Right at the moment, he's pretty noticeable through the windows, though they're fogged from the warmth. Look, he'd put effort into making the place not drafty or open, so it'd be a nice place to get warm. He liked that about tea shops, okay. Anyways. He's .. puzzling over decoration. He doesn't know how to decorate. His room had only ever been filled with All Might merch, what the hell. He scowls. Pricing? He's not sure how much Syamine is worth. You get .. five, for a weekly task, yeah? So .. two or three for tea? Or .. just one. Maybe one for just a pastry. God, he doesn't know anything about capitalism, but at least you weren't expected to pay for food or shelter. Just shops. And shops were for fun.
//ashdjdsahf if u want a prompt for interacting since this is kind of bland: walk in, demand to try the tea or whatever else he might have in there. offer to help decorate. idk do w/e this is just to tell u that im doing this shit

☀ what was i worth

[dead chars]

" IT'S FINE NOW. WHY? BECAUSE I AM HERE! "

Money had never concerned Toshinori much in the old world. Yes, he had to pay rent. Yes, he liked his coffees every once in a while. He mostly spent his cash on going to the movies, since that was truly his favorite pastime, but... he'd been living pretty comfortably as the top pro hero. Now, it seemed, he had none of it.

He didn't feel that he fully deserved the sum he'd made in his time as a human, not anymore, but being without even a bit of spending money was a bit sad. He missed his coffees, at least. He didn't think that anyone had any movies to play, and he wasn't quite sure movies existed here at all. It was quite sad, really. All Might missed the finer things in life. It was incredibly vain, he felt, but he also didn't think he could really help it. Thoughts of desire were things that few people could control.

The question of whether he deserved such things anymore faded as Toshinori smelled the lovely essence of tea. While he did prefer coffee, the serval couldn't help himself from trying to find the source of the divine drink. Anything would be better than the plain and simple water he'd been having for a while now. While, yes, it was good for him, he needed a bit more... flavor. Not to mention caffeine. The serval's body was constantly aching with weariness. His nights were often spent sleepless with the thoughts of his students, dead around him, Aizawa fighting hopelessly against the enemy they had all faced, and that Toshinori had lost to. Peaceful rest was hard to come by. So, he tried to keep himself awake.

The serval had grown gradually used to the blustering cold that Snowbound had to offer. The sweater that Izuku had given him helped leaps and bounds where his thin coat fell short. As he trotted against the wind towards the shop where billows of sweet smells of tea floated forth, he felt... warm. Finally.
Toshinori pressed gently on the door. He hesitated for a moment. He should knock, or something, probably?
"Ah... hello?" the serval called inside, blinking sunken eyes as he peered in.
"Oh! Midoriya," he then mumbled, ears twitching with surprise, then flicking nervously back. He hadn't meant to intrude, as he'd assumed the shop had been all nice and finished up, but... it seemed a bit bare. While he himself had no idea how to decorate, he at least knew that something should fill this empty space.

The thought occurred to him that perhaps his presence wouldn't be welcomed, and his help even more so. After failing all of the boy's classmates, along with Aizawa and who knows who else, he didn't feel as though he was really... qualified to help, really. Not unless he was asked, at least.
"Sorry. You're busy," he apologized, brushing some snow off of his blue sweater. His voice rasped with some unknown emotion. Grief? Maybe. But... wasn't he supposed to be over that by now? Or something? He was an adult, after all.

"I can go, if you want. Or, uh... if you need help, I can...."
He trailed off. Toshinori frowned. He should finish the sentence, but he could hardly say it in the first place.
"I can assist you if you need it."
There. It was all out now. The serval reached a paw up to the back of his neck, scratching it in a nervous gesture, eyes darting about the barren room before fixing on the boiling tea.

code by spacexual

[arcy]

Izuku, being a kid, or a teen, or whatever, wasn't all that much concerned with money either. That'd been his mother's thing. His mom had been mostly on her own financially, working at some little shop. Izuku had heard some horror stores about it -- customer service was pretty bad to work at, apparently. But Izuku trusted his clanmates not to yell at him if he messed something up. They were all pretty nice. And Izuku knew a good majority of them personally, and who the hell would yell at their Frosthealer for not getting their coffee right. He had enough stuff to do, he could close down this goddamn shop in a second.
.. Izuku wasn't expecting anybody to walk in, though. Izuku's ears prick as he hears a voice. All Might? The Maine Coon turns to face the other, tail swishing as he allows a bright grin towards the other. Despite whatever the other believed, he was happy to see the other, and he just generally perks up. "Hi! Want some tea?" Please take some tea from him. He has like ... two, three pots already. Please. .. At least he could claim they were pretty good. Izuku seems to grow a little nervous with the skittish way the other was acting, tail part-way curling around himself. But he was standing now. So it was weird. "It's fine!! You can stay!!" His ears twist on his head, eyes wide. He liked spending time with All Might, especially with how recently the other had shown up. Meanwhile, Izuku had his fill of Aizawa. He was also, in fact, fully capable and confident enough to boss around his old teacher(Aizawa, not All Might), solely because of this. .. So, yeah. Strange.
"Um, yeah, that'd be great!" His grin widens. He'd appreciate whatever help he could get. All Might probably had a better idea of what to do than Izuku did. He ... barely had any tables out. Like .. maybe a single makeshift booth, but that was all. How does Izuku make a table? "I .. don't really know what I'm doing," He laughs sheepishly. I mean, that much was obvious. Everything was kind of a mess, and he didn't know entirely how to make the place .. undrafty. He doesn't know how he managed it? ... The kitchen area was just a little drafty, actually. But that's okay, because nobody else would really be in there. He'd figure that out once he managed to get to it.

☀ what was i worth

[dead chars]

" IT'S FINE NOW. WHY? BECAUSE I AM HERE! "

Customer service seemed like an absolute nightmare. Though Toshinori felt as though he might have worked in some form of it, it was definitely different. Most importantly, none of his 'customers' had much room to complain, as he often saved their lives. While yes, he had easier days of catching robbers and rescuing kittens from trees, many people were still thankful to him. He had been, after all, the Symbol of Peace. While complaints were certainly not foreign, they were few and far between.

The offer of tea broke him from his thoughts and Toshinori remembered where he was.
"As long as you're offering," he answered gingerly, eyeing the pots that were heating on the crudely built stove. The work that Izuku had already put into the cabin was admirable- it was more than Toshinori had done in the few days he'd been in Snowbound so far. Which, to be fair, wasn't saying much, but... well, Izuku had clearly worked hard. Now all the place needed was a bit of homey decoration, and he would be set to go. A bit of tidying up wouldn't hurt either, now that he really looked around. He was sure the Frosthealer already knew this, though. The kid wasn't stupid, after all.

"I didn't know you made tea, Midoriya."
His comment hung in the air for a moment, mixing itself with the earthy aroma the teas exuded. He still hadn't moved from where he had been standing, but the insistence on his staying was a fuzzy reassurance. The serval seemed to ease into his own bones just a little more. He moved away from the door and a bit farther into the shop, blue eyes darting around, looking for places to sit. There was... nothing, really. A hastily thrown-together table leaned against the wall in one corner, but other than that, it was a rather pitiful sight as far as furnishing went. Still, he didn't blame Midoriya at all- furniture was hard to come by around here, no doubt. There wasn't exactly an IKEA down the street or anything. He furrowed his brow a bit, trying to think of what was practical to put here before his train of thought was interrupted again.

He looked back to Izuku, ears twitching. A ghost of a smile played on his face. He didn't know what he was doing, hm?
"That's why I am here!"
Toshinori knew next to nothing about interior design at its core, but he did know the interior of coffee shops pretty well at this point. They had... tables. Most of the ones he had been to had long bars that extended the length of the cafe, flaunting all the different options, but he wasn't quite sure that was practical for Midoriya's one-man show. The chairs were always very nice looking but very uncomfortable. So, that was all they needed, right? Or maybe Izuku was thinking about something a bit different for his own tea shop. After all, this was tea first, wasn't it? Toshinori didn't see any coffee brewing, so why try to make it look like a coffee shop? Hm. This would be harder than he thought.

He realized how much lighter he felt, even if for only a moment. Perhaps he had just needed to interact with Izuku again, after everything that had happened. And not in the ways he had before, but properly this time. Like he had before his final days. But he didn't want to linger on it, however nice of a change it was. He had things to do! They both did!
"Maybe we can start with a menu," he offered. It was certainly an easier undertaking than trying to build furniture from scratch. Besides, maybe with the menu, Toshinori could get a better grasp on the vibe Izuku was going for. That would certainly be helpful. But he also wanted to make sure that the Frosthealer's opinion was properly factored in here. The serval had made enough selfish decisions for a little while.
"Oh, but we could always do something else first, too, Midoriya!"

code by spacexual