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After a long day of fierce discussion and seething, Xavier needed to unwind and let the troubles of the day be dispelled by some traditional GC cooking at Sophie's Cafe.
The day had been....an interesting one. Probably one of the most interesting to have ever happened since Xavier became a delegate on the council.

"Yet another party seeks the blood of Zoners, and for what? For being who we are." Xavier muttered to himself.
Earlier a group supposedly affiliated with the Queen's Forces of bretonia commenced a small hit and run on Canaria's Corsair residents. Things were getting out of control. First came the OPG issue, then the Ghost issue and now this. All of Siruis seemed against the Zoner way of life. As dramatic as that sounded it certaintly felt that way.

Xavier took a window seat in the GC cafe. "Sophie can i get my order taken?"
....
There was no answer
"Sophie!"
Instead of Sophie a woman from the back answered
"oh I'm sorry, Sophie isnt here right now."
"Huh thats unusual where is she?" asked Xavier
"She said she needed a break, must be all the trouble going on out in space"
"Did she say when she was coming back?"
".....No."
Xavier paused.
Everything was changing, Siruis didnt feel the same for some reason.
"I'd like a salad steak sandwich with a Canarian Cola thanks."
"Coming right up."

Xavier looked out the window and silently marvelled at the beauty of Gran Canaria's cultured landscapes.
"I wont let them hurt anyone else....I wont"

A call came on Xavier's portable comms.
"This is Cap. Xavier Triton."
The comms replied in a mixture of static and clear speech. A clear sign that the communication's source was quite far away.
"Capt. Triton your commission request has been processed and is ready for your review."
"How long till construction is complete" replied Xavier.

"Zoner Juggernauts usually take between 3-4 months to be completed. At current manpower and funding."

"Hmm its clouding over......maybe its a sign."

With his wife on a spiritual mission in Rheinland, John Holliday got tired of sitting at home with no company so he went and visited his good friend Norman at Sophies. He was in good spirits and Norman picked up on it.

"Well hello there, Doc," he enthusiastically said as he walked in, "it's been awhile. Welcome back."
"That it has, Sir, that it has," he replied with a smile.
"What you drinking tonight, Doc?" Norman asked of him.
"Tonight it's whiskey," he answered and within a few seconds, a fresh bottle and a shot glass were placed in front of him. Doc then looked saddened a bit at Norman, "Where's the other shot glass?"
"Um, Doc, you arrived alone," Norman answered confused.
"I'm celebrating tonight and you're celebrating with me," declared Doc.
Norman looked around. The crowd was light so he threw his towel aside for a moment and place a shot glass of his own before him.
"I'm not supposed to drink on the job but what's the occasion?" he inquired.
With a big smile, Doc simply replied, "Mal is back."
"Well then, Doc, let us drink," replied Norman as he filled both glasses. Then, both men raised their glasses and Doc made a toast.
"To our good friend Malcalypse. May Eris bless his butt cheek imprints no matter where they may be found!"

With a round of laughter, they drank their shots. Upon finishing, Norman grabbed his bar towel and kept working.
"That was worth it," he said as he began.

"So, Norman, any good rumors?" inquired Doc as he poured his next glass.
"Well, word is they're installing a ground shield over Port Jackson but beyond that, it's been quiet," he said, "I'll be over here if you need anything."

After a couple more drinks, Doc then got involved with a poker table and per usual, went home many thousands of credits richer before closing time.

It had been awhile since Doc had been to Sophie's so for Norman, it was a pleasant surprised.
"You need to quit being such a stranger," ordered Norman.
"Well, I'll keep that in mind," Doc answered, "Coalition Vodka, my good man!"

Norman got a glass and began filling it with the red vodka mixture, "so where's that lovely wife of yours?"
"She's sleeping," answered Doc, "been a bit under the weather but she's OK otherwise."
"Do give her my regards," replied Norman. Doc just held up his glass in response and downed it, putting it back on the counter for a refill.

"Any good rumors?" asked Doc.
"Nothing you don't already know," answered Norman, "I am enjoying listening to the Bowex pilots complain about the Bretonian minefield on the other side of the Dublin jumphole. Seems the Queen forgot that her own refugee ships have to run it too. Rumor is one was disabled in it but that was only a rumor."

Doc just rolled his eyes, "Why am I not surprised?"

The two men chatted and shared some laughs in the sparsely populated bar. Besides the occasional coming or going Bowex, Zoner or Corsair pilot, the atmosphere was quiet.

Sophie flew into the Cafe at just under light-speed, relatively speaking. If a Fnordette had had ears, and if smoke could spew out of them, you'd have a good indication of Sophie's present "binary state"...

*Buncha damn drunk high-brow primates up there at Reggie's. I love em dearly, but they're all freeloaders! Oh yeah, they'll come down to ol' Port Canaria for free drinks and munchies, but they won't come to MY place to spend a stinkin' ounce of Flax!*

A slight whiff of ozone could actually be smelled in the air, as Sophie's processers kicked into overdrive.

*Norman! Get your lazy butt out from behind that bar, bozo. They're ain't gonna be a bar come tomorrow. I run a Bakery, not a booze hall! I make pies, not drunks!

*By tomorrow, I want that bar and booze outta here. The sign outside says "Sophie's Cafe", got it? I wanna see tables out on the sidewalk! I wanna see a menu with sandwiches and salads and stuff that doesn't make primates stupid! If you're not up to the job, you can hand in your apron!*

While Norman was a relatively fast primate, he only reached one tenth of light speed as he raced to do his boss's bidding, and keep his job.

//Open to all. Free Shaking Mountain Dark Roast coffee with every order. The Mgt.

Sophie floated away from the Landing area at a sedate 10 k/h, taking in all the bustle around the nearby trading ships. Business was still good on Canaria, and "her" end of Waverly LLC was doing good as well.

The enterprising Fnordette had been forced to lease a larger warehouse near the Spaceport. She was now wholesaler for the Shaking Mountain Coffee from the Uli Rouge Plantation, and Reggie's drying sheds were no longer able to keep up with the bumper crop of Kallisti Gold, spurred in growth and potency by the recent series of Ion storms.

Laughing Goddess Bakeries was still turning out pastries in the old warehouse, several blocks off the town square; and business was booming there as well. It seems that word of "her" recipes, and careful quality control had spread across Sirius like wildfire. Sophie was receiving orders not just from Freeports, but from House space and "other" customers as well.

As Sophie reached the square, she was pleased to see several of the sidewalk tables outside her Cafe filled with animated tourists, enjoying sandwiches, pastries and coffee. Her decision to remove liquour from the menu had been a good one. A drunken primate could spit from here and hit six bars anyway; but you could count the decent eateries in Port Canaria on the fingers of one hand.. if you had hands.

Sophie floated into the Cafe proper, and was mildly shocked to see Norman with a tie, perfectly clean apron, and menus at the ready. He had just handed a party of four off to a another hostess. Sophie was somewhat amused to also hear a bit of a faux Gallic accent coming from her "Maitre D's" lips.

As she "looked" around the dining area, she was again surprised to see over half the tables filled. She floated back toward Norman.

*Well, Norm, do ya miss pouring shots for the 3 regular drunks we used to shelter now?*

Norman straightened, flicked an imaginary speck of dust off a menu, and said, "Mais non, Madame Sophie!"

*Oh, Norm, save it for the rubes, eh?* She then floated towards the kitchen bobbing in greeting to guests as she went to chat with the Head Chef. It was a good day.

The roar of the Meeya-Wildcat's engines dulled as it touched down on the landing pad. Vixen sat still in her seat for a moment, before she got the slight acknowledgement from the mainframe, telling her she could move.
She walked towards the back of the bridge, her footsteps echoing in the empty room. She frowned at it. As Vixen passed through the door, she flicked out with her tail, pulling her hooded robe towards her, and donned it over her usual kimono, flicking her ears back and pulling up the hood.
As Vixen stepped down to the landing bay, she looked around, at the relatively few ships passing through to the docking ring, floating so high above the planet. She took a deep breath of the air, sighing at being able to breathe fresh air again, it made her tingle...
She began to wander the area around the landing zone, and, after a while, noticed a nice place...Sophie's. She walked inside, looking at the dining area, and smiled, tugging on her gloves as a habit, and walking towards a seat near one of the corners.

For the first time in two years, Linus actually landed on Gran Canaria rather than simply having the cargo shuttled to his orbiting transport. Besides the simple fact that it'd been ages since he'd visited what'd become the de facto Zoner homeworld if Zoners could be said to have such a thing he'd heard Sophie had taken over her bakery again. That, and the fact that he hadn't come in a transport or warship; instead, he'd flown to Omega-49 in his new Eagle.

Fighter perched on the landing pad and cat on his shoulder, it didn't take the Discordian long to find the place. As they got closer, Kali's eyes got wider as her little nose went into overdrive. Been way too long since I spent a bit 'o time planetside anywhere, Linus silently lamented. Not like I've got anything pressing to do, either...Dahlia's visiting some pals on Islay, Mathias is takin' probably the first leave he's ever taken to do I-don't-know-what, and there's no major crisis that I know of.

He took a seat in the outdoor portion of the cafe, leaning back and watching the fighters and freighters coming and going. Kali, however, was considerably less relaxed. She hopped off his shoulder, and ran to the door leading into the cafe in a hunting crouch, ears back and tail puffed. The black cat took the most tentative of peeks into the cafe, ears still back, tail a-twitching, and nose still going nuts.

Linus shrugged, figuring she'd just found another cat or something. Kali had become rather cautious when confronting strange animals ever since the two years they'd spent marooned on Gaia's surface. For that matter, Linus still kept the crude knife he'd fashioned from a piece of his old gunboat's armor plating...but that was neither here nor there. Paying no particular attention to his cat's antics at the moment, he picked up the menu that'd been sitting on the table and waited to be noticed.

Norman was quick in action that morning, but slow in memory. What can I get for you, Mr...

Linus is fine. Don'tcha remember me?

Umm...

He snickered. Just givin' ya a hard time. It's been awhile, wouldn't expect ya to remember me, really. As for what you can get me... Linus grinned, slapped the menu shut, and handed it to Norman. Just get me somethin'. I'm sure anything here's good, so just pick somethin' you think I might like. Or ask Sophie she might know. For that matter, I wouldn't mind talkin' with her Globeliness some, if she's not too busy.

Eyebrows furrowed, brain tickled but unable to be scratched into quite remembering the specifics of yet another enigmatic Zoner, Norman went back into the cafe, menu in hand.

Meanwhile, Kali came to some sort of silent kitty decision and returned to Linus. But instead of returning to his shoulder, she hopped up on the table right in front of him, ensuring that anything he might've considered doing in the space directly in front of him would be interrupted. He wasn't doing anything, though, so she simply nuzzled his face.

Whadja find, girl? An old friend? Enemy? In response, the cat bit his hand and sneezed. Intriguing. Of course, Linus had absolutely no idea what, if anything, his cat was trying to tell him...but it amused him to no end to observe the reactions of passers-by when he acted like he was communicating with Kali. And he thought maybe it amused her, too. That is, if kitty laughing consisted of laying down and going to sleep right in the spot that was to be occupied by Linus' plate.

He absently stroked her, still watching the comings and goings from the nearby spaceport, and waiting to see if Sophie was available for a chat.

It had been awhile since Doc had ventured over to Sophies. But, since he was spending a few days at home in his lab and being closer to his misses, he put on his old west attire and made his way over.

"Well, well, if it is Dr. John Henry Holliday!" exclaimed Norman as he strolled in, "it's about time you got back to us." As he got to the bar, Norman put out a shot glass and a bottle of Coalition Vodka on the counter.
"You haven't forgotten what I like, Old Friend," responded a smiling Doc.

Taking a shot, he then produced a deck of cards and began shuffling them, "anyone here ready to donate?" he asked with a grin.
"Well," he said, "there are some Bowex blokes in the corner."
"Bah," Doc replied, "the Bretonian Crown barely gives them enough to eat. Corsairs are always more willing."
"None here today, Doc," stated Norman to which Doc could only shrug as if to say "Ah well."

Doc looked around and began walking to check the rest of the bar, shuffling the cards in his hands. It was then he noticed his old friend, Linus and Sophie. He just grinned as he then knew where he was headed.
"Norman," he said as he turned to him in the doorway, "bring me that bottle and a couple more glasses."
He sat with his friends, shuffling the cards. He had the appearance of the Doc of old, the Doc before he had met his current wife. He was spry and quite ready to take someone's money.

"My, my, Sophie, it is good to see you again as it is you too, Linus," he commented.

Linus grinned, and Kali hopped down to greet the newcomer. "What's up, Doc? I keep hearin' about stuff you're doin', but never see hide nor hair of ya. Hope it's the good kind of busy, an' not the 'why are you shooting at me no dear God not the face not the face' kind. That kind's just downright unpleasant." He doffed his hat, and Kali promptly returned just to bat it off the table and onto the ground. Thus chastised, Linus simply held it in his lap, and wondered where Holliday had learned to shuffle cards.

Doc just smiled at Linus as if he was proud of himself.
"Son, I'd tell you where I learned to shuffle like this but, uh, I'm not so sure you would believe me," he said in his slight drawl.

He then sat down. Taking the deck of cards, he spread them in a line over the table with a single passing wave. He looked up at Kali with his cheshire cat smile and without looking, flipped the end card. The rest of the line then flipped in following, all cards going from the backs to the suits. Again grabbing the end, he quickly shrunk the line into a single pile and again began shuffling.

"Do remember, Miss," he said proudly, "I may be a doctor but I am also a gambler."
He then placed the cards face down before Linus.
"Cut the deck, Sir, and show the lady what you think of her," he said. When Linus did, he showed Kali the Queen of Hearts.

Doc said nothing, only grinning.