Tea Shop

@LilTeaLee Taehyung smiled softly at Hyeri's enthusiasm, and he really hoped that she would look into the game. He looked forward to seeing what kind of a character she made for herself in the gaming world, but he was also hoping that they could become friends in the real world, too. She already felt like a best friend, considering he saw her almost every day, but he hoped that maybe it could be more than just talking for a few minutes when he came for his daily dose of cocoa to get him through the day. Watching movies together and talking about whatever interested them at the moment - things best friends do.

"No fancy spelling. I'm a simple man," Taehyung said with a small laugh. "Sure! I'd love it if you would tell your friends it. I think it's a game that anyone can enjoy."

After hearing her question, Taehyung took a sip of his cocoa to give him some time to think. There were a lot of things that he was proud of in the game, so it was hard to choose just one thing. He bit his lip softly as a sip of cocoa didn't give him enough time to think of it all. "If I had to choose one thing," Taehyung said, and the corner of his mouth quirked up as he thought a little more. "I'm most proud of the realism in the game." He decided. It was the one part in the game where all of the team had come together to create it. The artist had to work to make the animations look as life-like as possible, and the programmers had to work to make the collisions and object detection as realistic as possible. The sound producer was in charge of getting all the sounds to make it feel more real, and the debuggers were in charge of making sure that it all went together flawlessly. It may have been the toughest part of building the game, but it was nice to see all the teammate's efforts coming together like that. He nodded. "Definitely the realism. I think the players will be amazed by how much it will feel like they're really in the game while playing."

@kimtaetae She heard how proud Taehyung was and a slight grin spread across her face. Mmorpg’s weren’t new to her but she hadn’t played many, but the idea of one developed by someone she had seen so often was astounding to her. She’d never have guessed that he’d been working on games all this time, and when she’d asked what game it was she’d half expected something simple like a single player tower defense game.

“Eternal Realm? Haven’t heard of it before but I’ll definitely remember that! I’ll have to check it out!” she exclaimed, before pulling her phone out of her pocket. “One second, let me just write that down. No fancy spelling or anything, right?” she asked as she opened her notes and wrote down the name, before looking at Taehyung again. “I can tell a few of my friends about it too if you want? Get the hype up so to speak.” she grinned before changing the topic slightly.
“So, if you’re able to say, what is your favorite thing in this game? Like what have you worked on in it that you’re most proud of?” she asked, tilting her head as she looked at him before taking another sip of her drink.

@LilTeaLee Taehyung was a little surprised by the girl's amount of interest in his work. Most of the time, when he talked about making games, people rolled their eyes and called it a waste of time. He was often called a nerd, and very little interest was ever shown in what he did for a living. So having someone even the slightest bit interested was a wonderful feeling.

"Oh, it's a surreal virtual reality mmorpg," Taehyung said proudly, glad to be one of the pioneers in this genre of gaming. He and his team had been working together and working hard to make this game as life-like as possible so that the direction of the wind, the flap of a bird's wings, and the sound of rain was all very life-like for the players. Along with that meant having life-like pain when their character's felt it, but it was just a game. The players wouldn't be damaged at all once they stopped playing. "You might have heard of it. It's called Eternal Realm. We're starting with a full free month to all players who join during the beta period, if you're interested."

@kimtaetae She heard the man laugh and smiled more, nodding back at him. "Well, half ain't bad at all," she said cheerfully as she listened to the man.

"Oh, that sounds pretty awesome! What sort of game is it?" she asked, tilting her head as she looked at him inquisitively. She hadn't played many games before, but she'd found a few that she'd enjoyed and was interested in finding more games to play.

@LilTeaLee Ah, Hyeri. Now that she had said it, he could perfectly imagine the name written across the badge that she would wear every day while she was at work. Taehyung laughed softly. "Hyeri," He hummed softly with a nod. "At least I got one half right." He smiled wide.

He picked up the warm glass of cocoa and took a sip before looking back at her as she asked him something. "Oh, my only plans are working," He said with a soft laugh. "The game that I've been working on is launching at midnight tonight, and I'm trying to make sure I have everything ready before then."

@kimtaetae Hyeri smiled as he confirmed that she’d got his name right, and she nodded slightly, glad that she’d managed to remember properly. He was their best customer, and one that came in so often that she’d be too embarrassed to serve him properly had she got the name wrong. She watched him out his bag over the back of the chair, and speak to her, hesitating before finishing her name and she smiled reassuringly. “Hyeri. It’s hard when we’re not wearing the name badges, isn’t it?” she said, chuckling slightly afterwards. “So, many plans for today, or just working on your laptop again?” she said, her hands wrapping around her glass as she leant forwards slightly.

@LilTeaLee Taehyung laughed and smiled cheekily as he joined the girl, still trying to recall her name. "You would be guessing correctly," He said and bit his lip softly as he remembered Hye...something. What was the last part? He doubted their customer-barista relationship put him on a high enough level to get away with just calling her Hye, but it was almost embarrassing to ask for her name when she seemed to know him so well. Taehyung removed his bag and placed the strap over the back of the chair as he sat across from her. "This is the first time we're meeting properly, right?" Taehyung asked, trying to be friendly. "Without a counter between us, anyway, so it's nice to meet you properly, Hye..." He hesitated and stopped there, more embarrassed about assuming the last part and possibly getting it wrong.

@kimtaetae Hyeri had spotted most of the people coming in and out of the cafe, but most were just faces that she recognised, people who came in once or twice a week and changed up their order a lot and never attempted to make conversation. Then she saw Taehyung come in, he was one of their best customers, reliable and regular. She’d be worried if there was ever a longer period of time that he didn’t come in.

As he came over to her table she smiled slightly, pulling her drink closer to herself so there was more room on the table.
“Yeah, I just can’t get enough of being here. They do surprisingly nice cold drinks though.” she said with a smile as she pointed to the cold tea she had ordered, chuckling slightly to herself, before the man asked if he could join her. “Of course, Taehyung wasn’t it?” she said sweetly, her hand gesturing to one of the seats at the table. “Salted caramel hot chocolate today I’m guessing?“

@LilTeaLee Taehyung was never much of a morning person, so his run to the cafe in the early afternoon was usually the first time he had been out of his apartment after getting out of bed. He never came for coffee - he couldn't stand the bitterness of it, so cocoa was always his choice, a salted caramel hot chocolate to be exact. He walked into the cafe a little earlier in the afternoon than usual. He came here often enough that the people at the counter knew his drink order by heart - and the ones who stayed long enough knew when the flavor would change to gingerbread in the winter. While waiting in the short line to get his coffee, he spotted the familiar face of one of the barista's here. He had never heard her name, but she was always wearing a name tag when she was behind the counter. Even so, he couldn't recall what it was.

He handed his money over to the girl on the other side of the counter and took his cocoa once it was ready. He then headed over to the table with the familiar face, and he offered a smile. "Hi," He said, trying his best to remember the girl's name. By now, she had known Taehyung's name since he was a regular, but he couldn't recall what he had seen written on her nametag almost every day. "Just can't get away from this place, can you?" He asked, laughing lightly before taking a sip of his cocoa. He stood be hind the chair on the other side of the table. "Mind if I join you?" By now the cafe was a little more crowded, and there were just a few tables left completely open. If Taehyung could have company, he wasn't going to be bothered to look for one of those open tables.

It was early afternoon and the building wasn’t too quiet, or too busy. There were a few people sat scattered throughout the tables and most were talking but the small space wasn’t over faced by the noise, and Hyeri could only hear what was being said when she listened carefully, and that wasn’t something she was prone to doing.
Today was her day off, but she’d found that her addiction to cold teas had brought her back here, and after a quick conversation with the woman that was working for the day, Hyeri had her drink and made her way to one of the tables, thankful that she had got there before it had become too busy.