2026-06-14: How Best to Buttle
- Log: How Best to Buttle
- Cast: Hyousuke Suzuki, Ryuji Sakamoto
- Where: Le Chat Marron
- OOC Date: 2026-06-14
- IC Date: Sat Nov 24 2012
- Summary: Looking to earn some extra money through means that don't require bodily harm, Hyousuke seeks employment at a butler cafe. There's a familiar face waiting for him there, however.
(|============================== Le Chat Marron ==============================|)
-========================================================= Tokyo/Akihabara ====-
Take a left off the streets of Electric City, then down a stairway, and you'll
find a door with a frosted glass window labeled 'Le Chat Marron'. On the side is
a menu stand listing the seasonal offers and any specials.
Inside, one will be greeted by a cozy but elegant cafe setting with a vaguely
European Old World feel. The white walls are accented by dark wood wainscot half
panels, above which are framed posters of turn-of-the-century lithographs from
European artists such as Jules Chéret, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Alphonse Mucha.
There's a bar against one wall, with various bottles set against a mirrored
display. Lighting is kept bright enough to portray the place as elegant, while
also being dim enough to feel cushy.
You'll be attended to by a butler of your choosing, though who is available
largely varies from day to day. Unlike many cafes, the butlers may be female or
male, and their theme, while in keeping with the general turn of the century
European feel, can run the gamut otherwise, as will their quality, acting, and
ability to speak English (or any other language, for that matter). Really, it's
more likely you'd be here for the desserts, savory snacks, teas, and fancy
drinks (non-alcoholic, as this is an all-ages cafe!) than the butlers, but there
is a certain appeal to being called 'ojou-sama', 'danna-sama', or 'bocchama'. If
your butler is particularly good, you just may feel like a member of the upper
class!
-==== Players =================================================================-
Hyousuke Suzuki [VII]
-=================================== Exits ====================================-
<O> Return to Electric Town - Main
(|============================================================================|)
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke was not one for formal clothes. Jeans, shorts, t-shirts, all were within the purview of his wardrobe. What did not often - or perhaps ever - find its way into his ensembles were suits, tuxedos, and other such items. Indeed, his jackets were perhaps the smartest things he owned, and they hardly constituted suitable attire for a black tie event. Yet the allure of a decent wage without having to plumb the depths of supernatural subways, or ascend up the towering heights of Tartarus, was enough to to have him throw it on, and make an effort to look good in it.
That did not, however, mean that he took any pleasure in the act. As he emerged from the changing room, Hyousuke looked visibly uncomfortable. His steps were somewhat awkward, the movements of his arms stiff and robotic, while his neck constantly craned this way and that so that he might try and see with his own eyes what was so uncomfortable. The piece fit a man of his frame surprisingly well, so he ruled out that as an option, and he had been assured it was not some cheap rags assembled into the shape of a uniform, so he did not believe it to be a matter of material either.
"You'll get used to it." A member of staff remarked as he walked by, as if he was not the first to feel uncomfortable due to inexperience.
"I hope I do. Can't imagine walking around feeling like this for eight hours..." Hyousuke clearly did not relish the thought of wearing it for more than a minute, let alone an hour, but stomached his displeasure and sallied forth. "So who am I working with today? You said you had someone else that could teach me how this works."
"Of course, of course. He's just through there - please, introduce yourself. I'm sure he'll be glad to make your acquaintance."
Hyousuke nodded curtly, straightened his posture, then stepped forward to meet his new mentor. Fully intent on seeming like he was at least trying to appear more refined, he spoke in as formal a manner as he could muster, before abruptly cutting himself off.
"Good day to you. It's a pleasure to meet y-"
He stood, stared, and remained silent for a moment. His expression froze, before shifting into something that fell halfway between puzzled and surprised.
"Sakamoto-san?!"
<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
Ryuji has been at this Butler thing for a little bit now. As one of the more popular butlers, he has seen a lot and dealt with even more. Still, he feels weird in his suit, often going out of his way to make sure this one lasted him.
Today, he was training a new hire and he actually felt a little proud that someone was going to have to listen to -his- expertise. The blonde yawns as he leans back on one of the chairs, glad he didn't need to maintain a stiffness now that customers were out of the building. He yawns as he looks at his manga, waiting for the new hire to show. It was good he had some down time before the real work was going to begin.
Finally, he hears his name and turns his head, almost jumping out of his chair. This was the delinquent he was training? Heh, it figures. After a moment, Ryuji shuts his manga and sets it down on the table, cracking his neck with a swift motion. "Hey, Suzuki. Heh, guess I'm training ya. Good, good."
He stands and walks toward the other boy, looking him over. "Hmmm. How much about this kind of stuff do you know about? Lets start there and I'll get to the nitty gritty stuff like how you stand and how you talk. Those take the most time to commit to memory."
"It's a lot harder than you think but also a lot easier in other ways....Basically it's a lot of acting a certain way to give our customers an experience consistent with the theme of this place. Obviously I'm talking to you pretty normally but we're gonna practice the dos and don'ts once we get there."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke remained still and quiet as Ryuji spoke. Head canted a little in curiosity - or perhaps simple confusion - he remained fixated on attempting to figure out just what he was looking at, and how the two of them had wound up together. His head tilted to one side or the other a couple of times, but that was about the only movement that he made, until prompted to speak. Slowly, the tension in his body began to fall away, and Hyousuke found himself a little more relaxed once it sank in that he was in the company of a friend.
"Not much." Hyousuke confessed with a shrug. "I watched a couple episodes of The Stygian Servant, but all I know's what I've seen on TV." In other words, he saw people dressed nice and talking formally, looking like something out of a Western-style period piece as they poured cups of Earl Grey. "I know stuff about tea though. I can brew it good, and I know what snacks work well with 'em." Given how often tea seemed to be associated with such places, he wondered - and, on some level, hoped - that was the reason he'd been hired.
And not because the place needed someone to cater to customers wishing for a more 'rugged' sort.
Hyousuke glanced around the place, thumbs tucked haphazardly into his pockets as he took stock of the situation. For the most part, it seemed like most of the staff had started to attend to preparations for the next batch of customers, though made sure to give him and Ryuji space to practice in.
"I don't have to know much English, do I?" He asked, sounding about as worried as he dared to be - not much, in other words, but enough to convey a general sense of apprehension. "And don't even get me started on French."
<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
Ryuji blinks when the other boy mentions a butler anime, feeling his hand go to his face for a moment. "Ok...yeah that's not much but we can fix that....First off, you need to stand straight and walk while maintaining it. It makes you look disciplined and dependable. It's ok to mess up at first but the ideal is about this." The blonde demonstrates, losing his delinquent lean and becoming much more straight in his posture. "When you walk, it's a pace thats not too fast but not too slow. I can show you but obviously my limp will kinda make it different from what you need to do."
After a moment, Ryuji walks back and forth with a deliberate pace. "While you can use some style in developing your character, the closer you are to the standard, the more likely you will picked. Our clients expect a certain amount of this to be right. Don't stress too much though since you're just learning."
On the question about language, Ryuji pauses and just stares. "Uhhh I mean you gotta know the stuff we serve but hell if I can speak English or French." He recalls the Wild Hunt criticizing his French and smirks.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke looked the typical delinquent at first, if one were to ignore his clothes. Scarred, with a crop of blonde hair, his frame did little to aid potential perceptions of him. However, the second that Ryuji began to demonstrate an example for him, it was as though a switch had been flipped inside him. His wandering eyes focussed like a hunting hound's, his posture straightened, and remained still whilst waiting for the instruction to end. The only real movements he made were to nod, and the only sounds he made were short ones of acknowledgement - clearly, someone had taught him to be a good student.
Off in the distance, far away from any kind of butler-related establishment, Mutou-sensei sneezed. It was getting to be about that time of year, he supposed, then continued on with his work.
"The walking I can do." Hyousuke said eventually, once he was certain that all had been said. He'd already assumed a better posture than the one he'd walked in with - a straight one, not so rigid as to appear forced, but firm enough that he did not seem languid either. It was more akin to a martial arts stance tweaked for another purpose, rather than something purpose-built for butlering, but it was already a marked improvement. "The acting, I can probably do." He sounded markedly less sure about it, but eager nevertheless. He seemed willing to practice, if nothing else. "And remembering the names... I can remember the tea?" He gave a sheepish grin, before standing off to the side, and attempting to recreate how Ryuji had walked.
It was certainly no hunched-over shuffle, or ego-laden swagger, but it was clear he'd not had to attend a formal event in many a year. Indeed, with his back straight and shoulders back, his gait seemed to put speed and distance over the precision required to appear refined. Useful for closing the distance in a fight, perhaps, but the butler cafe was most certainly not a boxing ring or the depths of Mementos.
"How's that look?" He asked, turning on his heel at the end of his attempt.
<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
"Hm. Not bad. You're picking all of this up pretty well." Ryuji watches the other delinquent move, nodding slowly. When he mentions only remembering the tea, he laughs a little shrugging his shoulders. "I mean that's good enough for now. You should probably also memorize our tea blends and come up with one of your own. If you need help, we can probably come up with something bold and rugged since that is kinda the vibe you're conveying."
"Ok, lets try bowing. Do you know the three levels of bowing and when to use them?" He watches the other boy, crossing his arms as he thinks about whats next. "Basically, it's greeting, a little more formal and when you mess up something or cause an inconvenience. Each one is lower but while still maintaining the rigidness in your posture. Key thing to remember is to maintain a level of elegance, even when you mess up."
Ryuji goes to the table and fetches a plastic kettle, a tray and some cups. "We're gonna start with these cuz the real thing breaks easily and they get kinda annoyed if you keep dropping them. So lets go over how to drop something off and walking to a table."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke couldn't hide the proud little smile he wore at the knowledge that it was good enough. It was his first try, after all, and he did not expect it to be perfect from the outset, so 'not bad' was already a better result than he could have hoped for. There was no time to dwell on it, nor to rest on his laurels, however. There was more ground to cover, and it was territory that Hyousuke was wholly unfamiliar with. He shook his head slowly, the sheepish look returning as he did so.
"Not really. I know you gotta bow deeper for some stuff, but I don't really do it all that much." He then looked over to the plastic and gave them a cursory examination. Strangely enough, the tray received more attention than the pot or the cups, though not by much. He eventually nodded, straightened back up, then looked back to Ryuji for his next instructions. "Guessing you can't just slide it onto the table and tell 'em to enjoy it." He remarked, about as wryly as a person like him was capable of.
<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
"Ok so standard bow is this." Ryuji demonstrates by bending so his upper body is parallel with the floor. "Then you have the more polite one, which is for moments when you need to be a bit more formal." He bends a little lower. "Then if you mess up or need to deliver bad news, it's this one" Ryuji bows even lower before leaning back up. He adjusts his stance and gestures for Hyousuke to try.
"Honestly, it just takes practice and some patience."
When Hyousuke mentions just sliding it on the table, Ryuji grins and shakes his head. "Nah, it's more a presentation thing so it has to be extra fancy. You place down the cup and then pour them a cup before setting down the kettle in the center of the table. If they want another cup, you pick it up and repeat the process. It's a lot more involved."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke watched intently, examining every minute movement that served to clue him in on how best to serve potential patrons. Once more, he was quiet. Once more, he was observant. But unlike with the walk, his efforts at bowing were far less fluid. It was not as though the concept of doing so was completely anathema to him - he still engaged with society to some extent, and that required bowing at times. Indeed, the base motion was something he might normally have managed without much issue. The issue came when he attempted precision with it. What had once been a movement he'd been forced to practice due to social norms became a stiff and awkward attempt at achieving a precise angle, leaving the whole thing feeling forced. The salt in the wound was that his angles ended up imprecise as well. Each was deeper than the other, certainly, but that was the kindest thing that could be said for them.
"Thinking I need to start carrying a protractor around..." Hyousuke remarked, sounding a little put off, but soldiering on nonetheless. Ryuji served up an introduction to tea next, and he seemed remarkably keen on moving on to cover that. "Pick it up and pour it out... I can do that." He murmured, before peering down at the plastic tea set. His expression shifted to one of consternation, however, and he latched a couple of fingers to his chin, before looking to Ryuji. "...Alright, what's the catch? What kinda fancy butler stuff do I need to do when I'm pouring it out?"
<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
Ryuji watches as Hyousuke bowed and felt his face tighten in a frown. The walk was fine but he needed some work on the bow. "Hmmm. You're much too stiff...even if I said you need to be rigid, there is an elegance to it." He demonstrated each bow again, trying to show the fluidity of the movement. In truth, he felt like an ass being this strict but if he wasn't, this guy wasn't going to make as much money.
"Hmmm Ok I think we got everything but the basics of talking and to be honest, that shit is easy? Madame, Lady, and the highest honorics and you can't go wrong....Tell you what, how about we sit down and discuss it over some tea and I can let you have the crash course on all of this...It is a bit dry but if you stick to it, you'll make some good money at this." Ryuji grins, patting the other boy on the shoulder. "Come on, lets get some of my blend while we figure out your character, alright?"