2023.12.02: Bob and Sacha Meet

Bob and Sacha Meet
New arrival Bob is sipping Mocha in Roasters when he meets charismatic model Sacha and learns a bit about the fashion world, while Sacha learns a bit about VR.
IC Date	December 2nd, 2023
IC Time	Evening
Players	Bob, Sacha
Location	Prospect Roasters
Spheres	Mage Mortal

Sacha makes her way in to Prospect Roasters from the street. She takes a few seconds to look around the place before she moves to the counter to order a latte and some pastry. Over her shoulder she carries a bag with various things.

Prospect Roasters is your standard issue, run of the mill, coffee house. It is faux painted in washes of colors striking a calculated balance between dynamic and soothing. There is a mural painted into the wall of a never-ending crowd of people, a welcoming attitude and open feel in the faces of the people. The people are of every breed of humankind, every race, every style of dress, from every culture on earth.

Above the heads of the crowd, is the inscription:

"Peace is not unity in similarity, but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences."

The high ceiling holds hanging ceiling fans, slowly rotating the air in the space, moving the scents of food from the back kitchen. The display cases of clear domed glass show the pastries and baked goods for sale to tempt the palate while the classic slate chalkboards display the specials and menu to the crowd in multicolored chalk and bright looping script behind the cash registers and space to collect the orders placed.

Wherever possible there is a friendly reminder that the Roasters charge a higher price to promote fair trade, a living wage, and sustainability for all involved, as well as various charities, and no one goes hungry if they just haven't eaten in a while. There are two registers at the front to make things a little easier with the increased business.

The patrons range from edgy young hipsters to aging hippies and everything in between. There is food to supplement the caffeine fix. The staff consists of a tragically hip couple behind the bar and a disembodied Hispanic voice that echoes through the small window leading to the kitchen. There is always music playing here, eclectic music which swings wildly from genre to genre.

A tall man in a wheelchair is parked next to the bigger uglier couch. Bob is typing away on an ultr-alite laptop, a laptop with altogether too many stickers adorning it's top. He has dark brown hair, close to shoulder length. He also has a thin beard and mustache.

His body lacks muscle definition. And he is smiling.

The laptop sits on a tray containing two convenient drink holders. He grabs a Cafe Mocha from one and takes a long gulp as he looks up at the new arrival, giving a pleasant smile and nod in greeting.

She's no more than 5'5", somewhere around a hundred and ten pounds, a healthy weight.

Her complexion is fairly tan, as if she was using most of her time in the sun. Her strawberry blond blond hair have been put up in a bun on her head and tied down with a hair piece of some elaborate design. Strands shoots out here and there and it ends in a whip that stands straight up and swishes around as she walks. Her eyes are light green. She got a pretty little nose. The lips are tight, and sports a light lip gloss with a faint shine. From the feet up. She is wearing a pair of knee-high leather boots with a high thin heel that makes a clacking sound with each step she takes, announcing her presence long before she is seen. Bare legs from mid thigh, she wears a leather skirt of matte black color. A wide belt with a shiny buckle sits around her waist. Tucked into the belt is a white dress shirt with pearl buttons. The top two ones stand open and reveal a cleavage from her DD bust. Around her neck hangs a thin gold chain with a small shiny stone as a pendant.

As Sacha makes her way to one of the small seating arrangements she passes by the big couch where Bob sits in the wheelchair, she notices how he looks at her and smiles. She returns the smile and nod followed by a "Hello there"

The laptop lid closes, and the man grins. "Hi yourself. I'm Bob. You're welcome to join me, if you'd like." He adds, after a moment, "Not many people here today so far."

He makes a motion to the couch.

Sacha nods to his statement "Oh Hello Bob... I'm Sacha." she walks over to the couch where she places her cup and small plate on the table before she sits on the couch. Her bag is placed on the couch besides her. She looks around and then back to Bob "Yeah, its a slow day in the shop." she nods to his computer "So are you a student at Uni, or just happened to come by?"

Sacha takes a seat on the Bigger Uglier Couch.

Bob wakes from a momentary reverie. "Ah, umm yes. I start UCP in the Spring. Going for my Ph.D. in Computer Science.". He pauses, sips the Mocha through a metal straw. "I'm new in town. How about you Sacha, you a student too?", he asks.

Sacha listens to him explain and she chuckles and shakes her head "No.. I just happen to live down the street, so when I don't bother to brew my own coffee I come here as it's close by." she takes her cup and sips from her latte as she looks at him "PhD, that sounds like quite an achievement."

Bob shrugs, "It's an achievement. I can make a living now, but the Ph.D. will let me teach and do research at the university." He smiles. "I've been a student a while. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to not be a student, get a full time job."

Sacha nods to him "Making a living is important, but just as important is it to like what it is your doing, and I have a feeling that the teaching part is important for you." she sips to her cup again. "Never been a student myself. The closest I ever come to being a student is when I'm practicing on my piano back home. But its all quite low level."

OOC: Sacha mentions she has a fame note set:

 <---======##=-----------------[ FAME (PUBLIC) ]------------------=##======--->
 Status: APPROVED by SassyCat on Wed Nov 03 12:03:26 2021
 Establised model within Fasion catwalks and magazines. Clothed and lingeri.
 <-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

OOC: Bob says, "He doesn't have a good sense of style (yet), and spends a lot of his time in his computers (he's a geek), so he probably wouldn't recognize her being a fashion model, I think. Unless you can propose something?"

OOC: Sacha says, "OK, that's cool :)"

Bob looks at her, curious. "If not a student though, what do you do?"

Sacha looks at him while he explains. Now and then she sips from her cup and nibs to her pastry. "Me... I'm a model with some various fashion magazines." She is not used to people her own age not knowing who she is, but she seems to be quite content with it.

Bob seems curious. "That's cool. Do you get to fly around the world shooting pictures then? It sounds glamorous. I, umm, don't follow fashion much. I'm kind of a T and jeans guy, with a blazer if needed."

Sacha chuckles and nod "Yeah I have been quite a few places with my work. It's less glamorous than it sounds, but I really enjoy my work." she sips to her cup again "Jeans and a t-shirt really works too." she nods to him "It's OK, most of my work within fashion is also guided towards the female population."

Bob looks thoughtful. "You know, have you thought about doing fashion online? There's a number of virtual worlds gaining popularity, and selling virtual clothing in those is a big thing, and modelling is becoming so. There's real money there, too. One person made several million from a combo of selling virtual land and clothes. I could set you up for that, might be a source of some extra income for you."

Sacha tilts her head as he explains the idea he had. "Virtual clothing... that sounds really funny." She leans a bit forward and looks at him "I have done work for some online magazines, but not for selling specific clothing items."

Bob shrugs, "It's different. But virtual worlds present a way for people to meet and interact with people they'd otherwise never get the chance to, and interact in ways they couldn't otherwise. And people will pay good money to look good while they're doing it.", he says.

Sacha nods with another smile "Yeah, it just takes a little getting used to that people is actually paying a lot of money for doing all those things in virtual reality... I have mostly done work for the glossy magazines, but as the digital world gets bigger and bigger I'm sure there is a lot to make from that." She ponders for a few seconds. "How would it work, making digital clothing, and modeling it."

Bob thinks a moment. "Well, we'd create you an avatar, a 3d representation of yourself, or how you want to represent yourself in the digital world. Then we'd create the fashion for it. You'd probably design the fashion, and I'd translate that into digital items. Then we record 3d scenes, think of a movie of just you, playing on a small stage instead of on a flat screen, 3d. Then we market it in other's virtual stores, or in our own. With proper marketing, my skills, and your fashion sense/looks - I could see us making a fair bit of money."

Sacha nods a few times as he explains. "Hmm. It could be fun to look into. I have no clue how to do the programming so that would all have to be you. But I could sure put some outfits together to various social situations. I am curious how it would all work, how to figure out how to make it all digital once its put together."

Bob nods enthusiastically, "I'm happy to work with you on it. Uhh, I don't have a place to do the computer imaging needed. Do you? I can provide the equipment."

Sacha nods a few times. "I have a rather large house. All depending how much room the stuff takes up I'm sure we can find a room." She looks at his wheelchair. "Only it'd have to be at the ground floor. Due to the age of the house it's not really built to accommodate a wheelchair like yours."

Bob grins, "I've been thinking about rigging a tracked version that can go up and down steps. But yeah, lets plan for the first floor. We won't need a lot of space. I can be ready, umm, let's say sometime next week. If that works?"

Sacha grins as well. "Next week sounds fine. That gives me some time to clear the office i have next to the living room. I'm sure it could work well. Rick had a huge desk in there when the house was his."

Bob smiles, "Great, let me know when's a good day once you're ready and I'll bring the equipment over. It's light enough I can handle it. I should finish up my current project, so I can start on the code needed to do ours."

OOC: Bob and Sacha agree to fade here, and continue the RP next week.

OOC: Note, this project is intended initially to just be an online storefront where people can buy custom VR avatars (i.e. icons), as just an RP thing, or possibly as a justification for a one dot Resources increase. Eventually it may morph into formatting a sector of the Digital Web into an arcology that includes a fashion store, but that: will be a separate project, will not be for quite some time, and will require separate discussion with staff/jobs/etc.