Ponyville's Own Barista (Closed)

[Techno Tealeaf]

Links to some basic floor plans of the shop:

Main Floor (the shop): http://i1232.photobu...f/Mainfloor.png

1^st Floor (Techno’s home): http://i1232.photobu...eaf/Bedroom.png

Basement (The dance club): http://i1232.photobu.../Dancefloor.png

The sun shone brightly through the large window at the front of the shop, its rays falling onto a display of multicolored tealeaves sitting in the windowsill. With a yawn Techno pulled her mane into a messy ponytail and adjusted her glasses as she walked downstairs. She trotted across the shop floor and unlocked the large wooden door and flipped the sign in the window so that it read ‘open’.

She then trotted behind the counter and set a kettle of water to boil to make herself some tea as she waited for the days customers.

[Davroth]

"LIGHTZ!"

The doors of the shop flung open as a dozen ponies flooded into the tea house, carrying boxes of different shapes and sizes, very heavy boxes from the looks of it. Some of the ponies were already busy building up different lighting elements. Hard lights, soft light, colored lights, natural lights.. the sheer amount and variety was impressive by itself.

"KAMERA!!"

On a table in the far end, several hard-top cases were laid out with extreme care, treated almost like priceless artifacts. Each one of them contained expensive looking camera equipment, complete with interchangeable lenses and different stands, all gleaming in the early sunlight.

"AKTION!!!"

The door flung open once again, this time the single figure of a mare appearing in the door frame, the tinted glasses of her iconic goggles glistening, her head held high, and one hoof pointing confidentially into the room in general.

"I, Photo Finish, haf arrived!!"

The blue mare of fashion strode into the shop area, turning her head barely noticeably as she oversaw her entourage's work. They worked like a well oiled machine, most of the time anyway, but under her keen eye, they didn't dare to risk any kind of mistake. With certain satisfaction, she made a mental note that her cameras had been taken good care of, and had even been arranged to her liking. She would take a closer look sooner. Right now, more pressing matters were on her mind.

When Photo Finish reached the middle of the room, she took a more exaggerated look around, flinging her head from side to side dramatically. "Tekno!" She exclaimed, her body exuding impatience. "Are you zere? It iz time!!"

[Techno Tealeaf]

The color left Techno's face and her ears flopped down in what could only be fear. "Oh no how did she find me here!?" she thought to herself as started to panic. "Maybe it's because your name and cutie mark are on the shop you foal." She facehoofed and made a mental note to change that sign later but right now she had a customer in her shop, even if that customer was determined to make her 'shine all over Equestria'. She put on a smile and perked her ears up again. "Welcome to my shop Miss. Finish, please uhh... make yourself at home. If there is anything you need just let me know and I'll do my best to help."

[Davroth]

Photo Finish and her crew made themselves very much at home. So much so in fact that after a few, brief minutes, the room resembled a professional photo studio more then a tea shop. All was set, to the point that the light engineers were already busy trying to put the bar area in the right light, and, by extension, Techno Tealeaf. Not that it would be good enough. Not for Photo Finish. Especially since the lighting was such a big part of photography. But it always paid to get a base lighting in place. It made the whole process smoother. And when you worked as fast as Photo Finish did, you wanted things to go smooth.

"Ah, Tekno! You awr look a bit, how you zay, under ze Wetter." The blue mare of fashion homed in on the poor unicorn behind the counter, taking a few, decisive steps towards her. Behind her glasses, she furrowed her brows barely noticeably. "Or iz zat the new Scheinwerfer ve got in Fillydelphia?"

The Earth pony turned sharply by a precise 180 degree and trotted towards the lighting crew near the entrance, who, even though this was a fairly common occurrence, looked like mice mesmerised by the stare of a hungry snake. She had that effect on most ponies, even those who worked for her. Photo Finish, in turn, didn't pay any attention to them, and instead began to adjust the lights pointed at Techno, flashing a spotlight into her eyes several times without even noticing.

But the poor unicorn couldn't really relax. Behind her, out of seemingly nowhere, two mares had appeared, beginning to meticulously brush Techno's colourful mane, one of them spraying something into it from a bottle.

[Techno Tealeaf]

Techno instictively held her breath every time the bottle was sprayed. She hated the smell of hair care products but she knew if she messed up the work of the two mares she would just get another helping of sprays and combs. Although she didn't mind her mane being brushed, in fact she really enjoyed it. She would never admit it to anypony of course.

A few times the bright lights were shone in her eyes, but she only winced and raised a hoof to block the light, she didn't dare move from her spot as the two mares worked on her mane.

"Miss. Finish is there anything I can get you or your staff? Drinks maybe?"

She turned to the two mares working on her mane. "Would you like anything ladies?"

[Davroth]

Photo Finish was still completely occupied by adjusting the lights, and even though she looked over to the bar every few seconds, she showed absolutely no signs that she actually heard the unicorn mare's question. As she worked, the adjustments became more and more minimal, to a point that the differences were barely noticeable any more. But the blue mare of fashion certainly knew the difference.

Meanwhile, the mares had finished their work. Techno's mane, usually held up in a pony tail, now flowed around her shoulders. It still looked a little messy, but it was more of an intentional kind of messy, the kind of messy that said: 'I don't give a flying feather how my mane looks!' Giving her another glance, Photo Finish thought to herself: 'If zat's not her 'look', zen it'z not far off...'

It was a soothing thought. In the world of fashion, it was important to stay relevant. And with her recent misstep, Photo Finish needed something big. But this mare.. She was a natural, Photo Finish was sure about it!

The mares next to Techno, now that they were finished, enjoyed having a little breather while their boss was busy, so they gladly accepted her offer for a drink. They looked very sympathetic for her, but they knew all too well that once Photo Finish had made up her mind, it would be hard to escape her grasp.

[Techno Tealeaf]

Techno smiled and brought out cups and a pitcher for the mares who had been working on her mane. She took some tea leaves down from a box in the wall and using her magic fused the tea leaves with sugar to form a perfect blend and added it to the pitcher. The tea leaves now shimmered like diamonds as she put them into the pitcher.

"I hope sweet tea is ok, if not I can make something else for you." She said as she added warm water and ice to the pitcher. She sat it down on a table between the two mares along with the two cups.

She then sat down and absent mindedly flipped her head to get her bangs out of er eyes. "Is there uhh... anything I can get you Miss. Finish?" She rubbed her left leg with her right hoof nervously. Truth be told the high fashion mare intimidated Techno, but she did her best to make sure all of her customers were happy and well cared for even if the customer was someone as headstrong as Photo Finish.

[Davroth]

Undeterred in her strive for perfect lighting, Photo Finish didn't even notice that her latest model was talking to her. It she seemed to be getting close though, considering that even her dedicated lighter stallion couldn't even notice the difference between the little adjustments the blue mare of fashion made.

The two mares thanked Techno kindly for the sweet tea, drinking it with the poise and composure you'd expect from anyone working in the fashion business, and for Photo Finish no less. As they were drinking their tea, they exchanged some idle chatter about the latest scandals in the world of fashion. They giggled and chattered, and were just about to ask Techno on her opinion as they were interrupted by a loud clicking sound.

"Tekno!" Photo Finish had erected her tripod, and a camera was already fired up and ready to go. "It iz time!"

The two mares quickly finished the last of their tea, thanks the unicorn mare again, and placed the cups on a tray near the sink. They then, very quickly and discreetly, removed themselves from the field of vision of the camera. The blue mare of fashion was already tapping her hoof in impatience. "We begin..... noaw!"

The camera flashed again and again, capturing Techno Tealeaf in the relative mundane pose of 'standing behind the counter'. But the camera continued to click and flash as if it was the most interesting pose ever conceived in the world of fashion photography.

[Techno Tealeaf]

Techno blinked and rubbed her eyes as the camera flash went off.

"Oh! W-wait let me just get these cups put away and then I'll -." She was interupted by another flash of the camera's light. She put up a hoof to block the bright light and shook her head to clear her mind.

"These lights are always so bright! How much light does she need for a white mare?!" Techno thought to herself. She really had no head for fashion, to her it was only logical that a white pony would need less lighting than say a chocolate colored pony.

She rubbed her eyes with her hoof and blinked rapidly to clear the spots that were swimming in front of her eyes.

[Davroth]

Photo Finish paused for a moment, looking at his camera with what could be described with a doubtful expression, but looked more like open contempt for the inanimate object. One of the lighter stallions dimmed the light slightly to give the white unicorn mare a little breather. The mares that had been busy brushing Techno's mane earlier returned to her side, and offered her to help with the dirty dishes, while the blue mare of fashion worked on her camera.

A hollow click informed Photo Finish that the film was full, so she just tossed the casing behind her, in the waiting forelegs of one of her many assistants. In one corner, almost melting into the background, stood a small indoor tent, most likely a darkroom. The assistant, along with another one, disappeared into it with the camera, undoubtedly to hastily develop the pictures.

The blue mare of fashion turned to the table with the different cameras, eyeing them through her trademark goggles. In her head, she considered different lenses, and thought about changing the lighting yet again. Plus, you never really knew how the pictures turned out in the end.

[Techno Tealeaf]

Techno sighed with relief as the many fashion ponies went about their buisness. After making sure the glasses had been put into the sink she then shook her mane slightly and walked over to Photo Finish and the table covered in cameras.

[colour=#800080]"There's so many! Do you need all of these for every shoot you do?" [/colour]She tilted her head as she asked the question causing her mane to fall to the side.

[Davroth]

The blue Mare of Fashion didn't even look up as Techno posed her question. Her mind was completely absorbed with trying to figure out which camera was best for this situation. She was so absent minded, in fact, that she actually answered. Her tone was considerable different. It was still clearly her voice, but it didn't have the edge it usually had when she was ordering her poor entourage (or her models) around.

[colour=#dda0dd]"It's important zat I, Photo Finish, choose ze right Kamera for zis kind of room, and zis kind of light."[/colour] She tilted her head, still eyeing her cameras. [colour=#dda0dd]"I vill accept nozing other zen Perfektion!"[/colour]