All characters portrayed herein either belong to someone, is a copyright of a company, exist in real life, or is a product of my imagination. Credit is due everywhere, take it as you will, but first and foremost to the creators of Fallout and Fallout 2 for their café's of broken dreams inspired mine.
"At the beginning and end of life and death, souls and personalities come and go drifting through existence and finding themselves at the Café of Broken Dreams."
Manganate fanfiction presents.
A self-insert fanfiction by Bryce Chu
It began quite simply. Some say he did it out of greed. Some say he was insane when he started. Some say he was looking for enlightenment. Some say he was tired and bored with life. Some say he was lonely. Still others say he was trying to make a name for himself. In actuality no one really knew. Not even himself, but if you look for him you'll always find him. He'll always be there, taking orders, serving drinks, talking, and kicking people out of his Café of Broken Dreams.
The Café of Broken Dreams
(Episode 1)
It was another typical night. The rejects and sorts of characters came and went. The regulars were all blasted, dead drunk. Bryce sat at the counter doodling, the kitchen staff was sitting in the kitchen cooling themselves off, and Stanley the bouncer was sitting in the back room playing video games. The place was tidy enough, tonight it had a very distinct 60's look. Don't misunderstand, the place never looks like any particular thing. Tonight a 60's style teenage hang-out café tomorrow….only God knows….maybe tomorrow the place will look like something out of a old western movies with the swinging doors and the splintering tables and the broken fans….maybe like a nice family restaurant with thin carpets, chairs with cushions covered with plastic, fake plastic plants, and clean china…only God knows. However his place does have certain constants. Take for example the counter. Now no matter what the scenary is the counter is long like a bar counter. It has a level that the customers are served on and a level in which Bryce puts his cash register, some key ingredients to the more popular drinks, and on and on. The counter is constant in shape not necessarily color substance or anything else. The cash register is another. Actually the cash register is just a safe box, it holds some money but most of the money made at this joint is stored in the back room where it sits in an ever bigger safe. The back room is one too. It's a pretty normal room it has a bunk, a table, with all the things that would be on a table: paper, pencils, pens, lamp, stereo system (made by Panasonic), customized computer and on and on, a big safe, a chair, a television, and several gaming consoles under the TV and a rack of games which Stanley the bouncer was currently using. Behind the counter and to the right is the kitchen, that's another constant, no one goes in there but the kitchen staff. Don't ask why.
The universe outside was expanding and contracting within itself. A little ways off The Restaurant at the End of the Universe was beginning it's nightly routine. That's correct, Bryce owns a small joint near the restaurant at the end of the universe but his business is always better even if the competition has better food, better service, good shows and performances, and cows that want to be eaten he still has better business. Why? Well the Restaurant at the End of the Universe exists only the planes of reality and armpits of the space time continuum. Bryce's Café of Broken Dreams exists in all planes. He has people coming in who are dreaming, he has people who are lost in their own little world in reality but are regulars at his place, he has people who've died and are ready to move on, he has people in comas ordering drinks, and on and on. Simple.
Bryce yawned and stood up, it was about time to shut down, he went into the back.
"Hey! Works over! Go home!"
The kitchen staff heaved a sigh of relief and started filing out the front door. Stanley came out from the back room looking dazed and more than a little spaced out. Bryce shook his head disapprovingly.
"I told you to take it easy today, but that doesn't mean that you blast your brains out by vegetating in front of the TV for 8 hours."
Stanley didn't seem to hear him, instead he wobbled his way over to the counter and fixed himself a shot of shit off the grass (another type of alcoholic drink, looks like some shit on grass) and took it all in one down. Bryce turned his attention to the drunks and was about to tell them to leave. He barely said anything when someone busted into the door. He turned about sharply to see who it was.
"Oh my just look at this place!"
"I knew something fishy was going on here."
Five young girls, not much older than any other high school students, wearing silly costumes with funny ribbons and short skirts were standing close together near the entrance. At first glance these people would've looked something straight out of a Skittles™ commercial. Their costumes were a specific color for each person, red, orange, blue, green, and on and on. Laughable (very laughable) but the seriousness on their faces suggested something else. Bryce controlled a giggle that escaped him and put on a friendly face.
"Umm…can I get you ladies anything?"
The one with a red skirt and long black hair stepped forward.
"Enough with the disguise, show your true form, we know what you're doing here!"
Bryce was a little annoyed and confused at this customer's attitude but he didn't show it.
"Right, I know what I'm doing here too…at least I think so, as for a disguise…this shirt was actually a gift to me from a good friend of mine…so….would you a like drink…"
The blue hair girl looked around and touched something at the right side of her head, some translucent visors appeared over her eyes and she whipped a small blue palm-pilot, which she studied for a few seconds.
"Oh my! The poor people in here have had their energy zapped away by some strange chemical in their bodies, they're groggy, disoriented, and don't have the slightest clue what's going on!"
Bryce chuckled, still trying to be amiable.
"Yeah, the alcohol can do that to you, I try to tell them to take it easy but some of them are so depressed that they order the strongest drink against my advise. They're only my problem when they're here you know, I tell them, 'Okay it's time to leave, you don't have to go home but you can't stay here.' and once they're out…that's it……..anyway would ladies care for drink or a smoothie?"
The blond girl with her hair balled into two small spheres on her head piped up.
"Oh! That sounds great! I just love smoothies."
Bryce smiled until the red skirted girl smacked her over the head.
"Wake up you ditz! It's no time for food!"
Bryce frowned.
"Now, Now, there's no need to hit her, everyone enjoys a good smoothie, how about I you all have one? My treat."
The brunette raised her fist at Bryce.
"And end up like those people with their energy sucked away for your evil use? I don't think so!"
Bryce laughed and shook his head.
"Oh no, smoothies have no alcohol unless you want me to spike it, whether you want to get drunk or not has nothing to do with me."
The other blonde girl with the orange skirt scowled at Bryce.
"What kind of fools do take us as?! Stop trying to fool us with your bartender gimmick because it's not working! Come on guys let's get him!"
Now Bryce was disappointed, not only did they not want to order anything, but they were intent on staying and possibly causing damage to the shop.
"Oh no you don't, if you're going to cause trouble I have to insist that you leave."
The brunette charged at him and threw a series fast punches. He just stepped back
"Please, you're not a very good martial artist and until you learn to manipulate your limbs better you're just wasting your time…I don't want to have to remove you and your friends by force."
Stanley was still sitting behind the counter looking on. He wasn't needed until Bryce asked him to remove the troublemakers. The brunette continued her assault and Bryce just kept backing away. She performed a quick flying kick, sure that her opponent wasn't expecting it.
SMASH! The force of her kick broke through something but it wasn't her opponent like she had thought. Instead, Bryce was standing behind her gawking at his broken table.
"Hey! That's rude, you can't just come in here and start breaking things!"
He snapped his fingers and instantly she flew backward into her friends and knocked them all down. Bryce looked down at his smashed table and frowned, that would cost money to repair and he didn't particularly like the men who fixed his place up. He looked back at the girls who were just getting up.
"Careful Sailor Moon! He's tougher than he looks!"
"Get out! I won't have you silly girls ruining anything else."
The ditz was now standing at the front and had a very determined looked on her face. She reached up and pulled the tiara from her head it began to glow and turned into a sort of energy disk. Bryce frowned.
"What now?"
"I am Sailor Moon! Champion of Justice! I will right wrongs and triumph over evil like you! In the name of the moon I'll punish you!"
"That's great, there are a lot of moons, what, you represent all the moons? Now please since you appear to be the leader ask your friends to leave."
She didn't seem to hear, instead she threw the disk at him. Bryce was surprised, he quickly stepped to the side and looked to where the tiara was heading. It zipped along the wall and down the counter, destroying a bottle and slicing some fruit, it headed toward Stanley, who looked at it and swatted it away as it neared him. It headed back out and cut a chair in half, and gave one of the drunkards a buzz-cut. Bryce was ticked and he wasn't even drunk yet. He leaped after the tiara, much to the astonishment of Sailor Moon and her goons and even Stanley who watched intently. He grabbed the thing as it was about to hit another table and turned angrily toward Sailor Moon and her astonished friends.
"Would you like to explain yourself? No wait, don't bother just get out! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!!"
He threw the tiara on the ground and stomped on it. Sailor Moon and her friends were dumbstruck. Bryce stopped stomping and yelled.
"Do you know how much damage you've done to the shop? That was a very expensive bottle of scotch that you destroyed, it had been aged for ten of your pathetic lifetimes and now it's gone! Take your destructive little carcasses somewhere where people will actually take precious time to spit on you for respect!! You stupid little mangy, ill-informed, badly dressed, rude, disgustingly hateful creatures that don't deserve the common rights given to doormats that people step on! Get out of here!! Or I'll chop you into tiny pieces and boil those pieces and stomp on them!"
He took a deep breath.
"And I will continue to stomp on them until I think of something worst to do!!!"
He picked up the mangled tiara and threw it at them.
"GET OUT!!!!!!"
The scouts beat a hasty retreat dragging a sobbing Sailor Moon after them who was grasping her smashed tiara and yelling at him.
"Stop making fun of me!!"
All was quiet. Stanley yawned and retired into the back room. The few people sober enough to realize anything applauded Bryce and all the customers left. Bryce stood in the room still flustered for a few minutes. After a while he shrugged, snapped his fingers (all the broken trash disappeared), and retired into the back room. Tomorrow was another night, what type of people would it bring? Only God knew. The Café of Broken Dreams was quite.
Okay, you know the routine, comments, suggestions and on and on. This series isn't supposed to be anything I decided that SM would make a good introduction, if you thought I was trying to make a point about SM, well you're right. And for you SM lovers out there, I really don't have any time to hear what arguments you have to put forth about that series, save it for someone who cares.
"At the beginning and end of life and death, souls and personalities come and go drifting through existence and finding themselves at the Café of Broken Dreams."
Manganate fanfiction presents.
A self-insert fanfiction by Bryce Chu
It began quite simply. Some say he did it out of greed. Some say he was insane when he started. Some say he was looking for enlightenment. Some say he was tired and bored with life. Some say he was lonely. Still others say he was trying to make a name for himself. In actuality no one really knew. Not even himself, but if you look for him you'll always find him. He'll always be there, taking orders, serving drinks, talking, and kicking people out of his Café of Broken Dreams.
The Café of Broken Dreams
(Episode 1)
It was another typical night. The rejects and sorts of characters came and went. The regulars were all blasted, dead drunk. Bryce sat at the counter doodling, the kitchen staff was sitting in the kitchen cooling themselves off, and Stanley the bouncer was sitting in the back room playing video games. The place was tidy enough, tonight it had a very distinct 60's look. Don't misunderstand, the place never looks like any particular thing. Tonight a 60's style teenage hang-out café tomorrow….only God knows….maybe tomorrow the place will look like something out of a old western movies with the swinging doors and the splintering tables and the broken fans….maybe like a nice family restaurant with thin carpets, chairs with cushions covered with plastic, fake plastic plants, and clean china…only God knows. However his place does have certain constants. Take for example the counter. Now no matter what the scenary is the counter is long like a bar counter. It has a level that the customers are served on and a level in which Bryce puts his cash register, some key ingredients to the more popular drinks, and on and on. The counter is constant in shape not necessarily color substance or anything else. The cash register is another. Actually the cash register is just a safe box, it holds some money but most of the money made at this joint is stored in the back room where it sits in an ever bigger safe. The back room is one too. It's a pretty normal room it has a bunk, a table, with all the things that would be on a table: paper, pencils, pens, lamp, stereo system (made by Panasonic), customized computer and on and on, a big safe, a chair, a television, and several gaming consoles under the TV and a rack of games which Stanley the bouncer was currently using. Behind the counter and to the right is the kitchen, that's another constant, no one goes in there but the kitchen staff. Don't ask why.
The universe outside was expanding and contracting within itself. A little ways off The Restaurant at the End of the Universe was beginning it's nightly routine. That's correct, Bryce owns a small joint near the restaurant at the end of the universe but his business is always better even if the competition has better food, better service, good shows and performances, and cows that want to be eaten he still has better business. Why? Well the Restaurant at the End of the Universe exists only the planes of reality and armpits of the space time continuum. Bryce's Café of Broken Dreams exists in all planes. He has people coming in who are dreaming, he has people who are lost in their own little world in reality but are regulars at his place, he has people who've died and are ready to move on, he has people in comas ordering drinks, and on and on. Simple.
Bryce yawned and stood up, it was about time to shut down, he went into the back.
"Hey! Works over! Go home!"
The kitchen staff heaved a sigh of relief and started filing out the front door. Stanley came out from the back room looking dazed and more than a little spaced out. Bryce shook his head disapprovingly.
"I told you to take it easy today, but that doesn't mean that you blast your brains out by vegetating in front of the TV for 8 hours."
Stanley didn't seem to hear him, instead he wobbled his way over to the counter and fixed himself a shot of shit off the grass (another type of alcoholic drink, looks like some shit on grass) and took it all in one down. Bryce turned his attention to the drunks and was about to tell them to leave. He barely said anything when someone busted into the door. He turned about sharply to see who it was.
"Oh my just look at this place!"
"I knew something fishy was going on here."
Five young girls, not much older than any other high school students, wearing silly costumes with funny ribbons and short skirts were standing close together near the entrance. At first glance these people would've looked something straight out of a Skittles™ commercial. Their costumes were a specific color for each person, red, orange, blue, green, and on and on. Laughable (very laughable) but the seriousness on their faces suggested something else. Bryce controlled a giggle that escaped him and put on a friendly face.
"Umm…can I get you ladies anything?"
The one with a red skirt and long black hair stepped forward.
"Enough with the disguise, show your true form, we know what you're doing here!"
Bryce was a little annoyed and confused at this customer's attitude but he didn't show it.
"Right, I know what I'm doing here too…at least I think so, as for a disguise…this shirt was actually a gift to me from a good friend of mine…so….would you a like drink…"
The blue hair girl looked around and touched something at the right side of her head, some translucent visors appeared over her eyes and she whipped a small blue palm-pilot, which she studied for a few seconds.
"Oh my! The poor people in here have had their energy zapped away by some strange chemical in their bodies, they're groggy, disoriented, and don't have the slightest clue what's going on!"
Bryce chuckled, still trying to be amiable.
"Yeah, the alcohol can do that to you, I try to tell them to take it easy but some of them are so depressed that they order the strongest drink against my advise. They're only my problem when they're here you know, I tell them, 'Okay it's time to leave, you don't have to go home but you can't stay here.' and once they're out…that's it……..anyway would ladies care for drink or a smoothie?"
The blond girl with her hair balled into two small spheres on her head piped up.
"Oh! That sounds great! I just love smoothies."
Bryce smiled until the red skirted girl smacked her over the head.
"Wake up you ditz! It's no time for food!"
Bryce frowned.
"Now, Now, there's no need to hit her, everyone enjoys a good smoothie, how about I you all have one? My treat."
The brunette raised her fist at Bryce.
"And end up like those people with their energy sucked away for your evil use? I don't think so!"
Bryce laughed and shook his head.
"Oh no, smoothies have no alcohol unless you want me to spike it, whether you want to get drunk or not has nothing to do with me."
The other blonde girl with the orange skirt scowled at Bryce.
"What kind of fools do take us as?! Stop trying to fool us with your bartender gimmick because it's not working! Come on guys let's get him!"
Now Bryce was disappointed, not only did they not want to order anything, but they were intent on staying and possibly causing damage to the shop.
"Oh no you don't, if you're going to cause trouble I have to insist that you leave."
The brunette charged at him and threw a series fast punches. He just stepped back
"Please, you're not a very good martial artist and until you learn to manipulate your limbs better you're just wasting your time…I don't want to have to remove you and your friends by force."
Stanley was still sitting behind the counter looking on. He wasn't needed until Bryce asked him to remove the troublemakers. The brunette continued her assault and Bryce just kept backing away. She performed a quick flying kick, sure that her opponent wasn't expecting it.
SMASH! The force of her kick broke through something but it wasn't her opponent like she had thought. Instead, Bryce was standing behind her gawking at his broken table.
"Hey! That's rude, you can't just come in here and start breaking things!"
He snapped his fingers and instantly she flew backward into her friends and knocked them all down. Bryce looked down at his smashed table and frowned, that would cost money to repair and he didn't particularly like the men who fixed his place up. He looked back at the girls who were just getting up.
"Careful Sailor Moon! He's tougher than he looks!"
"Get out! I won't have you silly girls ruining anything else."
The ditz was now standing at the front and had a very determined looked on her face. She reached up and pulled the tiara from her head it began to glow and turned into a sort of energy disk. Bryce frowned.
"What now?"
"I am Sailor Moon! Champion of Justice! I will right wrongs and triumph over evil like you! In the name of the moon I'll punish you!"
"That's great, there are a lot of moons, what, you represent all the moons? Now please since you appear to be the leader ask your friends to leave."
She didn't seem to hear, instead she threw the disk at him. Bryce was surprised, he quickly stepped to the side and looked to where the tiara was heading. It zipped along the wall and down the counter, destroying a bottle and slicing some fruit, it headed toward Stanley, who looked at it and swatted it away as it neared him. It headed back out and cut a chair in half, and gave one of the drunkards a buzz-cut. Bryce was ticked and he wasn't even drunk yet. He leaped after the tiara, much to the astonishment of Sailor Moon and her goons and even Stanley who watched intently. He grabbed the thing as it was about to hit another table and turned angrily toward Sailor Moon and her astonished friends.
"Would you like to explain yourself? No wait, don't bother just get out! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!!"
He threw the tiara on the ground and stomped on it. Sailor Moon and her friends were dumbstruck. Bryce stopped stomping and yelled.
"Do you know how much damage you've done to the shop? That was a very expensive bottle of scotch that you destroyed, it had been aged for ten of your pathetic lifetimes and now it's gone! Take your destructive little carcasses somewhere where people will actually take precious time to spit on you for respect!! You stupid little mangy, ill-informed, badly dressed, rude, disgustingly hateful creatures that don't deserve the common rights given to doormats that people step on! Get out of here!! Or I'll chop you into tiny pieces and boil those pieces and stomp on them!"
He took a deep breath.
"And I will continue to stomp on them until I think of something worst to do!!!"
He picked up the mangled tiara and threw it at them.
"GET OUT!!!!!!"
The scouts beat a hasty retreat dragging a sobbing Sailor Moon after them who was grasping her smashed tiara and yelling at him.
"Stop making fun of me!!"
All was quiet. Stanley yawned and retired into the back room. The few people sober enough to realize anything applauded Bryce and all the customers left. Bryce stood in the room still flustered for a few minutes. After a while he shrugged, snapped his fingers (all the broken trash disappeared), and retired into the back room. Tomorrow was another night, what type of people would it bring? Only God knew. The Café of Broken Dreams was quite.
Okay, you know the routine, comments, suggestions and on and on. This series isn't supposed to be anything I decided that SM would make a good introduction, if you thought I was trying to make a point about SM, well you're right. And for you SM lovers out there, I really don't have any time to hear what arguments you have to put forth about that series, save it for someone who cares.