Headwing Central (OOC)

[Eli_In_Chains]

Well, I've been thinking for a few days now on what to make my first roleplay topic here in this forum, tossing around ideas varying from adventures to intrigues to whatever... then I recalled that nearly every forum has some form of university roleplay going on. Granted I never took part, but they were there and I glanced through them occasionally. Since I knew I wanted to do something set in the DMFA universe, and said universe has got a vast sprawling academy already, why not set the roleplay in SAIA? And thus, here we are.

This roleplay will be set in SAIA, about fifty years before the events of the main DMFA story. Post length is encouraged to be about two paragraphs minimum, but this is obviously situational a lot of the time and nobody's going to get booted just because of a few short posts. The roleplay will be open to new characters indefinitely. If something comes up in-story that necessitates closing it temporarily, it won't be for long. And of course, while it's in the rules of the RP section that you not powergame, I'm going to just repeat it for you all: no godmodding, no powergaming, and no metagaming: nothing of that sort. If in my opinion your character is unrealistically powerful, especially in such a way that it makes things unfun for other players, I'll deny your application to join (and suggest certain changes which would bring them back into acceptable limits) or, if you're already in the game (for instance a power upgrade partway into it that I feel threatens other players' enjoyment), will speak with you privately about making some changes, or handling the power responsibly, to see what we can do to keep everyone happy. I don't want to bar anybody from the fun, but if I have to for others' sake, then I will.

As far as the plot is concerned, I have always been of the opinion that while a well-planned epic conflict can be very interesting, simply throwing a bunch of interesting characters in a room (or Academy) together and watching what they do is just as interesting. Your characters are your own: they should bring their own conflicts, internal and external, into being. Players will have their characters divided into pairs to act as roommates, so why not start there? Friends, people they like, people they don't like, these are things that will necessarily exist anywhere like SAIA. There doesn't need to be any behind-the-scenes plotting going on; this is mostly just a for-fun, kinda casual RP about character interaction.

There will necessarily be some character limitations: being that it is the Succubus and Incubus Academy, Cubi characters are encouraged over other kinds. That said, there are races other than Cubi at the Academy, and if you have a good reason for your character to be attending/teaching there, then of course you don't have to play a Cubi. For reasons of power balance, anyone wanting to play a senior student or a teacher has to talk to me about it: I don't want any players being pushed around by others whose characters are in positions of authority, but if you seem responsible then go for it. Playing a canon character is out unless you actually own said character. If you do, great! I welcome your presence and wish to provide you with as many free cookies as I can transfer to you through the power of the internet! ...which is sadly none. In all seriousness, I'll be treating canon characters like Fa'Lina as NPCs. Most of the time, they won't be present; when they are, I'll play them. Unless, again, someone who owns one of the canon characters comes up. On the subject of character profiles, the following is one appropriate format, including all necessary information, but it's not set in stone. Feel free to add sections if you feel they would be helpful or remove sections if they aren't applicable (for instance, a teacher would have a section saying what they teach instead of their major).

Sample character profile (and also my character), done up in an appropriate format:

Name: Blaine Rath

Gender: Male

Age: 23

Years Enrolled: First Year

Clan: Que'tnar

Species: Vulpine

Current Major: Woodworking

Appearance: Blaine is a fairly tall furre, standing anywhere from a couple of inches to a full head above those around him; despite this, he doesn't look very imposing. It could be his slender frame, or his mellow nature (relatively speaking; he is a Cubi)... for whatever reason, he's just not that intimidating to look at. His feathery sets of wings are a golden yellow, with white flight feathers, while his fur is much the same yellow-gold color as his wings, with white on his chin and chest, his ears and paws marked with black. He has dark-brown wavy hair that, most of the time, is pulled up in a ponytail to keep it out of his way. Sure, he could cut it, or failing that morph it so it was shorter, but why? He likes leaving it long. His tail is much like any fox's tail: poofy, with a white tip, and prone to being randomly hugged by strangers (rather to his irritation). His clan mark is at the base of his neck, just above his clavicle on his right side, and is pretty much always visible, unless he has a scarf or collared shirt on, both of which he detests wearing. Ordinarily his wardrobe consists of what some might describe as "boring" clothing, jeans and solid color short sleeve tees for the most part, usually white, black, or brown. He hasn't yet learned enough shapeshifting to have any sort of "default" outfit that he shifts into if necessary.

Personality: Blaine isn't unfriendly, going out of his way to help others where he can, but he also goes out of his way to avoid being bothered by others in the first place. And mind-games are definitely not below him, though he doesn't go as far with them as some do. He still eats, sleeps, and drinks, being that he only very recently fully developed as a Cubi, but also because he tries to stay away from emotional conflict and thus doesn't get a whole lot of emotional sustenance. As a matter of personal principle, he blocks the thoughts of others in any and all instances. He also has as strong a shield as he can manage around his own mind, though being a new student it isn't as much as he would like.

Background: He was raised in Zinvth by his father who, he thought, was an ordinary carpenter with the local guild. His early life was spent mostly in the woodworking shop of his father, "learning the trade" as his dad put it, and even as he started to display magical talent, he was denied the chance to go to school and develop the skill in favor of continuing his apprenticeship with his father's friend. He did reach Journeyman level skill with the guild when he was in his late teens, but his father refused to let him leave the city, out of a desire to protect him from adventurers. So he worked in the family woodshop for the years until his headwings emerged, at which point his father revealed to him his own nature as a Cubi of a lesser clan that had fallen in love with a Que'tnar succubus who'd left him a year after Blaine's birth. It was at that point that he'd taken the identity Blaine knew as a carpenter in the city, on the terms with the city's leader that he would leave as soon as Blaine was old enough to attend SAIA. His father wrapped up some loose ends with the guild for him, handled the application, and sent the fox off to SAIA. All of it was rather quick and should have been upsetting, going from an ordinary Being to an incubus on his way to some enormous school full of cubi in the course of a day, but Blaine did his best to remain calm throughout the experience. He did, however, take an immediate dislike towards Dr. Ink and his methods, as he was the one thing that Blaine found deeply unsettling in the process of entering the academy. As all he knew was woodworking, he determined to simply keep his studies up and enrolled in only minimal classes aside from his "family trade," despite knowing that his father hadn't really been a lifelong carpenter, nor had his grandfather as he'd been told. He is personally enamored with the idea of mental and emotional shields for himself and others, however, and is enrolled in (and intends to continue study in) the shielding class. Ideally he wants to reach the point of being unreadable by other Cubi and, in turn, not picking up the thoughts or emotions of others at all.

EDIT: By the way, this is going to be a completely PG-13 RP, I haven't asked the mods for permission to do a mature roleplay and I will not be asking them in the future. I understand that Cubi can be somewhat libertine in certain ways that are inappropriate for this rating: if something like that comes up at all, then I would like to request a cut-to-black done before anything happens that you wouldn't show to a child. For me this is less about child safety than about keeping the focus where I feel it is appropriate. As Abel's Story is also PG-13, essentially if your scene wouldn't fit in that comic, it isn't appropriate here either.

EDIT (again): Here's that character index I promised. Please note that while all of the following profiles have been approved, approval could be rescinded. The profiles would remain in this list for easy reference in case anybody reads through the thread and wishes to know about a character.

Blaine Rath (no link for you, his profile's right above you)
Mira Whalen
Niall Jakobsohn
Kart Scubs
Tristan Blake
Horethen Aldoraethar
Roxanne Tannis
Kallis Ja'Krath
Dosve Donya Piflak
Gideon Owona

Current Roommate Pairs:

Blaine Rath - Tristan Blake
Mira Whalen - Kart Scubs
Niall Jakobsohn - Horethen Aldoraethar
Roxanne Tannis - Kallis Ja'Krath
Dosve Donya Piflak - Gideon Owona

[Tapewolf]

What do you mean by 'senior student'?  Someone who's been there a couple of centuries as opposed to a freshman?

EDIT: What I mean is, what is the cut-off point?  I was considering proposing Niall as a character but in his own canon, he'd have been there for about 200 years.

[Eli_In_Chains]

I would say that anyone who's been there long enough to have reasonably left/graduated by now, but chose not to, would be considered a senior student. By that reasoning, Niall would probably be considered one, but at the same time you're a moderator, so if there's anybody who could play a senior student responsibly, it would be you... ^^; So if you want to play him, that would be just fine by me. I will have to read up on Niall though... I'm not very far into Project Future, and the name is unfamiliar to me.

But, that's my problem, not yours. XD If you want to play him, you have my approval. Write up a profile. ^^

For the record, this is a perfect example of someone who -owns- a canon character stepping in to play one. I shall now proceed to try and email cookies to Tapewolf by, I dunno, sticking them in my disk drive or something. SCIENCE

EDIT: Unless Niall doesn't actually belong to him. Which, if I uncover that in my studies, shame on you. But I don't think that's the case.

[Tapewolf]

I'm still pondering it, I might go for a different character.  50 years prior to DMFA he'd have been about 270 and in SAIA for 250 years.  The closest to DMFA canon he's been was this:

http://tapewolf.deviantart.com/art/DMFA-Guest-strip-2012-08-07-319645716

His cast profile in Project Future (which is 200 years after your setting) is here:
http://project-future.org/cast.php?name=Niall

But like I say, I'm still thinking over who to use.

[Eli_In_Chains]

Well, when you decide, let me know. He'd be a perfectly appropriate character if you want to use him. And if you think you could handle it, having more than one character would be theoretically permissible... though if I saw you weren't keeping up with replies very well, I would rescind that decision. Of course, that's if you think you want to do that. You're already busy, I know that much, soo probably not that best idea. ^^;

[VAE]

This be sounding interesting.

[Eli_In_Chains]

I'd be happy to have you, VAE. ^^ I poked through your latest posts to see what you've done in RPs here (standard procedure as far as I'm concerned, I like to be informed), and I came away quite impressed. ^^

[justacritic]

Interest gained going to try to think up character concept.

[Tapewolf]

The 'stick the characters together and see' thing hasn't panned out so well with Flight of Fancy IMHO, it tends to dry up without the occasional push.  That's my only real reservation - that and I'm a little worried Niall might be too settled-in to be interesting.

[Eli_In_Chains]

If I see things aren't working out, then I'll put together a more coherent driving plot and start putting that into play, instead. But I've had alright luck with "stick characters in a room" roleplays, though that is mainly experience gained from one-on-one roleplays rather than groups. *shrug* Personally I think it depends a lot on the players involved.

[VAE]

FoF's main problem is the general slowness, which makes it harder to post as one loses track of his character's mindset and of what's happening after a while.
But , as one of the GMs of ABtP , i'm the last to talk about slow =^.^;=

[AmberCross]

That's right VAE, shame on you! You should post more! While I'm here however, I am intrigued by this idea. University RPs tend to be fun, but of note... I happen to be IN university myself making my time limited. That plus the fact that I'm in like four other RPs... errr... three cause Arcalane's never got off the ground... or... two because Steam and Steel is going nowhere at the speed of sound. Huh, maybe I have more time than I thought. I'll have to see what turns up.

[Eli_In_Chains]

I'd be happy to have you as well. ^^ With as many top-notch roleplayers turning up for this roleplay as there are, I can't see how this could possibly go wrong. X3 I really didn't expect so many people to show interest in this so quickly. Not that I mind, of course. XD I wonder what would happen if I actually put more into an idea than "Hmm... I wonder what's going on at SAIA?"

[LionHeart]

I am interested in this.

[AmberCross]

I'd be happy to have you as well. ^^ With as many top-notch roleplayers turning up for this roleplay as there are, I can't see how this could possibly go wrong. X3 I really didn't expect so many people to show interest in this so quickly. Not that I mind, of course. XD I wonder what would happen if I actually put more into an idea than "Hmm... I wonder what's going on at SAIA?"

While I'm flattered you consider me a top-notch roleplayer, I advise you not to say things like "I can't see how this could possibly go wrong." Trust me on this, RPs can derail very easily, especially when you go taunting Murphy.

[Eli_In_Chains]

Oh, I know that, but I like taunting Murphy. And besides, if it's going to derail, it's going to derail. I can always put together another roleplay to replace it, I have far too many ideas and nowhere else (at present) to unleash them.

But, concern duly noted. In an attempt to counterbalance my prior statement, I now would like to voice my confidence that this roleplay will go up in a puff of overdramatic smoke. Break a leg, call it the Scottish Play, et cetera. ^^

[VAE]

Oh, I know that, but I like taunting Murphy. And besides, if it's going to derail, it's going to derail. I can always put together another roleplay to replace it, I have far too many ideas and nowhere else (at present) to unleash them.

But, concern duly noted. In an attempt to counterbalance my prior statement, I now would like to voice my confidence that this roleplay will go up in a puff of overdramatic smoke. Break a leg, call it the Scottish Play, et cetera. ^^

Derailment is actually the better of cases. The first RP I took part in here has done so - it advanced slowly enough that the GM got bored of it, but hell, were there fun times·
The bad thing that can happen is the game dying outright .. the trouble is that it's a positive feedback process - the longer a game goes with nothing going on , the harder is to get it moving again ,see OSaS for an example.

[AmberCross]

Yes... Bas claims to be working on that. He has told me like five times over the past three months that he will update in 'the next few days'.

[VAE]

Yes... Bas claims to be working on that. He has told me like five times over the past three months that he will update in 'the next few days'.

Oh, I know that, and I assure you that he was probably fairly ready.
Thing is what probably happened was that the mental compulsion tomake the post "worth the long wait" caught up, then the fact that he likely hasn't handled the setting for quite long, then being persuaded whatever you write isn't good enough for an update and rewriting a sentence several dozen times...
The death spiral of something like that isn't a nice feeling for the person writing it.

[Kafzeil]

Might join, I have an idea or 6 cookin' up.

[LionHeart]

Character profile away!

Name: Mira Whalen

Gender: Female

Age: 25

Years Enrolled: First year

Clan: Di'Tharn

Species: Feline

Current Major: Clothing design

Appearance: Mira is of medium height and build. Her wings are feathery, and dark brown, with grey tips. Her fur is a golden brown 'toast' colour, with white markings at the tips of her ears and tail. She has straight hair, of a dark green colour, cut in a style somewhat like a pixie cut. Her clan mark is on her left hip, normally covered by clothing.

Personality: Mira is a friendly, good-natured sort, if a little prone to bursts of odd behaviour at times. This is partly due to her shields being a bit erratic, and partly due to her odd sense of humour. She has rather a fondness for randomly hugging people, whether they enjoy it or not. She does eat and sleep, being fairly newly emerged as a Cubi, although not a great deal.

Background: Mira grew up in Zinvith, raised by her parents, who own a clothing store. She always had a fondness for playing 'dress-ups' – this, combined with a fondness for theatre, led her into costume design.

Since Mira had a thing for wearing unlikely costumes, usually ones she had designed and made for herself, it was not immediately obvious to those around her when her headwings first emerged. It was only when she arrived home that she realised what had happened, and her parents promptly called in her grandmother, who had used her own Cubi skills to become a moderately successful actress. She in turn handled the details of Mira's enrolment in SAIA.

Mira did not like the process of being evaluated by Dr Ink, but soon settled in as a new student. She took to shapeshifting like a duck to water, and combines it with her love of making and wearing bizarre clothing.


Anything I need to add/alter/remove?

[Eli_In_Chains]

Everything looks perfectly fine; but--and this one is purely up to you--you may want to alter her major to something along the lines of "Fashion Design" or something like that. Shapeshifting doesn't strike me as the sort of thing they would offer a major in. But being that I'm not an expert on Cubi classes or anything... XD

Whether you change that or not, though, you get my official stamp of

APPROVAL

Your cookies are on their way via time machine. Look under your desk, they've been there about a week.

[Tapewolf]

Everything looks perfectly fine; but--and this one is purely up to you--you may want to alter her major to something along the lines of "Fashion Design" or something like that. Shapeshifting doesn't strike me as the sort of thing they would offer a major in. But being that I'm not an expert on Cubi classes or anything... XD

You're the GM, but I'm not sure SAIA has majors.  Primarily it's a survival school for teaching everything 'Cubi need to know to survive in a hostile world so streamlining students into a single aspect of that would work poorly, if at all.

Now it may be that after the first century or two, once the basics have been got down pat, the more optional studies could be handled in that manner, but don't forget that the average student studies there for 300-400 years.  You'd have to pick a really complex or esoteric field to spend multiple human lifetimes studying just that one thing.
Now IIRC there are some subjects that push it out to 800-1000 years, but it's pretty unusual.  SAIA has only been around for 7000 years anyway.

EDIT:

Okay, how's this for a first cut:

Name: Niall Jakobsohn (aka Niall Daryil)

Gender: Male

Age: 270

Years Enrolled: 250

Clan: Daryil

Species: Vulpine

Major: Electronics

Appearance:
Niall is a dark grey fox with long brown hair, usually tied into a ponytail.  He has hazel eyes and feathery grey wings. His clan-mark is on the left side of his body, between his hips and his ribcage.

Like most 'Cubi who have studied advanced shapeshifting, Niall has evolved a default costume which he typically wears on a day-to-day basis and which can easily shapeshift from his wings and fur if he is caught without clothes.  The base of this is a pair of tight leather trousers, something Niall has developed quite a soft spot for.  Beyond that he will usually wear a front shirt and arm sleeves, or he will go completely bare from the waist upwards.

Personality:
For the most part, Niall is easygoing and gets on well with 'Cubi and Beings alike.  Although he usually means well, he is not perfect - his greatest character flaw being that he will often attempt to seduce others (normally females).  His clan have rules against murder and soul-stealing and the latter can make him extremely upset and/or sick.
One of Niall's dreams is to be able to help stop 'Cubi from being persecuted unjustly and some of his side studies are aimed at this, such as law, adventuring and more clandestine approaches such as lockpicking and stealth.

His greatest skills are in music and the recently-developed science of electronics.

His affinities are fear, guilt and justice.  Like many 'Cubi, Niall has a love of flash clothes and shiny things and has a real soft spot for leather trousers.

Background:
Niall Jakobsohn (aka Niall Daryil) is a grey fox incubus of Daryil clan who was brought up thinking they were a Being.  Sentenced to death when his headwings emerged around 19, Niall was rescued by his father and began attending SAIA a few years later.
Although not a tri-winged clan, their outspoken frontman, Lord Daryil, has made no secret of his ambitions to ascend, even faking the tentacle-heads in a limited manner for all the members of the clan.  His behaviour in general can be erratic and this has given the clan a reputation for being insane, albeit harmlessly so for the most part.

Niall's father is Jakob Pettersohn, a wolf incubus who works for the Being Technology department inside SAIA and also does occasional freelance filmmaking.  Rumours are that Jakob was once an evil dictator in a far off land.  Niall himself refuses to comment.

Niall has so far studied at the academy for approximately 250 years.


http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k216/tapewolf/dmfa/Niall-Blackline25.png

[Eli_In_Chains]

Everything looks perfectly fine; but--and this one is purely up to you--you may want to alter her major to something along the lines of "Fashion Design" or something like that. Shapeshifting doesn't strike me as the sort of thing they would offer a major in. But being that I'm not an expert on Cubi classes or anything... XD

You're the GM, but I'm not sure SAIA has majors.  Primarily it's a survival school for teaching everything 'Cubi need to know to survive in a hostile world so streamlining students into a single aspect of that would work poorly, if at all.

Now it may be that after the first century or two, once the basics have been got down pat, the more optional studies could be handled in that manner, but don't forget that the average student studies there for 300-400 years.  You'd have to pick a really complex or esoteric field to spend multiple human lifetimes studying just that one thing.
Now IIRC there are some subjects that push it out to 800-1000 years, but it's pretty unusual.  SAIA has only been around for 7000 years anyway.

I can see your point there. It wouldn't make sense for Cubi to study a single thing primarily over the entirety of their years at the academy, but considering that students study for hundreds of years at a time, I don't see it as too unlikely that--at least as a matter of keeping things straight in a short-term way--there would be a system similar to majors, but that is less formalized. For instance, one might "major" in philosophy for a few years at a time, and then when they feel they've reached competency in that area, move to a new field of study. Regardless of whether there is such a system or not, though, individual students are going to be interested in different subjects and be taking different classes during their time at the academy, even though I'm sure that pattern will change over the course of their stay, so I think it's a valid thing to include in a character profile whether or not it's necessarily representative of the school's actual policies. Perhaps better terminology would be "Current" Major?

On the subject of your character, much as I expected, Niall is an excellent character (and bits of your profile reminded me of things I forgot to include in mine... DX), and you have my official GM's stamp of

APPROVAL

I am currently in negotiations with the Dark Side to get your cookies delivered to you as quickly as possible.

[Tapewolf]

Regardless of whether there is such a system or not, though, individual students are going to be interested in different subjects and be taking different classes during their time at the academy, even though I'm sure that pattern will change over the course of their stay, so I think it's a valid thing to include in a character profile whether or not it's necessarily representative of the school's actual policies. Perhaps better terminology would be "Current" Major?

Yeah, I was tempted to put 'Currently studying: Electronics and Music' but I wanted it to fit into your template

APPROVAL

I am currently in negotiations with the Dark Side to get your cookies delivered to you as quickly as possible.

Thanks.  That reminds me - if you do wish to use the karma buttons at any point, note that the labels are currently reversed - good karma is on the left, bad is on the right.  Not that karma means much on this forum anyway, which is probably why someone flipped the labels around for a laugh.

[LionHeart]

I've edited my (or rather Mira's) profile, in response to the suggestions posted here. Mira's clan mark is on her left hip, normally hidden by clothing. She might, however, show it to anyone who asks nicely...

[justacritic]

Okay then here's what I thought up, tell me if there's any problems or things I need to change or elaborate on.

Name: Kart Scubs

Gender: Male

Age: 92

Years Enrolled: Seventy Second Year

Clan: G'ian

Species: Panda

Current Major: Business

Appearance: Kart is panda, regular black and white fur. His eyes are brown, and hair is slightly spiky. He has a nice lean frame and an honest face. His wings are those of demons and colored ebony. In truth for an incubus he's rather homely, though with cubi that's not saying much. He wears professional clothing including ties, though he does have problems with people who are into businessmen. Looking always clean and unruffled, his honest face most of the time holds a solemn expression. His clan mark is on the sole of his right foot.

Personality: Kart despite his severe appearance is actually a fun loving cubi. He's willing to be friends with everyone, except he becomes insufferable if he finds out you enjoy tea instead of coffee. The panda is willing to lend a helping hand to anyone who's struggling. That and a hot cup of coffee await those who really feel lost about their new life.

Background: It all started when he brewed his first cup of coffee. Kart was born into Clan G'ian and since they almost never hid their own heritage, the panda grew up knowing he was an incubus. Of course, he had to be careful. Some places he could never visit and some people he had to be wary of. That and dating was awkward when you know that maybe your girlfriend was only charmed into liking you. Still life was pretty good. Soon after he made his first cup of Joe, a letter arrived in the mail. It was from one of the temporally aware members of Clan G'ian. It told his mother and father to send him to SAIA immediately. Apparently Kart was to unleash a horrible power that would drain the treasuries of dragons, cause even more chaos by the fae, and lead demons and angels gnashing their teeth. Kart's parent just sent their son packing after that. And so the panda has been studying at SAIA ever since. Still after this amount of time he's wondering what all the fuss was about. Now he's taking business and thinking that when he finally gets out of here he's going to set up a nice little coffee shop in some city.
Kart does have other interests but they're mostly quiet laid back. The panda enjoys golf, sailing, and opera. While the panda is serious he isn't a person that hates having fun. It's just that he has a professional appearance to maintain, that's what he learned from his business course. That rather disallows him from partying hard. However that doesn't usually mesh well with cubi impulsiveness. The incubus for that matter has a lot of repressed tension. That ties into his conflict with tea-drinkers and is one of the few ways he actually vents this tension. Otherwise he's calm and kind to others, being taught by the clan tenets that he may be a cubi and have his own strengths, he has weaknesses as well and other races have their own strengths and can likely kick his ass. It pays to remember humility to beings and creatures is one of the clan teachings.

edited with additional info

[Eli_In_Chains]

I'm not too concerned about this, as this roleplay has always been intended to be more casual than my usual fare, but the tone of your character profile leans more towards the jokey than the other profiles posted thus far. As such, please be prepared if necessary to shift a bit towards a more dramatic setting. Like any story, I expect this will likely have more serious moments as well as carefree, ridiculous--or zany--antics. It would be a shame to have one player left out of one or the other. So long as this is something you are prepared for, I see no reason not to give you my official

APPROVAL

Your cookies are currently being predunked, so that by the time they arrive they will have reached the ideal level of milk saturation.

And Tape, I like to think that pushing a button to give someone karma can't possibly be as fun as giving them internet cookies. Thanks though.

[justacritic]

So if you don't mind me asking, what things in the profile give you the impression this is a jokey character?

[Tapewolf]

So if you don't mind me asking, what things in the profile give you the impression this is a jokey character?

My guess would be the coffee thing, it does read kind of like a running joke.