Coffee Pirates - Rough Draught #2

[tealin]

Here's the re-do, sorting out some silhouette and posing problems, changing the characters that were to be changed, and shading things enough to make sense out of the mess of lines.

From left to right they are: Pumpkin Spice, Perc, Nakuru, Frapp, and Matcha


CHARACTERS
Pumpkin Spice: A former master barista, she tired of the sour businessmen and crazies she had to serve, and quit the front end of the coffee business to pursue a much more adventurous and rewarding career on the supply side. She's clever as anything, can cook up a cunning scheme (or dinner) better than anyone else on the crew, and can talk her (or their) way out of trouble, but beneath the confident and outgoing surface she is often plagued by a nagging self-doubt and questions the validity of what she is doing. Not that she'd let on to the rest of the crew. Pumpkin Spice usually serves as navigator aboard the S.S. Presso; her knowledge of the Puget Sound and Gulf Islands, as well as her insider familiarity with the Northwest coffee world, serves as compass, barometer, map, and GPS when those devices are not operational or available – and sometimes when they are. If she and the instruments disagree, it's usually Pumpkin who wins in the end. Canadian.
Perc[olator]: Simultaneously the loudest and quietest of the crew, Perc is the muscle and the handyman. If he's not pounding or sawing away at a repair on the boat or at home base, he's blasting his various electric instruments or the radio, but if he speaks (which is not often) it's usually in an incomprehensible mumble which only Matcha can understand ... sometimes. Frapp suspects he may have once been in the corporate world (and, based on this hunch, leaves handling of the crew's finances to him, which surprisingly works quite well) but it's unknown whether he left for the piracy or the music. He never mentions it, but then he never mentions anything. He has the strength and stamina of a young man but if Frapp's theory is correct then he must be at least 50, as half of the HQ seems to be his handiwork and he's been in coffee piracy longer than any of them. Canadian.
Nakuru: No one's entirely sure where Nakuru came from, even Matcha, who he is closest to. He turned up at HQ one day, in a manner that suggested it was not entirely by accident. In wisdom, mysticism, and cynicism he is approximately 130 years old, though he only looks twelve. Frapp makes sure he is consulted before any important mission, though in truth he feels a bit intimidated by him as his intuition more often than not trumps Frapp's book smarts. While they both have respect for each other, they don't get along too well. His closest bond is with Matcha, but he enjoys Pumpkin's company as well, as she has vowed to teach him how to have fun. Responsible adults would demand that Nakuru stay home when they're out being dangerous, but these are pirates, so more often than not he comes along. It's useful to have someone small and nimble, after all, and when that person seems to be able to sense imperceptible danger and read people's minds he becomes invaluable.
Frapp[uccino]: He had been a promising sociology student until one afternoon, at his favoured indie café, he saw too much and was kidnapped to keep him from spilling the beans. He spent some time captive at HQ, treating the whole thing as a sociological study of a unique insular alternative community, until one day the band lost a member and thrust him into service. He had to learn on his feet, a process he's still undergoing, and still feels vastly out of his depth, but his ability to call out the folly of the crew's harebrained schemes has earned him a little respect. He might have become leader but doesn't desire any sort of authority, not least because he feels woefully underqualified, so he's mostly content to sit back and let a communal decision be reached (if it ever is), which usually ends up being the opinion of Pumpkin. He goes through the adventures and perils with a mild detachment, as if he has been dropped into a novel and is not entirely there; this comes in handy when everyone else is panicking and he's quietly giving orders which are involuntarily obeyed. The swashbuckling is all right, in an adventure novel kind of way, but what he really wants is to have some peace and quiet where he can figure out how to make that darn GPS system work, or possibly start writing his thesis on the pirate society, which is always in the back of his mind but never gets started on it. American.
Matcha: She started out as a Kindergarten teacher until a relationship with a counterculture barista introduced her to the more exciting side of the coffee business, which she launched into with gusto. At first she was a go-between for the pirates and the cafés in her spare time, then the law caught whiff of her and she had to go underground, joining the pirates completely. She misses her kids but she took Nakuru under her wing when he arrived so that makes up for it a little. She is the one who most understands and appreciates him, and he is devoted to her. She's the heart and soul of the crew but not in a soppy way. The other members of the crew have their disagreements but everyone loves Matcha, and she loves everyone. She enjoys the pirate life probably more than any of them, treating is as a great lark or play and getting carried away with it more often than not. When she has time to herself, she writes ballads and shanties for the crew, often romanticising their adventures. American.

LOCATIONS etc.
Home Base: A collection of ramshackle buildings at the end of a hidden cove on a small island in the San Juans, close to the Canadian border. It looks somewhat like Telegraph Cove but less on the waterfront (from which you can see only a boathouse and small cabin) and more built up in the thick forest behind. In addition to the aforementioned buildings, there are: a rambling house which holds all the crew (more or less) and which is constantly hovering on the brink of disrepair, Perc's workshop, a number of rainwater tanks to get them through the summer because the island's too small to have year-round groundwater, an old-fashioned windmill that supplies them with intermittent electricity, a storage shed, a cellar, and a treehouse. The S.S. Presso resides in the boathouse, the loft of which has been claimed by Perc as his lodging, and the small dock is also home to a sailboat, two rowboats, and a kayak.
The S.S. Presso: An ancient steam-powered fishing boat that the crew uses as their primary vehicle. The cold storage bin, once used for ill-fated denizens of the sea, is now home to looted coffee beans and milk. Peet, the pirate who Frapp 'replaced,' installed a GPS, but it almost never works. They believe their life would be easier if they could get it operational, and this is a running obsession with Frapp, but on the rare occasion they do get it running they realise none of them knows how to use it. As a result, the cabin is strewn with maps, charts, compasses, and other old-school navigational equipment, including a sextant which is kept mostly for sentimental reasons because to use it, one needs access to the sun, and this is the Pacific Northwest.
The Black Market: Always at short notice, twice a month or so, always at night, the black coffee market is held in Victoria's Market Square. (See here, here, here and here) If it looks too dangerous, it is moved to one of the Gulf Islands.

If anyone has anything to add, or suggestions for change, don't hesitate to comment. This is not set in stone!
I still have more details to sort through but that'll be a project for the brand spanking new coffeepirates thingy!

Comments

[octaveleap.livejournal.com]

More details will be added when/if I get home and can sort through the comments in the previous Pirates post.

Madame, you are GOOD to your fans.

However, I see nothing but a broken image...

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Noooooooooooo! Hmm, I shall try to sort this out ... it worked on my work computer but I suspect there's something to do with making images public or something. I'm trying out Picasa as an image host, just to spice things up. (My life is THAT exciting!)

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Booooooooo. I go crawling back to Photobucket now.

[octaveleap.livejournal.com]

(I can see it now, yay!)
Honey, I love you extremely much. :-D And I love this whole crew! They're all WONDERFUL! And Matcha? Perfect. Just perfect. :-D (thank you SO much for the socks and bone. and having her be a kindergarten teacher/songwriter. :-D)

[mozartzbitch.livejournal.com]

Not a bad jump from teaching kindergarten to underground pirate life.

[ubiquitouspitt.livejournal.com]

AIIGHH! * has a spastic fit *

My self esteem just went up by NOTCHES and the rest of me doesn't know how to cope --

I am currently unraveling the secret identity of my fellows so that we might set sail immediately!

See, this is my mock confidence and rhetoric at work - pffffff!

[canisdoofus.livejournal.com]

methinks you're on to something here...

[azvolrien.livejournal.com]

I love these guys even more now that they've been fleshed out a bit (makes sense). I think my favourite's Pumpkin Spice - not just because of her navigational skills, but also because of her wonderful hat.

I also love that their ship is called the S.S. Presso. Nice, if not technically correct if they're not using a steam engine. (What?)

[saeble.livejournal.com]

what !?!?

of course they are using a steam engine !!!

like DUH... a steam engine has a BOILER... all that sexy hot water and steam, the mother of all COFFEE making machines ! :D

[ubiquitouspitt.livejournal.com]

I love how the obvious 'coffee' usage comes after sexy hot water and steam... ;)

[azvolrien.livejournal.com]

I hadn't even thought of that! It makes sense, now that I think of it.

[ubiquitouspitt.livejournal.com]

Why thank you - *primps*

[azvolrien.livejournal.com]

Th'art most welcome. *gallant bow*

[ubiquitouspitt.livejournal.com]

Heeeee!

[anathelen.livejournal.com]

Yippee! I'm delighted to get to see these new character designs. Love Pumkin's hat.

May I make a quick suggestion about Nakuru? Since this is the modern age he could be listed in a giant database somewhere as 'homeschooled', though the band doesn't teach him any kind of standard curriculum. Frapp probably has lots of books for him to read, though. It's hard to be a 100% mysterious orphan in the modern age when you need so much legal documentation to get through life.

[lydaclunas.livejournal.com]

LOL, brilliant! I do believe I'll share this with my former coffee minions.

[moonydoodle.livejournal.com]

I love this!!!

[ravenclaw-eric.livejournal.com]

Pretty cool! I'm not into fancy coffee much (a bit expensive for me) but I love this! *Ahhhrrr!*

[ardys-the-ghoul.livejournal.com]

I have kind of an idea for a character, but I don't know if you'd be interested.

A community sounds like a fun idea, although I'm not really involved in this, so I don't know if my opinion's worth anything.

[(Anonymous)]

I guessed pretty much what their personalities would be based on that first rough draft! Except since Frapp looks so much like Milo, I expected he'd have more of a panicky streak in him. And, of course, I thought that the person who turned into Matcha would be wildly different. XD

But I'm pretty surprised with how similar my idea of the personality of the kid who would become Nakuru and your actual description turned out. Actually, I put a description of the characters when I bookmarked the picture. I thought they'd be, from left to right, "a Femme Fatale, a Streetwise Old Drunk, a Wise Mysterious Urchin,... Milo Thatch, and a Stocky Guffawy Stupidish Ubernormal Guy." Which is more or less right. But I thought Pumpkin would be way more of a classic femme fatale. The sort who flirts with the baristo (it's not barista if it's a guy, is it?) while they're replacing all the whipped cream with empty decoy cans. And I swear they make special trips to New England just to do that to Seattle's Best Coffee out here!
-Lullabee

[sparrowofjack.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Coffee pirates! Hee, my favourite is Frapp, because he has buckled shoes. XD And... the S.S. Spresso. Oh my.

I'm sure you know this already, but juuust in case... a new Moist von Lipqig book is coming out in October sometime - "Making Money", no doubt having to do with the new mint Vetenari had been tempting the late Mr. Gilt with.

[sparrowofjack.livejournal.com]

Curses! Why do I always type "Lipqig"? Lipwig! Grr. O.o

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Yes I knooooooooooow! Why does October have to be so far away?!

[ubiquitouspitt.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh - am I staring in another Pratchett novel? I'm excited.

[sparrowofjack.livejournal.com]

I believe the only explanation is that the passage of time is cruel, cruel, oh so cruel! But Mr. Pratchett is king in my mind (he was before... but, um, again?) for not making Going Postal a standalone! Makes me happy.

And... random, but, who do you cast as Moist von Lipwig? I cannot get the mental image of Ewan McGregor out of my brain - he's stuck as Moist, after a well-timed watching of Big Fish. XD

[katarianna.livejournal.com]

Omg....that is absolutely hilarious. Brilliant.

[ledygrey.livejournal.com]

this makes my day, after a couple hours of being trained at the evil starbucks corporation today. (i know how to steam the milk now!)

but - but what happened to the guy whose place Matcha took? and what does matcha stand for, anyway...?

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

*does a happy dance*

Hooray for the Coffee Pirates of the SS Presso.

Also, could the dead comrade be named Peet? Peet's was a coffee place in California that everyone loved. :D

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

That sounds like an excellent idea, and could also be a tribute to Bill Peet, amazing story artist of awesome. Perhaps Frapp feels an unspoken pressure to live up to his memory (as do we all...).

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Hee! "I'm Frapp! I'm just not Peet material!"

So -- are you thinking of turning this into a comic, or writing a script, or just fanficcing it around? I think it'd make a brilliant film.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I'm depending on those more talented than me in the story department to do some writing, as they have mentioned wanting to do, and I might (probably) draw from the stories if they actually get written.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Well, send 'em my way if they get stumped, I'd love to help. Unless it'd be okay if I just busted out with a story too :D

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

You are perfectly welcome to write as much as you please! In fact I'd be mightily chuffed if you did so – I thought you'd be far too occupied with your other fanfic ventures to bother asking, but if you're offering ... absolutely!

[noodledaddy.livejournal.com]

If he did live up to Mr. Peet's memory, I suppose it would have been a re-peet.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Tula just threw her eraser at the screen. I hope you're happy.

[azvolrien.livejournal.com]

He was the guy who did The Pinkish Purplish Bluish Egg, yeah? That was one of my favourite picture books.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_youtellme/]

omg. this is by far one of the best idea i've heard.
my dear, you've mixed two things i absitively love.
coffee...and pirates.
omg, keep going w/ this i love it. i love it.
i can't see the image, but i love it. ;)

[shirasakura.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one laughing about 'Nakuru'? Because honestly I did a double-take at that name.

Cool idea, though.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I meant the coffee-growing town/region in Kenya ... does it have another meaning?