| Description
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xxxxxSpacious and open, this coffeeshop has a somewhat industrial feel to it, grey resin floors below and exposed-beam ceilings that have been painted up in a dancing swirl of abstract whorls and starbursts, a riot of colour splashed against a white background. The walls alternate between brick and cheerfully lime-green painted wood that extends to the paneling beneath the brushed-steel countertops. There's an abundance of light, though rather than windows (which are scarce) it comes from plentiful hanging steel lamps. The walls here are home to plentiful artwork available for sale; though the roster of prints and paintings and drawings and photographs changes on a regular basis it has one thing in common -- all the artists displayed are mutants.
xxxxxThe seating spaced around the room is spread out enough to keep the room from feeling cluttered. Black chairs, square black tables that mostly seat two or four though they're frequently pushed around and rearranged to make space for larger parties. In the back corner of the room is more comfortable seating, a few large black-corduroy sofas and armchairs with wide tables between them. There's a shelf of card and board games back here available for customers to sit and play.
xxxxxThe chalkboard menus hanging behind the counter change frequently, always home to a wide variety of drinks (with an impressive roster of fair-trade coffees and teas largely featured) though their sandwiches and wraps and soups and snacks of the day change often. An often-changing variety of baked goods sit behind the display case at the counter halfway back in the room, and the opposite side of the counter holds a small selection of homemade ice creams. A pair of single-user bathrooms flanks the stairway in back of the cafe; at night, the thump of music can be heard from above, coming from the adjoining nightclub of the same name that sits up the stairs above the coffeehouse.
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| Notes & Trivia
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- Evolve's menu caters to a wide variety of dietary restrictions; they favor local produce and goods and have a lot of vegan/GF options available. More recently, their kitchen and menu has also gone fully kosher.
- Evolve used to be a print shop. When they renovated, the beams were stained with ink half an inch thick.
- Evolve' originals owners were not, despite plenty of rumors, mutants themselves. Just sympathetic.
- The person who bought the shop after the bombing, renovated, and reopened it, though, is definitely a mutant. Shane Holland is extremely blue and extremely fishy so there is no need for speculation there.
- In hiring, Evolve highly prioritizes obvious visible mutants and also mutants with criminal records -- i.e., those in the community who have the most difficult time finding employment elsewhere.
- There is a nightclub above the cafe, open Thursday through Saturday nights. Though on other nights the cafe closes at midnight, on nights the club is open they stay open till 4 am, when the club closes.
- At times that the nightclub is not open, the space is available to be reserved -- free of charge, though donations are very welcome -- to groups that would like a safe meeting space. It currently plays home to everything from a mutant-friendly Alcoholics Anonymous to a book club to an LGBT youth group to a knitting circle to a tabletop roleplaying group. Anyone interested in using the space can talk to Shane, Daiki, or B about reserving a time (either one-time or recurring) and they reserve the right to deny any functions they do not feel comfortable with.
- Evolve's daily specials are always advertised on a 'pay what you want' rate, with fairly low suggested payments offered.
- Past that, Evolve's suspended-payment plan means that even those who don't have money to spare can often find a meal here. Anyone with the money to spare can purchase extra "suspended" drinks or food items which the system keeps track of. People who cannot afford their own food can, subsequently, use the suspended purchases as vouchers to purchase their own coffee or food. At any given moment there's usually a little bit of stored credit available for use, which is beginning to earn the cafe a reputation in the mutant community as a place where down-on-their luck mutants can get a free meal.
- Evolve is CLOSED to the public on the following days each year: First night of Pesach, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Lunar New Year. The nightclub does have a large NYE party, though.
- Though not open for actual business on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day, the cafe does hold a large and free dinner for those in the mutant community who want to come eat. From about 6-9pm people can turn up for free food and socializing, holiday cheer optional. Similarly they hold a free seder meal on the second night of Pesach (upstairs, not in the main cafe room); on years when this overlaps with a Thurs-Sat night the nightclub is closed that evening.
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| Employees
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- Shane - Owner
- Taylor - Barista/shift supervisor
- Rasa - Barista
- Polaris - Barista
- Regina - Barista
- Daiki - Finance & Distribution
- Ravenna Lucilia (NPC): Barista. Short and pleasantly plump, this nineteen-year-old girl is fair skinned, ice blue eyed, and her long, thick hair is probably black naturally though it doesn't stay any one colour for too many days on a stretch. Her style most decidedly leans toward gothy. A former Promethean, she makes an amazing barista with her ability to modify the temperature of any object she touches. Including reheating that luke-warm coffee.
- Takeshi "Tak" Ji (NPC): Barista. Tall, thin, twenty-something young man of Japanese ancestry with mid-length, often asymmetrically cut black hair. A former Promethean, Tak has a finely tuned danger sense that makes it worth paying attention when he starts acting tense or nervous.
- Haley Zhang (NPC): Cashier/busser. A small, brown-skinned genderqueer person with hooves, small backswept horns, a tail, and a great deal of coarse, dark hair on their head as well as their body.
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| Important Events
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- 2013-06-11: An anti-mutant firebombing burns Evolve down, killing three and closing the coffeeshop.
- 2014-05-29: Almost one year after the bombing that closed the shop, Evolve reopens under new ownership.
- Late 2015-2016: Early into its operations, Evolve was hit by another anti-mutant attack and closed for nearly a year amidst rumours of bankruptcy. The cafe reopened Halloween 2016 following the Evolympics, a mutant-focused sporting event that began as a fundraiser to reopen the cafe has since turned into a regular occurrence for mutant athletes.
- 2017-01-02: After a shooting and firebombing, the cafe closes temporarily for repairs.
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| Evolve Coffeeshop
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| Neighborhood
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Lower East Side
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| Type
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Cafe
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| Hours of Operation
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Su, 9a-Midnight; Mo - We, 7a-Midnight; Th, 7a-4a; Fr & Sa: 8a - 4a
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| Mutant-friendliness
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Extremely welcoming; known in the mutant community as a safe hangout & community gathering-space.
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