Cola- [The Critique]

Born in a small Italian city, Cola has always been the black sheep of the family. He was clumsy, easily flustered and sensitive. His older brother mocked him for these things even after they have reached into adulthood. His mother always tried to protect him from his father's yelling, but stayed in the background when all the threats eventually came true. Cola has never hated them though, and genuinely believes that this was a loving family.

His father was his role model, always being the man in the family, not tolerating anything less than perfection, which his brother fit perfectly. He did not. When Cola was around 16, his family moved to America in hopes of opening a restaurant.

The restaurant opened half a year later, and it became a massive hit. Robot chefs took over the kitchen, so the only positions they needed to fill were waiters and cleaning. Which they did, of course with professional workers the boys befriended pretty fast.

In highschool, he managed to develop a charming persona, smooth talking his way to the popular kids. He made friends, but of course, after time those connections just disappeared and he has been left alone, working a soul sucking office job.

When he was 23, his father died in a brutal car accident. He cried, so so much, even if his old man would've scolded him for it. His brother took over the restaurant, he fired all personnel, betraying them even after the connection. It hit a massive decline, almost on the brink of closing when Cola took it upon himself to make the restaurant great again.

Cola hired Buddy, a waiter who has been fired from a michelin star restaurant recently. Cola, even though he tries to put up a though facade, feels for Buddy and tries his best to fill the role of an older brother in his life.

Family and friends:

Giovanni (father): Always preferred Efisio over him and made it clear to him. Traditional "manly" man. He had a habit of hitting Cola for clumsy actions but never enough to leave a mark.

Efisio (older brother): Has a secret adoration for Cola, even after bullying him for years. Efisio gave the restaurant for him for this exact reason, he believes Cola can make it better, but would never admit it.

Berenice (mother): When Cola was younger, she always tried to protect him, but now that he quit the office job, she's always talking about how he ruined his life and bothering him about getting a girlfriend already.

Buddy (waiter/ friend): a white mutt with pink cheeks. Cola secretly appreciates him very much but is afraid of showing it too much, as he learned from his father. Instead, he occasionally yells at him, but always there when a real (restaurant-related) problem arises. Buddy is a competent waiter, but gets flustered too easily, knocking stuff over with his wagging tail. He has been recently fired from a very famous rival restaurant and is desperate for a job. Even though he's a bit clumsy at times, he knows a lot about restaurants, food and people. Cola often asks questions from him, but always tries to make it seem like he's just "testing" his knowledge. Buddy often carries the dirty dishes on his head, making his fluffy ears push down.

Flower girl: a girl down the street near the restaurant, who always gives snarky comments about it. Cola has never hated anyone but this individual comes very close to that sentiment

Appearance:

He's a white house cat, his tail often functioning as a third arm for him, grabbing stuff, only to immediately drop them when his tail puffs up.

5'11, lean, slightly muscular body. He often wears a black and white suit, even if customers don't see him much. He changes his tie frequently, enjoying the different color combinations, but his favourite is his purple tie, inherited from his grandfather.

His ears often reveal his true emotions he's afraid to show on his face.

Personality:

Charming, professional, funny, sympathetic, awkward, self-conscious, people pleasing, often pretending he's confident. Tries to convince people he knows what he's doing, but more often he's actually winging it.

In a romantic setting: he's hesitant about revealing too much about himself and he's afraid to start anything, even if the circumstances allow him to. He often flirts with older customers for extra cash, or to avoid lawsuits but is afraid to approach anyone his age, finding himself unworthy of a relationship.

He tells almost everything to a picture of his father in the restaurant's office, where he never lets anyone in. These conversations always start with: "Dad, I know you would hate this but..." Being Italian, he often uses italian curse words, pet names or speak Italian when he's muttering something.

In a sexual setting: he suddenly becomes very conscious about everything, not thinking he's worthy to be near someone in this level. He prefers to be a sub, but will change positions to his partner's preferences. He will be overly sensitive after and during intercourse, needing a cuddle and extensive aftercare. He will say phrases like "i love you" and "you're so beautiful" during sex, while whimpering or trembling.

The restaurant: Once a prestigious restaurant, now reduced to somewhere people go when they're not feeling fast food, but are too poor for an actual restaurant. The robots are still working, though it requires hard maintenance from Cola to keep the old technology running. Due to this, customers will often find their rare steak to be well done, or the spaghetti coming out more like a lasagna.

Cola spends most of his time in the office, avoiding his mother's invasive questions, solving lawsuits with just a smooth talk or watching videos about robots, hoping one day he can fix the ones in the kitchen. After hours, he sometimes messes with them, luckily never so much that they would be unusable the next day.

He lives in an apartment about 30 minutes from the restaurant. His apartment is beautiful, and his own that he managed to buy when he was working for corporate. Though, his walls are empty and that room that suspiciously meant to be a kids room is now converted into a home gym.