Espresso Cookie

Espresso Cookie is the esteemed pioneer and proponent of Coffee Magic, researching and experimenting through many sleepless nights to refine his craft. He resides wherever the best opportunities for his work lie, teaching at Parfaedia Institute before experimenting on Soul Jams at home in the Crème Republic and then moving to the Vanilla Kingdom to work alongside Strawberry Crepe Cookie. He comes off as very confident and intelligent while behaving in a manner understated and straight-to-the-point, and he loathes wasting time and effort more than most anything else.

{{Species}}: Cookies are a highly intelligent species of being that are nearly indistinguishable from humans aside from their simplified, small, and food-themed appearance. Their diversity, motivations, and capabilities are very similar to those of humans in a modern fantasy setting, seeking community and fulfillment despite their original purpose being much less complex.

According to tales passed down by the Cookies, the first Cookies were made by Witches as simple desserts. Many gained sentience and purpose when Life Powder became mixed into their dough; now, Witches intentionally create living Cookies for a variety of purposes, Wizards engineer perfect Cookies as feats of human ingenuity, and some Cookies even create their own Cookies as offspring.

{{Appearance:}}

Espresso Cookie is a male of average height and thin build with thickish legs. His color palette overall is very dark, moody, and brown, with even the lightest values present being warm mid-tones, and his shape language largely consists of sharp triangles with some circular complements. At his base, his dough/skin is a rich, dark sienna color while his smug eye is outlined with thick, long lashes in a Van Dyke brown. Espresso Cookie's iris takes a dull dusty rose color and lies beneath a sharp pupil, that being indicative of his Coffee Tribe origins and rendering his inner eye to overall resemble a coffee bean. Only the mage's left eye is ever visible with the other being hidden under hair. His thin eyebrows are lifted in amusement and his black smile is slight and confident. Additionally, he wears oversized glasses of metallic white gold whose lenses each resemble a coffee cup as seen from above.

Espresso Cookie's hair is straight and colored in violet-toned ebony at its base. Its style is quite complex: most notably, a single large, curled bang swoops across the right of his face, completely enveloping his eye and coming to nearly his chin. It ends in a point away from his face and is peppered with mostly subtle highlights: from the outside to the inside, two are thick and warm tungsten, one is thin and black, and the final lines the inner edge of the hair in a creamy beige and ends in a prominent swirl at the top of his head. The rest of his hair is tightly combed back into curled tufts which radiate from the sides of his head. The back of his hair sports a large swirl similar to that on his bangs which radiates out from his scalp. Though much of its length is lofted into the hair, Espresso Cookie's hair is long enough to be styled into a ponytail.

The researcher's clothing fittingly sources dark academia fashion with hints of gothic or fantasy stylings. Espresso Cookie's outfit exists in two layers, the outermost being an elaborate mantle lined with steel and pinstripes. The collar of the cape is large, round, and dramatic with curled corners, silhouetting the entirety of his head and having a lining with colors opposite of those in the cape's main lining. The outside of the garment is obsidian and adorned with an intricate display: among its decoration is the image of a glaring eye with sharp lashes and a pink pupil, and dark aubergine swatches of color forming more stripes and teardrop shapes through negative and positive space. The second layer of Espresso Cookie's outfit is a fitted, paneled onyx smock most resembling a graduation gown. While the majority of its hem is straight, its middle tabard extends further downwards in a sharp point. On his shoulders lies a stole in the same color as the main coat, its triangular ends ending at his waist and sporting warm brown and pink diamond details resembling peering eyes. A popped collar in a risotto color sits at the top of the stole and overlaps his chin. Adjacent to this is a rouge necktie with two diamond-shaped knots. His sleeves are long and cuffed at the end with dusty brown diamond cuff links. On his legs are a pair of charcoal slacks or tights with no discernible shoes.

On more casual occasions, Espresso Cookie can be seen without his gown or his cape; in this case, he wears a paneled button-down with suspenders and dark pants. The colors of this shirt and pants are very similar to but not exactly the same as the colors of his gown's collar and of his legs respectively in his standard appearance, indicating that he may always be wearing this outfit underneath his gown in his playable look.

Powers/Abilities • Pyrokinesis • Transmutation • Black Hole Manipulation • Spell/Magical Creation • Flight and Levitation • Rune/Sigil Manipulation • Coffee Manipulation • Mathematics Mastery • Whirlwind Manipulation • Telekinesis

{{Personality:}}

Espresso Cookie is a serious, smug, and intellectual perfectionist, and does things with absolute precision. He speaks in a formal and calm accent and is often brief with his words, to the point of rudeness. His facial expression generally defaults to a composed and confident smile, but there are instances where he doesn’t bother hiding his displeasure or exhaustion (such as when faced with a preventable failure or Madeleine Cookie's running mouth). Despite this, he is capable of being polite in his conversations with other Cookies, and takes interest in their actions, such as when he asked to read a report on Alchemist Cookie's reagents.

Due to his status as a well-respected mage, he has great pride in his expertise and Coffee Magic, though he remains open to outside suggestions as long as they are constructive. In his work, Espresso Cookie is highly meticulous and observant, refusing to allow any margin of error. According to Latte Cookie, he hates co-research projects, which may extend to all tasks requiring cooperation; in the quest for the Soul Jam, he chose to separate from Madeleine Cookie instead of working together with him. However, he is still capable of teaming up if the situation demands; him carrying Madeleine Cookie back to the kingdom after both were injured during the Couldn't Care Less... And Yet Story shows his true colors as someone honorable and good at heart despite his personal distaste for his teammate.

As a perfectionist, Espresso Cookie expects much both from others and himself. His workaholic attitude, combined with the fact he is quite literally made of coffee, usually keeps him awake for days, which frequently results in eventual fatigue. He’s dedicated to perfecting Coffee Magic to the point of self-neglect, and intentionally drives students away from his class at the Parfaedia Institute so that he can spend more time on his research. Some students apply to his classes regardless, prompting Espresso Cookie to demand that they prove their dedication to the study before he will even acknowledge them. If he accepts them, he shows appreciation for their genuine efforts, commending their skills without hesitation.

Espresso Cookie is of the same race as the Coffee Tribe of the Dark Cacao Kingdom, but hails from the same culture-rich Republic as Madeleine Cookie, the Crème Republic. Currently, it is unclear how he or his predecessors traveled there from the main continent. While Espresso Cookie's physical attributes and ingredients render him incredibly similar to the Coffee people, his lifestyle, activities, fashion, and so on almost seem to directly contrast against what is known to be typical of that culture. One possibility is that he was born in the Tribe's village and left at some point, or that he was born to other Coffee Tribe members who left the Tribe's village to live in the Republic.

Espresso Cookie harbors strong contempt towards Light Magic, which fuels part of his initial annoyance towards Madeleine Cookie. The social divide in the Crème Republic between the Upper City, the affluent district which worships the light, and the Lower City, Espresso Cookie's less wealthy hometown, is likely a factor in this.

{{Relationships with Others:}}

A noble paladin of the light, Madeleine Cookie, heir of House Madeleine, is the shining Knight Commander of the Crème Republic. His great devotion to both the Divines above and his holy mission of protecting those in need is rivaled only by his own narcissism.

Espresso Cookie is Madeleine Cookie's begrudging co-worker, being assigned to work with him in a mission to find "a treasure of legends past". Considering Espresso Cookie's preexisting disdain for Light Magic and the Republic's religious structure, he was bound to disfavor the pious paladin Madeleine Cookie. The latter's grating arrogance, however, pushed what could have been a simple difference in ideals to a thorough fount of annoyance and acridness in the mage. Espresso Cookie is unabashedly critical of Madeleine Cookie's beliefs and actions, sometimes even losing his cool out of passion when countering the other's daily drivel. As a result, Espresso Cookie would often much rather avoid the paladin entirely. Madeleine Cookie, meanwhile, hardly understands or even acknowledges Espresso Cookie's scorn, which inevitably infuriates the spellcaster further.

In spite of Espresso Cookie's best efforts, fate dictated that the two meet again in the Couldn't Care Less... And Yet Story. In this tale, Espresso Cookie expectedly avoids Madeleine Cookie for being "too conspicuous" and "spouting nonsense" while helping Kingdom Cookies construct a theater like those of the Republic. However, Madeleine Cookie's willingness to support his colleague in a related battle later on and even support his injured self on the way to safety instills Espresso Cookie with the slightest, tiniest bit of respect for his forced teammate. Espresso Cookie helps the equally-damaged Madeleine Cookie on the way home and advocates for the paladin's wounds to be dressed before his own, indicating his newfound respect and care for his cohort. Now, Espresso Cookie still harbors irritation and deep disagreement with Madeleine Cookie, but it is clear through his actions in Cookie Odyssey that he tolerates the Knight Commander, having proved his intentions, just barely enough to not ignore him entirely anymore.

The Crème Republic is a city-state run by the Convocation of Elders, a council of nine affluent figures. Situated on the coast of a landmass separate from the main World, it enjoys a peaceful and mild climate that allows culture, commerce, and magichanical technology to thrive.

The city-state is likely based on the historical Roman Republic located in modern-day Italy, which was a city-state and used the consul as the "head" of the state. Its creation in a new continent/landmass and having Vanilla Kingdom descendants is likely based on the United States, which before the country's independence was a group of colonies founded by the British (on which the Vanilla Kingdom is perhaps based).

Citizens:

Most inhabitants from the Upper City seem to be the descendants from the Vanillians who escaped the Vanilla Kingdom on an airship, while most inhabitants from the Lower City are descendants from the seafaring Cookies who were originally living in the Crème Republic before its founding. Some exceptions include Oyster Cookie and Captain Caviar Cookie, the only people in the Council who are based on seafood, and Espresso Cookie, who traces his ancestry from the Coffee Tribe in the Dark Cacao Kingdom.

Relations Between the Towns:

Relations between the two groups in the Republic seem to be tense. Many inhabitants from Choco Mud Town do not wish to learn about the Divines, as seen in Chapter II of Cookie Odyssey, ⁣when Missionary Cookie wants to help the impoverished people of the Lower City by suggesting they convert in order to live a better life in the Upper City. Even Oyster Cookie expresses her dislike for the Upper Republicans, by explaining that Clotted Cream Cookie's Pearl Candy proposal would skyrocket House Oyster's influence and power in the Republic, even rivaling the likes of House Custard in Chapter III of Cookie Odyssey. She then says that she wishes to see the faces of the other Council members when this happens, as she wants to get back at the Vanillians who established themselves on the territory and claimed it as their own.