Another Day in the Cafe

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Dawn touched the Whazzit sky like a soft blossom of peach. It pushed the dark colors of the night away, blossoming into fiery oranges. This was when Cofaidh stirred, the warmth from the sun spilling in from her wide arched windows and blanketing her bed in light. Her ears twitched, and she yawned, stretching her arms above her head and arching her back like a cat. The fox opened her eyes, peering into the window, and then pulled the blanket over her head and curled up beneath it. Sleep time had been so nice, just a few minutes more...

Eventually she conceded defeat and spilled out of bed into a lump on the floor. She got to her feet and shuffled to the bathroom, where she turned on the shower and hopped in. Fifteen minutes later, she was out and drying off, clean and fresh but still not awake. She yawned as she tugged on jeans and fluffed out her tail to try to get it to dry faster. A clean t-shirt with a sleepy panda on it was pulled over her head, followed by an oversized black sweater. As she lazily braided her white hair, Co took a look out the window-

"IT'S SNOWING!" she squealed in happiness. The rest of her braid was finished quite un-lazily, and she rushed out of her little house and barreled into the snow. She spent ten minutes building a snowman by her front door, then went back inside to finish getting ready. A coffee held firmly in her hand, she half-ran out of the house a second time, this time on a clear mission: she had to open her cafe on time!

In the middle of the Weyrd, there was a little store that looked a little run down on the outside with a sign sticking out from the front of the building with a picture of a cup of coffee burned into the wood. The open sign was quickly put in the window, and the lights turned on. Cofaidh turned the coffee machines on, made sure all of them was filled with fresh clean water, and wiped down the tables and counters quickly. She finished off her first travel coffee, then filled a mug with a scalding cup of espresso. A couple of regulars came inside, which spurred her into action, and they were all greeted by name in a cheerful, now awake tone.

Gods, did she love coffee.

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Coffee!

Coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee cooffeeeeeeeeeeee!

To say that Meow Mix was a little bit excited about discovering a genuine, honest-to-god coffee shop in this disorganized labyrinth of lunacy would be a bit of an understatement. She felt like it had been years since she had a proper cup of coffee, much less and actual cappuccino. And coffee shops tended to have other fantastic things in them, too- things like scones and cookies and brownies and even sandwiches. Mostly, though, they had COFFEE. Nectar of the hyperactive gods!

Rats should probably not be drinking coffee, but Mixie was no ordinary rat, and her thirst for caffeine was no ordinary thirst.

The fresh drift of snow outside was a little startling, at first glance. Mixie could see the newly whitened landscape from her workshop window. She hadn't expected snow to be able to stick in a volcanic crater, but heck, since when was anything predictable in this madhouse of a planet? It was definitely a lovely sight, though, turning the Weyrd a fascinating monochrome with white snow and black sands.

Bundling up in one of her warmer jumpsuits (she tried to keep her mecha insulated, but damn if the wintery winds didn't whistle through every crack and crevice like she'd made the thing out of swiss cheese), Mixie got her suit heated up and made her way to the cute little shop. How had she not noticed this place before? She did plenty of exploring in the Weyrd, but she swore she had never seen the place. Had she just overlooked it? Come out too late in the evening? Or was it like one of Those Bookshops you always read about in stories, that appeared and disappeared at will?

So long as the place made a decent mocha, she honestly didn't care.

Taking a moment to stomp the snow off of her mecha's mismatched feet (... she'd need to find or engineer galoshes if this kept up, dangit), Mixie made her way into the coffee shop, breathing deeply and savoring that most precious and unreplicable of scents.

Coffeeeeeee.

The fact that the barista seemed to have pointy ears and a fluffy tail didn't even earn a blink of hesitation from Meow Mix. She had already seen far stranger.

"Hello!" she greeted the stranger cheerfully, mechanically enhanced voice kept to a politely muted tone for the small space. "What do you accept in payment here?" In a world without money, it was a logical first question.



(ooc: hope you don't mind a small furry visitor in a big clanking suit!)

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As Co was setting down the last coffee for her regulars, the small chime of her door rang as it opened. Her head turned to see a mecha stroll in, looking like it was made of scrap and whatever the person could get their hands on. Still, the machine moved pretty well and it made a smile light up the Fox's face. The smile turned into a grin when a voice spoke from speakers. Ohhh, that was very clever! Co wondered if they had made the suit here, which would have been more impressive.

"Hi!" she greeted back cheerfully, moving away from the other customer and leaning on the counter to give the mecha and it's owner her full attention. Her head tilted to the side as she listened to Meow Mix. "I use the barter system. Usually exchanging favors, helping me around here, fixing things. But," she added, "I always give the first coffee free for new faces. And I haven't seen yours before, so this one's on the house." Beaming, she tapped the counter to signal for Meow Mix to approach.

"Park your suit and hop on up." She assumed Mixie was pretty small, as it didn't seem that the suit had much space inside. Co straightened off the counter and pulled out a clean mug. "What would you like?"

[Not at all! :D]

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Mixie watched the stranger in open curiosity. While folks that looked like predators always made her a little wary, and foxes were naturally no friends to rats, this girl seemed bright, friendly, and completely non-hostile. It was a refreshing change, honestly. How a fox-person and her stock of clearly not-local coffee beans wound up here, well. It was Whazzit. Mixie had learned to stop asking those questions a long time ago.

Co certainly had a friendly smile, and Mixie returned it reflexively, though the barista wouldn't see it from Mixie's seat in her cockpit. "I guess I'm in luck, then," she answered warmly (and with a hint of pride). "If you need anything fixed, I'm your mechanic. I can fix anything." She approached the counter, taking a moment to admire the dark wood- she was always appreciative of good craftsmanship- before looking up in interest. "Free coffee? That's the best news I've heard all week."

She couldn't help but be taken a little off guard by Co's offer. "You might be the first person I've met to assume this is a suit," she told the fox-girl. "Everyone keeps calling me a robot or a machine or a golem or something." Setting the suit close to the counter with an arm resting on it as a convenient bridge, Mixie set the mecha to rest mode and clambered out, making her way down the arm and onto the countertop. "I'd love a mocha, thank you," she said with a whiskery grin. "Though you might need a slightly smaller mug. My name's Meow Mix, by the way. You'll be seeing a lot more of me!" Taking a seat on the mecha's hand, she looked around the little cafe, nodding in approval. "You've got a cute little place here. Do you have pastries, too, or just coffee?"

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When Mixie stated, with pride, that she was a mechanic, Co beamed at her. ”I haven’t found a mechanic here in ages, the last one left shortly after I got here nearly two years ago,” she replied, amber eyes lit up. ”You’re more than welcome to come here anytime.” There were a few types of machines she’s had in the back now that were broken that she’d been trying to fix herself, but she didn’t know enough about machines to fix them. Co decided she’d bring them up next time Meow Mix came in. One of them was a flavor machine, which had- literally- every flavor she could think of. It was some serious Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans type of insanity.

She giggled at her comment about free coffee being the best news all week. She sometimes had days where she’d give coffee out for free, and it always had customers coming back, that was for sure. Most bussiness people would argue it wasn’t a good idea, but she liked people and liked making them happy, and it kept them coming back. So screw you and your fancy little degree, boring-looking guy in a suit. She’ll keep her free coffee, you can keep your unhapiness. ”While you bein’ a robot wouldn’t have surprised me, I assumed you were a small- Oh my gosh, you’re so cute!” Co interrupted herself when Meow Mix parked her mecha and exited the cock pit. Her ears twitched, and then she laughed at herself. ”Uh, sorry. I know some don’t appreciate being called cute.” Waaaay to go, Cofaidh.

”Smaller mug, indeed!” She took out one that was a quarter of the size, and used the larger one to put under the coffee machine to make the mocha. As it was brewing, the fox pushed a couple strands of white hair out of her face. ”I’m Sionnach Cofaidh, but ya can call me Co or Aidh for short, since it’s such a mouthful.” One of her regulars finished off their coffee and departed. Co waved them goodbye, took their mug and set it gently in the sink. ”It’s a pleasure, Meow Mix!” She wondered to herself if the rat knew that was a brand of cat food, but alas. The mocha finished brewing, so she poured a bit into the very small mug for her, and gently pushed it across the counter in front of her suit so she could enjoy it.

”If ya want a refill, let me know,” she said as she set the larger mug aside. ”Aww, thanks! A couple of the locals helped me build the place. Oh, yes, I have pastries here. Some donuts, muffins, breads, bagels, and even a couple types of danishes.” She glanced in the pastry case, naming them off as she saw them. ”Not as much a variety as I’d like, but I’m working on it. The baker here is always busy.” Co turned back to Meow Mix, smiling.

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Exotic flavor machines might not have been Mixie's specialty. She had never seen or even heard of such a thing, after all. But she was a clever beast with her hands, and would doubtlessly be able to rig up SOMETHING to make it work... even if it didn't look or act quite the same anymore. "I certainly haven't seen any other mechanics around," she confirmed. "But then again, I haven't seen a lot of machines, either. Everyone has magical... everything... to do stuff instead." It made her feel mighty out of place some times, but she was hardly gonna burden a stranger with her personal reservations about Shiny-ville here.

The fox-girl's squeal of delight certainly caught Mixie off guard for a moment, and her little ears twitched in response. But it was a happy squeal, and a sweet compliment. "Don't think I've had anyone call me cute before," she confessed awkwardly, straightening her jumpsuit a bit self-consciously. "Mostly people just stare or throw a shoe or something. Or bite me. That's happened a lot lately." Sure enough, the little mechanic's tail was wrapped up in a neatly tied bandage. It had been an ODD season for her.

"Sio... shone... si... yeah, I might just have to call you Co," the rat said with a snicker. "It's a nice name, though. Is it Irish? Welsh? Sounds like one of those places, at least. Well... okay, that's probably a silly question," she amended. "Pretty sure no two people are from the same world around here. Even if you are from Ireland, it isn't MY Ireland." Okay, so the closest Mixie had gotten to Ireland was "slurping a leftover shamrock shake," but hey. It was still the Ireland of her world.

It was a sign of the world that they lived in that a coffee shop would have quarter-sized, rat-appropriate mugs, but that was one of the things Mixie had been loving about this place so far. She accepted the micro-mocha with a cheerful "thank you!" before taking a deep and grateful slurp.

This was followed by a very long moment of silence as Mixie floated away on a coffee-scented cloud of pure bliss.

It had been far, far, far too long.

"... I hope you have a LOT of broken things," she finally managed. "Because I'm going to be needing a lot more of this in my life." And pastries were just going to make it better. "I'm gonna have to get a danish one of these days, too."

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The fox nodded in agreement to Mixie's sentiments. There was indeed a lot of magic around here, it seemed to just ooze with the stuff. She herself could sense it rather easily, and there were some places in the weyrd she actually avoided because there was such a high magical concentration there that it made her head hurt. She herself was- ... well, that might be a conversation for another day. While she was thoroughly enjoying the rat's conversation here, and she assumed they could be pretty good friends, she was still unsure. Best take it slow, eh?

How could people not think she was cute?! The next statement surprised the fox, her ears perking forward. "I've always thought mice and rats were super cute," she admitted, which had gotten her in trouble with Mother often because they weren't quite welcome in most cafes. "Shoes?! Ugh, people can be so mean," she fretted, taking a sip of her own ice coffee that she kept behind the counter. The nerve of some people, man. Thankfully, she didn't notice the bandaged tail.

The fox giggled at her attempt to pronounce her name. "Close! It's Gaelic, and I come from Scotland," she answered, beaming. She'd visited Ireland a couple of times and had loved it there. The cows were adorable. Yes, she might just judge a country on the state of their cows. Don't judge her. Milk was very important to coffee and cows were freaking cute. As Mixie sipped her mocha, she cleaned the machine that it had come from, wrinkling her nose as the steam tickled her whiskers and face. She had to stifle a giggle at the rat's expression of bliss, allowing her to savor the moment in peace.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll be able to work something out, regardless," Co said with a laugh. She set down the cleaning cloth, taking another sip of her own iced beverage. "Of course! And if you ever have requests for a certain flavor, let me know. I always love baking new flavors, and the baker loves challenges now and then." Though she wasn't the best at baking, she was trying to get better at it so the baker wasn't so strung out with her orders.

[Danu]

Oh Danu didn't know what this smell was but it was bitter, but it was sweet! oh but it was bittttter, but! she wanted to know what it was. Perhaps a bit odd for some of the customers, others not so much whom had seen the giant crow she waddled waist deep in the snow, preferring to walk through doors than try to fly through them.

She found out doors had these magical force-fields which she later found out was called glass, it was totally see through but solid! But it could break, she still felt bad about that. It shattered to bits, wanting to see perhaps Mum and the rest of the legion Danu had gotten rather excited when spotting cats in town as of late, the poor residence having to put up with her want to 'play' with anything fuzzy or small.

But no matter, having admired the outside of the door long enough Danu waited for the next person to step out before pushing her beak through the door and waddling in. She stayed on the little carpet thingy in the door way and shook her head, than wings then the rest of her body and as her custom dictated started with a cheery:

He-llo!

Croaking a loud greeting for the humanoids she bobbed her head this way and that trying to find the source of the odd bitter smell, but all that was here was. . .bunches of cups, brown water, and a rat!

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Mixie shrugged casually in response to Co's comment. "Everyone finds different things cute, I guess," she said resignedly. "People keep calling watch-whers ugly, but I think mine are adorable. And cute doesn't mean too much to some people anyway. There's folks out there that'd throw a shoe at anything. Or worse," she added darkly, thinking of some unpleasantries she'd already encountered here, nevermind back in the junk yard she'd once called home.

Dark thoughts had no chance to hold up against the glorious head-clearing beauty that was mocha, though, and Mixie's expression cleared as quickly as her little mug emptied. "This really is amazing coffee," she told Co honestly. "I don't know what magic lets coffee grow in this climate, but I hope it never runs out." Holding out the mug for a refill, she took a sip as soon as it was topped of, sighing in blissful relaxation. "Don't laugh too much," she chuckled, "because I know how stereotypical it is, but my favorite pastries are the cheese danishes." Ha ha, rats and cheese. She'd heard them all. But sweet flakey pastry and soft, silky cheese were a match made in heaven.

He-llo!

Meow mix spun around as the loud, cawing greeting rang thorough the confined space, feeling a flash of momentary alarm as she saw the giant crow in the doorway. It was a familiar giant crow, though. She'd seen the big bird (... Danny? Danu? Dunie? Something like that) around the Weyrd before, and it seemed at least fairly harmless. There was no denying that it was a very large crow, though, and even moderately sized crows didn't bode well for most rats... but Mixie was not most rats, and this was no junkyard, and this wasn't just a giant mindless killer bird.

There was a very brief moment where Mixie EYED the giant bird, comparing it's size to that of the mysterious egg that had appeared on her doorstep the other day (and was currently tucked safe and sound next to her magical fireplace), but that was brief. She was pretty sure that Danu wasn't that egg's mother.

Pretty sure.

"... how do you serve coffee to someone without hands?" she asked Co after a brief moment of pondering, eyes locked on the giant bird.

Egg 1/20

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"True!" Cofaidh was quick to agree with Mixie, for the rat was right. Opinions of cuteness varied vastly depending upon the owner of said opinions. She flashed her a smile at the mention of whers- Baltosk came to mind immediately, and the fox found herself nodding as the other spoke. "Same. Mine is cute too, especially with his little booties." He could get a bit over-excited about things and knock things over, but he reminded her so much of a wriggly pup that she couldn't even get mad. The sapphire was getting better about not knocking things over, especially when it came to the egg.

And, she supposed as she watched Mixie finish off her mocha, the egg could be considered cute too. It was a dark color, a bit speckled on the rounded corners, and smooth to the touch. Not often does one really speculate the scale of cuteness of a random egg dropped off on your doorstep, but this wasn't the usual place, Whazzit. Co refilled the rat's little cup, beaming at the compliment, thoughts of the egg momentarily dispersing. "Thank you!" she said graciously. "I didn't think they'd grow, either, but the magic in this place is so penetrating it seems to work on the soil, too. I planted them as a last-ditch effort outside my house and they sprouted as if it was the richest soil in the heart of Scotland."

Oh, the mountains of Scotland harvested some pretty good coffee plants, too. She only had a couple strands here, the rest still back at her old home, and she missed them. She also missed her home in general; that homesick twinge came sudden, and her ears twitched. Thankfully, though, a new face provided some distraction and immediately drew her attention away. The croaked out greeting caught the fox by surprise, and her gaze snapped over to the door. The owner of the voice was an exceptionally large crow, whom was remaining by the doorway. It took Co a moment to realize it was wiping its feet on the mat at the door.

At Mixie's question, she tore her gaze from Danu and peered at her. The rat was staring intently at Danu, which Co supposed was fair, considering it was a giant crow and she was, well, usually prey to crows. The crow seemed to be intelligent, however, and wasn't immediately swooping upon the little mechanic, so Co felt it was safe enough. "We're about to find out," she answered her. Her amber gaze returned to Danu, and she replied, "Hello! Come on up to the counter!"

Could crows have coffee? Could they even ingest caffeine? These were questions the fox never thought she'd be asking herself, and yet, here they were.

[4/20 egg]