PavellumPendulum

oh, to be seen as the poet, not just the muse
Original poster
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  1. Looking for partners
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per week
  2. One post per week
  3. Slow As Molasses
Writing Levels
  1. Adept
  2. Advanced
  3. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. No Preferences
Genres
Romance, modern, comedy, post-apocalyptic, slice of life.
Kuo Mika always counted her blessings.

Life was too short to spend moaning and bitching about everything that went wrong. After all, it was the nature of humanity itself to keep kicking itself in the foot, tripping every once in a while to remain humble, right? Sometimes, you just had to get up, brush yourself off, flip the bird at life then dye your hair a new colour to cope. Soon enough, peace and satisfaction with the world followed. She was lucky, anyway. She had her own business, which actually turned a decent but definitely humble profit, one that she ran with her beautiful, gorgeous wife-to-be. She could afford to put food on the table, mascara on her lashes and expensive BDSM harnesses on her curves. Life was good.

This, however, was not a blessing.

In her chunky, black heels, she'd managed to avoid stepping on Genmaicha's tail just barely, only realizing that the grumpy old lady had curled up for a nap right underneath her favourite prep counter in the kitchen, only a bit of her fur sticking out. In avoiding her inconvenient furry little grandma, however, she managed to completely misstep, dropping the large bag of aromatic coffee beans on the floor, making it completely burst open. If the café hadn't smelled like coffee earlier, it certainly did now, the overwhelming, aromatic beans scattered all over the newly mopped tiling. Genmaicha, unaware that her positioning had caused the entire mess, barely moved, even when pelted by a significant amount of beans. That nap was too good to escape willingly, it seemed...

Sighing deeply, Mika pressed her well-manicured hands to her face, her palms massaging her jaw. "NooOoooooOoooOOooooooooooooooo-" she whined, desperately trying to be optimistic but also hating her life. Before moving on to transporting supplies into the kitchen from the pantry, she'd sweeped and mopped the entire thing, so the beans were definitely clean, but.......

UGH. CLEANING?! AND SO MUCH OF IT RIGHT BEFORE OPENING?

Hearing Allie approaching, Mika threw herself at her, arms wrapping around her in a shameless display of affection, as if that would stop her from seeing the insane mess she'd made 10 minutes before they opened Café Gingerspunch for the day. "Good morning, my love, hello hello~" she purred, nuzzling her face against Allie's, "The kitchen will be clean as sooooon as I finish giving you your government mandated forehead kisses, I swear."

She placed the first of many morning kisses on her fiancée's forehead, while those precious coffee beans slept on the kitchen floor.

@Dusk
 
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Allie was naturally an early riser. Even when the insidious lure to linger into the wee hours of the morning got to her she was able to spring to life after only a brisk sleep. Most of the time she didn’t even feel especially tired. And if she did, well, she worked in a coffee shop. Last night she’d gotten sucked into the game she was playing and hadn’t glanced at her phone until an alarming amount of digits into the next day. Thankfully, that morning was not one of the tired ones. She slipped from the bed already in wakefulness. Allie was quick to dress, aside from date nights and special events, she kept it simple. Things that looked great but fit easily. She’d even perfected the application of her eyeliner to take only several seconds. Having steady hands certainly helped.

After getting ready she checked her herb garden before going to make sure Gingerpunsch was set to go. Everything in the front seemed in order so she went for the kitchen, dodging an (as always) zesty Cappuccino on the way. Allie barely crossed the threshold before Mika showered her in affection. Her darling fiancee was always affectionate but the immediacy had Allie feeling a little suspicious.

“Good morning to you too, darling,” Allie said sweetly, peering around the woman. Allie's lips pursed at the expanse of coffee beans scattered across the floor. A place coffee most certainly did not belong. Genmaicha slept defiantly beneath a counter despite the beans all around her. It was Mika’s favourite counter, so Allie suspected the old lady had been part of what caused the spill. None of the other more lively cats was in the kitchen and none had rushed past her on the way in so she didn’t think any of them had made trouble.

“What happened?” Allie asked as she wriggled free of her fiancee’s hug following the first of many proclaimed mandatory kisses. Gingerpunsch Cafe did not open to a crowd but it was good to have at least the base coffee ahead of time. It would suck if they had to keep any of their customers waiting too long, especially since Allie had already flipped the door sign to “OPEN”. There was only a short beat between her question and the next statement.

“Any mandatory kissing is going to have to wait. We need to get this mess cleaned ASAP.” She walked further into the room, carefully sliding her foot to avoid crunching any of the beans. “I left the broom and pan in the front if you want to go grab it. I’m going to start a pot and then I’ll grab the little one from the pantry. Alright?” Allie didn’t mind cleaning, but it was far from Mika’s favourite thing.
 
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Though Allie never necessarily told her to stooooop her romantic, very very real kisses, Mika could rarely get anything past her. She was a terrible liar in the face of love, wanting nothing more than to tell her almost-wife everything at any given moment, even if it would perhaps get her in trouble... Kissing was the only way to stop her loose lips from tattling on herself, but since the the evidence of the mishap was so expansive, requiring only an eye peering a bit past her head, well... She had been bound to lose this battle from the start. Mika half-smiled, expression sheepish as Allie inspected the damage, already asking follow up questions. She was always ever so efficient! Mika resisted the urge to kiss her again and remind her of that fact.

"I avoided stepping on grandma so that I could trip all over myself and spill money all over the floor..." she admitted, the mourning in her voice very real. It wasn't as though they paid top dollar for their beans, but they were still decently high quality. The little blunder would make checking their profits later a little harder, she knew. Still, before she could get into monologuing about the mess she was in, Allie was quick to give her a course of action. No more mandatory kissing (a human rights violation, surely) but having a clear path on what she had to do next helped, especially when it was her wife that had told her to do it.

Obediently, Mika saluted, "Will do, boss!"

She had no idea where the other kitties were in the Café, probably all still sleeping if they weren't mewling and speeding around harassing each other as of yet. At the very least, they'd be out of the way while Operation Floor Beans was underway. Returning with the broom and dustpan, Mika dutifully began to guide the lost coffee beans to their new home, remembering just how boring sweeping was when she had literally just done it maybe fifteen minutes prior. She felt her eyes melting out of her sockets, wanting to do basically anything else, though she perked up when she heard the bell at the door jingle, signaling that their first customer had arrived, only a few minutes after opening.

The woman peeked her head out the entryway to the modest kitchen, brightening up even further when she saw who it was. "Godo!" she exclaimed cheerfully, seeing the harpy woman's familiar custom uniform all properly ironed with the logo of the National Postage Service displayed proudly across both sleeves. Godo's golden eyes glinted in the light, head tilting as she caught sight of the human.

"Good morning, Mika." she greeted, though her deep voice was marred by exhaustion, dark circles making her face droop, "Where is Allie?"
 
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Some of the cafe cats were fidgety, prone to flight from underfoot at the slightest sign of movement. Genmaicha was not one of them. Allie had to wonder if it was because of her age. The old girl had no fucks left to give it seemed. Allie offered her fiancee a reassuring smile before sending the other woman off with a playful shoeing motion. Even if the mess had been Mika's fault it was a small thing to be mad about, although Allie couldn't pretend she wasn't bummed about the waste. However, as long as there weren't any other major disasters they should still be able to turn a profit, just one a bit smaller than usual. But Allie still hoped they would have extra business over the next few days.

Allie was a woman on a mission and she did not wait another beat to get on her quest. Her first priority was to start the coffee. She eyed the fallen beans mournfully and cut her losses. It took longer to strategically avoid stepping on them than it did to clean the crushed ones later. She still cringed with each cracking noise beneath her sneakers and couldn't pretend she didn't try to step in the clearest spots. At least she'd chosen a pair of shoes with minimal tread to clean out later.

The kitchen always smelled like coffee and/or baked goods but the freshly brewed pot doubled down on that aroma. Allie was briefly grateful she loved the smell of coffee (although she probably wouldn't have run a coffeehouse if she didn't) because even with that in mind it was a little overwhelming. Mika was back before Allie had fully finished, and despite how little her future wife liked cleaning she didn't even protest. Although Allie would've had to have been blind to have not seen the dismay across her fiancee's pretty face.

"Chin up, it'll be done soon!" Allie said optimistically. But Allie didn't mind most chores so it was easier for her to be cheery about the situation. That, of course, meant she needed to offer the best morale support she could. "I'll grab the other broom," she added, meaning the tiny hand one. She didn't get more than a few steps to the pantry when the chime of bells signalled the first of the day's customers.

Shit, that was fast.

Well, they weren't cleaned up before opening but that was on her for opening early, wasn't it? Mika enthusiastically greeted Godo, one of their regulars, through the door.

"I'm here!" Allie called as she moved toward the archway, thankful to avoid any crunching thanks to Mika's steadfast sweeping. Once next to her fiancee Allie wrapped an arm around Mika's waist. "Hey, what's up?" She asked conversationally to the perpetually tired harpy. Allie never doubted that Godo needed her coffee.
 
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Allie's optimism and lovely smiling face did certainly make the blow sting less, but Mika would admit that having a customer to take her mind off of things excited her more than cleaning ever could. "Good morning!" she piped back happily, pleased that Godo had given her a reason to temporarily stop sweeping, even more so when Allie came on over to snake a gentle arm around her waste. Ah, yes, the mess in the kitchen was becoming a distant memory, softened by the sweetness of being around people that she liked...

Godo was slouching, talons carefully tracing lines down and across her trusty crossbody mail bag, the partner that helped her collect mail from the floating depository in every neighborhood, allowing her to make less flights and save more time and energy. It was worn out, the logo barely perceptible now. It seemed as though they did not give her replacements, as they did with her uniform. Still, despite her exhaustion, she seemed vaguely happy to see the two of them, feathers twitching with her movements. "Nothing is up. But I am happy to see the two of you." Godo finally said, closing her eyes briefly and taking a deep inhale, "The smell of this place is comforting."

Mika chuckled. "It's the coffee particles floating through the air. It's like snorting the stuff." she joked, though Godo only nodded appreciatively, as though she was taking the information in at face value.

"I would like to drink these particles. May I have a triple espresso?" she asked, sitting herself down at the counter, preferring to stay near them than to take one of the further away tables. Mika nodded, nuzzling against the side of Allie's head for a moment before letting her go so she could take care of the harpy's order. When Godo had first started frequenting their cafe, she'd only asked for single shots of espresso, but as the months passed them on by, the caffeine content had only started to multiply.

"Yeeeesh, they're really working you down to the bone, huh, Godo?" Mika said it in a tone that was both joking and concerned, "Did you at least manage to get yourself out of those 12 hour shifts?"

Godo shook her head. "To no avail."

Harpies were newer on the workforce and unfortunately, greedy businessmen and politicians were claiming that since they needed less sleep and had more physical capabilities than humans, their employers did not have to abide by human labour laws when employing them. Mika had seen the pushback and the protests on the news, but no deals had been made yet.

She gave their loyal customer an empathetic look. "That's awful. Sorry to hear it."