Tastes like Jello

Cortado shook himself awake, snorting lightly at the morning sun, but not protesting too much.  When he and his sister had moved into the house, he offered to take this room primarily due to the morning light.  Breve wasn’t as good with mornings as he was.  Where she would grumble hem and haw, he would just roll out of bed and get to the day.  IN getting to this day, he pulled out his hair brush, and neatened his hair, tying it off low enough to keep all his hair contained, but not low enough to allow it a chance to escape the tie and cause havoc in the espresso machine.  He did the same with his tail, using a tie to keep them all contained, but loose enough to not cause issues with pulling.  There were multiple things he and his sister had in common, and having their hair or tails pulled in the store was a sore point for the pair of them.  He dealt with it by making sure he had contained his own locks, but Breve tended to keep her hair and tail a little more at the mid length, so she could simply tuck it behind her ears and use a couple of pins.  He pulled his scarf around his neck, before leaving his room and aiming a quick kick at his sibling’s door.

“Time to arise, sibling mine.  The other Enivi are in need of coffee.”  He heard a small dull thud as something hit the door, and then landed with a shck.  He shook his head at the reaction, knowing full well his sibling had tossed a plush at the door in response.  She’d be arriving a little later to the store after opening, it sounded like.  This would give him a chance to at least clean the espresso machines.  He grabbed a piece of fruit for the walk over and left the dwelling.

His walk this morning was uneventful.  He gave a polite nod to a few others on the way over, as his mouth was stuffed with fruit.  There was a small scuffle down a side ally.  It had sounded like someone had an encounter with one of the community kallis begging for food and being insistent on getting attention.  They would occasionally try to enter the shop, looking for someplace warm, and perhaps some cream or milk.  He and Breve actually encouraged them to come inside when it was cold.  No point in saying now to the beasts when they were adorable.  They also drew some customers in on occasion.  Some didn’t have the space for Kalli’s at home, or they were travellers, and liked having the company of a small critter for a spell.  Having finished his fruit, he stepped into the shop, leaving the door unlocked, but the sign still turned around and marked as closed.  He flipped the lights on, and got to work.

His first task would be to make sure the til was in the register.  Breve had tided up for closing and had balanced the til, putting everything in their mini safe, so all he had to do was put the register in.  Sliding that into place, he turned his attention to the espresso machine and got to work, taking off the knobs and other parts to start deep cleaning them.  Inspecting the machine briefly, he noticed a couple of green drops. Curious, he tucked an espresso cup under the nozzle and ran the machine in hopes to clear out whatever this object, or material was.  Whatever it is, it would affect the taste of any coffee or espresso prepared.  Looking away while that ran, he prepared another bout of cleaning solutions for a second cleaning run of the machine.  Setting those to the side, he looked concerned at the result of his first cleaning.  There was a green slime?  Slime?  How had that happened?  Perhaps he had been behind on his cleaning schedule? Cortado snorted, and set the slime on the front counter, before doubling his efforts to clean the machine.  He wouldn’t be serving anyone anything from this machine until he was sure it wouldn’t cause issues.

Breve wandered into the shop, still half asleep.  The walk, despite being cold enough she had to wear her jacket, hadn’t done it’s part to wake her up.  Cortado had already went ahead to open their coffee shop at least, and had seemed to leave a cup of coffee out.  She approached the beverage, taking in a deep drink, and finishing the cup in one long draft.  She had noted her brother cleaning and then spoke up, and started to get to work putting out some pastries they offered alongside the coffee..  “Sorry about the morning greeting.”

Cortado shook himself from his cleaning stupor, and turned around, then took in the empty coffee cup, and his sister’s half automated setting up of the store.  His jaw dropped a little and started looking concerned.  “Did you, drink for the coffee cup on the counter?”

His sister nodded.  “I did, it seemed a little chilly, and wobbly.  Did you try something new?”

Cortado shook his head.  “That… wasn’t coffee.”  He watched as his sister stopped moving, and started looking more and more horrified.

“If it wasn’t coffee, then what was it?”  Cortado looked extremely guilty, and refused to say more, just looking concerned.  Breve started to panic, and shook her head.  Luckily, she had already closed the pastry display.  Unluckily, the shaking started revealing just what had happened, as her hair started floating to the ground.  Cortado drew a breath in, looking alarmed, but also at least pleased that this was his sister and not a customer.  A customer would have had their hides.

“I, am guessing somehow, a slime managed to get into the machine and that’s what you drank…”  He passed a reflective surface to his sister.  Breve took a look, and looked shocked while Cortado continued.  “I’ll…work on remembering to clean the machine more.  Also maybe put up warding magic around the machine, so we don’t get a slime attempting to live there?”

Breve stared at her reflection, looking alarmed that she was now bald.  “I'll return after I make this baldness look like it was on purpose.”  She swept up some of the results of her surprise morning drink, and dropped her hair into the trash.  Cortado nodded.

“I’ll… keep everything here going.”  He didn’t add, he fully expected his sister to get back at him later in some form or fashion, as siblings do.