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It’s early, the sun has yet to rise as Opal walks into the café of the BBC. She see’s Sky resting at one of her tables, probably exhausted from a rowdy night in the Tavern downstairs. She rests her hand on her friends shoulder, stirring her softly. “I am sure Phearless will be waking soon and will not be happy to awaken alone in bed again.” Sky’s ear twitches at the whispered tone and stirs, lifting her head from her arms on the table.
“I don’t remember falling asleep. I came up here to grab a small snack before heading home and I guess I dozed.”
Opal laughs as she watches her friend stretch her arms above her head, a loud “POP” from her back indicates the awkward position she fell asleep in. Sky pushes her chair away from the table and stands up, stretching again before grabbing her bag and heading out the front door. “I’ll see you later. I will be making a grocery run today so send me a list of anything you might need.” Opal nods and waves at her friend as the door shuts then grabs her apron and gets to work.
Violet will be here in about an hour to start on our bread orders, that will give me some time to clean up a bit. Her thoughts wonder as she begins pulling out ingredients to start on some cookies for the pastry case.
It’s about 45 minutes later, as sunbeams start to seep through the window that the bell at the front door chimes, causing Opal to look up from her cookie dough. A sweet Xaela with iridescent scales walks in, a yawn on her lips as she waves at Opal. “Good Morning Vi” Opal grins. Violet smiles back and holds up a small sack. “Good Morning Opal, I made us some breakfast.” She places the sack on one of the tables and walks behind the counter to grab some plates for the two. As she pulls the plates down from the cupboard, she sees Opal has turned her back to the bowl of cookie dough she had been working out of. With a sneaky grin and even sneakier fingers, she scoops up a small bit of dough and shoves into her mouth as Opal turns to face her, then leaps with a laugh away from a stray wooden spoon being thrown, courtesy of her boss. “Ma’am, you cannot keep doing that.” Opal laughs as she places a few more dough balls on her cookies sheet and places the trey in the oven. She starts her timer, grabs some silverware and joins Violet at the table for the breakfast she made.
After breakfast Violet gets to work on prepping the bakery orders and Opal collects all the dirty dishes and heads to the tavern downstairs to get them cleaned. She greets the few employees who are cleaning up the stage from last night’s show and then gets to work cleaning her dishes from upstairs. She’s unsure of how much time has passed but she hears the bell of the front door chime again and a very chipper “Good Morning” echoes through the small building. Fram is here, is it that time already? Where did the morning go? Opal thinks as she collects her, now clean, dishes and heads upstairs. She smiles at the beautiful Miquo’te, who was standing by the counter chatting with Violet. Framboise, upon hearing the heavy footsteps beams at Opal and runs to help her carry some of the dishes. “Oh thank you Fram, I am so sorry Vi, I must have zoned. I didn’t realize it was so late!!” Opal and Framboise work together to get the clean dishes put away as Violet grabs the specials board to stick outside and props the front door open.
Opal smiles appreciatively when she sees that the case is now filled with the cookies she had been working on as well as some puddings, fresh bread, and a small variety of other baked goods. She hugs the Xaela tight and then steps away. “If I am taking too long you need to come grab me, I feel awful you got stuck doing this by yourself.” Opal scold half-heartedly. Violet blushes and looks down. “I figured you were busy and it wasn’t any trouble, the puddings were from yesterday and I prepped a good amount of bread and muffins yesterday afternoon while Sabella and Ganajir cleaned up.” Opal, with her hands on her hip shakes her head and the nudges the sheepish Au’ra with her elbow. “Well I appreciate you. And next time just holler.” Violet giggles and nods and then heads behind the counter as she notices a few customers walk through the front door.
A few hours and dozens of cups of coffee later, the café calmed down and the 3 girls were able to catch up on cleaning tables off and replenishing the pastry case. While Framboise ran downstairs to get some of the dishes cleaned, Opal walks behind the counter to start a fresh pot of coffee, knowing one of her guildmates would be in shortly on his way out on a job. Not even 5 minutes later, Snow and Phearless entered the café, battle axe and gunblade cleaned and strapped to their backs. Opal groaned enviously as she poured them each a cup of coffee and placed a couple of bagels in the oven to warm them up. “I am so jealous, I haven’t been out on a job in so long.” Opal’s tail swished in agitation as Phearless chuckled at her. “Well maybe next time you’ll wait for me, instead of running head first into a swarm of Opo-opos.” Opal crossed her arms and pouted. “You were taking too damn long and I was itching to fight something.”
“Itching so badly, that you missed the pile of rotting fruit under foot and slipped twisting your ankle and hitting your head on that tree in the process?” Framboise piped in with a grin. Opal blushed deep burgundy and used this opportunity to look away from everyone and pull the bagels out of the oven and plate them. She walked two steaming mugs of black coffee and two plated bagels to one of the window seats and placed them down. “Okay okay ANYWAYS, we do NOT need to relive that.” Opal’s ears flattened to the top of her head in embarrassment as her friends giggled at her expense. “It’s Okay Opal, it’s been a few weeks and you’re no longer limping, I’d say you’ll be back in the fray with us in no time.” Snow grins at her, lifting her coffee mug in a “cheers” motion before taking a swig and sighing happily. “Though I will miss your coffees every morning, you’re the only person that makes it strong enough.” Opal ears perk up and twitch at the compliment and she grins. “I’m glad someone actually enjoys it. These girls, “She motions to Framboise and Violet, “Say I make it too strong.” She rolls her eyes and grins at them.
As he finishes his breakfast, Phearless looks over at Opal, who had busied herself with cleaning the windows. “Hey Opal, thanks for making sure Sky got home safe. I can’t believe she was too tired to actually get home.” Phearless shook his head in disbelief as he finished off his coffee and stood up, collecting his axe. Snow followed suit, stuffing the remaining half of his bagel in his mouth and followed him out the door. Once the café was empty again, Violet collected the dirty dishes from her friend’s table and headed downstairs to clean them up.
Opal yawns and stretched, looking at the clock. “11 already? Time sure flies when you’re busy.” She smiles over at Fram. “Would you mind wrapping up the remaining breakfast parties and fill the case with our lunch items? I am going to check on our soups.” She nodded at Opal with a beaming smile and strolled to the case. Opal walked behind the bar to check on the soups she and Violet started during the breakfast rush. She inhaled deeply then dipped a spoon in to taste. “This smells DEVINE, Violet good choice!” She yelled down at her cooking buddy as she closed up the pot and checked the other.
The lunch rush was not as busy as breakfast and the 3 found themselves at closing early afternoon with a spotless café. “Great work you two.” Opal smiled as she divvied up the tips from the day and handed them to Framboise and Violet. “You are both free to head on out if you want.” Opal smiled at her friends as she pulled the drawer from the cash register and started to head downstairs to count up the days earnings. As she rounded the corner to the staircase, she heard the doorbell ring and the distinct “Click” sound of the lock as the Miquo’te and Au’ra left for the day, locking up behind them. She walks into the now empty tavern, sets the drawer on the bar, pours herself a whiskey sour, and begins counting.