Chapter Text
Now, what the original plan for Unstable’s Nectar was, was for it to be a bakery. Somehow, it’s become more of a cafe. Does the owner mind this? No, not particularly. Brings in more customers, so.. Oh well.
Speaking of the owner, let him introduce himself real quick.
Wemmbu, a twenty-year old voidling (or demon, or avian, depending on who you ask), owns Unstable’s Nectar. He may be very pale with a mildly concerning amount of scars if you look close enough, and he may be partially-mostly blind in his right eye, but that never really stopped him.
And yes, he did mean for it to be a bakery. He had for some reason decided to start a business at some point, and he was decent at baking, so he just ran with it. And then over time the bakery became a little more like a cafe.
Obviously they still sell pastries, bread, cookies, and the occasional cake, among other baked goods. But they also had a few light snacks, coffee, and tea. The food wasn’t quite why people mistook Unstable’s Nectar for a cafe, though. It was more so because it had the atmosphere.
Y’know the one; plenty of places to sit, many nine to five workers getting coffee in the morning, a few students hanging out after school, and then the occasional family where the kids were either made to go or were the ones begging to go. Along with the hum of the coffee maker or quiet sound of a timer in the kitchen, and the smell of bread just coming out of the oven.
If Wemmbu ignored the loud lunch rushes, he quite enjoyed his time there. Because yes, just because he was the owner didn’t mean he didn’t work there, come on. Granted he did less baking since he lost most of sight in his eye, but he still worked. Normally he scheduled the menu or seated tables, and handled closing.
Actually he didn’t really remember a single time when he wasn’t the one closing. Which may be related to the fact that he lived above the bakery. So uh- convenience sake, he supposes.
Well, that’s enough of that.
“Hey, Wemmbu!” The voidling turned to look at whoever called his name. It was Squiddo, a good friend of his as well as an employee. The moth hybrid mostly serves the customers, because unfortunately she isn’t quite the best baker or barista.
“Yeah?” Wemmbu called back. Though he was able to keep his voice down when Squiddo walked over to be closer to him.
“Some customers wanted us to turn the volume on the TV; should we?” She asked.
“Mmm..” Wemmbu slightly grimaced. “Would they tolerate subtitles? Turning the volume on might make everything too loud.”
“I’m sure that’ll work,” Squiddo shrugged.
“Why do they even want to listen to whatever’s on?” It’s not like anything was really playing. Probably just the news, or something.
“I think Typhon and Odysseus are having another big fight or something,” Squiddo guessed.
“..Yeah only do the subtitles,” Wemmbu looked away. Squiddo quietly giggled at the action, but she nodded and went to find the remote for the TV.
Ah, right. No one has explained who Typhon or Odysseus are, have they? And no, the ones that are fighting on the news are not the same as the actual mythological figures.
To put it shortly, there’s villains, like Typhon, and heroes, like Odysseus. There’s also vigilantes, such as Khaos and Kratos. There’s plenty more as well, obviously. But, a few people in those three categories, whether on purpose or not, chose to name themselves after mythological figures. Specifically Greek ones, for whatever reason. That or the public did it for them.
As mentioned, Typhon is a villain. The number one villain, actually. Not that there are actual rankings for villains, though. Instead Unstable City’s government had villains labeled with ‘threat levels’. Which to the public were basically rankings, so does it really matter what you call them?
Heroes on the other hand do have official rankings. And they get paid, too. Some people make it their full job to be a hero. Odysseus, despite being the top in the rankings, is technically not someone who purely works as a hero, though. The avian’s identity isn’t out, and he doesn’t do his ‘work’ at consistent times. So.. Yeah.
There’s also vigilantes, one named Oneiroi is actually the top for them. They also don’t have official rankings, though. The closest you’ll get for them is various media posts that agree on some things and disagree on others. Oh yeah- depending on if the vigilante leans more toward heroic or villainous, they are sometimes offered favors. Sometimes in the form of payment, other times just not being arrested.
Enough about that, though. Wemmbu doesn’t particularly care as long as there’s no damage to his bakery. Right now he had to focus on not slipping on the random coffee spill that he swore he told someone to clean up twenty minutes ago. Instead there was just a ‘Caution: Slippery Floor’ sign next to it.
And honestly, at -a brief glance toward the clock on the wall- five-twenty-three in the afternoon, he did not feel like cleaning it up himself. So instead he moved the sign to be on top of the spill, and walked away to clear a table of two people who had just left.
It was easy to get into a rhythm from there.
Take away the plates, put them in the sink. Take a few paper towels to get rid of any crumbs, throw that away. Go back to spray and wipe the table thoroughly, and if needed a new paper towel to dry it. He also made sure the two chairs were clean, of course.
Then he did that to another area, this time a booth that had held five high school students not too long ago. Clear the cups and plates, clean the table and booth seats.
He did a quick check up on all the employees, next.
Squiddo was briefly chatting with a regular, Arcn was cleaning up the coffee spill, and Reeon was cleaning the dishes. Tyrad was taking what looked to be a batch of muffins out of the oven, Dione was kneading dough of what Wemmbu assumed was bread, and Chiffoi was decorating a few cookies and a cake for some kind of birthday(?) order they got. There was also Elemental, he was helping to clean tables. Phea was handling the register while Youri was making tea and coffee. And lastly, Dolphin was seating two customers who had just come in.
So, everyone was basically doing their jobs.
And while yes, eleven people (that is including Wemmbu) may not sound like enough, it was plenty. It wasn’t like Unstable’s Nectar was the biggest bakery or cafe in the city, they didn’t need more than fifteen people. Even with just eleven, at least two people were able to stay in the break room for a decent amount of time before they had to head back.
It worked, all of them were pretty friendly with each other, some were actually friends outside of work if Wemmbu was remembering correctly, so it was fine. No issues.
Currently, after cleaning up tables, Wemmbu was in the break room. He didn’t really have much to do, as it always got slower in the evenings. Still, the scent of fresh muffins and a coffee spill were heavy in the air. And he could faintly overhear some conversation, but nothing interesting. Not that he was eavesdropping, of course, why would he do that?
Well, he was a little bit. He caught something that might have been teenager gossip, a few words about Odysseus and Typhon’s fight (which was seemingly close to ending in another draw), and maybe something about two people complaining about their work.
Average conversations, Wemmbu deduced.
“You don’t have to listen to every conversation, you know?” Wemmbu turned to see Squiddo.
“I’m not,” the voidling lied.
“Uh huh,” Squiddo raised a brow. The moth hybrid’s antenna twitched slightly. “Are you closing again?”
“Duh,” Wemmbu snorted.
“I’ll do the closing shift one of these days,” Squiddo sighed.
“We’ll see,” Wemmbu said, playfully rolling his eyes.
The two continued chatting after that. Then they went back to work when needed, though it was beginning to get slow as night approached. Unstable’s Nectar was open rather late, actually. They usually closed around midnight, though when that time hit it was normally just for beverages than food for people who worked really late.
It was eleven by this point, and around half the workers had gone home. Just like always. The only people left were Squiddo, Dione, Elemental, Youri, and of course, Wemmbu. The TVs were off by now, as there was nothing to play. A quiet playlist was still playing on the speakers though, because silence was uncomfortable for almost everyone.
~~~
“See ya tomorrow Wemmbu!” Squiddo waved. The strap of her messenger bag was on her shoulder, a hand lightly gripped on it.
“Goodnight,” Wemmbu offered. And then the moth hybrid was out the door, the bell quietly dinging as she left. The voiding waited a few more moments before starting to tidy up the bakery.
He checked every table and chair, made sure there were no stray dishes or menus left around, that kind of thing. After he made sure everything was good he double checked the doors and windows, making sure they were all locked. And lastly he turned off the lights, maybe checked the doors one last time, and started upstairs.
Wemmbu closed the door behind him once he was at his own home. He spotted Egg sitting on the couch, a book open in his hands. “You took forever,” the avian noted.
“It’s only twelve-thirty,” Wemmbu rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to wait for me, y’know.”
“Yes I do,” Egg snorted. “For all I know you could get like- kidnapped or something.”
“Sure,” the voidling breathed out a laugh. “Let’s just go to bed already.”
“Finally,” Egg said, putting a bookmark in his book and getting off the couch.
Egg Chan is Wemmbu’s best friend, if you must know. He’s an avian, specifically a peacock. The two shared the house above the bakery, though Egg didn’t work there. He was a librarian, and occasionally tutored high schoolers in history. Not actually, but many of them went to the library and asked for his help with history, and he gave it when he could.
For whatever reason the avian always waited for Wemmbu to come home before going to bed, even if that meant staying up till two in the morning. And even if he complained about it, he never stopped doing it.
“Why don’t you just close the bakery earlier?” Egg queried as they were getting ready for bed.
“You know I’m a night owl bro,” Wemmbu said.
“You also love sleeping,” the avian raised a brow.
“..Bro I should just become nocturnal at this point,” the voidling groaned, dragging on a hoodie.
“Nah, you like the clouds during the day.”
“..Boo.”
Wemmbu walked over to his bed and fell onto it dramatically, making Egg snicker on his side of the room. The voidling stayed like that for a few moments before shuffling to actually be comfortable.
“Night, Egg,” Wemmbu murmured.
“Sweet dreams bro,” Egg yawned.
The voidling laughed tiredly at that. And a few moments later, the two were asleep after the long day.