Catgirls Kaiju Coffee

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal still stood at the counter, frowning vaguely in the direction that everyone but Harper had gone, feeling like there was a little hamster running frantically on a wheel where his brains ought to be.

This morning had started so well. He'd kept a vicious Karen from trying to destroy them. He'd gotten dramatically kissed by Julie. Where had it all gone wrong?

Frank Sinatra crooned about picking himself up the floor and getting back in the race through the speakers, and Cathal muttered, "Who picked the music today?" and went to change the station. Since Vidar wasn't there to complain, he switched to the 90s station and was rewarded when Sinatra switched to the Spice Girls.

 

[theunearthlyfool]

She’d been rather nosy even before she was a catgirl, so now Norah struggles between satisfying her intense curiosity by following Theo & Kevin upstairs or taking care of Harper. Duty wins out in the end as with a little grumble of frustration she leaps into action. Stumbling around Vidar she rushes to the couch, grabs Harper’s blanket, and books it back into the cafe.

Fortunately no one’s come in, so she doesn’t have to get back to work quite yet as she feared she might. “Here, love.” She drapes the blanket over Harper, not roughly but definitely in a hurry. “They’ve uncovered a door that was hidden behind Kevin’s clone tube- it seems to lead to an upstairs apartment that maybe shouldn’t exist!” Norah’s face is lit up with glee over this new mystery. “I’m gonna go check it out. You just take it easy, okay?”

With a little kiss on the top of Harper’s head she’s off again, breezing through the kitchen and not slowing until she almost slips in the clone juice pooling on the floor of the backroom. “Eek!” Norah flails for a second, catching herself on the apartment doorway. But this gives her a needed pause to reel in her excitement. She shakes the goo off her shoes before creeping up the stairs after the others. “Hey guys!” she calls in a stage whisper. “Find anything cool?”

 

[TrashRabbit]

The upstairs apartments look extremely normal, the sort of cozy lived in space you might expect a handful of catgirl baristas to share. The walls are covered in a disagreement of posters, everything from the dropkick murphies to a extremely slick f0 racer pined up on the walls. There are two couches, numerous patterned fleece blankets, a TV with a gaming system- a little kitchenet with baking things in the sink still. It unnervingly resembles exactly what it might look like if all of them had been living there for over a year or so.

Theo pulls out a little devices that clicks steady as they wave it around over and around the objects and check both the bedrooms with their bunk beds.

They turn to Kevin when they follow up behind them, "Well good news is I think it's safe. Weird news is that all this stuff is reading alt timeline isotope stamps. Some one did a hard reset of of the shops timeline- I'll have to get divion one to look into it."

 

[Graystone713]

Kevin frowned. Spiders and attic ghosts and such, those were threats he was glad not to deal with. But knowing that there was someone around who could manipulate time? That was far, far more terrifying.

“I always hated dealing with Time Alterations...”

he said, fully aware he was possibly dealing with one again. Fully aware that there was a alternate timeline version or other Kevin-pattern artificial Catboy who probably enjoyed it. Fully aware that his past wasn’t a constant. Who would be manipulating-THE FED EX!

“Sorry Theo!”

Kevin went from a stable catboy to an orange blur in an instant as he swiped Theo’s Scanner, opened a window, jumped out, and landed on his feet, as catboys/catgirls/cats do. Then he sprinted off to locate the one suspect he had: The fed he blew out the front door.

 

[TrashRabbit]

Theo having absolutely uncat like reflexes cussed and hissed as absconded out the window. They hurried to the window after them and shouted, "KEVIN YOU DUMB SON OF A BITCH!" Then hit the window sil with their fist. They were all poofed up like an angry ghibli protagonist and had to close their eyes and breath for a long moment.

 

[theunearthlyfool]

“Shut the front door,” Norah marvels, taking in the strange apartment; a place she’s never been before yet is full of eerily familiar things. There’s almost a sense of deja vu from all of these objects that look like they belong to herself and her friends, yet she’s sure she’s never seen before. And in what appears to be ‘her’ room, there’s even a pair of shoes she’d considered buying once but had decided not to, and a jacket she thought she’d lost years ago.

A commotion comes from the main room, causing her to drop the jacket and hurry back to the others. She arrives in enough time to see an orange blur dropping out a window, a furious Theo cursing after it. Norah isn’t tall but can easily see around the small HR rep when she walks up behind them, and sure enough Kevin has dropped out the window and is running off down the alley.

“What the- Kev!?” she shouts down to the pavement, looking between Theo and the window in shock. Jumping out a window is high on the list of ‘things we’d never expect Kevin to do’ in her opinion. She notices Theo’s hands are empty when they had been scanning the room with some kind of beeping device just a little while ago. “What happened? Should I… should I go after him?”

 

[abirdyofmanynames]

Harper had nibbled about half of the cookie by the time Norah had retrieved the blanket and tucked her it. She let out a happy near purr when Norah gave her a smooch on her forehead. The world did not deserve Norah. She was so content that she nearly missed what Norah had mentioned, “Wait... What upstairs?” But the blue haired catgirl had already zoomed off. Leaving Harper with only the Spice Girls, her blanket, and a confused face. She looked at the door to the back and then back to her cookie. Damn you, curiosity!

If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give

“You've got to give,” Harper compulsively echoed back as she scarfed down the rest of the cookie.

Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is

She reached for the water, but paused. Nah, she needed some milk. Wrapped up in her blanket, she went to grab some. However, what she found on the counter was an abandoned bagel and a cup labeled Tiger’s Blood? Which it was clearly not. Judging by the fading, foamy half smile- near cringe- it was a latte. She checked the name… A scribbled Thor. She gave a perplexed gaze up. Not spotting the god of the MCU himself, she yoinked it... and the bagel. She took a sip. Ah, much better.

Trotting to the back, she spotted the bossman. Maybe he could clear up this confusion. “So am I dumb or was there not a door here before?” She asked.

 

[TrashRabbit]

"I swear to Christ there was not a door here before," Vidar intones, still fuming. He looks harper over in her blanket cape eating Theo's order and decides, that actaully it doesn't matter, it's what Theo deserves.
_

"He took my quantum isotope dectector. I don't know what he THINKS he's doing but I need that to do my ding dang job!" Theo mumbles. They have pulled out their phone and are texting furiously. Kevins phone starts dinging as Theo blows it up with messages.

 

[theunearthlyfool]

Peering around Theo, Norah tries to guess how far down it is. She’s never tried to jump out a window, before or after becoming a catgirl. But cats always land on their feet, and I’m more coordinated than Kevin, surely. I can make that. Right?

She really, really wants to look cool in front of Theo by sticking the landing and going after their rogue Kevkev. There’s a pretty good chance of her biffing it and breaking an ankle or worse, though, and that would be the opposite of cool. Not to mention Theo is kind of, in a way, her boss’ boss? Which wouldn’t be a great impression to make.

So she sighs and softly pats Theo on the shoulder. “Who can ever understand what goes through the minds of Kevins,” she says brightly, taking a step back towards the door down into the cafe. “No worries, Theo! I’ll get it for you.”

Norah dashes back down the stairs, nearly running into Harper and Vidar. “Oh, hi guys! Kevin stole Theo’s wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey thing and ran off, so. I’m gonna go get him. BRB!” She pauses long enough to say this and pulls her apron off before running out the back door and down the alley after Kevin, giving a thumbs-up at the window Theo is standing in as she goes by.

 

[TrashRabbit]

"Oh. Of course he did," Vidar intones as Norah dashes off.

From the window Theo reluctantly returns the thumbs up.

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

From behind the counter, where he had been organizing the flavored syrups, Cathal asked, "Can't we have a normal day? For once?"

 

[TrashRabbit]

"No that's just way too much to ask," Vidar said abandoning his post at the base of the stairs.

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

"AUGH," Cathal complained loudly, and started making Theo's order over again, correctly.

 

[TrashRabbit]

"I'll be outside," vidar said pulling out the the Juul in their pocket and heading for the door.

 

[abirdyofmanynames]

"Be careful of wild Kevins!" Harper waved to Vidar.

Latte still in hand, she returned to Cathal, "Can I offer you half a bagel in this trying time?"

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

"Thank you, Harper, I owe you my life," Cathal said, accepting the half bagel.

 

[TrashRabbit]

Theo appears eventually, coming back down stairs into the cafe with their face set in the wide eyed look of neutral displeasure. They perk up at the sight of their corected order on the counter and scoop the drink up and sip, taking up one of hte front window seats and pulling a whole laptop out of their inner jacket pocket. "No rest for the wicked," They complain as they get started on what appears to be their J.o.b. Hopefully Kevin or Norah would be back with their device soon, the last thing Theo needed was to have to explain to managment how they'd lost it.

 

[abirdyofmanynames]

"You are safe now, my child." Harper said with a sagely wisdom she had not yet earned as she munched on her half.

She sipped the latte again, scrunched her nose, and added a shot of vanilla and cinnamon. "So is management going to be mad about this whole upstairs deal? We're not in trouble right?" she asked.

 

[TrashRabbit]

"No no," Theo said from the other side of their laptop screen. She wasn't necessarily talking to them and they were seated a ways of, but that never stopped Theo from busting in on a social interaction. "These things- they happen."

 

[Graystone713]

Kevin was no great hunter or tracker. But it wasn’t hard to guess where a seemingly coffee denied fed would go. So after a short sprint he reached PUPPERCHINO. The one place he could not enter...

“You fiend...”

The Shork man lite was in the cursed place, and looking just as sour as before. Before the man could get eyes on Kevin, the catboy dove into a bush, entering full stealth mode. The Fed Ex locked eyes with someone else, and Kevin had to see who...

“Norah?”

 

[theunearthlyfool]

She doesn’t see Kevin dive into the bush, but a flash of orange catches the corner of Norah’s eye as she wanders the neighborhood and draws her to the window of a nearby shop. She’s been glancing inside each one she passes, although she can’t imagine why Kevin would take Theo’s wibbly-wobbly detector inside any one of them. But it’s better to be safe, so she’s been checking.

Yet instead of their beloved windy boy, who does she see in the queue of this particular shop but Agent Alkaev, apparently unruffled from his encounter in the Coffee Pawt not too long ago. And of course this is when the agent looks up and over his shoulder, making direct eye contact with her.

Norah gives an involuntary squeak and steps back from the door, which is when she notices the name stenciled on it: Pupperchino. “Aw, shit,” she grumbles, waving awkwardly at Agent Alkaev before spinning on her heel and moseying around the corner, hands shoved in her pockets. Good thing I took my apron off, as if it wasn’t obvious enough who I am from the whole catgirl thing. She rolls her eyes, tail flicking in annoyance, hoping she hasn’t just accidentally started some nonsense. As if there isn’t enough going on around here.

Hm. An ear twitches in thought. Maybe Alkaev saw Kevkev. He’s kinda hard to miss, especially since he was the one that yeeted him out the front door this morning. She decides to wait in her hiding spot for the agent to come out of the rival coffeeshop so she can ask. And apologize for said yeeting. ...And maybe ask what the fuck he did to Harper, too.

While she waits, Norah pulls her hair down out of the failed bun and tries to put it into a better one. The brain goblin chooses this time to pipe up and tell her that all this is pointless and she’ll never succeed, at which she rolls her eyes. Gonna have to get a little more creative than that to turn me around, dumbass. I have shit to do. She checks around the corner to see if Agent Alkaev has exited the Pupperchino yet.

 

[TrashRabbit]

Feliks is not having a great day. By time he gets his coffee he is beyond late and unsure of what to think of the lurking cat girl on the corner after being so unceremoniously yeeted from the shop. So it is with calculated malice that he casually points norah out to his barista through the window.

Max, who has a dark ring around his left eye and two pointy up ears and thick red collar like its a fashion choice says, "Oh. I cna handle that!" He stomped out the front door, throwing it open with a loud jingle and shouted, "HEY CAT GIRL FUCK OFF!"

 

[theunearthlyfool]

The door slamming open and dog barista’s sudden shout startles Norah into dropping her hair from its scrunchie, a nearly perfect bun lost completely. “Excuse me!” she shrieks back, flustered. “Catgirl’s not allowed to stop and fix a bad hair day? Good grief, what’s this city coming to?”

Her nerves rattled, it is with remarkable restraint she doesn’t spit the insult her brain ghost whispers in her ear at the dog barista. Instead she loops her scrunchie over her wrist, flips him off, and huffs off toward the next line of shops she hasn’t checked yet, having elected to fuck this noise with regards to speaking to Agent Alkaev.

 

[TrashRabbit]

"Oh-" Said Max, "haha that worked!" He added as he retreated back into the shop with a laugh. Feliks shoved a big tip into his jar and taking his coffee and his smugness headed for the the door, stepping out onto the street with confidence.

 

[Graystone713]

Kevin wanted desperately to defend Norah's honor. He wanted to give Max a ring around his other eye. He wanted to do a windy thing. But he was on a stealth mission, so silent tears and the resolution to put graffiti on their back alley later was the most Kevin did to those pupperchino VILLAINS for now...

However, once Feliks was walking down the street, Kevin fast-walked up behind him, keeping pace without going out ahead of him... And seeing if the beeper would beep.