The Sugar Flower Cafe

"Weiss, will you be okay here by yourself for a bit?" She wasn't sure what all was going to go through Weiss' mind if she were left alone. She could barely make it up and down the steps, but there was a computer that controlled the music in the cafe. Most of it was soft, atmospheric music called lo-fi that she'd discovered online. It worked perfectly for having a low-stress environment but...it might not be enough for Weiss. "Feel free to change the music or make playlists or whatever. Though first..." She ducked behind the counter and put the password in. "There. Just pull up the browser and arrange songs as you see fit. We won't probably use your playlists during opening hours, but you have full control right now, okay?" She didn't want her triggered by the quiet. "Okay. Thank you. The music you have is a bit too...quiet for me right now, but since I'm with other people, it's less pressing." Her heart absolutely broke for the poor young woman. She had been through her own special brand of torture so she understood all too well what it was like to be triggered easily... She still felt uneasy if it was just her and a man in the same room. She hadn't been able to have a male counselor due to it simply being so triggering for her. Females only. Adam was still out there, though... She shuddered to think what would happen if he found her. It was about then that Anna arrived. Blake bid Weiss a farewell and smiled at her before going out to meet Anna. They were in a completely different location than Filgaia. She'd ask what or how, but this was Anna. It was best to just not ask questions. She knew that by now. The city was beautiful and futuristic with towers made of what looked like pure crystals. Cars flew around and the air was so clean despite the obvious industrialisation. "Wow..." she breathed. "Come on, come on, the Time Witch is a busy woman," Anna said. Normally the woman wasn't too hurried, but Blake nodded and hustled along after her. The walk was silent and took about ten minutes. They arrived at a castle which was clearly the epicenter of the city. It was massive, bigger than even Beacon campus it seemed. The entire castle complex had spires of crystal that rose to the heavens, making Blake feel a little dizzy. She'd never seen anything like this before… The guards all bowed to Anna and Blake and one of them ushered the pair into a beautiful study with tons of books, bookshelves lining the easily fifteen-foot high wall. Each was packed with books of all different shapes and sizes, not one space vacant. But at the desk sat a woman with soft blonde hair in a surprisingly simple white and purple dress. She smiled at them. "Well hello, Anna dear. What brings you to my humble abode today? Who is your friend?" "I'm Blake Belladonna, ma'am." Blake bowed to the woman. "Ah, another version of you... I sent one version of you off to the Pokemon Ranger world to help her recover. But what brings you here today? Are you escaping your world or--" "Looking to house some expats," Anna answered. "Blake has a cafe that she could use some help running. Mainly kitchen work since she has the tea and coffee covered. Technomancer Weiss Schnee is with her currently running the register." "Interesting. So I see. Well, I do have some expats that would probably work well with you." She leaned over to an intercom and said something in a different language that Blake couldn't recognise. And she knew around a dozen languages... It didn't sound similar to any language she knew. Not even Meangerine. Then again, Menagerine was...unique for how it was formed and how it sounded. Creoles on creoles on creoles. A few minutes later, the doors to the study opened. A young man with pitch-black hair and narrow amber eyes and a young woman with lengthy, soft brown hair and purple eyes entered. The man carried bags for both of them and Blake blinked. Two people? She hadn't expected help from two people... But she would certainly welcome it. The young man's eyes fell on her and she shifted a bit uncomfortably. Suspicion and distrust rolled off of him in waves and she shivered. There was definite bloodlust behind those eyes. He would not hesitate to kill her if she did something wrong. That much was clear and apparent. "Hubert, relax. This is Blake Belladonna and Anna. You and your mistress have been with me for some weeks now and I think I found a place for you to go if you don't mind working a bit." The Time Witch smiled at him pleasantly, her voice soft, airy, and light. "Would you mind working in a cafe? Blake here owns one and could use some help in the kitchen. I know it's unorthodox for someone of your standing to work in such a humble establishment, but your mistress seeks peace, yes?" "Lady Salem, do you truly think this is a good arrangement? Yes, Lady Edelgard does seek peace and quiet but will she truly find it with this... What even is she? I've never seen anybody with animal ears before." Blake's ears flattened. It wasn't exactly racism, but it was pretty damn close. "I'm not familiar with her world, but what would you say of it, Blake?" "Remnant isn't admittedly the most peaceful of planets. The remains of humans and Faunus live pushed to the edges with only four kingdoms. But we have Hunters to protect us from the Grimm, malevolent creatures which seek to destroy humans and Faunus alike. There can be a lot of racism and sexism depending on the kingdom, but Vale--where I live--is pretty egalitarian. As long as you stay within the city's borders, you won't have much issue with Grimm. And as long as you don't go to Atlas, there won't be sexism either." Vale was far from perfect, but as far as Remnant went, it was probably the best kingdom to live in. Atlas was a dystopian hellhole and central Mistral wasn't much better. Not to mention both were incredibly insular and didn't welcome outsiders readily and valued conformity above individualism. Atlas still didn't like the arts too much even with the echoes of the Great War. "What about the neighborhood your cafe resides in?" Yeesh, this guy was grilling her. "As to answer your earlier question, I'm a Faunus--one of two races on remnant. There are humans and Faunus. Faunus have one animal trait along with night vision and some other standard traits. What the animal trait is can vary--for example, I'm a cat Faunus. My ears are very real and I can very much hear as a cat would." She twitched her ears just to prove the point. He'd seen them go down, but she wanted to show him it was on command as well. He seemed very, very rude which wouldn't be good for customer service. Then again, as long as things went the way she wanted, they'd be in the back. Though the much tinier girl behind him... HEr soul had been ripped asunder and she had been through hell in some capacity. She wasn't sure what all it was since she didn't know their story yet. "As for the neighborhood my cafe is in, quiet and a decent part of town. But keep in mind my cafe doesn't spend all its time in Vale. Anna set it up to the multiverse, so I go to multiple different worlds through the course of the day and week. But I would assume she wouldn't put me in bad parts of the cities we're in." She was assuming a lot, but Anna had little to gain if money got stolen because Blake wouldn't be able to pay her back without cash flow. She was giving Anna the benefit of the doubt here. "How can you assure the safety of Lady Edelgard then?" Blake's ears went back. "To put it bluntly, I was a child soldier. I was groomed and manipulated into joining a radical faction of so-called 'activists' that were, instead, terrorists. I know how to fight. Plus, even though Weiss is very weak, she says she's an accomplished mage. She has capabilities relating to technology, but she also said she had magic beyond that." Edelgard and Hubert looked at each other. "Wait, is she from Selia?" Edelgard asked. Blake blinked and nodded. "She is. She was caught up in a war caused by a coup or something... She didn't want to go into the details because it'd trigger her." She had to respect Weiss' boundaries. She'd been literally tortured. Trying to force somebody who had been through so much to talk would only be detrimental. She wasn't about to do that. She knew what PTSD was like.. It wasn't fun. She had to live with it herself and likely would for the rest of her life. "Hubert, I think it'll be fine. If there's another person from Selia there..." Edelgard tugged at Hubert's sleeve. The man sighed, obviously wanted to grill Blake more, but that was the look of a loyal vassal that wasn't going to question his lady too much. She hadn't seen it too much but...he had that look. "Very well, Lady Edelgard. Though... Where will we live?" Hubert frowned. "I have an empty apartment above mine. Weiss is staying with me. It's not furnished though..." She looked at Anna whose eyes gleamed as if answering an unspoken question. "Well since I'm letting Blake have anything related to Weiss on Mister Gele's card, I suppose I can do the same for you guys~" Anna grinned. "Well, Weiss wanted to get some furniture anyway... I guess we can have you set up shop in Vale and then we can get Weiss over there too." Blake shrugged. She would be closed for the next hour or so anyway, so might as well. No, she wasn't getting money by being closed, but whatever. She had her employees to take care of. It was weird to have interdimensional help. "Though, what type of 'mancers are you if you're from Selia? Weiss is a technomancer." "I'm a psychomancer. I can literally break psyches open," Hubert said. "Siromancer... I can affect people's emotions and entrap and ensnare them or calm things down..." Edelgard frowned. "Are you going to use our magic for your cafe?" Blake shook her head. "I was really just curious about what magic you guys had. I'm assuming you have magic beyond your 'mancy powers too?" The pair nodded. "Well, we should head back to the cafe. It'll give Anna a bit of time to get set up while we discuss what your schedules will be. The main thing will be that it'll be long hours, depending on how you guys decide to break it up..." But they could get into the nitty gritty of it later. She was willing to pay them a fair wage, about 17 or 18 lien per hour which was pretty good for Vale. Minimum wage was 15 per hour so she'd start them off a little higher. Though that would definitely hurt her budget... But she needed to pay them fairly. She and Weiss had already discussed it... Until she could start standing up and doing more, room and board would be her payment. They all bade farewell to the Time Witch with a bow and headed back to the cafe. When they entered, heavier music was playing on the speakers and much louder than normal. Granted, 'heavy' was relative compared to the lo-fi that she normally had playing. It really wasn't that aggressive; there was just a more pronounced beat and such that could be heard more clearly. Thankfully, Weiss seemed to be doing okay. However, when they entered, Blake felt Hubert and Edelgard's souls jump in surprise. "Wait you're-- I thought you'd been captured!" Edelgard said. Weiss frowned. "I beg your pardon?" "We're from Selia too, though a different part of the Empire. You're Weiss Schnee, one of the most accomplished mages on the face of the planet! It was major news when you were captured!" Weiss' frown grew. "Wait... Do you have news of the coup and how things are? How long has it been since you received that news?" "I was discharged about six months ago and it was four months before that... So you were in captivity eight months." Blake couldn't help but wince a bit... How had Weiss managed to survive like that for eight months? That was incredible. And she was still incredibly well put together in terms of being coherent and such... It truly spoke to how resilient she was. "Things had started turning about three months ago, but..." Edelgard frowned. "I needed to escape, so I left about six weeks ago to come to the Time Witch's in hopes of finding somewhere more peaceful. I was deemed a liability because of the severe PTSD I developed from fighting." "Well... Knowing things were starting to go better is a relief... I escaped through an unregistered time portal and ended up here." Weiss looked at Blake. "She's helping me while I recover." "I know I'll have to go back eventually but...working somewhere peaceful sounded a lot better than staying in the Empire. I know Acaniel is the main battleground but..." Edelgard sighed. Blake hadn't expected this sudden conversation, but in hindsight, she should've. Of course Weiss would want information since she had been held in captivity for so long. At least she would finally get it. Though, from the sound of it, Weiss would've been deemed a liability and not been allowed to fight anymore had she stayed on Selia. then again, if she could barely stand and walk up a flight of stairs, she wouldn't have been able to fight anyway… "Anyway, what about our employment?" Hubert asked. "What of rent, board, and so on?" Blake nodded and they sat down at one of the tables, starting to hash things out. She didn't want to overwork them by any means. They were healthier than Weiss by far, but the days were still long and they'd mostly be on their feet. They'd have to wake early and stay all day. Eventually, they settled on splitting things three days a week: Edelgard would work Monday through Wednesday and Hubert would work Thursday through Saturday. The days would definitely be long, but she was glad for their help. She would take their board and utilities straight out of their paychecks instead of going through the annoyance of having her give them money, then they pay her back. It just didn't make much sense to do it otherwise. After that, Anna came into the cafe, waving at them. "Come on everyone; we have some furniture to deal with!" She was chipper. Blake smiled and helped Weiss up, walking the short distance to Anna's shop which was just a tent in an alley. But it was much bigger inside than it seemed outside...as it always was. It was an entire furniture store including mattresses and everything. Blake looked at Weiss. "Are you fine with the mattress you have or do you want a new one?" Since this wasn't coming out of her pocket, she felt fine asking if Weiss wanted a change. She shrugged. "I'm just glad to have one after sleeping on the cold, hard ground for eight months..." That was entirely fair. Maybe they could revisit it at some point when Weiss was more settled and was feeling up to making her own amenities. However, there was an instrument section which Weiss waved toward frantically. Blake blinked but led her over. "It's a theremin!" Weiss pointed at a strange thing that didn't even resemble an instrument of any sort. Blake looked at her, trying to convey her confusion. "Um. Basically it's an electrical instrument. And this one looks adjustable so the user can sit down or stand up..." That would definitely be good for Weiss who couldn't stay standing on her own for too long. She was so incredibly weak that Blake's heart broke for her. Nobody should've had to go through what Weiss had been forced to endure… "Would you prefer it to be upstairs or in the main cafe?" Blake smiled at Weiss who brightened immensely. The woman had been through far too much and needed something to brighten her day. This was the most alive Blake had seen her in the short time they'd known each other. Well it was understandable that Weiss would be incredibly subdued and forlorn... War and then torture... Blake couldn't imagine the sort of havoc that would wreak on somebody's psyche. She'd been through her own sort of torture but it was nothing compared to what Weiss had been through. "You'll let me get it?" Blake nodded. "I don't see why not. Are there any other instruments you want? Though we can also look at decorations too..." "An upright piano... Oh, I haven't played either instrument since before the war." The excitement rolled off Weiss in waves and Blake smiled a bit. Anything that would help Weiss settle and feel better would definitely be welcome. She wasn't going to say no to her as long as it wasn't over the top. "The piano will probably have to stay in the cafe." That was just the logistics of the matter. She wasn't sure how to get an upright piano up stairs. If Weiss wanted to stay downstairs while she cleaned up for the day, that would be fine. Plus, things were relatively quiet and live music might help people relax a bit. It'd mean she'd have to run the register if Weiss was playing and it was busy, but sheidn'td. It was what it was. She had to be flexible with how much Weiss was able to do. She didn't mind letting her rest or anything like that since she was so weak from the torture. Weiss nodded. "That's fine. Will...you let me play during the day?" Blake nodded and Weiss let out a tiny noise of excitement. It was nice to see her so perked up. She really didn't mind. She wasn't sure what the theremin sounded like, being an electrical instrument and all. But as long as it didn't sound like it'd disrupt customers, she didn't mind letting Weiss play either during the day. She let Weiss sit down on a piano bench and she walked around a bit. She blinked when she saw a guitar though. It...was really nice. Obviously handmade due to the imperfections in the woodworking and such... It had steel strings, though, not the more traditional animal-gut strings she was used to it. She picked it up and strummed it. The tone was incredibly warm and soothing to her and brought up memories of being in Menagerie and singing her heart out to traditional songs by the fire. She had never learned formally, but she could play a lot of things by ear. Anna slipped over. "You know, if you want it, you can have it... I'll just put it on Gele's bill~" She winked and smiled. "I even have a beginner's kit that Weiss can probably help you with. She's pretty good with music even if she's a little rusty." "I...would like it. But this is handmade. I shudder to think of how expensive it is." Anna's grin basically just confirmed that it was, in fact, very expensive and she had made a very nice sale. Well... If they were draining a foreign Gele's wallet, she couldn't argue too much. The Gele of their world had been rotting behind bars for a few years now with Winter running the SDC. The operations had been completely moved to Vale by now, leaving Atlas destitute in some capacity since they no longer held the monopoly on dust. She could only imagine what the Weiss and Winter of this world thought of things... Running the SDC couldn't be easy, not with those vipers that might still be on the board. Anna slipped away and came back a few minutes later with a case and some books. "You'll have downtime even with the multiverse transitions so Weiss can help you. You might want to set up a cot or something in your private tea room, though. Weiss is probably going to need to sleep during the day sometimes. I can give you a high-grade cot for that. I doubt you'll want to explain to guests why a mattress is in the room." "Yeah... Yeah." That was going to be awkward if it happened. They could stash the cot behind the counter until Weiss needed it. So far, nobody had asked for their private tea room to hold a private celebration, so it would be fine if she slept there. It'd be easier than having her walk up and down the steps each and every time that Weiss needed to sleep. She was pretty sure it was going to exhaust Weiss if they went up and down the stairs too much. "It's not ideal but it's better than the ground." From what little Weiss had explained, she doubted sleeping on the cold, hard tile would do Weiss any good. It would probably trigger her if anything else. "If you did want the piano upstairs, I have my methods. It's not like you have a lot of personal amenities in the living room." That...was true. But she also wanted it to be able to be played in the cafe. "Maybe one upstairs and downstairs?" Anna grinned like a cat with a mouse caught in the corner. It was literally of no cost to Blake, so she didn't see why not. Weiss might want to unwind with playing music after a long day. No, being on register wasn't taxing work, but for the severely weakened technomancer, it probably was. Even sitting probably took a lot of effort for her since she could barely stand on her own. "All right, all right~ I can do that~ Mhm~!" Though she did look at Blake a moment later. "I'll need keys to Hubert and Edelgard's apartment though. I'll need to bring everything upstairs and help them put it together." Right... She got in her pocket and dug out one of the copies of the second apartment. She went to open her mouth, but Anna practically read her thought. "They're over in the mattress section." Blake nodded and trotted over there. They were obviously arguing quietly over what mattress to get from what Blake caught of the conversation, but they quieted once she approached. "What can we do for you?" Hubert asked. His visible yellow eye narrowed and distrust rolled off him in waves. She wasn't sure if she'd ever gain his trust or not... She hoped she would. He just seemed like the type not to really trust anybody at all. He was obviously dedicated to his lady wholly which was nice but...it would make life for her a lot harder. “Do you guys want to help build your furniture or do you want Anna to take care of it?” Blake asked. “I gave her a key to your guys’ apartment temporarily. I know she’ll give it back, so don’t worry about it too much.” She hoped they wouldn’t worry too much. Anna was definitely a stubborn, weird woman, but she wasn’t a bad person by any means. She really did just want to make sales, but she could be really kind and understanding. The fact all of this wasn’t coming out of Blake’s pocket was nice. Otherwise she would’ve had to put a lot of Edelgard and Hubert’s pay on hold for a payment plan for the furniture. “We can help with that,” Hubert said. “But you reallygave her access to our quarters?” “I’ll get the key back. I know she’s not gonna run away with it.” Blake shrugged. “Oh, Hubert, stop.” Edelgard looked up at him. He sighed. “Yes, my lady.” He clearly didn’t want to give Anna the benefit of the doubt, but there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it. He didn’t seem to like to argue with Edelgard too much. A noble and her vassal… Strange to think that such relationships could still exist. Yes, Vacuo still had a king, but it was an elected position and merely ceremonial at this point. They were a constitutional monarchy. The king had lost power after the Great War, but as a sign of friendship between the Faunus and human tribes, the king remained. Although it could also be a woman, trans, or nonbinary person. Vacuo was weird. She put the thoughts to the side and looked at the pair. “I’ll head back to the café and you guys can finish up here. You won’t start until tomorrow anyway.” She just didn’t want to leave Weiss alone for too long. The poor woman clearly needed all the support she could get and Blake wasn’t about to leave her alone for too long. She was in the store with them, but even so… She found Weiss who sat at a piano bench, leaning against the piano with her eyes shut. “Hey, Weiss.” She spoke softly, trying not to startle Weiss, but she clearly did anyway. Weiss practically jumped out of her skin and looked around wildly, blue eyes bright and wide. She could feelthe chaos in Weiss’ soul and how much it had set her off. Weiss was pretty clearly exhausted and should probably sleep… Thankfully, Weiss calmed down a moment later. “Oh, Blake… Sorry. You startled me.” Blake shook her head. “No, it’s all right. I tried not to startle you, but I guess I failed. Do you…want to sleep?” Anna was going to give them a high-grade cot so Weiss could do just that. Weiss frowned. “But don’t you need someone to man the register?” “I can handle it by myself. I just don’t want to see you suffer because you’re pushing yourself too hard. Even this short trip was obviously taxing for you.” They’d barely walked half a block to an alleyway between two buildings, but it was clear that short walk had absolutely exhausted Weiss. “I may not look it, but I’m pretty strong. My aura gives me a lot more strength than the average person. I can carry you back to the café and let you rest.” Weiss frowned and clearly wanted to protest, but thought better of it. She moved to the edge of the piano bench. Blake picked her up in a bridal carry and walked back to the café and the side room meant for private events. Already Anna had placed a tablet and wireless speaker in the room. “Feel free to use these however you want. But just give me a minute.” She sat Weiss down in one of the chairs and logged into her music streaming app of choice. “There. Now you can access the playlists you made.” “Thank you…” “No problem.” Blake opened the cot and helped Weiss lay down on it, putting the tablet in her lap so she could mess around with it. With that done, Blake closed the door and went back behind the counter. She could hear movement off to the side of the building which was almost no doubt Anna, Hubert, and Edelgard bringing up the furniture and other various affects up to the second apartment. She was glad Anna was there for her though… Otherwise Blake would have to find super cheap furniture and mattresses and such through local online marketplaces… Here, they got the furniture they wanted at literally no cost. She was glad that they could be comfortable and have whatever furniture they wanted… And they wouldn’t have to settle for a second-hand mattress. There was always risk of bed bugs or something else if they got a mattress second hand. Or worse. Sleeping on the floor. She had long gotten used to the hard ground in the White Fang, but she wasn’t sure about Edelgard and Hubert. They had obviously fought in the war, but she wasn’t sure what all their service had been like. She wasn’t super keen to ask them either, not with them having just met, after all. Plus, she was pretty sure Hubert would bite her head off if she attempted to get any information about their service out of them so soon. He was not the most pleasant of individuals, but he would be in the back and not working with the public… She was glad he wasn’t her roommate. He would be unpleasant enough to deal with on the day-to-day, let alone if they livedtogether. She would let Edelgard deal with him since they were obviously used to each other. He seemed to not really like anybody that wasn’t Edelgard… Maybe she should’ve opted for different help. Well, she wasn’t about to kick them out either and they wanted peace. Or, well, Edelgard at least did. And she’d apparently been removed as a ‘liability’ from the war… How bad was her PTSD if they discharged her from the military…? Weiss was technically a prisoner of war and probably still enrolled on the military’s docket, but it wasn’t like they’d know she was in another world now… Plus, she could only imagine what they’d go through in order to get Weiss back on the side of her torturers… She was stuck in the middle of a mess and there wasn’t much she could do about it. But they weren’t on Selia and hopefully never wouldbe, so she hoped that things would remain as peaceful as they’d ever been…