The Sugar Flower Cafe

Blake’s alarm went off and she rubbed her eyes. Nights never felt long enough for her, honestly. Dealing with the café was definitely a tiring thing. She was on her feet all day and brewing everything from scratch definitely took a bit of effort. Honestly, she really should find someone that could run front of house for her… She wondered if the Time Witch would know anybody else looking for a place to stay. The café had only been open about three, three and a half weeks, but she knew that she would burn out sooner rather than later, working over 70 hours per week. She would really need to have two to three people that worked front of house, just like she had two people for back of house. The sooner she could get on training someone, the better, but she just wasn’t sure who she could trust to live up to her standards… Yeesh. She slid out of bed and headed into the kitchen. She knew she should wake Weiss up, but she would feel bad for doing so… It was early and Weiss really did need as much sleep as possible. But by the same token, she doubted Weiss would be able to cook for herself. Blake needed to eat as quickly and early as possible so that way she could take care of everything she needed to in the café. Hubert and Edelgard were for back of house and… She frankly did need to train them too. Inferro laid on the floor and looked up at her. “Do you think you could let Weiss know I’m cooking breakfast? Or, well, at least try to wake her up? Or maybe just let Althea know? Don’t knock on the door because it triggers Weiss, okay?” That was a lot to put on the Arcanine, but he nodded. He got to his paws and padded away. She heard a soft bark and, about five minutes later, Weiss came out, completely dressed and leaning against Inferro. She looked exhausted. “Sorry for getting you up so early, but that’s kinda what I needed to do.” Weiss shook her head. “No, no, it’s okay… It’s just going to take me a while to fully get used to the routine… My body’s still not used to extended rest like that…” Blake nodded. “Are you hungry?” “Yes.” “I’m working on it. In the meanwhile, do you think you can feed Inferro? You don’t have to lift the whole bag.” She pointed to the bag that she’d brought up. She motioned to where some scissors were and where and then where the glasses and bowls were. Weiss did what she was told, but she looked at the glasses. “Do you know how many of these you’ll need?” She held the glass up to Inferro. He made incomprehensible noises and Weiss sighed. “I don’t understand a thingyou’re trying to say.” I can help. Althea’s voice floated into both of their heads. She walked out, holding a book. She looked at Inferro who repeated himself. Probably about five of those. Weiss winced. “This bag isn’t going to last too long.” Arcanine are big Pokémon and they’re Fire types. Of course they need a lot of food. “That does make sense, but it doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a bit of a financial burden to feed him…” Weiss put five glasses worth in the bowl then sat down at the table, the little bit of movement having obviously exhausted her. She put her head down on the table. “Hopefully that’ll get a bit easier,” Blake said from her place at the stove. “Now that we have everything set up. But yeah, that bag definitely won’t last very long with him eating that much… Althea, how many times a day should we feed him, you think?” Three should work. Blake sighed. “Yep, definitely not gonna last long.” She got in her pocket and withdrew a key, keeping a close eye on the meal. “Do you think you could separate the bag into one-third and two-thirds, then take the one-third bit down to the café? I don’t want Weiss climbing these stairs to feed him lunch everyday.” She didn’t want to take the risk of Weiss falling. Yeah, Inferro was there to help her with her mobility issues, but that didn’t mean there weren’t risks associated with going up and down the stairs. She could notafford to have Weiss falling down the stairs. Vale had universal healthcare, but if they were in a different universe… The first minutes after an accident were crucial and, if not taken care of appropriately, bad things could happen. Althea nodded, the key floating out of her hand. What should I put the food in though? “There are containers down in the café, but I don’t have anything here. Could you go down and get one or two?” Althea sighed. All right, all right… She headed for the door and closed it behind her. Blake looked at Weiss, her ears twitching. “How did you sleep last night?” Weiss looked up. “Honestly? Not too bad… It was fairly deep. Those nightmare blockers work wonders.” Blake nodded. “They really do. Althea should be able to help keep you asleep once the amount Anna gave you runs out.” She paused. “How many didAnna give to you?” “A week’s worth, seven. I’m not sure why she gave so few.” Blake shrugged. “Maybe she knew something like this was possible.” It was Anna. There was no telling what all she knew would happen. The woman seemed to be practically prophetic. She always knew far, farmore than she was willing to let on. She was honestly just glad that she didn’t have to pay for everything supporting Weiss… Things like TVs and clothes were expensive. She was already having to tighten her budget due to taking on Hubert and Edelgard as employees… And she was considering taking on more to deal with front of house. She wouldn’t give up her café by any means, but having more people to rely on would be nice… She would just need to go talk to the Time Witch again… There were two apartments above the café, each with three bedrooms. She just hoped that, if she took two more people on, then the one that lived with Hubert and Edelgard wouldn’t be too annoying to them… She had no idea who she would take on or anything like that. It was a mystery. “Maybe…” “By the way, I was thinking of maybe seeing if the Time Witch had more people that might want to work with me.” Weiss blinked. “Really?” Blake nodded. “I am… I’m working 72 hours a week on top of having to take care of meals and everything else. Burnout is going to happen sooner or later at this pace.” She knew she shouldn’t take on more people because it meant more expenses, but she really did need the help. She’d rather not burn out on her pride and joy. She would still be around the café, but yeah, she definitely needed some help to balance everything. Though training anybody for front-of-house service to her standards would take time. It would also cut into her profits because she legitimately would need to use café resources to do it. She said it wasn’t a big deal to give out a mug here or there, but to consistently train somebody on how the café blends should taste, they needed to use the caféblends. She would probably have to train somebody from scratch, honestly… She could probably tell Hubert and Edelgard how to do morning things like putting stuff away, but that wouldn’t be too hard or take up too much time. She honestly just kinda wanted to get on front-of-house training asap. “That…is true. I was soburned out from the constant battles…” Weiss sighed and put her face down in her arms again. Inferro came over and laid his head on her shoulder. Even if he was for mobility assistance, it didn’t mean he couldn’t be emotional support too. Thankfully, it did seem to help Weiss and she looked at him, petting his face gently. She rubbed his muzzle and leaned against him a little bit. He nuzzled her softly. Blake smiled. She hoped that Weiss would bond with these Pokémon and start to regain some level of mental health. “All right; I’m done.” She put a pan in the sink and put a plate in front of Weiss. It wasn’t anything impressive, just some fried toast. Something quick and easy. Though, her own plate was stackedwith pieces. Thankfully, that was the time Althea came back. “Just in time; breakfast is up.” Oh good. I was really getting hungry. Althea sat down at the table and the key floated back over to Blake. She put it in her pocket and sat down at the table. Kalosian toast? “Kalos? We just call it fried toast.” Kalos is a region in the Pokémon world, near Paldea. It’s the source of a lot of cuisine. “I see… I wonder if there are any books I could read on the world. I feel like I should be more knowledgeable, especially now that I’m housing several beings from there.” She paused. “Is…that okay? I’m not really sure how to refer to you. You’re not really people in the sense of being human or Faunus… You’re not humans either… I just don’t wanna say something racist. I knowracism unfortunately.” She sighed, her ears drooping. Pokémon aren’t a race; it’s a classification for sentient beings that can live in the wild or be domesticated. We do have rights in all regions, though they vary region to region. We are beings, so I guess that works… But you can just call us Pokémon for simplicity’s sake. “That does make sense.” Blake started on her comicallylarge plate of fried bread. As for books, if you stop by the world again, we can probably ask. Though, Summer would be best, depending on who all we meet up with. “I think the world is a consistent stop… I’ll have to see what the schedule says again. It’s not like I’ve memorised it yet.” She shrugged. This had only started a couple days ago; it’d take time for her to get used to where she went and who all her new clients would be. She was eating quickly, quicker than normal, because she wanted to get to the Time Witch before she opened… She didn’t want to cut into her profits by not being open at her normal time. Thankfully, Althea seemed to get the message and fell silent while she ate as well. Blake finished up as quickly as she could. “Do you think you could take care of the dishes for me, Althea?” The Gardevoir nodded. Blake put her plate in the sink and hurried out the door and up to Hubert and Edelgard’s apartment. She knocked and Hubert answered, rubbing his eyes. “What can I do for you…?” He yawned. “Sorry for waking you, but you’re gonna have to be up bright and early from now on, Hubert; keep in mind we open atseven. You should be up sooner than that to get breakfast cooked. And I’ll need your help with some light duties in the mornings. Nothing intense, but just putting some stuff away. It’d really help me if you could do that.” He sighed. “All right, all right. What time are youup at?” “Four thirty.” He shook his head. “We’ll be up by five from now on, then. Why are you in such a hurry?” “Um… I’m going to be giving you another roommate.” He stared at her, expression flat. She could feel the bloodlust rolling off of him. Normally, something like that would scare her, but he just…didn’t scare her for some reason. “You’re going to what?” “I’m taking on two staffers to train them in front of house. However, I’ll take one in my third bedroom, and I’ll need to let one of them stay in your third bedroom.” She paused. “Wait, didn’t you and Edelgard only get onemattress? Are you two hitched or something?” Color rose in Hubert’s face and he spluttered. “I… What?!No! I am her loyal vassal!” “Why are you sharing a bed with her then?” “That is none of your concern! And completelyoff topic!” Blake sighed. “I guess it is. But can you spare a bedroom?” He gave a heavy sigh. “As long as this person isn’t a threat.” “We’ll have to see who the Time Witch recommends to us. Anyway, I need to get going. Talk to you in a bit.” She waved to him and hurried down to the café. She unlocked it and looked at the schedule. She’d be hitting up the Pokémon world each day they were open. Mondays was a place in ‘Johto’ called ‘Ecruteak City,’ Tuesdays were Almia, Wednesdays were a place called ‘Undella Town’ in the ‘Unova’ region, Thursdays were a place called ‘Konikoni City’ in ‘Alola,’ Fridays were a place called ‘Violet City’ which was also in ‘Johto,’ and Saturdays were a place called ‘Virbank City’ which was also in ‘Unova.’ That sure was a lot of different locations to go to. However, she noted that the two Unova were listed as different years. Wednesdays were in the year 1216 and Saturdays were in 1230. Well, that wasn’t confusing whatsoever. She shook her head. She went to the control panel and hit the switch for the Time Witch. Instantly, the location shifted from a sleepy, early-morning Vale to the opulent castle she had seen a few times already. She hurried up and locked up the café, then hustled up to the guards. She hoped she’d be able to get in… Anna had spoken to the Time Witch before for her, but now, she was on her own. “Do you have an appointment with the Time Witch?” one of the guards asked. “No, but I’ve been here already with Anna.” The guard sighed. “Fine, go in.” “Thank you.” She bowed and hurried inside, finding the large throne room where the Witch seemed to stay most of the time. The woman smiled gracefully and softly. “Well hello again, Blake. What brings you here?” “Well, I’m looking for a few more workers… Obviously, I’ll compensate them fairly. I need some people that would be willing to learn front-of-house service, so they’d be focused on making beverages. I have some pretty stringent standards, so I need some people won’t get easily discouraged or put down because I’m making them learn to live up to said standards.” “Hm, let me think for a few minutes…” The woman fell silent, obviously running through some options in her head. “Well, I think Addy and Celica may be willing to help you out. Like Weiss, Hubert, and Edelgard, they’re seeking a place to be quiet and live peacefully for a while. Celica also escaped a coup that her older brother started. She needs somewhere to rest and recuperate before she can go back and fight him. She’s a very powerful mage in her own right, being able to handle time magic. But she’s also a verypowerful healer as well. She may be able to help Weiss physically. She was also in medical school before the coup happened. “Addy is a bit of a special case. Her real name is Natural Harmonia Gropius—” Blake made a face. “—Yes, I’m aware of how it sounds. She was called N for quite a while, but she’s changed her nickname to Addy. She’s from the Pokémon world and is looking for a place she can stay to learn more about the world. She’s traveled the Pokémon world for several years with her companion, Zekrom, but she wants to learn more about interacting with people and exploring different points of view. She was raised in a highly controlled environment where her entire world was manipulated and she’s only just gotten out maybe…three years ago? She doesn’t really know how to handle people too much, but if you’d be willing to put up with it, I think she’d be a good worker.” Blake nodded. “I mean I have a highly traumatised technomancer on my staff… I understand what a highly controlled environment is like. As long as she can put up with my standards, I can definitely have patience.” She wasn’t so sure about her customers as customer service definitely was not an easy task. But if Addy wanted to have wider experiences, then the café would definitely be a great place. She was going around the multiverse, so there would definitely be a lot to learn. They wouldn’t really be interfacing with the cultures directly. But the people could teach someone a lot about a culture. And Addy could learn to have empathy for people from all different walks of life. “All right then; let me send somebody to get them.” Salem smiled and looked at two people off to the side. They nodded, then left through doors on either side of the throne room. “How’s Weiss settling in?” “Well, she has two new service Pokémon that are task trained to help her with two different things. Althea the Gardevoir helps her with nightmares, or at least she willonce Weiss’ nightmare blockers run out. Inferro the Arcanine to help her with brace work and mobility-related tasks. Though he also seems like he’ll be able to handle some emotional support needs.” Salem smiled. “That’s wonderful to hear. The poor woman had been through far too much. It seems like Gelé is a terror in almost every reality he exists in…” Blake nodded. “He’s a terror on Remnant too… Do you know about him there?” “Faintly. Remnant isn’t a place that’s under my jurisdiction. All I know is that he’s abusive to his family.” Blake sighed. “Unfortunately, it’s much worse than that. He literally brandshis workers like they’re cattle if they disobey. I…knew somebody who had that happen at a young age. Not to mention how he cuts corners to maximise profits, and he only pays Faunus workers 30% of what he pays human workers. Which is, unfortunately, the legal standard for Atlas. Faunus are seen as inherently less than humans there.” Salem frowned. “How terrible… I knew Atlas was bad, but I didn’t realise it was thatbad.” Blake nodded. “A few years ago, a bunch of dirt on the SDC came out from an anonymous source. We got all sorts of videos of Winter and Weiss, his two daughters, being beaten like dogs by him. Then the amount of documents… Someone had clearlyhacked the SDC’s servers. I have a lot of documents like that from my time as a terrorist.” Salem gave her a reassuring smile. “No judgement here. I know you’re not like that now.” Blake shook her head. “No, not at all. I want to help people just like I was taught to.” She really didn’t want to go into what had happened under Adam. She was just far, far too easily triggered if talking about him. She had reformed for certain, but if anybody from Atlas found her, they could easily turn her in and she’d almost certainlybe turned in. If extradited, she would face the death penalty. There would be no fair trial in Atlas for her if it came to that… And Adam was still out there as well… He was the more immediate threat, since she didn’t think that anybody from Atlas would recognise her. It was only the elites of the military and high-level Hunters that would recognise her… She nodded. “The various versions of you are typically very kind and sweet. There are some rogue versions that act in awful ways, but they’re in the minority from what I’ve seen. You walked a bad path, but you saw the error of your ways. In the end, that’s what matters to me.” “Thank you. That’s…kind. Most people wouldn’t see it the same way.” Atlas definitely wouldn’t. She wasn’t sure if even Vale would, were she turned into the authorities. The two assistants came back. One led a young woman with red hair that curled over her shoulders, the other leading a young woman with wild, green hair and a… She couldn’t easily pin down the young woman’s companion. They were incredibly androgynous. However, Blake could feel power rolling off that… That wasn’t a person. It was something else masquerading as a person. She could see their eyes had red sclera with electric blue irises. They looked at her and she could feelthem reading her body language and taking stock of her. She shuddered a bit, her ears going down. She hadn’t done anything wrong. Salem had only mentioned two people though, not a third… Would she need to have this third companion move in with Hubert and Edelgard? She wasn’t sure. “Addy, Zyric, Celica, this is Blake. Addy, you said you wanted to learn about different perspectives, right? Well, Blake’s café goes all around the multiverse. Celica, you wanted somewhere you could recuperate and regain your mind and body, right? Well, Blake’s café is a quiet place. You will have roommates, but if you can deal with that, I think it’d be a good fit.” Salem smiled. Blake offered a terse smile, still not certain about the black-haired…not a person. “Sorry, but who is your companion?” She looked at the green-haired young woman. “Oh… This is Zyric. They’re… I’m guessing they’re unnerving you? I’m Addy, by the way.” Blake nodded. “I feel like I’m being put under a magnifying glass.” “Zyric, knock it off.” Addy looked over her shoulder at Zyric who let out a noise of discontent, then looked away. “Forgive them; they’re protective of me especially after learning what I went through at the hands of my father.” Well, Addy seemed polite and kind enough. She did speak at quite the pace though. Blake wasn’t really used to fast talkers, so it took her a minute to catch up. Even the short space of time she spoke made it clear that she would be hardto understand for customers. This didn’t bode the best. “I see. Well, are you sure you two won’t mind working in a café?” Blake asked. “I’m not really used to customer service jobs, but I’ve worked with people before,” Celica said. “I was in medical school and bedside manner was stressed.” Blake nodded. “Salem did mention that.” She paused. “Do you have any experience with refeeding syndrome?” Celica blinked. “A bit, yes. Why do you ask?” Blake explained about Weiss and Celica frowned. “That’s…distressing. And you’re having her work?” “She agreed. And it’s not like I’m forcing her to stand twelve hours a day. If she needs to rest, I’ve set up a cot in my private tea room where she can go take a nap if needed. She has a chair she can sit in as well. I promise I’m being fair to her when it comes to working. Right now, she can’t really go out, so I’m having her room and board be her payment.” She sighed. “And unbeknownst to Weiss, I’m keeping what would beher pay aside in a separate account. I just thought it’d be a nice surprise to have a good lump sum of money to be able to splurge with when she feels well enough to go out. I’ll be compensating you two fairly, of course. I’m giving Hubert and Edelgard eighteen lien per hour and they work three, twelve-hour shifts per week. I’ll be expecting the same out of you two once you’re fully trained for front of house.” Celica nodded a bit. “You’ll pay us even though we really aren’t working?” Blake nodded. “I will. However, since you’re in training, I can legally pay you a bit less. Eleven lien per hour. However, if you want to, you can also work the register if Weiss isn’t feeling up to it.” She wasn’t being unfair to them; eleven lien wasthe legal standard pay for people still in training. “However, you will need to pay me rent and utilities since you’ll be living in the apartments I own. Whatever’s left over is yours to keep. Does that sound fair?” Celica frowned. “Why are you paying them more?” “Because they don’t need to be trained to cook. You two need to be trained to make beverages for which I have pretty high standards. Some areas of the multiverse seem like they’re gonna be relatively slow, so I’ll have time during the day to train you. However, I will pay you as long as you’re in the café and observing. So, if you choose to be in the café, then you will get paid. I already have contracts worked out with Hubert and Edelgard to work their shifts. You two will be more flexible and can potentially get paid more than them because of how I’m working with your training.” She wasn’t trying to be a slave driver or anything like that; there would be times where they wouldn’t be training. But she didn’t want to leave them feeling like they were being denied money. “You’ll have to watch meas I work, though. Of course, nothing will trump practice, but watching can help quite a bit.” Celcia nodded. “All right then…” She looked down at her bag in her hand. “How will we handle furniture…?” “I have a feeling Anna’s gonna show up sooner rather than later.” Celica sighed. “Of course she will.” She’ll probably handle everything. You can spend the day handling everything to settle down if you want to.” She looked at Addy and Zyric. “Zyric, will you want your own room or will you stay with Addy?” She just wanted to know… Hubert and Edelgard had an extra room since they were staying in the same room together. She didn’t want to make any assumptions after Hubert’s reaction. That had been funny, though. He didn’t seem like the type of person to get flustered normally, but she had definitely gotten caught him off guard. They let out a ‘hmph’ noise. “If you think I’m leaving Addy, you’re wrong.” “All right then.” She looked back at Celica. “Celica, I’ll have you stay with Hubert and Edelgard. Zyric, Addy, you’ll be with me and Weiss.” She sighed. “I’ll have to get extra key copies made, though.” She hadn’t anticipated having so many people live with and under her. Hopefully Anna could take care of that for them while they were picking out furniture and such… Celica nodded. “Okay. Should we head off then?” Blake nodded. “We should.” She bade farewell to the Time Witch and said thanks to her for the help, then led the trio back to the apartment. She let them into her apartment as she set the café to be back in Vale. She hurried up the stairs and saw Addy petting Inferro. He made his normal noises, and she responded as if understanding him, just like Summer. “Eh? You can understand Pokémon too?” Addy blinked. “What do you mean ‘too’? As far as I’m aware, I’m the only person that can understand Pokémon that aren’t on their team.” “There’s a Pokémon Ranger that we met, Summer. She could understand Pokémon like you are.” “Weird… I’ve never heard of another person being able to do that.” “Well, we definitely met her…but you’ll have to wait until next week, unfortunately. We only visit Almia once a week.” Addy frowned. “I’d love to hear her story.” There was a buzz at the door and Blake was fairly certain she knew who it was. She tapped the intercom. “Anna, I’m guessing?” “Yep~ You have some new friends in need of furniture and clothes~ I’ll just put on Mr. Gelé’s tab~” Addy blinked. “Wait you’re not going to make us pay for our own furniture? That’s…incredibly generous.” Addy still spoke a bit too quickly for Blake’s liking, but there wasn’t a lot she could do about it. She looked over at Weiss, though, who had her eyes squinted a little. She could feel the confusion rolling off her. Poor Weiss. “Nope~! All of it’s coming off Mr. Gelé’s tab!” Anna’s voice came from the intercom. “So come on down and get whatever you want to~!” Blake looked at Celica and Addy. “Let’s get you down there and see if Anna can get keys copied.” Thankfully, she did have two copies of the keys that went to Hubert and Edelgard’s apartment, one for them, one for her. She let Addy, Zyric, and Celica down, but she went up to Hubert and Edelgard’s and knocked. Hubert opened the door and looked at her, an eyebrow cocked. “So you’ll have a new roommate; her name’s Celica.” Hubert let out a hefty sigh. “Very well.” “I’m having Anna get them set up with furniture. I’ll also be giving her a key to your guys’ apartment since it’s technically hers as well.” “Very well.” He didn’t seem too thrilled, not that she could blame him. It was definitely a lot to take in, but thankfully, she’d really only met them yesterday, so she didn’t have to worry about them having settled into a routine that was getting upset. All of this was upsetting Blake’s routine, but honestly, she was happy to explore the multiverse and get to know more people and potentially help them. She really did like to help people… Maybe this would help her atone for her crimes she had committed… She knew she was just a child when it had all happened, but that still didn’t make it easy to accept she’d killed innocent people. “See you in a bit.” She headed down to Anna’s tent and set up the key copying. It was starting to get close to opening time, so she took out the café key and texted Weiss. Opening time. Feel up to coming down? I’ll have Inferro help me. See you in a few then. She clicked off her scroll and went into the café proper. What a packed morning. She hadn’t expected all of this, but honestly, it’d help her in the long run. She really did need some people to help her because she wouldget burned out working over 70 hours a week sooner rather than later. But, right now, she couldn’t really do much about it… She would still have to work the front of house but at least she didn’t have to deal with back of house… She had people that could handle it. She did see Hubert and Edelgard coming in soon after her, followed by Weiss riding Inferro. He stood near the employee entrance to the back of the counter and Weiss slid off. Blake gave Weiss her chair and smiled at her. “So we’ll have some new roommates. Their names are Addy and Zyric.” “Who’s the green-haired one?” “That would be Addy.” “She speaks waytoo fast. I guess I’m not able to process fast speech as easily as I could before the torture… She needs to slow down.” “We can talk to her, probably this evening. For now, I’ll let her and Zyric get set up in their room. They’ll need to put their bed frame and everything else together.” Weiss sighed. “So we probably won’t see them until dinner…” “Depends on what all they get.” “Fair enough.” Weiss shook her head. “Anyway, we should probably get everything started and in order.” Blake nodded. “True enough.” She looked at the schedule. Huh, Japan again… But it had ‘Duel Monsters’ listed next to it. She had no idea what that meant. Soon enough, though, she saw the outside warp from Vale to another large, metropolitan city.