Ravensdagger_Dreamers_Ten-Tea-Cle_Café

Chapter Five — Purrniture Purrchases

Chapter Five — Purrniture Purrchases Crossover: Stray Cat Strut by RavensDagger

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Cat sent a text to Myalis. Mostly because none of her augs could connect to the internet, and there was no wifi signal to work off of anyway. Hell, even her GPS was pulling up a blank, which was somehow really distressing. “What’s going on?” she wrote.I have no idea. Which is to say I have several thousand hypotheses, but none of them are confirmable. Interestingly enough, I can still order things, and the connection to my main servers is still intact. I am attempting to work through what happened with several of my colleagues.“Hey, cat-lady, did you hear me?”Cat grinned in what she hoped was a disarming way and rubbed at the back of her neck. “Sorry, I got distracted by my own thoughts there for a second,” she said.After the... she supposed it was a summoning-but that sounded too much like some magic bullshit, and she wasn’t keen on the idea of magical stuff at all-she was confronted by three girls.Two of them were a bit older. Maybe Cat’s age, a year or two more at most. The blonde was an easy eight out of ten, and her little freckled girlfriend was cute too, in a bookish geek sort of way. They were either a couple, or the useless sort of lesbian that were a couple but didn’t know it.That, or Cat really needed to recalibrate her gaydar.The third one was a bit weird. Cat had spent a lot of time around kids, and something about the girl that had called herself Dreamer was pinging as ‘wrong’ to Cat’s senses. She didn’t know what it was, exactly. The kid had a clean enough dress on, with more ruffles than Cat would be caught dead wearing in a million years, and she was barefoot, which was strange if she could afford such a nice dress.“We have a lot of things that need renovating,” Dreamer said. “Mostly the stuff in the kitchens, and the tables and chairs and stuff elsewhere too.”“You, uh, know I’m not a carpenter, right? I’m a samurai. I fix problems, usually in very violent ways. I don’t know jack about furniture and shit like that. I don’t know how to cook either, so you’re out of luck there too.”The Dreamer girl pouted, then a tentacle sprouted from the air next to her. One moment there was nothing, the next there was a rip in reality and a thin purple tentacle slipped out of it and started to rub Dreamer on the chin.It was the most disturbing ‘thinking pose’ Cat had ever seen.Catherine, don’t panic.“Not a reassuring thing to say,” Cat muttered.“That’s weird,” Dreamer said. “Was my summoning thing wrong?”Disregard all points in your future purchases. We will give the creature whatever it wishes in order to keep it happy. The cost will be waived.“Well,” Cat said. She felt a slick bead of sweat sliding down the length of her back. She’d only been with Myalis for a little while, but not once had the AI ever sounded worried. “I do have one thing that might help. I can buy stuff.”Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.“Yes, we have money here,” the Daphne girl said.“I mean, I can buy some really neat stuff. Shit that’ll blow your renaissance minds,” Cat said.Dreamer frowned. “Don’t blow Abigail.”“Uh,” Cat said. Whatever Dreamer was, she was a kid enough for Cat to place her words in the ‘too innocent to know’ category and move on. “No problem, pipsqueak.”The creature identifying as Dreamer is a transdimensional being. It inhabits multiple dimensions. While the Protectors are capable of cross-dimensional travel, it has always been within a relatively narrow bandwidth. Creatures like Dreamer can move between these naturally through unknown means.Cat nodded, an easy, cocky grin on. “So, wanna show me around?”“You’re cooperative all of a sudden,” Daphne said.Cat shrugged. “The AI living in my head is scared shitless of Dreamer here for some reason.”Daphne blinked. “That actually explains things quite neatly.”“Really?” Cat asked. “Is that a common occurrence?”“Only with people who have common sense,” Daphne said.Catherine... I do not know how your lack of tact has not yet ended in your violent death. I suppose I should congratulate you, but I won’t for fear of encouraging even more recklessness.The trio before Cat filed into the cafe, and Cat followed after them while writing a text. “How do you know about Dreamer? Why is she scary?”The Protectors, from what Cat had gathered, had met and were made up of plenty of aliens.Our first contact with a being like Dreamer was in a solar system on the far reaches of the Milky Way. We established a forward outpost on the planet, and a small cephalopod-like creature appeared from a rip in space. It proceeded to consume the outpost and the planet around it.Cat blinked.All attempts to combat the creature led to great losses until the area was quarantined. Any organic crew suffered from severe mental trauma by dint of being in proximity to the creature, and AI, who require that natural laws function as they ought to, don’t adapt well to creatures that disregard these. The creature was eventually consumed by a purple tentacle-like appendage the width of a yellow dwarf that slid out of nowhere and returned there just as rapidly.“Huh,” Cat said.The girls turned her way, and she gestured to the kitchen as if she was commenting on that. “Nice enough, but I’m sure we can do better,” Cat replied with an uneasy grin.“Yeah. I want a kitchen where we can cook a bunch of tasty food and things,” Dreamer said.“Hungry, huh?” Cat asked.Dreamer nodded. “I could eat a sun.”“Haha... yeah.”

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Chapter Six — Eating Tea People Place

Chapter Six — Eating Tea People Place Crossover: Stray Cat Strut by RavensDagger

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Dreamer turned her head to the side and stared. There was something happening to space in the middle of the kitchen. Physics wasn’t screaming, but it was scratching its metaphorical head in confusion.Then, a couple of seconds later, a box appeared. It was big and square and made of some sort of clear material that Dreamer had never tasted before.“Taa-daa,” the girl called Stray Cat said.“Whoa,” Abigail said. “And that’s a stove?”“It is,” Stray Cat said. “It’s... some super high-tech stove thing. Like, I’m not big on the whole ‘don’t give the locals laser pistols’ thing, but I’m pretty sure this stove is some prime directive violating thing. You put food in, it scans it, then it nukes it until it’s perfectly cooked. Baking takes a little longer since it’s baking and that’s some chemical shit that can’t exactly be sped up.”“Surprisingly, there is a lot of overlap between baking and some forms of alchemy,” Daphne said. “I think we’ll be able to figure things out.”Stray Cat shrugged. “Sure. So, that’s the kind of stuff I can hand out. Never thought I’d be buying a stove, but hey.”Dreamer stopped staring at the box, then looked over to the stove they had. It was a big metal thing, with a chimney on the back and some space for wood to go in it. The new one was a lot smaller. Also, she sensed a lot of power in it. “What makes the new stove hot?” Dreamer asked.“Uh,” Stray Cat said. Her eyes glazed over, and she blinked. “Well, you guys don’t have electricity, so it’s powered by... seriously?” It sounded almost like she was listening to someone that wasn’t there, which Dreamer figured was the thing inside her head.“What is it?” Abigail asked.“Do you know what nuclear radiation is?”Abigail shook her head.“Then don’t worry about it.” Stray Cat grinned. “So, what else do you need?”“We need a few things,” Daphne said. “Lights and chairs, as well as some furniture in the rooms above.”“A bed,” Dreamer said.The girl she summoned nodded along. “Yeah, sure, screw it. Apparently I’m buying a bed and some chairs instead of anything cool. How attached are you guys to the old timey rustic look? Because the genuine wood is neat and all, but it’s a bit great-grandpa for my tastes, you know?”“What’s wrong with wood?” Abigail asked.“Well, it’s wood,” Stray Cat said. “It’s not exactly cool, you know?” She gestured round the kitchen at all of the wooden stuff. “”Like, it’s nice I guess. But you’re not going to RGB your wooden counters, right?”Daphne huffed. “If you think your idea of interior decor is better, than please, do as you see fit.”Stray Cat grinned. “Perfect! I love getting permission to mess things up. Maybe... alright, don’t freak out, but I’m not actually great at interior decor.”“Reassuring, especially after you just tried to convince us to let you do as you see fit,” Daphne said.“Yeah, well, as I was going to say Miss Snarks a Lot, I have an AI that’s great at making things look neat, so let’s let her do her thing, yeah?”Dreamer looked around her. The same feeling that happened when the stove appeared was happening, but all over now.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.Abigail gasped as the walls disintegrated, the big oven in the corner crumbled apart, and the counters and shelves turned to so much dust. Dreamer squinted. There were teeny tiny little things eating all the furniture apart and turning it into dust before they slid away. It was weird.Then new furniture started to show up. Big metal cabinets with glass fronts appeared on most of the walls, and the stove disappeared and reappeared in a countertop. A big metal machine appeared where the oven had been, and lights swung from the ceiling and cast bright white light across the room.“Whoa,” Abigail said. She was staring at everything with wide eyes, and even Daphne seemed impressed.“Neat,” Stray Cat said as she took in the new kitchen. “So, Myalis is chattering at me about the changes, but mostly it’s new furniture. Some wiring in the walls. The building’s supports were made of wood, so those have been reinforced with some sort of metal alloy stuff. There’s a fire-extinguishing system in place, and some duct work to push smoke out, and.. Yeah, that’s most of the technical stuff.”“Why is everything cat themed?” Daphne asked.It was true, the cabinet windows had little paws on them, and the new oven had cat ears.“Because of reasons,” Stray Cat said. “Look, the front was done too. And the upstairs... you know, this place is pretty nice now.”They moved into the front of the shop where the till was replaced with a machine with a flat glass panel. There was still some wood around, but a lot of it had been warped and reshaped to be pretty. Four tables sat in the front of the room, with four cat-backed chairs sitting around each. The floor looked like it was brand new, all shiny and sleek.“See, I said I was good at summoning,” Dreamer said.Abigail patted her head. “Yeah,” she said.“The washroom was fixed up too,” Cat said. “And the floor above. I bet you two will really enjoy the bed.”“We will,” Dreamer agreed.“I... meant these two, but... you do you.” Stray Cat raised her hands in surrender. “So, that’s everything. Though Myalis wanted to know if you wanted anything specific written on the sign out front.”“You did the front too?” Daphne asked. Dreamer had never seen her so impressed.“I didn’t do anything,” Stray Cat said. “But yes, I did.”They moved out the front-there was a new bell that made a happy jingly jangle noise when they opened the door and also when Dreamer poked it with a tentacle once the door shut-and they gathered on the edge of the street.The tea shop’s windows had been replaced with some that looked a bit blurry now, but that still looked nice, and there were some empty planters on the outside for flowers and stuff. Above the doorway was a big sign, one that was entirely blank.“Oh, we need a name,” Abigail said.“That’s easy,” Dreamer said. “This place is for people to come and drink tea and for eating, right?”“It is,” Abigail said.“Then we should call it the Eating Tea People Place,” Dreamer said.“I think we can brainstorm better ideas than that,” Daphne said. “How about ‘Abigail’s?’”“No,” Dreamer said. “That’s Abigail’s name already. This is a place for tea, right? We’re going to call it... The Ten’Tea’Cle Shop.”

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Chapter Seven — Pretty Pretty Flowers

Chapter Seven — Pretty Pretty Flowers Crossover: Azarinth Healer by Rheagar

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“It’s... it’s really pretty,” Abigail said that evening. She stood in the middle of the main floor of the shop, hands folded together over her tummy and eyes wandering across the cafe.Dreamer supposed that it was kind of pretty. She could do without all of the cat themed items, but cats tasted good, so maybe they were a way of telling people that the food here tasted good too.Not that they’d made any yet.“What’s missing?” Dreamer asked. She’d sent that Stray Cat girl back, according to the Summoning Rules. Dreamer decided to add her own secret addendum to the rules. She’d only summon people and stuff for a small amount of time. That way Abigail wouldn’t get too fond of them.The Stray Cat girl had been, in her own words, a ‘raging lesbian’ and that was something that somehow gave her and Daphne and Abigail a lot to talk about, though Dreamer thought that the cat-girl was a bit more open and less blush-y about stuff than Abigail and Daphne.“Missing?” Abigail asked right back.“We have furniture,” Dreamer said with a gesture towards the chairs and tables. “We have kitchen things. We have the rooms upstairs to be comfy in. What else do we need before we can do shop stuff?”Abigail reached up and pinched her chin between forefinger and thumb. “We need some ingredients, and I need to practice making cakes and pastries.” She smiled and looked down at Dreamer. “Do you want to help taste-test?”Dreamer nodded. She did.“So, we’ll need to stop by a few shops to grab the right ingredients. I think that can wait until tomorrow though. I’m not quite in the mood for baking and experimenting right now.”“Okay,” Dreamer said. She was a little disappointed, but what was a day of waiting when she’d waited entire eons for some suns to ripen into tastier colours.“I guess the only other thing is maybe some flowers for the planters out front?” Abigail asked. She glanced out of the windows at the front of the cafe, and Dreamer followed her gaze. There were, indeed, a couple of planters under the window where flowers were meant to be.Dreamer had seen plenty of those on some nicer homes across the city. They were like a free snack dispenser. “That can’t be too hard,” Dreamer said.“I don’t think it should be, no,” Abigail said. She shifted over to be next to Dreamer, then placed a hand on her head. “Thanks for all the help, Dreamer. I didn’t think you’d be so... enthusiastic about the cafe, but I’m glad that you are.”“It’s okay. You looked happy about it, so I’m happy too,” Dreamer said.Abigail laughed and bent down to squeeze Dreamer in a hug. “Thanks,” she said before standing up. “I’m going to go talk to Daphne for a bit. We still need to draw up a list of the things we need to buy. You know, at this rate the cafe will be ready to open in just a couple of days.”Dreamer nodded. She looked forward to it.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.Abigail gave her another pat-so many pats! Dreamer was being a very good girl today-then walked off to talk with Daphne. “Plants, huh,” Dreamer muttered.She flounced-something the girls at the gardening club had taught her how to do, it was how a girl walked when she was happy-over to the backyard, then she placed her hands on her hips.Flowers.Dreamer didn’t know much about those. Maybe she could place some tentacles out there that looked like flowers?She made a tentacle sprout out of the ground, then gave it some tumorous growths on the end.Dreamer hummed. Maybe it needed more colour? She changed the colours of the growths, like those frogs that Abigail told her not to eat despite their being spicey.The flower-tacle didn’t look right. She tried making it have nectar, but all that happened was a squirt of pus leaking out of the end of it.“No good,” Dreamer said.She shrugged. It was time to summon away her problems.She was really starting to like the whole summoning trick. It reminded her a bit of when she discovered tentacles and their myriad uses. It was a very versatile trick. Not as handy as actual tentacles, but neat all the same.Focusing, Dreamer tried to do a summoning without a circle. All she was looking for were some flowers, maybe a tree and some grass for the backyard. Nothing too complicated.The world warped, and Dreamer rolled her eyes when physics steamed in protest as dirt and the top layer of yellowed backyard grass was shredded apart by Dreamer’s spell.Grass appeared, long and green; then the ground warped again, and when Dreamer blinked, there was now a great big tree sitting in the middle of the yard.“Well, this is interesting,” the tree said.Not out loud, it was more of a psychic message sent out across a broad spectrum, though it wasn’t very loud. A sort of polite mental message.“I didn’t know trees could talk,” Dreamer said.“I daresay most of them can’t,” the tree and the grass around it said. “Would you mind telling me where I am?” it asked.“In the backyard,” Dreamer said. “I wanted flowers because mine don’t look right.” she gestured to her tentaflowers.“I see. That is certainly an interesting interpretation of what a flower should look like. Who might you be?”“I’m Dreamer,” Dreamer said. “Who are you?”“My... friends call me Meadow,” the tree said.Dreamer nodded. “Are you a boy tree or a girl tree?”“I’m more of a grassland, actually. I note that your body is more of a puppet than an actual proper body. Are you a boy tentacle being, or a girl tentacle being?”Dreamer considered that. “I think I’m a girl now. Being a girl feels better.” Besides, Abigail liked girls more, and for some reason boys weren’t allowed to wear pretty dresses.“A pleasure to meet you. You wouldn't happen to know how to return me to my other dimension?”“Yeah, I can do that,” Dreamer said. “But can you help me with flowers first?”

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