Ravensdagger_Dreamers_Ten-Tea-Cle_Café

Chapter Eleven — A Simple Plan

Chapter Eleven — A Simple Plan Dreamer’s plan was very simple.They needed more guests to come into the cafe, so she’d set up a spell that would summon nice people who needed the kinds of things that they sold at the cafe. Dreamer didn’t know too much about business, but she did know that the founding principle behind a good business was the same as what made a bed a good bed.A good bed was good if it was able to provide a necessary resource (sleep) to clients who were looking for that resource (sleepy people). A good bed provided services around its main product as well (blankets) and would go out of its way to ensure that the product was as good as possible (By providing cuddle friends).Just like the market was regulated by an invisible hand, a good bed also had its own system of regulation (Abigail’s hands shaking Dreamer awake). Businesses were regulated and forced to pay taxes, (just like how sleeping people paid Dreamer in dreams) and if they didn’t, there were repercussions (nightmares).Basically, Dreamer had it all figured out. She just needed to think about how to get all of that knowledge to apply to the cafe.In the end, she decided to go with the simplest solution. She’d grab a head of magical stuff and make it cast the same spells over and over again.First, a spell to see if it was the right time to summon someone.This spell would check the cafe and make sure that there were people working there, and that Dreamer was around to greet new people. Very simple stuff.Second, a spell to look for someone that needed something the cafe provided. The cafe had a bunch of stuff, but mostly Dreamer was thinking about the food and the atmosphere. Abigail said that that was an important part of the cafe experience, having a quiet place that someone could relax in, either alone or with a few friends. It was supposed to be very romantic and stuff.Third, Dreamer needed to narrow down that selection of people. There would be lots of people that wanted to use the cafe because it was such an awesome place, but it would suck if it filled up.Actually, that gave Dreamer another idea.First-point-one, she had to make sure that the spell didn’t trigger when the cafe had guests already. Otherwise it would just fill up.She nodded. The spell was becoming a bit of a tangled mess, but she was sure that was fine.Fourth, she needed the spell to grab people that were cool. That was a tricky thing to narrow down. What made a person cool? The way they talked? The number of sunglasses they owned? The amount of time they spent playing with tentacles?Dreamer eventually dismissed all of those. If she couldn’t narrow down coolness, then she could at least pick out people that were important. Shoving a hole through the fabric of reality next to her, Dreamer stuck out a meta tentacle, the same one from page 242 of the first edition print of Love Crafted (available at an Amazon near you) and cut off the tip of it.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.That would help her only grab narratively important people.Fifth... actually, she couldn’t think of a fifth, so instead Dreamer squeezed and squished all the spell stuff together, bashing some of it into the right shape with some old-fashioned tentacling, then she stood back and surveyed her work.Magic itself was weeping, but the spell was holding together, too afraid to come undone after Dreamer had put so much effort into crafting it.“That works,” she said.Grabbed the spell with yet another tentacle, she shoved it down and cast it at the cafe.Everything went green for a moment, but that passed soon enough and after Dreamer tasted the air and made sure it was all good, she pronounced it good.“Dreamer?!” Abigail called from the stairs.“Yes?” Dreamer asked.“Are you okay?” Feet thump-thumped and soon Abigail appeared in their apartment’s entrance looking worried and stuff. “You just ran off, and the, uh, clone out front is crying because she can’t get anyone to take her pamphlets. I was worried.”“Sorry,” Dreamer said. “I was doing a thing, and I couldn’t just be at the front, I needed to be here too.”“Uh, alright,” Abigail said. “Is everything alright? I thought I saw a green light?”“It’s good,” Dreamer said.“You haven’t summoned anyone?”“No.”“Killed any gods? Started a religion? Ended a religion? Eaten someone that can think?”Dreamer shook her head. She had done none of those things since the last time Abigail asked. “I’ve been behaving, and I haven’t hurt anyone.” Magic wasn’t someone, so it was okay. And technically, if her spell went wrong and hurt someone, that would be in the future, not now.“Alright, good,” Abigail said. “Did you want to come down? Charlotte’s trying the different sorts of cakes we have, and Daphne and I were preparing ourselves some tea. If we can’t serve anyone, we can at least serve ourselves.”“I like that idea,” Dreamer said. “Can I have cake and tea?”Abigail reached down and did a hand wiggle for Dreamer to grab. “Have you been behaving?”“I behaved like myself.”Abigail giggled. “That’s not all that reassuring, you know? Come on, you can have a bit of cake.”“How many cakes is a bit of cake?” Dreamer asked. Was this one of those things like a flock of ravens being called a murder, but more about cake?“A bit is how much I can afford to give you,” Abigail said. “Before I need to bake more.”“So how can we make the bit bigger?”She got a headpat for asking important questions, but they didn’t talk about it much more, because soon Dreamer was downstairs with friends and there was cake and laughter and fun. That was, until the door’s bell rang and a very weird group stepped in, wet from a rain that wasn’t happening.At least Dreamer knew her spell was working!

* * *

Chapter Twelve — Bunch’a Brats

Chapter Twelve — Bunch’a Brats Crossover: Fluff by RavensDagger

* * *

“I need to pee.”“I’m hungry.”“Look Boss, trash!”Emily wasn’t at her wit’s end. No, her wit’s end was about three blocks back, crying while rocking back and forth. She was well and truly past that. “I know, I know,” she said, vainly hoping that would be enough to placate her little sisters.Teddy nodded, but she was walking the walk of someone who really did need to use the washroom, despite Emily asking twice before they left the house. Athena kept staring at any ad with food they passed-which was seemingly all of them-and Trinity and all three of her bodies, kept pausing next to the big trash cans dotting the roadside.“We’ll find something,” Emily said. All she needed was a place where she could grab a bite and use the washrooms, that was it. And maybe a nice cup of coffee. She deserved it.“What about there?” Teddy asked. She was pointing to something across the street.She was pointing to a quaint little cafe, it was... it was... there was a fog around it, and it seemed to float in the air, at once there and not.Emily shook her head and blinked her eyes.“We’ll find something,” Emily said, again... or was it the first time? All she needed was a place where she could grab a bite and use the washrooms, that was it. And maybe grab a nice cup of coffee. A cafe, she needed a cafe.“What about there?” Teddy asked. She was pointing to something out ahead and near the entrance to an alley on their side of the street.Emily felt a strange sense of deja-vu for a moment. There was a cute little cafe, a big sign above a brick and mortar front. Dreamer’s Ten’Tea’cle Cafe. Lots of cat-themed decor, but all very clean and new looking.“Yeah, okay,” Emily said.Her sisters cheered, and with a very stiff-legged Teddy at the lead, they charged into the store to the protest of the front door’s jingling bell. Emily rolled her eyes, prayed that they didn’t break anything, and followed them in.Emily took a moment to inspect the interior. It was a pretty standard cafe. A few tables to the sides, with chairs around them that had cat head shaped backs, and a section at the rear-with a couple of steps leading up to it-had the cashier and a display full of cakes and other pastries.“Oh! Sorry,” a young woman said from off to one side. She had an apron on, with the cafe’s logo on it. It was obvious at a glance that Emily and her sisters had caught her and her friends mid-break. “Hi, welcome.”“Are you open?” Emily asked. It would be supremely awkward if they weren’t.“We are, we are,” the girl said. She put on the happy grin of someone working in retail, then gestured towards the back. “I’ll get behind the till. Feel free to browse around? Take a seat?”“Where can I poop?” Teddy asked with great tact.“Um. There's a washroom just over there. The doors with the boy cat and the girl cat on them.”Teddy scampered off, and Emily kept an eye on her other pests. “No touching anything,” she warned. One of Trinity’s hands snapped back and away from a rack of mugs.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.“So, what can I get for you?” the cashier asked as she took her place behind the counter.“Uh,” Emily said. She looked for a menu, found one, then stared. She didn’t recognize the numbers next to the items on the menu, and those ideas seemed a little blurry to her until she focused. “Can I have... what do you have that’s small? For my sisters.”“Oh, they’re your sisters?” the cashier asked. She and Emily stared at each other, processed what she said and the implications, then they both blushed and looked away in the same moment.There was, in that instant, an understanding between them. Like the awkward handshake of two companions meeting, only these two companions were strangers, and also terrible introverts. They both nodded, without meeting the other’s eye, and agreed to look past the awkwardness.“We have these little mini-cakes,” the girl said. “They’re not too big, and they’re filled with strawberry jam. Although, that might be messy.”“Right, that’s a lot of faces and hands to clean. Not to mention your nice tables.”“”We have chocolate pastries too. They’re nice when dipped in coffee. And we have hot chocolate too.”“I want that!” Trinity said in stereo.“We’ll take, uh, five of both,” Emily said. “And I need a coffee. Strong.”“No problem,” the girl said. She busied herself with the order while Emily wrangled her sisters. In the end, she aimed them towards a table in a corner where she figured they couldn’t do any harm. Teddy exited the washroom, looking relieved until Emily asked her if she washed her hands, then she was sent back to the washroom with a pout.“I’m sorry for... all of that,” Emily said to the girl across from the counter. She swallowed, grasping onto her limited bravery. “I’m Emily, by the way.”“Hi Emily, I’m Abigail, and don’t worry. I know... pretty much exactly what it’s like to take care of someone younger and a bit... bratty.”“How many do you need to watch over?” Emily asked. Abigail had a sister or two of her own, then?“Just the one, but I think she could out-brat all five of yours.”“I don’t know about that,” Emily said with a chuckle.Abigail laughed too as she set a tray on the counter. It had everything in neat little plates. “It’s hardly a competition. Ah, I need to ring you up. I’m not sure how this machine works though.”“Oh,” Emily said. She fumbled her card out, and gestured to the keypad next to the machine. “I think it’s a tap. Just enter the order and I tap it with my card.”“Uh,” Abigail said. She frowned in consternation, but after poking at the screen a few times, she figured it out. Emily figured she had no place to complain about the slowness, not when she could hear her sisters making a disaster for poor Abigail to pick up later in the back.“There you go,” Emily said as she paid up. Abigail still looked a little confused by it all.The cashier shrugged. “Well, alright then. Did you want to join my friends and I? It’ll give you a small break from all the... yeah.”“I... you know what, sure.”

* * *

Chapter Thirteen — Big Sister Talk

Chapter Thirteen — Big Sister Talk Crossover: Fluff by RavensDagger

* * *

“It’s worse than you can imagine,” Emily said.“It can’t be that bad,” Abigail replied.Abigail’s friends had both left soon after Emily arrived at Abigail’s table, which of course had all of Emily’s social anxiety alarms ringing their death knells. It was only seeing the Daphne girl give Abigail a peck on the cheek and promising to see her later that calmed Emily down.Somehow, that was enough to reassure Emily that she wasn’t the reason the other two girls had run off. They’d obviously had other things to do, and Emily’s presence wasn’t enough to scare them away.“They’re so cute though,” Abigail continued. She was taking frequent sips from a large mug filled with steaming tea. It was one of those more plain teas, not a fruity mess of berries and such like how Emily’s mom liked hers.Emily followed Abigail’s gaze towards her sisters. The five of them were recently joined by a sixth girl. She was about the same height as Trinity, with a round face covered in little freckles, and big ruddy cheeks. Her hair was the same as Abigail’s though. She looked rather sad, sad and confused, and Emily was proud to see that her sisters were trying to distract her.Unfortunately that mostly involved making fart noises with their armpits, and arguing about who was cooler, Emily or Abigail.“Sure, cute,” Emily said. “That’s your sister?”“Uh, sorta?” Abigail said. “She’s my... kind of like a little sister, I guess. It’s complicated?”Emily nodded. She understood complicated.“That’s Dreamer’s clone, really.”“Huh? Dreamer?”Abigail blushed. “My, uh, little sister, sorta. She’s... upstairs, I think? Honestly, I really should go see if she’s alright.” Abigail took another long sip of tea in lieu of seeing if things were alright.Emily took a sip from her coffee in understanding.So the brown-haired girl back there was Abigail’s sister’s friend, then? That tracked. She was probably disappointed that the other girl wasn’t around. Or something. Emily wasn’t going to dig too deep into any prepubescent drama, for her own sanity’s sake.“Your sisters seem mostly well-behaved.”“Yeah, right,” Emily said.“Really. They’re a bit loud-” Abigail paused to let Teddy finish screaming about finding joy in comradeship. “But I bet they don’t cause any sort of strange trouble.”“Strange trouble?” Emily asked.Abigail nodded, then paused. “You know. Weird things.”“Yes,” Emily agreed. “My sisters only cause normal problems. Perfectly ordinary ones.”Abigail nodded. “Yes, mine also is like that.”They both knew they were lying.Neither of them cared.Stolen story; please report.“So, any advice on how you manage to wrangle so many brats all at once?” Abigail asked.Emily considered it. “Mostly I think it comes down to setting boundaries and explaining what is or isn’t too much. They’re young, and rather dumb you know.”Abigail nodded. “They are.”“So you can’t expect them to know what is or isn’t okay. You need to outline what’s acceptable and what isn’t, and once that’s done, you must absolutely never let them get away with anything past that line.”“That sounds harsh.”Emily nodded. “I know. I hate it, and I’m terrible at it.”“I don’t know if I’m all that good at telling Dreamer what she can’t do. She always seems to want to do what she thinks is best.”“My sisters are the same. They’re really sweet, but sometimes what they think is the right thing to do is, ah, a terrible idea.”Abigail nodded. “Thanks. It’s good advice. I mean, I think I already knew all of that, but I guess hearing it helps a lot.”“Sometimes things are like that,” Emily agreed. “It’s why school repeats the same lessons sometimes.”“That makes sense,” Abigail said. “Do you go to school?”“I do,” Emily said. They started to chat about school, the hardships around that, and then a bunch of inconsequential nonsense in between.

* * *

The clone, who was Dreamer and yet wasn’t, was confused. “I don’t understand.”The girl with the bear-ears growled, her little hands balling into a fist. “What is our purpose in life, if not to spread villainy, to do right by our big sisters, and to help our comrades in their times of need?” she asked.The clone considered this. “My purpose is to give people pamphlets.”“Sure! But that’s just a short-term goal. Something to do now, to spread the word” The bear-girl placed a hand on the clone’s shoulder. “Today we give pamphlets. Tomorrow, we will seize the means of production!”The clone nodded, it seemed like the right thing to do, even though... even though the thought was wrong.Her goal, her purpose, was to give people pamphlets. What was existence but a fleeting thing, the passage of time between the handing of folded paper to strangers?This message, about seizing things, that was like... like if her purpose in life was to take pamphlets instead. It was wrong.And yet, it felt so very, very tempting.“Alright girls,” the one the others called the Boss said. “We need to head back home. Put everything away for poor Abigail, and say bye to your new friend for now.”The bear girl nodded, then pat the clone on the back. “Don’t worry, comrade, you’ll figure it out.”But as the clone watched the children go, all of them holding onto one of the precious pamphlets she was destined to hand out, she wondered if she really would figure it all out one day.

* * *