[TWWM] Those Connected by Fate

The new day broke quietly, its warm sunny embrace tumbling through the cafe's windows to slide slowly across the tile floor. Dust motes drifted lazily amidst the rays as they climbed up the shelves, across the counters and tables. Its warm touch ruffled up across Viola's fur and the smooth porcelain of her tea cup. She lifted her head, squinting happily and stretching. Her thin neck pulling away from the cup, breaking the illusion that she had just been another cup along the shelf.

Glancing around the café, she took in her surroundings. It was small, and quaint, but well loved. Clean white walls, framed by soft blue edge work. Delicate blue lines hugged the edges of the room, and surrounded the paintings on the walls. The shelves were blue as well, and were fully stocked with delicate cream and gold teacups, kettles and plates. As she looked around, she started noticing that for all the love this place held, it also seemed to be a bit worn down and dusty. This was a very old building wasn't it? The chips in her cup seemed to ache a bit, and she felt the impulse to tidy up.

Over the next early morning hours, she danced around, singing to herself cheerfully as she tidied. Corralling dust and pulling it out to the garden, straightening stacks of plates and cleaning up a little spilled bag of coffee beans. She lifted the small beans one by one in her small paws, sniffing it curiously. It smelled similar to the beans that trailed behind her, but a tiny bit different. As she perused the collection of coffees and teas, she was pleasantly surprised to learn that there were many kinds, each one had its own unique scent and color. Strangely enough, even though it was her first day as a sentient creature, she felt somehow nostalgic about the smell of coffee. It made her feel warm and comforted. She decided to watch the humans and see how they utilized these beans. As if summoned by her thoughts, the café worker's key clicked in the front door.
Giddy, and unaware that they couldn't see her, she zipped through the air to her shelf, hiding behind a tall kettle.

"Wow, the air in here smells really fresh and clean, did you stay late and clean last night?" one human asked to another.
"No, I had to leave early actually, maybe it was Flora."
"Oh probably. It looks like she swept too."
"That's so nice of her, lets get started for the day and keep everything tidy, its so nice!"

The worker's mood seemed high, and soon they began to sing. Viola watched intently as they carefully measured out some beans, and dumped them into a little wooden box. Strange metal bars jutted out and as they turned a handle, a brown dust began pouring out the front of the box. Collecting this, they moved it into yet another machine and poured water in as well. As the water hit the dust, the smell of coffee burst into the air, like the beans, but so much stronger. Excitement filled Viola's tiny figure, and she fought the urge to leap around. "How exciting!" she thought, "The beans DO make a drink!" Viola's mind turned instantly to Sauvi's wine, and how she had caught it in the cup on her back.
"This can be my wine!" she thought to herself, pressing her paws together to keep from wiggling.

Watching excitedly, the café workers busied themselves around the tiny kitchen, making little sandwiches and cookies, and making several more batches of coffee.
"Are we ready for the breakfast rush?"
"I think so! go let them in! I'll get the tables ready."

As they left the kitchen and worked about getting the little table area ready and opening up the windows, Viola saw her chance. Giggling quietly she tiptoed to the edge of the shelf and in a burst of energy, she leapt into the air and dove towards the coffee, swooping beneath a spout on her way towards the back door. The splash of hot liquid swirled in the cup. It was hotter than she had expected, but it didn't hurt, she just felt a rush of energy and zipped out into the garden.

The warmth and smell filled her with happiness, and a heavy nostalgic feeling that she didn't even really understand, that was woven into the memories of the cup upon her back. Floating gently across the garden, she found a nice quiet area under some flowers and sat down on the cool cobblestone pathway. Twisting her dainty little neck around she peered at the back of the cup. Full of vanilla flowers and vanilla beans. To her amazement, she saw that the coffee she'd grabbed seemed to be pooling strangely behind her, and the individual little beans, that had been in a pile, were fading away gently. Stepping around lightly, she watched excitedly as the coffee sloshed and spilled but never seemed to spill away completely. It trailed behind her like a warm brown tail. She clapped her tiny paws together and wiggled her petal ears.
"Oh goodness!! I hope Sauvi comes back to visit today! I want to show her this!"
She carefully dipped a paw into the liquid. "Oh. Yes its wet. I don't know what I expected!"
She giggled to herself and shook the droplets free. "Alright then." she looked around, deciding to explore the garden until her friends returned again.