[attr="class","framed69"]

[attr="class","biglowe69reescroll"]

[break][break]

Peak continued on with a similar level of frustration as that first problem customer. The line was long, Eel was moving back and forth, corralling the customers, taking orders, plating things from the pastry counter. Someone wanted an almond croissant but she'd accidentally grabbed the almond au chocolat, and had to comp the order. She wasn't making a lot of mistakes, but the two that she remembered after those two hours of peak had still earned her a word from the shift-supervisor. Elara wanted to be frustrated, to get mad about literally having no time before being thrown into the busiest part of the day while being expected to work to close, but there wasn't even time to be upset- Eel had too much to do.



[break][break]



"Cinnamon-sugar powder? Do we have-" she was turning to the nearest coworker for confirmation and they were already nodding. She kept it moving. Elara was figuring out the local shorthand for order writing and was finding it easier and easier to fit her shitty handwriting on the slips and sticking them to the saucers in a timely fashion. It was different from what she was used to, but not impossible to adapt to. She even managed to find a few precious extra seconds in between two customers bickering over one having cut the line in front of the other, and with that time squirreled away that extra croissant into a wrapping of butcher paper and into her apron- she wasn't sure what lunches were like here, or if she would get to take a fifteen.



[break][break]



"No ma'am, I can't do 200 degrees." Arguing over unsafe working temperatures happened frequently, so thankfully this one she didn't even need confirmation from anyone, it was a no go. A few more people in a rush, an egg sandwich, Extra Runny; the shift went by at a lightning pace, and before Elara knew it, it was noon and someone was tapping her on the shoulder.



[break][break]



"Break time. Ten minutes. Go." Elara moved away from the counter and into the back for the first time her entire shift. She shuffled toward and slumped into a seat, already feeling drained, and pulled the extra croissant from her apron pocket and ate as quickly as she was comfortable doing. Eels had to stand after a few bites and fill a ceramic cup with water, not because the food was dry but because she realized she was dehydrated, and her body would surely rebel if she went the entire day without so much as a single drink. She washed each bite down with a gulp of water and refilled the cup once, finishing the pastry before the water and drinking the cup in one go. Five more hours left, assuming the close wasn't an all-night affair. She sighed to herself and stretched, preparing for at least another hour of non-stop movement; peak seemed to last a bit longer here than in her old hometown.

[attr="class","big69"]

[attr="class","framed69"]

[attr="class","biglowe69reescroll"]

[break][break]

"Thanks so much, have a good evening." The little bell rang on the entrance door to the shop and Elara's spirit felt a little lighter. There were only a few people trickling in here and there; back home, her Storeflux would always get a rush of people twenty minutes before close and flood the place, setting back their pre-close routines. However, as the clock moved closer and closer to the appointed holy time, Elara was surprised- elated, even- to find that people seemed to actually pay attention to those sorts of things here? Maybe it was just that this neighborhood understood schedules, or just maybe the end of the world as most knew it had changed some folks for the better. Either way, Elara found herself sighing a sigh of relief for once, and feeling maybe just the tiniest bit happy.




[break][break]



I mean, she'd busted her ass today. She deserved a bit of contentment, even if she was still reeling from the end of her own life as she knew it, in what felt like just weeks ago due to the whole 'loading in late' crap. Elara very much still hurt from betrayal on so many sides, but at least here, wiping down the bistro sets and clearing ramekins, she felt just a modicum of inner stillness. Not quite peace, closer to catharsis, but something better than complete and utter torment still. Eels noticed another employee at the door beckon her back inside, and as she came in they turned the sign around in that most wonderful motion; from 'Open' to 'Closed'. The shift came over as Elara was re-tidying her hair. "Not done yet. You're on mop while I do count and till, Gopher here is finishing wipe down and cleaning bathroom, then doing dishes. Then you finish trash and bring the chairs in and we're good to go." Gopher nodded and picked at one of their nails a little bit before getting back to work, and Elara nodded and moved to her own duties.



[break][break]


It was easy enough to find the mop bucket in back and mix the cleaning solution. Eel had had to ask her superior for the right amounts, but otherwise it was just filling it up with some water and getting a new mop head. This was the part Elara didn't mind so much; mopping was always a kind of peaceful task for her. It was finally cooling off, a nice breeze wafting through one of the open patisserie windows and a pleasant smell of some kind coming in from the kitchen. This was the time in the past when Elara would dream big and plan her first novel, Transgression of Mana: A Coffer of Hope. It never got made, her being too busy back then, and by the time she'd moved in with Wendy and found more muse for her writing, the title and the story itself were mostly scrapped. Only a few characters had survived into the first actual print of a readable book. This whole shift had a way of bringing back memories, and as Elara moved chairs, wiped at countertops and drug the mop back and forth in a figure eight, she felt a few tears come to eyes.


[break][break]



"Damn, almost the whole shift without any of this..." She kept her words to herself but sniffled a little. Eel missed her old life. She missed that little house with it's tiny yard, the stone slabs that were a walkway but never led to anywhere in particular, on account of none of the backyard projects ever really getting started. She'd wanted to visit so many places with Wendy, do so many things, explore New York properly, visit Ireland...



[break][break]



A small sound escaped her in spite of her best efforts, and she had to wipe at her cheeks with her sleeve but found the nascent coffee dust that coated everything to just irritate things further. She did her best to finish up through tears of sadness-and-dust, and felt a shift in the breeze as well as the soft steps of someone nearby. Eel turned to see Jeannie eyeing her, still with that blank-but-slightly-annoyed stare. "You did good today for a first timer. Gopher already did the trash; help me get the chairs in, then we've got all got a little thing before we go." Elara sniffled and nodded her agreement and finished up the mopping and chairs before moving to the kitchen with the other staff. The cook had four cups set around the prep table on the same ramekins, a light mixture inside each, still steaming. It smelled of rose and honey, and something else Elara couldn't place. Gopher and Menie- the cook- grabbed their cups, with Jeannie handing Eels her own before asking plainly, "milk?" Elara wasn't sure what the question really was, so just shook her head and gave a quiet "no." She was lactose intolerant.



"Good, it's oat. Santé." They all drank from their cups and Elara followed suit, and it was quite a lovely end to a night of adrenaline, pain, and coffee and pastry. Elara took home a pan au chocolat, just to see if Miss Ingrid would like it.

[attr="class","big69"]