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DING-A-LING! went the little gold bell at the top of the door as a black-haired girl in a yellow t-shirt and dungarees entered the sacred kingdom of Cuppa José’s coffee shop. José himself stood behind the counter, his face lighting up upon seeing the young customer.
“Sai!” he greeted, resting his tree-trunk arm on the counter. “What can I get you today?”
“Oh! Just the usual!” beamed Sai “And a brownie too, please!”
“Ah! You’re so much more polite than our other customers, miss!” chuckled José, pouring a cup. “Did you know there were five activity here last night?”
Sai’s eyes widened and her sweat glands went into overdrive. “Seriously?”
“In the next street! But that big responder - what’s his name? The good-looking one… - Ah! Sebastian Ross! He put a stop to it with that other one - what’s her name? The short one? Ah! Sai Chiyu! Funny she has the same first name as you!”
“Hahaha… real coincidence!” Sai replied, utterly terrified to look him in the eyes lest she blab. “It’s been said I look like her toooo…”
“Life’s funny like that.” chuckled the man, sliding over the cup…
…and sending it directly off the side of counter.
“Papá!” came the cry as butterflies appeared in Sai’s stomach and the coffee cup came to a halted in midair. It floated up and was placed back into the hand of the blushing photokinetic as José’s hydrokinetic daughter Elena marched up, placing her left (and only) hand on the counter, tapping her fingers impatiently. “Papá, ¿Qué te dije sobre que no conocías tu propia fuerza?”
Sai held a hand up with a peacemaker’s smile (The role, not the gun). “It’s okay! At least you caught it!”
Elena rolled her eyes. “You haven’t seen all the coffee he’s spilled!”
The two young women sat down at a table. Sai noticed the coffee shop was deserted compared to the usual riotous amount of customers that usually ate and drank here. “Slow day?”
Elena nodded, the side bang of her ponytail bobbing up and down. “Yep. We’re only worried you’ll trip over your own feet again.” she teased with that oh-so-pretty smirk of hers.
“That was one time!” Sai protested with a huff.
Elena giggled. “This month, maybe. Speaking of which, how’s your week been so far?”
Sai took a sip of coffee as she thought back to getting her butt kicked more than usual in training on Monday… and the Triple-threat attack on Tuesday… and the yelling she got from Daryl that morning after accidentally walking into him… generally speaking, not a good week.
“Oh! Just some stress at work!” Sai told her, showing a reassuring smile and (yet again) an ignorance of basic worker’s rights.
“Sai. Don’t tell me that Pendejo boss of yours is being an ass again?” asked Elena, her eyes widening in a morbidly murderous manner. “If you tell me where he lives, I can break his arm for you.”
“What!? No!!” Sai told her, blushing at the very romantic offer to assault her boss. “It’s honestly fine!”
“If you say so…” muttered Elena, clearly dissatisfied by this answer. “So, how’s the coffee?”
“It looks really nice!” Sai told her, a cheery grin spreading on her face like jam on a crumpet. Then she realised her mistake. “I mean- I-” she gulped, trying her best not to dig the hole yet deeper. “It- It- It tastes nice and sweet!” she corrected, red-faced and stammering.
A small, strange smile grew on the Columbian-Amerikan’s face. “You like sweet coffee, huh?”
“Well… I like both. Usually I have bittersweet coffees, but this one is good!”
Elena smiled. “Wanna tell me about whatever history topic you’re researching this week?”
“Oh! Oh!” Sai replied, shaking with energy as the caffeine started to kick in. “Ever hear of the Boxer Rebellion?” Sai then went into an infodump of that one time a guy failed an exam, came to the conclusion he was Jesus’ brother and started a bloody civil war. Elena simply watched her with that strange smile as she leaned on her elbow, only interested in the sweet melodies of Sai’s voice and that alone.
When she was done, glanced at her watch and scrambled to her feet! “Oh! I gotta go!” she cried, running out of the door.
“Wait! Don’t forget these!” Elena called after her, tossing the brownie and floating the coffee cup towards her.
“Thanks so much!!” beamed Sai, walking backwards towards the door and waving. “I appreciate it!”
Elena served her another strange smile with a wink on the side. “Anything for you, Precosia.”
As Sai ran out, Elena’s face did a tomato impression as she smacked her forehead. “¿Por qué hice eso?”
“Será mejor que te apresures a preguntarle.” grunted her father, exasperated. “Tengo una apuesta con tu hermano. Lo heredaste de tu madre, por cierto. ”
. . .
“Cupid? You speak Spanish, right?”
The aerokinetic paused her screaming and glanced up at Sai from her gaming chair. “I mean - DIE! DIE! - I’ve forgotten a lot of it since I haven’t seen my parents since I was like, nine… but - YYOU LITTLE BASTARD! - I remember a little bit. Why?”
“What does Precosia mean?”
Cupid narrowed her eyes at Sai, suddenly alert. “...It means ‘lovely’. Why do you ask?”
Sai rubbed her arm. “I got called it today by this girl I like- HANG ON! DOES THAT MEAN SHE LIKES ME BACK!?”
Cupid simply got up from her gaming chair and marched out, a woman on a mission. Solely focused on one task and one task alone.
“Cupes? Where are you going? What are you doing with that crossbow!?”