Whitewood: Refilled

Evening turned into night as the couple continued to chat in the corner of the little coffee shop known as “The Witch’s Brew”. It was part of the magic themed shopping center in Whitewood that was known as ‘The Cauldron’, with all the shops attached to it being named similarly. It was the home of the very first Wandy’s restaurant! It was a popular local tourist attraction, and even the somewhat campy ‘magic wishing well’ in the middle of the shopping center’s pedestrian courtyard raked in it’s fair share of coinage. The locals knew that it didn’t actually DO anything, and it was always a bit of joke when someone threw a coin in and then acted all confused about themselves and why people were treating them ‘differently’. But overall, with it’s variety of fun stores, eating joints and other activities, it was a pretty popular spot in Whitewood, especially for students attending Whitewood University.

Krista was one of those students, having snagged a date with the HAWTEST (and most popular) guy on campus, Trent. Krista and Trent giggled together as twilight passed into evening, and then evening into night. This was their first date and Krista had to admit, things were going very, very well. Trent was everything she wanted in a man, handsome, hot, buff, kind of dumb...And most importantly, fairly wealthy. The quarterback had seemed oblivious to the brunette’s presence at first, given she wasn't a cheerleader, but all it took was one 'accidental' collision on campus and a good look into her cleavage to hook her claws into him. They’d shared some laughs, and Krista had been extra playful ‘accidentally’ taking a sip of Jeff’s coffee and leaving a rather heavy lipstick stain upon it, winking as she returned it to him. Things were going great until the mousy barista, Abby, had stopped refilling their coffee mugs and instead had started stacking chairs before disappearing, returning with new clothes and her uniform wrapped around her waist.

“Uh, EXCUSE you? We, like, need a refill!” Krista said, finally taking her eyes off her enraptured hunk and stopping Abby as she had marched past their table. The barista looked down at the empty coffee mugs and then back at her customer, an annoyed look on her face.

“Guys, I’d love to serve you more but-“ Addy had started, but was cut off by Krista.

“GREAT! Now go get some more coffee! It’s your JOB to serve us, after all!” The preppy brunette raised her glass in Abby’s face.

The mousy girl simmered with anger at the snobby bitch and the hot, but really hot guy (who was unfortunately out of Abby’s league).“ The café is CLOSED! Don’t you see you’re the ONLY two in here!?” Abby said, gesturing around at the otherwise empty dining area. The only other people in the building beyond themselves were the owner, who was counting the money in the cash register, and the other barista, Clarissa. She just wanted to go home and take her shoes off and forget about the crappy tips of today.

“Then it shouldn’t take you very long! Now fill. These. UP or you can kiss your tip goodbye!” Krista demanded in her most authoritative and bitchiest voice, shoving the mug closing into Abby’s face.

Abby cast a look over her shoulder as the owner and the other barista finished their tasks and headed into the backrooms. Then she turned to look back at the impatient and demanding couple who had not only ruined her chances for a tip by running out her shift clock, but were being the most stupid Karen customers she’d had in a very long time. She felt the anger welling in her chest and the urge began. Abby only fought against the urge for a moment before shrugging. She glared at the two one more time and began chanting in the ancient language of magic, weaving her hands in the air in front of Krista and Trent as she cast the spell. Krista scoffed and reached for her phone, eager to record the loony for social media (and maybe a lawsuit). Trent simply sat there with a cruel look of amusement on his face as he watched the barista be, well, weird.

Of course the moment that Krista had leveled her phone at Abby, the barista ended he chant and pointed her ring fingers straight out at the couple. And then the changes began as Krista's phone began to...liquify! Her pink phone case turned a deep brown as the electronic device lost its physical form, and Krista let out a shriek as she tried to drop her phone only for her hand to stop working g as it too turned brown and formless as it emerged with her phone! The brunette tried to scream but the only thing that came out of her throat was a cloud of steam as the chances surged across her body! Soon all that was left of the Krista were her hazel eyes, staring wide frozen panic as her body was nothing more than a enormous blob of hot liquid! Trent had faired no better, his own eyes staring out in similar fear as his body had disappeared.

Abby chuckled as she wiggled her ring fingers in tight little circles, causing the two vaguely humanoid blobs to rapidly shrink in size, leaving nothing but two tiny, steaming blobs of brown liquid with two tiny pairs of eyes staring pleading out at the clearly magical being, silently begging her forgiveness and to be changed back. A wiggle of Abby's nose lifted the coffee mugs from the table and positioned them beneath what had been Krista and Trent.

"Oh no, there's no going back, not after removing that much mass" Abby said with dark chuckle as she wiggled her fingers one more time, guiding the orbs down into the empty coffee mugs. The orbs lost their loosely defined forms as they settled into the mugs, the eyes staring upward at their tormentor as she grabbed the two floating mugs.

"But since customer service is something we value here at the Brew, I'll do what you asked. I'll SERVE you!" Abby chuckled as she sat the two coffee mugs on the table, flicking her fingers as the two pairs of eyes vanished in twinned puffs of steam. The only evidence that, just moments before, there had been two young adults sitting at the table was the smudge of pink lipstick that adorned the side of one of the coffee mugs. The witch that had performed the transformation didn't know which was which and honestly didn't care, the bothersome couple was gone now, and by this time tomorrow no one would even remember they had ever existed thanks to the reality altering effects of the magic spell.

And with that, Abby left the store, forgetting about the remains of the rude couple that were cooling on the table behind her. One of the day shift baristas would clean the table up, by the time Abby would get there the cold, lifeless coffee would be long poured down the drain. Working in the food service industry was tough, honest work, but sometimes opportunities like this made up for the crappy tips!