Fox vs Spot :: Afternoon Work Thread

Well, in all honestly today had been quite running on at an extremely slow pace compared to what the bar was usually having to handle at this sort of time, yet it was probably for the best as it seemed as though 8D had bunked off of his work shift today. Not only that buy J had some strange yet important experiment he kept going on about that he haaaadd to get finished before he could do anything else or something, something, something science stuff. This left the entire bar up to the hand of just poor Kay and Callie, Kay having to do most of the work as... Well... Callie could get very easily distracted whilst at work. She loved trying to be as useful as possible by all means! B-but as someone with an attention span as short as hers, she wasn't really one you could fully rely on to get a lot done.

For now though, that didn't matter all that much. The bar was almost empty of people, and even the people who were there weren't actually that drunk. Or, well at least not to the stage where they were causing havoc and making a mess everywhere and just in general causing more stress than Kay could endure at this point, whom had already starting planning a way to teach 8D a lesson once he showed his face here again. Back to the few people who were at the bar, they were all regulars of the place that came at least a few times each week. There was two middle age men sitting up at the bar stools, chatting away at any random topic that they could think of with their current conversation revolving around whether tacos or burritos were better. Both of them had very valid arguments to justify their choice in the matter, the only real problem was that neither of them seemed to actually be paying attention to each others points and more so just rambling on to themselves about their own desired choice of snack. Although if you had to put your money down anyway, the guy arguing for tacos was at least formulating almost complete sentences! So that definitely gave him more points overall. In the end though, the two men forgot what they were even arguing about and made up with a quick hug and another beverage order! Some people never know when to call it a night...

Directly opposite those two was another group of men, five of them in total all of which looked to be around their late twenties or early thirties. This particular group of friends was a very common sight to see inside Grins Hole In The Wall, the five of them would often come inside and order their drinks before sitting down to a game of poker or occasionally another form of gambling game. Today wasn't one of those days though as the group were all pulling their best poker faces to try to outplay their opponents. They usually never gambled with much, with how often they play this silly game they'd be out of cash in no time if they played with serious money! No, instead they more so played for fun and just claimed the bar as a little hang out. Surprisingly this group was often one of the best behaved in the bar even when one of them was robbed of the last of their cash because one of their friends beat their full house with a straight flush. It seemed today the youngest of the group was winning, and with a three of a kind already presented before him before all the cards were even revealed, he was feeling lucky tonight!

On the far side of the bar, sitting at their usual favourite table beside the window was another regular couple. These two younger girls who often ventured their way into the bar never normally actually drank that much, they'd often come in with the intention of buying a single drink, sitting down together and just chatting about how boring their day had been with some good old fashioned gossip sprinkled in with it all. Callie was particularly found of these two as they never got so intoxicated that they wouldn't know how to respond to her if she asked them a question. They were also usually very nice to her, always giving her positive feedback on a job well done around the bar and generally lifting the girls spirits if she was ever getting a little bored of working. Today the two women were talking about a new shoe shop that had opened up recently on the other side of town and trying to figure out the best time they were both available to go check it out on a full scale shopping spree. They seemed to be having a real hard time figuring out when would be best for the two of them. Neither of them realizing they could just switch out one of the times they came to the bar and talked about this kind of thing for just going there instead. Some people were really confusing with how they couldn't come to the realization of things like that...

Finally, sitting alone in the corner of the bar sat a grey haired man who had seen many a year fly pass him. He looked rather raggered and worse for wear, clearly passed the prime point of his life. Honestly neither Kay or Callie knew much about the old man, he had never actually spoken about anything when he sat around the bar, he'd occasionally say the odd word when he was ordering his drink so whoever was serving him actually knew what he wanted, but even after he got his drink in place of a normal thank you he'd usually merely grunt. In a lot of ways the old man intrigued Callie, she thought he was really mysterious and must have some very cool tales to tell of his past to lead him to where he was today. Especially how alongside the wrinkles that had formed over the years, the mans face had a number of scars scattered around. He was truly an interesting figure that sat about the bars most nearly every day. Callie longed for some weird day to come along where she could actually have a conversation with the old timer and learn all about his ultimate legacy that he had long since left behind him.

Kay would let out a long exasperated sigh from behind the bar, she was relieved that there wasn't a manic rush to get everything sorted for an overwhelming amount of costumers as there sometimes was, yet at the same time she was getting rather irritated with just standing around with nothing to do but fill some sods mug to the brim every so often. So they could drive their brains further away from reality with every long gulp. "Tsk, how on Earth does that girl manage to find a way to entertain herself around here with this little going on." Kay would mutter to herself, looking over at the young fox girl who was currently putting her best efforts at removing a stray stain from one of the bars tables in what seemed to be a losing battle. "Sigh, I'd wish for something more interesting to happen, but I'd prefer not to jinx myself quite yet." She'd shake her head as one of the two men sitting at the bar stools waved his empty glass around expecting it to be magically refilled without him having to look away from his friend. "Classy."


"Okay spot, I don't like you, and by how much I've already rubbed at you and tried to make you go away. It's most likely plausible that I can say for you that you don't like me either! S-so, I'm sorry about that... Wait, no, you're the one at fault here! Not me! You're not meant to be here and you didn't kindly leave when I asked you nicely! You may of won that battle spot, but I will find a way to win this war overall! I promise you, before the end of today, you shall be no more!" The young vixen would cry out in determination, she had been at this for quite some time now. She always both loved and hated when the small marks that get left on the table each day, clearly they were an overall annoyance to the girl as she had to ensure that they were dealt with. Yet on days like today where not a lot was happening, a good challenge was just what she was after! She had to whip out all of her tricks to be sure that she'd win this war. Or, well, keep just making up new tricks until it worked. All these stains she came up against were always different, the same ridiculous idea that may of worked in the past didn't always replicate so well. That was even if she could remember exactly which one of the many things she tried before actually did work, it was basically just a continued experiment of various overly complicated solutions to a simple problem that ran on a loop until eventually one of them worked... What? She never said she was an efficient worker, just an enthusiastic one!

Besides, the list of failed attempts wasn't even that long, yet! Obviously she had tried the basic sponge and cloth solution that seemed to work wonders on most generic spills, yet today this stubborn little spot was as formally mentioned refusing to be dealt with by just any normal means. No, no this spot had taken a stand and was defending his all his grim covered friends from this sponge wielding threat! Or something like that. After that however, Callie decided more drastic measures were to be taken! Rushing to and from the bathroom, returning with a stick of soap and some toothpaste, they were surly the ultimate cleaning force together! There was no way that plan could fail in the eyes of the young naïve girl. Although after a good rub and scrub it was clear this plan of attack wasn't working either. However, her next plan was ingenious! Callie would head behind the bar, receiving a suspicious look from Kay as she took out a small tub of ketchup and returned to the table where the spot lay. You see, if this stain couldn't be removed then all she had to do was put down a stain that she knew could be cleaned up on top of it then they'd come off together! R-right? Well, no. Unfortunately none of these simply and obviously amazing plans were working out how Callie had envisioned them. This just wont do... She had to think of something soon!

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Aha! She'd got it! That would just be perfect! This plan may of been the most ingenious plans the girl had ever come up with! It was sure to work, there was no doubt in her mind that anything could possibly go wrong with this one, not a thing! It wasn't like she said that about all of her plans, although she usually did, but that didn't matter because this one would be the best one yet! Yet to be able to execute this plan properly, the girl would need some time to prepare!... Time that she really didn't have, as she had completely lost track of how long she had been attempting to remove this stain that she only just realized how many other jobs she was meant to have gotten done already... This just wont do, she'd have to come back to do battle with this stain later. She was sure Kay would be more mad at her if she hadn't done all of her easy jobs that if she had messed up cleaning one little stain on one table, right? Probably. So for now the girl would simply place a small 'out of order' sign over the top of the stain and make a mental note to actually remember to come back to it later.

Instead, the girl would quickly rush around the room, venturing between each table that had been used and abused. It always astounded the girl how easily basically everyone that ever came into the bar made a mess of things. She'd always wonder if they made that much of a mess at their own homes and if they actually cleaned up after themselves... Because they certainly didn't try to clean up after themselves here! If she wasn't around cleaning all this mess up then... Well Kay would probably do it, but still if no one did it then this place would be a real dump in no time fast! Fortunately there were no more stubborn stains to be found around the bar, everything cleaned off very easily much to the young girls relief and it didn't take her long before the all of the unused tables looked as good as new again! She'd have to come back out and deal with the other tables once more people had left, but for now that job was done.

Moving on to the next job in question would usually be to clean the floors, yet because of how slow the day had been and the fact her shift was almost over AND it looked as if more people would be leaving soon. She decided to hold off on that for later, besides they closed early today so she'd have time to do it later on when no one was around for her to accidently trip up with her mop. N-not that she had ever done that before! I-I'm sure if that was a thing that may or may not have happened in the past she was extremely sorry for it. Heh, heh... Yeah it's not worth risking that quite yet. Besides, as far as she could tell most of the spills people had made today had been carefully spilt onto the tables only. She couldn't really notice any significant messes that had accumulated on the bars floors, and... Wait, she was wasting time thinking again! Nooo, why was she always so easily distracted by literally nothing. She would be surprised if her brain couldn't keep her preoccupied from doing anything for a whole week by just blabbing on about some random thing just like... It was doing again... Right now...

"You know, I'm surprised you manage to get anything done around here Cals. Your short attention span mixed with the fact you usually get bored of repetitive things makes a fine match for you having to work the same job nearly every day! Nehehe!" Terra would mock from within Callie's mind, he was honestly bored himself. As much as he wasn't usually doing much of anything during the day anyway other than talking, he found watching this particular event cycle of having to clean the things that others made dirty a real waste of time. He didn't understand it himself, why didn't these fools just wash their own tables and mugs after they used them? That wouldn't take them so long if they all just did their own and it would definitely save the time and effort of poor Callie here. All the men and women in this bar just took her for granted, he wished he could give them all a stern talking to without... Well causing even more chaos that was really not needed right now.

Callie would shake her head in response and giggle to herself. "Hehe, yeah I know Terra. It may seem like quite the bore to you just having to watch, I've had experience doing that before! Watching Kay do her work with all the cleaning up and stuff. It isn't the most exciting thing in the world to view from afar... Or not from afar in your case. But trust me Terra, its actually quite a lot of fun when you're actually doing it! Yeah I may have to clean the same tables two or three times a day... More if we're having a real mad day, but it always gives such a nice feeling of satisfaction after a job well done ya know? Knowing that everything is in its place because of you makes me feel like its all worth it in the end." The girl would explain, she truly did love to ensure that the place was all neat and tidy. It was something she took true pride in, one of the only things really. She wasn't even entirely sure why, yet it didn't stop her. As long as there was mess to be cleaned Callie would be on the case!

Terra would sigh deeply from within her mind, trying to find a comfy way to rest. He really didn't like the way he had to hide in public, he could only switch between his fox form and his dagger form and well... A lot more questions would arise to see a small demon fox sitting on a girls shoulder than two small daggers being tucked away underneath the girls clothing. He knew it was the best way to keep them both safe, as they couldn't trust anyone they didn't know really well to be able to see who they truly were. But damn if it wasn't uncomfortable, he liked to sleep on his fluffy tale... Not inside some holster! "Okay Cals... I'll take your word for it, I've never done anything like that before in my life so who would I be to say your wrong without even giving it a go, eh? Just try to hurry up okay? I swear you need to ask Kay to give you more breaks so I can stretch my legs every so often. This mode of transport it awful after a while!" The fox shadow would sigh again before remembering something. "I-it is nearly time for the bar to shut its doors right?"

"Uh huh!" The girl would begin excitedly. "Don't you worry your little socks off, we'll be done before you know it! A-and I'm sorry that you're not comfortable... I didn't realize, I'll try to think of something for next time to make this a lot nicer for you okay? But for now, there's still a lot of work to be done before my shifts over and I've been standing around distracted for long enough!" The girl would spin around trying to break free from her short mindedness and back to the reality at hand. Okay! What was next on the list. Not that she had a list, that was more just a figure of spea- RIGHT! Work not ramblings! Okay, okay! She had to go and collect all of the dirty mugs around the place and take them out the back for washing. Kay was probably running out of fresh ones by now. Callie hadn't really bothered to clean any yet today because of how slow everything had been there wasn't a high demand for them. Yet they had to be done at some point so it was better late then never!

Quickly heading out the back beforehand to grab her tray that she used to carry a load of glasses and mugs at the same time, the girl would proceed to round up all the left over dirty mugs that were scattered between different tables and the bar top. Stacking them very carefully on top of her tray, ensuring that they wouldn't have an easy time falling off whilst also making sure to use the space on the tray efficiently to carry as many of the dirty beverage holders as possible! At a slow pace, Callie would then head back towards the door that lead to the kitchen, treading carefully to be sure each step wouldn't be the last for all these mugs. By the time she made it to the door she had to try real hard to keep her balance on one leg as she pushed the door open with her other foot. Barely succeeding, the girl would venture into the kitchen once more and place down her tray beside the sink and wipe her forehead. "Phew... That was close." She'd say to herself with a light hearted sigh, if there was any part of her job she didn't like it was that part. She was always so worried that she'd drop all the mugs and they'd smash everywhere. Not only would that make Kay mad, and make her have to pay for new ones it would also mean she'd have to clean it up. Kay wouldn't let Callie go near broken glass, it was too dangerous, which is why she had to be sure she didn't break any in the first place!

"Okay mugs, there's a lot of you and only one of me. Yet I've gotta make this snappy cause I got a lot of other work to be doing okay? So just be good and don't make any fuss when I clean you alright? No clinging onto any stains and definitely none of you slip out of my hands like last time! Got it? Good." The girl would say aloud, mentally preparing herself for the task at hand and clearly showing no signs of insanity. What? They behaved better if she asks them too! Trust me it works. Have you ever tried it before? No? Then don't judge! "Okay, now line up one at a time. Dirty mugs stay on the left and clean ones you go on the right." She'd say as she cleaned the first of the many mugs and placed it on the right side of the sink after being satisfied with the level of cleanliness the mug now showed. She'd continue to talk to the mugs as she cleaned each one, not so much as she thought they could actually hear her. It was more the fact it was the best way she knew how to actually stay focused on what she needed to be doing. If she made herself feel like she had to keep going or the other mugs would be upset, then it just allowed her mind to stay focused and work faster! It was just one of her weird ways of dealing with things.

Terra in the mean time was making good use of the fact that they were out back and away from the public eye. He had taken it upon himself to shift back to his fox form and sit on the counter watching Callie work, he'd chuckle to himself as the girl proceeded to make up a conversation for each individual mug she was cleaning. As much as the fox shadow knew she was a little not right in the head at times, it was why he loved her so much. "Ya know, if you're going to talk to all of them, have you even learnt their names yet? Nehehe!" Terra would mutter jokingly, as Callie's eyes lit up as an unexpected reaction from the shadows measly comment. "Neheh, you'd have a real hard time making sure you remembered which mug had what name though huh? I mean they all look identical to each other after all!" The shadow would ponder around, as Callie began also giving different names to each mug she was talking to. Honestly he didn't know what else he expected to happen after his comment. Although he'd walk up to the clean pile and stare inside one of the many already cleaned mugs and point at a small smudge. "Hey Cals, you missed a spot."

"Oh did I?" The girl would say in a teasing voice as she splashed a small amount of water in Terra's direction much to his surprise and discomfort. "Come on here then Terry." The young vixen would say as she picked back up the mug that she thought had that name, although for all she knew this could of been Patrick or Al... Possibly even Penny. "Thanks for noticing that Terra, I didn't know you wanted to be helpful whilst I worked? Hehe." She'd say as she finished off removing the smudge from Terry before placing the mug back down beside the water soaked Terra and continuing to finish off the rest of the mugs. "And with you all cleaned and sorted Lenny, that's all of you as good as the day you were... Uhm, brought... I guess? Or made? Well, one of the two anyway." With that the girl would place half of the mugs into the cupboards above the sink, she was sure they wouldn't need all of them to finish off the day. The rest however she'd place back on her tray and head back towards the bar to give them to Kay for later use.

Terra however was not all to pleased about having his fur all wet, he too just as Callie did hated water. It was just the worst thing to have wet fur, you don't know how awful it feels and it doesn't dry for ages and then after it does dry it usually looks awful still for ages. Plus it usually ends up smelling horrid! Regardless, to be fair he was over exaggerating a little, Callie was only teasing him and he hadn't actually been hit by a great deal of water so he'd let her off this once. "Neheh... You're welcome I guess. Although did you have to splash me like that?" Terra would sigh as he saw the fact Callie was heading back towards the front of the bar. Welp, it was nice getting to walk around whilst it lasted he would think to himself as he leapt at Callie and returned to his hidden away form. "Are you sure we can't just finish early today Cals? I wanna go play or do something fun!"

"No, no Terra. Come on, behave yourself for just a little longer okay? Work is nearly finished now and I promise you we can have lots of fun straight afterwards okay! I promise you." The girl would reassure her eager to play shadow before handing over all of the clean mugs she had brought with her to Kay with a warm hearted smile. "Here ya go Kay! All cleaned and ready for use, I put some of them away into the cupboard above the sink, I was guessing we wouldn't be needing all of them to finish up the day." Callie would say cheerfully to Kay, before quickly looking around the bar to see if there was anything noticeably wrong that she needed to do. "Is there anything else you need me to do for ya Kay? Or should I just keep on doing what I usually do? It's been a rather slow day huh?"

"Thank you Callie." Kay would say, giving the girl a short smile back in return before taking all of the beer mugs and placing them under the bar where they belonged. She was still so surprised how Callie could keep herself entertained on days like this... Then again, it wasn't like she was too surprised, the girl seemed to be happy with nearly anything that was going on. With a few watery exceptions of course. "No dear, I'm fine thank you. As you said today has been a real drag so there's nothing I urgently need you to be doing right now." She'd sigh and look at her watch, it was almost closing time thank god. She didn't think she could bare doing this for much longer if this wasn't the day they all finished early. "You just keep doing what you're doing dear. Keep yourself busy with whatever you can find and the time until closing time will come a lot faster." She wished she could do the same, but she knew as soon as she stepped away from the bar someone would complain that there was no one there to be serving them their eleventh pint of beer. Urgh, it'll be over soon.

"Hehe, okay! Will do, I'm sure there's something around here to be doing!" The girl would reply cheerfully before darting off to look for something to do. It seemed that everyone who was in the bar before was still here, no one else had ventured inside whilst she was out back though so that was good. Everyone in here would probably stay until they were told to leave now, making the most of it before closing time she supposed. It seemed everyone was still doing what they were earlier. The two men at the bar stools were still arguing over random topics that mainly seemed to be revolving around food for some reason. The two girls by the window were still debating about when they should next meet up for a girls shopping day. The old man in the corner was still keeping to himself, taking a sip from his beer once every so often. The only group that seemed to have actually progressed at all was the poker lot, who by this point the youngest of the four of them was definitely winning. It was only him and one other who was left with any money, battling it out to see who would win overall in a game of luck and randomness. Callie didn't really understand the rules of poker... She preferred to play Callie Cards where all the rules definitely weren't just made up by her and sometimes changed completely between each time they played it if she forgot what the rule for the card was and just would make up a new one on the spot. No, no that game was totally fair and not bias in her favour.

The rest of the day went passed just as slowly as it had been all day, there wasn't any excitement going on or anything interesting to note. The younger man playing poker ended up going all in on his last hand and lost all his winnings but that was about the highlight of it all. No, instead as Kay told everyone it was closing time and they had to leave Callie would pick up her mop and start cleaning the floors free from worry of tripping anyone over. It had felt like a real long day for how short of a work day it actually was, she was just glad that this was the last thing she had to do before she could go play with Terra or take a nap or maybe go out looking for 8D and see why he never turned up today. One of the three probably... Yet something at the back of her mind was itching away at her. Something she felt like she had forgotten, something she had left undone and unfinished but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Wait..." The girl would place down her mop as she finished the last of the floor and turn one eighty degrees around and stare at the little out of order sign that sat on one of the many tables. "You thought you could get away from me that easily did you? Hah!" The girl would approach the table, remove the out of order sign and... Flip the top of the table up side down so that the stain was on the bottom. All of the tables were able to do this and they looked the same both ways around. "Well you were right, you can stay down there for now and I'll deal with you later~." She'd sing to herself as she made sure the newly topside of the table was clean before heading back to her room. It had been a tiring day and she was ready for some hard earned rest!

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