Sweat and Sweets 4

Kaili groaned loudly as she dragged herself out of bed. “Come on Adi,” She grumbled. The marine phloof obeyed immediately, floating onto her shoulder. Kaili hated leaving the house more than anything, but she had little choice in the matter this time. She had an intense dango craving and Andi must be working a job or something because her girlfriend wasn’t answering her texts where she asked her to pick up dango for her. Also, all the local delivery services estimated a ridiculous two hour wait time. She would be asleep by then! Left with no other choice, Kaili slowly trudged her way towards Dan’s Dango.

Upon seeing Kaili, who Dan recognized from when she visited Shibani, Dan nearly groaned himself. He wasn’t sure if he could keep up with her… energy… today.

Luckily (or perhaps unluckily) for Dan, Kaili was in a grumpy mood. “Give me five orders of any dango you have, and make it quick.” She glared.

Dan’s eye twitched. Were her only two modes either cringe and hyper or intensely moody and angry? “If you keep speaking to me like that, you won’t get any.” He crossed his arms.

Kaili rolled her eyes. “Please.” It sounded like she had to force the word out, as if it was unfamiliar to her.

Dan sighed. This wasn’t worth arguing over. He went and gathered up the dango, putting the packages into a bag, then returned to the counter. “That’ll be 50 carats.”

Kaili reached for her wallet… only to discover that she had forgotten to take it with her when she left. “Shit!” She pat herself down looking for it, but it was no use. Slamming her face against the counter, Kaili groaned loudly. “Adi, can you go get my wallet?” The phloof on her shoulder was ever obedient, and it floated off of her shoulder to go towards the exit door, but Dan stopped it.

“Wait. Here, just take it.” He pushed the bag towards her on the counter. He was not doing this out of generosity; he was doing it to get Kaili out of his shop faster. Who knew how long it would take a single phloof to go all the way to wherever she lived and back again? He didn’t think he could handle being around her that long. The carats he would have made from the dango mattered less to him than his sanity.

Kaili perked up at this. Reaching into the bag, she opened one of the packages and took a stick of dango out. “Heh…”

Oh no, here comes the cringe and delusion. Dan thought.

He was right.

“Heh.. ha ha! AH HA HA!” Kaili laughed obnoxiously loudly. “That’s right! You would be wise to recognize the chosen one and grace her with offerings! For one day, I shall rule this world and I will be the one to decide your fate! Continue to please me and I may spare your life! Who knows, perhaps the day will even be today!” Kaili’s dramatic speech was interrupted as a yawn left her mouth. “Mmm, but later… after my nap…” She turned and dragged her feet out of his shop.

Dan had never been happier to see someone leave.