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𝐉𝐮𝐝𝐞
Jude enjoyed putting Cardan to work on his knees.
The task wasn't designed exclusively for him. It was an old Cosmic Brew tradition; one she herself had been assigned on her own first day. Like so many newbies before him (herself included), Cardan had walked straight up to Toad and expected his duties to begin there, at the espresso bar. Coffee making. Customer greeting.
She had taken perhaps a little too much pleasure in planting a gnarly old toothbrush in his hand while quoting the words her manager had once spoken to her.
'Before you start brewing, the grout needs doing.'
And so it was that the last prince of Elfhame came to kneel before her. Or, beside her, if we're being technical.
Armed with a single toothbrush and a cup of potent floor cleaner, Cardan scrubbed the network of stony grout that lay between each tile on the floor behind the counter. The cafe was due to open for customers in half an hour, but he was making good progress. Jude stepped lightly around his workspace to station herself at Toad, where she could time and test espresso shots and keep an eye on her new hire.
She quickly learned that Cardan was an excellent multitasker, capable of stain scrubbing and speechmaking simultaneously. Such promise. Such talent.
Actually, he was halfway through a speech right now.
'One would assume the humans might have found a less antiquated means by which to scrub their floors,' Cardan monologued to his audience of tiles. 'They sleep in towers and wash in showers, but give them a dirty tile and they'll give you a toothbrush. Ludicrous creatures.'
'Hey, while you're down there, why don't you kiss my foot?'
Cardan paused his scrubbing. The end of his tail swatted on the floor behind him, left and right, swat swat. It felt good to see her dagger had found its mark. Better still that he had not forgotten its context.
'Kiss my foot and tell me how great I am,' she quoted, impressing herself with how well she could mimic his courtly accent. 'Tell me how much you admire me.'
The tail swatting intensified. If Cardan had claws, he might have used them.
Jude didn't feel an ounce of remorse. It had been too good an opportunity to miss, and she considered it a personal favour to her sixteen-year-old self. Petty vengeance for the girl who had been shamed so callously by Cardan and his circle of jerks while under the influence of everapple.
'That shut you up pretty quick,' she twisted. 'It would seem that your friends were your source of bravery all along.'
'And it would seem,' he finally retorted, 'that my apology was insufficient.'
