A Sniper's Fateful Encounters

The Waiter

Finally,

I get a break.

The past few days have been non stop orders from Subspace. Who constantly kept giving me tasks for the most stupid of reasons. Just because some ten year old made fun of how pink your horns are, doesn't mean I shoot him down. Also, I'm not a phucking servant, I'm a mercenary. A mercenary who takes orders to assassinate demons from the far(with a good reason). Not go out and buy groceries, clean the lab space, and be a personal therapist. Subspace needs to get help, seeing as how that psychotic asshole only runs on four coffees a day... coffee that I had to go to Crossroads, pick up, and drive back to Blackrock. The whole trip total took an hour and thirty minutes.

However, now is finally my day off. I can finally stay in my apartment and relax. This entire day will purely be focused on me sleeping, ordering takeout and cuddling with Princess. I'm not doing shit today at all. Subspace can go get his biografts to do his tasks, instead of whining to me for once. From this point on, I stay in my bed till 11:00am.

I take the covers and put them over my scarred head, going back to a blissful sleep... or I would if Princess wouldn't stop pawing me.

I peek out from the covers to see her large amber eyes staring at me, her paws clawing my bed sheets in a bread making motion. She's staring at me, purring. It's breakfast time for her, and sadly that means I have to leave the comfort of my bed to get her food, and most likely clean the litter box.

I get out of the bed, her jumping and skittering away towards the kitchen. I walk towards the pantry, getting the chicken flavored pet food that this picky Princess will only eat and pour it into her bowl. I decided to get her some fresh water as well, getting her water bowl, dumping out the old water and replacing it with new water from the tap. As she eats her breakfast, I walk to the corner of the room where her litter box resides. Surprisingly, there's nothing to clean, I can go back to bed without getting my hands dirty.

I gingerly go back to bed, only to be met with a loud banging sound on my window.

Annoyed, I get out of bed again and go towards the window, opening up the blinds to see an.... owl?

Its feathers are a nice light brown, maybe a barn owl? For some reason, its face seems to remind me of someone, though I can't put my finger on it. The owl is very persistent, as its beak keeps tapping and banging on the window. Its talons seem to be holding a letter of sorts. Who the hell sends an owl to message people?

I open the window and the owl flies in, perching on my bed frame. I take the letter it's holding, the seal of the letter has the thieves den logo on it. I open the letter up and read it.

"To my friend Hyperlaser. I know today is your break, and while I'm sure you're trying to relax in your home, I thought it would be a good idea to tell you that my friend owns a cat cafe. I know you like cats and you want some time to yourself after working hard this week so if you want to go there it's in Crossroads near Thieves Den. Of course if you don't want to go that is completely fine, and I will not be offended at all."

"Enjoy your break -Katana"

This was rather surprising, I didn't know Katana had a pet owl, perhaps I need to get him a phone-. But that aside, Katana asked me if I wanted to go to a cafe... and not just any cafe, a cat cafe. So who am I to decline?

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I'm currently in front of the cafe now. Its light blue walls and cat prints automatically tell me I'm at the right place. It seems to be popular too, as I have to wait in line for entering. About ten minutes go by before the waiter shows up. Them dressed in a weird cat-maid outfit? Questionable design.

"Hello! Just you or?" They spoke... and sounded familiar?

"Yes, just me"

"Alright then." They led me to a small table and handed me a menu. "Just call me when you're ready to order sir."

I expected them to walk away like any normal demon would, but instead they jumped upward and started walking on thin air. No wonder they seemed familiar, they were Slingshot. That goddamn pesky mosquito who is always hard to hit in Phights. With the dumb catch phrase of "Can't catch me!". Annoying as hell, how does he walk on air anyways? How is that even possible?! Stupid bi-

My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of purring beneath me. I look down to see a tiny black kitten, with bright green eyes and a white underbelly. It looked similar to Princess, a baby princess... How cute. The kitten goes off to some other demons and I finally take the time to look at the menu, now calm rather than angry. Most of the food looks good, and I decide to order a raspberry tart in the shape of a cat. I wait for Slingshot to come by seeing as he's the only waiter here.

"Made your choice sir?" He calls out as he sees my wave towards him, and I give him a nod. "Well what would you like to order?"

"The raspberry tart" I watch as he writes that down in his notepad he's holding

"Any drinks?"

"A water?"

"Okay...! Anything else?"

"No, that's all."

"We'll have your order made then sir."

He walks away again and into what seems to be the kitchen. I wait patiently for my order, watching the black kitten from earlier play with its toys.

Screaming could suddenly be heard from the kitchen area.

"SHURI GODDAMIT'' I heard someone yell aloud. Some smoke is coming out from the kitchen door. I watch as Slingshot rushes out with a cart full of food, them delivering orders to the demons who asked for them.

"Sorry guys- the food is slightly burnt but still edible!" I heard some demons groan in annoyance after they get their food, making me worry if the food is burnt really bad. I see Slingshot heading towards me with the cart. Most of the food on it was very charred, and blackened. I see him take a plate from the cart and set it down on the table.

I look at the tart... and honestly it's not that bad-. The edges are slightly burnt but overall the tart still looks tasty. It was either I was lucky enough for my food to not be as burnt as the others, or the other demons were being overdramatic. Either way it looks better than the disgusting food back at Blackrock, so I open my helmet just enough to take a bite... and damn it good. It's sweet, but not so sweet to the point where it's sickening, the slight bitterness of the tart also adds some flavor to it. The crust around it has a nice crunch when you bite into it, and the flakiness of the bread gives it a nice texture. No wonder why this cafe was popular.

As I got ready to pay, I decided to leave a pretty big tip. Good food must be known after all. When I called over Slingshot again, I handed the money for the tart and the tip, and got ready to leave.

"Hey, your friends with Katana right?" Unexpectedly, Slingshot had asked me a question.

"Yes...?"

"That's nice, he told us you might stop by."

"Oh, did he.."

"Yeah, thanks for just hanging out with him. We appreciate Katana a lot but he always seems pretty lonely sometimes. So you being his buddy means a lot to me and my friends."

I'm taken aback, I had no idea how greatly Katana was appreciated.

"Me and him just get along, is all" I reply.

"I can tell, he talks about you a lot."

I nod at his response.

"I guess i'll see you next phight yeah?" Slingshot asked.

"Before I go, though, can I ask you something?"

"Oh, sure!"

"Your shoes, how do they help you in battle?"

"They give me all the mobility I need!"

"Interesting. Might need to buy myself a pair.... Well that's all. Have a nice day."

"See ya!"

I walked out of the cafe rather happy. What a nice place to spend my break.