Familiars and Coffee Shops
Author: Hollyn
Title: Familiars and Coffee Shops
Story: Street Witches
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Flavor(s): Chocolate 1. loyalty/trust; Cranberry 1. The Fool
Toppings/Extras: None!
Rating: T for mentioned drug use, no violence or nudity
Word Count: 1843
Notes: I can only hope this isn't terrible, haha! I spent a lot of time working on it but it still feels a little off, so I would LOVE some concrit. :)
~~~
Latoya Smith was in the market for a familiar.
She had always avoided having one to this point, as she was living out of her car and had no place for an animal in her life. Her backseats were stuffed with books, binders, and her various magical tools. Her trunk was stuffed with her clothes and her blankets, as well as the cover she had to pull over her car every night if she wanted to sleep without getting rousted by the police. The only room she had was the front seats, and those were usually littered with trash. Plastic cups from fast food places, napkins, rolling paper she had messed up and tossed away -- the usual litter of a homeless teen.
But at this point, a familiar was necessary to her craft. Craft is magic, magic is money, money is food and gas and a gym membership that gave her access to a shower. Tarot spreads for chuckling skeptics just wasn’t gonna cut it anymore. She needed to jump into the river she had only ever stuck her toes into, and that required the protection of a familiar spirit.
So Latoya needed to contact Mariah Black. She ran a shelter that was - according to non-magical people - for animals that had been in regular pounds for too long and would have otherwise been put down. It was a place for animals to live happily even if they didn't get adopted. It was considered incredibly philanthropic, and she always had formal parties where rich people donated to her shelter to prove that they had real feelings like real human beings.
Of course, beneath all that Mariah was still the richest and most powerful witch in the metro area - the Grand Witch of Sacramento. The animals were saved from being put down, and Mariah honed their skills. Latoya had worked at the shelter for a year and a half, learning under Mariah's incredible tutelage. She, like so many other witches in Sacramento, owed her loyalty to this woman, wouldn’t have survived without little helpful nudges from her.
She also used to bring the woman weed, so she felt it was time to call in that favor. She called from a payphone and counted her quarters as the phone rang.
"Mariah Black's Shelter For Solitary Animals, how may I direct your call?"
"Hi, my name is Latoya Smith? I would like to get in touch with Mariah directly, please."
"I'm sorry, but Miss Black has a very busy schedule--"
"I should be on the list of people she's willing to talk to," Latoya said. "The list taped to the desk right under your mouse, unless you moved it since I was working the front."
There was a moment of silence. "Ah, Miss Latoya Smith. Right here at the top. Let me redirect you."
"Thank you, very much," Latoya said sincerely. "Have a good one."
"You as well, Miss Smith," the receptionist said, and then Latoya was on hold.
Latoya waited for exactly forty-five seconds before Mariah's voice greeted her cheerfully.
"Latoya! It's been so long since I've heard from you, dearie. You can't believe how happy I am you called -- there is so much paperwork, I was dying for an excuse to take a break. Why haven’t you called sooner?"
"Well, I'm still working on affording a cell phone," Latoya admitted.
Mariah hummed in understanding. "Well, what can I do for you, hon?"
“I… I really need a familiar,” Latoya said. “I know I don’t actually have a place to stay right now, but I-”
"Oh, Latoya. You know I'm uncomfortable with giving familiars to people who might struggle with caring for them," Mariah said. "It's not you, darling, I know you are a fantastic person and you are so good with animals. It's just... do you even have a place to stay?"
"I'm living out of my car," Latoya said. "But I'm making good money, and I've been talking to some friends about pooling money for an apartment, and--"
"Latoya," Mariah said unhappily. "I don't like being in this position, dearie!"
Latoya grimaced. "I... I understand."
Mariah hummed again, and Latoya imagined her clicking her sharp nails against her desk. "You say you're making good money -- explain that to me."
"I've been, uh. I recently..."
She struggled to find the perfect phrase, but Mariah gasped. "You were the one who dealt with that exorcism I heard about, weren't you?"
"I--"
"Oh, Latoya."
"I made some good money! And it gets my name out there."
"Sweetheart, exorcists have such a difficult time," Mariah said. "Especially ones who don't have access to health care! What if something really hurts you, Latoya? You don't have a cell phone, how will you call 911? How will you pay for hospital bills?"
"I'm not planning on making a living out of it," Latoya mumbled.
Mariah sighed, long and heavy. Latoya could picture her head drooping, black curls brushing her mahogany desk. "Alright. Okay. Come by the shelter. We need to talk."
And with that, Mariah hung up.
You could not keep a Grand Witch waiting, even if you used to buy pot for her. Latoya hoped the gas in her tank was enough to get her to the witch's lair.
After ten minutes of driving, she discovered that it wasn't.
She took a few minutes to cry in frustration, using dirty napkins to wipe the snot and tears and slobber off her face. She was only a few blocks away. She could walk there. The fresh air would do her good. Except it was ninety-eight degrees outside. This is how people died.
A familiar red car pulled up behind her, immaculate and gleaming. The driver got out and came to knock on her window, and Latoya got out of the car and bowed her head to the Grand Witch. "Hey, Mariah."
"I had a feeling you wouldn't make it," Mariah told her, wrapping her arm around Latoya's shoulders and guiding her to the other car. A tall, gruff-looking woman was taking a red gas can out of the trunk and walking over to Latoya's beat-up Taurus. "Rico will get your car to the shelter."
Once in Mariah’s car, Latoya sat silently in the passenger seat. Mariah didn’t break that silence until they reached the shelter and walked inside. Latoya raised her hand to greet the receptionist, who nodded and smiled at her.
“I know you chose homelessness,” Mariah said as they walked into her office, two hundred square feet of wine-colored carpet and walls white as cream. “I know it was a better choice for you than living with your family.”
Latoya didn’t answer, hunching her shoulders a little.
“I’m not here to give you handouts. I know you’re too proud for that, and I don’t care to demean you. But I am willing to give you another choice to make.”
Mariah sat down in her desk chair as gracefully as if it was a throne. “You’re my friend, Latoya. Now, I’m willing to make you a business partner in an investment I’ve recently made.”
“A business partner?”
“Well, more of a manager. Well. A shift leader, at least. I know you spent a bit of time working in restaurants and coffee houses, that sort of thing?”
“Yes. I, uh, I was a waitress a couple of times, a cashier, a barista. That sort of thing.”
“Any leadership skills?”
“I lead a gang, once.”
“Fair enough.” Mariah pulled out a piece of laminated paper with a brown logo printed on it. “I present to you - the Crossroads Café.”
Latoya took the paper and examined the logo. It reminded her of old pub signs - Crossroads Café was printed at the top in bold letters, and the picture at the bottom was a silhouette of a traveler with a dog walking ahead of them and a bindle over their shoulder.
“That reminds me of-”
“The Fool. Major Arcana,” Mariah said, clearly pleased. “New beginnings, travel, optimism - all things I hope ardently to promote at my new café. I would be so pleased if you would accept a job at my new establishment.”
“I still don’t have a place to-”
“The upstairs of the building is a three bedroom apartment,” Mariah said. “You’ll earn your food and board from the earnings you make downstairs. And serving food will be the least of your duties, Latoya - I’m hoping to make you the manager of the café. You’ll oversee your coworkers and make sure everything is running smoothly. You’re young and you don’t have a lot, but the people of our community respect you.”
Mariah folded her hands on her desk, staring up at Latoya with her intense, dark eyes. “Latoya, I intend for this to be the first of many establishments exclusively catering to and run by members of our own little community. It’s difficult for us to maintain a normal, mundane life. We need to build up a society to sustain ourselves.”
“Will it involve open rebellion and a full-on war between witches and mundanes?”
“I’m being serious, Latoya.”
“Come on, I want to be in a riot, like, one time.”
“My plans for the foreseeable future do not include any riots. But I’ll let you know if things change.”
Latoya laughed, then shook her head and reached up to rub her eyelids. “I… I really appreciate what you’re doing here, Mariah. But I… I don’t really need any of this. I can get by on my own, all I need is a familiar right now.”
“I’m sorry, Latoya. If you find a familiar on the streets, on your own, I can’t stop you. But I cannot, in good conscience, give you an animal to care for if you do not have a home or reliable source of income. A lot of these creatures were taken from the streets, and I promised them a better life. I won’t go back on that promise.”
Mariah leaned back on her chair. “I have paid for the premises and am its sole landowner. I have set aside enough money to run it for six months, electricity and heat and all those other amenities. I know you have other friends in our community. I would encourage you to call on the ones you believe to be responsible enough, and invite them to apply to work at the café. However, you would be the manager, as I said - you pick the meals, the drinks, the decorations, the wall color in the bathrooms, I don’t care. I’ve known you for a long time, Latoya. I know that you can do this.”
“How?” Latoya asked.
“I trust you. And Latoya - this is the only way I would give you a familiar to work with.” Mariah gave her that roguish smile that drew people to her like a moth to flame. “What do you say? I put my trust in the right person?”
And that was how Latoya started the day living in her car and ended it owning a coffee shop.