In the morning, Olivia London walked into her coffee shop on Brass Tacks Lane, Third Chance, Argo, and saw a monster sitting at one of the tables.
It hadn't come in through the door - she knew that because she'd only just unlocked it. A trail of slime from the old fireplace, which existed as decoration thanks to central heating, told her that it had come down the chimney. It was shapeless and faceless, a gelatinous black blob the size of a man, shifting and oozing as it squatted in the chair like a fat toad. Occasionally a vaguely greenish bubble or sphere protruded from within the black mass, glittering from within, before being absorbed back into it. A smell that combined petroleum, rotten leaves and stagnant pond water filled the air.
The average human being would have taken one look at such a thing and immediately run screaming from the room. Such things did not belong at the tables of coffee shops. They belonged in the pages of old gothic novels, or lurking at the deep abyss of oceans, or in the corridors of temples waiting to swallow unsuspecting explorers.
Instead, Olivia London smiled.
"Morning, Shgshthx!" she said, cheerily. "You're early this morning!"
The blob rippled and made a horrible, wet noise akin to a cowpat being forced through a leaf-blower. It was the only noise it could make, lacking the vocal cords or other apparatuses to make any kind of speech. And yet Olivia understood it as
"Got up before the alarm?" Olivia nodded as she walked past the table. "I getcha. Can't stand that, myself. I just lie in and wait for it to go off!"
She found her way behind the counter and began flipping on every appliance that was there - the blender, the kettle, the sandwich toaster. There was a lot to do before the shop opened officially and she didn't exactly have the staff to fall back on to ensure everything was ready before the morning rush. Aside from the two other people she had on staff,, this had been a one-woman show for some years now - although some, knowing where the money to buy the place had come from, would disagree.
But as far as she cared, they could all rack off.
As she worked, she turned back to the black blob in the chair and shot it yet another cheery, winning smile.
"What'll you have this morning, Sghshthx?" she asked.
Shgshthx wobbled and squelched.
"Black, one sugar? Sure thing!"
