[NPC] Bottoms Up

Even in the fine, viceful city of Burrowgatory do office workers exist. To be able to account for carat profits, keeping buns paid and happy, and businesses afloat, the everyday desk warmer is a necessity. Unfortunately for Hana, she was shepherded into such a role not long after she was released to the rest of bunkind, confused and bewildered like most of her littermates. She tried to hang close to whoever friends she made over the past year of her existence, but things were hazy, a storm of hooves and anxiety. After many nods and yes’s later, she was trained, sitting and dragging a mouse. Her mind would snap back into reality, and she would realize that she had made little to no progress on a poster due in three days.

(Three days may seem like a lot of time, but the deadline was given a little bit out of spite, she figured. Her sloth horns, after all, made other buns feel that she was not meant for this kind of work. However, she had been proving otherwise so far, which was likely why she was able to keep her job even after many others fell off, deciding to find other things more suitable. It didn’t mean that her pay was grand though…)

She grumbled and rested her chin on the desk. Truly they must be in hell for work to exist. Why couldn’t she just spend her days lounging and napping, eating and listening to music on classy speakers and shiny vinyl? She would flick her ears behind her back, noting for a moment that she would scatter the star motes close to her as she did so. Scratching her head, she decided that she would put a little more effort in for today (just a little) and then go for a drink. Yep, a drink sounded good right about now.

Eventually the shift ended and she stretched her arms upwards, letting out a small noise of satisfaction. She moved a few pictures around! That was good enough, and so with minimal effort and fanfare, she exited the office and made her way to one of the bars that one of her fairweather friends introduced to her a few months back.

The Rabbit Hole was a pretty popular place, not too stuffed for it to be uncomfy but still quite full. Actually, today seemed like it was more full as usual–while the overall atmosphere was loud and cheery for the most part, there was also some bits of tension here and there, not between the customers but the staff. Hana was about to make her way to the counter before almost bumping into one of the waitresses, which, as it turned out, to be Hops.

Hops was a friendly bartender that Hana got to know in her visits to the Rabbit Hole. While she quickly learned that Hops was pretty much friendly with anyone, she did appreciate the conversations and she thought (by now) that maybe she’d remember her name.

“Hey, it’s you!”

Or maybe not.

“Sorry–you didn’t happen to drop–”

“It’s fine it’s fine!” she waved her free hand before turning to another customer and serving them their drinks. Once she placed them on the table, she turned back to Hana, looking rather worse for wear but with a spark of something. “Actually, I need your help. You’re free right?”

Hana raised a brow. “Free to do what?”

“Free to help, duh!”

She didn’t wait for Hana to reply before grabbing her wrist and pulling her to the room behind the counter. The bun could only helplessly raise her voice so that she could be heard amongst the noise of the bar, “Free to help in what?!” 

✲

Hana happened to be of a similar size and build to Hops, which made it easy for her to be forced into the skimpy uniform of the Rabbit Hole. Not used to wearing such an outfit, she thought that maybe she could pull up the clothing a little to hide her not very present breasts, but there must’ve been some pads in here to make it bigger. Ah, man, she wanted a drink, not to serve the drinks…

But while she was being dressed, Hops did explain the situation that befell her tonight. One of the servers basically called in sick, and at the last moment too, so there was no time to find a replacement. For the past two hours or so, the other servers have been trying to keep up with orders, but today was a particularly busy evening and it was hard to keep up.

“Do I at least get drinks in the house for helping?”

“Oh yeah I’m definitely going to raid the shelves tonight.” Hops had a faraway, dreamy look for a few moments, likely thinking of all of the drinks she could make and down. One of the reasons that Hana liked Hops was because she seemed to have an eye for knowing what drinks the patrons prefer. Her cocktails were simply divine, and while she was still working on holding her alcohol, she feels that her own drinks are made also to help her stick around the bar for longer. Hana has yet to get completely wasted - she prefers to be the designated somewhat sober one if she can help it.

“Anyway, you’ve waited tables, right?”

“No? But it’s just getting orders, how hard can it be?”