Strange Cravings: Energy Drinks and Coffee?

Noire was tired. Very. Very... tired. Did he have a good reason to be? Not really. Does it still suck? Big time!

He was trapped at work on a double shift, breeding season wasn't his thing so he was fully available to work as much as he was needed. His co-workers however... some things had come up here and there with their partners or their own pregnancy situations.

He didn't want to deal with that mess, he'd met someone nice during Matentines as well as found himself a breeding partner, but they didn’t end up getting together in the long term, nor did he end up having a kid himself. So, he had unfortunately made himself an easy target for long hours and extra workloads.

It was one in the morning and he was working until opening, then someone else would take over. They hated all this stocking, all this endless mundane repetition. Normally they enjoyed it, but it was starting to feel like an endless torture. There were only so many podcasts one could listen to before they ran out of material their mind was interested in consuming.

Noire stared at the box of invoices and the spreadsheet laid out before him. This was a good three hours of input, and his mind and body was so exhausted he was afraid of what might happen if he started entering things willy nilly. He needed to refresh his mind... get something to perk himself up.

He groaned, stepping away from his work and off to the vending machine in the closed storefront, obscured from the street by drawn curtains and a locked door. Tossing a few carats into the payment slot, he selected an energy drink out of the pool of options and fought the urge to pass out right then and there as he waited for it to dispense. Bending down to grab the drink made him contemplate laying down on the floor for a second, but he resisted.

Holding the glorious concoction of caffeinated fluid and sugary flavorings in his paws, he contemplated his life choices, and where this set of actions would take him. Yes, he was exhausted, and as long as he didn't add any oat milk to the mixture, it wouldn't taste too bad. He knew deep down that what he planned to do with this energy drink and the coffee machine in the back room was a terrible, dreadful idea, but in this economy...what else could you do?

He sighed and shook his head, resolute on the path he was treading down. Heading back into the staff room and over to the coffee machine, he began to set everything up. He grabbed a filter and tossed a bunch of coffee grounds into it, slotting it into the machine, followed by a healthy dose of water and a flick of the on switch.

He had the next few minutes of waiting to turn back on this horrible idea, minutes he did not use to reflect with intelligence on where he was taking this late night of tormented exhaustion and slightly above minimum wage work. Cups of coffee or the energy drink alone would be enough, you don't need to combine them! He could pull the plug at any time, he had as many chances as there were seconds in a minute, in the minutes he had to wait.

He did not make that good choice. Once the room was engulfed in the delightful smell of coffee, he got himself an enormous mug and half filled it with black coffee, topping up the remainder with the energy drink. Before him sat a mug of fruity, slightly nutty and very much coffee smelling fluid that he believed would be his salvation through the remaining hours of his shift.

He cautiously brought it up to his mouth, only to find that it tasted… decent? A tinge of chemical flavor that didn’t blend well with the cheap black coffee, but the base flavor was okay. He forced himself to chug it as fast as he could, shuddered, then returned to work. Hopefully he won't regret this.

He did. Horribly. The shakes and heart palpitations were nightmarish, followed by the huge headache and upset stomach by the time he clocked out. He was not going to do that again, never ever.

Though it did get him through his shift!