Morning

Somewhere in the city is a cafe.

The cafe doesn't have a name or brand. There is simply a sign on the front window reading "Cafe" in what is very clearly just one of those cursive fonts that comes with Microsoft Word, with a clip art of a steaming coffee underneath it. Nothing special, but a quaint little advertisement. It's closed, right now. The door is locked. But there is someone in the cafe anyway.

The storeroom is cold, insulated and maintained by a little cooling unit in the corner, though it's off right now. It's cold enough outside as is.

A figure on the floor stretches themself out a bit. Their arm collides with the feet of one of the shelves. Its contents rattle a little.
A frown forms on their face, and they open an eye to see what the clatter was.
Almost immediately, their other eye follows suit, both wide.

They clamber backwards, sitting up just in time for the back of their head to hit the corner of another shelf, knocking a box of muffins over onto the ground beside them. Their breathing quick, hyperventilating. Their eyes dart around, trying to figure out where exactly they are, still blurry. Where were their glasses? Usually they keep them on the bedstand, but there is no bedstand, nor is there a bed. They were just laying on the floor. Weren't they in their house when they went to sleep? How long were they asleep? Did someone kidnap them? Where was their phone-

They happened to look down at the box of muffins, and realised that there was a phone. It looked like theirs, that green heavy-duty case that they didn't quite care for covering it and absorbing whatever damage would have come from it (presumably) falling out of the muffin box.

They tentatively pick it up, and look at the time. 7:56am.

They glance at the weather widget. 8 degrees celsius outside, partly cloudy. Colder than any weather they've had where they live. Then they see the location.
West City

They don't have any time to consider where the fuck that is before they hear the ringing of a bell.
Their breathing stops.
They hear footsteps. A person's voice.
They hear a bag get slumped down onto a counter, keys being hooked back onto it. The handle on the door turns.
Light from the cafe fills the storeroom.
A silhouette of a woman. Her hair is modestly long, stopping just above her shoulders. She's wearing a black shirt with a guitar on the front underneath a jacket, with long pants, with some sneakers completing the look.
That's all that the person laying in the storeroom gets to see before the scream of the woman reaches their ears.

"The fuck?!"

Katherine slams the door to the storeroom back over.
Why the fuck is there someone in the storeroom. What are they doing there. What the fuck? Did they break in? Are they the boss?? Are they on the menu today????

Her thoughts catch up to her panic, and she breathes in and out.
Think, Kathy, there's someone in the storeroom. They might be a thief. They're probably a thief.
Her eyes land on the broom leaning against the counter. She walks over and takes it up in her hand.
You can deal with them, right? Self defense? You were in a martial arts club when you were like. 7. You're fine.

Broom in hand, she grasps the handle of the door, and pushes it open slowly.

The person in the storeroom is now hiding behind one of the shelves. Staring.
The sunlight shining in from the windows reflects in their eyes as they stare at her.
Neither party says anything.

Katherine tightens her grip on the broom, and steps inside.
The figure behind the far shelf backs away again, into the far corner of the storeroom.

Katherine walks over, slowly, carefully. She corners them in the aisle. Their eyes remain fixated on her, like a prey animal. Very uncharacteristic of a thief.
Her senses come to her, and she tilts her head slightly. She's the first to speak.

"You're not here to steal anything, are you?"
The figure gives a tiny shake of the head in response.
"How'd you get in here? Break in?"
They shake their head again.
Katherine sighs. "You're not the boss, are you? Because if the boss that I've been chasing for a year and a half--"
"W-what?" the person interrupts. Their voice is shaky. Quiet. Fearful. Genuinely so.

Katherine stares for a moment longer.
She sighs, shows the broom, and shoves it over to the side. It clatters to the ground and she jumps slightly.
"Shit-- I could have done that better."

The person stifles a giggle, drawing her attention to themself before covering their mouth in embarrassment.

"No, no, laugh! I can take a joke, unlike some people. You look like you need it anyway."

She reaches a hand out.

"You're not stealing anything, and you're certainly not the weirdest thing that's showed up in this storeroom overnight. Want a coffee?"

The person stares at the gesture. And carefully reaches out to accept Katherine's gesture, the long sleeve of their shirt visibly covered in tear stains.

"I'm Katherine by the way. Who're you?"
The now standing figure breathes, as if almost about to speak, before stopping.
Katherine tilts her head to the side again.
"Don't have one?"
They sigh.
"Not... one that I like..."
"Ah, well. That won't do. We'll have to find you one then." She glances at their sleeves. "And a new shirt, no offense. I've got a spare in my bag if you don't mind something a bit oversize, shorty."
They giggle at that, and Katherine smiles. She's good with people, if nothing else.

"I'll go grab it, you stay in here and take that off. There's no cameras, don't worry."
Katherine turns for the door.
"You know maybe I should put a camera in here just in case someone actually breaks in next time."

The clock on the wall reads 9:07. They check their phone, it reads 9:10. The clock is slow.

"You've been looking at the clock for a while now. Got somewhere to be?"
They look towards Katherine. They speak in a practiced manner. Higher pitch, softer tone. It hurts their throat a bit to do, especially when they're this thirsty, but it's comforting.
"Your clock is wrong."
"Mm? It is?" She looks at it, inquisitively. "To be honest, I don't pay attention to that thing. I don't think anyone else does either. Everyone's got a phone or watch on all the time anyway."
"I know, I know, but it's about the principle of it. What's the point of a clock that isn't right?"

Katherine sets down a coffee in front of them, her spare shirt sitting slack on them.
"One scoop of coffee, three scoops of sugar."
"Thank you!" They sip it carefully, testing the temperature, before deeming it perfect and drinking it faster. "What time is it, anyway, oh great timekeeper," she teases, "oh do tell me!"
Another giggle from the newcomer. Katherine thinks their giggles are cute. She won't say it out loud, though. That would be weird.
"9:10! Well, 9:12 now probably."
Katherine laughs back at them, glancing at her watch quickly. She frowns a bit.
"Huh, my watch says 9:10."
The timekeeper looks up from their coffee and remarks "Maybe your watch is slow, too, heh."
"I'd hope not, I'm pretty sure that it gets synced to whatever system the City has set up."

Katherine sits down opposite her contented patron.
"Sorry about the shirt, by the way. It's the only one I had on hand."
They glance down at the shirt that she had lent them. This one was grey, with a sketch of a skull on it, a flower growing out of one of the eye holes.
"I think it's cool, even if it's not my thing."
"What is your kinda thing?"
Their smile drains a bit.
"I... don't really know. Most of the clothes I have at home are... boyish. And just kinda. Eh. They're clothes."
They stare into their coffee.
"I still live with my parents, and they're not exactly fond of the kind of clothes that I'd really want to wear."

It takes Katherine a second to fully realise what they meant by that.
"Fuck 'em."
Her companion makes a surprised noise at that.
"W-well they're still my parents, I still love them- just..."
"Just what? If they're your parents, they should love you. Not the kid that they want you to be."
They sit there, deep in thought.
"Anyway, surely you've got some ideas for what you'd wanna wear. Any photos on your phone or something?"
"O-oh, yes, actually! Let me find it."
They unlock their phone, and scroll through the photos on it. Looks like mostly screenshots of stuff, the occasional nature photo. They stop on a picture of lined workbook paper with sketches drawn on it. A girl in a dress, and the same girl in a puffy jacket. The girl is drawn with a similar hair and skin tone to the person sitting in front of Katherine right now, and a name sits in the corner of the page.

Abigail.

Katherine opens her mouth to say something, but the person- the girl, realises what's on the screen and speaks first.
"Oh-oh, right, I forgot that I had- written that, um-"
Katherine interjects by simply saying
"That's a nice name, don't you think?"

The girl stares at Katherine, their face red. A few seconds pass, before Katherine catches up to herself, stammering out an apology.
"S-shit I'm sorry I- didn't mean to invade like that, just- ah fuck I felt like- you seemed kinda- like I thought that you might be but I didn't wanna say anything about it- like."
She takes a deep breath.
"Sorry."

The girl, Abigail, is still staring at Katherine. She can't read the look on their face.
They just go back to drinking their coffee, silently.
Katherine sighs. "I know that it's scary. I'm sorry. I should have let you say it on your own time."
A silent response, under their breath. "It's okay."
"It really isn't but... thanks."

They both sit and drink in silence.

Katherine finishes her coffee, and pushes the cup to the side. She thinks for a minute.
"Your parents know where you are?"
The girl shrugs. "I don't know if they even care anymore. Not that I want to go back there anyway..."

Katherine thinks for a moment. She has an idea. She thinks that it is probably a very bad idea. She barely knows this person. She should not go through with what she is thinking right now. But something tells her that she has to.

"The sofa in my flat folds out into like... a bed. You could crash with me for a night or two if you want."
The girl sitting across the table from Katherine looks up with wide eyes.
"I- I don't know if... I- I don't want to be a hindrance.."
"Girl, you showed up in the cafe storeroom without any memory of getting there with nothing but your clothes and your phone. The least I can do is let you sleep somewhere other than the floor or the street. Just try it for tonight. I'll make a nice meal and we can figure things out in the morning. Deal?"

The girl looks into her empty cup of coffee again.
"Alright..."

Katherine smiles, and gets up, grabbing the two cups and taking them to kitchen to wash.
"Alright, I'll close up early today to get something from the store for dinner. I really didn't have anything planned for tonight anyway, heh."

Katherine pushes through the doors into the kitchen.
You did NOT just invite her over to your fucking apartment my god.

Meanwhile, in the main room of the cafe, Abigail is doing a very bad job at hiding the blush covering her face.