The mop's flat face traveled smoothly over the dust-covered floor, leaving behind a clean, polished trail before it was picked up and dumped into a nearby bucket.
Lifting back up, Serena reached down, her hand covered in wrinkles from constantly having to squeeze the mop of any excess water.
As she stood up, she straightened her spine, a subtle tension easing from her shoulders as she leaned her arm against the small of her back. A low groan escaped her lips, a mix of relief and weariness that echoed through the air.
"There's so much dust here." She complained, scanning the cafe. She repeatedly had to go over the same spots multiple times just to ensure a layer of dust didn't remain, and even after an hour of doing so, she barely finished a quarter of the floor.
"Well, the cafe's been closed for close to a decade without any care. Dust was bound to build up." Sera said, walking by with an old chair she was going to put in the truck they brought to dispose of all the old furniture and equipment that couldn't be resold.
"Ugh, couldn't we have invited Riven, at least that way we would have some eye candy." She shouted, slapping the mop onto the floor, splattering drops of water all over the place.
"My lord is currently busy and unavailable." Sylvia's voice echoed out from the kitchen, where she was busy removing the leftover expired and moldy ingredients left by the previous owner.
"Unavailable in what sense, cause we know it's not with Seraphina."
"How do you know that?" Sera questioned, walking back into the building.
"Come on, Sera, do you really think everyone you went to school with are complete idiots? Everyone knows what happened that last week."
Sera's eyes trembled as Serena continued. "That night, the hopeless virgin that was you decided to take a risk and ended up sleeping with two men that week. Of course, we have Riven, the man you loved endlessly."
Serena's lips curved up into a cruel, almost mocking grin. "Oh, but how would he feel to know the other man was none other than his best friend at the time, Jackson. And poor Jackson, he'll have to live the rest of his life knowing he only managed to sleep with you because you were dead drunk."
"And so what, you think yourself a saint or something. You've slept with a plethora more people than me, so don't try and act like you had this big 'gotcha' moment. It's pathetic." Sera said with scorn in her voice.
Serena's grin stretched further as she crossed her arms. "You're right, but at least I know who the father of my children is."
"You're right, I don't know, but does it matter? Those girls have all the resources and connections they need, so that if they really wanted to know, they'd have an answer within the hour."
"You know what, why don't we just stop this conversation. It was stupid to begin with, and it would be just us saying 'you're right' over and over; let's stop and focus on cleaning." Serena replied with a wave, then returned to the rhythmic swish of the mop across the floor.
Sera nodded. "Alright, but I would like it if you didn't tell Riven about the whole Jackson thing."
"Not a word from me, but you should probably ask her." She said, pointing over to Sylvia, who was standing at the kitchen entrance.
"Sylvia, do you mind?" Sera questioned with a hopeful look.
"I won't tell him, but let me warn you." Sylvia's gaze hardened, burning with intensity as she shot a fierce glare at Sera. "The minute I discover it would be in his best interest to know this information, I will tell him. My loyalty remains with him and him alone."
"I understand,"
"I don't think you do, but sure." With a swift turn on her heel, Sylvia shot a glance over her shoulder before striding back into the kitchen, the clatter of her footsteps echoing in the air.
Sera let out a deep sigh, her voice barely a whisper as she murmured to herself. "Let's hope she doesn't hold this over my head."
She would soon find out her worries were unnecessary, as the only chance Sylvia would tell him is if Jackson ever came back into the picture, but that would most likely never happen.
But such a thought never occurred to her as she resumed moving chairs out of the building. Once she was done with them, she moved on to the tables. Though she wasn't at one hundred percent of her past strength, she could still move the table by herself, just not as awe-inspiring as she would have.
But as she moved a couple of them, a problem arose.
She believed that with some cleaning and a bit of extra work, she could have the place up and running before the first, which she didn't doubt, but now that she was able to look closer at the floor and other parts of the cafe, she wasn't as sure if just a little extra work would be enough.
Crouching low, she gently rubbed her finger over the wooden floor, the coarse texture sending signals of displeasure through her nerves.
The grain had risen like the wrinkles on a tired face, edges splintering where countless feet had passed. And now that most of the floor had been cleaned, it was easy to notice that the polish had long since dulled, leaving the boards a matte and tired appearance.
"What's wrong, Sera?" Serena asked, looking over her shoulder.
Sera stood up and, dusting her hands off, despite no dust being on them, said, "The floor is going to need to be replaced, which is fine, I guess. I was going to replace it at some point with carpet, just didn't think it would be this soon."
"Oh well, that's not that bad, you still need to replace that counter and fix the patio outside."
"And that's not to mention the kitchen," Sylvia added, taking a bag with a torturous scent out of the building.
Sera closed her eyes, mentally calculating how long it would take for each of these things to be done. Reopening her eyes, she sighed. "Looks like I will need Rivens' help after all to finish this before the first."
"Nothing wrong with that, we humans have always gotten by relying on the help of others. Isn't that why we search for the perfect partner so that we have someone to lean on?"
Sera gave a knowing nod, her eyes flaring with understanding. Sure, she didn't want to rely on Riven, and she wasn't even sure if she wanted their relationship to head in that direction, at least not while the girls were still young.
But even then, she had a guilt she would live with and one she would always hold against him, but none of that meant she couldn't accept his help offered with good intentions.
Seeing Sera lost in thought, Serena smiled before adding, "Plus, I think Riven has zero interest in anything but making amends for missing sixteen years of your daughters' lives."
That was true almost any time she talked to Riven; it was usually the girls, some trauma from the past, or what he got to see and explore on his travels. Not some masked attempt at saying he wants to be together.
The only time their emotions ever got close to anything like that was when they were reliving the past, merely fading embers of what they once felt or maybe just what she felt.
As soon as this thought took place, Sera's shoulders seemed to drop a bit, though not from a sense of sadness but relief. It meant she could fully heartedly focus on the girls and this blossoming cafe.
A large radiant smile stretched across her face as she clapped her hands, grabbing both women's attention, "How about we finish up and then go get some drinks? It's on me."
"Do you even need to ask?" Serena said with a grin. Picking up a rag, she quickly began cleaning the windows.
"Well, I would never say no to a free drink," Sylvia replied with a wide smile, walking back into the kitchen and returning with two bags in hand.
Sera nodded before helping with moving the trash out of the kitchen, a smile never leaving her face.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, the last flickers of daylight surrendered to the enchanting glow of the moonlight. Until the moon gracefully retreated once more, making way for the radiant sun to reclaim the sky, ushering in the dawn of a new day.
Okay, what about this? I've mentioned this in past chapters as well. I think it'll be fine since it'll be mostly distinct in a way, but I just wanted to be sure before I fully hinted at Sonic.
And on this new day, Riven was at the factory that would be in charge of manufacturing his company's greatest product, the Aether gear.
The newest form of transportation would allow its riders to fly through the air, or, more accurately, hover in the air. It was going to be the first true step into the futuristic era for Earth.
Though he couldn't say the idea was fully his, the concept had sparked from an old video game over a century ago, one where speed and air mattered more than the ground beneath your feet.
If not for his father's love of collecting old games and restoring them, he would've never played the game, much less known about it, especially after the internet was purged when his grandmother was young.
But today, he was proud to be able to move on with the next step of their creation, planning for mass production, though on a small scale to start, since he had no normal way of knowing if consumers would buy it.
Hence why he was at the factory today.
"So what's the projected amount estimated to be completed weekly?" he questioned the plant manager, Jessica, directly behind him, ready to input the information into her tablet.
"We practiced the initial process for building the frames of the AG-01, AG-02, and AG-03. After a few attempts, we had some initial issues with our system being unable to accurately handle direct changes between model versions, like the AG-01 and AG-01 Prime."
He said as he led them through the assembly line, where machines were hard at work cutting the rough shape of the frames, before sending them off to another part of the factory to be polished, then assembled according to specification.
"Of course, that problem has been fixed; the only issue now is where we should ship the finished frames for completion. And if you don't mind me asking, why is it we aren't finishing it here in the factory?" he questioned, pausing in front of them.
"Well, the Aether gear needs special parts to function; these parts need to be installed in very specific ways. Not only that, but the gear itself needs to be connected to the A.G. System, which allows it to do what it does." Riven explained without going too deeply into the specifics of the specifics.
Jessica then added. "Furthermore, Aether gear runs on a unique type of power source, and to ensure the safety of all who use them, a controlled amount of this energy is injected into the gear. This process is dangerous since it sends the gear into a hyperdrive state and has to be done in a secure location."
"Does that answer your question?" He questioned.
The plant manager nodded. "Yes, sir, once we get the location, we'll have all the frames ship out."
"Good, on that note, what about the custom frames I had you make?"
"The Umbras? Well, as you wished, their completely done, hand-built like you wanted by the new guy. It was a bit difficult, but since everything was on the blueprint, he didn't struggle too badly."
"Great, I'll take those separately. The process for them is slightly different." Riven said with a smile.
Those 2 Aether gears were special after all, not only were they a one-of-a-kind variant, they were custom-made with both Aria and Nyra in mind, built to do something the others couldn't.
It was a difficult choice deciding what type would fit them, but he eventually decided to just get Aria an AG-01, or as it will actually be called by the public, Stratus, a board-type Aether gear. And Nyra, an AG-02 or Tempest, a bike-type Aether gear.
Though since both were special models, they had different names, Umbra Mirage for the Stratus and Umbra Eclipse for the Tempest. They were faster, more powerful, and could be used in any circumstance.
Not only that, but he had one more thing to do to them before he planned to give them to the girls. It would surely be the best Christmas present.
Still, that was a bit away for now; he still had to make it so everyone else would be able to purchase one of the mass-produced models for the holidays.
"Alright, let's talk statistics," he said, signaling Jessica, since this would be a long talk and would need proper documentation.
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Gotta go back into the old chapters to find where I mentioned the Aether gear, and change it from Extreme gear since Sega technically owns the trademark.