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The Shark House - Chapter 4 - The Night Time Coffee House

Popuri's arrival at the Shark House was alot quieter than the Subaru she arrived in, upon entering the Midnight Coffee House where owner Giro worked to obtain her keys and job offers.
Dotted about the Cafe, a number of the other residents were busy in all four corners of the establishment.
A group of middle aged women all with chocolate skin were playing cards, another girl in her 20s dressed in several sweaters in glasses who looked like she hasn't slept in days had several sheets of paper in front of her, she actually stared briefly at Popuri and immediately sent a text on her phone before getting back to work.
On the other side of the Cafe was a security guard talking to Giro's assistant Quint, finally there was a guy with heavy metal style hair tuning a few guitars.
"They're a good group once you get to know them" Giro said signalling Popuri to him.
Popuri looked at all the tenants present in the Cafe, she thought to herself that two of them sounded familiar, the guard and the card player, not that she had met them before but she could've sworn she recognised their voices from somewhere.
Quint walked by and dropped off Popuri's paperwork and her keys.
"Can we maybe cheer up a bit, we don't want to scare off our latest tenant" Giro deliberately speaking loud so all the tenants could hear.
Popuri just gave a smile and looked over her job offers.
Job 1 - Posting mail near the beach regions of Bayside.
Job 2 - Polly Parrot's Pizza Emporium needs a new victim/night time worker.
Job 3 - Quarter Bros Arcade needs an assistant to help with the post Christmas rush.
Popuri was doing mail runs back in her home village so delivering mail she was saving until her Mini was ready and it's probably too soon to do night work especially at a rambunctious place like Polly Parrots so she looked at the Quarter Bros Arcade, she used to go there as a kid back when her mother was still working at Gracies.
She signed all three and wrote down starting dates for all three starting with the Arcade and ending with the Pizza Emporium with the mail run in the middle.
She finished her tea and went up to her new apartment.
Quint filed away the paperwork and lit another cigarette.
"You mention about us scaring her away but these job posts are evil" Quint wondering about Giro's choices.
"You obviously don't know this girl's reputation, you'll see how quickly she'll turn the worst jobs in Bayside into something wonderful" Giro cleaning Popuri's cup.

The Shark House - Chapter 3 - The Metro Highway

New Year's Day came and went and Poppy was ready for her start at the Shark House the following night, however to get there, the Metro Highway needed crossing to get into Bayside.
Surrounding the city is a network of highways that covers the whole region, in order to produce revenue at night time since gambling is illegal in Bayside is to give the highways to the street racers and any night workers interested in fast cars, the laws are strict and a special license is required to even participate, since the legislation passed, car related offences were virtually wiped out.
For Poppy, this was a problem as her car was an old Mini given to her by her grandfather, luckily Zoe was a member of the car club Chaos Engines and could run on the Metro at night.
"My brother will deliver your Mini to Shark House, I'll stop by the Chaos Engine club halfway, I know your cat Karma isn't keen on my driving" Karma was just grumpy as Zoe tried to lighten the mood, Zoe was the fastest in the club with her white Subaru Snow White Chaser, however since Scarlet Rider joined, her title has been challenged.
Zoe was halfway to the stop when another club member signalled her to meet at the Chaos Engine stop.
"Damn it Dave, what do you want? There's no meeting til the 7th" Zoe stopped at the service station which served as Chaos Engine's base and got out to confront Dave.
"Dave, the Club meetings don't start til the 7th, check your damn letter box!" Zoe frustrated by Dave.
"I heard from your brother about Scarlet Rider, that she joined us, can I meet her?"
Dave is one of the residents of the Shark House, usually called Dave Dreamer by the club for his lack of financial restraint, he could quite easily leave The Shark House anytime as his role as an Engineer pays enough to live comfortably but he seemingly has a new car every other week.
Zoe just rubbed her head in frustration.
"I said this back before Christmas, she's not ready to come to the car meets yet, plus she does her courier work all night, you ain't going to catch her in that piece of crap, I can barely keep up with that Bimota of hers" Zoe casually chomping on some jerky.
"Oohh is Hellcat scared to be beaten by a biker?" Dave teased Zoe using her nickname.
Zoe just sighed.
"I'm just getting Poppy here to Shark House, I'll smoke your ass later, just don't get too obsessive with Scarlet Rider, remember our code, do not question just drive" Zoe got back in the car while Poppy politely waved to Dave.
"Take my advice Poppy, Dave is the least weird of the Shark House" The two drove off towards the Shark House, Poppy's home for the next year.

The Shark House - Chapter 2 - Part Time Poppy

Outside of Bayside lies the country village of Stardust Meadows, the land definied by Bayside's largest cat shelter owned by the village founders the Meadows family, for the last decade, the Meadows Family's only child Popuri has been the village part timer since her early teens, everything from helping out with post to doing shifts at the cat shelter earning Popuri the nickname Part Time Poppy; to the casual outsider, it looks like Popuri is the village's only worker and everyone is taking advantage of her, but instead it's because no one can keep up with her, her stamina seemingly endless and reflexes much like the cats she helps take care of makes her near super human, her High School athletics records back this up.
After the pandemic and Popuri's University Graduation, the village was struggling to pay Popuri for all her jobs, and her University fees are pretty high, not wanting to be a burden, Popuri remembered how her best friends Alex and Zoe got out of debt through the Shark House. Staying at her friends house for New Years, Popuri was preparing to move to her new home for 2023, however Alex and Zoe were nervous about Poppy's decision.
"Poppy I know we managed to get out but Bayside isn't like Stardust Meadows" Alex a tomboy of Italian descent.
"I know you can work any job Poppy but Shark House is full of weirdos" Zoe a tall delinquent looking woman wearing a large baggy pizza delivery sweater, clearly hiding something.
"I've already got applications lined up, including Gracies Department Store, should only take a year, even less if I get the Gracies job" Popuri a slim athletic built girl playing with her cat Karma. Popuri was also watching highlights of the Gracies Christmas Eve Charity Ball, Popuri loved watching the Ball because it was where her parents met back in 1997, Bayside's top charities as well as the three best employees over the Christmas shopping season get to go but the waiting list to even work for Gracies is ridiculous and most don't even last past Black Friday.
"If you make it to the ball Poppy, I'll do a boudoir photoshoot" Zoe laughed thinking it will never happen, Alex's face however turns bright red at the thought.
Poppy holds her kitty high into the air.
"What do you think Karma? Will I succeed?"
Karma just licking her paw.

The Shark House - Chapter 1 - A Brief History

In the city of Bayside on 94 Ocean Drive, stands an apartment block; it cannot be missed, mostly for the coffeehouse right next door that only opens at night.
In 2013, a charity was setup to help debt ridden individuals by giving them a roof over their head until they successfully pay back whatever debt is owed, for a while it seemed to work, the building housed up to ten occupants and the turnover was five tenants a month, but as the years went on, the turnover declined to five per year, when a deadly pandemic hit, this ended up reducing the turnover to zero for two years, as of the end of the year 2022, only two tenants managed to leave; the government getting frustrated by the lack of turnover at the now dubbed Shark House have given the owner one year to try and improve the fortunes of all ten of it's tenants or raise enough money to keep functioning as a registered charity, with zero donations and it's current crop of tenants no where near the exit door, this could be Shark House's final year.
The owner who goes by Giro can be seen running the coffeehouse next door along with his secretary and administrator Quint.
"Giro, two tenants isn't enough to save this place"
Giro, more calm than the grizzled face of Quint just casually cleaned the coffee filters.
"Quint, give me a run down of the current tenants if you please"
Quint just sighed as he put out his cigarette and took out his papers and shoved them towards Giro.
From top to bottom, it read like a gallery of rogues.
1. Nessa - Church volunteer, paying off legal debts.
2. Barry - Night Watchman and Police Patrol, paying off bank loans.
3. Freddy - IT Helpdesk, paying off huge fines.
4. Eddie - Roadie, paying off property damage fines.
5. Candy - Hairdresser, paying off huge credit card bills.
6. Bentley - Chef, paying off business loans.
7. Sara - Youtuber, paying off university fees.
8. Popuri - Part Timer, paying off university fees.
9. David - Engineer, paying off car loans and traffic fines.
10. Lisa - Courier, paying off loan sharks.
"I know Lisa joined us a few weeks back, I believe this Popuri girl will join us second day of the new year" Giro continues to give off a calm aura.
"How does a pretty face like that end up here?" Quint remarked while staring at the photo of Popuri.
"She's a friend of the two tenants that left earlier this year, Alex and Zoe; she must have her reasons for wanting to come to Shark House, who knows, maybe she's the key to turning this place around" Giro speculates while refitting the filter.
Quint shrugs as he rearranges his portfolio and leaves, Giro finishes cleaning as he shuts up the Coffeehouse for New Years, who knows if The Shark House will see 2024.