Careful with the Cameras
By Olemgar/rodrigulino
for ToonDraw
Another beautiful day shone over Cerezo town, the sun shining over every leaf, house, and resident, bringing an air of sheer energy for everyone awake. With the birds flying happily with the gentle breeze they were given, it seemed like it was going to be a peaceful day.
But a certain unicorn gal wasn’t as cheery as others in the village might have been. “Ughhh… Where is that delivery guy? He should have been here an hour ago!” She tapped her foot angrily, her last shred of patience slowly burning out. She had left Corina to take care of the shop, thinking it wouldn’t take longer than 5 minutes, but Cherry soon regretted her decision, being made to wait all that time alone.
As the owner of a really popular Soda shop, she had to be inside tending to the customers, making sure everyone inside was cheerful and gathering goodwill, knowing reputation was really important to her store.
She sighed heavily, her patience straw finally snapping. Cherry knew the delivery of the new Sparkling Water was super important, but after over an hour waiting, it was most likely they weren’t coming. “Alright, I gotta substitute the new product with something new tomorrow… Maybe I could give a discount to those old sodas that aren’t selling much…” She turned around and grabbed the backdoor’s knob.
But as she spun her wrist to turn the door open, Cherry heard the sound of wheels slowly getting closer. She turned around to see a small delivery truck parking, and as the vehicle turned off, a cat delivery man rushed out of the seater’s passage, getting to the back of the truck and grabbing a metal box, looking in a hurry. “I-I’m so sorry Ms! The tire popped while on my way here, so I had to call a friend to get a new one.”
Although the owner of the Soda shop might have been in a less than optimal mood just one minute ago, seeing her treasured prize finally arrive put a smile on her face. “One more minute in here and my hair would be toast. But don’t worry, sugar, as long as you have what I asked for, no harm done.” She chuckled a bit, getting closer to the delivery guy and taking the box out of his hands. “Just bring an extra tire on your next delivery, okay?” She blinked at him and entered through the backdoor, finally escaping the sun.
The Unicorn lady stretched her back as she finally got back inside again, sighing in relief as she felt the cool breeze of the ceiling fan hitting against her skin. There wasn’t a place in the world she’d rather be than here. Her establishment was an environment that radiated a fun aura, with its pink walls, Purple floor tiles, and lots and lots of different kinds of drinks on the shelves, begging to be bought for anyone with a hint of thirst.
The store hadn’t opened yet, but she would have to do it soon, with how late her package got there. But at least she wasn’t alone. Corina, a pink cat with red fur at the end of her tail and purple eyes, was humming to herself as she sorted the products around, putting the drinks in the correct order.
Cherry dropped the metal box at the counter, and the heavy sound was enough to attract Corina’s attention. “Oh, Cherry! You finally got back. I was wondering if you had melted outside with how long you were taking, but good to know you’re still in one piece.” The cat smiled towards her, not paying attention anymore to the sorting order, putting a few bottles out of place without noticing.
“Yeah. Yeah. As long as you bring a bucket with cool water it’s okay.” Her hands went through the counter until she found a pair of scissors, using them to cut the plastic bindings keeping the box shut.
The cat’s eyes wandered towards the container her friend had brought, excitement quickly forming on her face as she realized something new had come. “Ooooooh! A new product? Can I see?” She rushed over towards the counter, her hands accidentally hitting some of the bottles on the way, making them spin slightly, but not hard enough to make them fall.
“Okay. But you can’t get too close. We need to be careful around these.” With the plastic removed, the pink unicorn with purple and blue hair slowly opened the top half of the container. She took it off slowly to make sure she wouldn’t hit anything inside by accident.
“Wow!” Corina’s eyes shone as she took a good look at what was inside. A dozen of really pretty bottles, with attention-drawing designs and some pink liquid. “These look so cool! What are they?”
“These are Strawberry Fizzers. My supplier said they were getting a lot of traction outside of town, so I ordered a few.” The unicorn hands slowly pulled the bottles away from the cat, bringing them closer to her chest. “But be careful! These are super delicate. Any sudden movements could make them cover the whole store in strawberry scent!” Cherry gave a stern, but not overly severe, look towards Corina, wanting to make sure the message would come across.
“O-Okay, girl! I’ll use my cat's dexterity to make sure these won’t shake at all!” Corrina blinked at her friend, convinced she reassured the unicorn that nothing could go wrong.
But a drop of sweat ran down the unicorn’s face, not completely guaranteed of the pink cat’s promise. “If you say so…” But she couldn’t let that take more of her time. She carefully took each bottle from the metal box and put them on top of a high shelf, in hopes that both her friend and her clients would have a harder time reaching it and making an accident.
Afterward, Cherry hastily ran from one point to the other of the store, organizing products, correcting price tags, and putting on her cool uniform in time to open the store. Although late, she somehow pulled through, sweating and breathing heavily, but still just on time.
“Alright, Corina! Time to open up!” She smiled confidently and gave the instructions to her friend. And so, the store was open to the public.
The day went as it normally did, several clients coming and going, most of them teens and young adults, looking for some cold refreshments to face a hard day of study or work ahead. But something was frustrating the store owner.
Although the movement was stronger than usual, no one seemed to notice her new product on top of one of the shelves, almost begging to be asked what it was. But she couldn’t put it somewhere easier to access, for someone could accidentally bump into it and cause a ‘strawberry tsunami’ at any time.
Cherry sighed, there was nothing to be done. It was a new product in town, so a lot of people wouldn’t know what that was, and, most importantly, no one that did know about that soda would usually expect to find it in a small town soda store, making them even harder to notice.
But patience was the key to commerce, so she would keep them there until someone noticed and got it from her, spreading the word around and, in time, having a demand for it.
After coming back from her lunch break, in which her cat friend took care of the store quite well in her absence, the cycle continued. Until that is, someone quite unusual looking arrived.
“Yooo, hey everyone! It’s yo boy, CatMaster23! And today, I’m here on a quest for something in this soda store!” The weird sentence drew Cherry’s bored eyes to the source of the sound, and what she saw made her very annoyed. It was an orange cat wearing a white shirt and red shorts, with sunglasses and a camera on his hand, filming his face and background as he moved backward.
She had heard of those people before, ‘online content creators’, or something like that, who filmed themselves doing dumb stuff around their region and posting online so other people could view it and comment on it. Cherry herself didn’t get the appeal of it, but from what she heard, whenever someone like that appeared filming themselves on someone else’s establishment, especially without prior notice, trouble was afoot.
She got up from the counter and started making her way to the customer, all the while he continued his lone speech. “...and after the last video's CRAZY feedback, I couldn’t help but make a continuation. And that’s why I’m here today! I heard that this store would be selling THAT thing, and if that was true, I couldn’t pass up the chance of finding it and showing it to you, my lovely people!” The dude screamed to his camera, doing over-excited and exaggerated movements with his whole body.
Cherry approached the camera-cat carefully. “H-Hello, sir! I’m Cherry, this store’s owner. Can I help you somehow?”
He turned around and stared at her with over necessary excitement, even if she couldn’t see it because of his shades. “Heya Gal! I’m just here so that my 13 subscribers can see me testing out the new cooler! I heard they were the BEST!”
“Ahahaha…” The unicorn forced herself to laugh, not wanting to look annoyed or disingenuous with a client. “A-a cooler, sir? I’m afraid we only sell drinks here, not home appliances…”
“No problem, my sweet grape! I’m not talking about anything electric, but a good ol’ tasty liquid!” He laughed to the camera again, almost as if he thought he had a whole crowd looking directly at him and applauding. That was hard, but Cherry was keeping her composure as best as she could.
“If you s-say so, sir… What exactly are you looking for?” Although she was trying her best to hide her emotions, she couldn’t help but let out a tint of annoyance in her voice. But, to her luck, it seemed the young man didn’t seem to notice.
“Oooooh…” He pushed his glasses down his nose slightly with his paw, letting his eyes make contact with hers. “It’s a hard-to-find drink, with how popular it is outside the town, but I heard that, in this tiny town’s story, there was a container yet left unsold, and I couldn’t let that opportunity slip! My viewers are craving that content! I’m here…” He made a suspenseful pause, which only served to irritate the unicorn girl more. “for the Strawberry Fizzers.”
Her blood turned cold after hearing that. This young man, who seemed way too careless for his age, wanted to take in his own hands something that delicate? This was not going to end well. She had to do something.
“U-Uuuuuuuugh... I don’t recall anything by that name, mister… Maybe you got the wrong store? There’s another soda shop on the other side of town, maybe that’s the one you’re looking for?” She took a few steps forward, in hopes that maybe that would help him leave sooner.
“Oh no! I’m pretty sure this is the right one. Stylish place, lots of choices, unicorn lady owner. Yep, this is the spot! And now! I only need to find my prize.” The young man slips through Cherry into the store and starts his search for his delicate treasure.
Cherry soon follows him, keeping a close distance between the two, wishing with all her being that he doesn’t find where she stashed it, considering she put it on a high shelf.
And it seemed like he wasn’t going to find it. The cat spent 10 minutes looking around the place, but wherever he looked, his drinks were not there. But even if he didn’t find it yet, Cherry didn’t want to leave it to luck. As he was distracted, the unicorn approached Corina sneakily and whispered to her ear. “Hey! Grab those fizzers that you saw earlier from the shelf, and hide them in the back. He won’t be able to find it there.” Corina just nodded affirmatively and got to work on it.
“So.... as I said, it seems we don’t have it. I’m so sorry, but maybe you’ll have more luck elsewhere?” She broke the silence between the two to relay the ‘bad news'. Cherry got a bit relieved as she saw the look of resignation on the young one’s eyes.
He sighed. “You’re right… I don’t know why I had such hope… I’m just gonna go.” His face started the floor in disappointment, it was kinda sad to Cherry, feeling a bit sorry for him. “But thanks… maybe some other day I might OH MY JEEPERS IT’S THE FIZZERS!” His sad monotone rose to an excited screaming.
Cherry was spooked for a second, wondering what he meant. But then she looked behind her. Right behind the two, Corina was taking the fizzers to the back, but just as she was on her way the teen turned around, and his eyes went right to what he was looking for.
“Oh, my Thank you thank you thank you for finding it!” She rushed through Cherry, leaving a trail of smoke behind him, as he quickly approached Corina and took the soda right out of her hands. “Alright. My time has come.” With a velocity that would leave even bikers jealous, the cat guy turned his camera on, adjusted the settings, and promptly focused it on himself. "Hey, guys! I finally found it! Here is the Strawberry Fizzers I promised you the other day! It’s time to pop ‘em open!”
Cherry rushed to him, using all of her speed to try and stop him. But it was too late. As she got nearer, he had already shaken the bottle up and down. He moved his fingers to the opening, removing the cap. And then it happened.
A sudden flash of pink consumed the entire shop, accompanied by a loud exploding sound, engulfing the entire place in a wet and poppy sensation.
A few moments later, everything was pink. The soda’s contents had exploded to all sides, covering every product in the shop with it. And not only that, but the three doofus standing at such proximity with the explosion were also hit. They were completely drenched in the pink liquid, still bubbling as if it were in the bottle.
“You… IDIOT!” Cherry screamed, annoyed.
She had to close the shop for the remainder of the day. Her products and clothes were completely drenched, and she would take the entire day plus one more just to clean it up. And the worst part? She didn’t bring any spare clothing, so Cherry and Corina both had to work the entire day naked, but with the store closed, they wouldn’t have to fear for someone seeing them.
After that day, Cherry stored her Strawberry Fizzers in the back, only getting them for someone if they asked and looked like they wouldn’t explode the whole place. Again.
