Calliope checked her potion supply as she awaited the sea marigolds from Lukas. She then checked the time. \u201c\u2026He was early the last two labors,\u201d she muttered. \u201cThe deadline\u2019s approaching and-.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMISTRESS!\u201d called a scared Lukas\u2019 voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026That\u2019s not a good sign.\u201d Calliope swam up the pit to see Lukas with a bouquet of eight sea marigolds. \u201cAh! There you are! I was worried you for\u2026\u201d she trailed off when she saw Sam Brooke guzzling a whole pot of coffee. \u201c\u2026Ms. Brooke?\u201d Sam put the coffee pot down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWORK\u2019SALLDONEFORTHEDAY!\u201d she said at hyper speed. \u201cIGOTTAGOFINDSOMETHINGELSETODO!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSamantha Brooke, are you okay?\u201d asked Calliope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, me?! Never better! I got so much done! Ooh! I\u2019m gonna go shear the kelp and prune the sea sheep!\u201d She then pulled out a sword with teeth running in a circuit around the blade and swam off at top speed, impressive for a sea urchin. By now, everyone was watching the commotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026Staff meeting, everyone!\u201d said Calliope. Everyone gathered, sans Sam. \u201cAll right, who was in charge of coffee and what kind of coffee did they make?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was in charge today,\u201d replied Sly. \u201cMaria said coffee was expressly forbidden for Sam.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI did say that,\u201d confirmed Maria. \u201cRemember? She\u2019s been on a medically-ordered caffeine hiatus. What did you make her, Sly?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell, there was a bag that said Express-0, so I used that,\u201d answered Sly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cExpress-0?\u201d quizzed Faye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026You still got the bag?\u201d asked Calliope. Sly pulled out the bag and Calliope goggled in horror when she finished reading the label. Maria blinked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026Boss, is that-?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s that triple-six espresso that nice succubus gifted after paying through the nose for her deal!\u201d confirmed Calliope. \u201cSly, there isn\u2019t even an X in the word! Where did you find it?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou left your locker open,\u201d explained Sly. \u201cI thought you wanted everyone to have it.\u201d Maria pinched the bridge of her nose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is why I\u2019m so anal about spelling!\u201d she grumbled. Everyone then heard Sam shriek in caffeinated crazy and guessed she had a smile on her face worthy of a crazy person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026Faye, would you bring Lukas\u2019 sea marigolds to my locker?\u201d asked Calliope. \u201cMake sure there\u2019s eight in that bouquet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOui, Madame,\u201d replied Faye. Lukas gave Faye the flowers and Faye double-checked. \u201c\u2026Oui, there\u2019s eight.\u201d He then swam off to Calliope\u2019s locker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCome join us in wrangling Sam when you\u2019re done, okay?\u201d Calliope called after Faye. \u201cWe need to restrain her while those of us with clothes still have them on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOof! What a chase!\u201d sighed Calliope as she and Lukas settled into the bath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho knew a sea urchin could move that fast, Mistress?\u201d muttered Lukas as he rested his head on Calliope\u2019s shoulder. A tentacle then draped itself on his shoulder as Calliope pulled Lukas closer to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good thing Maria lent us her rope.\u201d Calliope chuckled. \u201c\u2026Lukas\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes, Mistress?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you imagine your future with any\u2026hair decorations?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHair flowers, specifically,\u201d replied Lukas. \u201cNice, lovely, full flowers all gathered on the side of my head. \u2026You know, I\u2019m starting to piece together your questions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou might get confirmation, might not,\u201d purred Calliope. \u201cWho knows?\u201d She then booped Lukas\u2019 nose with the tip of a tentacle. \u201cLet\u2019s find out, hm?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Calliope checked her potion supply as she awaited the sea marigolds from Lukas. She then checked the time. \u201c\u2026He was early the last two labors,\u201d she muttered. \u201cThe deadline\u2019s approaching and-.\u201d \u201cMISTRESS!\u201d called a scared Lukas\u2019 voice. \u201c\u2026That\u2019s not a good sign.\u201d Calliope swam up the pit to see Lukas with a bouquet of eight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1022,1023],"tags":[1027,936,1031],"class_list":["post-7228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-calliopes-lair","category-the-labors-of-calliope","tag-labor","tag-story","tag-tired"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7229,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7228\/revisions\/7229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}