Prompt: A Mind-Bending Latte

Summary: Something's wrong with these pumpkin spice lattes! They're turning everyone into basic sorority girls that seem to have a hive mind thing going on too?!

This prompt didn't win a poll for my Patrons, but I elected to realize it as my Writer's Choice selection. If you would like to nominate prompts and participate in such polls in the future, please consider subscribing to my Patreon!

[Story Listing]

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Samantha reviewed her notes on Sand Dollars. It was a new cafe, an upstart seller of decadent coffee and tea beverages, and it was taking the city by storm. It was strange, because she hadn't heard of it before, yet it seemed to be all anyone was talking about. People were raving about its saccharine-sweet flavour profile, as well as its dirt cheap prices compared to mainstream competitors.

The place had basically popped up overnight, and from what she gathered, they were already planning new franchises around the city. She smelled something fishy, and determined to get to the bottom of it. So she elected to visit the location that started it all, and determine what was what. Samantha was serious, no-nonsense, and had nerves of steel—she had handled more dangerous cases than this in the past, and she wondered if this cafe was a front for the mafia or something. She had to be prepared for anything...

The place seemed normal at a glance, but one thing that struck her as odd was the relative quiet of the place. Usually people had the tendency to lurk around the cafe, working on their scripts or schoolwork. But there was no one here. And Samantha didn't think she had come at a bad time...

"HELLOOOO!~" A cheery barista hollered from behind the bar. Samantha gawked at the immodestly-dressed woman, her apron tenting over her pronounced chest. Samantha wondered if the woman had hypomelanosis; her skin transitioned from mahogany-brown to birch-white all over her body in swirls. It almost seemed as if the swirls were... moving...

...Though her suspicious thoughts ebbed away, the pleasant aroma of pumpkin spice in the air. She determined to move her attention elsewhere. She disregarded the woman's irregular appearance as simply a skin condition. It wasn't polite to gawk.

"Hello, miss..." Samantha narrowed her attention to a name badge affixed to the woman's breast.

"...Mocha." The corner of Samantha's mouth twitched. "I was hoping to sample your product. I have heard... good things about your store." Samantha explained herself in a cool, measured tone, which was at odds with the jubilant, pleasant smile Mocha gave off.

"Omigosh, that's great!" Mocha beamed. "Well, 'tis the season for pumpkin spice, ya know? So, like, if you wanna sample, that's okiday!~ It's on the house!~"

"...Really?" Samantha blinked. "Do you give away product to anyone who walks in? How do you make money-"

"Pfft, don't worry about it! C'mon, try it!~" Mocha had already procured a piping hot mug. She even worked out some latte art on the top, the foam arranged into a pretty spiral. Samantha's suspicions subsided upon witnessing the swirling form. She examined it carefully... before taking a careful sip.

"!" Samantha's eyes widened, and she took another, longer sip. The medley of spices mingled pleasantly with the sugary tones and the strong coffee. "This is really good...!"

"Of course it is!~" Mocha bragged, raising another mug to her chest. She stirred it with her finger. "I add a special ingredient, after all, a special imported milk you can't get anywhere else~"

Mocha cupped the underside of her chest, allowing it to jiggle emphatically. Samantha gawked, her mind quickly understanding Mocha's playful insinuation. Was that sanitary!? That had to be a health code violation...

...These were objections that a clear-headed Samantha would raise, but her attention remained attracted to her latte, the foamy swirls grabbing her attention, easing her worries. Even Mocha's skin seemed to have a curious, lifelike shimmer to it as the patterns shifted and swirls... not unlike a latte itself.

"Well? Any rave reviews?" Mocha tilted her head, grinning expectantly. Samantha's mind felt foggy, she struggled to articulate the words...

"Um..." She bit her lip. "It's like, well, um... like, wow!" Samantha beamed. "I should take a selfie..."

Samantha had never actually taken a selfie, or used a photo filter, but she was fumbling through her phone to do both. Her attention occupied by her phone, Mocha coquettishly reached over to remove Samantha's bookish glasses, slipping them under the counter. Another hand undid Samantha's hairbun, letting her brown locks tumble to her shoulders.

"Would you said the pumpkin spice latte is all you can think about?" Mocha rested her head on her hand, a wide smile stretching her cheeks.

"Oh. My. Gosh. The latte art is so prettyyyy!~" Samantha giggled like a ninny, bouncing up and down. "Gotta get the angle right..."

"Hey, if you work for me, you can have all the lattes you want!~" Mocha grabbed Samantha's chin, tilting it towards her. "Don't you want to share this feeling? The feeling of the bestest, sweetest latte in the whole galaxy?~"

"Work? That sounds hard..." Samantha pouted.

"You don't have to think too hard at all. You don't have to think at all~" Mocha beamed. "Just become my barista and share your love of lattes with the whoooole world!~"

"...omigosh, yes? Yes!" Samantha beamed, her eyes lighting up; whatever quiet intelligence she had before coming in here had evaporated in a second, replaced with a bubbly, basic connoisseur of all things pumpkin spice.

Ding a ling!~ The bell by the front door jingled, and a mousey girl stepped inside, her purse clutched to her chest. The door closed behind her as Mocha, whose chocolatey pallour looked more and more syrupy, glanced at the woman. She grinned, turning to Samantha.

"Let her sample our product~" Mocha prodded Samantha along. Samantha staggered forward, mug in hand as she practically lunged at the girl!

"You gotta try this!~" Samantha cooed, the girl yelping as she drank back a mouthful of the flavourful latte. The shy girl struggled, but as the pleasantly hot beverage enveloped her senses, she began to relax, almost as if in a daze.

"Like... are you thinking what I'm thinking...?" The newcomer slurred.

"Yeah! We gotta tell everyone about this place!" Samantha cooed. "Omigosh, it's like we're on the same wavelength!~"

Mocha chucked, strategically covering up her nametag. "Baristas!~ I'll prepare a canteen for you two if you want to go make the rounds!~"

"Yes Miss Mocha!~" The two uttered, in an eerie chorus. "We live for your concoctions!~"

"Very good!~" Mocha chuckled. "We have to win the hearts and minds of the whole country if we're going to make this work. Maybe the whole world...~"

Mocha chuckled. Underneath the counter, currents of sugary pumpkin spice syrup flowed, comprising Mocha's lower body. If she could convert everyone on this planet into basic, latte-swilling drones, the alien slime would surely make a heck of a killing on this planet! Maybe she could run for galactic emperor...

She swooned, and fussed over the machines, her amorphous body pulling levers and pressing buttons. She'd need to concoct lots of lattes to satiate the whole town!~