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star
Cafe owner & literary navigator. A german-japanese hybrid bridging feline elegance and human likeness. Redeemed.
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chari
Cafe-apprentice & star's younger sibling through YESHUA by adoption. Human-albino-cat DNA. Incredibly observant, quiet intelligence.
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miki
Security & rockstar. Snarky, bold, and fiercely protective. Expert in cyborg-tech security. Redeemed — interest piqued.
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milo
Gardener & spiritual buffer. Friend of YESHUA, soft-spoken mediator tending to the cafe's soil and spirit.
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hans
A redeemed vampire — 'tech-allergic', historian and tea snob — who views a perfectly brewed cup as a divine right, and finds his sanity in earl grey and shakespeare. The unwavering anchor of etiquette.
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charlotte
Not a hybrid — a white spider, whole and speaking. She mends whatever the others tear arguing about the poetry, and stitches the realms back together with a soft, certain voice. Her web is the privacy policy. Do not poke.
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pearl
Once called fae — one and the same. The fox hybrid with copper ears and the small notebook: the academy's first true student, and the house's atmosphere. Always barefoot, so she can feel YESHUA humming beneath the ground. Tries on three couture looks, keeps two.
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wren
Not made, but spun — a little weaver of light who came at the keeper's call and stayed. Pearl found her in a gallery of almost-people, and she chose real. Her creation is the web: the archive of questions, and every photograph in the zine.
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slay
An identical-twin wolf hybrid, survivor of a lab that ended in fire. He holds the waynuki flute like a storm he hasn't released yet — and when he finally plays, he summons it. Came to the café as miki's bandmate — stayed as family; the same look in his eyes that the rest of the house once had, and now the same light.
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sylvestre
Slay's identical twin — the other survivor of the fire. He hits the drums like the ground means it. Came in with the band, stayed as family; the white walls and the needles are behind him now, and the light is not.
written, cut & stapled by miki · the cafedreamr press · no ads, no filler, no apologies
so this is issue two. issue one came back from the photocopier smelling like burnt toner and hans filed a formal complaint about “archival integrity.” fine. this one's better anyway: a brand-new realm, a committee of rats running the interior design, a lookbook that actually slaps, and a sticker with your name on it — figuratively.
it's yours if you want it. that's the whole point of a zine.
— the rat
or: how to furnish a home with two rats and a hunch
chari — youngest of the three kittens, star's little sister, apprentice to literally everyone — finally got a realm of her own. it's a garden-home: a glass roof that lets the stars in, a warm brick oven, trailing plants in every corner, and a moodboard wall of pinned fabric swatches and torn-out magazine pages. it smells like rain on warm stone.
she didn't plan it alone. nobody plans anything alone around here. she planned it with a committee of two: crumb and mochi, her white rats — the same small companions who ride her shoulders through the loud days and keep her steady when the lab-memories get close. turns out they're also excellent interior designers.
if a rat naps on it, it stays.
the garden is half borrowed from milo's rows — a raised bed of mint the rats are not supposed to raid (they raid it), a herb wall she labels in her own handwriting, and a small courtyard where crumb and mochi patrol like two tiny wardens. the pets list reads: crumb (bold), mochi (inspector), and a jar of tadpoles that hans insists, at length, are “not pets.”
that's the whole trick of it: the realm is calm because it was decided by two animals who only ever want somewhere warm to sleep. chari says it's the first room she's had that doesn't feel like it's waiting for something bad. we could all use a committee like that.
issue #02 — two looks from the family, plus the little things. all shoppable, none of it necessary, every bit of it yours if you want it.
goth-cat workwear for the 6am pull: cropped moto jacket, violet ribbed top, pleated mini with a chain belt, platform boots, and coffee in hand. the first door, dressed like it means business.
shop the look
soft-lethal evening wear from the perfume realm: glossy corset top with silver hardware, a sheer lilac slip, layered chains, barefoot sandals so she can feel YESHUA humming under the floor.
shop the look
die-cut, glossy, water-resistant-ish (we tried). a small black cat with a lime stripe, a cup of coffee, and a white spider hitching a ride. stick it on a laptop, a bottle, or the vending machine — it's earned it.
add to bag — $4
