Fusing Two Flavours

Letters from Next Door

Espresso Cookie swept up the last few bits of coffee. "I suppose you can be used as fertiliser for the next Beans, maybe that'll change the bitterness?" 

He held up the Coff33 machine. "At least you work. I must remember to ALWAYS pay the water bills. The others? Pfft. Don't need light or warmth! Coffee is fine for me."

He began to plan his next invention, which would harness the coffee scent to be strong to him awake, but never strong enough so others could smell it from metres away. He worked late into the night, before being yelled at by an agitated Herb Cookie for the racket he was making. 

Eventually. He tried to go to sleep. His eyes hurt, his heart still beating fast, and the coffee not helping his sleep. He hadn't got any sleep in 3 days, so he figured to prevent nasty side-effects, he'd sleep every 3 days.

...

Espresso Cookie groaned. He had gotten a lot of sleep, but felt extremely tried. Externally, he looked like he tried to sleep for 8 hours before being woken up after an hour. Internally, his body screamed for coffee.

He looked at the time. 

9:34. 9:34. 9:34.

Espresso yelped, and rushed breakfast, dressing and showering. His hair was as wet as the ocean, and as untamed as Tiger Lily Cookie. He rushed to the Port.

"I-I'm not late, am I?"

"No, you are right on time. Welcome, Espresso." Said Pure Vanilla.

"Well, t-that's great. I-I was working on something, s-so I hope this doesn't t-take long." Said Espresso.

"OoOOooOOooo!" Said Sorbet Shark. 

They boarded the ship. Mango Cookie was playing cards with a fair-haired sailor. Alas, Mango wasn't very good at cards, and wasn't winning. He noticed the cookies, and paused his game to help them.

"Hello! Where to, Cookies?" The Cheery Cookie said. Espresso never really liked Mango Cookie. He was unsure why, maybe his hair, his flavour, the fact he spent so such time near the water. Alas, due to his extensive time alone, he never bothered to figure out why. 

...

"I'm soaking wet! You didn't even pick me up until the damn fight was over!"

"So? We had to keep pushing or we would have died!"

Red Velvet had fired up an argument with Pure Vanilla, as he was thrown into the water during the final fight. The fighting was slowly getting out of control, and Sorbet's incoherent speech wasn't helping.  The fighting soon became frightened OoOooing, the clash of steel and plant and  Mango desperately trying to stop them. All while Espresso silently left to go home.He arrived in the kingdom to see it was snowing. In summer. Frost Queen cookie must be nearby, he supposed. 

He entered the house and slipped face first onto the coffee-stained carpet. He looked behind him to see a now crumpled letter by his foot. He closed the door and picked up the letter. The letter wasn't signed with an address, so the person who sent this must live nearby. He read it, but his shoe was so muddy he had smeared the writing. He read only the bits he could make out.

Dear Espresso... I'm sorry... I hope we can... maybe by the beach? Again I'm... From,

Dammit. Either his shoes were larger than he thought or this letter was small. He could make out one last thing. Sunday, 5:30.

He looked on his calendar. Like a traditional cookie, he believed it was a day of rest, and usually the day he got some sleep. So meeting... whoever this Cookie was, would be on a free day.

He decided to send one back. He wrote in his special ink, so the cookie would know who had sent it. He wrote to say he was free that day, and he'd bring some of his own espresso for the cookie, and he had little to no idea what the cookie was apologising for. He eventually tried to send it to the cookie. He asked around until Madeleine appeared. 

"Hello, Espresso! I was about to go on a duel, what is the matter? I have time to assist!"

"Oh... hello. I was sent this letter," he held up the smeared letter. "I didn't see it, so, as you can see... I, well. Stood on it by mistake. And tripped over it."

"So you don't know who it's from, basically?"

"Yes. Do you know?" 

"I can ask around for you, save you some time. If I find who it is, I'll let you know!" He smirked and ran off, like a schoolboy on his first day to school. Espresso blushed in embarrassment, and went home.