Flaming cocoon, Or, How I learned to break free of my shell

Ch.2: coffee and rambling sounds great, I guess

Cosmia

I wake up blearily, and stiffen in surprise. Avia's managed to snuggle so far into me that I'm practically wrapped in her feathers. I gently push her off of me and slip off the bed. Avia grumbles in her sleep and shifts around. I rub the sleep out of my eyes and head to the bathroom to shower. When I get out, a towel wrapped around me as usual, Avia is in the kitchen looking around for food. Once I've changed, I head back out to the living room, where I see Avia slumped on the couch, looking dejected. "Nothing to eat, apparently. Some things had gone bad, some had been used for other dishes, and some had been half finished and were about to go bad. The smoothies are still fine, but they won't fill you up, and I wouldn't trust them, since they were near a moldy thing. Grocery run tomorrow, then." I grin. "Coffee, then?" She sighs. "Sure. I'll grab my stuff, then we'll head out." I grin and wait by the door. A few minutes later, Avia meets me outside, and we start walking the 3 blocks to the coffee shop. About halfway to the shop, Avia asks me, "So, who do you think will be working there today?" I grin. "Make that 80 bucks." Avia grins. "Sure. Get ready to lose." I smirk. "Not likely. Most of my friends quit making bets with me a few years ago, because I tend to win." Avia frowns. "So you cheat at gambling?" I smile even wider. "Nope. My hunches are usually correct though, which was most of the bets." Avia grimaces. "Now I don't think I have good odds. Crap." I smirk at her. "Ready to lose? Two blocks to go." Avia smirks. "You're on." As we near the shop, I realize something important. "Oh, by the way. It's trivia week. I'm gonna sign up. I'm really good at obscure questions." Avia grins. "Fine by me." We reach the shop, and I clap excitedly. "I recognize the music here today! Pay up. 10 bucks to me so far." "Why?" I grin. "The nymph and I have similar music tastes, so I always know when she's working." Avia groans and fishes the money out of her wallet. "Fine. 70 bucks are still up though." I smirk." Not for long." Two hours later, I'm acing the trivia, and about ready to have a coffee, since trivia starts at 5, but coffee doesn't start being served until 7. I grin and approach the counter. The flower nymph is there, her petals purple and white as usual, but her leaf dress is blue and green today, with a hood, and while she recognizes me, it takes me a moment for me to recognize her. "Hey Cosmia. The usual?" I smile. "Yeah. Thanks. By the way, I don't think I ever got your name for some reason. Seems a shame, since you're so pretty." She blinks, a light blush rising up her cheeks. "You're right, I never did tell you. It's Tulip by the way." I grin. "Thanks Tulip. Hey Avia, what do you want?" Avia makes her way over to the counter and grins. "Well, this is fun. How you doing?" Tulip smiles. "It's going well, what would you like to order?" Avia orders her drink, and we all sit down to talk while Tulip has an intern mix the orders as part of their job training. I blink. "You're sure about that?" Tulip chuckles. "Yup. How we doing, Earl?" The intern, Earl, grins. "Very well, and I made that lavender free one first with separate things. Not my first experience with allergies. As for the nectar caramel, that's coming along nicely, with no lavender either, since it wouldn't do to cross contaminate." I blink. "Huh. Neat." Avia chuckles. "So, what's new, Tulip?" Tulip grins. "Well, I got a tattoo a week ago. Not too hard to care for once I got into a schedule." I gasp. "Really? What and where?" Tulip beams. "It's a polyam symbol, and it's on my neck. You probably can't see it because of my hood, but it's there." Avia gasps. "Didn't know you were polyam. Neat, and also mood." I beam. "Same haha. What a coincidence, huh?" Tulip chuckles at me. "Well then, looks like your orders are ready." She serves us our drinks, and I sip mine cautiously. My face lights up. "It's delicious!" Tulip chuckles. "Glad to hear it!" Avia grins. "So, I heard you were looking for a place. Any leads?" Tulip grins. "Yeah. I think you may know the place. Evan said I'd be moving in with you two." Avia blinks. "Well, on one hand, it'll be great to have you, but on the other hand, I just lost 50 bucks. Shit." I cackle. "Pay up." Avia grumbles. "Fine. Dammit. Here." I grin. "Told you." Tulip chuckles. "You two bet on whether I'd be your roommate? Wow, that's a new one." I smirk. "So, when do you move in? Isn't it sometime tomorrow?" Tulip beams. "Yup. Would you mind giving me a tour after you finish up here, though? Just so I'm prepared. I clock out in 10, so don't wait for me." Avia and I exchange glances. "That should work, yeah." Avia says hesitantly. "Just so we're clear, you'll probably have to share our bed. I won't let anyone sleep on the floor, and the guest room's a mess. A previous roommate was a semi-hoarder, but they kept my spaces clean, thankfully." Tulip blinks. "Yeah, that should be fine. See you in 10 minutes." I grin and head out the door. "20 bucks to go." Avia groans. "Noooo." We head back to the apartment and organize. 5 minutes later, Tulip shows up at the door and knocks. Avia lets her in, and we show her where everything is. Two weeks later, she's brought the rest of her things in, and we've started unpacked. She grins as Avia complains about the lack of food yet again. "Well, why don't you go shopping?" Avia groans. "Tomorrow. For now, let's get you situated." Tulip grins and says, "No problem. Anything else I should know?" I smirk. "Actually, there is." Avia and Tulip turn to look at me, confused. I grin somberly, snap my fingers on my auxiliary right hand, and the lights flicker out. I close my eyes and breathe deeply. When I open them, they glow red as a blood moon. Tulip steps back, shocked. Avia blinks, seemingly calculating my next move. I grin. "Perfect night vision, in full color too. My eyes aren't proper compound, since the experiments that the Predecessors did created hybridized systems, as you well know." I turn the lights back on, and I open my mouth. My fangs slide down and into place with a sound like unsheathing a sword. Tulip gasps. Avia grimaces. "Well, this changes things. I was wondering why you ordered so many nectar shots in your coffee." Tulip smirks. "It all makes sense now. I'd heard the rumors, but I wasn't sure whether to believe them or not. Welcome, Nightkin." Avia blinks. "What? Tulip, you know something, don't you?" I grin. "She's versed in the ancient rites. I'm relatively young by Nightkin standards, but most of that can be attributed to cryosleep. I've been lying to most of the world. Just to give a little history lesson, we Nightkin were created by a purely accidental splice of vampire bat DNA with various other Protokin genomes. I'm second-generation, around 2100 years old in mortal time. All the Prime generation are long gone, as are the Exclusionaries, but mom's a first-gen. First gen is 3000-2750 years, Prime were the original generation woken by the Exclusionaries around 4000-4500 years ago, when the Cataclycon eigenweapon stopped erasing the Predecessors."