The Visitors You Meet at the Cinnabark Cafe

1.1 THE FIRST VISITORS - A WEDDING BREAKFAST -

"I'm sorry," You said to the two flushed adventurers sitting in front of you. Your eyes assessed them quite quickly, and a bemused smile twitched at your mouth as you took in their flushed state. Bright pink cheeks, messy hair, heavy breathing, and they seemed unwilling to tear their hands free—choosing instead to grip each other tighter—and the dawn's light streaming through the grand, stained glass bay windows revealed matching bruises at the bases of their necks. "You two seemed to have had quite a night, especially if you came into my cafe so early."

"Couldn't sleep," the young man with dragon scales peaking out at odd openings in his shirt replied.

The young woman with a jade ring on her finger rolled her eyes. "We're on the run Yujin, and you would still rather treat this like a night on the Dragon's Pearl."

"And you certainly didn't mind, my lovely wife," the young man, Yujin, replied with a playful smirk.

"You have no shame."

"Why would I when I'm the best? Everything I do is the absolute right thing no matter what."

"Of course, whatever you say, My Love," the young woman responded with an exasperated looking smile and a lazy hand wave. The brunette turned back to you and held out a hand. "I'm Chicory, sorry for my husband over there," she pointed her thumb to her left, "He's really sweet once you get to know him."

"I'm sure he is," you said as you picked up two coffee mugs and began drying them. "Would you two lovebirds like anything, or would you want to know the specials we have today?" You slid them two small, handwritten trifolded menus with the words: The Cinnabark Café with a large drawing of six deep, mahogany-colored dried pieces of bark bundled together with crimson ribbon. Chicory took the menus greedily as you and the married couple laughed at the primal growls emitting from the smallest stomach.

Silence descended upon your trio as you began the daily opening rituals of the cafe. You tap on the crystal wired up to the hulking machines on your mossy green resin counters. Creatures of amber, bronze, and Runic Iron from the Far North, these machines were imbued with magic to use a few spells to make coffee from whole, unroasted beans all on their own. You just needed to turn on the almost-burnt-looking crystals by tapping your pointer finger on the tip.

"So," you began as you grabbed a few plates from the slime-resin shelf dyed to look like the night sky, "why are you two on the run?"

The machines' groaned and whirred in the background as the roasting spells kicked in. The sound filled the cafe as the married couple glanced back and forth.

"Well, we're not on the run from the authorities if that's what you think," Yujin quickly explained. His hands shot up to his chest and waved around wildly. And, as the sleeve of his cream colored flowy shirt moved back, you noticed the hand was covered in jade green dragon scales with claws instead of fingers.

You kept quiet about it.

After all, you got all types around here.

"Not on the run from authorities is good," you added with a grin. "I used to be on the run from them quite a bit when I was adventuring. It was rather poor for business, you see."

Chicory chortled at that. "For once," her hands folded across her chest, "it's not the authorities. As you said, it's quite bad for business." The young woman sighed and handed you the menu back. "Before we get into this, may I have a latte? I haven't had one since leaving my home world."

"Sure thing! Anything special with it?" You asked her with an understanding smile.

"A cinnabark and vanilla toast breakfast if you wouldn't mind cooking it," Yujin answered for Chicory. Before the young woman could say anything—her eyebrow, dark and thick, quirked and the green eyes narrowed so you knew Yujin leapt into hot water—her husband cut her off. "You need to eat, Cory. I promised Captain Horacio and your lovely menace of a mother that I would take care of you—and that means ensuring your caffeine habits are at least somewhat kinder to your stomach."