An Adventure

The Awakening

     He woke up in a world he had never seen: the hissing of steam, the smell of oil, the grinding of gears, and chatter. Where he was? He hadn't a clue. It was the first time he had ever seen such things, except in drawings and what have you. He had never imagined such things to be possible.
     

     Isaac Keasy Rivington had no idea what to do. Instead of panicking, however, he got up casually, as if he had merely fallen asleep. Compared to everyone else, he was dressed rather differently. He was wearing peonic clothes, and he felt embarrassed, but everyone seemed to ignore him. He checked his pockets and he had some change, though he knew not of the specific currency. He had never seen such before. So Isaac, not knowing what else to do, went on a little adventure through the town he was in. He learned that this place ran a very stable economy, which surprised him, for where he was previously had one of the worst possible economies that he could ever imagine. He bought with the money he had in his pockets a new set of clothes and a top hat, for you see, he liked the style. 

     He went on to a coffee shop, sitting and enjoying the mere scent of the coffee, when a stranger came up aside him, and sat at the table Isaac was.

     "Howdy, stranger," said he, who had a gruff voice despite his small form. "If I'm thinkin' correctly, I've not seen you 'round these part b'fore."

     "Aye, that is correct," Isaac replied, wondering if he was about to get swindled in some way. Seeing Isaac's shift in stance, the stranger put out his hand for a shake. Isaac took the hand, weakly, and shook.

    "Th' name is Albert. Most jus' call me Al." He waved a waitress over. "Hey, Soph. Can I have the usual and then whatever this gentleman wants?"

    Soph looked pleasantly at Isaac, awaiting his answer. "I'd like to have just some black coffee, thank you." He didn't know what else there was on the menu, and assumed since this was, in fact, a coffee shop, that there would be some regular black coffee. However, Soph gave him a strange look, as did Albert, but nevertheless, she left and returned a short while later with what the men had ordered. 

     The old man gave Isaac a look like he was stupid, and sipped on his own drink. As Isaac put the cup to his lips, he noticed how perfectly the coffee was heated; Soph or whoever made the coffee had apparently done it many times before. So, he sipped it. The next thing he noticed was that it was very strong coffee, and that he liked. Never before had he had coffee so strong, and was immediately thankful that he chose the black coffee over anything else. 

     Soph gave him an odd look, then spoke up, saying, "So, uh, sir? Do you like it?"

     "Like, ma'am? No, I don't like it at all," at this, Soph got wide eyed with worry, but he continued, "as a matter of fact, I love this! This is the best coffee I've ever had! And I've had a lot of coffee." He set the cup down and got a serious look on his face. "Now, then, it may be a stupid question, but if I may ask, what is the name of this place?"

     Soph and Albert exchanged glances with each other, almost with a look of humor in their eyes. Albert turned to Isaac, with an incredulous look, said, "Ya dun know where ya are? This is th' town of Luggergarde! We're the closest residence t' Pallfort there is, and we got a train that goes directly t' th' city."

     Isaac took this in and replied, "As you said, Albert, I am not from around here. As a matter of fact, I woke up on a bench, wearing peonic clothing, but I found that I had a small amount of change in my pocket, so I bought these clothes. Frankly, I can't even remember what happened to get me here."

     Soph was gone to another table now, having been waved there by yet another customer, but she kept glancing in the direction of the men.