Project: TheirWorld - Chapter 008 - Part 1

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If Nothing Else, Let There Be Coffee - and Bats…?

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The Enclave

“Welcome to The Perch, your local hole in the wall cafe owned by a rebellious teenager. What can I get for you?” said the bat man in a very unwelcoming, flat voice from behind the counter.

“Uh…” Dassah started, stupefied by more than one thing about her current situation.

Classes ended fairly early for her on Thursdays, so she had decided to leave the school hex and try one of the coffee shops by the Bris Community Centre. She and Stella had been looking for a convenient cafe that the could meet at outside their office. Thus far, she had liked this little place; it advertised free wi-fi, a relaxing atmosphere, and the pastries at least looked fancy and delicious. The coffee was to be the next thing to test, but this barista was… exciting.

“Please hurry up and order. There are other customers,” he told her, his large black and brown ears twitching and jet black eyes narrowing as he crossed his winged arms.

“Uh…” Dassah slowly turned and looked behind her, actually hoping there was someone else to witness this guy. No one was there. Blinking, Dassah turned back to him. “Sure,” she said. “Why not. I’ll have a Caramel Macchiato, please.”

“Right. One caramel macchiato for the bottom feeder. Coming right up,” he said boredly. The hair on the back of Dassah’s neck stood on end as the anger boiling inside her gew.

“Excuse me?” she asked him. Asshole.

“That will be five creds,” he ignored her and held out his leathery, black hand.

After staring at him and his hand for a moment, Dassah tsk-ed and handed him her card. “I don’t like you,” she decided to inform him. While she wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable with the bat people, they were far less scary than either the pigs or the dinosaurs.

“That’s nice,” he replied, swiping her card over the reader. Handing it back to her he said, “Please feel free to not like me -” he pointed to a sitting bar next to them “- over there.”

“Who is your manager?” she asked, wondering if lodging a complaint against a guy like this would be worth the trouble.

“I am the manager,” he told her.

“Who the hell made you a manager?”

“I did. Just now.*

“Who is your boss?”

“I’m the boss.”

“Bullshit.”

“Yup. Do I look like a teenager to you?”

“Where do you get your nerves?”

“The sky,” the bat barista said. “But if you want your coffee, you should go sit and let me, you know, make it.”

Though she wanted to protest, she wanted her coffee and had no desire to make any more of a scene. She had to wait for Stella to appear anyway, so she had no choice but to wait. Sitting at the bar seemed as reasonable an idea as any.

Watching him as he made her cup of caffeine crack, she supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised that he was at least graceful enough to not knock anything over with his wings folded up behind him. In fact, looking at the service area - much wider than normal coffee shop service areas - it seemed like it was designed with larger, bulkier species in mind. Still, the bat men were a flying race; they weren’t known for being too graceful on their feet. Just admit it, Dassah, she thought to herself with a sigh. You just want to see him trip.

The proper name for their species was ‘earar’, and they were said to look like things right out of nightmares - but Dassah had always found them a little disappointing compared to their reputations. Unlike the dinosaur people whose appearance struck her with fear and awe, the bat people were oddly… cute. Their faces were a little bit like a labrador retriever’s, covered in fur with wet little noses, and their eyes were round and usually black, red, or gold. She half expected them to drool like her dog back on Earth did when she saw them. And, as much as Dassah wanted it to be so, their wings weren’t cool like some sort of dragon person from Earthian fantasy stories. They had eight fingers on each hand, four supporting the leathery wings that ran down their wrist all the way to their ankle, then three fingers that served them as hands, and then one extremely flexible pseudo-thumb which had a stiff, hooked nail for hanging and climbing. As a matter of anatomy, Dassah found them fascinating - plus, as pasifistic fruit and insect eaters, she had found them quite agreeable as a species.

Until she met this guy.

He set her cup of coffee in front of her gently, but his harsh eyes set on her as he said: “One Caramel Macchiato. Can I get the ugly girl anything else?”

“How about your name so I can send a customer service complaint if I ever meet your boss?” Dassah growled, putting the cup to her lips and taking a sip. Another shock! It was the best Caramel Macchiato she had had on the Enclave. Though she hated to admit it, it may have been the best cup she had ever had.

The man behind the counter shrugged. “Don’t got a name,” he said. “But if you do happen to see that irritating runaway, tell her to come back and do her job so that I can go back to doing mine.”

“Which is?” she asked.

“Not supplying undeserving people with my sparkling customer service skills, that's for sure,” he yawned as the bell on the door jingled.

“Dassah!” Stella’s voice shouted.

Putting her cup down, Dassah turned and greeted her. “I see you found this place okay.”

Stella threw her things down on the stool next to Dassah and asked, “How is it?”

“The coffee is irritatingly fantastic,” Dassah told her, shifting her eyes to the bat man who was currently leaning by the the register, watching them with his head in his hand. “The customer service on the other hand… leaves a lot to be desired.”

After blinking, Stella laughed. “Sounds fun! I don’t see many earar around, either! He’s not bad looking…” she said and went over to order. Dassah grinned and sipped her coffee as she quietly watched the quickly devolving interaction between Stella and the barista. Aren’t they a good match. Fun, huh? Stella, meet Karma.

Though she could hear Stella’s squabbling, Dassah ignored it, deciding instead to take the moment to reflect on her game plans.

TheirWorld was certainly involved. How long would it take her to get through the tutorial? A day? Two days? Dassah frowned. I had hoped to finish the tutorial in a few hours, but… Now she wasn’t sure.

She pulled up the small holographic monitor and keyboard from her smart watch and typed in [theirworld tutorial mist bade dusk children]. Clicking on the first forum link, she skimmed through some of the posts - which, as far as Dassah was concerned, were mostly useless. They did talk about the competition between the Children of the Dawn and Dusk and speculation that it was an area of growing content. There were some that even suggested that recently appearing quests were likely connected to an upcoming event or major patch that would make the Children of the Dawn and Dusk a major part of the game. Though the speculation was interesting, it didn’t help her in her specific situation.

“What the hell is that guy’s problem?” Stella said when she came over.

Dassah laughed as she turned off her monitors, “Can’t say I didn’t warn you…”