The Reunion

1: Good Morning, Cafe Acheron

Cecile groaned as she woke up. The first thought that popped into her head was why her pajama's were so tight, but that was quickly answered when she looked down to see herself in her work uniform. She must have come home in a hurry after that lengthy shift. She took a short sniff only to frown. She smelled like alcohol and coffee, the two most despised scents in her world. She groaned and turned onto her side.
"Your hair is looking absolutely lovely this morning." Cecile jumped up from her bed,
looking for the intruder, only to find a familiar blonde haired girl sitting criss-cross on the bed on the opposite side of the room. Cecile sighed before putting her hand on her forehead. "Oh Lin, it's just you. I thought you were a-"
"Someone you hooked up with at the bar? Nah, I wouldn't have let them in." Cecile nodded. Lin jumped off of her own bed and headed over to the kitchen. "I'm currently making a toast. Do you want this piece?" Cecile started slow clapping. "Congratulations Linda Mueller, you have finally be successful of cooking the world's most simple dish. Toast." Lin glared at Cecile before grinning. "If you don't want it, I'll just eat it." Cecile almost dashed to the kitchen when hearing that phrase and laughed. "Nope. Still going to eat it." Cecile looked at her watch and smiled. "I can't believe I woke up at seven. I usually sleep in until 10." Cecile poured some hot water into a small mug and grabbed the buttered piece of toast from Lin. Lin snickered and grabbed another piece of toast from the toaster. "Look at your watch again. This time, look at the hands intensely." Cecile knew exactly what she meant. She had done this countless times in her life. Nervously, she checked her watch and saw that it was actually 12 o'clock. Cecile almost dropped her mug and dashed into the bedroom.
"Dammit Lin, why didn't you wake me up earlier?" She only heard Lin hum, as if she was satisfied with herself. Cecile put on a new waistcoat and quickly threw on a teal green jacket before running out of the house. "Bye Lin, or should I say Ms. Sadist!" Lin muttered a small goodbye before Cecile slammed the door shut and ran down the stairs of their condo. "No time to call a taxi," Cecile muttered. "But I'll get sweaty if I run." Wait, why am I worrying about getting there on time? I'm already 4 hours late.

She slowed down as she walked down the city blocks. After 20 minutes, she reached a small shop with a banner reading: "Cafe: Acheron" with an extra part of the sign covered with a tarp. The shop was covered in small symbols that had been drawn on with chalk. Great, I'll have to clean that up tomorrow. She thought before entering the cafe. Cecile waved to the cashier and walked into the back. She took off her jacket and tied on her apron and pinned on her name badge. The cashier almost looked happy to see Cecile open another register and began taking orders. The customers started to even out and poured out of the cafe. Cecile sighed and gave a thumbs up to the other cashier. She had light yellow skin and long, black hair that she kept in a ponytail. "I've never seen you before, are you new?" The girl nodded, fidgeting with the hem of her apron. "I'm Nona. It's my first day without a mentor." Cecile nodded. Great, Cecile thought. Now I have to watch over this kid. Cecile extended her arm before smiling. "Pleasure meeting you Nona! I'm Cecile. When does your shift end?" Nona checked the log on the back of the faculty door, only to groan once she read it. "I seem to have a 12 hour shift, so I'll be here until closing. Why are the shifts so long?" Cecile tsked before walking to the coffee machine and started grinding up some old coffee beans. Nona looked for Cecile's name on the door before squinting. "That's almost impossible, I thought the shop closed at eight. How did you even get an 18 hour shift?" Cecile put a few tablespoons of ground coffee on a filter and let the water sleep through. "Magic. Wait, don't you need to go to school? It is a Tuesday after all."
"I'm taking a gap year, I don't think I'm ready for all the college stress. What about you?" Cecile stared at the mug of coffee. "I graduated a while back..." Lies. You dropped out on your second year. Maybe you should have taken a gap year too. Then you wouldn't have been so stressed. "...I need to get some of the desserts from the back, I'll be back in a second." Cecile sniffed her coffee before dumping it into the sink. She then walked into the back of the cafe, then turned to Nona. "Be careful if you get a late shift, Acheron is a different place at night." Cecile mumbled the final part before closing the faculty door.

It was 10 minutes before eight when Cecile rushed Nona out of the door and told her that she'd close the shop. When Nona was out of sight, Cecile sighed. The first thing she did was open the tarp. "Cafe: Acheron Bar and meet-up for anyone 18+." After that, she headed back inside only to put the coffee machines unter the table and twirled the back of the wall around, only to reveal hundreds of bottles of liquor and beer. Cecile took off the sign that read "Staff Only" and slid in a door stopper. Behind the door was a hallway with multiple private rooms and one staff room in the way back. As Luciel walked to the front, half a dozen familiar boys and girls greeted her and headed to the staff room.

Yes, Cafe Acheron was a different place at night. A very dangerous one at that.