CRIMSON ROTH

Chapter 8 - Talks and Coffee

The two were sitting in a little coffee shop, which was located beside a lonely street. No one seemed to be there, except for the occasional drunken cyborg wobbling down the streets. The atmosphere inside was warm and cozy, unlike the scene anywhere else in Fhroreevere Town. The coffee shop was nothing more than a block of cement, dwarfed by the gigantic but abandoned buildings surrounding it.

In front of the shop was a picture of a coffee mug with the words 'Linqolm's Coffee' written in cursive. Neon lights were haphazardly strung around the shop, as if to make it livelier. The only one who was in the shop besides Crimson and Jake was a man they presumed to be Linqolm. He was in the corner of the room, pouring them some coffee and bailing some scones. The fluffy glowing clouds that hung from the ceiling made the metal parts of his body glow.

The sight of the cyborg material made Crimson flinch. She glanced over at Jake, who had taken on a new appearance to make sure he wouldn't be identified. Now, instead of sandy white hair, he had a black hair styled in an afro. He also made his skin turn tan, and added some cyborg detail onto his body. His eyes were still dark brown, though specks of amber flickers in and out as the clouds swung in the slight breeze.

All Crimson could have done was grab a cloth she found laying on the floor and wrap it around her head. She had also taken off her jacket, tying it onto her waist. The two hoped that was enough coverage for Crimson to not be identified. "It's pretty unusual for someone to cover their face," the sound snapped Crimson back into reality. "May I ask why?" Linqolm, their barista, turned around as he cleaned some mugs.

He was basically all metal, except for his eyes, his lower arms and some patches of elsewhere. Crimson stared at those eyes for a bit. They reminded her of Otis's eyes. They both were roughly the same colour and held that same gleam. However, Otis's was a more bright yellow, like Earth's star. Linqolm's eyes on the other hand were more of a honey yellow. A heartbeat passed in silence, Crimson absorbed back into her thoughts.

Jake opened his mouth, seeing as Crimson seemed to have lost her voice. "Her religion makes her do this," he replied to the question hastily. "She found news about a religion from another planet and decided she wanted to follow it. It requires girls like her to wrap their head in cloths so their hair can't be seen. I told her she couldn't go join religions willy-nilly but she wouldn't listen," He was making it up, hoping the barista wouldn't understand or get suspicious.

Before Linqolm could ask any further questions, the built in alarm on his arm started beeping. "Oh!" He chirped. "That means your meal is ready!" He turned around and started busying himself preparing the coffee and scones for his two guests. He poured the coffee into mugs which were wrapped in something fluffy before placing the freshly baked scones onto plates.

As he was doing this, Jake shook Crimson, his dark brown eyes worried for a split second. Th amber specks in them seem to grow, almost making his eyes look more of a reddish brown than brown. Crimson blinked and nodded, focusing back to the real world. She couldn't let herself blow their cover just because she was preoccupied with the thought of the fight that had happened. "Don't worry," she reassured him in a hushed one. "I'm fine."

"Here you are," Linqolm spoke set two plates and two mugs down. Crimson dug into her backpack, searching for some money. She hoped they accepted gold coins here. Suddenly she froze. All her money now looked weird. She brought her money up and placed them on the table. She was about to dig further into her bag when she saw Linqolm scoop up the glowing coins. It seemed that as soon as they were brought here, the money changed to Fhroreevere currency.

Crimson furrowed her brows. She just remembered another reason (which wasn't eating) that she and Jake was here. As she wondered how to ask some questions, she sipped her coffee. She had to say it was delicious. Sweet and milky with a hint of bitterness to balance it. She wondered why, even with such delicious coffee, the shop wasn't packed. "Out of pure curiosity, do you know anything about Arden? I learnt that he built the Ashi Stone. He must have been talented," she asked, acting casual as she drank some more.