CADENCE: A TALE OF MODERN FAERY
chapter one: how it can be
Val had decided that coffee was far more powerful than any faerie glamour.
Coffee was good, and strong, and fierce, and tasty, and very real. It made Val think of Ravus. It also kept the cold away. Right now, Val preferred it for the latter. The roof of her mouth was burnt, and Luis was grumbling that she was wasting coffee that could have been sold, but whatever. Customers were leaving, and it was Friday, and the sun was setting, and soon Ravus would be there. Life was good.
Val really liked coffee. And Ravus.
Yes, these were the sort of deep thoughts she pondered over as she sat on the counter at Moon in a Cup – her friends Luis, Corny, and Kaye's coffee shop, and Val's usual get-away – and drank all the coffee she could get away with. She was finishing the last drop of her current cup, when Luis came out of the office in the back, looking tired but amused.
"Is that your fifth cup?"
Val stuck her tongue out at him. "S'only my third."
"You won't get any sleep tonight," Luis said, "Maybe you should donate some caffeine to Ruth."
"Probably." Val hid a smile as she looked at her best friend. Ruth was apparently trying to sleep on the other side of the front room, her face pillowed on a textbook. "Is cramming supposed to make you pass out?"
Luis shrugged. "I think so. Shouldn't you know?"
"Uh…yeah. Funny story there." Studying for exams hadn't been one of Val's highest priorities lately.
"Why go to college if you don't care?"
"I do care!"
Luis rolled his eyes, leaning against a cabinet as he studied a page torn out of a notebook. "Whatever."
Val frowned at her coffee cup. Ignoring school had become a bit of a habit since her experience the year before. It wasn't that big of a deal, though.
The bell over the door rang, announcing a new arrival. "Hey, guys."
Val and Luis looked up to see Corny walking in, proudly holding up a bag of Chinese takeout. "I got food!" he announced.
Luis grinned, shoving the paper into his pocket and vaulting over the counter to give Corny a one-armed hug. "Hey."
"Don't crush the food," Val grumbled, "I don't want my egg rolls flat."
"Where's Kaye?" Corny wondered, setting the bag on a table.
"Bathroom?" Luis suggested, tugging one of the boxes out. He dropped down into a booth, investigating Corny's choices. "Dammit, where's the fortune cookies?"
Corny sat down beside him, shrugging, as Kaye's voice informed them that no, she was not in the bathroom. He had given up on fortune cookies after the last time: Luis had received a fortune that read 'Fortune will knock on your door', while Corny's had read 'Fortune will doorbell ditch you, you stupid pig'. That had been enough to turn him off of fortune cookies. "I gave them to a hobo. Sorry. I didn't think anyone would want them. Here, I got your favorite."
Luis sighed, already cramming chow mein in his mouth. "Can't beiweve 'ou. Givin' my fo'tune to a 'obo."
Val snickered. "How does an oboe eat a cookie, now?"
The bell over the door rang again, and a young faery man with dark hair and gold eyes peeked in. "I'm sorry if I'm late, but the sun just went down."
Val yelled with delight, jumping out of the booth to tackle Ravus in an embrace. "I missed you today! I'm sorry I didn't get by to see you!"
He smiled, kissing her cheek. "It's fine. I'm here now."
"Look, we have Chinese. Have you eaten?"
A fully glamoured Kaye came out of the office, grinning. "Yay, Chinese!"
"Corny gave away the fortune cookies," Luis told her, having finished his first bite.
"What?! What were you thinking?!" Kaye paused, considering a question that had bothered her for years. "Are they really cookies? I mean, they're not thick…and they don't have chocolate chips in them…."
"There are other types of cookies, Kaye."
"Like biscuits."
"That's just another name. Besides, you have to say it with a British accent to be a cookie. What about scones? Or biscotti?"
"Scones? No. And is that the plural form of biscotti?"
"Sure, like platypi. Or octopi."
"Isn't it platypuses?"
"Actually, I heard that it was platypodes." Val was pretty proud of herself with that one.
"It's not like octopi at all. Biscotti is the actual word. It's more like moose."
"When did biscotti come into it? And is it a biscotti, or just biscotti?"
"I believe it came from the cookie discussion."
"What is biscotti? I thought you guys were just saying biscuit like idiots."
"Guys, food is getting cold! Eat it. Now!"
"Hey…someone say take-out?" A sleepy looking Ruth wandered over, rubbing at her eyes, the shapes 1 HTAM printed her cheek, remains from her 'pillow'. "Can I have the fortune cookie? Those things are snazzy…."
Val burst out laughing, shaking her head as she whacked Luis with a chopstick. Yes, life was very good right now.
Author's Note: Well, this is a far different style from the prelude, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! There wasn't much to describe here - more dialogue instead of me trying to keep you interested with nothing going on, so that makes a difference. Also...I left most of the dialogue near the end 'untagged' (unlabeled? I don't know. But you know what I mean) because it made me laugh to imagine who was saying what. This is on purpose. Really really.
Now that I'm done explaining things you probably figured out, write me a review, okay? Because I appreciated all the reviews last time SO much. Thanks, guys. Enjoy.