Shit, I forgot abt the Q&A again... *cries* ah well, here, have a chapter to make up for it. If I don't forget again, it will be the next post but I will make no promises. Anygay I hope you enjoy :P. ♫ If you have a friend who might want to read this clap your hands! ♫
[Word count: 1548] eyyyyy
A light breeze ruffled Grian's hair as he flew through the sky. As the siblings came closer to the Starbucks where they would be working, they flew down, landing in the parking lot.
Pearl quickly used the power from the moon to shield her avian attributes, doing the same for her brother. While Starbucks didn't explicitly say no hybrids, several other stores and buildings had the discriminative signs plastered on them, making the two warry of the city's inhabitants.
The small golden bell above the coffee shop door rang out as the siblings entered. A boy was behind the counter, his blonde hair almost covering his brown eyes. "Bdubs!" He shouted to the back, "The new recruits are here!"
Instead of the short noirette Grian was expecting, another blonde poked his head out, and his red eyes scanned the room. Shortly afterward, Bdubs emerged.
"Grian! Pearl," He grinned, his black eyes sparkling with his wide smile, "Welcome," Bdubs pointed to the blonde at the counter, "That's Zed, the other blonde with the red eyes is Tango- Impuls get over here and meet the new people!"
A brunette with dark eyes quickly walked out, followed by Tango. "Hi," Impuls said, offering his hand.
Pearl shook it. "Smart of you to hide your wings, I guess you saw the signs?" Bdubs commented, gesturing to the siblings' lack of feathers, "Starbucks doesn't really mind but people hide anyway due to the other shops."
"Wait," The blonde, Tango, interjected, "You're hybrids?" Grian nodded, and Tango grinned, revealing a pair of elongated canines, "Yay! I'm a Blazeborne and Zedaph is a goat. So you can both fly?"
Zedaph quickly entered the conversation by asking, "What hybrid are you both?"
"We are both avian-lunar elf hybrids," Pearl remarked slowly. To both her and Grian's relief, they didn't seem bothered by the avian aspect.
"That's so cool!" Zed clapped, "I've never met an avian! In fact-" "We need to get working," Impuls interrupted, "As much as I'd like to talk more, customers are gonna start showing up."
Bdubs and Grian nodded simultaneously, "They will be at the next Hermit meeting anyway," Bdubs said, much to the group's delight, "Grian, you can work in the back with Tango and Impuls," the noirette directed, remembering the blonde's introvertedness. "Pearl, Zedaph, and I will work at the cashiers."
They quickly got situated and awaited the first customers. They didn't have to wait long as people began flooding in. Most of the clients were students or business people who still had work to do. As Pearl finished typing in the order of one customer, another walked up. "Hello!" Pearl greeted, smiling at the silvernette before her, "Welcome to Starbucks, what would you like?"
"You're new," was all the person said, their voice slightly muffled due to the grey mask they wore.
"I- Yes?" The avian blinked, "My uh, name is Pearl. What can I get you?"
The person smiled, or at least it looked like a smile from what Pearl could see. "I'll have my usual which is a Grande Pink Drink," They said.
"Alright, what name can I put down for the order?"
"Etho"
At the name Bdbubs turned, he had just finished with his customer. "Etho!" The wide-eyed noirette hurried over, placing down a small stool so he could better reach over the counter. "I guess you met Pearl, she and her brother are the newest recruits." "And Hermits!" Zed called out with a grin after handing someone their drink.
"Hey Grian," Bdubs called, poking his head into the kitchen, "Come meet Etho."
The blonde wiped his hands on his apron and followed the slightly shorter male out of the kitchen. When his eyes locked with the silvernette's he tilted his head to the side. Where have I seen him before...? Grian thought.
Etho had a similar reaction except he spoke up, "Densha kara kita hitodesu yo ne? (You're the one from the train correct?)" The masked man asked in Japanese.
Grian's eyes widened, "Watashi wa, wa i, mata au to wa omotte imasendeshita. Arigatōgozaimasu. Watashi o tasukete kurete. (I- yes, I didn't expect to ever meet you again. I... thank you. For helping me.)" Bdubs looked confused, as did Pearl and Zed.
"Mochiron, karera kara anzen ni nigeru koto ga dekimashita ka? (Of course, were you able to get safely away from them?)" Etho asked.
Grian only nodded. "I- uh... Are we missing something?" Bdubs questioned, suddenly breaking the momentary silence.
"We ran into each other once before," Etho jumped in, glancing at Grian who nodded.
"Huh," Zed shrugged as Bdubs said, "I didn't know you could speak Japanese Grian." the blonde avian only shrugged and went back into the kitchen, returning shortly with Etho's Pink Drink.
The blue-eyed boy handed Etho his drink and disappeared into the kitchen once more.
As ten o'clock grew nearer and nearer, Tango began to clean up the kitchen. Impulse hurried out of the kitchen and flipped the "open" sign to "closed". Bdubs handed out the last order and stretched.
"Time to close up!" Zed announced.
"Grian can you help me clean off the tables?" Bdubs asked. The avian agreed and grabbed a rag before heading over to where the noirette was standing.
Once he was sure they were out of earshot of the others, Bdubs spoke, "It was you wasn't it?" He asked, "The one who drew Scar." Grian froze.
"I- well..." the blonde sighed, "How did you know?"
Bdubs offered the avian a smile, "Well, first there was your reaction to the painting. Then the angle gave away where the artist was sitting so I figured out that you were the artist."
Grian put his hand to his face and though muffled by his hand, Bdubs heard him say, "Please don't tell Scar..."
"I won't," Bdubs promised, "Though you might want to tell him at some point before he finds out himself."
Grian nodded and continued cleaning the tables.
Once they were finished cleaning up, Pearl and Grian left, saying goodbye to their co-workers.
During the fly home, Grian's phone buzzed in his pocket. Panic shot through him and he almost fell from the sky. Pearl looked over nervously at her brother's fumble. Grian was a great flier, the best she knew. Him almost falling was very concerning.
After Grian stabilized he slowly pulled out his phone. To his relief, the message wasn't from him but rather from a much better person.
--- Scar <3 ---
<Scar <3> Hi Gri! Can I call you Gri?
<Grian> Hi Scar, yeah you can call me Gri if you want.
<Scar <3> Yay! Sorry my parents weren't at home when you came over, my mom works three-day shifts for a hospital and my dad got stuck in traffic T-T
<Grian> Nono! It's okay :) My father wouldn't be home either...
<Scar <3> Oh okay.
<Scar <3> Tmrw I have band so we can't work on the project v-v
<Scar <3> Sorry abt that
<Grian> That's cool, thanks for telling me -v-
<Grian> If you want I could start working on the writing part of it.
<Scar <3> You don't hav to do that bay yourself!
<Scar <3> have* by*
<Grian> lol
<Scar <3> :/
<Scar <3> I relly don't want you to have to do the hard part a lone.
<Grian> really* alone*
<Scar <3> ToT
<Grian> I gtg, text later?
<Scar <3> Awww, okay v^v
--------------------
Grian looked up from his phone as he a Pearl landed on the front porch. A small smile laced the blonde's lips as he entered the house. Maui and Pearl ran up to him and Maui lept up, clinging to the avian's apron.
"Maui!" Grian stated in shock as Pearl rubbed against his sister's legs.
"Can we agree to call Pearl Pearly so we don't get mixed up?" His sister asked, scratching the cat that shared her name.
"Yeah," Grian set Maui down, "Sorry for naming my cat after you. It's kinda weird looking back on it now..."
Pearl rubbed the back of her neck, "Well for a while I had a small parrot plushie I called Grian so I think we are even-" she was interrupted by a chuckle.
"We should probably go to bed," Pearl stated after her brother stopped laughing. Grian nodded and ascended the stairs, his cats on his heels.
"Night G," Pearl called as she closed the door.
"G'night Pearl."
Grian looked around his room as Pearly and Maui lept onto his bed. That's fine, I wasn't gonna sleep anyway... the blonde thought, running a hand through his messy hair.
He sat at his desk and opened his computer. His computer. He'd gotten it in Japan when his father still sent him a lot of money. Grian shook his head and opened a new document. I know Scar doesn't want me to do so much by myself but... I'm okay with it and I have nothing to do anyway.
Grian mostly blamed the moon for his lack of sleep though his sister, who was more lunar elf than he, was able to fall asleep much faster. The memories and dreams in the back of his mind haunted him, waiting for him to sleep before they would strike again. Grian wasn't going to give them that chance. Not as long as he could anyway.
Who was surprised that Etho ordered a pink drink?
Better yet, was anyone surprised that Etho and G had met before?
yeet questions for Q&A here-
g o o d b y e