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Warm Up - 19 | Half

"Good morning and welcome to Roast n' Rye!" Dan greeted, "Where you can have your RnR." The white-fur-and-mane lion smiled in his cheesy barista outfit. Black collared shirt, which he found to be the bane of this Universe's existence, khaki slacks, and a white apron bearing the green logo of the cafe.

Barista work was very simple in essence. Hell, even the people who he observed working before made it seem so easy. While his job was to take orders with a smile, forced at times, and mix chocolate, coffee, and-or milk together, sometimes the drinks management retails required so much complexities. Stardustmeg this, mango-honey that, while penalizing the employee if they so much as glance at the recipe card. Between that and his studies, he's gotten good at hiding his workarounds. The perks of the job were substantial; insurance, tuition discount, cafe discount, and a free meal during the weekends. Tips split between him and Victor who was out in the higher Sub-Levels buying feral Earth-cow milk.

His current customer, a large griffin who wore a hoodie and beanie in the end-cycle of pseudo-spring, stared at the menu above. It gave him time to brush over the recipes that he had secretly copied on the cash register. Today's special involved the use of live coal dipped in hot Collian Caramel, before being mixed with the aforementioned milk. 'No substitutes allowed!' his street manager would shout. There were three other RnRs in this street alone and if they were all glowing, it meant a promotion for him, and not being fired for those below him. He did not have the time to worry about organization politics because today's special had several more steps that included a blowtorch, and pixie dust. He hoped for the griffin to order something simple, and something that wouldn't smell foul.

The last two customers, who had been here for the last hour, ordered a 'Rainbow coffee', and it was half as tedious as the special. And the other, to his relief, only ordered a hot choco mint. But it would be unfair for him to get angry at them, the jackal and deer had become his regulars. And a quick glance back to the griffin, still deciding, seemed to have been a common occurrence too.

That didn't seem right. Dan tried not to make his confusion apparent because his superiors would mistake it for him misunderstanding the recipes. No, the griffin had come as often as the jackal did. He tried to remember the last few days, where the jackal would come over on Wednesdays and Mondays with his deer, while the griffin would also be there too. Almost a sudden addition to his memory. Weird. Very weird.

"I'll have the cold mocha blend, please," the griffin said.

The simplicity of such an order pulled Dan back into his work, immediately responding, "Good choice!" He answered, part of the guideline was to encourage their customer's order. Because the next suggestion would most likely be well received, "Would you like that in our largest cup?" A tall cup, almost as tall as his arm, was already in-hand, with a marker on the other about to write the order.

"Yes, please," the griffin nodded.

See? "Alright, one large C-M-B, coming right up, for?" Dan jotted down the initials onto the side of the paper surface, just below the logo it had.

"Ethan." The griffin said simply.

"Ethan it is!" He wrote it down and set the cup beside the milk-heater. A small lever-based machine that poured fast-heated milk. But before he got to that, he attended the register. The notes for today's special had gone away, and he inputted the order. "One hundred sixty credits, please," the cash register's box popped out with a ping.

The griffin fished into his pocket for a wallet, and gave him a 100-credit bill, three 20-credit bills, and three 10-credit coins. The latter slid towards the lion with three talons.

It insinuated a tip but Dan would rather make sure, "Sir, it's only one hundred sixty credits." He only took the paper bills, while the coin rested on the counter as he deposited the money and tore off the receipt after the process was done.

"Ah," the griffin said, almost as if he too had been mentally preoccupied. "Was stuck dreaming, sorry." And took the three coins away. Two he kept in his pocket, the other one he started flipping in his hand.

"That's alright, thank you for ordering." Dan said with forced courtesy. He half-thought about it while making the order. Rather, he made his mind focus on just the order. It was simple. A fourth of Vinistrii milk, which was bitter by itself, followed by a fourth of Gray-sugar to balance it out while retaining the former's frothy cream. Any other sugar would've made it slim. And came the mocha; a small drop of dark chocolate from Aerth because it was enough to add a honey-like depth to the beverage, followed by Earthean coffee 2.0 which had the highest caffeine content in this and the surrounding galaxies to even keep giants up for days with a cup this size.

After combining all of these into one cup, he fetched a small electric mixer-cooler that combined all of these elements while cooling it down. The result being a fragrant, bubbling and frothy dark brown drink, topped off with a plastic lid to seal its goodness. Submitted onto the counter, with a wrapped edible straw. Came with every large-cup order. "A Cold Mocha Blend for Ethan the Griffin," Dan announced.

Ethan stowed his last coin as he approached the counter and fetched his order, "Salamat, Dan." He said to the lion who raised a brow. "That means, thanks, Dan."

"You're welcome," Dan answered back cordially. And when he turned away to clean up his apparatus, that's when he wondered how the griffin knew his name. He turned around just as quick, ignoring workplace etiquette.

Ethan, however, was on the phone, "Hoy Nicky," he was enthused. Taking a sip of his drink, and smacking his lips after. "Sarap nang ginawa niya." The griffin said. "Napansin niya ako. Bilis niya nalaman kung saan ako galing."

Dan did not understand a single world but could feel an invisible pressure on him. He remembered a dream he had before. Something that he passed off as a nightmare. Which it was. It was a nightmare. Why did he call it a dream? It was a nightmare, and it was the strangest of all nightmares he had had.

"Nandito rin yung pusa. Silang dalawa." Ethan continued. Dan knew it was bad to eavesdrop. "Tatlo pero dalawa lang sa kanila ang mahalaga. Yung pusa at ang usa." The griffin chuckled as if what he said was a joke.

Dan figured it was because of the rhyme. 'Pusa' and 'usa'. He didn't bother hiding the fact he pulled his phone out. These two terms were inputted into his mobile device and the results were related to Earth's history. It autocorrected him to 'USA and USA', which the summary said was a series of conflicts between delta humans almost a millennia ago. Between the north and south, they fought with primitive weapons.

That wasn't it, Dan thought. He kept his phone again while committing to cleaning up his station. But his ear twitched, listening to the griffin's conversation. But he shouldn't. He really really shouldn't.

It was very weird though, Ethan continued, "Ginawa na ba ni Kerrigan?"

Kerrigan? Dan paused for a moment while he wiped the mixer. He turned his head and side-eyed the griffin, and over the display counter of his pastries he saw the deer stare at him with morbid wonder. Seemed like he knew something about the griffin. Maybe even understood him. But everyone on Earth would know who Kerrigan is. Metaphorically the largest businessman on Earth, and one of the big tens in the Sol System. Rubs elbows with local hivemind authority. A lion like himself, just not from Palluvia.

"Ngayon palang? Puta, sige. Malapit na sila gagalaw kung ganun." Ethan said as he went for the exit. "Tawagan mo na sila." And walked away.

Once he was out of the store's view, with Dan even sidestepping to make sure he couldn't be seen anymore. Once Ethan had gone, he shot a puzzled look at the deer who mirrored a more fearful look instead.

"Deer-y, what's wrong?" The jackal saw his partner's worry and stared at the lion too. "I'm sorry, was it because of last week?" He stood up and pulled out his wallet to pay for compensation.

The deer behind him blushed, the same look had intensified and his fur visibly stood as sweat started to emerge from the fur of his head. "Three Moons I hope not," he whispered to himself.

"Last week?" Ethan's confusion now focused on the jackal who seemed relieved that his doubt meant he didn't know. Which he didn't. "No, no. Sorry." He said not wanting to press matters because it was certain he was in trouble. There will be a chew-out session later, surely.

"Oh," Tuck kept his wallet. "Nevermind then. But," he turned to Arthur, still fearful, "Are you hurt? I'll call the ambulance. You have insurance now."

Dan pulled out his cellphone in immediate response, as did the jackal.

Arthur shook his head, "I'm fine, hun." He composed himself and took a sip of his drink. Thought about something while his partner and the barista were still giving him a concerned look, both their phones out about to call emergencies. "Really." He told them both. "Lion," he called out to the startled barista, "When do you get off work?"

Normally such questions shouldn't be entertained. However, a trust was formed by the peculiarity of this situation, and it seemed the jackal would be stringed along too. Though he needed to think about it. Maybe the deer might have answers, maybe not. Maybe the griffin's mannerisms were different from that of Earth. Maybe the griffin knew his name because Victor kept calling him that during work. Maybe he missed out on a thirty credit tip. He shook his head at the deer, "Sorry but I'm busy later." Busy getting chewed up. Hopefully his near-pristine record could save him from sacking but if it did then there was no room for excuse.

"Arty, what's wrong?" Tuck sat down and held his wrists. "Was it because of what the griffin said?"

The deer nodded, and Dan tried to get along with his business. But even then half of himself wanted to know the cause of this weird feeling. Why the griffin tugged on a dream- nightmare he could barely remember.

"He spoke in a tongue I've heard from a Bathoertian myth." Arthur explained, "Which talked about the call to duty, to act. He said 'Tawagan' meaning 'call' or 'the call'. That's all I know. And then he mentioned Kerrigan."

"And then he mentioned Kerrigan." The recording said.