[1X1] Welcome to the Graveyard Circle

Kin no Keifu

Kin no Keifu

Genealogy of Gold
The cafe was a warm place in the night, the snow falling outside a welcome distraction to any worker within but Helois. He marked down ideas for new recipes in his notebook one by one, an ear kept out for the brass-plated bell at the door. Any new customers had to meet the cashier, after all, and they had to pay. Life was good when it went that way. It had been good for months now.

The fae stifled a small chuckle at the rhyme he'd just made in his head, encircling an idea that seemed of merit. He rang the bell for the kitchen, summoning the worker to his place. "Berwald, look here! You think this is good?"

"Don't care, boss!" came the answer from the kitchen, jokingly called out by one of the cafe's few workers. "As long as it doesn't involve Skittles, it's probably great!"

"Yeah, yeah. Keep believing that. And stop opening the window!" Helois shot a glare at the offensive thing, innocently laying open and very visible through the glass door. He smoothed over the glove on his hand and went back to his notebook. "I'm thinking doughnut sandwiches with fruit slices. Sound good?"

"Sounds good," Berwald answered. There was a thump as the window slammed shut. "See, boss! It's usually good."

"Right." The brunet took a quick look outside. It was getting a little colder, enough that the windows were a little frosted. He took a cord nearby and plugged it in, watching as the storefront lit up. The neon sign was on now, great. Customers'd probably be coming in soon. Neon helped a lot with that.

He returned to his notebook, undeterred by the emptiness of his cafe.
 
Leigh was freezing. Winter hit far harder here than she was used to. It was one of the many things she was still getting used to after the move. She was wearing a big, blue, woolly jumper, and had sensible shoes on-she'd had to find a pair that dealt with snow and wet weather-so she was faring ok. She kept telling herself that. She was on her way home from meetings she'd been in all day. As a workplace, hanging out in the think tank was great. They had half a building and mostly just threw balls around in the loft, letting Leigh write up decent summaries of all the nonsense everyone was spouting onto their giant whiteboard. She was good like that. It was the reason they'd hired her. She was creative, and liked pulling together information from different fields, turning it into a cohesive, new and shiny concept.
Smiling against the cold, feeling the bite of it in her cheeks, Leigh walked a little faster. She loved this job. Her workmates were clever people, making her feel like a fourth grade idiot, but never in a cruel way. They created things together, and Leigh finally got to feel that she was with her kind of people. They all got excited when a plan came together, when a new idea sprouted up from the puzzle pieces they'd all tossed on the board. She was still getting used to it, but this was a good place.
Just bloody cold.
Neon light bounced off the pavement ahead of her, and Leigh glanced up as the new sign came on. It was glaring in the gathering night, garish and intrusive, and it was just about the best thing she'd seen for hours. A café! Thank the lord. Quickly giving up on any pretense of holding out against the cold, Leigh quick-marched it to the door and swung it open.
A bell jangled, announcing her entrance, and Leigh closed her eyes and let out a contented sigh as a wave of warmth soaked into her. Closing the door hurriedly behind her, she rubbed her hands together and walked up to the counter. The café seemed pretty empty, but the man behind the counter seemed lovely, and the place was cosy, not just because it was warm. And of course, they sold sweets. Leigh's eyes flew to the food display. She couldn't help but grow a small smile at the food behind the glass. They had the usual array of cakes and macarons and slices, but also in there were some strange combinations, odd mixtures, intriguing and very sweet looking. A lonely slice of some kind even seemed to be showered with skittles.
Walking up to the counter and pulling off her gloves, Leigh smiled brightly at the cashier. "Hi! Could I please get a hot chocolate?"
 
Helois looked up and set his notebook down, offering a welcoming smile. A new face, hm? He definitely hadn't seen her around before. "Sure, I can set that up for you. What size?" He readied one of the multiple cups by the counter. "We've got small, moderate, medium, and large. And would that be everything?"

The man took a quick look back at the customer he hadn't really looked over- and he swore he could feel his heart stop. She was beautiful. The hair she'd tied back framed a fair face, a little reddened from the cold, and there looked to be a light dusting of snow over the gold strands. Helois looked back at the hot chocolate machine he'd set aside, hiding the telltale heat that fell across it at the sight of her.

Shit. Think of something else!

Had she been looking at the sweets? She had been. Dear God he hoped she'd try the pancake sandwiches. Those were just baked a minute ago. Or, well, that she'd buy anything. A new customer would be great for business. Yes.
 
Leigh beamed at the man. He seemed to be one of those easy going types. It was the worst when a cashier seemed to be hating their life. She got it-no-one wanted to be stuck behind a counter-but this one seemed to enjoy being here. That was always good for morale. "Oh, a large, please. It's got to keep me warm until I get home. I'm not quite used to this kind of weather yet."
Would that be everything? Leigh checked her watch. There was time for her to get a snack, surely. She'd had some Chinese take away at the office, but an evening sweet to go with her hot chocolate surely wouldn't be too much of a concern. She wouldn't be up too late tonight, hopefully, and a sweet little something could get her through until bedtime. She smiled at the cashier a little shyly. "I think I'll try a cake. What do you recommend?"
 
"Right, cake. We don't have too much anymore- the morning group really did a number on the food- but there's enough. If you'd really want my recommendation, we still have a few slices of vanilla dream cake. It's got mocha frosting and Berwald from the kitchen convinced me to put butterscotch sauce in as a filling." Helois filled the hot chocolate cup quickly, setting it on the counter. "I also might need to tell you we add chocolate syrup to all the hot chocolate. We've run out of sweet chocolate powder and needed to improvise. Sorry."

Was that too forward? He didn't think he could tell so easily, not when this girl was new. Maybe he could tell easier if she came back again? A new human to study was always nice. "Should I get a slice of the cake I mentioned?"
 
Leigh felt her eyes widening. It was a little embarrassing that she had such a sweet tooth, but she couldn’t help it. All the talk of chocolate syrup and sweet cake fillings were reverting her back into a two year old. "Yes please! That sounds amazing." She laughed a little, tucking her escaping her back behind her ear. "All you have to do is say chocolate and I'm there."
She was pleased with the cashier as well. He'd about confimed her initial assessment of him. He certainly didn’t seem to mind talking about his wares, and he was honest. There was nothing worse than the bored out of their skull servers who made you feel guilty just for asking them to do their job.
This guy seemed to actually enjoy himself. And he knew the kitchen guy. Was it that small a community in here? Was that what she could expect from this small town?
"So do you make the sweets?" she asked, eyeing the cabinet with a new and interested eye. "Wait! Is this your place?"
 
"Um, yeah." The fae grinned, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I'm Helois A., the cashier and owner of the Graveyard Circle. I make the sweets when no-one's in and I make the recipes when someone is." Helois suppressed a soft squeak when she turned that laugh onto him. He hadn't known humans could be so endearing!

"I, um, I actually make a new product for any new regulars." He took a slice of the cake and placed on a paper plate. "Just saying. So, dine-in or takeout?"
 
Leigh glanced around the room. No-one here. She glanced outside. Way too cold. She realised the longer she left her exit, the colder it was going to get, but she just wasn't strong willed enough to care. Besides, poor Helois might get lonely if she left as well. Sipping her hot chocolate, she gave a happy moan at the taste. It was good hot chocolate, and it was warming her slowly thawing insides.
Helois. Strange name. But he owned the place. Leigh imagined rocking up to Starbucks and meeting the owner of the franchise at the counter. What a strange place small towns were. Grinning, she shrugged. "Well I've got nowhere else to be, and you look lonely. So dine-in!" She took another sip of the hot chocolate. "You may well have found a regular in me! I work just down the road, and if your coffees and your company are as good as your hot chocolates then you'll get the whole work order in the morning," she laughed. She jumped, seeming to remember that he'd given her name. She held her hand out, reaching over the counter towards Helois. "Oh! I'm Leigh, by the way."
 
"The whole work order? Oh, the horror. What's a man to do with more business?" Helois laughed, shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you, Leigh. Come here at least five times in the next week and I'll make you a product out of anything you'd like me to, free of charge!" He grimaced, remembering the attempt by one particular joker. "You know, as long as it's a baking product or some kind of sweet. I refuse to try and make anything else out of cuttlefish and a titanium bar."

Ah, well. John had rescinded the request, anyway. It turned out okay. He headed to the nearest table, pulling out a wooden chair for the blonde and laying both the cake slice and a silver fork on the placemat. "After you, milady."
 
Leigh laughed delightedly. Anything else? That implied he had in fact at one point tried to make something out of a cuttlefish and a titanium bar. Impressive. She thought it through. This place was close by. She kind of liked the idea of being a regular at a café. It was a nice idea. A small town idea. That was why she'd moved out here. She was determined to get into the swing of things. She'd ask the others if they'd heard of the place tomorrow.
Taking the seat Helois had pulled out for her, Leigh smiled at him, putting her hot chocolate down in favour of attacking the cake. "Why thank you, kind sir," she said. She ate a bite of cake and smiled around it. "So what did you make with the cuttlefish?" she asked.
 
"A muffin," Helois answered, expression perfectly serious. He let go of the chair and returned to his place at the counter. "This John guy, no last name given, is a real practical joker. He shows up usually, ten, eleven in the morning? When he was established as a regular in my book, he asked me to make a muffin out of, and I quote, cuttlefish, a titanium bar, exactly thirty sunflower seeds, sweet potato flour, and the goodness of my own heart."

Just for effect, he added on to the story. "I made it heart-shaped, so I guess that counted? I dunno. No-one bought it."
It was true on both counts, but honestly, it was just unneeded information.

The seeds and different kind of flour, though, he'd bought a lot of those. There was a cake on the display shelf using both, right in the middle. John would probably have received a great muffin if the metal and seafood weren't there. A shame, really.
 
Leigh laughed. "John certainly sounds like a character," she said. "I promise when I get the privilege, it'll just be five different kinds of sugar."
Eating her cake, she let a small silence fall over them as Helois went about whatever it was he was doing behind the counter. She couldn't admit being a little sad when he left her at the table alone, but she supposed he was working. It made him even more of a gentleman in her books. There sure as hell weren't any of them in the city.
She watched him curiously. He certainly seemed to be a potterer. Leigh herself was usually happy to sit in a food coma and then use all her energy in one big spike. She could feel the lethargy that good food and warm drinks in the night brought setting in. Finishing her cake, she set her fork down and wrapped her hands around her hot chocolate. "When did you set this place up then?" she asked. "Family business or are you a self-made man?"
 
"I am entirely self-made, I'm afraid." Helois grinned at the rhyme unabashedly. "The family despises the thought of my business. They're more partial to... less menial work." Or, rather, work that involved kidnapping human children instead of serving them perfectly good food. He smoothed the automatic scowl off his face in a heartbeat. There was a customer here. Leigh didn't need to be brought into the mess that was his former home life.

"And, the café? I set it up a few months ago, actually. We in the store somehow turned out to prefer working the graveyard shift, so the name was changed from Cake Bake to, well, the Graveyard Circle. It took, what, a week? Maybe two." Back to less touchy topics, then. "And anything with five kinds of sugar... please forgive me for suddenly feeling worried for your diet. I was informed by a very reliable source that human bodies did not find that healthy."
 
"I like to push the limits of my metabolism," Leigh said. "I know my future self will love me for it." She wasn't lying. She was rubbish at eating healthy, but she was one of the lucky ones who didn't have to worry about it yet. She took full advantage of that fact, a habit she'd developed in college. She leaned back in her chair, sipping her drink. "I take it you have a morning shift then?"
Her automatic response was to ask what his family did, seeing as he'd seemed to hesitant to talk about it, but he'd been hesitant to talk about it, so she didn't bring it up.
 
Helois nodded, thankful she'd dropped the usual question about his family. The excuse that they were just horrible, uncaring bastards never worked. "Yeah, poor unfortunate souls as they are. The morning shift starts at six. Worst time in the day, if you ask me. Mostly they've just got out of college and need a job. It's ingrained in their souls to wake at six."

Mornings. Blegh. He honestly felt... disappointed with mornings. The commercials acted like they were so great. What exactly was great about the body being forcefully awakened by an inner clock? The night was generally when the brain got more active, whether the subconscious or conscious. It made the night just seem... better.

Maybe that was why the graveyard shift was so popular.

"Well, aside from Berwald. He sleeps in the afternoon. His body clock's been shot to hell."
 
Leigh snorted. "I hate to disappoint you, but I am in fact a morning person. Not one of those super chirpy ones, mind you. Even I don't like them."
She shook her head. "I had to work for that though. Student life killed my body clock too. Parties and morning classes and all-nighters. Well I say that. It's not like anything's really changed. We have a nap corner in our office. Who's Berwald?"
 
"He works in our kitchen. He's in right now, actually! Probably listening through the door, but you might already know about nosy coworkers, so it's not that big a surprise." Helois laughed, drawing an irritated "Oi!" from behind the kitchen door. He guessed it.

Leigh didn't seem too reclusive, so maybe...

"Berwald, you want to come out here and meet Leigh? She's new here."

The answer came when the kitchen door opened, and the blond peeked out. "So you can actually talk to women!" Berwald laughed. "I expected less from you, boss."

"I swear to the Faerie Queen, I am going to fire you if you make another of those comments." Helois huffed. "Leigh, this is Berwald. He made your cake."
 
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Swear to the faerie queen? What a curse. Leigh half-grinned, eyeing Helois. She didn't question it though, as a blonde man ducked out of the kitchen. She waved good-naturedly. When he mentioned that the man had made her cake however, she positively beamed. "It was amazing! Such a good filling. It was exactly what I needed on this stupidly cold night."
She leant forward conspiratorially. "He thinks I'm going to come back for the coffees, but it's really the sweets that get me going." She winked, laughing at herself and sipping her hot chocolate. Oh dear, she really was here eating cake and drinking chocolate. She might have to make more of an impression of herself as a legitimate adult. She blushed thinking about it, but couldn't find it in herself to care overly much.
 
"Well, I guess I'm going to have to up my game. Or, you know, just have Helois improve the recipes." Berwald raised an eyebrow, turning to his boss expectantly.

Helois glared back, opening his notebook with an exasperated breath. "For the last time, Berwald, we're not adding more sugar. No, don't tell me the recipe can take it, it'll ruin the flavour and the very carefully calculated amounts of flavouring would need to be recalculated at least twice per recipe. We've had this conversation before-"

"-doesn't mean I'm not right-!"

"-and I don't want to have it again." Helois kind of wished he was firm enough to actually stop his employees from doing this. Hana from the afternoon shift liked it, too. Although less sugar was her thing. That'd be okay if it wasn't for the arguments it spawned.

"You just can't understand true art." Berwald shook his head disappointedly. "Seriously, though, thanks for the compliment! I didn't think someone would pick the cake over the coffee."

"The cake over the- that's a great compliment, actually." Helois smiled. "I make the recipes. Thank God they turned out well, then!"
 
Leigh raised her eyebrows at the debate that followed her statement. Apparently the recipes were a matter of contention in this place. "Well I am a willing test subject if ever you need one," she offered.
Berwald amused her. As did Helois' relationship to him. They seemed to be generally amusing to be around, even if Helois was a little flustered over his sugar measurements. She couldn't say she wasn't the same if someone touched her post it notes. "Not that I'm one to talk. I can't cook to save myself. Instant ramen is about my limit."
She glanced at her phone, wondering whether it was time for her to be heading home. Three missed calls. Five texts. Those, she ignored. The reminder that she had about six papers to collate before work tomorrow was more pressing. Her mouth tightened as she swiped away the missed calls and texts. Probably time for her to be going.
Slipping her phone back into her pocket, she realised she didn't particularly want to head home. She liked it here, with the warmth and the company. So she asked a few more questions.
"Do you guys get much business?" she asked. Belatedly, she realised that might have been a rude thing to ask.
 
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