Maren was trying to have a normal life. And they were succeeding, for the most part. They had a little shop where they could sell food and make just enough money to take care of their daughter. It was perfect, except that they were sort-of, maybe falling in love with one of the regulars to their shop. For normal people, this wouldn't be an issue. Unfortunately for them, they weren't normal. But they'd been keeping their secret for so long. It wouldn't be that hard to continue keeping that secret. Everything would be completely fine!
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Hi, yes, it's me again. I have a friendly dragon character I want to flesh out a little. I'm just thinking this will be a cute romance with a bit of angst. As for the plot, I am completely open to suggestions, so throw them at me!
Ooh, fantasy Coffeeshop, sounds fun!
Hello! Do you have any questions before I post the character template?
Is it modern/urban fantasy? or medieval fantasy?
Ok, cool, I think that's all I need
Awesome! Here's the character template. Feel free to add on to it if you want.
Full Name:
Nicknames:
Age:
Gender/Pronouns:
Sexuality:
Appearance:
Personality:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Talents:
Magic Possessed:
Brief backstory:
Other:
Full Name: Maren Villa
Nicknames: Mapi (by their daughter).
Age: 34 years old.
Gender/Pronouns: Agender, they/them.
Sexuality: Pansexual.
Appearance: 6'6" tall and slender, with long legs. Their skin is a light, warm brown color. They have waist-length, slightly wavy hair, usually pulled back in a loose braid. Most people assume that they've dyed it (and they'll let them, just because it's safer), but their hair is naturally a dark magenta color. Their eyes are a pale silver-grey color. They generally wear clothes in the color of a sunrise or sunset.
Personality: They're very playful and friendly. They love talking to people and generally just company in general. They're naturally curious and love exploring. Although they tend to be gentle and friendly most of the time, they are downright terrifying if someone tries to hurt people they care about. They tend to have somewhat of a short temper around people they find annoying, however.
Likes: Drinking good wine, dancing, taking naps, sweets and pastries, children, cooking and baking.
Dislikes: Very bitter tea or coffee, people attacking them (even if they deserved it), drinking water, anything banana flavored, being a bad host/being rude.
Talents: They're really a good dancer and can make amazing chocolate caliente.
Magic Possessed: They are able to control the air and liquid of any kind–usually water. They are also able to create bursts of silvery energy.
Brief backstory: They do not talk about their life before they opened the shop. Whenever their daughter Ince (age 12, very friendly) asks about it, they give her a vague story about being in charge of something and traveling a lot.
Other: They and their daughter are both dragons, which is generally frowned upon in the city, as dragons are considered very dangerous and even evil beings. Maren and Ince are also both bilingual, speaking Spanish and English.
Full Name: Cyrus Arturo
Nicknames: Siro/Ciro (in Spanish)
Age: 31
Gender/Pronouns: Non-binary man (He/Him)
Sexuality: Bisexual
Appearance: 5'4 short and chubby, but his limbs are muscular. Dadbod pretty much. He has dark brown skin, which is very smooth and shiny. He has very little body hair. His head is covered in loose brown curls down to his ears. He has downturned amber brown eyes, with light circles under them. He has a slightly hooked nose and plump lips.
Personality: Quiet and composed, but quite friendly when he actually speaks. He likes silence, especially in the company of somebody he likes. Not very good in the face of anger, but not a coward. Generally a nice person to be around, but very VERY fun and interesting person when you get to know them. Usually dresses in baggy sweaters and jeans, except sometimes he wears super-short shorts.
Likes: Silence, Studying Religion Mythology and Magic, trying new food, animals, spontaneous people, dressing up nice (but also loves pajama days), all teas
Dislikes: People who are mean to kids (he doesn't love them all the time, but there's no need to be mean), tall people, loud people, coffee, being drunk and allergies
Talents: Fast reader and writer, surprisingly flexible, and can sing beautifully. He can also cook pretty decently
Magic Possessed: Nature and earth spells, mostly from magical books and tomes.
Brief backstory: Lives with his sister in an apartment bc his dad kicked him out, has a doctorate in Classical history and in American (as in both continents) history. His mom was a witch, but she died when he was young
Other: He's Salvadorian, bilingual as well (Spanish and English). He works against the discrimination against magical creatures and beings in their society, since his mom was a witch.
(Are you Hispanic/Latinx?)
(Wonderful! I'll get the starter up as soon as I can. And yeah, I am!)
(Cool! Me too! I'm Puerto Rican! Where are u from?)
(Awesome! I'm from the us, but my grandpa was from Mexico.)
(Cool! And you speak spanish?)
(Only semi-fluently, unfortunately. But I'm working on it!)
Maren had been running their shop for a long time. More than 12 years, probably, since they'd opened it before they'd had Ince. In all those years, they'd never really given it a name. Mostly because they'd been so excited about it that they'd forgotten. People started casually calling it La casa de Villa, and it had stuck. Maren liked the name, since that was essentially what they were going for, anyway. Just a place where people could come over for a nice, simple meal with lots of love. They hadn't been able to pay for much in the way of advertising other than a few flyers stuck around the area, so many of the people coming in had been coming in for years. By now, they felt like family. Exactly what Maren had been going for.
"Ay, mapi, please tell me there are still a few tamales left over. I'm starving." Maren looked up from their book–a terrible romance novel they were getting way too invested in–and smiled at their daughter.
"There are, but Lucia and Favian have been eyeing them for the past ten minutes. I think they're trying to decide if they're still hungry or not." Maren nodded towards one of the three tables in the shop. A couple were sitting there, both staring at the table in deep contemplation. If Maren hadn't known better, they would have thought they were debating whether or not to destroy the world, rather than if they were still hungry. Well, this wasn't the weirdest thing Maren had seen from them.
"Oh, that should be easy. They love me." Ince dropped her backpack behind the counter and grinned at Maren. "All I have to do is give them a cute look and they'll cave."
"Alright. Buena suerte. If that does work, I can always make you a sincronizada." Maren sighed and went back to their book. It had been a slow afternoon with the exception of Lucia and Favian, but that just gave them more time to finish this book.
Cyrus yawned and stretched as he walked down the street, trying to get spry himself up for the rest of the day. Though it was already passed noon, he had just woken up about an hour ago, which he still regretted. Getting out of bed was getting harder every day.
As he finished up his morning walk, he turned the corner of the block and stood in front of his favorite shop in town for breakfast. La Casa de la Villa… well, it wasn't called that officially, but he liked to call it that. It reminded him of old times. As he walked in the door, he basked in the breeze of the air conditioning, soothing his surprisingly sweaty skin. He probably shouldn't have worn a sweater that day, but he didn't really care. All he could think about right now was breakfast.
He walked in and sat down in a booth off to the side. Maren would probably take a while to get his order, so he just sat and waited. He was, of course, going to order his usual for breakfast, just some tea with milk and a plain corn muffin, which he hoped they still had right now… after all, it was way passed noon by now. He loved Maren's muffins, they made them big and moist and soft. Cyrus thought they were the best muffins in the world, but whenever he would say that, Maren would brush it off as politeness. He liked watching them blush whenever he complimented them. It was cute.
So he enjoyed the AC in the booth, contemplating his day, as he waited for Maren.
The bell tied to the door rang, but Maren barely heard it. Their book had taken a very unexpected turn and they simply had to know what happened next. It was a very terrible turn, and completely ridiculous, but they'd gotten very attached to the main characters despite themself. If anything bad happened to them, Maren would riot. And probably throw the book into the garbage, where it most definitely belonged.
"Mapi, Lucia said I could have the tamales!" Ince flopped over the counter. When they didn't look over at her, she let out a sigh and tapped it a few times with her nails. "Mapi!"
"Calmate, calmate. You can go get them yourself. You know where they are." Maren lowered the book to look at her, their eyes instead landing on the now-occupied booth. "Besides, I have a customer to help." As they spoke, a stupid little grin slowly appeared on their face. They quickly tried to banish it, but it was a very stubborn smile.
"Alright, fine." Ince rolled her eyes and disappeared into the kitchen in the back. Maren set their book facedown on the counter and stood. In a couple of long strides, they were standing beside Cyrus' table. Hopefully, he hadn't been waiting for too long.
"Hola, Cyrus. What can I get you today?" They asked, as if they didn't hadn't memorized his order by now. Still, it was the afternoon. He might want something different.
"I told you already, you can just call me Siro" he smiled up at them, looking into their pearlescent eyes "I'll have my breakfast order, if you still have some" he laughed awkwardly "I'm a little late today, so it's fine if you can't" He finished. He thought about apologizing for being late, but he had apologized so many times already, they probably found it annoying already. He felt almost ashamed, but he knew Maren would never call him out. They were just cool like that.
"You're in luck, Siro." Maren smiled, trying to ignore the flutter in their chest when Cyrus first spoke. "We have one left." They glanced over at the kitchen and narrowed their eyes slightly. "Well, we should, if Ince hasn't eaten it." Maren let out a little laugh and turned back to Cyrus. "Anyway, I'll get that started for you." They gave him one last smile and started for the kitchen. Gah, they were fighting a losing battle here. Ince was perched on one of the counters in the kitchen eating when they came in. Thankfully, it wasn't the last muffin. "How was your day at school?" Maren asked as they started preparing the food.
"Eh. Boring for the most part." Ince shrugged. "I have a permission slip for you to sign, though. We're watching some movie in history class."
"Show it to me at dinner. And start on your homework after you eat."
"Yeah, I know." Ince sighed heavily. Maren smiled, then started towards Cyrus with the cup of tea and the muffin.
"Here we are! The last muffin and a cup of tea with milk." Maren set down the food in front of Cyrus.
Cyrus looked up at Maren and smiled "Thanks amor" he always added that last part when Maren gave him his order. It felt polite, but he also liked the way it felt, calling Maren amor. It made him feel all warm inside. "How was the day today? Busy?" he asked, making conversation. Maren always told the best stories. They really made his day. "Oh!" he added "And how's Ince been? School going well for her?"
"De nada." Maren felt their face heat up, even though they should be getting used to Cyrus calling them 'amor' by now. They should be, but they weren't. "Oh, it wasn't too bad. Lots of people in the morning, not so many this afternoon. None, actually, except for you and them," Maren waved at Lucia and Favian, who were now having an animated conversation about olives. "They've been here for a while." At Cyrus' next question, they decided they were going to be there for a while and slid into the seat opposite Cyrus. "Ah, she's just as lively as ever. Apparently, school is 'boring for the most part', but I think she's just saying that." Maren glanced towards the kitchen with a fond look on their face. "She's got a lot of friends, and–oh! She just started taking guitar lessons, so I've got plenty of concerts to look forward to." They laughed.
"That's great!" he answered, beginning to eat the muffin "I remember when I started playing guitar… it actually wasn't long ago" he laughed, snorting a bit through bites. "My sister taught me. You know, I've told you, she's a music major. It seems we took opposite paths to our careers, and she still ended up the most successful one!" this time, he laughed a little less hard. He looked really tired. "I've been looking for jobs everywhere, but the only ones I can find require me to move somewhere else, or travel all the time" he gesticulated annoyingly, redirecting the conversation "And you know how I am about moving. I can't do it again. This is my home. All of y'all" he pointed at Maren, looking into their eyes "Are my home." he sighed "But I need that money, or my sister is going to end up broke too. I mean, just look at me, I definitely eat a BIT" he pointed at his dad-bod type belly. "And you!.." he smiled "You've got the life I wished for when I was young! A little tiendita with my kids, living through the love of my community" he smiled "It's admirable, really." He looked down, a little sadly "Oh… Sorry" he began "I probably shouldn't be dumping this all on you"
"You and Ince should play together sometime, then! If you want to, I mean. I bet she would like that, though. She's been trying to get me to learn as well, but I'm much more content to listen." Maren shook their head, leaning forward slightly as they listened to Cyrus talk. They didn't mind listening to him, not at all. Especially when he looked straight into Maren's eyes and said that they were his home. Despite their best efforts, their face split into a huge grin at his words. He was just saying that in a general sense, though. Probably. "Oh, well…" Maren trailed off, glancing around their shop. They'd never hired any employees before–at first, it was because they didn't have enough money to pay anyone, and then it was because they managed fine on their own. But it would be nice to have someone else around. "It's okay, Siro. I don't mind." They took a deep breath and turned back to Cyrus. "And if you ever need a job, you're welcome to work here. It would be nice to have someone to help out in the mornings."
He laughed at the first statement. "Ince's probably a better player than me anyways" he scoffed. At the second statement, his eyes grew wide in shock "Oh- Oh! Oh no! I would never make you do that for me…" he began "I don't think I would even know how to navigate a job like this, especially not like you do" he said to Maren, flushing a little red "Besides, I was kind of thinking maybe I could try out as a regular school teacher… you know, something smaller than what I wanted, but can still support me and my sis." he smiled at the thought of teaching kids. He would never have considered it back in college, but he had grown fond of Ince, and she made him realize, kids weren't half bad "Maybe I could even teach in Ince's school!" he laughed a bit. Ince definitely got a ton of her traits from her parent, including her cunning, and also her adventurousness. All these things were the things he admired about Maren. "Oh" he realized, with a face of slight surprise, he had actually finished his breakfast while they were talking, "Well, it's fine, I have nowhere else to be" he shrugged, leaning on his elbow. This was his chance now… "Say… Maren… do you have anywhere you have to be tonight?"
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