Sunset, Martyr’s Coffee, Gantun,

Aradi yawned as she looked down at an empty cup that was just placed down in front of her. She looked up to see a Citizen in worker attire serving coffee to till the emptiness. Martyr’s Coffee was a Class A establishment, it was themed around serving the best synthetic coffee mixed with 0.5% real coffee, the tables were also synthetic, mixed with .3% real, polished wood. It was one the few establishments in the galaxy that was able to present itself in this manner, and it was expensive. It seemingly became more popular when word spread that a certain Elf was in attendance. Class A citizens dressed rather differently than the lower classes, it was very flashy, random, everyone definitely spoke through appearance.

Aradi drank there once every few weekends, traveling up to the Class A areas was something not seen, so she was quickly remembered by one of the staff members: Julie. Julie was a First Generation Citizen that was born under a Class B Citizenship, she loved her life, she loved the Council. Julie was a rather plump Citizen due to her sweet tooth, often getting to the point where she should keep packs of sugar on her, even sprinkling it on Bug Pizza. The Citizen had become friends with Aradi, who in turn was quite happy to have another friend. The Cafe was quite something, it held a more “nature-like” feel to it than the others, but that likely came from the promotions of their natural aligned products. Synthetics are the norm in the Council, and they taste good, but when you try something that has nature embedded in it, there’s no going back. Aradi spends upwards to 4 thousand credits on Martyr’s coffee exclusively every year excluding the cafe visits. Julie sat down in front of Aradi, she took her sugar packet and sprinkled it onto a  bread slice, she looked up at Aradi. People walked by the large window the two sat next too, they would stop and stare for a moment at the Ancient, some even took selfies, to which their phones gave them notifications of credit loss. Inside, Aradi and Julie sat on opposite ends against synthetic leather seating,
“So how you been, Miss Elf”
“You like pointing out I’m an Elf don’t you?”
Julie laughed a bit,
“Come on, it’s not everyday you get to have a break with zero one of the population”
“Thanks for rubbing it in, so how are you doing?”
“I’m doing good, got asked out on date”
“And you turned them down?”
“I turned them down”
Aradi rolled her eyes and smiled,
“Why’d you do that, Julie?”
Julie shrugged as she swallowed her bite,
“I’m tired of doing the same Virt dates, they always try to take me to the beach. We’re on Gantun, there’s sand everywhere. I’ve been feeling like a walk in the park irl ever since we started going on ours”
The Elf stirred her spoon in the coffee cup,
“Julie, you’re not asking me out, are you?”
“No. I know you ain’t on the market. Probably since before i was even born too”
Aradi inhaled as she was about to respond, but paused a moment and looked to the side, she then looked at Julie,
“You’re…20, right?”
“Yes elder, I’m 20”
Aradi smirked, she looked to the window to notice that rain began to drip down in its early stages before a downpour,
“I just don’t date younger than me”
“And what if I decided to be 500 years old?”
“I factor in years of life, not the other way around”
Julie took a bite of her bread and brought her phone out, she typed in a few phrases and pulled up a news article. The news article showed a picture of large white furred creature with large eyes, standing 8 feet, its belly protruding, covering its knees, the article read: “An Endangered Citizen turns 410, formerly known as the Aestheniüm from Aesthüm, the Ancient celebrated their birthday by taking a swim in an organic non-synthetic lake on their home planet, this marks the second oldest Citizen, behind a Citizen of Louquen, who turned 504 a few months ago, the third; an Ancient of the Elf variant, turned 328 last year.”
Aradi looked from the phone to Julie,
“All I’m saying, at your rate, options are virt, unc, and hospice, and we both know you can’t do Virts”
The Elf’s face grew red, she took a sip of her coffee quickly, it was rather hot still, she put it down and waved air into her mouth, she spoke in between vacuuming air to cool her tongue,
“W-what if I don’t want anyone, I’m fine being single, really”
Julie felt a little bad for pressing Aradi so much, 
“Mm - yea i know, I just like pulling your leg. Relationships are more trouble than their worth, I’m on my 30th one next week” she said,
“30? That’s almost more than I’ve arrested this week”
Aradi cleared her throat,
“But how many did you smash?”
“N-none! Julie!” Aradi said,
“Julie, I told you. I don’t mix work and romance, besides. The work I do for the Council is important”
Julie sighed,
“I know Aradi, I know. You know me, I’m a match maker by heart. I just think it'd be cute to see the number one tough officer who doesn’t let anyone off get cuffed. You know, irony”
“Ok look. If I was going to go with…someone…it would have to be….you know, someone, like me. I guess”
“Oh, now we’re getting somewhere” Julie said getting curious,
Aradi shook her head, Julie then looked to the left, she stared for a moment outside the window, her mouth hung a bit, 
“Woah. I think I just found your type….or ..I think they found you”

Aradi looked to her right, the rain poured hard, 2 individuals stared at her, not just any individuals, 1 was clearly a human, a female seemingly, the other seemingly not so, but she could not see the taller individual’s face, not an uncommon feature. What stood out was their simple aesthetics, jet black all around, the shorter one, who stood at 5 '7, held long black hair, her eyes red with black rings multiplied to the center black pupil, her attire was almost like a suit and a tie, but just below it, very formal. The other stood at about six feet or so, his entire body was covered in clothing, he wore gloves that seemed new, a zipped hoodie, his hair was rather short in comparison, from his neck up, covered by clothing, a visor went across his covered face reflected all who stared into it. Aradi seemingly locked contact with the individual, she glared at the two, they turned and kept walking, the Elf turned quickly,
“People need to learn manners, staring..”
Julie groaned,
“Are you kidding me, they were obviously human! Isn’t that what you j-”
She was cut off by the sound of a door sliding open, the two walked in. Their wet stomps lighting up the room, people stared, especially at the shorter one. Whispers about,
A human. Look, a human. Wow I’d never thought I’d see one in person. Amazing….

They sat down at the other end of the cafe. Aradi couldn’t help but lean, Julie whispered,
“What are they doing? Don’t get caught”
The Elf’s blue eyes were caught by the stare of the red eyed woman, her cold piercing gaze was quite intense. Aradi suddenly straightened herself and looked down at her coffee, her face was red,
“I got caught”
Julie sighed,
“My breaks over”
“No it’s not”
“It is now, I’m going to set you up”
Aradi shook her head, whispering in a panic, 
“Julie no, no”

At the other end of the cafe, the 2 humans sat, the red eyed woman stared right ahead, her eyes unwavering, unmoving. Next to her, the other human used a tablet pen to navigate menus. An individual approached them, a Citizen.
“H-hi” the Citizen uttered, the masked individual look up,
“Can, can I get a photo? Please”
The masked one looked to their left, the woman stared forward, she seemed to ignore everything around her, the masked one looked back and spoke, the voice was a bit raspy, clearly a male’s voice,
“Yes”

The Citizen then took a selfie with them, another asked the same. But when one approached the woman, the man said no photos of her, she did not answer any of their questions. Julie approached with a cup of coffee,
“I’m sorry about that, I’m sure you get a lot of stuff like this everywhere you go, but don’t worry, we’re going to charge them extra, and have your meals on the house”

The man looked at the coffee being poured, 
Julie squeezed her brows and stretched her mouth,
“How long have you been a Class A Citizen?”
“I just got here” he said,
“And your friend? Or I’m sorry, are you two together?”
“No. She also. Just got here”
Julie nodded,
“That’s nice, are you from Gantun?”
“No. we’re on vacation”
“That’s nice, now let me know when you’re ready to order” the waiter said, Ichi nodded,
“Give us a moment please”
Julie smiled,
“No problem, and thanks for choosing Martry’s Coffee to drink at” she said as she turned and walked away, Aradi and her made eye contact, the Elf made more of a pleading one while Julie smiled as she walked into the kitchen. She took out her phone and began texting Aradi.

“Yo Aradi, it’s a male and a female, they’re not together!”
Aradi’s phone vibrated, her eyes quickly darted down, her hands moved just as fast, she opened her inbox and read the message, she began panting in quick breaths, she texted back,
“Julie what the hell! I said I didn’t want this!”
“Aradi you need to relax, you’re going on vacation this week aren’t you? They’re on vacation too!”
“Julie we had plans”
“Yea, and I got a date, so let’s nail both of them and then meet next week, besides, they’re human, that’s the closest thing to you, you won’t get another chance like this”
The masked man looked at Aradi, he could only see her shoulders as she sat on the outer end of the seat, she was typing. He suddenly got, the red eyes of the woman suddenly shifted to him, watching him as he walked.

Aradi’s eyes suddenly locked to her phone, her body stiffened, the man stood to her left, looking at her, the awkward silence had to be broken. The Elf spoke nervously,
“Can I h-help you”

Her voice nearly stuttered. The masked man looked at the empty seat,
“May I sit down” he asked, She nodded,
“Sure” go ahead. Her gaze never left her phone. The masked man sat down across from her. The seat noises might as well have been nails on a chalkboard as he situated himself. He looked right towards her,
“What’s your name?”
The Elf mustered strength to climb out of the hole of embarrassment,
“I-I’m Aradi” she said as she turned to look at him. She caught her eyes in the reflection of his visor.

His presence felt damming, like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that didn’t belong, he had a strange scent, it was very faint…. Sulfur? There was another presence, she couldn’t tell, but she felt like he was hiding something, it felt both unsettling, but welcoming, different.

“What’s yours?”
“I’m One, and behind me” - he used his thumb to point behind him, “She’s Two”
“Oh, made up names, nothing suspicious about that”
“It’s as suspicious as your friend trying to get us at the same table” he said, her eyes looked away in embarrassment, a jab at Julie’s obnoxious matchmaking,
“F-fine. I deserve that”
“I take it you like coffee”
Aradi looked down at her coffee, then up to the visor,
“...it’s a coffee shop…so..yea…”
The man looked around, then to the coffee cup. His posture was, concerning, like someone who didn’t really care about himself nor the world around him,
“Oh yea, it is….. huh”  he added as he looked up. Aradi looked nervous. 2 humans in less than a few months, it was a riveting time. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but humans were a favorite of hers in a strange mother-like way.
“So…rain ... .on a planet full of sand, not really something you see everyday”he said. Aradi nervously nodded quickly,
“Yea - good thing that weather station can bring some ahah - the climate’s important, but  uhh so are the different kinds of citizens”
Her phone suddenly vibrated, she quickly flipped it over and put it on silent ,
“Ah - sorry about that”
“....you know, there was a time when people would frown on this kind of pairing, making up stories about how illness could be transferred on contact, but I never believed them”
Aradi looked at him with a curious brow raise,
“What?”
He stood up, he looked at her, her eyes widened a bit, 
“Are those ears for show? It was nice to meet you, but I have somewhere to be” he said as he stepped back, taking one final look before he turned around and walked away. The Ancient looked at him walking to the other table, he pointed at the food served to the long haired women, her whole head tilted forward, a sigh emitted from the man, he then turned and proceeded to walk out, she followed in suit.

The Elf’s posture relaxed from its tensed grip, Julie could be seen behind the counter making a gesture of confusion, she walked over and sat down,
“So? What happened? Did you-”
Aradi kindly snapped,
“No Julie! awaaaa Why did you do thaaaat” she said as she laid her head on the table, she looked at the coffee she hadn’t even taken a drink out of yet,
“Oh please, you’re running around the city daily beating up people who deserve it and you flinch when someone who’s kinda like you approaches?”
The Elf stared at the waiter with what could be perceived as a childish stink eye.