With a prominent spot along the Royal Concourse, the Sugared Teacup sat like any other building along the classy avenue, its walls built of white marble and comfortably sized to include two levels. The exterior was neatly tended with rounded, wooden tables of pricey wood flanked by chairs of similar make and quality and cushioned in soft fabrics of yellows and greens. The tables were few outdoors, but immensely popular in the warmer months on pleasant brightenings and the owner, a Mrs. Abby Sultani, ensured that the customers were given an equally pleasant environment in which to enjoy their tea: Potted flowers of exotic colors and trimmed shrubbery lined the marble wall, sitting just low enough to allow those seated inside a view of the outdoors. Above the oak door, usually open, hung a green and yellow teacup flanked by a pair of sugar cubes.
Inside the Sugared Teacup maintained a soft appearance with light-weight curtains of a pale green accented with yellow twisting above the window and a strip rug of similar coloring leading from the door to the front counter painted a deeper green. At the counter was a selection of baked goods encased in glass and the smell of tea and coffee hung thick in the air as Abby Sultani and her sole employee Parcel Osmark hustled around the room to serve their customers.
The tables had been carefully arranged within the interior, giving space enough for customers to speak privately among one another without having to worry over their neighbor catching wind of their conversation. These furniture pieces were of the same make and quality as those outside and each decorated in the theme of colors--green and yellow--that ran throughout the rest of the shop. A popular destination for most nobles, these tables were rarely empty in the early candlemarks of the brightenings.
Any customer who approached the front counter was greeted by the friendly, warm face of Abby who seemed more motherly than the stuff merchants were made of. "Serale! How might I help you this brightening? Tea, perhaps? I just made a fresh batch of cookies, if you'd like one of those."
Those seated at a table awaiting service would be approached by the sullen-faced Parcel Osmark who deterred customers more often than not. "Welcome to the Sugared Teacup. What can I get you?" he asked, in a rather dull and lifeless voice.
The Menu
Note:
Cup: 8 ounces
Pot: 4 cups
Black Teas
Aelyrian - 1 crown per cup, 10 crowns per pot
Centripaxian - 2 crowns per cup, 12 crowns per pot
Kemite - 4 crowns 3 silvers per cup, 14 crowns 6 silvers per pot
Arakmat - 3 crowns per cup, 13 crowns per pot
Elfin - 4 crowns per cup, 14 crowns per pot
La Quistan - 5 crowns 2 silvers per cup, 15 crowns 4 silvers per pot
Green Tea
Blackpowder - 8 crowns per cup, 16 crowns per pot
Jaune-Verdâtre - 9 crowns per cup, 19 crowns per pot
Starlit Night - 6 crowns per cup, 16 crowns per pot
Jewel of the Empire - 5 crowns per cup, 15 crowns per pot
White Tea
Silvermist - 10 crowns per cup, 20 crowns per pot
Moonglow - 11 crowns per cup, 21 crowns per pot
Blended Teas
Dragon's Breath - 3 crowns per cup, 13 crowns per pot
Other Hot Drinks
Coffee, Regular - 2 crowns per cup, 12 crowns per pot
Coffee, Cocoa - 3 crowns per cup, 13 crowns per pot
Hot Chocolate - 2 crowns per cup
Baked Goods
Abby's Chocolate Squares - 3 crowns
Cookies {Sugared, Chocolate, Mint, or Orange} - 1 crown for one; 3 crowns for five
Scones - 2 crowns
Tarts - 3 crowns
Fruit Rissoles - 2 crowns 4 silvers
Ursidae Claws - 1 crown 2 silvers
Seasonal Pies - 2 crowns per slice; 6 crowns per pie
Vanilla Spice Cake - 2 crowns; 6 crowns per cake
Maevewood Chocolate Cake - 1 crown 3 silvers per slice; 5 crowns per cake
Frosted Cherry Cake - 3 crowns per slice; 7 crowns per cake
Abby's Strawberry Tort -3 crowns per slice; 7 crowns per tort
The NPCs
Secrets :
Name: Abby Sultani
Job: Owner - stationed at the front counter
Race: Medonian Human
Physical Description: A round woman with honey-brown hair shot through with silver-gray and wide, green eyes that narrow when she smiles or laughs. Her skin has been deeply tanned, her age lines evident at the corners of her lips and eyes. She is well into her middling eras. She tends to wear pale pastel colors, usually soft greens and yellows.
Personality: Sweet-natured. She tries to be as gentile as possible, reflecting the mannerisms of her clientele, but she is given to the giggles and giving advice where advice is inappropriately placed. She fancies herself something of a match-maker and is certainly a gossipmonger for she listens well to the conversations of those who break at her shop and often has poor judgment on when to keep these conversations stuck in her head.
History: Abby was born in cheapside, but always dreamed of living the high-life in the Grand District. Her parents were simple folk, her father a cobbler and her mother a seamstress. A pretty girl and thin in her youth, she was lucky enough to catch the attention of a fairly well off merchant by the name of Marius Sultani who traded primarily in tea and coffees. Abby became something of the trophy wife, staying home when he rode with the caravans and birthing him three children (Marius, Coral [now a seamstress], and Gideon [a ranger-in-training]). After a time she offered up a suggestion: a shop where they could peddle their wares locally. Marius, doting on his wife, consented and thus the Sugared Teacup came to life. Since that time Marius had passed on, leaving his fortune to Abby and their son Marius, who continues to operate his father's caravans and trade business.
Training: Master Baker; Master Cook; Journeyman Sewing
Name: Parcel Osmark
Job: Waiter - sees to the customers at the tables
Race: Medonian Human
Physical Description: A young man barely older than twenty ordinances with long, red hair that he wears in a ponytail tied at the nap of his neck. He has pale, freckled skin and bright blue-gray eyes. He is tall, nearly six feet in height, and a lithe figure. He tends to wear blacks and grays, which give his skin color a very pallid undertone. He often affects a somewhat dreary expression.
Personality: A somewhat depressing youth, Parcel is given to long silences and pessimistic commentary. He is polite to his customers, but given an opportunity he will ramble about the destitute nature of mankind and the poor state of the world. He lights up rarely in the presence of women, but will often hold himself higher and with more confidence should a handsome man enter the establishment.
History: Parcel Osmark grew as the strange and waifish son of a dye-maker and her husband, a guard in the local constabulary. Parcel has known that he is drawn to men ever sine he was a youth of barely ten ordinances old. When the other boys were running around kissing the girls, he was staring after his best friend and confident, a rough and confident lad named Ballis Cordweather. A happy child at that point in his life and somewhat confident himself, he had little trouble making his affections known...and was promptly beat by Ballis and ostracized by those who knew. Since then Parcel has become a withdrawn individual who seldom makes friends with any...but a romantic heart that longs for true love. He began working for Abby, who has no idea of his inclinations, when he was nineteen. She has high hopes he'll take an interest in her daughter.
Training: Basic Poetry; Journeyman Baker; Basic Cooking
Linear Mode
