Page 1 of Culture and Curiosities
Chapter 1
Wren
Best. Town. Ever.
“Didn’t that online list say chocolate starfishes? Why are these strawberry?” The wonderfully fun old dragon leaned over the table inspecting the pile of what I thought was homemade mochi from what I’d overheard and frowned at it like it was a bug.
I still wasn’t sure what was going on but I knew it was going to be amazingly weird. I just had to be patient and quiet until we got to the punch line because the grumpy old dragons who seemed to live at the diner were easily distracted and could quickly jump to a new weird topic before finishing the first one if I wasn’t careful.
It’d happened with the cuffs and I still wasn’t sure if they’d been thinking it was for dicks or not.
Unfortunately, I didn’t know anyone well enough to ask, though, since it might be rude. I still wasn’t sure what was considered bad manners because nothing in the adorably strange little town worked the same way it did anywhere else.
Especially anything that happened at the diner.
It was even weirder than the rest of the town and I loved it.
I loved the weird ways they used magic.
I loved the completely inappropriate conversations.
I loved the way any and all forms of oddness was completely acceptable and encouraged.
I even loved the stupid portal that had finally opened again after only the ancestors knew how long. That should’ve been mostly boring discussions and possibly world-ending planning, but so far it was all just gossip and questions about dinosaurs for some reason.
“They’re raspberry.” Well, it was nice to know the flavor but it really didn’t help satisfy my curiosity. I’d hoped to get more information, but the younger dragon who liked to bake was just frowning at the men too.
Did he not know what the problem was either?
From what I’d been able to figure out, one of their names was Kenzie and he made the best bad decisions. So once I knew which one he was, I knew I needed to be his friend, but it was only my second day in town.
Being patient with introducing myself to the younger dragons seemed like a good idea but being pushy and nosy would’ve been more satisfying.
“Raspberry starfishes sounds like you got a disease that’ll make ya itch.” The second old man shifted his hips like the conversation was making his crotch do terrible things.
What were they talking about?
Okay, better question.
What did they think everyone else was talking about?
It was definitely something fun, so I was really glad Pierce wasn’t with me, but I still had a lot of questions and the funnyold men kept blocking my view of the rest of the guys at the table. There was no way my cranky cousin could’ve kept his drama to himself long enough for me to figure out what was going on.
So it might’ve been mean, but I was glad I was by myself.
“I’m kinda surprised that you can bring something like that in here.” Old Man One seemed to think he knew what was going on but the rest of the younger guys looked very confused still. “Miss Nancy’s gonna be shocked at the very least.”
Old Man Two nodded and looked sad for some reason. “Soup is a definite possibility.”
Oh…I knew that one.
Kenzie the dragon hated soup.
Had Kenzie made the mochi?
Was the confused guy who knew it was raspberry Kenzie?
Was the dessert taboo in some way?
