In the midst of Almont, an unassuming small staircase leads customers down to the lower level of a commercial building. Above that doorway hangs a fairly simple black sign with a nameplate painted in silver: "The Balcony Cafe"
Stepping through the door takes one into a small anteroom, ostensibly a place to stow umbrellas if needed, as well as a blackboard on the wall next to the doorway leading further in. On this board is written the "theme" for the day, and any relevant daily specials. On most days, stepping through this next door leads to...the rooftop of the building, where seating, some downtempo music, and the cafe counter all await. Other days you may open the door and find yourself stepping out to a wooden cabana situated near the seaside, or the outer deck of a mountain lodge, or the raised patio of a bistro in an entirely different city than Almont, overlooking canal waterways. No matter where you may think you are, the layout of the balcony and arrangement of the furniture is always the same, even if the chairs and tables themselves look entirely different and location-appropriate. The other thing that doesn't change is the pangolin standing behind the counter with the short silvery hair and the curled smile on her small mouth.

No one seems to feel confident in how exactly this all works, whether the doorway is somehow magical (as if something like that could even exist!) or if there's some sort of insanely coordinated misdirection going on--projections of an outdoor scene on the walls and creative use of piped-in ambient sound and air conditioning. While she never confirms nor denies anything about how the cafe operates, Marygold is always happy to listen to customers' theories, or just hear them out about their daily gripes. Whether it's the mystery of it all, the care-infused coffee and tea drinks, the relaxed atmosphere, or simply the charm of the barista, Marygold is always happy to see a repeat customer.
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Marygold is a character that's actually been around in concept since all the way back in 2018, where she basically...dropped into my head out of nowhere while I was just barely waking up on a weekend morning. It's taken a long time to work up a way to finally get her properly down on a page, and now finally here we are. Marygold's a sweet girl and a gentle soul...but it's easy to pick up a hunch that there's much more to her than meets the eye. That hunch would be very correct.

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Marygold belongs to me
Refsheet made by  Shikaro who I'm very grateful managed to make my scratch references and notes into such a lovely coherent whole.