Cinnamon

About the world they inhabit:

Their planet is very similar to Earth, both geographically and developmentally. Their social etiquette is also much the same. The most obvious difference is the population that's made up of anthropomorphic animals, and depending on their species, they can possess (often) magical abilities. Humans and animals like the ones we have on earth are not present (excluding fish and insects; they have those).

Some of the smaller differences are that their world is slightly more technologically advanced than ours is. Governments are run fairly similarly as well.

Every living being has a soul (excluding robots or artificial life). Rights are given to individuals depending on whether or not the soul is present. Inanimate objects (such as toys or stuffed animals) can come to life on rare occasions, and research shows that they do indeed have souls; though, it's unknown why this happens. In some cases, it seems more like possession occurs.

Abilities:

Cinnamon and Melon's species have the ability to breathe fire, just a little bit though. For Cinnamon, this is often used to lightly toast some of her baked goods. 

They can also fly, however, because their wings are fairly small they can't get too far off of the ground. Cinnamon only makes use of it for fun. 

Personality: 

Cinnamon is ambitious and full of energy, always wanting to tackle a project and never objecting to a new experience. She wants to try everything, from new foods to new sights to new hobbies.

She's intelligent in many ways, but she isn't the best socially, often too fixated on doing things rather than taking a breather. Her life is fast; it's how she likes it. So, when someone like Melon enters her life, who likes to take things slow, she can be rather pushy. Sometimes she fails to understand that not everyone enjoys the same things she does, or desires to live life like she does. But, with time, she starts to understand the perspective of others and even learns from it.

Biography:

Being born mute brought a lot of challenges for Cinnamon, but they weren't usually due to the disability itself. Cinnamon's parents were paranoid, to put it lightly. They were very worried about bullying, so they kept her away from her peers as much as possible. So she was homeschooled and not allowed to play with the neighborhood kids. This made it so that Cinnamon was mostly restricted to indoor activities, and much of her socialization was with her parents' friends. Occasionally, she was allowed to hang out with her parent's friend's kids, but she always had trouble relating to them; not because she was mute, just due to her lack of exposure to other children.

Cinnamon liked to do things like cook, bake, sew, knit, draw, make crafts, whatever she could get her hands on really, since she wasn't allowed to socialize. Her favorite thing was baking, though. As she got older, she got better and better at it. During parties where her whole family would be present, she would often bake the desserts for everyone. Seeing them happily enjoying her creations and complimenting her on what a good job she had done always made her giddy. Her entrepreneurial attitude made her want to make this part of her career. She wanted to run a bakery.

This dream continued throughout her teenage years. As she was approaching adulthood, she started devising ways she could achieve her goal. That was, until her parents decided to hire a translator for her. In theory, this would make it easier for her to traverse the world. But Cinnamon was finally going to be free to do things on her own, so in her eyes, she was just being held back even longer. But there was no arguing with her parents; they would find a way.

The translator would be the son of one of her mom's friends, of course. His name was Melon. Cinnamon would be going to a few stores with him on their first day together, which she wasn't excited about. It wasn't that he was a bad person or anything; she just didn't need his assistance.  
She tried her best to do things her way. She tried talking to the cashiers and employees without his help. It didn't take long for them to understand her. She couldn't understand why her parents never had any faith in her. After a while, Melon stopped trying to intervene, which was a relief. But he still had to come along with her in order to satisfy her parents.  

Sometimes, she did need his help, so she'd VERY reluctantly ask him to translate for her. He'd always say something nice, though. Cinnamon started to feel a bit bad because he clearly thought she was capable, unlike everyone else. And he was just doing his job. So she tried treating him a little nicer, striking up occasional conversations. Melon was actually pretty enjoyable to be around, once she slowed down to pay attention to him. He was easy-going and usually preferred to stay away from noisy and busy places, but he would go along with most anything. Before long, Cinnamon actually WANTED to be around him, so they'd hang out, she'd bake things for him, and generally have a good time. He wasn't her translator anymore, but a friend.  

Melon came over, which was usual at this point, with the only twist being that he had good news! The anticipation was killing her. He seemed giddier than usual, struggling to hold back a smile on his face. The news he revealed... Is that he and a friend of his could help her realize her dream. They would invest in a store, with the only "catch" being that his friend would be owning a part of the store, so it would be half-bakery, half-florist shop. But if anything, that made the whole thing more interesting and exciting! Images of a cute little bakery with beautiful bouquets, wreaths, and flower arrangements of all kinds popped into her mind... To say Cinnamon was excited was an understatement. She pulled Melon into the strongest hug she could muster up. She thought of the perfect name: "Flowers & Flour."

The idea of working for (potentially) your entire life with two strangers you hadn't really known was a bit frightening for Cinnamon, but the risk was worth the reward. They set up the store together over the next few days, and Cinnamon got to learn about them, mostly through observation. There was Primavera, and her girlfriend, Cotton. Neither of them knew sign language, but Melon translated for them. Luckily, she quite liked them both.
Primavera was more like Melon, introverted and reserved. Although she seemed more distant than he was, Her girlfriend, Cotton, was more up Cinnamon's alley, being almost (if not more) passionate than she was; albeit, her passions were fairly foreign to Cinnamon; she never really understood the whole "Alien-UFO" thing. Regardless, she was fun to be around and chat with, generally being pretty humorous.

Cinnamon's never had so many friends; it was a dream come true for her! After a pretty mundane and controlled childhood, having the freedom to bake whatever the hell she wanted, communicate with whoever she wanted, and go wherever she wanted was like being in paradise.
On the weekends, Cinnamon saw new sights and tried new things as frequently as possible, bringing Melon along with her; not because he could translate sign language for her, though. It was almost a way of thanking him. She wanted him to feel as fulfilled and happy as she did.  

The next-door neighbors soon came to visit. Their names were Tags and Kelli. They owned a cute little game store, although it was clear that it was more Kelli's dream. She had lots of love for gaming and tech, although her dreams were definitely on a smaller scale than Cinnamon's. Tags enjoyed sewing, and he was definitely a lot better at it than Cinnamon had gotten, but he didn't understand sign language, unlike Kelli, who was surprisingly fluent in it.  

Cinnamon would often visit after hours and play the few arcade machines they had in their shop, trying her best to beat Kelli's scores and enjoying the challenge. Cotton would tag along too, but she was more interested in watching Cinnamon or Kelli play games than she was in playing them herself. They'd stay up until early in the morning, knowing that they'd regret it once they had to wake up, but it was always worth the fun.  

There was never a dull day, it seemed! ...for a couple of years.  

She had woken up one day to the sound of Primavera and Cotton. They almost sounded panicked? Concerned, Cinnamon got out of bed to investigate.  
She saw them both in the kitchen. When they realized she was there, they gave her a sad, frightful look. She had a sinking feeling in her heart, and a rush of anxiety ran through her body.  

Cotton found Kelli completely destroyed. Tags was nowhere to be seen. Cinnamon suggested telling the authorities (by now, the two knew quite a bit of sign language), still processing what was even said to her. She heard it all loud and clear, but it was hard to imagine it was even real. Who would do something like that to Kelli? And why? Where had Tags gone?
The authorities didn't seem to help. Once it was mentioned that Kelli was a robot, all care was thrown out the window. They still requested a search party for Tags, and they lazily said that they'd look into it if he didn't come back in a week, but it was clear that there was little care for him either.  
The three felt powerless.

Melon found out soon after, and he didn't take it too well.  
Cinnamon figured that something to take his mind off of it all would do him some good, so she asked if he wanted to go someplace with her- he snapped at her, harshly saying that there was no time for that. Cinnamon felt hurt but left him be. She told her that Melon probably needed space to grieve, something she hadn't considered. Cinnamon just wanted the whole thing off of her mind as quickly as possible. When the reality of the situation hit her, she had to be doing something; even sleeping felt like too much. All she could think about was how she should've been with Kelli at that very moment. It was hard to imagine someone like her could ever be gone for good. She avoided thinking about it for weeks.

Before she could even start to grieve, Cotton told her that, apparently, Tags was the one who destroyed Kelli; and Primavera KNEW that he might do so for years now. Cinnamon couldn't understand why. She knew Tags had issues, but why would he do this? Why didn't Primavera do anything about it? Cotton explained that it was an uncontrollable urge he acted on, but it still just didn't make sense. It could've been prevented. Cinnamon's sadness transformed into anger and confusion. She still dealt with these issues by working and distracting herself, but anger was far easier to handle than despair. Cotton tried to be there for her, but Cinnamon wasn't ready to open up about it.

It was a few months later that Melon finally found Tags. Everyone but Cinnamon seemed to be relieved, or even happy. But she was frustrated even further. She couldn't find it in herself to forgive him. She could hardly forgive Primavera, and she wasn't even the one that harmed Kelli. Apparently, he was going to be moving in with them too.
She discussed this with Melon. Anger at the fact that the one who took away someone she loved was allowed to just STAY with them? He tried to tell her that Tags was as hurt as she was, but that it was fair to be upset. She didn't have to forgive him, but she knew that if she did, it would be for herself.
Melon also apologized for his behavior. He also confessed that he sometimes needed a break from Cinnamon's fast pace; he couldn't keep up and needed a breather every now and then. Constantly doing something day in and day out got to be exhausting. She had no idea, her intentions were never bad, she always figured that people got energy the same way she did. Cinnamon apologized too.

She considered what he had said about forgiveness. She even thought about her view on life, how moving so quickly may not always be a good thing; that sometimes it's important to just take a day off and do nothing. She should slow down.
She pretty quickly discovered that it was actually nice. While not a change of scenery or activity, it was a change in perspective. There was no rush, Cinnamon had her whole life in front of her. Moving alongside Melon at his own pace was relaxing. Cotton seemed proud of her for this. 

Forgiveness was still hard, though. It was hard to look someone in the eyes when you knew the suffering they caused. But, it seemed that Tags could hardly look at himself either. An overwhelming sense of guilt was plaguing him, it's why he ran away, why he came back looking so tattered and depressed. Kelli meant everything to him, but his lack of foresight and responsibility ended up causing her demise. He was hurting over her loss more than anyone else. But he wanted to do better, that much was clear. Cinnamon came to understand this. Forgiveness was still hard, but with time, she came to accept what happened, and eventually, forgave Tags. It felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders, carrying a grudge all this time was painful.

Business was good. Melon and Cinnamon still went out to do things together, just a bit slower. She found herself enjoying it a lot more than she could've ever expected to. Tags would sometimes join them, and it was nice to see him happy. Cinnamon was finally starting to accept things for how they were.