Moon Prince Gets a Job

Muckleby oozes forward, her scent of fresh soil and petrichor mingling with the smell of hot coffee and warm baked goods. The huge glob of grime attempts a smile, though it's hard to find her face amidst her quivering bulk. Myriad objects churn about inside of her.

"Good morning!" she says pleasantly. "Oh, hello, Moon Prince! I didn't know you worked here!"

Muckleby takes a moment to peruse the menu. "May I please have the Mud Puddle, Dangerous sized, with snickerberries and cream?"

Behind Muckleby, a particularly unpleasant skeleton stands in a fancy suit and bow tie. He holds an orange water gun in one hand, idly twirling it about as he glances around suspiciously. "The name’s Bones. James Bones," he says in a bad British accent to anybody who cares to ask (and anybody who doesn’t care to ask).

A small rat pokes her head out of his jacket pocket. "Rats!" she squeaks once before ducking out of sight once more.

Viv is next in line. The so-called Lady of the Lake has been dressing decidedly unladylike as of late. She’s currently wearing basketball shorts and a sleeveless jersey with the logo of the local college team, the Veilridge Voles. Her long, damp hair still hangs over her face as she taps away at her phone, making trades for her fantasy football league.

The Ptisilith hovers in the air between Yazeba and Gertrude. It is silent and ineffable.

Mel made sure to stay in the Ptisilith’s shadow on the way to the cafe to avoid the rays of the morning sun. The shop is usually closed at night when she’s roaming around, but she wanted to get a taste of the famous treats served here. Her tongue lolls from her mouth in anticipation of scrumptious snacks!

At the back of the line, Mr. Boggs stands waiting patiently, his raincloud leaving small puddles on the floor. He holds his briefcase at his side and hums softly for himself. He doesn’t mind waiting in a queue. In fact, he loves a good queue. So orderly. Everybody following the rules. It warms Mr. Boggs’ heart...

The Moon Prince twirls the yellow Cafe Tiara apron onto their neck and then deftly ties the straps behind their back. They pull their hair back into a short ponytail and then takes a deep breath. The eager customers are ready and the tip jar is seeded with the first few dollars.

Moon Prince stands at the counter and greets Muckleby. "Welcome to Cafe Tiara! It's actually my first day here, so I didn't work here but now I do." Moon Prince smiles, excited for the first order of the shift.

"One dangerous Mud Puddle, with snickerberries and cream coming right up!" MP turns to the supplies and equipment behind the counter. One scoop of cocoa powder in a dangerous size cup, fill the cup with warmed milk, leave enough room for the cream, and artfully place a few snickerberries on top. Voila!

MP turns back to Muckleby with the finished drink. They are unsure where and how to hand it to Muckleby, so they end up placing it on the counter for her to take however she sees fit. "Here you go, Muckleby! Enjoy."

Muckleby envelops the huge cup of hot chocolate in a pseudopod, then deposits several soiled dollar bills on the counter. "Thank you!" she says as she sloughs off.

The skeleton saunters up to the counter. "Alright, you rogue, here's the game," he says. "I want a swirly storm in a knucklebone, with some of that sweet stuff. Shaken, not stirred. And, uh, if you happen to know where a certain witch keeps a certain book of spells, I'll throw in an extra tip for you. Nyeh, heh, heh."

Moon Prince looks at the dapperly dressed skeleton on the other side of the counter, slightly nervous about the orange pistol he twirls about.

"Just a moment, Mister... uh... Bones."

Moon Prince turns to make the order. The gentleman certainly wanted a small hurricane, so MP takes a cup from the stack marked Thimble and pours in the espresso and tops it with steamed milk. And now for the 'sweet stuff'. Looking at the ingredients available, they think most of it is sweet. But they have seen a lot of guests use cubes of sugar to sweeten their tea, so they grab the glass sugar dispenser and shakes some out into the drink.

Now what about the request for a witch's spellbook? He must have meant Yazeba... Or was it some kind of code for something he wanted to order... The Prince decides to go with the latter and responds playfully and mysteriously. After all, magic was mysterious, right?

"Here is your Thimble Hurricane. And a fresh apple strudel made with apples from the Insight Orchard just a few miles away." The Moon Prince hands Mr. Bones the drink and pastry, then touches a finger to the side of their nose in a sly gesture.

"James Bones" takes the drink, inspects it, then nods. "Not bad." He reaches into his pocket and places a few dollar bills on the counter. "But I didn't order an apple strudel. So I'm not paying for it! Too late to take it back! Nyeh, heh, heh!" He snatches the pastry and dashes away before the Moon Prince can react!

Viv steps up to the counter, looking up from her phone. "Hi, I'll have..." She looks at the menu and her hair conceals her frown. "Hmmm... I think I'll get... No, no, let me have... Actually, um..." She looks back to the Moon Prince. "Could you give me a few minutes?"

Gertude wakes up late because, really, so what? But she finds out what when she shows up at Cafe•Tiara and there’s a huge line.

She recalls a time she was skating, and when a faster skater needed to pass, they would call "on your left" in order to pass safely.

But there’s no room to pass this long, boring line on the left, so—

"On your up!"—Gertrude leaps over the crowd with the grace of a rude ballerina.

She alights butt-first on the countertop.

"I’llll hhhhaaaaaaaaaavvvvvvvve………"

She actually knows exactly what she wants. She just likes her place in the front of the huge line, and is savoring it.

"A dangerous greased lightning with moon milk and snickerberries, ’cause… I snicker at danger."

She makes such a face. No one can see it, because mask, but oh if they cou—wait a minute..!

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaand peppermint. So I can skip brushing my teeth later. Not to say that I will, but I desire… options."

"Sure Viv, take your ti..." Moon Prince involuntarily takes a step back as Gertrude suddenly lands in front of them, sitting on the counter.

"Oh, hey G! Sorry, you startled me. Is everything okay with you? You are acting very...um...energetic today. Are you sure you need coffee?" But then MP remembers this is their first day on the new job and doesn't want the Manager to come back and see them slacking off with a friend or acting unprofessional. "Right! I'll get started on your order right away, Madam!"Moon Prince takes a Dangerous sized cup, needing both hands to hold it, and pours in the Espresso. Next, a splash of Moon milk that brings back memories of the Moon palace and drinking a fresh cup of the stuff while studying. And several snickerberries arranged to look like a large ! floating on the top. The finishing touch, a spring of fresh peppermint on the edge, and the drink is finished.

"There you go, G!" Moon Prince smiles as they pass the cup across the counter to Gertrude. Then they lean in and whisper "You really should brush your teeth anyway. Cavities suck and healthy gums are linked to a healthy heart, you know."

Behind Gertrude, Viv clears her throat. "Excuse me. I'm ready to order now. I'll have a malachite Merlin with celadon crumbles and lunar liquid," she says clearly and confidently.

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Gertrude ignores the ahem-ing from behind, taking her sweet time with the Moon Prince.

"Energetic, yes. Unburdened, you might say." She looks at the barista-craftsmanship. "Ah, a punctuation-mark arrangement. How exciting." She slowly sips, then dabs at the mouth-hole in her mask with a napkin (which could have been used more than once had she not crumpled it into a tight ball and flung it into a bin across the room).

She pays the prince a compliment. "I certainly got what a paid for." She steps aside for other customers. Slowly. It’s not like she’s in any hurry.

Moon Prince's cheeks develop a fuchsia color at Gertrude's tepid reaction to her drink's obvious rizz. "It was the best I could come up with right now. It is my first day after all. I'm sure next time I'll come up with something REALLY great." They laugh nervously as Gertrude sips the drink and saunters off.

Then MP turns to Viv as she gives her order. "Um... coming right up."

They turn, beginning to feel overwhelmed by the still quite long line of customers. MP stares at the four stacks of differently sized cups. What had Viv wanted? They couldn't concentrate and... was that smoke they smelled?! There were several clearly marked No Smoking signs around the Cafe! Ugh. Rather than say anything though, Moon Prince just coughs pointedly and tries to hold their nose.

Ok, the order. Right. MP grabs a Quirkly sized cup and a sachet of green tea. Then they pour some hot water into the cup and over the tea leaves. While it steeps, they grab the Moon milk but stop to consider the final ingredient. Celadon crumbles... which add ons were crumbly? Salted caramel had salt which was crumbly. But celadon was...green! Yes! So it had to be Matcha. Moon Prince quickly finishes the drink and turns to present it to Viv.

But then Gertrude's final compliment pops into their head. Oh no! Had they messed up the Earth money transaction last time? Feeling they had already taken too long and not wanting to make a mistake, they grab a dollar out of the tip jar and hand it, along with the tea, over to Viv.

"Here you go. Enjoy. And here's your change as well. Thank you."

Gertrude takes the sofa by the window with the best view. It could seat three… or one, if one were to put her feet up on it.

"SLLLLLLUURRRRRRRPPP-P-P-p-p—p…….p."

As he sips his latte, the liquid spilling from his empty rib cage to stain his suit, the skeleton approaches Gertrude. "Good day, masked girl whom I have never met before. The name’s Bones. James Bones. I couldn’t help but notice you’ve got an air of mystery about you, whereas I am an Intranational Undead Man of Mystery. I like the cut of your jib, understand?

"Maybe you can help me. I’m looking for a certain spellbook. It is of vital importance that it not fall into the wrong hands. So, I need you to help me get into my hands. What say you? Will you help me?"

The small rat peeks out from the skeleton’s pocket and sniffs at Gertrude, frowning. She can sense something is off with the girl. "Rats?" she squeaks with concern.

Gertrude replies, "Yes. Climb onto the rooftop, Mr. Bones. Stand on the west side of the chimney, walk ten clicks forward. Baby-clicks, mind you. Nine clicks would drop you off the roof if you walked adult-clicks. Point forward at the tree before you—the greenest one. Memorize its location, count three trees right, six trees up—as in toward the horizon. Go to that tree, and when you arrive, step ten adult-clicks south, rotate yourself eighty-nine degrees counterclockwise—like a full left turn, but stop just short, and climb over the larger rock, not to be confused with the largest.

"There, you dig. The hollow with the bag in it with the box in it has the book in it. By it, I mean the box in the bag in the hollow. It’s three feet under. Now laugh like I told a joke with an uproariously hilarious punchline, so suspicion is not aroused."

Whether he laughs or buys the lie or pretends to or not, Gertrude adds in a hushed tone, "Tell. No one."She does that shushy thing where you put the index finger to the mask-lips. And while Bones is making eye-contact, Gert feels like petting the rat.

"Nyeh, heh, heh!" Bones, James Bones laughs obligingly! Ratto accepts Gertrude’s petting, but she still looks concerned. But she is soon whisked away as the skeleton casually gets up, finished his drink, and heads for the exit. "Come, Ratto, we know where to look now. It’s all going according to my plan!"

The Ptisilith suddenly floats forward, moving around Yazeba to get to the front of the line.Once it gets there, it hovers silently for several moments. Then, it lets out a low hum. Several of the words on the menu suddenly animate and swirl around one another: "The Stew," "Portly," "Chocolate," and "Cupcake." Then the words return to their normal spot, and the Ptisilith waits patiently...

The Ptisilith hurtles to the far end of the cafe! It bumps into Muckleby, bouncing harmlessly off of her quivering bulk. "Tee hee! That tickles!" Muckleby giggles. The floating stone then knocks into the cafe's doorframe, ricochets into an unoccupied table, and finally arrests its motion, slowly floating back to the counter behind Yazeba.

Moon Prince is about to start the Ptisilith's order right as it goes hurtling across the cafe into Muckleby. I guess it wasn't quite ready to order after all. So mysterious they think to themselves before turning to take Yazeba's order.

"Madam Yazeba, how are you today? I'll get started on your order right away."

MP turns from the register, thinking about Yazeba's order. Travolta could only mean Greased Lightining, so they take a thimble sized cup, and pour espresso into it. And wasn't the one that Travolta wanted a Pink Lady? So that must mean something pink. Moon Prince scans the ingredients and notices the hibiscus tea leaves. Aha, pink! They grab a handful of those and add them into the drink. Then an ice cube to make it cold and a squeeze of sticky honey. And the drink is done.

Moon Prince returns to the counter with the drink and hands it to Yazeba. "Enjoy!" they say cheerfully.

Gertrude zips behind the counter.

"Allow me to assist you." The masked voluntary temp repeats the witch’s order. "One little John, cooler than a Saturday Night Fever, and as sticky as Grease isn’t."

She moves the mixing cup from lever to lever, squirting in the various correct ingredients!She hands the drink to Yazeba. "Here ya go. And… here I go. Niiinjaas vanishhhhh…"Gertrude slowly ducks behind the counter and vanishes from every customers’ sight.

(The Moon Prince and anyone else behind the counter sees Gert on the floor, slowly stealth-crawling toward the back room.)

"Thanks, G!" the Moon Prince whispers as Gertrude takes over. They lean against a counter to rest, glad for a moment to breathe during the crush of customers. Being busy on their feet was quite tiring.

As Gertrude does her vanishing trick, Moon Prince stifles a smile and then gets up quickly to dramatically look around in wonder. "Oh my! Where did that masked hero go?!" they say hoping to distract everyone else as Gertrude crawls toward the back.

"Nrt ’ere," Gertrude mumbles as she gradually continues her eventual escape.

Gert rises and immediately replies to Yazeba in an emotionless, informative tone, "You mispronounced ‘you’re welcome.’"

She then volleys over the counter and reaches toward her unfinished drink. It zips across the room and into her hand.

Gert sips it casually.

The Ptisilith glides up to the counter and repeats its previous order. "The Stew," "Portly," "Chocolate," "Cupcake."

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