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.

---

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."