Upon arriving in the city again, I asked Cole to drop me off at work. Despite his chiding, I had to get back and finish any leftover work from the past couple of days of my leave. Without a question, my boss was frantic with all the extra work that needed to be done at the cafe. We were slightly understaffed at the moment due to laying off an employee who deemed himself worthy of flirting with our female customers instead of working. Let’s just say, the time he broke a dish while winking at a customer was the last straw for my boss. We arrive at the cafe and Cole grabs my collar before I walked through the door. Pointing to my apron, he gestured the garment was being worn incorrectly.
“Maybe you oughta stay at home for the day. Ye’ appear ta be still shaken up from the last coupla’ days. Besides, ye’ need ta pack your stuff ta move in, it might take ye’ a while…” Motioning to the car door, he signals that I need to move back towards the car. Moving his hand aside, and trying to do such politely as Big Man seemed to be eyeing my movements, I told him that I needed to be at work. Before he could argue further, I walked through the doors to the cafe and headed to the back to get fully dressed for my shift. One of my co-workers, Phil, greeted me upon entry with one of his world-famous smiles.
“Hey Spyro! How’re you holding up? We thought you were going to stay in the countryside for good this time! Your uncle still being a square?” Unlike most people, Phil knew about my whole family situation with my father and uncle-and the seemingly strangeness of my sudden adoption. It was one of his redeeming qualities, one that I was extremely grateful for; that and his overall ability to sweep me out of a bad mood. One could say he had the aura of good vibes…or it could be due to the fact that he’s the biggest cinnamon roll alive.
“I’ve been better…I honestly considered staying in the country, you know with the handy supply of fresh water and clean air, but I knew you guys would miss me too much, so I took a quick dip in the lake to recharge. I figured our manager wants an energetic worker instead of a zombie. ” I replied with a chuckle. The thing with our society now is that people like me and my father’s side need to have access to a good water supply. With the emergence of supernatural creatures centuries ago, our society has learned to adapt to the special needs of most of its inhabitants.
Vampires in Arizona? Well, there are shade ports where they can rest their skin and cool off. Mermaids in Minnesota? Pools aligned on the sidewalks to ensure none end up dry. Undine, such as myself, in a hot sticky city in Virginia; access to the ever-pleasant H2O in the form of fountains. The list honestly goes on, but with so many diverse people is the ever-present disapproval of those who are mainly human. At Misconceptions Burrow, we cater to creatures and humans equally; however, there have been moments where we’ve had to separate the two to prevent any mishaps (A vampire meeting during the day was a really bad call on my boss’s judgement)
I glanced at the clock and politely excused myself from Phil to go speak with our boss, Clyde. Fixing my uniform, I venture out to find him but bump into him as I left the room.
“Spyro? Oh, thank the Lord you’re back! I need you to work Nathan’s shift and cover the kitchen again. Maybe even make that lovely tea to go along with your cake special?” I didn’t miss the hopeful gleam in his eye at the mention of the tea and special. Guess today I’m going to need to prepare myself a glass of water to stay hydrated…as well as save the big lug a piece of cake.
“Sure thing, just give me a glass of water so I don’t get dehydrated again. I don’t need a repeat of last month’s whole flame fiasco with that angry witch who claimed she got the wrong order.” Making sure to tie any loose ribbons on my apron, I headed to the kitchen and started the cake. Pouring the batter into the pan, I hear the front doorbell chime; which was a usual signal that a customer had walked into the cafe. Clyde called out to Phil to greet the guest and give them a seat. Our work routine commenced with me in the kitchen as Phil began waiting tables, and Clyde worked the register. Moving on to the tea, I made sure that I took a long swig of the water and took a breath. Moving a portion of the water from my body took some effort (I hadn’t practiced moving the water from my system in a while) and moved a portion to the stove into a pot to boil. Seeing the flare of flame, I reminisced to my father teaching me how to work with our…interesting physique.
Undine are taught, at a young age, how to do maintenance items such as circulating the water from their bodies and regulating energy from a nearby lake. Later, they acquire the knowledge they need to function without their body randomly liquefying in public or causing geysers to shoot without warning. At ten, my dad decided that it wouldn’t hurt to teach his son how to shift his body into needed objects, as well as become transparent. When I asked him what these skills were for, he just shrugged it off and said that it would make a pretty cool party trick. While I stray from doing any “Undine” activities outside of work and home, I can say that most of the skills he taught me came in handy. A prime example: manipulating the water in tea to bring out the tea’s rich flavors; along with this, I learned to make the best dishes ever (since I don’t half-ass make a dish by using faucet water, ugh!). I present different ideas to my boss when he needs new specials for the cafe.
Hearing the hiss of the water in the sizzling pot, I transfer a little bit of the water to an awaiting jug and throw in a strainer with the leaves and leave it to steep. Doing a quick once-over of the water in my system, I make my skin go transparent and look at the water flowing around to see everything is in order. Allowing my skin to become opaque once more, I move over to the cake-cooled off- and begin to cool further it with a fan. I lay a thin layer of vanilla icing on the top of the first cake layer and add sliced strawberries in a spiral; from here I proceed to decorate the cake as instructed by Nathan (who I hope isn't too sick. He's cool). Moving on the next list of specialty items and grabbing the list of orders, I begin to dish out different specials and putting them out to go to their tables. Midway into a parfait, I hear Phil yell from the counter.
“Hey! Is the tea ready? We need a cup over at this table,"he called," Also, bring it over when you can, this fellow asked for you. He was pretty persistant.” He shook his head, exasperated at the troubled customer and went to check on the other workers. Picking up the cup and transferring the now steeped water to a cup, I walked out to the front to where Phil was waiting outside of a booth with some workers. They soon dispersed and went about filling the rest of their orders. I almost dropped the cup as I see Cole beaming as he waved me over. Handing him his cup with a shaky grip, I felt confused. What the everlasting f*** was he doing at my job? I told him I was fine earlier. Is he trying to still get me to stay home?
“Oh, please tell me I am hallucinating.” I finger my hair with my free hand,”Why are you here?” With a smug look on his face, Cole took in the cafe and looked back to me.
“It's a nice place. I’m here to just check on you. You didn’t look too good when ye’ left earlier, so I took it upon m’self to visit during work and see how yer doing. I was gon’ send Sam, but ‘e did not look so enthusiastic about dropping by in a crowded place,"I was a little relieved to have only his presence in the cafe and not the big m-Sam’s presence. He screamed intimidation with just a glance. Leaning over he added," Past trauma with a vine lady convent. It was awful for him. Hey! Don't laugh! He still gets wary around plants because of those salty gals...On another note, what time do ye’ git off? I’m taking you by your uncle's so you can pack. ”
“I get off at about 5. You don’t really have to wait up for me. I can just easily walk back home.” His smile wavered. Looking back at Phil, I saw the many tickets lining up with the different orders that I would now have to rush to complete. I hope they’re not food orders but drinks. “Look, I have to go back to work. If it will get you to leave, then, fine, I’ll wait for you after about 5:30. I need to go. See ya.” With a curt wave and a crisp turn I walked off before he could say anything else. Glancing at Phil with a knowing look I headed back into the kitchen to continue the rest of the order. Thankfully there weren’t too many food orders, but I still finished with a headache due to the high amount of water I had to use.
~~~~~~~~
Taking long, deep swigs of my water, I walked to the kitchen window to peer into the lobby. Phil served tables and I didn’t see a trace of Cole. Getting back to work I focus on my tasks, continuing until closing time. Looking at the clock and seeing that it’s close to closing time, I go to Clyde’s office and let him know that it was close to closing time.
“You have a ride home, kiddo?” he questioned with a worried tone. Getting up and stretching his back, he walked over to the door and closed it. Walking down the hallway with me, I told him of my arrangements and how I plan on listing recipes for the new cook-since eventually, we were going to get a new one employee. I approached the door first and let myself out, waiting for Cole to pop up at any time. When I decided that he wasn’t going to show up anytime soon, I decided to play around with the water on the sidewalk and see how many shapes I could create.
By the time I had created my fourth watery fox figure, I saw a car pull up and stop in front of me. With the window rolling down I see Big M-Sam point to me and the back of the car. Taking that as my cue to carry my happy arse in the car, I quickly grab my stuff and get in the back seat. To my side, Cole read a paper as I settle in. Nodding his head, as he signaled for Sam to drive, the ride carries on in silence until I reach my Uncle’s home. Sighing, I grab my stuff and head for the door when Cole grabs my shoulder.
“Be sure ta pack all of yer stuff and try to bear with your uncle for me. Don’t cause unnecessary trouble. We’ll talk more on his…hospitality at a later time, but, fer the moment, try to make nice til I come in th’ morn’ to git ye’. Yer pop often spoke about his brother’s…tempermental behavior. We can talk now if ye’d like to…”
Pausing,I refuse to look him in the eye. I liquefy my shoulder and slip out of his reach and walk to the door. Looking at the hateful tan door, I take a deep breath and turn to look at him once more.
“Thanks but I’m tired after all. I’ll see you in the morning.”
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