"Here's your food, kind sir. Do enjoy!"
The staffs of the Benbow Inn were busy bees. The quota of customers had increased ever since Jim's return, which meant more work to deal with. However, the new members, which were B.E.N and Morph, did bring extra "hands" into the process. Morph transformed itself into cooking tools that Sarah needed, often finding himself tasting the food as well before they're served to the customers. It was a win-win job.
It did take time for the two to adapt in the place. B.E.N had dropped several plates, slipped on slippery floor, brought the customer the wrong food, and many other typical newbie mistakes. Morph used to stir the soup by transforming into a knife, cut the vegies with the form of a spoon, and some other mistakes that Sarah could only giggle at.
"Right, Sarah, I've delivered every single food and drink, and I did check if they're the correct customers," B.E.N reported, using his wheels to approach Sarah, who was staring at the customers in front of her from the kitchen.
"Anymore food to deliver?" B.E.N took a glance at the kitchen, where no foods were being cooked at the moment.
"No… not yet. Ah, c'mere B.E.N. You need to learn this," Sarah pulled the robot by the shoulder. "I name this situation 'The Calm Before the Storm'," she gestured to the customers with an arm, narrowing her eyes.
"And… why did you exactly name that?" B.E.N questioned, cocking a brow. Sarah thought he'd know what she meant.
"Do you even understand the meaning of the phrase?"
"I… uh, do not have a database of the latest English phrases, I'm afraid. Maybe I can add that into my dictionary, what does it mean?"
"B.E.N, it means a moment of silence before a certain activity shatters the moment abruptly. You can take a breath for a minute or two, but then," Sarah paused for a few seconds, her eyes focusing from one customer to another, one table to another.
"Oh Sarah~ Refill please!"
"Sarah, can I have an extra portion for my son?"
"Hey robot guy! Where's the bathroom?"
"Sarah? Could you please add more pepper onto my plate?"
Numerous customers began to call for orders, varying from extra that, less that, a question, and any kind of order imaginable. What was a peaceful moment, filled with the sounds of spoons and forks dancing on plates, had turned into a chaos of orders. Sarah said nothing, and pushed the robot off of her way to serve the customers.
Meanwhile, B.E.N's processor was heating up. He couldn't figure out who ordered first, and second, and third. With that, he randomized his path while taking the orders.
Sarah, who's more experienced in the job, had already returned to the kitchen when B.E.N was still stuck with his second customer. Once again, machine was beaten!
"B.E.N, I didn't hire you for this, come on!" Sarah jokingly called, followed by a trail of small giggles.
"A minute, Sarah! Uh…" B.E.N turned his attention back to the alien he was facing, whose body perfectly reflected a man's body, but a head of an eagle. "You wanted more... meat?"
"Yes," the alien replied.
"Okay, um, right away sir!"
The 'storm' that had taken place was lasting, and its end didn't seem to be anywhere close. The constant orders kept flowing, and B.E.N's processor couldn't handle them anymore. He walked into the kitchen while giving his head a massage, although it wasn't helping at all considering he was a machine.
"S-Sarah… I need some air," Sarah turned to the robot while carrying plates. Morph, who was in a form of a knife, formed back into its usual self to see the matter.
"Ah, you robots breathe in air?" She chuckled, which was her new behavior, apart from making more jokes.
"Yes—well, technically no, but a little coolant would be nice?" He made that robotic smile. Hearing this, Morph flew to the machine and turned himself into a fan.
"Hmph, looks like you've found your solution, benny," she walked past the two out of the kitchen with a smile.
"Please, Sarah?" B.E.N asked once again, pleading almost.
"Five minutes," she turned her head to him, "and call Jim down here."
"Oh thank god."
B.E.N pushed the pink alien away, and received a few laughs from him. With a slow speed, B.E.N's wheels led himself out of the inn through the backdoor. Once he was outside, a breeze of sea wind swiftly greeted the machine. The coolant process had already begun, and it didn't take long for B.E.N to have himself collected once again.
But the robot decided to take his time.
He went to the narrow and curvy stairs that would lead him into the beach just below the inn. His plan was to splash some water on his head to really make sure he's cooled down, but it didn't seem to happen when he stopped at his track when he saw two figures in the beach, seemingly to be having a chat.
Eyeing behind a rock, B.E.N learnt that it was Jim, talking to a girl whom he never learnt her identity. He zoomed in his vision to take a better look with his robotic eyes, and ran through the database of the people whom he'd met previously for any match. The search ended with zero result.
"Who is she—WHOA!"
The robot was trying to have another zoomed look, but its hand didn't have a grip on the rock he was hiding behind, which resulted him falling into the sands from the stairs. Of course, the two's conversation was paused.
"B.E.N?!"
"Ugh…" B.E.N pulled out his head from the sands. Some of his eyes caught a few bits of sands, and he used wiper to clean them off.
"What are you doing here?!" Jim helped him stand, trying to block his vision from the mermaid.
"Ah… mother called… it's your shift, hehe."
"My shift is not until another hour, you—"
"And who's the lass, eh?" B.E.N took a peek through Jim's armpit, and his eyes widened as wide as round tray. He never saw the tail that Ariel had.
"My GOODNESS GRACIOUS, IS THAT—"
"SHH—" the brunette immediately shut the robot's jaws. "You will not tell anyone about this—please, it's…"
"Why are you trying to keep this as a secret?" B.E.N asked, even with his jaws held by Jim.
"No one cannot know this, just…"
While watching the two from behind, Ariel looked at the rock that was on her right, debating to herself whether she should hide herself in this case. While pondering, she accidentally overheard the two talking about a storm, chaos, and orders. She could only guess what they were on about. Soon, Flounder appeared on the surface, with an object in his fin's grasp.
"Ah, thank you Flounder!" Ariel took the object, which was the comb. "I was afraid I'd lose it, that wave certainly did crash into our conversation."
"Yeah, it did. It didn't wash away too far—WHO'S THAT?" the fish pointed at the robot, who was still talking to Jim.
"Uh… he just crashed in as well." The mermaid shrugged.
"When?!"
"Few seconds ago?"
"Alright…" Jim spoke, which made the two's attention turned to him. "Flounder, Ariel, meet Bio-Electronic Navigator, or Ben."
"Ooh… fascinating, Flounder, you're the prettiest Flounder out there! Your eyes are perfectly placed in front of your face! And your mouth is flawless! And Ariel… that's a pretty name for a tropical fish." The robot knelt in front of the two. Ariel and Flounder tried to process his sentences, which they failed miserably. A 'smack' sounded from behind, because Jim's facepalm sounded that loud.
"Ben, Ariel is the mermaid. Flounder is the yellow fish."
A pause filled the air, and it was broken by the mermaid's forced chuckle.
"N-Nice to meet you, Ben," she gave her hand for a handshake, which was returned.
"M-My bad, Flound—Ariel!"
"Ariel, I gotta run now, come on Ben," Jim cut in.
"Awh, really now? We haven't finished about your adventure—"
"Haha, well, I guess you'll have to wait then. Just remind me tomorrow where we last left off," he waved and grabbed B.E.N by the arm. "See you later!"
She waved in a slow phase, still not accepting the fact that her conversation was abruptly stopped. Her eyes spectated the two on the move, until the cliff they reached didn't give her anymore sight of them. The mermaid's elbow dragged on the sand, while her palm was supporting the weight of her cheek. She was clearly unhappy with Jim's sudden departure.
"Hey Ari, what's that on the sand?"
The fish gestured to the shiny object on the sand. It was positioned on where Jim last stood. Seeing that, she came up with the hypothesis that it was his. Desiring to have a closer look, Ariel beached herself. Her muscles moved her arms to pull her closer and closer to the object on the sand. Once reached, she immediately sensed that it was metal through her fingers. She rolled herself back into the water, and discovered that it was a silver pendant.
"Oh my… it's beautiful."
"What is it? What is it?"
"It's… like a something humans put on their neck, or perhaps on their wrist," she shook her head. "I don't know what this is, Flounder."
The pendant had a round shape, imitating an egg. There was a line that cut across the object around it, which Ariel assumed its purpose was as an extra decoration. But once she gave a firm pressure on the pendant, it opened.
"Oh, it opened… whoa!"
A projection materialized from the pendant, and it displayed a picture, it was a picture of a family. A father, a mother, and a baby. The parents were dressed fine, while the baby was wearing simple baby clothes. Even with the picture's color in black and white, Ariel recognized the baby's eyes, as if she had known them for a long time. It was Jim himself.
"Jim was so cute back then…" a smile was formed on her scarlet lips, with the lower one being bitten by her teeth. Flounder doubted on Ariel's statement regarding that the baby was Jim.
"How do you know this is Jim?"
"I… just do," she turned to him. "I don't know how. I just know it's him."
"Well, what are we going to do with it? We can't just leave it here, or call him to come down here." Flounder began pondering for a while.
"I guess we'll have to take it then," Ariel shut the pendant, turning off the projection.
"You're not going to add it into your collection, are you, Ariel?" Flounder's brow furrowed.
"No, of course not. I'll have it stored in my safe place first, and return it to him tomorrow," she firmly held the item in her hand.
"Alright, let's get going then."
The two cut through the waves, leaving the beach of Benbow inn with a temporary member to be added into Ariel's collection. The depth of the water increased, and they followed the depth, until it led the two to their usual spot.
As usual, she opened the entrance, and entered in.
However, the unusual part, was that a tiny figure was watching the two in stealth.
"So that's where they usually go… What could they be hiding in there?" Sebastian, the crab known for its skills in composing music, spoke to himself. Ariel didn't happen to shut the entrance immediately, and Sebastian saw this as a chance.
He leaped from the corals, and sneaked in. He tried to keep a low profile, however, he almost spoiled everything when he lightly gasped at the objects that the grotto possessed. The collection varied in sizes, shapes, functions (which he had no idea of). Sebastian shut his mouth right away, and spectated the mermaid and the tropical fish behind a crate.
Ariel laid herself on the rock in the middle of the grotto, and opened her fist. The pendant reflected a trace of light from the sunlight, which formed a smile on Ariel's face.
"Humans do make a lot of beautiful things…" Ariel popped the pendant once again, and the same projection was displayed. Curious, Flounder circled around the projection, and he was surprised when he swam through it.
"Ah, I thought it would be solid, I wanted to touch it," Flounder sounded complaining.
"I mean, there's no increase in weight, Flounder. This thing is probably forged out of light." Ariel spoke of her theory. She shoved her thumb on the projector, which resulted the projection to be gone. Once she moved her thumb away, a different projection took place.
"Oh, what's this?"
"Mom, what's for dinner tonight?"
A young Jim was seen walking towards a direction, in which her mother appeared. The mother turned to her son, and picked him up with a smile that only mothers would have.
"Your favorite, sweetheart. Fried bacon, some corns—"
"Ah, wait, did I ask about the dinner? I mean, the bedtime story for tonight?"
The mother looked at her son with a confused look.
"Jim, it's not even bedtime yet—"
"Yeah, I know. But I can't wait! At least tell me what you're going to tell!"
"Oh Jim…" She couldn't help but to giggle at her son's attitude. After that, she started considering stories that were available. One came up to her mind as she snapped her finger.
"Oh, how about Captain Flint, the space pirate who collects treasures from a thousand galaxies?" She suggested, considering it was a book that she recently just bought for her beloved son.
"A thousand galaxies? YES, I want that one!"
"But!" She raised a finger, "let's add a thousand calories into that belly first," with her index finger, she tickled her son on the belly. Within an instant, he laughed hard while trying to avoid.
And the projection stopped.
"Oh Jim… Bedtime stories over dinner, huh?"
"Well, I'd have dinner over bedtime stories," Flounder commented.
"I believe this is priceless, it's too valuable, I must return it to him fast," Ariel rolled her eyes down at the pendant. "I wonder if he knows if it's missing."
"Well I know one thing that's missing, missy," Sebastian whispered to himself, although still in the process of processing what he had just witnessed.
"And it is my respect for you, Ariel! You've interacted with a human?! Seagull is one, but a human?! This is unacceptable! I must tell this to the king right away."
Done cursing the mermaid, Sebastian creeped away from the grotto, and headed back to where he belonged. The palace of Atlantica.
"Is this the place?"
"There's no doubt, here, it says Benbow Inn."
"Right. Might as well fill our belly out, mate."
"Well, let's not forget our main task."
With that, the two men in cloaks walked their way to the inn, with a special task at hand.
