"Laki!" shouted Conis, reaching for her apron. She threw the opening over her head, and reached behind her to tie the garment. She always had trouble with this part.
"Conis!" exclaimed Laki, rushing into the staff room. She still held a bowl of pumpkin soup in one hand.
"Help?" said Conis bashfully, turning around. Laki undid the messy knot and tied it again, completing it with a large bowl.
"Thanks," said Conis, "sorry I'm late."
"It's fine," responded Laki, gesturing to the soup, "bring this out to the customers please. I need to finish up the appetizers."
"What table?"
"Table number 3. Those White Berets sure work up and appetite."
Conis nodded and exited the staff room. She emerged from the kitchen to the dining room of the Pumpkin Café. The room was crowded; the last shift of the day had just ended. All the workers of the island came to the Café after work; it was very popular. Conis supposed that was a good thing, but she couldn't help but wish for a break sometimes.
"Here you go," she said, setting the bowl down on the table.
"Thank you, Conis-chan!" chorused the White Beret raising his spoon in salute. Conis giggled, and returned behind the counter. Ding!
"Welome to the Pumpkin Café!" exclaimed Conis, turning to see her new customer, "Aisa!"
"Hi Conis!" said Aisa, hopping up on the bar stool, "Is Laki here?"
"She's out back. Can I help you with anything?"
"Oh. Well, I got free tickets to go to Rubber Band Land, and I wanted to go with Laki."
"Aisa?" asked Laki, walking out to the dining room.
"Laki!" said Aisa, waving her hand.
"I thought I'd heard my favorite cousin!" said Laki, smiling at the girl.
"Laki, Amazon gave me free guests tickets to Rubber Band Land. Do you want to go?"
Laki frowned.
"I'm afraid the Café is rather busy today. Conis?"
"Yes?"
"You're getting off your shift early today, right?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Would you like to go instead? It'll be a nice chance to relax!"
"Oh!" exclaimed Conis, her mind repeating the word 'relax' over and over again. "Well, if Aisa's ok with it…" said Conis, looking over at the Mantra user.
"Sure!" said Aisa, giving Conis a big smile.
"Well then it's settled," said Laki, "Aisa, Conis will meet you at 3:00. Is that ok?"
"That's fine," said Aisa.
"Alright. Let's get back work, shall we?"
A few hours later, Conis finally took off her apron. It'd been a tiring day, but business was finally slowing down. Laki had practically pushed Conis out the door of the kitchen, insisting she could handle everything by herself. Conis really appreciated it. It would be nice to get away from the work environment for a while.
"Here we are!" said Aisa, clambering off the waver. Conis parked the vehicle near the entrance, and followed Aisa to the ticket booth.
"Hello Aisa," said the Elderly Amazon, former gatekeeper of Skypiea.
"Have you come with your friend?" inquired the old woman.
"This is Conis," said Aisa, gesturing to the Skypiean.
"Hello Conis," said Amazon, "I suppose I'll just let you two in then. Tickets?"
Aisa handed her the ticket and her staff pass. Amazon waved them through, and called up the next customer. When Conis first walked in, she saw a life-sized statue.
"Is that Usopp?" she asked, marvelling at the long-nose.
"Yeah. Apparently."
Both squinted their eyes, trying to find the ressemblance between the chiseled abs and sharp jaw of the statue, and the weak frame and rounded face of it's model. They walked past the statue into the park's clearing. Nola, Shandora's former guardian, was a live attraction at the park.
"Are they dangling from…" asked Conis, a bit nervous to say the rest.
"Her tongue?" finished Aisa, noticing how uncomfortable the Skypiean looked, "Yup."
Indeed, the snake had been set up as a bungee jump, her long tongue grasping onto the ankles of anxiously queued children, and sending them plummeting towards the ground. One such eager child had been fastened to the snake, and was about to jump off. Conis tried to look away, but she was fixated on the sight. The chilid jumped, screaming with delight all the way down. Right before he hit the ground, Nola's elastic tongue yanked him back, ending his descent with a sharp halt. The child was still laughing as the snake unwraveled her tongue to greet her next passenger. Conis smiled. It was gratifying to see the formerly wounded souls of Skypiea rise again, and take heart in new ambitions. Aisa had noticed Conis staring at the snake.
"Do you want to try it?" she asked, tugging the other girl's arm.
"Oh no," replied Conis, shaking her head, "I simply couldn't."
"Oh but you can!" said Aisa, dragging the Skypiean towards the giant snake. Conis's eyes widened, and her heart began racing. It calmed slightly at the sight of the long line. 'I'll have some time to get ready' she thought 'psych myself up'. Aisa gave the fretting angel a mischievous grin, and showed her a white card.
"Fast Pass," said the Shandian girl, beckoning Nola over.
"This is not exactly what I had in mind when Laki said 'relax'" moaned Conis, feeling herself rise higher and higher.
A.N.: The outline for this one was rather different, until I got a little review from Wordlet, who informed me that I'd forgotten Nola's Birthday! As such, I've tried to include her at the end to compensate for missing her! Thank you, Wordlet!
It's almost halfway through the year. I still cannot believe I've gotten this far. This is the last one-shot for May. After this, we're onto June. I'm truly hoping that, due to the lack of birthdays in June, I will be able to work on 'The Coffee Shop' because I know many of you have been waiting patiently for it. So anticipate an update there!
Reviews, Favourites, Subscriptions, Birthdays, and Requests are welcomed and much appreciated! I'll see you on June 1st for the June list!