Snowflake Heart Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Meanwhile, Nye is in a garage underneath the coffee shop working at a bench – working, as in crafting unique steel-based contraptions and tools using his steel magic.  A twirl of his hands, a flesh of metallic silver aurora energy, and a loud clap of his hands – and TA-DA!  A new miniature security camera the size of a smartphone along with a magnetic side so it can be attached to anywhere, even the nooks and crannies.
“Well, since the coffee shop is slow business-wise, maybe I can use this as a financially stable job,” the steel elf says to himself while surveying his newest creation with a satisfied smile.
“True, but don’t count out Triple F just yet,” Selena calls out off-screen – and then glomps her loving husband much to his yelping surprise.  “We need your help, Mr. Steampunk, heh heh.”
“Groan . . . what’s up?” an annoyed Nye asks as he puts down the camera-smartphone hybrid down.  By the tone of his voice, he’s endured several surprise glomps from his wife beforehand.
“Sorry, but I just to surprise-hug ya, honey.  Suzy has just come up with an idea on how to keep the coffee business going,” the sun fairy replies as Eirwyn herself shows up besides her.
“Oh?  What is it, sis?” the steel elf asks curiously as his snowy sister walks over and whispers her idea into his ear.  “Ah, really?  No problem.”
With that, Nye cracks his knuckles and then conjures up his magical aura in his hands while twirling them around in a spellcasting stance.  He then shoots out the accumulated magic at an empty spot in the garage.
The three watches on as a giant flash of metallic silver energy with navy blue snowflakes and icy blue sparkles explodes in another psychedelic kaleidoscope fashion as a faint blue object starts to form from within – which is gradually revealed to be a bus.  Once the magical flash settles down, the newly-crafted vehicle is shown in icy blue with trailing snowflakes on the back and aurora borealis ribbon-like streams.  Since it’s a Flora Fairy Fava transport, there’s a white rose with the shop’s logo on the upper left sides as proof.
“Well, how’s that, gals?” Nye asks with a proud smile.
Eirwyn walks over to the new bus and examines the entire exterior with a stern, observational eye.  Once she’s done, she returns to her steelomancer brother and points at the bus’ doors for obvious reasons.  Nye nods affirmatively and does a door-opening motion with his hands – as the doors themselves suddenly open upon their own.
With that, the winter fairy walks over and enters carefully to avoid damaging the interior.  Inside, she sees over twenty rows of seats for customers to sit on, with a pole on each side for them to hang on.  The floor has a coarse tire-like lining to minimize slipping in case of wet weather, while the ceiling has several fluorescent lamps flashing in faint, warm aurora borealis colors.  As for the driver’s cockpit, there’s a large control panel retrofitted with radars, cameras, buttons, and switches for various purposes, and the usual steering wheel, gear stick, and foot pedals.
Eirwyn nods with a satisfied smile and then walks out of the bus, giving Nye a thumbs-up to show her approval.  “Well, I’m glad that it’s all according to your specifics,” the steel elf says in relief.  “Then again, I spare no expense in regards to my steel crafting.”
“Knowing you, there’s more than meets the eye, am I right?” Selena asks amusedly as she puts an arm around her hubbie’s shoulders.
“It should be obvious to you by now,” Eirwyn smirks amusedly as she flies over to the bus’ roof.  “It’ll be all necessary for tomorrow, if you know what I mean.”
Nye nods in agreement and then walks over to the bus’ doors.  “I assume you’ll be joining me in picking up the customers tomorrow, yes?” he asks his snowy sister, who nods affirmatively in response.  “No surprise there.  Then it’ll be best if you take it easy right now and rest early so you’ll be all set by then.
Eirwyn nods affirmatively as she flies back down and hugs her knightly brother on the spot.
*****
The next morning, the winter fairy is sleeping peacefully in her bedroom while holding a book close to her.  Suddenly, the alarm clock starts ringing wildly while ‘dancing’ back and forth to get Eirwyn’s attention . . . which it does, only to get frozen solid by a finger tap from her for its trouble.  She then flicks it off the nightstand it was on and gets up from her head with a teary yawn – while the hapless clock shatters into a cloud of icy dust upon hitting the floor.
Now in the coffee shop, Eirwyn does a ballerina spin as she’s suddenly surrounded by an icy blue mist with rings of ice crystals, snowflakes, and wind spinning around her like the rings from Saturn.  Once the wintery spectacle subsides seconds later, the winter-loving lady is revealed in her fairy form again, as well as her original dress from her first transformation.  With that done, the wintery barista starts up the stations of the coffee-making system, brewing a pot of espresso in the process.  Once the black bean juice fills up to the ‘6’ marker, she immediately fills a cup for herself and blows at it slowly for obvious reasons.  
Eirwyn has just started drinking the pure java in careful sips just as Nye shows up in his civilian form, wearing a silver sweatshirt and associated pants decorated with icy blue snowflakes.  He lets out a loud yawn while stretching his arms, which gets his snowy sister’s attention.  “Good morning, Eirwyn,” the steelomancer says sheepishly as he walks over to her.
“Same to you, Nye,” the wintery barista replies as she takes another sip of her high-octane coffee.  “Want some coffee?”
“You made it, right?” Nye asks nervously, with Eirwyn nodding casually.  “You must have a stomach of steel to tolerate espresso of that magnitude.
“Coffee of any kind is an artist’s best friend,” the wintery coffee-lover points out with a chuckle before taking another sip of her own.  “We do the plan like we discussed, right?”
“Yes, no changes.  I don’t see any flaws in it so far.  Just try to be quiet as much as you can, okay?” the knightly elf insists concernedly.  “I’ll let the customers know that too, of course.”
Eirwyn nods with a smile and continues drinking her espresso peacefully.  Nye takes just barely half a cup of the pot and fills the rest up with water to dilute it to his level of tolerance.  The wintery barista chuckles at this much to her steelomancer brother’s eye-rolling annoyance before he drinks his Americano.
*****
Outside the coffee shop, Nye – already in his Elf Knight form – walks over to the new bus, which is already parked out in front.  As for Eirwyn, she’s already on its roof with her feet under steel foot bindings so she can stay despite the bus moving about.  She waves down at her knightly brother, who waves back with a smile as he enters the bus.  Inside, he gets behind the wheel and starts the control panel up by the usual means you would start up a normal bus.
Back on the roof, Eirwyn is ready to ‘hang ten’ as the bus gets on movin’ . . . and then disappears into thin air as neon blue and silver ripples of light envelop both.  No need to explain what’s going on here - and with that, the cloaked bus drives off from the area to begin its first day of pickup service.
*****
A time montage occurs of how the pickup service works under planned conditions: First, the bus arrives at the house of a registered customer and lowers its cloaking device.  Eirwyn surveys her surroundings for anything suspicious as her arms glow with winter energy, while Nye opens the doors for the customer(s) as they enter the bus without making a noise.  Once they’re in safe and sound, the bus reactivates its cloaking before taking off to the next destination on its registration list.  This continues several times until the list is completely checked out and the bus completely packed.
By then, Nye stops the bus and announces via intercom, “Attention customers, we are now heading to Flora Fairy Fava now.  Please be quiet and sensible for the time being,” before making a beeline for the coffee shop itself.
Outside, Eirwyn lets out a big breath of relief as she and the bus undergo cloaking once again.
*****
Upon returning to Flora Fairy Fava, the bus heads over to the front door and parks in front of it – as the emergency backdoor opens up to allow the customers to enter without fanfare.  Once the bus is completely emptied, Eirwyn and Nye follow suit before letting out several puffs of relief.
With that, the knightly elf clears his throat and announces, “Just to let you all know, you can relax.  This shop has been retro-fitted with a soundproof barrier, so don’t worry about attracting any shadow creatures outside.  Enjoy!”
Pleased by this, the customers proceed to do what they would do at your usual coffee shop – chatting, watching TV, playing music and arcade games, and surfing on Wi-fi compatible Internet  - without fear and worry.  Eirwyn nods in satisfaction and sees a line beginning to form in front of the counter.  “Let’s do this,” she whispers confidently as she immediately changes to her barista uniform and runs over to begin her first official workday.
*****
With that, another time montage commences with Eirwyn doing things like she did yesterday – taking orders on a notepad, brewing coffee while pressing newly-installed buttons to speed up the process, and ‘decorating’ each order with the customers’ requested mixes and toppings – taking extra caution to make sure they fit the criteria in terms of amount and placement Flipline-style.
Once each order is crafted, the new barista on the block present it before its customer, who inspects it for a few seconds before giving Eirwyn a thumbs-up in approval.  The wintery barista bows down courteously as the tip jar next to her gets filled up gradually with each customer.
*****
Once all of the customers within the shop are served, Eirwyn collapses on the stool and lets out a big puff of relief as she surveys the massive activity happening before her.  Seeing everyone happy and cheerful due to the orders being done correctly, she smiles proudly and gets out the coffee pot from earlier for obvious reasons.
As soon as Eirwyn finishes a cup of her super-strong espresso, another customer line begins to form before her.  “You all must be serious caffeine heads like myself to want more,” she says with an amused smirk.
“That depends.  How powerful is that pot of coffee?” the first customer before the wintery barista asks while pointing at the aforementioned pot.
This particular customer wears all green with a purple regal café, and her skin is unusually pink with her eyes being crystalline green.  Why is this particular customers worth noting?  Well . . .
“You want some of this?  All right, but it’s cold, just to let you know,” Eirwyn replies as she pours some of the high-powered espresso into a cup for the customer to taste it.
Upon taking a sip of the jolty java, the customer lets out a “YOWZA!” while spinning her curly pink hair around like a metal guitarist from the 80’s would.  “This is really off-the-wall in terms of caffeine!”
“I’m glad you like it.  Would you like me to brew you some, and if you so, what do you want on it?” Eirwyn asks politely as she gets out her notepad again, as the line before her continue to grow by the second.
*****
Minutes later, the customers are enjoying their second round of java while resuming their activities.  Just then, Selena and Camille show up at the counter in their fairy forms again – and wearing barista uniforms not unlike Eirwyn’s, but in their favorite colors.
“Well, you sure kept this caffeine-craving crowd occupied.  Sorry we’re late, Suzy,” the fiery barista says as she gives her winter counterpart a big hug.
“It’s all right.  This gave me a chance to prove myself,” the wintery barista herself assures while returning the hug.  “I did two customer lines so far, just to inform you.”
“Oh, great . . . a shop full of caffeine heads,” Camille grumbles nervously.
“Well, remember – they were deprived of our coffee drinks because of those shady parts recently,” Selena points out, with Eirwyn nodding in agreement.
“Oh . . . that, too,” the symphonic barista says sadly upon realizing.
“Well, they won’t be anymore,” the fiery barista assures with a smile as she brings her musical sista into the hug.
Just then, ANOTHER customer line starts building up before the barista trio.  “They must be making for lost time and java with this visit, for sure,” Camille chuckles nervously.  “We’ll take it from here, Eirwyn.  Surely you want a break by now.”
“If you don’t mind,” the wintery barista asks concernedly, with her brethren shaking their heads in assurance.  She nods and is about to walk away when the first customer in line cries out in a Southern Belle accent, “Aww, but we like the way she makes coffee!  Jolty Java, we like to call it.”
This particular customer has long flowing red hair as if it’s water from the ocean, has an appealing fine tan, and turquoise eyes that shine like the ocean itself.  Plus, she wears a fancy outfit from the Victorian era in sunny yellow, oceanic teal, and clear sky blue as if she’s time-traveled from that time period.  Of course, she’ll be important in the near future.
Upon seeing the already-described customer, Eirwyn blushes shyly as icy hearts magically appear and surround her – love at first sight, obviously.  Regardless, she returns to the counter and gets out her notepad once more.  “I’ll handle this last line, okay?” she assures her fellow baristas, much to their anime-style dumbfoundness.