Life as We Know it [open]

[Luna Grace Larel]

Luna waited at the counter of Celeste's, tapping a pen against the counter. She knew that she shouldn't be there, she should be out looking for a real job, but her father was busy making more candles and soaps. After that make-up company had bought tons, they were running low, and had been madly making more.

But even if she wasn't there, it wasn't like it would have made a difference. The whole day had been kind of down on sales, but then again, it was a Monday. More people usually came in on the weekends, when they had a lot of free time and no work or school.

Celeste's was a big, bright, and fancy shop, like all shops in New York, New York were - or had to be. Since all shops tried to command attention, all shops also tried to out-do eachother in their flashiness. Celeste's was no exception. Their store was sparkly, clean white, with bold black, red, and dark blue accents throughout. The sign outside was pure white, with thick, cursive writing spelling out, "Celeste's", with a thin red underline below the word and a small blue star in the corner. It was their signature image, and if anyone who knew the shop saw that label, they would know it was Celeste's. Her family had chosen to build the shop in neutral territory, so all of the clans could come and they would make more sales.

Having nothing better to do, Luna turned to her thoughts and memories. She remembered when it had been so hard managing this shop, when she was younger, around fifteen. It seemed so long ago, even though it was merely a few years.

Since her father was always drunk and/or with a hangover, she had to do everything: collect the ingredients for the natural flavorings, make the flavorings, make the candles and soap, manage the store, stand at the front of the shop, and handle her school and homework. She got little to no sleep, and her grades were failing when they used to be straight "A"'s. It had been tough, especially because sales were hard and products were few. But their loyal customers had come through, and look where they were now. Five years later, with good sales, well-paying customers, and a more beautiful shop.

Of course, the customers had stayed with good reason, because Celeste's had some of the best homemade soaps and candles that New York City could offer. They used natural flavorings, and soap and candle making were in the Larel's blood. Her ancestors had been making soaps and candles for a long time, and their recipes were perfected by now. A few tours had even scheduled to take tourists to their well-known shop.

Even though Luna was looking for a job, it was hard finding one. Not only were there not that many jobs, most of them weren't that good, and her resume was horrible. Not only did Luna have little to no job experience, she had dropped out of school at sixteen. She took over the store at fifteen, dropped out at sixteen, then got her father off the bottle so he could manage Celeste's at eighteen.

The name of the shop didn't use to be Celeste's. Well, of course, since the company's name had changed many times. But, that wasn't the point. The point was that it used to be called "Moon and Star", after Celeste, the "star", and Luna, the "moon". It was something the family had loved to do together - making soaps and candles and making their buyers happy. Then, when Celeste had died, Nicholas, her father, changed the name in "honor of his wife". Luna knew that was part of the reason, but another part was that he didn't want it to include Luna. He never admitted it, but he hated her, she knew it. He never gave any praise, not even a gruff, "thanks". He never spoke to and barely looked at her, but the worst part was that she knew it wasn't her fault. It was Celeste's, because Luna grew to look and act like her more and more every day. Nicholas knew that Celeste wouldn't approve of his treating of Luna, but he didn't care. After all, she was dead, there was no way around that. Secretly, in Luna's heart of hearts, she hated both of them - her father for ignoring and hating her, and her mother for doing this to her, and leaving. It was unfair, she knew, and whenever those feelings came up she pushed back down, deep down, back to her heart of hearts.

Luna was startled out of her increasingly dark thoughts by a bell, a soft tingling noise. Her head jerking upwards, a false, cheery smile immediately formed on her pale face as she called, "Hello, welcome to Celeste's."

[ status: open
tagged: no one in particular
word count: 809 ]

[Mateush Tein]

Mateush was walking up to his favorite candle shop. Actually, the only candle shop he went to. Celeste’s, the best homemade candle and soap shop in New York City. At least, in his opinion. Ever since he moved to New York he had always used Celeste’s for all his candle needs, from personal for his storage room he renovated into a yoga room, to public for special festivals he helped organized. He made a lot of purchases at Celeste’s, even though he only purchased the candle half of the products they had there. It was like, his third home away from his actual house and the Genbu shrine. He had even gotten to know the person who always seemed to be at the counter, Luna.

As he walked in and was greeted by the same smile he always was, he couldn’t help to smile back, even if it was a little bit forced. “Hey there Luna.” Looking around for anyone else in the store, he shrugged. It was empty. Walking to his favorite candles, having come so many times he had memorized where they were, he wondered at why there weren’t any people there. Probably school and work. That didn’t really affect a priest’s job though. Really his only set in stone work days were the days he made work days, and he had to choose what to do the other days. Sometimes yoga, always going to his dojo if it was one of the practice days and sometimes just for practice, and sometimes shopping. That was all when he wasn’t out looking for a university that would give him a scholarship, that is.

“Slow day, huh?” He asked as he kept looking through the candles, sniffing a few. The candles were always homemade, with homemade materials and a homemade process. Mateush wasn’t sure if Luna made the candle too, along with being the clerk, but she seemed to do everything, so he wouldn’t be surprised if she did. And she was only a few years younger than him, almost twenty. It was a surprise to him she was able to run a store for three years now, maybe more. But she seemed to be strong for her age. She was of the Aer tribe, and he wasn’t sure if she had elemental powers or not, but she was capable of managing a business herself. She had been doing it for years now.

[Luna Grace Larel]

Ah, it was Mateush. He was a regular at the shop, and by now she knew his favorites. He was a good customer, and had even used their candles at some festivals, she had seen. Because of him, they had gotten some more people involved in the shop. Resting her elbows on the counter, she replied, "Hello, Mateush. How are you doing today?" It was merely small talk, and done with all of their customers, but with some she felt it was more than small talk. Mateush was one of those people. It wasn't anything like a friendship - that would never happen - but it was more like they were close acquaintances.

While he was busy looking at their candle section of the shop, her smile faded, their shop quiet once again. She wasn't very good at small talk, just the "hello" and "how do you do?". Also, she was too scared to go on. The doctor had said that she had some sort of disorder that made her scared of making friends. She was afraid that people would reject her, moe on, or ignore her, so she never even tried to make friends anymore. Besides, only her mother had given her the confidence to make friends, and she was gone. Her father wasn't much help.

Sighing, her mind went back to the shop. It wouldn't be good if she was day-dreaming and ignored her customer, especially if he asked her something. Keeping her attention half-on the shop, she tried to remember what was still left to do. What was for dinner . . . did they have any left-overs left? No, Nicholas and her had eaten the last of them last night. Luna could just make pasta and cheese again, but it would be best to go shopping. And them at night she had to check on the products that were still in progress, take out the finished ones, and start a new batch. Too bad it wasn't Sunday, when shops were expected to close earlier than normal.

Thinking about her mental to-do list reminded her. Luna crouched down for a second and got out two small bottles, each containing a different scent. Glancing towards Mateush, she bit her lip for a second, hesitant to disrupt the quiet. Finally, she ventured up the courage to ask softly, "Um, Mateush, do you mind helping me out for a second? I'm thinking about making a new flavor candle, but I can't decide between two of them." Pausing for a moment, she waited for his answer.