FES Book 3 Modern AU-Notia Dreaming
The setting is in Notia, a bustling neighborhood in Los Angeles famed for bringing new stars into the public eye. It's often referred to as the Labyrinth Town; some people make it out with a ticket to fortune and fame, and others languish in obscurity.
I’ve just been working on this AU since I desperately wanted to create something with these characters. My writing might be a little rusty (pun very much intended), but I have to start somewhere! I’m not exactly doing chapters, just short little narratives carved out from the Labyrinth Town! The majority of the cast will be from book 3, but you might see some folks from books 1 and 2 also!
Ananke looked out the window. In the crowds of people who knew they’d break out of Notia, the famous (or infamous) Labyrinth Town, she saw herself. She set the plate down on the table. Quietly, calmly, but swiftly. The words coming behind her were the faint echo of reality being replaced by memories. Yes, she did see herself. Ananke still looked just like her. The only true difference was the power of that hope-filled smile. It had only been two years since the worst accident of her life. Fully preventable, she thinks now. I could have done this instead, she knows. But it wouldn’t conjure a door to the post. It would only make her heart stir with the emotions that kept her from ever finding peace.
A tug of reality, in the form of an old man, ripped her away from soul-crushing nostalgia.
“Excuse me.” Ananke shook her head. Her hand lingered above her apron pocket.
“Oh, I’m so sorry sir! Uh, is there anything wrong?” The old man’s focus softened, and his smile was the first thing today that made Ananke feel something close to grand.
“The opposite! I just wanted to thank you for getting my order exactly right. I’ve always had something wrong here whenever I came, but you’re the first waiter to ever make sure my food came out perfect. You’re a real gem.” Ananke blinked. Thankfulness was not something the usual clientele exuded.
“Oh, I…I really appreciate that! Thank you!” More than he’d even know. Her face twitched into a mix between genuine and corporate glee, and without really knowing what to do with her body, awkwardly curtsied. The old man chuckled.
“Keep it up kid.” He lifted up a fry to his worn lips. “One day you’ll be out of here. You got something special.”
The corners of her lips struggled to hold. She kept her joy plastered on until she turned away. It wasn’t his fault, she knew that. But that “one day”? It already came. She wasn’t special anymore. Ananke peeked back again, hoping her sudden exit bore no insult. Yet the man was quite happy. He was muttering pleasantries, with her name stuffed in there. It was enough to put some real joy back into her soul. Enough to last this shift.
The noises of the restaurant hit her like a caravan of cars. Not a single one thought to brake. She immediately recalled her other tables and returned to action. Going to the loudest table was the best cure to her growing ear pain. Babies crying, children making a mess, a dog barking, two parents arguing. It was every waiter’s nightmare, and of course, one of her tables.
“Hi again! Just checking up. Is there anything I can get you?” The man, with his glasses ill-adjusted, had no mercy in his furrowed brows.
“What do you think?” Ananke squinted. One of these vague types. They always think they have so much power. So, what could the issue be? There was a clock ticking in her brain, and she only had moments before “Waitress!” filled the room. The table had everyone’s entrees, with not a plate cleaned off. The orders were tailored exactly to everyone’s preferences. Even the woman’s steak was cooked rare, and restaurants rarely did that right. Napkins? Plenty. Drinks? Filled between to the the brim to just above half full. So what, what, could be the answer.
“There’s…nothing I can get you?” She guessed, throwing up her hands. The man finally adjusted his glasses, only for them to tilt the opposite way. Ananke kept her hands behind her back, otherwise she’d have smacked the glasses off.
“Exactly. There’s nothing you can get us.” The chaos had stopped for a brief moment, and resumed on an unrealistically convenient cue. Ananke walked away with waning dignity. She hoped her other tables would not waste her effort. But working in the Labyrinth Town provided no easy answers. Every choice was an educated guess, and no education could prepare you for what came next.
“Hi there. Is Ananke here today?” Ananke put down her phone, waving over a familiar redhead standing by the host desk. His emerald gaze lit up, and he bounded over to her. Ananke had gotten an unbroken table all to herself. A privilege that probably should have gone to a customer.
Ananke and Rusty were the classic childhood friends, though they never touched on the familiar trope of friends to lovers. To them, the answer was obvious. Although their parents had hoped that, one day, the two might fall in love. If only because they just worked. But they’d reminded their parents that they also work as friends. They were still here, weren’t they?
“Hey Rus. Don’t you usually have break later in the day?” He scratched the back of his head, eyes darting across the crowded restaurant. His mind went back and forth on whether or not to tell the story, and if he did, then how.
“Yeah, well, we actually closed early.” Rusty mulled over his options one last time. “A magician cursed the salon.” Ananke raised her eyebrow, and twirled her coral braid.
“A…wait. What? The salon was…cursed?”
“Yep, cursed. Hexed. Jinxed. Whatever bad magic there is, that’s what’s affecting the salon. It all started because this dark magic lady was furious that we ran out of midnight black hair dye. So instead of checking back when we had It back in stock, like a normal person, she cursed the salon.”
“Ah, did she now? So it’s ‘under a curse’?” Ananke winked, adding air quotes to her teasing reiteration. Rusty, without blinking, nodded. Ananke dropped her sarcasm. She leaned all in, eager for the tale. “You’re serious?”
“Yes, there’s something really wrong with the place. The water was always the opposite temperature to whatever we set it, everything metal was starting to rust, the mirrors were constantly fogging up, and finally we lost electricity. One of the girls said she hired a curse breaker so they’d be stopping by at some point later. But we had to close cause there was no way we were getting to work.”
“Hey! That’s a nice break for you!”
“Well, it had been a while since I had a day off, and I’m not the kind to fake a sick day.” Rusty smirked. Ananke sat back in her chair and whistled. “You should come work at NuYu with me. C’mon, I know you hate this place.”
“W-I don’t, I don’t hate it! I like the money. Believe it or not, some of these customers are amazing tippers. It’s an easy commute, don’t have to deal with too many dangerous situations. Not to mention, I’ve been told plenty of times how much of an asset I am to this place. Ask anyone!” And by anyone, I mean that friendly old man over there. Wow, I did a really great job serving him didn’t I? Rusty tilted his head. But when Ananke wanted to be convincing, she always moved her head a little down, her pupils going to the target of her emotional con.
“Really? Huh! I had no idea you had so much passion for this place to want to manage it.” Ananke bit her lip. She wanted to claw apart the table with her partially painted nails.
She looked back up with a confident grin. “You know, I was kinda worried about what you were going to do after…you know.” She shuffled uneasily, quietly nodding. “But if this is what you wanna do, then you know what? I’ll support it!”
“That’s really nice to hear Rusty. Thank you.”
“That said, we would have been an awesome team. And you’re a pretty good hairdresser without a degree. I mean, I am an excellent teacher after all.” Ananke stood up to catch the dwindling time. Three minutes of tranquility. She walked past Rusty and flicked the ends of his carmine mullet.
“Speaking of hairdressing, do you want me to trim your hair again? I can’t make any promises that the mullet survives this time…” Her fingers snapped together with the intensity of a stylist’s decisive blades.
“You don’t like it?” Rusty asked, clutching his heart. “But it’s fashionable! Estel’s the one who recommended the look to me in the first place.” Ananke squinted. Did she now? Of course she did. But I can’t believe Rusty would listen to that obnoxious, goody-good- Rusty noticed Ananke’s grimace. She jolted and returned to her usual perky self. He took that an unconscious.
“A-anyway, mullets can’t be fashionable! Isn’t that, like a rule or something?”
“I‘ve always been a rule breaker. You know this! The mullet goes when Eugene goes bald.” Ananke gasped. And to be honest, her heart had paused at the word.
“Don’t you dare invoke that! You leave him alone!” Rusty raised his hands.
“Alright, alright. I’ll leave your celebrity crush alone.”
“Come on! Can’t a girl appreciate a nice head of hair on a man without being attached to him?” The redhead cocked his head. “Oh don’t you gaslight me.” Ananke put her hands on her hips. Rusty looked away with a sneer. “Remember back in high school you’d always want to put on his shows, even the bad ones? I learned a lot of Portuguese with how often we saw them.” She sighed, shaking her head. “But now he’s too good for tv shows…”
“Oh, there’s a lot he thinks he’s too good for. And I grew out of my crush on him a long time ago.”
“I didn’t ask if you had a crush on him,” Ananke purred. Rusty choked on his growing ego. He stifled his teasing nature and tossed his gaze toward the window.
“I-ugh. Whatever. He sucks anyway.”
“Sure he does.” The waitress sighed. Only fifty-nine seconds left. But that little bit of freedom was about to be interrupted by a tall man with meaty hands. He walked in front of her like Rusty was nothing but air.
“Break’s over, lazybones! I need you behind the bar pronto!” Ananke’s hearing faded to make way for the burst of thoughts. Those self-absorbed lips continued to flap, and nothing but the occasional spittle touched Ananke. Rusty had an inkling of what was going to happen. He watched with trepidation, hoping his friend knew what she was about to do. BARTEND?! AGAIN?! He can’t be serious! I don’t even know how to do that! And the people there are so, so much worse!
“Gee sir, I really am honored that you would ask me again. And I-“
AM GOING TO PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE AND TAKE ALL THE MONEY FROM THE REGISTER AND THROW IT IN THE AIR!
“-will definitely do that! Because I am so, so committed to this job.”
“Who in their right mind would be committed to this job?” The boss questioned. His tone could have easily been mistaken for concern. But no, he’d need a heart for that. Metaphorical heart, that is.
“Hmm. Weird. I would quit if I were you.” Ananke’s lips squirmed. “Anyway, I’m off on break. Don’t bother me. I’ll be busy for the next five hours.” Ananke mouthed the word five to herself. She had a measly ten minutes. The man had five hours. Legally, not the case. But the law was kind to power, and cruel to the powerless. Ananke crossed her arms. She looked back into Rusty’s worried gaze. But she was all smiles. Because that’s what she knew best. Her charm put Rusty into ease without even knowing what would escape her lips. Ananke the dancer may have died, but Ms. Popular was forever.
“By the way, I lied about liking this place.”
“Yeah…I figured,” Rusty sheepishly replied. “So, last day?”
“More like last minute.” She strolled along with Rusty catching up to her new plan. Ananke exchanged winks with her favorite customer before taking her grand step to emancipation. She turned around, and after securing every eye, she belted out a sing-song declaration of “I QUIIIIIIIIIIIIT!”
Very few in the crowd was stunned. One or two clapped. Her boss gave her a thumbs up before stealing a customer’s tomato. Most of them went back to what they were doing. Ananke shrugged and left it all behind.
“Well. I’m in need for a new job. And this time. I want to not hate it. That’s all.”
“Do you think your boss was purposefully ticking you off so you’d leave and do something you really, really want to do? Instead of just, I don’t know, simply going from job to job. Maybe this is a sign, Ananke.” Ananke laughed off Rusty’s theory.
“Rusty, that man’s got no soul. Now, didn’t you say something about NuYu? Let’s see if it’s a good fit for me!” Rusty crossed his arms.
“And it’s something you would really want to do?” The redhead shrugged. “Good enough.” Those two words, said aloud, nagged at Ananke’s conscience. Her motto for the past three years. But the window for change was closing. She didn’t have it in her for another dream. There was no such thing as a dream that could never break. I don’t have time for this, she asserted to herself. And before she hid away any doubts again, she repeated that motto for good measure.
That’s all I need. Something good enough.
