"I can't take credit for it, Cleo suggested it," Jaime clarified, gently setting down the candle. He leaned forward to examine the plants Rae had selected for him. How did she decide which were best? Was it a Demeter thing? A Rae thing? Either way, he glanced up at her and smiled. "I trust you, I'll take both of these. One for Cleo, one for me. A fun little memory and an addition to the garden I call an apartment these days. But--" He straightened up, moving to round the corner. "I'll still come back there to check out everything. I woke up feeling nosy today. Like the universe said go, poke around Rae's shop, uncover all her secrets," Jaime joked as an unfamiliar plant caught his eye. He lifted a hand to prod at it but halted the motion centimeters away from the leaf. "What's this one?"
"Yes, come investigate my secret lab." Rae grinned, stepping to the side with a flourish to let Jaime behind the counter. He was pointing to a plant that looked more like a sea anemone than something found in a forest. Like a stringy succulent covered in tiny red tentacles, making it look fuzzy. "That's a sundew. You can touch it, totally safe. You'll just get a little bit of sticky sap on your finger. The goal is to see if I can make them look...cuter?" The tone had a twinge of cautiousness to it, as if maybe she was...trying not to offend the plants? "Not that they aren't cute already. But like, imagine a pink one. Or like, aqua blue."
Does that mean I got the job? Patrick wondered. He'd already submitted all the official things ahead of time and assumed this was an interview. But so far she'd just asked him about life and they wound up at 'weird and bad customers' because... well, he thought he should stay on topic. Maybe she really was just doing this as a formality, though. "Yeah, for sure. I've helped out with some stuff already. Kinda been a friends-and-family service only. I actually can't believe we've gone so long without something official. I guess the gods made this place extra sturdy so we haven't needed to fix things up so far."
"Me either. I just kinda assumed something was in place already." Something between a sigh and a chuckle left her mouth. Nadia rested her elbows on the table, leaning in just slightly, like she'd seen so many other Big Professional Corporate People do to her when they're about to get serious. "I'm gonna level with you. You're easily the most competent person who applied for this, and Cleo's the reason I'm even in town at all. She had nothing but great things to say about you and your work. And what you gave me does speak for itself. So like, I'm gonna go through my vision for how this business all works and where you'd fit in besides what was already in the job description. But at the end of the day it's gonna come down to wether or not this is something that's gonna be a good fit for you."
She ran through her ideas and goals: being able to build a better town and camp for everyone that would come after them, hopefully for generations if they were lucky. Homes for families and businesses to grow and even sprucing up some of the older spots in camp. That even if the whole place was ravaged by war again, most of the structures would have a better chance of standing. How she'd taken trips to New Rome to learn about their infrastructure and materials, and the combination of professional and magical techniques that can make it all happen. Hopefully she sounded as put together and professional as she could. Despite having a few years of this industry under her belt, she'd never been the head of it all. She'd always been a junior designer, or assistant contractor, and certainly never done both halves of the job at the same time. And while it was what Nadia had always wanted, it did feel like a bit of a mountain to climb, and imposter syndrome was staring her down from the top of it. "So," She smiled tentatively, "Does that all sound like something you'd be interested in?"
"You're in time out for being a traitor and leaving," Katie teased back to him, rolling her eyes as he started his way out. "Talk to Goldie out there, she'll put them in the window display, and close the door behind you!"
Goldie lifted her head from the stack of vinyls she was putting on the floor at the mention of her name. She smiled at his question, bright and big, something classic everyone knew about her. "Depends," she replied. "How would you describe new? Because I feel like I'm not new new but like less than a year kind of gives new. Plus, I was here for a summer like years ago. We may have crossed paths at one point, it's Dex, right?"
"Mhm," Dex nodded in confirmation, "Sometimes I still say I'm kinda new even though I've been here a couple years. But like, I am new compared to my boyfriend who's been here since he was fifteen or whatever? Anywaysā!" He shrugged, flipping over a vinyl to briefly gloss over the back of it, "I was at the one in San Fransisco before I came here. Maybe I've seen you around, I've been like, busy as hell all year. But I swear it's not that. I'm really good with rememberin' people I meet." He shook his head, now determined to get to the bottom of this or else it'd bug him the rest of the day. "What were you doing before you decided to come here?"
"My stepdad is one of those assholes." Patrick shook his head, chuckling. "I'm sure you have way better stories. I haven't done this regularly, uh, ever." He shot a finger gun at Nadia. "Hope that doesn't count against me. Anyway, yeah, he calls me back an hour and a half later. But turns out the guy he knows is his cousin, who is still there and somehow put a hole in the wall and now he wants to 'collaborate' with me. So now I'm thinking to myself: scam... or scam? But no, man just wanted to help me for free and got insulted when I said no. Acted like I kicked a puppy."
"Yikes." Nadia grimaced. She couldn't even begin to go over all the grievances she'd had with her career so far, and for the sake of a new person, kept it as easy as she could. "Yeah, I've had people bail on us last minute or make a mistake and just fully leave something broken. It's so dumb. Like, if you mess up, just say so? We'll find a way to fix it, it's not that hard. If you do a good job and people trust you, what's a mistake if not just a chance to learn something, y'know?" She sighed and waved her hand, "Well, I can at least promise no one here will be making random holes in walls or scamming you. Probably a nice reprieve to be just like, building homes and shops and things for the town."
Jaime felt too-tall for the pleasantly crowded shop, ducking under a bunch of flowers hanging to dry. It couldnāt be helped: there were plants everywhere. He loved it. A moment passed before he realized his mouth was open, awe plain on his face as he looked around the shop. āItās incredible in here Rae, really.ā Jaime complimented, voice sincere. He hoped she was proud of what she had created here. She should be.
āActually,ā he laughed, finally drawing his gaze away from the wall of succulents (his weakness). āLittle Shop of Horrors is right on the nose. Cleo suggested it for Halloween.ā Jaime rubbed the back of his neck. āI figured I could kill two birds with one stone.ā He had been dying for a new plant after his pothos had caught an unfortunate case of root rot caught too late to bring the poor thing back to life. And a Venus fly trap would complete the lookā¦ āIs there one in particular that I can adopt and name Audrey Three?ā Picking up a candle, Jaime gave it a curious sniff and waited on Raeās response.
Rae beamed, both at the compliment and the question presented to her. "Ohhhh my God, that's such a great costume. Genius." For any random person these would likely be off limits, but for her friends? absolutely. She turned to the assortment of carnivorous plants behind her with a wave of her hand, "I think any of them would be a good fit. Buuuuut, with my professional judgement and knowledge of being your friend I'd say either of these." She grabbed two little pots and slid them across the counter towards Jaime, "Or you can like, totally just come back here and look at them all if you want."
"I'm just saying, Katie, I think having your former star employee's new album face out somewhere is a smart move. My face is too pretty to be hiding behind stacks of vinyls." Dex jokingly called back as he left the office and moved back into the record store. He'd entered the building in a flourish, waltzing around like he knew the place inside out, like anyone would coming back to visit an old job.
He'd been so adamant about finding his album and getting to (charmingly) badger Katie like he always did, that Dex didn't even notice the new employee working. It wasn't until he was in the middle of sifting through a row of vinyls that he looked up and saw her sorting nearby. Something stirred in the back of his brain, like he knew her somehow. Wouldn't be the first time. "Hey," He greeted her happily, "Are you new here?"
"... And I told him that he was, respectfully, out of his mind."
Patrick unconsciously tugged at his collar. He didn't think he'd ever buttoned this shirt up all the the way before today. Or ironed it.
"But big man didn't really like that I was telling him no and fired me. I was like," he chuckled, "dude, I have all of my materials in the truck, I am in the middle of checking my tools while I'm having this conversation, right? How is firing me going to make this happen any faster?"
Nadia was hard to read. Patrick had no idea if he was boring her or not. He broke the tension for himself by refilling both of their cups with the glass bottle of water between them.
"But he's not seeing reason. Apparently he knows a guy who can do this job in a day and a half." He rolled his eyes. "Okay. Yeah. Call me psychic but I had a feeling this guy was gonna come back to reality in a few hours, so I go to this diner nearby and just wait it out."
Nadia let out a long sigh, shaking her head, "I swear, like, eighty percent of the people who work in contracting are just asshole old men." On her end of the table it felt equal parts right and weird to be there. Had she ever conducted a job interview before? No, but she'd also never run her own business before. First time for everything. Hopefully she was giving off the energy that she was intently listening. It'd taken years of work, but she'd gotten a lot better at remembering to smile and nod and make eye contact, instead of just blankly staring at the person in front of her. She took a sip of her water, "Did he come back with his tail between his legs or what?"
She trekked along, desert dust kicking up into her socks. Spindly trees and spiky bushes in muted shades of green casted jagged shadows along the steep, hilly path. Her breath was heavy, walking at maybe too fast of a pace, but determined to keep up with the beat of the music blaring in her ears. Maybe she shouldnāt have decided to hike Runyon Canyon alone on a Wednesday morning, but her house felt too big and cold and lonely, racing thoughts so loud they almost echoed off the walls. Deep breaths of fresh air and sunshine beating down on her shoulders had the thoughts melting out of her until all that was left was clarity.
The path finally opened up, trees giving way to grassy, desert hills spilling out on either side, rolling down into an endless city skyline. The morning haze mixed with the sunrise, painting the sky pastel shades of orange and pink, smudging along the tallest buildings and distant mountains, shrouding them in color.
She liked Los Angeles. Sometimes she even loved it. But, standing among the expansive landscape, stretching far and wide, engulfing her in sunrise, she felt outside of it. She paused the music in her headphones, a deep, long sigh exhaling from her body and echoing across the hills like a lingering question. She stood there a moment in silence, teetering on the edge of her thoughts. An answer called back gently across the breeze, the answer thatād sat in the back of her head for weeks. She sighed, taking a sobering sip of water before turning around. It might not be done immediately, but, trekking back down the path and away from the city, she knew exactly what she had to do.
THREE MONTHS LATER - SEPTEMBER 2024
She held her phone up in front of her mouth, squinting behind her sunglasses as she took in the sprawling sidewalk and tree-lined street in front of her. The air felt crisper here somehow, the smell of fresh cut grass hitting her nostrils for the first time in who knows how long. She heard birds chirping, the sun hitting her shoulders and warming the sparkling feeling that had begun to stir in her stomach. The phone in her hand was ringing, ringing. No one answered. She sighed, pausing on the sidewalk and trying again.Ā
After the fourth ring there was finally a muffled rustling, like the person was trying to get ahold of the phone from somewhere else.
āHey babeāā Dexās huffed breath finally emerged on the other end, desperately trying to sound casual, āWhatās up?ā
āYou good?ā Grace chuckled.
āYeah, Iāā He sighed, catching his breath, āI was making bread so my hands were all sticky and I couldnāt find my phone because Hayley was sitting on it. So I was runninā around like a chicken with its head cut off.ā He sucked in another deep breath, āWhatās up?ā
Grace smiled to herself. āWhat number is your house again? Iām sending you something and I want to make sure I donāt send it to the wrong place.ā
āOhāā Dex sounded confused, but amused all the same, āUh, 23. Were you just that desperate to hear my voice that you needed to call instead of text?ā
āIām driving.ā She lied, eyeing the doors she now passed on her walk. āAnd I missed your cute voice, is that a crime? Are you doing anything fun today?ā
āIf by fun you mean finally doing absolutely nothing, then yes. I got this recipe for cinnamon bread thatās gonna fucking slap when its done, and thereās a new book I was gonna start, but thatās about it.ā
āLiterally love that for you. Whatās Ben up to?ā
āHeās out with Koda doingā¦something? I canāt remember. But the bread is gonna be a little surprise.ā
āOkay, look at you, domestic goddess.āĀ
āI know, right?" She could hear him beaming from the other side of the phone, "What are you up to today?ā
āOh, yāknow, boring meetings, getting my nails done, nothing too fancy.ā
The townhouse looked like all the others around it. New and modern but cookie cutter on the outside. The only discernible difference was the car parked in the driveway, a black Range Rover with tinted windows. Grace hopped up the front steps and double checked the number next to the door before knocking.
āHold on a sec, someoneās at the doorāā
Dexās usually scruffyāalbeit always perfectly maintainedāface had grown out a bit, veering into beard territory after a busy Summer spent releasing and promoting an album. A little white tank top and denim overalls thatād seen better days left his freckled shoulders to span most of the doorway. And the blue eyes behind the black, round frames of his glasses were startled and surprised as they took in Grace suddenly standing in front of him.
āHoly shit!ā Dex gasped, āOh my God, Hi!ā He blinked, like his body was catching up to his brain, before immediately throwing himself at her, āYou fuckinā liar!ā Hugging Dex always felt like sunshine, or a warm blanketāsomething sheād been deeply lacking.
āWhāwhat are you doing here?ā He sputtered, bringing her inside and shutting the door. āI knew something was weird. Were you literally just walking down the street this whole time?ā
āYeah,ā She laughed, āI genuinely did need to know what number your house was, though.ā
Before she could say more, Grace felt a small bump against her calf. She looked down to see an adorable orange cat sniffing at her sneakers, tentatively reaching out to bat at the laces. āOhhh my God, is this the angel herself?ā
āWhat are you doing?ā Dex sighed at the ball of fluff, reaching down to pick her up. Despite the exasperation in his voice, he happily kissed the top of her head and moved in closer so Grace could reach, āYes, this is Hayley.ā
She reached out and let the cat sniff her fingers before bumping her nose against them, letting Grace scratch under her chin. āAwwww, what a cutie.ā
āDonāt let her fool you, sheās a menace. I swear sometimes she tries to fight me for Benās attention. She loves to knock shit over while weāreāā As if she was listening, Hayley made a little chirp of a purr and looked up at him. āYes, Iām talking about you.ā He cooed, moving to put her on the couch and returning to the event at hand. āAnywaysāGirl, what the fuck are you doing here?ā
āWellā¦ā This feeling of endless promise and unknown had been floating around her aura for the past few days as she snuck into town, as she organized getting all her important belongings delivered across the country, as she avoided Dex noticing at all costs. It was an elated kind of joy that Grace hadnāt felt in a very long time. And after years of him asking, sheād finally caved. She sucked in a breath, grinning, the excitement crackling inside of her chest like a spark, āI spent all morning unpacking and figured I needed to get some lunch. Wanna come?ā
āUnā¦packā¦?ā The realization washed over him, slowly, then all at once. And the absolute last thing Grace expected happened: his eyes welled with tears. āGrace, you better not be fucking with me.ā
It was so incredibly wholesome, it took all of her resolve to not do the same. āNever! I would never.ā Shaking her head, Grace grabbed his shoulders; Serious, comforting, āI got an apartment.ā
āReally?ā His voice was soft as he smiled, putting his hands on her shoulders as well.
Grace nodded, and he pulled her into another hug, picking her up and squeezing.
āGod, fuck,ā Dex wiped at his eyes as he put her down, āThis is like, the best thing ever. Yes, yeah, let's go get lunch. Tell me everything. Gods, do you need help with anything else? Like do you still need to unpack? Do you need any food or, or I don't know, stuff?" He was rambling, but Grace could see by the light in his eyes that it was with excitement, like there were too many thoughts and he was stumbling over them as they tumbled from his brain to his mouth, "I can't wait to show you everything. You'll make so many friends, everyoneās so cool and chill and IāUgh,ā He grabbed her hand and squeezed it as he fished his keys from the bowl by the door. āIām so happy.ā
It was her turn to feel the tears well up in her eyes as they walked outside. He'd scooped her back up into his life like nothing had changed, like she'd been here the whole time; Like she belonged. Grace sucked in a deep breath, she couldn't remember the last time she felt like she was in a place where she belonged.
The flower shop was long but narrow. Buckets of pre-wrapped bouquets, varying succulents and cacti in cute planters, and full sized plants of all kinds lined shelves on one side; Varying lotions, creams, candles, and other small gifts lined the walls on the other. Sheathes of drying florals hung from the ceiling, creating the illusion as you walked along the checkerboard floors that you were in some sort of upside down garden. A varying playlist of soft indie music filled the room.
Behind the counter, Rae was fussing with a collection of alien-looking plants: Tubular little buckets, fuzzy appendages like sea anemones, spiky snapping mouths and bulbs, all in varying shades of deep red and yellowish green. Hearing the chime of someone coming through the door, she turned, wiping the soil from her hands on her apron. "Please ignore the mess over there. I know it's giving, like, Little Shop of Horrors, but I promise they're harmless." She chuckled as they approached the counter, "Anyways, how can I help you?"
āOkay, so Iāll basically give a little intro, then you introduce yourself, feel free to list all your socials, whatever you need. Doesnāt have to be a clean cut, Iāll be editing it all later anyway, so if you forget anything, we can add it in later, alright?ā Jade held up a thumbs up in question, and almost immediately changed it to the symbol for OK and leaned into their mic, voice changing from the one reserved for friends to the one that sounded like it was resonating deep within them, beckoning one to ācome, join us, as we delve into the mysteryā¦ā
They were sitting with their knees curled up to their chest in the closet-pantry-storage room theyād converted to a soundproof recording studio, and beckoned with their hand to tell their guest that it was their turn to speak. āJoining us now is an eyewitness whoād like to add their own experience to the record books. Why donāt you introduce yourself, special friend?ā
Despite never having done a podcast, Logan found herself extremely comfortable, almost at home behind a microphone and recording. She smiled and nodded enthusiastically, waiting for her cue to speak. "Hiiii, I'm Logan, former moon clone, current Twitch streamer and Youtuber." She held back a giggle, as if she'd had that line ready in her head for far too long (she had). "You can find me at 'loganvance' on everything, I play video games and talk about a lot of nerdy and fangirl stuff."
Michio stood in the pantry at the Heliade house, surrounded by nearly stacked shelves of snacks and ingredients. He peeked his head out, a playful smile on his face. "Okay, so which flavor of instant ramen did you want to try?" He offered, holding up two of the packages for his friend to see. "Original, Cheese, or I actually have one called 'Lovely Hot', if you're feeling adventurous." He prompted.
"Ooooooh," Logan leaned forward to closer examine her choices. "Y'know what, I think I'm feeling brave, feeling adventurous. I can do spicy food. I'm gonna say Lovely Hot."
"Hmmm." Brent was slurping his coffee so he didn't respond with words. Where to start? Brent had a feeling he wanted to tell her something. But the latter part of the night was mostly a blur, and before that... that felt very long ago. "It was a time," he said, nodding. "I actually had a lot of fun. Caught up with a lot of people, too, and... Mmm, there's something I wanted to tell you." Brent furrowed his brow, trying to piece the memory together. "Damn, I drank too much." It was so stupidly obvious it made him laugh into his mug. He drank some more coffee, then sighed. "I should have taken notes or something."
"So important that you should've taken notes?" Macey sat up, interest immediately piqued. Wether it was having lived there for so long, or exposure from their jobs, or just being friendly and well connected, having the gossip on everyone they knewāand speculating about it togetherāwas one of the tiny joys in their life. She took an incredulous sip of her coffee, moving in closer so she was pressed up against his side, "What the fuck kind of tea did you find that was so important? We gotta get to the bottom of this, babe. Who do you remember talking to?"
Once she was back, Brent maneuvered himself so he was facing Macey in the bed. One hand held up his head, the other gripped his coffee mug carefully, careful not to spill anything on the sheets. It was enough to ease himself into sitting, for now. "I missed you, too." He nudged her leg with his own. "I can't remember the last time I went to one of those without you." He leaned over and kissed her cheek, very aware of his high possibility of morning breath. "Did you win-win?" he asked.
"Did we win-win?" Macey teased. Trying to describe a dance competition to a normal person was hard. Technically everyone wins in a way; Everyone gets critiques and a score and a medal, sometimes more than one if you're in multiple dances and solos. But, you want to score the highest and win the most. Be the best. And every competition used different terms, what platinum or high gold or premium or diamond means could be different everywhere. So, it'd been boiled down to just winning or win-winning, after Brent had driven or helped carry props for her enough times. "Yes, there were a lot more win-wins than I expected. Which, slay, honestly. All these new girls on the team keep surprising me." She once again took in her severely hungover husband, and tried not to find the unusually reversed situation too funny. "Seems like you were the one who had way more fun this weekend, though. How was the party?"
"You're the best," he groaned. Normally he'd want to pull himself to his feet and at least join her in the kitchen or the living room. It was a testament to his headache that he stayed where he was, yawning as he reached for Macey's hand. She probably had a point about his age, as much as he didn't want to admit it. Wasn't being a demigod supposed to make him sturdier? "Saving my life yet again." Brent kissed her knuckles. "Don't take too long, please."
As quickly as she could, Macey returned, precariously balancing coffee and muffins under her chin and between her hands. "I'm back, your knight in shining..." She hovered over him at the side of the bed, "Eh, whatever, I can't think of a good joke." Leaving a muffin and some coffee next to him on the nightstand, Macey crawled over Brent to get back to her side, stopping to kiss him along the way. "Fuck," She groaned, finally rolling into her spot and sinking into the mattress, "I missed my bed. And you. You and my bed."
Damian immediately warmed to the stranger, appreciating her willingness to go along with her request. "Nah," Damian shook her head. "I'm over it already. Their betrayal didn't cut too deep." It was far from her first experience with the Gray Sisters' taxi and it was far from her last. Glancing back at the spot on the ground, Damian laughed. "I did the same thing, " she admitted. "The second time, I almost tripped and fell out of the cab in my hurry to get out. I'd like to say I've gotten cooler since then, but, depends I guess." She reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear, revealing a violently purple underlayer of color as she smiled at her new acquaintance. "Name's Damian. New in town, if that wasn't obvious. You a local?"
"I'm Macey," She smiled easily. But, the realization that yes, Macey was indeed a local by all definitions of the word, made her feel extremely old. It was a chuckle and a slight cringe at the same time. "Yeah, like, the most local you could possibly get." She liked Damian's vibe, though, and didn't get too much into Camp Teacher mode when she asked, "You mean like brand-new first day new, or like, been here for a few weeks new?"
