I Had a Point

Afternoons at The Rock Shoppe were not very exciting. Most people would take that as a good thing, because it meant less to do at work, more time to relax, less customers to deal with.

These were, unfortunately, the things that actually got Zero through the day because otherwise? He tended to zone out. His shifts were always midday and that was exactly when his internal clock tried to inform him was the best time to sleep; the downside to being a nocturnal fairy.

Elbow propped on the counter, he found himself alone. Not typically the case for mostly for the whole...fall asleep issue. But Mim was busy and Martin hadn't shown up yet, even Cael was absent and that was often who ran around the place while Zero was working because it was impossible to nap when the fox was yapping.

He gathered the carved feline and wrapped the marbled white and gold paper around it before putting it in a paler pink gift back and tying it shut with a white ribbon at the top, leaving the folded tag blank for Cass to write what she wanted later.

"Might want to keep Boba away from it, ribbons are too tempting," Zero mused; he knew the cat wasn't actually a cat anymore than Mochi was a cat but both were cat'ish enough to snatch at things that caught their attention, and generally claw marks weren't the best addition to a gift bag.

Back at the register he flipped through the laminated book with all the inventory bar codes, since it was a little difficult to put those on smaller crystals and Martin didn't want to chance damaging any with sticker residue, scanning the one for the cat. The total popped up on the screen at the card reader a second later.

"Anything interesting new at the Lucky Cat? I never get a chance to check very often this time of the year."

The Hollow was busy, finals were creeping up, and it didn't hurt to ask while she was there, since it wasn't difficult for him to swing by there on the way home and Greg liked the vegan things on the menu. Zero didn't have many stipulations like that, but he definitely enjoyed that some of the drinks were sugary.

Not that she had that many excuses to wrap things these days. But her attempts had always been more int he realm of 'I can see you tried' over anything pretty or elegant that deserved compliments. There had been many periods of her life where this had made her feel deeply inadequate and guilty, as if it was some great moral failing that she couldn't wrap pretty presents. These days she mostly just accepted it and delighted in other people.

"Luckily Monica will be coming in to work soon, so I shouldn't have to defend it for too long." She did appreciate the warning all the same.

As she finished paying, she had to think back to what was on her menu at the moment. "Oh, I've been experimenting with making some hand pies - basically they look like Pop tarts and they have different fillings." She knew not everyone would get the Pop tart reference, but since Luca and Zero were friend, he was bound to be familiar with it.

Especially since Luca had been part of the inspiration for this one.

"Plus I have some new smoothie combinations since we have so many good fruits in season."

He shook his head.

"Took Sabiha to skating practice, that's about it," Reza said. "Do you want me to go this year?"

He asked the question casually, because to him it was just a question, asking after her preference.

She'd already basically come to terms with the idea that she would be there on her own. With Moon now off on her grand world tour with River and most of her other friends in relationships, she figured she would spend most of the night looking after the food and watching everyone else.

"Are you sure? I know you don't really like prom, you shouldn't feel like you have to go."

Nothing about this was going to be easy or perfect.

Wiping her hands on her distressed jeans she trotted all the way over to Jasper and Cass. "What did I miss?!" she said with a high pitched tone.

Jasper nodded his head again and looked between the two women. "Well Cass.." doing his best to follow her suggestion " was just saying how you two had been taking pictures and tidying up." He slowly looked around. "Insurance will be looking to cut corner as they tend to do so I hope every picture has a few points of view." It was hard for Jasper to not give advice.

Georgette nodded - a bit annoyed since everyone kept mentioning insurance as if she didn't know what she was doing.

"Oh Mr. Badun of course we have! We need to gather a few more of those hideous skid marks on my marble floor! Other than that we just need that chandelier taken down." Her lashes fluttered. "Thank you so much again for assisting with that."

Jasper only nodded his head. Georgette looked to Cass with a smile though - "We should probably snag those final pictures and get out of their way? I was hoping we could grab a cold brew after this!"

"I think that sounds like a great plan. We've definitely earned a good cold drink after all this."

Smiling at Jasper she gave him one last nod. "Thank you for your help, I'm sure I'll see you around before long." After all, if he was someone Georgette had on call, he would probably be back to help out. Hopefully it went smoothly.

"Go ahead and get those last pictures you want and I'll meet you out front. The first round is on me."

Afternoons at The Rock Shoppe were not very exciting. Most people would take that as a good thing, because it meant less to do at work, more time to relax, less customers to deal with.

These were, unfortunately, the things that actually got Zero through the day because otherwise? He tended to zone out. His shifts were always midday and that was exactly when his internal clock tried to inform him was the best time to sleep; the downside to being a nocturnal fairy.

Elbow propped on the counter, he found himself alone. Not typically the case for mostly for the whole...fall asleep issue. But Mim was busy and Martin hadn't shown up yet, even Cael was absent and that was often who ran around the place while Zero was working because it was impossible to nap when the fox was yapping.

Finding one specifically was always a challenge, but Cass had managed to locate what she wanted on her own and Zero was just trailing after her. Perhaps not the most helpful.

"We have gift bags and boxes," he pointed out; given the tourist draw of the place they had those in excess and a multitude of colors, "I'm sure we have something that matches."

It was just finding them that was sometimes an adventure because Martin was a bit disorganized and the rest of the employees could only do so much without tripping over each other's attempts to find a spot for everything.

That box, however, was tucked under the counter near the register because of how much use it got on the date day basis so Zero pulled it out and started sorting through the bags and boxes that were some variation of pink or cream colored.

But this way it would look much nicer and a little bit professional instead of just being last minute (like it was in reality).

Monica would have forgiven her either way. But it was nice to put a little bit of effort in to celebrate the person who had allowed her to take more time for herself than she had in years.

"Oh thank you that's perfect! Whatever you recommend, I think it'll be a lot of fun."

Afternoons at The Rock Shoppe were not very exciting. Most people would take that as a good thing, because it meant less to do at work, more time to relax, less customers to deal with.

These were, unfortunately, the things that actually got Zero through the day because otherwise? He tended to zone out. His shifts were always midday and that was exactly when his internal clock tried to inform him was the best time to sleep; the downside to being a nocturnal fairy.

Elbow propped on the counter, he found himself alone. Not typically the case for mostly for the whole...fall asleep issue. But Mim was busy and Martin hadn't shown up yet, even Cael was absent and that was often who ran around the place while Zero was working because it was impossible to nap when the fox was yapping.

The sort of information he picked up over time working there even though he didn't put a lot of interest into crystals and things of that nature himself.

"We have cats in just about a very crystal imaginable and I know we have plenty of rose quartz ones," he moved from his spot behind the register and along the case towards the carved figures. "Quartz in general, citrine, amber, topaz; those are all yellow and we have a lot of those."

There was a little bit of practically everything around that shoppe because Martin was easily entertained by new things he came across.

"We've also got jewelry, keychains, bracelets; more tourist things but if she's not using them for magic usually better than the ones Martin keeps up in the front cases."

These are all suggestions however, and he had been around Cass enough to know that, like Hiro, she would get scattered by too many choices. "Maybe pick a crystal you know she likes and either a bracelet if she wears them, or a carving if she keeps them around where she lives."

Other times, when she was trying to find the right gift for someone, too many choices could feel like drowning.

Luckily, Zero gave her a small enough window that she could work with. Those were a reasonable parameters of choices as she wandered over towards the set of carved figures Zero had indicated.

"It's rare for a chef to wear too much jewelry since we can't use it when we're working so maybe not the bracelet. I think, maybe this little guy? He's cute." She picked up a mischievous looking cat carved out of rose quartz and had to smile. It felt like Monica to her.

It occurred to Reza that if Cass was working this hard on the prom menu, she was going to go.

Reza thought prom was stupid, but he wasn't going to say that. He didn't like to yuck someone else's yum, especially not his girlfriend's. Especially not a harmless fun little event that he just found 'a bit cringe.'

She didn't see anything behind his questions beyond curiosity. After all, she knew that prom wasn't really his thing. Last year she had gone with Moon precisely because he wasn't very interesting.

But it was nice to talk about it a little bit all the same.

"Anyway, how was your day? Anything interesting?"

She could see some customers coming towards them, but sh took one more chance to smile over at Destiny.

Including as much reassurance as she could in her tone, she said, "If you need to get out of the heat for a little bit and take a break, just let me know. You could always top into Ice Queen to cool down a little before coming back out here."

She didn't want Cass to worry about her, because there was nothing to worry about! She just had to get her energy back like she always did. It just took her a bit of time. And she didn't like feeling so fragile. She had spent her whole life feeling that way and she had only just started really enjoying life.

She didn't want her mother to be right and so she stubbornly fought against her own body.

"Yeah, maybe I'll take a break and do that at some point," Destiny said. Though, it was still a bit of a trek from the park to Ice Queen. Especially because Destiny couldn't cut through the back--she needed the proper streets and trails for her to find her way.

"I'll be fine! Just--will take it easy. Thank you," she said again, because she didn't want to dismiss Cass's concern entirely. She did appreciate it.

As she was putting up her hair, she heard the little dish that Cass set down. Her hands dropped and carefully moved over the table until she found the anpan.

"Thank you," she said, even if she felt particularly nauseous. She picked up the bread and took a small nibble, not even biting into the bean part. "It's good! Thank you."

As soon as the bread hit her stomach, she did feel a little better, so she took another bite.

She could see some customers coming towards them, but sh took one more chance to smile over at Destiny.

Including as much reassurance as she could in her tone, she said, "If you need to get out of the heat for a little bit and take a break, just let me know. You could always top into Ice Queen to cool down a little before coming back out here."

That was what her mother had said too. That she shouldn't go. That she should stay home and rest...

But Destiny didn't want to go back home and have her mother know that she was right. It was a petty thought. And not one she would even have dared to have a year ago. Yes, her mother was sick and Destiny was always going to help her with that, but she also wanted to live her life. It was a difficult balance, but she felt stubborn about continuing the Farmer's Market.

She enjoyed it. She didn't want to stop.

"No, no. I'll be alright. Just need some more water and maybe some food. Do you have a hair tie?"

She'd just keep an eye on Destiny and make sure she was all right.

"Oh, sure! Here you go. And here, I tried to make a set of Anpan this time. It has red bean paste inside, which is a little bit sweet." But it would give her a little bit more nutrients along with it. If that was what she needed.

As she spoke, she handed over the hair tie into Destiny's hand, and set the bread down where it would be easy for her to reach.

She was very good with her water intake usually, due to, well, being a mermaid. At the moment, she couldn't remember the last time she'd drank anything. Her brain was sluggish and distracted. She knew that she often felt like this after a healing session with her mother, but today was particularly bad.

Maybe it was the heat.

"I just think the heat is getting to me. I may be Filipina but I haven't had to deal with this kind of heat in years," she gave a breathy little laugh.

"Perhaps you should head home? You look pretty tired, and the heat is only going to have you feeling worse. I think its just going to get hotter."

It was only part of the way through their day here at the Market, but that didn't matter. Neither of them were using this as their main way of supporting themselves, and it wasn't worth Destiny making herself sick.

The kind of tired she got in her bones, where every movement felt like she was wading through some kind of jello. Standing up or moving too quickly was hard, especially in the heat. It made her feel dizzy. She told herself, she just needed to stay hydrated but--it wasn't enough. Her hands were shaky when she handed people back cash or handed them a cupcake.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, here--have another one," Destiny said, after having just dropped a cupcake with a splat onto the little table. "So clumsy!" She tried to play it off because she was, indeed, clumsy.

The person was kind about it but Destiny still felt embarrassed. She sat back down in her chair and pulled her hair up with one hand so she could fan the back of her neck with the fan she had brought.

"Man, this heatwave," Destiny sighed, feeling the sun warm on her skin. She usually loved the warmth, thrived in it really, but today...it was not one of those days.

Of course, she'd worked in plenty of heat before. Kitchens could get brutally hot, especially when they were fast paced and not well ventilated as many small restaurants were not. But she was also a San Fransokyan, which meant she was more used to fog and rain than any kind of heat. She was more than ready for this heat wave to be done.

Ready to complain about it, she turned over to look at Destiny and felt her brows furrow again. "Destiny, are you all right? Are you drinking enough water?"

"No, I mean different people get invited to different ceremonies. Like the bride's friends and family do a lot of things for her that nobody else has to worry about. Like henna night. It's like in the West you do engagement parties, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and the wedding all at different times-- they speed run all of those things in a week in Tunisia, except the engagement party, that can be months in advance. You only really entertain guests for the wedding reception portion." Reza explained. "For the actual marriage contract, you just bring a few people to the municipal office or to your house, witnesses sign a paper, that's that."

He sighed.

"But yeah, I mean I had to miss more than a week of work because I was the one getting married. I like how my Tunisian cousins raised in France do their weddings. They take the traditions and condense them into a day or two, one day for the family and close friends, then the big wedding. Three days was just excessive. I don't think I remember feeling happy, I was just glad the show was over, you know? Which, it seems like my cousins are all getting married one by one these days. They're that age, 28 to 38, my father's the oldest of seven who was also the oldest of seven so I have a million cousins."

He smiled.

Still. Even if she'd ever done something like that, her bachelorette would have been at most a handful of people. Her sister had had a small wedding, only around 50 people, although it had been lovely.

Mostly Cass remembered the food from that ceremony. Which maybe wasn't a big surprise.

Still, it was fascinating to hear him go through all of these different options as she continued to nibble away. Like a glimpse into a whole other world.

"Well, I'm glad it made them happy. That's the best part."

"Are you in charge of the menu alone? Or did you have help?" That seemed like a massive undertaking, one he's not surprised she took on.

And one he didn't doubt she could handle, he was just thinking a hand would be nice.

Some things could be made ahead of time, so she did what she could, but a lot of it was being made day off. It took a lot of work, but that was only part of the fun for her.

"We were talking about doing something sort of tying into that dreaming, floating sort of idea. I just thought about tanghulu, but we can also do some beautiful cupcakes and rainbow bread since those will be really visible. I'm thinking going with small sort of tea sandwiches that are reasy to pick up. That sort of thing."

Afternoons at The Rock Shoppe were not very exciting. Most people would take that as a good thing, because it meant less to do at work, more time to relax, less customers to deal with.

These were, unfortunately, the things that actually got Zero through the day because otherwise? He tended to zone out. His shifts were always midday and that was exactly when his internal clock tried to inform him was the best time to sleep; the downside to being a nocturnal fairy.

Elbow propped on the counter, he found himself alone. Not typically the case for mostly for the whole...fall asleep issue. But Mim was busy and Martin hadn't shown up yet, even Cael was absent and that was often who ran around the place while Zero was working because it was impossible to nap when the fox was yapping.

"People who have a lot of crystals usually have ones they like." Or at least once they felt had some significance to them. There were meanings behind a lot of the different types of crystals and stones, some mundane and some more closely linked to magic and while Zero knew the basics because it was just something he had to know to work there, it was usually Martin who could talk about all the different meanings for hours on end.

"Have you seen her with any specific sort of crystals? Even if you don't know what it is exactly you can usually match the color up to something."

After all, the colors and patterns to most of the variations of crystals were usually distinct. Although I did get a little more complicated with the various colors of amethyst or citrine, the other mostly translucent varieties.

"I can see that. Besides, they are pretty cute - who wouldn't like them?"

What crystals did Monica have? That was a good question. Cass saw her with them and knew she talked about it, but remembering specific details was one of many things that could get tricky for her. She did try! But it was hard to predict what details should have stuck.

"Um, I'm pretty sure she's talked about rose quartz before, I remember that one. Plus I think one that was more yellow? Or she might have a few of those, I see it a lot in her rotation. Maybe I could get her one that looks like a cat just for the fun of it."

It wasn't, after all. Once Destiny got there, she'd be able to heal whatever hurt and after a little nap, hopefully she'd be good as new.

"Thank you so much, really," Destiny said, throwing her hair up in a ponytail and getting it out of the way as she finished packing. "I'll text you for next week!"

"If it isn't anything to worry about, why do you need to leave so quickly?"

She could have bitten her tongue as soon as the words were out. But something about this didn't make sense, and he couldn't be sure what it was. But it was Destiny's choice still. "Sorry, don't worry about that. I'll see you next week."