Hazel Andersen

              After dismissing the customer from the conversation                         {{ not a faerie, Zara was CERTAIN. }},               the woman focused her attention on the ginger DJ —– Hazel was her name.               The Dionne tried to recall every one of her employee’s on first name basis. 

              “Hey there, darling,” Zara offered, silently acknowledging the fact that Hazel     was one of the only non-faeries she could fully tolerate. “Of course it is, you are doing     a phenomenal job, as always!” She couldn’t remember if the teen responded well to     encouragement, but opted to try it, anyways.               “I especially enjoyed that last song, ah —– What was it called, again?”

She had always been thankful to the older woman for allowing her to work here at the club. Her own mother didn’t approve but hadn’t exactly forbade her from coming here but deep down, Hazel knew she would preferred another profession. But what wasn’t to love about this job? The teenager worked with music all day and night - she could ask for nothing more. 

“Thank you” Her voice was shy, humble to the compliment. While she believed her work was good most of the time, she wasn’t one to brag about it and to hear her boss praise her like that just made her cheeks flush.  “Oh, it’s just.. from an indie band I came across the other day, thought it was pretty nice so I added it to the playlist.”

              The echoes of music reverberated off the walls of the Circle     Club, inducing a sort of hypnotic trance within the royal faerie.     Night clubs always possessed a twisted allure to Zara Dionne,     especially when used as a front to conceal her underground     network of faerie vigilantism ——

                                                           The new face of a client caught                                                            her attention and she broadened                                                            her mouth into a bright-eyed smile. 

              “Hi there, and welcome to Circle Club!                       How can I help you today?”

Hazel watched as her boss interacted with the newcomer, clicking on a tune as the music gradually mixed with the new one before the previous track fade out. Bobbing to the music as she turn the knobs of her mix board, the resident DJ smiled at her work. As humble as she was, there were moments when she thought her transitions were the smoothest there was. Removing her headphones and placing them on the table, Hazel skipped over to where Zara was, “Hey boss.” She greeted, “Is the playlist to your liking?” 

Sliding the glasses back onto his nose, Victor smiled at the person who had bumped into him “No Harm done. Though you should be more careful.” 

“Oops..” She chuckled, “Sorry, I was distracted. My friend just sent me a video and... well, it’s hilarious but I guess I should’ve waited till I sat down. Sorry.”

“Right? Me too. You should get it then, because you should always listen to mom. Besides it’s safe to carry and all, unless you just spray it on yourself thinking it’s perfume or something.” he laughed at his own joke, 

“But mom’s been pretty overprotective lately.. After that full moon especially.” Hazel shrugged, not entirely sure why. “Maybe I should just have a bodyguard instead.” She laughed, “Probably more efficient than to search for my pepper spray during my time of need.”

“It’s a part of my charm - and much fun. You should try it some time.”

“What charm?” She shot back, “If I need to be an asshole just to be charming, I’d rather pass. You do know that you can actually be nice and charming at the same time too, right?”

“No, I wasn’t thinking that but now that you mention it, it’s kind of true.” he chuckled. “What about the very basic self defence weapon of them all: pepper spray? I mean, it’s not exactly a weapon but, you know.”

Hazel chuckled, “I’m always impressed by those who can just handle all those weaponry with ease - Like, how do you not hit or cut yourself with them?” nodding slowly at the idea, she pondered on the thought, “I feel like I might need them. Mom’s been super worried lately about me staying out late.”

“Not creative enough for my liking.” he smirked. 

“Why are you such an asshole?”

“Slay those who try to arrest you.” she suggested grinning. 

             Grace had spent the last ten minutes zoned out, her focus on the nausea rather than what was being said. However, after another churn of her stomach, her attention was brought back to the current situation. “Sorry… what? What happened?” She glanced around before looking at her company. “Sorry… cramp stole my attention for a moment.”

“That will totally work for me. Halloween should be all year long.”

“Yeah but it kind of doesn’t look like a real sword, you know?” he said doubtfully.  “And anyway, you should like, have something smaller if it is for self defence. Something you can keep hidden in your pocket or bag.” 

“Sort of? In reality, it’s kind of how I decorated and it just happens to fit Halloween.”

“I’ve never stopped you from doing that. I only remember telling you to get more creative with your name calling, love.” he teased.

“Then I say throw it in the bin and get an actual badass sword to slay everything in your way.”

“Are you kidding? There’s absolutely NO WAY that this t-rex costume is going back in the closet. I’m gonna wear it all day every day.”

“Doesn’t it get annoying though? You can’t do anything with those short arms..”

“I’m really loving my costume and I’m going to be really sad when the day is over and I have to take it off.” Mikayla pouted.

“I don’t ever really put the decorations away,” she said with a chuckle. “Though that’s probably way too predictable.”