December 22nd
Late night
Esters Convenience Store, the one-stop shop for all necessities and oddities alike. From toothpaste for brushing to tooth cream for a quick fix to a chipped chopper, it had almost anything a person needed to get them going strong when they were fresh out of a requirement product and had no where else to go.
Emerill Ester was the owner, a burly man to Mayu?s eyes, who was friendly as he was suave. He had terrific business ethic and could sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo if he damn well had to. He was also, by some definition, the man that Mayu saw as the father she never truly owned. A man that allowed her to confine in him when she seemed upset, and a compassionate friend when she needed company should Toby or Sheridan not be around. Most of all, he provided her with a place to stay for when daylight was crushed by nightfall.
However, despite all of Emerill?s strengths and his ability to cheer the young lady up and give her a sense of security, he was only human. He had obligations. A need to run a thriving and successful business, children to oversee and provide growth for, and his own personal time to tend to his own needs that Mayu couldn?t even begin to fathom.
He wasn?t in when she toddled through the front door with her tote and a tin with a Christmas motif. She was thankful for the keys he spared her, giving her free reign to come and go through the shop?s entrance well after hours. ?Your home is our home,? he told her. ?If you need anything, don?t worry about waiting for us. Just come in, get comfortable. Welcome to the family, kiddo.?
The family resided on the second story of the store?s base, giving Emerill full control of the hours of operation. More often than not, he was open 24 hours a day with an ?on-call? function past ten o?clock at night. Times like these, when she?d come home to an empty house, was as rare as a blue moon.
They just didn?t happen all that much.
Trudging up the stairs that were streaked in cascading rainbow holiday lights, she made an immediate left turn and entered the large living quarters that acted as both a dining room as well as a kitchen. Along the far wall, against the largest window of the second floor, a Christmas tree stood out worse than a sore thumb, decorated in enough twinkle lights to shame a newly opened casino. Tinsel, various ornaments, and an luminous blue star which sat on the very top, nicking the ceiling. There were only a few presents underneath it, two of which were for Toby. One was white with red polka dots and was labeled, ?From Sheridan. Don?t touch it, dummy.? The other was intentionally left blank, from her. Another was for Emerill from Toby, it seemed, while Emerill left one for Sheridan. It was a well-rounded exchange of gifts, even if she wasn?t part of the equation under their circle of love and memory making.
She dropped her tote off at the tree?s base and leaned over to snap open the plastic clasp that kept her belongings in check. A scheduler, a half eaten bag of M&Ms, a bundled bag that Thorn gave her and a textbook given to her by Kial was all she had on her. She bypassed everything in reach for Thorn?s present, hoisting it from her disorganized vault of secrets. It hung freely in her grasp when she brought it close for a momentary inspection.
Thorn?s present was something of a surprise to her. She knew the woman but it was mostly through proximity rather than one-on-one interaction. While they were on good terms and she never had an indecent thing to say about the woman, she was surprised to think they were on such good of terms to warrant presents during the holiday season. Maybe it was naive of her to think that people, no matter how close they may or may not be, couldn?t provide gifts for one another.
Internally, it made her smack herself for not thinking more into the future and being fully prepared. The only people she?d considered gifts for was Toby and Katt.
As she thought about it, her eyes went to the Christmas tin, her eyes softening with adoration. It wasn?t with label, not one she could see anyway, and was lighter than air sealed in an air mattress. Thorn?s present was set low beneath the tree, the first to join the Esters? ranks and reached over to pluck the red tin up and give it another look.
Each time it found its way into the soft grasp of her small hands, the intensity to open it grew exponentially. It was the massive red button that read ?DO NOT TOUCH!? that she was fighting with internally to do anything but touch.
It wasn?t any use, though. The gift, personally given to her by a person that she saw as an important figure in her life, was something that demanded she opened then and there.
She had to know what was inside.
The lid wasn?t sealed or locked down by any mechanical or magical means. It wasn?t rigged with confetti and ready to pop in her face when she peeled the shell back to see what was within. All that was there, in its massive glory, was a wide assortment of lightly glazed melonpan, a baked bread that is crisp on the outside with a delicious, spongy inside that could just melt in the mouth. It was a personal favorite of hers, as was the color of the tin that she was holding tight.
The strewn treats leered up at as she stared down into it, lost in disbelief. Her jaw unhinged and fell open, her sense of purpose numb, her mind whirring and blank.
??she? remembered,? Mayu whispered, reaching inside to delicately steal one and wind it close to her nose for a whiff.
They were fresh.
?Sis? you? made? them?? she asked. Nobody was there to answer her. Not even the tree, who stood there as a majestic witness to the girl?s astonished staring.
She didn?t build the appropriate walls necessary to stave off the welling of tears that saturated the corners of her eyes. There was no need to. Alone, in a building that only she was occupying, she hadn?t the requirements to keep herself from spilling an emotion that was rare for a deceased like her to shed.
Tears.
Threatening to sully her cheeks were she to blink, she shakily returned the treat to its tin and slid the lid over the top. There, her hands clasped around the tin and jerked it up to wrap her arms around it in a tight embrace. Knowing there wasn?t any means to fight off the intense flood of grief and sadness that warped her insides until she was a quaking mess, she let it out. A gentle, nigh inaudible cry, lamenting her sorrow and solidifying the ache that sat in her bosom each and every day she happened to spend in the inn.
Yet, despite knowing the pain it?d cause her, she still went. Be it to check in, or to ensure that everything was all right, she still went. Even if it wasn?t every single day, caused more problems than it did good, even if she had to sit and hear about the aches that she caused from years past, she still went.
She?d always try to go there, to that place where chaos congregates and the unusual occurs, even if it meant being strangled in a sorrow that only she knew.
Because, as the tears rolling down her face told her, that was what love was. Through the good and the bad, the regrets and the absolutions, that?s what it was.
She curled up with the red tin clutched tight to her chest and slept there beneath the Christmas tree that night. There was no need for the comfort of a bed or the warmth of blankets. All she needed was right there.
In that melonpan laden tin that Katt gave her for Christmas.
Late night
Esters Convenience Store, the one-stop shop for all necessities and oddities alike. From toothpaste for brushing to tooth cream for a quick fix to a chipped chopper, it had almost anything a person needed to get them going strong when they were fresh out of a requirement product and had no where else to go.
Emerill Ester was the owner, a burly man to Mayu?s eyes, who was friendly as he was suave. He had terrific business ethic and could sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo if he damn well had to. He was also, by some definition, the man that Mayu saw as the father she never truly owned. A man that allowed her to confine in him when she seemed upset, and a compassionate friend when she needed company should Toby or Sheridan not be around. Most of all, he provided her with a place to stay for when daylight was crushed by nightfall.
However, despite all of Emerill?s strengths and his ability to cheer the young lady up and give her a sense of security, he was only human. He had obligations. A need to run a thriving and successful business, children to oversee and provide growth for, and his own personal time to tend to his own needs that Mayu couldn?t even begin to fathom.
He wasn?t in when she toddled through the front door with her tote and a tin with a Christmas motif. She was thankful for the keys he spared her, giving her free reign to come and go through the shop?s entrance well after hours. ?Your home is our home,? he told her. ?If you need anything, don?t worry about waiting for us. Just come in, get comfortable. Welcome to the family, kiddo.?
The family resided on the second story of the store?s base, giving Emerill full control of the hours of operation. More often than not, he was open 24 hours a day with an ?on-call? function past ten o?clock at night. Times like these, when she?d come home to an empty house, was as rare as a blue moon.
They just didn?t happen all that much.
Trudging up the stairs that were streaked in cascading rainbow holiday lights, she made an immediate left turn and entered the large living quarters that acted as both a dining room as well as a kitchen. Along the far wall, against the largest window of the second floor, a Christmas tree stood out worse than a sore thumb, decorated in enough twinkle lights to shame a newly opened casino. Tinsel, various ornaments, and an luminous blue star which sat on the very top, nicking the ceiling. There were only a few presents underneath it, two of which were for Toby. One was white with red polka dots and was labeled, ?From Sheridan. Don?t touch it, dummy.? The other was intentionally left blank, from her. Another was for Emerill from Toby, it seemed, while Emerill left one for Sheridan. It was a well-rounded exchange of gifts, even if she wasn?t part of the equation under their circle of love and memory making.
She dropped her tote off at the tree?s base and leaned over to snap open the plastic clasp that kept her belongings in check. A scheduler, a half eaten bag of M&Ms, a bundled bag that Thorn gave her and a textbook given to her by Kial was all she had on her. She bypassed everything in reach for Thorn?s present, hoisting it from her disorganized vault of secrets. It hung freely in her grasp when she brought it close for a momentary inspection.
Thorn?s present was something of a surprise to her. She knew the woman but it was mostly through proximity rather than one-on-one interaction. While they were on good terms and she never had an indecent thing to say about the woman, she was surprised to think they were on such good of terms to warrant presents during the holiday season. Maybe it was naive of her to think that people, no matter how close they may or may not be, couldn?t provide gifts for one another.
Internally, it made her smack herself for not thinking more into the future and being fully prepared. The only people she?d considered gifts for was Toby and Katt.
As she thought about it, her eyes went to the Christmas tin, her eyes softening with adoration. It wasn?t with label, not one she could see anyway, and was lighter than air sealed in an air mattress. Thorn?s present was set low beneath the tree, the first to join the Esters? ranks and reached over to pluck the red tin up and give it another look.
Each time it found its way into the soft grasp of her small hands, the intensity to open it grew exponentially. It was the massive red button that read ?DO NOT TOUCH!? that she was fighting with internally to do anything but touch.
It wasn?t any use, though. The gift, personally given to her by a person that she saw as an important figure in her life, was something that demanded she opened then and there.
She had to know what was inside.
The lid wasn?t sealed or locked down by any mechanical or magical means. It wasn?t rigged with confetti and ready to pop in her face when she peeled the shell back to see what was within. All that was there, in its massive glory, was a wide assortment of lightly glazed melonpan, a baked bread that is crisp on the outside with a delicious, spongy inside that could just melt in the mouth. It was a personal favorite of hers, as was the color of the tin that she was holding tight.
The strewn treats leered up at as she stared down into it, lost in disbelief. Her jaw unhinged and fell open, her sense of purpose numb, her mind whirring and blank.
??she? remembered,? Mayu whispered, reaching inside to delicately steal one and wind it close to her nose for a whiff.
They were fresh.
?Sis? you? made? them?? she asked. Nobody was there to answer her. Not even the tree, who stood there as a majestic witness to the girl?s astonished staring.
She didn?t build the appropriate walls necessary to stave off the welling of tears that saturated the corners of her eyes. There was no need to. Alone, in a building that only she was occupying, she hadn?t the requirements to keep herself from spilling an emotion that was rare for a deceased like her to shed.
Tears.
Threatening to sully her cheeks were she to blink, she shakily returned the treat to its tin and slid the lid over the top. There, her hands clasped around the tin and jerked it up to wrap her arms around it in a tight embrace. Knowing there wasn?t any means to fight off the intense flood of grief and sadness that warped her insides until she was a quaking mess, she let it out. A gentle, nigh inaudible cry, lamenting her sorrow and solidifying the ache that sat in her bosom each and every day she happened to spend in the inn.
Yet, despite knowing the pain it?d cause her, she still went. Be it to check in, or to ensure that everything was all right, she still went. Even if it wasn?t every single day, caused more problems than it did good, even if she had to sit and hear about the aches that she caused from years past, she still went.
She?d always try to go there, to that place where chaos congregates and the unusual occurs, even if it meant being strangled in a sorrow that only she knew.
Because, as the tears rolling down her face told her, that was what love was. Through the good and the bad, the regrets and the absolutions, that?s what it was.
She curled up with the red tin clutched tight to her chest and slept there beneath the Christmas tree that night. There was no need for the comfort of a bed or the warmth of blankets. All she needed was right there.
In that melonpan laden tin that Katt gave her for Christmas.