A New Career In A New Town

A few eggs... cabs... whizzed by, even in the dead of the 'night'. Stella sat on the front steps of her prison house home. Since the neighborhood's walls were hedges of various colors, plus a giant entrance with an arch (also made of plants), she had a pretty nice view of the world outside. Someone who walked in said hi to Stella, who returned the gesture, but then the stranger left, and she was alone again.

An indeterminate amount of time later—a minute, a year, a day—Kou emerged from his home. He wore the same clothes as he had in the morning. Stella watched him pace to the entrance of the neighborhood, then back to his house, to the houses in front, whose lights had been off for hours. He stopped.

Kou turned to look at Stella from the corners of his eyes. She waved, but he didn't. He went back to his house, and so she was alone again.

Stella hoped her next social worker wouldn't need urgent psychological care. The pattern so far was worrisome.

Kou emerged once again. This time, he wore a trenchcoat. And a hat. Both were black. As though this weren't ridiculous enough, as he approached Stella, he whipped out a thin rectangle with kitten prints on the cover: a laptop. Why no ball line screen instead? Because he didn't want to?

"Scoot over," he ordered upon reaching her. Stella complied. Kou sat next to her on the front steps of her house home prison. It was a cramped, but neither of them seemed to mind. He typed on his technologically outdated device. She waited. Neither of them said anything, and that, too, was fine.

***

"First thing's first," Isla said, slamming a roll of paper on Stella's coffee table. "How do we get a majority approval? It's a semi-secluded neighborhood, which is why it takes forever for takeout to arrive, but we're digressing: the people who move here want a certain atmosphere."

"I don't understand," Stella replied.

"They want peace and quiet, you get me? A coffee shop might disrupt that."

"No, I mean... why not open the shop elsewhere? Isn't that usually how it goes?"

"Huh?"

"Huh?" Stella was getting a headache again. Didn't people open businesses in different buildings than their home? At least she couldn't think of many restaurants where the owner also lived there, though that was then, and thus was now. Besides, Earth had considerably more space than giant bubbles on the moon. "Never mind. Continue."

"...aight, so that'll probably be our biggest hurdle. We gotta think of a way to market this if you get it. I was thinking we could go around giving samples to everyone on the neighborhood of... what was it again? Peach pie?"

"Yes. Isn't that bribery?"

"Nah. Let's do that, then. I sent a request for holo-ad approval already. If they say yes, we can project it on top of your house. The neighbors will see the ad, get interested, and say yes, although... well, we gotta make the ad appealing in the first place. In fact, it'd also help to make the peach pie good. Want to practice?"

Wouldn't a 'holo-ad' be detrimental to their cause if the neighbors wanted peace and quiet? But Stella digressed. Kou had fleed as the candle turned into a chandelier, and they hadn't spoken a single word to each other after 'scoot over', so to borrow his kitchen again could be awkward. "I don't have the necessary materials."

"Eh, no problem. Just tell me what you need and I'll place the order." Isla sat on Stella's couch, resting against the cushions. Now he used the holo-screen. He'd also slicked his hair back today, though a few strands fell over his forehead anyway. "You'll pay for it, though, but you're loaded, so bleh."

Stella stood next to him. Today she wore a pink dress. And underwear. Which reminded her. "Could we try calling Shigure again?" She asked.

Isla handed her his phone. "So... peaches? Flour? Maybe butter? Do pies have milk? I forgot."

Even though the device had the same structure and general use as a phone, the more she prodded at it, the more it seemed like anything but. The language barrier didn't help. What little Japanese her module had picked up had nothing to do with... this. Shigure's friend really should've updated that, too.

"I'll order milk as well, just in case. Also chocolate. Oh, wait, you also don't have the equipment to cook in, except for the oven. What else do you use to cook peach pies? Ohh, these cookie molds look dope."

Stella handed him the phone. "Dial for me, please."

Isla did, with one hand, barely looking at the phone. He turned back to the holo-screen. "What if you make peach cookies instead? I mean, look at these! I'd say yes to anyone who gave me a cookie shaped like a kitten. Especially with how rare animals are on the Moon, 'cuz. You know. It's one thing to be a person who knows what's going on and another to be a poor animal wondering why they're floating. Or like, birds and the magnetic field."

He wasn't answering again. Would he ever?

"Do you know what juliphytes are? They're very cute. I think they discovered a new species last year, but like I told you before, communication with Jupiter ain't easy. They're doing their best to not disrupt the ecosystem or anything, but if you're rich enough you can pay a trip to see them. They're like... hm... the size of this neighborhood? Maybe?"

Someone picked up the call. "Stella."

Stella's tail stopped swaying. Isla's prattling became a murmur. Her fingers curled around thee phone. "Shigure?"

"Yes."

"Hello," she said, instead of literally anything else. "How... are you?"

"Great."

"Sarcasm..."

There was a pause, and it was only due to this that Stella noticed Isla had shut up. Instead, he tapped at the holo-screen. Peach pies had no milk. Perhaps she should tell him that. "Why do you keep calling?" Shigure asked. "They assigned somebody else already, didn't they? You'll be fine."

"And you?"

Another pause. "I'll be fine, too, eventually. Don't worry about me. Live your life, and be happy."

Stella had no response to that.

"Anything else?"

'Where are you, exactly?'

'How are you, exactly?'

'Will I ever see you again?"

"I... I'm... opening a peach pie and coffee shop."

"What," was Shigure's response.

"Apparently, it will also be a milk shop."

"...what. Who even—why? Who approved that?"

"Isla Gray."

"What's up?" Asked Isla. "Why's my name getting mentioned? What did I do now?"

"I told Shigure you gave me the idea of a pie, coffee and milk shop."

"Ah. Tell him I say hi."

"Isla Gray says hi," Stella told Shigure.

"Who is... is that your new social worker?"

"No. I actually don't know who he is. He's just kind of here."

"What."

"He's using my money to buy milk."

"What the—I leave for ONE day. ONE. And there's some random asshole who you just let into your house, and who's apparently using your money? Stella, tell that guy to fuck off."

"Shigure said to tell you a bad word," Stella told Isla.

"Wait, why? That did I even do?"

Stella turned back to the phone. "I told him. He looks sad."

No response.

"Shigure?"

"...Stella, where is your social worker? Or anyone? Anyone? Please don't tell me they left you on your own."

"I'm not on my own," Stella replied. "Isla Gray is here."

"Fuckkk..."

"He said I'll get a new social worker in a few days. Would you like to—" The went dead. No—the phone died. No battery. "...oh, no."

"What's wrong?" Asked Isla.

"Your phone..."

"...ahh, I forgot to charge it..." Isla reached out for it. As he tapped it, he got cozy again. "I keep forgetting. Crazy how lithium is STILL used, huh? Eh, no problem. You can talk to him again later. For now, help me choose stuff for the peach pie."

The holo-screen was infinitely easier to understand. For one, the peach pie displayed on the screen hardly differed from those she knew. Ingredients, measurements, and quantities were very similar. Stella leaned over Isla, tapping.

"...Stella? Could you like. Not show me that."

"Show you what?"

Isla sat up. "Never mind. Let's see... looks good. The neighborhood has twenty inhabitants right now. I checked. Is this enough for twenty slices?"

"Should be."

"Aight, then tap on the green button. Yeah! That one. They'll deliver the ingredients soon. We'll get to work then. I've literally never cooked in my life, but it's just following instructions, right? Though I wonder, where do they get the ingredients from? Do they ship eggs from Earth? That's crazy. I know greenhouses are a thing, but..."

Stella turned her audio settings off.

She didn't know how to feel.

Why couldn't someone tell her?

Why the strange longing to talk to him again?

Why did it hurt?