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Snippet #2810318

located in Tartarus, a part of White Asphodel, one of the many universes on RPG.

Tartarus

Last major bastion of civilization on the material plane

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Soleil Nishant Character Portrait: Lunaria Nishant
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15 Asmodeus
Nishant Residence - Evening - Rainy
Soleil Nishant


Soleil moved the pot off the burner, setting the lid askew on top and draining the remaining water out. Rice was cheap, thank the rules of economy, and she and Luna tended to buy huge bags of it whenever they had a little leftover money to last them through times like this, when they really didn't. The grocery store dumpster had furnished them with a few serviceable veggies, and some cheap spices came together with the rest for a vegetable curry. It didn't even taste half bad—the spice tended to cover up any slight decay in the rest, and rice never went off. Their place was always clean, so weevils and shit weren't a concern, fortunately.

"Luna, dinner's done." She didn't have to call loudly; the walls were pretty thin. Even if her sister was napping or something, she'd hear just fine.

Setting the pot back down, she took the lid off and rinsed it before setting it in the dish drain and serving them both half the rice. The curry went on top, and she grabbed two forks—the dinged one for her and another for Luna, setting it all down at the rickety folding table and dropping into her chair.

“Coming!" Luna shouted from wherever she was. It was a moment later when she appeared, her hair wrapped in a towel. It looked like she'd just finished her shower. She grinned in Solei's direction, though, and took a seat in the other chair.

“Oh, curry! My favorite," she stated, taking a bite out of it. It was a known fact that Luna's favorite wasn't curry, but blueberry waffles. It wasn't something they could regularly afford, though. “Ugh, I'm actually kind of sore," she continued, rolling out her shoulder a bit before taking another bite of the curry.

“Pretending not to be as stupidly strong as we are has, uh, downsides," she murmured. “Anyway, what about you? How does it look on your side of things?" She had to be referring to the rest of the fees that needed to be paid, soon.

Soleil almost winced. "Dunno," she said flatly. She'd foregone paying several bills this month in an attempt to scrape together the rest, but she didn't want to deal with the water getting shut off—they both needed to shower, and it was their main source of drinking water, too. It'd be more expensive to have to compensate with the bottled kind. "Hardly anyone's been by, but..." She shrugged.

The most important part was that Luna's fee was paid. The fucker couldn't touch her. Soleil would... figure something out for herself.

"Anyway, why are you having to pretend? The Baileys doing some manual work or something?" It didn't seem likely, but the other place Luna spent her time was a soup kitchen, so... maybe they just had to move ingredient boxes or something?

Luna grimaced a little. “We've been trying to clear space for a few of the people to have better sleeping and resting areas in some of the more rundown areas of town," she began. “Kato, Ravi, and the other guys aren't always around, so it falls to Kasey, myself and at least one other hand to move some of the heavier things to the side. It's not too much heavier that three people can lift it without seeming too odd, but it's still a little odd when two of those three people aren't exactly... well, made for manual labor like that."

Luna sighed softly and took another bite of her curry, chewing it quietly before she continued, “and it might get like that with the Baileys, too. They're not as spry as they used to be, and some of the things Mrs. Bailey tries to do aren't exactly good for her health, especially at her age. They're thinking about hiring some muscle, but they're just not too sure if they can afford it."

It was obvious that something was bothering her, because she was stabbing at her food again.

Soleil hummed a noncommittal note. It was pretty much just like her sister to get involved in extra shit for people she didn't even know. It wasn't exactly surprising that doing loads of free manual labor when they specifically had to keep things about themselves hidden was causing her pain. And of course she was doing it for free. It was by turns admirable and annoying, how much of a shit Luna could manage to give about people who weren't related to her in any way. Soleil thought it was kind of foolish, but then... she'd also done everything she'd done so that Luna wouldn't be a cold bitch like she was. Wouldn't have to be.

"Don't you go volunteering," she groused. "If the Baileys need you to do extra work, they can pay you extra for it. They may be in straits but so are all of us. We need to make rent too."

Well, rent wasn't quite the right word. They owned this garbage pile of a house outright—Soleil had made sure of that. Mostly so some asshole couldn't decide to arbitrarily jack up the rent. If they could just get clear of this protection bullshit, their monthly expenses might even become both predictable and manageable.

Then she wouldn't care so much if Luna spent all her time doing work for free for people.

Luna sighed softly, taking a bite of her curry and chewing it. She stayed quiet for a moment longer before she shook her head, and set her spoon down. “I know you're right, Sol," she began, keeping her gaze on the curry in front of her. “I know we need the money to make ends meet, but..." she paused to lift her gaze.

“The supermarket down the street is hiring for part time work. I'm thinking about applying there as something extra to do," she stated, changing the subject. “They said I could come by for an interview tomorrow evening, so I won't be home until late."

Soleil just barely avoided sighing. Even if she couldn't and wouldn't, she knew Luna really valued her ability to volunteer, and putting more hours toward paying work would mean less of that. Still... it was hard to see another way out, at least not until—

The sound of the fridge whirring behind them cut off suddenly, at the same moment as the lights shut off, plunging the house into complete darkness. Soleil reached over towards one of the kitchen drawers, pulling out a stubby tea light candle and a lighter. She didn't light it yet, though—it was just in case they needed it. Fortunately, she could navigate food to her face just fine in the dark.

"Yeah, all right," she said, knowing full well that the chance of Luna landing that job was tiny. They went quickly, in a place like this, and all the advantage her sister might get for being pretty would disappear when they figured out she had no grocery experience and spent her free time feeding homeless people. For all the food that ended up in the dumpster, it was apparently not okay to hand out the extra.

"Something else bugging you?"

Luna chuckled softly. “Nothing other than the usual," she replied, which meant that the only things that were bugging her were the people who often cat-called her on her way home from work. “I take it we're behind on the light?" she stated, some form of amusement lacing her voice. She didn't sound too surprised. They were used to things like this happening.

“I'll see if the Baileys can do an advance this week. They weren't able to last time, but they might be able to, this time. If they do, where should we put it?" she asked.

"Protection fees," Soleil replied immediately. "The electric company doesn't charge fucking compound interest. We fall into that trap, we might never get out." She sighed. "Fuck him, honestly. Can't he just crawl back into whatever hole he crawled out of? Or slithered. Like a fucking snake."

Luna barked a short laugh. “He'd probably like it if we did," she joked, making a dissatisfied noise in the back of her throat. Almost sounded like she was gagging on something. “Unfortunately if it were that easy, we wouldn't have to worry about paying those stupid fees," she sighed softly, though.

“I think we're actually morbidly lucky when it comes to him. He could be a lot worse and a lot more pushy about certain things. Even if it ends up costing us more, at least he lets us pay late fees."

Soleil loved her sister, but sometimes she was painfully naïve. "That's how he gets you, Luna," she said, expelling a harsh breath through her nose. "He waits until you're desperate, and then pushes the other shit on you when it looks like your only way out. And unfortunately there's nothing easy about it when it happens that way." She had nothing against sex workers, in fact she wished they were treated better by society at large. At least as much as she thought about it.

But the conditions were shit for them, and consequently Soleil had never even considered becoming one, even if there was a certain amount of money in it. Most went back to the pimps anyway, and lots of times the 'high quality' girls had their movements restricted. The walkers were in some ways worse off still.

Luna sighed heavily. “I guess you're right," she spoke softly, returning to her food. She ate the rest of it in silence, and once she was done, she just sat in her chair. It was another few minutes before she spoke again. “I'll ask Mr. Bailey first thing in the morning about the advance. It probably won't be much, but it'll be something. After that, I'll go see about the interview. Hopefully," she paused, taking a deep breath, “it will end well and I can get that second job. Wish me luck?"

Soleil huffed softly. She wished she could say her sister didn't need luck; honestly Luna was woefully overqualified for any of the sort of work either of them could get, but this protection racket had made it impossible to continue saving for her college expenses. Maybe someday, she could get her there.

For now, though, they both needed a little luck.

"Yeah," she replied. "Good luck, Luna."