ONCE BURNED was made by MEL. Copying, altering, or stealing any of the site's content is prohibited. All of ONCE BURNED's characters are the original work of their owners and may not be replicated or stolen. All images and graphics belong to their rightful owners and ONCE BURNED does not claim to own any of them.
It was rather ironic that Lux had ended up where she had. She'd been a wallflower that didn't particularly enjoy being around people. They often made her feel uncomfortable. And yet, here she was; A bartender who got paid to talk to drunk people. And drunk people were usually worse than the sober ones.
Still, there was a few people that made her job more enjoyable. Mainly those who didn't hit on her or make a fool out of themselves.
One of those people was a certain redhead Lux had come to enjoy the presence of. The two didn't really get down and person, which, if Lux was going to be perfectly honest, was just how she preferred it. "Here's your order, miss," she said, placing the redhead's favorite drink in front of her.
Outside of the radio station, Clarke frowned upon spontaneity. She frequented places she liked, which outside of her own apartment were a bar, a restaurant, and a grocery store. Everything was within a mile radius of either her workplace, or her apartment.
In short, she was boring. But on the upside, for her at least, she didn't have to exert too much effort to get exactly what she wanted. Which was why she released a relieved sigh when her favourite bartender handed her her favourite drink after a particularly tiring day at work. Workplace politics rarely bugged her but today had been an exception.
"Thank you," she looked up at the woman who gave her the drink with a smile. Clarke popped open the bottle and took a long swig before peeling off the label from the bottle. Habit.
She chewed on her lower lip before looking up at the bartender. "I've been coming here for almost three years now and I still don't know your name yet you know my order." She chuckled, rubbing the bottle with her thumb. "I'm...I'm Clarke." She extended a hand, an unsure smile on her face.
Luxanna offered a soft smile; There was certain things she'd learned never to ask for unless it was offered. One of those things were names. Besides, she'd also learned there wasn't much need of names in a place like this. 'Hey, you' usually sufficed. "If it makes you feel any better, favorite orders are like a second nature by now." Especially to those who frequently visited the bar. Still, Lux took the hand with a grin. "Hey, Clarke. Nice to officially meet you." She gave the hand a shake. "I'm Lux."
In truth, Lux had found herself enjoying the company of the redhead, Clarke, early on. She wasn't like most people coming her. There was this aura to her, this mystery, that Lux enjoyed. It was comfortable. As if it was actually possible to get through life without having to share every single detail about oneself. It was silly, of course, but she couldn't help it.
"Besides," she added, planting the palms of her hands against the bar top. "You do stand out." She nodded towards the girl's flaming locks.
Clarke smiled when the woman took her hand and gave her name. It was an uncommon name, Clarke noted. Then again, she had an uncommon name for a girl. She wondered what Lux was short for.
Self-consciously, Clarke ran her fingers through her hair and chuckled lightly. "Yeah...this is toned down, can you believe it?" She responded before taking a swig from her bottle. "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you from doing work. I've just...bad day, bartender...it seems cliche but cliche usually works, right?"
She wasn't sure whether Lux would actually pick up on her stress but it wasn't like Clarke was hiding it. "Although...I have to ask, is this a part-time job? You look a little young to be settled in."
Eyes widened at the small piece of information she was offered. She briefly wondered how one could tone down someone's hair color, and why someone would. Still, Luxanna smiled. "Oh, you're not bothering me." She made a gesture towards the other people sitting around the bar. Mostly drunk and mostly male. Try as one might, drunk males generally didn't think much of it - they'd flirt with anything with breasts and feminine traits. She shrugged then. "With the experience I'm offered here, I'll be a full blown psychologist in a year or two." Then again, Lux had never one to mind listening to people talk about their problems.
The brunette tilted her head, lips pursing. "Yeah," she replied. "Bartender by night and waitress by day." Luxanna had yet to actually figure out what she wanted to do, and if there was anything to do, and having part time jobs seemed to fill the void and take some of the stress away from thinking about it.
"You don't look too much older, though," she offered with a gentle smile. She couldn't properly guess the girl's age, but she looked young enough.
Hazel eyes followed the gesture through the bar and Clarke chuckled lightly. She took a sip from her bottle and nodded. "Probably. Bartenders are pretty much free shrinks."
Clarke nodded at Lux's response. She had a while to go before she had to settle on a career anyway. Who was Clarke to judge if she continued with this line of work anyway?
"I'm pushing thirty in a couple of years. Not really looking forward to that to be perfectly honest." She shrugged. "But...I have a good job, I guess? Pays the bills, lets me pretty much slack off most of the time."
She seemed more at ease now that she had a bit of alcohol in her. "But the longer I work there, the harder it is to ignore the politics. It's not a dead end job, you know? Politics shouldn't get in the way of good music." She emptied the bottle and smiled at Lux imploringly, quietly asking for another bottle.
"It's a shame we don't get paid for it." Then again, that was probably for the best. She wasn't so sure about how good advice most of them were able to get. Most of the people working here seemed to be people like herself, who didn't know what else to do. With a few exceptions, of course.
Tilting her head, Lux smiled. "Thirty's not so bad. You can start complaining when you hit the fifty year old mark and your hip starts acting up." She remembered that happening to her grandparents. They'd always been active people, but as soon as old age came running down their lives, they had to sacrifice a lot of their old hobbies. It was a shame, really, but it couldn't be helped. "Besides, you haven't even lived half your life yet."
Happy to oblige, Lux filled the redhead's glass. "Politics usually gets in the way of everything." She wasn't very active within the various political fields herself, but she'd seen and heard enough to at least have an opinion on certain things. "I also think that politics help us push in a direction. Whether it's the wrong or right direction doesn't really matter, but at least it keeps thing moving, you know?"
Giving out a polite chuckle, Clarke wondered if it would be a good idea for psychologists to actually work in bars. It would honestly be a nightmare, she'd imagine. But most bartenders do tend to be natural listeners. Or at least pretend to be. That was good enough, she thought.
"Oh I'm not complaining, not really." She shook her head and chuckled lightly. "Although my back is already killing me sometimes. That could very well be due to all the sitting I do." She waved a dismissive hand and apologised. "Could be worst."
She listened as the young woman gave her opinion and Clarke shrugged. "It should but the way this is going, it just doesn't seem to be. No one is offering an actual solution to the problem. Just...a lot of dick sizing competitions." She blurted out with a sigh. She drank from her glass and licked her lips.
"I can't imagine being in your shoes though. I don't think you're paid half as much as you should be." Clarke gave a sympathetic smile towards Lux.
"Could always use it as an excuse to treat yourself to a weekly spa day," she offered with a shrug. She'd come to learn over the years that taking care of yourself and treating yourself to nice things wasn't always such a bad thing. Why not make something a little better by giving yourself some sort of reward? Then again, Lux had never been one all too good at following her own advice, why should she expect someone else to?
She listened to the redhead, a furrow forming between her brows. Wasn't the solution to her problem rather simple, then? "Why don't you come up with a solution?" She asked curiously. Wouldn't that solve the problem, given the fact that she was in a position where someone would listen? And if she wasn't, wasn't that just a great opportunity for someone to notice the extra effort?
Not that Lux would have much experience with that. Moving up from bartending wasn't, usually, a thing.
The brunette smiled and offered the redhead a shrug. "Oh, I don't mind it so much." She looked out over the room, the smile remaining. "It's not so bad, really. It does offer a certain..." She paused, pursing her lips as she tried coming up with the best word to describe it. "Charm, I suppose."
"Ooh, that's good advice." Clarke chuckled, finishing the drink in her glass and tapping the rim to indicate she wanted a refill. She was starting to get a little looser and more at ease.
When Lux offered her solution, Clarke groaned and shook her head. "The person doing the dead shift never has a say. The last one who did, I ended up taking over her show." She shrugged and looked at Lux with a grimace. "She's not dead...just uh...I just haven't spoken to her in years."
Clarke looked around and chuckled lightly. "I have been coming here for the past...five years? I wouldn't say you're wrong but..." Clarke chuckled again before waving a dismissive hand. "You do you, honey. You're still young."
Doing as she was told, Luxanna filled the glass for the third time. She was tempted to just leave the bottle there, but decided against it; She didn't want to be portrayed as being rude when really, she wanted to make it accessible.
"Oh." The brunette tilted her head; It was hard for her to wrap her mind around that, though, she decided against trying to make sense of it. It didn't seem easy, that much she understood. Perhaps she'd lucked out not going for a job that actually lead anywhere. Unlike most of her peers, Luxanna seemed to enjoy her job. That couldn't be said for everyone that came here.
Looking over the room; the other bartenders, the bouncers and the people. She couldn't see herself doing this for years, but right now, it was exactly what she needed. It gave her some kind of purpose. Especially given how the brunette had no idea about what she actually wanted to do with her life.
"We're hiring if your own job proves to be too stressful." She offered with a smile. "The pay's decent and the company's great."
Clarke stilled Lux's hand before grabbing the bottle and setting it close to her. "Sorry, I'm probably gonna wanna finish the whole bottle. Thank you." Her voice lilted up into a sing song tone as she beamed at the brunette.
It didn't even bother her when Lux looked like she still didn't quite understand her dilemma. The nature of their occupations were different, that much was certain, and Clarke wasn't going to presume that everyone in the working world knew what was what.
Laughing at the offer, Clarke rested her elbow on the bar and her chin on her hand as she sighed. "I'd have to talk to people sober and without anonymity. I think I'll stick to my day job." She laughed again before shaking her head. "Night job, as it were." She gestured randomly to indicate the time of day.
"For what it's worth though, you're doing a really good job being a listener." Clarke nodded with a smile. "I shouldn't be hogging you all to myself."
Fingers let go of the bottle and accompanied by a small smile. "Alright." The smile only grew, mimicking the redhead's own. She couldn't much relate to having a stressful day at work, but she could very well relate to wanting to remove it all with a bottle of whatever was fancied at the moment.
It seemed like few people found her job appealing. She could understand why; It took a lot of patience to deal with some of the drunk people, after all. But it was also fun, and entertaining. She got to see a whole different person to most, both new and old faces. As if alcohol made them let go of all their worries and just be. "Oh, come on. It's not so bad." Her gaze immediately shifted to a guy who seemed to think what he called charm worked on a table filled with ladies, worked. "Well, sometimes..."
Her attention returned to the redhead and she offered her a simple shrug. "Slow night. I don't mind." She leaned closer then, voice hushed. "Besides, if it's listening to you, or him-" She gestured towards the drunk man hitting on the ladies. "-I'll take you anytime." She pulled back with a smile.
She let her eyes follow Lux's gaze and closed her mouth as she started to giggle. Turning back to Lux, she quietly laughed before shaking her head.
When Lux assured her that she didn't mind hanging with her, Clarke gave her an affectionate pout. "Aww, aren't you a charmer." She grinned before pouring herself another drink. The bottle was almost emptying and she scrunched her nose a little.
"Sometimes, I wish I actually was related to Harry. Just...non-stop top-up." She mimicked brandishing a wand which actually activated her own abilities, causing the glass to tip over the bar. Thankfully she still had her wits about her enough to use it to counter the fall. "Shit..." she giggled as she moved the glass close to her. She looked over Lux to see whether any of the liquid spilled on her.
She watched the redhead carefully; It seemed like the amount of drinking at that kind of pace was starting to show. She supposed it was a little ironic how she was a bartender that rarely drank any alcohol herself. Maybe that was just why, though; She saw what it did to people up and close almost every night.
"Harry Potter?" She asked, head tilting. She stepped back automatically as the glass tilted; Seeing powers that weren't directly visible always made her uneasy. It wasn't that she minded the abilities, but her family was entirely made up of enhancement like abilities and the few friends she had... Well, they couldn't move objects with their minds.
