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★ Day OneYour alarm went off, and you sleepily hit it to stop it from making noise. You yawned and stretched, sitting up. You blew your long hair out of your face, grumpy. You struggled out of your warm bed, your hair falling down. You had been growing it for a long time.You went to the bathroom, grabbing your toothbrush and lazily brushing your teeth. You look in the mirror, your eyebags heavy. You've been staying up reading too much lately. You go to the kitchen, turning on your kettle. You grab down your lemon tea, before heading back to the bathroom. You brush out your hair before putting it into a bun.The kettle goes off, and you pour the hot water into your morning mug. You put in the lemon tea bag and let it steep. Five minutes and thirty-two seconds, that's how long you've been letting it steep for the past five years. You sit at the table, looking at your phone. A few notifications, a "Good morning!" message, and a weather notification. It'll be sunny today, like most days of the summer.You mindlessly take the tea bag out of your tea, setting it on a small plate and grab the mug. You take a sip of the tea. As always, perfect.You finish it and set the mug in the sink. You head to your bedroom, searching your closet for an outfit. Black pants, a cream button-down, and a blue cardigan. You put it on, grab a star-necklace, and search through the rest of your jewelry. You find a basic bracelet and put it on. You grab your bag, one you crocheted, and head out to the car.
You step outside, taking in the air, before heading to your car. It's a black car, with space bumper stickers. You get in and turn on the radio, pulling out of the driveway. You drive twenty minutes to your library. Starstruck Library, the library you inherited. You pull into the employee parking and head inside. You open the library, unlocking the doors. You then head to sort the returned books, putting each one back in its correct bookshelf.With that done, you sit at the front desk, awaiting the first patron of the day. A regular comes in, a brown bear animatronic with blue accents. You wave and smile as he waves back, heading to the realistic fiction section. The day goes on, and everyone who enters is a regular. A few of the other employees came in, and you took a lunch break. You ate some left over pasta from the employee fridge. Now, as you sit at the front desk, a new patron enters. A tall, moon-themed animatronic with a hoodie and beanie enters. He waves to the car that dropped him off.He looks around the library, before spotting you and making his way over."Hello. Can you help me?" His voice is quiet and ragged. His eyes are red and tired, if a robot can look tired."Of course! What do you need?" You smile up at him, hoping to make a new regular."Where are the astronomy books?" He puts his hands in his pockets, glancing around.You put your hands on the table and push yourself up. "I have the perfect books for you! We have the largest space book section in this city." You grin and rush out from behind the front desk, and gesture for him to follow you.You bring him to the back of the library, where you made your haven. Aisles of astronomy books, donated by patrons, yourself, and the previous owner. "This is our astronomy section. Now, it's not just limited to astronomy. There are mythologies, astrophysics, and more. The astrology books are separated, don't worry." He nods as you ramble on about the different books."Do you have The Sky Atlas?" He asks, looking down at you.You grin and nod. "I don't usually let anyone check it out, so you have to read it only in the library. I read the whole thing three times, actually! It was donated by the previous owner of the library. Here, let me show you-""Don't bother, I'll find it. Thank you." He puts his hand on your shoulder, stopping you from running off. You smile at him and turn around, walking back to the front desk. You lean against the desk, a computer to your right, and your bag in the floor, a star charm on its handle. You hear the quiet murmuring of the patrons behind you, and the occasionally patron coming in to check out or return a book.The library is always quiet, but you never mind it. It's always nice. You mess with your bun, tightening it so your hair doesn't fall down and get in the way. You hum a song, as the patrons leave. Sara, on of the other employees, leaves you behind to close. You never mind opening and closing, it gives you more time here at the library. You lean against the chair, waiting for the last patron to leave. You know the moon animatronic is still here.Eventually, with five minutes to close, you get up and go to look for him.You find him sitting in the middle of an aisle, his head buried in a book."Sir?" His head jerks up to look at you. "Is the library closing?" You nod. He gets up and sighs, closing the book and putting it back where he find it. "When does it open tomorrow?""8 AM." You fidget with the bracelet you put on. The animatronic is really intimidating, standing up so tall..."Bye." He walks off, towards the doors. You stare at him. You smile and head to the front desk, searching your bag for your keys. You put on your bag and lock up, heading out to your car. You get in the front seat, and head off home. You turn on your favorite playlist. 'The Moon Will Sing' by The Crane Wives play, and you hum along. You pull up into your driveway, and get out. You grab your bag and head into your house.You kick off your shoes, throwing your bag onto a chair. You pull your hair out of its bun, letting it fall behind you. You fall back onto the couch in your living room, sighing. You turn on the TV, turning it to your favorite cookie show.
You pull your knees up to your chest, watching and critiquing their choices.
As the night grows, you turn off the TV and take a shower. You wash your hair, which takes about thirty minutes on its own. You then spend another thirty minutes in the shower before finally leaving. You head to your bedroom, get into your comfiest pajamas, and promptly pass out in bed.
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★ Day TwoYou wake up like yesterday. You hit the alarm clock and groan, sitting up. You brush the hair out of your face. You get up and perform your morning routine. Brushing your teeth, setting the kettle, doing your hair, making tea. You look through your notifications. You take the tea bag out and take a sip.You immediately spit out the tea.You oversteeped it. How? You've been doing this for five years. It was I'm your muscle memory. How could you have oversteeped your tea?You stared at the mug before getting up and dumping it in the sink. You head to the bathroom and pull out your bun. You brush your hair, then braid it. It looks different, but different in a good way. You head to your room, grab a pair of pants and matching top. You put on the same necklace as yesterday and ignore your jewelry. You grab your bag and keys, get in the car, and put on different music than normal.You get to the library, put your bag aside, and open the library. You sort through books until your first patron enters. It's Moon, not Freddy. You give him a smile. He ignores you, and power walks towards the astronomy section.You shrug it off. Freddy comes in, you wave to each other, and the day continues like normal. You find yourself fidgeting with your braid often. The other patrons enter throughout the day. Your eyes constantly wander to the back, the astronomy section.Your break comes around. Martin takes over, and you head to the back of the library. You search for the aisle the moon animatronic is in. He's in the same one as yesterday, reading the same book as yesterday.You sit by him, looking at what he's reading. "Hi," you speak quietly.He glances up at you, adjusting red glasses on his face before looking back down."I noticed you really like astronomy. I, um, do too."He says nothing. His eyes scan through the pages."What's your favorite thing about space? I really like stars."He looked up at you for a moment before looking back at the book and turning the page."I like the planets." He speaks incredibly softly, though his voice is ragged. "They are always unique."You smile at him. "What's your favorite planet?"He looks up at you questioningly. "Do you always bother patrons?"You grin sheepishly. "No, I just really like space, and you do too. I don't have many friends who like space."He sighs. "Well, to answer your question, Wolftopia is my favorite planet. My favorite dwarf planet is Eris, and my favorite planet from this solar system is Saturn. I like the rings." He flips to the next page in the book before putting in a bookmark and closing it. "What's your favorite star?"You put your hand to your chin, thinking."Vega. Brightest star in the constellation Lyra, fifth-brightest in our night sky, and twenty-five light years from the sun!" You grin at him."Interesting.""What's your name, by the way?" You tilt your head a bit, leaning it against your hand. You tell him yours first."I'm Moon."You giggle. "That's nice. Is that why you like space so much?""A little bit." He looks over at all the books. "It's mainly because I've just... Always found space fascinating.""Yeah." You look at the books he's looking at. "The previous owner loved stars, too. Probably more than me.""Mhm. Quite fascinating, huh?" He looks at you, giving you a little bit of a smile."Incredibly fascinating. The world being so big... And we're so small." You look up towards the ceiling. "And we cannot see beyond our pocket of the universe.""It is amazingly beautiful.""Well," you chuckle and get up. "I should head back to work! Bye Moon." You wave. Moon waves back, picking his book back up. You head back to the front desk, joining Martin, who is checking out a teen's books."Hey, Martin.""Hey!" He smiles as the teen leaves. "Had a good break?" He leans back against his chair, stretching his arms."Yep. Managed to survive without me?" You chuckle. "No rowdy kids?""Rowdy kids? Here? No way! Yes, I survived with you on a break."The two of you laugh. Martin throws out a few more jokes, running his hand through his dirty blond hair."Oh, shut up!" You shove his side, crossing your arms as you grin. Martin almost falls over, and he catches himself on the side of the desk. "Hey!" He grins back at you, setting himself straight."That's what you get, dumbass!" You cross your legs proudly, grinning."Your the dumbass!" He points at you accusingly. You throw your hands up. "Nuh uh!" You put your hands on your hips. "I'm not the dumbass!"The two of you go back and forth until someone comes up with books. You check them out, waving as they leave. Martin eventually heads off to sort books. You keep greeting patrons, checking in and out books, and humming to keep yourself occupied.Your off in your own daydream when there's a tap on the desk in front of you. You almost fall out of your seat, looking up at Moon."Hey, can I check out this book?" He sets an old astronomy book in front of you. You nod, still in a bit of shock. You grab it and ask for his library card. He paused. "I, um, don't have one." He leans his head back, looking away."Oh! That's okay! Let's set up one for you." You open up the computer to make him a library card.You ask Moon a series of questions, before printing off the card. He sighs his name on it- Moon Celeste- and pockets it. Since his card is already pulled up, you simply scam the barcode on the book and let him check it out."Have a good day, Moon!" You wave to him as he leaves. He's slightly hunched as he exists the building, heading towards a bright yellow car covered in bumper stickers.You smile to yourself, leaning against the desk. Tomorrow he'll be back, and maybe you can chat with him more.The day comes to an end, and you wave the last patron goodbye. You sweep up a bit before locking the doors, since you had time. You grab your bag, the star charm swaying about, as you swing it over your shoulder. You exit the building, tossing your bag into the passenger seat as you get in your car. You start it up and head down the street, turning on the radio. You change the station until you find one playing a song you can stand, and humming along all the way home.You decide to change up your routine, ordering food for the first time since you got your life together. You let your hair free, getting into your warm fuzzy pajamas before you ate. You decided to turn on some music, and danced in your living room. You were just laughing while waiting for your food, feeling amazing and fulfilled.When your food arrived, you sat down on the couch with it and watched a movie. It was a new one, something that just came out. You snacked on your food as you watched, mumbling to yourself about the flaws. You put your plate on the coffee table as the movie finished. You were laughing to yourself by the end of it, and getting up to clean. You threw your trash away and left your dishes in the sink, heading off to bed. The day felt abnormal, but it was refreshing. You blinked tiredly. There isn't any sun coming from your window. Was it a cloudy day? You looked over at your alarm clock. 10:56 PM. It was still night? You swore you shouldn't be awake like this.You rub your eyes, laying there in bed. You carefully touched your shoulder, where Moon had the previous day. You find yourself smiling at the thought of him. Is this what's keeping you awake?You put your hands on your head and groan, before turning over and trying to fall back asleep.After what you swore was just a blink, it was 11:37. You thought of Moon's red eyes. The way he gently spoke, despite his harsh voice. His love of space, the same love you have. No, stop that, stop thinking of how wonderful he seems... Stop it!You watched the clock tick on, trying to get Moon off your mind. You watched it tick on, till it hit midnight. You close your eyes, hoping to finally get some sleep.