Edmund worked at the coffee shop two doors down, but always parked behind the emporium thanks to special permission from Persephone. Once the truck was parked, the friends went their separate ways for work. Seb entered the shop through the back door only to be ambushed by Hayden’s Great Dane.

“Spot! Get off him!” Persephone yelled from inside.

Sebastian laughed as the dog licked his face. “Yeah, yeah, I’m happy to see you too, buddy. Hi Seph!”

“Hi, kid. Sorry about the dog.”

“You say that, yet you make no effort to teach him not to do that.”

Persephone shrugged with a grin. “Not my dog, not my job. Last time I tried to teach him something- well, let’s just say it didn’t go so great.”

“You say he isn’t your dog, but he spends more time with you than at the clinic,” Sebastian pointed out.

“Still not my dog kid. You’ll understand when you’re older.”

“I’m seventeen.”

“Good for you.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes but smiled fondly all the same.

Persephone Violet was a bit of a mystery and tended to act rather odd, but it honestly added to her personal charm. There were plenty of things she said that Sebastian didn’t fully understand which she always claimed he would ‘when he was older’. She carried herself with a grand elegance yet still talked as casually as any ordinary person. She often wore sunglasses despite being inside the majority of the time and always carried around a fancy glass of some sort, usually a silver chalice she claimed to have gotten from France.

“Ready for the monthly rush?” she asked as Seb got up from the ground.

“That’s today then?”

“Yup.”

“Well, we should be prepared. I checked the stock twice yesterday.”

Much like its owner, Persephone’s Emporium was its own kind of unique. Around town, it was simply knowns as the antique shop, but Sebastian personally knew they stocked more than just usual antiques. There were the normal things- fancy furniture, old jewellery, vintage decor- and then there were the special stuff. Stones that looked like they had scales, leatherbound books with strange symbols on the cover, bottles of oddly coloured liquid. Basically, everything you could want for a magical aesthetic.

Sebastian didn’t know how Persephone got this stuff, let alone why she sold them, but he was paid good money to keep the store clean and help customers. He wasn’t going to ask unnecessary questions. All he needed to know was which vials and herbs needed to be stocked every thirty days for their busy period.

“Seph, I need help out he- Sebastian! Perfect timing, get your ass out here and help me,” Lydia commanded before ducking their head back into the shop.

Sebastian grimaced but quickly replaced the look with his customer service smile before following after them, with Persephone right behind him. As usual, there were quite a few people in for the monthly rush, and all three emporium employees were slammed with work.

From his usual place behind the register, Sebastian saw to the customers who were checking out. There was one woman, a regular who was always accompanied by her three-legged cat, held up the check-out line for a couple minutes to complain about the quality of the herbs. Someone else brought their kid, who decided it would be fun to drink from the grey vials; that did not end well. But the worst customer of the day had to be this one guy who insisted on trying to pay with acorns.

“Sir, you can’t pay with acorns,” Sebastian tried to explain for the umpteenth time.

“Son, I’ll have you know that these are not acorns.”

“Right, they’re high-quality ember oak seeds, but we don’t exchange for those either.”

“Come one, these are genuine, unicorn-rare kinds of seeds, you could make a fortune from them.”

“Then why are you trying to trade them in for a cheap wooden owl?”

The man huffed. “May I speak to your manager?”

“Like he said, we take cash or credit, and that’s it,” Persephone stated as she appeared behind Sebastian.

“Percy, come on, it’s me!”

Persephone grimaced. “That doesn’t matter, Malcom.”

“Percival-”

“Her name is Persephone, Sir,” Sebastian corrected with narrowed eyes.

Malcom frowned. “Percy and I go way back kid. I don’t need to use that name.”

“Yes, you do. And if you don’t, then you will be removed from the premises.”

“By who? You?”

“No, by me,” Lydia declared, making sure to stand to their full height at the man’s side.

Sebastian had a rather lanky kind of build that didn’t really intimidate well. Lydia on the other hand had the body of a pro-wrestler. Their muscles were well defined underneath the usual black shirt they were wearing, so Malcom was easily convinced not to try his luck.

Instead, he childishly huffed and promptly left the shop, muttering under his breath about something Seb couldn’t hear, though he assumed it had to do with them. Once he was out of sight, Sebastian and Lydia turned to Persephone with concerned expressions.

“You alright, Seph?” Lydia inquired.

Persephone smiled. “I am now that he’s gone.”

“Who was that guy anyway?” Sebastian asked. “Do we need to ban him from the store?”

“Nah, don’t worry about him. He’s just an old acquaintance who I haven’t had any contact with for a while now. Really though, guys, It’s fine.”

Lydia narrowed their eyes. “He deadnamed you.”

Persephone’s smile faltered and she sighed. “Yeah... he isn’t a very intelligent man, unfortunately. He’ll be smart enough to stay away though.”

“So, he’s banned then. I’ll make a note of that,” Sebastian said, pulling the banned book out from under the counter. “What’s his name again?”

“Malcom Echos. Thank you both for standing by me.”

Lydia nodded. “Of course. You're our boss, but also a friend and fellow trans person. Even if this guy is ‘an old acquaintance’, he’s not getting off for treating you like that.”

“Exactly. And if he’s banned, I defiantly won’t have to argue the worth of those damn acorns.”

Persephone laughed at Sebastian’s addition and patted him on the back. “Again, thank you both. And while I wish we could stop our working with idiots there, we need to get back to work for just a bit longer.”

“Okay then- huh? Looks like that weirdo dropped one of his precious acorns,” Lydia said, picking up the object from the floor.

“Oh, well, finders-keepers.” Persephone grinned. “I’ll take that to the storeroom then. I have no use for an Ember Oak, but I could probably give this to a squirrel while Hayden and I are out walking.”

With that, the trio returned to their normal work. Just another normal day in the Emporium.