Chapter Text
Dr. G. Tae (Anthropologist, Mythologist)
9 . 17 . 3009
[ASSIGNMENT] Temporarily placed in research of Full Moon Harbor. For further studies in inhabitants.
…
Dr. Gemini Tae was a Mythologist in a world of magical creatures. Humans had long settled down with these beasts, and had struck a strange balance. People studied the creatures, while the creatures studied the people.
Gem thought herself to just be another one of those people. She was fresh out of school and was being stationed in Full Moon Harbor, a little seaside town in the Foggy Sea.
It was a simple job, one that required very few people. So alongside a couple of classmates turned coworkers, Gem packed up her bags and moved in.
Her, Stress, and False were stationed at different points in town: Stress at the Medical Center, False at the main harbor, and Gem at the lighthouse. Every week they would send in observations on the behavior of the inhabitants.
The inhabitants they were observing were rumored to be some kind of cross between the creatures and human. There were said to be women who howled at the moon, and siren boys that swam below the decks.
So naturally people reported the sightings to Global Myth Association (GMA), who sent off a group of scientists to investigate.
And so here is Gem, chugging her sunshine yellow truck up the hill to the Lighthouse. The place she would be calling home for the next 6 months.
The place looked a little aged, white and red stripes fading from years of weather. But for the most part everything seemed in order. Well except for maybe one thing: the rusty red door to the lighthouse lay ajar, and there was a pair of shoes waiting just inside.
…
Gem stood outside the open door for a moment, just staring at the shoes and listening to the soft humming that came from inside the tower. Then called out: “Hello?”
The humming stopped, and the sound of footsteps racing down stairs greeted Gem instead.
As the running person came into view Gem took in a women, about her age. Warm brown hair and cheery blue eyes. “Hello!”
She was greeted in return, the women lifted a hand to shake. “I'm Pearl, the mail women and I suppose cleaner of Full Moon Harbor.”
Gem shook her hand with a smile, “nice to meet you, Pearl. I'm Gemini, but really just Gem is fine.”
She greeted, words coming out practiced and easy.
“Well that means you must be the new lighthouse keeper !” Pearl said with an excited bounce. “Come in, come in, I was just tidying up for you.” She said as though it was the most ordinary thing ever.
“Oh, uh, thank you?” Gem said, though it came out as more of a question.
“The bedroom and bathroom will be upstairs, kitchen and living room down here.” Pearl explained, moving her bucket and mop out of the way.
The living room was quite simple, a blue grey couch facing a pair of matching armchairs and a coffee table. As Gem peered beyond, she was greeted by the view of the kitchen. It was simple, a fridge, a stove, a sink, and soft birch cabinets just above. Besides the kitchen was a set of spiral stairs, leading to the next floor and presumably the light above.
“If you have any questions I’ll be around, probably at the post office or the little blue house at the bottom of the hill.” Pearl explained, interrupting Gem’s survey of the house. “I’ll leave you to unpack!” She sang before grabbing her cleaning supplies and skipping out the still open door.
For just a second, Gem stared after her, watching the brunette head bob all the way down the hill. Then, as if snapping out of a trance, she straightened and began taking her luggage out of the truck.
…
Sometime past noon, Gem had finally brought all her bags in. She was making herself a nice cup of tea to sit down with after all her hard work.
Ding dong, rang the doorbell.
And Gem heaved herself off one of the armchairs to receive it.
Outside stood Stress and False, smiling but clearly exhausted from a day of travel. “Stress, False ! Come in !” Gem said, plastering a smile on her face to hide her mirrored exhaustion.
“I was just heating up the kettle for tea, would you guys like a mug?” She asked politely, gesturing for the other girls to sit as she went into the kitchen.
Both women nodded as they took in the place, when Gem returned from the kitchen False remarked: “it looks unreasonably clean for a place you live in.”
Gem smiled, “yeah the cleaning lady, or mail women, or whatever she actually does cleaned it up for me.”
Both heads turned to her at once, brows furrowed in confusion at the statement. “Why would she do that?” Stress asked politely. “She didn't clean up either of ours.”
“I'm sure she had a reason,” Gem said, then took one look at False’s face and hurriedly added: “but I’ll write it down for the report anyways.”
False nodded, taking a sip of her cup of tea approvingly. The rest of the afternoon passed in relative silence, broken only by the occasional comment or the sipping of tea.
Gem wished her friends farewell sometime around six. They had each shared a couple of notes about the people in their areas, but not much was noted due to it being their first day here.
The sea is a soft lullaby as Gem changes into her pajamas. She turns on the light for the night and settles into her blankets. Though this new town was strange, and Gem had only met a singular person, she had a fuzzy feeling that she was going to like Full Moon Harbor.