A Song of Ice and... Candles [Solo Shadow]

At seven thirty in the morning when people were respectful enough to give others the time to rest, her phone rang obnoxiously. Not only did it wake her up, it managed to scare her as well. Cursing under her breath, Avery turned to her side, adrenaline rushing that completely pushed off her sleepiness. She moved sluggishly to pick up her phone on her desk and answer the call without looking at the caller ID. There was only one person with the audacity to call her at this hour.

"Prepare your coffin."

"Why good morning to you too. Your greeting is getting more and more creative these days. Anyway, I'm just calling to inform you that--"

"Who, when, where." Avery interrupted and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"But you haven't even heard what I have to say yet!" the other person in the line whined.

"Is there any other reason you're calling me at this hour? Now spill. You're wasting my time."

"Hehe. You're right. Well, do you wanna guess~?"

"No."

"Is that a yes? Okay. It's a mission that will be very beneficial to you because you'll be faced with countless challenges to overcome your weakness."

Avery sighed. "I swear to god..."

"Okay okay. You're shadowing a Candlestick Maker. Byeee~"

Avery choked on her own breath in bewilderment. "A WHAT?! Hello?! Don't you dare hang up on me after dropping that bomb! Hello?!"

[238/1000]

Avery's Sunday was supposed to be her stay-at-home-and-sleep-all-day day, or her punishment training regime if she even as much as skipped five minutes of her routine training every end of class. Any of those two would've been a lot more exciting, yet here she was dressed in a casual red sweater, jeans and brown heeled ankle boots. She abandoned the idea of a coat and simply settled with a black and white scarf in fear that the flames from the candles might catch her coat on fire. Well the scarf wasn't any better but at least these things were cheaper if they ever burned.

Or maybe you're just being too dramatic about it. She thought with a sigh. No one could blame her though. Both her semblance and surname screamed anti-fire which was exactly why she chose a flamethrower for a second form, to at least fight fire with fire. But to be subjected in a shadow mission dealing with it was kinda... too out of her comfort zone.

After fastening her belt - the travel form of her weapon - she took one final glance of her room and went out, hopping onto her black motorbike and zoomed through the streets of Bellmuse. It didn't take long before she reached the shop and she went to the backdoor as per instruction. She rang the door bell, which she found odd to see in a backdoor of the shop, but waited nonetheless. The door soon opened revealing an old man which Avy figured might be her mentor.

She flashed her mission registration and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Avy Frost, Syne student. I'm here to shadow Mr. North Waxamillion."

[515/1000]

"Ah.. uh.. I said I'm Avy and I'm here for a shadow mission!" She repeated for the third time with a lot more volume than before. Only then did she see the change in the old man's expression into an understanding and a nod.

"I see, come in. I do apologise for that, I have trouble hearing with one ear," he stated to which Avery gave a simple nod. It didn't matter to her if a person was handicapped, the fact that he's an expert in his field proved how great of a person he is.

The moment Avery stepped in, she was greeted with an explosion of sweet scents that actually made her cringe. Under normal circumstances she would've appreciate the sweet smell, yet this one was a little too overpowering for senses, so much so that she couldn't help but breathe through her mouth, subtly of course. She removed her scarf and hang it by the rack before following the old man inside until they reached a room which she figured was where he spends most of his time working on candlesticks.

"This will be your work station. I've prepared everything you need for a basic candlestick," North explained. On the table were a a boiler, wick, the container for the candle, and some other bottles that she didn't know what for. Putting her apron on, she pulled her sleeves to her elbows and settled in front of her station which was conveniently in front of North's so she could just whatever he was doing. Old man was more prepared for this shadowing than I thought.

[785/1000]

Avery eyed the old man and imitated his procedure carefully as he started heating the boiler and mixing the recycled wax inside. The girl frowned at the heat coming out of it but decided to stay silent, though when the wax started to liquify as the temperature was way past boiling point, she winced at the burning sensation on her hand. Fortunately the old man was kind enough to offer her a longer spatula.

When the wax was fully liquified, they proceeded to dip the metal tab of the wick and quickly adhered it to the bottom of the container. A few minutes when that wax hardened and the wick was successfully stuck on it. Next they added fragrance oils. So that's what the bottles are for. she thought, taking a quick whiff of each bottle to find the perfect combination for her candle. Once she was decided, she poured the mix onto the boiler using a measuring cup and continued to stir.

"Finally we pour it in the container and let it harden," North explained to which Avery carefully followed, pouring the mix onto her chosen container.

"And that's all there is to it. That's the basic of candle making. What I showed you used recycled wax. We can proceed with other types of candle-making that involve making wax from scratch."

And with that, Avery spent the rest of the day learning of North's ways of making candles and trying not to burn herself in the process. As usual, it wasn't as bad as she initially thought especially with the man's caring personality. And at the end of the day, she took down notes of everything she learned and thanked him for his efforts.

[exit]
[1072/1000 words]