Luna's Place is a bar/restaurant on Terror Mountain.
It was owner by Luna (duh), a white Lupess. It seemed successful, but it didn't
start like that at all. In fact, it was about an year ago...
Fae, a faerie Lupess that always seemed to travel
had born a new litter of pups. She had children all over Neopia, most grow-up,
many maintained by humans, but she knew each one's name and cared for them equally.
Sure, she wasn't a very good mother, she pestered them all, but she wasn't that
bad so she would abandon her pups. In the deep forest, the five puppies whimpered
of cold.
Fae shoved them all in her very large bag that
she wore around her neck. It was where she carried tons and tons of maps, but
even with all that paper she always got lost.
One of those pups was Luna, white as snow.
The puppies were soon given to various humans,
except for Luna. She didn't seem to fit in anywhere. So, Fae 'packed' her with
the maps and decided she'd take the puppy along.
Luna, however, grew up fast and in a week, just
as they were visiting Terror Mountain, she was too big to stay in the bag.
Fae sat on an ice bench, staring at Luna. The
young Lupe was having fun in the snow.
"Mommy, what's there?" Luna asked innocently,
pointing to the Slushie Shop.
"It's an Eyrie. A striped Eyrie," Fae replied,
looking dreamily.
"Coolies!" Luna bounced off.
Fae hadn't noticed Luna's disappearance until
she snapped out of her dreamy stare. Like I said, she was a mediocre mother.
Panicking, she called after her child.
"Luney, honey, Luna, where are you?" Fae jumped
into the air, calling after her Lupe puppy.
After six exhausting hours, Fae decided to check
the Slushie Shop, just in case somebody saw her there.
There, at the counter, sat Luna, leaning on
one paw and holding a slushie in the other.
"Really? That happened?" Luna was in the middle
of a conversation with the Eyrie.
"Yea, and that's how I got my own business,"
the Eyrie replied slightly amused. "It's a lot of hard work but it pays off
eventually."
"Wow, I wanna have my own business too!" Luna
said excitedly.
"Well then you've found your calling," Fae said,
seating next to Luna.
"I can stay here?!" Luna bounced on the counter.
"Sure, but we'll have to find someone willing
to take care of you." Fae rubbed her chin, deep in thought.
The shopkeeper coughed.
"I guess we already did!" Fae smiled widely
and kissed her daughter's forehead. "Now take care of yourself. Don't stay outside
too long, don't pester the nice lady, listen to her-- by the way, what's you
name?" Fae asked the Eyrie.
"Neka. My name is IcyNeka."
Fae had to leave the next morning, but she promised
to come back one day.
Over the next weeks Luna grew up. She found
a job at the Ski Lodge (the last janitor mysteriously disappeared, but they
found his cap on a dinner plate...strange...), and she decided to gather enough
money for a bar.
She even knew what she'd name it: Luna's Place.
It'd b very successful, she thought.
But, alas, there was nobody to tell her plans
to. IcyNeka was almost always busy, and her co-worker was slightly...off.
He was an old Shoyru, full of wrinkled, leaning
on a mop and talking to nobody in particular, telling everybody about how he
participated in all the wars, how he changed species more than once, how that
and how this.
One day, as she was tiredly walking home from
work, she decided to stop by the Scratchcard Kiosk. It'd help to raise her funds
for the bar, after all.
Just as she came in line, a low growl was heard
from behind her. Turning around, she faced a massive fire Lupe.
"Get out of my way!" he growled.
"Excuse me?!" Luna narrowed her eyes. "I do
believe this is MY place in line!" she retorted.
"So you think being a native here makes you
tougher than me? I challenge you to the Ice Arena!" the Lupe growled.
Luna was dumbfounded. What did this Lupe, which
she'd never met before, want of her? The Lupe growled an hour and left.
She checked her watch. She had a match with
him in five minutes? Was he sick or something?
She still met him at the arena, wondering about
him.
"So, you're here?" the fire Lupe growled (that's
all he seemed to do).
"Yup. Now is you don't mind, what IS your problem?"
she retorted.
"YOU!" he dashed towards her, even dough they
were in a locker room and fights there weren't permitted.
She yelped and jumped aside.
"By the way, I'm Luna," she said, trying to
keep a calm tone.
He didn't say anything, he just tried dashing
towards her again. This time, he rammed into her. She collapsed to the ground.
"HEY!" someone yelled.
At the door was a Skeith with a mad glare on
his face.
"Troublemakers go outside!" he yelled and picked
up Luna, dragging her away. Another Skeith threw the Lupe out.
While they both tumbled in the snow, Luna supported
her head on a paw, staring at her fiend.
"Well, as long as we're both humiliated, my
name's Luna." She extended a paw.
"I'm Romano." He reluctantly shook Luna's paw.
"Well, you'll need some warming up. Come with
me."
They both went towards the Slushie Shop, where
IcyNeka awaited for Luna with a glass of warm milk.
Romano was warmly welcomed. Even dough he was
a bit antisocial and had the temperament of a tail-less Doglefox.
"So, what're you doing around these parts?"
Luna asked, while sipping some milk.
"My useless owner kept signing me in Beauty
Contests, so I ran away," Romano growled.
"Yeesh, I understand why you're like THIS now!"
"Like this HOW?!" Romano jumped.
"Anti-everything, how else? You always growl,
you aren't nice, but irritable, you're aggressive--"
"All right, I get your point!" Romano rolled
his eyes.
"How would you like to help me with something?"
Luna asked.
"With what?"
"My future bar, Luna's Place. You'd get paid
fifty percent of the profit, you'd do half of the work, you'd--"
"I'll settle for twenty percent and a roof over
my head. A barman job you say?" Romano seemed interested.
"All right. Boy that was easy!"
"Just one thing: have you enough money for this
bar?"
"Erm..."
To be continued... |