Are you (b)ready?

Thank you to my critters and beta readers!


The sheen of sweat covering Celeste's forehead was barely kept at bay by the old, loud plastic fan that she had put on to her left. She squinted at the bright laptop monitor and blinked sleep from her eyes as she tapped away on her keyboard.

New Wondertainment Toys Review!

This is fucking bullshit, she thought, taking a sip of lukewarm coffee. I don't even have a kid!


A car horn honked from outside of Celeste's apartment as she shot up from a puddle of drool on her couch.

"Shit, shit! One sec!" Wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her black hoodie, Celeste looked towards her laptop to see her half-finished review. Dammit, I'll finish it on the way there. She quickly snatched it up and ran outside, jumping into the black van on the side of the road.

"What were you doing? We're gonna be late!" The van's tires screeched as Celeste's coworker, Oliver, peeled out into the street.

"Had to stay up late to finish this stupid review…" Celeste flicked their laptop open, tapping away frantically.

"And you're still not done?!"

"I don't know how to review toys!"

"But… Boss seriously has you working on toy reviews? Jesus, that's worse than top-ten lists…"

"Just drive, dude."

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Oliver flicked a switch in the middle panel of the van. "Way's opening up in—"

A blinding light suddenly flooded the van as the journalists found themselves in the bland, barely-lit parking garage of the Peculiar Post.

Celeste shot Oliver a glare as he pulled into a parking space. "Look, it's hard to pinpoint when it'll open! You don't even drive, so…"

"I know…" Clacking out the last few words of her toy review, she hopped out of the van into the dusty garage. "What have you been working on?"

"There's this new Parawatch Wiki thing on the regular web, just a bunch of weird conspiracy theorists. Been giving Boss a big laugh recently, so I'm making a piece on them. Satire and all that."

"Nothing actually… cool?"

Oliver frowned as they walked into an elevator, pressing the button for the second floor. "Hey, I'm having fun. Plus…"

"Oh?" Celeste grinned curiously.

"It's a secret! It's nothing very special anyways."

"Come onnnnn!"

Oliver jumped away as Celeste poked him in the side. "Stop that!" He giggled. "Now I'm definitely not telling you."

"Meanie!"

"Try lookin' in the mirror for once."

"Rude."

"Well, uh…" He pointed at her hair. "You are a mess, honestly."

Celeste bought a hand up to tame the monster upon her head, combing it through a few times before giving up. "Gah. Whatever. Everyone else usually looks like shit anyways."

"'Cept for me." Oliver grinned, at which Celeste rolled her eyes, even though he did look pretty… not-sleep-deprived.

A short ding rang in the elevator as the doors slid open.

"Good luck with the Boss," Oliver said, walking over to his desk.

Sighing, Celeste looked down to the laptop in her hands displaying a very rough draft of her Wondertainment Toy Review. "This won't go well."


"So, it didn't go well." Celeste plopped her head in her hands, letting out a groan. "It went horribly."

Oliver sat beside her, picking at his lunch. "What happened?"

"I told Boss I don't feel appreciated here. He proceeded to look at my review and then scream at me. 'If you wanna be taken seriously you have to do much better than this!'" She spoke in a nasally, mocking tone. "'You're on list duty now!'"

"Hey, I did say that's better than toy reviews. It's pretty easy, actually. " Crunching into an apple, he chewed for a moment before sighing. "You know, did I ever tell you how I got started here?"

"Nope."

"Well, it all began when I was just a lousy unpaid intern. Got all the jobs you have, top ten lists, reviews, all that clickbaity garbage. Then, I saw an opportunity. Fifthist band was performing nearby, so I went out and did some interviews there. Didn't get Boss' approval or nothin'. When I turned in my story, he was astonished! Promoted me on the spot."

"Really?" Celeste looked up in disbelief. "That… doesn't sound like something Boss would do."

"I know, right?" Oliver giggled. "But he was surprised. I saw an interesting story and took action for myself! I think that is what he wants. Assignments are just to maintain the status quo, the real stuff come independently."

"So… I just need a good story?"

"We're journalists, Celeste. Stories are practically what we live for."

"Yeah… but I don't even know where to start!" Celeste peeled her hands away from her face, looking over to Oliver. "There really isn't much to report on around here."

Oliver grinned, cocking his head. "But if we have—"

Interrupting Oliver, she shot up, straightening her back. "A van! Then we can go anywhere!" Oliver snickered— Celeste always had better posture when she was excited.

"Well, it just so happens that, as you know, I have a van… and a lead. I suppose I can bring you along, let you write something about it."

Celeste grabbed Oliver's hand, shaking it violently while spouting a thousand 'thank-you's from her mouth.

"Okay, calm down, I haven't even told you where we're going yet."

She froze, letting go of his hand. "Yeah, uh, where?"

"We're gonna go help out the Manna Charitable Foundation."


In the world of the anomalous, the Manna Charitable Foundation did not play a big role. At least, that's how Celeste saw it. Why bother with a magical charity when you could be investigating a secret government organization? But as Celeste spoke to the brown-robed man in the back of their van, she quickly realized that the MCF might've been more intriguing than she thought.

"Thank you so much for volunteering with us!" The man said, setting their basket of bread down as Oliver began to drive. "My usual driver was unavailable, so I thought I might not be able to do my rounds today, but then you two came along!"

"It's our pleasure, really. We're excited to be working with you." Celeste smiled.

A glowing smile spread across the man's face. "Wonderful! And, ah, excuse my unprofessionalism, I'm Maxwell Clayton. Now, I suppose I should inform you of what we're actually doing, hm? You're familiar with our Foundation, correct, Celeste?"

Celeste nodded her head— she'd researched plenty about the Manna Charitable Foundation on their way to pick him up. After all, it's always good to have a bit of prior knowledge when interacting with a new group.

"Good, good. Well, here in the city, there's all these poor homeless, and it's always so heartbreaking seeing them around. At regional we're raising some funds to build them a shelter, but in the meantime, I've been going around every day and handing out some food. All I can give is bread, but it's something." He looked down at the basket, picking up a loaf of yeast bread. "And thanks to my abilities…" Holding the bread with both hands, he quickly tore it in half, ending with… two loaves! "I'm able to break bread infinitely, so there's always plenty of food to go around."

"Wow…" My first time seeing something actually cool for once and it's a guy who can make bread. She laughed. Perfect.

"It's a bit silly, isn't it?"

"Oh, no, not at all! I'm just— well, I haven't seen many, uh, magical things yet, and-"

"I understand, it is a bit comedic when you think about it. I'm not too special. Not many of us are. But we can still make a difference, hm? Even if it's just for a few homeless people. And you're going to be publishing a story on this, so hopefully the Manna Charitable Foundation will earn a bit of recognition. But if we don't, well, we still did a good thing."

"That's… a really good way of thinking."

Maxwell grinned. "It's done me well so far. Anyways…" Reaching down, he lifted up his basket of bread, pulling out the stack of baskets from underneath it. "I need to make a lot of bread to fill these. I apologize if I get some crumbs in here."

"Don't worry about it!" Oliver called out from the driver's seat. "Celeste usually eats her breakfast in here, so its already a mess."

"Oh come on, I'm not that sloppy!"

"Sure thing… forget all about the syrup incident when it's convenient for you…"

Glancing between the two journalists, Maxwell paused for a moment before letting out a bellowing laugh. "You two really are quite entertaining!"


Fifteen minutes and a shit-ton of breadcrumbs later, Maxwell had snapped enough bread to fill all of his baskets, and it was time to begin.

"Hello Maxwell!" An old homeless woman stood to her feet, her legs wobbling as Celeste and Maxwell approached. "And… who's this?"

"This is Celeste." Maxwell commented before setting down the basket of bread next to the woman, then helping her sit back down. "Come on, you don't need to get up. I don't want you to fall."

"Bah! I'm just a little rusty!" She grinned up at the pair. "These bones still got a bit of life left in them."

"I know, I just get a bit worried, that's all… hey, on the bright side, construction's started on the homeless shelter. It should get done pretty quickly, we're pouring everything we can into it!"

"Good to hear. Thank you, Maxwell. Really, I'm not sure what I'd do without you…"

"Right, right. Well, if you ever need anything, please tell me."

"Oh, I don't want to be a bother, but… of course. And once again, thank you."

"You're welcome." Maxwell grinned before walking off, Celeste trailing closely behind.

"You two seem pretty close. How long have you been bringing her food?"

He thought for a moment. "Hm, about… two months? That sounds right."

"Wow. And you don't get paid at all?"

"We're a non-profit, Celeste. It's not for the pay. It's for…" Maxwell paused, thinking for a moment. "I can't really explain it without making it sound cheesy, but it just feels right. It feels like I'm doing good in this crazy, complicated, cruel world. I joined the Manna Charitable Foundation because here, it gives me the opportunity to do some really cool stuff. It's small, but it's something. And it's less boring than other nonprofits, heh."

"I… I think I understand."

"No, not yet." Smiling faintly, Maxwell opened the back door of the van, hopping inside. "But by the end of the night, I think you will."


Finally done with writing the story, Celeste stood from her desk, stretching with a smile plastered across her face as her heart bubbled with a lingering warmth. I think I do understand, Maxwell, she thought. That… that made me feel nice.

Now… Boss.

She walked over to his office, laptop in hand, fully prepared to be screamed at, but…


Slamming her hands down on Oliver's desk, Celeste shouted. "He loved it!"

"Didn't I say he would?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, okay, so I kinda thought I'd get fired, but yes, you were right. And guess what? I'm off list duty and toy review duty!"

"Then what are you gonna do now?" Oliver asked.

Oh. She… hadn't thought that far. Actually… "Uplifting news. Boss said he liked how sweet it was compared to some of the things we've been putting out recently. So maybe I could work with Maxwell, write a few more stories about the Manna Charitable Foundation doing good things. Try to find other events of that vein going on, y'know? We all need a bit more wholesomeness in our lives."

He grinned. "So I'm assuming Maxwell got to you?"

"Well…" She thought for a moment before letting out a little chuckle. "Yeah. He did." Because Celeste, for the first time since joining the Peculiar Post, was truly, unwaveringly, happy.

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