After noon

First Winter at Fire Lodge
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Jisoo noticed that the atmosphere was subtly different at lunch. Lisa seemed even happier than usual, while Jennie seemed - if she didn't know better, she'd think Jennie was nervous. And several times Jisoo noticed Jennie watching Lisa when she didn't think anyone was looking. Yes, something was definitely afoot at Fire Lodge, but there was no way Jisoo was going to figure it out during lunch, so she turned her attention to what Chaeyoung was saying.   "So if it's OK with you" - Chaeyoung was obviously coming to the end of her report about the next week's shopping list - "Jisoo and I can leave right after lunch and be back from town by dark, assuming we don't have any more automotive misadventures."   Jennie nodded. "What? Oh yeah, that sounds good. Make sure you take the debit card with you." Jisoo had the feeling that Jennie hadn't been listening all that closely to what Chaeyoung was saying.   Lisa stood up and carried her dishes to the dumbwaiter. "Excellent lunch, chefs," she said to Jisoo and Chaeyoung. She then turned to Jennie and said "It's my day off, so I'm about to go skiing. Do you want to come with me?"   Jennie shook her head. "I can't. Someone has to be at the lodge to answer the phone."   Lisa pouted. "Couldn't you just forward it to your cell?"   Jennie shook her head again. "The landlines in the valley are super old school - no call forwarding, no call waiting; we're lucky we get calling at all."   Lisa rolled her eyes. "Well, if you can't you can't. But will you at least take the phone outside? I'm pretty sure you haven't been outside since you went out to investigate that noise for Chaeyoung Sunday night - say, did you ever figure out what that was?"   Jennie and Chaeyoung shook their heads. "Probably some kind of animal," Jennie said.   Chaeyoung put up her hands like claws and made a fearsome face. "Or maybe it was a dokkaebi."   Jennie shrank back. "Don't even joke about that."   Lisa scrunched up her forehead, looking confused. "What's a dokkaebi?"   It took Jennie and Chaeyoung a couple of minutes to come up with the right word to explain to Lisa. Jisoo was no help, because she'd never heard of a dokkaebi either.   Finally, Chaeyoung said "It's a Korean goblin. Jennie's dad used to tell stories about them around the fire, and Jennie would always get afraid and run inside."   Jennie sat up as tall as she could. "That's because I had my grandmother telling me that dokkaebi are real and if I didn't behave, the dokkaebi would get me. I'm not afraid of dokkaebi now. I just don't like them."   Chaeyoung nodded. "O-kay." She was obviously unconvinced.   "I think an animal was more likely than a dokkaebi," Lisa said, apparently trying to put Jennie at ease. Then she turned to Jisoo. "I need to get something from my room, but then I need to talk to you before you go."   "Be quick about it," Chaeyoung said. "We're leaving as soon as I wash the lunch dishes."   "It'll just take me a second," Lisa said, dashing out of the room and up the stairs.   ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^   Jennie was at the desk, gathering up the things she'd need in order to go outside to work, when she saw Lisa passing by on her way up from the kitchen.   "I'd have thought you'd be out on the slopes by now," Jennie said.   Lisa looked like someone who was trying not to look guilty. "I had to talk to Jisoo before the chefs left for town."   "That's right," Jennie said. "Your little 'errand'." Jennie didn't usually make air quotes, but the word "errand" in this sentence definitely deserved them.   Lisa laughed. "You make it sound like I'm up to something. Don't worry, boss-lady: You'll find out soon enough." And with that cryptic remark, Lisa was off to get ready for her afternoon of skiing.   As Jennie took the phone and her laptop and headed out to the back deck, she found herself pondering this mystery. "A mysterious errand," she thought, "that involves something from town, and that I'll find out what it is later." Jennie shook her head. She knew exactly how much she was paying Lisa and, especially since she hadn't given Lisa the raise to assistant manager's salary yet, she knew she wouldn't feel comfortable accepting a gift from Lisa.   Lisa's raise! Jennie felt an icy claw of panic clamp down on her stomach. How would it look if Lisa got a promotion and a raise just a couple of weeks after she and Jennie started dating? Would Chaeyoung and Jisoo think the two events were in any way related? Jennie sighed. She knew that besides workplace romances, the staff at a ski lodge - Fire Lodge was no different from the others in this regard - was prone to producing two things: Gossip, especially concerning the workplace romances, and resentment any time there was even a hint of favoritism or unfair treatment.   This was one time Jennie was glad the staff at Fire Lodge was so small: Even though it meant more work, it also meant rumors had a shorter distance to travel to reach everyone, and so less chance for everything to get distorted. Speaking of rumors, Jennie knew that as soon as Jihyo, Tzuyu, and Dahyun got back and started telling people about Dahyun's blizzard misadventure, rumors would start spreading through Fire Lodge's regular customers and probably even re
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brithistorian
After reading the first comments to come in and doing some serious thinking, I've decided to mark this one complete. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you stick around to see what I write next. ^_^

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Astraea21 #1
Chapter 19: Can't wait for the sequel. :) Awesome!
Astraea21 #2
Chapter 1: Looking forward to finishing this in no time. :)
IROSEI #3
Chapter 19: Wooooooooo!!! I'm so happy n.n
Daddy_Lisa
#4
Chapter 18: This is the ending? Seemed very empty but I'll take it
oeschinen
#5
Chapter 18: I am actually quite satisfied with the ending. If you, the author, feels that it has come to an end then this is the end :)
Personally, I ended one fic I wrote too because I thought the characters were happy enough and they are right where they need to be, even if there were a few more subplots and scenes I wanted to put in; in this case, the two main couples (Chaesoo and Jenlisa) already have a little bit of something going on when they all started as barely knowing each other.

Of course, then again, I'd like to point out that you tagged this as "slice of life". The genre came from anime which I think you're familiar with. SOL are known to revolve around a few characters just living their life working in their professions as they deal with normal life situations; marriage, break-ups, crushes, new/losing jobs etc. It's known to not have a plot and just revolve around well "life" which was what I felt for "First Winter at Fire Lodge" and I think it did stay true to the genre indeed :)

I enjoyed this. I'm on board and eager to see new fics that you'll come up with ^^
mitsii_chickin
#6
Chapter 18: Ahhhhh this is the end?
Casti1004
#7
Chapter 18: Awww this was cute
LALISAKIM #8
Chapter 18: Yay~ Jenlisa *i’m screaming*
ps. HAPPY ROSIE POSIE DAY
mangoshu
#9
Chapter 18: Oh~so we get to choose what we wanted?!
Ok~~then I'll choose "THE END" for <Fire Lodge>? Don't get me wrong though. Honestly, I like this story as it's slightly different. More real life in a way? But I dunno~~from the moment Lisa asked Jennie for a coffee date to Lisa's plan for a 2nd fire ceremony, I already felt that it's coming close to an end? And when I saw the title for this chapter, I'm quite sure it's the end already. But then again cos I couldn't see the word "completed" under its status, so yeah....I was actually confused in a way???
So yup, an end to this and a beginning to a NEW story, haha!